Lost ring while playing football, Springfield, Ill…..found and returned!
While visiting with good friends in Springfield, Illinois, I mentioned that I had my metal detector in the car and would be willing to look for anything they might have lost in their yard over the years. They remembered one special ring that was lost 15 years ago during a touch football game. Apparently the youth group from their church would come out and play games, have bonfires and spend the evening on the farm. Our friends kids always enjoyed playing games and their son, Kurt in particular, would set up a small area to play football. The youth group leaders would join the kids as they played and on that fateful day, Crista, felt her rings fly off of her hand as she went to catch the football. Everyone immediately stopped playing and they began searching for her two lost rings in the thick grass. Moments later one of the teens found her engagement ring but the small gold wedding ring was no where to be found. This particular ring was a family heirloom that was handed down to Crista from her grandmother. The lost ring was never found and they gave up hope of ever seeing it again. Over the years the ring slowly sank into the thick grass and damp soil but being made of gold, it never tarnished or corroded. Fifteen years later I was given the opportunity to search for this long lost ring. I set up 4 corner flags and started my grid search pattern. Being as the ring was rather thin, I figured I needed to dig every signal that sounded even close to what a small gold ring would sound like. Three hours later I dug a quiet repeatable signal and there in my pile of dirt I say the glint of gold! And sure enough it was Crista’s lost ring!
Many times lost rings remain very close to where they were originally lost. Maybe you know of a lost ring that was never found. Give me a call and we can discuss the possibilities of doing a search. Never hurts to ask!
Mike McInroe….always ready to help!
Last Friday Amanda called me from San Antonio, Texas with a very special request. She explained that her mother Liz, who lives in Port Orange, Florida had just lost a very expensive diamond earring! Two days earlier Mrs Liz had an invitation to eat lunch at a friends house and before heading out the door she decided to wear her beautiful earrings that were a gift to her from her husband Tom, 14 years ago. They had a wonderful time visiting their friend and after a delicious meal Mr. Tom and Mrs. Liz headed for home. Immediately after arriving home Mrs. Liz went to her bedroom to remove her special diamond earrings and to her dismay one of them was missing. And the search began! They looked everywhere and could not find it. And she decided to call her daughter Amanda in San Antonio for some advice. Amanda went right to work searching for some help for her distraught mother and after typing « Metal Detector Rental Orlando » into her phone she found theringfinders and one of my search and recovery stories. The call was made and the next day I met Amanda’s parents. Mr. Tom and Mrs. Liz said they had the other earring in a small plastic bag so I could get a reading with my metal detector, but unfortunately the bag got misplaced or thrown out that morning and we had a frantic 30 minute search—emptying garbage bags and crawling all over the house. Thankfully Mr. Tom finally found it in the thrown out newspaper bin!! Before heading to the neighbors house I searched the car, the garage and basically the whole house with my flashlight and then we headed to the friends house.
Wednesday night I received a call from Chris asking if I could possibly help him find his lost wedding ring! He went on to explain that he and his family had just flown into Orlando earlier that day and after they settled into their rooms they thought it was a perfect evening for a little game of catch the football! And then it all came to a sudden halt when Chris felt his ring come off of his finger. He and his family searched frantically for his ring but the St. Augustine grass had seemed to swallow it up.
While out searching the rough surf for a large gold necklace, I was getting tired and thirsty and decided to take a short break. As I sat there relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean, a man approached me and explained his dilemma. Two weeks earlier, Teddy had been walking on the beach and towards the end of his walk he noticed a bunch of garbage in an area of the soft sand and decided he would do the noble thing and pick up the trash and deposit it where it belonged…..in the garbage can! Earlier in his walk, he had been fiddling with his ring and for some « unknown » reason he slipped the ring onto his pinkie finger, where it was a tad loose.
Daytona Beach, Florida is a great place to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean. There are miles and miles of beaches, more sand than one can imagine and refreshing, warm salty water to play and swim in until your heart is very content! Unless of course you happen to lose your wedding ring. And that is exactly what happened to Bart on August 18th, 2018 while playing catch with a football in knee deep water with his young son. They immediately stopped playing and scoured the sandy bottom, desperate to find his lost ring. Unfortunately his ring had simply vanished.
Marcia called me on Saturday wanting to know if I was available to help her look for her lost rings. While she and her husband were enjoying swimming in the ocean they got to talking about getting tan lines and Marcia wanted to see if under her rings she had any tan lines. She was in waist deep water at the time and she pulled her rings only slightly down her finger to see if she had any of those dreaded « tan lines » and then the unimaginable happened. Her rings simply slid the rest of the way down her finger and into the churning surf. She could not believe what had just happened. She and her husband frantically began searching the water but her rings just seemed to vanish.
In November of 2017, Jerry was visiting his brother and wife in the Ormond Beach, Florida area and was in a bit of a hurry as he packed up his car to head north for the long drive home. And in his hurry he forgot that he had set his phone on the top of the car! Here is Jerry’s account. « My phone survived a brief thrill ride on top of my car before sliding off onto the shoulder of the road, where it survived a couple of cold and lonely nights before you, Mike, came to the rescue. I tried to hire someone from Craigslist for an « Odd Job » but nobody was interested. The day before I contacted Mike, I asked a local police officer to go out where the signal was still pinging and have a look around. It’s a work phone and they probably wouldn’t have charged me for it but I had some video on there of my daughters last Tae Kwon Do belt test that I didn’t want to lose. Glad I thought of metal detectors and glad I discovered you (and theringfinders.com)! Thanks again! Jerry O. »
Brett called me Sunday evening and asked if I was still helping people find their lost rings. That is usually a dead give away that they or someone close to them, needs help! Brett went on to explain that earlier that day he and his family were on the beach enjoying the sun. sand and surf and while playing catch with a football he felt his ring slip off of his finger. He was only in ankle deep water and he thought he would be able to retrieve it but try as he might, he could not find his lost ring. He said he was really bummed out and he slowly gave up hope of ever seeing his lost wedding ring again.
Today Derek wrote, « My wedding ring slipped off my finger in my friends backyard. 15 people were on their hands and knees but couldn’t find it in the grass. I called Mike up and he was super friendly and confident he could find my ring. He showed up on time and was just as nice as on the phone. We talked a bit and then he went about searching. He used flags to create a grid and methodically scanned the yard. After about an hour of searching he called me over. My wedding band was pushed into the dirt and I never would have found it. He saved me time and got me out of the doghouse with my wife! Thanks Mike! Derek »
Elizabeth wrote « My husband and I were snorkeling in a crystal clear spring, when my husband decided to swim down deep to check out a small cave looking space. While he was coming back up to get air, he pushed off a rock and his wedding ring slipped right off his finger. Panic mode took full force! After several hours of searching for the ring, we thought the ring was gone forever. And by the time you swam to the bottom (at least 15 feet) you had only seconds to search due to the limited air. The ring meant allot to us and it was very hard to accept the fact that it was gone.