- 5 hours ago
Josh scours the Virginia backcountry in search of the legendary Thomas Beale treasure, which would be worth millions today. Since encrypted codes are hiding its whereabouts, Josh takes a detour to Philadelphia to uncover missing pieces of the puzzle.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01In the backwoods of Virginia, there is a document containing a secret code.
00:06Take a look at here. What does that look like?
00:07It's like peaks and valleys.
00:08Exactly. Mountains.
00:10That leads to a legendary treasure.
00:12People have been looking for this treasure now for a long time.
00:18But can it be found?
00:21Guys, look at this. Look at that.
00:231788, is that right?
00:25Josh, I got something. Look at this.
00:27Yup, I see it. Right out there.
00:29I'm getting more and more confident as we go.
00:31I mean, look at this place.
00:35Definitely getting rougher.
00:36Oh, we got a sleeper rock on a ride. Be careful.
00:38Hang out, boys.
00:52What if I told you there's a buried treasure out there worth more than $65 million?
00:57Even better, it could be less than a day's journey from where you're sitting right now.
01:03Sound too good to be true?
01:04Maybe.
01:05Maybe not.
01:06So pay attention, follow the clues, and let's try to get rich.
01:10The story begins in 1817 with a Virginia adventurer named Thomas Beale, who led an expedition out west that discovered huge quantities of gold and silver.
01:22Beale transported the 8,000-pound haul to a secret hiding spot back in Virginia.
01:28Worried that the money could fall into the wrong hands, he crafted three coded documents that contain the names of his teammates, a description of the contents, and most importantly, the exact location of the treasure.
01:40Beale locked the papers in an iron box and gave them to a local innkeeper with instructions to open the container only if he didn't return.
01:49Beale was never seen or heard from again.
01:51In time, the box is open, and a publisher named James Ward reveals the three coded documents in a pamphlet called The Beale Papers.
02:01It's a great story, if it's true.
02:04Some skeptics claim the entire tale is an elaborate hoax, but dedicated treasure hunters are using newly discovered historic maps, powerful metal detectors, and even aircraft in hopes of solving the mystery.
02:16There may be four tons of gold and silver just waiting to be found in the mountains of Virginia.
02:24So let's go find it.
02:29My name is Josh Gates.
02:32With a degree in archaeology and a passion for exploration, I have a tendency to end up in some very strange situations.
02:41There has got to be a better way to make a living.
02:44My travels have taken me to the ends of the earth as I investigate the greatest legends in history.
02:50We're good to fly. Let's go.
02:52This is Expedition Unknown.
03:00The only thing I love more than looking for a mysterious buried treasure is a road trip.
03:05So from New York, I'm driving 400 miles to central Virginia to kick off my investigation.
03:09With seven hours in the car, I have plenty of time to contemplate where I'm headed.
03:15Of course, Virginia, as everybody knows, their official state motto is the old, the old tobacco state.
03:25That's not right. Can somebody look up the state motto of Virginia?
03:30It's a motto, thus always to tyrants.
03:32Thus always to tyrants.
03:34That is a bummer of a state motto.
03:36That's probably why they went with Virginia is for lovers. It's a little more upbeat.
03:39State mottos aside, by the time I reach the heart of Appalachia, I'm absolutely smitten.
03:44Since I'm here to solve a 200-year-old puzzle, I'm taking a moment to stop off at one of the most mysterious and secret spots in all of Virginia.
03:58Foam Henge.
04:03Just so we're clear, that's Stonehenge made out of foam in Virginia.
04:08How? Who cares? Why? There's no reason.
04:13Look at it.
04:19It's beautiful.
04:24Okay, it's cold and rainy. Let's go.
04:27Hope Foam Henge is water resistant.
04:29Now that I've seen one of man's most curious creations, I feel inspired to start the hunt.
04:36A few miles down the road, I arrive in Lynchburg, the place the legend was born.
04:43This is beautiful Lynchburg, Virginia, one of the great cities of the American South.
04:49Lynchburg's past runs deep.
04:51Thanks to tobacco and manufacturing, it was once one of the richest cities in America,
04:55and the only Confederate stronghold to not fall to Union troops in the Civil War.
05:00And right here, in 1885, James Ward published the Beale Papers.
05:06In many ways, the Beale legend begins right behind me.
05:10This building at the corner of Church and Seven, a couple hundred years ago, was the Washington Inn.
05:15And in January of 1820, a strange man named Thomas Jefferson Beale
05:19purportedly gave the owner, Mr. Morris, an iron box containing the Beale Papers.
05:23According to the pamphlet, the patient innkeeper waited 23 years before opening the box.
05:29Inside, he found three separate documents, purportedly encoded with the location, contents, and rightful owners of the treasure.
05:37The only problem?
05:39They're made up entirely of numbers.
05:42The story says that the innkeeper passed the papers on to a friend,
05:46who, decades later, managed to translate the second of the three documents.
05:49Here's how.
05:50The documents are book codes, secret messages encrypted by using other documents as keys.
05:56In the case of the second cipher, the pamphlet says Beale encoded it using the most influential piece of writing in American history,
06:04the Declaration of Independence.
06:06He numbered the first letter of every word in the Declaration.
06:10By doing this, he formed a coded alphabet.
06:12Beale then used those numbers as substitutes for letters to encrypt his secret ciphers.
06:18When using the Declaration as a key, the numbers unlock a tantalizing message.
06:23It details the contents of the stash.
06:25It describes the conditions in which it was hidden.
06:28And critically, it tells you where to look.
06:30And just like that, we've got a treasure hunt on our hands.
06:38From Lynchburg, it turns out I'm only about 30 miles from the heart of the Beale legend.
06:44Bedford is an unassuming little town.
06:46A snapshot of the American South and not the sort of place you'd expect to find millions of dollars of buried treasure.
06:52Although, at the local Bedford winery, they're certainly doing what they can to cash in on the story.
06:57It's a $60 million gold treasure wine, right there.
07:02There we go.
07:03Beale treasure wine.
07:04That's correct.
07:05Look at that.
07:06And so, does this map actually lead to the treasure?
07:08Oh, certainly it does.
07:09Don't you see the shovel right there?
07:10I do.
07:11I don't see any gold yet, though.
07:12I don't know if that's the right spot.
07:13Well, you got to keep digging.
07:15You have to keep digging.
07:16Or keep drinking.
07:17Well, one or the other.
07:18I love it.
07:20If drinking this wine will help me strike it rich, who am I to argue?
07:23Okay.
07:24This will do it.
07:25Perfect.
07:27Whew.
07:28Let's get out of here.
07:30In the event that I can't drink my way to the treasure, it's probably a better bet to follow the clues in the decoded cipher,
07:36which leads me to the epicenter of all Beale treasure hunts.
07:40So, by the side of the highway here in Bedford, this building behind me here, this was Buford's Tavern.
07:46This is one of the few places mentioned by name in the legend that's still standing today.
07:51You know, according to the story, four miles from Buford's, the treasure's buried.
07:56If the treasure truly is four miles from Buford's Tavern, that means there's an eight-mile diameter to the search zone.
08:02To help me narrow it down, I'm off to meet Mike Evans, a respected Beale treasure hunter with a unique new theory.
08:08When I arrive at our scheduled location, Mike's nowhere in sight, but that's probably just because I'm not looking up.
08:19I'll say one thing, guy knows how to make an entrance.
08:22Hey, Mike.
08:23Yeah.
08:24How are you?
08:25How you doing, Josh?
08:26I'm good. Nice to meet you.
08:27I hear you're the man in the know when it comes to the Beale treasure.
08:29Well, we've got some leads and we're looking feverishly for them.
08:31Well, I'm eager to hear about it. What's the plan?
08:33Let's get in the plane and I'll tell you about it.
08:35Okay, you got it. Cuts right to the chase.
08:37That's right.
08:42While I'd be a bit more comfortable cruising down this runway in a John Deere mower rather than a twin-engine airplane, I'm eager to hear Mike's theory.
08:49All right, Mike, you got me up in the air. Now, where are we headed?
08:53The treasure was buried supposedly within four miles of Buford's Inn. So we're going to get in that four-mile circle.
08:59So how do we narrow that four-mile radius down?
09:02Well, a lot of people have been looking for this treasure up on these mountain peaks and, you know, really hard to reach places.
09:08And you've got to remember, the story tells us there was a lot of weight to the silver and the gold.
09:13They would have used the Old States trails to cross one area to another.
09:16Mike believes Biel must have hidden the treasure not far off a beaten track. In other words, near a road.
09:24He thinks that by honing in on these long-forgotten trails, he can narrow the focus of the search.
09:29Well, you think we can pick up pieces of these from the air?
09:33We're going to try to find some of those old roads. We're going to tag them with GPS.
09:37And then we're going to get down there on the ground and we're going to try to find them.
09:40All right, so we're getting into the four-mile radius now?
09:42Right.
09:43OK, so eyes peeled.
09:44Eyes peeled. We're looking for little bits and pieces of road.
09:47Got it.
09:48Mike's historic maps outline Bedford's overgrown 19th-century wagon trails.
09:53But with almost 200 years of forest growth, the trick is spotting them.
10:01Hey, Josh, I got something. Look at this.
10:03Yep, I see it. Right out there.
10:06It looks like an old trail line through the woods.
10:07That's probably one of the roads that they used.
10:08Copy that. I'm tagging it on GPS.
10:09All right.
10:10We're going to take a look at this.
10:11I'm flying high above Bedford County, Virginia, looking for the legendary Beale treasure.
10:16I've joined forces with treasure hunter Mike Evans, who believes that one of several overgrown roads may lead us to the fortune.
10:23Hey, Josh, I got something. Look at this.
10:25Yep, I see it. Right out there. Looks like an old trail line through the woods.
10:29That's probably one of the roads that they used.
10:32Copy that. I'm tagging it on GPS.
10:34All right.
10:35We have a lead that this thing may be near a waterfall.
10:38And how reliable is that lead, do you think?
10:40One of the billed papers was partially decoded, and it made mention of a waterfall.
10:45If we cross-reference these roads with a waterfall, that may be the spot.
10:50Okay, I got it. Eyes peeled.
10:51Eyes peeled.
10:52No one has ever cracked the first or third cipher, but some researchers believe that the first code may contain the word waterfall.
11:00Our plan is to search the old roads we've tagged on GPS and look for any signs of waterfalls, which could end up being the bullseye for the treasure.
11:08We've got about six or seven spots targeted now, all within that four-mile radius, actually all kind of leading up toward the same ridge.
11:15Bobby, let's get this thing back on the ground. We're going to go in and investigate.
11:18There I am.
11:22Now we've got a treasure to find.
11:27Let's go do it.
11:28Back on the ground, we rendezvous with Mike's treasure hunting partner, Steve, who's busy prepping their gear.
11:35Nice to meet you, Josh.
11:36Fellow treasure hunter.
11:37I am. Try to be.
11:39All right, what's the plan here? What are we doing?
11:41Steve and I brought some metal detectors.
11:43We're going to take these ATVs and we're going to go as far as the road will take us and see what we can find.
11:47I like it.
11:51With daylight fading and a lot of ground to cover, we hit the gas and begin the hunt.
11:56Yee-haw!
12:01Got one of these back home?
12:03I don't.
12:04Need one.
12:05I'm not sure if we're going to find the treasure, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pass up the chance to do some serious off-road driving.
12:12There you go. Get into it.
12:14There we go.
12:16There we go.
12:17After four-wheeling deep into Virginia's back country, we're closing in on the coordinates, but we've also run out of light.
12:31No choice but to make camp for the night.
12:35Let's do it, boys.
12:42In no time at all, we've got a warm, crackling fire.
12:49Why are people so into the Beale story?
12:51There's so much history that keeps people going.
12:54It seems like it becomes an obsession for people, though.
12:56It really does.
12:57I think it's going to be found, what the paper number two said, I believe it's going to be found within four miles of Buford's Inn.
13:03I think we're in the right area.
13:05Sure.
13:06I hear that.
13:07As the night draws on, the temperature drops, but Mike's brought something along to take off the chill in the air.
13:13A little homemade moonshine.
13:15Whoa.
13:16Am I going to go blind if I drink this?
13:18Probably not.
13:19Immediately.
13:23Bottoms up, boys.
13:28Oklahoma.
13:29Now, will this help us find the treasure?
13:32They make us sleep in tomorrow and forget about the treasure.
13:37Did anybody bring food?
13:38What do we have tonight?
13:39What are we eating for dinner out here?
13:40Do we have to go hunting right now?
13:41Is that what's happening?
13:42I can't trail make.
13:43I did see some eyes flashing back here in the back here earlier.
13:46You saw some eyes flashing in the back?
13:47Yeah.
13:48Oh, that's nice to hear.
13:49That's great.
13:50Can't wait to sleep out here tonight.
13:51Maybe it's the 190 proof gasoline that I'm drinking, but I'm suddenly starting to see the appeal of this whole treasure hunting thing.
13:58That's a good tune.
13:59Or a good moonshine.
14:02It's totally true.
14:06A new day in the wilderness of Virginia.
14:11We're getting back to work, and I'm working off a legit hangover.
14:15You ready?
14:16Let's go.
14:18Thomas Beale likely transported the treasure using wagons and may have stashed it near a waterfall.
14:24So we're following a river that runs beside an overgrown road, which we tagged on GPS.
14:31Shovel's ready, guys.
14:32Anytime you need it, I have it.
14:33Hey, Josh, why don't you give us a shot?
14:35You want me to run that for a bit?
14:36Yeah.
14:37That means you have to dig if we find anything.
14:39You won't find nothing.
14:40All right.
14:41You won't find nothing.
14:42I like your confidence.
14:44All right, here we go.
14:45Let's dig something.
14:47And just like that, I've been promoted from head shoveler to second metal detector.
14:53While I'm not exactly an expert at working this thing, I do benefit from having a bit of dumb luck.
14:58Hold on.
14:59Hey, Steve, I got a real steady hit right in here.
15:02Here, all the way over to here.
15:04That's the strongest point.
15:05Okay.
15:12Oh, right there.
15:13Stop, stop, stop.
15:20I'm in Bedford County, Virginia, looking for the legendary Beale treasure.
15:25After hours of searching, we finally got a hit.
15:28Hold on.
15:29Hey, Steve, I got a real steady hit right in here.
15:32Here, all the way over to here.
15:33That's the strongest point.
15:34Okay.
15:35Oh, right there.
15:42Stop, stop, stop.
15:43See that?
15:44Oh.
15:47Horseshoe.
15:48Oh, cool.
15:49Look at that.
15:50Hey, that's nice.
15:51That's nice.
15:52Old horseshoe.
15:53That is so cool.
15:54It's well over a hundred years old.
15:56Over a hundred years old?
15:57Yeah, look how deep the pits are on.
15:59I'm thinking this is probably around mid-1700s to 1800s.
16:04That is incredible.
16:05There we go.
16:06And again, also kind of a good sign for us.
16:07Yeah.
16:08Yeah.
16:09Right?
16:10They were riding horses.
16:11They were riding horses, right?
16:12Could be from the Beale time period.
16:13Could be.
16:14Yeah.
16:15Next up, box of gold.
16:16All right.
16:17Here we go.
16:19Since Mike believes the hiding spot may be near a waterfall, we keep moving upstream to continue
16:26the search.
16:27Guys, look at this.
16:28Look at that.
16:29Looks like an old spillway or an old dam.
16:30No, it's the kind of stuff we're looking for.
16:33Any guess how old this thing is?
16:34It could be from the period.
16:35That's for sure.
16:36Well, I mean, water could have been coming over that in high water and that could have
16:39been Beale's reference right there.
16:40All right, you guys scan the banks here.
16:41I'm going to check out the spillway over there.
16:42This could be a huge break and the spillway warrants closer examination.
16:55Make that careful examination.
16:57I'm going to be a life preserver.
17:04Please.
17:05I don't want to have to come in and get you.
17:07Hold on, Steve.
17:08Hold on.
17:09What happened?
17:10Quicksand.
17:11Are you all right?
17:12I'm all right.
17:13I'm just stuck.
17:14Just don't move around in it too much.
17:15Hold on.
17:16Holy .
17:17Just get my foot.
17:18I got a rock under me right here.
17:19You ready?
17:20Yeah.
17:21Here we go.
17:22Good.
17:23Good.
17:24Up, up, up, up.
17:25You got it?
17:26You got it?
17:27Yeah, I got it.
17:28All right, good.
17:29Whew.
17:33Quicksand.
17:34All right?
17:35I ain't kidding.
17:36Nobody walk over here.
17:37Okay, here we go.
17:39Let me get out of here.
17:45After freeing Steve, we get right back to work searching our potential hotspot.
17:50Hey, Josh.
17:51Mike.
17:52Come here.
17:53Find something?
17:54Right there?
17:55Right.
17:56Right here.
17:57Oh.
17:58Getting hidden here.
17:59Hold on, guys.
18:00There's something down here.
18:01Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's hot.
18:02Oh.
18:03Coin.
18:04There it is.
18:05Coin.
18:06Look at that.
18:07That is a coin, boys.
18:08Look at that.
18:09Look at that.
18:10It says 1788.
18:11Is that right?
18:12Oh.
18:13Oh.
18:14Oh.
18:15Oh.
18:16Oh.
18:17Oh.
18:18Oh.
18:19Oh.
18:20Oh.
18:21Oh.
18:22Oh.
18:23Oh.
18:24Oh.
18:25Oh.
18:26Oh.
18:27Oh.
18:28Oh.
18:29Oh.
18:30Oh.
18:31Let me see.
18:32Look how thin that thing is.
18:34Is that right?
18:351788?
18:361788.
18:37Are you kidding me?
18:38That's a sixpence.
18:40That's incredible.
18:41That is a coin.
18:43Dated.
18:44In the 1700s.
18:451700s.
18:46How cool is that?
18:48And you found it.
18:49I don't know if it's the real treasure, but that is treasure right there.
18:53That is treasure.
18:54That is treasure.
18:55It's a treasure in itself.
18:56It's a little bit of treasure, but it's treasure.
18:58This antique coin is a rare find and valuable.
19:01So we continue to scour the area.
19:07But after hours of looking, we don't turn up any additional loot.
19:11All right, here we go.
19:12It isn't the hole the guys are hoping for.
19:14But as we begin the long hike home, they're undeterred.
19:17I think if there is a treasure, and I think there is a treasure, that you can find it.
19:22And I think that you're going to have to do the legwork to do it.
19:29While I'm impressed with Mike and Steve's confidence, there's no shortage of other theories as to where the treasure could be hidden.
19:35Back in downtown Bedford, I head straight to the local museum to dig deeper into the legend.
19:40Hello.
19:41Hi.
19:42Hi, how are you?
19:43Doing good, how are you?
19:44Good.
19:45My name's Josh.
19:46I'm Jennifer.
19:47Hi, Jennifer.
19:48We're doing a little research on the Beale treasure.
19:49Okay.
19:50Any chance you have any historical information or research or articles on this story?
19:53We do.
19:54You do?
19:55Would you like to take a seat, and I'll see what I can find for you?
19:57Yeah, for sure.
19:58Thank you so much.
19:59You're welcome.
20:01Thank you very much.
20:02Wow.
20:04Got some more for you.
20:05Great, thank you.
20:07Seriously?
20:08And here's some books on the community.
20:14It's all of it now?
20:16Nope.
20:17That's it.
20:18Great.
20:20With a mountain of records in front of me, I dive into over a century of Beale treasure history.
20:25It turns out that for every Beale treasure hunter out there, there's also a naysayer who claims the whole thing could be a hoax.
20:31One outlandish theory even states it's a work of fiction by Edgar Allan Poe.
20:36However, the most popular theory is that James Ward, the publisher of the Beale papers, concocted the whole story to make money selling it.
20:45In the archives, I find information that could bolster that claim.
20:49It turns out Ward was a member of the Freemasons, a secretive organization that often communicates using codes.
20:57To follow up on this lead, I catch the next train out of town.
21:02It's 320 miles to Philadelphia, where I've arranged a meeting at the most prominent Freemason chapter in the region to find out more.
21:09Here, let's see if we can find a seat somewhere over here.
21:16Is somebody here?
21:17Yeah, sorry.
21:18Unfortunately for me, though, I have chosen the busiest train in America.
21:21I couldn't actually find a seat in the train, so I'm just gonna hang out here by the condiments.
21:26Really relishing this moment.
21:28I'll be here all week.
21:32It's us.
21:36Upon arrival in Philadelphia, I head directly to the stunning Grand Masonic Lodge.
21:41The Freemasons date back to 17th century England, and codes are central to their seldom seen rituals.
21:55I hope to gain access to one of the most secretive societies in the world.
22:01I've been given explicit instructions on how to enter the temple.
22:11I'm in Philadelphia at the Grand Masonic Lodge, where I'm hoping to find out if the legendary Beale treasure might be nothing more than a hoax.
22:33I've been given explicit instructions to knock three times on this door to gain entry into this usually off-limits temple.
22:43Wow.
23:02Wow, this is amazing.
23:06Welcome.
23:08I wasn't sure what was going to happen there.
23:09Uh, what a welcome.
23:10Absolutely incredible room.
23:12Well, thank you.
23:13This is Egyptian Hall.
23:14This is one of the seven lodge rooms that are located here in the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
23:19It is a stunner, and it's amazing.
23:21I'm here because we're doing some research on the Beale ciphers, which has a lot to do with symbols and with codes.
23:27That's true.
23:28And this is probably the most symbolic room in the entire building, because the hieroglyphics you see, the artwork, are actually copied off of real temples in Egypt.
23:35It's amazing.
23:37With rare access to this notoriously secretive society, I have the chance to explore the spectacular temple.
23:43The paintings you see on the wall and throughout the building all depict previous grandmasters of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
23:51Incredible.
23:52Each room is as extravagant as it is mysterious, with the walls covered in symbols that span history and mythology.
24:02These codes are a virtual secret language, perfected over hundreds of years and generations of members.
24:08I mean, this is amazing.
24:09I feel like I'm in Hogwarts here.
24:11It's incredible.
24:14So James Ward, who published the Beale papers, I've heard was a Mason.
24:19That's true.
24:20He was a member of Lodge 51 in Richmond, Virginia.
24:23Uh-huh.
24:24Masonry was very popular during Ward's time and the time that the Beale papers were published, right?
24:28Extremely popular in the latter half of the 19th century.
24:31The fact that Ward was a Mason means that he could have crafted the Beale Code himself.
24:36George Washington, Ben Franklin, and a full third of the signers of the Constitution were Masons.
24:41So maybe the fact that Ward was a Mason isn't so strange after all.
24:45And what about Beale himself? Was he a Mason?
24:48So there's always that possibility.
24:50Early 19th century documents are frequently in error or just simply incomplete because of the ravages of time.
24:57Right.
24:58What's your advice for a newbie treasure hunter like me that's trying to decrypt a hundred-plus-year-old cipher?
25:05I would suggest look at things through a different perspective.
25:08Put yourself out of the box and see where those who have gone before you have failed and try to learn from their mistakes.
25:13Right.
25:14Keep that in mind, too, with an open mind.
25:16I think that's good advice.
25:17I'm eager to get back to the hunt.
25:19But before leaving, there's one question I have to ask.
25:22Which room are you guys keeping all the treasures in?
25:24The one in the tower.
25:25Oh, perfect.
25:26All right.
25:29The revelation that the mysterious Beale might have been a Mason has me believing that the treasure could still be out there.
25:35So I buy a ticket back to Bedford County.
25:38Thanks very much.
25:39Here we go.
25:40While in Philadelphia, I received a call from a treasure hunter named Justin Kennedy,
25:44who believes he's found a rare document that leads to the Beale fortune.
25:48I don't know how solid his lead is, but he's asked me to join him in a spot that's slightly outside of town.
25:54Guy wants to meet on a lonely road up in the woods.
25:58Nothing weird about that.
25:59Certainly not the opening to dozens of horror films.
26:04I'm sure it'll be for me.
26:08Hoping you're Justin.
26:09Yep.
26:10I'm Josh.
26:11Nice to meet you, man.
26:12I'm Justin Kennedy.
26:13How are you, Justin?
26:14Yes, pleasure.
26:15You ready to do some treasure hunting?
26:16That's where we're going?
26:17Yes, sir.
26:18Let's go.
26:19All right, so how does a guy get involved with becoming a Beale treasure hunter?
26:24A friend of mine's dad bought an old iron box at a flea market.
26:29In the early 90s, he got broke hauling off some draft.
26:32Uh-huh.
26:33And when it broke, it exposed a false bottom.
26:37So we went over there to pick our mess up, noticed a piece of paper sticking out, pulled it out,
26:42and it was a Declaration of Independence.
26:44There are hundreds of early printed versions of the Declaration of Independence,
26:49and Justin believes he's found one of them.
26:51And how did finding that document get you into the treasure hunting?
26:55Well, I placed a black light on it and discovered the initials TJB, Thomas Jefferson Beale.
27:00Thomas Jefferson Beale, sure.
27:01Also, I believe the document is a map.
27:04A map to the treasure?
27:05Yeah, do you want to see it?
27:06You have the original?
27:07No, but I got a perfect copy of it.
27:08I was going to say, I was just going to mug you and take that and get out of here.
27:11No, I wouldn't bring an original out here.
27:13While Justin's printing of the Declaration could be extremely valuable, he has an even bigger payday in his sights.
27:20If it really is a treasure map from Thomas Beale himself, he could be on the verge of finding millions.
27:25Look at that.
27:26That is the Declaration of Independence.
27:28Yes, sir.
27:29That's incredible.
27:30I can't believe that you have an original printed version of this, too.
27:34Take a look here at the top.
27:35What does that look like?
27:36It's like peaks and valleys.
27:37Exactly.
27:38Mountains.
27:39You think it's topography?
27:40Yes, sir.
27:41And I had it authenticated, and they said that it was purposely altered.
27:44Which, why would you do that?
27:45Right.
27:46And if you flip it over and look at the back, there's a river symbol.
27:49That's pretty cool, actually.
27:50It's pretty faded out, but that looks like the Egyptian symbol for the river.
27:55Right.
27:56So what's your move now?
27:57How do you prove it?
27:58This is a theory, but I want to take this thing to the river that runs through Bedford County,
28:02and I want to see if I can line it up with the tops of some of the mountain ranges down the river there,
28:07and said we can get a perfect match.
28:08All right.
28:09Justin believes the sculpted top edge of his copy of the Declaration could align with the mountain ranges in Bedford County.
28:16He also believes that a symbol for water on the back of the document means that the point will be found along a river.
28:22With parts of the James River and its tributaries within the search area, that's where we're focusing our efforts.
28:28It all sounds a bit Goonies to me, but with a $65 million fortune up for grabs, I don't care if we're looking for One-Eyed Willie's pirate ship.
28:36I'm in.
28:38We hike down to the bottom of the canyon, where Justin's arranged a raft to take us down the river.
28:43We secure our supplies, which include maps, climbing gear, food, and just about anything else we might need in the backcountry.
28:53Okay, ready?
28:54Here we go.
28:55So we're basically looking for the same types of peaks and valleys we see on the top of that document.
29:00Right, and it's going to be on the Bedford side.
29:02What's your confidence level?
29:04Pretty confident.
29:05Really?
29:06Yes, sir.
29:07Okay.
29:08I'm ready to do it.
29:09Me too.
29:10All forward, boys.
29:11All forward hard.
29:12Got a lot of weight in this raft.
29:14I should have had a salad for lunch.
29:16Okay, here we go!
29:17Let's go!
29:18Yeah!
29:19Our raft ride through Bedford County on the icy James River is off to a smooth start.
29:25We got white water up here, guys!
29:27However, it's not long before the river starts to pick up steam.
29:30That better keep getting rougher.
29:31Oh, we got a sleeper rock on the right.
29:33Be careful!
29:34Here we go.
29:35Hang on, boys!
29:36All right, everybody!
29:37Hang on!
29:38We're going through!
29:39I'm rafting the James River in Bedford County, Virginia, on a hunt for the legendary Beale
29:54treasure.
29:55Here we go.
29:56Hang on, boys.
29:57All right, everybody, hang on, we're going through.
30:06There's nothing like a plunge into frigid water to make you feel truly alive and make you
30:12wish you'd stayed in bed.
30:16That's cold.
30:17Oh, it's an ice cream headache.
30:20With the feeling slowly returning to my extremities, we continue paddling downstream.
30:27Let's pull in over here and check the map.
30:29The river widens enough to give us a view of our surroundings, and I'm anxious to see
30:33if Justin's theory holds water.
30:35He believes his map will line up to a mountain range that will lead us to the treasure.
30:43Just one large bump in the ridge line.
30:45That doesn't match up at all.
30:47Over here, here, check that side, see if it works.
30:52Ooh.
30:53No, that ain't going to work.
30:56Okay, we're carrying on.
30:57All right.
30:58We'll keep looking.
30:59As we continue down the James River, we stop again and again.
31:02That does not line up.
31:04Each time, unsuccessfully lining up the document to the surrounding hills.
31:08That does not line up.
31:10No.
31:11That first ridge lines up, but that's it.
31:13That is not a match.
31:15I don't know about finding treasure, but I've just about memorized the Declaration of Independence.
31:18Rob, this is a pretty common occurrence for you, a couple of guys with a copy of the Declaration
31:22of Independence out on your raft looking for treasure.
31:24And this is a first for us.
31:25He knows we're not sharing it with him, right?
31:27What was that, boys?
31:28Nothing.
31:29Nothing.
31:30Just paddling forward, sir.
31:31All right.
31:32After a few hours in the raft, the only thing growing faster than the pain in my arms is
31:38my skepticism in Justin's theory.
31:40All right, we got another bend in the river here.
31:43Let's pull in and check it out.
31:44All right.
31:45We're nearly out of Bedford County and running out of territory to explore.
31:49There you go.
31:50And, to be honest, I've lost nearly all hope in Justin's theory.
31:53That's not lining up too good.
31:55There's all sorts of ridges on here.
31:57That looks too flat.
31:58Yeah.
31:59Hey, man.
32:02Check this out.
32:03Oh!
32:04Here we go.
32:06The ridge coming down this way.
32:08Uh-huh.
32:09Got a little hump here.
32:11Uh-huh.
32:12That actually looks like it works.
32:13Here, hold it.
32:14Let's check it out.
32:15Dude, I gotta tell you, that weirdly matches up.
32:21Let's get a camera behind us to look at this.
32:23That's pretty wild.
32:24Look at that.
32:25That ridge looks like it lines up almost perfectly with that.
32:28That lines up to that.
32:29That lines up to that.
32:30And it slopes up on that side.
32:31Slopes down over here.
32:32That's a perfect match right there.
32:33I gotta tell you, that actually is a perfect match.
32:35I mean, I don't want to say I thought you were nuts.
32:38I thought you were nuts.
32:40All right.
32:41Let's get over there.
32:42Let's get over there and check it out.
32:43I mean, now I'm starting to feel like we're about to find a treasure.
32:47Come on, let's go.
32:48Let's do it.
32:50With newfound faith putting a spring in my step, we head toward the hills, hopeful to
32:56find the next clue in our hunt for the Beale treasure.
32:59All right, Justin, assuming we are in the right area, what are we looking for?
33:03Uh, well, nobody really knows for sure.
33:06Cipher 2 says that the vault is roughly lined in stone.
33:09Uh-huh.
33:10And the vessels rest on solid stone.
33:12So in your mind, what do you think that area looks like?
33:14I think that it's in a large opening, a large cave, a ravine of some type.
33:20Okay, I got it.
33:21Big hole.
33:22Big hole.
33:23Got it.
33:24Big hole.
33:25Big hole.
33:27We continue to climb up the ridge we spotted from the river, although I'm not exactly sure
33:31what we're looking for.
33:32I thought we're definitely gaining elevation.
33:35Yeah.
33:36Almost to the top.
33:39Oh my God.
33:41Holy .
33:45That is huge.
33:47It goes way back down there, you see that?
33:49Mm-hmm.
33:50That is a huge cave.
33:52Incredible.
33:53I mean, the paper just says what?
33:55A vault?
33:55A vault.
33:56And it says underground, right?
33:57Yeah.
33:58That could be a vault.
33:59Yeah, that's a vault.
34:01Tell you what, man, I don't know if we're finding treasure,
34:03but your map got us to this.
34:05Yeah.
34:06OK, so now what?
34:08Let's get down there and check it out.
34:11With a little peer pressure and just a touch of gold fever.
34:14Let's do it.
34:15Hope that's enough rope.
34:16Oh, God.
34:17I've agreed to rappel down to the massive cave
34:19in search of Beale's treasure.
34:21How you doing?
34:22It's stupid s**t.
34:26Sometimes I'm not sure whether I love or hate my job.
34:29Just hanging from here on out.
34:32Just a complete free fall from here.
34:36Still can't see the back of the cave.
34:40Just hanging down.
34:43You almost there?
34:47OK, I'm off rope.
34:48The cave goes way back, Justin.
34:53Whoa.
34:54I still can't see the back of it even from here.
34:58Made it.
34:59That's something else, huh?
35:00Oh, my God.
35:01All right.
35:02Well, let's see how far back this thing goes, yeah?
35:04Go check it out.
35:05A lot of loose rocks.
35:08Once we've safely reached the bottom,
35:10the gigantic scale of the cave finally comes into view.
35:13Look at this place.
35:15Wow.
35:16Well, I've got to tell you,
35:17I'm getting more and more confident as we go.
35:19I mean, look at this place.
35:21I mean, look at this place.
35:24Wow.
35:25Are you claustrophobic?
35:26Are you?
35:27Nope.
35:30The floor of this cave is solid rock,
35:33so if the treasure is down here,
35:34it may well be in plain view.
35:36Watch your footing in here.
35:38Looks like it drops off a bit down there.
35:45Look at this.
35:45Justin, come here.
35:46Come here, look at this.
35:47What is that?
35:49It's like a nail.
35:50That's an old nail.
35:54That's a big one, too.
35:56How old do you think that is?
35:57I'd say late 1800s.
35:58Yeah, I mean, at least 100 years old.
36:00At least.
36:01They don't make nails like that anymore.
36:03Those old, square-headed nails.
36:06Mm-hmm.
36:07It's the first thing we've seen down here
36:08that's a sign of human presence.
36:11Who knows?
36:11There could be a box nearby.
36:13Yeah.
36:13Let's look.
36:14Come on.
36:14Let's get into it.
36:15Our discovery gives us enough hope
36:17to press deeper into the cave.
36:19As the passages constrict,
36:21I'm shaking off a bit of claustrophobia.
36:23This is a little tight.
36:25I feel like a giant baby
36:27squeezing my way out of a limestone birth canal.
36:32Oh, my God.
36:34This just gets crazier and crazier.
36:37Oh, yeah.
36:37This is the money room here.
36:38Look at this place.
36:42That is unbelievable.
36:44I mean, this place is so insane.
36:46Look at these huge formations.
36:49That's crazy.
36:52Okay, let's keep moving.
36:53Oh, I see something shining.
36:54See something shining?
36:55Yeah.
36:56Oh, my God.
36:56Look at that.
36:57This looks like it's from one of those old glass oil lamps.
37:25If they were using oil lamps down here,
37:27they were definitely coming through here.
37:28So the question is,
37:29were they coming through here with an oil lamp
37:31toting a bottle of gold?
37:32That is a nail.
37:34That is the question.
37:35The artifacts we found are fascinating clues
37:37that other explorers have ventured into these depths.
37:40We hike to the very back of the cave,
37:42but don't find any sign of the Beale treasure.
37:44Well, I think it just about peters out here, Justin.
37:49End of the line.
37:51I don't see any other passages or tunnels in here.
37:53Back to the drawing board.
37:54Back to the drawing board, yeah.
37:55Not here, but what a spy.
37:57And the map lit is here.
37:59Of course, now that I've come this far with you,
38:00if you do find it,
38:01I got to cut it to treasure, right?
38:02I might give you a little something, something.
38:04But Justin remains confident
38:06and vows to return to the area to continue his search.
38:09At what point in treasure hunting did we go get a beer?
38:13As for my search,
38:15well, there's something bothering me.
38:17It seems suspicious that the second Beale code
38:19was broken hundreds of years ago,
38:21but there's been no progress in deciphering
38:24the other two codes.
38:25I'm heading north to Annapolis Junction, Maryland,
38:28because if you need a code crack,
38:29we're better to go than the NSA.
38:32I've set up a meeting with Todd Mateer,
38:34a seasoned cryptanalyst
38:36who's carefully studied the Beale ciphers.
38:38Mateer has ripped apart the codes,
38:40and I'm eager to hear what he's found.
38:42So what I did is I wrote a computer program
38:44that allows you to take the Declaration of Independence
38:48and apply the book cipher to the second Beale papers.
38:52And when you do that,
38:53when you plug all that into the computer,
38:56what do you get?
38:56Then we get this sequence of characters.
38:59His program reveals a major issue.
39:02It turns out that cipher two
39:03doesn't actually line up all that well
39:05to the Declaration of Independence.
39:08So across the entire second cipher,
39:10how many errors are there?
39:12There's about five or six different errors,
39:14but only one of the errors
39:16will throw off the entire message.
39:18When the author numbered the words
39:20in the Declaration,
39:21he screwed up.
39:22Each mistake like this created ripple effects,
39:25making part of the translation unreadable.
39:27So this is a serious problem
39:28because the person that created the message
39:32and the person who recovered the message
39:34would have had to have made the exact same mistakes.
39:36Certainly that casts some doubt here
39:38on the ability for him to have cracked this code.
39:42Yes.
39:42But what about the other two ciphers?
39:44Since each code likely has a different key,
39:46it's no surprise that the Declaration of Independence
39:49doesn't decode ciphers one or three.
39:51But Mr. Mateer ran it through his computer program anyway
39:54and noticed something very strange.
39:58So if we apply the Declaration of Independence
40:01to the first bill cipher,
40:04then we get this strange sequence of characters,
40:07A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, B.
40:13It's very unlikely that that sequence of characters
40:16would have appeared by chance.
40:17It's more than just unlikely.
40:19The odds of this alphabetical sequence of letters
40:21appearing by chance are astronomical.
40:23So what does this mean?
40:25Mateer believes the author of the ciphers
40:27got lazy and made a mistake.
40:29He believes the first and third ciphers
40:31were never intended to be solved.
40:33So all the author had to do
40:35was fill up both ciphers with random numbers.
40:37But at some point,
40:39he just started using the numbers
40:40he'd written down from the Declaration of Independence,
40:43and he used them in alphabetical order.
40:45Seems like kind of a sad mistake
40:47for someone who went through a lot of trouble
40:48to really cover his tracks, right?
40:51So what's your professional assessment
40:53as a cryptanalyst?
40:55I believe it's a hoax.
40:56You believe it's a hoax.
40:57And thereby meaning that the author of the papers
41:02is the same person as the person who cracked the code.
41:05This is a stunning find.
41:08Since the Declaration doesn't cleanly work on cipher 2,
41:11and since ciphers 1 and 3 seem to have been thrown together
41:14using strings of sequential letters,
41:16the only possible conclusion
41:18is that whoever wrote the cipher
41:19also faked solving it.
41:22In other words, the publisher, James Ward.
41:24So it's really a publishing ploy.
41:29That's right.
41:35Mr. Matier's 21st century analysis of the Beale ciphers
41:38has led us to a definitive answer.
41:41This code is a brilliant hoax.
41:43James Ward, the man who published the Beale papers,
41:46created, in a sense, a viral marketing stunt for the ages.
41:50By solving just the cipher that describes the glittering treasure,
41:54he gave hope that the other two could also be cracked
41:57and that anyone who purchased his pamphlet
41:59could get rich overnight.
42:01No doubt that countless Beale fortune hunters,
42:04present and future,
42:05will disagree and be undeterred.
42:09And while I think that science has proved
42:11that there's no gold waiting for them
42:13in Virginia's backcountry,
42:14I don't think they'll come up empty-handed.
42:16It's the thrill of the hunt,
42:19the camaraderie,
42:20and the adventure of chasing this improbable dream
42:22in unspoiled American wilderness.
42:25That's the real treasure that waits to be found.
Comments