Im in the Philippines. Many people began to say that the valley was cursed, haunted, or filled with members of the Naha tribe who were waiting to kill Europeans who entered their territory. Had he been part of the Golden Lily conspiracy? His team went and searched and dug but never found anything. These were not symbols found in military treasure sites. Regarding the claimed gold buried in the Philippines, the fact that not a single piece has ever been found is exactly in line with our expectations. I left the cobras meat for the caretakers family to consume and headed for the airport. It was January 2016, and my interest in the story had waned once more. Its a known Japanese symbol that means the seeker is going to love what is below, he added in his hypnotic Austrian drawl. Marcoss people informed Curtis that Marcos was intending to process over three hundred metric tons of gold each year for the next decade. Andrew Gough. Andrew Gough, A leaf of the bogtalay tree Evidently, she found what she was looking for., Ill be damned, I added. I soon learned what Klaus was doing in the Philippines, and how he had ended up there. Holes are being dug in virtually every one of the 73 Philippine provinces by treasure hunters like McDougalds group, all of whom believe that fleeing Japanese generals left behind billions of dollars in booty when Gen. Douglas MacArthurs forces retook the islands in 1945. Within days of my return to England the director was sacked for mismanaging the episode and for essentially hijacking the narrative of the agreed storyline. In fact, they told me it was a dreadful idea. Intriguingly, the alleged body of Marcos was later reburied in the Cemetery of Heroes in Metropolitan Manila in a ceremony shrouded in secrecy. MacArthur was rendered speechless after walking down countless rows of gold bars stacked over two metres high, and promptly notified United States President Harry S Truman of the discovery, who immediately deemed it a state secret. Abcarian: Mask mandates? All six bullets had apparently been fired at whoever or whatever had killed him.[2]. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. So he headed to the location with some hiking supplies and his dog. Andrew Gough. We were all devastated, especially Klaus, as he wanted to open a treasure chamber in time for us to film it for the show. I was intrigued, and worried for him, and a little for myself. Henrys pride and respect for his father touched us all. Once the cameras stopped, Henry continued taking us through his files, highlighting important photos and newspaper clippings, including one very poignant photo of himself as a young man standing alongside his deceased father. Andrew Gough, Henrys father with the famous detachable buddha head photo They drove down the road to an area called Topaz Point to search for minerals. I suppose alls well that ends well. In my mind I visualised a hole running straight through my body and out the other side. In 1908, two young men were searching for gold in Arizona. The comprehensive excavation proposals that I had developed upon my return had been rejected. Cathcart recounted how one afternoon a notice was sent to law offices across the country, detailing how a Filipino locksmith was suing his president, Ferdinand Marcos, for having stolen a golden buddha and assorted treasure that he had discovered in the Philippines. Cheatham was obsessed with legends of Yamashitas gold and frequently visited Baguio in search of Japanese artefacts. After a long but successful walk I arrived at Klauss most remote treasure site. Not surprisingly, some of Klauss workers will no longer venture to the bottom of the tunnel complex. At midnight, General Yamashita and the princes slipped out, and dynamite charges were set off in the access tunnels, entombing the engineers. The audacious treasure hunter would not stand a chance against the might of Ferdinand Marcos, he thought. Two Australian brokers: who testified that in the early 1980s they had negotiated nine contracts with Marcos to sell what amounted to $1.63 trillion-worth of gold bullion. I was not able to track down any good information explaining why the judge upheld the Golden Buddha Corporation's claim against Marcos, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time a court of law made a ruling that was not in harmony with true science or the true history of a case. He also showed me his hands and feet, which were missing various fingers and toes from a chemical booby trap that had been released in an underground water-filled chamber on the site. Kidd originally left $500,000 behind. There was no follow-up after Bilyeu was pronounced dead. 0000002983 00000 n According to Curtis, he had helped the dictator dig up $14 billion in gold bars, with over $85 billion remaining to be found. As if that was not sensational enough, he added that this site was the one that President Marcos had visited and declared he was going to excavate next, only he died before getting the chance. Today, only $1.4 million has been paid out to the Roxas estate. Many were husbands and fathers who had traveled in hopes of providing for their families back home. Their uncle, Charlie McLeod, was worried because they never wrote home. His mother had told him that she and his father felt honoured to have had their property chosen, and when the Japanese finished they joined in a ceremony that celebrated the completion of the project, and the sacredness of what was buried below. Andrew Gough. Slowly putting his ruined life back together, he moved from Reno to Las Vegas . With a change of shirt I descended once again into the abyss. Intriguingly, Santy introduced Marcos to Imelda, and once dated the former beauty queen back in the day. She shared how he had been stressed and run down in the time leading up to the trial. Crawling through twelve inches of water at the bottom of a tunnel complex after walking through rice paddies in the rain was not my idea of fun. Klaus shared that he felt many were not reputable insomuch as they often claimed to not be feeling it today and concluded I need to come back tomorrow, effectively doubling their income. As I was banned from listening to the conventional historian do this thing, I became more convinced than ever that the director was orchestrating a hatchet job for the two-hour season premiere of the show. Then McSherry returned to his own pit to clean up the tools and collect the stones. Skeptoid Media, It was peculiar and appeared to be a topographical map. It would later be appealed and reduced to $22 billion, because the court could not be certain of the contents of each and every wooden crate that was removed from the tunnel system behind Baguio Hospital. The golden buddha was real but not the gold bullion. I could not believe he knew about it all, let alone had such a peculiar opinion about it. Robert Hunter, the longtime lyricist for Grateful Dead, died on Sept. 23, 2019; he was 78. In 1942 Prince Chichibu is said to have examined potential treasure-vault sites around greater Manila, and further afield. You climb down and back up each of these sites twice a day? I asked in disbelief. This show is made possible by financial support from listeners like you. Crawling through the inhospitable tunnel system Wow, I mumbled under my breath. The plane landed with a thud at Heathrow airport, and normality soon ensued. Andrew Gough. The Japanese, in particular, were notorious for this. Unfortunately, some people never come back. Phil never returned from his trip, so the police were called. He was never found.[4]. 0000002177 00000 n There, some say, it remains today waiting for someone possibly for you to find it and walk away. The caretaker had lost fingers and toes from chemicals released in the treasure site Ill explain, but were not at the bottom yet. Reluctantly, I selected a cobra, which was promptly placed in a barrel-shaped mesh cage. We learned that he had found marker artefacts at a shallow depth in the ground at various sites nearby. Dont get me wrong. The year was 1944, and the Japanese had spent the previous fifty years pillaging the East of their national treasures; twelve Asian countries in all. However, that's a far cry from the claim that the US filled this one with Japanese gold from the Philippines after World War II gold that we're pretty sure doesn't exist. While Santy had resorted to torture, Lansdale offered Major Kojima a lifeline he proposed a share of the treasure if he showed the Americans where the Japanese had hidden the gold, and within weeks Major Kojima led Santy and Lansdale to a dozen easily accessible treasure sites in and around Manila. Hours later, on the plane back to London, my brain was in overdrive. I watched the show and their drive-by shooting approach to treasure hunting with dread. Billy and Bob were prepared to camp for several days near the Norris ranch while they looked for gold. One even had a cobra as its spiritual guardian that Klaus had encountered before. Absolutely not, the healer said. Andrew Gough, A young Henry Roxas pays his loving respects to his late father Hunter died Monday at his Northern California home with his wife . Back on the surface the cameraman filmed various objects that Klaus had found in the tunnel backfill: symbols such as seashells, leaves, gold dust and other assorted items that should not exist at that depth in the earth, and certainly not with man-made cement and gold dust embedded in them. And yet, the man does not charge for his services. Andrew Gough. The Imperial treasure sites were another matter: in addition to gold, they contained ancient artefacts from museums and burial hoards that the Japanese had looted across Asia. A search team began combing the nearby jungle, hoping to find the bodies of the missing men. Like Cheatham, Cathcarts team discovered Curtis in Las Vegas, and made a videotape detailing how he had spent many hours with Marcos in 1975, and had visited the president in his summer palace, where he saw the distinctively styled golden buddha, which (he later testified) he had examined closely, including its removable head. What did you uncover? I asked inquisitively. As usual, he did not want any money for his trouble. Curiously, his death was not announced publicly until ninety days later. Fuchigami recounted a time when his father had taken him to a treasure tunnel behind Baguio Hospital, and explained how the tunnel tracks and handrails had been used for transporting large quantities of gold. They were not disciplined and were not dowsing for danger, he sternly proclaimed. Klaus had nailed it. After some diligent detective work Cathcarts team discovered Cheatham working as a night-time security guard in a Las Vegas hotel. I say successful, because I was not bitten by one of the many cobras lurking in the rice paddies along the way and was only partially bitten to death by hordes of mosquitos the size of hummingbirds. We said goodbye to Klaus and Patrick and drove to Manila for the final shoot of the day, my studio interviews. A look of relief radiates from his face In August I flew to Manila and was greeted by a group of treasure hunters, including ex-military men, who transported me to a site to the north east. Robert Hunter, who died on Sept. 23 at age 78, matched words to Jerry Garcia's melodies and served as the public conscience for the Grateful Dead, whom he joined as a non-performing member in 1969. Random encounter with treasure hunter. 0000003280 00000 n As he reflected on the significance of his experience, I remember thinking once more that I just wanted to leave. I hung on for dear life as I precariously wrapped my 6 5 frame around the back of the passenger seat while Klaus rode shotgun. This included dismissing cyanide as a poison that can travel through the air, and numerous character attacks on Seagrave and Curtis. Im betting its here.. In a now infamous moment of stubborn, albeit courageous, resolve Roxas returned to Baguio, and in the presence of lawyers and the media, defiantly proclaimed the golden buddha to be a fake. In his 1986 book Falsifying China's History about Sterling's earlier work, he wrote: The book is so biased, so unreliable, so riddled with errors, and so utterly lacking in historical perspective that much of it could be classified as fiction rather than as a work of history. The new, freelance director who had been hired to replace him had read my LinkedIn profile and decided that my business background meant I was not someone he wanted to feature. This is how wide you can dig. ; One of the best ways to earn a high chunk of money in Red Dead Redemption 2 is by High Stakes Treasure maps. It was almost a year to the date of my first visit and now, like then, I had managed to arrive in the middle of the monsoon season. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Multiple men began to go missing or die in Deadmen Valley following the decapitation of the McLeod brothers. Since there were so many people, everyone was in close proximity to one another. 0000008710 00000 n Needless to say, she remains convinced that her husband was murdered. He said they were building an extension to the hospital. So far so good. Dametz was in poor health, so he needed help from McSherry to get to his digging spot, a small sandy pit in the middle of the forest. 20 Nov. 2003, Volume 25, Number 22: 3-6. An image of what appears to be a cement-filled tunnel or door, deep underground In addition, American, French, Belgian, British and Australian divers are spending millions of dollars combing the bottom of the Philippine Sea in search of old Spanish galleons and other commercial ships that sank with thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars in treasure as long ago as the 1500s. He had a copper mining company and also staked a claim on plots of land that he used to mine gold. I wanted to leave, but the caretaker said I mustnt; the healer had sent me, and I needed to complete his process. Did the Japanese deposit immense quantities of gold in the Philippines? Marcos was ruthless. Klaus and I continued our daily Skype calls and I could sense he was making real progress. Klaus demonstrating the art of dowsing For these, the Shinto priests communicated to those with eyes to see in a different language of symbols to that of the military treasure sites, as I would soon discover. In another hundred and seventy-five feet, by the looks of it, you may change your mind.. Then, at an infamous event, where President Marcos ordered the slaughter of his opponents at a political rally and blamed the ensuing grenade attacks on the Communists, Roxas escaped once more. Despite the fact the Klaus always lights incense and states his intentions before descending, they have experienced the same sensation I have plus the even more disturbing impression that someone was tapping them on their shoulder. He stared back defiantly. He heard of what the locals called Second World War ghost ships; large Japanese freighters that arrived in the evening and, after unloading countless boxes into a tunnel system, had disappeared by daybreak. The Japanese strategy was two-fold: strip the East of their cultural identity, while returning priceless treasures back to Japan to fund their military, political and economic world dominance for the next thousand years. Oh, and I meant to ask, how deep had your dad dug when he discovered the golden buddha near Baguio hospital, Patrick asked matter-of-factly. Kidd had decided to create a treasure hunt of his own. Skeptoid Podcast. Each would have been an ideal candidate to contribute to the legal and organised excavation of Klauss treasure sites. The award was later substantially reduced and nothing was ever collected. I scaled the second descending passage with slightly greater confidence and speed than the first, and as I arrived at the bottom and crept along the next tunnel passage to where Klaus was standing, I was amazed to see that the floor and walls were perfectly smooth. Imagine countless fabulous tunnels bored through the green mountains of the Philippines, all filled with mind-boggling stacks of gold bullion and other riches, all waiting there even today for some lucky adventurer to discover them. Eventually, he became so exasperated that he burned the map out of frustration. Bob Curtis. The only way to recover his body was via helicopter. Marcos was overthrown in February, 1986, and Mr. Curtis began making overtures to the new government soon after, McDougald said last week, adding that he got involved in Curtis new venture while researching a book he plans to write on hidden wealth in the Philippines. Roxass life was not his own. When the cave-in become public Feb. 29, McDougald and his group were forced to go public as well. But then again, Klaus is five feet five inches tall and I am a foot taller, I defensively mused in my head. As he detailed the story of how he first became embroiled with Roxas, his manner and cadence reminded me of Jimmy Stewart, or Tom Hanks. Bob Curtis. But then, at 11 p.m. on Feb. 22, the tunnel caved in, killing two Filipino workers and focusing national attention on the depth of McDougalds undertaking. The massive collection of vaults was stacked top to bottom with row upon row of gold bars. . I went for a walk around campus and when I returned the production manager politely asked me to join them, as they were about to begin, and so I did. I inspected the impressive collection of museum artefacts that Roger Roxas had discovered and listened as Patrick interviewed Henry. While he was talking a hostile player started attacking me, which caused the npc to run away. Klaus had briefed me as to what the sites would be like. They were not only deposited in the deepest tunnel systems, they also did not offer intermediate chambers or directional validating artefacts a short distance beneath the surface. No matter where I go treasure hunting and metal detecting I have lot's of fun so thanks for subscribing and I hope you enjoy watching my treasure hunting adventures - I look forward to your . Andrew Gough. It read, I understand you met with my brother, Henry, in Baguio. I sat on the bed trying to make sense of what had just happened, when the healer informed me that I needed to stop on my way to the airport and drink a cobras blood in order to complete my healing process. More of that, he encouraged. San Francisco: Bookmark, 1993. Two hundred and sixteen feet, Henry replied, without hesitation, seemingly before Patrick had finished asking the question. Twenty nerve-racking minutes later we parked up and began a rather gruelling trek through cobra-infested rice paddies. Klaus was already at the bottom as I made my way down slowly, cautiously, and deliberately. At a depth of approximately two hundred and twenty-five feet the Japanese had created the largest and most valuable treasure vaults. In total, Klaus had the support of a dozen or so workers; humble villagers, not craftsmen. Marcos wanted more and, in addition to Santy, he sought Ben Valmores, whom his people understood to have been the keeper of the treasure maps. Even one, the political scientist Chalmers Johnson who was a China specialist and shared the Seagraves' distrust of Japan, could not get entirely on board with their quest. The initial award was $43 billion the largest civil judgement in history. New York: Verso, 2003. Andrew Gough. The town had been occupied and governed by General Yamashita in the early 1940s. They were apparitions; ghost soldiers. What is worse, it triggered a political backlash. 0000001447 00000 n Everybody was shattered by that point, but none more than me. We had adjoining rooms in the hotel and shared a laugh. You can also find her on Twitter. The bogtalay tree is regarded as sacred in the East. Valmores was entrusted with detailed maps of each of the 175 treasure sites, a privilege that President Marcos would later exploit. Thats how the healer works; the sheet serves as an X-ray filter and highlights what needs to be healed. Reward: Otis Miller's Revolver & 5 x Erotic Photograph. 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