Cool Or Creepy Things Found In The Bush Or On Your Property

[MossRoad]

There was a low spot in our lawn between my garage and my neighbor's garage. I'd add some dirt to it every year and it would sink further. One day, my neighbor told me that there was an old septic tank there, that was fed by my house well before I bought it. Only used for the kitchen now. He said there was a fire in the woods behind the houses, the fire dept. came through with a truck and crushed the tank. He suspected the tank was still collapsing. So I wanted to see to make sure. I started digging in the low spot and found a large toy doll stroller and a suitcase about a foot under the grass. The suitcase is what had been collapsing over the years. I opened it up and inside were a bunch of empty plastic ketchup bottles.

That's all I have to report. The septic tank was concrete and solid as a rock. Don't know what the fire department collapsed, but it wasn't that.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Sounds like a lion kill.

Maybe. We're not supposed to know we have lions in our area, but the rumor from my sister talking to the natives is that the DNR told their elders they would putting in four breeding pairs--and this was years ago.

 

[deezler]

There was a low spot ...I started digging in the low spot and found a large toy doll stroller and a suitcase about a foot under the grass. I opened it up and inside were a bunch of empty plastic ketchup bottles.

 

[JasperFrank]

An old friend of mine was looking over an outdoor remote "patch," of wacky weed, when he came across what looked like a woman, small person, wrapped up in a blanket.... dead. He was freaked out and didn't know what to do. I suggested he call it in and say he was looking for his lost cat, which he did later that evening. Turned out to be an actual murder victim, a short male, that lived in a migrant worker house just up the road. The detectives didn't ask any questions about the "patch," and very quickly arrested two other people in the house, that later confessed to the killing. They were all packed up and ready to leave the country, but my friend must have found the body right after they dropped it off.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I found this in the woods beside the rental house. (1979)
Very heavy. Found some references to M-R as a hardware store in the 40s?
I suspect it may be lead, stock. but marked as though a business card? Maybe 7 inches long.
Text is:

McKeel-Richardson
Carolina
Washington, N. C.

Any thoughts?

View attachment 740253

Is it hard lead? It is about the right size to feed into a linotype melting pot. The antimony-lead alloy from the old linotype machines is great for hard casting bullets. Surface discoloration may be oxidized antimony.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

the El Camino wasn't sold in the US ?

Sure it was.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Fun article...

Comparison: 1957 Ford Ranchero vs 1959 Chevrolet El Camino - Motor Trend Classic

After World War II, Ford was fighting a losing battle to seize Chevy's crown as the king of the truck world. Read on to learn more about the 1957 Ford Ranchero vs 1959 Chevrolet El Camino in this comparison brought to you by the automotive experts at Motor Trend Classic.

www.motortrend.com

Chevrolet should bring back the Apache. That was a classy truck.

 

[sea2summit]

Chevrolet should bring back the Apache. That was a classy truck.

If any manufactures would just offer a manual trans, no power windows/mirrors/anything, I'd be happy. Just need 4WD, a radio, and turn signals get all the other crap off my truck because I don't want to pay for it.

 

[MossRoad]

is right. I was expecting something horrible. You dig in the dirt, find a stroller that would hold a large doll next to a suitcase... Yikes! I really didn't want to open that suitcase, but did.

 

[JasperFrank]

My Grandfather, being a Country Doctor, had a habit of buying out widow's estates as "House and Contents." House and contents, means you buy the entire estate if no one else wants to challenge it with the single check, to be bought out. i always thought this was difficult for me, cause I'd have to sort though the good and bad. And the Grandfather wanted to keep everything..... for some reason.

Well, one House and Contents turned out to be strange. While looking at one of his new purchases, I noticed a trap door in the kitchen no one had seen before. This was an old house and it was common to have a root cellar close to the kitchen.

I pulled up the trap door and it was filled with clothing. New, old, clothing, with the sales tags still on them.

So I started to take the clothes out, and found a step! And then another step, and another, and another.

All filled up with rotting, new, old clothing that still had tags on them. And then I saw the rafters, meaning that this as an entire basement. I ordered a dumpster to the site. Then spent an entire week doing nothing but pulling out what must have been 250 thousand dollars of, now rotted, and useless clothing, that had been neatly stacked in the basement. All of them still had sales tags. It took three dumpsters. One of the House and Contents was a 1980 CHEVROLET EL CAMINO. I didn't like it, so turned it down. I was just happy Grand Pa was paying for my college tuition.

 

[MossRoad]

Is it hard lead? It is about the right size to feed into a linotype melting pot. The antimony-lead alloy from the old linotype machines is great for hard casting bullets. Surface discoloration may be oxidized antimony.

I worked at a newspaper that had converted from lead type shortly before I started. Lead pigs for linotypes are not that fancy. Many people had half-pigs for doorstops and bookends. They'd probably have rings on them for the feeder to gently lower then into the pot.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[ponytug]

I miss monotype and linotype. I always though that there was something magical about the pool of molten lead being turned into lead slugs. Many newspapers were still using individual movable type until well after men had walked on the moon, just like Gutenberg used in the 15th century. Some things change slowly.

I remember seeing one model for casting something like Monoblock in a bookbinding plant that had a very odd five finger "Keyboard". No idea what it was called.

All the best,

Peter

 

[JasperFrank]

At one garage sale, i found a real human skull with a black candle on top of it. The proprietor of the garage sale was a bit embarrassed, and said this was not for sale..

 

[MossRoad]

I miss monotype and linotype. I always though that there was something magical about the pool of molten lead being turned into lead slugs. Many newspapers were still using individual movable type until well after men had walked on the moon, just like Gutenberg used in the 15th century. Some things change slowly.

I remember seeing one model for casting something like Monoblock in a bookbinding plant that had a very odd five finger "Keyboard". No idea what it was called.

All the best,

Peter

Linotype had close to 100 keys.
Never saw a Monoblock.

The first week I started at the newspaper in 1987, I was assigned to help a contractor convert the saddles on the last press unit from lead plates to polymer coated aluminum printing plates. It was a keyed letterpress type printing press. The lead plates were around 1/2" thick. This company machined steel saddles that were the thickness of the lead plates minus the thickness of the aluminum plates. They had spring loaded lockups to hold the new plates. We'd set a saddle template on the press, lock it up like a lead plate, then use a mag drill to drill a bunch of mounting holes to hold the new saddles in place. Then remove the template, tap the holes, and then install the new steel saddles. It was the first time I'd ever seen a printing press, a mag drill, and a tap. It took two weeks to convert that last unit. We had to work while the press was running, so there were paper webs sailing over us for hours at a time. Maybe a foot or two above your head. And it was LOUD in there.

I loved it! Best job I ever had. Lasted 30 years. Still miss it, but life goes on.

 

[ponytug]

Linotype had close to 100 keys.
Never saw a Monoblock.

The first week I started at the newspaper in 1987, I was assigned to help a contractor convert the saddles on the last press unit from lead plates to polymer coated aluminum printing plates. It was a keyed letterpress type printing press. The lead plates were around 1/2" thick. This company machined steel saddles that were the thickness of the lead plates minus the thickness of the aluminum plates. They had spring loaded lockups to hold the new plates. We'd set a saddle template on the press, lock it up like a lead plate, then use a mag drill to drill a bunch of mounting holes to hold the new saddles in place. Then remove the template, tap the holes, and then install the new steel saddles. It was the first time I'd ever seen a printing press, a mag drill, and a tap. It took two weeks to convert that last unit. We had to work while the press was running, so there were paper webs sailing over us for hours at a time. Maybe a foot or two above your head. And it was LOUD in there.

I loved it! Best job I ever had. Lasted 30 years. Still miss it, but life goes on.

Nerves. Of. Steel.

I have seen those presses in action, and know the tolerances. Not human compatible. Sounds like a great start to a great job though.

I had a quick look for the type casting machine that I saw at the Acme bookbinding plant outside of Cleveland. I can't find it in any of the common histories of typesetting. No idea which kind it was...

All the best, Peter

 

[pmsmechanic]

Speaking of molten lead...

 

[MossRoad]

Nerves. Of. Steel.

I have seen those presses in action, and know the tolerances. Not human compatible. Sounds like a great start to a great job though.

I had a quick look for the type casting machine that I saw at the Acme bookbinding plant outside of Cleveland. I can't find it in any of the common histories of typesetting. No idea which kind it was...

All the best, Peter

After that project was over, we had to convert all of the press units from keyed to keyless. Some of that involved sitting inside of running press units while mounting electrical boxes, wiring harnesses, then making adjustments to the new sensors. You haven't lived until you climb inside a running press unit. It sounds like you're sitting inside the engine compartment of a large truck doing 60. The rollers are inches from your head. One wrong move and it would be like putting your head into a giant wringer washing machine. Death would be instant. No loose clothing. No rags in pockets. All shirts tucked in. And I cut my hair pretty short, too. I ranked that part of the job right up there with jump-starting aircraft that had the plug between the prop and the leading edge of the wing. Total concentration or death.

 

[MossRoad]

Speaking of molten lead...

Fascinating!!!

 

[check]

When we bought our 25 acre rental property, there was indeed a dump on it. Spent years getting rid of all the stuff, including huge amount of old metal roofing. Still finding stuff today.

The property is one of the original properties on the lake, and was an old lodge once owned by a gold refining company. Never found any gold, however!

However, there is still one underground chamber that looks like a collapsed root cellar that we haven’t yet explored…