Steve Wagner, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 2 of 4

Lost earring

Warning!! This is a long story but well worth it!! It will also give you the heebie-jeebies!!! Here is the story from the lady that lost the ring!!

The Friday of Memorial Day weekend this year, my Husband, my parents and I made our annual trip to the cemetery to put flowers on our loved ones graves.  I was knelt down cleaning the markers and the vase of my Great Aunt Katherine’s when I came across a spider, which I am deathly afraid of, so I threw down the piece it was on and went on to arranging the flowers.  It was breezy that evening so I kept brushing my hair back from my face, but I felt something touching my ear.  I went to brush it away again and that is when I felt something crawl down into my ear canal.  I went CRAZY, right in the middle of the cemetery!!

It was such a horrifying, helpless feeling, as well as, a sound I cannot describe.  I am frantically swatting at my ear and hair trying to get rid of whatever was in there.  Nothing was working, so there I stand with my head tilted sideways, as I thought if I stood upright, whatever was in there would go further in.  My Husband came over to check it out, but He couldn’t see anything.  So I started swatting my ear and hair again and then thought we saw something fly by, so I’m thinking, whatever it was, is gone.  WRONG!!  As we were getting ready to leave, I felt something move around in my ear again and I told my Husband to please take me to Quick Care or the emergency room.  He said, let’s first run over to my work (which is just across from the cemetery) and use the Snap-On borescope tool to look into your ear to see what we are dealing with.  At that point, I thought anything was worth a shot.  We all loaded up and went over to the shop to give it a try.  Before we started, I told my Husband to PLEASE, whatever is in there, do not tell me what it is.  So, I held the lighted end of the camera to my ear and it only took Him a few seconds to see what it was.  He didn’t say a word, and quickly went to work building a a makeshift suction tool using an air hose and piece of tubing.  We tried it twice but the sound was way too loud for me.  He then decided to try the scope again, however, this time, the camera end was HOT because we had left it on.  I still held it to my ear, carefully trying not to burn myself, and then I felt something move again, and this time, it was in a hurry, crawling back out of my ear.  My Husband said don’t touch anything it’s coming out, and out it finally came.  There, on the floor, was a white spider, the same one I saw earlier at the cemetery.  I couldn’t believe it and almost felt like fainting.  My Mom and Dad, both, said spiders don’t like heat and it was trying to get away from the heat of the scope.  Thank goodness we left it on, or I do not know what I would have done.

Tim told us the picture from the scope is magnified, so when He first looked in my ear, it looked like a tarantula was in there.  Sure glad it wasn’t, as this one was bad enough.

I am so thankful and grateful for my Husband and His calm ability to fix anything I throw His way.  He not only got the spider out, He also saved us a $500, e.r. visit.

Unfortunately, I didn’t notice, until the next morning, my diamond earring, a gift from my Husband, was missing.  All the swatting I did must have pulled it out and I didn’t even know it.  To say I was devastated is an understatement!!

On Memorial Day, after telling my story at our Son and Daughter-In-Laws cookout, a good friend told me Her Dad works with a guy who does metal detecting on the side.  She read me a few of His success stories and then texted me His business card.  His name is Steve Wagner, and He is part of a group called The Ring Finders.  I was skeptical at first, because my Husband and I had looked for the earring using 2 different metal detectors at no avail.  Almost 3 weeks went by and I finally texted Steve to see if He was not only interested in searching for my earring, but wouldn’t mind searching for it in a cemetery.  He excepted the challenge with enthusiasm and said He could meet me the next day.  After getting permission from the owners of the cemetery, we met at 9am, sharp, and the search was on.  I brought the other earring with me, and after He scanned it with the detector, I showed Him where I was and what I did when the spider decided to take his trip in my ear.  After about 15-20 minutes, the groundskeeper, not knowing I already had permission, stopped by to see what was going on.  I told Him the story and explained we already had permission and He said good luck because we’ve mowed several times since Memorial Day.  I thought to myself, thanks for the words of encouragement buddy!  I went back to where Steve was searching and as He was scanning the ground, He asked me if the earring was of value or was it sentimental, to which I replied “both”, but, more “sentimental” since it was a gift from my Husband.  Steve stopped searching, held out His hand and said, “Well, you will be happy to have this back then”.  There, in the palm of His hand, was my earring!!  I was excited beyond words and the look on my face must have showed it.  He said when I walked away to talk to the groundskeeper, is when He found it, and He showed me the exact location which was less than a few feet away from where I knelt down that day.  So, not only did He find the earring, He made the return just as special.  

Thank you Steve Wagner; I am beyond grateful for your talent and your willingness to help others.

Lost engagement ring

I received a call from a gentleman who was going thru a break up with his fiancé and she had thrown her engagement ring in the yard. He was able to watch it and was fairly sure of the area it landed in. After she left, he started to look for the ring but was afraid that he might step on it, so he decided to get some help. He found me on theringfinders.com. I arrived and he told me the story and his thoughts on where he thought it would be, I started to detect that area. The search only took about 10 minutes and I found it and was able to get the ring back to him.

I received a call from someone that lives in town wanting to fence in their back yard.  They wanted to be sure it was placed on their property. Approximately 5 years ago it was surveyed and pins placed, but since then the pins had been covered up completely by the yard. Iron property pins are hard to find because every yard has a lot of iron in it!

I started at the back by the garage where the person was fairly certain a pin was. After a few minutes of finding some junk iron, I found the pin. That gave me the numbers on my detector that I needed. They knew the approximate footage on the width so I stepped it off and found the second and eventually all 4 corners.

I have found several property pins for folks throughout the years along with other metal items like guns and knives. If you have anything metal in the shallow water or in a yard or field, feel free to reach out and contact me

I have another lost, very sentimental, jewelry item that I was able to find and return. I was contacted by a friend who told me that her daughter had lost a really special pendant! The awesome thing about this one was the mother that contacted me kept it a secret from her daughter that I found the pendant and told her that I couldn’t find it. She surprised her with it at Christmas!!

This one was a tough recovery. The item lost was a gold heart shaped pendant. I used one of my wife’s gold pendant that was similar in size to see what kind of tone and numbers it would ring up on my metal detectors. It rang up just like “can slaw”!! Which is little pieces of aluminum cans and from past experiences, I knew there would be a BUNCH of it at the play ground!! I had to dig every one of those signals if I wanted to find it!

Here is the story from the mother that contacted me!

My daughter, Maria lost a very sentimental and unreplaceable necklace pendant in February 2021. This necklace was designed and made for each granddaughter and great-granddaughter from the diamonds in her paternal grandmother’s wedding bands. Fast forward to December of 2021. Maria finally told me that she had lost the pendant. It appears she and some of her friends were playing late at night on the slides at the old Lawrence School in Washington County and after she had slid down the slide she pulled on the neck of her sweatshirt and inadvertently grabbed the chain to her necklace too and broke it. She said she shook out her sweatshirt, searched her jeans but could not find it. Then she and her friends went back in the daylight and looked around, plus she searched the vehicle, but she was unable to find it.

 

In August 2022, I stopped at the school on the way home from a gender reveal party and looked around but did not find it. As much as it upset her, it kept eating at me to try to locate it.

 

On December 14th, 2022, I contacted Steve Wagner to see if he would be interested in looking for it. I sent him a picture of the pendant that was missing. He sent me an aerial drawing of the area and I had Maria’s friend Katana circle the location of where they thought she lost It. Steve said he went out that evening and searched but it got too dark. On December 15th, Steve went out to the location and performed a circle search around the slide. He said 100 pieces of aluminum and foil and 3 hours of searching later he got another strong signal about 20 feet from the slide. He removed the grass from the area and saw something that could be it. He stepped back and took a picture. He then gently removed the dirt around the area and down embedded in the soil was the pendant that had been missing for 1 year and 10 months.

 

From February 2021 to December 2022 that area had been flooded several times, tons of rain and snow as well as other late-night adventures tracked around on the soil. According to Steve, this school playground had also been searched by other metal detecting individuals in the past as well. I cannot express our gratitude enough to Steve for finding this irreplaceable piece of jewelry and I am sure that Maria will cherish it and the memories tied to it forever.

 

Thank you so much Steve, there are no words that can show the appreciation we have for you and the craft you have mastered.

 

 

I got a message from Eric about a lost ring so I immediately made arrangements to go look for it. It was a tough hunt because like everyone’s yard, it’s full of foil, bits of aluminum cans and pull tabs which all give a very similar signal as a gold ring!!

Here is the story in his own words:

The summer of 2021 the wife was out in the yard playing with our little ones and the local kids during a rain. They was all spinning around and having fun. The wife came into the living room crying because her wedding ring had fallen off and she couldn’t find it. So being the husband I’m trained to be, lol, I went to Dunhams and purchased an $80 metal detector and tried for a few months to find the ring. Well a year later from when she lost the ring, I had to message Steve on Facebook and asked for help. He came out on June 12th and spent a few hours in the yard finding a bunch of stuff. Then I look over and Steve motions me over with a big smile. There it was in the ground. We can’t say thank you enough.