I paid $300 for a 'professional' ground penetrating radar scan of a field and it found a septic tank

The guy showed up with a fancy looking unit and gave me a map full of 'anomalies'. Turns out the biggest one was just an old concrete tank from the 1970s. Has anyone else had a local survey go this wrong before a dig even started?

4 comments

4 Comments

simonk981mo agoMost Upvoted

My neighbor paid for a similar scan last year. The report marked a "large metallic object" that turned out to be a buried tractor bucket.

roberth661mo ago

Classic @simonk98, that's a pricey bucket find!

beth_park1mo ago

Pricey bucket find" is putting it lightly. Imagine paying for a fancy scan and getting all worked up over buried treasure, only to have to dig up a rusty old tractor part. That's the kind of surprise that makes you want to bill your neighbor for the manual labor. At least it wasn't a body, I guess.

the_mia8d ago

Man, that is such a bummer but also kind of hilarious. Totally been there myself. A buddy of mine used one of those ground scanners out in his field looking for an old septic tank, and the thing screamed about a "large anomaly" about four feet down. We dug for a solid hour, sweating like crazy, and what did we pull up? An old cast iron bathtub, half full of mud and rocks. Felt like a real fool, but at least we didn't have to pay for it. Your neighbor's story makes my bathtub find look like a reasonable treasure hunt by comparison.