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00:00...over the Bermuda Triangle.
00:02The plan seemed pretty straightforward.
00:05Familiar route flown countless times by other squadrons,
00:08and it should have been routine.
00:11So how does an entire squadron,
00:13followed closely by its rescuers, simply disappear?
00:16The tomb of Egypt's notorious queen, Cleopatra,
00:19is lost to the sands of time.
00:22Cleopatra was Egypt's last pharaoh,
00:24maybe the world's first celebrity,
00:26and maybe the greatest queen the world's ever known.
00:28But where is Cleopatra's last tomb?
00:33The vast treasures of the Knights Templar vanish without a trace.
00:37On the 13th of October, 1307,
00:40more than 600 Templars were swept up and interrogated under torture,
00:44which many of them didn't survive.
00:46Once the Knights were all dead or gone,
00:49very little of their gold turned up, and it still hasn't.
00:52So what happened to the treasures of the Knights Templar?
00:55The chain of history has many missing links.
01:00Prominent people, priceless treasures,
01:03extraordinary artifacts,
01:05their locations still unknown,
01:08lost to the fog of time.
01:10What happens when stories of the past become
01:17vanished history?
01:19On December 5th, 1945,
01:35five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
01:38roared off the runway at Naval Air Station, Fort Lauderdale.
01:43Under the command of Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor,
01:45the squadron embarked on a routine training mission,
01:49but what began as a simple operation
01:51would end as one of aviation's greatest mysteries.
01:56The plan seemed pretty straightforward.
01:59Head east to a place called Hen and Chicken Shoals
02:02for bombing practice,
02:04the north over Grand Bahama Island,
02:07and finally southwest back to Florida.
02:09It was a familiar route flown countless times
02:12by other squadrons,
02:13and it should have been routine.
02:17Lieutenant Taylor had more than 2,500 flight hours
02:19and years of experience under his belt,
02:22including extensive combat experience
02:23in the Pacific Theater.
02:25He was the kind of leader you'd trust in any situation.
02:28But even the most seasoned pilots
02:30can find themselves overwhelmed by unpredictable factors,
02:33especially in the treacherous conditions of the Atlantic.
02:35As daylight faded,
02:37the radio transmissions from Flight 19
02:40grew increasingly troubling,
02:42until their final message
02:44dissolved into a buzz of static.
02:47By nightfall, all five planes
02:50and their 14 crew members
02:51had vanished without a trace,
02:53along with the twin-engine PBM Mariner rescue craft
02:56that had been sent to find them,
02:58which carried 13 more men.
03:00So how does an entire squadron,
03:03followed closely by its rescuers,
03:04simply disappeared?
03:06By nightfall,
03:08all five planes and their 14 crew members
03:10had vanished without a trace,
03:12along with the twin-engine PBM Mariner rescue craft
03:15that had been sent to find them,
03:17which carried 13 more men.
03:20The disappearance of Flight 19
03:22wasn't an isolated event.
03:24In the infamous waters of the Bermuda Triangle,
03:27unexplained phenomena and human error
03:30have long converged,
03:32sparking endless debate
03:33about the balance between mystery and misstep.
03:37Flight 19 solidified the Bermuda Triangle's reputation
03:41as a place where reality
03:43and the unexplained collide.
03:46Over the years,
03:47it's become one of the defining stories
03:50behind the speculation surrounding this area,
03:53linked to strange occurrences,
03:55navigational errors,
03:57and the disappearances of ships and planes.
04:01Pilots knew their aircraft and the region.
04:04Nearly every Avenger had a crew of three Marines
04:07or Navy personnel.
04:09Only one of them had two crew members.
04:11And even the trainees had already logged
04:13about 300 flight hours each.
04:16Their flight leader, Taylor, had 2,500.
04:18Weather conditions at the start were ideal,
04:23clear skies and calm seas.
04:25Flight 19 took off just after 2 p.m.,
04:28about 25 minutes behind schedule.
04:30But by 3 p.m., they'd completed their torpedo runs
04:33at Hen and Chicken Shoals without incident.
04:36Everything seemed to be progressing as planned,
04:38and they were on course to return to Fort Lauderdale
04:41by 5.30 p.m.
04:44As the squadron prepared to shift to their next leg,
04:47unforeseen challenges began to take hold.
04:51At around 3.45 p.m.,
04:53a flight instructor picked up a transmission
04:55from Flight 19.
04:57It was clear they were lost.
05:00They believed they had veered off the Florida Keys
05:03and into the Gulf of Mexico,
05:05despite being far north, near the Bahamas.
05:09As a result of this misjudgment,
05:12Taylor ordered the squadron northeast
05:14into the open Atlantic,
05:16putting the flight up to 200 miles off course
05:20and deeper into danger.
05:23Over the next two hours,
05:25Flight 19 kept changing direction.
05:28They were desperately searching for hope.
05:30More than 20 ground stations scrambled to track them,
05:33but for ages, nothing showed up.
05:35Even their IFF transmitters,
05:37identification friend or foe,
05:39which should have made them visible,
05:41didn't register, or weren't turned on,
05:43so the squadron was completely off-grid.
05:46By 6 p.m., signal antennas finally located Flight 19,
05:50approximately 75 miles northeast of Fort Lauderdale,
05:53showing just how far off course they'd flown.
05:55With barely an hour of fuel left,
05:57their chances of survival were fading fast.
05:59In Taylor's final transmission,
06:02just 30 minutes later,
06:03the garbled, fading voices
06:04painted a haunting picture of their plight,
06:07lost, out of time, and powerless.
06:11Over the next five days,
06:12the Coast Guard and Navy
06:14combed more than 250,000 square miles
06:17of the Atlantic and Gulf,
06:18but their efforts yielded nothing.
06:21No wreckage, no life rafts,
06:23no trace at all.
06:24In the end,
06:25the search brought no answers,
06:27only more questions.
06:30In the endless expanse of sea and sky,
06:33Flight 19 vanished into a realm
06:35where certainty gave way to chaos,
06:37testing the limits of both man and machine.
06:42Lieutenant Taylor's radio transmission
06:44revealed one potential cause of this tragedy,
06:48navigational disorientation.
06:50He mistakenly believed the squadron
06:54had drifted over the Florida Keys,
06:56when in reality,
06:58they were further north near the Bahamas.
07:01His mistake pulled them off course,
07:04leading them deeper into the vast,
07:06unforgiving Atlantic.
07:07A little after 4 p.m.,
07:11Taylor reported that both of his compasses
07:13were malfunctioning.
07:15So he had no reliable instruments
07:17and tried to lead his squadron home
07:19by using visual landmarks and instinct.
07:23The Navy's protocol for disoriented pilots
07:26was clear, turn west,
07:28and fly toward the setting sun.
07:30This failsafe was ingrained in training
07:33and designed to guide aviators back to land.
07:36But Taylor, convinced they were over the Gulf of Mexico,
07:39ignored this procedure
07:40and directed the squadron northeast,
07:43straight into the open ocean.
07:46Radio transcripts show the escalating tension
07:49within the squadron
07:50as the trainees began to question Taylor's decisions.
07:54The situation quickly deteriorated
07:57until it bordered on hysteria.
08:00One pilot was overheard saying,
08:03if we'd just fly west, we'd get home.
08:07But Taylor doubled down on his error,
08:10which is a phenomenon known as cognitive lockup.
08:14That's when stress narrows focus
08:16and leaders become fixated on wrong assumptions
08:19despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
08:24It's hard to believe navigational error
08:26alone explains everything.
08:28Sure, Taylor's misjudgment
08:29might have started the chain of events.
08:31But the complete lack of wreckage
08:33and the silence from the distress systems,
08:35that hints at something else being part of the story.
08:39While human error offers part of the explanation,
08:43unanswered questions linger,
08:45hinting at complications and failures
08:46that may have turned confusion into catastrophe.
08:51Mechanical issues and communication failures
08:53may have played a pivotal role
08:55in the disappearance of Flight 19.
08:58Despite pre-flight inspections showing no major faults,
09:02reports of mid-flight malfunctions
09:04painted a different picture.
09:06Navigational aids went silent
09:08and crucial systems failed to transmit data.
09:12Whether the breakdown was because of mechanical issues
09:15or interference or just the chaos and stress of the moment,
09:19the result was that communication with the outside world
09:22was eventually lost,
09:24and the squadron was utterly alone.
09:28Among the most puzzling failures
09:30was the absence of a signal
09:32from the identified friend or foe transmitter.
09:35The IFF transmitter, standard in military aircraft,
09:40would have made Flight 19's location
09:41much more visible in real time to ground stations.
09:45But records show it was never engaged.
09:48These systems were highly reliable,
09:50but mechanical strain, electrical surges,
09:52or even operator error could render them useless.
09:55What's really odd
09:56is that no distress signals were ever picked up,
09:59even though all the planes had emergency transmitters
10:02meant to broadcast their location automatically.
10:05They stayed completely silent.
10:09And then there's the PBM Mariner rescue plane.
10:11It had equipment specifically designed
10:14to detect those signals,
10:15but it, too, vanished without a trace.
10:19While individual malfunctions are possible,
10:22the likelihood of all five planes
10:24suffering the same critical failures at once,
10:28it's hard to believe.
10:29It suggests there's more to the story
10:33and possibly a larger force at play,
10:36something that intensified their struggle
10:38to navigate and communicate.
10:42Mechanical and communication failures
10:44provide part of the picture,
10:45but the true nature of what unfolded
10:47may lie hidden in the volatile forces
10:50of the sea and sky.
10:52One theory is that a sudden storm
10:55could have sealed their fate.
10:56A white squall can strike without warning,
10:59even on clear days.
11:01And by late afternoon,
11:02the skies had darkened
11:04and conditions were deteriorating.
11:06There was torrential rain and high winds.
11:09Dense cloud cover could have been disorienting
11:11and create potentially dangerous conditions
11:14for low-flying aircraft.
11:15By 4 p.m., the storm intensified,
11:20with Miami's weather station
11:22recording winds of 40 miles per hour
11:24at 1,000 feet
11:25and hurricane-force gusts
11:27of 75 miles per hour
11:29at higher altitudes.
11:31These conditions likely engulfed the squadron,
11:34leaving them little chance of survival.
11:37Adding to the danger was the Gulf Stream.
11:40This powerful current moving
11:42at up to 5 miles per hour
11:44would have scattered any debris
11:46or survivors over vast distances.
11:50Even the strongest search efforts
11:52would have struggled
11:53against such relentless forces.
11:56But the tragedy wasn't confined
11:58to Flight 19.
12:00The rescue plane sent to find them,
12:03a PBM mariner,
12:05met its own tragic fate,
12:07adding to the mystery.
12:08Less than 30 minutes after takeoff,
12:11the crew radioed the tower,
12:12saying they were getting close
12:13to Flight 19's last assumed position.
12:17But not long after that,
12:19all contact was lost.
12:21The plane and its 13 crew members
12:23were never heard from again.
12:27PBM mariners,
12:28known as flying gas tanks,
12:30were notoriously volatile
12:31and prone to catastrophic accidents
12:33and turbulent conditions.
12:35In rough weather,
12:36their flexible fuel lines
12:37tended to get loose
12:38and leak gas,
12:39which could cause mid-air explosions.
12:41The fact that witnesses
12:42described seeing a fireball
12:43and an oil slick
12:44where the rescue plane went down
12:45fuels this theory.
12:48While we may never know definitively
12:50what happened on that tragic day,
12:52there was a silver lining.
12:54The lessons of Flight 19
12:55helped shape a safer future
12:57for aviation.
12:59There were real lessons to be learned.
13:02The tragedy highlighted problems
13:04in naval aviation,
13:05such as inconsistent training standards,
13:07excessive corner cutting.
13:09In the 1950s, a big report,
13:11the Flatley report,
13:12would finally lead to a whole series of reforms
13:15that transform flight safety.
13:17The Navy's subsequent investigation
13:20into Flight 19 took several months.
13:23The final report described the disappearance
13:25as a tragic convergence
13:26of navigational errors
13:27and environmental challenges.
13:29An initial finding of mental aberration
13:32was later overturned
13:33at Lieutenant Taylor's mother's request,
13:35leaving the investigation's final ruling
13:37as inconclusive.
13:38The disappearance of Flight 19
13:41stands as a poignant reminder
13:43of the fragile balance
13:44between humanity and nature
13:46and the unanswered questions
13:48that continue to haunt us.
14:01From the early 12th century CE,
14:04the Knights Templar were legendary,
14:06righteous, and fearsome in forces.
14:08known throughout Europe and the Levant.
14:11Through their exploits,
14:12they reaped enough wealth
14:13to finance holy wars and bankroll kings.
14:17The Knights Templar were created
14:19to protect Christians
14:20who were making pilgrimages
14:21to Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
14:23But in the process of doing that,
14:25they acquired hundreds of castle fortresses
14:27and enormous portable wealth,
14:29a great deal of it being gold or gold coins.
14:33Almost two centuries
14:34after the order of the Knights Templar was formed,
14:37Muslim warriors determined to drive
14:39all Christians out of the Holy Land,
14:42cornered the Templars
14:43and decimated them in a fierce battle.
14:46The Knights had always operated
14:48with the blessings of the church
14:49and the throne of France.
14:50But when the yen came,
14:52both turned against them.
14:55The Knights were arrested in Europe
14:57and charged as traitors and heretics.
14:59Many were publicly executed.
15:01It was a stunning betrayal.
15:02The vast hoard of gold and other valuables
15:06the Templars had amassed
15:07were supposed to go to the King of France.
15:09But it didn't.
15:11Once the Knights were all dead or gone,
15:13very little of their gold turned up.
15:15And it still hasn't.
15:16So what happened to the treasures
15:18of the Knights Templar?
15:20The poor fellow soldiers of Christ
15:23and the Temple of Solomon
15:24were founded in Jerusalem in 1119 CE
15:27by a French Knight.
15:29Eventually, their name was shortened
15:31to the Knights Templar.
15:34The Templars were supposed
15:36to live communally, like monks.
15:38They took strict vows of chastity,
15:40obedience and poverty.
15:41They wore a distinctive white cloak,
15:43indicating purity,
15:44with a bold red cross emblazoned on it.
15:47One of their emblems
15:48was two knights riding together
15:50on one horse,
15:51the very picture of poverty and humility.
15:53But the thing is,
15:55their operations required resources.
15:58The Catholic Church's doctrine
16:00allowed fighting for just causes,
16:03like the defense of the Holy Land
16:04and the Crusade.
16:05So within a decade
16:06of the Templars' formation,
16:08they won recognition from the Pope.
16:10They took land and reaped riches
16:12from their conquests in the Holy Land.
16:15By the 1300s,
16:16they were a true
16:17international military order,
16:19with estates from England to Bohemia.
16:21Ultimately, they owned
16:22over 870 estates across Europe.
16:25They even had enough money
16:26to build their own naval fleet
16:27to ship goods
16:28that their estates produced
16:29and for military use.
16:32They had so much money
16:33that at one point
16:34they were able to lend
16:35France's King Philip IV
16:36400,000 gold florins,
16:39which in hindsight
16:40may not have been a wise thing to do.
16:43In April of 1291 CE,
16:45with a company of Templar knights
16:47holed up in their headquarters
16:48in Acre, Jerusalem,
16:49the Mamluk Sultanate's relentless throngs
16:52breached the fortress walls.
16:55And with that,
16:56the image of Knights Templar
16:57everywhere was fatally tarnished.
17:01For France's King Philip IV,
17:03who owed the Templars
17:04a great deal of money,
17:06this was a golden opportunity
17:08to not only have his debts erased,
17:10but to get his hands
17:11on the Templars' legendary fortunes.
17:14Philip issued a secret order
17:16for the arrest of all Knights Templar
17:17throughout France,
17:19on charges of everything
17:20from denying Christ and heresy
17:22to financial improprieties
17:24and homosexuality.
17:25And on Philip's urging,
17:27the Pope mandated the arrest
17:28of all Templars across Europe.
17:31On the 13th of October, 1307,
17:33more than 600 Templars
17:35were swept up
17:35and interrogated under torture,
17:37which many of them didn't survive.
17:39Of those who did survive
17:41and were brought to trial,
17:42dozens were convicted
17:43and burned at the stake,
17:44including the Grand Master.
17:45By 1312,
17:47the order of the Templar Knights
17:48was officially dissolved.
17:50With the order
17:51no longer in existence,
17:53Philip IV was freed of his debt
17:54and free to confiscate
17:56the Templars' large treasury.
17:58Philip did get some of their riches,
18:01but very little.
18:03Somehow,
18:04the Knights Templar
18:04had managed to hide
18:06or move
18:06or escape
18:07with much of their portable wealth.
18:10Speculation as to what happened
18:11to that treasure
18:12continues to this day.
18:13The most obvious place
18:17for the Templars
18:17to have kept
18:18the bulk of their treasures
18:19would also have been
18:20the hardest place
18:21for anyone
18:22to remove it from.
18:24It would make perfect sense
18:26if the Knights Templar
18:27had secured their riches
18:28in the main tower
18:29of their fortress at Akkor,
18:31where they made
18:32their last stand
18:32against the Mamluk.
18:34The tower was built
18:35for protection.
18:36Basically,
18:36it was a heavily gated tower
18:38within walls
18:3928 feet thick,
18:41surrounded by a fortress,
18:42inside another fortress.
18:44The only catch
18:45is that the Templars
18:46were under siege there
18:47for weeks by the Mamluks
18:48who pounded the castle
18:49day and night.
18:50And when the Mamluks
18:51finally gained entry,
18:52there's no record
18:53of their finding
18:54a stash of treasure.
18:55So,
18:56if it had been there,
18:57how could the Templars
18:58possibly have gotten it out
18:59before they were conquered?
19:00In 1994,
19:02a resident in the town
19:03of Akkor looked
19:04into a sewer drainage problem
19:06they'd been having
19:06under their home
19:07and discovered
19:08an underground passageway
19:10cut through the bedrock.
19:11This was a secret tunnel
19:13running from where
19:14the fortress had been
19:15at one end,
19:16almost 500 feet eastwards
19:18to the internal anchorage
19:20of Akkor's port,
19:21large enough for men
19:22to run through
19:23with cartloads
19:24of whatever goods
19:25they wanted to carry.
19:26The Templars
19:29would have been able
19:29to smuggle
19:30every last gold coin
19:31out of the tower
19:32while the Mamluks siege
19:34raged above their heads.
19:36But if that's true,
19:37if they did get
19:38their treasure out
19:39through this tunnel,
19:40the question remains,
19:42where is it now?
19:45Trying to find
19:46the Templars' treasure today
19:48is like playing
19:48a shell game
19:49that happened
19:50nine centuries ago
19:51with many, many shells.
19:54The Templars had
19:55a very practical
19:55philosophy about money,
19:57keep it moving.
19:59They realized
20:00that if they allowed
20:00the accumulation
20:01of any large amount
20:02of money in any one place,
20:04others had time
20:04to find out where it was
20:06and to plan
20:06and execute raids
20:07to get it.
20:08Wealth was less vulnerable
20:09to raids
20:10if it was spread out
20:10in many places
20:11and moved frequently.
20:14The Templars
20:15had developed
20:15a whole network
20:16of underground safe houses
20:17they could escape to.
20:18And between these safe houses,
20:20they could move
20:20parcels of wealth,
20:22especially if they had warning.
20:23And they did have warning.
20:26King Philip's secret order
20:27for the arrest
20:28of the Knights Templar
20:29in France
20:29was issued
20:30on September 14th, 1307,
20:33a full four weeks
20:34before it said
20:34the arrests
20:35were to be carried out.
20:36According to contemporary accounts,
20:38the Grand Master
20:39arranged for more than
20:392,000 Knights Templar
20:41and the Templar's treasures
20:42to be loaded
20:43onto 18 ships
20:44at the port of La Rochelle
20:45before the arrests.
20:46Two ships
20:48and about 620 Templars,
20:50including the Grand Master,
20:52stayed behind,
20:53which may have been
20:54a self-sacrifice,
20:56an intentional diversion.
20:58Thanks to that,
20:59it appears
21:00more than 2,000
21:01of their fellow Knights
21:02were able to sail away
21:03in the other ships,
21:04possibly taking much
21:06of their treasure with them.
21:08Some believe
21:09the key to finding
21:10the treasure
21:11won't be to focus
21:12on where the Templars
21:13might have escaped to
21:14with it,
21:15but to consider instead
21:16the possibility
21:17the Templars
21:18may have failed
21:19disastrously in the end.
21:21The Knights Templar
21:22and their gold
21:23may have escaped by boat
21:24from La Rochelle
21:25or elsewhere,
21:27only to have sunk
21:28in the bottom of the sea.
21:29Countless sailing ships
21:30have gone down
21:31over the centuries
21:32due to storms
21:33or other bad luck,
21:34let alone while making
21:35a rushed departure
21:36overloaded with men
21:38and cargo.
21:40In 2016,
21:41excavation began
21:42on the remains
21:43of a ship
21:44found in the bay
21:44of Haifa
21:45and it was one
21:46of those rare shipwrecks
21:48that seems to tell
21:49a whole story.
21:50In terms of wood,
21:51only bits of the hull
21:53and keel
21:53and planking survived.
21:55Radiocarbon dating
21:56indicated that the wood
21:58was grown somewhere
21:59between 1062
22:00and 1250 CE.
22:03There were ceramics
22:05from Syria,
22:05Cyprus and Italy
22:06and there were also
22:0730 gold florins,
22:09coins that were minted
22:10in the Republic of Florence
22:11in the mid-13th century.
22:13This ship may well
22:14have been piloted
22:15or commissioned
22:15by the Knights Templar,
22:17escaping the Mamluks
22:18during the siege
22:18at Akko in 1291.
22:21They might have snuck out
22:22from under their fortress
22:23via the secret tunnel
22:25to board a ship
22:25waiting in the inner harbor.
22:28The gold florins
22:29may have been part
22:30of the Templar's treasure
22:31that was being transported
22:32and perhaps what was paid
22:34to the ship's captain
22:35as a bribe
22:36to help escape the chaos.
22:37The Haifa Rake
22:40is one ship out of many
22:42that may have successfully
22:43left Akko during the siege
22:45and of the 18 said
22:47to have left
22:47the port of La Rochelle
22:48in 1307,
22:50none have been located.
22:52It's intriguing.
22:54If some of the Templars
22:55did make a successful escape
22:57with their treasure,
22:58where might they have ended up?
22:59Plenty of places
23:00have been suggested.
23:03Carvings in Rossland Chapel
23:04in Edinburgh
23:05suggest some Knights Templar
23:06may have escaped to Scotland.
23:08Could they have hidden
23:09some of their treasure there?
23:11Switzerland's national flag
23:13is the exact reverse
23:14of the Knights Templar motif.
23:16It's a white cross
23:17over a red background.
23:19And the beloved
23:20Swiss rescue dog
23:21now shares its name
23:22with the Templar's patron
23:23Saint Bernard de Clairvaux.
23:26It's known the Templars
23:28were active in that area
23:29around that time,
23:30so some of their gold
23:31could have ended up there.
23:33And there are plenty of places
23:34still left to look for it.
23:37The Knights Templar
23:38were a legendary force
23:39that might not always
23:41have fought
23:41with the purest of motives.
23:43The stunning wealth
23:44they amassed
23:45during their conquests
23:46may well have caused
23:47their ruin before,
23:49like the Knights themselves,
23:51vanishing into history.
23:52In the year 30 BCE,
24:07in Egypt's capital of Alexandria,
24:09Queen Cleopatra was barricaded
24:11behind heavy wooden doors
24:12surrounded by her greatest treasures
24:14and the body of her partner,
24:17Mark Antony.
24:18She sent a letter
24:19to her conquering enemy,
24:21Octavian,
24:21with one last request,
24:23that she and Antony
24:24be allowed to rest
24:26in eternity together.
24:29Cleopatra was Egypt's last pharaoh,
24:32maybe the world's first celebrity
24:33and maybe the greatest queen
24:35the world's ever known.
24:36She was multilingual,
24:38charismatic,
24:39intelligent,
24:40educated,
24:40and a brilliant strategist.
24:42To the public,
24:43she was perceived as a goddess,
24:45the new Isis.
24:49Cleopatra had ruled Egypt
24:51with two of her brothers.
24:53She had married
24:54at least one of them
24:55and ultimately
24:56had both of them killed.
24:58And she had had children
25:00by two powerful Romans,
25:03Julius Caesar
25:04and Mark Antony.
25:07Cleopatra died just days
25:09after she sent
25:10that final letter.
25:12But the place
25:12where she was buried
25:13is a mystery.
25:15People have been searching
25:16for centuries,
25:17trying to answer
25:18one of history's
25:19greatest questions.
25:21Where is Cleopatra's
25:23lost tomb?
25:25Cleopatra VII
25:26was born in Egypt
25:27to a long line
25:28of Greek pharaohs.
25:30When she took the throne
25:31at 18 in 51 BCE,
25:34the family's dynasty
25:35was fading.
25:36But she was determined
25:37to turn her fortunes around.
25:38So, four years
25:40into her reign,
25:41when Julius Caesar
25:42came to Egypt,
25:43she recognized
25:44the opportunity.
25:46Cleopatra took Caesar
25:48on a week-long
25:49sightseeing tour
25:50of the Nile
25:50and became pregnant
25:52with his child.
25:54After Caesar returned
25:55to Rome,
25:55Cleopatra gave birth
25:56to their son,
25:58Caesarian,
25:59or Little Caesar.
26:00A powerful,
26:02useful,
26:02diplomatic bond
26:03had been formed.
26:05When Caesar was
26:07assassinated in 44 BCE,
26:10all bets were off.
26:12Cleopatra needed
26:12new diplomatic security
26:14with Rome.
26:15So, when Mark Antony,
26:16the controller
26:17of Rome's
26:17eastern territories,
26:19summoned Cleopatra
26:20for a talk
26:21to gauge her loyalty
26:22to Rome,
26:23that was her
26:24second opportunity.
26:27Cleopatra started
26:28having an affair
26:29with Mark Antony,
26:30which was a little
26:32bit complicated
26:33since he still
26:34went ahead
26:35and married
26:36Octavian's sister,
26:38even while
26:39having his love affair
26:40with Cleopatra.
26:42Mark Antony
26:43then went so far
26:44as to give Cleopatra
26:45back territories
26:46Rome had previously
26:47won from Egypt.
26:49It was all too much
26:50for Octavian to take.
26:51It seemed Antony
26:52wasn't thinking
26:53with his head.
26:54This was a line
26:55in the sand
26:55that could not be crossed,
26:57and Octavian declared
26:58war against Cleopatra.
26:59Cleopatra was
27:02experienced in battle.
27:03She soon realized
27:04they couldn't win
27:05against Octavian.
27:06She pulled her squadron
27:08out of the fight
27:09and withdrew to the safety
27:10of her palace
27:11in Alexandria.
27:13Mark Antony fled
27:14as well,
27:15leaving his soldiers
27:15to continue
27:16on their own.
27:18This was a major conflict,
27:21a personal grudge match
27:23with tens of thousands
27:24of soldiers
27:25on either side
27:27and hundreds
27:28of warships.
27:29Mark Antony's forces
27:30had the advantage
27:31in numbers,
27:32but it was still Octavian
27:34who ultimately won.
27:36In Alexandria,
27:38Cleopatra surrounded herself
27:40with all of her
27:41greatest treasures
27:42in a beautiful mausoleum
27:43she had built
27:44near her palace.
27:45And then she waited.
27:48Mark Antony threw himself
27:49on his sword.
27:50He was carried
27:51to Cleopatra's side
27:52and died in her arms.
27:53According to the famous legend,
27:57Cleopatra had a poisonous snake
27:59smuggled in
28:01and let it bite her
28:02so that she died
28:03from the venom.
28:04According to some
28:05ancient accounts,
28:06Octavian granted her wish
28:08and ordered that she be buried
28:10with Mark Antony
28:11in splendid and regal fashion.
28:14But those sources
28:16don't tell us where.
28:17In the 2,000 years
28:20since Cleopatra's death,
28:22nobody has been able
28:23to find Cleopatra
28:24in Mark Antony's crypt.
28:27Only in 2004
28:28did one investigator decide
28:30everyone had been ignoring
28:32the most important clues.
28:33It would make a lot of sense
28:36if Cleopatra were buried
28:37somewhere at the temple complex
28:39of Taposiris Magna,
28:4128 miles west of Alexandria.
28:45Taposiris Magna means
28:47the great tomb of Osiris,
28:49a god Mark Antony
28:51had been associated with in life.
28:53And archaeologists always knew
28:55there'd been a temple of Osiris
28:58at that site.
28:59But in 2005,
29:01a new discovery
29:02got everyone's attention.
29:05The outlines of a second temple
29:08were found inside the complex,
29:10laid out in three rooms,
29:12which is typical for temples
29:14dedicated to Isis.
29:16So now,
29:17there seemed like
29:17there might be temples
29:18at this site
29:19dedicated to each of the two gods
29:22that Cleopatra
29:23and Mark Antony
29:24identified with.
29:26Within the centre room
29:28of this temple to Isis,
29:29known as the sanctuary,
29:31about 200 gold coins
29:33were found,
29:34some bearing Cleopatra's image.
29:38Beneath the room,
29:39there was a 16-foot deep shaft
29:41with several underground chambers.
29:44The walls of these chambers
29:45still retained faint traces of paint.
29:48It's possible these cavities
29:49were used for burial
29:50or ritual purposes,
29:52and a mask was found,
29:53which some have speculated
29:54could have belonged
29:55to Mark Antony.
29:56In 2022,
29:59another tunnel was found,
30:0143 feet underground,
30:03chiseled out of solid rock,
30:05and more than three-quarters
30:07of a mile long,
30:09along with statues,
30:10coins,
30:11and other artefacts.
30:12And in 2024,
30:13the same archaeologist
30:15found a bust
30:15she believes
30:16depicts Cleopatra,
30:18as well as coins
30:19that definitely do.
30:20But through all this,
30:24no concrete evidence
30:26tied to Cleopatra's burial
30:28has been found
30:29at the site.
30:30And that magnificent,
30:32long tunnel?
30:34An identical one
30:35was found in Greece,
30:36on the island of Samos.
30:39That one was an aqueduct.
30:42And there's no proof
30:44that the one in Egypt
30:45ever carried anything
30:46but water either.
30:47A hunch
30:49had led archaeologists
30:50to search for Cleopatra
30:52at Taposiris Magna.
30:55Following the historical record
30:56and geological history,
30:58instead,
30:58led to a more obvious location
31:00with a twist.
31:03Cleopatra's palace
31:04was in her beloved Alexandria.
31:07She had built
31:08her mausoleum there,
31:09she had died there,
31:10so it made sense
31:12she would be buried there.
31:14With its library
31:15and its famous lighthouse,
31:17Alexandria was the largest,
31:19most sophisticated city
31:21in the world.
31:23Today,
31:24much of ancient Alexandria
31:26is actually 20 feet
31:27beneath the surface
31:29of the Mediterranean.
31:31So,
31:31if Cleopatra is buried there,
31:33she wouldn't be underground,
31:35she'd be underwater.
31:37In 365 CE,
31:39four centuries
31:40after Cleopatra's death,
31:41a massive tsunami
31:4350 to 100 feet high
31:45blasted through
31:46ancient Alexandria
31:47and its palaces.
31:49It killed about 50,000 people
31:50and buried Alexandria
31:51under 80 feet of sediment.
31:54Since the early 90s,
31:56underwater archaeological mapping
31:58has uncovered sections
32:00of Alexandria,
32:02piers,
32:03and the remains
32:04of palace walls,
32:05granite columns,
32:06even a massive stone sphinx.
32:10However,
32:11there's been no sign
32:12of Cleopatra's crypt
32:13there so far.
32:16Some who've sought
32:17Cleopatra's tomb
32:18believe
32:18that even with the use
32:20of the most advanced
32:21modern technologies,
32:22her tomb may continue
32:23to elude discovery
32:25and possibly
32:26with good reason.
32:28Cleopatra's tomb
32:29may simply no longer exist.
32:31It may have been found
32:32long ago in antiquity,
32:34then looted and destroyed,
32:35or it may have been
32:37purposefully dismantled
32:38by the Romans
32:39soon after she died.
32:40We know Octavian
32:42wanted to obtain
32:43Cleopatra's riches
32:44and he wouldn't have
32:45wanted to risk
32:46the public maintaining
32:47too strong a connection
32:48with their dead queen.
32:50The truth is,
32:52right now,
32:52we don't know
32:53either way.
32:55And just because
32:55Cleopatra's tomb
32:56hasn't been found yet
32:58doesn't mean
32:59it won't be.
33:01It could absolutely
33:02still be out there
33:03somewhere,
33:04waiting,
33:05to be discovered.
33:07It may still lie
33:09at Taposiris Magna
33:10or under the Mediterranean
33:12among the ruins
33:13of ancient Alexandria.
33:15There are also
33:16untested theories
33:18it may be
33:18at the Temple of Isis
33:20in Philae
33:20or in the Valley of Kings
33:23where Tutankhamen
33:24was interred.
33:26Or it could be
33:27some other place
33:28that nobody's
33:29thought of yet.
33:30If there is a silver lining
33:33to the fruitless search
33:34for the tomb,
33:35it's that Taposiris
33:37was a neglected site
33:38that everyone knew about
33:39but few cared about.
33:40It has now become
33:42one of Egypt's
33:43most active
33:43archaeological sites
33:44with hundreds
33:45of significant discoveries
33:46already made.
33:48And the same
33:48is happening
33:49under the Mediterranean
33:50at ancient Alexandria.
33:52So Cleopatra's influence
33:53continues to live on.
33:56Queen Cleopatra VII,
33:58the new Isis
33:59who ended her life
34:01more than two millennia ago,
34:03continues to impress
34:04and expire.
34:05And it's possible
34:06that with the discovery
34:08of her tomb,
34:09she'll return one day
34:10and tell her own story.
34:24South Africa
34:25at the dawn
34:26of the 20th century
34:27was a land teetering
34:29on the edge
34:29of monumental change.
34:31The discovery of gold
34:32transformed the once quiet
34:34Transvaal Republic
34:35into a battleground
34:36of wealth and power,
34:38igniting British
34:39imperial ambitions.
34:41At the heart
34:41of this upheaval
34:42was Paul Kruger,
34:44a leader whose vision
34:45for his people
34:46collided with the relentless
34:48tide of colonial expansion.
34:51Paul Kruger
34:52wasn't just the president
34:53of the South African Republic,
34:54he was the embodiment
34:55of Boer independence
34:57and resilience.
34:58The Boers,
34:59Dutch-speaking settlers
35:00from the Cape Colony,
35:01had formed their own
35:02self-governing republics
35:04to protect their way of life.
35:06His greatest challenge
35:07began in 1886
35:08with the discovery of gold
35:10in the Witwatersrand area.
35:12Suddenly,
35:12this area wasn't just
35:14a remote Boer territory,
35:15it was a treasure trove
35:17of unimaginable value,
35:19drawing a flood
35:19of British and foreign settlers
35:21or outlanders,
35:22as Kruger
35:23disdainfully called them.
35:25To Kruger,
35:26these newcomers
35:27weren't just immigrants.
35:28They were a direct threat
35:29to the Boer way of life
35:30and identity.
35:31He steadfastly refused
35:32to grant them voting
35:33and political rights.
35:34This exclusion angered
35:36the mining elite,
35:36who saw Kruger's policies
35:38as obstacles
35:38to their economic ambitions,
35:40setting the stage
35:41for an inevitable clash.
35:44War broke out in 1899.
35:47It was known
35:47as the Great Boer War
35:48back then,
35:49but today historians
35:50call it the South African War
35:52because many black Africans
35:54were caught up in it too.
35:55It was a brutal,
35:56colonial conflict
35:57that saw the Boers
35:58embrace guerrilla warfare,
36:01attacking British outposts,
36:03sabotaging rail lines,
36:05stretching the British troops thin
36:06across the vast terrain,
36:09while the British
36:10targeted civilians
36:11with scorched earth campaigns
36:13and concentration camps.
36:16Amid this chaos,
36:18Kruger faced a pivotal decision
36:20how to safeguard
36:21the Republic's wealth.
36:23So he and his advisors
36:24devised a plan.
36:25Kruger fled South Africa
36:27with over 2 million pounds
36:28in gold,
36:29worth over $500 million today.
36:32But somewhere along the line,
36:34the gold vanished,
36:35creating one of history's
36:36most enduring enigmas.
36:38So what happened
36:39to the Kruger millions?
36:41On June 4th, 1900,
36:44Kruger orchestrated
36:45a daring plan.
36:47Gold coins, bullion,
36:48and unprocessed gold
36:50were removed from
36:50the South African mint
36:52and the National Bank,
36:53then packed into wooden crates
36:55and transported on wagons
36:57towards the Delagoa Bay Railway.
36:59By noon,
37:00the precious cargo
37:01reached Pretoria Station,
37:03where a special train awaited,
37:05shrouded in secrecy
37:06and protected
37:07by armed guards.
37:09Kruger's plan was audacious,
37:11to transport the Republic's wealth
37:13to Mozambique,
37:15possibly to finance
37:15the war effort from abroad,
37:17or to solidify the nation's future
37:19after the conflict.
37:20For Kruger,
37:21this wasn't simply wealth.
37:22It was the Republic's lifeline
37:24in wartime.
37:26Somewhere along the way,
37:28some of the Kruger millions
37:29seem to have disappeared.
37:31When British forces
37:32took Pretoria,
37:34they found the vaults empty
37:35and Kruger gone.
37:37The difference between
37:38those two numbers
37:39has sparked speculation,
37:42myths, and legends
37:43that have fascinated people
37:45for more than a century now.
37:49Amidst these tales,
37:51one possibility echoes
37:52more persistently
37:53than the rest,
37:54the belief that
37:55the Kruger millions
37:56never left the land
37:57where they were forged
37:58and may lie hidden
38:00within South Africa's
38:01vast and rugged landscape.
38:03The idea that Kruger
38:05hid the gold
38:06within South Africa
38:07is plausible.
38:09Anticipating that the British
38:10might intercept the treasure
38:11before it reached Mozambique,
38:13Kruger could have had it
38:14ordered to be concealed
38:15along the escape route.
38:17The train passed through
38:18secluded areas like
38:19Makadadorp,
38:21the Blyde River Canyon,
38:22the Sudwala Caves,
38:24and Waterval Ander,
38:25ideal locations
38:26for hiding a fortune.
38:29Waterval Ander
38:30wasn't just an ideal
38:31hiding place.
38:32It became the nerve center
38:34for Kruger's government
38:35in exile.
38:37Daily trains connected
38:38the site with
38:39Makadadorp,
38:39the last town
38:40in Boer territory,
38:42allowing crucial
38:43war strategy meetings
38:44as the British
38:45closed in.
38:47With tunnels
38:47and rail links
38:48running towards Mozambique,
38:50it was a location
38:51well suited
38:52for concealing a fortune.
38:55Plus,
38:55the security of the area
38:56meant his most trusted advisors
38:58had easy access.
39:00You have to wonder
39:01if Kruger's men
39:01may have hidden
39:02the treasure there
39:03or if this is just
39:04another layer
39:05of misdirection.
39:06In 1900,
39:09a Boer officer
39:09named Fritz Duquesne,
39:11known for his cunning
39:12and deep-seated hatred
39:13for the British,
39:14is said to have been
39:15entrusted with the gold.
39:18There's lots of reason
39:19not to believe Duquesne.
39:21He was a known
39:22con artist,
39:23later became a Nazi spy,
39:24and often rewrote
39:26his own history.
39:27But some stories
39:28claim he led
39:29a convoy of wagons
39:30filled with gold,
39:32and that along the way,
39:33his men tried to kill him
39:35and steal the treasure.
39:38Duquesne caught on
39:39to their plan
39:39and managed to foil
39:40the assassination attempt.
39:42It's alleged
39:43that he later ordered
39:44his loyal servants
39:45to bury the gold
39:46in a secret location,
39:47possibly near the town
39:49of Ermelo.
39:50He was captured
39:51by the British
39:51shortly after
39:52and exiled,
39:54and the treasure's location
39:55remained a mystery.
39:56If the story's true,
39:58Duquesne took the details
39:59to his grave.
40:01Decades later,
40:02in 2000,
40:03South Africa
40:04found itself gripped
40:06by gold fever
40:06once again,
40:08when Athol Stark,
40:09a successful businessman
40:10from Ermelo,
40:12became entangled
40:12in the legend.
40:15The Zulu family
40:16approached Stark
40:17with a proposition.
40:18They had found
40:194,000 Kruger ponds,
40:21which are gold coins
40:22bearing Paul Kruger's likeness,
40:24and needed his help
40:25to sell them.
40:26After verifying
40:27their authenticity,
40:28Stark became convinced
40:29that the Kruger millions
40:31were real
40:32and possibly hidden
40:33near his hometown.
40:35As word spread,
40:37treasure hunters
40:37flocked to Ermelo,
40:39believing that the coins
40:39could be part of
40:40Duquesne's hidden treasure.
40:42The discovery
40:42of a buried statue
40:43and multiple caches
40:44of coins in the area
40:45added fuel to the fire.
40:47And for a moment,
40:48it seemed like the mystery
40:49might finally be solved.
40:50But despite extensive searches,
40:55no evidence
40:55of the full Kruger millions
40:56was found.
40:57The coins that were discovered
40:59were isolated stashes,
41:01perhaps buried by Boer farmers
41:03during the war
41:04to protect their savings.
41:06Without evidence
41:07of a vast singular hoard,
41:09perhaps the Kruger millions
41:11weren't hidden at all.
41:12And the true fate
41:13of the gold
41:14could reveal
41:15a different story
41:16about the Boer's struggle.
41:17It's possible
41:19Kruger intended
41:20to use the gold
41:21in a desperate bid
41:22to sustain
41:22the Republic's fight
41:23against the British.
41:25As conventional warfare
41:26became untenable,
41:28the Boers needed resources
41:29to continue
41:30their guerrilla tactics.
41:32The gold could have been
41:33crucial in paying soldiers,
41:35securing ammunition,
41:36and buying essential supplies.
41:38Evidence suggests
41:40that significant amounts
41:41of gold
41:41were transported
41:42to Lorenzo Marx
41:44in Mozambique.
41:45There,
41:46it was exchanged
41:46for provisions,
41:47everything from ammunition
41:49to 44,000 bags of flour.
41:51While this certainly
41:52supports the idea
41:53that some of the money
41:54was sent in efforts
41:55to fund the war,
41:56we still don't have records
41:58that account
41:58for all the missing gold.
42:00So if the treasure
42:01wasn't entirely consumed
42:03by the war effort
42:04or lost amid the chaos,
42:05could its fate lie
42:07in Kruger's
42:07most daring maneuver of all?
42:11Faced with dwindling options,
42:13Kruger may have devised
42:14a bold and final strategy
42:16for the Republic's wealth,
42:18an audacious move
42:19that would carry
42:19the Kruger millions
42:20far beyond
42:22South African shores.
42:24It's possible
42:25the Kruger millions
42:26were smuggled out of Africa
42:27and taken to Europe
42:28by Kruger himself,
42:29then hidden within
42:30international banking systems.
42:32After the fall of Pretoria,
42:34Kruger fled to Mozambique
42:35and secured passage
42:36aboard the Dutch warship,
42:37HNLMS Gelderland.
42:39Perhaps Kruger took
42:40a substantial portion
42:41of the treasure with him,
42:42intending to use it
42:43to rally international support
42:44for the Boer cause.
42:46Kruger spent his final years
42:48in the Netherlands,
42:49and his relationships there
42:51could have helped him
42:52get the gold into Europe.
42:54There even seemed to be records
42:55of deposits
42:56in Dutch and Swiss banks.
42:59The recent discovery
43:01of over 900 Kruger coins
43:03found in a Swiss vault
43:04adds credence to this theory,
43:07suggesting that some of the treasure
43:08was smuggled abroad.
43:11These coins,
43:12minted during Kruger's presidency
43:13and preserved for over a century,
43:15offer a tantalizing piece
43:18of the puzzle.
43:19While it indicates
43:20that at least a fraction
43:21of the Kruger millions
43:22made it to Europe,
43:23the quantity found is small
43:25compared to the supposed
43:26total value of the treasure.
43:29Kruger's lifestyle in exile
43:30was modest,
43:31and upon his death in 1904,
43:33there were no signs
43:34of vast wealth.
43:35The gaps in documentation
43:36and the secretive nature
43:38of international banking
43:39at the time
43:40make it difficult
43:41to verify this theory.
43:44For all we know,
43:45Kruger's millions
43:46might still be stashed away
43:47in Swiss vaults,
43:49waiting to fund
43:50another Boa resistance
43:51that never happened.
43:53Over a century has passed,
43:56yet the enigma
43:56of the Kruger millions
43:58continues to captivate historians
44:00and treasure hunters worldwide.
44:03The legend isn't just
44:04a tale of lost gold.
44:05It's a story
44:06that captures a nation's struggle,
44:08the tangled legacy
44:09of colonialism,
44:10and the irresistible pull
44:11of a mystery
44:12that refuses to be solved.
44:13Whether the tale
44:17of lost gold
44:18is true or not,
44:19the story
44:20is a valuable reminder
44:22of a pivotal moment
44:24in South African history,
44:25a brutal war
44:27that left tens
44:28of thousands dead
44:29and set the scene
44:30for apartheid.
44:31The mystery
44:33of Kruger's millions
44:34endures,
44:35a timeless relic
44:36of colonial ambition
44:37and resistance,
44:39caught between history
44:40and legend,
44:41a haunting symbol
44:42of a people's struggle.
44:44It's a reminder
44:45that history
44:46is full of secrets
44:47waiting to be revealed.
44:49of a people's struggle
44:51about蔡
45:08in line
45:08in line
45:09in line
45:10and
45:11in line
45:12in line
45:13of never
45:14and
45:15to
45:15ятно
45:15to
45:16the
45:16why
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