Where’s Snow White – GCXP52
#1scout submitted a story this morning regarding the theft of one of his caches. The Snow White cache in Irishtown Park in Moncton was stolen several months ago. Those who have done the cache know that this cache had a pretty nice collection of figurines and a nice house for all of them. I’m posting a slightly edited version of his story request for folks to read.
– Zor
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Hi,
Just to let you all know that I am still looking for my Snow White and the 7 Dwarfts which were stolen this summer – They stole the building and 8 figurines and I am asking all Geocachers to help me find my property ($500.) The cache container (tobacco container) was left on site !!
#1 Scout Adventure Series – Where’s Sno-White GCXP52
Thank you for searching all areas and neighbourhoods in Canada
It’s a shame that this is still missing as I know the cache well and it was definitely cool. If it hasn’t turned up yet, then odds are it’s probably gone for good, unfortunately.
I noticed an email from #1scout to all the contest members accusing a geocacher of stealing it and then he ask geocachers to help him look for it all over Canada? Does he think someone is going to re-use it as their own cache?
I suspect #1scout is upset about the theft. I know you were not serious about someone using the cache again, but it makes me wonder who does these things and why.
On a similar note, we went caching on sunday with Belladan and he mentioned that he was upset because two geocoins were missing from his new cache at the new exit on highway 15.
Again I ask who would do such a thing and why? We have all seen this going on for a long time. We put one coin of ours in circualtion and it only lasted 3 caches. It is obvioulsy being done by someone who checks the GC.com site but is it a muggle or a cacher. And when they have the item in their possession, what can they do with it. They cant use them or show them to other cachers, so what is the point? There is no gain financially or otherwise.
Is it simply someone who gets pleasure in ruining everyone’s fun. It really seems like that to me.
We launched two geocoins that we bought during the CMA 2009 event. They were placed in the same cache and were supposed to race between each other to see which one would rally more mileage. Sadly, one of them never left the cache. It did, but it was never logged so I assume it was stolen. The other one was grabbed from that cache and placed in a cache in Fredericton. I was informed by the cache owner that the coin wasn’t in that cache anymore.
These were the only two geocoins that we launched and they will probably the last one. We have two TB here and we should try our luck soon with them. I mean, they can get lost or stuff like that. But I strongly believe both our geocoins were stolen.
It also happened to me that I moved a real nice geocoin from a fellow in Quebec. Sadly, the coin has been reported missing after I placed it in a cache. I did place it in there but I didn’t liked the feeling of beeing the last one to log a manipulation of that coin.
Some people are not in this for the good reasons sadly. It stinks for #1scout that his cache was stolen but it clearly shows you shouldn’t use anything you are not ready to part with. Because there will always be someone somewhere to ruin it for the others.
Vandalism on caches, stolen caches, coins or TBs is something that drives me mad. You just have no clue how much I would like to be out there and find the perpetrator of such in action. He/they would get their ass kicked so badly that I would just leave them enough strength to be able to breathe! 😈
As for Denislan comment on coins/trackables, I say you should not stop sending them out because of a small number of idiots out there, but keep doing it for the rest of the cachers with good etiquette. I love to find coins and TBs, I track them all down. It’s amazing the distance some can travel. I say half of what I sent out got lost or are missing, but the other half that travel a lot makes up for it. If no one sends coins/TB because they get lost/stolen or if all comes with these ”copies” (that I hate so much, I am in for the real thing, not fakes), than it takes all the fun out of it. Same with #1 scout. It sucks, but that should not stop one to put great caches out there.
I am surprised no one ever tried to set up some of those ruffians. Like at the first cache in Canada for instance where hardly any Trackables gets out of there alive. Someone keeps an eye on that cache and all get stolen. If one of you out here has a camera for deer hunting and are in for it, you supply the camera, I supply the baseball bats and a few of my ol’ biker friends and we go hunting. 😆
Both the trackable and cache issue is really focused on the same thing. You need to accept that the moment you place a cache in the wild, or release a coin/bug for travel, you are putting that item in the hands of people you don’t know and thusly, anything can happen.
Yes, it sucks that caches go missing, coins get stolen, bugs get lost in the shuffle, but the fact is, cachers need to accept the fact that we’re putting things out there that anyone can take, look at, steal, or claim as their own and we really have very little control over it. If you are not willing to accept that risk, then you shouldn’t hide caches and you shouldn’t launch bugs and coins.
We can’t control where bugs and coins will go, nor can we control who picks them up. For me, I circulate bugs but I won’t release coins because coins cost me more money than bugs and coins are more likely to go missing. If I saw a cool coin that I would like to circulate, I’d buy two copies of it and release one but that would be a rare occasion. I’d rather see my stuff travelling than being stolen.
As for #1scout’s cache, I’m kinda torn about this. That cache was one of the first ones I really wanted to get (and I have a good find story for it), and so when I finally got the chance to find it, it was pretty cool. Very well done and very much appreciated by the community. No one will argue that the house and figurines were pretty cool. However, #1Scout spent his $500 on the materials, and hid them in the middle of the woods where ANYONE can find it. The moment that cache was hidden, he accepted the possibility that all of it could go missing. If he wasn’t prepared to take the risk that his $500 investment might just grow it’s own legs, then he shouldn’t have hidden it in the first place. If the value of the cache was a real concern, then perhaps it should have been hidden in a wooded area where there is MUCH less traffic, like the middle of the Dobson, or some other remote area where there isn’t anywhere near as many people. Instead, he hid it in a public park where it’s accessible via a 2 min bushwhack into the woods. How many people walk that trail everyday? I am surprised it lasted as long as it did.
I can understand his frustration and his desire to get his property back because he feels he is out that money. But at the end of the day, if you left something that valuable out in the middle of the woods, you can’t really have expectations that it will be there permanently. Yes, most geocachers are decent folks and would appreciate the container. But there are the oddball ones out there that might take it, but for what purpose? Just to be mean? Possibly, but it’s more likely that someone else discovered it and took it without knowing anything about geocaching. These are all possibilities. The real answer as to what happened will likely never be known.
I spent over $100 on ammo cans for one of my series of caches. We all know how those can disappear. But I’ve had that series for awhile and they remain intact. But I also know and accept that at anytime, they could go missing and I am ok with that. I accept the chance that the money I spent could go out the window because of a cache maggot who likes to steal caches, or a hunter who stumbles upon my containers. But those caches have been active for awhile so I consider the investment I made already paid for by the amount of finds and positive feedback I have gotten. If they’d all been stolen the first week, then I’d probably be pretty mad but it’s been two years.
Snow White has also sat in that spot for more than four years and until earlier this year, there really wasn’t any issue. Four years of having a $500 piece of property sitting out in the open is not bad at all. With 152 finds in that time period, the cache has done considerably well. I’d focus more on that than pointing fingers and getting mad that it was stolen.
To outright accuse geocachers as the ones being responsible for this is, in my own opinion, a little much. Anyone, as in ANYONE, could have been wandering through the woods and came upon it and took it. Just because the tobacco can was left, and just because it’s a geocache, does not mean that only a geocacher could have taken it. That’s just my opinion.
I would love to see this story have a happy ending just like Snow White. I for one really liked the cache and have a really fond memory of finding it. I just don’t happen to think it’s realistic to expect the items to appear. I mean, how often does a stolen geocoin resurface?