Can we put this thread on HOLD until Halloween?
Man, you'll get a lot of angry answers with this one. But in general most detectors people use for coin and relic hunting won't find stuff much more than 12 inches deep and most human burials are close to six feet deep so it is unlikely that one would find anything like what you are talking about. I have only found the usual coins and other small metal things people drop wherever they go. Spent cartridge casings, pencil eraser nubs, buttons, etc. When I was a kid (mid 1950s) they put in the first housing development in my area. There had been an old private cemetery on the farmland that was being developed and it was just bulldozed right over. Kids from that end of town showed up for "show and tell" with all kinds of human remains and articles from graves. Creepy enough for ya??
On Yahoo news today. Less than 5 minutes from where I live.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ontario-couple-finds-400-old-skeleton-gets-5-141737421.html
On Yahoo news today. Less than 5 minutes from where I live.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ontario-couple-finds-400-old-skeleton-gets-5-141737421.html
Actually, it's funny you asked. I hunted my first cemetery yesterday (with permission from the church). I had mistakenly thought that the church I was hunting was built in 1876, but after only finding coins dating back to 1920, I went back and did some more research. The church was actually built in 1923. It turns out that there was originally a church across the street that was built much earlier.
After a *lot* of detective work and a visit to the Historical Society, I figured out that the old church lay somewhere in the grounds of the present-day cemetery. I started hunting at random and found mostly beer cans (creepy, eh? Who would drink by graves???) but then found a 1910 penny near an old tree that was about 60-80 years old or so.
I went back and looked really closely at the old historical aerials and bam, found a barely discernible outline of the old church. The 1910 penny was just a few feet from the front door. A few of the newer graves have been built at the rear of the property so I'll only be able to hunt the front (I won't hunt on top of graves.)
Cool question, thanks for asking!
Finding a finger still in a ring would be disturbing.
I have offered my services to the local police, but they haven't taken me up on it yet and I'm hoping that, if the day comes, it's not a body recovery job. I'd go, but...
On Yahoo news today. Less than 5 minutes from where I live.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ontario-couple-finds-400-old-skeleton-gets-5-141737421.html
We had a member who dug up some war dead in S.Carolina http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=119579
After a *lot* of detective work and a visit to the Historical Society, I figured out that the old church lay somewhere in the grounds of the present-day cemetery. I started hunting at random and found mostly beer cans (creepy, eh? Who would drink by graves???) but then found a 1910 penny near an old tree that was about 60-80 years old or so.
I met a guy once that said he goes to his father's grave and has a beer with him for his birthday, Father's day etc.