Lost Keys Found by The Ring Finders Vermont
11/22/23
Got a call today from a guy who had lost his car keys. Very slippery conditions had caused he and his Volvo to go off the road and into a very deep ditch. Somehow the key became lost, probably when trying to climb up out of the car. The wrecker came and towed the car away. He searched all his pockets and inside the car. He even tried a magnet and renting a metal detector.
He and many others I have found keys for, all say the same thing, to replace their keys was going to cost over $300, some have even told me much higher amounts!
I was available today, but he was driving a UPS route. He told me where the accident had happened and I went over to do the search. I brought a pick axe and jugs of hot water because it was only 20 degrees out and it had been lost for 5 or 6 days and nights of extremely cold weather. I expected the key to be frozen into hard mud or ice.
I got a few junk signals and then a good signal came from the little brook which had an inch of ice on it. After chopping through the ice, I was finally able to get the key out. The key had been under water for so long, I took it apart, cleaned and dried it. I pray it still worked after I returned to him.
I was at work when I received a call from George inquiring about possibly recovering his family heirloom ring from his lagoon. We went over the details of when and how the ring was lost, and knowing the area quite well, decided it would be best if I swung by prior to committing to do the recovery. A few days later I met George at his house and after going over exactly what he did when the ring flew off into the lagoon, we decided with the 5′ tide swing this had to be done at low tide. The following week worked perfect with our schedules. My first attempt didn’t work out so well, it was blazing hot, the greenhead flies were eating us alive, and the mud on the bottom was black and bottomless. After about 2 hours I threw in the towel but assured him I would be returning for another attempt. I believe at that point George had given up hope of ever seeing his ring again. Over the next week or so our schedules didn’t work with the tide, so he agreed for me to swing by when conditions were right, whether he was home or not. WELL, after some adjustments to my recovery approach, and taking my assistant wife LEE, and good luck charm, the ring was in my scoop within 15 min. I knew this would mean the world to him, so I decided to do a surprise return, and set the whole thing up with his wife and son. I arrived just as they were getting back from fishing, put the ring in my scoop, and headed down the driveway where we met. We all talked a bit, I asked how they did fishing, then told him I did really well, and put my scoop out. He was kinda puzzled, and I said look in the bottom, and when he did, he could not believe his eyes. Then we let him in on the whole plan. I have the video of the return, just need to edit it, stay tuned. That moment right there is what makes doing recoveries so rewarding.
I received a call from Jimmy who had lost his wedding ring at dusk while walking the dog in his backyard. I arrived at his house the next day. He said he had searched all over for it but was unable to find it. After asking him multiple questions, he lead me to the area where he thought he lost it. I thought that this would be fairly easy as it had to be on top and he owned a new modern house, but after listening to the ground for a few minutes I knew that something was not right as there were hundreds of signals…all in the gold range. He revealed to me that there used to be a mechanic shop of some kind right there. Suddenly things were not so easy. I combed the area for over an hour closely watching the depth meter. I was beginning to really wonder if I could find this ring, but I had told him I would not give up. Finally I got the shallow signal I was waiting for. I combed through the grass with my hands, and there it was already settling into the roots, completely invisible to the eye. Jimmy was thrilled as was I. What a relief! A happy ending all round.
Received a very upset caller about a lost earring at an orchard north of Las Vegas. She and her husband had searched for hours. Her husband even purchased a metal detector prior to calling me. I told her I will bring two detectors, and will set it up, so he can help find the earring. It was a special earring. It was given to her as her first Mothers Day gift. So there was a lot of emotion connected to it. She had called another ringfinder prior to calling me, and he was not very encouraging about finding it. So out of frustration, her husband purchased a detector and was going to look himself. She had fallen, and that was where they thought it might have been lost. It was rocky soil next to the entrance to the parking lot for the orchard. I took my XP Deus 1 with HF coil, Bumped it up to 74 kHz since it was small. Hit it in about 15 minutes. It was not visible since it had been covered up with dirt. Interesting that it didn’t come in loud or consistent in lower frequencies. 74 kHz was the killer. Couldn’t use the Goldfield program because of all the other signals. was able to notch out a lot of trash.