He also learned the secret language of the Japanese Shinto priests, who left clues symbols in the landscape, and in the ground. About us | Our programming | Become a supporter | Privacy. The Asian Pacific Post. Im betting its here.. I was moved by Cathcarts story; it was epic, tragic and inspirational. Wait a minute not so fast, I quipped. Posing in front of the replica gold bars that Roger Roxas discovered Congratulations you are almost there. Kidd originally left $500,000 behind. They were not only deposited in the deepest tunnel systems, they also did not offer intermediate chambers or directional validating artefacts a short distance beneath the surface. Privacy Policy. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) Robert Hunter, the man behind the poetic and mystical words for many of the . Together they wrote a number of books on Asian histories which purported to be nonfiction, most of which portrayed either the CIA or Japanese figures as the villain, and all of which expressed a deep suspicion of all things Western and Japanese. Andrew Gough. Reluctantly, I selected a cobra, which was promptly placed in a barrel-shaped mesh cage. 0000005640 00000 n All six bullets had apparently been fired at whoever or whatever had killed him.[2]. Andrew Gough. 0000000016 00000 n The buddha was decidedly Burmese in style: 22 carat gold and of a type produced in Asia prior to 1940. The men asserted that they had been blindfolded and taken to a warehouse, where they had been shown an enormous stash of gold bars. Those who did not kill themselves ritually would gradually suffocate, surrounded by gold bars. The smell of decomposed bodies was palpable and they halted work while the disconcerting gasses subsided. The other reason the treasure failed to reach home was the Japanese criminal underworld, and the immensely clever and powerful people who were its patrons. Not surprisingly, some of Klauss workers will no longer venture to the bottom of the tunnel complex. Andrew Gough, Henrys father with the famous detachable buddha head photo They dug through and then, almost a year to the date when they had first plunged a shovel into the ground, they discovered a golden buddha, along with twenty-four small gold bars, each one inch wide, two inches long, and half an inch thick. Andrew Gough. Ken Cheatham with Roger Roxas and the golden buddha. The oddest chapter in this urban legend is often cited as legitimate proof that the United States recognizes the treasure to be real. As we walked between sites with the camera crew, Klaus pointed out the many Japanese treasure symbols in the landscape. Bob Curtis. Follow me.. Years after his disappearance, he was assumed to be dead. The sheriffs department brought in a search-and-rescue team with dogs. I had to see the Baguio Hospital treasure site for myself. How to Extract Adrenochrome from Children, Why You Needn't Worry About the Missing 411. Once European settlers started showing up to hunt for gold, the Naha mysteriously disappeared. 0000005407 00000 n The rest, as they say, is history, he concluded, slowly, his speech somewhat impeded by the advanced state of his illness. In all, Prince Chichibu is said to have managed the construction of one hundred and seventy-five treasure sites, all across the Philippines. My spare time was spent editing the Heretic Magazine with my friends Mark Foster and Beth Johnson. LOS ANGELES (AP) Robert Hunter, the man behind the poetic and mystical words for many of the Grateful Dead's finest songs, has died at age 78. Fineman, M. "Japanese War Loot Sought: Gold Diggers May Help Manila Pay Off Huge Debt." Santy, who tortured General Yamashita Tomoyukis driver, Major Kojima. This was going to happen. Web. They picked the fort, he said, because it was a high-security location, off-limits to all but military torturers and the unfortunate Filipino prisoners destined for death. It was time to see an excavation in progress. He read just about every book on the subject while working the night shift as a bellhop for 10 years. For a short time Roxas went into hiding near Manila and was provided with bodyguards and a place to live. Aquinos executive secretary, Catalino Macaraig, said last month that the government has granted more than 80 permits to foreign and local treasure seekers in the two years since Aquino took power, and that applications continue to arrive at the presidents office at the rate of one a day. 24 Aug. 2005, Newspaper. More of that, he encouraged. Families of the victims pleaded with the governor of the local area to do something. Los Angeles Times Communications LLC, 6 Mar. Andrew Gough. Andrew Gough. It was different than that. As a result, I was frequently contacted by Filipinos who believed they had located lost Japanese treasure hoards and were seeking both expertise and financial assistance in support of their proposed excavations. Andrew Gough. Crawling through the inhospitable tunnel system There was no doubt in my mind that Henry was every bit the fortune hunter his father had been. She recounted that she ran for cover when she feared she had been spotted. Curiously, his death was not announced publicly until ninety days later. The caretaker had lost fingers and toes from chemicals released in the treasure site A silver lining soon emerged, in that Bruce Burgess, my good friend and creator/director of Forbidden History and many other shows that I contributed to, informed me that the sixth season of the programme had been purchased by Discovery Science and they wanted to do a two-hour feature on Japanese gold in the Philippines. Klaus had briefed me as to what the sites would be like. Shannon Quinn is a writer and entrepreneur from the Philadelphia area. In another (unrelated) incident, Ballingers unit had made their way to Baguio and witnessed the Japanese loading heavy boxes into a tunnel system near the hospital. Andrew Gough. Back on the surface the cameraman filmed various objects that Klaus had found in the tunnel backfill: symbols such as seashells, leaves, gold dust and other assorted items that should not exist at that depth in the earth, and certainly not with man-made cement and gold dust embedded in them. Literally, out from the shadows, another treasure hunter emerged and interrupted, asking, Did I hear you say that you have found leaves in the tunnel? Amelia with me at Soho House, Los Angeles After her second NDE she began to have prophetic dreams, and claims to have been in regular contact with the spirit world. Honolulu: Supreme Court of Hawaii, 1988. I sat down with Cathcart and his wife in their affluent Beverly Hills home, and was joined by their live-in carer, who sat nearby, listening intently to our every word. We can gain some insight into part of this by looking into who these authors were and the cultural context in which they wrote. I approached the manager in charge and asked him what they were digging for. Affiliation ASCAP Comments Singer-songwriter, poet, translator and occasionally recording artist, born Robert Burns. The intimidating entrance to the tunnel shaft In a now infamous moment of stubborn, albeit courageous, resolve Roxas returned to Baguio, and in the presence of lawyers and the media, defiantly proclaimed the golden buddha to be a fake. Nor, to be honest, did I. I inspected it closely and from all angles. I could not believe my eyes. Andrew Gough. Did the Japanese deposit immense quantities of gold in the Philippines? It does not need to be any wider, Klaus added authoritatively. 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.. It was impossible for any man in my position to control every action of his subordinate commanders, let alone the deeds of individual soldiers. Curtis, who is now in the Philippines but insists that McDougald act as his spokesman, says that he and 10 other Americans successfully conducted a similar treasure hunt under the regime of. Singer-songwriter, poet, translator and occasionally recording artist, born Robert Burns. Thirty years after the disappearance, David Paulides, a former police officer and researcher on missing people, filmed the video above and brought the case to the attention of the Colorado government. With a change of shirt I descended once again into the abyss. The causes of these deaths and disappearances range from disease and starvation to mysteries that have yet to be solved. I was also disappointed to learn that the History Channel had made a reality TV series about a team of questers seeking Japanese treasure in the Philippines, after every channel and production house informed me it was a bad idea. A Filipino man named Rogelio Roxas filed a lawsuit against Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, then exiled in Hawaii, suing them for the value of the treasure. The director trying to get the old woman to recapture on camera what she had said off camera. The director was oblivious. Thank you for your sacrifice, I mumbled awkwardly. It was going to be easy to bust this guy, I confidently thought. Work was frantic and I soon lost touch with the Seagraves. For weeks, the government deliberately tried to keep that digging a secret. I had been miles away. What did Roger say? The next morning he arrived in his office to discover that the cleaning crew had not visited the night before. She shared how he had been stressed and run down in the time leading up to the trial. Keep going. My interest in the story had been rejuvenated, albeit under the most peculiar of circumstances. Ten days later she was cured. You climb down and back up each of these sites twice a day? I asked in disbelief. However, the legal fees and the cost of the trials ate up so much cash that only $175,000 remained. Net Worth: $1 Million Occupation: Treasure Hunter, TV Celebrity & Former Police Officer Birthday: January 6, 1941 Birthplace: Summerland Key, Florida Birth Sign: Capricorn Date of Death: February 19, 2018 Place of Death: Iraan, Texas Nationality: American Ethnicity: Caucasian Married: Twice Children: Darrell, Lauren, Kim, and Kelly Instagram: NA 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. He complained at length that none of his journalism colleagues would help him and Peggy with their book. Is it the healer, the region, or something else that made the place so naturally powerful? 1 Mar 2023. Marcos was ruthless. It would later be appealed and reduced to $22 billion, because the court could not be certain of the contents of each and every wooden crate that was removed from the tunnel system behind Baguio Hospital. Why wouldnt they be, I thought to myself, after a moments reflection. Andrew Gough. Robert Hunter, who died on Sept. 23 at age 78, matched words to Jerry Garcia's melodies and served as the public conscience for the Grateful Dead, whom he joined as a non-performing member in 1969. His remains were not found until seven months later.[5]. The sheer brutality of the working conditions is what struck me the most; the small, incremental gains that each day brought; hand and chisel, hauling rubble from the reclaimed tunnel backfill back up to the top. Andrew Gough. Andrew Gough. Explaining how the fatal cave-in happened, McDougald began to sound as if he was talking about the Temple of Doom, as well as looking the part. Bizarrely, the non-believer of a director was not interested in trying to speak to the old woman, who was only over yonder. I had come across some real charlatans in my time, but nevertheless I was listening politely and was relieved to discover that Klaus agreed with my bias. Do you know about Yamashitas gold?. Marcos was overthrown in February, 1986, and Mr. Curtis began making overtures to the new government soon after, McDougald said last week, adding that he got involved in Curtis new venture while researching a book he plans to write on hidden wealth in the Philippines. When McDougald replied that he does, Maceda asked wryly, Well, the publicity about all this is not going to hurt your book, is it?, McDougald leaned forward, smiled and replied, No sir, I dont think so.. Many of these men were infected New Yorkers who had traveled to California. Skeptoid Media, Unfortunately, there had also been a cholera outbreak in New York City from the drinking water at that time. Within hours Roxas was dead. While he was talking a hostile player started attacking me, which caused the npc to run away. While in Los Angeles I also met with Dan Cathcart, the lawyer who had famously represented Roxas in the Supreme Court and had heroically won the case over Ferdinand Marcos. Klaus demonstrating the art of dowsing The initial award was $43 billion the largest civil judgement in history. Jim Hawkins, the protagonist of Robert Louis Stevenson 's 1881 novel, Treasure Island. Much to his surprise, and with no background or training in the discipline, Klaus achieved instant success. 0000002177 00000 n In the days following the extraction of the golden buddha, Roxas returned and blew up the entrance to the tunnel so that others could not follow in his footsteps. His team went and searched and dug but never found anything. In reviewing their 2003 book, he wrote: The Seagraves are not fully reliable as historians. After all, they are man made; Japanese made, I muttered to myself. To reach the site that were targeting, we left the dense jungle behind and walked up a rapidly flowing stream and a couple small waterfalls; a tricky endeavour at the best of times, but while carrying camera equipment, it was rather treacherous. After the McLeods had been gone for two years, people began to believe that the brothers had actually struck it rich and decided to start a new life somewhere else.[1]. They received permission and resumed digging, attributing their failure to rediscover the fabulous treasure room to booby traps. Looking slightly perilous at the bottom of the tunnel system with Klaus And yet, the man does not charge for his services. It was clear, however, that as brilliant as Jose was at Second World War history, he was pretty much winging it with the rest. Slowly putting his ruined life back together, he moved from Reno to Las Vegas . Show that to your doctor back home, the healer would tell them. 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