Tom_in_CA
Gold Member
- Mar 23, 2007
- 13,804
- 10,336
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
This post is dedicated to b3y0nd3r. Whom I respect very much for his critical look at what I'm saying. I hope I've given his stances an equally fair shake. Here is a true story, of exactly how I believe that legends like O.I. can get started. And how they can end up with exactly the same type cross-examining, that we find ourselves in today :
There is a city called "Gilroy" near me. About 12 or 13 yrs. ago, the city tore out all the oldtown sidewalks , to make way for new sidewalks. A buddy of mine who lives there was "all over it". Since, of course, he wanted to detect for coins @ this sidewalk demolition (the yesteryear wooden and dirt paths beneath the concrete). Every fews days, the workers would progress to another section of each block. This was to go on for a few months. Progressing their way down multiple blocks on one side of the street, and then back down the other side of the street. Till eventually the entire downtown would be done.
But he ran into a problem: It turns out that the workers would tear out a few-storefront's lengths in the morning before lunch. Then after lunch, they'd cement over that stretch. If my friend waited till 5pm, it would be too late
So he was forced to go during their lunch hour, when the dirt was exposed.
But this presented problems. Since, of course, someone could tell him "scram" . For being inside the orange ribboned/coned area. So he had to play his cards very carefully. He would pass out common IH's, V's, etc... to the curious workers. After awhile, he became the common sight there, and was ignored as harmless. And at the conclusion of each day's lunch break, they would curiously come over to see what his latest finds were.
One day, my friend found a gold colored owl shaped amulet charm thing. About the size of a chess piece. When it came time for the curious workers to check on that day's finds, he showed them a few coins, junk items, etc... Then when he got to the owl charm thing, he mused "Might be gold". The workers were floored ! Then he pointed to some red jewels where the owl's eyes were and told them "Might be rubies". Their fascination grew even more ! And then my friend mused "from the 1800's" (since that was the date range of some of coins). Now they were just over the top !
That night, my friend went to sort his finds. When he got the owl thing under magnification, he determined that it was only gold plated. Not gold. And the red chips in the eyes were just glass chips. Not rubies. In other words, he'd just found 1920s costume jewelry junk. And promptly threw it in the trash.
The next day, he was back out there again . And he could see, out of the corner of his eye, a Mexican const. worker sitting on a tractor, eyeing him intently. My friend could see that it was a new worker, that hadn't been there on any of the previous days. After a few minutes, the worker got off his tractor & walked over . Eyeing my friend from a polite distance. And then after a few more minutes, the worker got brave and approached my friend. Asking him what he was finding. As it turns out, my friend hadn't found anything good that day so far.
At that, this worker told my friend that another md'r had been there the day before, that found gold coins! My friend was CRUSHED ! His immediate thought was "oh no, someone must have come here after I left, and found somethings that I missed ?!?! So he pumped the worker for information. Thinking maybe, if he had a description, that it might be another md'r in the area that he knows. As the worker went on with the story of all the 1800s coins, gold , etc..., a CURIOUS word slipped out of his mouth: "Owl".
My friend busted up laughing. Because he immediately realized that the worker was talking about HIM ! So he corrected the worker and said : "No ... that was me. and No, there was no gold coins. And no... the owl wasn't gold, it was junk. And no.... there wasn't fistfulls of coins, it was just 2 or 3", etc...
But the worker would not be dissuaded. He was CERTAIN someone had been there the day before, that found gold and fistfulls of coins ! So he figured it must therefore be someone else, and that my friend was mistaken. How did he know all this ? Simple: He had heard it that morning, around the water cooler, from the other workers who were there the day before. They had seen it with their own eyes ! They even had samples of the coins to show this new worker.
See how quickly that evolved ? IN A SINGLE NIGHT !! Now what happens if you add 200 yrs ?
Now think about it: That worker will tell his wife and kids and uncle Joe. Right ? And perhaps a little blurb in the paper about the guy with the detector (this happened to me before, when a newspaper person spotted me in a sidewalk tearout, and asked if he could take some pictures). Then 100 yrs. from now: Someone reading the story, and having a 'map passed down to him through the generations', and who found his "great great grandfather Jose's diary ", will be convinced that there's "gold under the sidewalks in Gilroy " And if he petitions the city of Gilroy for permission to "dig up the sidewalks" to "find the rest", the city will say "no". Which, of course, simply means that the city *knows about the treasure* and is in a conspiracy to "keep it for themselves". Right ? Or if the city tore out the sidewalks again for another routine sidewalk replacement, and said "no" to your detecting request, that means they "secreted away the treasure during the night", right ? (No doubt, odd lights and sounds from after-hours workers would further confirm this suspicion).
And this md'r friend of mine: Moved away to Sacramento the following year. And was known to have accumulated "mysterious wealth" soon there after. No doubt he moved away from Gilroy NOT to follow a job offer elsewhere (that's just the ruse coverup). It was probably to flee would be robbers , who knew of his stash of gold. Right ? And that md'r, according to T'net archives, "hung around with a certain Tom_in_CA", who also flaunted gold coins on the T'net banner archives. And there was evidence that these 2 guys knew and hung around each other.
So as you can see, 100 yrs. from now, the adherents would be pointing to the testimony of those workers. And you can study the contract notes and see that those were the only authorized persons allowed to be there (hence "they should know"). And you would indeed see that ... yes ... the sidewalks WERE torn up that year. And you would see that ... yes those md'rs names and dates and events was accurate. And then, heck, I can even spin some history of that area that goes back to a Spanish trail, through what is now modern Gilroy, that dates to the early 1770s. And we *all know* how those spanish/jesuit explorers were filthy rich, laden with gold. Right ?
There is a city called "Gilroy" near me. About 12 or 13 yrs. ago, the city tore out all the oldtown sidewalks , to make way for new sidewalks. A buddy of mine who lives there was "all over it". Since, of course, he wanted to detect for coins @ this sidewalk demolition (the yesteryear wooden and dirt paths beneath the concrete). Every fews days, the workers would progress to another section of each block. This was to go on for a few months. Progressing their way down multiple blocks on one side of the street, and then back down the other side of the street. Till eventually the entire downtown would be done.
But he ran into a problem: It turns out that the workers would tear out a few-storefront's lengths in the morning before lunch. Then after lunch, they'd cement over that stretch. If my friend waited till 5pm, it would be too late
So he was forced to go during their lunch hour, when the dirt was exposed.But this presented problems. Since, of course, someone could tell him "scram" . For being inside the orange ribboned/coned area. So he had to play his cards very carefully. He would pass out common IH's, V's, etc... to the curious workers. After awhile, he became the common sight there, and was ignored as harmless. And at the conclusion of each day's lunch break, they would curiously come over to see what his latest finds were.
One day, my friend found a gold colored owl shaped amulet charm thing. About the size of a chess piece. When it came time for the curious workers to check on that day's finds, he showed them a few coins, junk items, etc... Then when he got to the owl charm thing, he mused "Might be gold". The workers were floored ! Then he pointed to some red jewels where the owl's eyes were and told them "Might be rubies". Their fascination grew even more ! And then my friend mused "from the 1800's" (since that was the date range of some of coins). Now they were just over the top !
That night, my friend went to sort his finds. When he got the owl thing under magnification, he determined that it was only gold plated. Not gold. And the red chips in the eyes were just glass chips. Not rubies. In other words, he'd just found 1920s costume jewelry junk. And promptly threw it in the trash.
The next day, he was back out there again . And he could see, out of the corner of his eye, a Mexican const. worker sitting on a tractor, eyeing him intently. My friend could see that it was a new worker, that hadn't been there on any of the previous days. After a few minutes, the worker got off his tractor & walked over . Eyeing my friend from a polite distance. And then after a few more minutes, the worker got brave and approached my friend. Asking him what he was finding. As it turns out, my friend hadn't found anything good that day so far.
At that, this worker told my friend that another md'r had been there the day before, that found gold coins! My friend was CRUSHED ! His immediate thought was "oh no, someone must have come here after I left, and found somethings that I missed ?!?! So he pumped the worker for information. Thinking maybe, if he had a description, that it might be another md'r in the area that he knows. As the worker went on with the story of all the 1800s coins, gold , etc..., a CURIOUS word slipped out of his mouth: "Owl".
My friend busted up laughing. Because he immediately realized that the worker was talking about HIM ! So he corrected the worker and said : "No ... that was me. and No, there was no gold coins. And no... the owl wasn't gold, it was junk. And no.... there wasn't fistfulls of coins, it was just 2 or 3", etc...
But the worker would not be dissuaded. He was CERTAIN someone had been there the day before, that found gold and fistfulls of coins ! So he figured it must therefore be someone else, and that my friend was mistaken. How did he know all this ? Simple: He had heard it that morning, around the water cooler, from the other workers who were there the day before. They had seen it with their own eyes ! They even had samples of the coins to show this new worker.
See how quickly that evolved ? IN A SINGLE NIGHT !! Now what happens if you add 200 yrs ?
Now think about it: That worker will tell his wife and kids and uncle Joe. Right ? And perhaps a little blurb in the paper about the guy with the detector (this happened to me before, when a newspaper person spotted me in a sidewalk tearout, and asked if he could take some pictures). Then 100 yrs. from now: Someone reading the story, and having a 'map passed down to him through the generations', and who found his "great great grandfather Jose's diary ", will be convinced that there's "gold under the sidewalks in Gilroy " And if he petitions the city of Gilroy for permission to "dig up the sidewalks" to "find the rest", the city will say "no". Which, of course, simply means that the city *knows about the treasure* and is in a conspiracy to "keep it for themselves". Right ? Or if the city tore out the sidewalks again for another routine sidewalk replacement, and said "no" to your detecting request, that means they "secreted away the treasure during the night", right ? (No doubt, odd lights and sounds from after-hours workers would further confirm this suspicion).
And this md'r friend of mine: Moved away to Sacramento the following year. And was known to have accumulated "mysterious wealth" soon there after. No doubt he moved away from Gilroy NOT to follow a job offer elsewhere (that's just the ruse coverup). It was probably to flee would be robbers , who knew of his stash of gold. Right ? And that md'r, according to T'net archives, "hung around with a certain Tom_in_CA", who also flaunted gold coins on the T'net banner archives. And there was evidence that these 2 guys knew and hung around each other.
So as you can see, 100 yrs. from now, the adherents would be pointing to the testimony of those workers. And you can study the contract notes and see that those were the only authorized persons allowed to be there (hence "they should know"). And you would indeed see that ... yes ... the sidewalks WERE torn up that year. And you would see that ... yes those md'rs names and dates and events was accurate. And then, heck, I can even spin some history of that area that goes back to a Spanish trail, through what is now modern Gilroy, that dates to the early 1770s. And we *all know* how those spanish/jesuit explorers were filthy rich, laden with gold. Right ?
