STONE DEATH TRAP

RW

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In case you don't make it back, it's been real.
 

A2coins

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Its easier for a poor man to go through they eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven know what your treasures you have are and dont sacrifice them for the ones you seek.
 

elh

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Just when it seemed the hard part was over and the rest would be smooth sailing, a stone death trap nearly triggered would have certainly ended my life. This is something I feel obligated to share just in case any of the previous information posted about this dig gave anyone else the idea to pursue something like this. I regret posting anything here and wish I could delete it all completely, but its way too late for that now. I'm still and will always be a very imperfect person. But when I came to know Jesus Christ and was born again, God put love in my heart for all people. I would never want any of you, no matter who you are, to fall victim to the deadly trick I just encountered and nearly fell for. If any of you decide to start digging for a deep cache, never ever start feeling comfortable. Always maintain complete awareness. Spend a good portion of your off time visualizing and meditating on the situation in the hole. Remember that if you are digging for something that you believe could be sizeable, you must consider the possibility that whoever buried it would have put a lot of thought in to preventing anyone else from reaching it at whatever cost. And if you think you may be getting close, you better be on your best game at all times. This is the first bit of information about this before I go back down and take photos/videos of what I'm talking about. The situation at this point is extremely dangerous. So I wanted to post this first just in case I don't make it back up.
Thanks for the post tseek7. There has been those on T-net to say there is no such thing. Please by all means post pictures for anyone who is following the nay-sayers.
Glad you were able to see the danger. THAT spot is probably a false trail anyway. Read the thread by Sandy 1 to see where he was working for very good information.
:coffee2::coffee2:
 

smokeythecat

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How deep is this stuff supposed to be?
 

Guardrailnickel

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Why don't you speak in your videos. It would be easier if you just said what was going on. How deep is the shaft now? When was the last time you hit the hole with the detector?
 

smokeythecat

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Specifically, how deep is the TREASURE supposed to be?
 

RW

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tseek7, cache or not, you are 1 bad dude to dig that hole by hand by yourself. Your backyard must look like a mine tailings pile, well I guess it actually is. Have any of the neighbors gotten suspicious of noise or piles of debris? A physically impressive feat. I don't know what else to say. Thanks for the pics/videos, good luck and you can't be too careful down there.
 

MiddenMonster

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I'm curious as to how the mechanics work for a "death trap" such as this. If you have material both above and below this particular stone that holds it in place, what is the triggering mechanism? How is it different than any other natural pit hazard that can cause injury or death? How would whoever set such a trap design and build it? And how could it survive 50' below the surface for so many decades without the natural dynamics of the Earth undoing everything that was done to put it in place and function? Physics dictates that it can function like a Western bridge or a Chinese bridge, but not both. A Western bridge is designed to support weight, and is at its strongest when there is no load present. A Chinese bridge is fragile in its construction, but becomes stronger as the bridge materials increase the load and prevent the individual pieces from moving. You describe a rock that is held in place by material above and below it, i.e the force below it equals the force pressing down from above it. Logic dictates that simply removing the rock when it is first observed eliminates the risk entirely, provided there is not a spring underneath it to propel it towards you. What would inspire anyone to leave something in place that can fall on them?
 

RW

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RW, thanks for the compliment. The reason for the dedication I have to this is the certainty I have that something is here. A lot of people would probably be capable of doing this if they knew what I knew and could see what I've seen. I don't have any problems with neighbors.

I have been curious, did you buy this house because you learned of the cache or did you learn of the cache after you bought the house? Yes, if I was POSITIVE, I would go to great extremes (buying a house and digging a massive hole) as you have done. Hope your effort pays off.
 

MiddenMonster

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It isn't an automatic triggering mechanism. The material just below the stone would have remained stable until someone started digging beside it. Maybe it would have triggered and maybe not. Maybe the person digging would have removed it, maybe not. It isn't meant to make the hole a place where death would inevitably occur because like you said someone in the know may come back to get the cache. They didn't leave it in place so it would fall on them. They left it in place to add risk to anyone who may not notice the hazard and keep it there as a step. The triggering mechanism isn't going to be a button on the ground you accidentally step on which causes a spring to shoot the rock out at you. The triggering mechanism is a product of geological engineering. Using various natural materials to make fatal accidents more probable.

That's not a "death trap". If the only way that stone could cause problems is by someone removing the fill from below it and leaving the stone in a precarious position it's an engineering/excavation error. Period. It's no different that any other rock you encounter in a hole. See a stone. Move a stone. Problem solved. It's not a situation where you can somehow miss it and have it fall on you later. 100% of all stones in a hole pose the same risk, regardless of how they got there. By definition, all traps have a triggering mechanism; certain conditions are met and the trap is activated. The only way that stone could have caused harm is if it was left in place when it should have been moved. You chose to leave it there. You chose to use it as a step.
 

MiddenMonster

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It definitely is a situation where a person could be inclined to leave it in. Not everyone is an engineer or expert at excavating deep holes, something that most people would be aware of, especially the original depositors. You're generalizing a lot. Again, the triggering mechanism is the thick layer of fine sand just below the stone. The stone was stuck in to the wall far enough that a lot of people would decide to leave it in because yes it makes a nice step and also maybe they wouldn't want to compromise the support of the material above. Eventually, the sand would have a higher likelihood of giving way and releasing the stone. I'm not saying everyone would leave the stone there, I'm saying its possible someone would. A trap doesn't have to be a 100% lets kill anybody that tries to dig here. It could be simply to add more danger to the excavation.

And I said I left it there and made my hole smaller. If I could have kept going with the smaller sized hole then the stone would have had plenty of support.

I am not generalizing. I'm trying to look at the situation through the eyes of those who might have dug the hole. Prior to 50-60 years ago people wouldn't have thought twice about removing a stone that could fall on them. Just as they wouldn't have ever considered riding a bicycle off a roof and trying to slide it down a banister or jumping from dangerous heights and landing on a table full of beer cups. Now the Internet is filled with videos of people doing just that. Decades ago people had a heightened awareness of risks and their consequences. For one, health care couldn't fix the injuries that it now can. The potential of losing a limb or use of a body part would also have played a role in what risks were worth taking. Also, timely access a doctor or hospital was far less available then it is today. So why would people who originally dug such a hole bother to "add more danger" to something that is inherently fraught with a lot of danger anyway?

Your last quote about proceeding with a smaller hole is just as telling in that you don't consider the opposite strategy: Enlarging the hole temporarily for safety reasons and shoring it up once the rock is removed. In your original post regarding the digging you mentioned that you believed the hole diggers carefully back filled the hole in such a way as to camouflage what was below to make people think that the earth had not been disturbed. Now they are putting rocks in place hoping a future digger might gloss over it, and leave it in place and risk injury or death? It would make more sense to just put large stones in at various intervals as obstacles in order to make people give up out of frustration. Had you started the hole a foot or so to either side the stone would have either been fully exposed or full hidden. Are you saying they went to all this effort and planning in the hopes that a hole pirate would dig exactly where you dug, and then decided to leave a dangerous rock in place for the sake of convenience? If they were inclined to overthink this I have to believe they would have come up with something a little more creative.

Digging deep holes is dangerous. It has always been dangerous. There is no way to make it safe when people enter into its depths. The only thing that can be done is to mitigate risk to an acceptable level. It's far easier to make people think that it just isn't worth the effort than it is to place a death trap 50' below the surface and hope that someone chooses to leave it in place.
 

chub

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How deep will you go? At what depth will you stop? Can I ask what time and $ you have invested in this project so far?

Thanks
Chub
 

chub

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Are you noticing a difference in temperature at this depth?

Chub
 

RW

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Aw man what happened? One way or another, I was in awe.
 

MiddenMonster

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Is anyone else having trouble pulling up the second page for this thread? The index shows a second page, but clicking any of the advancement buttons reloads the first page. Is it possible that a thread can become data corrupted?
 

cyzak

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Is anyone else having trouble pulling up the second page for this thread? The index shows a second page, but clicking any of the advancement buttons reloads the first page. Is it possible that a thread can become data corrupted?

I believe what happened is a lot of it got deleted.
 

Charlie P. (NY)

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If you have material both above and below this particular stone that holds it in place, what is the triggering mechanism? How is it different than any other natural pit hazard that can cause injury or death?

What is the difference between a natural hazard and a "Death Trap"?


PRESENTATION!

megamind-presentation-gif-2.gif
 

MiddenMonster

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I believe what happened is a lot of it got deleted.

I wondered if that had something to do with it. But the page count was showing posts on a second page, but no matter what I did only the first page would load. Now it seems to be working.

What is the difference between a natural hazard and a "Death Trap"?

A death trap is something intentionally created by humans...or space aliens, and maybe an antlion. A natural hazard is anything in nature that is inherently risky.
 

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