The Metal Detector Guy: Always in search of buried treasure

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Como Park is an old neighborhood with old houses and old yards. For a guy with a metal detector, it's Valhalla.

For Nick Torok, the community was a playground when he was growing up: a world to explore. "I was born and raised here," he said. "My grandpa helped build a lot of the houses around here."

It wasn't until his mid-30s that Torok delved into the dirt beneath his feet to find out what lay beneath the surface. That's when he got into metal detecting. "I saw a YouTube video and I was hooked," he said.

Torok's passion soon outgrew his own yard and the public spaces around Como Park, and he and his metal detector became something of a fixture in the neighborhood. "People were always asking me if I was 'the metal detector guy,' so my wife set up a Facebook account called 'The Metal Detector Guy,' " Torok said. "That's how most people contact me."

Torok cleared his afternoon on July 23. He had invitations from three property owners, and Torok's excitement was palpable. The first lot on his itinerary sounded promising.

Torok had spoken to the owner prior to his arrival and got a brief history lesson. "This is one of the first houses built in the neighborhood," he said. "It was built as a store in the 1890s, and it was converted to a house sometime between 1910 and 1920."

A lot of customers had crossed the front yard with change from their purchases more than 100 years before, and Torok had high hopes.

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