I made the two posts below on Carl's forum in August of 2003, the guy came back today........
Odd experience - Posted by JB(MS) on 8/23/2003, 5:05 pm
I had an encounter with a really strange character this morning. I was hunting a field that was used for makeshift football and baseball games from the late 1930's until around 1960, had been there maybe 10 minutes when a guy walked right in front of where I was swinging and stopped so I couldn't swing. I was off the road a couple of hundred yards, thought I was alone and never saw or heard him coming so it kinda surprised me. First thing he said was, "What kind of detector is that?" I told him a Shadow X5 and attempted to answer a couple of questions he asked about it but he didn't stop talking at the end of the questions. He said he had been detecting for 38 years and talked nonstop for 20-30 minutes about his detecting with a little religion and gobs of pure bullshit thrown in. He said he had found several thousand dollars in coins, thousands of pieces of gold jewelry including a ring with 57 diamonds on it, tons of Civil War relics, several caches and knew where a lot more were but didn't go get them because he didn't have time. I stopped trying to talk to him and just listened as long as I could take it. When I started walking to my truck, he followed along still talking a mile a minute. As I neared my truck I interrupted him, had to get loud to do it, told him I had to go and asked his name and where he was from as I had never seen him before. He said his name was Hastings, he was 63, a contractor from Hodges, Alabama, a small town about 50 miles from here, and he had just come down here to walk. Walk??? When I drove away he was walking away from the road toward some trees on the other side of the field. I've run into a lot of people while detecting, including some pretty odd ones, but that guy takes the prize. He looked really serious the whole time, never smiled or changed his expression at all except when he said God had spoken to him one day while he was detecting and told him to be a treasure hunter of people for the church instead of a treasure hunter of money. I checked the phone directory for Hodges, no Hastings listed. There's a listing for a Hastings General Contractor near Cullman but that's over 80 miles from Hodges. When I was leaving I passed an older car with an Alabama tag pulled off the road that was probably his but it still seems odd he could get so close without me seeing him.
follow up post
Re: Odd experience - Posted by JB(MS) on 8/23/2003, 11:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Odd experience"
What's even more strange about it is I related the story to the parents of the kids at my grandsons birthday party tonight and one lady said she passed that field about 5 this afternoon and the guy was still wandering around there. It was around 8 this morning when I was there so he evidently stayed all day or left and went back.
Haven't been able to get any detecting in lately because of my wifes medical problems but I took the Golden out this afternoon for a short hunt. Had just got there when the guy in the posts above drove up. He told me who he was again, Hastings and a contractor from Hodges, AL, and started asking questions but never gave me time to answer after the first two or three he asked. Without slowing down he then started talking about the Civil War battle at Brices Crossroads and how much he had hunted there, said the young woman who owned the entire battle site gave him permission to hunt it all. Brices Crossroads is only 30 miles or so from where I live, my son in law has family there, we detected there several times in the past and have been there a bunch of other times, so I broke in, told him Frank Snell's family owns most of the land where the battle took place and asked if he was sure he was talking about Brices Crossroad and not some other CW battle. He said yes, he was sure and described it but his description darn sure didn't fit Brices Crossroads. Then he asked if I went to church and started talking about the end of the world would be happening any time now. He had told me the other time that God told him to be a treasure hunter of people for the church instead of a treasure hunter of money. I interrupted him, told him I had to go and came home. As I was leaving I noticed a woman in his pickup, maybe she was his keeper or something. That guy is one strange dude.
Odd experience - Posted by JB(MS) on 8/23/2003, 5:05 pm
I had an encounter with a really strange character this morning. I was hunting a field that was used for makeshift football and baseball games from the late 1930's until around 1960, had been there maybe 10 minutes when a guy walked right in front of where I was swinging and stopped so I couldn't swing. I was off the road a couple of hundred yards, thought I was alone and never saw or heard him coming so it kinda surprised me. First thing he said was, "What kind of detector is that?" I told him a Shadow X5 and attempted to answer a couple of questions he asked about it but he didn't stop talking at the end of the questions. He said he had been detecting for 38 years and talked nonstop for 20-30 minutes about his detecting with a little religion and gobs of pure bullshit thrown in. He said he had found several thousand dollars in coins, thousands of pieces of gold jewelry including a ring with 57 diamonds on it, tons of Civil War relics, several caches and knew where a lot more were but didn't go get them because he didn't have time. I stopped trying to talk to him and just listened as long as I could take it. When I started walking to my truck, he followed along still talking a mile a minute. As I neared my truck I interrupted him, had to get loud to do it, told him I had to go and asked his name and where he was from as I had never seen him before. He said his name was Hastings, he was 63, a contractor from Hodges, Alabama, a small town about 50 miles from here, and he had just come down here to walk. Walk??? When I drove away he was walking away from the road toward some trees on the other side of the field. I've run into a lot of people while detecting, including some pretty odd ones, but that guy takes the prize. He looked really serious the whole time, never smiled or changed his expression at all except when he said God had spoken to him one day while he was detecting and told him to be a treasure hunter of people for the church instead of a treasure hunter of money. I checked the phone directory for Hodges, no Hastings listed. There's a listing for a Hastings General Contractor near Cullman but that's over 80 miles from Hodges. When I was leaving I passed an older car with an Alabama tag pulled off the road that was probably his but it still seems odd he could get so close without me seeing him.
follow up post
Re: Odd experience - Posted by JB(MS) on 8/23/2003, 11:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Odd experience"
What's even more strange about it is I related the story to the parents of the kids at my grandsons birthday party tonight and one lady said she passed that field about 5 this afternoon and the guy was still wandering around there. It was around 8 this morning when I was there so he evidently stayed all day or left and went back.
Haven't been able to get any detecting in lately because of my wifes medical problems but I took the Golden out this afternoon for a short hunt. Had just got there when the guy in the posts above drove up. He told me who he was again, Hastings and a contractor from Hodges, AL, and started asking questions but never gave me time to answer after the first two or three he asked. Without slowing down he then started talking about the Civil War battle at Brices Crossroads and how much he had hunted there, said the young woman who owned the entire battle site gave him permission to hunt it all. Brices Crossroads is only 30 miles or so from where I live, my son in law has family there, we detected there several times in the past and have been there a bunch of other times, so I broke in, told him Frank Snell's family owns most of the land where the battle took place and asked if he was sure he was talking about Brices Crossroad and not some other CW battle. He said yes, he was sure and described it but his description darn sure didn't fit Brices Crossroads. Then he asked if I went to church and started talking about the end of the world would be happening any time now. He had told me the other time that God told him to be a treasure hunter of people for the church instead of a treasure hunter of money. I interrupted him, told him I had to go and came home. As I was leaving I noticed a woman in his pickup, maybe she was his keeper or something. That guy is one strange dude.
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