15. Sunken Spanish Fleet
In 1712, Spain was low on cash, so they set out to gather funds from their New World colonies. In 1715, a fleet of 11 Spanish ships topped
off with gold, silver, pearls, and emeralds were on their way from Cuba to Spain during
hurricane season, unknowingly to their own detriment. The entire fleet sunk into the ocean, along
with a fleetful of Spanish sailors. Although the Treasure Coast in Florida sees
a lot of old recovered shipwrecks and long lost treasure wash up on shore, including
gold valued at $300,000 discovered by a family just 150 yards offshore not too long ago,
only seven of the eleven ships of the ill-fated fleet were ever found. Carrying an estimated $2 billion worth of
treasure, the San Miguel was a lighter ship, so the storm could have pulled it north. Other than that, there are no clues as to
where the three other ships may have ended up. But treasure-seekers are bound and determined
to find it. 14. Rocky Mountain Gold
Imagine venturing into the Rocky Mountains to find a buried treasure chest full of gold
and valuable gems. Forrest Fenn, an 85-year-old adventurer and
millionaire, wanted his fellow adventure-seekers to imagine just that, as he delivered the
task of searching for the elaborately decorated 40 lb 10-by-10 treasure chest that he topped
up with gold coins and nuggets, along with precious gems, including sapphires, rubies,
diamonds, and emeralds. He wrote his self-published book, The Thrill
of the Chase. In it, he dropped clues as to where in the
Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,000 feet between Santa Fe and Canada this treasure
was buried. Fenn didn’t reveal anything more than that
– or more than what he shared in his book. He said, “No one knows where that treasure
chest is but me. If I [pass] tomorrow, the knowledge of that
location goes in the coffin with me.” Clues to its location are suggested in the
book’s poem. One stanza of the poem, directs adventure
seekers to “Begin it where warm waters halt,” leading many to disagree straight off the
mark as to where the starting point of this treasure map begins. Next, treasure seekers are supposed to follow
this “warm water” down a canyon a distance that is “too far to walk,” and which would
put them below the house of “Brown.” Who is Brown? Nobody knows. Out of the tens of thousands of adventure-seekers
that have searched for Fenn’s treasure since the poem was published, no one has found Fenn’s
hidden treasure, which stands to be valued at more than a million dollars. 13. Dead Sea Scroll Treasure Map
Not everything that glitters is gold. Sometimes things that don’t glitter at all
are more valuable. The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of these things. They are a valuable historical document when
it comes to linguistics, religion and…okay, yes, gold. The 2,000-year-old records show a treasure
map, the treasure of which has an estimated value of a whopping $1.2 billion. The first scrolls were discovered by civilians
in Israel and, six years later, archeologists uncovered more. The oxidized copper scroll that they happened
upon was split in two and appeared to be a treasure map, noting 64 Israeli hotspots of
silver and gold. Two examples read: “Item 3. In the funeral shrine, in the third row of
stones: 100 gold ingots” and “Item 5: In the ascent of the 'staircase of refuge,'
to the left-hand side, three cubits up from the floor are 40 talents of silver.” The problem is there are millions of staircases
and funeral shrines in Israel, and these instructions date back to the 4th century BC….so, unless
hunters are willing to check every funeral shrine and staircase there is, there’s no
knowing where this treasure may be hidden…if at all. Another reason treasure hunters may want to
skip this hunt is because some of the ancient Hebrew used on the scrolls is unknown to today’s
linguists. Greek words also make an appearance on occasion. For this reason, the entire document has yet
to be correctly translated and is pretty spotty as is. Needless to say, this would be one of the
toughest treasure maps to follow. 12. The Thomas Beale Cipher
Back to the Rocky Mountains. But this time, we’re going all the way back
to 1816, when Thomas Beale and his companions came upon jewels, silver, and gold, valued
at $63 million hidden in the Rockies. They wanted to make sure that they’d get
off the mountain alive and back safely home to their families. But they also wanted their families to inherit
the treasure they’d just discovered. So, they hid much of the treasure, and Beale
drew up three ciphers, the first of which pointed to the treasure’s location, the
second of which shared the treasure’s contents, and the third of which named their next of
kin. Beale handed off these ciphers to Robert Morriss,
an innkeeper in Virginia. He instructed him to open the box, if and
only if Beale failed to come back to the inn within ten years’ time. Beale claimed a key would be delivered to
Morriss to open the box on the 10th anniversary. Beale disappeared, and no key was delivered. However, the box was opened, and numerous
treasure hunters have taken a stab at decoding the Beale cipher and finding the location
of this buried treasure. But it’s yet to be found. 11. The Treasure of Lima
The Spanish have had very little luck with treasure in this list. In 1820, they were double-crossed by British
Captain William Thompson, who left with some of the Incan treasure that they were storing
in Lima up to that point. At the time, there was a revolt, which caused
them to flee the city and take whatever bit of the treasure they could. They trusted Captain Thompson and his crew
on the ship, the Mary Dear, with some of this treasure. He was supposed to just sail around Lima with
it until the revolt was over. Instead, he and his crew ended the lives of
the Spanish guards and took off with it, burying the loot somewhere on Cocos Island…supposedly. We know this, because the Mary Dear was recaptured,
and apart from Thompson and his first mate, the whole crew lost their lives. The two were spared, because they said they’d
take the Spaniards to the treasure’s hiding place. But when they arrived at Cocos Island, the
two managed to flee into the jungle. The actual location of their treasure gone
with them. No one knows if Cocos Island is even where
Thompson and his crew stowed the treasure. They could have just been throwing the Spaniards
off the scent. Whatever the case, the official claim is that
the treasure includes 200 chests of jewels, a solid gold bejeweled statue of the Virgin
Mary, 113 other gold religious icons, 273 jewel-hilted swords, chalices, gold crowns,
diamonds, and loads of silver and gold bars. The total worth is valued around $200 million. All of this, up for grabs…for those treasure-hunters
intrepid enough to find it. 10. Col. John Singleton Mosby's Lost Loot
On March 9th, 1863, Confederate Col. John Singleton Mosby, an infamous guerilla fighter,
and his Partisan Rangers made their way into Fairfax Courthouse and raided Union soldiers,
capturing 42 of them without firing off one round. He also pillaged Union General Edwin H. Stoughton’s
headquarters, which included a burlap sack of family heirlooms – coins, jewelry, candlesticks,
and the like – that had been taken by Stoughton and his crew from the homes of wealthy Virginian
planters. Laden down with these family heirlooms, which
may be valued at $350,000, Mosby and his Rangers were taking off when they were met with a
second big group of Union soldiers to the west of Haymarket. In order that the Union soldiers didn’t
get their hands on his newfound treasure, he and a sergeant he trusted buried it somewhere
in the Fairfax woods “between two pine trees.” They marked the buried treasure with an X
in order to come back later and recapture it, but it hasn’t seen the light of day
since. He did try to recapture the buried treasure
a few months later, when he deemed it safe to send the trusted sergeant and six men to
retrieve it. But they never reached the place. Union troops captured and hanged them. Once Mosby, too, passed, no one else knew
of the location of the buried heirlooms, so they’re still available for hunting by the
treasure hunters of today. 9. The Oak Island Treasure
The “money pit” of Oak Island, just off Nova Scotia, is a centuries-old legend that
treasure hunters have been in search of since it was first reported by a teenager called
Daniel McGinnis. In 1795, McGinnis said that he’d seen strange
lights on the island. When he went to investigate, he happened upon
a small hole, ripe for digging. Piracy was the thing of the day, so he and
his friends thought that perhaps this hole was full of buried treasure. During their dig, they noted that wooden platforms
and signs of pickaxing indicated that the hole was, in fact, made by man. Still, they never did find any buried treasure
there. Despite this, treasure hunters whispered the
legend throughout the centuries that followed, and they continued to travel to Oak Island
to excavate the alleged buried treasure. They kept coming across odd findings that
egged them on – like non-native coconut shells and, at 90 feet down, a stone with
strange symbols carved into it, which has yet to be decoded. The money pit is truly a money pit, as millions
of dollars have been spent by treasure hunting companies trying to find something that may
not even be there. Six lives were also lost in the various excavations,
and water now floods the pit, as it’s been dug so deep, now requiring expensive machines
to drain the flood. Still, claims have been made of gold findings,
which continue to taunt those craziest of treasure hunters into continuing the dig. Treasure hunters as famous as Franklin D.
Roosevelt have been driven to this pit to uncover the legend. Roosevelt in his late 20’s worked on the
site, and years later, people are still searching, so much so that The History Channel now airs
a “treasure-seekers of Oak Island” reality show. Hopefully, someone finds the treasure soon,
before everyone goes insane. 8. The Lost Dutchman Goldmine
If you’re superstitious, this treasure hunt is for you. Deep in the Superstition Mountains, Jacob
Waltz, an immigrant, came across a bounty of gold, which some say he was told of by
his mistress, who was an Apache. Despite the name of the goldmine, Waltz was
German, not Dutch, and the Apache’s ran him out from the tribe. But knowing where the mine was, he always
returned to steal the riches within…that is, until he developed pneumonia and passed
away one spring. The only person who knew about Waltz’s goldmine
was his caretaker during his final days, Julia Thomas. He gave her clues to the mine’s location,
but with these clues, it still has yet to be found. The clues? You must crawl through a hole to arrive at
the mine, and the sun sets on the gold inside it. The mine is near enough to the Old Military
Trail that you can see the trail from the mine…but not the other way around. You can also see Weavers Needle. And, perhaps the most mysterious clue: a face
looks up at the mine. The Superstition Mountains are thought to
be the location, but naturally, the mountains are cursed, so those who trot off looking
for gold there, beware. You may also end up in the “hole to the
Lower World,” an Apache legend. It may be better not to try your luck. 7. The Golden Owl
This entry also comes from a book. Entitled, On the Trail of the Golden Owl,
the book is described by Wikipedia as a “French armchair treasure hunt book.” The Golden Owl was published in 1993, written
by Régis Hauser via the psyeudonym Max Valentin, and illustrated by artist Michel Becker. Becker also designed an actual statuette of
the owl, which Valentin hid, and the book offers clues to the treasure’s location. Valued at around 150,000 euros, the true statuette
is made of silver and gold with diamond insets and weighing 33 pounds with the dimensions
10” by 20”. This statue is held by a legal protector,
whereas the statuette that is actually hidden in France is a replica made of bronze, for
which the treasure hunt was launched on May 15th, 1993. Valentin expected the hunt to last no more
than a year, but 23 years later, and the hunt’s “final zone” has yet to be identified,
leaving this buried treasure still buried. It’s no wonder that the owl remains hidden,
as Valentine spent 450 hours in the late 70s coming up with eleven riddles, which he later
incorporated into his book. The treasure is somewhere in France, and that’s
all anyone knows for sure based on the clues. 6. The Amber Room
Some treasure hunters look for ships, some look for mines, and some look for long lost
rooms belonging to Russian Czars. Peter the Great was given a room with walls
made of amber and gold leaf as a gift by the Prussian King Frederick William in 1716. You know, as you are sometimes given for your
birthday. Some called the room the eighth wonder of
the world, it was so nicely decorated and crafted and is now valued at more than $250
million. Then, in 1941, German soldiers seized Peter
the Great’s old stomping grounds and took the panels straight off the walls. The eighth wonder of the world was taken apart
and the Amber Room was never seen again. Some researchers believe the panels were destroyed
when the Soviets took Kaliningrad. But others think that, before the city was
seized, the panels were shipped off under cover of darkness and are safely stored somewhere. As recently as last year, German researchers
and treasure hunters think they’ve found this storage bin after 70 years of searching
and are seeking funding to excavate. Clues from KGB and the Stasi reports led them
to a hidden tunnel network in Prince’s Cave in the East German Ore Mountains. They used radar and discovered something that
appears to be a booby trap, and evidence of a blast was discovered at the mouth of the
tunnel in which eye-witness accounts of shipping crates had been hidden. “We want to go on but it’s all very complicated
and we need a sponsor,” one of the treasure hunters, Leonhard Blume, said. But that might be hard to find, seeing as
both the Russian and East German secret police searched fruitlessly for it and many believe
it was either destroyed by the Soviets or in an air raid. These treasure hunters may also be wrong about
the location, so the Amber Room is still up for grabs. 5. Little Bighorn Treasure
In 1876, when Lt. Col. George Custer was battling the Cheyenne and Lakota tribes, Captain Grant
Marsh was on his way with reinforcements, piloting the “Far West,” a steamboat that
ran up the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. Not only did he return fifty-one injured troopers
after Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn to safety, but he was the first
to report the defeat to the rest of the nation. He also set a steamboat record, covering 710
river miles in 54 hours. As he shuttled the wounded on his steamboat,
the load was too heavy with all the extra bodies onboard. Unfortunately, he had to unload some of his
cargo, including the gold bars he was storing for miners who were afraid they’d be pillaged
by the Sioux natives, which were valued at $375,000. Apparently, he thought the troopers’ lives
were more valuable than gold. He hid this loot at some point along the Bighorn
River – a stash that remains hidden to this day. 4. The Sad Night Treasure
Buried beneath Mexico City is a legendary treasure that has yet to be uncovered. On “La Noche Triste” (The Sad Night) in
June of 1520, Hernan Cortes and his fellow Spanish conquistadores wore out their welcome
with the Aztecs, and they were driven out of the Aztec capital by the indigenous warriors. As they were fleeing, however, Cortes told
his army to pillage as much Aztec gold and treasures as they could squeeze into their
armory. They followed Cortes’ orders, but it was
to their own detriment. This is due to the fact that the Aztec capital
was an island in the center of a lake, and the fact that now they were weighed down by
six tons of treasure. The fleeing conquistadores were an easier
target for the Aztecs in this way, who threw them off of bridges where they sank into the
depths of the lake all around, dragged to the bottom of the sea by their own greed. This legendary treasure is said to still be
buried in the now dried-up land near the former Aztec capital, just waiting for treasure hunters
to find it. But Mexico City rests overtop the ancient
Aztec civilization, so the ground is unlikely to be torn up and excavated anytime soon. 3. King John’s Treasure
Friends, guards, and fans of King John “the Bad” were some lucky folks. Bad ol’ John would often take gold plates,
coins, and jewelry for those who followed him. However, in 1216, his thievery was about to
catch up with him. This is when he went to Norfolk’s Bishops
Lynn, also known as “the Wash,” as it’s full of mud flats and marshes, making it treacherous
to cross. He became sick with dysentery while in Bishop’s
Lynn, so took a calmer route around The Wash, but his carts and soldiers went on through
the marshes. In one of the carts was his grandmother, the
Empress of Germany’s crown jewels. It is said that near Sutton Bridge the soldiers
were overcome by the tide and passed away. All of King John’s treasure and possessions
went down with them. Just a few days after that, King John passed
away. His treasure, we assume, is still at the bottom
of those marshes, ready and waiting for any hunter brave enough to battle through The
Wash. 2. Treasure of the Knights Templar
All great stories of treasure start with warrior monks. A religious order of warrior monks, known
as The Knights Templar, came together in 1114 A.D. They led the Crusades and intended to retake
the Holy Land. But, being quite greedy, they pillaged every
bit of land they conquered, taking riches and power, at once. Luckily, the Pope had his eye on them and,
just a short two centuries after they were founded, he arrested the Knights Templar for
heresy. Some did evade capture, taking their riches
with them, and are said to have hidden in Scotland, along with their treasures. Supposedly, they hid these treasures under
a chapel and their descendants shot off to Nova Scotia. Did their grandpas’ treasure leave with
them? Some think so. Some even suggest that the “money pit”
on Oak Island may be where this treasure is hidden. It could also be back in Scotland under any
number of chapels – or anywhere else a Knights Templar may have fled. As with many of these buried treasures, we’ll
likely never know. Before we get to number 1, my name is Chills
and I hope you’re enjoying my narration. If you’re curious about what I look like
in real life, then go to my instagram, @dylan_is_chillin_yt and tap that follow button to find out. I’m currently doing a super poll on my Instagram,
if you believe ghosts are real, then go to my most recent photo, and tap the like button. If you don’t, DM me saying why. When you’re done come right back to this
video to find out the number 1 entry. Also follow me on Twitter @YT_Chills because
that’s where I post video updates. It's a proven fact that generosity makes you
a happier person, so if you're generous enough to hit that subscribe button and the bell
beside it then thank you. This way you'll be notified of the new videos
we upload every Tuesday and Saturday. 1. El Dorado
Gold has been so valued across civilizations and across centuries that it’s no wonder
that folklore about a “city of gold” grew out of this gold-lust. It was more than folklore to some. 16th and 17th century Europeans thought that
this city actually existed in the New World. And it was called El Dorado, i.e. “the gilded
one”. Many have gone in search of El Dorado – and
many continue to. The city of gold has yet to be found and,
according to folklorist, Jim Griffith, its location often changes – and this is exactly
what has led to its legendary status of today. “El Dorado shifted geographical locations
until finally it simply meant a source of untold riches somewhere in the Americas,”
he said. Still, the legend of El Dorado originated
in South America and has some truth to it. 16th century Spanish explorers were told about
a native tribe who lived in the Andes and whose new chieftain would be covered in gold
dust during his commencement ceremony, and Lake Guatavita would be filled with jewels
and gold sacrificed to the water god. The Spanish called this chief “El Dorado”. And, though the tribe was defeated, European
explorers went in search of a city of gold and treasure that they believed must lie somewhere
within the mysterious continent. They did eventually discover some treasure
and gold pieces in that same lake, but if there were more riches in the deeper water,
they didn’t uncover them. Everyone wished for El Dorado to be true,
but no one has ever found it.
