I was out doing fieldwork today, excavating on a small island in a lake to determine if there were any burials still there (one eroded out of a bluff earlier this summer). We had permission to do this from the government and the landowner was on site too.

We were digging at a pretty visible spot, a clearing on the crest of the bluff. The island is owned privately but lots of people come just offshore to swim and clean their boats and stuff.

Well, some boaters thought we were burying big blue duffle bags of drugs or bodies or something and called the police on us! So after a very long day, I was hauling equipment back to the boat only to see a police boat come in and the officers started questioning us!

The blue duffel bags were tarps that we screen the excavated dirt onto in order to make it easier to fill up the units once we are done.

So all in all, we were free to go after giving our personal details but I hope this isn't on my record now. The officers were nice, but I think they had hoped to make a big drug bust.