Disturbing...

[RotZorn]

Had a couple of friends over for a cookout today, and we got to messing around with the MDs out in the yard. I've hunted the yard a fair amount hoping to find something cool or worthwhile since it is in a rather historical area and was built in 1931. That's not super old when it comes to buildings, but the area itself has been inhabited since the 1840's.

I was in the back yard and had just dug a modern dime at about 2.5-3 inches, when one of my buddies (swinging the wife's F2) told me he found the top of what appeared to be a mason jar. He showed it to me and it still had a portion of the glass in it. We washed it with the hose to get off a strange looking mud that was a bluish-black- to the underside.... The inside of the jar.

I thought nothing of it at the time. We showed it to the second friend, and he tried to read anything that may have been on the metal lid part. I still thought nothing of it. I've pulled so much trash from out there.

I found a second one, right after I filled back in the hole from the dime I dug. Same thing, bluish green mud caked in the underside of the lid.

Does anyone know what happens to paper money that's been in the ground for years and years? Would it eventually break down into a muddy blue- black mush like this?

When we started thinking that we re- opened each of the holes and found more of the glass, and I guess you call it trace amounts of the mush. I can't stop thinking there's a jar somewhere in my yard full of paper money?!?!

But if someone buried jars of cash even if it was a long time ago, how would they have gotten broken? Mason jars are pretty dang tough! I saw them fall of the shelf in the pantry and land on hard tiled flooring lots of times growing up and I don't ever remember one breaking!

It's almost 3 in the morning and I can't stop thinking about it. What do you guys think? Am I crazy? Could it just be some strange set of circumstances? Or should I be out there in the yard right now with my F5 and a flashlight?

 

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[RustyAxeheads]

The blueish-green is likely years of algae, mold or other microorganism buildup eating whatever originally coated the lid. I dig midden heaps for bottles a lot, and I find it in a lot of lids, even the very old ones. The lids are most likely mayonnaise lids, or something similar that would have gotten cleaned quickly above ground, but make a great food source for mold and such underground. It could also be oxidants leeching into the soil, but it would be more uniform around the lid and not centralized to the base.

It was most likely not money. Money is more similar to cloth than paper in the way it decays, it wouldn't go to mush, more like to shreds and strips. If there was a wad or bundle of cash you would have found some remnants of them in there that were identifiable. You can google DB Cooper money to get an idea what money 10 years in the ground untouched would look like and extrapolate off that.

It's most likely someone had a midden heap there, when that part of that yard was it's border. I'd definitely suggest not going barefoot around that area, as shards of glass could likely work their way up where you don't expect them to.

 

[christo000]

Lol db Cooper What a story

 

[jeff of pa]

yes paper money Petrifies into a slimy lump when in the ground for a long period,
but RustyAxeheads is more then likely correct on it just being algae, etc.

if a large amount of cash had been pressed in,
you should have still been able to tell there was bills there.
even though it would have taken professionals to separate them.

 

[RotZorn]

Well I'm not sure what was in those jars. But it does make me wonder. It could have been some sort of mold, mildew, or algae that I've never seen before?!? But the substance was not green. More of a blue/black Pasty almost like wet chalk.

They were definitely there on purpose. Both jars were about 7-8 inches down. Lids were upright or close to it. All of the jars appears to be there. But they're broken- still can't figure that out. One was about. 2 feet over from the corner fence post on the side yard. The one I found was about 2 feet directly off the corner of the house.

I'm gonna keep looking over the next few days to see if I can find one that's intact. There's just something strange feeling about it. Like I have the strongest feeling those jars were place where they were found intentionally?!?!