The entire Yamashita legend is just that: A legend. A camp-fire story telephone game legend gone-awry. But it's deeply ingrained in the Philippine culture. Such that everyone there thinks that every single cave, swamp, canyon, sunken spot, funny squiggle on a rock, etc... all contain "Yamashita's treasure". You can literally buy various treasure maps on the street corners there. Complete with pedigrees that "someone who was on the soldier detail, that passed the map down to their grandchildren", blah blah .
And the people in the TV show are doing nothing but reading from scripts and cue-cards. It's all just Hollywood fancy. Those treasure hunters don't know anything other than you can get by googling various renditions of the legend on google. And their "eye-witness" (yeah right) is just some older Filipino guy in So. CA who answered a casting call for auditioning. And ... no ... was not there, was not an "eye-witness", etc.... It's all just entertainment, with no basis in any truth of a reality of a treasure.
But sure: Each telling of the story (the 100 different versions and locations) will each be "rock-solid bullet-proof true", right ? That's just the allure of treasure stories. You can never put them to rest. And your mind will subconsciously put critical skeptical thinking aside. Because of the psychology of "no one wants to be left out". So each story recipient will be 100% adamant that their location is 100% true. But ... durned that government red tape. Or durned those booby traps that the Japanese planted. Or gee, we need a metal detector that goes 50 meters deep. Or how to drain a swamp, etc... But rest assured: The treasure is there. Right ?
