Treasure Hunting In Your Own Backyard

 Most people probably think of pirates and treasure maps with X marking the spot when they think of treasure hunting.  Treasure hunting movies usually have these elements, or at the least occur in some beautiful, remote location.  While there are treasures located in ship wrecks worth millions of dollars, there are also treasures that can be found closer to home, perhaps even around your home.  I recently wrote a Hub about Modern Day Treasure Hunting that detailed several ways that the average person can make an attempt at hunting for treasure.  In this Hub, I will take a more in depth look at one of the treasure hunting sources I mentioned in the last one, finding hidden treasures or items in your own house or yard.  A treasure may be closer than you thought.

People have many different reasons for hiding items within their own homes.  Maybe they are trying to hide something from a family member, or maybe they have something that they think might be stolen and they want it to be out of sight in case their house is burglarized.  Whatever the reason, many people like to hide things.

One thing to think of when you are considering looking around your house is the age of your house.  Obviously, if you are the first owner of a new house, you are not likely to find anything hidden.  If you happen to move into a house that was built a few decades ago, you are increasing your chances of finding a hidden item. 

Possible hiding places can be as simple as above ceiling tiles, underneath a sink, or beneath loose floor boards.  Something could be easily hidden in many heater vents, or perhaps in a part of a cupboard that is not easily accessed.

Some places that are not as easy to access are inside walls or floors that are not loose.  Some of these hidden caches are located during periods of renovation.  These caches are much more difficult to find, since it is not likely profitable to start tearing apart your house, unless you know for sure something is hidden in a certain location.

You never know what may have been hidden in an older house.  I have heard of people finding cash hidden in the house and I personally know of an old black powder revolver that was found in a heating vent.

Another place you may find hidden items is around the property. Especially around the time of the great depression, many people did not trust banks. Instead of taking their valuables to the bank, they might have hidden them somewhere near their house.

One place to look is along the edges of driveways and sidewalks. If you see an older sidewalk or driveway that is slightly sagging in one part, it could be because someone dug out some of the dirt under that part of the cement. Keep in mind that when hiding something of value, the person that hid it would probably choose a location that was not easy for other people to see. Back yards and areas blocked by trees or bushes could help hide the cache from onlookers.

Another place to check is gardens. Both men and women tend to gardens and may spend a lot of time digging there. If someone saw them hiding something in the garden it might just appear that they were planting a seed or tending to the garden. Another advantage of a garden is that because of the frequent digging, the soil is often fairly loose and easy to dig in.

And another place to hide items is, well, anywhere else in a yard. That is very broad, but so are the potential hiding places. Some are known as "fence post banks" and can be underneath or right next to old fence posts. Another method might have been using imaginary points, such as a rock and the corner of a building to triangulate a location. These caches can be much harder to find if you don't know a general area to start looking. A metal detector can help in these cases to check a larger area for something underground.

So maybe there is a treasure in your back yard or house, maybe not. Maybe now that it is in your mind it is worth doing a little research to figure out if it is possible that some one that lived in your house before you did left something for you to find. Good luck! Let me know of any treasure stories that you know of.