Two men chanced upon a trap door in back room of a historic church near San . They discovered 23 religious murals painted by Native more than 200 years ago. The murals record from the Bible. Arthur Anderson, an artist, and Bush, a painter, had been to the church times before. But they were not aware of trap doors in the building.
The only reason discovered it was that Arthur dropped a coin the floor while pulling a small knife out his pants pocket. He heard the coin hit floor and roll. He started searching. A minute , he found his dime. “Gotcha!” he said proudly. then he saw what looked like an unusual in the floor board. With his knife, he digging around the gap.
The floor board suddenly . Arthur felt that he was onto something. He the floor board and saw a rope handle to what looked like a trap door. Eric Arthur remove four more floor boards. Then Arthur open the trap door.
Beneath it was a in the ground about 15 feet long, 10 wide, and 2 feet deep. They shined a into the hole and saw the murals. They not wrapped, covered, or otherwise protected. Yet they in wonderful condition, according to Eric.
“God truly work in mysterious ways,” said Arthur. The murals only the colors black, red, and yellow. The are about 12 by 12 inches, and the are about 24 by 24 inches. Digital photographs taken of all the murals before they were onto a truck.
All 23 murals, created about , are now at the Museum of Native American . They will be inspected, cleaned, archived, and examined experts. They will not be put on public until early next year. Museum officials expect a turnout when that day occurs. “This is truly ,” said one official. “I wonder how many more are out there waiting for someone to drop dime on them.”