(1) I grew up in a world unique from most. Our family's idea of a vacation was, visiting ghost towns, including ones for which little evidence was left of their existence. We were deep enough into it that world, my parents [and family friends] even had an antique-bottle-rock & curio shop in Eastern Washington.
Many of our finds, including some of the best, came from stories not subscribed to by experts.
(2) I have a friend who owns several mining claims on the Yukon (big excavators, screens, dumps, etc.). As he pointed out, yeah, those are five gallon buckets with gold in unrefined ore, but, if someone steals it, where are they going to go.
(3) My first house was a bargain. It sat on the market a long time before I got it for 21k. It was a two story with a drive in basement under that. It was stucco. I could watch the ships come and go to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and could see the Needle and Dome from across the water and to the east. It was a "too good to be true" deal. For some reason, most never bothered to look at it, because of its age (yes, it had knob-and-tube in spots.
(4) I've gotten many a killer deal at a garage sale. Often ones that others walked past all weekend. For example: a $20.00 artist easel I sold to a art school back east for $400.00; a $30.00 Hilti mag drill that needed a new micro switch I also sold for $400.00, a free pile vacuum system us woodworkers, often, are only able to dream of; a free pile oxygen machine I sold for two, and on and on).
(5) I've seen supposed experts, in many fields, prove their expertise is limited, or worse. For example, experts on the Road Show explained to a lady her glass float wasn't, because glass doesn't float, leaving me to wonder if anyone took time to warn the Navy about iron and ships.
(6) I was fortunate enough to have delved deep into law. Among other things, it helped me understand why we have not just one, as the ramblings of too many would suggest, but FIFTY-ONE constitutions. That is, our agents cannot be fully trusted, regardless what the issue is. From that, my choices kept me from making the mistake of buying into what bought public agents promoted over the years and, especially, during the past couple years.
(7) In my twenties, I was at an art show. An old man, in his nineties, stopped and visited, then asked if I'd be interested in mounting some of the paper products he had. They were publicity poster books from the days of Fred Astaire and crowd. I forgot about it, until we met again a couple years later. This time, I made the visit.
He could have made me rich, and even offered to (I passed it up for reasons). The stories he shared were amazing. The more I listened, the more obvious it was he was a goldmine of historical information. His collection habits and stories inspired me to state it was sad he didn't get into collecting comic books. He just smiled, for a moment, then motioned me to follow him. The room was JUST comic books. First addition everything and so much more.
He kept trying to show me one comic, but I was captivated by the Superman's and so on. FINALLY, I looked. IT WAS HIM.
He knew he was old, and mentioned his sister made a bee line each time he went into the hospital, hoping to capitalize on the fortune that was in that room. He offered me half to help him sell it. I passed because it was so far out of my league. Heck, the ex's would have gotten it all by now anyway.
The point of all this is, I've learned only the ignorant, fools or corrupt dismiss stories not backed by authorities, or paid PROFESSIONALS (e.g., lawbooks are replete with examples of convictions for conspiracies many would scoff at, including one about an entire Chicago circuit court declared to be a RICO enterprise),
OR
don't take the time to look into some of the "too good to be true" things they come across.
