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The Wendego @ The Grove LbNA #26662 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:The Honor Guard
Plant date:Oct 22, 2006
Location:
City:Glenview
County:Cook
State:Illinois
Boxes:1
Found by: dakachebre
Last found:Sep 12, 2009
Status:FFFFFFaFFFFFFFFFm
Last edited:Oct 22, 2006
Just went out to check on the box and it's missing. :(
Check out these other Grove boxes... “The Turtle Pond”, “The Flight of the Owl”, "The Haunted Kennicott House".

We'll look into carving a new stamp soon. The Grove is one of Glenview’s national historic landmarks, and now home of “The Wendego” letterbox. It is at 1421 Milwaukee Avenue, just south of Lake Avenue. This public park has six buildings. Check them out when you visit, though they may not all be open. Hours are 8 am until 4:30 pm weekdays, 9 to 5 on weekends. Walking the trails will be a highlight of your visit to this park. If time permits you can also find, “The Turtle Pond”, “The Flight of the Owl”, "The Haunted Kennicott House" letterboxes too.

You’ll find The Grove on the east side of Milwaukee Avenue. Enter the grounds and drive past a large parking lot on your left. You’ll see a beige house to the right. That’s “The Kennicott House.” It was the home of Chicago’s first medical doctor, Dr. John Kennicott. He arrived in 1834 and built this house in 1856. It was restored in the 1970’s for about $525,000. Tours of the house can be arranged on Sundays from 1 to 4. For more information go to http://www.glenviewparkdist.org/fa-grove-grounds.htm

Park as far away from Milwaukee Avenue as you can past the big parking lot to a smaller one. As you enter that lot you’ll see a sign for the Redfield Estate to your left. Your journey begins by the arched wooden sign that points the way to the Visitor Entrance/Interpretive Center. No Doggies allowed. Walk the paved path.

One of our favorite Native American stories was first heard by us at The Grove around a campfire in the dark of night (actually scared some of the little ones in our group). Follow the clues in this story to find the letterbox and the answer to this legend.

Read through the clues carefully first - it is easy follow the wrong path :)

Many moons ago, there was once a thriving and peaceful Arapaho tribe. They would often times go out on hunting expeditions, leaving their village from the path leading out from under the large arched wooden sign (This may be gone so just head towards the "Interpretative Center").

Then, one season, the hunters began disappearing from their expeditions. Many suspected it was from taking the wrong path on their journey. The young warriors should have stayed on the paved path and continued on to seek the counsel of the wise old owl instead of turning left at their first choice or left across the wooden docks crossing the duckpond.

Others thought the braves did indeed get the owl’s counsel, but turned right just before or just after the homes of the fighting Sioux and lost their way.

Still others believed that after counseling the owl, the braves correctly stayed left all along the path until turning right over a wooden bridge but at such a great speed they skidded through the wooden railings and lost their lives in the waters below.

The village elders knew better. They knew their finest braves had negotiated that bridge and climbed the upward sloping path to where it ends in a clearing.

For they had heard long ago from nearby villages of the horrors of the most evil sort of the strongest, mightiest, and most awful beast that roamed that clearing - the Wendego!

The Wendego had almost wiped out six entire villages that had lived by the banks of a pond near the clearing and forced what was left of them to migrate away and leave nothing but a few hollowed out dead trees behind.

Rather than suffer the same fate, the Arapahos dug an enormous pit at the end of the path to try and trap the vile, man-eating Wendego. The pit has now been filled in and the ground covered in bricks - one for each Arapaho brave killed by the Wendego and six one-foot high pillars for each of the tribes that had been slaughtered and dispersed.

From the center of the pit, the bravest and strongest of the Arapaho hid and waited some 40 paces away at 30o (by compass) hoping to destroy the monster after capturing it in the pit.

Indeed, the mighty Arapaho were cunning and camouflaged their trap so well, that they did, in fact, capture the horrid creature on the first night of the New Moon. Upon its capture, the bravest of the brave Arapaho charged the pit, surrounded it, and without daring to capture even the gaze of the hideous Wendego, threw flaming spears and torches into the pit which had already been lined with dried wood, sawdust, and leaves.

As the inferno overwhelmed evil itself, over the Wendego's blood-curdling screams and shrieks, came a booming voice, cursing the natives, "How dare you try to kill the Wendego. You will see me no longer in this form, but I swear to you that even my ashes will return from the sky each summer to haunt you and suck the blood of your children for evermore."

With that the Wendego seemed to perish and indeed its ashes flew into the sky. All seemed right with the Arapaho again. Then, the following summer, a young brave noticed a gray something floating in the air. Eventually, it actually landed on his neck and delivered a bite before he slapped it and felt a drop of his own blood smeared on his neck.

Legend has it that the first ash of the Wendego returned to their land at the very spot where the Arapaho had kept their fire, spears, and torches near their hiding spot away from the great pit. From the Arapaho hide out, a great tree is within your immediate view that had been hollowed out to use the inner tree and sawdust to line the great pit and feed the inferno that led to the end of the Wendego. Only the core and bark of that tree remain.

With your back to the open core of this tree, look 90 degrees + (not by compass) to your right to a triple-trunked tree (or at least three trunks close together). This is where the Arapaho had hidden their fire, spears, and torches. It's also where the first ash of the Wendego returned to the earth and where under some dead branches at the base of this triple trunk, you will find the result (and stamp) of the curse of the Wendego.

Enjoy!