In the middle of October we were invited to go to a Metal Detecting "Competition" Hunt being held in Moodus, CT The "National Metal Detecting League" was hosting this event, and it was to be held at Catholic Retreat Center in Moodus called "Our Father's House." This was a two day event.
We had heard that Moodus, CT is haunted. By haunted, I mean that residents of Moodus had reported strange noises and rumblings occasionally to the authorities, and it was explained as being "wind rushing through the trees" or "wind in the caves." We were curious yet excited, because we had never been to Moodus before, and always wanted to go visit.
We arrived at the camp, late Friday night, and there was no one around to be found. Knocking on a couple of the cottage doors, we fortunately found a member of the staff that directed us to the cottages where other metal detectorists were staying.
The Next Day
In the morning, it was cold and clear like any other Fall day would be. We headed to the cafeteria for a good breakfast and to get the agenda for the day. The agenda consisted of an all day "what you find is what you get" open hunt. We were allowed to hunt anywhere on the property we wanted, even in the woods. But we were all to report back to the meeting hall at 3:30 to see what everyone had found.
"Our Father's House" Spiritual Retreat Center sits on 62 acres, and the property dates from the early 1800's. There is a big farm field in back of the cottages, and then acres of woods. We detected all day, and not finding much, returned to the meeting hall at the specified time. Other people had found some cool stuff, a couple of rings, old coins, and an assortment of rusty farm equipment.
Vlad and I moved our belongings into the cottage we were suppose to be in, and became friends with a couple from Albany, New York staying in an adjoining room.
We all met together for lunch, shared some stories, and had a chance to meet everybody else. Then everyone left to go do some more hunting.
Later we returned to the cafeteria for supper. And I would like to add, that the chef and staff were very hospitable, the rooms were cozy, and they presented us with a variety of delicious meals.
After Supper
Fantastic SunsetAt the supper table, Sergei and his girlfriend Shelly our new metal detecting friends, suggested that the four of us go out to the large field behind the cottages to practice detecting silver coins for the "Silver Hunt" the next day, and take some pictures. We all thought it was a great idea. So we quickly grabbed our metal detectors and cameras and left.
We knew we didn't have much time before it got dark. The sunset looked like it was going to be awesome.
The old farmer's field hasn't been plowed for years. There is a nice thick cushion of grass that is kept well maintained. We tucked some silver coins into the grass so we could practice detecting them, and adjust our detectors.
Vlad used his "Nikon D 100" to grab some photos of the sunset.
Cottages in the darkDarkness Falls
I asked Vlad if he had taken any photos of the place we we were staying. I inparticularly was referring to the large "lighted" cross in the courtyard. We all, of course, had been too busy metal detecting to be taking any pictures, so he took several for me at this time.
This one of the cottages turned out to be the best. And you can see how quickly it's becoming dark.
Most of the other hunters had returned to their cottages for the night, or they were sitting on the porches sharing their treasure hunting stories. Some of them were still out metal detecting under the streetlights.
It was such a comfortably warm evening, we couldn't resist staying outside, and the four of us wound up being the only ones that headed for the field.
The groupThe Photo Session
The sunset kept getting better and more colorful by the second. Someone suggested that we better start taking some pictures of ourselves before it gets too dark. After taking a couple of photos, Vlad decided to enable the flash so you could see our faces rather than silhouettes against the bright colorful sunset. He laid his camera on a rock and set the timer, but in this photo, he didn't make it back to our position until after the flash went off. You can see the results of using the flash in the lower portion of the photo.
We kept taking pictures until the sun went down.
Left to Right: Carol, Vlad, Shelly, and Sergei
Just to clarify things, before we go to the next page, the camera that we used is a digital SLR and not a film camera.
