#1. Yamashita’s Gold and The Caves of Bacuit Bay
Where are they?
Because of its remote location, Bacuit Bay was virtually unknown to the world until 1979 when a boat propeller accident led a group of divers into discovering some of the most breathtaking island scenery nature has to offer.
Endless virgin forest was found throughout the archipelago, all surrounded by fine white sand and crystal clear waters. To the stranded divers, It must have been like finding a piece of heaven.
Bacuit Bay can be found in El Nido, Palawan in the Philippines. It boasts many different caves, the most famous probably being Cudugnon Cave seen below. The photo is this artistic expression by Christina Macfarlane and Kelly Hsiao from Discover Palawan.
Not sure if they thought to look for Yamashita’s Gold while they were in there.
How did the treasure get there?
Well before we get all “Indiana Jones” we need to point out that nobody knows which cave the treasure is hidden in. If they did, there would probably be a demolition team in there treating the cave like some common gold mine. In fact, some people aren’t even sure that the treasure is still, or ever was hidden in the Bacuit caves. Its just the best guess going at this point.
According to history, the Japanese Army went on a pillaging and looting spree from 1936 to 1943 where they built up a pile of treasure from the different churches, monasteries, banks, temples, citizens, and fallen governments. They looted everywhere from China, Manchuria, Indochina, Thailand, Burma, Malaya, Borneo, Singapore and the Dutch indies.
Where this treasure ended up is still a mystery today.
As far as we know, back in 1944, there were 52 ships under the command of Vice Admiral Takehita transporting all this gold and treasure from Singapore to Japan. Unfortunately for Takehita, this was right around the same time General MacArthur invaded the Philippines, sinking Two of the ships off the shores of Bacuit Bay.
It is believed that these ships anchored in the Tapituan passage and stashed their gold in the underwater caves, waiting till the day its found by some lucky tourist on a diving expedition.
#2. Blackbeard’s Treasure
Not to be confused with the Blackbeard known as Edward Teach, Captain Blackbeard’s treasure of pure Spanish Silver Bars was worth 1.5 million dollars back in 1811. Now that may not seem like a lot, but with the price of silver these days, Blackbeard’s treasure could be one of the biggest bootys still waiting to be found.
Back in 1811 Captain Blackbeard was commissioned from the British Admiralty to raise the wreckage of a Spanish galleon that had gone down off the Bahamas during a Hurricane in 1680. He was successful by towing the ship into Baltimore with all the loot intact.
Of Course this called for a Celebration, the likes of which brought justice to the song “Drunken Sailor.” During his drunken rant he was approached by a profiteer at the tavern who told him that he knew all about his precious silver, and had the means to alleviate Blackbeard’s burden of sending it back to England. Between this and the upcoming war between Britain and the U.S. Captain Blackbeard decided to stash the silver.
Sometime near the end of the summer of 1812, Blackbeard made a trip to the village of Keating Summit, McKean County Pennsylvania. It would be here that he would bury some or perhaps all of the Silver, with the idea of digging it up later.
Unfortunately, he sent someone else to retrieve it, and they were never able to locate it….At least so they claim.
#3. King John’s Crown Jewels
In the year 1215 a caravan of King John of England made an unsuccessful attempt to cross the sands of The Wash, while on its journey between Kings Lynn and Long Sutton. During the escapade, the treasure loaded caravan was trapped by an incoming tide and descending current from the Nene River.
King John had taken a different path due to his illness, and was able to witness the loss of the treasure first hand. The treasure was said to contain his most prized possession, the Crown Jewels. Luckily however, he died a few days later, so the loss of his crown Jewels probably didn’t burden him very much.
The Present Day location of the treasure (or rather the loss of) is considered to be somewhere near Sutton Bridge, on the River Nene, if you want to go looking.
#4. The Treasure of Moctezuma
For those of you who have heard of Motezumas revenge, you may also have heard the story behind why someone might be seeking revenge from beyond the grave.
In 1519 an armada of Spanish troops set sights on Mexico after hearing the legendary stories of “El Dorado” the City of Gold. Now, semi ironically, they did find a mountain of silver when they landed (yes a real mountain), however, as interesting as finding a mountain made of silver may be, this story is about treasure that “Hasn’t” been found yet.
Now for those of you who have read our article about prophecy, you may be familiar with what happened when Cortes arrived. As luck would have it, his arrival fulfilled the Aztec prophecy that the wind god Quetzalcoatl would return to reclaim Mexico. Since their wasn’t anyone else around to challenge his identity of being the wind god, Cortes assumed the role and essentially took everything they had, raping and pillaging and on his way out he left the Aztec people with a few new diseases to try out and experience.
So as you can see, this might make a soul a little restless.
Okay, so there was a bunch of gold and a mountain of silver. Where can I find it.
According to some, in 1920 Freddy Crystal found a treasure map inside a long forgotten manuscript that was stored away in an old church. The manuscript was written by a Spanish Friar who stated that the Spanish had tried to follow the map, but were unfamiliar with the territories to the north and eventually gave up in frustration.
Crystal had learned how to decipher Aztec petroglyphs from canyon walls, and realized that some of the landmarks were similar to those found in Southern Utah, particularly one place near the town of Kanab.
Crystal showed his map to a wealthy rancher named Oscar Robinson and convinced him to invest in his treasure hunt. After 2 years of searching, he actually found a location that fit the map. A large main canyon with side draws, seven mountains, each in it’s proper order!
Excited, he ran down the mountain side to the site where he found steps that were carved directly into the mountain. After climbing the steps he came to a “False Wall” in the cliff face, that led to a long dark corridor. On both sides of the corridor were statues that appeared to be ancient in their origin.
At this point he told everyone in the town and got hundreds of them all excited and volunteering to help out with the excavation of the long lost treasure of Moctezuma. After three years, the residents found lots of false walls and exposed an entire cave system, some of which can still be explored today. Which means you may still have a chance to find the treasure, assuming of course your with someone who knows how to find the hidden entrance.
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