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The Best Geocache in Minnesota - Confiscated by the Cops


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It seems that a couple of muggles accidentally stumbled across a coffin in the woods, and instead of going along with the fun, reported it to the Dakota County Sheriffs Department. Officials immediately went into CYA mode, and hauled the cache out.

 

The idea was to find and collect clues from 12 Halloween themed geocaches, and use those clues to find the bonus cache - a full sized toe-pincher coffin, complete with skeleton and traditional ammo can.

 

I wrote a post about it on our blog.

Complete with video of our find.

 

You can read about the building of the cache container.

 

The cops even wrote an article in their newsletter about it.

 

Read the posts on the cache webpage - and maybe add a comment of your own.

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At least the cops were nice enough to posted new coordinates....

 

(44 degrees 44’ 29.70 N by 92 degrees 53’ 09.72 W)

 

Ha. I wonder if they'll let you sign the log if you show up at the sheriff's office? Or maybe that jerk just thought he'd be funny?

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It seems that a couple of muggles accidentally stumbled across a coffin in the woods, and instead of going along with the fun, reported it to the Dakota County Sheriffs Department. Officials immediately went into CYA mode, and hauled the cache out.

 

Stumbling across a fairly realistic coffin in the woods is dubious "fun" at best. I think "call the cops" would be my first thought as well.

 

But it's great that the police have a sense of hmour about it. So, any finds logged at the new coords yet?

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It seems that a couple of muggles accidentally stumbled across a coffin in the woods, and instead of going along with the fun, reported it to the Dakota County Sheriffs Department. Officials immediately went into CYA mode, and hauled the cache out.

 

Stumbling across a fairly realistic coffin in the woods is dubious "fun" at best. I think "call the cops" would be my first thought as well.

 

But it's great that the police have a sense of hmour about it. So, any finds logged at the new coords yet?

 

Calling the cops would be your first thought? Did "look inside" not occur to these people? In no way could anyone mistake the "corpse" as real, and what's inside this ammo can he's holding? A description of the cache, and geocaching in general, was inside the container sitting prominently on the corpse' chest.

 

"Hmmmm, geocaching. Oh I see, it's a game. I can go online and participate in a worldwide game of hide-and-seek?"

 

Apparently, Dakota County parks don't have a geocaching policy, and dozens, if not hundreds of geocaches are hidden with the boundaries of their parks. But good news... It looks like the cache owner will get the cache back. I hope so. It was a fabulous series to hunt.

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I would definitely hesitate opening a coffin found in the woods, and would absolutely would call the police.

 

The sheriff dept and the hikers did nothing wrong and this is not a case of, "if you see, something, say something" gone way to far.

Its a coffin folks, perhaps things may have been different if permission were granted for the oversized cache by hte parks dept., the coffin were camo'd or maybe marking the coffin with GEOCACHE CONTAINER- NO HARM would have been beneficial.

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Calling the cops would be your first thought? Did "look inside" not occur to these people?

 

I wouldn't even think about looking inside if I found a coffin in the woods. Could be the scene of a crime, who knows. I think it would be irresponsible to open such an item. Obviously if you were geocaching, you would naturally expect the coffin to be fake and hold the cache, but how would a normal person know that?

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If you want to make it even more "realistic" I took this picture near me. It caught my eye and I had to get a picture of this. This is no joke, and no I didn't ask or inquire about it. I took a picture and left. But this is sitting in someone's front yard. And one has to wonder just how long they have had it and why a trailer was made for it. :D But it's still sitting there up for sale. :D

 

bfa8b657-e9ba-4f0b-ad3f-0ac0910e3a5c.jpg

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If you want to make it even more "realistic" I took this picture near me. It caught my eye and I had to get a picture of this. This is no joke, and no I didn't ask or inquire about it. I took a picture and left. But this is sitting in someone's front yard. And one has to wonder just how long they have had it and why a trailer was made for it. :D But it's still sitting there up for sale. :D

 

bfa8b657-e9ba-4f0b-ad3f-0ac0910e3a5c.jpg

 

Does the sign indicate whether or not it is used?

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If you want to make it even more "realistic" I took this picture near me. It caught my eye and I had to get a picture of this. This is no joke, and no I didn't ask or inquire about it. I took a picture and left. But this is sitting in someone's front yard. And one has to wonder just how long they have had it and why a trailer was made for it. :D But it's still sitting there up for sale. :D

 

bfa8b657-e9ba-4f0b-ad3f-0ac0910e3a5c.jpg

 

Does the sign indicate whether or not it is used?

 

That may be a grill. There is a hearse club in my area that meets in Hell, Michigan and they have a coffin that has been made into a grill and they tow it on a trailer just like that.

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Just one more example of why you should label your cache containers.

 

Yep...I was sure to put a geocaching note at the site of my cache that looks like a bomb....just in case.

 

Bummer that this one is gone for now.

 

So you agree that the cache is simply what it is.

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If you want to make it even more "realistic" I took this picture near me. It caught my eye and I had to get a picture of this. This is no joke, and no I didn't ask or inquire about it. I took a picture and left. But this is sitting in someone's front yard. And one has to wonder just how long they have had it and why a trailer was made for it. :D But it's still sitting there up for sale. :P

 

bfa8b657-e9ba-4f0b-ad3f-0ac0910e3a5c.jpg

 

Does the sign indicate whether or not it is used?

All the sign say's is For Sale and has a phone number.

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That may be a grill. There is a hearse club in my area that meets in Hell, Michigan and they have a coffin that has been made into a grill and they tow it on a trailer just like that.

A grill???? WTH???

That's just wrong on so many levels!

 

~ Mitch ~

 

:P:D:D:laughing::laughing:

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If you want to make it even more "realistic" I took this picture near me. It caught my eye and I had to get a picture of this. This is no joke, and no I didn't ask or inquire about it. I took a picture and left. But this is sitting in someone's front yard. And one has to wonder just how long they have had it and why a trailer was made for it. :D But it's still sitting there up for sale. :P

 

bfa8b657-e9ba-4f0b-ad3f-0ac0910e3a5c.jpg

 

Cool! How much do they want for it?

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If you want to make it even more "realistic" I took this picture near me. It caught my eye and I had to get a picture of this. This is no joke, and no I didn't ask or inquire about it. I took a picture and left. But this is sitting in someone's front yard. And one has to wonder just how long they have had it and why a trailer was made for it. :D But it's still sitting there up for sale. :P

 

bfa8b657-e9ba-4f0b-ad3f-0ac0910e3a5c.jpg

 

Cool! How much do they want for it?

I have no idea. I can run by tomorrow and get the phone number off the sign if ya want. I do have a few question's about it, but after some thinking about it, I don't really want to know anymore. What I think of, is way better and it would just ruin it for me to find out, like "yeah I used to work at a feural home so they gave it to me and I don't need it, I'm getting cremated" or something.

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At least the cops were nice enough to posted new coordinates....

 

(44 degrees 44’ 29.70 N by 92 degrees 53’ 09.72 W)

 

Ha. I wonder if they'll let you sign the log if you show up at the sheriff's office? Or maybe that jerk just thought he'd be funny?

:P

My Thoughts........A Post Refering To Any Law Inforcement Officer, Of Any Type / Level As A "Jerk". Does Nothing To Help The Cause Of Caching ............... :D

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It seems that a couple of muggles accidentally stumbled across a coffin in the woods, and instead of going along with the fun, reported it to the Dakota County Sheriffs Department. Officials immediately went into CYA mode, and hauled the cache out.

 

The idea was to find and collect clues from 12 Halloween themed geocaches, and use those clues to find the bonus cache - a full sized toe-pincher coffin, complete with skeleton and traditional ammo can.

...

The cops even wrote an article in their newsletter about it.

I've read many articles about geocaching. Most of them either fail to communicate the fun of the game or include so many erroneous 'facts' that they are just painful to read.

 

This article may have been the best one yet. It is simple, accurate, and really makes the game sound fun. I wish it were in a real newspaper.

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So... the cache was hidden with permission, right? :P

That was my first thought...

 

Hidden with as much permission as the other 50+ caches (plus a number of puzzle cache finals) that are in that park. Dakota County has so far been one of the few counties around here that has officially taken a "no policy" stance on geocaching. Permission was more than adequate for the situation.

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Stumbling across a fairly realistic coffin in the woods is dubious "fun" at best. I think "call the cops" would be my first thought as well.

 

But it's great that the police have a sense of hmour about it. So, any finds logged at the new coords yet?

 

"Fairly realistic"? Not in the last 150 years. See the photos below of the casket for sale and compare with this one.

 

This cache was the final (#13) of a series of Halloween caches that the cache owner put out. That was why the coffin concept. He has hidden some other very fun and creative caches in the series as well.

 

By the way, one local cacher actually did stop by the county offices and asked for permission to sign the log. They would probably have let him, but the officer that had the case was out of the office and the container was locked in his office.

 

The "case" has finally been dropped after a couple of weeks of the officer in charge of the case trying his best to find some sort of charge to bring. The cache owner has been told that he can pick the cache up later this week and that no charges will be filed.

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Stumbling across a fairly realistic coffin in the woods is dubious "fun" at best. I think "call the cops" would be my first thought as well.

 

But it's great that the police have a sense of hmour about it. So, any finds logged at the new coords yet?

 

"Fairly realistic"? Not in the last 150 years. See the photos below of the casket for sale and compare with this one.

 

This cache was the final (#13) of a series of Halloween caches that the cache owner put out. That was why the coffin concept. He has hidden some other very fun and creative caches in the series as well.

 

By the way, one local cacher actually did stop by the county offices and asked for permission to sign the log. They would probably have let him, but the officer that had the case was out of the office and the container was locked in his office.

 

The "case" has finally been dropped after a couple of weeks of the officer in charge of the case trying his best to find some sort of charge to bring. The cache owner has been told that he can pick the cache up later this week and that no charges will be filed.

 

I'd agree that a geocaching label of some kind would likely lessen the chance of this being a problem in the future. Good to see the container will be returned!

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So... the cache was hidden with permission, right? :P

That was my first thought...

 

Hidden with as much permission as the other 50+ caches (plus a number of puzzle cache finals) that are in that park. Dakota County has so far been one of the few counties around here that has officially taken a "no policy" stance on geocaching. Permission was more than adequate for the situation.

Of course...my posted here may get me basted locally...

 

I have been following local forums pretty closely on this cache...and though I do feel bad for what the cache owner is going through...I would disagree that permission was adequate for the situation...

 

As geocachers searching for this cache, we had a heads-up as to what we are looking for...

1) Part of a Halloween Series

2) Called "Coughin' Up a Lung"

3) Series full of creative hides/containers or some combination

 

...but, put yourselves in the muggle shoes for a while...all you know is you just came across a coffin in the woods...you have no idea it is part of a Halloween Series, you have no idea it is called "Coughin' Up a Lung"...just a coffin in the woods...for the information available to them, the muggles did the correct thing and called the cops...

 

Sure, Dakota County has no official geocaching policy...but common sense has to kick in somewhere...one is hiding a coffin in the woods...just a simple visit with officials may have prevented this whole indecent (say may have because we will never know for sure)...and sure...maybe a sign on the outside of the coffin may have helped...but again, we will never know.

 

Murphy's Law-If something can go wrong it will...and here it did...simple as that. Again, I am sympathetic for the cache owner and really am glad to hear everything in this situation is turning out better than it had started...

 

So, go ahead, blast away...keep in mind, the above is only my opinion and I am just advocating for a little common sense...

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Sure, Dakota County has no official geocaching policy...but common sense has to kick in somewhere...one is hiding a coffin in the woods...just a simple visit with officials may have prevented this whole indecent (say may have because we will never know for sure)...and sure...maybe a sign on the outside of the coffin may have helped...but again, we will never know.

 

You're hardly the spokesperson for common sense. Your only goal is to be contrary to everyone else which I suppose is fine, assuming you have all the facts. You asked to be blasted to I felt obligated. I mean, this cache isn't about going into the drains under the University and it certainly has nothing to do with admitting nationally that you steal loose fence post caps. It has to do with precedence. The fact is, there is one existing, and historically have been many caches as alborate as this in Dakota County Parks. Ok, maybe not as large, but close. But you don't live around here so you'd have NO idea.

 

The cache container was marked on the inside and outside. The ammocan and the log were also marked. That is exactly how law enforcement tracked the puzzle cache (listed about two miles from GZ) to the owner.

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So... the cache was hidden with permission, right? :P

That was my first thought...

 

Hidden with as much permission as the other 50+ caches (plus a number of puzzle cache finals) that are in that park. Dakota County has so far been one of the few counties around here that has officially taken a "no policy" stance on geocaching. Permission was more than adequate for the situation.

 

I don't know... If I was going to place a cache this involved I think I would have wanted somebody in the park office to at least be aware of it. Or where they?

 

Does a "no policy" really equate "place freely"?

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Sure, Dakota County has no official geocaching policy...but common sense has to kick in somewhere...one is hiding a coffin in the woods...just a simple visit with officials may have prevented this whole indecent (say may have because we will never know for sure)...and sure...maybe a sign on the outside of the coffin may have helped...but again, we will never know.

 

You're hardly the spokesperson for common sense. Your only goal is to be contrary to everyone else which I suppose is fine, assuming you have all the facts. You asked to be blasted to I felt obligated. I mean, this cache isn't about going into the drains under the University and it certainly has nothing to do with admitting nationally that you steal loose fence post caps. It has to do with precedence. The fact is, there is one existing, and historically have been many caches as alborate as this in Dakota County Parks. Ok, maybe not as large, but close. But you don't live around here so you'd have NO idea.

 

The cache container was marked on the inside and outside. The ammocan and the log were also marked. That is exactly how law enforcement tracked the puzzle cache (listed about two miles from GZ) to the owner.

Read that one again...I don't do anything with loose fence caps...for the two I had, I looked for posts with no caps...bought my own caps from a local hardware store and altered the cap I bought...

 

...as for the topic of this thread...I never said I knew all the facts...only the facts presented in local forums...you are entitled to your opinion...and I to mine...

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I don't know... If I was going to place a cache this involved I think I would have wanted somebody in the park office to at least be aware of it. Or where they?

 

Does a "no policy" really equate "place freely"?

 

Just a couple of comments (in bulleted format) before I take off for the day..

 

- It's easy to say that the office should have been notified of the cache but the bottom line is, they had no idea what was going on at the time. Muggle finds cache. Muggle calls coppers. Coppers do their thing. Park notified after the fact.

 

- It's also easy to say "no policy" = "place freely" when you don't know all of the facts and you're not from the area. To act self riteous and comment about common sense is pretty shallow when you consider the geocache met every guideline as required by geocaching.com, followed the same policy as every other cache in the area, violated no county park ordinances as admitted by the county, and was clearly well away from any highly travelled trail.

 

Too many armchair cachers and too many CSI shows on TV... :P

 

Besides, anyone who still has a problem with this after knowing ALL the facts, well, you just have issues. :D:D

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It seems that a couple of muggles accidentally stumbled across a coffin in the woods, and instead of going along with the fun, reported it to the Dakota County Sheriffs Department. Officials immediately went into CYA mode, and hauled the cache out.

 

The idea was to find and collect clues from 12 Halloween themed geocaches, and use those clues to find the bonus cache - a full sized toe-pincher coffin, complete with skeleton and traditional ammo can.

...

The cops even wrote an article in their newsletter about it.

I've read many articles about geocaching. Most of them either fail to communicate the fun of the game or include so many erroneous 'facts' that they are just painful to read.

 

This article may have been the best one yet. It is simple, accurate, and really makes the game sound fun. I wish it were in a real newspaper.

Course...that is the ironic part of all this...their own write-up stated this was part of a game...but it really didn't make sense with all the things they put the cache owner through for something they called a game...

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I don't know... If I was going to place a cache this involved I think I would have wanted somebody in the park office to at least be aware of it. Or where they?

 

Does a "no policy" really equate "place freely"?

 

Just a couple of comments (in bulleted format) before I take off for the day..

 

- It's easy to say that the office should have been notified of the cache but the bottom line is, they had no idea what was going on at the time. Muggle finds cache. Muggle calls coppers. Coppers do their thing. Park notified after the fact.

 

- It's also easy to say "no policy" = "place freely" when you don't know all of the facts and you're not from the area. To act self riteous and comment about common sense is pretty shallow when you consider the geocache met every guideline as required by geocaching.com, followed the same policy as every other cache in the area, violated no county park ordinances as admitted by the county, and was clearly well away from any highly travelled trail.

 

Too many armchair cachers and too many CSI shows on TV... :)

 

Besides, anyone who still has a problem with this after knowing ALL the facts, well, you just have issues. :D:D

OK...I'll admit...my use of the phrase "Common-Sense" may not have been appropriate...

 

That being said, I still feel that everything you went through in the past couple weeks in regards to this cache was a bit extreme in their handling of the situation...and just digging around (no pun intended) for something to charge you with...needless to say...glad to hear no charges will be filed...

 

And hey, on the bright side, you have the makings for a story of legend!!!

:D

Edited by ArcherDragoon
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On a related note, there are some that are close to this case that thought it'd be a fine joke to show up at the Dakota County Law Enforcement Center with a hearse to pickup the cache..

Now that would be neat!!!

 

It would be a fun joke but I ain't going to try.

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I don't know... If I was going to place a cache this involved I think I would have wanted somebody in the park office to at least be aware of it. Or where they?

 

Does a "no policy" really equate "place freely"?

 

Just a couple of comments (in bulleted format) before I take off for the day..

 

- It's easy to say that the office should have been notified of the cache but the bottom line is, they had no idea what was going on at the time. Muggle finds cache. Muggle calls coppers. Coppers do their thing. Park notified after the fact.

 

- It's also easy to say "no policy" = "place freely" when you don't know all of the facts and you're not from the area. To act self riteous and comment about common sense is pretty shallow when you consider the geocache met every guideline as required by geocaching.com, followed the same policy as every other cache in the area, violated no county park ordinances as admitted by the county, and was clearly well away from any highly travelled trail.

 

Too many armchair cachers and too many CSI shows on TV... :)

 

Besides, anyone who still has a problem with this after knowing ALL the facts, well, you just have issues. :D:D

OK...I'll admit...my use of the phrase "Common-Sense" may not have been appropriate...

 

That being said, I still feel that everything you went through in the past couple weeks in regards to this cache was a bit extreme in their handling of the situation...and just digging around (no pun intended) for something to charge you with...needless to say...glad to hear no charges will be filed...

 

And hey, on the bright side, you have the makings for a story of legend!!!

:D

 

You can say all you want about me, but like you said, the county's handling of the problem WAS extreme. But luckily they came to their senses. As mentioned locally, I'd love to have a legendary cache but withOUT the help of the county. Maybe Halloween 2009???

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That may be a grill. There is a hearse club in my area that meets in Hell, Michigan and they have a coffin that has been made into a grill and they tow it on a trailer just like that.

A grill???? WTH???

That's just wrong on so many levels!

 

~ Mitch ~

I don't understand why. It isn't like you grill anything live?

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bfa8b657-e9ba-4f0b-ad3f-0ac0910e3a5c.jpg

 

That is a trailer that is towed behind a motorcycle. There have been a lot of creative "boxes" used for motorcycle trailers.

 

Bflentje's mention of using a hearse to pick up the coffin is a darn good one. Arrange for the hearse, get two Lurch-looking people to arrive with the hearse, and be sure to have the news media present. It would make great media coverage for our "sport". Hmmm, maybe get 6 pall bearers too?

 

Labeling the coffin on the outside as a geocache and with the cache owners phone number might have averted this situation. Maybe.

 

At least the cops didn't blow it up.... :D

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So... the cache was hidden with permission, right? :D

That was my first thought...

 

mine too, hope we get a response to this question!

 

Uhhhh... maybe read the whole thread? :):D

 

Currently... sorry, that would be, "CURRENTLY", there are over 50 caches in said park. Probably well over, considering puzzle caches that I have not found that have their finals placed there. The park has been used for caching since caching began in our area. I have no idea how many now archived caches have been in this park, but its a lot.

 

The park has been well aware of them, to the point of posting notes on some of the cache pages about "staying on the trail" and such. Our local geocaching society works with the local park entities regarding hiding caches in their parks, and said county OFFICIALLY has had no geocaching policy. Permission does not have to be explicit. By knowingly allowing caches in this park for years, permission was implied.

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You can say all you want about me, but like you said, the county's handling of the problem WAS extreme. But luckily they came to their senses. As mentioned locally, I'd love to have a legendary cache but withOUT the help of the county. Maybe Halloween 2009???

I have always enjoyed the caches (though limited in number) of yours that I have done...

 

I am sure Halloween 2009 will be just as creative as your previous Halloween caches...and maybe things will turn out better financially that I may be able to travel more and find those...sorry I missed this year's set...

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