Cedar County Missouri - Church Hollow Treasure Legend

Real Truth

Greenie
Jul 16, 2019
17
42
Southwest Missouri
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
New to the Southwest Missouri area, the Church Hollow legend has some incredible twists, turns and a plethora of misinformation associated with it. Due largely in part to a banned member, much of the story's roots have been misrepresented, creatively interpreted and a recent delusional, fictitious claim of finding it has cause an enormous amount of confusion.
To date, no verifiable retrieval of this alleged treasure has ever taken place.
Having personally done some local historical research, which includes original county documents predating the civil war by more than 15 years, it can be said the people associated with this legend existed. Past that, it's essentially folklore & choosing which talk take to chase.
Tidbits of the story's origin are most certainly real, the existence of the legend is very much alive and well amongst the natives of Cedar County, but nothing of solid veracity has ever been confirmed or proven.
Said to be located in the Bearcreek/Stockton/Linn Township area which follows what is now Mo. 32, locals say that, oddly enough, very little, possibly nothing at all, ties some local carvings to this particular treasure legend.
The carvings mentioned are of an elliptical shape, three crosses with markings resembling Turkey tracks and have existed far longer than the alleged treasure legend they are supposed to correlate with.
Fun dream, fun to listen to locals retell stories their grandfather told them, but sadly, this one's for next to nothing at it's core.
Numerous magazines ran identical variations of this story, changing key components to make them fit the area their respective publication areas they circulated in. Almost verbatim retellings of this legend appear in Appalachian-based magazines and circulars, as well as New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi, Florida and Pennsylvania.
Pre-internet, publication companies were savvy enough to know who was reading what and where.
National press companies simply purchased stories from submitting authors, mildly reworked them and reprinted them in another region to sensationalize them same piece they only had to pay for once.
Fun too chase, exciting to think about, but the Church Hollow legend has zero verifiable root in anything tangible whatsoever.
 

Last edited:

Tiredman

Bronze Member
Oct 15, 2016
2,311
1,486
Primary Interest:
Other
Into what I do I have found articles in some metal detecting/treasure Hunting magazines, were word for word copies of newspaper articles from the 1880's. I think he is from California.
 

OP
OP
Real Truth

Real Truth

Greenie
Jul 16, 2019
17
42
Southwest Missouri
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
From Southwest Missouri. Just happened to be doing some serious, in depth historical research in the area... I had previously commented on a wacky, crazy thread on the Church Hollow treasure, but mods have since closed it due to another poster's behavior.
I came across quite a bit of unique info doing some searching around in the Cedar County archives & confirmed a bunch of things.
While the Church Hollow legend itself is neat, the actual retelling of the "legend" from recent times is both botched and borrowed from preexisting information.
 

Last edited:

Bugoutbusman

Full Member
Nov 8, 2018
145
89
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I am Gene Carter. I solved this legend over a 3 year period and recovered the treasure on October 04, 2018. I got suspended tempydue to posting a screenshot of email with another member without her permission. Here is the link to the posting where I proved I did it...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/civil-war/155775-cedar-county-missouri-war-cache-lost.html
Since then I've been working with a few people on publicizing the event.
received_482125519024012.jpeg
received_1423883557779812.jpeg
IMG_20191228_233336.jpg
 

creskol

Gold Member
Jan 14, 2007
13,623
22,670
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
5
Primary Interest:
Other
:occasion18: oh boy .. here we go again :smileinbox: Welcome back :occasion18:
 

jeff of pa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 19, 2003
85,917
59,709
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I am Gene Carter. I solved this legend over a 3 year period and recovered the treasure on October 04, 2018. I got suspended tempydue to posting a screenshot of email with another member without her permission. Here is the link to the posting where I proved I did it...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/civil-war/155775-cedar-county-missouri-war-cache-lost.html
Since then I've been working with a few people on publicizing the event.
View attachment 1799164
View attachment 1799165
View attachment 1799166

I Missed this One :o


Very Cool ! :treasurechest:

I'm also assuming you paid your Debt Here, Or wouldn't be Posting :tongue3:
So welcome Back
:coffee2:
 

Last edited:

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,482
54,947
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Batman, as long as you post by our rules your welcome, the ban was for posting private email and insulting members, if you post by our rules your welcome.



Warning to all members involved in previous thread. Post by our rules or lose ability to post, it wasnt just busman that was violating TreasureNet rules.
 

Last edited:

Bugoutbusman

Full Member
Nov 8, 2018
145
89
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I am Gene Carter. I solved this legend over a 3 year period and recovered the treasure on October 04, 2018. I got suspended tempydue to posting a screenshot of email with another member without her permission. Here is the link to the posting where I proved I did it...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/civil-war/155775-cedar-county-missouri-war-cache-lost.html
Since then I've been working with a few people on publicizing the event.
View attachment 1799164
View attachment 1799165
View attachment 1799166

Scott Wolter is smiling in that pic because he had just tested my silver bar...you can see the chem spot on the shiny area of the bar. Scott Wolter is a forensic geologist...he's not going to pose for a pic with a fake.
My book release is being timed during the airing of television series. I won't be discussing details any further...I only posted a few details of my event in these postings. It's a much bigger story than you think.
I apologise for my temper in previous posts...I had worked too long and too hard to tolerate being called a liar after posting more than anyone could falsify.
 

OP
OP
Real Truth

Real Truth

Greenie
Jul 16, 2019
17
42
Southwest Missouri
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Quite an interesting implication... Especially since America Unearthed hasn't been on the History Channel (H2) since 2016, when it was canceled, then later picked up by the Travel Channel. As this craziness continues, everyone should be aware that, according to the Travel Channel & the Season 5 lineup, there's a list of episode titles, topics and material already published... No mention of Missouri, a magic kettle, good and silver totaling BILLIONS of dollars rivaling the holdings of Ft. Knox, KGC hordes, nothing.
Again and again...
Kudos to meeting Scott Wolter at a public event & taking a fan photo, BUT, I'm sure he'd probably object to your exploitation & false association, as would The History Channel. There's no way any professional entity would touch this because they thoroughly vet ANYTHING they associate their name, logo and reputation with.
None of this is coming forth because there's nothing at the end of the rainbow here.
I wish this would stop -- This is how researchers and real treasure hunters get a bad name & it makes opening the smallest of doors to research and hunting exponentially more difficult.
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
Real Truth

Real Truth

Greenie
Jul 16, 2019
17
42
Southwest Missouri
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Previously misrepresented research leads one to believe Obadiah Smith - a preacher, founding resident of Cedar County & state representative - is somehow involved with this story. And, any honest research will tell anyone he's absolutely not affiliated with this "legend" in any form or fashion.
A previous post on a closed thread (page 3 of said post) has snapshots of a book with a line intentionally obscured and implies he's somehow "part of a massacre" ... This is 100% pure fiction. It's utterly & completely false.
Page 72 of the book Cedar County, Missouri Families & Histories (c. 1998, Turner Publishing Company) explains Obadiah Smith was shot and killed with his own gun by Bushwackers pretending to be soldiers from Kansas.
The individual line obscured in an image from a previous post redacts the words "neighborhood of Bear Creek Post Office" and is all material from a retelling of a news article from May, 1, 1863, originally published in the St. Louis News.
Anyone can read pages 72 & 73 of this history book and verify there's absolutely zero mention of treasure, the KGC, marauders, Incans, Mayans, legends, carvings, gold, silver, etc. Nothing in any way.
Taking a documented & completely factual story and trying to assimilate it into wildly invented falsehoods is shameful, dishonest, wrecks an area's history and is a disgraceful insult to the Smith family of Cedar County and anyone doing legitimate research.
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
Real Truth

Real Truth

Greenie
Jul 16, 2019
17
42
Southwest Missouri
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
In case anyone needs further proof of this dishonesty, here's this for thought:

The closed thread -->
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/civil-war/155775-cedar-county-missouri-war-cache-lost-23.html
Note the date & timestamp of its closure by a site moderator.

And this:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gypsy-heart/254039-church-hollow-missouri-pot-gold-coins.html

Now, check the dates on the above post. Then check the timestamps. Then check the member's name — Mag72 — who replied to the original poster, when the Mag72 account was created & how many times the account has posted anywhere.
The exact same circumstances exist with another account — sammyaustin, page 14 — in the previously closed thread...
Compare that data.
Woooooooooooow. Any questions? Guys, it's all there in black & white... Or technicolor for that matter.
This is an amazing story --> And, as research into the area's rich history continues, this type of thing should be seen for exactly what it is.
As we dig deeper into a story, we should NEVER abuse the past.
No legitimate, honest or dedicated hunter, researcher, genealogist, history buff or treasure seeker with any integrity would ever perpetrate a farce of this magnitude.
Again, having lived near this area, spoken to locals, descendants of people supposedly playing a role in this tale, the excavators who have actually done the digging and worked with searchers, been through thousands of pages in the county archives, there genuinely has been no precious metal found at the end of this twisted rainbow.
 

Last edited:

pearl54

Jr. Member
Apr 20, 2012
41
4
mo.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey Gene - When is book due out? In mean time- I understand you not putting pics on of gold etc. but how about one of the maps you found. I'm assuming rock carvings? It couldn't hurt as there is no way anyone would know where you found it. I'm just real into petroglyphs . Please - just one.. Not one on Austin farm , already know that. Don't worry my days of tracking threw the woods are over. Thank - you
 

Honest Samuel

Banned
Sep 23, 2015
8,814
4,969
Connecticut
Detector(s) used
Minelab
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Real Truth
I was station at Whiteman Air Force Base when I was in the Air Force. Love it, friendly folks. They still fighting the Civil war in your state. A great state to search for buried treasure and for single coins. Good hunting and good luck.
 

OP
OP
Real Truth

Real Truth

Greenie
Jul 16, 2019
17
42
Southwest Missouri
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Pearl54,
There's no answer to your request. Unfortunately, the nonsensical, fictitious, unsubstantiated, reckless & false narrative being perpetuated here is just a regurgitation from a previously closed thread. This new thread is based on tangible, verifiable, fact-checked research & was started for the sake of clarity, truth, transparency & historical accuracy ��
 

prospexican

Full Member
Nov 28, 2013
225
49
Nevada
Detector(s) used
Gemini-3 best expert.
gpx 5000, fisher 2 box, whites sierra madre, eagle ll w big foot, gold bug, GMT, MD-5008, Detectron 2 box. etc. metrotech 480, and ferromagnetic magnetometer FX-3. fisher CZ-20
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I am Gene Carter. I solved this legend over a 3 year period and recovered the treasure on October 04, 2018. I got suspended tempydue to posting a screenshot of email with another member without her permission. Here is the link to the posting where I proved I did it...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/civil-war/155775-cedar-county-missouri-war-cache-lost.html
Since then I've been working with a few people on publicizing the event.
View attachment 1799164
View attachment 1799165
View attachment 1799166
hi gen would you be willing to show me about simbols and trasure maps? or help me w a place im searching here in Nevada? i have a bell monument close to a cave, and about 2.4 miles to the east i have a diamond stone monument. they might b related since the are close to a old royals kings road, or camino real and mormon trail.
 

prospexican

Full Member
Nov 28, 2013
225
49
Nevada
Detector(s) used
Gemini-3 best expert.
gpx 5000, fisher 2 box, whites sierra madre, eagle ll w big foot, gold bug, GMT, MD-5008, Detectron 2 box. etc. metrotech 480, and ferromagnetic magnetometer FX-3. fisher CZ-20
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I am Gene Carter. I solved this legend over a 3 year period and recovered the treasure on October 04, 2018. I got suspended tempydue to posting a screenshot of email with another member without her permission. Here is the link to the posting where I proved I did it...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/civil-war/155775-cedar-county-missouri-war-cache-lost.html
Since then I've been working with a few people on publicizing the event.
View attachment 1799164
View attachment 1799165
View attachment 1799166
and were can i read the history about the church hollow treasure?
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
it can be said the people associated with this legend existed. Past that, it's essentially folklore & choosing which talk take to chase.

Tidbits of the story's origin are most certainly real

Reall truth : This is what makes all treasure legends so easy to fall for : Is that they are always built around real names, dates, and events. To which we add a treasure. Ie.: None of them ever started with : "Once upon a time", eh ?

And the believers will then say : "It's only a matter of sorting fact from fiction". But what that fails to take into account is: If there's no treasure, then IT DOESN'T MATTER how much of the rest of the story is true (names, dates, events). If there isn't a treasure, then : THERE ISN'T A TREASURE !

hi gen would you be willing to show me about simbols and trasure maps? ...

Prospexican, excuse me for my skepticism, but : Do not get caught up in the superstition of : Symbols in the landscape. To "read into random landscape features". Eg.: squiggly lines seen on a tree, etc.... Or the odd uncanny symmetrical placement of boulders in the area, etc...

When we are totally honest : You can ALWAYS find "uncanny " things or "symbols" everywhere. Eg.: If you lie on your back and stare at passing clouds long enough, you will eventually see the shape of a bunny, an angel, a clown, a big-dipper, and so forth. All of which are meaningless and random.

And for sure when someone goes to *hide* a treasure, they THEN make a map that they circulate. So that others can "find" the treasure that they just "hid", right ? :dontknow:
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top