This long, windy post isn't about finds...it's about the joy and excitement this hobby can bring to others who might actually never swing a metal detector.
Well Friday is pizza night for me and Dave usually goes with me. It's the one night each week where I eat whatever...and how much of whatever I want to.
We usually straggle onto the same 2 parks for a couple of hours afterwards and hope to dig a deepie or two...but tonight was different.
Some friends of Dave decided to go with us...then had promised us they would take us to an old abandoned church so we could hunt.
[attachment 173368 ghostcrew.jpg]
It has long been know as a "haunted" church and a few people have "ghost hunted" there over the years.
Dave's friends...who are now my friends too (Brad and Dana) have done some ghost hunting there too... and asked the land owner if it would be okay for us to do some detecting there.
He was gracious enough to grant us permission.
Anyway by the time we got done hammering pizza we only had about 1 hour before it got totally dark on us.
We headed right to the church...did a little ghost huntin'...took some pics...then had about 45 minutes to hunt.
[attachment 173369 meanddave2.jpg]
Man fellers'....this place was "creepsville" to say the least.
[attachment 173370 churchfront.jpg] [attachment 173371 churchcorner.jpg] [attachment 173372 churchside.jpg]
The first thing I dug was a barber dime from plenty deep.
[attachment 173373 churchdime.jpg]
About 20 minutes later I got a classic Injun' hit...but it was deeeep and intermittent.
I called Dave and Brad over because I wanted Dave to run his coil over the target area numerous times to hear what I was hoping was an Injun' hit.
He has still not found one and wants one badly...so I wanted him to learn what one sounds like.
Even if this did not turn out to be an injun'...it was exactly what a deep one sounded like. True it had just as much chance of being a little piece of wire at about 9"...but it also had the same chance at being an Injun'.
Dave messed with it and got a strange look on his face.
He felt the signal didn't come in very good...and sounded funny compared to other coin hits.
I told him it was EXACTLY what an injun sounded like...so now he knew.
With Dave, Brad, and his stepson Zack watching...I started to cut a plug.
[attachment 173380 mediggingatchurch.jpg]
It was now getting dark but I cut a good sized plug about 7" deep.
I then ran the probe and got that sweet sound that only Injuns...OR wire pieces make.
I dug another 3' of dirt out then ran the probe again.
It screamed in the pile of dirt so Brad shined the flashlight on it.
Next thing I know there are 4 hands in my dirt pile because Brad is excited...and had decided he needed to help me find it.
He said..."there it is...there it is"...so I grabbed it before he could get his mitts on it. Good Lord he was more excited than I was...IF that's possible.
I picked it up and could tell it was VERY green...but was totally caked with crap so I didn't know if it was an Injun' or not.
[attachment 173375 churchinjunplug.jpg]
It was really cool to see how excited Brad and Zack were.
In fact Brad was so fired up...he snatched it out of my hands and decided it needed a good "rubbing"...so we would be able to see the date.
By the time I got the hole filled back in and plugged...it didn't matter what the coin was anyway...because Brad was rubbing so hard and so fast...I'm surprised he didn't start a fire with it.
For cryin' out loud...there wasn't gonna' be anything left of my coin now anyway after he got done workin' it.
Funny thing was...I didn't even care. It was so cool to see someone so genuinely interested and excited about a find.
He and Zack took the flashlight and what was left of my coin.. back to the car so they could "work" on it some more.
I kept on hunting in total darkness for a good 15 minutes or so not finding anything else.
I kept glancing over towards the vehicles every few minutes...and could hear them saying..."I think I see 1888....no 1887...no 1886...etc.
I then heard Brad say "Here...let me have it again so I can rub it some more.
I finally made my way back to the car...and there they were...still holding it up it the air...shining the light on it...still rubbing what was now left of it...still trying to make out a date.
[attachment 173379 bradzack.jpg]
At least we now knew it was an injun' because we could see some feathers...or what was left of the feathers at this point anyway.
I'm sure most of the face, feathers, and green patina were now on Brad's fingers and thumb instead of the coin.
It wasn't until I got home...and me and Dave examined it under a jewelers loop...that we could make out a date of 1884.
The look of sheer joy and genuine excitement on Brad and Zacks face when they saw a 126 year old coin unearthed...was worth it's weight in gold.
This hobby is capable of providing unforgetable moments and everlasting smiles at ANY given time.
Well Friday is pizza night for me and Dave usually goes with me. It's the one night each week where I eat whatever...and how much of whatever I want to.
We usually straggle onto the same 2 parks for a couple of hours afterwards and hope to dig a deepie or two...but tonight was different.
Some friends of Dave decided to go with us...then had promised us they would take us to an old abandoned church so we could hunt.
[attachment 173368 ghostcrew.jpg]
It has long been know as a "haunted" church and a few people have "ghost hunted" there over the years.
Dave's friends...who are now my friends too (Brad and Dana) have done some ghost hunting there too... and asked the land owner if it would be okay for us to do some detecting there.
He was gracious enough to grant us permission.
Anyway by the time we got done hammering pizza we only had about 1 hour before it got totally dark on us.
We headed right to the church...did a little ghost huntin'...took some pics...then had about 45 minutes to hunt.
[attachment 173369 meanddave2.jpg]
Man fellers'....this place was "creepsville" to say the least.
[attachment 173370 churchfront.jpg] [attachment 173371 churchcorner.jpg] [attachment 173372 churchside.jpg]
The first thing I dug was a barber dime from plenty deep.
[attachment 173373 churchdime.jpg]
About 20 minutes later I got a classic Injun' hit...but it was deeeep and intermittent.
I called Dave and Brad over because I wanted Dave to run his coil over the target area numerous times to hear what I was hoping was an Injun' hit.
He has still not found one and wants one badly...so I wanted him to learn what one sounds like.
Even if this did not turn out to be an injun'...it was exactly what a deep one sounded like. True it had just as much chance of being a little piece of wire at about 9"...but it also had the same chance at being an Injun'.
Dave messed with it and got a strange look on his face.
He felt the signal didn't come in very good...and sounded funny compared to other coin hits.
I told him it was EXACTLY what an injun sounded like...so now he knew.
With Dave, Brad, and his stepson Zack watching...I started to cut a plug.
[attachment 173380 mediggingatchurch.jpg]
It was now getting dark but I cut a good sized plug about 7" deep.
I then ran the probe and got that sweet sound that only Injuns...OR wire pieces make.
I dug another 3' of dirt out then ran the probe again.
It screamed in the pile of dirt so Brad shined the flashlight on it.
Next thing I know there are 4 hands in my dirt pile because Brad is excited...and had decided he needed to help me find it.
He said..."there it is...there it is"...so I grabbed it before he could get his mitts on it.
Good Lord he was more excited than I was...IF that's possible.I picked it up and could tell it was VERY green...but was totally caked with crap so I didn't know if it was an Injun' or not.
[attachment 173375 churchinjunplug.jpg]
It was really cool to see how excited Brad and Zack were.
In fact Brad was so fired up...he snatched it out of my hands and decided it needed a good "rubbing"
...so we would be able to see the date.By the time I got the hole filled back in and plugged...it didn't matter what the coin was anyway...because Brad was rubbing so hard and so fast...I'm surprised he didn't start a fire with it.
For cryin' out loud...there wasn't gonna' be anything left of my coin now anyway after he got done workin' it.
Funny thing was...I didn't even care. It was so cool to see someone so genuinely interested and excited about a find.
He and Zack took the flashlight and what was left of my coin.. back to the car so they could "work" on it some more.
I kept on hunting in total darkness for a good 15 minutes or so not finding anything else.
I kept glancing over towards the vehicles every few minutes...and could hear them saying..."I think I see 1888....no 1887...no 1886...etc.
I then heard Brad say "Here...let me have it again so I can rub it some more.
I finally made my way back to the car...and there they were...still holding it up it the air...shining the light on it...still rubbing what was now left of it...still trying to make out a date.
[attachment 173379 bradzack.jpg]
At least we now knew it was an injun' because we could see some feathers...or what was left of the feathers at this point anyway.
I'm sure most of the face, feathers, and green patina were now on Brad's fingers and thumb instead of the coin.
It wasn't until I got home...and me and Dave examined it under a jewelers loop...that we could make out a date of 1884.
The look of sheer joy and genuine excitement on Brad and Zacks face when they saw a 126 year old coin unearthed...was worth it's weight in gold.
This hobby is capable of providing unforgetable moments and everlasting smiles at ANY given time.
Take care bro