Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| 2022 Finds by John H. |
John H. sent some find photos and the following story about how he uncovered a buried beach cache with a dramatic background. Here is what he said.
Thank you again for all the hard work you do on beach reports. I have learned much from reading your postings. This was my first year metal detecting and I had a great time. The best part has to be that I was able to return 750 dollars plus a working brand new Samsung phone, charger, wallet items and other things to a young person that tried to commit suicide the week before by swimming out to sea after tearing up the money and burying it in the sand with all his worldly belongings, it took quite a while going back to same spot several times and finding all the pieces to the puzzle. That felt good.
My total in clad for the year was about 125 dollars equaling 1300 holes dug... in retrospect that seems like a lot of work for 125 bucks LOL.
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Coins Found by John H.
Congratulations John. You had a great first year of metal detecting.
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When you find a cache, you want to know more. You will probably wonder who buried the cache and why.
John H. became a part of a real drama when he found a cache on the beach. Thankfully, though, it turned out not as bad as it could have been.
I asked John if he could tell me more while respecting the privacy of those involved. I asked how he found the non-metallic items, and a few other questions.
Here is a photo of the money he recovered. Many of the bills were torn and damaged. Along with the money, he found a cell phone and paperwork that allowed him to find the owner of the cache.
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| Money Found by John H. Along with Other Paperwork and Objects. |
Below is the email I received after asking John if he couuld tell me more.
It all happened over two or three days, I was on the north side of Bob Graham beach and got a very mixed signal. I dug down about a foot and came up with a cellphone with the cellophane covering still on it, brand new. The charger was with it. Rechecked the hole and got a solid quarter signal just to the side of it. I came up with a ton of paperwork that I didn't look at right away and hand drawings that were just incredible skill level. Below that was a disintegrating orange bag that fell apart and very wet thick paper money started falling out of it. Most of the corners had 100 on it. Panic set in and I stuffed everything in my catch bag, buried a full can of Mountain Dew from my bag in the hole, looked for a reference point to come back later and left the beach fast. I haven't been detecting very long and didn't know what I should do about it so I drove to see the person I bought my detector from, Gary from Treasure coast metal detectors'. not really knowing how much money it was yet, it could have been thousands for what I saw at a glance. I took the money home after talking to Gary and with a hair dryer some scotch tape and cleaning was able to put most of it back together. I dried out the paperwork and found a packet from Coral Shores behavioral center that had no name on it. The next day I went back to the site, found my can of Dew and started digging. Very deep I found more discharge paperwork from a different mental hospital, I think it was New Horizons. His Florida Identification card, insurance cards, medicare documents and most importantly Doctors discharge notes that had his mother's and father.s phone number on it. I also found nearly all the pieces of the 100 dollar bills, enough to call them good. After reading all the documents after getting them home and drying them out, it was painfully obvious that he had tried to commit suicide again at the beach. I called Gary on the phone and asked what he would do if it were him, of course he said he would return it ... carefully. I called the number to the parents and was relieved to hear he was unsuccessful at his latest attempt. His father told me he swam out as far as he could, pointed head down to the bottom and tried twice to suck in salt water. Someone from the beach saw this going on and swam out and pulled him back to shore. I asked his father not to tell him who I was, I met him at a gas station in Stuart and gave him back all the items. There is much more to the story but it would possibly identify him.
Good luck to all the detectorists I have met along the way this year.
Happy Holidays,
John
That is a good example for all detectorists and the kind of unexpected and amazing thing that can happen.
Many metal detectors and phones now provide GPS coordinates that will help you relocate where things were found.
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If you find damaged currency, you can turn them in to receive new bills. Below is a link that provides the procedures to follow.
Mutilated Currency and Bent or Partial Coin (frbservices.org)
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Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
