Don’t Be a Muggle
The term “muggle” came on the scene when we were introduced to Harry Potter’s world of wizardry. In the series of books, muggles are folks with zero magic skills. Geocachers have borrowed the term to refer to people who aren’t geocaching or who aren’t even aware of it. (In case you’re a muggle, check out this blog post for more info.)
That’s all fine, but the real issue is when muggles discover a geocache – sometimes even accidentally – and destroy it. Just to keep with the theme, these caches have been “muggled.”
Last year we placed caches in five local parks and have received great feedback from locals and visitors alike on geocaching in the city’s parks. Some even discovered new parks like Wragg Square.
Unfortunately, some caches have been muggled. The cache in Wragg Square has been stolen and the cache in Brittlebank Park has been muggled not once but twice. Basically, this just isn’t cool. Our caches are clearly marked with a Charleston Parks Conservancy sticker and have Conservancy goodies, such as stickers, pins and keychains, that geocachers can take as their prize for finding the cache. Each cache also has a log book for cachers to leave comments and record their find.
If a muggle stumbles upon our cache, it’s perfectly fine for him or her to take a prize and leave a comment, but please leave the cache for others to find and enjoy. Don’t be a muggle – we’d hate to have to cast a spell on you!
Here’s some additional information about some of the terminology used in geocaching that may not be words used by muggles.