Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, IL: Legends, Facts and Visiting

Midwest Haunted Cemeteries
White marble columned memorial with Corinthian columns on a stepped base, among graves and trees at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago

Graceland Cemetery is a garden cemetery on Chicago’s North Side, established in 1860 and known mainly for its landscape design, its architect-designed tombs and the Chicago figures buried there. It has also gathered ghost lore, most of it around two statues: the memorial to a young girl named Inez Clarke and the shrouded bronze figure called Eternal Silence. This post separates what the record shows from what the legends say, and explains how to visit. Graceland is still an active cemetery, and its graves belong to families.

What the record shows

Graceland’s own history page says the cemetery was established in 1860 by Thomas Bryan, a Chicago lawyer. He bought the original 80 acres, received a perpetual charter from Illinois in 1861 and hired the landscape architect H.W.S. Cleveland to plan the grounds. At the time the southern boundary, now Irving Park Road, lay about two miles outside Chicago, in the town of Lake View. Graceland puts its present size at 119 acres, though other sources give 121. It is owned and run by the Trustees of the Graceland Cemetery Improvement Fund, a not-for-profit trust, and the National Park Service lists it on the National Register of Historic Places (January 18, 2001).

Sources differ on who designed the first 80 acres. Graceland credits Cleveland’s plan, with William Le Baron Jenney contributing design and engineering and Ossian Simonds later using native plants for the expanded grounds. Wikipedia credits Swain Nelson with the original layout and Simonds with a 35-acre addition in 1879.

Graceland is often called the “Cemetery of Architects.” Its own monuments page describes the Getty Tomb, designed by Louis Sullivan and named a Chicago landmark in 1971, and the Ryerson tomb, also by Sullivan. It also lists the Potter and Bertha Palmer temple by McKim, Mead & White, the Marshall Field memorial by Henry Bacon with a sculpture titled “Memory” by Daniel Chester French, and the Schoenhofen pyramid, designed by Richard Schmidt in 1893. Architects Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe are among the many notable people buried here.

Eternal Silence is a bronze figure by the sculptor Lorado Taft, made in 1909 and about 10 feet tall. It marks the grave of Dexter Graves, an early Chicago settler. The inscription on the back of the black granite slab says Graves “brought the first colony to Chicago, consisting of 13 families, arriving here July 15, 1831 from Ashtabula, Ohio, on the schooner Telegraph.” Graceland’s sources disagree on his dates: its tour biography gives about 1793 to April 29, 1845, while its monuments page gives 1789 to 1844. WTTW reports that Graves died before Graceland was founded, was first buried elsewhere, and that a son’s will stipulated the family plot at Graceland.

The grave of Inez Clarke holds a statue of a young girl, now kept in a glass case. Graceland’s tour-map biography gives her dates as September 20, 1873, to August 1, 1880. The monument reads “Inez” and carries the surname Clarke. For decades the girl’s identity was in question. Graceland now says it is “all but certain” that she was Inez Briggs, a child from her mother’s earlier marriage.

The legends

The Inez Clarke story has several versions. Graceland’s own biography summarizes them: she died when lightning struck her during a picnic, or when she was locked outside in a storm, and the statue is said to vanish during thunderstorms because she is afraid. Reports of a ghost at the grave circulate online, and the grave draws many visitors who leave toys and other small items.

The Eternal Silence legend is simpler. WTTW and the Chicago History Museum both report the claim that anyone who looks into the figure’s eyes will see their own death. WTTW adds that some people say they have seen the statue’s arms move, and that it is sometimes called “The Statue of Death.” None of the sources reviewed says when or where this story began.

What the record does not support

The lightning and locked-out versions of the Inez story do not match the research. In October 2024, WBEZ reported on a Graceland and DePaul University partnership in which a DePaul graduate, Misha Mikami, spent a year cataloging the items left at the grave and researching Inez’s life for an exhibit called “Offerings: A Year of Visitation to Inez Briggs.” Mikami found an ordinary schoolgirl with divorced parents, who died of diphtheria rather than a lightning strike. The Chicago Sun-Times also describes her death as diphtheria in 1880. The Chicago historian Adam Selzer, speaking to WTTW, reached the same conclusion from old records and said her mother should be let off the hook for the locked-out version. The sources give her age as six (from the monument dates and WBEZ) or about seven (Selzer).

For Eternal Silence, the record gives a bronze figure made in 1909 for a family plot, with a pioneer’s inscription on the slab. It does not give any record of a vision, moving arms or a curse, and no source reviewed ties those stories to Taft or the Graves family.

Visiting

Graceland Cemetery is at 4001 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60613. The phone number is (773) 525-1105. The gates are open 365 days a year. Spring and summer gate hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Fall and winter hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Graceland does not list the dates when the seasons change, so check before a trip. The office is closed on several holidays.

Self-guided visits are free, and a map is available at the office and Visitor Center near the historic entrance. Graceland does not run tours itself. Tour groups must register in advance, and tour buses and other large vehicles are not allowed in. The Chicago Architecture Center lists a two-hour walking tour of the cemetery, with some uneven ground, and Graceland’s tour page also lists the Chicago History Museum. Check their current schedules.

Graceland’s general rules, posted as a document on its Rules and Regulations page and dated January 1, 2020, include these:

  • The speed limit is 15 miles per hour.
  • Food and beverages are not permitted, and alcohol and illegal drugs are prohibited.
  • Recreational activities need written consent from management.
  • Photographing funerals is prohibited, and commercial filming, videotaping or photography needs written permission.
  • Climbing on monuments or trees is prohibited, as is disturbing plants or damaging monuments.
  • Feeding wildlife is prohibited.

An earlier Graceland tour form also listed limits on tripods and pets. They do not appear in the current general rules, so check with the office before bringing either. Rules can change, so confirm the current version before you go.

FAQ

Is Graceland Cemetery haunted?

No source reviewed documents any paranormal event at Graceland. The ghost stories are folklore, and the Inez Clarke story has been publicly corrected by research that Graceland took part in.

Did Inez Clarke die in a lightning strike?

No. WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times and the historian Adam Selzer all report that she died of diphtheria. The lightning and locked-out stories are legends.

Who made the Eternal Silence statue?

Lorado Taft made the bronze figure in 1909 for the monument to Dexter Graves, an early Chicago settler. The story that it shows viewers their own death is folklore.

Can anyone visit Graceland Cemetery?

Yes. Graceland says the cemetery is open to all and that self-guided visits are free. Groups must register in advance, and visitors should follow the posted rules.

More haunted cemeteries: Read about Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, Illinois, Stepp Cemetery in Monroe County, Indiana and Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana.

Sources

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