Cubfan64
Silver Member
- Feb 13, 2006
- 2,986
- 2,789
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher CZ21, Teknetics T2 & Minelab Sovereign GT
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I haven't been as active as I used to be on the forum for various reasons but thought I'd toss out my $0.02 even though this is an older post...
Being from out of state, I only get 1 or 2 trips a year max to visit the Superstitions so I honestly don't consider myself a "searcher" in the traditional sense. What got me interested and still interested is just the allure to a mystery that is accessible to the average person. I get hooked on the history and in digging into the stories and legends - trying to weed out the good information from the bad.
I think people search for many reasons but here are a few of what I feel are the top ones. Fame in my opinion is the #1 reason - plenty of people simply want to be THE person to have solved an age old secret. Some people search for $$ reasons but since the Superstitions are a protected federal Wilderness Area the only way to take something worth $ out of those mountains is either illegally or by jumping through a bunch of legal hoops that more often than not will leave you in debt rather than a millionaire. The last reason I think exists in some people's minds is just the idea of "adventure" in spending time in those mountains with the hope of possibly discovering something hidden.
I personally think people who search for treasures have similar personalities to explorers from years past. We keep going because it's simply a personal drive. We enjoy the outdoors, we seek fame and fortune and we ultimately feel unsettled in life and need this search to feel fulfilled.
Like anything else in life, if you get too obsessed with something it can completely take over a person's life to the point where they lose jobs, lose family, lose $$ and possibly even lose their lives. The Lost Dutchman Mine is well known as a "prize" that more than a handful of people have become obsessed with and lost those and other things over.
Secrecy is a large part of treasure hunting communities. Very few people are willing to work together to try to solve lost treasure puzzles. Partnerships are formed and often fall apart. People mislead others, lie or deceive. Clay Worst is a well known searcher for the Lost Dutchman mine and I will always remember him saying something to the effect that "searching for the Lost Dutchman Mine is a solitary venture."
The same answer for the above applies here. Secrecy is a major part of the treasure hunting community. Treasure hunters don't like to give away secrets but at the same time they LOVE to let people know that they know something nobody else does. You'll see it over and over again within these forum pages. The best way to do that is to pretend to be someone you are not and an online persona is perfect for that. I don't know exactly what drives people to be so misleading - I often think it's some sort of personality issue. I think it would be fascinating to see a pyschological analysis of what makes treasure hunters tick
.Good luck to you Truthseeker - I'm not sure what you're seeking, but feel free to ask questions - some of us are willing to talk
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This is certainly a confusing thread. Seems as though some people know what's going on and others are in the dark on the whole topic. Time to go back into lurker mode I think 
