komickaze

You should bother because you are curious. I have a job, a wife, two kids, and I'm not a frequent visitor to this forum. Pardon me for having a life outside of here. I posted this request because this community IS generally curious, and finding a mysterious buried box is what geocaching is all about. Am I wrong? I lived at 4034, apartment D. This is the adjacent building to the east in the apartment on the northwest side. My memory has me walking south between the two buildings and over to the tree on my right. Now that I think about it more, I remember the tree being closer to the sidewalk than the stump is. And now that you mention it, I think there were two trees. I do remember there being a palm in the middle of that grassy area (yes, it WAS grass then) and another tree nearer the sidewalk. I went to Google Earth and had a look at the historical images and found both trees were still there on the 04/29/97 image. By 05/06/02, though, they were gone. Odds are the box is gone along with it. I'm sorry to have wasted everyone's time with this. I should have checked the historical images and not just relied on my memory.

I appreciate all the interest in this! I've had a few people contact me about finding it. Please let me know if you do!

Sometimes the trolls get the last word so I just wanted to clarify things before people think I'm sending them on a wild goose chase.

Look people. I don't take anyone for a fool. If you want to go and find it, then go and find it. If you don't, then don't. I'm not messing with you. I'm not full of crap. I buried it when I was 10-11. This was around 1987-88. I lived there for about two years. I went to Baltz School and David Crockett School. I played in the empty field on the other side of 40th street underneath the tree that is apparently still standing (I first kissed a girl there). I played in the empty field on the other side of Portland St. and played on the dirt mounds that were to become Loop 202. I had a friend that lived on Garfield St. to the south and we would run across the field as fast as we can. I played in the nasty, almost empty, septic and garbage filled swimming pool on Moreland St. (now filled with concrete according to Google) where I stepped on a rusty nail and had a broken beer bottle thrown at me. I still have the scar on my knee to this day. I'll say it again. The box is there. I buried it under the tree root. The tree is gone but the stump remains. I can't get it myself because I live in Missouri. I have a wife and two kids now. I want to get it myself but I can't. I'm hoping someone will be willing to try.

I don't have time to post the picture here, perhaps someone else can. But if you type that address into Google, you can go right to street view, and there is indeed an abandoned duplex with a cut almost down tree stump in front of it. The "bad neighborhood" doesn't look very much like the "bad neighborhoods" up here in the Northeastern U.S., but I'll take your word for it. The Duplex to the left actually looks pretty nicely kept and landscaped. I used to live at 4034, which is the building next to it, on the back alley side. We moved because my sister, who was 12 at the time, was accused of insulting another little girl who just happened to be related to a drug dealer and they put a brick through our window. Like I said. It's a bad neighborhood.

I'm hoping to find someone in AZ willing to do this. This has a lot of sentimental value to me. It's one of the few good memories I have from when I lived in this neighborhood. Whoever finds it can keep what's inside, but I want to see it again. Take video. Take pictures. It was my goal to have this dug up and found again and I'd like to see it.

Do I sense sarcasm?

There is a tree stump in front of the abandoned apartment building at 4028 E. Portland Street in Phoenix, AZ. Buried at the base of the stump under the root that points northeast (roughly) is a small metal box with a few things me and my friends put in there…25 years ago. We put it deep enough and close enough to the root that it would be difficult for someone to accidentally find unless the tree was pulled up. It's been cut down, but the stump and its roots remain, therefore the box remains. You'll have to dig deep. It took two 11 year olds and a 9 year old a few hours to dig the hole. This box predates geocaching. At the time my friends and I called it just a time capsule. We said we would come and get it when we grew up, but I'm the only one who remembers even burying it (although I don't remember what's inside). None of us live in Phoenix anymore (except for one who I think is in prison) and I want the box retrieved. This is one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. It was bad then and still is. If you decide to go looking for it, you might want to get the permission of the apartment complex management and have a police officer nearby. If you find it, let me know ASAP. And be careful digging. The box has been there for 25 years. Google my name and you'll find how to contact me.