Works
Sacred Ground
The hunt for treasure can be infectious. Fourteen-year-old Chad Chapel continually dreams of finding a great treasure, to discover vast amounts of buried gold, re-reveal a hoard of secreted silver coins, or recover some long-lost historical relic. So far, his efforts have only awarded him trouble - as when a farmer nearly had him and his friends charged with trespassing when found searching his old barn for a fabled stash of silver coins. Chad’s parents – his mother especially – tries hard to redirect his fanciful efforts to other less troublesome ventures. But when ninety-three-year-old Anston Kagle shares a story of lost gold hidden on “Sacred Ground,” nothing will sway the young sleuth from its pursuit.
Having the story of hidden gold hotly in hand, Chad secretly recruits his best friend, Rodney Meeks, to assist with the hunt. Rodney is daring and unpredictable, and he eagerly accepts the invite. Rodney - who was also involved in the barn caper - is not well thought of by Chad’s mother, who feels he is a bit of a bad influence – though she politely deals with the friendship in her own way. Meanwhile, the secret hunt begins. But there is an immediate problem, as there are very few clues for knowing where to search. As Anston Kagle tells it, the story begins back in the early eighteen hundreds when as a young man his grandfather is led blindfolded by an old Indian to a cave full of gold. The cave is somewhere local for sure, but its location remains a mystery. The only clue is that it is located on “Sacred Ground.”
The boys need help at understanding what to look for, so they approach a schoolmate, Maggie Pearce. Maggie is full-blooded Cherokee Indian, so Chad and Rodney believe that she might know something about sacred Indian grounds. Their approach to her is rather awkward, as she has a troubled relationship with both boys. She is initially dubious of the story and hesitates her assistance – but Chad is able to win over her curiosity. She agrees to help, while acknowledging that she knows so very little about her own heritage let alone that of tribes that might once have roamed this rural region of Southern Indiana. The “Sacred Ground,” she notes, will have to be learned from her mother. This will not be easy, as she is bluntly warned by Chad that their search must be kept secret. Maggie will find this pursuit eye-opening, to say the least.
Keeping secrets from others - from their parents especially – proves to be a difficult proposition. Chad and Maggie’s parents are both devoutly religious, and their strict rules can and will create a number of issues moving forward. Though Rodney is a trusted friend, he has a tendency to speak out without careful consideration of his words – he must be warned on more than one occasion to be considerate of what he says and does. The story of Anston Kagle’s grandfather and the gold is not really a secret at all, though over the years it has been received throughout the community as a myth. Anston, however, swears it is true and the gold is real. He supports the search, and he, too, promises to keep Chad’s search a secret. But when two mysterious strangers suddenly appear in the area, a new concern arises. These two men seem be overly interested in a similar pursuit. Chad believes that they are also looking for the treasure – and an accident tends to convince all three teens that their quest is in jeopardy, as are maybe their lives. A state archeologist, Evan Smith, becomes involved, and he unknowingly confirms a basis for the Kagle story while adding a concern that he might accidently find the “Sacred Ground” himself and prematurely bring the search for the treasure to an abrupt end. Chad’s father, a forest ranger, is a close friend to Anston, knows of his story of gold, is an acquaintance of Evan Smith’s, and has an unusual encounter with the two strangers, making him a growing concern at figuring out the secret search as well. As such, nothing is at it truly seems, and the pursuit of the gold becomes more precarious every day.
What follows is a rollercoaster of challenging events, full of emotional highs and troublesome lows. New clues to the treasure are found. Anston Kagle shares one of his grandfather’s old letters, disclosing that the “Sacred Ground” is an Indian burial ground. Maggie learns from her mother the same potential, but with a strong warning that such places are protected by the spirit world. A curse might descend on those who knowingly trespass on sacred Indian grounds, disturbing the ancient dead and angering their guardian spirits. Concerns and doubts confront all three teens. The dangers continue to mount. Still, they persist, feeling the pressure of diminishing time and a fear of being found out. They press on with the search, intent at beating the two strangers to the prize and proving the Kagle story true. They are close, they know it, even as their efforts at the pursuit quickly begin to fall into disarray. Again, Chad’s dreams begin to fade.
Is the Kagle story really true? Will Chad and his friends find the sacred Indian ground? Will they avoid the potential curse of the guardian spirits? What real dangers, if any, do the two strangers pose? Will they find the treasure? Will the treasure be as they truly expect? The answers can only be revealed in SACRED GROUND.
Find your treasures!
Having the story of hidden gold hotly in hand, Chad secretly recruits his best friend, Rodney Meeks, to assist with the hunt. Rodney is daring and unpredictable, and he eagerly accepts the invite. Rodney - who was also involved in the barn caper - is not well thought of by Chad’s mother, who feels he is a bit of a bad influence – though she politely deals with the friendship in her own way. Meanwhile, the secret hunt begins. But there is an immediate problem, as there are very few clues for knowing where to search. As Anston Kagle tells it, the story begins back in the early eighteen hundreds when as a young man his grandfather is led blindfolded by an old Indian to a cave full of gold. The cave is somewhere local for sure, but its location remains a mystery. The only clue is that it is located on “Sacred Ground.”
The boys need help at understanding what to look for, so they approach a schoolmate, Maggie Pearce. Maggie is full-blooded Cherokee Indian, so Chad and Rodney believe that she might know something about sacred Indian grounds. Their approach to her is rather awkward, as she has a troubled relationship with both boys. She is initially dubious of the story and hesitates her assistance – but Chad is able to win over her curiosity. She agrees to help, while acknowledging that she knows so very little about her own heritage let alone that of tribes that might once have roamed this rural region of Southern Indiana. The “Sacred Ground,” she notes, will have to be learned from her mother. This will not be easy, as she is bluntly warned by Chad that their search must be kept secret. Maggie will find this pursuit eye-opening, to say the least.
Keeping secrets from others - from their parents especially – proves to be a difficult proposition. Chad and Maggie’s parents are both devoutly religious, and their strict rules can and will create a number of issues moving forward. Though Rodney is a trusted friend, he has a tendency to speak out without careful consideration of his words – he must be warned on more than one occasion to be considerate of what he says and does. The story of Anston Kagle’s grandfather and the gold is not really a secret at all, though over the years it has been received throughout the community as a myth. Anston, however, swears it is true and the gold is real. He supports the search, and he, too, promises to keep Chad’s search a secret. But when two mysterious strangers suddenly appear in the area, a new concern arises. These two men seem be overly interested in a similar pursuit. Chad believes that they are also looking for the treasure – and an accident tends to convince all three teens that their quest is in jeopardy, as are maybe their lives. A state archeologist, Evan Smith, becomes involved, and he unknowingly confirms a basis for the Kagle story while adding a concern that he might accidently find the “Sacred Ground” himself and prematurely bring the search for the treasure to an abrupt end. Chad’s father, a forest ranger, is a close friend to Anston, knows of his story of gold, is an acquaintance of Evan Smith’s, and has an unusual encounter with the two strangers, making him a growing concern at figuring out the secret search as well. As such, nothing is at it truly seems, and the pursuit of the gold becomes more precarious every day.
What follows is a rollercoaster of challenging events, full of emotional highs and troublesome lows. New clues to the treasure are found. Anston Kagle shares one of his grandfather’s old letters, disclosing that the “Sacred Ground” is an Indian burial ground. Maggie learns from her mother the same potential, but with a strong warning that such places are protected by the spirit world. A curse might descend on those who knowingly trespass on sacred Indian grounds, disturbing the ancient dead and angering their guardian spirits. Concerns and doubts confront all three teens. The dangers continue to mount. Still, they persist, feeling the pressure of diminishing time and a fear of being found out. They press on with the search, intent at beating the two strangers to the prize and proving the Kagle story true. They are close, they know it, even as their efforts at the pursuit quickly begin to fall into disarray. Again, Chad’s dreams begin to fade.
Is the Kagle story really true? Will Chad and his friends find the sacred Indian ground? Will they avoid the potential curse of the guardian spirits? What real dangers, if any, do the two strangers pose? Will they find the treasure? Will the treasure be as they truly expect? The answers can only be revealed in SACRED GROUND.
Find your treasures!
Riding on Luck: The Saga of the USS Lang (DD-399)
They called her the "Lucky Lang." Commissioned 30 March 1939, she ranged from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean, from Scotland to the Mediterranean, before traversing the Panama Canal to engage the enemy in the Pacific at Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Kwajalein, Saipan, Leyte, and Okinawa. The Lang wreaked havoc along the "Tokyo Express" route and helped decimate Japanese air power.
Ye, though heavily involved in nearly every major campaign of the war in the Pacific, she survived it all with hardly a scratch, and one of her roster received the slightest enemy-inflicted wound. Over such an extended time and equal number of actions, no other U. S. Naval warship could boast such a record. Even the sum of her hull number's digits (399) adds up to 21, a lucky number to be sure.
This is her story, the complete history of the USS Lang as told by the ship's official biographer, himself the fortunate son of a former Lang sailor.