You guys should get into metal detecting (light)

[ericp501]

If you're into weird unexplained mysteries you should get yourself a metal detector and head into the woods. I randomly got into metal detecting a few years ago and one of my favorite things to do is go into wooded areas,where nobody really goes, that has no major history and see if I can find anything weird. Normally this leads to a whole lot of nothing and just a nice walk in nature. But I've had some very weird unexplained findings.

I was once out in the woods near the Delaware river on the PA side, I looked at aerial photos from the 30's and historic maps and it looks like the area was almost always woods and undeveloped. But I found a large antique solid brass Yale lock about 6" down. It makes you wonder how it got there, what was it locking, how did the person lose it?

Another time I found an old jewellery box in the middle of the woods about 3' off a deer trail. My heart was pounding as it could tell it had coins in it and I knew the box was old enough that any quarters or dimes would be silver. I opened it up and it just had a bunch of pennies from the 70s... What in the world?

I dug up a coin dated 1806 in a part of new jersey that didn't show up on a map till 1870

When I first got into detecting I was in the woods and got an overload signal, usually this is a beer can or something just under the surface. I started digging, got about 12" down and was still getting the overload signal but my little pinpointer metal detector wasn't reading anything in the hole. I just figured it was my machine acting up or a lot of minerals in the dirt or something. Looking back who knows what could have been another 2 feet deeper randomly in the woods. Wish I could remember where I was when that happen.

If you're into random mysteries metal detecting could be a good hobby, just don't go cheap on your detector $200-$300 is a good beginner price tag, and bet a pin pointer or you'll never find what you're looking for in the hole.

[saltine]

Usually bullets or shell casings is about all I find in the woods..

[VintageSunlight]

Originally Posted by ericp501

If you're into weird unexplained mysteries you should get yourself a metal detector and head into the woods. I randomly got into metal detecting a few years ago and one of my favorite things to do is go into wooded areas,where nobody really goes, that has no major history and see if I can find anything weird. Normally this leads to a whole lot of nothing and just a nice walk in nature. But I've had some very weird unexplained findings.

I was once out in the woods near the Delaware river on the PA side, I looked at aerial photos from the 30's and historic maps and it looks like the area was almost always woods and undeveloped. But I found a large antique solid brass Yale lock about 6" down. It makes you wonder how it got there, what was it locking, how did the person lose it?

Another time I found an old jewellery box in the middle of the woods about 3' off a deer trail. My heart was pounding as it could tell it had coins in it and I knew the box was old enough that any quarters or dimes would be silver. I opened it up and it just had a bunch of pennies from the 70s... What in the world?

I dug up a coin dated 1806 in a part of new jersey that didn't show up on a map till 1870

When I first got into detecting I was in the woods and got an overload signal, usually this is a beer can or something just under the surface. I started digging, got about 12" down and was still getting the overload signal but my little pinpointer metal detector wasn't reading anything in the hole. I just figured it was my machine acting up or a lot of minerals in the dirt or something. Looking back who knows what could have been another 2 feet deeper randomly in the woods. Wish I could remember where I was when that happen.

If you're into random mysteries metal detecting could be a good hobby, just don't go cheap on your detector $200-$300 is a good beginner price tag, and bet a pin pointer or you'll never find what you're looking for in the hole.

Ever go poking around in the Pine Barrens? There's some weird stuff to be found out there.

[MountainHi]

About the box of pennies, kids bury those, to play "treasure chest" games. My friends and I did, when we were kids. One of us would pretend to find an old map, and let the younger kids puzzle it out and go looking for the treasure chest.

[retired11]

This was my hobby for a while too! I found an old travel book from the early 1800's and traced the story of the pirate "White" to Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn. He was captured by the sheriff and a launch flipped in the surf dumping cases of silver onto the beach. I went to Dead Horse Bay looking for treasure, found the exact spot where he and his men camped! I found the spot where the launch was set into the surf! Then I found it had been a city dump for the early part of the century. So much garbage and sludge. There is a thin cement pillar that used to have a pipe on top that carried sewage into the surf.

He was so famous they hung him on "White's Island", renamed now Ellis Island.

Another dream of wealth gone.

I think I found $2.99 in change over the years. A second job would have been a much better plan.

[Gerania]

Where in NJ? Many years ago, there small towns, villages all over the place. Short lived, one industry towns that have disappeared without a trace.

[SeaOfGrass]

Originally Posted by retired11

This was my hobby for a while too! I found an old travel book from the early 1800's and traced the story of the pirate "White" to Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn. He was captured by the sheriff and a launch flipped in the surf dumping cases of silver onto the beach. I went to Dead Horse Bay looking for treasure, found the exact spot where he and his men camped! I found the spot where the launch was set into the surf! Then I found it had been a city dump for the early part of the century. So much garbage and sludge. There is a thin cement pillar that used to have a pipe on top that carried sewage into the surf.

He was so famous they hung him on "White's Island", renamed now Ellis Island.

Another dream of wealth gone.

I think I found $2.99 in change over the years. A second job would have been a much better plan.

I'm sorry, but this had me laughing so hard.

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by SeaOfGrass

I'm sorry, but this had me laughing so hard.

The truth is out there.

[P47P47]

Former Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman is into metal detecting. He's written a book about items found in Great Britain, and a detector manufacturer has a Bill Wyman model detector that Bill helped to design.

[D. Scott]

Originally Posted by VintageSunlight

Ever go poking around in the Pine Barrens? There's some weird stuff to be found out there.

I see this metal detecting being done on the beaches out here, People looking for valuables dropped. Usually jewelry. The Pine Barrens is supposedly home to the Jersey Devil. What else weird has been found out there?