Re: What's your opinion on the Jesse James hunt on the History Channel
treasurehound, below is my response to seeing the show back in November...
Where to start...
I finally got around to watching the program last night. I know there are some KGC treasure enthusiasts on here and I won't knock them by any means, but I didn't find their KGC references too terribly convincing. There wasn't any true evidence, just speculation. From the get go, something also bothered me about the Pastore guy and his cohorts. Their supposed skill sets really didnt impress me. I love how it said the loud one was GPR certified. I'm sure when they bought the GPR system, they took a course on it issued by the GPR manufacturer and afterwards gave them a certificate saying they are GPR certified. From my experience as an archaeologist being around GPR (I am not GPR certified, haha), they really didn't display a true mastery of it in both their usage as well as interpretation. Next comes the metal detectors. I by no means claim to be an expert detectorist, but come on, they were reading off the Garrett like it was a machine that just spit out a 100% true answer for what was in the ground and what it was and how deep it was.
I still am pretty skeptical about the gold bar and mason jar find. It was just all too convenient. I get on here a few times a week to read about finds and stories of TNET'ers who spend more time in the field than they do at home. I don't recall many stories of mason jars with silver dollars and gold coins or gold bars being found very often, and these amateurs just stumble upon them after their interpretation of some symbols. I really hate being a skeptic like this, but I just can't help it. And seriously, if you have dug down 8-10 feet or whatever, how do you stop all of a sudden and claim you need more investors for heavier equipment and just hope to make it back before the winter. If you feel it is necessary to carry shotguns and have pistols strapped to your sides, how would you just leave a half excavated area there? I've got an idea, sell your gold bar and coins. If they were real finds, that should have been an easy $10k, and if you cannot rent a bigger backhoe for a day or two for $10k, you've got problems.
That was the issues I had with the program. The only other comment I have is regarding the family of the JM James who claim he was Jesse James. They said the negative DNA report was inconclusive because the evidence chain on the DNA. That is only an argument you would make at a criminal trial. What I couldnt understand was why didnt they just do a DNA test on the grandson or great grandson? To me, that sealed the deal that they were of no relation to Jesse James. That would have been the first thing to do. If they did that though, it wouldnt have made for good tv when it came back negative.
In summary, I just don't buy it. As I said before, I really hate being the skeptic like this, but if I can easily say it doesn't add up, it really doesn't. I suggest that the History Channel hire actors to portray the treasure hunters next time. They may be more believable then.