On December 4, 1993, a deer hunter found an unusual cache here. It
was found in the midst of a mysterious site that appeared to be
some kind of a shrine. The centerpiece of the site was a large
triangular rock with "Tony + Joyce, My Lady ~ My Love" carved into
it. This rock was flanked by handmade stone walls that had traces
of a residue that appeared to be wax from candles that had burned
there. The lone item set up on this makeshift altar was an unopened
pack of cigarettes tucked neatly under a glass bottle. An empty
picture frame was nailed to a nearby tree and a faded Polaroid
photograph was found at its base. The cache was found beside the
altar under a large flat rock. It was a coffee can that contained a
small picture of a woman in a bathing suit, a six-inch statue of a
boy and girl hugging, and a half-dozen pieces of female
undergarments – panties in the woods!
The authorities were notified and the state police in Greensburg
were called in to investigate. They brought in a team of ten
searchers with bloodhounds but no evidence of foul play was found.
Nevertheless, it was decided that the mystery of this strange site
and the cache of panties in the woods warranted further
investigation. They were concerned for the safety of the woman in
the pictures because they thought that she might possibly be a
crime victim. Who was she? Was this Joyce? What had happened to
her? Was she in any danger? Did she or Tony have a permit to hide
this cache of panties in the woods? The investigation dragged on
for almost two weeks before the mystery was solved.
If you want to know the end of this story, you'll have to find
the cache…
Note: I swear that I didn't make this stuff up! This really did
happen and my account of it is factual. But that isn't the half of
it! In my quest to find the perfect hiding spot, I found the actual
site where this happened! I was aiming for a spot true to the
newspaper accounts which described it as being "at the face of a
steep hill, about 150 yards from a tower complex along Weaver Road
in Forbes State Forest". Try to imagine my surprise when I stumbled
across THE rock with "Tony + Joyce" etched into it! It's still
legible! I swear that I absolutely did not create this graffito for
this cache! I found no other evidence of the shrine that was here
once upon a time but if you do happen to find a coffee can with
panties in it, you've found the wrong cache!
This cache is in Forbes State Forest. Permit expires:
09/29/08
