Hurried Signs

We have one of those local hidden gold stories still floating around about one of the properties we own. There was a 63 year old man who hid his season's earnings in an iron pot in 1863 and with the help of one of his slaves buried the gold and told no one. It is rumored he then killed the slave but the family says that is not true. No one has ever found the "pot". The man and his family are also buried on our property. What we know of the man is that he was a surveyor and a master mason. With this knowledge and the fact that he died 3 days after he hid his gold what type of signs do you think he would have left? Any help will be greatly appreciated! We have our property "posted" but of course we still find people at times walking around with their MD. We have found chiseled rocks with some markings and a dogwood tree split in the middle with a rock and the rock is still there and has not been removed after all of these years. I can add photos of these markings later.

Thanks!
Dawgwood

Those pictures will be interesting.
Have you done research on the old man? And his slave?

We can not find any information about the slave or the validity of the slave being killed at that time. We are still researching "the man" and plan to visit the local library to see what else we can find out next week.

Thanks!
Dawgwood

How large is the property that he owned?  Do you currently own all of the property that he owned in the 1860s?


-Buckles

I own most of the land he owned. I own where his house was, the cemetery, and his cotton field. I will try to get photos on before I have my total knee replacement on 11/11. That darn knee is keeping me from getting things done. I should be home a week later and can't wait to start looking again. I have heard that kicking a shovel around for years did help with the arthritis and deterioration. I hope my new bionic knee will only help me dig faster!

Dear Dawgwood,

     Here in Eastern NC, our county historical society published a county history which included family histories, a story/lead about a pot of gold being buried, and a slave uprising as well. Perhaps your county historical society has published one of these books that might be of help.  There is an elderly gentleman in our church who recalled a lynching incident as well. It was passed down to him by the elderly folks in his day.  Casual inquiries might just jog someon's memory, elderly person or historian, as well.  The lead sounds interesting and no telling where it might lead.  Anyway, just a couple of ideas I thought I'd pass on to you. Hope the bionic knee helps, too!

Seajay

most likely if there was a cache buried and you know where the house was its withing seeing distance, wouldn't you want to be able to keep your eye on your stash???
anyone with with a bit of experience and a 15" coil in all metal should be able to hit that a few feet deep no problem, start at the foundation and work outwards, a few cans of grass marking paint might help out to keep track of where your at.
dan

Thanks Seajay and Dan:

I am posting some photos taken this morning below. Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. One photo is a rock embedded into and splitting a tree. In the V of the tree you can see a rock. That rock is about 8 feet away and is chiseled into an arrow shape with a another arrow pointing to 2 huge oaks that make about a 12 foot triangle with the rock tree. Beside the rock/tree is another rock with an open end chiseled out. Also on the rock tree is a carved arrow above the rock. Hope all of this makes sense. If not I'll try to draw a map.

Thanks!
Dawgwood

More tree with carved marking and rocks behind.

OK, here are the rocks!
The arrow rock is about 30" long and open ended rock is about 20" long.
Thanks

Dawgwood

 you should re post this in treasure marks and signs board, a lot of the guys that do a lot of homework on this stuff and really know thier %^& hang out there and might not necessarily spend a lot of time browsing the rest of this board,

also from late 1800's i would say that tree isn't big enought to fit the story
i would start there by validating the tree, measure it figure out what kind of tree it is etc. looks like maple to me in which case some of them grow pretty fast.

the story might be true but as for him making markers to get back to his money, it is doubtfull in my opinion, think about it logically, would you bury a crapload of money out of your own site and also are you going to bury it in a place that you are totally unfamiliar with??
I would say the rocks are a coincidence fueled by a story and something you want them to be.

If i were to come search your property this is how i would  go about it.

start and the foundation and gradually work your way out. this would be the start of any type of search. once i had achieved a distance of about say 20 yards i would then start looking for large rocks or other landmarks to hunt around, if you have quite a few large rocks and such look at the arrangement i would search in line like connecting the dots between each landmark or something you can line up with something else. an arial photograph of your property could get you a good idea at some of the obvious places to look first before starting the inch by inch detection methods. if you dont have an arial maybe some pictures of the property taken in each direction from you know the house was , taking note of any rocks or landmarks, really old trees etc.
knowing which way they entered the property at the time will help also.

Dan

Thanks again Dan:

As I look off of my back deck which was their original front porch I can see this site ahead of me about 20 yards. So it would have been in his site as he was very sick at the time he buried the gold. I know if it is ever found it won't leave my site!!

Dawgwood

yeah well if you do find it , dont tell anyone, the state will step up and claim it under some treasure trove crap.

I'd especially check where his house was.  If any part of a fireplace still exists, chances are that he hid it behind a brick or stone inside or beneath it. Or behind any other stonework for that matter (considering his occupation.  )

Our house sits where his once did and we have now have a basement. Nothing was found during the building of this house 15 years ago. We have huge piles of rock everywhere from old slave quarters and the foundation of his old house which was the first brick house in the county made with hand made bricks.

His son who died several years before he died has a hand hard carved on his tombstone. I am not sure if Mr. Gold-man did this or the man's wife but I was wondering if that was a clue?

I will post a picture of that later. Thanks

**also I checked with one of the oldest living relatives, he's like 95......anyway, he had once asked me if the old oak tree were still standing. So I called him this morning to ask if there photos of the old house with the oaks and 3 very old dogwoods wood in them, he told me no, but in his his great grandfather's notes he mentioned planting the 3 dogwoods in the front yard in 1859 when his wife fell in love with them while visiting in Charleston. He actually bought her 25 and most of them and more are still here today. That rock is in the center of the center dogwood. I was so excited to here this. It was hard to get through to this precious man as he has a tough nurse who now cares for him. He now lives in SC and I promised to visit him after I re-coop from my knee replacement. I pray he lives that long as it appears he is in bad health, but his mind was great!

Dawgwood

The slave?  Did he get the gold?  Did he mysteriously disappear?  I believe I would do a lot of research on what became of him. And in the meantime conduct a careful search of the property. Sounds like fun...good luck and keep us posted

Thanks, I can't wait to get started on a full search. It was reported the slave was killed and buried with the gold. Only the family says that is not true. I am doing a search of the slaves he owed and the dates of their death now to see if anything matches.

Dawg,

He was a surveyor?  any hash marks in the trees?  They will have been overgrown, and look like old damage to trunks.  They could indicate direction from tree, and distance.  Often used to reference corners in old days.

Good Luck
A scketch map for us could provide some help. 

Chuck

OHIO:  The rock with the arrow isn' t too clear, but from what I can see, the mark appears to be by Nature.

Don Jose de La Mancha

Dawgwood,

Unlike the Spanish, most of the Anglos, back in the old days has little experience with signs and symbols. I'm not saying what you have found are meaningless, but may be sourced from different people.

Since you said your treasure is buried in a pot, it is probably made of cast iron or maybe steel. I would suggest obtaining a magnetometer which would pick up anything ferrous within a given area. Once you narrow it down with the magnetometer then using a metal detector will give you a better opportunity to find the treasure. Even if the signs you have are meaningful the magnetometer will get you to the location much quicker, especially if it is buried many feet from the surface.

Ecominer

Dawg,

He was a surveyor?  any hash marks in the trees?  They will have been overgrown, and look like old damage to trunks.  They could indicate direction from tree, and distance.  Often used to reference corners in old days.

Good Luck
A scketch map for us could provide some help. 

Chuck

I will see if I can find the picture but we had a huge oak that had been tied down and bent in a 90 degree angle. We found marks on the tree showing where it had apparently been tied down for years. Just a few months ago one of the 200+ year old oak trees lost a limb and we lost that tree. It had a disease so it was weaken anyway. I am sure years of being bent may not have helped it's condition. The bent part of the tree had grown at least 8 feet above the ground. We had a tree expert look at it before we lost her and was told it was at least 200 years old and the tie down happened when it was small little thing. I found a line of horse shoes under the tree. They were civil war era shoes. Also the embedded rock in the tree above with the marking in the same tree. This was a very old dogwood but the tree expert could not give me an exact age but somewhere between 100-200 years old. We have the oldest cherry tree, cedars, and dogwood trees in our county on our property so they are admired and studied often.

let me know when you want me to come out with my 2 box and find this for you!

I found a line of horse shoes under the tree. They were civil war era shoes.

Just curious here, but how could you tell the horseshoes were made, specifically, between 1860 and 1865? Are you also able to distinguish between US and CSA horseshoes?

I had not heard of this before, and could be rather pertinent.

Thanks! I will have to do my homework on the horseshoes. I did find out that my great-grandfather x4 was the only blacksmith in this county and next at that time. I will post a photo of one tomorrow to see if anyone can help me with this. There were also oxen shoes in the same line. I thought they were broken horse shoes until I found out different.

I have also posted this on the signs forum but it is so so full so I'll put her here too. I have found a JW a 3 or backwards r E and an omega sign? Also there was a squiggly, snake like symbol on the same rock. Any ideas what those maybe. They were about 5 feet on a rock behind the horseshoe line and bent tree. This man only had 3 days and I can't figure out how he time to bury horseshoes and carve rocks so I think this may be something else. I had also been told this was a camp site for civil war solders en route to???  this man allowed them to safely camp under one of the big oaks.

Interesting tale of potential treasure 

What I fail to understand is, why anyone would expect an old tree part -  a Y - or whatever - would continue to point/aim at a particular spot after 100+ years of growth and environmental influences.
 
I will be pleased to be enlightened.
Mike

Interesting tale of potential treasure

What I fail to understand is, why anyone would expect an old tree part -  a Y - or whatever - would continue to point/aim at a particular spot after 100+ years of growth and environmental influences.
 
I will be pleased to be enlightened.
Mike

We live in a remote area and this property has been for the most part untouched for for over 100 years. No one wanted this property because of the tales of the "haunted cemetery".  This is why we have the oldest and largest cherry tree, cedar trees, and other treasures here because no one has been here. There is also poison ivy vines that size of small trees growing everywhere. I am left with the task of cleaning those as during this cleaning process my husband found out the hard way that he can not get within 1 foot of one of the deadly vines.

The only thing that had been here was part of the land was used for cotton fields but the last crop was about 50 years ago. When we moved here you could not even get to the cemetery due to poison ivy, and other over growth. We just saw the land and the challenge of making it a home and fell in love with it all. Once the family found out we had a least cleaned a path to the cemetery they began to come around.  They did not tell us openly about the gold but one elderly lady let it slip. Then when a man from the historic society came to visit he brought us a copy of the public record telling us who was buried here and there is stated the "tale of the gold". The gold owners grand son who is now 98 came to visit 2 years ago. He told us the story is true as his grandmother was very upset that he died before even telling her where he buried the gold. He thought during his quick illness that he would be better within a week so he took the secret to his grave.

Also the gold owner was well traveled man who was also a master mason. It was told by his grandson he was part of a plan to help the southern states succeed and his hard work and gold was to help pay for that process. Apparently his treasure was not meant for his family but what he thought was a greater cause. I am going to our local historic society tomorrow to see if I can find a photo of the original home. This was the site of the first brick home in our county. There are many hand made brick still around today as well as rocks that were used as the foundation for the many slave quarters. Huge rocks!

Also the gold owner was well traveled man who was also a master mason. It was told by his grandson he was part of a plan to help the southern states succeed and his hard work and gold was to help pay for that process. Apparently his treasure was not meant for his family but what he thought was a greater cause

Now im quite intrested in this story, as it is rumored by many that such a thing was happening with the south hoarding gold in assistance in gaining freedom from the north. .....if i knew how to bookmark i would but til then......

Also the gold owner was well traveled man who was also a master mason. It was told by his grandson he was part of a plan to help the southern states succeed and his hard work and gold was to help pay for that process. Apparently his treasure was not meant for his family but what he thought was a greater cause

Now im quite intrested in this story, as it is rumored by many that such a thing was happening with the south hoarding gold in assistance in gaining freedom from the north. .....if i knew how to bookmark i would but til then......

Yeah, I am a southern historic freak, so that the main reason I think there is more than just " a tale" to this gold story.

I found a line of horse shoes under the tree. They were civil war era shoes.

Just curious here, but how could you tell the horseshoes were made, specifically, between 1860 and 1865? Are you also able to distinguish between US and CSA horseshoes?

I had not heard of this before, and could be rather pertinent.

Ok, here is a photo of the horseshoe and 2 oxen shoes I found in a line leading from our huge bent tree to another huge oak. I'm not sure what this eye like thing is in the huge oak but it's pretty anyway..........and at noon or 1 PM depending on DST the sun makes the lighted mark in the center of the eye. I would love to know what type of shoes these are. thanks!  Dawgwood

Good Luck, Dawgwood.  It sounds like you all have a great piece of land.

We have a very similar treasure story here in MD.  On the eastern shore during the civil war era a landowner, Pot of gold(to be hidden from northern soldiers), very large female slave, and a tobacco knife go into the swamp.  Only the landowner and the tobacco knife come out.  Supposedly her ghost(headless of course) still guards it or something like that.

Moral of the story: never go into a swamp with someone carrying a pot of gold and a tobacco knife!

Good Luck, Dawgwood.  It sounds like you all have a great piece of land.

We have a very similar treasure story here in MD.  On the eastern shore during the civil war era a landowner, Pot of gold(to be hidden from northern soldiers), very large female slave, and a tobacco knife go into the swamp.  Only the landowner and the tobacco knife come out.  Supposedly her ghost(headless of course) still guards it or something like that.

Moral of the story: never go into a swamp with someone carrying a pot of gold and a tobacco knife!

A pot of gold has to be heavy so it would take a large/strong person to help. A large headless female slave would scare me away from looking! Thanks for sharing Piedmont!

Another place you can look is between landmarks on the property.  For instance, run a rope between two trees, and bury it under where the middle of the rope is.  (That's an old trick I've heard of.)  Of course, after 150 years, things have probably changed too much....

I wonder if he was a freemason ? great story

I was able to do a lot more research and found out some more info about this gold. First the man who buried the gold died in 1841, not 1863 as I was first told. I found this information at our local library and cleaned the tombstone to confirm this was true. He was 63 when he died and it was buried 3 days before his death.

Second the gold is suppose to be Bechtler Gold made in NC. It was stated in records that he gave each of his children several pieces of this  Bechtler gold and told them the rest was safe for their future and the future of the south. These were some of his last words recorded. This was long before the civil war so I am not sure what was meant by this statement at that time. He died of pneumonia thinking he just had a cold. However fever took him in the middle of the night which was a supprise to all. However there was doctor who was at his side, left him for a short time to go to the barn, no one knows why but that is recorded that he was gone for over an hour. I am trying to find out where the old barn was. It appears the doctor may have been told about the gold and thought it could have been hidden in the barn. It is recorded that the doctor died poor so no one thinks he found the gold then or later.

Still researching.

Dawgwood

little history on your coinage

http://www.raregold.com/r-bech.htm

and quite valuable now too

http://www.pcgs.com/prices/PriceGui...tle=Bechtler+(N.+Carolina%2fGeorgia)

little history on your coinage

http://www.raregold.com/r-bech.htm

and quite valuable now too

http://www.pcgs.com/prices/PriceGui...tle=Bechtler+(N.+Carolina%2fGeorgia)

Thanks! that information made my day..........weekend............year!!!

Dawgwood

really great story hope everything works outgood luck

Good story,  just the kind of story that can produce some results.  Keep up the research and let us know what you find.  What part of North Carolina are you in?  My family came from that part of the woods.

Good story,  just the kind of story that can produce some results.  Keep up the research and let us know what you find.  What part of North Carolina are you in?  My family came from that part of the woods.

near Charlotte

The markings you describe may lead to a cache hidden by the Knights of the Golden Circle.  Please, please, please do not move any of the rocks.  The shape of the rocks indicates that they are man-made.  Pay attention to what direction they are pointing and in what direction the horseshoes were laying.  The KGC would sometimes place a marker above their buried treasure, such as the rock you said could be seen eight feet from the rock-tree.  Sometimes it was only a clue.  This gun-sight tree might be pointing in the general direction of the burial site.  Then, since it's part of a triangle, the treasure could be buried in the middle of all three trees.  Not to discourage you, but many times what seems logical is totally the opposite of where the KGC buried their wealth.  Hope this helps!

Still looking, finding clues and hoping. Will post when I find anything!

Patiently waiting Dawgwood Luv.  Check the net for help in allowing hubby to live happily with the poison Ivy..

Also an update on the knee would be nice.

Don Jose de La Mancha

Patiently waiting Dawgwood Luv.  Check the net for help in allowing hubby to live happily with the poison Ivy..

Also an update on the knee would be nice.

Don Jose de La Mancha

The knee replacement was booger but I'm getting used to it. Not much pain now after a few months but I forget it's heavier and don't bend as well yet so I trip on vines and sticks in the woods that I never had trouble with before. Other wise no pain is great! thank for asking.

I have hit a hot spot and going back to dig more now!!! weird though it's showing up everything on 2 diff. detectors. Last time that happened I hit a bucket of old nails with some coins inside.

 

The reason for people to bury treasure is for others not to find it. The person(s) hiding something already know where it is at. No reason to leave signs or clues otherwise they would have left it on top of the ground.

If you want to find it, think of where YOU would hide it. Has to be within visual range from the house.

Gilbert

The reason for people to bury treasure is for others not to find it. The person(s) hiding something already know where it is at. No reason to leave signs or clues otherwise they would have left it on top of the ground.

unless they were in unfamiliar territory, and sometimes even when they weren't. Wooded areas can fool even experienced woodsmen. With the KGC, however, it has to do with a universal code, a way for any member to find what has been cached.

The reason for people to bury treasure is for others not to find it. The person(s) hiding something already know where it is at. No reason to leave signs or clues otherwise they would have left it on top of the ground.

If you want to find it, think of where YOU would hide it. Has to be within visual range from the house.

Gilbert



Not just visual range from the house ...
but visual from a comfortable place inside the house, like a bedroom or kitchen window.
or a livingroom window as looked at from an easy chair.
Folks liked the idea that it was out there and they could watch it.

I have hit a hot spot and going back to dig more now!!! weird though it's showing up everything on 2 diff. detectors. Last time that happened I hit a bucket of old nails with some coins inside.

Well, are you still there?    No more posts since the above?  Wondering what you found.   At lease show us the iron pot!

Could it be that your counting all your money?

By Master Mason, do you mean he was a great bricklayer,or that he was a master free mason. Masonic emblems might steer you . ask a mason.   Bob

UPDATES?

Updates please, the suspence is killing me!!!!!!! I am in NC also and love this kind of stuff

Updates please, the suspence is killing me!!!!!!! I am in NC also and love this kind of stuff

Sorry, our youngest graduated high school last week, then she had a debutante ball.......oh well..... We are back on the search this weekend, starting tomorrow. I have a hot spot that I am looking at but the ground is so hard, many rocks in the ground and even tree roots. It's a hard dig. I'll send a post as soon as i find anything.

Here is a bent tree photo it is pointing to the tree with a rock embedded in the middle. The rock with the X is behind this bent tree. Snakes in this area! You can see where this tree was tied down to something. It did not appear to be with a rope but maybe something thinner like a small piece of leather. The indention is still in the tree.

Was the split tree a 'gun sight' indicating the location and the bent tree was used to help lower a heavy pot or cooking cauldron into a deep hole? A heavy pot or cauldron full of coinage would be quite a task for even two folks to lug around, but by using a green sapling or young tree to bear some of the weight, it could be done.

Rent a ditch witch or a small back hoe for a weekend and do some landscaping. I would guess any hole much more than 5 - 7 feet deep would be pert near impossible with mere hand tools (that is, by two folks - one sick, in a hurry, in less than three days...)

Interesting thread here - Keep it coming!

Use a two box detector before renting or digging.
that way you haven't dug a hole without cause.

Use technology to your advantage.

You said he was once a blacksmith, therefore it is possible the tied down tree was a makeshift horse rail to tie the horses to while shoeing. Therefore possibly not important.

Second, if it was big and heavy and I was in ill health, I would want it in sight yet very deep so none of the slaves or neighbors could steal it without alot of hard work. Tune your MD for max depth and sensitivity.

Last, why did the doctor go to the barn, is it possible he could sneak out of the barn to get to where he wanted to go? Possibly to talk to the slave or to scout out an area he was told about? I would discount the barn as the site. Instead, I would think how I would use the barn to get away from the house to check out someplace else.

You said he was once a blacksmith, therefore it is possible the tied down tree was a makeshift horse rail to tie the horses to while shoeing. Therefore possibly not important.

Second, if it was big and heavy and I was in ill health, I would want it in sight yet very deep so none of the slaves or neighbors could steal it without alot of hard work. Tune your MD for max depth and sensitivity.

Last, why did the doctor go to the barn, is it possible he could sneak out of the barn to get to where he wanted to go? Possibly to talk to the slave or to scout out an area he was told about? I would discount the barn as the site. Instead, I would think how I would use the barn to get away from the house to check out someplace else.

I have to do some research to find out where the barn was at that time. Thanks for the advice.

after reading this, i wondered if all this writing about the gold  took time, maybe grid the areas with string and do a quick search in each gring, mark where you get good hits and no hits, concentrate on the areas aroung the old house site, people usally buried things where they could see them from their house windows, bedroom window. but i would definatly grid the whole area first. also the rock in the tree, if it was in sight fron his house it could have been used as a sight like on a rifle.

 dawgwood,i enjoyed your story.everything sounds good.someone said check with a 2 box detector before digging..very,very good advice.have a reason to dig.sounds like to me that you may have a true line an also a false line.the older folks were no fools when it came to hiding gold and silver.the large tree with the round thing might have been intended to be an eye looking in the direction of the money.buy this book and read before you get too excited and do something wrong.also remove no metal pieces that could have been pointers.as old as those signs are there may be two or three caches there. the book;;;;shadow of the sentinel,by bob brewer and don't remember the other name.he tells exactly how he followed the lines and what was entailed in the finding of gold and silver coins..good luck-----tenclaw

Hi dawgwood.  Any updates to share on this fascinating treasure hunt? 
~Texas Jay

If the old man had slaves, he probably didn't bury anything in sight of the house, for fear of being seen. I would go beyond sight of the house (maybe follow the line of sight from the tree) and see if I could find some sign or landmark, or maybe a cave, etc. Remember, caves can be covered over.

(TAG)