6-Nov-15 – 25-year-old Jacqueline Marie Michon had moved to Chicago a year earlier from California and some of her west coast friends were in town to visit. On August 6, 2011, she was riding her bicycle home from a night at Lollapalooza, where they had met up.

At about 10:45 p.m., she was between a dump truck and a four-door sedan that were stopped at a light near Wacker Drive & Wabash Avenue.

She lost her balance and fell near the rear of the truck but before she could get up, the light turned green, the truck moved forward, and she was crushed under its rear wheel. She died a short time later at a hospital.

According to a post on mybikeadvocate .com, “Michon was no wobbly newcomer to cycling. She was a passionate cyclist, spinning instructor, hiker, and rock climber.” (Left) Jacqueline Marie Michon.

Today, a “ghost bike” stands near where she fell, across the street from Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist. In the morning, reflected sunlight shines across the white bones of the bike and creates a subtle and sublime glow that speaks not so much of tragedy, but of memory.

A short history of Ghost Bikes

The phenomena began in St. Louis in 2003. After Patrick Van Der Tuin witnessed a motorist strike a bicyclist in a bike lane, he placed a white-painted bike at the spot with a sign reading, BICYCLIST STRUCK HERE.

The effect on motorists was immediately noticeable and so Van Der Tuin and friends placed 15 more bikes in prominent spots in St. Louis where cyclists had recently been hit by cars. They often used very damaged bikes to create the desired “mangled effect.”

This strategy caught on fast and a similar project began in Pittsburgh in 2004. In the following years, ghost bikes appeared in New York, Chicago, Albuquerque, Seattle, and Toronto. London Ghostcycle was launched in 2006 and from there the program became a worldwide mobilization.

(Right) A ghost bike in memory of Liza Whitacre, a Loyola University student killed in a 2009 accident in the Lake View neighborhood north of the Loop.

Chicago operation works quietly

The ghost bike organization in Chicago is almost as ephemeral as the spirits they so reverently honor.

There is no office or phone number. It is a small group of concerned citizens with varying amounts of time, a truly independent effort that bridges the sub-communities of the Chicago bike scene and attends to the placement and care of local ghost bikes.

On thechainlink.org, Chicago’s main website for connecting cyclists to all things bicycle, there are years of posted correspondence with questions like, “I had a friend who was killed on his bicycle years ago near Ridge & Fargo. How come he didn’t get a ghost bike?”

To which the reply post answers, “Anyone can make a ghost bike and in terms of how it comes to be that a bunch of people who didn’t know a rider decide to make a ghost bike, the biggest factor is the awareness level of the tragedy.”

These days, as Chicago hustles to improve its biker-friendly ambience with miles of new, highly visible and protected bike lanes, any cyclist accident is heavy on the web radar and in the news media, but unfortunately, ghost bike numbers are increasing.

(Left) A ghost bike in Logan Square honoring Jepson Livingston, killed in 2009 in what police say was a road rage incident.

In 2010, Governor Pat Quinn proclaimed in an executive order that May 19 would be “Ride of Silence Day,” on which hundreds of bike riders follow a prescribed route through the city past many ghost bikes and stop at each one for a moment of silence. This ride has become an annual event and the date and travel map are always published on thechainlink.org.

Sometimes a post will announce that some of the bikes are dirty and need cleaning or painting and individuals will then volunteer to take on each project. They are requested to show up with cans of spray paint, cleaning supplies, newspaper, and masking tape, and then post a photo when the job is done.

Usually a memorial service is organized when a new bike is installed and friends and relatives are invited to take part. Sometimes a family will grow weary of the mourning process and ask that a bike be taken down. Organizers will verify this request and the bike will be removed.

Will ghost bikes haunt a killer?

This online conversation was in reference to the fact that some of the bike fatalities are hit-and-runs and the drivers have not yet been identified or apprehended.

One post theorized that the “hitter” may have fabricated a series of events where he or she has become the victim and the slain cyclist the bad guy.

Another post offers a possibility inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart in which the guilty motorist is forced to drive by the ghost bike every day because it is on his daily route and slowly he is driven insane from guilt.

ghostbikes.org, based in New York, was dedicated to cataloging all memorial bikes in the country. Its most recent count was 800 bikes in more than 100 cities but in 2012, the website stopped updating the numbers.

Ghost bikes are welcome in cities to various degrees. In bike-friendly Austin, Texas, some bikes are permanently cemented to the ground but San Diego has an ordinance against them and removes the bikes.

In Chicago, ghost bike organizers speak with guarded optimism, saying their goal “is to make this group unnecessary.”