NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

A newywed couple smile meekly in one of hundreds of wedding pictures reeled out of a canal.

Magnet fisher Sophie Doyle rates the find, also including two statues, as her strangest discovery in three years of exploring, quite a statement in a field that includes weapons, explosives and forensic evidence.

Sophie, 26, used a powerful magnet attached to a rope as well as a grappling hook to reel in a full-to-the-brim supermarket bag, which had been weighted down with bricks.

The waterlogged trove contained hundreds of professional photographs which have retained their colour and are not thought to have been submerged long.

The enthusiast, from Bolton, has identified the statues as ’Ek Onkar’, a symbol appearing at the beginning of the Sikh Scripture, and the ‘Khanda’, a double-edged sword representing the faith.

But why the ceremony was cast to the depths remains a mystery.

In one of the pictures, the couple look on while wearing traditional wedding finery including the groom’s gold-coloured sehra headgear.

The other images show guests, including men wearing pristine white suits and orange turbans, celebrating and hugging.

Found in Blackburn, the wedding keepsakes included hundreds of images of different sizes piled to the top of the large bag.

One of the pictures appears to have been taken outside the Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India.

The items, which Sophie recovered in September 2020, are among finds that have included evidence in a police cold case, a rusty Victorian safe which took a winch and team effort to remove and a statue of the Hindu Goddess of Death, Time and Doomsday.

‘The most unusual thing I have pulled out of a canal has to be a bag weighed down with bricks which I retrieved with a grappling hook,’ she said.

‘It contained hundreds of photographs, and large images of a newlywed Sikh couple along with two large statues which I have identified to be Ek Onkar and the Khanda.

‘There could be many reasons these ended up in the canal. In the eyes of a magnet fisher, anything weighed down underwater has alarm bells ringing, as it’s usually something that was never meant to be found.’

Sophie took up the ‘extremely addictive’ hobby around three years ago before setting up her Magnetic Pull social media accounts in 2020.

Casting off with gear including powerful magnets attached to ropes, and sometimes a grappling hook, she regularly links up with other hobbyists at organised events and shares her adventures on her Facebook blog.

Some finds, such as an array of weapons and a banknote-counting machine, could be straight out of a Ray Winstone film, while others, such as a statue of the Hindu goddess Kali, beg further research.

‘Another mysterious item I have pulled out of a canal is the “Goddess of Death”, which I found in Rochdale,’ Sophie said.

‘It was a large statue of a woman standing over the body of a man covered in snakes. I knew it was a religious piece as the woman had many arms, some damaged. I did some research and found that the Goddess of Death is a Hindu God with many qualities. Her appearance was quite striking, she wears a garland of severed human heads also known as the mundamala.’

Magnet fishers sift through the depths with gear capable of pulling up heavy items including loaded safes. Frequent finds include firearms, grenades and other unexploded ordnance, coins of all descriptions and sundry ill-gotten gains thrown into rivers and canals.

The YouTuber’s main magnet has a pulling force of 1,800kg (1.8 tonnes).

Finds requiring careful handling have included a World War Two ‘heavy howitzer’ artillery shell, numerous knives, shotgun ammunition and a grenade that required a controlled explosion.

On a group outing in Leeds, Sophie calmly used hazard tape to cordon the spot off and instructed another member of her group on how to call the bomb squad via 999 afer a friend pulled out a piece of ordnance.

In May, she took part in a collaboration where the enthusiasts found 29 knives, a knuckleduster and an improvised throwing star.

The haul recovered in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, was handed over to the police who destroyed the items and thanked the finders.

In one instance, the searcher was contacted by a family who asked for her help to retrieve evidence for a police ‘cold case’ regarding a convicted serial killer and paedophile.

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‘I was looking for anything from clothing to potential metal objects such as watches or belt buckles,’ she said.

‘I successfully retrieved evidence which the family and friends believe to be directly linked to the convict. I also retrieved a bone.

‘Both items have been bagged and sent off for forensic testing.

‘I do however suspect the bone was from an animal and not a human. I am unable to disclose the case name although it has been covered by the media in the past.’

The hobbyist spoke after Leigh Webber, better known as Bondi Treasure Hunter, told Metro.co.uk about his strangest finds, including a grenade, ammunition and voodoo charms.

Followers of the sociable pastime are keen to point out that their pre-occupation has many other purposes other than dredging up murky items, with Sophie and others raising money for charities including Victim Support and helping to clear up waterways.

A community has grown around the hobby and also includes dippers sharing pictures and details of unidentified objects online in the hope that they may be identified by others.

Sophie donates her scrap to P.S Hall Scrap Metal, also known as the scrap girls, to support their business in Bolton.

‘Magnet Fishing is an extremely addictive hobby worldwide which provides something for everyone,’ she said.

‘It has the attractions of restoring and maintaining the waterways, finding historic items, saving pieces of history and even upcyling found items.

‘For some it’s family time and it helps to prevent social isolation as there are thousands of people you can meet up with for the day – I have a Facebook group called “Magnet Fishers United” dedicated to this.

‘It’s also great for mental health as you are working as a team with friends, outside enjoying nature and feeling grounded and relaxed.

‘At the same time it’s exciting because you don’t know what you’re going to find. An angler can wait for extended periods before catching a fish, but with a quality magnet you can pull something out on every cast, from an ironing board to a gunpowder-filled hand grenade dating to 1651.’

Sophie has donated the statues to a temple in Bolton. There have been no takers for the pictures as the riddle over their origin remains.

Dr Navdeep Singh, founder and CEO of The Sikh Group, told Metro.co.uk: ‘There could be a number of reasons why the bag and its contents has ended up in the canal, but followers of the Sikh faith do not believe in rituals or superstitions, so it wouldn’t have been for those purposes.

‘In India, people from other faiths do put items in the Ganges River, including people’s ashes. 

’Sikhs cremate their loved ones and their ashes are scattered while reciting religious prayers in various rivers around the world. Personal and religious items are not included.’

*Follow Sophie’s adventures by searching for MagneticPull2020 on social media

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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