Location of time capsule buried in a North Huntingdon school courtyard remains a mystery

The location of a time capsule buried 31 years ago in a former Norwin elementary school courtyard remains as much a mystery today as the contents sealed inside it, despite a couple of hours of digging into the solid earth and using a metal detector to try to find it.

Three members of James Pogue’s sixth-grade class at the former Hartford Heights Elementary School in western North Huntingdon spearheaded what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt this week to find the buried time capsule at what has been the Adelphoi Village Academy since 2004.

“We did not (find it), but we want to try again. It’s there somewhere,” said Keri Holton of North Huntingdon, one of the dig organizers.

The classmates believe students put into the time capsule “things that were important at that year (1989),” Holton said.

Their sixth-grade teacher, the late Pogue, came up with the idea.

Classmates Jason Zugai of West Newton and Beth Griser of North Huntingdon agreed with Holton that Pogue probably was involved in the burial. But none of the three former classmates recalled seeing the burial inside the courtyard, nor could they recall what the capsule looked like.

Zugai provided the muscle for an initial dig on the hot and humid Wednesday. What he uncovered, however, were more than a dozen plastic food trays, some pretty much intact after spending an unknown number of years underground. While they initially thought and hoped the plastic trays were an indication that someone placed them there to protect the capsule, that theory did not prove true.

When the thought of continuing to dig around a 40-by-40-foot courtyard without a metal detector to spot where a piece of metal might be, Shane Spielvogle, executive director of North Huntingdon EMS, was called to bring a metal detector. Three other spots set off a louder sound from the detector and gave them a glimmer of hope that the burial site might be close at hand.

“If someone asked what are you going to do today, digging holes at Adelphoi Village (Academy) was not the answer,” Spielvogle said as he walked around the courtyard with the metal detector in hand, trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack.

The dig came about, Holton said, after she posted a picture of a T-shirt with the number 89 that was signed by the Hartford Heights sixth-graders in 1989 when they had a field day at Norwin High School.

Someone saw the picture and remarked about the time capsule being buried in the courtyard, which set off the treasure hunt approved by Adelphoi Village. Holton said it was not related to the 25th anniversary of their graduation from Norwin in 1995.

Adelphoi Village, which has used the school to educate students since the 2004-05 school year, has remodeled the building, said Mark Dysert, Adelphoi educational director. There was no indication the courtyard, accessible through a door, was dug up in the intervening years.

There was no word on when, or if, the former Hartford Heights students might return to try again. Classes for the Adelphoi Village students begin Aug. 31, the same day Norwin starts school.