Elgin's Forgotten Souls Traditional Cache
tasaint: Archived at park district request. Thanks for everyone's visits and kind comments.
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache is hidden near the old Elgin Mental Health Center Cemetery. It is NOT NEAR THE STONES so please do not disturb them in your search. Please approach and park through the Elgin Sports Complex at Soccer Field 6 and BMX Bike area. DO NOT approach through the Mental Health Center. The property now belongs to the City of Elgin and not the Mental Health Center. You are looking for a regular tupperware lock container. This is our first cache. As always, please hide better than you found it.
Thank you to SpongeRob for archiving his cache so I could place this memorial to Elgin's Forgotten Souls at the Hillside Cemetery, and to geognerd for proofing the coordinates and listing. This cemetery is part of the sporting complex and is unmarked.
These people were unclaimed residents of the Elgin Hospital who passed away from 1933 to 1986. They are buried in order of death and the numbers on their stones are the order of death, nothing else. Most residents were sent home to family, or to be buried in their local home town. These residents were not able to be so buried.
The white stones nearer the entrance are the oldest stones -- the ones farther away and nearly buried are newest stones from the 1980's. Some have military stones with them I am told, but I have not found any.
Residents prior to 1933 were buried in Channing Street Cemetery and later Bluff City.
The most famous burial at this cemetery is
Uncle Bob Wilson: Uncle Bob Wilson died at the age of 112 in 1948. He claimed to be a “stud” slave held by John Crenshaw at Hickory Hill, Illinois and that he was used to produce mass amounts of children. He was found on the streets of downtown Chicago in 1941 wandering alone, ill and disheveled. The validity of these stories, however, are in question due to his mental state. Please leave a penny on his grave to visit and show respect.
Please CITO this site. The locals use this place to drink beer and don't clean up after themselves. Also, it is a local dumping ground : (
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
BA SNE FVQR BS GUR PRZRGREL BA CNEX YNAQ ARNE DHNEEL