Has Anyone Ever Found a Body

[+PlantAKiss]

I was wondering about this on Saturday as I ended up in a spot in the GZ area where a body could easily have been dumped and probably never found. It comes to mind because I did find a dead man in the woods once. I wasn't actually caching at the time but was exploring off-trail along the edge of the small park where all my caches are located. While the body wasn't terribly far from one of my caches, it wasn't where anyone would normally be. A policeman said if I hadn't come across him, he would probably never have been found. (Which would have been really sad. ) Since that time, when I'm out either exploring or caching in isolated areas, I kinda keep my eyes peeled since I now know coming across a body is not out of the realm of possibility. Cacher are so out-and-about in random areas I would think perhaps someone else has had this experience.

[+narcissa]

I think there must be an old thread about this somewhere. I know someone who has found two, at different times.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Bookmark list, doesn't look to have been updated in several years:

Caches where dead bodies have been found

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=20721106-6937-40df-986b-4f441ce0b7ba

[Keystone]

There are many old threads. A search on the phrase "dead body" should dig them up. (Pardon the pun.) Threads are started first, whenever a new discovery occurs and second, when people are curious to know "what's the strangest thing you've ever found while geocaching?"

 

It might be easiest to just link to the helpful bookmark list, Caches Where Dead Bodies Have Been Found.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Keystone

[+PlantAKiss]

Thanks for the info.

[+SwineFlew]

Thank god I never had found a body.

 

While geocaching.

[TahoeJoe]

While out caching in a remote area, we once found the body of a large German Sherpard dog under a piece of plywood by the geocache. There were voices nearby, it was pretty creepy.

[+AustinMN]

These two news articles describe an incident from March of this year where a young man had aparently committed suicide, and the remains were found many months later by a family out geocaching.

 

There was a little bit of speculation in the MNGCA forums as to which cache they were chasing, but no firm conclusions.

 

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3736765.shtml

http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2015/03/16/body-found-sunday-melrose/24854589/

 

Melrose, Minnesota is about 100 miles NW of Minneapolis.

 

Austin

[+fizzymagic]

Me. Twice.

[+J Grouchy]

Thankfully the only dead bodies I've found near caches were those of rodents, squirrels, birds and insects.

[+DarceyH]

I've found several dead trees.........

[+BAMBOOZLE]

A few years ago I bought a canoe specifically to use in the Bayou St. John in New Orleans. While passing by a local bridge I thought I saw a mannequin in the water. The next day others also saw the mannequin and on their return the bayou was tapped off by police and it turned out the mannequin was the body of a lady who had been missing for a couple of weeks.....she had missed the bridge and drove into the bayou. A canal by my house claimed a mother and daughter last week and a fireman the week before.

[+gpsblake]

I found a cache in 2004 and a week later, someone discovered a dead body at the same cache site. I even ate lunch there and didn't notice the bones. Someone who had committed suicide a decade earlier.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCHD76

[+Ma & Pa]

Sometimes you can find a cache in a body

 

http://coord.info/GCYYMZ

 

 

,

[+Beach_hut]

There was a multiple murder near us a year or two back, and one of the bodies was found very close to one of our caches. (Now archived)

[+Crwoo10]

A body was found at one of my caches. GC5HY9B. The cacher was too upset to sign the log then, but came back later to sign it. Ironically enough, the cache is located beside a very well known cemetery.

[+tallglenn]

Several times while geocaching I've caught a whiff of a bad odor. Hoping not to find a body, I develop tunnel vision and get out of there as quickly as possible. I've found plenty of dead squirrels - they make a little stink for a little while; an overwhelming, permeating "big" smell quickens my step...

[+jellis]

This all sounds like a book I read written by a local cacher.

[+terratin]

We recently found several dead cows, each one hunched under another single tree. The cache nearby was hidden such that the wind gave us the full dead cow experience. I guess a cache named 'animal cemetery' was kind of a give away. Still we should have read the description first. As this is desert I guess the cow carcasses will be there for a long time and quite a few more cachers will be able to enjoy this location.

 

When I was a kid I once found a skull on a stake on top of a small pile of dirt and leaves. I informed the forester living next door, who in return informed the police. Turned out it was a real skull, but I think they never found out who did this and where the skull came from. My guess is it was stolen from a school or similar.

[+Seaglass Pirates]

Several times while geocaching I've caught a whiff of a bad odor. Hoping not to find a body, I develop tunnel vision and get out of there as quickly as possible. I've found plenty of dead squirrels - they make a little stink for a little while; an overwhelming, permeating "big" smell quickens my step...

 

Not sure if the U.S. has this but we've often caught a whiff of dead animal but nowhere it could be. Sometimes it's gag worthy. But all it turns out to be is this http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachys_sylvatica (wound wort), if that helps. There are quite a few others that exude the same sort of smell. Even some more here in the UK. But this is commonly found here and it chucks.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

This all sounds like a book I read written by a local cacher.

 

If it's the same book I'm thinking of, the protagonist in that book almost *was* the body at least a couple of times.

[+BlackRose67]

Last weekend I found a dead animal in a garbage bag at a cache site.

Some fur was poking out of the bag

[+ByronForestPreserve]

A couple of years ago, a young man committed suicide under a bridge across from the forest preserve where I work. We heard about it a couple hours after it happened. I knew there was a cache there, and I gave the CO a heads-up that it should probably be disabled while the police investigation was going on. I checked on the area (and the cache) a couple weeks later, and found some unspent bullets.

 

Though I haven't found bodies on any of our properties, I did find a set of (prom?) clothes out in the woods once while checking on a cache-- underwear, shoes, dress, and all. Called that into the police.

[+PlantAKiss]

Those are some very sad stories. Bones decades old. Wow. One thing I was happy about was the fact that this man I found was identified and claimed. His loved ones didn't have to wonder where he was. I'm not religious but I maintain that area, and have a marker there to honor his passing. I think it's terribly sad he died out there alone. Because of a creek, it wasn't likely a cacher would have found him but he was actually quite close to my cache's final stage.

 

That body cache would be kinda creepy to find in a cool way. A great one for Halloween caching.

[+Ambrosia]

You could always visit Necropolis of Britannia Manor III. Plenty of dead bodies there.

 

 

Here I am, discovering a body in a casket.

 

[+frinklabs]

You can see GZ for GC3QKFA in the photo for this article about a body found this morning:

 

[+Brian - Team A.I.]

I found a suicide victim just after she shot herself in the chin (heart still pumping, but brain dead), a few days after Thanksgiving some years ago, on my way to place a cache. That was a tough day.

[+Cachefoxxe]

I found a dog in a plastic bag while out placing a cache in a park here. Nothing human though, there was one of those maniquin dead body caches, Archived now, but it got found and called into police. The final log said if you want to find it contact the Police department as they confiscated it.

[+Sol seaker]

I came way too close once.

 

I found a boat cache that was attached to a tree.

 

We pulled over to the shore nearby and I got out and walked around a little to explore. My ex was in the boat and suddenly yelled and demanded I get right back into the boat. That was not like him. I didn't know what was up. I think it was a feeling he had, because he wouldn't talk about it. He had no real reason to get upset.

 

I was near that area a few times in the next few months and smelled something really bad (and strong). Then a few months later I read in the paper that they found a body there.

 

Part of me wishes I would have found it so they had a better chance of catching the killer because evidence is best found right away. But part of me is glad I didn't find it too. She wasn't going to be any less dead by my finding her.

 

 

There is somewhere else I found a cache where a body was later found. The body wasn't there when I cached that time. That was a pond that they fenced off after the body was found.

 

Since those things have happened I've been very aware when I'm in areas where bodies might be dumped. It really happens often with geocaching.

 

I was in a park one time, way off the main trail, and smelled something really bad. I didn't look around but just called the police on that one. They were really nice and called me a few times and asked where the cache was (I told them I could smell it from the cache and gave them the coordinates. They found the cache ( I told them to sign it) but didn't find anything dead.

 

They were really nice about it. I'm really glad they checked it out.

[+Sol seaker]

Here's a fun one.

 

Not a real body of course.

 

You've got to go through some swamps to get to it. The owner had threatened in the past to archive it to make sure no one else would find it. It's pretty tough to get there, so not much chance, and now the thing is so old it can't be mistaken for the real thing.

 

The cache owner in the past has also promised to hide in the swamp and scare the beejeebers out of you if you go on Halloween. We had a group going one year but I got a bad flu so wasn't up to wading through a deep swamp in the middle of the night. My loss.

 

 

[+devilfisher&TXSpa...]

Came close to finding a body. We were out caching and a news truck pulled up and asked us about the dead body that was just picked up. We had no idea and explained to the reporter that we were out geocaching and then had to explain the game.

[+bflentje]

Quiet Walk Through The Woods

[+AustinMN]

Quiet Walk Through The Woods

 

No reason was given for removing the cache. Any explanation for that?

[+.Flo.]

Quiet Walk Through The Woods

 

LOL, I love this part: "The coffin and its occupant were taken into custody, and the new coordinates for locating it would be (44 degrees 44 29.70 N by 92 degrees 53’ 09.72 W); for those of you without a GPS unit, that would be the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office. Good luck!"

[+chasclifton]

I used to say that if it were not for hunters, the dead bodies would never be found, but I should add "if not for geocachers" too. Everyone else stays on the marked trail.

[+Cryptid]

Bonham(former)Ranch, Warm Spring

 

This cache had a body hidden nearby (maybe 500 feet) from 2003 till 2008. I found this cache in 2006.

 

See log dated 10/13/2008

Edited June 9, 2015 by Cryptid

[+MT :)]

Back in March, I was in a wooded park. Bushwhacked my way to a cache, and spotted a deer skull (doe) hanging from a branch, a few hundred feet away I found the deer's leg also in a tree.

[+jwmoe1973]

Found the remains of a dog once. Still had a collar around it's neck. Might have been a bit irreverent, but my dog needed a new collar and the pile of bones was obviously not going to be needing it... No, there were no tags. I'd have gladly tried to contact someone if there had been.

[+DE_Cryptoman]

My girlfriend (now my spouse) and I were in Del Rio, TX (01/28/2008). We had been to a cache (Ranchito McQuire GCMHRQ - now archived) and when we left, we told TomTom to take us to a specific location. TomTom routed us through some back roads. Less than 1/4 mile from the cache, we passed a pickup that was parked. Then we saw a backpack in the road. Stopped and got out to move the backpack and it turned out that it was an individual that had been beat nearly to death with a baseball bat. We dialed 911 and stayed with him until the authorities and EMS arrived. He was air-evacted to San Antonio where he died nine days later without ever regaining consciousness. Within a week of our finding him, they had to two perpetrators (male and female) in jail. They went to trial and now one is serving 47 years and the other 60 years. Don't need to repeat the experience.

[+dandq]

Saw this one pop up on a recent drive through Utah. Opted to go after the nearby fencepost cache instead.

 

The Flesh Cache

[+refriedhippie]

Wow, this gives me the chills. I have wondered if I would find something creepy while caching. Glad I haven't!

[+fuzziebear3]

My girlfriend (now my spouse) and I were in Del Rio, TX (01/28/2008). We had been to a cache (Ranchito McQuire GCMHRQ - now archived) and when we left, we told TomTom to take us to a specific location. TomTom routed us through some back roads. Less than 1/4 mile from the cache, we passed a pickup that was parked. Then we saw a backpack in the road. Stopped and got out to move the backpack and it turned out that it was an individual that had been beat nearly to death with a baseball bat. We dialed 911 and stayed with him until the authorities and EMS arrived. He was air-evacted to San Antonio where he died nine days later without ever regaining consciousness. Within a week of our finding him, they had to two perpetrators (male and female) in jail. They went to trial and now one is serving 47 years and the other 60 years. Don't need to repeat the experience.

 

Wow, scary! The perps could have still been nearby. Good on you for doing the right thing.

[+Lil Devil]

I have just spent several hours pouring over various forum threads, old emails, and even a google search or two and have added a bunch of caches to my bookmark list Caches Where Dead Bodies Have Been Found. There are now 52 caches on the list. This includes one cache (Chuck's Last First) where a geocacher died while returning to his car after getting a FTF.

 

Please continue to post links to any caches or news articles where human bodies have been found, or a cacher died while attempting the cache.

[+Shinook & White Juan]

A moose skeleton at one.

[+GrateBear]

I've found two dead dogs, one of them at a rest stop on I-84 in ID. And, one partial deer leg that looked relatively recent--I hightailed out of there real quickly!

[+Lil Devil]

... my bookmark list Caches Where Dead Bodies Have Been Found. There are now 52 caches on the list. This includes one cache (Chuck's Last First) where a geocacher died while returning to his car after getting a FTF.

 

I have split the bookmark list into two.. Geocaches Where Dead Bodies Have Been Found and Geocachers Who Have Died While Geocaching. Since I just started the 2nd list it's rather short (6 caches). My search-fu is failing me. If anyone can remember any others not already on the list, please post a link to any prior forum threads, news articles, caches, and/or profiles.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Lil Devil

[+The Leprechauns]

Thanks for the second list, Lil Devil. I did not see a bookmark entry about txoilgas passing away near a cemetery cache in Oklahoma.

 

Also, you may wish to correct the spelling of "Geocaches" in your older list's title.

[+Lil Devil]

Thanks Lep. Both of those issues have been corrected.

[+Shawnonabike]

I was wondering about this on Saturday as I ended up in a spot in the GZ area where a body could easily have been dumped and probably never found. It comes to mind because I did find a dead man in the woods once. I wasn't actually caching at the time but was exploring off-trail along the edge of the small park where all my caches are located. While the body wasn't terribly far from one of my caches, it wasn't where anyone would normally be. A policeman said if I hadn't come across him, he would probably never have been found. (Which would have been really sad. ) Since that time, when I'm out either exploring or caching in isolated areas, I kinda keep my eyes peeled since I now know coming across a body is not out of the realm of possibility. Cacher are so out-and-about in random areas I would think perhaps someone else has had this experience.

 

I found a body once. She was very cute. Did you mean a dead one? Yuck!

[Carter43]

last time i died while out on a multi