Posted on 03/10/2021 11:34:29 AM PST by Red Badger
This is a rather odd story that I’ve been following for a while now, so bear with me. It’s been featured on a couple of the Travel Channel’s conspiracy theory shows and you’ll see why in a moment if you’re not familiar with it. But a recent development may bring it out of the tinfoil hat column and at least into the realm of possibility.
The tale starts in the 1860s when legend has it that a large wagon full of gold bullion was either stolen or “went missing” in a remote area of western Pennsylvania. The shipment had supposedly been on its way to the mint in Philadelphia but it never arrived. This has led any number of would-be treasure hunters to scour the forests in that region looking for a massive payday. The amount of gold was rumored to be between seven and nine tons, making it worth hundreds of millions of dollars today. But all efforts to locate it had come up empty.
That might have changed in 2018. A father and son team named Parada who co-own the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers were investigating a remote part of Elks County called Dent’s Run. Using a sophisticated metal detector they located what seemed to be a huge hit of something metallic. But the site sits on state land and permission had to be obtained to do any excavating. For some reason or other, they wound up contacting the FBI about their discovery in January of 2018. Soon the FBI had hired an environmental survey outfit with a gravimeter to search the area. They confirmed that there was a “large metallic mass” under the ground.
In March of that year, the FBI climbed that hill with shovels and other excavating equipment to begin digging themselves. The Pradas and Warren Getler, an author who researches lost Civil War-era treasures, had made arrangements with the FBI to observe the dig. But that day and the next, they were told to remain in their cars while the FBI was on the site. At the end of the second day, the FBI agents took the three men up to the site and showed them a large, empty hole, telling them they had found nothing.
But neighbors around the area told investigators that they saw large numbers of FBI vehicles and earth-moving equipment, including dump trucks and backhoes, going back and forth through the area. It was also happening at night when there was supposedly no digging going on and the Paradas and Getler were not in the vicinity. The story didn’t sit well with them, but the FBI continued to maintain that they had found nothing and had no further information to share.
Now, however, through FOIA requests and court orders, the FBI has released at least some emails on the subject and it certainly sounds like they know more about the story than they’ve been letting on. (Associated Press)
Those documents, which [attorney Bill] Cluck provided to The Associated Press, show that federal law enforcement was indeed after buried treasure.
“We believe the cache itself is in the neighborhood of 3x5x8 (feet) to 5x5x8,” wrote K.T. Newton, an assistant U.S attorney in Philadelphia, in a 2018 email marked “Confidential.” …
Cluck, meanwhile, is still pursuing government material on the case — nearly 2,400 pages, as well as video files, that the FBI has promised to turn over in response to his Freedom of Information Act request.
All documents in the federal court case about the dig remain sealed.
While the story may still sound kind of crazy, the actions of the FBI over the past several years cry out for explanations to a number of questions. First of all, the court order the FBI obtained to perform the dig cited the reason as being “what evidence suggested may have been a cultural heritage site.” Okay. If you thought there might be a “cultural heritage site” there, wouldn’t you send in some archeologists rather than an army of FBI agents with dump trucks and backhoes?
Next, if the FBI’s story is true and the entire trip turned out to be a waste of time, why are all of the records sealed? Why are they fighting in court so hard to keep anyone from seeing the documentation related to the dig? What’s so classified about an empty hole in the ground? Seriously, people… does that make any sense?
And finally, when the treasure hunters’ attorney petitioned the courts to force the FBI to turn over the records, Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson denied the petition. But in a footnote to his ruling, the judge listed the name of the sealed federal case. It was “In the Matter of: Seizure of One or More Tons of United States Gold.”
The fight continues to get the files unsealed. It doesn’t seem possible that a group of FBI agents could have heisted that much gold just to keep for themselves without anyone noticing. They might have seized it on behalf of other government agencies, however. But if that’s the case, why lie about it? In any event, there seems to be far more here than meets the eye.
Shovel ready jobs... 😏
If the government received it, it’s not stealing.
If a few FBI agents suddenly went to South America on permanent vay-cay, it is....................
Thanks Red Badger and fool in paradise.
The ‘morons’ in the UK actually get paid market value if the Crown decides to keep their find, otherwise they get to keep it. These guys at Finders Keepers didn’t get a cent.
Also, how would you dispose of a fortune in illicit gold? That is always an issue.
I know a guy
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Probably as successful as “Hunting for Hitler.”
Thanks all, I just finished reading the thread, that was good and nuts.
Job one is to trace the paper trail, to see if there even is a paper trail, IOW, to see if there ever was any such missing gold shipment, and if so, why the theft and the thieves weren't run to ground by the millions of men then under arms. This one has less credibility than the ludicrous Beale Cipher.
If something was indeed dug up, it is more likely to have been one of those cold war era Soviet caches of sabotage equipment, explosives, that kind of thing. All such finds are kept in the gray netherworld of conspiracy theory just so people sleep better, or possibly because of spies and traitors within the US gov't. You wanna sleep better, try a pill.
Turns out there are a bunch of topics about this, I’d forgotten about them all.
https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/dentsrun/index
26 bars x 50 pounds x 16oz x spot price of gold = $37,704,576
Thoughts of Yogi Bear and a picnic basket come to mind.
Heh... back in the 1950s and 60s there was a loon in a South American nuthouse who apparently openly claimed to be Adolf Hitler, and his existence was investigated by US intel services of that time. He, uh, turned out not to be Hitler. There's an amusing but intentionally vague vignette about this in one of Long John Nebel's books, which are immensely entertaining if nothing else. :^)
Isn’t there some kind of finders fee or reward for aiding the recovery of missing wealth? As soon as they realized they were being cheated, they should have called the media, before the digging was finished. If there is some kind of reward they should file a law suit. I did a rough calculation on the value of gold now. Using seven tons at $1700 an ounce, came up with $380,800,000 Has anyone gone back there with the metal detecting equipment to see if the reading is still there or is now gone?
This was the 1860s, so either during or immediately after the Civil War. Was this Confederate gold, either taken from people or more likely banks as southern towns were captured. For example, what happened to money in Vicksburg where 29,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered to Grant? Other nearby towns fell soon after. Gold carried by boat to Ohio, then overaland to PA. Sherman took part in this battle. How much gold did he collect marching through Georgia and Atlanta? Did he get ideas at Vicksburg? How was gold moved from West to East? Where would it stop and be kept if southern owned during the war or immediately after? Wow, what a great detective story.
You ‘mart
See my comments #74 and #75.
Whatever gold was in the CSA in 1861 was gone, mostly overseas, well before 1865.
Good question................
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