(AP Photo, File)
Back in March, we looked at a mystery in Pennsylvania that’s been playing out for years. A pair of father and son treasure hunters had been investigating documents relating to the alleged 1860 loss of a wagon containing seven to nine tons of gold bullion destined for the mint in Philadelphia. It was believed to have been stolen by a gang of Confederate sympathizers and buried in a cave somewhere in western PA. The treasure hunters thought they had cracked the case and in 2018 they sought permission to excavate from the state.
That move brought the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources into the matter since they would have oversight of any “abandoned” goods on public lands. The treasure hunters became nervous and contacted the FBI for help, suspecting that the state might try to keep the loot. What they didn’t expect was an FBI investigation that would end with them being shut out of the site, with the FBI moving backhoes and dump trucks up to the suspected location of the gold and digging all through the night, with dump trucks going up and down the road until dawn, according to neighbors. Then the two men were allowed to come up to the site they found to see an empty hole in the ground. Agents told them nothing had been found and they left.