Tom_in_CA
Gold Member
- Mar 23, 2007
- 13,837
- 10,360
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Years ago, I was at a social function. One fellow there heard that I was into detecting. This person was a very respected wise business owner in the community. Ie.: Not some hick easy to be duped type fellow, etc...
We began talking about a cave he knew about south of Monterey and south of Big Sur. Along the Pacific Coast. He recounted that he, as a kid back in the late 1960s, had explored this cave where there'd been skeletons found. One of which was said to have been in Spanish armor ! And he went on and on about the theories of how it was said to be the result of a massacre from a lost mine, and something to do with the San Antonio mission (circa 1770s, about 15 miles inland from there).
He said he could take me there if I wanted. And that it was hard to find, concealed, and very few people knew of its whereabouts, etc.. But he could probably still find it, all these years later, and take me there. He explained how we'd have to lower ourselves in by ropes, etc....
Sounded good to me ! Since this was well over an hours drive, we kept getting delayed and delayed in our scheduling this trip. But one day, I googled a few of the key words in his story. Turns out his story was line for line from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Treasures-Pirates-Old-Monterey/dp/0933818122
This local author has penned several books, which are sold at tourist shops around the Monterey Peninsula. He likes to take local stories, various historical facts, and spin them into treasure lore. I've met and talked to this author personally. And this particular story centered on a cave (yes there was a cave) where the pre-contact indians apparently did put their deceased. And when the Hwy. 1 was constructed trough there in the 1930s, a worker had died. He was put in the cave too. Fast forward to the 1950s or '60s, and someone exploring the cave had found the indians bones, and ... gasp, one which evidence westerner/European clothing. That made some little news blurb of the time, and was soon spun into "Spanish armor".
Naturally, it was nothing of the sort. But that didn't stop people from connecting the dots and somehow connecting it with the interior mission, and other tales of "mines", etc....
So as you can see, people like my friend, can read a book, read a story, etc... and just take all the facts as true-starting points. Why have any reason to doubt them ? Why be skeptical ? The book, afterall DOES say "based on factual history" And no doubt, the author probably had some faded newspaper clipping to make the story all-the-more exciting. Had I not met the author personally (to get the real skinny on this story), I too would have no reason to discount this story.
But as you can see, there is no treasure. No suit of armor. And a reasonable alternative explanation for the skeletons in there that has nothing to do with treasure.
We began talking about a cave he knew about south of Monterey and south of Big Sur. Along the Pacific Coast. He recounted that he, as a kid back in the late 1960s, had explored this cave where there'd been skeletons found. One of which was said to have been in Spanish armor ! And he went on and on about the theories of how it was said to be the result of a massacre from a lost mine, and something to do with the San Antonio mission (circa 1770s, about 15 miles inland from there).
He said he could take me there if I wanted. And that it was hard to find, concealed, and very few people knew of its whereabouts, etc.. But he could probably still find it, all these years later, and take me there. He explained how we'd have to lower ourselves in by ropes, etc....
Sounded good to me ! Since this was well over an hours drive, we kept getting delayed and delayed in our scheduling this trip. But one day, I googled a few of the key words in his story. Turns out his story was line for line from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Treasures-Pirates-Old-Monterey/dp/0933818122
This local author has penned several books, which are sold at tourist shops around the Monterey Peninsula. He likes to take local stories, various historical facts, and spin them into treasure lore. I've met and talked to this author personally. And this particular story centered on a cave (yes there was a cave) where the pre-contact indians apparently did put their deceased. And when the Hwy. 1 was constructed trough there in the 1930s, a worker had died. He was put in the cave too. Fast forward to the 1950s or '60s, and someone exploring the cave had found the indians bones, and ... gasp, one which evidence westerner/European clothing. That made some little news blurb of the time, and was soon spun into "Spanish armor".
Naturally, it was nothing of the sort. But that didn't stop people from connecting the dots and somehow connecting it with the interior mission, and other tales of "mines", etc....
So as you can see, people like my friend, can read a book, read a story, etc... and just take all the facts as true-starting points. Why have any reason to doubt them ? Why be skeptical ? The book, afterall DOES say "based on factual history" And no doubt, the author probably had some faded newspaper clipping to make the story all-the-more exciting. Had I not met the author personally (to get the real skinny on this story), I too would have no reason to discount this story.
But as you can see, there is no treasure. No suit of armor. And a reasonable alternative explanation for the skeletons in there that has nothing to do with treasure.
