MacFadden's Lost Treasure San Bernardino Mountains

[Nuggets4me]

The cooks at work at the plush resort hotel glanced up just in time to see an elderly, barefooted man creep furtively out a back door. He carried a small knapsack over one shoulder as he stopped at a tool shed and picked up a pick and shovel. With these in hand he headed up a path towards a large grove of pine trees.

A half-hour later a young woman entered the kitchen and asked if anyone had seen her husband. Reluctantly, they told her what had happened. She left and walked up the path in hopes of catching up to him.

About a quarter mile up the trail, she saw her husband. He was about to bury a metal box in a deep hole near the base of a large pine tree. At that moment the old man looked up and saw his wife standing there, watching. Flying into a rage, he chased her back down the trail, threatening her with the shovel.

Sometime later the man returned to the hotel, still angry at having been seen. He told his wife that before he died he would draw a map showing where his money was buried. She could then dig it up and be the richest woman in the land, but until then no one would know where it was cached.

That afternoon, after her husband left on a business trip, the wife returned to the pine grove. The hole was still there, but it was empty. Her husband had buried his money in a different place, after he had chased her off.

The mans name was Bernard MacFadden, owner of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel, then a health resort. His wifes name was Johnnie Lee MacFadden. The plush old resort is located a few miles north of San Bernardino, California, in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains.

No one knows how much money MacFadden buried, but he definitely was a multi-millionaire who distrusted banks.

The Arrowhead Springs Hotel and its adjoining 1,735 acres have changed hands many times since MacFadden died. He never drew his promised treasure map. Today, the old hotel is a beautifully maintained retreat owned by the Campus Crusade for Christ. MacFaddens treasure is still there.

[Tuberale]

Bernarr McFadden's hidden wealth was spread across the United States. This cache is but one of many, some of which are rumored to have been found. For more on this and other caches Bernarr hid, see Johnnie Lee McFadden's "Barefoot in Paradise." There is also mention of some of the caches in Treasure Hunter's Manual #6 and #7 by Karl von Mueller.

[pegleglooker]

I wonder if one of the landscapers found it... lol

PLL

[SnakeEater]

The cooks at work at the plush resort hotel glanced up just in time to see an elderly, barefooted man creep furtively out a back door. He carried a small knapsack over one shoulder as he...

Using a shovel barefooted? That part sounds like it was added for effect lol

[SnakeEater]

MacFadden, before his death, was threatened with jail time unless he came up with 10k that he owed in back taxes. He fled to Canada, returned periodically, and was eventually arrested, posted bail, only to end up in prison after his trial.

I understand not digging up his money just to hand it over to his many ex wife's who had judgements against him, but one would think that remaining a free man would motivate him to dig up one of the many caches he is credited with hiding?

[Nuggets4me]

The cooks at work at the plush resort hotel glanced up just in time to see an elderly, barefooted man creep furtively out a back door. He carried a small knapsack over one shoulder as he...

Using a shovel barefooted? That part sounds like it was added for effect lol

Indeed, all these "treasure stories" seem to have that element.. I just heard a really great one about a place locally. There was an old man who built an 8 room house up in the mountains. He mined for gold near his home. His house burned down and nobody ever saw him again. oooohhhh spppoooky! He even "disappeared"! I am pretty sure that this "house" was an old relay station. Everyone likes a good story! LOL

[pegleglooker]

[/quote]
Indeed, all these "treasure stories" seem to have that element.. I just heard a really great one about a place locally. There was an old man who built an 8 room house up in the mountains. He mined for gold near his home. His house burned down and nobody ever saw him again. oooohhhh spppoooky! He even "disappeared"! I am pretty sure that this "house" was an old relay station. Everyone likes a good story! LOL
[/quote]

Most of the time when someone " disappeared ", they were really killed off by someone after their gold.... Whether they told them where it was or not...

PLL