This
is an extremely challenging cache and caution should be used
when seeking it. Having said that, I would like to point out
that no special equipment is needed for this cache however
you should be in an at least good physical condition and
children should be monitored very closely.
By now
you have probably seen the other cache listing
Okie Pinokie, If You Dare and read the stories that go with it.
The whistling from deep in the woods, the screams of a young girl,
dog and pig noises, etc. Well now I’m going to put a name and a
face with part of the Okie story. Mississinewa staff has reported
at least eight decaying bodies found in this forest but we never
knew the story behind them until now.
Joey
Peoria grew up playing, camping and hunting in this forest and knew
the area inside and out. His mother would often say that as a boy
there were more of the woods on Joey’s clothes than in the woods.
Joey was constantly bringing home frogs, snakes, and green geckos
much to his mothers delight. This place was truly his childhood
playground. He continued to frequent the Okie into his adulthood
and never lost the love of nature.
Camping in the Okie in 1973
In
early spring 1976 Joey and three of his friends strolled into the
woods to go camping and never came out. It was several days before
anyone became concerned because they had planned on spending an
extended weekend in the woods as they often did. Four days after
they walked into the forest a search party discovered the partially
decaying bodies of three young men. The men had been brutally
murdered and could barely be identified. Joey Peoria was never
found or seen again. After an extensive investigation it was
determined that an argument occurred between the campers and it was
suspected that Joey had killed the three men.
Several years later Joey’s wife confessed to having an affair
with one of the men Joey was camping with. She was concerned
because she thought Joey might suspect the affair but she was sure
he couldn’t know with whom. After the story of the affair was made
public the locals were sure that Joey did the killing and that the
Okie was now haunted.
Between 1980 and 1985 five more young men were found dead in
the same scenic area as the first three. People stopped going into
the woods as they were convinced that Joey had lived there all
these years and was completely evil.
Last known photo of Joey
It is
believed that sometime after the eighth murder the spirit of a
British soldier who was killed in 1812 intervened and stopped Joey
from killing anymore. Local legend says that his spirit was
captured in an ammo can and tucked away never to be heard from
again. Finding and opening this can would only be asking for
trouble so don’t do it.
The
“Joey Peoria” story is only a small part of spiritual history
housed within this woods, there are literally thousands of spirits
out there all with a different story, some good and some
bad.
