El Talisman (A true story)
It had been about 9 months since my mother died when my sister called. She wanted me to go over to her house and look at some of mom's belongings and to decide what I wanted for me. Shortly after I arrived she showed me mom's jewelry box with a lot of items in it.
There were some beautiful rings and a lot of other stuff, pennies, old pins, pictures etc. While browsing through the box I noticed some big coin on the bottom.
"What is that?" I asked.
It was about the size of a dollar coin, kind of a silverish color, and had weird signs on it. I could see a triangle, a star and some wiggly lines, but no date. My sister did not know what it was and neither did I. I picked it up and looked at it.
"Do you want it?" my sister asked.
"Yea I guess so, maybe I can find out what it is."
Went back to the house later and looked at the "coin" more carefully now. It had ridges like a coin but it was not a coin. Some of the signs on the coin were stars and what looked like small suns. Slowly it dawned on me what it was. I remembered seeing the commercial in Mexican TV channels. It was called "El Talisman" and it was supposed to be some kind of good luck charm and was meant to bring you riches and good fortune, a scam to get money from unsuspecting people. Mother had probably sent for it through the mail. Mom had been bedridden for years due to the effects of rheumatoid arthritis on her joints. She could hardly move but was a whiz with the remote control. Most likely when she received it, it was thrown in the box for safekeeping. I took the coin and for no particular reason put it in the cup container of my pick up.
Weeks went by and one day this buddy of mine called asking if I wanted to go detecting. Sure let's go, I said. I picked him up and we decided to go to a school playground in a nearby town that we had not visited in years. We knew the playground was closed and locked but the plan was to find someone to give us permission to get in. When we got there we found the head custodian. My buddy went inside to ask permission, he's good at getting permission, and when he got back he had big smile on his face.
"Let's go!! We got permission"
The playground is about one and a half acres big, lots of ground for lost clad to be found. When I parked my pickup I noticed the talisman in the cup holder. I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. Once inside my buddy and I split up each going to one end of the play area. We had both been going at it for about an hour and I had almost nothing to show for it, two quarters and a dime. Wondering how my buddy was doing, I slowly worked my way towards him. When we crossed paths I asked "How's it going?"
His response blew me over.
"Fantastic!! Already got me a silver ring, about 20 quarters and lots of dimes! Gonna be a good day!"
I could not believe he was doing so well, especially since we were using the same model detector, a RS2200, and we were hunting the same field. He didn't ask how my day was and I did not volunteer any info. I worked my way back with the same results, hardly anything. I then remembered the talisman in my pocket. Supposedly the commercial said all one had to do was rub the coin and ask it for anything and the wish would be granted. Why not?? Let me give it a try. I reached in my pant pocket and felt for the coin. Rubbing it I said "Talisman, if you are genuine let me find lots of clad," or words to that effect. Two steps later and as if on cue I found a couple of quarters together. Then the coins started to come in, quarters, dimes in pairs, lots of pennies. I even started to dig the low tones and started to find lots of nickels. I could now feel the weight of the coins in my pocket and but I was starting to get uneasy with each find. The more I found the more uneasy I felt. Was this so called talisman really working?? Was it for real?? Was I getting myself into some kind of evil pact with an unknown force? "Just my imagination" I tried to convince myself.
I kept going for another hour or so and the coins kept coming. I started to work my way back to my buddy to tell him we needed to leave. I wanted to go. I felt I needed to get out of there. Then I thought, I know how I can find out if this is real. Reaching inside my pocket, I found the talisman and this time I said "Talisman if you are really real you will find for me a gold ring. Find me one and I will believe." Anyone that has detected before knows how hard it is to find a gold ring out in the field-almost impossible with all the pull tabs. Another 45 minutes later and no ring, I started to feel better about my clad finds. "All in my head" I thought.
Then my buddy called out and said "I think we should go. Just let me make one small round here and let's get us something to drink."
OK by me. I already had a bunch of coins and felt tired. So I walked over to a nearby ash tree to get some shade and wait for him dragging my detector as I went. When I got under the tree I got a low pull tab/nickel tone.
"Just another pull tab", I thought and slowly started to dig it out. On the second prodding of the lesche, out popped a GOLD RING!! I felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop!! Oh my God!! It is true!!
I was still gawking at my find when Art gets there. "What did you find??" He saw the ring and congratulated me. "All right!! We can go now"
I never said anything to Art about the talisman or what I thought had been happening. I was feeling very nervous and had this weird uneasy feeling inside. Now don't get me wrong. I am no bible thumping churchgoer but I do believe in God, do go to church and do believe there are evil forces out there. I knew what I had to do. As we were on our way home I reached inside my pant pocket, pulled out the talisman, and threw it out the window into some high brush by the road.
I sent the gold ring along with other gold finds to a refinery to get assayed. Since then I have found lots of other gold rings and lots of clad and that incident has become a memory only. The Talisman??--- Well as far as I know it is still there by the roadside under some brush waiting for someone else to find it. Was it really real? Was it really evil? Did that Talisman really allow me to find the clad and the gold ring? I ask myself those questions still and come up with the same answer---I don't want to know!!
It had been about 9 months since my mother died when my sister called. She wanted me to go over to her house and look at some of mom's belongings and to decide what I wanted for me. Shortly after I arrived she showed me mom's jewelry box with a lot of items in it.
There were some beautiful rings and a lot of other stuff, pennies, old pins, pictures etc. While browsing through the box I noticed some big coin on the bottom.
"What is that?" I asked.
It was about the size of a dollar coin, kind of a silverish color, and had weird signs on it. I could see a triangle, a star and some wiggly lines, but no date. My sister did not know what it was and neither did I. I picked it up and looked at it.
"Do you want it?" my sister asked.
"Yea I guess so, maybe I can find out what it is."
Went back to the house later and looked at the "coin" more carefully now. It had ridges like a coin but it was not a coin. Some of the signs on the coin were stars and what looked like small suns. Slowly it dawned on me what it was. I remembered seeing the commercial in Mexican TV channels. It was called "El Talisman" and it was supposed to be some kind of good luck charm and was meant to bring you riches and good fortune, a scam to get money from unsuspecting people. Mother had probably sent for it through the mail. Mom had been bedridden for years due to the effects of rheumatoid arthritis on her joints. She could hardly move but was a whiz with the remote control. Most likely when she received it, it was thrown in the box for safekeeping. I took the coin and for no particular reason put it in the cup container of my pick up.
Weeks went by and one day this buddy of mine called asking if I wanted to go detecting. Sure let's go, I said. I picked him up and we decided to go to a school playground in a nearby town that we had not visited in years. We knew the playground was closed and locked but the plan was to find someone to give us permission to get in. When we got there we found the head custodian. My buddy went inside to ask permission, he's good at getting permission, and when he got back he had big smile on his face.
"Let's go!! We got permission"
The playground is about one and a half acres big, lots of ground for lost clad to be found. When I parked my pickup I noticed the talisman in the cup holder. I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. Once inside my buddy and I split up each going to one end of the play area. We had both been going at it for about an hour and I had almost nothing to show for it, two quarters and a dime. Wondering how my buddy was doing, I slowly worked my way towards him. When we crossed paths I asked "How's it going?"
His response blew me over.
"Fantastic!! Already got me a silver ring, about 20 quarters and lots of dimes! Gonna be a good day!"
I could not believe he was doing so well, especially since we were using the same model detector, a RS2200, and we were hunting the same field. He didn't ask how my day was and I did not volunteer any info. I worked my way back with the same results, hardly anything. I then remembered the talisman in my pocket. Supposedly the commercial said all one had to do was rub the coin and ask it for anything and the wish would be granted. Why not?? Let me give it a try. I reached in my pant pocket and felt for the coin. Rubbing it I said "Talisman, if you are genuine let me find lots of clad," or words to that effect. Two steps later and as if on cue I found a couple of quarters together. Then the coins started to come in, quarters, dimes in pairs, lots of pennies. I even started to dig the low tones and started to find lots of nickels. I could now feel the weight of the coins in my pocket and but I was starting to get uneasy with each find. The more I found the more uneasy I felt. Was this so called talisman really working?? Was it for real?? Was I getting myself into some kind of evil pact with an unknown force? "Just my imagination" I tried to convince myself.
I kept going for another hour or so and the coins kept coming. I started to work my way back to my buddy to tell him we needed to leave. I wanted to go. I felt I needed to get out of there. Then I thought, I know how I can find out if this is real. Reaching inside my pocket, I found the talisman and this time I said "Talisman if you are really real you will find for me a gold ring. Find me one and I will believe." Anyone that has detected before knows how hard it is to find a gold ring out in the field-almost impossible with all the pull tabs. Another 45 minutes later and no ring, I started to feel better about my clad finds. "All in my head" I thought.
Then my buddy called out and said "I think we should go. Just let me make one small round here and let's get us something to drink."
OK by me. I already had a bunch of coins and felt tired. So I walked over to a nearby ash tree to get some shade and wait for him dragging my detector as I went. When I got under the tree I got a low pull tab/nickel tone.
"Just another pull tab", I thought and slowly started to dig it out. On the second prodding of the lesche, out popped a GOLD RING!! I felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop!! Oh my God!! It is true!!
I was still gawking at my find when Art gets there. "What did you find??" He saw the ring and congratulated me. "All right!! We can go now"
I never said anything to Art about the talisman or what I thought had been happening. I was feeling very nervous and had this weird uneasy feeling inside. Now don't get me wrong. I am no bible thumping churchgoer but I do believe in God, do go to church and do believe there are evil forces out there. I knew what I had to do. As we were on our way home I reached inside my pant pocket, pulled out the talisman, and threw it out the window into some high brush by the road.
I sent the gold ring along with other gold finds to a refinery to get assayed. Since then I have found lots of other gold rings and lots of clad and that incident has become a memory only. The Talisman??--- Well as far as I know it is still there by the roadside under some brush waiting for someone else to find it. Was it really real? Was it really evil? Did that Talisman really allow me to find the clad and the gold ring? I ask myself those questions still and come up with the same answer---I don't want to know!!
It seems to work best towards the end of a hunt when my mind is calm and the day to day concerns have been stripped away by the relaxation of the hunt. A disproportionate number of times I will hit gold as I exit a hunt, it's uncanny.