Another Fake Treasure Hunting Show

Dear Lord forgive those who produce and direct treasure hunting television shows. For they know not what they do.

Just when I thought that no treasure hunting TV series could be worse than “The Curse of Oak Island,” well I was proved wrong. Because now we have “Lost Gold of WWII.” It’s a series that takes place in the Philippines. This is a show that has more wannabe treasure hunters. Two of them say they are professional treasure hunters. Yet, they stumble their way through the jungle looking for Japanese gold. The gold was hidden by Emperor Yamashita during WWII. Yamashita buried so much gold he needed more than 150 different sites to cache it all. The booty is hidden in caves inside the jungle. The openings to the caves were booby-trapped. The entrances were dynamited close. The gold, legend states, was never removed. Well, some of it was located. More on that in a minute.

Anyway, Yamashita died before he could gather up all of his hoards. Since the end of WWII, treasure hunters from all over the world have been searching for this massive treasure. One treasure hunter from Manilla did find hundreds of gold bars, and a gold Buddha statue. But the corrupt Philippine government under the dictator Marcos confiscated the cache. So now we have this new group of treasure hunters searching for the gold. And their being followed around by the History Channel camera crew. What’ a doozy bots show it is to.

SIDE BAR - Next months edition of "The Digger" will explain how the U.S. Government and the CIA stole a large amount of this gold in the 1980's and 1990's.

One guy is an expert treasure hunter so he states. He has been all over the world searching for and finding great treasures. So he says. But, he reminds me of the character Barney Fife in the TV series “The Andy Griffith Show” that aired in the early 1960s.

Barney tried hard to be smart, cool and adept at solving problems. Although he was a lovable and funny character, Barney, in fact, was a stumbling, bumbling dolt. This world-renowned treasure hunter, on this new TV series, whom I have never heard of, is the Barney Fife of treasure hunters.

And then there is the expert symbol and code reader treasure hunter. He finds his treasures by decoding symbols that have been etched into rocks. Ok, not a problem here. I have studied symbols and codes for 40 years. I’ve seen hundreds of them on rocks, trees, in caverns, and carved into the wooden structures of colonial homes. Many of those symbols were real, but many more were fake. The expert symbol guy in this series, who I call Barney 2, seems to think that every rock erosion that looks like a symbol, is a code to Yamashita's treasure. It’s known that Yamashita and the Japanese used codes and symbols to denote where the treasures were hidden. And these two Muppet's supposedly have figured out the symbols.

Yes, it’s a system that has been used since the days of Captain Kidd. It's a fact that pirates, the Templars, the Spanish during the Inquisition, the Knights of the Golden Circle, Doc Noss and his treasure, and so many others have used codes or symbols that point the way to treasures hidden. But in this show, the pro’s have shown themselves to be another bunch of bloviating know-it-alls whom have turned the art of deciphering symbols into a Sesame Street series.

I’m paraphrasing what happens next.

Barney climbs down a wet, slippery, steep wall of a waterfall.

“OMG. There is a carved face of a gorilla on that stone behind the waterfall.” He yells up to one of his sidekicks.

“The Japanese used gorillas as a sign that a treasure is nearby. We need to take a picture of this and show it to our expert decoder” That be Barney 2.

My first thought was this. Who in their right mind would climb down a steep, slippery waterfall, and go behind it to take the time to carve the face of a gorilla on a rock? BTW, I’ve looked at that gorilla face over and over. I don’t see a gorilla. It’s kinda like looking at one of those inkblot Rorschach test shrinks give you to determine what your deep thoughts about life are. The shrink shows you a picture of a bunch of lines running in different directions, like a child’s finger painting picture, and you’re supposed to tell him or her what the picture is. If you stare at the inkblots long enough they could be a picture of anything you want them to be. I used to say to my shrink. “I see ink blots.”

With the picture taken, Barney shows it to Barney 2.

“WOW!. That sure is the face of a gorilla.” He says. “We’re on that treasure now. And the gorilla’s nose is pointing north. That means the treasure is in that direction.” Barney 2 points north.

Now they head back to their headquarters to go over this information and decide their next move. At their headquarters which isn’t called a headquarters or a “War Room,” like on the TV series, “The Curse of Oak Island.” No, this meeting place is called their “Base Camp.” I think it’s very becoming of the History Channel producers to give these two rooms, the “War Room” and the “Base Camp” such distinctive names. Perhaps I will steal the History Channels phrases and call my man cave, treasure-hunting room that contains my research information, relics, metal detectors, maps, and bourbon; I will now call it my “War Room” and my “Base Camp.”

With the gorilla pointing north, Barney and his team are locked into finding Yamashita’s treasure. They follow the gorilla’s nose looking for more Japanese symbols.

As they walk through the Philippine jungle, Barney suddenly stops dead in his tracks. He is starring at a mammoth rock. It’s the size of a Volkswagen Bug.

“I can’t believe my eyes.” He says. “It’s a turtle head.”

By this time, I’ve polished off two glasses of bourbon. So I’ve become a bit hyper and “stunad” as we Italians like to say.

“A TURTLE HEAD? SERIOUSLY?” I scream while jumping off my easy chair and pointing at the TV.

Barney says. “Someone carved a turtle head from that rock. You know what that means?”

“Here it comes.” I scream again.

“It means we’re getting closer to that treasure.” Barney tells his sidekick. “The Japanese used turtle heads as symbols for treasure. I need to take a picture of this carved turtle and go back to base camp.

Yes, they did find a cave and a tunnel. I'll tell you how in next months "Digger".

To be continued!

How to Find More Gold Rings - It's No Secret

Old man Dan was a treasure hunter extraordinaire. He didn’t just search schoolyards and parks. Dan panned for gold in Alaska. He traveled to Europe in search of ancient relics. He researched for and located treasures all across America. Dan knew what he was doing. So when he spoke, I listened. When Dan preached searching in “all metal” to find gold coins and rings, I knew he was right because the evidence of so many of his gold rings was on display.

Many of us know that most parks and beaches are filled with trash. Pull tabs, tin foil, bottle caps, and every piece of junk you can think of has been sadly tossed onto the ground by scumbags who frequent those areas. Trying to detect through that junk, even with the discrimination of your detector set to eliminate most of it, is a nightmare. So the thought of searching in the “all metal” mode and digging every signal is like listening to fingernails scratching along a blackboard. But, in doing so, patience can be rewarded with gold.

Dan had that patience. And, his patience paid off HUGELY. He knew if he discriminated out all of those bottle caps, and pull-tab signals, then he would most likely be missing the gold rings. Remember, those pull-tabs and some other junk items register in the same range as gold. So if you want to find gold rings, set your detector to “all metal,” dig those pull-tabs, bottle caps, and junk. And then watch your gold ring inventory increase.

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We Want Your Stories and Pictures

Many have posted pictures and brief stories of their finds at my website. It’s easy to do. You basically create your own webpage with a picture or pictures, and a brief story of how you found the items. Once your page is posted, others will be able to view your page, and make comments. You will also have your own url link to the webpage you built. Use that link to post to Facebook, Twitter, or Pintrest and share with others.

So show your “stuff.” We want to see the goodies! Stories About Your Finds

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Frank

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