Cave In Rock

I love to travel, but if you look, most of us can find a lot neat places to learn about and visit in our own back yards. With the economy the way it is, now is a perfect time to take advantage of what you've already got.

We recently traveled through Cave-In-Rock, Illinois to cross the ferry to get to Kentucky and stopped in to see the cave again. The town is named for the 55-foot-wide cave that was carved out of the limestone rock by water thousands of years ago. It is steeped in bloody history. It was a great hideout. There is a rocky cliff with the entrance to the cave under it. It was perfect to perch up there and wait for you victims... if you were a villain that is. As people were floating down the river henchmen would disable their boats or force them toward the yawning hollow, where the hapless pilgrims would be robbed, or worse. Few victims lived to tell their story according to the history.

There is a book by historian Otto A. Rothert

"The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock"

that tells the story of the gang, The Notorious Harpe Brothers, a pair of killers fleeing execution in Kentucky. If you can find it, it's a quick read and I found it interesting I guess because it (the cave) is something that I can see and touch and visit. The cave has names carved in it everywhere. There are some really old ones too. We saw one that was 1859 I believe. I'm not quite sure how they got to the ceiling of the cave unless the floor of the cave has changed since then.

The cave also served as a backdrop for the movie “How The West Was Won.” If places can be haunted, I'd be willing to bet this place would be.

If you have time and are interested in this sort of thing click on the above link for the Harpe Brothers, it is interesting.