Indiana Spirit Quest # 399: Posey Chapel Cemetery Traditional Geocache

The Indiana Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries built by Hoosier Pioneers. In just a year and a half, the quest has grown to over three hundred eighty caches hidden in thirty-eight Indiana counties, and two Ohio counties, and the hiders have grown to twentytwo cacher teams, most of which of which are comprised of Dogs and their Humans. Over 750 cacher teams have logged over 8,900 finds. One cache machine found 102 ISQ caches in a single day (daylight hours only).

Photo taken around 1938

Posey Chapel was built in 1841 and stood on top of this hill until the 1970's, when it burned down. Now all that remains is a well maintained cemetery and a newly built pavillion.

The top of the hill is one of the best places to see the rolling glacial hills that cover much of the northern part of the county. These hills that you see on all sides are part of a great belt of glacial ridges which border the entire southern rim of Lake Michigan from Wisconsin, through Illinois and Indiana, and well up into Michigan. The hills make up what is known as the Valparaiso Moraine, created about 16,000 years ago when the Wisconsin Glacier dropped huge quantities of rock rubble here as it retreated northward from southern Indiana. This moraine area is about 10 miles broad in La Porte County and in places reaches over 300 feet above Lake Michigan. From the crest of the moraine the land slopes down to the sand dunes along Lake Michigan on the north and to the Kankakee River Valley to the south. The northern hills contrast strikingly with the nearly flat land near the Kankakee River which at one time was a vast, broad marsh.

This is the stone of John Carruthers, who died June 6, 1877 he was 36 Ys, 2 Ms and 21Ds old.

There is a second "History" of Posey Chapel that has brought many people to visit the cemetery over the years.
It goes something like this:

The orginal church that once stood here, burned to the ground back in the 1800's with many worshipers inside. A former preacher hung himself from a tree that is just inside the gate. People have reported seeing apparitions, including that of the preacher hanging from the tree.

This is What's left of "The Hanging Tree"

The pavilion is located where the chapel once stood and is the center of most of the activity. A pair of red glowing eyes, and red orbs have also been reported moving around the woods which are near the pavilion.

The Pavilion

People have also heard whispers, but they are so faint that what is being said can not be understood. Once you enter the property you are overwhelmed, your heart starts pounding, and an indescribable heaviness is felt. Some have claimed to see the apparition of a woman in white on the top of the hill. People have also reported hearing disembodied voices, the faint sound of music and a woman singing, although what the woman is singing can not be made out.

NOTE:
If you do a google search on Posey Chapel, you will find many websites pertaining to the haunting of Posey Chapel Cemetery. We do not recommend going here after dark and ISQ will not allow any caching logs that indicates night caching. The haunting information was supplied for amusement purposes only.

* * * THIS IS A GENUINE INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST CACHE -- ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES! * * *

The cache container is a Camo'd M & M tube.