A Scary Thought...

[+ridid44]

I know this might be unappropriated for a thread but it came to me and this is why I will never be the FTF.

 

What if, someone rigged a ammo box to go off (explode) when someone opened it?

 

It came to me last night!

 

Now I know that no one that is apart of the geocaching community would ever do this, but could it happen?

 

Has anyone else had these thoughts?

[+joranda]

This has been a topic before.

[+Team Black-Cat]

Yes, it has been a topic before, but I'll bite.

 

I REFUSE to NOT do something like caching out of fear of what someone MIGHT do. It is so unlikely to happen and even less likely to happen to me. There are enough reasonable "what ifs" to worry about to be concerned with something so remotely possible.

 

That being said, what's to stop the FTF from rigging a box? Or the second or third to find? The more times a cache is found, the more likely it is that someone has tampered with it. More reason to be first. []

[+gof1]

And the same people who start threads like this will not think twice about playing the lottery.

 

Caches have blown up. Even after many finds. Honest. Vaporized with a loud BOOM! Written about in news papers and shown live at five.

[+GrnXnham]

Only look for tupperware caches.

[+hairball45]

Lots more danger running across the Best Buy parking lot and getting hit by someone racing to get to a big sale while you're heading for the magic light post. That micro isn't likely filled with Anthrax either.

[Dinoprophet]

That would be a terrible way to randomly harm someone. There'd be an electronic paper trail right to your doorstep.

[+hairball45]

Dumb timeout

Edited November 30, 2008 by hairball45

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

I also wonder "what if I'm attacked by some freak in the woods?"

 

I solve both worries by caching with a friend.

 

[+gof1]

I also wonder "what if I'm attacked by some freak in the woods?"

 

I solve both worries by caching with a friend.

 

 

I asked my wife what she thought about the possibility of being attacked in the woods by some nut. She considered it for a couple of minutes and then said she was gonna keep caching with me anyways.

[TinyMoon & The Pumpkin King]

I have a carry-concealed pistol permit. I usually empty the clip into the cache, then open it. Sure it's a waste of expensive ammo and it usually damages a few of the Mc-toys, but I don't have to worry about a booby-trapped cache !

[+Damin69]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

[+gof1]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

 

No one here ever used the computer at the library? Or heard of a wireless hot spot? Not impossible to get a cache published without an evidence trail to follow. Also very unlikely to find a booby trapped cache. Terrorists want a target with LOTs of bystanders.

[+wkmccall]

I have a carry-concealed pistol permit. I usually empty the clip into the cache, then open it. Sure it's a waste of expensive ammo and it usually damages a few of the Mc-toys, but I don't have to worry about a booby-trapped cache !

 

Same here, but without the senseless killing of an innocent cache..

[+Unkle Fester]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

 

No one here ever used the computer at the library? Or heard of a wireless hot spot? Not impossible to get a cache published without an evidence trail to follow. Also very unlikely to find a booby trapped cache. Terrorists want a target with LOTs of bystanders.

 

You win the prize! Seems most people don't get the point behind terrorism. Eith that type of attack, you're only freaking aout a few thousand people. you want to freak out 10's of thousands if not more.

 

Anyway, I'd be more concerned about Zombies than explosions. You ought to try caching at 3am with me. You'll put all other fears aside after some of that.

[+Star*Hopper]

Besides, there are just too many other terrible things besides "blowing up in your face" to worry about. Imagine an ammo box with a Black Mamba or King Cobra inside, lurking for the unwary cacher. Or to go a little less exotic, just a fat ol' 6-foot Diamondback Rattler - they can get downright cranky at times. And as witnessed by the recent 'Snake' thread, you don't even have to go inside the box!

 

Or worse, if you wanta get even more real, you'd best beware of that fateful day when you pop the lid and are met with a face-full of ubiquitous fury compliments of one extremely PO'd hamster!!

 

zomg!!!!11

 

~*

[+pppingme]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

Ever heard of an anonymous proxy?

 

Thats only one of at least three ways to hide your IP.

[+WatchDog2020]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

Ever heard of an anonymous proxy?

 

Thats only one of at least three ways to hide your IP.

I was staying away from this topic until now. Guys, it could be any cache at any time. The 'Bad guy' would just have to swap the original cache for the 'Bad Cache' he made. He wouldn't ever have to publish anything or expose himself via computer. He just goes to a cache and swaps ammo boxes - that would be it. Think about it - but don't worry about it.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:

 

A King must keep his peasants terrified and needing his protection. Once there is no fear, the King is no longer needed.

Edited November 30, 2008 by WatchDog2020

[+ladyleo191]

I usually use the 'chances are' formula when I have this kind of question.

 

Chances are...I'm lots more likely to be killed or maimed in an auto accident on my way to the cache.

 

Chances are...I'm ore likely to have a heart attack or stroke while hiking to the cache.

 

Chances are...the deranged lunatic who would do it isn't a member 'cause he/she is busy on one of those weirdo internet sites.

 

Chances are...the toolbelt lost last week is more likely to hit me in the head on re-entry.

[+Vater_Araignee]

I would be more worried by an exuberant hider that booby trapped the area around the cache to decrease found it's.

A few pitfalls, some snares, branch slaps, a log swing or two and it's all good.

 

Hmm that got me thinking....

[Clan Riffster]

I'd rather not live my life with the Chicken Little mentality. The sky is not falling. Terrorists are not swapping out caches for ammo cans full of C4. Despite his claims to the contrary, Snoogans is not single handedly destroying geocaching. The United Nations is not painting obscure symbols on the backs of street signs for a New World Order take over. Abe Zapruder was not directly involved in the Kennedy assassination. Black helicopters are not creeping over the horizon.

[+Ambrosia]

....and Jeremy doesn't really have a subversive plan to promote religion masquerading as science.

 

[+gof1]

Chances are...the toolbelt lost last week is more likely to hit me in the head on re-entry.

 

OH GREAT! Now I gotta wear my @#$% hardhat while caching. Thanks a lot pal!

[+gof1]

I would be more worried by an exuberant hider that booby trapped the area around the cache to decrease found it's.

A few pitfalls, some snares, branch slaps, a log swing or two and it's all good.

 

Hmm that got me thinking....

 

I knew it! You just want to pad your frownie count!

[+briansnat]

Look at it this way. There have been over 3/4 million caches placed since the sport began. Figure conservatively, 10 finds per cache, that's a few hundred million finds without a single instance of this happening.

Can it happen? Never say never, but I like my odds when I open a cache.

 

You're more likely to get struck by lightning while hunting a cache or getting hit by a car.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I know this might be unappropriated for a thread but it came to me and this is why I will never be the FTF.

 

What if, someone rigged a ammo box to go off (explode) when someone opened it?

 

It came to me last night!

 

Now I know that no one that is apart of the geocaching community would ever do this, but could it happen?

 

Has anyone else had these thoughts?

Well, first, this has been the topic of threads in the past, including one really odd one where a MI geocacher popped up and claimed that one such ammo can cache had been found in MI. He further claimed that whole issue of ammo can caches that might be bombs, replete with suspicious wires coming out of them, was a very big topic of concern among MI geoachers, and particularly on the regional MI geocaching forums. Well, some of us did some research and discovered that the entire so-called "issue", including ALL the claims that a suspicious ammo can cache had been found, were entirely a product of ONLY his fevered posts to the Groundspeak forum and to some local MI geoaching forums, and there was no third-party corroboration of ANY of his outlandish claims.

 

Next, there useta be a well known 5/5 ALR extreme geocache not too far from here, just over the border into southwestern PA (published, of course, by Keystone... who else? ....sheesh!). The cache was a large ammo can fitted with a triggering device that would detect the opening of the ammo can, and the trigger device was attached to a small internal thermonuclear warhead that the cache owner had purchased at a military surplus store in the Shadyside section of Pittsburgh.

 

The additional logging requirement (ALR) for the cache was the stipulation that anyone wishing to claim a find must find a non-destructive way to open the ammo can without triggering the detonation of the thermonuclear warhead and must successfully sign the logbook and retrieve a secret code word displayed in the logbook. If I recall correctly, there were about five successful finders [see footnote #1] of this 5/5 ALR extreme cache, and then, one day, the inevitable happened: a paperless and somewhat brainless (and now bodiless as well) cacher who had not read the cache description page happened upon the cache and opened the ammo can without employing any precautions, thus detonating the nuclear warhead, and obliterating about a square mile of Pennsylvania wilderness, rendering it into a hard glass-like mirrored surface surrounding the crater. The cache was archived shortly thereafter.

 

Footnote #1: Each successful finder seemed to have employed some variation of the basic method of chilling the entire ammo can to a temperature of at least -250 degrees Centigrade before opening it , operating on the assumption that the triggering device was likely battery-powered, and the further assumption that the act of dropping the temperature of the entire device to a temperature of -250 degrees C ensured that the battery voltage, along with available current, would drop to near zero, and that the internal battery would thus be unable to supply sufficient DC power to operate the triggering mechanism. Obviously, this method worked for the first five finders.

 

 

 

 

 

[+Vater_Araignee]

I would be more worried by an exuberant hider that booby trapped the area around the cache to decrease found it's.

A few pitfalls, some snares, branch slaps, a log swing or two and it's all good.

 

Hmm that got me thinking....

 

I knew it! You just want to pad your frownie count!

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Look at it this way. There have been over 3/4 million caches placed since the sport began. Figure conservatively, 10 finds per cache, that's a few hundred million finds without a single instance of this happening.

Can it happen? Never say never, but I like my odds when I open a cache.

 

You're more likely to get struck by lightning while hunting a cache or getting hit by a car.

 

True......you're actually more likely to have an airplane fall on you then being taken out by a bomb.

Don't worry about the ammo can and don't bother looking up.

[+wimseyguy]

Yes it could happen. This is why I got a remote starter for my car. I figure if it doesn't blow up when I start the car, it isn't my turn and opening the cache will be safe too.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I also wonder "what if I'm attacked by some freak in the woods?"

 

I solve both worries by caching with a friend.

 

I cache with freaks in the woods, that way I know where they are!

[+WatchDog2020]

Yes it could happen. This is why I got a remote starter for my car. I figure if it doesn't blow up when I start the car, it isn't my turn and opening the cache will be safe too.

 

You silly goose - It triggers when you put the car in gear. The cache triggers off a photoelectric cell so you can only cache at night. Also, don't use night vision. They could also have an infrared switch.

Edited November 30, 2008 by WatchDog2020

[+Coyote's Girl]

Or.. What if I'm laying in bed, and a tree falls thru my roof and smashes me? Life's too short to worry about random things. I'm sure it's happened before, I'm sure it will happen again. But the chances are so infantesimal as to be impossible. You've a much better chance of beinh hit by a car whilst in your diveway gathering the morning paper.

[+gof1]

You've a much better chance of beinh hit by a car whilst in your diveway gathering the morning paper.

 

This is why I don't keep insurance coverage on me. I figure no sense in tempting her.

[+Snoogans]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

Ever heard of an anonymous proxy?

 

Thats only one of at least three ways to hide your IP.

I was staying away from this topic until now. Guys, it could be any cache at any time. The 'Bad guy' would just have to swap the original cache for the 'Bad Cache' he made. He wouldn't ever have to publish anything or expose himself via computer. He just goes to a cache and swaps ammo boxes - that would be it. Think about it - but don't worry about it.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:

 

A King must keep his peasants terrified and needing his protection. Once there is no fear, the King is no longer needed.

 

I've been enjoying your posts to this thread. Keep them coming!

 

[+Snoogans]

Yes it could happen. This is why I got a remote starter for my car. I figure if it doesn't blow up when I start the car, it isn't my turn and opening the cache will be safe too.

 

You silly goose - It triggers when you put the car in gear. The cache triggers off a photoelectric cell so you can only cache at night. Also, don't use night vision. They could also have an infrared switch.

 

 

OOooOOoOOo State of the art huh?

[+Snoogans]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

 

No one here ever used the computer at the library? Or heard of a wireless hot spot? Not impossible to get a cache published without an evidence trail to follow. Also very unlikely to find a booby trapped cache. Terrorists want a target with LOTs of bystanders.

 

You win the prize! Seems most people don't get the point behind terrorism. Eith that type of attack, you're only freaking aout a few thousand people. you want to freak out 10's of thousands if not more.

 

I'm lucky to work for people who believe in training me WELLLLL BEYOND the scope of my daily duties.

 

I'll post my theory again .....

 

Nothing is beyond the realm of possibility in an activity that can evoke strong emotions including the premis of this thread however unlikely....

 

I seriously doubt it will EVER happen BUT.....

 

If it happens here, this is the person they will be looking for:

 

A male under 25. Most likely under 20.

 

A geocacher for less than 2 years. Most likely less than a year.

 

He will be a person with an ax to grind against an FTFr or the owner of a particular cache or geocaching in general or the particular cache listing site affected. Or any combination of those.

 

He will not be an unknown in his local community. His previously stated opinions involving the victim or the cache owner or the affected geocaching website may be on record in a forum or email or by a witness to them at an event.

 

He will NOT get away with it.

 

Geocaching will go on..... pretty much unchanged.

 

 

I hope it NEVER happens.

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

Thanks to this thread, I am now afraid of:

 

Cars at Best Buy

Snakes

Zombies

Hamsters

More cars

Heart attack

Stroke

Deranged lunatics

Cosmic toolbelts

Snoogans

Lightning strikes

Even more cars

Airplane crashes

Car bombs

Trees falling through my roof

Yet even more cars

[+Snoogans]

Thanks to this thread, I am now afraid of:

 

Cars at Best Buy

Snakes

Zombies

Hamsters

More cars

Heart attack

Stroke

Deranged lunatics

Cosmic toolbelts

Snoogans

Lightning strikes

Even more cars

Airplane crashes

Car bombs

Trees falling through my roof

Yet even more cars

 

 

 

Always endeavor to stay in Cookie Monster while caching.

 

Switch to Bert when I am in the vacinity.

[+Ambrosia]

Thanks to this thread, I am now afraid of:

 

Cars at Best Buy

Snakes

Zombies

Hamsters

More cars

Heart attack

Stroke

Deranged lunatics

Cosmic toolbelts

Snoogans

Lightning strikes

Even more cars

Airplane crashes

Car bombs

Trees falling through my roof

Yet even more cars

You forgot about Jeremy.

[+Vater_Araignee]

Yes it could happen. This is why I got a remote starter for my car. I figure if it doesn't blow up when I start the car, it isn't my turn and opening the cache will be safe too.

 

You silly goose - It triggers when you put the car in gear. The cache triggers off a photoelectric cell so you can only cache at night. Also, don't use night vision. They could also have an infrared switch.

Thanks for reminding me, I have to go to Toys-Я-Us and get one of these. 80 bucks for night vision, watch out night cachers, my frownie count is gonna get bigger!

[+KJcachers]

if you want to live with a "Chicken Little" outlook then that is not living at all.

[+ladyleo191]

Thanks to this thread, I am now afraid of:

 

Cars at Best Buy

Snakes

Zombies

Hamsters

More cars

Heart attack

Stroke

Deranged lunatics

Cosmic toolbelts

Snoogans

Lightning strikes

Even more cars

Airplane crashes

Car bombs

Trees falling through my roof

Yet even more cars

 

You're afraid of Snoogans and I'm planning to attend an event in January, with probable ice and snow, over 200 miles from my home...just because he's gonna be there.

 

Of course, I also pick up snakes and cache alone.

[+Sioneva]

<snip>

Next, there useta be a well known 5/5 ALR extreme geocache not too far from here, just over the border into southwestern PA (published, of course, by Keystone... who else? ....sheesh!). The cache was a large ammo can fitted with a triggering device that would detect the opening of the ammo can, and the trigger device was attached to a small internal thermonuclear warhead that the cache owner had purchased at a military surplus store in the Shadyside section of Pittsburgh.

 

The additional logging requirement (ALR) for the cache was the stipulation that anyone wishing to claim a find must find a non-destructive way to open the ammo can without triggering the detonation of the thermonuclear warhead and must successfully sign the logbook and retrieve a secret code word displayed in the logbook. If I recall correctly, there were about five successful finders [see footnote #1] of this 5/5 ALR extreme cache, and then, one day, the inevitable happened: a paperless and somewhat brainless (and now bodiless as well) cacher who had not read the cache description page happened upon the cache and opened the ammo can without employing any precautions, thus detonating the nuclear warhead, and obliterating about a square mile of Pennsylvania wilderness, rendering it into a hard glass-like mirrored surface surrounding the crater. The cache was archived shortly thereafter.

 

<snip>

 

 

Look... I SAID I was sorry... stop dragging it out already!

Edited November 30, 2008 by Sioneva

[+Glenn]

Somebody run the numbers on this for me. Are you more likely to die from a bomb in a geocache or from getting electrocuted by your computer while posting to these forums?

[GOF and Bacall]

Some basic stats will be needed.

How many people have been electrocuted by their computer and what are the intervals of such occurrences?

Same for the exploding caches.

 

Off hand I'd recommend you wear rubber pants while you sit at your computer.

[+Star*Hopper]

You've a much better chance of beinh hit by a car whilst in your diveway gathering the morning paper.

 

This is why I don't keep insurance coverage on me. I figure no sense in tempting her.

 

Well they don't call it a diveway for nothin'!!

 

 

Thanks to this thread, I am now afraid of:

 

Cars at Best Buy

Snakes

Zombies

Hamsters

More cars

Heart attack

Stroke

Deranged lunatics

Cosmic toolbelts

Snoogans

Lightning strikes

Even more cars

Airplane crashes

Car bombs

Trees falling through my roof

Yet even more cars

 

You forgot one :: piles of sticks.

 

You see, there are other terrorists besides the usual main cells.

They aren't called 'Splinter Groups' for nothin'!!

 

~*

[+Buggheart]

I look at this way. No one is going to actually place a cache like that and have it published. For the fact that Just getting it published would have the ability to track them by IP addresses from their computers.

 

No one here ever used the computer at the library? Or heard of a wireless hot spot? Not impossible to get a cache published without an evidence trail to follow. Also very unlikely to find a booby trapped cache. Terrorists want a target with LOTs of bystanders.

 

You win the prize! Seems most people don't get the point behind terrorism. Eith that type of attack, you're only freaking aout a few thousand people. you want to freak out 10's of thousands if not more.

 

-snip-

 

EXACTLY! A terrorist doesn't want to wait (potentially) days or weeks for the next person to come along and get hurt or blown up by a cache. They want to harm or at least scare the pants off of as many people as possible and do residual harm as well. For example, strap on a bomb and stand in the Santa line at a few malls across the country (large and small cities) and harm children and families. Not only would it harm/kill lots of people, it would probably bring the holiday shopping season to a screeching halt and do further damage to our economy. I'm actually surprised something like this hasn't happened yet (don't blame me if it does).

 

The unibomber blew people up via the mail (or by messing with mailboxes, I don't really remember) and there was that whole anthrax thing years ago but the mail still gets delivered and we all still go out to our mailboxes to collect our bills and junkmail and hardly anybody dies doing so. That said, I think that even if a few people were harmed by a rigged cache most of us would continue the activity without that it would still continue. I mean unless someone plotted to rig thousands of them to blow up. Then that's a different story. But the odds of even that happening I think are much lower than someone going postal at work and blowing me away, dropping dead from ecoli on my Taco Bell green onions, or getting into a car accident trying to be FTF. I'll be honest and say that yes, I have thought about the possibility of a geobomb harming me or someone else, but it was just a fleeting thought and nothing to dwell upon.

 

And now that I've made y'all scared of Christmas (if you weren't already), I'm outta here....

Edited November 30, 2008 by Buggheart

[+39chevy]

Thanks to this thread, I am now afraid of:

 

Cars at Best Buy

Snakes

Zombies

Hamsters

More cars

Heart attack

Stroke

Deranged lunatics

Cosmic toolbelts

Snoogans

Lightning strikes

Even more cars

Airplane crashes

Car bombs

Trees falling through my roof

Yet even more cars

 

You forgot one :: piles of sticks.

 

You see, there are other terrorists besides the usual main cells.

They aren't called 'Splinter Groups' for nothin'!!

 

~*

 

You forgot the most dangerous place of all: Your own bathroom!

[GOF and Bacall]

Thanks to this thread, I am now afraid of:

 

Cars at Best Buy

Snakes

Zombies

Hamsters

More cars

Heart attack

Stroke

Deranged lunatics

Cosmic toolbelts

Snoogans

Lightning strikes

Even more cars

Airplane crashes

Car bombs

Trees falling through my roof

Yet even more cars

 

You forgot one :: piles of sticks.

 

You see, there are other terrorists besides the usual main cells.

They aren't called 'Splinter Groups' for nothin'!!

 

~*

 

You forgot the most dangerous place of all: Your own bathroom!

 

Certainly not the place to encounter a splinter anything!

[+Tahoein' Bunch]

It'll Be a lamp post skirt in a wallmart/starbuks parking lot at Christmas shopping central with a santa getting donations for Salvation Army. And kids playnig at the Mcdonalds playland....The bomb ill hold Mctoys and and geocoins for maximum effectiveness.......Happy hunting.