Darren in NC
Silver Member
- Apr 1, 2004
- 2,780
- 1,574
- Detector(s) used
- Tesoro Sand Shark, Homebuilt pulse loop
- Primary Interest:
- Shipwrecks
moonshiner's cache
Another miser story...? My non-treasure hunting friend and I were talking about my metal detecting about a week ago. He then lays out an incredible story about his family. I didn't know whether to hug him or shoot him for not telling me sooner.
Apparently his great-grandfather was a moonshiner around Harnett County, NC. It was known he bought most of his 80+ acres with his money in the prohibition days. No one knew for sure if he had any money left over, though.
After he died, his son (my friend's grandfather) was digging a pond and heard a crunch. He found an ammo box in the bucket of the front-end loader. It was about 10 feet away from an oak tree. He opened it and it had about 50 gold coins in it (not loaded with gold coins as most legends exaggerate)?
? Then everyone began diggin all over the property to no avail. This was in the 50s and not too many people had access to a metal detector. The excitement died over the years and so did his son.
Four years ago, my friend's dad was planting tomatoes in the old garden behind the house and struck something in the dirt. He started digging and found another metal box (not an ammo box). It was full of gold certificates. This was behind the grandfather's house, not the moonshiner's house (same property - next door). Like father, like son. A few weeks ago, he also found three gold coins in the creek close to the pond. But he didn't tell the rest of the family. Only his son (my friend). My friend goes to "casually" talk to his great uncle (80-something years old) about the family treasures. He finds out the original moonshiner told him that he had four boxes buried on his property. He also told him that the moonshiner didn't want to tell his son and as far as the uncle knew, he never did.
So we've got great granddad, the moonshiner with three more caches somewhere. And we know his son next door also hid things on his property.
So my friend invited me and Chad (my thunting partner) to come over and hunt his land...as long as he is with us. It sounds like a dream-come-true place to hunt. It may become our winter project. It's a big place. But he said no one has looked seriously for anything. The land is still in his family and he has full access anytime he pleases. Looks like the two-box is gonna have to come out. What's blowing my mind is I've known this guy for years. He goes to my church. He knows my hobby. But he said it never occurred to him to tell me until last week.
I'll keep you posted...
Another miser story...? My non-treasure hunting friend and I were talking about my metal detecting about a week ago. He then lays out an incredible story about his family. I didn't know whether to hug him or shoot him for not telling me sooner.
Apparently his great-grandfather was a moonshiner around Harnett County, NC. It was known he bought most of his 80+ acres with his money in the prohibition days. No one knew for sure if he had any money left over, though.
After he died, his son (my friend's grandfather) was digging a pond and heard a crunch. He found an ammo box in the bucket of the front-end loader. It was about 10 feet away from an oak tree. He opened it and it had about 50 gold coins in it (not loaded with gold coins as most legends exaggerate)?
? Then everyone began diggin all over the property to no avail. This was in the 50s and not too many people had access to a metal detector. The excitement died over the years and so did his son. Four years ago, my friend's dad was planting tomatoes in the old garden behind the house and struck something in the dirt. He started digging and found another metal box (not an ammo box). It was full of gold certificates. This was behind the grandfather's house, not the moonshiner's house (same property - next door). Like father, like son. A few weeks ago, he also found three gold coins in the creek close to the pond. But he didn't tell the rest of the family. Only his son (my friend). My friend goes to "casually" talk to his great uncle (80-something years old) about the family treasures. He finds out the original moonshiner told him that he had four boxes buried on his property. He also told him that the moonshiner didn't want to tell his son and as far as the uncle knew, he never did.
So we've got great granddad, the moonshiner with three more caches somewhere. And we know his son next door also hid things on his property.
So my friend invited me and Chad (my thunting partner) to come over and hunt his land...as long as he is with us. It sounds like a dream-come-true place to hunt. It may become our winter project. It's a big place. But he said no one has looked seriously for anything. The land is still in his family and he has full access anytime he pleases. Looks like the two-box is gonna have to come out. What's blowing my mind is I've known this guy for years. He goes to my church. He knows my hobby. But he said it never occurred to him to tell me until last week.
I'll keep you posted...
! I'll try to get some pics so we can all believe a little more...? 8)
