Paul Humphreys, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 4 of 12

When Waukesha, Wisconsin resident John Harstine realized his wedding ring was missing late in the evening of March 7th, his mind went into overdrive retracing his movements that day. Where had it gone?

An electrician by trade, he called the client where he had been working but there was no sign of the ring in that vicinity. John checked his work van with the same result—no ring. He recalled that his wedding ring was fitting loosely. He had planned to get it resized. Now it was missing and he fought the feeling of regret deep down in his heart.

John’s wife happened to see my car the next day in Oconomowoc, about 20 minutes away. She noticed the signage in my window, “Lost Ring? Call Paul!” My accompanying phone number and QR code prompted her to take a picture of the car. The chance encounter with my vehicle turned out to be providential. John called me the next day and we reviewed his timeline of activities.

The evening of the loss, John recalled throwing some hay bales down for the horses he was feeding. As he described the situation, it seemed highly probably that his wedding ring may have flown off his hand with the hay. Did one of the horses swallow the ring? The thought was not comforting.

We arranged to meet on location at the farm the following evening. On arrival, John showed me the stalls, the hay in storage and how he had pulled the bales down and thrown the hay into feed nets for the horses. We also went outside to the corral and met Abe and Saul who were happy for the company and attention. But when I saw the size of their pasture, images of an extended night of searching flashed in my mind. The search was definitely a long shot. The possibilities, almost endless!

To begin, I chose an XP Deus detector with a small High Frequency coil, one that responds well to gold rings. It would ferret out the smallest signals in the confines of the horse stalls. But there was a heavy presence of metal inside the building requiring careful analysis and adjustments. It would be a matter of elimination, of systematically ruling out where the ring was not located.

As it turned out, I didn’t experience a long, cold night of searching through horse manure in a vast pasture. John’s ring appeared right where he threw the hay bales two nights before!

John’s smile tells the rest of the story! But you know, I can’t help but wonder. Was it really just by chance that I was in Oconomowoc that day?

It happened on Saturday, January 22nd in Menomonee Falls, WI.

Resident, Michael Zeddies realized his gold wedding band was missing from his hand! Michael and his wife, Roxanna, searched frantically throughout their apartment without success. The following Friday, I received a text message from Roxanna asking if I might be able to help and so we arranged a telephone interview that afternoon to explore the circumstances surrounding the loss.

It is always my goal to help people find their own rings if possible and so after establishing a forensic timeline of events I provided Roxanna a list of places they could look. The list included clothing, shoes, boots, pockets, closets, bed, couch, recliner, kitchen drain, heat vents, washer, dryer, drawers, clothes hamper and car. Situations also have to be considered such as outsiders (contractors) in their home, children, pets (large dogs swallow rings). Had they vacuumed or thrown out any garbage? Had they gone anywhere? Did they drive, walk, run? If so, where had they gone and what did they do? What was the fit of the ring; was it loose? What were Michael’s habits; did he remove the ring often and if so, where did he place it? Such is the line of forensic-type questions that often help guide individuals in their search process. But there is still a limit to how much one can do without the assistance of an experienced metal-detecting specialist.

In the course of our interview, Roxanna briefly mentioned how Michael had cleaned the snow off the car in the public parking lot behind their home. I made a mental note about this because freezing temperatures, cold hands and the act of scraping ice and snow from a vehicle can present a lethal combination of circumstances, a perfect storm that has resulted in people losing rings without realizing it at the time.

Despite the couple’s best search efforts, Michael’s ring evaded discovery. I reached back a few days later and offered to search the parking lot area where Michael had cleared the snow from his car. It was a long shot because the couple’s activities had included a trip to visit friends on the Saturday. They had also stopped to buy gas. The ring could be anywhere. But the parking lot stood out in my mind as a place that needed to be ruled out.

We arranged to meet on location at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 1st. eleven days after Michael’s ring had gone missing. He showed me the approximate location where he was parked. The pavement was clear of snow except for a small ridge in front of the car where a plow had pushed it. If the ring had fallen onto the pavement, it would have been visible and anyone could have picked it up. The thought was disheartening.

I set about detecting and immediately picked up the steel reinforcing in the driveway and parking barriers. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) was also present from buried electrical cables in the area. After making adjustments to my XP Deus detector, I concentrated on the non-ferrous signals and quickly found a couple pennies. I even gave one to Michael to keep as a souvenir. Some 20 minutes later, a mixed signal caught my attention. After moving the snow, there lay Michael’s wedding ring where it had fallen on January 22nd.

Thank you, Michael and Roxanna, for the privilege of searching for and ultimately finding your wedding ring! I’m so happy for you both! And thank you too for your kind reward.

Winter-driving conditions here in Wisconsin, USA can be challenging at times. Lake Mills, resident, Nick Nienas experienced this first hand around mid-day on January 28 when he attempted to navigate a snow-covered driveway entrance. As it turned out, the road was not where he thought it was and the front wheels of his car sank into the crusty snow leaving Nick’s vehicle high and dry in the ditch. Despite his best efforts to dig his car out, it was the kindness of a passerby that finally got him back on the road. However, in the process of excavating through the snow, Nick felt his one-month old, 10K gold wedding ring fly off his hand!

“Four out of ten married men in America will lose their wedding bands,” says Chris Turner, CEO of The Ring Finders, citing a survey done years ago by RingSafe.com, which sells a ring accessory. “That’s just the men — not including women. So, the number of rings being lost is unbelievable.”

Nick was only married four weeks! Now he was a statistic. He couldn’t believe his precious love token was gone! It had seemingly vanished into the whiteness.

Once his car was safely back on the road, Nick went back and combed frantically through the snow with his hands. The ring was nowhere to be found. He even made a trip to a local hardware store and purchased a metal detector. But the detector proved futile when it kept sounding off erratically. After a long, cold and disheartening afternoon Nick was at his wits end. Then he discovered The Ring Finders directory of metal detecting specialists and telephoned me about 7:30 pm. I could hear the desperation in Nick’s voice.

Immediately, I drove the half hour to Lake Mills and met Nick at a local service station. Following him out into the countryside we arrived at the location and surveyed the ditch. It looked like a war zone with its craters and evidence of digging. It was also cold, 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12 Celsius) and a very dark night.

When I turned my equipment on, buried electrical cables instantly made their presence known in the form of what detectorists refer to as EI (electromagnetic interference). Little wonder Nick’s detector was futile in such a challenging situation. From experience I was able to make appropriate adjustments using my XP Deus high-frequency equipment. The search didn’t take long, only 10 minutes at the most. The clear, unmistakable tone of 10K Gold invited investigation into the now hardened, crusty snow. A detecting probe helped pinpoint the exact hiding place of Nick’s ring. The warmth of the ring had caused it to melt down some 8” into the snowbank where it landed. And it was still pristine, with hardly a scratch.

So glad to have found your ring, Nick! May its story and your marriage continue for many, many blessed years to come. While you are now a 4 out of 10 statistic you can be comforted in knowing you are also included in the approximate 80% of clients I’ve successfully helped to recover their lost rings!

Franklin, Wisconsin resident, Dallas Schurg, was clearing trees and brush along his backyard fence line when he suddenly realized his wedding ring was missing. He had clipped the ring to a carabiner on his belt loop for safety while cutting and moving the brush. He had heard horror stories of rings catching and causing serious injury. And so, he was being cautious.

But his efforts to stay safe himself somehow failed to keep his ring safe. Now it was missing, presumably lost amongst the huge pile of brush alongside his fence line. Or was it lost in the house somewhere? Dallas wasn’t entirely sure.

I received a text message from Dallas explaining his situation saying, “I have a very good idea of where it ‘should’ be as a starting point.” The “should” be, left room for the unknown. This is typical of many ring searches. But one has to start somewhere and after speaking with Dallas, I felt his presumption was a reasonable one.

Arriving on location, Dallas led me to the back of his house where a huge pile of brush bore testimony to his long hours spent cutting and dragging the baseball-bat-sized diameter trees away from his property line. We agreed to search the areas around the piles of brush and eliminate those locations first of all. If the ring was underneath the brush, it would have to wait until Spring.

The fence line bore evidence of decades of discarded metallic debris. Old gardening and farming implements, cans, bottles, wire, foil and nails seemed to join forces to hide Dallas’s ring. Such large targets can mask the presence of smaller non-ferrous targets. But 20 minutes into the search, the lost ring appeared beneath a clump of leaves and sawdust! It was pressed deeply into the mud, barely visible.

Dallas shared how he and wife had been praying about the ring, asking God for wisdom and for grace to accept the outcome. I too am a man of faith. I work as a Hospice Chaplain, journeying with people at end of life. I love God, the Creator-Owner of the universe, the One who sent His son to die in our place. I don’t pretend to understand just how God works behind the scenes in life but I truly believe He cares about the things we care about and He delights in answering prayers. He is keenly interested, even in a lost ring!

Thanks, Dallas, for the opportunity to search for and find your wedding ring. Your smile, and that of your wife, speak volumes. Praise God!

March 20, 2021 was destined to be a fun-filled day for Brenda Teela and Jim Nachreiner at the popular Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures near Lake Geneva, WI. Ziplining was a new experience for Brenda, one she will never forget. The sheer thrill of riding the tree tops was unlike anything she had experienced. But the day took a sudden and heart-wrenching turn when her highly-sentimental bracelet vanished from her wrist. The silver bracelet was a Christmas gift from Jim.

Fast forward 8 months.

I received a phone call from Brenda asking if I might help find her cherished keepsake. Initially, the prospects of trying to locate such a small target in 100-acres of Wisconsin woodlands was daunting—a long shot. But after cross-examining Brenda’s account of her activities in a forensic manner, it was Brenda’s own careful analysis and detective work that made the search a viable one, even after all those months. A photo clearly showed the bracelet on her wrist at one of the zipline staging points. Then another, taken a short while later, revealed it missing. The bracelet had to have been lost somewhere in between. This photo evidence gave a reasonable glimmer of hope.

We arranged to meet on location November 21, a gorgeous fall-day. Stephanie and Dana, the managers working at Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures, together with their helpful staff, were most cooperative. Their kindness spoke highly of the company’s care for its clients.

We began probing the forest floor near one of the staging points. Jim worked ahead of me, carefully moving fallen branches. The remains of several sunglasses, camera lens caps, a company camera, some small change and other metallic debris quickly filled my pouch, evidence of zipliner traffic over many years. A couple hours into the search found us beneath a long swinging bridge, one of the amazing features of the Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures property. It was there that a promising signal from my search coil invited investigation. It was Brenda’s bracelet! It lay in a clump where it had fallen from the bridge some 25’ above. A broken link bore evidence of what happened, answering so many questions in Brenda’s mind.

The smiles tell the rest of the story! It was a tearful and emotional reunion to say the least.

Thank you, Brenda & Jim, for the privilege of searching for and finding your precious bracelet.

And our heartfelt thanks to the wonderful people at Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures whose cooperation and kindness made it possible.

You can check them out at:

lakegenevaadventures.com.

A bitter cold wind ripped across the vacant lot beside the Oconomowoc, WI home of Timothy and Wendy Thorn. The drop in temperature was a jarring reminder that winter would soon be upon its residents. It was also the night before Halloween, October 30th. Family members gathered together for the weekend, including newly engaged Olivia Pszeniczny and her fiancé, Jordan White. Olivia proudly wore the token of her marriage commitment, a one-of-a-kind rose-gold ring with a sunburst of diamonds radiating from its center stone. She pinched the ring often and spun it around her finger as though doing so would magically speed up their wedding day.

It was late in the evening when they disbursed. Olivia and Jordon walked together with other family members towards their car in the darkness. As they cut across the empty lot, Olivia’s ring suddenly slipped off her finger in the cold, disappearing into the tall grass. Horrified, she immediately dropped to her knees and began feeling for the ring in the darkness. Others soon joined the search. Flashlights appeared. Finally, the cold and darkness militated against all their efforts and the decision was made to resume looking the next day.

Someone placed marker flags in the general area to serve as a guide. At one point, half a dozen people raked and fingered through the grass on their knees. But the precious ring eluded these efforts. A metal detector was even purchased. Surely this would be the tool that would bring Olivia’s ring back to the light of day! But hope turned to disappointment when the machine was overwhelmed by all the iron in the ground. The empty lot had previously served as a dumping ground for construction debris.

My phone rang early in the afternoon, Halloween night. Would I come and assist? I had family supper commitments but arranged to meet the Thorns on location early in the evening. When I arrived, Wendy met me and together we viewed the search area with all its marker flags. I listened carefully while she explained the chronology of events. Piles of raked grass bore testimony to many hours spent scouring the ground. The team had sure worked hard. They were also extremely thorough.

This thoroughness prompted me to search outside the marked area even though the narrative seemed to indicate Olivia was within the flagged boundary when the ring came off her hand.

The sun had just dipped below the horizon. This, coupled with the wind, sent the temperatures plummeting. “I should have brought my gloves,” I thought to myself. But then I turned my full attention to the myriad of signals emitting from my XP Deus High-Frequency search coil. The ground was loaded with iron. This was concerning because iron can mask precious non-ferrous signals, the kind that gold produces. Concentrating on the numbers and depth readings, I abruptly encountered a signal that invited further investigation. The grass was quite long and even after brushing it backwards and forwards in different directions, I was not able to see anything resembling a ring. But when I rechecked my signals and pinpointed the exact location, the bottom of the ring suddenly appeared! Funny, the icy cold suddenly disappeared at the same time!

I took a photo of the spot before touching the ring, evidence of how well it was camouflaged in the grass. Then I went to Tim and Wendy’s home and knocked on their door under pretense of needing to ask more questions. When Jordan appeared, I presented the ring and said, “I’m thinking this is the ring you all have been looking for!” The heaviness that was so apparent in the eyes and voices of the family only a half hour before, lifted immediately! I received hugs, then more hugs.

Olivia soon arrived and I was the recipient of yet another giant hug amidst tears of joy and gratitude! And the smile on her face tells the rest of the story!

This family certainly did everything possible to find the ring. I was very impressed with their efforts, even down to buying a metal detector. In the end, it was a matter of experience and the benefit of a fresh pair of eyes on the situation that contributed to a successful recovery.

Thank you, Timothy, Wendy, Olivia and Jordan, for a most-memorable story. This is my 76th recovery since coming to Wisconsin. But it sets a record for the number of hugs I’ve received! May the story of Olivia’s ring continue for many, many happy years. And what a gorgeous ring it is!

Forty-four years ago, Waukesha, Wisconsin residents, Don and Lynne Holle built a house out in the country. At the time it was far from municipal water and sewer services. The solution was to install a traditional septic tank which has worked just fine. But now, all these years later, the tank needed servicing and the company would not come until the tank’s access hatch was unearthed. The problem was, neither Don or Lynn could recall exactly where the tank was located.

Don dug around in various places, hoping to land on the concrete surface, but to no avail. He recalled how the hatch lid bore a metal handle. Maybe he could locate the handle if he rented a metal detector. It was then he stumbled across the ring finder’s website and my blogsite. I received a phone call from Don with his unusual request. It was not so unusual really. After all, we are metal-detecting specialists. Whether the metal is ferrous (iron) or non-ferrous (precious metals such as gold, silver, etc.), my metal-detection equipment is suited for the job. Indeed, just the night before I had helped a man locate his iron survey markers for his property. And so, I agreed to meet Don at his home and try to find his long-lost septic tank.

Shoulder-high trees had begun to sprout in the area where the tank was located. This meant using a small coil, one that could be maneuvered around the new growth. The ground was full of ferrous targets, etc., wire and old rusty fencing nails. Eventually, I checked out a little indentation in the ground not far from the entrance lane and when I did, a significant ferrous signal showed on my controller screen and howled its presence in my headset. A little bit of digging soon revealed what Don was hoping to find, the metal handle on the lid of his long-lost septic tank!

No, it wasn’t a gold wedding ring. However, I must say, the smile on Don’s face matched many a smile from clients whose rings I’ve found! Mystery solved! And now the trusty old septic tank can be serviced for many more years to come.

If you need a metal detector and are considering renting a machine, try giving a member of the ring finders a call. He or she has the equipment and the experience to find what you are looking for. Let them put a smile on your face!

Sunbeam Kids, Inc. is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to projects that make it easier for kids and families to volunteer together. Its Lakeshore State Park Clean Up event September 19, 2021, on the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, was a wonderful Daddy-daughter opportunity for Wauwatosa resident, David Jadin. The weather was picture-perfect also.

David and his family only recently moved to the area from Green Bay, Wisconsin, to start a pediatric dental practice in Elm Grove, PlayWell Pediatric Dentistry. Sunbeam Kids is their main charity partner. And so it was a most-appropriate outing for David and his little girl.

The volunteers first assembled together for a group photo not far from the historic 1872 Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse. After photos were taken, David knelt down in the grass with his 4-year old little girl and applied sunscreen lotion to her little arms and face. In the process he removed his 18-karat yellow gold wedding ring and tucked it lightly between his sock and shoe for safekeeping. It was his intent to retrieve the ring promptly, not to leave it there. The ring was precious, having been blessed by David’s childhood priest growing up and who was now passed. Shortly, they commenced a 3.5 mile walk together along the Lake Michigan shore, picking up trash along with the other Sunbeam Kids volunteers. It was a memory-making event. But it wasn’t until he and his daughter got back to the car that David realized, to his horror, his ring was missing!

I received a text message from David late Sunday afternoon and arranged to meet him on location by the Lighthouse. When I arrived, David was on his hands and knees combing the grass where the group photo had been taken earlier. We quickly traced his initial activities and the route he and his daughter had taken when they started out. Using my XP Deus wireless detector, I was immediately assaulted by an abundance of metal in the ground, evidence of nearly 150 years of visitors. Tuning my equipment for a recent loss close to the surface and for high-grade gold, I was able to filter the cacophony of signals and listen specifically for David’s ring. In my mind, I was preparing for a long evening; after all, three and a half miles is a long way!

Beginning in a low-laying area with longer grass, I proceeded to eliminate the spot where the group photo was taken. Barely 5 minutes had gone by when a distinct signal invited investigation. Parting the grass with my foot, there lay David’s ring! And the smile and relief on David’s face tell the rest of the story!

Thanks, David for the privilege of locating and returning your wedding ring! The story of your Sunbeam Kids outing with your precious daughter is one I’m sure will be told many times. I for one, will be reminded of your story every time I see the red Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse. And I wish PlayWell Pediatric Dentistry in Elm Grove, WI. every success in the years to come!

Melrose, Wisconsin resident Alisha Koxlien is usually delighted to be greeted by Louise, her beloved Miniature English Bull Terrier. But as bad luck would have it on Friday the 13th while showing Louise at the all-breed AKC dog show in Union Grove, near Racine, Wisconsin the exuberant Terrier accidently dislodged one of Alisha’s diamond stud earrings. It wasn’t clear if Louise swallowed it during the encounter, if it was in the grass by the kennels, or if the earring fell out on a subsequent half-mile walk.

I received a phone call from Alisha the next day. Her insurance company encouraged her to find someone with a metal detector who might search for the diamond stud. Subsequently, a friend of hers found me on https://theringfinders.com/ website and we arranged to meet at the Racine County Fairgrounds that evening.

Even for experienced detectorists, such tiny pieces of jewelry are extremely challenging to find. Many metal detectors and probes will not register a stud earring, especially if it is positioned vertically. It’s like trying to find a needle in the proverbial haystack.

I arrived on location, met Alisha and appraised the situation. Alisha showed me the matching earring and I used it to calibrate my equipment. The signal was just a whisper on my device. Being the area was a long-established public fairground, it was loaded with metallic debris (foil wrappers and aluminum pull tabs) which made the search all the more challenging since these targets easily overshadowed the earring’s faint hiss. For good measure we sat Louise down on her hind end and scanned her white belly up and down in case she had swallowed it. Louise was clear of any metallic objects inside her, but she sure loved the attention!

Working on my hands and knees, I began to systematically scan the grassy location where the dog encounter occurred. It was the thick crabgrass variety, the kind that hides stud earrings. After 40 minutes I had only covered about 120 square feet, the size of an average kitchen. It was painstaking. My headset was howling with trash signals and so I was mostly watching my controller closely for a razor-thin line on the non-ferrous side of its scale.

Suddenly, the image I was hoping for flashed across the screen, prompting investigation. I parted the grass with the precision of a barber and there, pressed into the ground, lay Alisha’s diamond stud earring! The smile on Alisha’s face tells the rest of the story! But you know, I also got the clear sense from Louise that she too, in her doggy way, was relieved!

Thirteen months is a long time! But for Greenfield, WI resident, Steven Mantsch, the agony of losing a highly sentimental ring in the waters of Tichigan Lake near Waterford those many months ago was still very fresh. The one-of-a-kind ring was hand made by his brother from an old silver dollar. Steven described how the coin’s stamping was still visible in places; United States of America… Now the ring lay somewhere in the deep mud amongst aquatic plants by a public boat dock. It happened like this.

Returning from a boating excursion, Steven stepped out of the boat onto the dock and brushed back his hair with a wave of his hand. As he did so, the precious ring slipped off his finger, bounced off the dock, hit a boat moored in the next bay and ricocheted into the water. Steven, along with friends in the area, tried unsuccessfully to extract the ring from the mud using nets and scoops. But the mud, some twelve to twenty inches deep, had swallowed the heavy ring, making even metal-detection challenging. To make matters worse, an aquatic plant harvesting machine later had been at work in the same area, stirring up the lake bottom. The ring certainly seemed lost forever.

Steven called me in response to seeing an advertisement on my car. It was a long shot, but would I consider trying to search for his ring? We arranged to meet on location, Saturday, July 31st. Beginning at 9:00 a.m., I entered the water and immediately sank into the mud. The suction constantly threatened to remove my shoes, making navigation a huge challenge. Aquatic plants wrapped around my coil making it almost impossible to “sweep” in the usual way.

Then there were the relics of bygone years, beer cans from before the age of pull tabs; the lake bottom seemed alive with metal. After a couple hours, I knew it was time to change tactics. I discarded my trusty Minelab Excalibur Detector and using a hand-held probe that vibrates in response to metallic presence, I began to systematically poke the mud, reaching down with my fingers and retrieving the targets. It was painstaking work, but finally, after 2 more hours of probing and feeling in the mud and weeds, I felt Steven’s precious ring and pulled it up to the surface! The silver was blackened after being in the water so long, but I quickly spotted its unmistakable lettering, “United States of America…”

This search was a most-challenging and memorable one! The time and the conditions seemed to join forces in preventing Steven’s ring from ever being discovered. But in the end, Steven’s perseverance coupled with technology, experience and patience, triumphed!

News of the find spread quickly around the public boat dock. Some of the same boaters and neighbors were present when Steven lost his ring over a year ago. It was a magic moment for sure. As for Steven, a glimmer of tears betrayed his joy and relief!

If you or a loved one has lost a ring, even a long time ago, chances are the ring is still there. Don’t give up hope. Steven didn’t.