The North Coast has its own “Lord of the Rings,” Rich Mulcahy, pictured right, aka the Metal Man, who goes out with his trusty high-tech metal detector with a microprocessor and two frequencies and finds lost treasures. Not treasures in the “gold doubloons and pieces of eight” sense, but sentimental treasures – like a lost wedding ring, for instance.

John O’Connell, and his wife, Nancy O’Connell, of Pocatello, Idaho, were honeymooning in Cannon Beach this summer. John was playing Frisbee in the sand, and his brand-new wedding ring, pictured below, flew off. A wave rolled in at just that moment and whisked it away. They tried in vain to find it before returning to Idaho.

The owner of Land’s End Hotel, Donna Scott, who incidentally gave Mulcahy his “Metal Man” nickname for his metal-detecting skills, gave Mulcahy the O’Connells’ contact information. Mulcahy contacted them for specifics about the loss of the ring, and the search was on.

O’Connell just happens to be the city editor at the Idaho State Journal. He wrote an article about Mulcahy and the saga of the ring, which is how the Ear found out about it.

“Although our sign offered a reward, the Metal Man stressed that under no circumstances does he accept any form of payment for his services – or even reimbursement for gas used driving to the beach or postage to return lost items,” O’Connell wrote. Yes, incredibly, Mulcahy found the ring. It was five inches deep in the sand, O’Connell said.

A retired teacher who relishes his new beachcombing life, Mulcahy loves metal detecting. It’s a “people hobby,” he said, “You meet a lot of people, and it’s fun chatting and exchanging stories.” Plus, he added, “You just never know what you’re gonna find out there.”

The Ear spoke to Mulcahy about his uncanny knack for finding lost “treasures,” and he said, “When you find something for someone, that’s really neat.” He enjoys the hunt, and he also enjoys the stories that go with the lost objects.

This week, Mulcahy is on a new mission. “A Buck Teasley called me a bit ago. He is 80 years old and grew up in Astoria,” Mulcahy wrote. “‘Back when I was a boy,’ he tells me, he used to sneak into his parents’ bedroom and ‘borrow’ a gold ring that his father used to wear – take it outside and keep it in his pocket for good luck while playing with friends. Then sneak it back to his father’s dresser. Guess this went on for some time.

“Then one day, while playing on a hillside, he lost the ring. He was questioned about the ring by his father, and I don’t know what transpired exactly from that, but now, at the age of 80, he is still feeling the pain from that experience, of having lost the ring, having let his father down, etc.”

Now that Teasley has found Mulcahy, the quest for the ring has begun. If anyone can find it, and some peace of mind for Teasley, my money’s on Mulcahy.