Goofy Ridge, Illinois

Goofy Ridge, Illinois is a census-designated place in Quiver Township, Mason County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 350.[2] Goofy Ridge is given Topeka mailing addresses.

Goofy Ridge, Illinois
Census-designated place
Goofy Ridge, Illinois
Coordinates: 40°23′42″N 89°56′22″W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Mason
Civil township	Quiver
Area
• Total	1.349 sq mi (3.49 km2)
• Land	1.349 sq mi (3.49 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation [1]	489 ft (149 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	350
• Density	260/sq mi (100/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	309
GNIS feature ID	2628551[1]

According to an American Journal article Passing Gas: And Other Towns Along the American Highway (ISBN 1580084567) by Gary Gladstone, Goofy Ridge got its name thus:

Years back it was just The Ridge, a camp near the river bank where moonshiners and other carousers met weekly to do their drinking. After some serious drinking one night, a local game warden said he wasn’t too drunk to shoot a walnut off the head of a volunteer. Naturally, someone was drunk enough to volunteer. The game warden placed the tiny target on the volunteer’s head, aimed his .22 rifle, and shot the nut right off. This caper was called by a witness “one damned goofy thing to do,” and the camp was ever after known as Goofy Ridge.

The abstract of the academic paper "Goofy Ridge: On Human Ecology, Poverty, and the Labeling of Places" hints there may be a social significance associated with this incident, something confirmed by a segment on Weekend America. According to Storyville, USA (ISBN 0820323039) by Dale Peterson, "Al Capone, as a matter of fact, used to come down [to Goofy Ridge] to hunt and fish."