Best Posts in Thread: Metal Detecting and relic hunting

Came across enough Russian ordinance in Afghanistan when clearing the site for construction. It was an Afghan Army base so they would come get what we found (literally picked them up and drove off with them; used to freak me out).

If you have your detector dialed in and have a bit of experience with the machine you can discriminate between coins and jewelry or a large ferrous metal object. Depending on the machine you can eliminate bottle caps as well, but on small things I always dig them. Can be frustrating but you never know what you could find.

Shawn

 

It’s a peculiar Filipino obsession, Yamashita’s treasure. Mid way between a contagious rash and simple silliness I’ve seen men lose their lives over it here in the Phils. One adult nephew of mine had a dream Yamashita’s treasure was buried on a project we were fiddling about with. Next thing you know a 20ft hole appeared next to it. There it sat for months until a dog fell into it, died and stank the place out. I ordered him to fill it in or burn the hole. Problem solved. I was in Duma the day he had over ripe pooch bbq.

Another distant relative, with the connivance of another distant relly started a project digging for Yamashita’s gold about 7m from the high tide reach on the beach near us. Full security, barbed wire, fencing, low grade mining equipment, round the clock staff - and he engaged the services of 3 ‘mineros’ (read unemployed layabouts). It went on for months, no-one got paid, just promises of a share. Food, board on site, a few bevvies on weekends.

Now at the bottom of every mine in the world you will find a Cornishman. It’s in our blood. I’m no miner for sure but I warned this (very) distant relative that going underground within a 5 year olds stones throw of the ocean was begging for trouble. All that nearby pressure of water would cause a cave in and people would die.

I was told to remove myself in short jerky movements in no uncertain terms. The rash/silliness had a hold. I never saw the hole/pit/mine as it was zealously hidden. Probably this distant relly thought that I might want his treasure if he abandoned the project. Anyway, as predicted the hole collapsed from the seaward side and beneath tons of rubble, seawater and mud three died. Took ages to recover the bodies. No justice either, the relly and his accomplice scuttled off to Mindanao whilst the scandal blew over. He died in considerable pain and very slowly some months later (like I was gonna help) from chronic disease complications. His accomplice still swans about and has been involved in similar projects.

The advice here is be careful. Legends like this can be acute, contagious and often fatal. Go wandering about with a metal detector and some Red Horsed up karaoke standaround psycho warrior will put 2+2 together and come up with Yamashita’s bullion. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Cheers,

C