On August 26, 1991 around 5:52pm a 39 year old man was filming the last of the Burlington Northern E9 locomotives in the Chicagoland Area, Downers Grove. When 41 year old Mary T. Wojtyla and her unnamed lawyer walking to finalize divorce papers with Mary's husband ignored the crossing warnings and tried to beat the train. She was struck by the train at 68mph. Her body was flung into the camera and into a crossing control hut behind the camera, she died instantly from impact from the train. Her estate tried to sue Metra for wrongful death but it was dismissed shortly after. There was no injury to any of the bystanders including the lawyer.
In early 2021 this video was used as a shock video on TikTok:
Here is a very low quality version that I found on a 2006 railroad forum:
A&E also did a part on this:
The camera kept recording after it was knocked down and was recording for about 20 minutes before the incident, but the full footage of it is considered Lost Media. Banned From Television has some of the footage before the incident. There are no hints to the full videos current location.
Here is her grave:
Her obituary:
The railroad crossing:
The locomotive:
Her death was also used at 39:15 on Banned From Television (Vol. 1):
https://watchpeopledie.tv/h/compilation/post/13393/banned-from-television-1998
A look on the locomotives from a railfan:
Myths:
The camera man was not filming with his son/grandson.
The camera man or any bystanders were not stuck by the body.
The police didn't have the engineer reenact it.
The engineer knew he hit someone and stopped.
There are no aftermath police photos.
The locomotive is not abandoned, it's preserved in Tennessee.
The locomotives built in the 1950's as EMD E8A or E9A locomotives and were originally built for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad and served in passenger service unit 1970 where there were merged into Burlington Northern, they were quickly repainted. All were rebuilt in 1973 by Morrison-Knudsen and renumbered to 9900-9925. After the formation of Metra the locomotive were transferred to them via lease. The locomotive focused on is BN 9912. Most EMD first generation locomotives were retired in the 1970-80's but theses lasted until 1992 when all where finally retired. Burlington Northern merged with the Santa Fe in 1996 to make Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
Last BN Number | First BN Number | CB&Q Number | Build Date | Name | Notes
9900 | 9935 | 9942B | 1950 | (None)
9901 | 9938 | 9938A | 1949 | Village of Clarendon Hills
9902 | 9939 | 9939A | 1950 | Village of Westmont
9903 | 9940 | 9940A | 1950 | City of Naperville
9904 | 9977 | 9977 | 1953 | Village of Lisle
9905 | 9967 | 9967 | 1952 | (None)
9906 | 9972 | 9972 | 1953 | (None)
9907 | 9973 | 9973 | 1953 | (None)
9908 | 9976 | 9976 | 1953 | (None)
9909 | 9996 | 9989A | 1956 | (None) | Renumbered to BN 3 immediately after rebuilding
9910 | 9980 | 9985B | 1955 | Edwin S. Putz
9911 | 9981 | 9986B | 1955 | City of Berwyn
9912 | 9982 | 9987B | 1955 | Village of Brookfield
9913 | 9983 | 9988B | 1955 | Village of La Grange
9914 | 9984 | 9989B | 1955 | Village of Riverside
9915 | 9985 | 9985A | 1955 | Village of Hinsdale
9916 | 9986 | 9986A | 1955 | James M. Gag
9917 | 9987 | 9987A | 1955 | Village of Western Springs
9918 | 9988 | 9988A | 1955 | Robert W. Beilfuss
9919 | 9989 | 9989B | 1955 | Joseph F. Coyne
9920 | 9990 | 9990 | 1954 | Roy H. Birklund
9921 | 9991 | 9991 | 1954 | Angelo Patria / Andy Sardinia
9922 | 9992 | 9992 | 1954 | Joseph Kolar
9923 | 9993 | 9993 | 1954 | Aaron D. Morton
9924 | 9994 | 9994 | 1954 | Walter T. Stanuch
9925 | 9995 | 9995 | 1954 | Jorge Iorgulescu
Separate footage from the parking lot next to the crossing:
A modern look:
This image of her is not actually her (thanks @I_Have):
The Link:
https://www.ncregister.com/blog/requiem-for-susan
FOIA requests:
NTSB
FRA
Downers Grove Police
My other post on this:
https://watchpeopledie.tv/h/accident/post/48008/train-girl-the-death-of-mary
One of the articles I mentioned asked to be removed as a source, but because the post was older than 30 days I reposted it and deleted the original.
Slavshit
Sandshit
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Video of people beating the train at that exact same crossing (1992):
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One of the articles I mentioned as a source asked to be removed, but because the post was older than 30 days I reposted it and deleted the original.
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Her husband has to be one of the luckiest bastards alive. His soon-to-be ex-wife got smoked right before they finalized their divorce. No alimony, no child support, no custody arrangements, no bitchy ex to deal with.
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…or maybe he was an abusive asshole and she was finally pulling free- couldn't wait to sign her release papers from him- and BOOM 🚆
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why marry an abusive asshole? actually the way she died might explain it
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This was one of the first shock videos I saw on Ogrish back in the day and it scarred me. Many years later, it's mild gore compared to the shit that's out there now, lol.
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I just watched the top video here where a person got scorpioned by a bus and the red smear hit the fence next to a lady and her dog. Wont forget that one anytime soon holy shit
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They added a fence in the middle and posted a $500 fine if you cross it
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Is a 39 year old woman still a girl?
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That's what the video is called
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No. But the video was shot on a camcorder, and when it first hit the internet, it'd be played as a 144p gif. So at that quality you couldn't tell if she was 17 or 70.
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some people just cant wait just a few seconds.
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Got into it with a woman at a gas station over this. Just wait a few seconds and we can all move up. But no bitch wants to start shit. Would not be surprised if she finds herself in a tough spot like this one.
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anyone else videos freeze after watching 4-5 videos
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omg yes
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So annoying
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You can see after he checks left side he turns his head back at her, most likely telling her "let's go".
So how the fuck do you casually see a speeding train just emerge a few meters from you face and just go "shucks". He could've extend his right arm to stop her, fuck.
RIP Mary 😔
Long live this classic recording
Thank you for qualityposting
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This is my 3rd post of this incident,
1. https://watchpeopledie.tv/h/accident/post/48008/train-girl-the-death-of-mary This was my first ever post
2. Was a copy of this one but one of the sources asked to be removed but it was over 30 days old so I couldn't edit it, so I decided to make a new one, added to it and deleted the old version.
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Plot twist he knew her husband
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Guy Bilzerian is known for playing both sides of the coin
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He was worried for his own ass thats why
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Maybe the husband paid the lawyer to get the wife killed by the train so he doesn't have to pay alimony.
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what a shitty shock video even for tiktok standards
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Damn. About to start a new chapter in her life, but ended the story instead.
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what a idiot fr
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This is literally THE first ever death vid i ever saw online. I must've been like 12 when i first saw it in some old fail video on youtube back in 2007
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This is ‘The' gore video.
Is this the video you saw:
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I've been to the station where it happened. There's a really good Gelato shop across the tracks :)
I love the compilation of trains before and after the incident. The late 80s/early 90s were kind of a transitional period for American railroads so there was a great diversity of trains. Some of the locomotives in the compilation are still pulling trains to this day, just with different paint jobs and several overhauls over the years. And then the F7s like the one that hit traingirl had been long retired by most other railroads. When this happened, there were already F7s getting put on display in museums. Metra kept those things running for as long as they could.
Also holy shit a 41 year old in 1991 was born in 1949. I know it's simple math but fuck, she'd be 74 today. Old enough to run for president.
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Did she really expected to outrun a train? What a fucking dumbass..
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Alimony denied bitch!
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Nice post 🤭
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Wonderful post, thank you for being respectful to the victim. Well typed and researched
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Can you travel back in time and take a picture of the aftermath please ?
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Nice breakdown
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I remember this from Banned From Television. Before internet there were VHS tapes like Banned From Television and Ttaces of Death.
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and https://rotten.com!
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Ironically enough, this happened because she was following her husband's lead rather than using her own senses
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It was her lawyer
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In other words, the last dick that was inside her.
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What a fucking idiot that lawyer was. He missed the entire life ending impact of his client when he turned her back to her.
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God bless her
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I'm not even sure what your point is. Yeah I'd rather sleep with a dakimakura of my waifu Renge-chan than with some random 3D slut but that doesn't mean I'm desperate, it's the opposite, it implies that I have standards
Snapshots:
https://videos.watchpeopledie.tv/1707263052433124.mp4:
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https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7956942,-87.99465,3a,75y,108.69h,67.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6NysndHeEivGR00UUyuSdg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu:
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This is karma for trying to ruin her kids lives by getting a divorce and destroying their family.
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Divorce is better than a toxic family dynamic. She put her kids first.
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My dad left me at age 3 and my mother babied me fml.....
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