Moonshiners caches

buffhunter

Sr. Member
May 30, 2006
275
5
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur 1000
Re: Moonshiners' caches

Back in the 1980's i was on vacation in Tennessee and was visiting my mom. She had remarried after my dad's death and the property of my stepfather had been in his family since it was homesteaded. I went up with what i had then ( a WHites PI 1000 ) and started searching the property. My stepdad said he was told there was a small skirmish back in the hollow and we found several musket balls. He also said that a neighbor on the property next to his was arrested in the 1940's for having a still on the property. i did not get permission at that time but several years later my stepdad had got the permission i needed (he bought the property). we looked with the detector and found several coils of copper tubing several inches down. they may have been covered over by years of decayed leave and such. I would not expect to find large caches of money as those days were very tough on everyone, and usually any money they made was used to buy sugar, jugs, etc. Finding enough copper today would be just as good as coins.
 

RON (PA)

Silver Member
Sep 9, 2004
2,847
61
Pittsburgh, Pa
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Compadre & Tiger Shark
Re: Moonshiners' caches

You could try to search on Google.

Google.com, then go to news and search. You can even search old newspapers (archives). Very nice setup. Hope it helps.
 

DragonsLair

Tenderfoot
Nov 13, 2009
7
0
Re: Moonshiners' caches

TURNMASTER said:
Don't forget marijuana grows... Modern Moonshine

I would avoid marijuana grow areas strongly. The individuals involved are usually heavily armed with a twitchy trigger finger and dont take kindly to strangers poking about their area. Theyre usually seasoned criminals as well. You'd be likely to get shot dead pretty quick.
 

Tuberale

Gold Member
May 12, 2010
5,775
3,447
Portland, Oregon
Detector(s) used
White's Coinmaster Pro
Re: Moonshiners' caches

How do you research such caches? Same way you research any other cache. Try a simple Google or other search engine search to begin with. Start with Alabama, moonshiner and your county (we don't want to make this overly hard). Should give you some pretty good spots to begin with. If not, hit the old-folks homes: bet there's some first-hand accounts to be told there. Take your tape recorder, too. You never know what else the old-timers will want to talk about. What might start as moonshiners may take a tangent toward something else, like a robbery or other cache. Should be some local caches within 10 miles of you. Keep your ears open.
 

floodcitykid

Full Member
Nov 3, 2008
172
13
Appomattox coVirginia
Detector(s) used
whites eagle spectrum
fisher gold bug
Re: Moonshiners' caches

Well here is one Moonshiners cache or treasure that I personally worked on and hunted for...came up with zilch but did find a few coins, relics and bottles.

Check out Sidna Allan who was a moonshiner, counterfieter and all around bad guy
who ruled the roost in the area of Fancy Gap near Hillside Virginia. I actually searched some places he was said to have hidden when on the lam from local lawmen after shooting up the courthouse and killing two men during his trial.

The area I searched was called squirrel ridge, outside of town, a friend of mine had moved to the area and bought the property, old house site was on it. My researched mentioned that Sidna hid out in this area while lawmen organized the search, then he left the State, I theorize that he went up there and recovered some money from one or more of the cache's he was said to have hidden to skip town on.

Check around 'fence posts" farmers and homeowners were known to bury caches by a certain fence post for future reference.

TFCK
 

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