GHOST STORIES II Traditional Geocache
mocha monkey: Floods took away it and the tree it was secured to. Long gone.
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Night Cache, Wooded terain, watch your step. You will need a flashlight and possibly boots. Watch the edge of ditch when entering woods. Park at 42*08.253N/093*34.034W walk down gravel road on East Side of river to starting point.
This is a night cache that corresponds to a ghost story. This will take you into the woods and to the tree in the story. It really is one of the largest diameter maple trees in Iowa. If you have never done a night cache, you use flashlights and in this case follow the fairies in the woods to the soul stealing tree, at night. The cache is not going to be horrible to find but is not going to be obvious since it already disappeared from there once, while I was working on this (hmmm, Disappearing from near the tree? How Odd. hmmmm.) You will NOT need to go to near the river's edge. Permit granted and is on file. Be careful watch your step on the deer trail and have a scary time....
“Grandpa, I was out in the woods and found a huge maple tree. Why is it so much bigger then all the others in the area?” Jimmy asked.
The winter wind kicked up, rattled the windows and shook the house as if the very wood it was made of shuddered in fear. Jimmy’s grandfather didn’t say anything at first but Jimmy could tell he was in deep thought and disturbed by what he had heard. After what seemed like an eternity he finally spoke. “Jimmy, how many times have I told you to never, NEVER, go into that area of the woods?!”
Jimmy sat down near the crackling fire upset that his grandfather had scolded him. Picked up a small piece of bark and proceeded to dig his finger nails deep into the underside of it.
“Jimmy” his grandfather said after a bit. “Let me tell you why I was so gruff with you and why you shouldn’t go into that part of the woods.” Jimmy sat staring at the fire, listening, but doing his best to not seem to care what he was saying. “Long ago when your grandmother, rest her soul, and I moved here, there was a group of Native Americans that lived across the road, up on the ridge. They would occasionally come down to the edge of our northern woods and pick up nuts but would never venture any further then the edge. One day, I went up to their encampment to ask one of the tribal leaders why they just didn’t go in further to where some bigger oaks were. This is what I was told and what happened to me when I went to check it out.”
Jimmy turned and looked at his grandfather. He was sitting there more somber then he had ever seen him. The fire light flickering was the only light illuminating him and Jimmy thought he could make out fear in his face.
“Long ago there was a strange medicine man that came to the camp. This medicine man was rumored to be able to talk to the trees and would just sit for hours on end talking to that very one. They told me that this tree and the medicine man exchanged secrets. One day a brave heard the medicine man telling the tree about stealing human souls and enslaving them. When the brave heard this, he reported it to his tribal leaders. The tribal leaders confronted the medicine man and asked him what he had told the tree. The medicine man refused to tell the leaders and they promised to punish him that next day. That night the medicine man was caught leaving the camp and heading toward the tree with a small boy. They took the medicine man down to the tree in the dark. The trees lit their path by mysteriously glowing in the light of their torches. The tribal leaders hung him from a low thick branch by his wrists. As the life slowly faded from the medicine man, all present heard him whisper to the tree that it could use their souls to pump water directly to its roots and live forever. Later that year 3 small boys disappeared from the tribe and the sounds of a metal pump started being heard echoing in the valley. The leaders went to the tree and saw their souls looking at them through the bark with glowing eyes. The leaders ordered no one to go near that tree again and to never enter those woods at night. A while after hearing this tale I was cutting through the woods at night, heading back from town. I walked right by that big old tree and heard what sounded like an old metal pump. It screeched and howled and sent a chill up my spine. I turned in the direction of the tree and could see three sets of eyes looking from deep within the tree directly at me! I turned to get away and a giant limb came crashing down and tried to wrap itself around me. I managed to tear myself free and ran through the woods to the house. Since then I have read in the Story City Tribune of more the a dozen people who have disappeared after last being seen near the tree. If you listen closely you can sometimes hear the sounds of their souls pumping water! So never, EVER, go near that tree again Jimmy! Promise!" Jimmy's grandfather insisted.
Jimmy rather skeptically said, “Ya, okay grandpa what ever, I promise.”
A month later Jimmy came to visit his grandfather again. His first night there, he snuck out of the house through an open window and was spotted by his grandfather running into those woods with a flashlight in his hand. His family, friends and neighboring towns people looked and looked for Jimmy and never did find him. They all thought his grandfather had done something to him since he never helped look, instead he sat day after day talking to that big old tree….”
Special thanks to Jake The Elder for the assist.
NOTE: This cache has disappeared 3 times. Once to muggles, twice to floods. The second time I found it several hundred yards South of the location, last time is was gone with no signs of it. I have made some adjustments to the container and its placement. Thanks for being patient and with out further ado.... let the stories continue!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur erq rlrf znl ybbx vagb lbh, ohg qba'g yrg gurz fpner lbh JUVGR!!!