Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon -104

Stonehenge and the lost Cannonsburg cannon have something in common? Both have magnetic fields that exist in cemeteries and the Cannonsburg cemetery is part of the mystery concerning the missing cannon. Stonehenge to leading scientists is reputed to be an ancient cemetery and not an astronomical place where Stone Age Britions encountered extraterrestrials. Human ashes exist near the standing stones with base bluestones and together they impart a magnetic charge to the standing stones - Stonehenge. The wetness in soil is the electrical connection charge to the stone, but when ashes are cast to the winds the energy field is lost, too. So too, when we return to dust in a casket it is the wetness of the dust that holds an electrical. As long as the ashes are confined the fields of energy won't disappear. Dry dust holds no electrical charge. Wetness is the connection point.

Earlier I talked about lightning, but did you know many people are electrocuted during and after a thunderstorm, hurricane or tornado visit, because they stepped in gutter stormwater. That's right. Someplace a downed electrical line carries that current along the curb to a storm basin. Step into the stormwater and "ZAP" you are dead not by lightning, but by live downed electrical lines or lightning bolt. High voltage electricity is an unseen silent killer. Back to my story.

When I tossed out my cemetery findings out to Bob. He was squeamish about where he might have to go, but after two drastic failures and probably a third dig, he had to investigate Cannon Township's three cemeteries. He had fought the urge to investigate the cemetery for nearly 50 years. He never thought he'd have to go to such lengths to find the Cannonsburg cannon. He felt in his heart and mind that before he dowsed he should explain to the cemetery spirits why it was so important to check out my findings and settle his mind, because a distracted mind is a terrible thing to waste. His wildest dream was being challenged.

Bob needed closure on his wildest dream. It was time to explore the idea that the cannon might truly be buried in one of the cemeteries and yes, we watched Bob's rods move mysteriously above the ground when we told him what to find and he found...our purposely planted coin. We had to test his mind's ability to focus on a coin. No sense looking for a cannon if he couldn't dowse a coin. Being team members we had to check out Bob's brain, his mental state and physical energy level and his overall health when using dowsing rods. Body, mind and spirit must be in good condition. Concentration and focus were the prerequisites that all dowsers must perform when trying to find cannons or treasure. Lots of digging at two previous failure sites made us skittish of Bob's ability to dowse accurately.

Caskets with bodies, lost gravesites and magnetic tombstones he had to forget. These would be his downfall. He had to erase them from his mind and concentrate on only a 16th century falconet cannon. All dowsers must shield their mind and body from things that could influence and corrupt thinking processes. The ability to dowse treasures or cannons is much more difficult than dowsing water, water wells, underground pipes, containment tanks, utilities or gravesites. Bob literally had to visualize a 2-pound falconet cannon in his mind that was 44-72 inches in length with Danish or Austrian features these being reinforcement rings. He had to refrain from caskets containing the dearly departed. Now that's a feat in a cemetery because of all the tombstones, markers, plaques and flower pots.

On a hazy, breezeless, warm July morning (July 9, 1988) Bob Alcumbrack, Allen Janose, Harold and Matt McCarthy, Chuck or Charlie Alcumbrack and I witnessed Bob begin his cemetery survey hoping to find if the Cannonsburg cannon was buried here. Bob moved around, but got no readings except for catching the ley lines that ran thru the cemetery. Other than these no other magnetic fields were found until he started adding directional triangulation anchor rods to the north, south and east driveways. He marked three anchor rods; two sending and one receiving electrical energy and we watched Bob's rods cross in hins hands where "X" marked the fourth spot from the three different anchors spots. The anchor spots are the triangulation points that narrow the triangle, which from any counterclockwise circumference of the circle plus the object you see in your mind's eye made one rod point to the direction of the object he desired.

It had taken Bob many years of practice to understand how the rods are used to find buried objects. Anchor rods have been used by ley line hunters since the late 1920's. It isn't just a matter of seeing it in the mind's eyes, but course comps were needed since the anchors were used as antennas for sending and receiving signals from buried objects that held a strong magnetic energy field.

Before Bob started his search with dowsing rods. We blindfolded him so he couldn't see any cemetery features. Bob stood absolutely still like a statue in a park and we waited patiently and watched one rod point towards the location. As we walked him a around the circle we charted his rod point directions. We had to stop him briefly so he wouldn't trip and fall on tombstones or plaque markers. At gravesites his rods never crossed which meant his mind was on only a distant object, the cannon. He was keeping the visual image in his mind while asking precise silent questions. Bob's rods never reacted or crossed at gravesites. Only positional triangulations towards the secret burial spot were noted. From wherever Bob walked one rod would always point towards one distant spot.

Once he narrowed the field he walked slowly and eventually the rods crossed in his hands over the grave. He sensed the rods movements, but didn't know they crossed. When he dropped his rods downward to a neutral stance, one rod beside each of his lower legs he waited they raised the rods and asked a silent question "Is the cannon buried beneath my feet?" The rods immediately crossed in his hands (positive answer) and his body trembled.

We led Bob away and unmasked him. We didn't want him to see the gravestie. We watched him dowse the same cannon spot from wider distances, two, three and four times. With full view of all the tombstones he asked the rods to point the direction to the gravesite and the line was marked on the opposite anchor rod. No matter from what angle he walked across the cemetery the rods wouldn't cross over any gravesites, but one rod continued to point out the direction from the circumference of the entire circle until both rods crossed when he passed over the "X" spot. He gave us goosebumps.

On the second trial when Bob saw the grave his Adam's apple jumped hard. He didn't believe it possible and he didn't want to believe he had possibly found or dowsed the cannon. He wasn't going to let his mind fool him, but over and over he dowsed the same spot from greater distances. The cannon rests in a dedicated grave in Cannonsburg cemetery. He stumbled backward, his voice trailing with "Naw, guys I could be wrong." He failed many times in wetland locations, but on dry land he was accurate. He constantly tried to disbelieve his findings. Was he right or wrong to assume the cannon was in this grave. Some dreams come true and some don't and he wasn't willing to accept success just yet.

We returned to the cemetery on July 12th and four tests more Bob dowsed the cannon at the same location. His rods never crossed over any other gravesites. No matter where he walked the rods always pointed towards the location. What he did notice was that the underground objects was sending stronger signals between the three anchor rods placed at different point on the circumference of the circle. Bob meant no disrespect for the dearly departed and he asked for forgiveness for investigating the cemetery findings, the only difference now was that he was attempting to disprove he had dowsed the cannon. He wouldn't let his mind release the cannon to its final resting spot. It was his way of dismissing his findings knowing nobody was going to ever see that cannon again and that is exactly what Tompsett's five buddies had accomplished.

Bob's body trembled after finding the spot four more times three days later. The signals where "X" markded the spot was stronger than on the 12th. It was the darker side of the lunar calendar when buried electromagnetic field objects have the strongest electrical fields. Each time he dowsed the gravesite he swallowed deeper, but the last time Bob dowsed his face was sullen, his body trembled and voice cracked softly "Guys, I could be wrong!" Allen Janose hung his head as Bob repeated his former statement, "Guys, I could be wrong, I-I could be-e-e wrong-g-g guys!"
His wildest dram was being shattered like glass, but it wasn't over. He had come to the realization it was here. He'd have to accept what he found and move onward.

He found the burial spot, but he had to figure out the size and feature of the cannon, so he backed up and when the rods opened straight ahead he placed a coin on the ground and walked forward, the rods crossed and swung open again. The object was 55-inches long and tapered from 9-11-9-8 at the large end. He had dowsed the reinforcement rings about an inch thick and the piece tapered down from 8 inches wide to five inches wide, then 6-8-6-5 inches near the muzzle. Again the widths were reinforcement rings. This is why the dockworkers in Grand Rapids in 1848 called it an ancient cannon. The cannon was buried from 87-95 inches deep. Bob said, "Guys, I could be-e wrong!"

Two more segments will finalize this story. Don't miss the exciting conclusion, because another mystery in this cemetery will yield a startling discovery that might prove correct the cannon's physical features.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 103

A cemetery was the most logical place on earth where the Cannonsburg cannon could be buried by a sexton and five men forever without being exhumed by man with the exception of Mother Nature. Never would it be disturbed again, but needless to say, the men of past didn't know that men of their future could use ground penetrating radar (GPR), MRI's, infrared photography, dowsing rods, metal detectors or radar tomography to find just about anything put into the soil or water. We had reason to believe that the cannon was buried at the end of the trail - that being the Cannonsburg cemetery. It was an honorable site for the end of the ancient cannon and it was once the pride of joy of Mr. Cannon. This was his favorite view of Cannonsburg.

In a rerun episode of NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) the boss' Mark Harmen along with his investigative team with smart gal Abby used a hypothetical GPR to search a cemetery grave for a body inside a coffin. On a dark night the clandestine acting group of forensic scientists dragged a GPR device over the grave, which highlighted the casket minus the body, but it showed cement blocks - a vivid visual image. I must warn you no such device is in existence today - no clear images like what was shown. If the government did have a highly sophisticated GPR that showed such clarity it wouldn't acknowledge its use. The NCIS version GPR didn't exist, but real trials of such a device have been disappointing. Not just anyone can understand what is being seen. It takes a skilled geo-scientist to read GPR devices. They cost near a quarter million.

When the living walk into cemeteries they see engraved tombstones or plaque markers, but it is only the living who have seen the faces of those who've departed this life. Some long lifers can remember the physical features of the dead; tall, short, skinny, fat, etc. The tombstones we see leave a tag or marker in our memory bank. Whenever we go in cemeteries its a sacred place of the dead, but most of us return to the cemetery to respect the dead with flowers and prayer. We reflect on fond memories of those who lie in eternal sleep. We go to cemeteries to show some respect for the dearly departed or dead. It's a place where the living go to remember the love of our lives.

As we neared the conclusion of Bob's third dig in 1988 we couldn't help feel that it was plausible that the five men who hauled the killer cannon out of Cannonsburg did so with every intention of making sure it'd never see the light of day again. When Tompsett died the funeral and graveside services were secret. No obituaries for Tompsett were written for newspapers. The cemetery sexton could have buried Tompsett and cannon in the same grave. Bob didn't want to hear this when I told him what I'd found concerning how peacetime cannons were decommissioned when it killed a private citizen. Military personnel are buried alone, the cannon on the surface, but not below ground.

This was a Federal recommendation in the mid 1880's for disposal of non-military peacetime cannon's. Bury them deep and place the coffin on top of the cannon. Placing them deeper than coffin shielded the cannon from grave robbers. It'd keep the heritage and history of the piece intact.

The time between the cannon accident and Tompsett's death was extremely hard on Rena Tompsett, especially those surviving Tompsett family members who arrived to late. The five men and town elders who failed to keep quiet probably argued most of the time who's fault it was and what to do with the killer cannon. Teardrops fell by the thousands that night. The cannon five spirited the killer cannon out of town fast. They took it upon themselves to make sure it went missing before sunrise and forgo the rutted wagon trails of public roads.

The clanking, rattling and squeaking wheels of the ancient cannon would have woken area farmers or those tending to early morning chores. They couldn't risk being seen with the cannon in tow. They took the wayward trail off Joyce Street. That was the secret route and they hoped nobody would seen them, but alas it was the squeaking wheels that woke up 8-year old Estella Ward and her bright eyes saw them twice. Once pulling the cannon and returning empty handed. She was the only eyewitness who could supply Bob with a time frame coming and going.

A cemetery sexton plus five grief stricken men could he even dug a deep grave for Tompsett that Sunday morning and buried that cannon deeper than the casket. The cannon would be right at home in the Cannonsburg cemetery. The honorable gift cannon could rest without ever hurting anyone else again. Was this their biggest secret? We knew where the cannon wasn't buried. Surely they wouldn't destroy or recycle it and wouldn't sell it.

We did know through our ley line investigations that two ley lines ran through the Cannonsburg. One from northwest to southeast trajectory (Cannon Twp. northwest Section 4 to SW Section 26). It went ended at the pine stump near Bob's first big dig. The stump was a power projection source of magnetic energy. It's aura was six feet wide, the largest we ever found in Cannon Twp. The other ley ran nearly due south from near the old Bush lake in Cannon Twp. Section 3 and ended just inside the north property line of the cemetery. The pine stump had many other leys coming to it from southwest to northeast. Local Indians would say the previous ley was abad omen. The discovery of the ley lines thru the cemeterty got our attention. Leys persay don't lead to buried treasures, but research along leys did support the fact that some treasures have been found within the triangle of leys.

I suggested to Bob in 1986 he'd be wise to investigate Cannon Township cemeteries. He couldn't bring himself to believe the men buried it there. His mind wouldn't let him believe this. It would be a death knell to his wildest dream. He felt it disrespectful to his dead friends and family to investigate the probabilities that cannon and man might be buried together. He thought it terribly disrespectful of the dead and dearly departed and today dowsers are used in cemeteries to find lost graves and identify graves lost in time before the lots may be resold or used by someone else. Bob couldn't stomach trespassing against the spirits of the dead. He refused to use his dowsing skills in the Cannonsburg cemetery until his third big dig was a bust. His men had suffered enough failures and the group sought closure.

Cemetery dowsing for lost gravesites is an honorable profession. Bob was to become a pioneer as a non-destructive gravesite surveyor. That's a skilled professional dowser after nearly two years of intense dowsing instruction and practicing. He had become a gifted practical dowser and indeed able to accurately dowse objects, tell what it was before digging commenced. He could time date the object and coins unseen. White's electronic metal detectors today give you an image of what you've found before the owner attempts to dig up the treasure. Lots of treasure is plain junk, but on occasion someone strikes the mother lode.

Like children practicing a musical instrument, the art of concentration and mind focusing or tending is what makes dowsers successful. Practice makes perfect and one has to listen to the rotten squeaky notes many times just like those who wear headsets for metal detectors and listen to the squawking. It takes lots of patience, concentration and focusing to dowse objects.

God provided us all with a brain and body. They don't always work together, but if you are daring enough to believe in God, why isn't man daring enough to use what God gave us all. He gave most of us the ability to use the gray matter between our ears to focus and concentrate and use our electrical charged brain and nerves to increase our own aura of electromagnetic energy fields. This dimension aura spins around our bodies like the electrical charges that circle around Stonehenge on the darkest nights. Whether living or dead it is the electrical fields that causes dowsing rods to cross for unknown and unseen visual objects. This is why some humans glow in the dark when sitting atop Indian Mounds or tombstones glow at night. As long as the dowser can envision an object in the mind's eye so much the better, but the brain must think like a computer to envision objects. Don't disbelieve in dowsers simply because someone else is a doubting Thomas. To understand the principles of dowsing you just need to fine tune your mind, body and spirit. If you disbelieve in one why bother?

Once upon a time most parents told their children to believe in "Santa Clause, Kris Kringle, Para Noel, the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy" until parents shattered their dream friends. Just because you've never seen God, Jesus Christ or Angels doesn't mean they never existed. Dying people have said, "Did you see the angel or Christ standing at the foot of the bed?" Many of the living and healthy see nothing. The heart and mind must be in tune with the Spirit. The living aren't prepared for the end. All dowsers just want you to accept them and be daring enough to believe that anything is possible. If the prophets of the Bible made miracles why fear dowsers?

Our living physical being, brains and nerves are supercharged daily with free flowing neurons and electrons and these electrical impulses travel thru our nerves in our bodies at the speed of light. In a few seconds I want you to close your eyes. I want you to drive to work or favorite play spot using only your mind's eye. Picture your residence and everything. My mind is getting duller since I can see all the sights for one hundred miles in about 10 seconds. Short-term ride 3 miles in less than 2 seconds. Whatever you see is locked in your mind's eye -- the memory center of your brain.

Get ready, get set, go! Take a few minutes to explore what is recorded in your memory banks.

As I previously said, "Some individuals generate wide electromagnetic energy fields while others have little to none. Whether living or dead doesn't matter just as long as the body remains intact in a casket or cremated ashes remain inside a vase. Each has its own electromagnetic energy identity. When bones and ashes are separated the magnetic field ceases. Segment 104-106 tell where all this ends. As legendary Paul Harvey would say "Good Day!"

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 102

Upon the death of Walter Tompsett in Cannonsburg all those who witnessed the terrible accident swore themselves to a solid vow of silence for eternity. Nary a whisper of community news came from Cannonsburg for over two months. Food and Christian fellowship was the only mention of festivities at area churches where they greeted each other with respect, but they never talked about the accident, where the cannon went or anything connected to the tragedy.

September 1885 saw the arrival of Cannonsburg's new physician and surgeon. Ooh, had he gone to Cannonsburg first instead of Kent City, Mr. Tompsett would be alive today, but disabled. Instead he found the townspeople locked in extreme grief, sadness and depression. The depth of their sorrow and depression was so great it eventually forced him to leave Cannonsburg in 1888. He couldn't stand the silence. He tried unscuccessfully for three years to find out what happened to the cannon, but left to teach surgical skills in Grand Rapids. Never would anyone comment freely. Cannonsburg had become a secret driven community and the people never talked about Walter Tompsett or his survivng family members again.

Fred Thomsas and his grandfather James Thomas were often questioned for information concerning the cannon's disappearance, but both denied to answer. It was if their jaws were wired shut.

Fred was absent when the five men buried the cannon, but township people believed that James Thomas might have told Fred. James was highway commissioner and road builder when Tompsett was killed and it was he who told the senior township officials where to bury it the first time. Unfortunately he didn't keep quiet and his grandson Fred overhead James and Fred's fahter John talking and figure it out where it was buried. Fred though was still being pestered so badly by outsiders that he met a woman from Ionia, Michigan and married her. He left Cannonsburg and spemt the remainder of his life in Ionia.

James it seems didn't worry much about spillin' the beans, because he was severely injured around 1892 when the logging chain he was using to remove a tree stump during road construction snapped strking him in the head causing a severe concussion. Many tried plying him with intoxicating liquor to trick him into answering, but his short-term memory prevented him from forming an intelligent answer. He'd often say "What was the question again?"

At the Pioneer Founder's Day picnic in 1886 in Thomas Hall nothing was ever said about the previous Fourth of July celebration that claimed Walter Tompsett's life. It was if the accident never happened. The only news was that Rena Tompsett had married Mr. Andre of Cannonsburg and that they moved to Grand Rapids. Being a widow with a young son she had to find a man who could take care of them both.

I unlike Bob always assumed that the Tompsett family with the town elders and Dr. Patterson had taken to heart what the Federal government recommended. The old post Civil War era cannons were made of junk metal. "Destroy, bury or recycle, but get rid of them!" Liability claims were on the rise across America. According to government statistics almost 250 men were killed and thousands injured so badly they couldn't work during 1865-1892. Something had to be done to stop the carnage. Those firing the cannon never had any military training. According to government sources it was customary and traditional to bury peace-time non-military individuals (private citizens) killed by malfunctioning cannons in a single grave, alone by itself or within the same grave below the coffin. Military personnel may not be buried with occupant, because such cannon was government property. Gift cannons from private individuals to town and village people were exempt.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 101

Bob Alcumbrack's wildest dream was to find the lost Cannonsburg cannon and yes, he did find the cannon on July 9th and 12th, 1988. That's 103 years after its disappearance on July 5, 1885. So why hadn't you ever heard that he did find the cannon and the story behind it? It's because of where he found his wildest dream. Never in his wildest dream did he imagine where he'd find it.

American philosopher Charles Peirce (1839-1914) once said that the "Wildest dreams are the necessary first steps toward scientific investigations. It is the man of science, eager to have his every opinion regenerated, his every idea rationalized" and this historical researcher drank at "the fountain of facts" that helped Bob channel all his energies towards "truth not as he understands it, but as he did not understand it." Bob didn't have all the answers to problems just as neither did his cannon hunting crew. Some things in life you learn as you press forward into the future and try as you might the outcome may not be what should have happened.

A case in point is the mysterious disappearance of the fellows searching for the Lost Dutchman's treasure who went missing. They sought the treasure, but why haven't searchers found them? It could be they found the treasure by accident. Could the earth have swallowed them, the ground giving way catapulting them into a deep cavern, the earth burying them without a trace or could they have met their doom by the hands of others who lead them to the treasure? That's always why it is important to have a close cluster of trusted comrades who know where you've gone when treasure hunting.

Timeline: July 5, 1885 approximately 1-2 a.m.

Roughly 12 hours after the accident Dr. Rev. Patterson came outside his residence and told the faithful still outside that Walter Tompsett had passed away. He laid for 12 hours on the bed bleeding to death before his parents or any physicians and surgeons could arrive to amputate the remainder of his leg and stop the flow of blood. He technically bled to death. The faithful burst into tears. It was a horrible end to such a festive Fourth of July.

Tompsett's six friends and the township officials who previously buried the cannon wept. Although the cannon killed Walter it was largely their fault for not heeding the advice of town elders, but both groups of men created the tragedy. Had the seven young men ages 27-43 not dug up that cannon from the streamside grave this tragedy could have been averted, but then again it might have happened in the near distant future.

Five grief stricken men left to get the cannon and made it go missing for 103 years. They were going to make sure nobody ever fired that cannon again, but for such an honorary cannon, they would make sure it stayed in the community. This was their biggest secret. So what happened to the secret cannon?

All in all Bob had forgotten lessons learned in life that children lose all track of time. Time to a youngster is fleeting most of the time. God knows truthfully how long the men were gone. This was not to insinuate that Estella Ward was wrong or fudged about the time gone and when the men returned, but it would be impossible to return the cannon to its former grave and walking back past the Ward home an hour later. Couldn't be done. So where and how did they hide the cannon.


Theoretically this is what we believe might have happened to the cannon, but as you will eventually see sometimes researchers can look right at something and miss it. We get so heavily involved we miss things easily seen, but it is not recorded in our memories.

Beyond the Ward estate, the men went up the trail over the hill and crossed the small footbridge over the small stream and past the original burial site where Mr. Murray's eyes filled with tears. Just beyond the trail forked, the southwest trail returning to Cannonsburg Road, the other trail going northwest approximately 12oo feet to Le Grand Cannon's favorite piece of property. It's a high hill that in 1885 looked southeast over fields of wheat and pastures. The view of Cannonsburg was breathtaking. Mr. Cannon's most favorite spot in Cannon Township had become the Cannonsburg Cemetery on Sunfish Lake Road. Five men could have dropped that killer cannon off in the cemetery and presumably dug a grave for it and Tompsett or the sexton buried both. Who would have thought that Mr. Cannon's favorite spot would become a cemetery. The cemetery might be its final destination.

The five men rushed back to town and walked past the Ward house shortly after sunrise. They couldn't take the chance that someone would see them walking past houses on public roadways. At sunrise the churchbells rang in "Churchtown", because Cannonsburg was a town with churches and it was going to be a solemn day. Oops, lots of thunder a storm approaches, but I just wanted to start the ball rolling causing you to wonder what and where did Bob really find the cannon. Is it in the cemetery? Next time in segment 102 and 103 I unmask the ultimate secret. What will the destiny of segment 103 and year 103 reveal. The mysterious disappearance of the Cannonsburg cannon is understood upon its 125th year absence.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 100

"Awesome!" That awesome blast fooled Bob, but cannonfire is awesome for any size.

That's what Bob Alcumbrack, the Cannonsburg cannon hunter eventually thought when he'd found the burial spot of the cannon July 4-7th, 1986. He felt certain his search would end after dreaming for 57 years. John Murray's tearful eyes couldn't lie. But they did. They hid a mysterious secret, too. That's what this whole blog is about.

Surely his nuclear metal range finders wouldn't fail, but they did and his experimental use of ground penetrating radar wouldn't fail, but that did. Ice cold water and real gold in black sand did foul plans for a great 4th of July, but it was the "awesome" word eyewitnesses said that caused Bob to lose track of reality. Not everything in life goes according to plan. Still he never imagined it would take two years more of research and dowsing practice before he was ready for his final conquest.

For the next two years he continued to dream about finding the Cannonsburg cannon, but finding the historical treasure didn't mean "finders keeper" and he had to ponder the question "what if the rightful owner" meaning the township or government claimed it. The owner might challenge his right to preserve, restore and display the killer cannon of Cannonsburg that when prematurely fired killed 27-year old Walter Tompsett. Was it a disrespectful the act to dig it up? Bob felt it was his duty to right a wrong. As an honorable cannon it didn't deserve to go missing. Bob all along felt the five men who buried it in a secret location were wrong to bury such an honorable cannon. It was the fault of humans loading it that caused the tragedy. Still Bob was a possibility thinker and he never gave up his wildest dream.

What's your dream? It would have been easy for him to quit dreaming. If something could go wrong, it did, but he didn't dwell on things he couldn't change and chose to think positive thoughts. Dr. Robert Scheuller of the Crystal Cathedral, in California, you must be a possibility thinker in life. Dwelling on the negatives of life hinders your resolve to overcome problems. and problems mushroom.

God gave us all brains, but it's too bad we fail to use it correctly. Our brains inability to focus or concentrate effectively is the only constant between success and failure and Bob Alcumbrack was out to win using his mind's eye, brain and body. Without concentration and focus nothing can be achieved. All three turned him into a powerful electromagnetic field of energy, the electrical current's supercharging raced down from his focused brain thru nerves in muscles connected to the dowsing rods and on July 9th and 12, 1988, he did indeed find the Cannonsburg cannon on the dark cycle days of the month's lunar cycle.

Bob had triangulated on the secret cannon and nobody was going to know the exact burial site. Many believe Bob never realized his dream, but he did. He had found the burial spot of Cannon Township's honorable namesake, but past killer cannon, but it was a bittersweet find. In 1986 Bob hoped to find a 14 foot long six-pound military cannon, a cannon that weighed more than 3800 pound dry, but thrice that if wet. When the cannonballs were found in James Thomas' old house did that cannon shrink to 54-72 inches long weighing a mere 300-400 pounds far less than originally believed. Bob's cannon was slightly larger than Bob's memorial cannon placed by Don Kurylowitz, the owner of the Cannonsburg Deli & Market and Honey Creek Inn. That's the corner of Honey Creek Ave and Cannonsburg Road dead center in Cannonsburg, Michigan. Both streets were Sioux Indian War Trails to Saginaw.

Bob, Allen Janose, Harold McCarthy and I watched Bob dowse the small ordnance at the last secret burial spot. He dowsed the dimensions. Bob scratched his head numerous times, more times from different angles and "X" marked the spot from many different locations. Just because you dowse a cannon or treasure doesn't give you exclusive rights to dig it up. on government, private or public land. Channels of joint cooperation were needed and the amounts of government paperwork, documentation and environmental impact statements caused Bob to shudder. The 1885 cannon burial men had found the ultimate secret burial spot, but we bet they never would have imagined that Bob Alcumbrack with modern technology would find their missing cannon.

Since Bob Alcumbrack's death in May 2004 I've asked many Cannonsburg residents "How many holes did Bob dig searching for the Cannonsburg Cannon? Most reply one big dig and many were surprised to learn he dug hundreds. Bob kept four burial spots secret. He kept the last "awesome" secret and respected where it rested. In the end he saved the secret spot for eternity with respect for Walter Tompsett and those who witnessed the horror. He kept it secret from the public out of respect for Walter Tompsett. He found his dream, but was deeply saddened by its discovery. His 'thunder' was diminished. He visited the site many times up until his death, but in the end felt it was his best decision.

Before I tell where he found the Cannonsburg cannon you need to know where other people think the cannon was buried. George Herrington, sipping coffee at the Cannonsburg Grist Mill, Deli and Market says its buried beneath a roadway, somewhere in an upright position with muzzle pointing skyward inside a hollow tree. It could be buried with a young tree planted inside bore since as the tree grows it'd split or encase the cannon inside the rootball of an ancient oak tree. The Cannonsburg area has lots of old trees over 150 years old.

Don Kurylowitz once said he and other believe the old cannon was resurrected during one of two World Wars for recycling projects, but I found no evidence to support this claim. Trouble is secrecy ruled Cannonsburg and all witnesses were sworn to silence and only five burial men knew where and how they got rid of the killer cannon. Rena Tompsett and Dr. Patterson had a hand in where it went. All took the secret to their graves. The burial men were sworn to secrecy and surely none of them would have dug it up or retrieved it without the expressed permission of each other, just like the men who buried the Twin Sisters in Texas, who couldn't find it when they returned to the site.

Internet companion cannon browsers indicate the Cannonsburg cannon was thrown into Sunfish or Pickerel Lake, but the men already feared somebody would find them soon. Could it have been chucked into a deep privy or Hartwell's old cistern well south of Cannonsburg or was it thrown into a bottomless kettle pond or hauled to the Saul's Lake bog. Bob searched the kettle ponds in the area, but found nothing but 19th century junk. I mentioned the old honey hole (outside crapper). We explored these sites too, which yielded discarded metal objects, toiletry bottles all enclosed in nightshade material. Privy digging is a requirement for budding archaeologists working on a Master's Degree. You could say its a 'nighshade' requirement for 21st century graduations.

Still other places of investigations were the old concrete dam foundations in Cannonsburg, the gate pillars at Townsend Park or beneath the concrete floor of the Warren Townsend Park Pavillion built in 1923. Surely John Murray wouldn't have dug up the cannon and moved it here.

Anonymous others suggested the cannon might be inside a hollow "v" shaped tree, but nobody has ever struck it using a chainsaw, backhoe or demolition crane. Bob and cannon hunting crew never took suggestions for granted, but the 1885 cannon burial men knew exactly where to bury and keep the cannon safe. We searched and searched somemore because we didn't want Bob's wildest dream to stop abruptly after all our hard work. We had no shortages of theories on what happened to the Cannonsburg cannon. When you got a dream you must keep on dreamin' until the dream becomes a reality. You never quit dreamin'.

Our biggest secret was keeping the public guessing. What we realized after acting out the tragedy was that the five men couldn't pull the Cannonsburg cannon on a squeaky rickety carriage out of town, depart, go up Joyce Street past Estella Ward's parent house, go over the woodland trail, bury and arrive back past the same house within one hour. They couldn't have gone more than one mile, but the trail they took was over one mile long. Time constraints say they hid or dropped off the cannon at an undisclosed location, then returned and possibly buried it on the property of a founding father who accepted it from Le Grand Cannon. These men tried to sneak out of town without anyone seeing them. They couldn't chance someone seeing them hauling the cannon out of town on public streets. This was a secret mystery where only certain individuals knew where it went. Nobody could see them bury it.

Estella Ward was the only person who in the twilight of sunrise was the last person to see the ancient cannon with ornate carriage disappear. Bob always concentrated on Stella's memory recalling they were gone only forty-five minutes or so. That meant they had to have buried it close to town and Mr. Murray's constant tears when passing over the footbridge stream crossing was Bob's reasoning it was buried at the big dig site just west of the footbridge. Wrong! This was the first burial site by township officials. What Bob had forgotten was that children lose all track of time and time is a fleeting thing to a youngster. Only God knows truthfully how long the men were truly gone. This is not meant to insinuate that Stella is wrong or fudged the time when she saw the men again. Face facts of reality when dealing with children. When did you last hear "Are we there yet" or "what time is it." Time to a youngster is nonexistent.

Mr. Murray's eyes filled with tears each time. In a moment of shared time approaching the bridge he remembered that had they not dug up the buried cannon Walter Tompsett would probably have died of old age. Being impetious to fire that ancient cannon like their fathers they helped kill Tompsett who walked in front of the cannon just as Murray removed or repositioned his leaden thumb over the vent hole. It was accidental. Fred Thomas was the rammer and had just nested the gunpowder, the ramrod still inside the bore chamber. The glistening embers seized the powder bag and "BOOM!" The cannon let out an "AWESOME" blast, the ramrod burst out hitting Tompsett in the knee obliterating it. Only a little piece of skin held upper and lower leg. He screamed in terror which brought the 4th of July 1885 celebration and picnic to a halt and all were sworn to the ultimate secret leading to the final disappearance of the cannon.

Next time the "WHERE" and "WHY" you haven't seen it will be exposed and the mystery will be explained why you never heard the conclusion. This story will conclude shortly.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 99

Le Grand Cannon and Bob Alcumbrack were complicated men of unknown probabilities and secrets in regards to the Cannonsburg cannon. The best kept secrets are those not spoken unless absolutely necessary to save lives or injuries and each man knew the importance of keeping secrets out of the public eye.

Mr. Cannon kept the cannon delivery to Cannon Township officials secret from even his closest family members and acquaintances, whether it was work or play. The Cannonsburg cannon was an important historical object of one man's affection and appreciation to the people of Cannon Township for naming village and township upon his name.

Le Grand Cannon had visited the Grand River Valley in the 1830's and he fell in love with the property he purchased with John Ball's help. Afterall John Ball, was his Dartmouth college friend, attorney and land agent and Edmund Bostwick and Capt. Gillispie were employees. Cannon loved fly fishing for trophy brown trout in Lamberton Creek and panfishing at Silver and Bostwick Lakes, but he had a secret woodland spot he found most enjoyable in Cannon Township. The panoramic view he wanted protected.

Standing atop the hill he could look down and view the progress made in Cannonsburg and across the countryside. He was a proud of his achievements at giving homesteaders good property. He kept this spot secret and only shared it with John Ball when riding together visiting each others property in the area. He told his family he was going fishing with his friend John Ball at John Ball Lake, which was in the wilds of northeastern Grand Rapids Township.

When Walter Tompsett died, the ultimate secret society of Cannonsburg rose to the task by never mentioning what transpired after the 1885 Fourth of July Independence Day celebration. Those who witnessed the cannon accident and all those at the picnic atop the hill never shared any secrets about the disappearance of the Cannonsburg cannon. This they did out of respect for Walter Tompsett, his six cannon firing friends and the four township officials who buried the cannon the previous day, but failed to keep its location secret. The best secret is one not spoken.

Whoever remained alive in the early 1900's never gave Bob Alcumbrack a clear, precise image of the size, shape and caliber of the cannon. All they ever said was it had an "awesome blast. Bob's nightly dreams seized upon the word "awesome" and his mind focused on what the secret society members didn't say to envision the wrong size cannon. It was inevitable. His cannon hunting crew helped Bob chase his pipe dream at dig sites 1-3. It would have been easy for us to quit after the second failure, but when physical evidence (cannonballs) was found this opened the door to better prospecting.

Whether grave dowsing, water or utility, or treasure hunting, the facts remain that those who use dowsing rods to find these objects must have accurate information and the ability to focus that object in their mind's eye and recite precise mantra. Distortion in what they seek corrupts thinking and doing so diminishes the effects of successful physical rod usage. The mind's eye is "awesome" power. Using the mind's eye focus the visual image of family members. Frame the picture of them with closed eyes. The human brain is the first most powerful tool on earth until unleashed upon a computer, then it is the computer who controls men for better or worse.

In Bob's mind he always applied John Murray's emotional tears at the footbridge crossing to give credence that the cannon was reburied nearby or at the first cannon burial location. Since the five men were only gone forty-five minutes to an hour to bury the cannon surely they couldn't have gone far, but they could have taken it farther and hidden it and then buried it someplace else. Bob was sure that when he found the large + sign at dig site number one he had found the burial place. Smaller plus signs he found at sites 2 & 3. It was the massive energy field at his first big dig site that fueled his dreams to suppose this was the burial site and he didn't expect to find water and gold in the black sands.

Everything he knew about the cannon was based upon circumstancial evidence. He didn't have a shred of physical evidence to support his claim. His mind ran wild with excitement after listening to years of eyewitness testimony of its "awesome blast" and the Cannon Township's history book which states it was a "small military ordnance." He didn't have a shred of evidence of the cannon's heritage. What he did know was that the smallest in the U.S. Army was a 6-pounder. Bob's mind repeated "military ordnance" so much his mind convinced himself to believe it was a large cannon.

Bob's first big dig site was centered upon the fact Tompsett's five friends were only gone 45 minutes of so based upon the recollection of Estalla Ward. What Bob missed was that to move a 6-pound cannon it must be surviced by 7-9 men and 4-6 horses to move it. It would be nearly impossible to move this cannon if stuck in deep trail sand. Weight of gun, carriage and caisson would weigh in excess of 3,850 pounds and from tip of barren to spiked trail about 11 feet long. Four old township officials couldn't hope to dismember and bury such a large cannon the first time when water was encountered.

Since Murray's eyes filled with tears at the bridge crossing Bob felt it was reasonable to assume that the cannon was buried nearby and presumably on his step father's property, that on Luther Augustine's back 40 acres behind the front 40 acres upon which La-E-Ma-Land Mobile Home Park is currently situated. Bob never ventured beyond the streambed area, whose water rises from Pickerel Lake in northeastern Kent County and a few miles north of Cannonsburg.

Between July 1986 and May 1988 Bob had explored many areas within a four mile range of Cannonsburg. He practiced his dowsing craft and fine tuned his skills using dowsing rods to find precise objects and used them to find his dream cannon. Dig sites 1-3 were inhospitable areas to dig for the cannon. It was a jungle of wetland flora. One misstep without surveying where to step plummeted anyone into thick black organic mud and it sucked us down to our knees, waist and chest. No quicksand, but the suction was difficult and it was nearly impossible to extricate ourselves from its sticky grip. Leeches everywhere and flying hordes of mosquitos, black, blow and deer flies. We didn't let these insects and bloodsuckers stop our progress.

Between 1843-1856 Mr. Cannon owned about 30% of Cannon Township and during Bob's hiatus between 1986-1988 he searched all Cannon Township official properties between 1847-1887. Rechecked were all Cannon township officials between 1881-1888. The probablities existed that the cannon could have been hidden and removed to another parcel after Walter Tompsett's funeral or since it was a Sunday morning it could have been hidden just before Sunday morning services, then buried before the funeral or after the funeral. All the property searches were done from public road right-of-ways or property was entered only upon permission, which some property owners insisted he explore.

Bob used his dowsing rods, compasses and nuclear metal range finders to scan for brass, but all he found were short, powerful leys lines crossing several parcels. When Bob found the cannon he turned many shades of white and he shuddered near its location. It shocked his body and mind and he wondered how he missed it. The spirits were close to protect it. He didn't expect to find it. Over the next several blogs I'll explain where he found the Cannonsburg cannon and why you haven't read about the final conclusion. That's the way he wanted it until he died. Bob was proud, but humble. I agreed to his request.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 98

The 21st century still has an abundance of unexplained mysteries and Bob's search for the missing Cannonsburg cannon had some strange moments. During dark cycles of the moon the ley lines he found at numerous spots in Cannon Township were strong. As the moon fattened by day and night the signals decreased. At his first big dig he was confused, but as time passed and he practiced his dowsing skills he found the area was speckled with small hot rocks, too, but not until he saw the images on our infrared film. He wasn't hip to the dangers of absorbing too much electromagnetic current.

It took several years before he understood that increased levels of electromagnetic energy can produce vibrations from a low frequency inaudible to human ears. These can alter our preception and create sensations of unbalanced dizziness. In extreme cases electromagnetic poisoning can cause nausea and extreme headaches and Bob was getting more frequent severe headaches and pain. Bob perceptions that something was amiss was due to the fact his body was absorbing too much electromagnetic current when he wrapped magnetic refrigerator strips around his forehead and neck. Magnetics can mask pain, but dowsers shouldn't expose themselves to too much magnetite without first consulting a physician. He felt doctors would only make dowsing harder since they'd probably dope him with prescription drugs decreasing his brain's ability to function correctly when using dowsing rods.

His nausea and headaches mirrored the symptoms of people who said they felt the presence of spirits in haunted houses, buildings or cemeteries during and after thunderstorms. Lightning and thunder stimulate our body and brains into believing something is wrong. We felt the presence of spirits numerous times on our journeys to ancient sites on dark nights. Using technical listening (audio) devices or EVP (electronic voice phenomena) we changed frequencies often hoping to catch Walter Tompsett's voice. His ghost chattering is something we had to consider and we had to go last where Bob was most uncomfortable.

In Hollywood motion picture flicks heighten the suspense using adverse weather conditions to mix horror and drama investigations. Too frequently they use the sounds of loons to make us cringe as if something dreadful is about to happen. A frightening storm can heighten the drama that evil spirits exist. Our imaginations run wild with anticipation that something is about to happen that is scary or isn't normal. Ghost hunters capitalize for TV ratings and these cats aren't the only curiosity seekers on earth. Believers in ghosts think that spirits are getting energy from the power of magnetic forces that produce more 'paranormal' or UFO sightings during or after storms.

Electrical storms with intense lightning can affect and alter our senses and perceptions. Cats have exceptional hearing and can hear thunder sixty miles away. That's why they act restless or hide. Bob's absorption of magnetite was real, the opposite fiction of Superman's kryptonite. The invisible energize spectrums of electromagnetic energy lines (light) are undetectable with the exception of infrared photographic films and infrared night vision, EMF meters, magnetometers and gifted dowser using dowsing or angle rods. Bob got so good he could detect the size of auras around objects. The art of dematerialization and regeneration of the human body (cloaking) might not be as far fetched as it appears on Star Trek. Electromagnetic shields (jammers) might one day protect us from those who wish Americans harm.

Our physical bodies and our minds intuition can turn us into extremely sensitive receivers of Earth's mysterious energies. When Bob failed to produce the cannon at the first big dig we had to wonder if the increasing energy near the stump could tamper or distort Bob's audio and visual perception enough to cause his brain to interfer with his ability to detect a brass cannon. Scientists believe it is only coincidence that leys line up sacred or historical sites, while others claim these were purposely placed on the ley line so mystical places could be found more easily.

To test Bob's detectiblity we purposely planted brass objects to test his thinking abilities; focus and concentration to help him discriminate between leys between leys and objects. Within two years he was better able to discard the junk, but he found lots of discarded 19th century junk; like 150 year old perfume bottles and buttons. The area had lots of ley lines of energy.

Prospect Hill in extreme northeastern Cannon Township was once a powerful Native American power spot. Lightning has struck the house atop the hill and burst into flames. Many believed the hill was visited by evil spirits. Bob did hundreds of hours of research near Prospect Hill and on one dark night with arms raised, a rod in each hand he received an electrical shock so strong his body and arms violently shook. "WHOA," he said and wanted to get back in his truck. He had found the same powerful ley line that when mapped southwesterly passed across Chauncey Ave near Imperial Mills. This ley line originated from the Norton Mound energy spot on the west side of Grand Rapids near the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Grand Rapids attorney John Ball once owned Prospect Hill. Ball was Le Grand Cannon's attorney and land agent.

What was most interesting was that the ley line trajectory was from GR to Prospect, but it ended at a magnetic power spot near the petrified springs below the elevated hill. This the northern most headwaters of Bear Creek. The ley lines never crossed Ten Mile Road north of Prospect Hill, but they did surface again and transected just north of Wabasis Lake near the Wabasis Lake caverns thought to be where Chief John Wabasis hid his gold and silver cache. The Prospect Hill location gave us the creeps on dark night dowsing. You could say it was a 'superstition' site.

Over the course of several years of study our belief was that ley lines go beyond are simply invisible energy lines of magnetic current of different degress of electromagnetic fields that contain creative patterns of mystical and magical energy sources. A ley is simply an altered form of the earth's magnetic field. Some are greater or lesser.

Seattle, Washington bills itself as the first city on Earth to balance and tune out its vast network of ley lines for the betterment and health of its people, but not without ridicule from skeptics. The Seattle Arts Commission awarded $5000 to a New Age GEO dowser group that produced a visual image map. A high altitude photography shoot documented leys and energy power spots within the city. Skeptics described the Art Commissioners as fools and charged them with practicing paganism. The photographs taken resemble what looks like altered satellite imagery, but the dowsers fired back and released a mission statement to the public.

'The vision of the Seattle Ley Line Project' was to identify ley lines and heal the power spots called Earth Energies within the Seattle City limits. They neutralized the negative energies and the amplified the positive aspects of the ley line power centers. This they hoped would decrease disease and anxiety, while increasing a sense of wholeness, wellbeing and the achievement of Seattle's potential as a center or power for good on Spaceship Earth'. It was the second to last word (spaceship) that caused such a furor amongst skeptics who didn't have the foggiest idea what the New Age dowsing group discovered about leys and power sources. They viewed the study with old age prejudices and pre-pagan thinking. They had no working knowledge or understanding of what ley lines were supposed to represent.

Bob was ready to begin dowsing again, but instead of concentrating on his step-fathers property he started using his nuclear metal range finders, dowsing rods and infrared photography shoots in his search. With the discovery of the Falconnet cannonballs, this provided him with concrete evidence the cannon wasn't just rumor, but fact. It did exist despite the fact that no photos exist of the cannon. By accident or design they all disappeared when Walter Tompsett died. This is when the secret society of Cannonsburg was born. Bob was given the cannon's physical dimensions so he could form accurate pictures in his mind that was correct. No guessing!

We already knew the third hole would end without resolve, but in order to complete the searches he first had to investigate and cross off an extensive list other possible sites, that being, all properties of the seven Cannonsburg men firing the 1885 cannon and all township officials from 1843-1885. He had originally concentrated all his efforts on his step-fathers property and never ventured a guess it might be someplace outside Cannonsburg.

Le Grand Cannon like Bob Alcumbrack were both complicated men of unknown secrets. Leys, too, and next time I spill the beans on where the cannon rests. Good night!

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 97

Bob Alcumbrack and Allen Janose were constantly using their dowsing rods checking and rechecking their mapped ley lines when searching for the missing Cannonsburg cannon. It was tedious work and they spent hundreds of hours in daylight and darkness making survey maps of Cannon Township. The discovery of a major ley line near Imperial Mills and across Moffit Hill was time comsuming, but Bob was determined to figure out where the ley lines disappeared.

In doing so Bob, Allen and I were practicing 'geodesy' and 'geomancy' and together we charted the geodesic lines across Cannon Township which led to several nearby anicent Native American historical sites in northeastern Cannon Township, Grattan and Oakfield Townships. Springs were regarded by ancient tribes as sacred places including some ancient ceremonial sites and cremation pits from 2000 to 6000 b.c. within the exact time frame when Stonehenge was created. Exactly where you need not know since there are those treasure hunters who don't value the historical heritages of Native Americans.

We backtracked the major leys southwest of Moffit Hill and Imperial Mills to its original power source on the west bank of the Grand River in Grand Rapids. The Imperial Mills ley started near the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum once the site of the Norton Indian Mounds - 49 of them along that side of the river from just south of Leonard to Grandville. were gone before 1900.

Prehistoric tribes were aware of these cosmic lines of magnetic energy sources that ran overland and underground. The Indians purposely buried magnetic charged stones deep in the ground in series of three to seven to mark or enhance the power of these places. The stones were granite with quartz or tungsten (greenstones) enhanced with uranium or thorium, but if stones were buried subsurface; meaning the greatest part buried and either stone was removed from sequence the magnetic field that links them was broken. Put the stone back in sequence the magnetic field returns. Retreating glaciers naturally deposited some magnetic stones, but one would think it would be different kinds of magnetic stones and not all the same. The giant cross of magnetic stones buried west of Ramsdell Drive, the old Sioux-Sauk war trail, really captured our attention. The crosses pointed towards another ceremonial ground.

Priests, shamans and medicine men of great power placed these structures in landscapes with the purpose of holding onto their power and used them to mark the way to Indian burial grounds and other sacred sites. These made it easy for them to tap the magical properties to 'wow' others no matter what generation used them.

Spiritualists, those few who are ghost, apparition and alien hunters based the creation of that power using music, laws of mathematics and magical formulas that provide harmonic settings for ancient monuments. Bob however when using dowsing rods wasn't even close to being a spiritualist, but many who watched Bob dowse would call him the lunatic fringe of ley line sciences. Research has shown that ley lines above ground average six miles in length, but they can go 20 miles to hundreds and scientists who study them say they can go thousands of miles and follow the curvature of the earth about three feet off the ground.

The leys can travel for miles above ground in the same direction and hit a power spot and drop 265 feet into the earth and travel in the same direction before coming back up to sub-surface object and resume its above ground travel till it settles at another magnetic energy spot.

Hydrologist suggest that is the major depth of water in Michigan. Once leys find an anchor spot, they can turn 300 degrees or more and the magnetic energy line searches for a distant magnetic power spot and ends. No complete triangle. Spots like A, B, and C connect, but not between A and C. The earth is covered with this striking pattern of leys and energy spots. Scientific studies suggest that where magnetic power spots are extreme the incidences of cancer and brain tumors rise significantly. Too many homes, buildings and sacred sites have been built upon them without caution and the inhabitants are afflicted with higher rates of life threatening illnesses. Radon gas and strong EMF's are also portraits of a killer and not just mosquitos and lightning.

Scientists and miners in northern Ontario are digging a pit into the ground studying magnetic energy. They've found a strong EMF spot and are now more than 8 miles deep. That's the heighth of Mt. Everest or as deep as the Marina Trench off Australia, but it makes me wonder if they are recording the amounts of electromagnetic energy currents that miners may absorb. Hopefully someone is monitoring their health as they dig deeper and yet my bubble brain wonders if the gravitational push from the sun could be exerting downward pressure on fissures at the bottom of the hole and under extreme pressure the earth's magnetic core is being squeezed forcing out more EMF's into the atmosphere. Rising EMF's (electromagnetic fields) of energy might be causing climate change, since we already know that higher EMF's increase the electrical fields of thunderstorms. Objects buried subsurface store EMF's (negative charges) that explode upward to attract positive fields creating intense lightning.

In 2008 scientists began their observations of the huge 1,000,000 million square miles of EMF hovering above the south Atlantic. They rightfully didn't know what was causing EMF's to rise and increase in strength. In 2009 scientists saw the strength of the EMF increasing, but they are dumbfounded how to stop the increase, but if this EMF threat shifts northward all computers with stored data could go the way of dinosaurs - extinction. This threat happened for real in 1859, when this event that happened for real rendered all telegraph lines silence for almost one week. It could happen tomorrow and its important that you keep hardcopy records. Can you imagine the havoc on Earth if the EMF shifts it course? Scientists do not know what is causing the EMF shield to grow uncontrollably. Is it the extraction of oil?

Add to this the vast amounts of oil and gas being released each day into the Gulf of Mexico, some 50 miles south of Lousiana and Alabama. The free flowing oil could be releasing more than normal amounts of magnetic energy from the earth's core, but this is miniscule to all the other wells pumping oil worldwide. I've often wondered what replaces the void from the black gold? My inquiring mind wants to know. Oops, I'm delineating from our discoveries of ley lines and power spots in Cannon Township.

When in Courtland Township some residents were afraid of the whirling gizmos we were using and some denied us access to their property when following ley lines based upon fear and ignorance of Bob's gadgetry. When Bob's nuclear metal range finders pointed towards their house or saw Bob's rods point straight at their house or see the rods being repulsed by an unknown force they were afraid. Some were visibly upset when we drew lines on survey maps straight thru their houses. We did our mapping from public roads and didn't trespass. Day and night we rechecked our ley trajectories, but only on the sixteen dark days of the lunar cycle. The stronger the moon phase, the weaker the magnetic ley lines.

Missile strikes at the start of the Iraq War, the Israeli and Palestinian conflict all started on the darkest nights - 16 days of darkness. The brighter the fattening moon, the more radar's lose their effectiveness. Bob and ley hunting crew were spooky characters on the darkest of nights. The ring of fire surrounding Stonehenge and stone circles worldwide occur on the 16 darkest nights also.

Ley lines travel across the whole surface of the Earth, but not all change course when they strike an object. These EMF energy currents can penetrate any objects and stay on course until it ends at a power source connection and changes course. Geodesy is the science of surveying portions of the Earth's surface, which is so large that the Earth's curvature has to be taken into account when following the geodesic lines of energy. This same science is what the ancient Native American Indians and prehistoric tribes of the Hopewell and Copper Cultures of Michigan used to build sacred sites and mounds along the geodesic lines at Grand Rapids, Grandville, Cannon and Grattan Townships or other sites within 20 miles. These Indians used the cosmic ley lines of energy for their benefit and tapped their magical powers.

Dion Fortune, the British occultist and writer in 1936 got the idea that leys were 'lines of power' that linked prehistoric monuments along a straight track. This idea originated from 1921 and at that time it was detected by diviners using dowsing rods. Many got the idea anyone who believes this is practicing wicca or witchery.

During the 1960's some paranoral folks got the glorified idea that ley lines were responsible for the progression of UFO sightings during wet days. In the mid 1980's Bob Alcumbrack and crew only found the existence of a vast network of ley lines and power spots crossing Kent County, but we found no UFO's lurking in dark valleys and any aliens were missing. Bob didn't want to find any ghosts or an apparition of Walter Tompsett, but he did acknowledged that he felt someone was watching. Possibly it was the DNR or EPA or was it the IRS? All Bob and friends wanted to find was the missing Cannonsburg cannon.

We had become 'geomancers' using divinations to find random ancient sites, but used precise map coordinates and lineage above the ground to make diagrams of our progress. Some nocturnal visits raised more than the hair on our heads and necks, the hairs on our body stood at attention many times and Bob was sure we were falling farther away from finding his wildest dream cannon. It was the unfolding network of leys which seemed to prick his interest from 1989 up until his death in 2004.

After July 1989 he was backtracking the wide, strong ley line from Imperial Mills and Moffit Hills he traced them thru Plainfield and Grand Rapids Townships. These originated from the vicinity of the Norton Mounds and Grandville and he found a power spot between Leonard and Fulton Street and traced its route northeasterly direction for over 25 miles to the caves near Wabasis Lake. For some reason it changed course since the previous year.

Recorded history of Native American tribes living along the Grand River basin in the early 1830's only knew the mounds as ancient sacred sites. They knew nothing about the mound creators or why they were made, except that it was a power place. They regarded the mounds as a friendly place to die and after death they wanted to be buried inside the mound in a sitting position looking east over the mighty 'Owashtenong' river (Grand) towards the rising sun. An early archaeologists in the 1870's said nothing was ever found inside the mounds, but the streets beneath Grand Rapids on the east side of the Grand River contained many Christian artifacts; jewelry and crosses of sterling silver. No skeletal remains existed and the earth inside the mounds didn't match anything local. Soil originated hundreds of miles away.

Traditional Christians, the oldest want their tombstones and heads facing east, too, so their spirit can see the face of Jesus Christ, the Lord, when he returns to Earth. Local Indian legends say that late Indian medicine men knew about the magical powers of leys. If energy lines went west to east there would be much peace with the pioneers, but those that went north to south much turmoil and unsettled times were ahead.

Individuals who are not afraid to sit atop mounds experience a renewed sense of physical and spiritual energizing and wellbeing. Witnesses standing away from mounds report that they've seen a glowing green light pass through the bodies of all those who sit or stand atop mounds. For this the Indians believed the mounds held strong power for those unafraid. High doses of EMF's or energy can affect the body and mind. The amount of magnitite in the human brain can change the way you think and makes corrections on what the body perceives as normal or abnormal. The effects of this energy is said to be similar to those who feel static energy tingle the skin or how it raises hair or stimulates your head hair making them fight each other.

Exhumation of sacred places by pioneers turned treasure hunters found that no skeletons or body remains were found in mounds except for trinkets of gold and silver. Even the color of soil in earth mounds was opposite of what surrounded the mounds. Archaeological studies by amateurs and professionals believe that mounds contain the cremated remains of their ancestors and proof is the reddish soil within the mounds in contrast to the soil in the mound. Reddish soil exists at the foot of the massive bluestones at Stonehenge giving the impression the Stone Age Britons ashes are buried intact near the base of each stone. Stonehenge could be a cemetery, too, not just a place where Stone Age Britons made contact with beings from other galaxies or used such massive stones to observe the passage of seasons. It won't be long before I spill the beans about Bob Alcumbrack's silence between July 1989 and May 2004. Hopefully this will conclude before July 4th, when Americans celebrate our Independence Day.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 95

Bob Alcumbrack after two years of practicing dowsing in his search for the lost Cannonsburg cannon had finally figured out why he had to make sure no energy spots were located near his excavations. He finally figured out how to distinguish between ley lines of electromagnetic energy, energy source spots and buried objects minus where water veins connected.

Bob's personal aura of encapsulated magnetic energy field was very wide at 3.5 feet in diameter. He was a virtual lightning rod and dowsers with high energy fields you must error on the side of caution for those with wide energy fields are gifted, but dangerous. Allen Janose's energy aura was 2 feet wide, Harold and Matt McCarthy and my aura was 1.5 feet and Bob Markle, well his was nearly absent.

Together as a group of cannon dowsers we all had electromagnetic brain power in excess, but Bob was getting magnified doses of electromagnetic energy when he wrapped magnetic refrigerator strips around his neck and head. This increased his energizing power using dowsing rods to sense energy sources. When using the rods both are negative charged, the hot spots and ley lines positive charged and this gave him the power of lightning rods. Between all working in the group we had enough stored energy between us to attract lightning long before a lightning storm approaches. Dowsing can be dangerous to one's health since they can attract lightning long before thunder is heard.

We never checked Bob to see if he glowed a whimsical green, which some dowsers have experienced and witnesses such as archaeologists have seen dowsers glow green over power energy spots or when standing atop sacred mounds and standing stone circles. This is the reason why the ancients called them the mystical and magical spots and its where medicine men had the greatest power, which "wowed" others.

The portrait of a killer is a mosquito, but the second deadliest killer is lightning and it kills more people each year than tornadoes and hurricanes combined. Those who survive a lightning strike often suffer long-term injuries and personal disabilities so when you hear thunder, head indoors and don't raise a golf club, fishing pole or use dowsing rods as these a negative charged and lightning is positive. Individuals who have metal pins, screws and plates inside their bodies makes them more susceptible to lightning strikes and lightning does strike the same things many times where electromagnetic energy fields (EMF) and objects are geographically located.

EMF meters are what ghost hunters use to find anomalies in reported haunted houses, buildings and ships and they use them to find locate EMF fields of energy, such as bad wiring. We were constantly monitoring weather channels for incoming storms because lightning can strike out of a seemingly friendly sky. I mention this because the first week of summer is lightning safety week and this is what makes dowsing under certain conditions so dangerous.

Undoubtedly many people have never heard about the phenomenon called 'ley lines'. The Chinese refer to them as fierce 'dragon lines' because they hiss when intercepted by audio recording devices. Ghost hunters listen for the sounds of invisible apparitions and anomalies in total darkness where some has died a horrible death by accident or design.

Walter Tompsett died a horrible death, too, in Cannonsburg, Michigan, but our research group never encountered his apparition, but Bob and crew did sense the presence of strange feelings at Bob's first big dig and final conclusion. The hissing sounds are heard by tribal Indians in Alaska when the night sky is illuminated by the aurora borealis that dances wildly on distant horizons on dark Alaskan winter nights. I've experienced this sound standing on a Lake Superior shoreline watching the red curtain dip and shimmer across the western lake.

Legends abound that the hissing sounds are distant spirit voices of dead family members talking to each other as they climb Heavens staircase to find St. Peter standing at the gateway to Heavens eternal life. It would be best to say that whether American or Chinese most people don't know that ley lines or power spots exist and those who have studied them for a lifetime have used them to the betterment of society. Some are destructive, but most are beneficial to saving lives, but if metal exists in the human body it can be ripped from the body by MRI or cat-scan tehnology (EMF). Ley lines are the unexplained mysteries of North America that do affect a dowsers ability to use angle or divining rods to find treasures.

Bob Alcumbrack had found the power source of the leys before he found his first big dig, but he dismissed the strange feelings and opted to shelf them never thinking that the additional power being generated might interrupt or corrupt his thinking and rod useage. At earth energy spots the leys pass invisibly through buildings and homes. Dowsers who make contact with negative leys feel energized, but when alone the accumulations of EMF's cause they to suffer from anxiety induced panic attacks, neurosis or tension. Blood pressure rises and they feel stressed to the wazoo. Even I suffered from panic attacks during the years I worked with Bob and crew. People are affected by different levels of magnetic fields. Some are hypersensitive to the least amount of magnetic interferences.

Ley lines in North America are avenues of straight line magnetic energy that connect power places and objects on earth with each other, but only if one knows how to understand them. Little is known about this energy, but electromagnetic rays and PCB's do fall to earth from high electrical towers. What is known is that domestic cattle and humans who live beneath them within the EMF range have higher rates of cancer and brain tumors. Cows produce lower levels of milk.

Leys are negative and power spots positive. That's why they attract each other. Two of the same shun each other. It takes lots of ley line mapping to neutralize negative energy that causes life threatening diseases and decrease feelings of positive anxiety. What dowsers can't do is use leys as the direct source for finding lost buried or sunken treasures or cannons, but they may aid in finding it sooner. I found the key that unlocked the mystern and Bob used his master key of understanding leys to find the cannon.

In England the ancients used leys to mark ancient sites; holy places, wells, churches, temples, Stonehenge and Durrington village. They fall upon the straight track of ley lines. Skeptics, those who disbelieve in straight line doubt these were planned or conceived by ancient cultures. Skeptics tend to disbelieve or dismiss anything they can visually see.

Spiritualists and new age dowsers use ley line technology to conjure up ghosts, spirits, apparitions and most of these are found during thunderstorms when lightning increases magnetic energy. This is often downplayed by skeptics because of the prolific use in horror films and they refer to ley line science as "crap" sciences, because they never try to understand all EMF complexities. They refuse dowsing techniques and debunk dowsing and ley lines as witchcraft. Oops, I head thunder approaching so I'll stop here.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 94

I heard a country western jingle on Willie's Place XM-13 and the tune said, "Do what you do, do it well ..." and when hearing this song being sung I immediately thought of Bob Alcumbrack and his search for the missing Cannonsburg cannon. He had an itch and scratched it. He poured his heart, mind and soul into the right history. "Research, discovery and preservation" is what he hoped to accomplish.

Bob lived that motto of "do what you do and do it well" and he hunted for the cannon with all of his resources. Bob was hyperactive when digging and using his dowsing rods and he felt he had to be energized to keep up with his younger crew. What he didn't know was that the absorption of too much electromagnetic current was one reason why his headaches increased. It is one thing to use refrigerator magnetic strips to ease muscle pain, but when he wrapped the strips around his forehead that was a foolish error in judgement. To overcome his old age maladies of body aches and painful muscles the strips decreased his overall health to the point where his headaches were getting more painful. He was exerbating the problem and his stamina was decreasing.

Since Bob's death in May 2004 scientists have concluded that, yes, magnetic energy can make you healthier in small doses, but absorbing too much of this powerful energy makes a person act hyperactive to the point where one feels tense leading to anxiety or panic attacks. Medical research scientists believe that those individuals that sit or stand purposely on ley lines or spots where high magnetic energy exists for long periods of time is the cause of cancer in general or cancerous brain tumors and hyperactivity is prevalent in humans. Mice used in laboratory studies suffer from hyperactivity and cancer when exposed high levels of magnetic energy. Too much absorption of electromagnetic currents or fields is responsible for turning children and adults into hyperactive zombies. To combat hyperactivity Ritalin is perscribed to turn them off.

Humans are receivers of magnetic and electromagnetic energy rays when they sit for hours in front of computers and TV's playing mindless video games. Absorption of increased levels of magnetic energy does affect how the brain functions. It decreases test scores. Doing without TV and computers increases stamina and energy and the result is better sleeping and greater thinking abilities. Our muscle tissues and nerve endings are being bombarded with too much magnetic energy. When the magnetic euphoria wears off we crash and burn. Radon gas is the suspected cause of cancer in many households, but an unequal circumstance of life is that too many households are built over positive power energy sources and this is why some occupants have increased levels of cancer in one household. Add to this the excessive use of cell phones, which some suggest is the reason people suffer from brain cancer.

Some people swear that wearing magnetic jewelry relieves painful arthritis faster than pills, but physicians warn that it isn't for long term use without consequences. Bob and Allen Janose were receiving too much electromagnetic energy and that too is what gave them strange sensations that gave them perceptions that something other than normal was happening. It was creating psychic disturbances to the point where they couldn't understand their feelings.

Magnetic rays affect the olfactory nerve endings inside the nose, the path of least resistance thus increasing naturally magneti levels in the brain. Bob and Allen's personal auras to the power grid of the tree stumps magnified their levels of electromagnetic energy. The electrical energy of highly charged electrical thunderstorms intensifies strong feelings and it can trick the brain into thinking what you are feeling isn't a normal response. Oops, now I'm getting tired its bedtime, but I can't help but wonder who is doing all the shooting outside - gunfire off in the distance.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 91

Bob Alcumbrack's failure to produce the Cannonsburg cannon on the second and third big digs broke the will of several men. Several men could no longer afford to keep using their physical brawn on Bob's wild dream. Bob had to either get his act together or more men would walk off into the sunset. He also knew the latest failure meant his men were under extreme pressure to quit wasting time and energy chasing his dream. Cannon hunter wives were getting lonely and angry and were complaining husbands were more infatuated with Bob than paying attention to her, the children and home. Two years of 'Honey Do Fix-it Slips' kept the job jar filled with things men are supposed to keep current.

Bob knew his men were under pressure to quit so he sat down and wrote personal hand written notes to all the wives thanking them for their patience and use of their husband and son's on his exploratory search to find and retrieve the Cannonsburg cannon. The cannon recovery crew knew that when you love something it isn't work, but FUN! When you love what you do and do it from the heart you'll never work a day in your life. When you hate your job that is when your life becomes a miserable existence of unhappiness and that makes you a disgruntled slave laborer. Allen and I helped Bob figure out what he was dowsing wrong and we took the time to help Bob redefine his dowsing skills before we started his third excavation in May 1988, but before it concluded and we moved on to the final dig we already knew what happened to the cannon. We chose to keep silent. It was a fantastic secret, the biggest secret Bob and crew didn't want to share with the public. We couldn't trust township officials to keep the secret. Tongues would slip as anonymous tattletales.

I had to dig deeper in research to find what Bob missed. Bill O'Reilly on the FOX news channel always states you are about to enter a 'No Spin Zone', well you are going to enter the opposite camp with Bob's brand of 'Spin Zone' discovery. Bob was stumbling his way into the unexplained mysteries of Cannonsburg. He stepped lively into areas of scientific research years ahead of American scientists and was using cutting edge of technology to understand ley lines, straight tracks, magnetic energy and electromagnetic power spots.

Only a smidge of information was available in America, but straight track and ley lines had been studied in England and Europe since 1921. We are still in the infancy stage in how to interpret ley lines of electromagnetic energy, but much is still unknown. Skeptics still consider ley line studies junk science and Bob was beginning to doubt his dowsing skill, but like a marine he chose to 'overcome and adapt' his problems to better understand the differences between ley lines, energy spots and buried objects. His silent mantra, too, had to be precise. Where we took Bob made him squirm once he understood where and what he had to investigate. His mind thought he was disrespecting the friendships and memories of those who gave him bits of flawed information about the cannon's disappearance.

Where I lacked muscles for physical labor Mat and Harold McCarthy used their brawn to bust roots and excavate soil and rocks. Charlie and Chuck Alcumbrack, Bob's brothers, were the pump and air injector engineers. Allen Janose was Bob's welder and coffer box construction engineer and Bob operated the backhoe. We all had our own secrets, but Bob even after two digs failed had to shift his attitude and share his feelings if he wanted to keep his crew from deserting the mission. Bob was like a Rubic's Cube of unshared secrets only because he didn't understand or could explain the feelings or signals he got at different sites. If he couldn't explain his feelings the men might think he was mentally challenged and quit, too. The news media already made him paranoid. TV cameras made him uneasy and camera flashes and the constant chattering robbed him of his sanity to concentrate. One can't be a dowser if one can't concentrate without constant interferences.

His discovery of earth energies might make him a whack scientist. Those who refuse to believe in earth energies and ley line straight tracks could have driven a stake thru the hearts of his crew. Was his exploration for the missing cannon factual or fiction? Bob confessed he stumbled upon the energy spot (tree stump), but he didn't know how to explain the electrical shock so he kept silent. He wasn't secure enough to tell his crew about his discovery. He felt if his crew knew about the electrical shocks they might have been spooked. He felt this secret had to remain hidden until he was sure he could trust his crew not to repeat it. He had every intention of resurrecting the cannon at the second big dig site, but when he failed to produce the cannon it is then he told us about the mysterious power spot [earth energies] he found in his physical search of the streambed.

Bob responded that he felt strange and his arms vibrated when using the rods near the tree stump. It scared Bob on several occasions and he wasn't alone. Allen Janose sensed greater electrical shock sensations. His hands pricked and tingled. He later confessed he didn't know why and couldn't explain it. The electrical shock was intriguing and it puzzled us until we understood what caused.

Our focus now was to help Bob and Allen achieve the level of success that dowsing requires. Harold McCarthy couldn't believe that Bob based the tears in Mr. Murray's eyes to discern where the cannon was buried. Bob based all his assumptions on Mr. Murray's tear filled eyes at the bridge crossing, but never ventured a guess that this was the first burial site and not the last. Bob, too, had fallen for a scam artists portrayal that brass dowsing rods are best to find treasures. Bob found the advertising enticing. It was a simpler way to find treasures or cannons, since electronic metal detectors still couldn't locate brass objects. His mind said 'brass should find brass' and that's how to find the missing cannon.

Copper and brass rods, metal coat hangars bent to "L" shape and Witch Hazel rods are primarily used for dowsing water where underground water veins connect. Iron ore deposits will corrupt dowsing rods. Twenty-four years later (after 1986) these rods can find just about anything, but it takes lots of dedication and precise practices of mental power, concentration and focus for grave dowsers, treasure and ley hunters to find what they seek. A dowser can't guess.

All three rods use bundles of electromagnetic energy - some to greater or lesser degrees based upon accumulations of manetite held in human tissue near the ethmoid bone, which is the perforated bone in the front human skull.

Animals, birds and mammals all have this bone, too, and many of them migrated with the use of magnetic fields stored in this bone. Pigeons, bees, whales and bacteria naviagate by the earth's magnetic fields, too, and changes in nagnetitie levels cause living creatues to sense magnetic changes.

The ethmoid bone's outer surfaces form part of the outer wall of the nasal cavity and the inner wall of the eye socket. Out mind's eye is a powerful invisible recording instrument with no wires, but the body and minds electrical current, that's nerves and neurons must function as a whle in perfect working condition. No variables.

Turtles always know where they are going crossing a busy roadway. They travel along a magnetic field of energy. If you stop to rescue a wayward turtle, lift it up and take it across the road for safety people interrupt its magnetic compass. When placed on the ground and after you leave the turtle is lost and it'll turn around, walk back across the busy highway, get its bearing and walk back across the same traffic road increasing its chances of getting smushed. Female turtles use this magnetic compass to follow the invisible magnetic lines to find t he exact place where they were born and bury new eggs.

Today high altitude military radar planes and drones can light up a target with a blast of electromagnetic fields of energy. Another jet fighter hones in and fires a missile that is guided to the target striking it within millimeters. To overcome Bob's most present problem of finding water it was necessary for Bob to find solid proof of the cannon's existence and its size and we were astonished to learn he had done it. We were ecstatic and this helped Bob get to the bottom on how to use the dowsing rods effectively. We couldn't live anymore with Bob's 'oops.' We had to have better communication. Oops, I'm getting sleepy. Till tomorrow.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 90

Between 1986 and 1988, the venerable Bob Alcumbrack and his cannon hunting crew had become secret ley line hunters of Cannonsburg. The ultimate secret society of Cannonsburg (1886) was being unraveled and the portrait of a killer cannon was being revealed. Not all, but many mysteries surrounding the cannon's disappearance are only known to God. The following series is dedicated "In Memory of Robert Alcumbrack, Allen Janose, Harold and Matt McCarthy", the deceased crew members.

Are you still interested in what Bob mastered and the scientific achievements we discovered around Cannonsburg? Bob's discovery of ley lines and electromagnetic energy or power spots in the Cannonsburg area was unknown in 1986. Bob prior to his first big dig wasn't sure how to interpret his findings and most of the cannon crews' wives weren't privy to what was happening or what the crew found.

When Bob Alcumbrack dowsed the first of two major excavation sites he envisioned the wrong size of cannon and wasn't aware that certain requirements must be fulfilled in order to be a successful dowser. Maggie McCarthy, that's Harold's wife, feared Bob was misinformed and was chasing a ghost cannon and insisted rather strongly to Bob he hadn't done enough research and misinterpreted size of cannon based upon "awesome blast" and small military cannon notations. Bob assumed it was American military - an Army field cannon. Still an "awesome blast" didn't mean it was an American 6-pound artillery piece. The third and final big digs were closer to reality.

The first two failures were smidgeon errors, but what Bob missed when practicing with his rods was in order to dowse correctly a person must be healthy with no aches and pains and that was part of his problem. Age though is simply a state of mind we all face, but when we see our body changing physically, we go over the hill at old age milestones. Past 50 years of age we aren't as active and in fact after several days of brutal work it doesn't take much to realize our "youth has got up and left" and in some instances our youth is "gone, gone, gone and disappeared." Not all adults! Not Bob Alcumbrack. He was a dynamo of energy and didn't know the word "quit" after two major disappointments.

Quit? Never! Not Bob. His wildest dream was still waiting. Never give up simply because you failed to produce or make what you desire a reality. Do we all realize our dream? No, but never quit until death. It's a struggle and we, like you, need to discover the outcomes of persistence and patience. Dreams die because we are afraid to push open the envelope of uncertainty where others who meet with least resistance seal the envelope. Without failures we don't know how to correct problems when it fails.

Bob was young at heart and tried using his brain to the best of his abilities, but flawed logic in association with his rods. Still he was correct in using his two brass rods to point out direction, like how far, which direction and depth, etc. When mentally challenged by variables in understanding basic principles of dowsing he broke out his nuclear metal range finders to fine-tune directions. He approached the cannon's disappearance from a treasure hunter's engineering standpoint, but his research logic skewed his mind's eye vision. The second and third sites were his secrets of potential and the third dig site wasn't revealed to the crew until the second site was a bust, too. That's only because he was operating in the dark. A surgeon needs lights in the operating room and the best equipment and support staff. You wouldn't let an unorganized surgeon operate on you.

Dowsers pursuing objects of ones affection must be factual and not base what they seek on circumstancial evidence. Many skeptics of dowsing doubt that a dowser with one or two pieces of wire, expensive or junk, can find treasures or water. Failure or success are the only constants.

Dowsers can use expensive copper and brass rods or use cheap metal coat hangars, but all must be able to formulate accurate pictures in their mind's eye of the precise object or objects he/she seeks locked in their mind's eye in order to find what they seek as a means to an end. It's an "art of focus and concentration."

An English jobless man named Terry Herbert lived on welfare for 18 years and he discovered an Anglo-Saxon treasure from the Seventh Century worth millions in 2009. People who saw him dowsing daily classified him as a bonafide 'Nut' like Barney Fife called Ernest T. Bass on the Andy Griffith Show.

Herbert as treasure finder on United Kingdom soil received half the treasure's worth. Using his metal detector on the day of discovery he found more than 1,500 pieces of gold and silver. Some weighed 11 pounds and at gold prices in 2010 that's worth more than $201,200 U.S. or about $250,000 UK. What took him so long to find it and why did he find it now? He changed his mantra the day of discovery. For 18 years he repeated 'Spirits of yesterday, take me where the coins appear' and replaced the mantra 'coins' to the word 'gold'. The word "gold' was the key to unlocking the treasure's secret hiding place. Herbert said he didn't know why that day he changed one word, but he found the stuff of treasure hunter dreams. He met destiny.

Herbert's one word 'change' made all the difference in positive thinking. Precise wording and the ability to focus on invisible pictures made in the mind's eye made his dream possible. This is fact, not fiction. I assume Herberts mantra was that of a dowser. The story that appeared in the press used a generic title for metal detector, but didn't mention the word 'electronic.' The character reference describing him as a 'nut' gives the impression he was a dowser, but no matter what he used the one word mantra change made all the difference in outcome.

Herbert's mantra spoken in silence was similar to the mantra Bob was using and it did reward Bob at his final destination and Bob's facial palor was 'as white as a ghost'. Bob's voice cracked, his lips trembled, eyes glistening with excitement and fear, his body, arms and hands trembling. He was a basket case of gelatin. When he relaxed he double and triple checked his dowsing findings, but each time he quivered like an Aspen leaf on a tree, his skin palor changing revealing the electrical sensations. Allen Janose double checked Bob's findings, too, and Allen's complexion changed, too with disbelief and I felt the anxiety of watching both dowse the cannon. I told you it is buried in Cannon Township, but I haven't revealed where?

We, that's the crew, never did know what mantra Bob Alcumbrack was using when he dowsed at his first two big dig sites. What he never told us was he couldn't understand why his rods changed polarity nor why the earth energy fields were strong one day or week and weaker the next week and seemingly disappeared. With each failure he blamed the weather as dictated by his aches and pain. Research would prove he was incorrect in his intrepretations of dowsing practices, since after heavy rains that's when ease of dowsing is best.

When Bob's second dig failed to produce the cannon it would have been easy for his crew to abandon him and two crew members did quit, but not Bob. He simply revealed he could dowse water where diferent veins of iron ore deposites remain where groundwater intersects. This was precisely what dowsers who use rods, witch hazel and willow sticks are supposed to find - intersecting water veins, not treasures. Dowsing rods can aide in searching for treasures, but you must know precisely what to picture in mind's eye and it can't be faulty reasoning. Bob's mind's eye wasn't a sharp picture, but fuzzy and his mantra wasn't correct. The cannonball discovery during the third dig would reward Bob at his final destination. We kept this ultimate secret.

The second site was Bob's next secret spot. He didn't reveal this until the first failed to produce a 6-pound cannon. The first big hole was based upon energy signals and the amount of tears that fell from John Murray's eyes each time his buggy stopped on the small foot bridge over the stream. Twenty feet west of the bridge is where the strongest readings started Bob's wildest dream. This is where I believed after hearing so many stories where the men retrieved the cannon when the town elders buried it on July 3, 1885 and resurrected it for the Fourth of July celebration. What Bob discovered was where three major underwater streams converged to form the major springs (+) with a plus pattern resembling a cannon. When Bob and crew didn't find larger stones for weight to make the cannon sink I began to doubt the existence of the cannon, because how could the five men bury the cannon in such a wet grave within one hour, where Bob couldn't dig it up for 22 days.

This site gave me bad vibes and early on I didn't know the reason. During late night digging operations the crew felt uneasy jittery feelings. Hot nights, but it was if something was peering over our shoulders, the cool breathe stimulating our ears and neck. We shuddered numerous times, the creepy feelings making us shiver with fear more than excitement. Nurses and other medical personnel walking the halls near the morgue at Spectrum Health's Butterworth Campus in Grand Rapids anonymously report spirits lurk.

We had wondered if it was Tompsett's ghost or the 'spirits' of his departed friends were haunting this glacial valley's streambed on dark nights. By day the squadrons of biting blow and deer flies assaulted our flesh and by night it was sheer horror, the portraits of killers (mosquitos) hovering and finding our sweaty bodies for a bloodmeal. Sensations of invisible ghosts and spirits lurking in the darkness added to the uneasy feelings. Complete strangers felt the uneasy feelings. Tompsett died a horrible death! Could the uneasy feelings have been his unresolved conflict where he felt the cannon accident shouldn't have happened? Were all seven spirits arguing their cold breathe falling upon us? Were they trying to discourage us from digging?

At the second site we were relaxed. No bad vibes here and we watched Bob witch the cross 'cannon' formation using his brass dowsing rods. Standing on planks straddled across a mud bog Bob telescoping backhoe bucket's claw snagged a solid object. Our adrenalin skyrocketed as they probed with long metal rods and struck something hard and hollow. We took turns using my EMT stethoscope to listen as the rod struck the objects. We could hear the pulse of the earth. Was it the missing cannon? Sight unseen hearing the objects 'tink' caused an overflow of adrenalin. You've read this story in #89, but what I didn't tell you is that when the water in the hole was sucked down like the flush of a toilet so violently if a man had been standing in the water he would have been sucked into the underwater rock cavern. "Whoosh" he would have been gone and sucked into the innards of the underground rock cavern, his body unrecoverable. This is another reason why when exploring for treasure you never go alone. You could fall thru the top of an old cistern well, the earth swallowing you without a trace.

These bedrock caverns do exist the Cannonsburg area. On the Hartwell farm off Honey Creek Road south of town in the 1880's a horse fell through the rock bottom stream and drowned. At site number two Bob had found another groundwater intersection where two major water veins connect on top and below the rock formation. Geologists we talked to said the bedrock under Cannonsburg is greater than 150 feet deep. Baloney, the glacial tributary streams revealed rock at 8 feet underground. Scientists don't know everything. Well, more tomorrow.