Unearthing Secrets: The Mystery of the Buried Oil Tank

I was hired by a buyer to conduct an oil tank sweep for a property nestled in a quaint New Jersey town. My standard procedure involved a meticulous and comprehensive investigation, leaving no stone unturned on the target property. Armed with my reliable metal detector, I embarked on a thorough scan of the area. However, my findings left me utterly surprised; the sole metal anomaly I detected lay dangerously close to the property boundary, seemingly stretching into the neighboring property.

This discovery was perplexing on multiple fronts. Firstly, it was highly unusual to encounter an underground storage tank (UST) positioned right on the dividing line between two distinct properties. Secondly, the plot thickened when I stumbled upon evidence in the basement, suggesting the existence of an aboveground oil tank in the property's history. This added an intriguing layer of doubt – perhaps there had never been a UST to begin with.

Despite the uncertainty, I decided to cross-check the anomaly's authenticity using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). To our collective astonishment, the GPR confirmed the presence of a UST buried beneath the earth. Even more captivating was the revelation that this UST was substantially closer to the house on the neighboring property than to the target property's dwelling.

Delving deeper into the property's history, I uncovered that these two parcels of land had once been one cohesive property before they were separated. It gradually became apparent that the UST had been buried during the time when the properties were still unified. When the land was divided and the neighboring property underwent newer construction, their house had inadvertently been situated closer to the UST. The discovery of this hidden UST, its enigmatic placement, and the lingering mystery of the abandoned aboveground tank in the basement all served to illuminate the intriguing history of the land division, a history unbeknownst to the more recent property owners.