Dad's Cabin

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window." That was the message that was left on my phone one night. It was the Sheriff of the county why the heck up north where my Dad started building a cabin back in the 50's but never finished. The Sheriff said they were just out doing what they do I guess, and drove by the cabin and saw a light. No one has been up there in years. My Mom was just talking about selling the land. The Sheriff said he didn't see anyone around it but that we should come up and investigate. Really? Isn't that your job? But my husband said, "what the heck, it's not that late, it's Friday and we have the weekend, let's go. Plus I've never been there".

So off we went. 9:30 on Friday night there wasn't any traffic. The directions were go up Highway 65 until you get to mile marker 200 and go left. We had 160 or so to go. It was a beautiful night and the drive was stress free. When we got to the 200 mile marker we took our left. I hadn't been to the cabin in 20 years or so. But I remembered you go til you can't go any further. The driveway was on the dead end. Unless someone had built something along the road it would be deserted. And it was.

We could see that there were recent tire tracks in the road but everything was so over grown it was impossible to see the cabin. How did the Sheriff see a candle? Was he in a helicopter? We drove on 100 feet or so and there was a downed tree. Crap, we would have to get out and walk the rest of the way. It was pitch black. Not a sound could be heard. Just an occasional mosquito buzzing my head. I was getting spooked and was ready to call it quits when we saw the cabin. No candle in the window. Just blackness. Thank goodness that my husband had his super deluxe flashlight that I had said was over-kill.

We made it to the porch, if you could call it that. Broken and rickety we made our way up. The door was hanging by one lone nail in the remaining hinge. It fell off as soon as we touched it. We could see that many animals had taken and abandoned residency over the years. Windows were broken and dirt and dust was everywhere. Everywhere but for a corner in the kitchen. Someone or something has cleaned it off. We took the flashlight and got down on our knees to see what it was. It definitely had been cleaned by a human. There was a loose plank in the floor. Bob pulled it up with hesitation for fear of an animal or something would leap out at him. It made me feel good to see he was nervous as I was. I know I'm a chicken at heart but this was really spooky. My Dad had told us stories of how the Chicago Mafia back in the late 20's used to come to Minnesota and how a dead body had been found down the road from the cabin that was a mobster. He said it was also a big MoonShine (illegal liquor for you youngsters) spot for bootleggers. There had been tall tales of money having been buried.

We looked in the hole. And there was a package. It must have been put in there years ago because we could barley make it out even with the mega flashlight. But it was there. An old leather satchel of some sort. Bob was reluctant to pull it out so I went and got it. He almost screamed when I did it, I surprised him so by my aggressive action. I don't know why but I just had to know what was in it.

We got it out on the counter of the kitchen. It had some writing on it but it was illegible from years of being in the dirt. And it had a rusted lock on it. I was curious but also freaked out. I told Bob to take the bag and let's get out of here. He agreed that it was almost midnight and we had a long drive back home because we couldn't stay here, that was for sure.

We drove home in quiet contemplation I guess is how I felt. When I asked him what he thought was in the bag, he said probably old papers or nothing even. We got home at 2:30 in the morning and were beat and decided to go to bed and tackle the bag later. But I had to know what was in it. Bob got out his saw tool. I'm not sure the technical name. Cut the lock. He had to use WD40 to get the zipper to move even with pliers.

It was open. And inside was money. And I mean a lot of money. Hundred dollar bills and more fifty's and twenty's. OMG, where did this come from?

There was a piece of paper that was faded and torn but we could see what appeared to be a name. Giancana maybe? I was really freaked out. I got on the computer and looked up the name and it came up as a Chicago mobster. What? Needless to say we were in shock. And this was all I could take. I was going to bed.

In the morning we decided to call the Sheriff and report what we had found. I called the Itasca County Sheriff's office and asked to talk to Sheriff Johnson who had called me. They said I had the wrong county or office. There wasn't a Johnson there. But who called me then. I checked my phone and there wasn't a record of the call. What was going on? I called back and asked if she was familiar with my Dads cabin and she was not. Deadend. She said no one had been out that way for a long time.

I didn't know what to think. Here we had this money and a lot of money and no idea who it belonged to or what to do next. We counted the money and there 15,000 dollars there. Not a million dollars but a nice little stash of money if you ask me. We milled around the house that day just in a daze not sure what to do next. Night came and we still didn't have a plan or direction. I looked at my phone and saw a missed call. That's weird I had my phone right here all the time. So I called voice mail. It was the Sheriff again. He wanted to thank me for checking on the Candle in the Window and was happy I was able to make the trip to "my friends" cabin. And that was it. Or so I thought.

We sat on the money for a month or so, not sure if we should keep it or turn it in or just what to do. We took another day trip up to the cabin. We needed to see this in the light of day. The wood plank in the floor was back in place. We hadn't done that. We looked around for the better part of the day, not really finding anything of interest or out of the ordinary.

We headed back home with the intention of selling the place. Too weird of a feeling being there. We got home a little after dark. I told Bob that I thought I could see a light in the living room. When we got in the house, sure enough, there was a candle in the window. And a hand written scribbled note, "don't sell there is more to come, G"