Did You Know Illinois has a Cave that Pirates Used for Hiding?

How am I now just learning that Illinois has this incredible cave after living here for 30 plus years?!?

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The website called atlasobscura.com is designed to help you find fun and obscure things for you to do in your state, and I am so glad I went searching on it today to find this incredible cave here in Illinois that I have to check out as soon as I can!

The cave is called Cave-In-Rock and it is located at the very southern tip of Illinois right on the Ohio River that separates Illinois and Kentucky. On the website they describe the cave as...

"Cave-In-Rock is a fairly peaceful public park feature. But it has a storied history of gambling, prostitution, piracy, murder, and general villainy...From around 1790, Cave-in-Rock was base camp for a group of river pirates who would ambush flatboats carrying cargo down the Ohio River. Pirates, bandits, fugitives, and murderers used the cave as a sort of hideout and hangout where they could scheme, gamble, drink, whore, and even kill. People are said to have been forced off the cliff above the cave to their death."

I had no idea anything like this ever happened along the rivers in the early days of the United States!

You can read more about Cave-In-Rock and see pictures of it by clicking here! 

These are the types of cool hidden gems in the state of Illinois that I want to check out, when you talk about going on a summer road trip of course going to Chicago for a Cubs game and some museum fun is amazing. BUT how could you not want to check out this incredible cave with such a fascinating history!