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Interacting with Muggles


The Cache Checkers

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In a search I just posted about I saw a woman watching my son and I. She was standing in the driveway in a house across the street (we were in an old cemetary) and watched us walk around for a few minutes and then disappeared. It was our first cache search and her eyes made me a bit nervous.

 

What do you do if a muggle approaches you? I've read how you should act nonchalant if there are muggles nearby and only when it's clear to pull out the cache. What if you're spotted and asked what you're doing? You can't be sure the stranger will be honest and leave the cache alone.

 

What if the muggle is confrontational? How do you deal with that? What are your good/bad experiences with muggles? Were any of you sent to a cache that was on private property? From reading here I realize Geocachers have different opinions on cemetaries. The woman across the road may have thought we were trouble makers, a mother and son team of grave robbers we aren't, but I suppose you never know. I want this to be fun, but don't want to worry about people giving me a hard time.

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Depends on the muggle... I cache with my dog, so it's usually not an issue. But on more than one occasion when I was in a remote part of a nature preserve or something similar, I have come across other dog owners who use the area for off leash play. The conversation is usually the same, something like "I don't usually see people in this area..." Those are the ones that I will sometimes come clean to. I have not had the fortune of coming across a hostile muggle (72 finds, 2 muggles). You will know the muggles to make something up to, and the ones to let know what you are doing. I have read about some caches becoming missing once a muggle knows what you are actually doing there - use your best judgement.

 

One more point, it's usually frowned upon to bring a dog into a cemetery - that may have garnered you her attention. Most of the ones with signs list it, but a lot of historic ones do not have any signs. It's one of the reasons I don't cache in cemeteries, I got into it so walking the dog would be more fun. Of my finds, she has only been absent on two. Most of our finds are in parks where the walk/hike is a few miles.

Edited by sportside
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In a search I just posted about I saw a woman watching my son and I. She was standing in the driveway in a house across the street (we were in an old cemetary) and watched us walk around for a few minutes and then disappeared. It was our first cache search and her eyes made me a bit nervous.

 

What do you do if a muggle approaches you? I've read how you should act nonchalant if there are muggles nearby and only when it's clear to pull out the cache. What if you're spotted and asked what you're doing? You can't be sure the stranger will be honest and leave the cache alone.

 

What if the muggle is confrontational? How do you deal with that? What are your good/bad experiences with muggles? Were any of you sent to a cache that was on private property? From reading here I realize Geocachers have different opinions on cemetaries. The woman across the road may have thought we were trouble makers, a mother and son team of grave robbers we aren't, but I suppose you never know. I want this to be fun, but don't want to worry about people giving me a hard time.

 

I have been approached by muggles a number of times (even though I only have 27 finds), I just tell the truth. They were very interested in the idea of geocaching and sound like they are ready to start seeking themselves. I guess I do need to add I live in South Florida, with a large retired population, so most of the muggles who talk to us I don't see as a threat to the cache. We have been out in the middle of nowhere though, where we normally don't see anyone else, and as soon as we found the cache, here comes a muggle (a middle aged man) around the corner of the trail, but that time we had our dog who is very protective, that guy hurried along! If they don't approach me I just ignore them. I try to be aware of muggles when I start looking for the cache, but sometimes they come out of nowhere.

 

My first find was a cache where I was the muggle. I had heard of geocaching in magazines, but forgot to look into the sport online. Then one day while I was at the dog park near my house, we saw a lady rummaging around the bushes outside the fence. My dog park friends (the owners, not the dogs :laughing: ) elected me to go find out what she was doing. The nosy person that I am, I did. I approached her from my side of the fence and asked her if she lost anything. She asked if I'd heard of geocaching. So of course, I went home that evening and looked geocaching up and now I'm hooked!

 

I'm curious to read others muggle stories.

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I was pretty nervous at the thought of meeting muggles as well. It hasn't happened often, but when I am approached it's usually just someone wanting to know if I've lost something. I smile and tell them I'm on a scavenger hunt. It's something people can relate to so they just wish me luck and go along their way.

 

A few times I've met muggles who happen to live or work near a cache and ask me why there have suddenly been so many people around. I tell them that I am going to let them in on a secret and explain what we're doing. They are always happy to feel in the loop and often are the people that will then go out to meet other cachers who come along.

 

My nicest muggle experience was meeting a man in his 70s who lived alone near a cache I was at. He waved to me from across the street and asked if I had found what I was looking for. After signing the log, I went over to say hello and we ended up talking for nearly an hour. He told me to come back any time and that I was free to use the private beach! A double find!

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There's a couple of threads on this forum about meeting muggles, but it's always fun to talk about new experiences. My never-fail, muggle proofer is to carry a small plastic garbage bag. As I search for the cache, I do a little CITO. In very clean parks, I some times have to pre-load the bag with a little trash.

 

To muggles, it looks like I'm just picking up trash. They never ask.

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At one of the urban caches in the area one of our caching friends had someone come out of a house and yell '50' (police) and point at him and everyone disappeared from the area - Cache placed in a crack neighborhood and Muggles clearing out the Muggles = Priceless

 

EDIT: I got the cache early morning during a week day and brought back up - LOL

Edited by WatchDog2020
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Funny! Thanks!

 

The CO mentioned a certain park I know dogs are welcome to, so I let my son bring his dog. When we got there it was in such a remote location with no new graves since the late 1800's, I didn't think it would be a problem. I think it was just bad timing that the woman across the street pulled into her house right after we arrived at the cemetary. We were actually up a small hill and I don't think she would have known we were there if she hadn't arrived the same time as us.

 

I did have a garbage bag with me! My son and I packed a backpack of supplies after reading the first page on the website. Scraping aside the leaves we found a beer bottle.

Edited by The Cache Checkers
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It depends on the muggle and on the situation. Sometimes I tell the truth and explain geocaching. Sometimes it's a modified version of the truth, something like, "I'm playing a scavenger hunt game and something was supposed to be hidden here", or, "A friend of mine left (or lost) something out here and I was looking for it. I can't find it, so someone else must have taken it."

 

One VERY important thing: if the muggle is a law-enforcement officer (LEO), ALWAYS tell the truth. If you lie to a LEO and they figure out you're lying then you could get into real trouble (even if you're not doing anything illegal they can hassle you and cause major problems). Also tell the truth to anyone who claims to be the land owner.

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Carrying a couple of these each time out helps explain things:

 

Explaining Your Obsession with the "Let's Go Geocaching!" Brochure

http://geocacher-u.com/content/blogcategory/37/55/

 

As a matter of fact just recently I was out and I had a police officer waiting for me in the parking lot wondering what I was doing. Glad I had the brochure - he was real interested and thought it neat. He had never heard of Geocaching.

 

Frank

www.ZoarValley.us

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...What do you do if a muggle approaches you? I've read how you should act nonchalant if there are muggles nearby and only when it's clear to pull out the cache. What if you're spotted and asked what you're doing? You can't be sure the stranger will be honest and leave the cache alone. ...

 

If a muggle approaches and asks. Tell them. "I'm caching" Then do your damndest to turn them into cachers. If during the conversation you decide that they are the kind to take the cache, either abort the hunt, or if the cache is compromised take it with you and eithe return it later when they aren't there, or get with the cache owner and let them know the problem and work out a resolution.

 

Most times muggles are interested. I've only had one where she just knew I was up to no good in that pile of rocks and didn't trust a word I said since it made no sence to her.

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I like the idea of the brochure. Thanks for that link, Frank.

 

We were doing a virtual in a cemetery and this older couple stops their car to ask me about my car. Then they asked if we had someone there. I told them we had heard about this interesting headstone of a musician and had stopped by to see it. They seemed satisfied.

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I like the idea of the brochure. Thanks for that link, Frank.

 

We were doing a virtual in a cemetery and this older couple stops their car to ask me about my car. Then they asked if we had someone there. I told them we had heard about this interesting headstone of a musician and had stopped by to see it. They seemed satisfied.

 

Can someone explain what virtual cache is? I thought I knew....

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From the cache types page (http://www.geocaching.com/about/cache_types.aspx)

 

Virtual Cache

A virtual cache is a cache that exists in a form of a location. Depending on the cache "hider," a virtual cache could be to answer a question about a location, an interesting spot, a task, etc. The reward for these caches is the location itself and sharing information about your visit.

Because of the nature of these geocaches, you must actually visit the location and acquire the coordinates there before you can post. In addition, although many locations are interesting, a virtual cache should be out of the ordinary enough to warrant logging a visit.

Virtuals are now considered waymarks on Waymarking.com.

 

These types are no longer available for creaton at geocaching.com but those that were created before they were no longer allowed are allowed to stay.

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Most of the "muggles" who have approached me were cachers themselves, so it's always best to come clean at the start, otherwise, you can look a bit stupid when they suss out what you are really doing. I once tried to make out that I was photographing butterflies, but the other person saw through that said "The cache is under that tree over there"! :D

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Most of the "muggles" who have approached me were cachers themselves, so it's always best to come clean at the start, otherwise, you can look a bit stupid when they suss out what you are really doing. I once tried to make out that I was photographing butterflies, but the other person saw through that said "The cache is under that tree over there"! :D

 

Other cachers know things. They know all the tricks of trying to cover up what we are doing. If he wasn't a cacher, he would have thought, cool, and gone on with things.

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One VERY important thing: if the muggle is a law-enforcement officer (LEO), ALWAYS tell the truth.

 

You've heard it said "Honesty is the best policy". I disagree.

 

I'd say "Honesty is the only policy.".

 

Tell the truth to anyone who asks. If you'd like to not be so obvious about what you're doing, have a not-so-colloquial translation ready.

 

Scenario:

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"Verifying the resolved coordinates of a geosynchronous satellite specified location. I'll be gone in a few minutes if everything checks out okay."

 

"Oh. Uh.... okay."

 

Problem solved. Truthful without giving it all away. :D

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I like the idea of the brochure. Thanks for that link, Frank.

 

We were doing a virtual in a cemetery and this older couple stops their car to ask me about my car. Then they asked if we had someone there. I told them we had heard about this interesting headstone of a musician and had stopped by to see it. They seemed satisfied.

This is a nice brochure too and from HQ!!

 

http://www.gpsmaze.com/uploads/files/GEOCACH_F2.pdf

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Depends on the muggle...

 

Absolutely!!!! There have been a couple of muggles to whom I actually explained what I was doing!!! You don't have to show them where the cache is, of course, but they can actually be pretty cool to talk to and CONVERT!!!! It's a great chance to turn them to the Dark Side!!!!

 

http://WWW.Glass-cockpit.org

 

http://www.glass-cockpit.org/blog/

 

http://grigoriirasputin.wordpress.com

Edited by Grigorii Rasputin
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One VERY important thing: if the muggle is a law-enforcement officer (LEO), ALWAYS tell the truth. If you lie to a LEO and they figure out you're lying then you could get into real trouble (even if you're not doing anything illegal they can hassle you and cause major problems). Also tell the truth to anyone who claims to be the land owner.

 

The funny thing about muggles - the other muggle MIGHT be a geocacher thinking you are also a muggle. I once ran across a "muggle" in the woods. He asked what I was doing, and I made an excuse, and I asked what HE was doing, and I could see he as palming a little Garmin unit. I asked him if he found it yet... and he started laughing when I pulled out my own GPS.

 

Thankfully a lot of the cops in my area know about geocaching. The state gave GPS units to all of one branch of law enforcement, and to every agency (even if every officer didnt get one), for capturing car crash information. There are a lot of cops geocaching here, and those that dont would probably be open to the idea. At least thye know what a GPS IS.

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From recent reports in the local area, I stand behind a remark I made in another thread,

 

Be Honest! Don't become evasive, or make up some unbelievable story like doing a mapping survey, or

that you're looking for a gas leak, or stray radio waves..

 

#1, You could be talking to the land owner. Who the #%$ said the land needed resurveying?

#2, You could be talking to the mayor, or a police officer.. Do you know what it costs a town to call-out the fire, ems, and haz-mat team?

#3, see above minus the Haz-Mat team.

 

As someone else said, have a copy of the Geocaching pamphlet handy. It helps explain in detail..

 

If I don't have it handy, I'll 1st ask if they ever heard of geocaching, or letterboxing, then describe the two, Then explain that I'm hunting for one that someone hid nearby.

 

I've only been asked the vamoose on one occasion (park & Grab at a commuter parking lot. State Police enforcing the state Property.)

 

As someone mentioned, looking for my latest cache, They spooked the dog of a neighboring house (it's on a legitimate trail, which was an old railway bed some 30+ years ago.) When they told the Dog's owner about it, they helped in the search, and noted an interest in the hobby. If I hadn't gotten so late a start this afternoon, I was going to the site, to drop off a pamphlet to the dog's owner.

 

Yes, I remember the line from the movie, "Crazy People", ("Let's level with the public.. We can't level with the public, we're in advertising!"), but if we are less subversive, stealth, etc.. We stand a better chance staying out of trouble, or working our way out of a possible trespassing charge. (if someone placed a cache on someone's property, not knowing it was private. You stand a better chance saying you were following the GPS, and this was where it lead you, than saying you were deliberately there.)

 

Stephen (gelfling6)

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There's a couple of threads on this forum about meeting muggles, but it's always fun to talk about new experiences. My never-fail, muggle proofer is to carry a small plastic garbage bag. As I search for the cache, I do a little CITO. In very clean parks, I some times have to pre-load the bag with a little trash.

 

To muggles, it looks like I'm just picking up trash. They never ask.

 

Love this idea - wish I thought of that :shocked:

 

My biggest problem is explaining geocaching to border officials. I go on geotrips frequently that require crossing the US/Canada border.

 

I've got a couple border guards upset when I try to describe caching as treasure hunting. Seems there are rules (?) about foreigners REAL treasure hunting.

 

I usually blither on describing what a cache is and why I want to look for them but NOT take them with me! Many are confused or puzzled by this explanation.

 

(Oh yes, I tried giving a border guard a caching pamphlet, but he wouldn't look at it :-)

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