Man Caught Digging For Treasure In Cemetery

[Gary in Pennsylvania]

Here:
http://cbs13.com/local/metal.detector.cemetery.2.1007546.html

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. (CBS13) ― A man with a metal detector was caught searching for treasures on sacred ground in Nevada County, but was not arrested.

Georgie Coulter and her son noticed a man using a metal detector and shovel at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Grass Valley.

They say the man and his son were digging near a tree where they discovered a cast iron decoration which is most likely part of an old grave.

"He had been here for maybe an hour before my son said 'We better call police, it just doesn't look right'," said Georgie Coulter.

"It's really kind of sacred ground," explained Matthew Coulter. "There is a lot of people, most of the graves you'll see in here are from Ireland, England, all over the world and all died before 1900."

Police questioned the man with the metal detector and he told them he was just out looking for coins and that is not a crime. He was not arrested.

The cast iron decoration he found is going to be given to the Catholic church that oversees the cemetery.

Not arrested - But the activity is still outside my own moral/ethical boundaries.


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[Jaw Jah Danny]

DITTO !!

 

[Saturna]

Yeah, me too. I would feel weird detecting in a cemetary, even if it was abandoned and no one around.



Jay

 

[savant365]

Why is it so hard for some people to understand? Doing something like this is just asking to be hassled...there are so many other places to detect and this guy goes to a cemetary where he knows it's gonna piss someone off. Even Georgie's kid seems smarter then this guy.

quote: "He had been here for maybe an hour before my son said 'We better call police, it just doesn't look right',"

He might as well go try to detect a soccer field in the middle of a game, LOL. There is a word for this guy but I am pretty sure it would just come up as --deleted--

 

[Inform]

LOL, I read that this morning in the local paper, as I live here. These are cemeteries that are bounded, marked and taken care of. It's not like it was in the middle of the mountains and unknown, like I have seen in NC! This particular guy could easily go on any very local BLM land and find the same things as I always do. This area has tons of places to go, and to find...the cemetery is hard pack ground that is going to make a detector go crazy...remember, caskets have metal handles sometimes! What a nut! Cracks me up everytime I think about it! What was he going to do, dig up someone? I am still trying to figure out who did it...small town here, with tons of gold and relics...wrong place to be detecting for sure!

 

[John (Ma)]

Common sense seems to be lacking in some. Unfortunatly we all have to suffer for their lack of it!

 

[deepskyal]

Great, wonderful, super.....bad press...on the local news, broadcast for all to see what disrespectful thieves we are....

What a flaming...#@%&*#$@.....

Al

 

[ivan salis]

NO NO NO --HELL NO -- MORON -- just the kind of bad press we do not want or need -- for the hobby.

 

[OPUS1]

He just wants a piece of the pie.

 

[godisnum1]

Doubt he or his son really knew any better.
Not everyone's moral compass keeps them from doing stuff like this while MDing.
I'm sure if he visited a site like this, it would've never happened...
*shrugs*

Bran <><

 

[OutBack Duo]

It is one thing to operate your detector in a cemetery but it just looks bad being caught digging in a cemetery or even carrying a shovel in a cemetery regardless of how big the shovel is.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

didn't know better?
anyone who watched frankenstein knows better...

 

[DrGrip]

2 years ago, prior to my grandmother's death, I was ASKED by the caretakers of an OLD cemetery in East Texas that my grandmother was associated with to look around for a couple of old slave burial locations they had heard about. I questioned slaves in Texas, but they assured me that there were some during the time just prior to the CW. Since then I have brushed up on my TX history and have realized there were quite a few of them, but I digress.

I showed up at the cemetery at 9:00 AM and was met by 2 little blue haired ladies that just couldn't speak fast enough to express their gratitude for me coming out to help them find the "lost souls" in the plot. I chatted with them for a few minutes and explained that I may not find anything given the data that was out there about slaves being buried in a "pine box". They said they understood and would appreciate anything I could locate; they then went over to the shade to sit and chat while I checked the area.

I had been searching for a couple of hours, and had located a few potentials and marked them, when the sheriff's deputy's and one Texas Trooper pulled up and stormed in like John Wayne!

Before I could tell the Trooper what was going on, and why I was there, he read me the riot act about sacred ground, respect for the dead, and US history! He finally stopped talking long enough for me to tell him what I was doing inside of the fence. I explained to him that I understood all of that and was still feeling a bit freaky even though I wasn't digging, just marking. After I finished talking to him one of the little blue hairs made it over and talked with him a bit more.

I was freaky about being in there looking when I first started, but EVERYTHING I had blocked out of my mind prior to the "hunt" came rushing back as the little lady spoke with the peace officer. I couldn't continue the hunt after that.

Even though I wasn't digging I figured these folks I was looking for were "lost" for a reason and I never looked back after I told the historical ladies I was done. I learned later that the sites I found were "pretty close" to what they had found in their records and I had "done well".

I still don't like the feeling I get when I think about it, and I CANNOT understand ANYONE digging inside of the fence! I also can't understand anyone digging OUTSIDE of the fence if it's a really old cemetery!

This guy needs to rot IMO! No excuse for digging in that area! My thought is grave robbery even if you don't get to the casket.

Grip

 

[scrubber]

Why did this make the news if the man was not charged, ticketed, or arrested?

It made the news because it's a bit ghoulish and there weren't quite enough rape, robbery, riot and politician sleeziness stories to report on today. 

scrubber

 

[Mojave]

I mean WTF He couldn't find any better places to hunt than a cemetery I agree, this guy is only helping the negative image we have. That's creepy. LOL

 

[Bottleviking]

We have all seen the pages of warnings that come with everything we buy today. These pages of warnings and safety concerns are the result of lawsuits, and the makers of the products are trying to protect themselves. I think it would be prudent that the makers of metal detectors, especially the walmart brands, in addition to any warnings, might include some basic ethical warnings to benefit the stupid people out there that are buying them and then running into a graveyard, state property, protected sites, etc... to detect. I think I will write a letter to the ones I can think of and suggest such a thing. I mean, I am not even sure there isn't already something like that in the manuals of the walmart and radio shack detector brands, but I guess there is not. Anybody know ?

I was also asked twice now to detect in a graveyard by the people in charge of it. One time was to locate the markers that outlined the gravel roads before they were paved with blacktop, which I did nicely and free of charge and found them all. The other time was to see if I could locate the brass tags that fell off of two very old blacksmith made benches. I found one of the two, and it had the name of the guy who donated the money in 1836 to have them made.

Stupid people can really mess things up for the rest of us.

 

[Seamuss]

A walk in the cemetery is like a walk in the park to me.

My code of ethics will not allow me to dig or search for treasure in a cemetery. It's disrespectfully to the dead and my ancestors

 

[lobsterman]

just a little tidbit of info some members that are on here may not know about is... that it was an old custom to leave a few coins around the headstones of familiy members, i am not sure where the custom originated or how old it is. but it seems to be a custom that has been forgotten in these modern times. ( beside the clad wouldn't last long nowadays anyhow ).

whats wrong with people these days . if your going to be a respectable grave robber, you do it under the cover of darkness

 

[deepskyal]

just a little tidbit of info some members that are on here may not know about is... that it was an old custom to leave a few coins around the headstones of familiy members, i am not sure where the custom originated or how old it is. but it seems to be a custom that has been forgotten in these modern times. ( beside the clad wouldn't last long nowadays anyhow ).

whats wrong with people these days . if your going to be a respectable grave robber, you do it under the cover of darkness

I've seen this in modern times. A young child was killed in an accident and their classmates left all kinds of things on the site...including little piles of coins. And people want to take these tokens of loss and love?

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to amend the code of ethics to include staying out of cemetaries. That way, everyone that buys a detector that comes with the list might know.

Al

 

[retiree]

didn't know better?
anyone who watched frankenstein knows better...

Funny but true. No matter what the hobby or group it is, there will always
be somebody to come along that will make the rest look bad. Some people have
to use their noodle a little more than others. That still doesn't always help.