Thieves...

[shabbytrick]

I don't know if this is a common problem in other areas of the country... My Father-In-Law took my two young boys and I to one of his farms (been in the family nearly 100 years), still has a couple of old barns and the farm house, we went to do a little fishing, but it was poor and he decided to show us some of the old tractors in the barn and then we went to the old house. He has had it completely boarded up on the ground level but the the back door was torn open. He says he has had some vandals in the past, we went in to discover a lot of walls were opened up with most likely with a sledge hammer. Just lots of general damage... kids we thought. we went up stairs and saw a space in the wall where the stairs met the second floor was at opened up kind of a weird space to mess with we looked in side this little space and found a perfect dust free surface about the size of a large mason jar the rest of the area completely covered in dust.

Instead of the run of mill kids tearing up a house, we've got experienced theives tearing up abondonded farm houses looking for hidden caches. This house according to my father-in-law has been empty since the mid 60s, can only image what was sitting in that jar or can in that little hidden area in the stairs. Asking around after that it turns out several old homes had been searched with lots of damage done in the area around his house.

[snake35]

It is sad that a few bad apples taint everyones opinion of cache hunters.

[GringoStarr]

Dear Shabbytrick,

This is very unfortunate, and I believe rather uncommon, yet I have seen this type of behavior before.
Karl Von Mueller, in his Treasure Hunters Manuals, admonished all to leave things as they found them, whether they found any treasure or not. Permission to search is allways recommended.
Respect for property is, just like respect for one another, paramount.
You might find out who did this and swear out a warrant for their arrest; it certainly is fitting, as whoever is responsible, has all the morals of an alleycat.
It is my sincere hope that whoever is responsible will be caught and prosecuted. I believe everyone here on this forum would agree with me.
Should you desire, it is possible someone in your area my wish to volunteer as good will ambassadors to assist you and similarly affected folks in your area, in cleaning up the mess left by these looters.
On behalf of the community here on T-net,we are sincerely sorry to hear about what happened.

Kindest wishes, best regards.

The Gringo

[crazyjarhead]

I think they are looking for copper wire more than caches Brass and copper thefts in Arizona and other places are way up. Maybe I'm wrong but around here it's the copper. I think I saw a billboard in Az. offering a reward for copper wire theft

[Dirty Money]

Copper wire...sure. I sincerely hope you find the thieves and prosecute. As for the majority of us, we wouldn't touch private property without written permission.

[shabbytrick]

I don't know if this is a common problem in other areas of the country... My Father-In-Law took my two young boys and I to one of his farms (been in the family nearly 100 years), still has a couple of old barns and the farm house, we went to do a little fishing, but it was poor and he decided to show us some of the old tractors in the barn and then we went to the old house. He has had it completely boarded up on the ground level but the the back door was torn open. He says he has had some vandals in the past, we went in to discover a lot of walls were opened up with most likely with a sledge hammer. Just lots of general damage... kids we thought. we went up stairs and saw a space in the wall where the stairs met the second floor was at opened up kind of a weird space to mess with we looked in side this little space and found a perfect dust free surface about the size of a large mason jar the rest of the area completely covered in dust.

Instead of the run of mill kids tearing up a house, we've got experienced theives tearing up abondonded farm houses looking for hidden caches. This house according to my father-in-law has been empty since the mid 60s, can only image what was sitting in that jar or can in that little hidden area in the stairs. Asking around after that it turns out several old homes had been searched with lots of damage done in the area around his house.

As i reread my original post i didn't mean to imply the practice of cache hunting is thieving, i love the hunt and research as much as anyone else. Just can't believe how some people go about it. My father-in-law would have let them hunt the grounds, for a share of what ever they found and the house would have remained undamaged.

[Tuberale]

A treasure hunter is willing to share. A thief is not. A vandal would have damaged the building with no apparent intent or target. The damage you discovered, as well as the dust-free area, suggests a knowledgeable thief.

Sorry for your father-in-law's loss.

It may be time to research the previous owners, just to see if they might have hidden other items of value.

[CWnut]

sorry to hear this, puts a black mark on all th'ers. A thief is a thief; whether he uses a metal detector, crow bar or a credit card. But did you ever wonder why the public will label every detectorist as a bad apple because of the actions of one or a few when their is lots and lots more credit/debit card rip-off.
hey, you carry debit card=you bad man....

was their evidence of copper theft or did it look like they had a purpose?

[simonds]

CW,
It's the same as if someone uses a gun to shoot somebody. All of us who own and carry a gun are bad.