Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 20,749
I told this story a few years ago, but it bears repeating . An example of how quickly these things can happen , when it comes to treasure legends:
A buddy of mine was doing a sidewalk demolition tearout project , in the oldtown district of his city. It went on for weeks and weeks. The workers would progress 1/2 block at a time. Tearing out, re-cementing, etc.... Working their way down one side of the entire downtown, and then working their way back on the other side of the street.
The trouble was, that they were tearing out, and re-cementing, all in the same day ! So he did not have the liberty to wait till after 5pm when the workers cut out
He had to work the naked dirt during their lunch hour. Which was risky, of course, because he could have been kicked out ....
So he got the workers to turn a blind eye to him, because he'd pass out common V nickels, IH's, etc.... to the workers. So after a few such days of this, they would eagerly come to him after their lunch hour each day, eager to see his latest finds. And , as usual, he'd pass out a few coins to 'grease the wheels', haha
One such day, at that day's torn out section, he wasn't doing much good. Just some trinkets and junk. One item was an owl shaped amulet, about the size of a chess piece. It was gold in color, and had some sort of red jewels for the eyes.
When it came time for the workers to quiz him on his finds, he showed them the various trinkets and junk. And then showed the workers the owl thing. He mused "might be gold" (d/t the gold color). The workers were floored ! Then he said "probably dates to the 1800s (d/t that was the age of some coins he'd found in nearby sections). And again, the workers were giddy with amazement ! And then my friend pointed to the red eyes and said "might be rubies". This sent the workers over the top !
That night, my friend sorted out his items. He came to the owl charm thing, and was able to study it under magnification. Turns out it was just gold plated. Not gold. And the eyes were nothing but red chips of glass. No rubies. He determined it was just 1920s costume jewelry junk, and tossed it in the trash.
The next day, he was back out at the sidewalk tearout. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a worker curiously eyeing him. He could see it was a worker that had not been there on any of the previous days. The worker got to a polite distance away, and was eyeing him intently. Eventually got brave, came up to my friend and asked "what have you found ?"
As it turns out, my friend hadn't found anything good so far by this time, so he told the worker "nothing good". At that, the worker launched into a story about how a guy had been here the day before, and found "gold coins from the 1800s!"
My friend was floored ! He was thinking "oh no, someone must have come after I left, and found gold coins ??" So he pumped the worker for information. Thinking that if he had a description of the person, then perhaps he might know who it was.
As the worker described the "gold", a curious word came out of his mouth : "Owl". My friend immediately realized that the worker was talking about HIM ! haha. So he corrected the worker and said : "no, the owl wasn't gold. It was just 1920s costume junk. Nor were any of the coins gold....."
But the worker would not be dissuaded. He figured that someone must have come by , after my friend had left. How did he know ? Because he had it on good authority by his fellow workers, who had told him the story around the water cooler that morning. They'd seen it with their own eyes ! (hard to argue with eye-witnesses, eh ?)
Mind you, this humorous story happened in the space of a single night, via only 3 or 4 involved in the telephone game. You can only imagine what happens after 100 yrs and a dozen re-tellings.
In fact, I'll bet that the guy goes home and tells his son. And then .... 30 yrs. from now, the son tells the story of the "gold coins under the sidewalks of such & such city ...." Who knows ... one day that morphs to a "treasure chest", etc..
Another example to follow :
A buddy of mine was doing a sidewalk demolition tearout project , in the oldtown district of his city. It went on for weeks and weeks. The workers would progress 1/2 block at a time. Tearing out, re-cementing, etc.... Working their way down one side of the entire downtown, and then working their way back on the other side of the street.
The trouble was, that they were tearing out, and re-cementing, all in the same day ! So he did not have the liberty to wait till after 5pm when the workers cut out
He had to work the naked dirt during their lunch hour. Which was risky, of course, because he could have been kicked out ....So he got the workers to turn a blind eye to him, because he'd pass out common V nickels, IH's, etc.... to the workers. So after a few such days of this, they would eagerly come to him after their lunch hour each day, eager to see his latest finds. And , as usual, he'd pass out a few coins to 'grease the wheels', haha
One such day, at that day's torn out section, he wasn't doing much good. Just some trinkets and junk. One item was an owl shaped amulet, about the size of a chess piece. It was gold in color, and had some sort of red jewels for the eyes.
When it came time for the workers to quiz him on his finds, he showed them the various trinkets and junk. And then showed the workers the owl thing. He mused "might be gold" (d/t the gold color). The workers were floored ! Then he said "probably dates to the 1800s (d/t that was the age of some coins he'd found in nearby sections). And again, the workers were giddy with amazement ! And then my friend pointed to the red eyes and said "might be rubies". This sent the workers over the top !
That night, my friend sorted out his items. He came to the owl charm thing, and was able to study it under magnification. Turns out it was just gold plated. Not gold. And the eyes were nothing but red chips of glass. No rubies. He determined it was just 1920s costume jewelry junk, and tossed it in the trash.
The next day, he was back out at the sidewalk tearout. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a worker curiously eyeing him. He could see it was a worker that had not been there on any of the previous days. The worker got to a polite distance away, and was eyeing him intently. Eventually got brave, came up to my friend and asked "what have you found ?"
As it turns out, my friend hadn't found anything good so far by this time, so he told the worker "nothing good". At that, the worker launched into a story about how a guy had been here the day before, and found "gold coins from the 1800s!"
My friend was floored ! He was thinking "oh no, someone must have come after I left, and found gold coins ??" So he pumped the worker for information. Thinking that if he had a description of the person, then perhaps he might know who it was.
As the worker described the "gold", a curious word came out of his mouth : "Owl". My friend immediately realized that the worker was talking about HIM ! haha. So he corrected the worker and said : "no, the owl wasn't gold. It was just 1920s costume junk. Nor were any of the coins gold....."
But the worker would not be dissuaded. He figured that someone must have come by , after my friend had left. How did he know ? Because he had it on good authority by his fellow workers, who had told him the story around the water cooler that morning. They'd seen it with their own eyes ! (hard to argue with eye-witnesses, eh ?)
Mind you, this humorous story happened in the space of a single night, via only 3 or 4 involved in the telephone game. You can only imagine what happens after 100 yrs and a dozen re-tellings.
In fact, I'll bet that the guy goes home and tells his son. And then .... 30 yrs. from now, the son tells the story of the "gold coins under the sidewalks of such & such city ...." Who knows ... one day that morphs to a "treasure chest", etc..
Another example to follow :
