Okie Pinokie, If You Dare
N 40° 44.172 W 085° 57.696
16T E 587679 N 4509991
A haunted woods with a strange history.
Waymark Code: WMD74J
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 11/28/2011
Views: 11
Turn onto 510 E from SR 124. The long gravel road will end in a circle, this is where you want to park.
Okie Pinokie Woods - You will see a small cluster of pillars at the entrance of a gravel road (510E). This site used to be swampy and marshy and there have been at least 8 decaying bodies found there (reported by Mississinewa Reservoir staff). This site may be an old burial ground of some sort or battlefield, as to the thousands of spirits hiding within the trees. You will drive down this gravel road, and the trees will begin to swarm and intertwine above you. You will then come to a circle. Getting out the car, it is said that if you whistle, someone will begin whistling with you from deep in the forest. It is also said that a noise like a pig squeal and dogs barking can be heard like it is right next to you. And last but NOT least, you will hear screams like a small child is being tortured; supposedly it is a 7-year-old girl named Stephanie. Also, traveling along a path you will find a tree that has indents that appear to be much like deer antlers; HOWEVER, these are horizontal instead of vertical and have a place for an opposable thumb. Warning: DO NOT GO HERE, UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO BE TERRIFIED. (P.S. Do not "Ouija" here for the spirits do not like it.)
The Legend
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 woods into his adulthood and never lost the love of nature.
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 woods 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.
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.
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.
Type: Local Legend or Lore
Referenced in (list books, websites and other media):
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=41aba2fa-0510-44e2-b79b-6643812a0f68
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=875e195d-06f3-4ad7-a86e-b5d9f85b5385
Additional Coordinates: Not Listed
Website Reference: Not listed
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