I took my DFX down memory lane

Schrecky

Sr. Member
Mar 14, 2006
398
34
NW, PA
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Whites Spectra V3, Minelab Excailbur 1000
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I live about one-half mile from the house where I was raised. Although the house is not real old I decided to go and ask permission to hunt the yard in hopes of finding something from my childhood. What an experience I had. The house looks like this today.

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I lived in this house from the late 1950’s until I got married and moved out in the early 1970’s. This is a picture of me, my sisters, and my grandmother standing in front of the house around 1958.

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Before going to ask permission I searched through my photos for one to take with me to show that I had lived there. I came up with this one from 1971.

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When I went to the door a lady answered and after telling her why I was there, what I wanted to do, and showing her the picture she gave me permission to detect. While I was standing on the porch her husband pulled into the driveway and he and three kids got out of the car. The boy was 10 years old and the two sisters were younger. The oldest girl was a blond. I was immediately reminded of my family when we live there in the 1960’s. I was the oldest child and had two younger sisters; the oldest one was also a blond. This family reminded me so much of my family. They were very friendly and invited me in to look around. As I stepped in the door and I can’t tell you how many memories came rushing to meet me. I just stood there and took everything in, it was amazing. The house looked much the same as I remembered 20 to 30 years earlier. The boy had the same bedroom that I had. The dressers my Dad built into the walls were still there. The attic door where my parents hid our Christmas presents was still there.

Now during the time I lived here the Cuban Missile Crisis happened around 1960. For those of you who are too young to know about this event, Russia set up missiles in Cuba which created a great threat to our country. The United States set up a blockade of all ships going to Cuba which resulted in a very tense situation. My Dad was in the Civil Defense and because of the missile threat people were encouraged to build fallout shelters in there basements to protect them from a nuclear attack on our country. My Dad built one in the basement of this house. I asked if the shelter was still there and the boy immediately asked if my hand print was one of the ones in the concrete ceiling leading into the shelter. I told him it was and we went downstairs to look at them. Here are our hand prints.

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My hand print is the third one from the left with “Dan” over it.

The night after my first trip to this house I got very little sleep. I just kept remembering so many things about living in this house, it was overwhelming.

I finally got around to metal detecting. I enjoy detecting with kids and made four trips to hunt with my “helpers” (and other kids from the neighborhood). Here are the three kids that lived at the house.

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There was a lot of junk and lots of clad which I gave to the kids. They were so excited. They wanted everything no matter what it was. They were impressed that I could tell them most of the time what the target would be before I dug it. At one point I mentioned that this target was going to be junk and one of them said “I haven’t got any junk yet, can I have it”.

There were quite a few wheat pennies and one Rosie.

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Now, remember that I said I was hoping to find something that was mine? In the front yard I dug up a piece of a kid’s Lone Ranger badge. Close to the same area I ended up finding two more pieces of the same badge. When I put the three pieces together here is what I had.

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I was so excited because my mind went back to a picture I had seen of me at a young age wearing a cowboy outfit and a lot of toy guns. I called my Dad and had him search through his pictures to see if he could find the photo. He found it. I asked him over the phone if I was wearing a badge. He said that I was. Here is the picture.

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Now if you look closely at my right chest area you will see a badge. I believe that it is the same badge I found in the front yard. I consider this one of my best finds.

This will certainly be one of my most “memorable” hunts.
 

Upvote 0
Excellent Post !!!!!!!!
 

Cool post Schrecky. Your boyhood experiences sound so "middle America" that we all fondly remember growing up in the '50s & '60s. I also have received permission to detect the farm home that I grew up in as well. Probably be next year before I make the drive there to do so. but I hope to find things that I lost as well.
 

I am pleased to report that White's is going to put this story up on their home page in the monthly stories section. They are sending me a $100 coupon. Never had any idea the story would go so far.
 

Schrecky said:
I am pleased to report that White's is going to put this story up on their home page in the monthly stories section. They are sending me a $100 coupon. Never had any idea the story would go so far.
Wow, that's great Schreky, congatulations! It's a wonderfull story and childhood memmories are priceless.
 

Great post!! I think I might go to the house I lived as a kid. Probably lots of hot wheels cars buried there. Also I buried my pet turtle in a cookie tin!
 

Hey, cool finds!

That Lone Ranger Deputy badge looks just like one I had when I was a kid. :)
Hey, in fact I lived in that part of town. . . :icon_profileleft:
You don't think that the one you found could be . . . :icon_scratch:

Oh dang it! Never mind. You can keep it anyways! :thumbsup:
 

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