Hole in the woods....?

[SCholes]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to the site and I was looking around some property when I stumbled onto this hole in the ground. I've haven't been able to identify what it might have been used for and wondering if anyone has seen a hole/shaft like this:



It's roughly 42 inches square and currently measures 16.5 feet deep to the pile of leaves at the bottom.

 

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[IMAUDIGGER]

My initial impression was it was a cave entrance, but the square shape has me wondering.
Never seen any square wells before. Be interested to know that you find out.
Could it have been dug square so a to facilitate placing boards in there to prevent sloughing?

The leaves might just be laying on some debris that got lodged in there. Could be much deeper.
Any piles of dirt nearby?

Maybe it was dug square so as to lower a treasure box in and out.

 

[SCholes]

There are no dirt mounds near by and nothing to suggest a home was near by except the trees are less dense in the surrounding area. Plan to investigate further this weekend but no plans to go down into the hole...maybe I found a new "Money Pit"

 

[Hawks88]

Welcome to tnet from Niagara Falls. Interesting. I think the tree being so close may have been a marker to the hole and it may have had a lid or cover of some sort at one time. I would look around for the cover or maybe get a detector and try to get a signal for something that might give a hint to what it may have been used for. I’m not saying the cover might have been made of metal but what I am saying is maybe a relic or coin find might help with a time period. Good luck.

 

[hvacker]

Only way to know is to go in. Just make sure someone is with and tell someone where you're going. Hard hat, 3 different light sources or you could contact an NSS Grotto. They explore caves and are the experts.
Square hole?? Civil War ammo stash?

 

[ahammer14]

Wow it sure does look like an adventure. Be careful if you do explore, lots of dangerous gasses you could run into

 

[buck8point]

Put a GoPro or similar camera on a long pole and get a close look at what it looks like dow there..
Pretty interesting. Could be a Bunker Vent, or vent from a mine shaft maybe.

 

[digging440yrs]

Try magnet fishing in there -=--you never know , it would eat at me til I got in there and found the bottom

 

[lairmo]

I second the GoPro idea..maybe on a light rope/heavy string, (and a light source) so as not to lose it if you can't find a pole long enough. I would go in but only with my rappelling gear and a buddy or two just in case. (You don't want to hit 'bottom' to find out it's not the real 'bottom')

 

[Red James Cash]

Maybe a NA underground burial chamber that was never finished.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

If it was me, I’d have already rappelled down there with a probe.
Is there any kind of depression surrounding the hole?
Could it be s cave entrance that was squared up?

Any limestone caves in your area?

 

[huntsman53]

IMHO, it is an old Spring Hole/Box that a family or other folks nearby used to obtain water but it has long since gone dry. Springs can go dry for many reasons such as Flash Flooding or major Flooding that causes rocks or rock strata to shift thus blocking off the source of water to the Spring, seismic events that can cause the same or from prolonged drought with the water table dropping so deep/low that the water is no longer able to reach the Spring box.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.......maybe I found a new "Money Pit"

Well ... YES, of course. Durned them Templars and Freemasons after all, for leaving open dangerous holes that a little girl could trip and fall in.

Now it's merely a matter of going to the library near you. Sleuth out any 1800s bank robberies near you, or old travel routes that pass anywhere near there. Then you'll have the stellar proof of faded newspaper clippings, old maps, names, dates, events, etc..... And find any possible date of the earliest inhabitants of your area. String together a long bibliography about them, and the "wealth they were known to have accumulated".

Then study the surrounding terrain for any out of place squiggles. Uncanny symmetrical looking shapes or rocks. Out of place feathers or fibers. This will also ad to the proof positive treasure there. If you don't find anything, that doesn't mean there wasn't a treasure. That will merely mean (take your pick) that:

a) someone came and stole it, because they saw the pix on the forum today, or

b) A little more to the right, or

c) A little more to the left, or

d) a little deeper.

(SCholes, I hope you can see this is all tongue in cheek )

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Actually Tom your probably right about it being a spring box.
My family and I have found valuable treasure in both water wells and outhouses.

If the age is right, there could be some goodies down at the bottom.

I’d cover it up for safety. Who knows how many skeletons are down there already!

 

[Scorpio_queen6]

I have something like that in the woods behind my house. I think its an old well. Or something to do with iron mining since there was a lot of mining in the area i live in. Let me know if you find out!

 

[huntsman53]

Actually Tom your probably right about it being a spring box.
My family and I have found valuable treasure in both water wells and outhouses.

If the age is right, there could be some goodies down at the bottom.

I’d cover it up for safety. Who knows how many skeletons are down there already!

Actually, it was me and not Tom who stated that it is an old Spring Hole Box not that it matters! However, you are correct, folks in mostly in the old days (from the 1600's and 1700's to as late as the early to mid 1900's) would sometimes hide valuables in Spring Box Holes and Wells to secure it from thieves or troops occupying or moving through the area. From the appearance of the hole, the cut/sheared rock faces and the moss/lichen growth, I would say that it is well over one hundred years old. I have seen many similar holes in the mountains here while growing up and running the hills, hollers and ridges while digging Ginseng and/or hunting that were dug and cut out by the Settlers in the late 1700's to mid 1800's.

 

[Rege-PA]

If you are in the SC gold belt it could be a gold prospect where they were attempting to locate the vein, the absence of dirt could be that they carried it away to crush and check the values.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Looks like a dug well. We have them hereabouts and the sides are often supported with flat shale - hence the square shape.

A co-worker has one on his property that is a salt spring. It produces salty water and has been used for centuries. Also square because it was lined with shale.

 

[uglymailman]

I'd check out the hole but then either tell the land owner so they can put a cover over it or cut a pole and leave in the hole so anyone falling into it could get out. I've found a couple of wells at abandoned home sites. One broke my heart. It was 7 or 8 foot deep and had a deer that could get it's front paws out of the well but that was it. It had worked very hard to get out but I was a few days late getting thee. Be careful and good luck.

 

[Toecutter]

Get ahold of Auqachigger he will gladly go down in....