+w5waf Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I recently had someone find one of my caches and left the note something to the effect that "This cache receives my vote as one most likely to cause a bomb scare". Made me think: 1. Has any cache ever been mistaken for a bomb? 2. What does an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) look like? How can we make sure that our caches don't look like an IED? Remember: The bomb that brought down the Pan AM flight over Lockerbie, Scotland was in a transistor radio. The unibomber sent his devices in finely crafted wooden cases. Couldn't you put a device in a Tupperware Container? Quote Link to comment
umc Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I don't know about caches looking like a bomb but I have heard of one or two caches being blown up. __________________________ Caching with a clue.... Quote Link to comment
+Xitron Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 A bomb can now be made to look like anything you want it too look like if you have the proper experience to make it. One easy example is the nut with the shoe bomb on the plane, thank god he was too stupid to bring a lighter instead of a match. Quote Link to comment
+Webfoot Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 There was one blown up in the Las Vegas Metro area after someone reported a suspicious looking device. I've read the account, but someone else will have to Marwell it for me. Webfoot Veni...Vidi...Vicachi. I came...I saw...I geocached. Quote Link to comment
+jollybgood Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Bill-W5WAF:I recently had someone find one of my caches and left the note something to the effect that "This cache receives my vote as one most likely to cause a bomb scare". Made me think: 1. Has any cache ever been mistaken for a bomb? 2. What does an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) look like? How can we make sure that our caches don't look like an IED? Remember: The bomb that brought down the Pan AM flight over Lockerbie, Scotland was in a transistor radio. The unibomber sent his devices in finely crafted wooden cases. Couldn't you put a device in a Tupperware Container? I took a no-geocachign buddy with me on a hunt last year. The cache was beside a busy road and as I pull out the container (4" PVC pipe painted Olive Drab as I recall) he commented that it looked like a huge pipe bomb. He also commented that if he had stumbled upon it by accident he would have most definitely called the police about a 'possible bomb". Mind you he's an inteligent guy. He was voicing an honest opinion. In these post 911 times it dosen't take much to rattle someone and make them think the worst. Anyway, that incident really drove home the fact that caches sometimes do look like bombs to the uninformed. "Why is this camoflouged pipe looking thing hidden in this tree?" If you're not familiar with geocaching what possible reasons would come to mind? I would think, Drug stash or bomb even though none of those answers really make a whole lot of sense if you bother to think it through. Why would someone put a pipe bomb in a tree near a wood's edge? The problem is people don't think -- they panic and assume the worst. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com "Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon." Quote Link to comment
+Xitron Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 The problem is people don't think -- they panic and assume the worst. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com "Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon." hey I resemble that comment Quote Link to comment
mckee Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I had a great idea for a cache container, a bowling ball-sized flat-black sphere with a string poking out of the top for easy carrying. 4 big white letters on the side would stand for Black Ovoid Multicache Bucket. Probably going to have to back to the drawing board for this one..... -------------------- Searching for the lost, Geocache....... Quote Link to comment
+Mephistopheles Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I did somewhat of the same thing. I made a really neat little container out of 1 inch PVC pipe inlayed a magnet, painted it silver to blend in on a chain link fence post. It had a nice end cap and a screw on cap. I was going to attach it to the post in a busy park. It would have blended in real nice. Luckily I showed it to a buddy. First words out of his mouth were: “Nice pipe bomb.” As he said that, I had visions of Soccer Moms and frightened Little Leaguers running from the park as bomb squads, fire trucks and numerous police cruisers converged on the park with the local TV news crews busily making much about nothing and repeating same endlessly. Headline: Local manic jailed for bomb scare. Sometimes I can get so involved in something that you can’t see the other, at times obvious, perspective. Needless to say that little item stayed at home! It is cool though, but alas for a simpler and nicer time………………… Quote Link to comment
spikes03 Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 i had this same conversation with a buddy last week.we open these cache's without any hesitation.has anyone ever boobytrapped a cache before? Quote Link to comment
+SerenityNow Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 There was a cache in Northeast Ohio called Caching Toddler, Hidden Tupperware that was blown up by the police. It seems that someone reported a suspcious person, a cacher of course, snooping around in an upscale park in a rather well to do suburb of Cleveland. They saw him with the box and got worried so they took down his car license number and called the police. The police blew up the cache and then went to visit the confused and upset cacher. No one got in trouble but it was quite a "to do" in our area!! Curiously, someone was stopped by the same police force while searching for the same cache, put in handcuffs, and questioned. He was later released, but those police sure do have a short memory!!! The cache has been replanted in a new area and is doing very well. SerenityNow This world has nothing for me And this world has everything. All that I could want And nothing that I need. **** Cademan's Call **** Quote Link to comment
+RomadPilot Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Bill-W5WAF:I recently had someone find one of my caches and left the note something to the effect that "This cache receives my vote as one most likely to cause a bomb scare". Made me think: 1. Has any cache ever been mistaken for a bomb? 2. What does an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) look like? How can we make sure that our caches don't look like an IED? Remember: The bomb that brought down the Pan AM flight over Lockerbie, Scotland was in a transistor radio. The unibomber sent his devices in finely crafted wooden cases. Couldn't you put a device in a Tupperware Container? You've posed some good questions Bill, Let me post my 2 cents. Answer #1: You bet! and the reason why is directly related to Answer #2. Answer #2: an IED can be made out of any ordinary container, it might be made with something one doesn't equate as a container. In Viet Nam, IED's were made out of C-ration boxes/ Radios/ teddy Bears or any object that an American would notice and pick up. The main difference with the situation of a booby-trapped cache would be that if a terrorist was to set a trap, The current flavor of bad guy wants to cause numerous casualties. It might not be worth thier time and effort to make a device that might hurt 1-3 people, so a rural cache is probably less likely a problem. Plus they would be showing their hand so to speak. I think it is much more likely that if a IED was made from a container that is usually used for caches, it would be placed in a place with a high concentraion of potential targets, not out in the woods or a park where you find most caches. Quote Link to comment
+phantom4099 Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Why would someone put a pipe bomb in a tree near a wood's edge? Well if your testing a pipe bomb (or playing with one like a teenager) you would go to an area where you’re least likely to be seen, and do the least damage to surrounding area (like a forest, or a park). Now think what you would do if that bomb did not go off, would you want to approach it to see what went wrong? Or maybe you threw it right after lighting it and it did not go off, how would you find it? Wyatt W. The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions. Quote Link to comment
martmann Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 O.T., sorry, Hey Bill-W5WAF Cool area 51 badge, it's odd because I am the one who made that badge back in 96. I created it using Corel Draw. I will now bore you with the story behind it: I was Working for Boeing as a Flight Test Electrician, we were at Edwards AFB, CA. doing refused take off and Minimum-unstick tests with the very first 737-700 (WA001). I went to the Dryden Research Center gift shop while there, and picked up a generic metal Area 51 badge that they sold there (looked nothing like mine). On the last day there, an engineer asked me if he could buy mine because there wasn't any time left to get to the gift shop. I kept mine, but told the engineer that when we get home, I can make a better one for him. So I did, then a bunch of people wanted them (I would put their picture and name on the badge, then laminate it), so I made a bunch of them. Almost everybody I made one for mentioned Art Bell, so I emailed him and asked if he wanted a badge, (I used a picture from his web site), he said sure, and gave me his address. He had it on his web site, for a long time, but I cant find it now. I assumed that's how you got it. But I guess you might know somebody I made it for (Heck I made so many, I might have made you one, and just don't remember). Anyway, that's the story behind your avatar, please fill in any blanks. Here is a jpg of the front and back Back to topic. ___________________________________________________________ If trees could scream, would we still cut them down? Well, maybe if they screamed all the time, for no reason. Click here for my Geocaching pictures and Here (newest) [This message was edited by martmann on September 23, 2003 at 04:35 AM.] Quote Link to comment
Wanderingson Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Here is a case of a reaction in Utah http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=39994 And here is the news article http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=11248 "I cache; therefore I am" Quote Link to comment
Jake - Team A.I. Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I was reading in alt.rec.geocaching sometime before the Olympics in SLC that a Cache was found by the local Sherrif's department. I'm not to sure of the outcome, but one of the deputies was a cacher and posted a message about bad places to stick caches. The incident in Wanderingson and Compass Rose are referring to happend well after the Olympic incident. I remember that one too, because one of the items found in the cache was a "Team My Blue Heaven" key chain from Arizona. Quote Link to comment
+w5waf Posted September 23, 2003 Author Share Posted September 23, 2003 Perhaps one way to help mitigate the fears is if we label the cache with a REAL name and a telephone number. At least that gives a real point of contact. Quote Link to comment
+jollybgood Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by spikes03:i had this same conversation with a buddy last week.we open these cache's without any hesitation.has anyone ever boobytrapped a cache before? I rigged a cache once which made a rubber snake (very realistic looking) pop our as you lifted the lid. Scared the dickens out of the first few finders. In another cache (The Screaming Mouse) I put an electronic toy that screams when exposed to sunlight or movement. Picture yourself alone in the woods and reaching for a cache when it suddenly screams -- really makes you jump. That's about the extent of my boobytrapping exploits. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com "Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon." Quote Link to comment
+jollybgood Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Bill-W5WAF:Perhaps one way to help mitigate the fears is if we label the cache with a REAL name and a telephone number. At least that gives a real point of contact. Think of the drawbacks, though. It's Saturday morning at five a.m. and some cacher calls and wakes you up -- he's calling from a cell phone and can't find your cache and wants some hints. Hmmmmm...., maybe there's something to this. 1-900-Dial-a-Hint Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com "Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon." Quote Link to comment
The Alethiometrists Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 We had a cache in North Carolina - in the National Forest - that was blown up after a ranger found it and thought it might be a bomb. Our admin emailed our local group encouraging everyone to clearly label their caches, to avoid such problems and preserve our good relations with the Forest Service. Like that screaming mouse idea - I'll keep that in mind for a night cache... ------------- "Thos' Degrees of Longitude and Latitude in Name, yet in Earthly reality are they Channels mark'd for the transport of some unseen Influence, one carefully assembl'd chain…" – Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon Quote Link to comment
+David Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Jolly B Good: quote:Originally posted by Bill-W5WAF:Perhaps one way to help mitigate the fears is if we label the cache with a REAL name and a telephone number. At least that gives a real point of contact. Think of the drawbacks, though. It's Saturday morning at five a.m. and some cacher calls and wakes you up -- he's calling from a cell phone and can't find your cache and wants some hints. If the phone number is on the cache container (not the datasheet), the cacher would have to find the cache to get the number. Why would he call you for a hint? Quote Link to comment
+southdeltan Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by kd4adc: quote:Originally posted by Jolly B Good: quote:Originally posted by Bill-W5WAF:Perhaps one way to help mitigate the fears is if we label the cache with a REAL name and a telephone number. At least that gives a real point of contact. Think of the drawbacks, though. It's Saturday morning at five a.m. and some cacher calls and wakes you up -- he's calling from a cell phone and can't find your cache and wants some hints. If the phone number is on the cache container (not the datasheet), the cacher would have to find the cache to get the number. Why would he call you for a hint? I was thinking the same thing Actually, I've seen several caches where the hiders real name and email were listed IN the container and a few where it was on the outside on the 'official' geocaching.com sticker (the big ones). I haven't seen phone numbers listed but I suppose they could be looked up. I don't know that there is a solution - people geocaching tend to look 'suspicious' (whatever that means) so people don't even have to see the container to call the police. I'd use common sense (unfortunately some people lack this...). southdeltan "Man can counterfeit everything except silence". - William Faulkner Quote Link to comment
martmann Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 I put 'martmann' and my yahoo email address on the Cache sticker. ___________________________________________________________ If trees could scream, would we still cut them down? Well, maybe if they screamed all the time, for no reason. Click here for my Geocaching pictures and Here (newest) Quote Link to comment
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