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A Haunted Sighting LbNA #36360

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Oct 31, 2007
Location:
City:Mount Carroll
County:Carroll
State:Illinois
Boxes:1
Planted by:garfan
Found by: FabFruitcake
Last found:Mar 15, 2014
Status:FFFFFFFaFFFFF
Last edited:Oct 31, 2007
A Haunted Sighting

A Halloween-season visit is especially apropos in Mount Carroll, whose main tourist attraction is a "real" haunted house. For those that believe, there have been many ghostly sightings of souls of unrest. Raven’s Grin Inn’s proprietor will tell you about some of the “ghosts” that live here.

Raven's Grin Inn, a half block north on Carroll Street just off Market, occupies an historic house that Jim Warfield has transformed into a bizarre playground where visitors get actively involved. Refreshingly different from spook houses with the standard chainsaws, monsters, and blood-curdling screams, this one is full of homemade contraptions and clever, quirky, sometimes grotesque surprises.

One highlight is a bed that carries you down a metal chute into the stone-walled basement that was a wine cellar for a bar where Warfield's great-grandfather worked in 1910. The cool vault was a speak-easy during Prohibition. The ride, though, is optional, a relief to tour members who note the sign warning that two people have suffered broken legs while hurtling to the "dungeon" floor below.

On the one-hour tour through Raven Grin's maze of corridors and cluttered rooms, you'll find yourself riding a conveyor through a flap door, searching for hidden doors, and crawling through a few creepy carpeted passageways.

The exterior of vine-enshrouded Raven's Grin Inn, a spectacle in itself, is decorated with loud colors and "landscaped" with old auto parts, a taxi cab body, and weird sculptures. For those interested in “The Tour”, there are regular hours and some special hours, also special tours for birthdays and celebrations. Look in on www.hauntedravensgrin.com for details.

To find my haunted house requires great stealth. This area is especially busy during September, October and November. Travel to the parking area in front of Raven’s Grin and park. Take a look. Are you scared? I am. Follow along the south fence that encloses the yard of Raven’s Grin. At the back of the property is a Boardwalk leading to nowhere. Go past the walk, when you arrive at the back parking lot, stand in the 6th parking space and look toward the rear of Raven’s Grin. Do you see something haunting? Go to the middle of the back fence. Near the tree is a section of board pickets about 4 feet high. Behind the fence is the haunted sighting that you seek.

Stamp in and return the letterbox making sure to rehide it as well as or better than you found it. No inkpad is supplied but Black works very well. There are many night time prowlers around here (none of which are harmful, but some are scary) so please use great caution.