Incredible Metal Detecting Discoveries: True Stories of Amazing Treasures Found by Everyday People

by Smith, Mark D

  I could not obtain rights to a picture of this horrid find, but it can be found on the Internet if you want to do a little searching yourself.

  Isle Haute

  In the early 1700s, piracy was in full swing. Ships sailing with any sort of wealth were fair game, and many a ship was destroyed in the name of greed and gold. There are plenty of pirate legends out there, but one pirate by the name of Captain Edward Low just might be one of the craziest pirates that ever lived. Sociopath and psycho might as well have been this guy's middle names. He was nuts, and he liked to brutally murder anyone in his path.

  Captain Ed started his pirate days at the bottom of the rung when he and twelve other crew members were cast aside after a failed mutiny attempt. Ed tried to shoot his commanding officer in the face, but somehow missed. Not a very good way to start off as a pirate is it?

  Ed and his entire crew were set adrift in the ocean with no food and water. This was basically a death sentence, but Captain Ed and his crew of 12 managed to capture an entire ship, kill the captain and take over. This was Ed's first taste of piracy success. He liked what he was doing and it was not long until he had created quite a nasty reputation for himself. I won't even list the things he did to people in this book. His atrocities were sick and evil.

  During his years of pillaging and plundering any ship in his path, he amassed quite an amount of treasure. Like any good pirate, Ed needed a place to hide his treasure. The hiding place would have to be the closest thing to hell on earth, and he found it in a little island located in the Bay of Fundy. The island was called Isle Haute.

  The shore of this spit of land was only accessible a couple hours each day. The island had a vicious tide cycle where the water rose and fell over 50 feet with each tide change. These tidal movements are said to be the strongest in the entire world.

  To make things even worse, this little island had cliffs over 300 feet tall and a thick population of over 30 different spider species. This was not the average spider hanging in the corner type of population. This was the ground crunching underneath your feet as you walked on spider after spider population. This is an island that time forgot. This sounded like the perfect place for mean old Captain Ed to hide his vast amounts of loot.

  Captain Ed was successful at hiding his gold on the island, but he was never successful at retrieving it. Eventually he was captured and hung for his crimes of the high seas. His unclaimed treasure was said to be haunted by his ghost, but there were other possible ghostly apparitions that inhabited Isle Haute as well.

  The island is also the location of a rather brutal murder by the evil Captain. Legend says that he beheaded an unruly crew member on the island. There have been several eyewitness reports of a headless ghost haunting the island made by various lighthouse keepers who were unfortunate enough to spend any length of time on this creepy island. Does this sound like a place you would like to metal detect? Wait, there is more!

  An area of the island has been nicknamed Indian Flat. This area was named after an Indian woman who died of starvation.

  So let's look at this island from a scary standpoint.

  50 foot tidal surges.

  300 feet rock cliffs.

  A spider population large enough to give anyone a severe case of arachnophobia.

  A Indian woman died of starvation on the island.

  A person was beheaded on the island and his headless ghost has been seen multiple times by multiple people.

  It was the location where one of the most notoriously brutal pirates to ever sail the seven seas buried his treasure.

  Said pirate never recovered his treasure and now his ghost haunts the island.

  There are two ways of looking at these things. You could choose to believe all of these horrid facts and steer clear of the island, or you could look at it a little differently. Maybe all of these stories are really just stories. Maybe these stories were created to keep people away from the vast amounts of gold buried on the island. What better way to keep people away from your treasure than by creating some really believable frightening stories.

  An adventurer by the name of Edward Rowe Snow chose the latter. He chose to pursue the treasure when he got his hands on an old treasure map that he believed led to the location of Captain Edward's secret stash.

  In 1947, Edward Rowe Snow purchased a treasure map. The map was analyzed by experts who said the map was drawn on 17th century paper. It took Mr. Snow 7 years to get his hands on this map, and it took him another 5 years to decipher it. His old treasure map pointed right towards Isle Haute.

  Snow managed to get his hands on a very early model metal detector. It was not something that you or I would have used. It was used by plumbers to help them locate pipes, but it would prove to be good enough for Snow.

  When Snow arrived on the island, the lighthouse keeper told him that he was not the first person to come searching for treasure, but like any good treasure hunter Snow did not let this stop him.

  The day was growing shorter when Snow started his search. He was using his metal detector near a hole a looter had previously uncovered when his detector alerted him to possible treasure. Snow looked over his shoulder at the setting sun and started digging in the already deep hole with his pickaxe. For 20 minutes he managed to carve out a deep hole.

  As the sun sank below the horizon, Snow's pickaxe became snagged in the ground. He pulled and struggled until a human ribcage protruded from the side of the hole. Snow kept digging and on his next swing recovered more than he wanted. His pick caught something in the darkness. Once again he pulled. This time a human skull rolled out of the earth and across his feet where it came to a stop. The skull was staring right at him! This proved to be enough for Mr. Snow as he scrambled out of the pit in the weak light of the setting sun.

  Snow returned the next morning to finish his dig. He managed to uncover a total of eight gold coins that were over 200 years old. Initially Snow was not allowed to take the coins with him, but he eventually obtained an export license that allowed him to claim the gold.

  This could not have been all of Captain Ed's buried treasure. Perhaps it all still remains buried on Isle Haute. Let me know if you find it!

  Ancient Indian Burial Grounds

  Indian burial grounds have been part of American folklore for many years. People in Hollywood have cashed in on some of these stories with horror movies like House and Poltergeist. In these movies, homes were built on top of ancient Indian burial grounds and as a result, the houses were haunted. These might be Hollywood movie stories, but who in their right mind would want to disturb any sort of burial grounds, let alone an Indian burial site.

  Most people would choose to not willingly tamper with any type of grave site. Never mind the possibility of ghosts and poltergeists. It has to do with respect, but that has not stopped people from accidentally uncovering graves with a metal detector.

  There are countless unmarked Indian burial sites across the United States. There really is no way of knowing you are about to dig one up until it is too late. This still doesn't make matters any better for the unfortunate person who accidentally uncovers a grave.

  Eventually someone is going to find an old Indian burial ground, and that is exactly what Ray Camp did on December 15th 2013.

  Ray stumbled upon his find on accident. He had no intentions on finding anything. He was simply testing out a metal detector near his house. Ray is a member of the Alabama Archeometalology Historical Society and the members of this society often receive new metal detectors for testing purposes. The members of this society are no strangers to metal detecting. Some of the founding members have been avid treasure hunters for over 40 years, and they have made some pretty incredible finds over those 40 years, but let's get back to the point at hand: Indian burial grounds.

  All of this happened in a small town in Alabama by the name of Wetumpka.

  Ray was testing out this metal detector when he got a good signal. Not expecting to find much, Ray started to recover
the target. To his surprise, he unearthed a couple of copper bracelets. As he tried to recover the bracelets, Ray got yet another surprise. The bracelets were still attached to bones. Arm bones to be exact.

  At this point Ray decided he had better stop the recovery. He made a few phone calls and decided to call the local law enforcement. He wanted to make sure he did not stumble upon a crime scene.

  Once the local law authorities declared that the area was not a crime scene, a team of state archeologists were called in to survey the area and remove any other remaining artifacts.

  Several bones were recovered along with some beads and a few human teeth. Ray and other members of the Alabama Archeometalology Historical Society have been quoted saying, “This is the find of a lifetime!”

  This might be the find of a lifetime, but I don't think I would like to be the one who made this discovery. You can call me superstitious. You can call me silly and you can call me a chicken. I would much rather be a silly superstitious guy in a chicken suit than dig up an Indian burial site. Let's just hope that no Hollywood type ghost stories rise from this possible Indian burial mound.

  Child Coffin

  On April 7th 2010, Ken Mordle was having a great time during an organized metal detecting exhibition. The exhibition was organized by a metal detecting club called: Digging Up the Past Metal Detecting Club. The club and its lucky members organize routine digs on the English countryside. This particular dig was taking place near Chichester West Sussex, UK.

  Ken was happily hunting an area when his metal detector signaled treasure. Ken started digging up his find. Thoughts of old hoards raced through his head. Could he have just stumbled upon the next big Roman hoard? Would his find go down in the history books? It definitely would, but he did not find the next big Roman hoard.

  He found a coffin. This was not just any coffin either. It was the coffin of a Roman child that was over 1900 years old. The entire coffin and its contents were removed by a team of archeologists for further study.

  A team of four archeologists painstakingly combed through the remains looking for any clues to help them identify the find. The first attempt involved a camera being pushed down into the coffin. They quickly learned the entire coffin was filled with silt. This meant they would have to remove the silt very slowly while analyzing every tiny speck.

  Their work revealed bones, small bracelets and one small bead. The coffin belonged to a little girl, but it was the only coffin found in the area. Why was she buried here all alone? It is this question that makes the story a little more interesting. The question remains unanswered.

  Once the find was made public, people were allowed to vote on a name for the little girl. The name that was chosen is Oriens. This word comes from the Latin verb which means “to rise.” I hope this little girl's spirit does not live up to her newly appointed name.

  The Thetford Hoard

  They always say that you should leave the best for last, and this particular metal detecting story is the best or worst depending on how you look at things. Crematory tags, rings with fingers attached, Indian burial sites and coffins with the remains of children don't even come close to the supernatural qualities of this find. If you found any of the prior finds even the slightest bit frightening, then hold on tight because this one makes a 5 star Hollywood horror film seem like a nice cozy children's bedtime story.

  Arthur Brooks was the star of this find. Notice how I did not say he was the “lucky” one here? You should also notice that I am speaking of Arthur in the past tense because he is no longer among the living. His death and this find have been the centerpiece of controversy and hushed debates at many a pub over frothy mugs of ale.

  Some say he died as a direct result of this find and the pieces of the hoard are cursed. Others say it was just coincidence. I will let you be the judge. Here is what happened in November of 1979.

  Arthur Brooks was illegally searching some land that was scheduled to be built upon when he found the hoard. He did not have permission to hunt and knowing that the area would no longer be accessible, he quickly scrambled to retrieve as much of the hoard as possible before it got too dark.

  Arthur kept his find hidden for six months before deciding to sell it on the black market. Once the pieces started arriving on the black market, archeological investigators started to track it down.

  By the time they figured everything out, Arthur was terminally Ill. He died in July of 1980 less than 8 months after making the find. Of those 8 months, Arthur kept the treasure in his possession for six.

  The original dig site could no longer be accessed because a building has been built on top of it. We will never know the true entire contents of the hoard, but we do know Arthur recovered the following items.

  23 high purity gold rings

  3 silver strainers

  33 silver spoons

  4 gold bracelets

  5 gold necklaces or neck chains

  4 necklace pendants

  2 sets of necklace clasps

  1 gold amulet filled with sulfur

  5 beads – 1 emerald, 1 engraved, 3 glass

  1 gold belt buckle

  1 shale box

  What's so scary about all of these great finds? It looks like beautiful jewelry doesn't it? These are the types of things everyone with a metal detector wants to uncover, but some people believe these items were cursed. Here is why.

  The gold amulet filled with sulfur is the first clue. Sulfur has often been associated with demons, ghost stories and hell itself. Why would there be a gold amulet filled with sulfur buried with all of these seemingly harmless pieces of treasure?

  Many of the rings in this hoard appear in near perfect condition. These rings are made of a high purity gold. Some of them are 94% gold. There is a reason why modern jewelry is not made from pure gold like this. It has nothing to do with prices.

  Gold in pure form is soft. It is so soft that rings made from high purity gold often bend or break after being worn for a very short time. None of the rings in this hoard appear to have ever been worn. How could rings that are over 400 years old and made from almost pure gold be in near perfect condition? They shouldn't be.

  Many of the rings in this hoard have otherworldly inscriptions that are said to invoke demons. One specific ring that depicts a snake legged deity is inscribed with “a powerful magic word” that is often associated with demons. This word does not belong to any known human language, but instead this word is said to be the language that only demons can understand. Creepsville!

  The only person who knows the true circumstances surrounding this hoard is Arthur, and we all know what happened to him shortly after retrieving this hoard. He became terminally ill and died. Is the Thetford hoard cursed? You can find out for yourself. Parts of the hoard, including the rings with demonic inscriptions are currently on display at the British Museum. I think I will pass on visiting this exhibit! No thanks!

  Incredible Metal Detecting Finds Made by Kids!

  Enough of the dark supernatural finds. Let's travel to the opposite end of the spectrum and talk about something bright and shiny. I am not talking about gold. I am talking about kids!

  Metal detecting is a great hobby for kids. It gets them outside and in the sun. It also teaches them valuable history lessons. I think everyone will agree that most children today spend far too much time indoors. Getting them outside can be a challenge. What can we do about it? We can introduce them to the best hobby in the world: metal detecting.

  What kid doesn't love the idea of digging up some treasure? I don't know about you, but I spent many an afternoon as a kid day dreaming of some long lost treasure. It wasn't until later that I actually started finding it. I have made quite a few great memories on my own, but some of my favorites involve hunting with my kids. The first story in this part of the book is a personal favorite. I learned a very important lesson that day. Here is what happened.

  Shells On The Beach

  When my son goes metal detecting
with me, he likes to do all of the digging. He demands it now, so I let him do all of the work.

  I have been teaching him how to use the scoop, and how to identify and find items in that scoop of sand. You may not believe this, but sometimes it can be hard to see your treasure in that small amount of sand. Coins like to stay hidden, and they are harder to see to the untrained eye.