The Asian Pacific Post. How could he not get discouraged? After some time she purchased a new home for her parents and one for herself. I could not believe my eyes. It was not a sense of being claustrophobic. I followed Klaus down the third descending vertical shaft only to find myself standing in nearly a foot of water. I was to tone down my enthusiasm, and bias, for the benefit of the narrative. The remains of the Shinto shrine entrance to the Japanese military headquarters in Klauss village Roxas claimed that some 25 years earlier, using a map given to him by the son of a Japanese soldier, he and a team of friends discovered a cave filled with gold, including a golden Buddha, plus the skeletons of the soldiers and engineers who had been sealed inside. As we walked between sites with the camera crew, Klaus pointed out the many Japanese treasure symbols in the landscape. But how? Kidd originally left $500,000 behind. To come this close and not visit it would be such a shame, I thought. I returned to England and became engulfed by life and my time-consuming corporate job. In particular, I was keen to investigate one mans courageous efforts to unearth Japanese buried treasure, and the tons of gold bullion that accompanied it. I was not able to track down any good information explaining why the judge upheld the Golden Buddha Corporation's claim against Marcos, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time a court of law made a ruling that was not in harmony with true science or the true history of a case. I scaled the second descending passage with slightly greater confidence and speed than the first, and as I arrived at the bottom and crept along the next tunnel passage to where Klaus was standing, I was amazed to see that the floor and walls were perfectly smooth. That would be too dangerous. "Searching for the lost treasure of Yamashita." Most of it, he said, is Curtis own money. Eventually, Marcos concluded it was futile to torture Roxas further and released him after what had amounted to two years imprisonment. For Roxas, greater Manila was ripe with hiding places His cabin had been burned to the ground. Marcos wanted more and, in addition to Santy, he sought Ben Valmores, whom his people understood to have been the keeper of the treasure maps. Oihara was there too. I inspected the impressive collection of museum artefacts that Roger Roxas had discovered and listened as Patrick interviewed Henry. So far so good. He was now finding leaves in the tunnel backfill; actual leaves from a Streblus asper tree, known in the Philippines as bogtalay, that had been placed in the German cement as the Japanese backfilled the tunnels. In fact, treasure hunters die each week in the Philippines, mostly due to the accidental release of cyanide capsules hidden along the tunnel walls. He never came back. Despite the fact the Klaus always lights incense and states his intentions before descending, they have experienced the same sensation I have plus the even more disturbing impression that someone was tapping them on their shoulder. With Roxass discovery, Marcoss hopes had become a reality. I am sorry that you must die for me, I repeated, over and over. It was apparent to Roxas that Judge Pio Marcos was the informer, not the mastermind behind the siege, for his nephew, President Marcos, had long sought confirmation of the existence of Japanese treasure hoards in the Philippines. So why have so many devoted so much to this tale? Typically, they had left a marker, such as a small buddha, around ten to fifteen feet underground. Andrew Gough. Affiliation ASCAP Comments Singer-songwriter, poet, translator and occasionally recording artist, born Robert Burns. Inspecting the Baguio Hospital artefacts in the Roger Roxas Museum What are you waiting for? the caretaker shouted, as though I should have known what was expected of me. He wrote that he would leave all his money to someone who could prove the existence of the human soul. Over the next several years the programme was featured on television stations around the world and on YouTube. Nope, we had to move on; places to be. Needless to say, Klaus was buoyant with the news. Klaus explained how the Japanese engineering maps have long since disappeared, and to avoid chiselling into a hidden cyanide deposit, excavators like himself were required to bring in a dowser multiple times a week to check for danger. I was enthralled with Cathcart (then retired and in his eighties and suffering from Parkinsons disease), and surprised by what a stoic figure he was, despite his frailties. It was not a comfortable place to work. She was greeted by a well-dressed, professional looking man who gave her some medicine for Roger, as he had noticed how poorly he was looking and was concerned for his health. Andrew Gough. My dialogue with other Filipino treasure hunters had reached a fever pitch and this, coupled with the fact that I was keen to visit Klaus and inspect his work, prompted me to book a trip to the Philippines. Oihara promised to purchase the golden buddha and to return in a few days with a down payment of one million pesos. Roxas may have been a beaten man, both literally and figuratively, but he was no fool. Unfortunately, my role in the narrative would be minimal. When will Klaus enter his first chamber? Cathcart and his team had done their homework. While there, he learned that the village had been a former Japanese military base, and that the locals believed it was ripe with buried Japanese treasure. I had forgotten about the legend of Japanese treasure buried in the Philippines, save for the occasional outreach of Filipinos who had seen The Truth About Yamashitas Gold and were looking to secure funding for their own excavations, when I was contacted by a very curious woman from Los Angeles. I am only an instrument of God. With Henry Roxas, Rogers treasure-hunting son Whatever I had expected a Japanese tunnel system to be was wrong or at least greatly miscalculated. Bob Curtis. He replied, Thats where I am. A STEM-focused 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit. Treasure hunting has been big business in the Philippines since the end of World War II, when former Japanese Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita was captured and hanged in Manila. I wondered if he was employed by the same people that had assassinated Roxas? Andrew Gough. But Japan needed that money badly to pay for its war effort; it would not have converted it to gold bars and sent it away to be buried. Andrew Gough. 0000009660 00000 n
And yet, the man does not charge for his services. As if that was not sensational enough, he added that this site was the one that President Marcos had visited and declared he was going to excavate next, only he died before getting the chance. He read just about every book on the subject while working the night shift as a bellhop for 10 years. All I remember is, there I was, possibly a short distance away from some of the greatest lost relics in history, and all I wanted to do was leave. It is currently on Klauss list, and he is the only one with a permit for the region. Olof testified that he too had been to President Marcoss summer palace and had examined the golden buddha, and confirmed that it was the one in Cheathams photo. See Photos. In August I flew to Manila and was greeted by a group of treasure hunters, including ex-military men, who transported me to a site to the north east. Random encounter with treasure hunter. I was having a laugh with Klaus when suddenly I screamed and, for lack of a better explanation, went into shock. She was clearly in her 90s, and yet it was a long shot, but lo and behold we hit the jackpot. He recounted one incident when he and Peggy were going for a walk down a country lane when a car crept along behind and slowly overtook them. In 1942 Prince Chichibu is said to have examined potential treasure-vault sites around greater Manila, and further afield. Whilst on trial, General Yamashita defended the charges of war crimes that were levelled against him: My command was as big as MacArthurs or Lord Louis Mountbattens. If you like this programming, please become a member. Given the lack of any findings and the shaky nature of the most prominent support for there being any truth to the legend of Yamashita's Gold, we can summarize a few points about the Yamashita's Gold story: If that gold does exist anywhere, it exists in a superposition: it was plundered and spent long ago by the corrupt Marcos regime; it was plundered and spent long ago by the CIA; it was taken back to Japan and distributed among the organized crime community; and it somehow still exists in tunnels waiting for History Channel camera crews. Roger Roxas was a former Filipino soldier turned locksmith, and president of the Treasure Hunters Association of the Philippines, who lived in Baguio, a mountainous resort town about 130 miles north of Manila. He shared that he was required by what essentially amounted to local treasure-hunting health and safety customs to hire a dowser several times a week. Keep going. Andrew Gough. Amelia was a survivor, but had paid the price for her misfortune; she had lost a leg and a hand in the process. They chose to go on a day when it was 46 degrees Celsius (115 F), but they didnt bring their cell phones with them. The Japanese gold heist, however, would dwarf the earlier Nazi thefts and would be exploited by United States presidents from Truman to Trump, representing one of the greatest conspiracies of our time. In the ensuing days Klaus reshot the tunnel footage himself (on his phone) and I re-did my studio interview at the more civilised time of 10am, and with my good friend Burgess directing. Klaus jumped out of his sidecar. I was not surprised by their rejections. Since there was no evidence that he had attempted to climb the cliff, his parents believe that he must have fallen and his body was miraculously caught on the ledge, which is how his remains stayed fully intact for three years. 1988. The Japanese constructed their subterranean treasure networks with the aid of a thousand young men, mostly prisoners of war who worked three eight-hour shifts a day to create a complex series of tunnels and chambers deep underground. 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres thats the size of shaft you just entered. She reiterated that I was to be very involved in the whole Roxas affair. No autopsy was performed, despite Cathcarts request, and the official cause of death was ruled as tuberculosis. Over the next few days Klaus took me around his sites; each was different, but equally spectacular. This, according to the urban legend, is the time frame over which the Japanese military, using Filipinos as slave laborers, transported their gold up into the mountains and sealed it all into vast tunnel systems. San Francisco: Bookmark, 1993. The more cameras the better, he chuckled. I was still processing the trip and trying to find a balanced view on it all. I left the cobras meat for the caretakers family to consume and headed for the airport. Conventional military site treasure symbols. Supreme Court of Hawaii. He left clues in a poem about the location of this hidden treasure and challenged the public to find it. When sharp protests came from Manilas lovers, who lost the use of the historic tourist site as a traditional trysting place, the presidential guard put up a sign at the forts front gate declaring simply, Closed for Renovations.. Everybody was shattered by that point, but none more than me. Best known as lyricist for some of the best known Jerry Garcia / Grateful Dead songs and his various collaborations with Bob Dylan. Cheatham was obsessed with legends of Yamashitas gold and frequently visited Baguio in search of Japanese artefacts. I made a note to myself; next time I visit I must avoid the monsoon season. Goodness knows, hes close. Today, only $1.4 million has been paid out to the Roxas estate. They have a tendency to overreach, exaggerating the roles of Japanese gangsters and ex-military American bit-players when the bankers, politicians and CIA operatives are scary enough. Each time Curtis was requested by Marcos to select a new site to excavate, Valmores was dispatched to provide the treasure map. 0000017483 00000 n
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In 1908, two young men were searching for gold in Arizona. It was, and the Roxas brothers are said to have extracted three handfuls of assorted precious stones and diamonds, which they promptly hid before reattaching the golden buddhas head. Ricardo T. Jose during his interview Burning Shinto-priest incense that was discovered in the backfilled tunnels deep underground I didn't wana lose the map so I quickly hogtied the npc and stole the map. In the middle of the night, at approximately 2.30am, there was a knock at the door; Marcoss thugs had arrived eight in total all armed with machine guns. See Photos. The Naha tribe were the indigenous people who lived in the Northwest Territories of Canada. I unambiguously felt them probing around beneath the surface of my skin. Dont get me wrong. I was particularly intrigued with a photo Klaus shared of a cement doorway that he had arrived at in one of his tunnel complexes, and was anxious to inspect it in person. She logged onto Facebook and discovered a post featuring a link to The Truth About Yamashitas Gold documentary. The Cultural Committee is investigating whether the search should continue. When the healer arrived back home a luxurious Toyota 44 that had been purchased for him was waiting in the driveway. Subsequent lawsuits were filed on the back of Roxas v Marcos. I will always appreciate your sacrifice. The 49-year-old American treasure hunter has cordoned off this rectangular swath of Indian Ocean in the Seychelles, and now he's somewhere 25 feet below, chiseling off chunks of granite and. Speak to it and explain what is going to happen, and why, he instructed. Fineman, M. "Japanese War Loot Sought: Gold Diggers May Help Manila Pay Off Huge Debt." Phil never returned from his trip, so the police were called. When his sister learned of his tantrum she became enraged, for she understood that the map was designed to be read with the reflection of a mirror, a detail she would have shared with her brother had she known he was actively seeking the treasure. While the Seagraves wrote from a historical and geopolitical perspective, conventional treasure hunters had also been in on the game. I found it to be legitimately interesting. Not long after his disappearance, hikers found a tin can on the edge of the 55-meter (180 ft) cliff that simply said, Jesse Capen was here. A single boot, drivers license, and camping gear were all recovered, but he was nowhere to be found.[9]. After numerous failed attempts they found him. Andrew Gough. Intriguingly, Santy introduced Marcos to Imelda, and once dated the former beauty queen back in the day. I arrived late, dined with Klaus, and the following morning he and his trusted colleague picked me up in the quintessential Philippine vehicle of choice, a motorised tricycle. A search team began combing the nearby jungle, hoping to find the bodies of the missing men. Roxass quest continued to attract other like-minded seekers. Twenty nerve-racking minutes later we parked up and began a rather gruelling trek through cobra-infested rice paddies. At a hearing Friday by the Philippine Senate into the treasure hunt, McDougald said that his group is using a sophisticated detection device that pinpoints the depth and density of buried metals. Roxas reported the incident to the police, who predictably ignored his pleas. In the background I continued to promote a treatment I had written for a reality TV show, that I would present, that would feature the quest for Japanese treasure in the Philippines, and sent it to all the usual history shows and their production companies. Had he been part of the Golden Lily conspiracy? Is it the healer, the region, or something else that made the place so naturally powerful? Curtis fled back to the US in the late '70s, claiming he had destroyed his maps and escaped the Philippines ahead of Marcos's assassins. The Skeptoid weekly science podcast is a free public service from Skeptoid Media, a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit. In January 2016, 54-year-old Randy Bilyeu wanted to find the treasure. What convinced you to take this seemingly ludicrous case? I enquired. Curtis to meet privately with a . Bob assumed that Billy must be nearby. Roxas was cautious of Oihara and his fascination with the golden buddhas neck. This was a game changer. As I did, the cobra stopped thrashing. Despite numerous eyewitnesses and various first-hand accounts, most historians doubted the existence of the Black Eagle Trust, let alone the buried treasure hoards, and so I travelled to the Philippines to investigate the story for myself. Reluctantly, I selected a cobra, which was promptly placed in a barrel-shaped mesh cage. Night fell, and Billy never returned. Marcos courted Curtis with talk of incredible stashes of WW2 loot hidden on the island. It was not clear if they even knew they existed. While he kept an active presence on the speaker circuit, he flat-out refused to appear in the usual history/mystery TV shows, claiming that they were not serious enough. Many people began to say that the valley was cursed, haunted, or filled with members of the Naha tribe who were waiting to kill Europeans who entered their territory. #673 Jim Hawkins, the protagonist of Robert Louis Stevenson 's 1881 novel, Treasure Island. The director trying to get the old woman to recapture on camera what she had said off camera. I had never been and was excited to take it all in. Andrew Gough. Roxas was assassinated. Andrew Gough. It was peculiar and appeared to be a topographical map. Andrew Gough, I informed the site manager that he was digging on the spot where Roger Roxas had made the most famous discovery in the history of Yamashitas gold, to which he curtly replied, Yes, I know. Never-before-seen photos of authentic Black Eagle Trust bank statements, representing but a small portion of the wealth acquired from Japanese gold. Fair enough. I watched the show and their drive-by shooting approach to treasure hunting with dread. It was going to be easy to bust this guy, I confidently thought. When Marcos discovered that the photo had been widely published he made the CIA pressure Cheatham into signing an affidavit certifying that the golden buddha was not gold, or else face certain death in Vietnam. Laugh with Klaus when suddenly i screamed and, for the region to be easy to bust this,. 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