Where is Hoover Middle School's lost time capsule?

In honor of Hoover Middle School's 50th anniversary a group of alumni are planning to bust open a time capsule buried 40 years ago. The only catch? No one can remember where they buried it.

In 1976, teacher Jack Deppner worked diligently to film students on an 8 millimeter camera and collect mementos to bury in a time capsule. It was the bicentennial at the time and the school wanted to do something special.

Decades later, alumni reconnected on Facebook where the idea of digging up the old time capsule came up – but no one, including Deppner, could remember exactly where it is buried.

Deppner has long since retired from Hoover and just passed away a few years ago, explained alumna Dawn Atkinson-Spaccio. She laughed as she told the story of Deppner searching for years around the school trying to pinpoint just where he buried that pesky time capsule. He never could find it.

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"I come to find out that we were actually supposed to uncover it 20 years later and now we're 20 years behind," said Atkinson-Spaccio. "Mr. Deppner was running all over the school and said, 'I think I forgot where I buried it.'"

There are more than 200 comments on a thread discussing the whereabouts of the missing time capsule of alumni exchanging stories and ideas of where it might be. Atkinson-Spaccio whipped out a copy of her year book from 1976, and while a picture of the shiny, metal time capsule is prominently displayed on one of the pages, there is indication of where it was buried.

"The problem is that the whole campus may need to be dug up since nobody really knows where it was buried...except Jack Deppner (maybe). LOL," wrote alumna Mary Williams on the Facebook thread. The thread was started in 2014 and is still active today as the group chugs along in its efforts.

A group of boys buried the time capsule with Deppner, and through conversations on Facebook they think that it is buried it by the boy's locker room, said Atkinson-Spaccio. Of course, the boys would bury it in the stinkiest area of the school, she joked.

While former students have a hunch of where it is, you can never be too sure before you put shovels to the ground in an attempt to find the school's little piece of history. If it's buried under concrete, that's going to be a major issue, said Hoover assistant principal Bill Macheras, who is assisting the alumni in their attempts.

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To remove the time capsule, Macheras explained it must first be located and then the school must ask for permission from the school board to dig it up.

"I met with some great people who are past Hoover Hawks and they pinpointed the area they thought the capsule is buried," Macheras said. "At this point, they are going to get such items as a metal detector because the last thing anyone wants to do, is go digging without securing its actual resting place."

Atkinson-Spaccio said the alumni are acquiring metal detectors and a ground penetrating radar (GPR) to scour the school's campus before they submit for a permit to dig. If they can identify where the time capsule is, they will move forward and hopefully host a formal ceremony once it's discovered.

In the meantime, the group will keep sharing stories on Facebook and pushing the issue to hopefully find their buried treasure. Hoover is celebrating 50 years and will also have various events like an alumni basketball game that is scheduled Nov. 5. If and when the time capsule is discovered, a special event in its honor will likely be scheduled. Until then, the Hoover Middle time capsule mystery lives on.

"Mr. Deppner is probably laughing as he's watching us from heaven but I'm sure he's also smiling with pride in knowing our efforts are in his honor," said Atkinson-Spaccio.