German Ghost Town detecting and exploring...

Bavaria Mike

Gold Member
Feb 7, 2005
8,340
177
Bavaria Germany
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Minelab XT70, Fisher 1280, Garrett Ace 250 and MH5
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All Treasure Hunting
Through my job on a military installation, I have just been given access to a few German ghost towns. These towns, 58 in all, were evacuated by the German Army between the early 1900s-1935 to form this training area. The Americans took it in 1945 and have used it ever since. I explored this ghost town yesterday and today, several cellar holes and a church ruin. I discovered wild boar tracks everywhere and that worried me. Well, getting back there today, I found the wild boar, LOL, a Shepard and a herd of sheep. The tracks kind of look the same. I had a good laugh over that but there really are wild boar around.
10Sep08sheep.jpg

Here are a few pictures of the town ruins. Since these towns were moved, the people took the houses with them, stone by stone and rebuilt elsewhere. They left the church shells as monuments to the towns. Some of the towns date to 800 AD. The following are three cellar holes close together. Some of the cellar holes have caved in.
10Sep08cellar1.jpg

10Sep08cellar2.jpg

10Sep08cellar3.jpg

A foundation between the cellar holes. I took a site picture but it came out blurry. Was hoping someone could help me find trash pits and outhouses however, I do not think they used them much. All forms of trash and human waste went onto the manure pile and eventually made its way to the farm fields.
10Sep08foundation.jpg

Front of the church.
10Sep08churchfront.jpg

Back of the church, that tree on the right is a good 5’ wide. Can you spot the detector?
10Sep08churchback.jpg

Peering through the church door.
10Sep08churchdoor.jpg

This is an awesome site!!! However, it is a military training area and has been for 101 years. The ground everywhere is saturated with brass ammo casings, live rounds and trash throughout the years. The only way to detect is to clean an area out, then go back over it. I dug this old mason’s trowel today and a 1921 coin yesterday, not pictured. And a big pile of brass.
10Sep08trow.jpg

I have noted many people who MD also hunt mushrooms so here is a picture of a basket of German mushrooms my wife and daughter just brought home. It is customary here to fry the mushrooms then add an egg or two and scramble them with. They are tasty and have a wild taste to them. HH, Mike
10Sep08mush.jpg
 

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fishalaska24

Jr. Member
Aug 2, 2008
63
5
Fort Meade, MD
Detector(s) used
Garrett GTI2500
Mike,
I've noticed while detecting a lot in Germany there are mushrooms all over the place... how do you know which ones are safe to eat and which ones aren't? My wife and I love mushrooms, but I'm a little nervous about picking which ones to eat.

Excellent finds with the ghost towns, I bet once you get those cleared out there will be all sorts of treasure!
HH,
Jake :thumbsup:
 

DrJoePrime

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Sep 9, 2007
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Long Beach, California
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Mike...wow Looks AMAZING! Beautiful 'old places to detect.

Need to see your finds coming in....

HH Joe
 

SC_hunter

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Jan 16, 2007
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South Carolina
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fishalaska24 said:
Mike,
I've noticed while detecting a lot in Germany there are mushrooms all over the place... how do you know which ones are safe to eat and which ones aren't? My wife and I love mushrooms, but I'm a little nervous about picking which ones to eat.

Excellent finds with the ghost towns, I bet once you get those cleared out there will be all sorts of treasure!
HH,
Jake :thumbsup:
Just BEWARE of the ones that grows outta cow patties.
Looks like a great place to hunt. Love the pics...
 

fishalaska24

Jr. Member
Aug 2, 2008
63
5
Fort Meade, MD
Detector(s) used
Garrett GTI2500
SC_hunter said:
fishalaska24 said:
Mike,
I've noticed while detecting a lot in Germany there are mushrooms all over the place... how do you know which ones are safe to eat and which ones aren't? My wife and I love mushrooms, but I'm a little nervous about picking which ones to eat.

Excellent finds with the ghost towns, I bet once you get those cleared out there will be all sorts of treasure!
HH,
Jake :thumbsup:
Just BEWARE of the ones that grows outta cow patties.
Looks like a great place to hunt. Love the pics...

LOL- Dont worry, I know ;D
 

Eu_citzen

Gold Member
Sep 19, 2006
6,484
2,111
Sweden
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fishalaska24 said:
Mike,
I've noticed while detecting a lot in Germany there are mushrooms all over the place... how do you know which ones are safe to eat and which ones aren't? My wife and I love mushrooms, but I'm a little nervous about picking which ones to eat.

Excellent finds with the ghost towns, I bet once you get those cleared out there will be all sorts of treasure!
HH,
Jake :thumbsup:

I think there are books to be bought on the subject. I did learn from my grandfather who was German. :thumbsup:

I loved to walk in the forest and look for mushrooms when I was 5! Knew nothing better! :icon_sunny:

Other then that you can also ask the locals they might be able to help you. :thumbsup:
 

88irocarmy

Full Member
Feb 25, 2007
196
33
Rhineland Gerrmany
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Deus XP 3.2
Mike
Nice location, I always wanted to MD the parts of Graf where they held all the WWI prisoners. The library had a good book on Vilseck/Graf history.
HH
 

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Bavaria Mike

Bavaria Mike

Gold Member
Feb 7, 2005
8,340
177
Bavaria Germany
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Thanks all! About the mushrooms, it is something that has been passed down for generations on my wife's side, they just know because it has always been like that, LOL. The varieties in the basket, translated are, red cap, chestnut, birch (they grow under birch trees) and egg mushrooms. Be careful as there are plenty of poisonous mushrooms out there. I will have to check out that German POW camp book at the library, could be interesting. HH, Mike
 

leslie(nova scotia)

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Sep 22, 2006
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lower sackville,nova scotia
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yo BM

From the land of the Bluenose.....man those look as if they will give up some goodies. The history behind those spots must be facinating and the musharooms...........tasty!
 

Gypsy Heart

Gold Member
Nov 29, 2005
12,686
339
Ozarks
Everytime you post I am in awe over the beautiful sites that you have access to....not just because you get to hunt them,but because of the history you are able to experience first hand! Thank you so very much for allowing us to follow your footsteps ....
 

JerV3

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Feb 28, 2005
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Three Rivers
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That's a great looking area Mike.

Yes, The brass makes hunting hard. But I bet if you pick at the site from time to time you'll get down to the oldies like you said. Gotta be some under all that newer stuff.

HH Jer
 

Harry_Morant

Bronze Member
Jan 11, 2006
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Canberra
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Looks like you have no shortage of very interesting sites there with lots of potential. Great photos of the ruins and the mushrooms. Very funny about the wild boar tracks :snorting: :snorting: :snorting:

If I recall correctly quite a few of your posts have some element of food in them - are you sure you don't just use detecting as an excuse to forage : ;D
 

juju

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Dec 8, 2007
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Burien, Wa.
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Are those bolete, and chanterelle mushrooms?
:icon_pirat:
JuJu
 

49er

Bronze Member
Feb 21, 2005
1,276
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Sun City, Arizona
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Whites..MXT..GMT
Great photographs and background to go with them. Looks like a great place to swing a detector, keep us posted on your finds. Yea, watch out for the mushrooms that grow in cow patties..... :tongue3: :tongue3: :tongue3: :tongue3:
 

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Mirage

Silver Member
Sep 16, 2005
3,718
38
Cleveland, OH
Mike,
Looks pretty cool. Sound like some of the sites Nate and I hunt - just instead of ammo casings we has shreaded aluminum. ::) yeah, that stuff is a pain. Good luck.

Weather willing we are going to the 'berg tommorrow. It's been a long time since we have been there.....lot's of rain in the forcast....

Bob
 

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