Grove Road is a short, gravel road tied into the one mile road system East of the small town of Elwood. Grove Road was sucked into the Joliet Arsenal property in the early 1940's when the Army purchased thousands of acres for a munitions factory to supply bombs and shells for the war effort. A short piece of Grove Road still remains outside the Arsenal fencing.
Triangled between the Arsenal and the Wauponsee Glacial Trail and Grove Road is a small family cemetery called North Ridge. Records are unclear when this cemetery was first used or how many souls are at rest here and maintenance is haphazard. In the daytime, it looks forlorn, at nighttime it is distinctly menacing and downright frightening.
I had spent a delightful fall day riding the bike trails at the old Arsenal and picking off hidden geocaches. Time always gets away from me when I am geocaching and I suddenly realized that I was running out of daylight. Midewin is not a spot to hang around in alone at night. I had parked my car at the Chicago Road Trailhead parking lot - fortunately I had waypointed it with my trusty Montana GPS. Experience has taught me that cellphones are useless out here so to navigate the quickest and fastest way I checked the map on my GPS. I immediately noted that it would be much easier and faster to ride outside arsenal property, take the first road north and then double back west to the Parking Lot. I knew from previous visits here that there were several access routes out of the fencing that surrounded Midewin, so I started following the trail closest to the fenceline looking for a way out. Soon, I found what I had been looking for - a path that led from the Midewin trail past the fence to a gravel roadway heading East. A faded sign marked it as Grove Road Gate. I exited the old Arsenal property and pedaled my way down Grove Road in the dusk, glad that I had included my headlamp in my gear. I noticed the old cemetery on my left and I knew my northerly roadway would be appearing soon. My headlamp caught the glint of something in the roadway and when I stopped to check it out I found it to be a large, plastic bucket with several empty beer bottles spilling out. "Darn kids" I complained as I dismounted to load the trash into my bike basket. Always time for a CITO, I reflected. As I reached down, I froze as I noticed a huge footprint indented in the soft earth at the road edge. What is THAT? I followed the indented grass with my light and found it heading into the cemetery. I slowly scanned the dark cemetery with my headlamp hoping not to see anything, unsure of what I would find. At that point I noticed a very foul odor in the night time air and in the same instant I realized that it was quiet.....DEAD quiet. No sound here, no crickets, frogs - NOTHING.....and that SMELL......... Then, my headlamp caught an odd shine behind a bush surrounding an old, tall upright bronze marker, I forced myself to make sense of what I was looking at Two Red/Orange orbs reflecting back at me, 8 feet in the air and about 150 feet away. Then the orbs BLINKED! I fumbled for my bike and with a running push I started pedaling for my life - scattering beer bottles that clinked as they hit the gravel. 15 minutes later, I arrived at my vehicle and I pressed the unlock on my remote, dumped my bike in the parking lot and dove into the car. I stayed there, frozen, for 2 hours until I worked up the courage to strap my bike on the rack and leave.
I hope and pray that no one EVER places a cache in this cemetery or along Grove Road................