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Review of America Unearthed S0304 "Montezuma's Gold"

11/29/2014

60 Comments

 
I’m not really digging (pun intended) the new treasure-hunting format for this season of America Unearthed. Two weeks ago Scott Wolter failed to find the gold of the Lost Dutchman Mine. This week he fails to find Montezuma’s Gold. Next week, he’ll fail to find George Armstrong Custer’s lost gold, and the week after that he won’t find Captain Kidd’s lost gold. I know that for a variety of reasons, ranging from the success of Curse of Oak Island (Tuesday’s top original cable program, with 2.1 million viewers) and Gold Rush (Friday’s top cable program, with 3.7 million viewers) to cable networks’ sponsorship by companies that sell gold to consumers, treasure hunting is one of cable TV’s hottest nonfiction trends; but Scott Wolter’s drive-by, scattershot research methods are ill-equipped to mimic the obsessive-compulsive format of the more successful treasure hunting shows. The one thing he does have in common with them, though, is the failure to find what he’s looking for.

On the plus side, at least he’s not the Vieira brothers, whose obsessive Search for the Lost Giants lost viewers again this week, falling to just 1.448 million viewers, of whom just 400,000 are under the age of 50. If only those giants were buried with gold!

Background

Montezuma is the popular name for Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (c. 1466-1520), the ninth Aztec emperor. He is retroactively known to history as Moctezuma II. He is best known for falling to the Spanish Conquistadors, who invaded the Aztec empire on his watch. According to myth, when the Spanish arrived in Mexico, Montezuma mistook them from the returning god Quetzalcoatl and thus offered only minimal resistance. Fringe historians have long used this event as “proof” that the Aztecs were aware of white-skinned bearded people from beyond the sea—Europeans. However, Quetzalcoatl was not depicted as white skinned in pre-Conquest art, and many historians now argue that the Spanish willfully misconstrued Aztec hospitality to manufacture this myth, particularly Catholic clergy like Gerónimo de Mendieta and Bernardino de Sahagún, who interpolated Biblical themes into their accounts.

Contrary to fringe claims that only Europeans were manly enough to sport beards, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, an eyewitness writing years after the fact, recorded in chapter 91 of the History of the Conquest of New Spain that Montezuma’s “black beard, though thin, looked handsome” (trans. John Ingram Lockhart). He also threw in that Montezuma did not indulge in sodomy—unlike the evil giants recorded at the same time by Pedro Cieza de Leon down in Peru.

It is too complex and issue for this limited space to debate the degree to which the myth that the Aztec thought the Conquistadors to be gods finds support in reality, but it is the widespread acceptance of this myth among Europeans and Americans down to the late twentieth century that allows for the development of the myth of Montezuma’s treasure.

Bernardino de Sahagún asserts that Montezuma experienced a series of visions before the Conquest which announced the coming desolation of the Aztec lands. This is the foundation for the idea that Montezuma had half the treasure of the Aztecs bundled up and shipped north, to escape the coming disaster. This exodus of treasure, though, finds no support in the Spanish accounts or in the Nahuatl accounts of the Conquest. It is extrapolated from Montezuma’s offer of treasure to Hernán Cortés (who preferred to call himself Hernando) in the hope that he would leave Mexico. He did not, and after Montezuma’s death, the Aztecs rose up against the Conquistadors, who tried to slip out of Tenochtitlan under cover of darkness. They loaded up their horses and men with all the gold they could hold—700,000 pesos’ worth, according to Bernal Díaz del Castillo--and tried to leave the city, but the temporary bridge they crossed collapsed beneath them, and the weight of the gold drowned many of the Conquistadors. Some have argued that their gold is Montezuma’s treasure, still lost amidst the remaining waters of Lake Texcoco or otherwise buried beneath Mexico City. Although this is the popular view in Mexico, it is not the most common opinion among treasure hunters in the United States. They, by contrast, prefer to imagine the treasure here in America.

Therefore, here in the U.S.A., Montezuma’s treasure can supposedly be found at the Ajo Mountains, Casa Grande, Montezuma Castle, or the various places called Montezuma Head in Arizona. Others place the treasure in Utah. Sometimes the treasure is attributed to the god Montezuma rather than the Aztec emperor. (The god is most likely a deification of the Aztec ruler among Pueblo and Tohono O’odham peoples, combining the historical figure with mythic themes.) Occasionally, the treasure is said to actually be an Apache treasure, with obvious shared elements of the Lost Dutchman Mine myth. In Dig Here! Lost Mines & Buried Treasure of the Southwest (1966), a book considered so useful that no less a fringe figure than David Childress republished it in 2004, author Thomas Penfield dismissed all the Montezuma’s Treasure stories as legendary and lacking any evidence to support them. 

The hunt for Montezuma’s treasure is not new to the H2 network. Back in February, Ancient Aliens discussed the hunt for the treasure and profiled some treasure hunters searching for it near Kanab, Utah, where they believe the mystical Aztec homeland of Aztlán once was. Ancient Aliens profiled Paul Dillman and his son Daniel Dillman, who were searching a cave for Montezuma’s treasure based on the crank theories of Freddy Crystal, an early twentieth century prospector who claimed to have found an Aztec treasure map in Mexico City. Similarly, last year Scott Wolter himself went in search of the same Aztlán in places as far afield as Wisconsin, Arizona, and Utah, and concluded—wrongly—based on toponyms on old maps that Aztlán and the old Toltec capital of Tula were in the region from Arizona to the Salt Lake area of Utah. I went into detail about why this claim was wrong here, but the long and short of it is that early Spanish and American explorers wrongly concluded (based on a mistake by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino in 1687) that the Anasazi (ancestral Pueblo) ruins were those of the Aztecs.

This brings us finally to filmmaker Mike Wiest, who back in February tried to raise funds to use a submersible to search for the treasure in Kanab, at a pond now owned by Lon Child, a man whose father tried for decades to find the gold until the divers he sent into the pond fled from what he claimed were Aztec ghosts. (Definitely not Toltec or Mixtec ghosts; such affiliations are apparently very obvious when you see ghosts.) The federal government forced Brandt Child to abandon plans to drain the pond to find the gold because the pond is home to an endangered snail. Wiest said he believed the gold was located beneath the pond because he “read several books” about Montezuma. He also said that he believes the pond is haunted and would consider bringing in an exorcist to cleanse it of the supernatural. 

The Episode

Segment 1
We open in Scott Wolter’s laboratory where our hero unrolls a map to which is attached a Post-It saying “please put this to good use.” It’s a reproduction of a nineteenth century map of North America, with a thumb drive taped to the corner. Wolter plugs in the thumb drive as ominous music swells and sees a circle with a line through it. He unravels a cloth in which is a reproduction Mexican gold artifact labeled Freddie Crystal. Despite doing this for three years, Wolter has not grown as an actor, and the staginess is obvious. Then we’re off to the opening credits.

After the credits, Wolter is now at the bottom of a Utah lake looking for Montezuma’s treasure. “Yeah, that Montezuma,” he says, “better known for Montezuma’s revenge.” We then flash back to S02E08 and Wolter’s goofy ideas, gained from a Mexican-rights activist, about the Aztec homeland of Aztlan being somewhere in the southwestern United States and/or Wisconsin. The reproduction map Wolter received is the one from that episode, but a mysterious tipster has added the words “Montezuma’s curse” to the map, over what is now Utah.

At Kanab, Utah, Wolter meets local journalist Lois D. Brown, identified as the author of Cursed Gold, but better known as a journalist on natural foods and an author of books on Mormon interest. Oh, and Cursed Gold is a self-published novel, not a history—not that America Unearthed tells you that. Wolter reviews the history of the Aztec gold, and Wolter asserts that the treasure given to the Conquistadors “just disappeared.” Brown tells Wolter that she has gotten approval from the U.S. government—those arch-conspirators who suppress Wolter’s work!—to let the team film at a place where the early twentieth century prospector Freddy Crystal concluded a century ago that Montezuma’s gold lay hid in caverns at Johnson Canyon.

Brown tells Wolter about the supposedly cursed gold, guarded by ghosts that rise up from Utah’s waters to stop divers from reaching the gold.

Segment 2
After the break, at an “undisclosed location” at Kanab, Utah, Wolter recaps what we’ve heard so far. Wolter and Brown are still talking about the curse of the gold and the ghosts that guard it. Brown claims that as many as 2,000 slaves were killed in a massive human sacrifice so that their spirits would guard the treasure. Brown takes Wolter to caves, presumably at Johnson Canyon (it is a visual match to what we see on screen), where Crystal dug in the 1920s. Wolter assumes that the Aztec excavated and filled the cave, without evidence, and Brown tells Wolter that the government won’t let them enter the cave because it is unstable. Since we know that the cave was dug out by Freddy Crystal, it’s rather confusing why Wolter would attribute the tool marks he sees to the Aztecs. Anyone, including, say, the indigenous people of Utah, could have excavated the tunnels at any time over the past several thousand years. Why would anyone think that the Aztecs did it in 1521? “The evidence all comes together,” Wolter says, arguing that an Aztec origin for the cave is the only answer that “makes sense.” It’s actually Crystal’s conclusion that Wolter presents as his own: That the cave was the temporary holding place for Montezuma’s gold while a more permanent location was found. Wolter doesn’t tell viewers that he simply borrowed Crystal’s evidence-free assertions wholesale.

Segment 3
After the break, Wolter recaps and quaintly pretends that there is “evidence” for an Aztec exodus to Utah. Wolter again teases his forthcoming underwater adventure, and he travels to what the show labels a “petroglyph site” to talk with Steve Shaffer, author of Voices of the Ancients. Shaffer is described as an archaeologist, though he has only the same qualifications in archaeology as I do: a bachelor’s in archaeology. (He says his Master’s is in “Arts.”)  He is a treasure hunter by trade, and fond of decorating his website with auto-play Native American music. The men go to look at the petroglyph of the circle with a line through it and Wolter declares it ancient. Wolter wonders if the circle was meant for the Aztec to use to track their latitude, but he’s clearly reaching. The problem is that there isn’t any connection between the petroglyph and the Aztecs, no more than to any other group. In fact, according to Shaffer, analysis of lichens growing on the petroglyph shows they are older than 500 years, meaning that the glyph was carved before the Conquest of Mexico. Shaffer tells Wolter that in the area several ancient skeletons were found in a fetal burial position, like those of the Aztecs, but there are by Shaffer’s own admission no artifacts or evidence to connect these burials to the Aztecs. Wolter, though, thinks they might have been Aztec human sacrifices.

Shaffer tells Wolter that the circle symbol can also be found in an underwater cave, which takes us to our next commercial break.

Segment 4
In the second half of the show, Wolter recaps what we’ve head, and Wolter interviews Lon Child at Three Lakes Ranch, which is apparently Child’s second media profile this year, after Mike Wiest’s attempted exploration for his film in February. Child tells Wolter about his father’s stories of ghosts that menace divers in the pond, and he says he believes in the curse. Child says that when a well driller tried to tunnel into the cave, the drill came out with gold on the tip, but the driller died of a heart attack shortly thereafter. Therefore Child, being afraid of the power of evil ghosts, won’t allow any drilling but has no problem with Wolter risking the wrath of the Aztec ghosts by diving into the cave. Child says that he is firmly convinced that his land is the magical resting place of the Aztec treasure, in keeping with the nearly universal tendency of fringe believers to feel they have some sort of special and personal connection to greatness, whether it be through archaeological artifacts, past lives as Cleopatra or Napoleon, secret Jesus DNA, or supernatural experiences.

Wolter makes the illogical conclusion that proving that Child’s pond holds a manmade cave will demonstrate that the Aztec were responsible, and he prepares to dive as we go to a break. It’s worth remembering, again, that it is a vast leap of logic from “manmade” to “Aztec cave created in 1521 to house Montezuma’s gold smuggled out of Tenochtitlan under the noses of the Conquistadors without leaving any trace in the historical record.”

Again: Not a single Aztec artifact has ever been found in Utah.

Segment 5
As we return from the break, Wolter recaps and then sets about planning his dive with Eric Stackpole, who runs a remotely-operated underwater vehicle company and is here to promote his services. The details of these plans are irrelevant to the story and are essentially a paid advertisement for Stackpole’s company, so I have nothing to say about this part of the show, which achieves nothing except to waste time until Wolter enters the water after the break.


Segment 6
In the final segment, Wolter recaps yet again and emphasizes just how dangerous it is to go diving. That’s why he’s diving with Wilf Blum, a local diver, who says he knows of friends who have had ghostly experiences looking for Montezuma’s treasure. The men go into the water along with a cameraman, and to make several minutes of air time much shorter, they find nothing in a dark and silt-filled cave.

They start dredging the cave, and I wonder how that endangered Kanab amber snail enjoyed the dredging. The dredging failed, but if the men killed a snail in the process, there is a $50,000 fine. Wolter pretends that he wants to drain the pond, and Child tells him that the snail won’t allow it and tells Wolter about the fine. Child shows Wolter rocks dredged from the pond that have mortar on them, and they are modern, Wolter concludes. (No fooling: The Aztec didn’t have cement!) Child refuses to let Wolter drill for gold.

Wolter’s investigation ends with no results and not even a hint of evidence of any Aztec presence anywhere in Utah, but Wolter nevertheless concludes that the treasure is probably down there, but that there is “no way I can prove it.” That sums up most of his beliefs, come to think of it.

60 Comments
Dan
11/29/2014 02:21:18 pm

I tweeted at about 9:40 that I was posting a spoiler that Wolter will not find any Aztec gold in the remaining 20 minutes of the show. Wolter replied that I was a "Debbie downer". He didn't respond when I replied that its the way every episode ends.

Reply
Joseph Craven
11/29/2014 02:52:30 pm

Monster Quest has a better record of finding what they said they were looking for than this show. Friggin Monster Quest.

Reply
geologuy
6/27/2015 09:15:28 am

I always enjoy reading the comments about this ridiculous series. It is unfortunate however that Scott has made the profession of geologist such a comedy act. He seldom practices geology in the series. In this episode he claims the caves are modified by tunneling, which I saw no evidence of in the fleeting images he offered in the show. Fact is, those caves are ubiquitous throughout the Kanab area, some as big as houses, and are formed by natural processes. Maybe the Aztecs had time on their hands and stopped to tunnel into one of the smallest ones they could find.

There are some good geologists out there, but you won't find them in any of these shows.

Reply
Matt Mc
11/29/2014 02:59:56 pm

I learned a few things this episode:

Wolter has a cool little projector that conveniently has a micro SD slot

Wolter has what appears to be a whole cadre of anonymous informants

Wolter got stuck in the bottom of the lake in the mini sub, which I do not remember from the episode on the great lake pyramids

I also learned that I like the show a whole lot better when they do not do the silly re-enactments. While it is not saying that much I do think this was the best episode of the season and its pacing seemed a little faster.

It also seems so far the producers have really steered Wolter away from his pet templar theories but I am sure they will pop up sometime. I think they are trying to make him appear less like a total oreo cookie nutcase.

Oh yeah I also learned that Wolter is really bad at proving the history we have been taught is wrong.

Reply
Only Me
11/29/2014 03:20:03 pm

Yeah, he got stuck on the bottom. Jason D made a joke about it, saying he'd hate to lose a perfectly good submarine...which is *still* funny.

Reply
Jason D.
11/30/2014 04:28:39 am

Ahh yes, one of the most hilarious episodes of Season 2. He went looking for pyramids and a sea monster, found neither, got stuck as his battery was 'dying' (even though we only see him down there for a minute) and the people on the surface faux begging him to come up.

This was my joke on the Jason C's blog for S2 E8, I'm glad Only Me is still enjoying it!:
"I was definitely hoping Scott would surface in time before something bad happened. I'd hate to lose a perfectly good submarine."



Jason D.
11/30/2014 07:33:35 am

Only Me, just for your amusement, I'm gonna paste here my Facebook reaction comments from 'America's Pyramids'

Cue scripted answering machine message
January 18 at 9:02pm · Like · 1

Exhibit A: a beer bottle label
January 18 at 9:03pm · Like · 1

"Rumor is the Aztecs made them" "Aztecs up in Wisconsin?!" that's even too crazy for Wolter.
January 18 at 9:05pm · Like · 1

The pyramids are close enough to the surface to be hit by canoe paddles, but Wolter needs an advanced mini-sub to explore. Cue yellow submarine joke.
January 18 at 9:13pm · Like · 1

Ok, take your crazy pills, Aztecs coming to Wisconsin, of course that's crazy, the Aztecs started in Wisconsin and migrated to Mexico.
January 18 at 9:17pm · Like · 1

Now they're from Utah
January 18 at 9:27pm · Like · 1

"Ahh shit, I'm stuck in the mud"
January 18 at 9:39pm · Like · 1

"Scott it's time to come up now, the battery's been running for a while" just a minute after he started, meaning nearly the whole expedition was edited out and was pointless.
January 18 at 9:41pm · Like · 1

Awww Aztecs have nothing to do with Aztalan? But they sound so similar!
January 18 at 9:57pm · Like · 1

Only Me
11/30/2014 10:47:36 am

If only commentary like that could be used during an episode! That would go a long way to making the show more entertaining.

Careful, though. You might get a message from Scott calling you a Debbie Downer!

Scott Hamilton
11/29/2014 03:03:18 pm

The drill tip coming back with gold, that's an Oak Island thing, isn't it?

Reply
Ragnar
11/29/2014 03:35:26 pm

I've started watching this show, not because its interesting, but because there's nothing on and I can laugh at it. Will he ever find anything? Ever?

Reply
Truds
11/30/2014 05:12:51 am

yes, sometimes even bad comedy is better than nothing at all. In all truth I do enjoy laughing at this show and others like it while picking them apart. After seeing the episode I can hardly wait a to see what Jason writes on the episode. I do love ya Jason, or at least your opinion ;)

Reply
John P
11/29/2014 05:04:01 pm

Tonight I caught my first episode of AU, which led me to your website.

All I can say is thank you. This show is one of the stupidest things I've seen, and your in depth reviews make his ridiculousness even funnier. Keep up the good work!

Reply
Robert T
11/29/2014 05:26:38 pm

Why does Wolter have such a mind-boggling bigotry against North American Indians? He regularly accepts that Celts/Irish/Templars/Phoenicians/fillinblank came here and created hundreds of carvings and structures all over the country, with no "facts" whatsoever. Did they all commit mass suicide to make sure they left no trace? Obviously the actual documented inhabitants with actual existing descendants were incapable, in spite of creating numerous pueblos that can still be seen, and in spite of the undisputed accomplishments of their southern relatives.

And why was everyone so intent on mining gold just so they could hide it away for us?

Reply
tm
11/29/2014 05:44:17 pm

Apparently Mr. Child's father originally bought that land to develop it into a golf course but couldn't because of the snails.

http://m.deseretnews.com/article/201441/KANAB-AMBER-SNAILS-STIR-UP-A-FUROR-IN-THEIR-UTAH-DESERT-HOME.html?pg=all

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "Aztec water trap".

Reply
Heidi E
11/29/2014 05:47:06 pm

I love a good comedy and Scott Wolter delivers. I'm very familiar with the Kanab area and it looked like Johnson Canyon at the beginning of the show. And as for that lake, it looks like the one just north of Kanab on Hwy 89, it was fenced off with chain link and no trespassing signs everywhere because people would stop and visit, picnic or try to fish. Plus I never heard of Montazuma's gold story during the six years I lived down there.

Reply
Tony
11/30/2014 02:58:13 pm

I looked on Google maps with street view and this lake is literally right next to the highway (89) so as someone else mentioned Wolter is now doing shows on roadside attractions literally, again.

Anyway I the first 2 seasons were at least interesting but now with all treasure hunting all the time, not so much.
Plus he seems to have dropped proving the history we were taught is wrong.

Reply
Jason
11/29/2014 11:43:40 pm

This show reminds me of when I was a kid and watching Geraldo Rivera's "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault", a two hour heavily hyped event that amounts to absolutely nothing.

Reply
RLewis
11/30/2014 12:45:10 am

I feel like this show is actually having the opposite effect that the producers may have hoped for. I used to think America possibly contained many forgotten or "hidden" old/ancient sites (mounds, caves, cliffs, stone structures) that could be interesting to explore. I would expect most/all of these to have been used/constructed by Native Americans and/or Colonialists of course - but still cool. However, now it seems America is full of so many shams, scams, and hucksters that any real history is hopelessly lost among the myths and wild imaginations. Might as well look for Bigfoot and ghosts. *sigh*

Reply
Harry
11/30/2014 12:59:54 am

Jason,

You should rephrase the sentence beginning "What would many ..." in your synopsis of Segment 2.

Also, a couple of points about Segment 3. First, the "but" in reference to Shaffer's title of "archaeologist" seems a little ungenerous, given that you to call yourself a "skeptical xenoarchaeologist."

Secondly, I remember Shaffer saying that the lichen growing in the groove of one of the "Aztec" symbols was more than 500 years old. Unless his dating is wrong, that would preclude it from being connected to Montezuma's gold.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
11/30/2014 01:15:24 am

Thanks, Harry... Writing quickly late at night makes me more likely to make writing errors. I've made the changes. In terms of "skeptical xenoarchaeologist," I don't try to fool anyone into thinking that's a real thing. There is no such profession as xenoarchaeology, so it's just a made-up branding tool, like William Henry's "investigative mythologist." "Archaeologist," by contrast, is an actual profession that typically requires qualifications of some kind. I'd never claim that for myself since I'm not an archaeologist.

Reply
Harry
11/30/2014 02:59:54 am

You do refer to xenoarchaeology as a "hypothetical science" and, more specifically, as a subject of science fiction and fringe science, so I see your point. Still, I am sure that SW sees "archaeopetrology" as a real thing, and I doubt that your detractors will go to the trouble of clicking either of the "xenoarchaeology" links on your home page and reading what you have to say with sufficient comprehension to understand that you do not pretend that it is a real thing.

Jason Colavito link
11/30/2014 03:24:55 am

You have just described the entire concept of marketing.

Harry
11/30/2014 05:43:29 am

Marketing has never been my forte.

Harry
11/30/2014 03:15:26 am

I am gratified that, for once, Wolter recognized that the government had a good point in prohibiting exploration of the cave. Still, but what SW takes to be "booby traps" look like sinkholes to me, which my admittedly quick and amateur research indicates may form in sandstone. Of course, a trained geologist, such as Phil Gotsch, ought to know more about whether that alternative explanation is plausible than I would.

Reply
Dan
11/30/2014 04:36:40 am

I don't think it was that way at all. The Endangered Species Act has long been a whipping post for the right wing. The reference to the endangered snail is a conservative meme for government overreach.

Reply
Harry
11/30/2014 05:08:04 am

Actually, I was referring to SW's acknowledgement that the first (dry) cave he visited was too unstable to explore safely. No endangered snails there, so far as anyone mentioned, just some dangerous looking shafts.

Rev. Phil Gotsch
11/30/2014 05:56:55 am

I am generally very reluctant to render an opinion on artifacts I haven't examined or sites / formations I haven't visited ...

Reply
Matt Mc
11/30/2014 07:13:46 am

But you have no problem making comments about peoples ethnic backgrounds and then claiming innocence.


Harry
11/30/2014 08:49:47 am

Phil,

That's a prudent policy. How about a general question that does not necessarily apply to any particular site: To your knowledge, are there circumstances under which sandstone may develop sinkholes, and can you describe one or more examples of such circumstances?

Rev. Phil Gotsch
11/30/2014 11:43:23 am

I recently heard about some sinkholes in the Hinckley Sandstone, but I haven't visited any ...

Dan dillman
11/30/2014 06:29:18 am

The holes that were seen in what is called Freddie's Cave in the white mountains were dug out by Freddie Cyrstal and the KANAB residents. Some of the holes are from more recent digs by other looking for what Freddie didn't find. And yes there were booby traps when Freddie first opened it up.

Reply
Harry
11/30/2014 10:51:30 am

Dan,

What were the nature of the booby traps? Were they just shafts that someone could fall into or were there other kinds? If so, can and would you please describe them?

Dan Dillman
11/30/2014 02:22:05 pm

When Freddie broke through the opening of the cave and was digging out the tunnel Freddie became trapped from a large rock that fell onto him. Cowhide Adams had returned just in time to help him.

Screaming Eagle
11/30/2014 05:57:46 am

I am glad that H2 made a point to (TWICE!) inform the viewers that a "repository" is a place to store things. I turned it off shortly thereafter and stared at the wall.

Reply
spookyparadigm
11/30/2014 06:19:56 am

Not really an error, but the way you have the dates for Moctezuma II, it sounds like those were his reigning years, rather than his entire life.

Reply
Dan Dillman
11/30/2014 06:24:39 am

I watch the show last night. It was just a reenactment of what my family and I have already done at the three lakes, ground penetrating radar, dredging, and more, which is all filmed and documented. I felt is was a dishonor not to mention the discoveries my grandfather Raymond Dillman made in KANAB Utah the stone tablet, sacred objects and much more including the large skeletal remains we found " the pictures they showed in the show last night", with no mention of who unearthed them in Johnson canyon.

Reply
Zoe
11/30/2014 07:09:17 am

Scott has morphed from a conspiracy buff into a shill for various roadside attractions. He's gone from interviewing teachers and writers, to talking to treasure hunters, storytellers and (my favorite) tipsters.

My belief is that Wold is attempting to sell his land to a treasure hunter, or charge them money to hunt for gold . Those damn gub'mint liberals and their fascist environmental laws!

I also miss the graphic lists of spurious facts replete with weasel words: "Legend has it", "rumored", "could be", "said to have", "study pending" and "some say".

Still, inadvertently, very funny. Can't wait to read Jason's funny and truth-laden blog afterwards!

Reply
Clete
11/30/2014 07:53:36 am

Since the show has changed to "Hunt for buried Treasure", why doesn't Scott Wolter begin the search for the lost money from the movie "Fargo". It should be easy to find and he wouldn't have to journey far from his home.

Reply
CHV
11/30/2014 09:32:38 am

Those snails are clearly in a conspiracy with the Smithsonian and Nabisco to continue blocking Scott Wolter's quest for "the truth" about North American history.

Reply
Jonathan link
11/30/2014 11:16:44 am

The glyphs in question are commonly called "water glyphs". They were created by the Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) peoples and guide to perennial water sources.

Reply
dan@dandillman.com
11/30/2014 11:29:27 am

Yes, they have been called water glyphs, but it is only a theory that they lead only to water, like most signs and symbols they could have multiple meanings.

Reply
Judith Bennett
11/30/2014 01:18:00 pm

Shaffer's alleged degree is from Kennedy International University. Given that it offers, or rather offered, as it doesn't appear to still be in business, "life experience degrees" I'm guessing that the curriculum is slightly less rigorous than that at the average community college. http://www.angelfire.com/pro/college3/

Reply
tm
11/30/2014 02:56:53 pm

Maybe Shaffer received a cup of coffee too :)

Reply
gary r
12/1/2014 04:53:13 am

For all of you skeptics who say Wolter hasn't discovered anything I wholeheartedly disagree. He has clearly unearthed a way to get paid by the history channel for doing absolutely nothing, proving nothing and discovering nothing.

That is America, Unearthed.

Reply
Kevin
12/3/2014 04:51:43 am

Actually it is Seinfeld Unearthed, a show about nothing !!!

Reply
titus pullo
12/1/2014 08:54:46 am

Jason,

I just drove past Montezuma swamp right near your hometown of Auburn (driving to Thanksgiving at my inlaws in Rome). When I was a kid I never understood why they used that name for a national protected wetland. On the plus side if your into bird watching..its the best place in NY State.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
12/1/2014 11:59:23 am

The Montezuma Wildlife Refuge is a treasure, and it has some amazing birds. I go through there a couple of times a year, and there are usually some great birds to see: bald eagles, turkeys, cranes, red-winged blackbirds, and occasionally a blue heron. Last summer I saw three bald eagles all together there.

Reply
Mike
12/1/2014 12:17:06 pm

Just don't start a rumor that treasure is under that bridge in the refuge on 20! We don't neec crazies trying to drain the swamp! Ha

PaulN. link
12/1/2014 09:25:34 am

I find this whole business of lost Aztec gold treasure both puzzling and humorous. Gold and silver had no intrinsic value to the Meso-American peoples. Other than its bright shiny appearance (and the fact that gold does not tarnish), it was only used for jewelry, ornaments and religious ritual objects.
What they really prized were pieces of Nephrite (jade) and Cacao beans. These were their real treasures.
The idea of the lost Aztec gold appears to have started following the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan. When the Spanish did not find the amount of gold and silver they expected, they thought it had been spirited away else where. The more plausible situation is that besieged population just dumped the gold and silver into the sediments of the lake surrounding the city. In some ways that would make a good story for a Hollywood movie.

Reply
Only Me
12/1/2014 09:31:47 am

Somebody call Mel Gibson!

Reply
Paul van warburg
12/2/2014 10:03:42 am

JP Morgan once said gold us money everything else is credit. I for one never believed him. Give me a printing press and I can control any nation as my uncle once said.

Reply
tm
12/1/2014 11:23:45 am

So you've gone from booby traps (plural) to a single cave-in.

Reply
tm
12/1/2014 11:26:59 am

The above post was directed to Mr. Dillman.

Reply
Dan Dillman
12/1/2014 12:26:34 pm

@TM, I wasn't limiting that/my statement to just one site. We have experienced many (booby traps).. As i assume so did Freddie:)

Reply
tm
12/1/2014 01:50:36 pm

What kinds of booby traps have you experienced?

Reply
Joe Skales
12/2/2014 06:42:04 am

I suppose the fanatical tirade to discredit obvious speculation and supposition will continue with an Oak Island page. Don't bother however, as it was already done eight years ago: http://www.criticalenquiry.org/oakisland/

Reply
Steve
12/2/2014 07:58:50 am

I will give the show credit for something: they do an excellent job of displaying just how beautiful our country is.

Reply
Rev. Phil Gotsch
12/2/2014 09:23:29 am

Yes …

There is a "roadside attraction" travel aspect with worthwhile good viewing in itself … no matter what one thinks of the controversial bits ...

Reply
EP
12/2/2014 09:48:22 am

...and an equally terrible job of displaying the American people.

Reply
Andy
12/6/2014 12:17:51 pm

This show is super boring this season. It just isn't interesting anymore.

Reply

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    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
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