Unpublished Cache found and signed by unknown user... possibility of ghosts?

[+CianW981]

So I just finished setting up my first cache in a small town in Croatia, upon completing the setup on the website I forgot to hit the submit for review button but placed the cache container (a film canister) in what I would describe as not very conspicuous but not massively hidden location at GZ. Today 48 hours after placing it I noticed the cache had moved and the gift I left for the first finder had been taken the log book signed with a name and FTF and another small gift placed inside. But the cache has not gone live on the website yet, and to confirm I hade my SO log in and check

 

Now I know I'm on holiday and have been indulging myself but I'm sure I didn't sign it using another alias today. I come here every year and the caches are not found super regularly hence my surprise. Am I just terrible at hiding my caches? how did this finder find it sign the book and have a gift to go in it? Why can't I find the username? Have I gone mad?

[+JL_HSTRE]

Sometimes caches are found by accident. Maybe it was found by a geocacher who was scouting the area for their own hiding spot?

 

At least it wasn't stolen before publication!

[+Max and 99]

1 hour ago, JL_HSTRE said:

Sometimes caches are found by accident. Maybe it was found by a geocacher who was scouting the area for their own hiding spot?

 

At least it wasn't stolen before publication!

This!

4 hours ago, CianW981 said:

Now I know I'm on holiday

How in the world are you going to maintain that cache so far from your home? Your profile indicates this will be your first hide so have you read the guidelines on vacation geocaches? 

[+DarkZen_EvilCowPie]

I've found 2, as of yet, unpublished caches. Both while searching hide spots. Found a couple of puzzle finals too.

Edited September 26, 2021 by DarkZen_EvilCowPie
spelling

[+captnemo]

I've have found three unpublished caches.  One was an original cache that the CO had replaced as the CO had forgotten the coordinates and hid a replacement.

.

The second was  just there that I found while on an offroad trip. Never did find out who had left it. It may have been an non geocaching.com listing.

 

The 3rd was near a location where I was placing a hide.  It had geocaching.com  written on the container but no one at HQ could tell me anything.

 

 

[+Gill & Tony]

At an event a couple of years ago someone mentioned that they were planning a trail of mystery caches, but didn't say anything about location

 

Another attendee went home, looked at the map and made a guess where they would be hidden.  He got FTF on every one of them before they were published.

 

This really annoyed the local FTF hounds

[+cerberus1]

On 9/19/2021 at 3:59 PM, CianW981 said:

So I just finished setting up my first cache in a small town in Croatia, upon completing the setup on the website I forgot to hit the submit for review button but placed the cache container (a film canister) in what I would describe as not very conspicuous but not massively hidden location at GZ. Today 48 hours after placing it I noticed the cache had moved and the gift I left for the first finder had been taken the log book signed with a name and FTF and another small gift placed inside. But the cache has not gone live on the website yet, and to confirm I hade my SO log in and check

Now I know I'm on holiday and have been indulging myself but I'm sure I didn't sign it using another alias today. I come here every year and the caches are not found super regularly hence my surprise. Am I just terrible at hiding my caches? how did this finder find it sign the book and have a gift to go in it? Why can't I find the username? Have I gone mad?

 

People are curious.  If someone saw you walking around, looking like you're up to something, it might be 50/50 whether they check things out.

That happens a lot at community parks, and undeveloped parks. 

Houses all around, and someone's looking outside. Log signed with their real name sometimes too.

We've found over a dozen caches before they were published.  The other 2/3rds thought the area looked familiar, and there's her sig...

Most times it's just because we were gonna put a cache there too, and someone beat us to it.  Some were never published.

[+Max and 99]

Published and found by several geocachers already. 

[+Pontiac_CZ]

We once found an unpublished cache during search for a mystery final (we were attempting brute force ). We logged inside and it went live two days later. We considered it sort of "preFTF" and left the FTF honor (including swag items) to those who came after the official start signal.  

 

Such a coincidence was not frequent back then (in 2008). There were not that many caches (and cachers) around.