Has Anyone Every Found Any Treasure At The Bottom Of An Old Well?

prospexican

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I recently found an old house foundation out in the woods, with what appears to be 3 empty hand dug wells. The wells are about 8 feet deep, and walled with stone. I believe the house could date from the late 1800's or later. I am well aware of the danger of going down to the bottom, and have thought twice about it, but I am still curious what is down there. Has anyone has ever metal detected the bottom of a well?
magnet fishing
 

ARC

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No... but i looked for several wells in a closed military base (1947) that upon closing tons of new items were thrown in each well then bulldozed in.

As far as i know... no one has ever found them.
 

Gare

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Ok this thread concerns me A lot !!! I do not want to see or hear about anyone getting sick or dying in a well/. Please do this go get professional device. Go to a fire Department rescue squad and ASK THERE ADVICE!!! I lost a friend in a corn silo bin. he was over came by gasses.
Some other options I bought a underwater camera that came with a monitor for around $100 I used this in trying to find a lost shotgun.(no luck) Also if you have a Deus you can tape the coil to a pole and extend the the underwater coil attachment kit and you can scan the bottom from above.

PLEASE ASK A RESCUE SQUAD ABOUT YOUR OPTIONS !!!

Carbon dioxide causes deaths in unused wells”​

B. Kolappan
CHENNAI, April 25, 2013 02:25 IST
Updated: April 25, 2013 02:25 IST
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Deaths that occur when workers enter unused wells or tanks to clean them are not due to poisonous gases, as is widely believed, but because of carbon dioxide which is present at the bottom, says forensic expert P. Chandrasekaran.
Such deaths can be avoided by adopting simple measures like agitating the wells before entering them.
On Monday, two workers died of asphyxiation when the entered a tank in the city to clean it.
“Deaths in unused wells are common during summer. The failure to take simple precautionary measures is the cause for these deaths,” said Mr Chandrasekaran, a former director of the Forensic Sciences Department. He has several breakthroughs to his credit in his career, including the reconstruction of the belt bomb used by the suicide bomber in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Mr Chandrasekaran told The Hindu that he had investigated many deaths in wells and the culprit was not poisonous gases, but carbon dioxide, whose presence depleted oxygen and eventually caused asphyxiation.

“Organic materials deposit at the bottom of unused wells. Whey they start decaying, they release carbon monoxide. It is converted into carbon dioxide after it reacts with oxygen. Since carbon dioxide has high density, it stays at the bottom and inner layers of the wells and tanks and replaces the oxygen present there. When a worker enters the well to clean it, he dies only because there is no oxygen at the bottom,” he explained.
 

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Gare

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i have always wanted to drop one of my magnets down some of the old wells i know of but not yet :(
 

prospexican

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Ocean7

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nope, had a 200 year old cistern on the property that was at least 20 feet deep. There was nothing of value at bottom. I don't know why people always think there's treasure in wells, or caves etc. Many times there is a whole bunch of nothing. And as others have pointed out - they can be dangerous with toxic gases. If you don't believe that - well keep reading.

Back in 60's, I was just a kid and hanging out with my older brother and a couple of his buddies. They went down into the woods and found an old abandoned well pit that was pretty deep. Well they got the brilliant idea to pour some oil paint on a branch, light it creating a torch, and then drop it down this well to see what was down there. We all were close to opening to watch the torch hit bottom. AS the torch was dropping down that pit, something told me to step back and I did. Boom there was a explosion and liquid flew up into the other's faces. I'll assume it was methane gas. They all ran to the nearby creek to wash off their skin and flush their eyes. A day later and I kid you not, there was still light smoke coming out of that well. That's when I learned how dangerous wells can be. A day without a memory is gone forever.
 

Gare

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nope, had a 200 year old cistern on the property that was at least 20 feet deep. There was nothing of value at bottom. I don't know why people always think there's treasure in wells, or caves etc. Many times there is a whole bunch of nothing. And as others have pointed out - they can be dangerous with toxic gases. If you don't believe that - well keep reading.

Back in 60's, I was just a kid and hanging out with my older brother and a couple of his buddies. They went down into the woods and found an old abandoned well pit that was pretty deep. Well they got the brilliant idea to pour some oil paint on a branch, light it creating a torch, and then drop it down this well to see what was down there. We all were close to opening to watch the torch hit bottom. AS the torch was dropping down that pit, something told me to step back and I did. Boom there was a explosion and liquid flew up into the other's faces. I'll assume it was methane gas. They all ran to the nearby creek to wash off their skin and flush their eyes. A day later and I kid you not, there was still light smoke coming out of that well. That's when I learned how dangerous wells can be. A day without a memory is gone forever.
Ocen7 GREAT story thanks for sharing. People HAVE NO IDEA what gasses linger in different types of containers and in old mines as well
FORR GOSH SAKES everyone STAY SAFE !1
 

Riverbum

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This MIGHT appear gross at first, but I know bottle hunters & Metal dectector hobbist that search for OLD OUT HOUSES hundred plus years old . They find some pretty remarkable things in those HOLES. After a few decades those out houses turn the filth into regular soil with NO odors. The "stigma" of doing this does seem gross but theres nothing to worry about...... IF THEY ARE OLD! I watched folks around Mogollon, N.M. doing this and they had found some incredible bottles & COINS inside a few of them. The bottles were almost ALL unbroken and well over 100 years OLD
 

Red_desert

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I can remember treasure hunters, finding large cent caches, near old wells under a foundation stone. Old foundations can have iron junk, but dig all targets.
 

traveller777

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This MIGHT appear gross at first, but I know bottle hunters & Metal dectector hobbist that search for OLD OUT HOUSES hundred plus years old . They find some pretty remarkable things in those HOLES. After a few decades those out houses turn the filth into regular soil with NO odors. The "stigma" of doing this does seem gross but theres nothing to worry about...... IF THEY ARE OLD! I watched folks around Mogollon, N.M. doing this and they had found some incredible bottles & COINS inside a few of them. The bottles were almost ALL unbroken and well over 100 years OLD
Yepper, you are correct. Great place to look and some good finds have been found there. Also in Civil War Latrine areas.
 

Gare

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This MIGHT appear gross at first, but I know bottle hunters & Metal dectector hobbist that search for OLD OUT HOUSES hundred plus years old . They find some pretty remarkable things in those HOLES. After a few decades those out houses turn the filth into regular soil with NO odors. The "stigma" of doing this does seem gross but theres nothing to worry about...... IF THEY ARE OLD! I watched folks around Mogollon, N.M. doing this and they had found some incredible bottles & COINS inside a few of them. The bottles were almost ALL unbroken and well over 100 years OLD
Riverbum GREAT POST !!!
 

Upnorth42

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Where I live it was common practice to hide things in a well. It was mostly done to hide things from those pesky American pirates who came over during the war of 1812. I do know of one guy who while cleaning his well in a house he bought found jars of coins.
 

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