Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA rural Lake County burial ground whose earliest known grave is believed to date to 1847, and whose glowing orbs, phantom black automobiles, and spectral figures along Cuba Road have made it one of Illinois's most documented haunted cemeteries.
26273 W Cuba Rd, Barrington, IL 60010
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit during open hours
Access
Limited Access
Gravel path and uneven ground among headstones; iron fence perimeter
Equipment
Photos OK
One of the oldest active cemeteries in Cuba Township, Lake County · Founded by Thomas White (1844 settler) and Innis Hollister, 1855 · Burials include War of 1812 veteran Francis Kelsey · Administered by Cuba Township since 1983 restoration
White Memorial Cemetery sits in Cuba Township, Lake County, Illinois, on the south side of Cuba Road roughly a quarter-mile west of Route 59. The earliest known grave is believed to be dated 1847, before the cemetery's formal organization; how the property was used before the 1855 charter is unknown. Thomas White, who settled the area around 1844, and local landowner Innis Hollister officially chartered the White Cemetery Association in 1855 under Illinois law, giving the burial ground its enduring name.
The cemetery received veterans of multiple conflicts. Francis Kelsey, a naval captain who served in the War of 1812, is among the earliest notable burials. Families with deep roots in Cuba Township — including the Pomeroy, Rieke, Bennett, and Kelsey families — are well represented among the older stones.
By the late twentieth century the cemetery had fallen into disrepair. Cuba Township assumed ownership in 1983 and undertook restoration of headstones, grounds, and the perimeter iron fence. Today the township maintains the property on an ongoing basis and the cemetery remains open for new interments.
The surrounding road corridor, Cuba Road, developed a separate notoriety beginning in the 1960s. Arlington Heights historian Bev Ottaviano has connected some Cuba Road legends to the Prohibition era, when Chicago-area gangsters used the lake-studded region around Barrington and Lake Zurich for recreation and illicit business. Urban legends, some of them traced by ghost researcher Dale Kaczmarek to a Palatine schoolteacher who fabricated stories in the 1960s, layered additional lore onto the landscape.
Sources
Paranormal accounts at White Cemetery on Cuba Road date at minimum to the 1960s and have been investigated and documented by several independent researchers. The most commonly reported phenomenon is glowing white orbs of light that hover above individual headstones before drifting off into the surrounding fields. Witnesses have described these lights as basketball-sized, occasionally accompanied by hazy, human-shaped luminescent figures that ease through the iron fence and fade into the road corridor.
The phantom vehicle legend is the most unusual element. According to multiple independent accounts documented by author Michael Kleen (citing three *Chicago Tribune* articles from 1993–2005), witnesses observe a black automobile — described variously as a car or limousine — traveling Cuba Road, turning into the cemetery entrance, and simply disappearing. Some witnesses report the car travels in silence; others describe it as translucent. Paranormal researcher Dale Kaczmarek investigated the road corridor and concluded that while some accounts were fabricated legends, a residual core of reports appeared consistent across unconnected witnesses.
Troy Taylor's American Hauntings research documented additional phenomena: the crunch of invisible footsteps in the leaf litter along the fence line, and toppling headstones with no apparent wind or seismic cause. Taylor noted that the broader Cuba Road corridor also features a reported phantom old woman carrying a lantern, and a vanished farmhouse.
Arlington Heights historian Bev Ottaviano suggested some of the road's legends may have a mundane origin in Prohibition-era gangster traffic through the region, with unusual vehicles and nocturnal activity absorbed into local folklore over decades. Researcher Dale Kaczmarek explicitly attributed some White Cemetery legends to a Palatine-area schoolteacher who fabricated stories in the 1960s, but maintained that a separate authentic core predated those fabrications.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Explore the headstones (the earliest known grave is believed to date to 1847), walk the Cuba Road shoulder where phantom vehicle sightings are concentrated, and photograph the iron-fenced perimeter where orb phenomena are most frequently reported.
Drive the stretch of Cuba Road at night to observe the road corridor associated with phantom car and spook-light reports; daylight drive recommended for solo or first-time visitors.
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