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U.S.|A Gardener Stumbles Upon Hidden Treasure in a Vermont Park
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/us/buried-treasure-vermont-garden.html
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Kelly Wakefield found a rock with a skull and crossbones in the same park last fall, but she didn’t realize that it was a clue to much more.
May 27, 2025Updated 6:25 p.m. ET
Kelly Wakefield, a professional gardener, was doing her spring cleanup of a public park in St. Albans, Vt., when she stumbled upon a mysterious metal box under a pile of leaves.
She shook the box and heard the telltale jangle of coins.
“I didn’t really know what to do,” she said on Sunday, recalling the discovery.
She opened the metal box and was floored by the bounty inside. She ran to her truck and drove straight to her mother’s house. What exactly had she found? Was any of it real? Did she need a lawyer?
Ms. Wakefield, 46, soon learned that she had stumbled upon a treasure chest intentionally hidden by Michael Cloherty O’Connell, the author of two history books that led readers on scavenger hunts around the Northeast.
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The box contained various coins, antiques, a Civil War-era bullet, a map and a note from the author himself. It is now in a safe deposit box, Ms. Wakefield said, and has yet to be appraised. (She’ll get to it eventually, she said.)
