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6.5 Pound Superfund Site Strip Pit Bass




Image by Topato

New comment: I've been told this is the correct way to hold a fish, as opposed to my previous photo in the Oklahoma Fishing Group.

This photo hasn't been getting the comments I think it deserves, so I've decided to tell the entire story, and add it to the B.S. group.

This fish actually weighed closer to 9 pounds. It turns out, though, that after cleaning it (I know, I lied about setting it free so none of you vegans would lash out at me), I found it to have several gold coins in its belly. I figure they made up about 3 pounds of the weight, so I adjusted accordingly in calling it a 6.5 pound fish. Apparenlty, the coins were too large to pass through the fish, yet small enough and of such a shape that they were allowing the fish to still eat and survive.

Upon opening the bag and sorting the coins, I found many to be very old American Eagle gold pieces. I then set about trying to find the origin of them, to determine if I should keep them, or turn them in to police. After describing the location and situation to a local gold and silver dealer, he told me of the rumor of "Uncle Hugh's Burried Treasure".

Back in the 1980's, before the land and this strip pit were declared a federal Superfund site, the property was inhabited by the aunt of my best friend Bob Beauchamp. She was always known as "Aunt Finnicky". Her sister, known as "Aunt Soup", though she spelled her name Soupe, lived nearby. Bob doesn't know the origin of the names, as they were known by them from the time he was a child, but one can probably make a good guess.

Aunt Soupe passed away many years ago, followed in death by her second husband, Hugh. Hugh was a Jehova's Witness. The old homestead is full of copies of "The Watchtower", and also a lot of 'Coon Hunting magainzes (Hugh raised hounds, and did a lot of 'coon hunting). There are entries in Aunt Finnicky's diary from 1976 about taking some 'coon meat over to Soupe's house. There are also a lot of reference to Aunt Finnicky feeling ill, and attempting to cure herself by "taking a little vodka". This explains the vast pile of vodka bottles still present on the property.

I don't know the Jehova's Witnesses' beliefs, but the Witnesses I know all seem to hoard things. Hugh has everyyhign from old cars to about 100 pairs of boots still sitting on this property, along with batteries, hot water heaters, bathtubs, countless tires, 55 gal. drums of oil and other chemicals. The list goes on and on. Apparently, he hoarded cash as well.

Back to the gold coins. Upon learning he was near death, Uncle Hugh buried several caches of coins and other cash around the house, in the barns, and all over the property. It's been impossible to find due to the vast amount of metal slag leftover from the smelter that was there until the 1920s, and is the reason this is now a Superfund site. The metal detector pretty much beeps anywhere you go, since metal is everywhere.

We're thinking this big bass happened to swallow the coins as the eroded from the bank of the strip pit after the big rain and flood of 2005. Since Bob is now the majority owner of the property, we figure he owns the majority of the gold coins as well. We've tracked down a couple of family members who also have interest in the property and offered them their appropriate share of the gold, but they are all wealthy already, and have been kind enough to let Bob keep them all. His sister did take a few to support her cigarette and beer habit.

Being my best friend for the last decade or more. Bob gave me a couple of the larger coins. As he is also a skilled craftsman, he then took a smaller gold piece and mounted it so it now hangs on the 18K gold chain I've worn for years. (Thanks Bob).

We have never taken the entire collection of coins in for appraisal at one time, so as not to let on that we've found a portion of "Uncle Hugh's Treasure", but we have sold enough of them to invest in a ,200 metal detector that is supposed to be better at differentiating gold and silver from the surrounding metal based slag that contains zinc, cadmium, etc.. More will follow as the saga unfolds. --B.S.

Traffic on the Strip




Image by wenzday01

The traffic on the Strip was pretty terrible. You're definitely better off walking (or taking the Monorail, though that is kind of expensive).

View On Black

tree stripped bare




Image by Leonard John Matthews

a tree on the Scarborough seashore still standing tall though now stripped almost bare of limbs and leaves by the storm ..... as more storm clouds begin to gather

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