My main interest at the
time was exploring the cave. I wanted to know what
it was, how far it went. There are bronze weapons,
in there's swords, spears, shields, knives-- many artifacts,
something like 7,000. No two are exactly the same. It proves that many of the
things that have been taught in elementary school, high
school, and colleges is wrong. They were treasure hunters
searching for that cave, so I decided to completely
hide this location. Search all you want. You'll never find it. [theme music] SCOTT WOLTER: The history that
we were all taught growing up is wrong. My name is Scott Wolter, and
I'm a forensic geologist. There's a hidden
history in this country that nobody knows about. There are pyramids here,
chambers, tombs, inscriptions. They're all over this country. We're going to investigate
these artifacts and sites, and we're going to
get to the truth. Sometimes history isn't
what we've been told. [dramatic music] Our country is filled with
caves, caverns, and burial chambers that could hide
artifacts and sacred wonders from long ago. I've looked for the
Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and other things
rumored to be hidden here. I think these things are just
waiting to be found by those who search hard enough. Without a doubt, some of
the greatest lost treasures of all time are those
from ancient Egypt, where vast burial chambers lie
virtually empty, the pharaoh's riches having vanished. Many people believe these
old-world artifacts were brought to the New World, and
I think they could be right. A few years ago, I examined some
alleged Egyptian artifacts said to have been found in a
cave in rural Illinois. But Illinois isn't
the only place said to hide such treasures. That's why I'm heading
to another place where many think
ancient Egyptians once came with their vast riches-- the Grand Canyon. Stretching 277 miles,
the Grand Canyon is about 18 miles wide
and up to 6,000 feet deep. It was carved out by
the Colorado River about 500 million years ago,
and the layering of the rock reveals a huge amount of our
nation's geological history. And there are caves here,
but only a few of them have been explored. So if ancient Egyptians
brought their treasure here, it's likely still hidden,
and I'm meeting a guy who says he knows where it is. Well, Jerry, thanks for
meeting me here today in this amazing place. JERRY: It is. It's very amazing. SCOTT WOLTER: You know, there
are many myths and stories about ancient cultures
coming to America with fantastic treasures. Some people say that there's a
treasure buried here somewhere in the Grand Canyon, and
I have a newspaper article from the "Phoenix
Gazette" in 1909 that talks about a treasure here. Let's take a look at this. "Explorations in Grand
Canyon, Mysteries of Immense, Rich Cavern Being
Brought to Light. Remarkable finds
indicate ancient people migrated from the Orient." That's amazing. Yeah, it is. And you know, the person
who did this exploration was GE Kincaid. He'd been hired by
the Smithsonian, and he went pretty much looking
for this cave full of treasure and this lost city
that's down there. Did he find it, and
what happened after that? Kincaid knew what
he was looking for. He pretty much went
to the spot, found a series of steps that
went up the cliff wall, went into the cave. He found not only
hieroglyphs, but he found all kinds of artifacts. Like what? Well, statuary-- there
were mummies in there. There were, indeed,
pieces of gold and silver. Now, one of the
things they mention here is that this particular cave
is virtually inaccessible, although it does talk
about 1,400, 1,500 steps-- sandstone steps-- that were
carved into the rock that would allow them to get there. The other thing
that's amazing to me is, according to the article,
this cave is so massive that 50,000 people
could have lived there. So potentially there
could have been thousands, if not millions,
of artifacts inside this cave. And the fact that we look around
and here we see this geology, we know we've got
sandstone, limestone. It's going to lend
itself to caves, and I know that there's
a lot of caves here. So you know, that fits. But today, the Smithsonian's
official position is that this whole
story is a hoax. Is that correct? We'd contacted
the Smithsonian. They deny that there's a cave,
that there's any evidence, that there was anything here. So are you suggesting that
the Smithsonian is covering up something here in
the Grand Canyon? Oh, they absolutely are. Because I know that you've
done a lot of work out here. You've made some
expeditions here. What did you find? Well, we came here
trying to find the truth. Kathy, my wife, did the
research over a number of years and finally pinpointed
a spot that we believe is exactly where this would
need to be if it truly existed. So where is that location? You know, this is a really
difficult place to get to, Scott. It isn't easy at all. But yeah, I can show you where
we believe the cave is at. So you're up for it? I'd be happy to
show you what we know. Well, Jerry, what
makes you so sure that you know
where this site is? Well, once we got to the
site that Kathy identified, we started looking very closely
at anything that might have been left behind by the
Smithsonian explorers and excavation team that
had been there ahead of us. We found buttons,
pieces of glassware, a name badge,
several small pieces that were 80 to 100 years old. So do you think this
corresponds with the expedition back in 1909? Yeah, I do. This place is very dangerous. SCOTT WOLTER: Why
do you say that? JERRY: Well, it's dangerous
because while we were there on several occasions there were
government stealth helicopters. Stealth helicopters? Seriously? They know it's there, Scott. And we know that
they know it's there. So do you think they were
trying to scare you off? I know they were
trying to scare us off. Let me tell you this, if there
is an ancient site somewhere down in the Grand Canyon,
possibly Egyptian, they're not going
to scare me off. Ancient Egypt is famous for its
vast riches and immense wealth. When King Tut's tomb
was discovered in 1922, his coffin alone was
made from solid gold and was worth over $13 million. Much of the treasure
attributed to Egyptian pharaohs has yet to be found. So what I want to know is,
could it be here in America? If it was hidden
away on US soil, some people think it's
in the Grand Canyon. An old news article
suggests Egyptian treasure was found here. And another treasure
might be here too-- the Ark of the Covenant. My search for the
religious relic turned up clues nearby in
Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park. If any treasure is
here in the canyon, it's in an incredibly dangerous
and inaccessible spot, possibly even guarded
by the government. But the reward is too great. And I have to find out
what's hidden here. JERRY: There were things that
were going on that just didn't make any sense for
such a remote location. SCOTT WOLTER: I want to find
this thing, wherever it is. And I need your help. This area where
the cave is located is considered sacred ground
by the Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and other tribes of this area. Do you think that maybe they
might have some information that could be helpful to us? Well, I know someone who
might have some answers to fill in the blanks. SCOTT WOLTER: The Zuni
tribe are Pueblo people who have made the Southwest
their home for hundreds of years. To the Zuni, the Grand Canyon
is a holy place, their creation story telling how the ancestors
climbed up from its basin. Even today, Zuni men still make
pilgrimages to the Grand Canyon to venerate this sacred site. Clifford, as a
Zuni tribal elder, what can you tell me
about the Grand Canyon and what it means
to your people? Well, the Grand Canyon, to
the Zuni people and other Pueblo tribes, this is considered
our place of origin, not only in terms of religion
but also spirituality, about where our forefathers and
our ancient ones came out of. Is there anything in
your creation stories that talks about some of
these mysterious caves, maybe even the one
that could possibly hold Egyptian artifacts? In our spiritual
teachings, there are actually rooms inside the Grand
Canyon, and there's several passageways. SCOTT WOLTER: Right. CLIFFORD: So that
parallels with some of the history about the early
1900s and also about some of the treasures that a lot
of Indian tribes talk about. Are there any stories
about what might be in some of these caves? I've heard a lot
of different stories from different tribes that talk
about these treasures that are supposedly in there,
but then also I heard about a pyramid that's
supposedly inside the Grand Canyon. SCOTT WOLTER: A pyramid? CLIFFORD: A pyramid. So Clifford, your
oral stories say that there were cities inside
of these caves and pyramids in the Grand Canyon. I absolutely believe
in that because there's been a lot of different
crossing of different cultures in this part of the world. It's my understanding
that there was a lot of Egyptian-type
relics and artifacts that were taken from
inside the Grand Canyon. Are there any
stories about any of these caves being cursed? In most Native
American sites, there are natural occurrences that
might be considered a curse. It's sort of like a
guardian-type thing, and it's still even in
existence to this day. You have to tread
very carefully. Absolutely. SCOTT WOLTER: So do
you think there still could be treasure down there? CLIFFORD: Oh, absolutely. This is a huge place. And if you look at the rooms
and the space inside the canyon itself, there's a
lot of artifacts of past civilizations. I believe in that, that
there's a lot of treasure still inside the canyon. Do you think we can get there? Well, you might try getting
there, but it's very dangerous. SCOTT WOLTER: Well, you know,
I appreciate what Clifford was saying, but I'm not
ready to give up yet. We have to figure out a
way to get into that cave. Well, it's a very
dangerous place. Clifford was right. Well, I have some video to
show you of our 2002 expedition into the canyon. It'll show you exactly how
dangerous a place this is. Sounds good. Let's take a look. JERRY: This is our camp
from our 2002 expedition when we were at the Grand
Canyon trying to find a way down to the area where Kincaid's
cave would be found. SCOTT WOLTER: It looks like
it drops straight off, right? Beyond this point is just
a sheer 2,000-foot drop-off. People standing here on the edge
of the canyon, past that point it is straight down
maybe 2,000 feet. Just what I'm seeing
here does look-- I mean, that's-- that's
a pretty steep slope. It's absolutely dangerous-- absolutely dangerous. And here you see-- now, they've gone over the edge. They're hanging off the ropes. They've gone down
maybe 800 feet. And this one fellow's
just hanging off the rope. They're suffering
heat exhaustion. There's no way you
can carry enough water to get to this place. So basically what you're
saying is to get to this cave, I mean, it's
virtually impossible. It is. All right, what
you're looking at here is while our team was
going down descending into the canyon
over these cliffs, you can see very clearly-- SCOTT WOLTER: Holy crap. JERRY: There's this unmarked
plane that's flying well below the canyon rim, as you see
it going right through there. We've also seen
helicopters, and they've buzzed us at various
times we've been there. They don't have any
markings either. And we feel that they must
be government helicopters, government airplanes. They were watching us. Or maybe they were
trying to scare you off. Probably trying to. So they never did get
down to the cave entrance. They never did. Yeah, it proved to
be way too difficult. Heat exhaustion took over,
and it was really very difficult to get them
back to the surface. Do you think that we could
climb down here realistically? No. I mean, how long
would that take? What are we talking
about time wise? You need expert mountaineers
and a lot of rope. Well, you know what? There might be another
way to get there. All right.
What do you have in mind? AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLER: [inaudible] HEATHER: [inaudible] AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLER: [inaudible] [inaudible] for a
southeast departure. Whoa. [laughing] HEATHER: [laughing] Here we are over
the Colorado River. I need you to tell me exactly
where you need me to go. Yeah, it's just right
down there below that ridge. If I'm going to
do an orbit, I'm gonna lose a little
bit of altitude here and do an orbit
over the location. AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLER: [inaudible] HEATHER: [inaudible] 49 over
the little Colorado River. JERRY: Right there. We need to descend down
below that ridge line in order to see directly
across into the canyon. I can't do that. The FAA has restricted all
flight below the canyon rim. We're not allowed to
descend down there. So you're telling me that
the FAA, the government, will not allow us
to go down there? Absolutely not. [inaudible] JERRY: We need to defend
down below that ridge line in order to see directly across. The FAA has restricted all
flight below the canyon rim. We're not allowed to
descend down there. So you're saying that
the government will not allow us to fly over
this area right here? This is where the Egyptian
cave is supposed to be. No, sir. We're not allowed down there. JERRY: That's the level that we
think that the cave is at right there. OK, just beyond
that next drop-off Exactly. So Jerry, we are pretty
much above it, on top of it, you think? Yeah, there's the circle
of rocks from our campsite. Is there any way that we could
get down on that plateau just above it? Could you land there? We can land on the top. I can get you on that
plateau right over there. SCOTT WOLTER: OK,
well that would-- I guess that's the
next best thing. [inaudible] just
land right down there. AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLER: [inaudible] HEATHER: [inaudible] is landing. [inaudible] SCOTT WOLTER: So Jerry, this
was your base camp right here, right? This is where you
started your operation to get down to what you
hoped was the Egyptian cave? This is it. When we were here before, the
guys that were going over, we thought they were prepared. We really didn't know what
it would take at the time. And they went down
about 800 feet, and they ended up getting stuck. SCOTT WOLTER: 800 feet-- that's only about,
what, halfway down to where you think that cave is? JERRY: It's about halfway, yeah. Going over the side, it
just seems impossible. You can't see the
cave from the bottom, nor can you see it from the top. It's at an in-between level
that's completely obscured. SCOTT WOLTER: That
newspaper article is very compelling from 1909. Something happened here
in the Grand Canyon. I think the government
is hiding something. The fact that a plane flew by
when you guys were down here rappelling tells me that they
had to have been watching you. They're guarding something. The oral stories of the Zuni and
other tribes around the Grand Canyon clearly suggest
that some people came here, that there are many caves here. But there may be caves that
housed ancient cultures and maybe artifacts,
possibly the Egyptians. So I'm convinced that
there is something here. JERRY: Well, we've only
scratched the surface, and we're sure that there
were ancient cultures who came through here. It could have been
the Egyptians. We think it was someone
from the Orient. There's some talk that even
the Ark of the Covenant might have come through here. SCOTT WOLTER: You
know, I recently was in the Petrified
Forest, and I saw a petroglyph
that looked just like the Ark of the Covenant. So maybe the Ark of the Covenant
did come to North America through the Petrified Forest. Maybe it's down
there in that cave. After taking a good
look around, it's clear that further
exploration is impossible. It frustrates me not
to reach this cave, but it isn't the only
cave in America rumored to hide Egyptian treasure. There is another cave,
in southern Illinois. And while I've studied artifacts
allegedly taken from it, I've never seen the cave itself. I met the man who claims
he found this cave, Russell Burrows. And I even got his
story on camera. They were people searching
for that cave, treasure hunters. So I decided that
the best thing to do is to completely hide this
location, which I did. SCOTT WOLTER: Now he
won't talk to me at all. But maybe it's time to
go look for the cave and see once and for all if
Russell was telling the truth. You know, speaking
of treasures there's another cave in southern
Illinois, Burrows cave. I'm sure you've heard of it. We have. I've actually
spent quite a bit of time looking
at the artifacts, but I've never found the cave. And that's where
I'm headed next. I want to find Burrows cave. If I can find Burrows cave,
it would be a huge step toward proving Egyptian treasure
really did make it to America. And that's why I need to visit
someone who may know just how to find it-- Harry Hubbard, an artifact
collector and researcher who's devoted his life to
studying the Illinois treasure cave Harry has some examples
of the treasures that he's eager for me to see. This is amazing. It looks like the
greatest hoard of treasure I've ever seen in person. But they're not gold. These are made of lead, right? That's correct. These are replicas of original
gold pieces brought out in 1985. What happened to all the gold?
Where is it? These are replicas. Right, well, Burrows melted
the gold and then sold it off. Oh really? Yes. OK. You know, I'm seeing
Egyptian iconography. I'm seeing some interesting
text, a sun-god symbol. To see all this stuff
that you have here and to think that it was actual
gold treasure at one time is amazing. I mean, it's gotta be one of
the greatest hoards in history. The original pieces came
from here in Marion County. OK. There's an ancient
tomb very nearby. Oh, OK.
The cave, right? - The cave.
- All right. Tell me about the cave. The original
description indicated that there were 13 crypts. OK. The main crypt had a king
in a solid gold sarcophagus, and there was one crypt that
actually had a woman in it. And the rest were ancient
kings, 13 cadavers buried in one crypt. So you're convinced that the
gold that came out was real. Oh yes-- most definitely. SCOTT WOLTER: Well, let's
get back to Russell Burrows. HARRY: OK. SCOTT WOLTER: He's the guy
that told me fantastic stories about pulling out not just gold
artifacts but artifacts carved and made out of stone. I've talked to him
about these artifacts. And did you study
those artifacts? Absolutely, I did. What did you determine? Well, I can tell you
with absolute certainty that I think I know what's
behind this notorious mystery of the Illinois cave and how
it might connect with the Grand Canyon cave that
I just looked at. [dramatic music] I'm on the hunt for
Egyptian treasure that legends say is buried
somewhere in America. The big question
is, where is it? I've checked out a prohibited
area at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. And now I'm examining replicas
of possible Egyptian artifacts found in another
cavernous hiding place here in southern Illinois. Legend says the original gold
and the other carved pieces were taken from a cave
here in the 1980s. But whether this is a
true story or a tall tale remains to be seen. I've spent years trying to
get to the truth myself. In 2010, I managed to get
the only interview of Russell Burrows ever known
to be filmed, and I examined some of the
artifacts he claimed he found. The varied collection ranged
from a shaman and a cartouche carved in black marble
to a white marble stone with the Greek
goddess Isis on it. But after I questioned
their authenticity, Russell refused to
speak with me again. The key to the mysterious
cave in Illinois here really centers
on Russell Burrows. I mean, he's the one that
made the cave famous. That's why they call
it Burrows Cave. He is the reason
that a lot of people have become skeptical
of the artifacts, because a lot of them have
been tainted and forged. You know, I felt it was
important to give Russell an opportunity to say
something about it. So I interviewed
him back in 2010. I'd like to see
what he's got to say. Well, in 1982, I was out
working with my metal detector, searching for an old home site. I was walking down the
trail on the bluff, and I stepped on a
rock, which dropped me into a pit or a hole. And lo and behold,
behind it was a cave. There are bronze weapons,
and there's swords, spears, shields, knives,
many artifacts-- many, many--
something like 7,000. No two are exactly the same. Well, that's quite
a story, isn't it? This one is different
from the rest of them. - Oh, really?
- Yes. The story changes
quite frequently. Well, one of the things
that does jump out at me is his descriptions of what he
sees in the cave are incredibly detailed. Well, Burrows
describes 13 crypts. The main crypt is a man in
a solid gold sarcophagus. Do you think-- I believe he saw
all those things. Well, I have an artifact
that I want to show you. That's the Isis stone, an
Egyptian-looking female who's kneeling in reverence
to Ra, the sun god. And this is an artifact
that if you look closer is very revealing. You look right here, you can
see that there are some carved characters here.
HARRY: Mhm. SCOTT WOLTER: This is
English cursive writing. HARRY: Mhm. SCOTT WOLTER: Why
would English writing be on an ancient
Egyptian artifact? That's problem number one. This particular stone is
exactly two inches thick, as are most modern white marble
tombstones used between about 1850 and 1950, very
commonly used at that time. But it gets more
interesting after that. If you look at this kind
of dark-gray material, that's actually modern mortar. OK. The next thing
that happened here is you see these
chips on the backside? HARRY: Right. SCOTT WOLTER: Somebody
chipped the backside, apparently to try to remove
the inscriptions on the back and make it look old. So there's no
question in my mind that this is a fake
artifact and that it was made from a modern
white marble tombstone. But that doesn't mean that
the cave doesn't exist. HARRY: That's true. In fact, it could
very well exist, and I have a couple
of artifacts that I want to show you that Russell
claims came from his cave. It looks like perhaps
it's an Egyptian shaman. It's got the Egyptian beard. It has a very creepy look to
it, and it could very well be authentic. Who knows. This is another artifact that
looks very interesting to me. HARRY: Right. SCOTT WOLTER: This
is a cartouche, an Egyptian cartouche. HARRY: Yes, it is. SCOTT WOLTER: And in
most cases, a cartouches carry the name of a pharaoh
or somebody of importance. Well, these two are authentic. There's no doubt in my mind. There's not that many people
that know Egyptian glyph. And the ones that are carved
in Egyptian glyph, the grammar, syntax, everything is
pretty much correct. After looking at
all these artifacts here, looking at all the
replicas of the gold, imagining this vast treasure
underground, my question to you is, do you think
the cave is real? I know the cave is real. And we know how all
this came over here. Come on.
Let me show you something. OK. This is the man who brought
all the treasures over here from Egypt. SCOTT WOLTER: Oh really? HARRY: Yes. SCOTT WOLTER: And who is this? His name is Alexander Helios. He is the missing son of
Cleopatra and Mark Antony. SCOTT WOLTER: Alexander
Helios was an Egyptian prince whose famous parents,
Antony and Cleopatra, committed suicide when a
Roman emperor conquered Egypt. Alexander Helios,
as the eldest son, may have feared for his
life and fled the country with the family fortune. At the time, Egypt had
many sailing ships. So perhaps Helios came to what's
now America to seek refuge, bringing his treasure with him. All right, so why did
he come over here? One of the stones
clearly says, "we left the Mediterranean
to escape persecution." And he's all over
these artifacts, probably on about 500 of them. And it tells his
life story here. Well, after about age
10, he vanishes off of the face of history. OK. But here we have him as an
older man, as a younger man, in different costumes. He was a priest of the sun,
and that was his name, Helios, which is Greek for "the sun." SCOTT WOLTER: OK. So you think he came here?
HARRY: Yes. SCOTT WOLTER: And when was this? Probably about 25 BC. Well, that's very interesting. And how many people do
you think came with him? According to the
tablets, probably 50,000. SCOTT WOLTER: 50,000 people-- well, that's pretty interesting,
because when I was out at the cave in the
Grand Canyon, they talked about it being big
enough to house 50,000 people. And maybe the cave
that you have here that you think is here, maybe
those people also went out to the Grand Canyon. So what do you
think of the theory that Alexander Helios came
here to North America with all these treasures? Well, it's interesting
for a couple of reasons. One is Helios and
the people you talked about are real historic figures. And the fact is,
they did disappear from the pages of history. And they had to go somewhere. Why not here? So I like it from
that standpoint, but I need to see more
evidence before I'm convinced. I mean, these are great, but
I need to find that cave. Do you know where that cave is? Yes, we know
where the cave is. All right, show me. Now, this map came from the
file cabinet of one of Russell Burrows's associates. I've been researching
this for 20 years. And there's been a few things
that I was wrong about here and there, but the location of
this tomb is not one of them. SCOTT WOLTER: OK. HARRY: This is what we
call the pinpoint map. All right, so this is
his secret map, right? This is Russell
Burrows's secret map. And if you'll notice,
there's a ravine system here. And right here, there's dots-- right here. And also there's a
red dot right here. OK. HARRY: There's a
cavern in one ravine and a large room underneath
the ground of the other one. OK. And I'm going to put an X
right there and right there. SCOTT WOLTER: So
X marks the spot. HARRY: You got it. How far away is
this ravine system? HARRY: About 4 and
1/2 miles away. Well, Harry, if
you're right, I've got to get out there
and find this cave. You know, there's
always truth in legend. We have to get to the truth, and
that's what I'm going to find. Some people believe that
ancient Egyptians may have come to America with their treasure. And now I'm searching
for these caves that may hide these amazing artifacts. I visited the
Grand Canyon, where it's believed there were caverns
of vast riches from afar. And here in Illinois,
I've examined replicas of the many Egyptian
artifacts that are said to have come from Burrows Cave. When I saw them, I said to
myself, where in the world are these from? SCOTT WOLTER: Using the secret
treasure map that Harry Hubbard gave me, I've tracked down
the landowner of the area on the map. And although Harry wasn't
allowed on the site, I've been given access. And if there's a cave
here, I'm going to find it. I'm investigating the
possibility of Egyptians bringing treasure to America. I was just out in
the Grand Canyon, and I investigated a mysterious
cave that is alleged to contain treasures. And now I'm here in
southern Illinois investigating the
Burrows Cave mystery, another Egyptian treasure
possibility here. What do you think
about all this? I think it's a very
fantastic legend. How could people
from the Middle East have made it across the
Atlantic, up the Mississippi, and found this spot here out
in the middle of nowhere? I can appreciate
your skepticism, but there is an historical
figure called Alexander Helios, who about 2,000 years
ago did disappear from the pages of history. And he was of Egyptian heritage. He did have ships. He did have a following. And the question
is, where did he go? The other thing that is really
interesting and compelling to me is that there are at least
7,000 artifacts that reportedly did come from Burrows Cave. I've seen a couple thousand of
them myself, and some of them are quite ornate and beautiful. And they had to
come from somewhere. Those are two things
that do intrigue me. But I want to hear more
about what you have here. This is supposed to be the
area where the cave is. What do you know about it? Well, let me show you on my
aerial view here of my property here. OK. We have the road to the
north that we entered here, and we're parked right here
at the edge of the woods and this open field. And there's
supposedly two ravines where these Egyptian tombs
or caverns are supposed to be located. SCOTT WOLTER: OK. I do have a map here that I'd
like to compare with your map. So here's-- looks
like it's right here. So that would put us-- these are the two ravines
you're talking about right here. STEPHEN: Correct. So apparently this is where
Burrows Cave is located. That's what most
people believe, yes. Are you willing
to take me in there? Yes, I am, Scott. SCOTT WOLTER: Discovering
Burrows Cave here in Illinois would be the find
of the century. But the questions surrounding
the veracity of the artifacts' discovery are a problem for
most everyone, including me. I want to know, did Russell
Burrows really find and conceal this cave, or did it
ever exist at all? His own account suggests it's
off a trail near some bluffs, just like the bluffs
on Stephen's land. So I think we're
in the right area. Burrows said he slipped
into a pit that led him into a long treasure cave. My examination of the
geology here will be key. If there's not a
cave here, then I need to analyze the rock
to see if there could be one underground. Well, Scott, this
is the west ravine. That is a natural
rock shelter. Does it go under here too? Yes, there's a ledge
underneath where we're standing. SCOTT WOLTER: That's pretty
impressive, actually. Can we get down there? I sure would like to look
around here a little more. Yeah, there's a trail
over here to our right that leads down into the ravine. SCOTT WOLTER: The
first thing I can say is the rock shelter in
the ravine is not a cave, but a cave entrance
discovered back in 1982 might have become hidden
by a rockfall or overgrown by trees in the 30 years
since Burrows first found it. I'm not ready to give up on the
idea ancient Egyptians might have come here and tunneled
out deep into rock. But to find out if
that's possible, I'll need to test the rock type. So Scott, here we're at the
spot that was marked as an X on your map, but I don't see
any caverns, or chambers, or anything. I see a lot of sandstone that's
been naturally eroded by water over hundreds of years here. Well, you're right. And you know,
looking at the map, it was a very
small-scale map and that dot that was put on there. And it may be on
the correct spot. It may not. You know, one of the things
I'd like to get a sense of is how well compacted this
sandstone is, how strong it is. Could they have tunneled
through this following fractures and maybe taking advantage of
natural openings in the rock? You know what I want to do is
I want to see what is holding those sand grains together. STEPHEN: You see
anything, Scott? Yeah, I'm seeing
sand grains that appear to have little or no cement. That's why this
stuff is pretty soft. Uh-huh. Yeah, this piece is just
crumbling in my hands. Right, right. There's one more test that
I would like to do, though. What we have here is
dilute hydrochloric acid. I want to see if there's
any calcite cement. And if it's there, it'll fizz. So let's see. STEPHEN: It looks like they're
being absorbed into the rock. SCOTT WOLTER: Yeah. It's soaking in
quickly, which means there's little, if any, cement. It's open space between
the sand grains. This rock, in fact, does
lend itself to carving caves. You know, I've been
to places where I would say absolutely not. Uh-huh. But here I would
say it's possible. STEPHEN: So Scott,
what does it all mean? Well, what it means to me
is, could ancient cultures conceivably from Egypt have
come here to your property and carved caves and put
Egyptian treasure in them? Yes, I think they could have. STEPHEN: Being a
realist, I'm not sure that I believe that the
Russell's cave or the mystery tomb ever existed. And I think this thing's sort
of been perpetuated by the fact that southern Illinois has the
nickname "Little Egypt" that's been around since
the early 1800s. There's various things that have
that word "Egyptian" in them. Like, the local newspaper
has pyramids on it, and there's pictures
of the Sphinx. And as a coincidence, the
town at the confluence of the Mississippi and
Ohio is named Cairo. For anybody to have come
over from the Middle East, made it all the way over
here across the Atlantic, and much less down
in Illinois, would be just the most
fantastic voyage in the history of mankind. Well, you think it's
geographically far-fetched that the Egyptians could have
come here to the heartland of America, but I'm not ready to
give up on that idea just yet. In fact, I firmly believe that
there were many cultures that came here prior to Columbus,
going back thousands of years. So it's certainly possible
that the ancient Egyptians did come here to America. We just need to find more proof. [dramatic music] There are incredible stories
that ancient Egyptians somehow made their way to what
is now the United States. But from all that I've seen, I
think that behind these legends is an astounding truth. At the Grand Canyon, I
heard from a descendant of some of Arizona's earliest
inhabitants about encounters with ancient travelers
from the East. It's a story echoed by the
earliest European explorers, who found clues to
an Egyptian voyage that I think the government
may be covering up. I saw an amazing account
of a Smithsonian expedition to uncover a wealth of
Egyptian treasures hidden in a cave large
enough for 50,000 men, maybe the 50,000 men whom
some believed were led here by the son of Antony
and Cleopatra. I think the Illinois treasure
cave and the cave in the Grand Canyon could very
possibly be real. The geology proves
beyond a doubt that ancient people
could have carved hiding places for their vast
treasures in both locations. This great land
we know as America has many natural
treasures, and I'm absolutely convinced that
it's been drawing people here for thousands of years.
