John Winter
Hero Member
This story surfaced four or five years ago, garnered a lot of publicity in the States, but seems to have escaped the detecting based news feeds in the UK. It all began innocently enough when retired musician Henry Mora was so convinced there was gold in his backyard that decided to take up the hobby of ātreasure huntingā.
From the Internet he purchased a Whiteās TM 808 (see above). Now, for a first detector I certainly wouldnāt recommend a powerful industrial-type machine like the TM 808, specifically designed to detect large buried targets such as septic tanks, tools, equipment, metal pipes and perhaps hoards. No, that was definitely a mistake. With hindsight, he should have sought some advice before purchase.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the first thing anyone does with a new detector is to try it out in the garden (back yard?). And, after picking up a signal near his front patio, thatās exactly what Henry did ā started digging. He said that he only intended to go down about four feet, but the detector kept beeping and āhintingā that he was getting closer.
After 14 days a concerned neighbour who saw the mound of earth growing on Henryās front lawn contacted the authorities. When the fire brigade responded to the emergency call they found two men inside the un-reinforced 60 feet deep hole using a bucket, rope and pulley system to remove the dirt. Yes, the hole was now so deep that Henry had hired two men from the local day centre to help him out.
The authorities stopped the excavation, fenced off the property and ordered Henry to hire an engineer to safely pack the earth back into the ground. Henry acknowledged that his search for buried treasure was getting ātotally out of hand,ā but said that he had no regrets in starting the dig because he firmly believed that there was āstill gold down there'.
Fire officials anticipated that it could take up to three weeks to completely fill up the hole!
From the Internet he purchased a Whiteās TM 808 (see above). Now, for a first detector I certainly wouldnāt recommend a powerful industrial-type machine like the TM 808, specifically designed to detect large buried targets such as septic tanks, tools, equipment, metal pipes and perhaps hoards. No, that was definitely a mistake. With hindsight, he should have sought some advice before purchase.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the first thing anyone does with a new detector is to try it out in the garden (back yard?). And, after picking up a signal near his front patio, thatās exactly what Henry did ā started digging. He said that he only intended to go down about four feet, but the detector kept beeping and āhintingā that he was getting closer.
After 14 days a concerned neighbour who saw the mound of earth growing on Henryās front lawn contacted the authorities. When the fire brigade responded to the emergency call they found two men inside the un-reinforced 60 feet deep hole using a bucket, rope and pulley system to remove the dirt. Yes, the hole was now so deep that Henry had hired two men from the local day centre to help him out.
The authorities stopped the excavation, fenced off the property and ordered Henry to hire an engineer to safely pack the earth back into the ground. Henry acknowledged that his search for buried treasure was getting ātotally out of hand,ā but said that he had no regrets in starting the dig because he firmly believed that there was āstill gold down there'.
Fire officials anticipated that it could take up to three weeks to completely fill up the hole!
