We’ve all heard tales of explorers looking for hidden pirate treasures and sunken ships at the bottom of the ocean filled with gold and silver. While a lot of these tales are nothing more than myths, some of the stories seem to be a bit more credible than an old mountain man’s tall tales. Keep reading to discover some of the world’s most fascinating stories of hidden treasures, pirates, and murder.According to experts, around 10 years ago, an 85-year-old gentleman named Forest Fenn hid an estimated $3 million worth of jewelry, gold, and artifacts in a small chest somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. In a strange poem entitled The Thrill of the Chase, Fenn shared clues as to the location of his treasure, inspiring thousands of people to go on a treasure hunt. Unfortunately, some people were even killed during the adventure. To this day, no one has found Fenn’s supposed treasure.
After the Romanovs were killed in 1918, the House of Fabergé, a Russian jewelry designer, was raided by the Bolsheviks, the people responsible for murdering the Romanov family. Most of the Fabergé eggs were taken to Moscow for safekeeping, but they resurfaced again in the early 1930s. Armand Hammer, an entrepreneur, found them interesting and bought ten of them to bring home to America. Some of them were sold and some were not. While some of them have changed hands several times, all we know is that 50 of the priceless eggs are still missing!
According to legends, in Oklahoma, most likely somewhere in the Wichita Mountains, there is said to be more than $1 million worth of treasure left behind by Jesse James and his gang in the 19th century. There are plenty of tales that say the same thing: “He left that treasure behind in the Wichitas, and it’s never been seen again.”
In the small town of Machiasport, Maine, there is a legend that claims pirate Samuel Bellamy (who some people think Captain Jack Sparrow was inspired by) hid millions of dollars. In 1716, Bellamy just so happened to stumble across the area and decided to build a house to keep his treasures in. For some reason, Bellamy and his crew moved on rather quickly. Unfortunately, Bellamy was never able to retrieve his treasure because he was captured and killed in Massachusetts.
In 1705, a Spanish ship supposedly crashed and sunk off of the coast of Oregon, leaving behind plenty of gold and other treasures. Apparently, the fact that there MIGHT be buried treasure up there is good enough reason for people to buy land up there. “If you thought you could buy a second home on the coast but knew it would stretch your budget, the tipping point might just be, ‘Oh my God, there’s 500 pounds of gold somewhere up there,’” said Gary Albright, the executive director of the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum.
In 1819, King Kamehameha from Hawaii passed away and was apparently buried with millions of dollars’ in gold and jewelry. For some reason, no one has been able to find the burial chamber of King Kamehameha, but some people believe that it’s on the Na Pali coast of Kauai.
An exposed reef break off of Hawaii’s Big Island, known as Palemano Point, could actually be the hiding spot for over $5 million in buried treasure. According to Hawaii’s Unsolved Mysteries, the gold and silver treasure once belonged to Captain Thomas Cavendish, an English privateer who lived during the 16th century. Plenty of adventurers have tried (and obviously failed) at finding the treasure, but some people are still hoping.
One of the strangest hidden treasure mysteries revolves around the mob gangster, Dutch Schultz (born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer). According to legend, as Dutch lay dying from a gunshot from a rival mobster, he muttered something about hiding $7 million somewhere in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Obviously, no one has ever found the treasure, but people aren’t giving up yet.
In 1863, Confederate ranger John Singleton Mosby led his guerilla raiders into a sneaky attack into Union territory. Without firing a single shot, Mosby and his crew were able to capture more than 40 Union troops at the Fairfax, Virginia Courthouse. Apparently, Mosby ran from the area with a burlap bag filled with $350,000 worth of gold, candlesticks, silver, and jewelry. which would be worth more than $6 million today. All of these items and other family heirlooms were stolen from the local plantation owners. While they were heading back into Confederate territory someone warned Mosby that there were Union soldiers nearby, so Mosby decided to bury the sack of stolen valuables in between two trees. He marked the spot with his knife, and later sent seven of his men to return to the area for the bag. Unfortunately, the men were captured and killed. As far as anyone knows, Mosby was never able to retrieve the valuables, meaning it could still be there today.
Ten Binion, a wealthy casino heir, has been dead for over 20 years now, but his name still lives on. Apparently, there is a silver collection worth several million dollars hidden somewhere on his property in Pahrump, Nevada. In 1998, Binion was murdered by his girlfriend and a collaborator. Even though they were acquitted of murder charges, they did get convicted on charges of silver theft. Apparently, the motive for the murder was Binion’s silver collection which was worth several million dollars at the time. While some people believe that all of the silver has been found, there are others who still think it’s hidden on the property, waiting for one lucky person to stumble across it.
From 1716-1718, Blackbeard was one of the most feared pirates in all of the seven seas. Mostly keeping his ship in the West Indies and the Atlantic Coast of North America, he and his crew attacked ship after ship in search of gold and other treasures. It is said that Blackbeard enjoyed bragging about his buried treasure, but because he didn’t trust anyone, no one knew where it was actually located. Eventually, Blackbeard was caught and executed in 1718. While treasure hunters are looking everywhere for this treasure, Blackbeard made sure that no one would ever find it!
In the northwest corner of Arkansas lies the Old Spanish Treasure Cave. It is believed that this cave hold treasure buried by Spanish Conquistadors running away from the Native Americans more than 350 years ago. The supposed treasure has never been found, but artifacts, such as weapons, armor, and helmets, from that period of time have been found. So maybe, just maybe, there’s some truth to this one.
According to East Idaho News, “Somewhere in east Idaho is a bloody treasure worth millions of dollars [in gold]…at least that’s the legend, anyway.” In 1865, the Overland Stage Line, which was carrying gold as its cargo, was held up by the Boise-based Picket Coral Gang, a stagecoach robbery gang. While many people don’t believe that the robbery even took place, some people believe that the gang hid it in the Portneuf Canyon!
