It's kind of a long story. I have had my eye on an abandoned house that was built in 1900. The house was boarded up and painted with graffiti. A "No Trespassing" sign sat along side the little dirt road leading to the house. My daughter and I tried to get a hold of the land owner to see if they would consider letting BYU use it for a film project that my daughter was involved in, but they never returned our call. I figured that the sign was there to protect the land owner from liability from someone getting hurt in the old house.
Well, within the past few weeks the house was turned into a pile of rubble and a realty sign was put up.
I decided that no one would care if I did some metal detecting, I was wrong. I spent about an hour there and had found about 8 coins, most of them modern clad, but I did get one wheat penny and my first buffalo nickel. Shortly after I found the buffalo a woman pulled up in a van and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was metal detecting and asked if she was the owner. She said that she was and that I was trespassing. I apologized and told her that I would leave immediately. I explained how I did not think anyone would mind, but she explained that she had family that wanted to hunt the site. I totally understood, and started for my car. She asked if I had found anything. I wanted to tell her "No", but I confessed that I had found a few coins and handed them over to her. She was very interested in the buffalo nickel and the discussion became much more cordial. She told me to call in a couple weeks and she would have a talk with her grandmother.
I hope that my honesty pays off when I call her back.
I need to find a good way to approach the owner of old properties like this to get permission. I don't think this was the best way.
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