Looking for lost WWII Treasure

Perhaps you are looking at it from a wrong point of view. What type of equipment were they using to bury the treasure if any? Fresh water and supplies would be how far away? How long did they have timewise? Soil/forest/mountain? How would they get all the equipment, etc there ? Get a detailed map, and look at it from Japanese eyes... you should be able to narrow it down to a few potential spots. This might entail asking the old guys what the Japanese had equipment wise. Then comparing/evaluating the geography to determine the odds. They would also likely hide it in a spot that could be recovered by them in the future. Burying it 15ft down a hole in a river and then filling it doesn't seem like a likely spot... how would they ever recover it without the locals knowing.
A map, research, and a 3rd eye you should be able to point to a map and say, "Look here."
 
Perhaps you are looking at it from a wrong point of view. What type of equipment were they using to bury the treasure if any? Fresh water and supplies would be how far away? How long did they have timewise? Soil/forest/mountain? How would they get all the equipment, etc there ? Get a detailed map, and look at it from Japanese eyes... you should be able to narrow it down to a few potential spots. This might entail asking the old guys what the Japanese had equipment wise. Then comparing/evaluating the geography to determine the odds. They would also likely hide it in a spot that could be recovered by them in the future. Burying it 15ft down a hole in a river and then filling it doesn't seem like a likely spot... how would they ever recover it without the locals knowing.
A map, research, and a 3rd eye you should be able to point to a map and say, "Look here."

Steve, I notice you say ".... if any". That is the million dollar question. Because all the other stuff you then go on to say, seems to imply that .... of necessity .... "treasures were buried". And it's simply a matter of discerning the markers, determining the depth, over-coming boobie-traps, finding maps, blah blah blah. But all that stuff is simply a moot point IF THERE'S NO TREASURE IN THE FIRST PLACE , haha

But the dreamy eyed TH'r doesn't want to dis-believe. Treasure fever is so strong, they will dismiss any "more plausible explanations". Because .... after all ... no one wants to be "left out". So critical thinking is put aside. And images of Indian Jones and Raiders of the lost Ark take control. :roll:
 
Steve, I notice you say ".... if any". That is the million dollar question. Because all the other stuff you then go on to say, seems to imply that .... of necessity .... "treasures were buried". And it's simply a matter of discerning the markers, determining the depth, over-coming boobie-traps, finding maps, blah blah blah. But all that stuff is simply a moot point IF THERE'S NO TREASURE IN THE FIRST PLACE , haha

But the dreamy eyed TH'r doesn't want to dis-believe. Treasure fever is so strong, they will dismiss any "more plausible explanations". Because .... after all ... no one wants to be "left out". So critical thinking is put aside. And images of Indian Jones and Raiders of the lost Ark take control. :roll:
Would need to confirm the actual story of treasure 1st. That would likely entail trailing it from the source and following the route taken. If it was on a big ship which ports could it actually dock in. .. etc etc. I would completely ignore any treasure markers as hegebege bs and look at it scientifically. That's assuming something is there (I've never looked into it)
 
Steve, I notice you say ".... if any". That is the million dollar question. Because all the other stuff you then go on to say, seems to imply that .... of necessity .... "treasures were buried". And it's simply a matter of discerning the markers, determining the depth, over-coming boobie-traps, finding maps, blah blah blah. But all that stuff is simply a moot point IF THERE'S NO TREASURE IN THE FIRST PLACE , haha

But the dreamy eyed TH'r doesn't want to dis-believe. Treasure fever is so strong, they will dismiss any "more plausible explanations". Because .... after all ... no one wants to be "left out". So critical thinking is put aside. And images of Indian Jones and Raiders of the lost Ark take control. :roll:
info from a local says that the king/government found the gold and the portion the locals have found was always taken from them. it's a very poor country......

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info from a local says that...

Hint: Take such info with a grain of salt. You will ALWAYS hear of some supposed past treasures that someone found. And it will always sound seeooo compelling. The person telling you will have much enthusiasm, and tell it in the first person singular (he knows the person first-hand, etc....).

But I'll bet you dollars to donuts that when you go to track down his source .... then guess what ?? That person ALSO hasn't actually seen the treasure. But rest assured he got it on good authority from his Uncle Ralph. So you track down Ralph. And guess what ? HE TOO didn't *personally* see the treasure either. But rest assured he got it on good authority, because he heard it from his drinking buddy Joe at the campfire last February. So you track down Joe and guess what ?? Do you see the never-ending regression ?

And at NO POINT is it ever not told in the first person account positive bullet proof true. Thus I hate to say it, but I would lump all such treasure stories you hear in the same vein.
 
info from a local says that the king/government found the gold and the portion the locals have found was always taken from them. it's a very poor country......

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Surely there would be photos and documentation if there were the case.
 
I totally agree

I for one am Loving your participation here Nick! Thanks for the adventurous posts!

Some people commenting on here are forgetting that Nick was doing his treasure hunting with the information he had at hand, during the 1980's while in his 20's . No internet, limited real information , limited resources and equipment , and on his military pay. Treasure or not he had a real adventure that in it's self is priceless. With all the hassles today over there i doubt he would try it again.
 
wider shot of stream

Here's a wider shot of the stream where we dug. You can see tiny figures of some Negritos walking along the trails. A huge cave on the right was explored and we found loads of buried WWII equipment but nothing of value. The Japanese nationals--I had mentioned-- reported dug out a huge pit in the river directly in front of the cave.
 

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I imagine the hill trips people would have hunted him down

Nobody was happy! They put a bounty on him and he fled south to family in Mindanao. Never heard what happened to him.

I imagine his life would have been over there if the hill people had got hold of him, i:laughing:they would have give him there own version of justice.
 
Pictures

Here's a wider shot of the stream where we dug. You can see tiny figures of some Negritos walking along the trails. A huge cave on the right was explored and we found loads of buried WWII equipment but nothing of value. The Japanese nationals--I had mentioned-- reported dug out a huge pit in the river directly in front of the cave.

Love the pictures Nick , that is a part of the Philippines i have never been to yet. I have mainly just been to the middle islands . Would like to see it some time in person,hope to spend more time in the Philippines over the next few years. I spent a little over 3 weeks there in June visiting the wife's relatives on Bohol a reaally beautifull island. Have you tried to Google earth to see if you can locate the same area today? I imagine it looks very diffrent now,than it did in the 1980's.
 
Here's a wider shot of the stream where we dug. You can see tiny figures of some Negritos walking along the trails. A huge cave on the right was explored and we found loads of buried WWII equipment but nothing of value. The Japanese nationals--I had mentioned-- reported dug out a huge pit in the river directly in front of the cave.

Like the photo. Seems like a reasonable spot to look. Digging could be concealed, easy to locate again, place worthless stuff in the cave.
They could easily have hid it 100 yards up river or down, or dug a pit in the cave.
It's not an endeavour I would like to embark on
 
Steve, I notice you say ".... if any". That is the million dollar question. Because all the other stuff you then go on to say, seems to imply that .... of necessity .... "treasures were buried". And it's simply a matter of discerning the markers, determining the depth, over-coming boobie-traps, finding maps, blah blah blah. But all that stuff is simply a moot point IF THERE'S NO TREASURE IN THE FIRST PLACE , haha

But the dreamy eyed TH'r doesn't want to dis-believe. Treasure fever is so strong, they will dismiss any "more plausible explanations". Because .... after all ... no one wants to be "left out". So critical thinking is put aside. And images of Indian Jones and Raiders of the lost Ark take control. :roll:

There's a whole lot more to the story than most folks realize... Yamashita's "treasure" wasn't just in one location. Legitimate reports show that a good dozen have been found but there are probably hundreds more. They may never be found... Here's an interesting excerpt from some real research done on the subject:

Whether you believe it or not, it's a dang intriguing story.. Get past the first part, Tom, which reads much like every other account, and it becomes intriguing FAST...


In a new book, Gold Warriors: America’s Secret Recovery of Yamashita’s Gold, Seagrave and his co-author (his wife, Peggy) have affirmed virtually all of what The Spotlight reported about Marcos and his rise to power-and of his ultimate ouster, including the reasons why.

But even more than that, the Seagraves have outlined the existence of an extraordinary hidden cache of gold-looted by infamous Japanese warlord Yamashita Tomoyuki from the nations of Asia prior to and during World War II—much of which (but not all) was later seized by American forces and used to fund what was called the Black Eagle Trust, a multi-national covert operations treasure chest utilized during the Cold War and up until, apparently, even today. And yes, Marcos himself recovered a big chunk of the treasure. This was, as The Spotlight said to much criticism, the real source of his wealth.

Big names such as former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, John J. McCloy, head of the World Bank, General Edward Lansdale and others are just a few of the familiar figures whose roles in the shadowy Black Eagle Trust are recounted by the Seagraves. The tentacles of this massive treasure reach throughout the big banks of the world today and its economic impact has never before been outlined in such amazing detail.
It seems that no American president has been in the dark about the existence of this gold horde—much of which still remains hidden, buried, in the Philippine islands and elsewhere in the Pacific and which is still the subject of wide-ranging treasure hunts.

According to the Seagraves, as late as March 2001—in the early weeks of the newly-minted George W. Bush administration, associates of the Bush family were evidently deeply involved in the treasure-hunting and in efforts to profit from the sale and transfer of the recovered treasure. And what is of particular note is that, so say the Seagraves, two U.S. Navy ships were being utilized in the effort.

What about the Marcos connection? The Spotlight asserted that Marcos’s actual wealth—in unaccounted billions—stemmed from the fact that Marcos had actually recovered a large cache of the hidden gold in the days following the end of World War II. Critics said The Spotlight was wrong and that Marcos had actually stolen billions from his nation’s treasury. Now, however, the Seagraves cite no less an authority than retired General John Singlaub, a vaunted hero of both World War II and Korea who finished up his career as the top U.S. military commander in Korea, dismissed by then-President Jimmy Carter.

Singlaub actually became quite active in the covert American efforts to recover the “Yamashita treasure” and, according to Singlaub, “I knew from past experience that stories of buried Japanese gold in the Philippines were legitimate. Marcos’s $12 billion fortunate actually came from [this] treasure, not skimmed-off U.S. aid. But Marcos had only managed to rake off a dozen or so of the biggest sites. That left well over a hundred untouched.”
This, of course, means that Yamashita’s gold—which amounts to certainly hundreds of billions in value, probably trillions—was a real source of power and influence for Marcos and, in the end, proved not only to be a source of his rise to power, but, ultimately, his undoing.

The Seagraves relate—echoing The Spotlight—that when Marcos demanded a higher-than-usual commission for lending a portion of his gold horde to the Reagan administration in order to prop up a Reagan scheme to manipulate the world gold market, this was the beginning of Marcos’ downfall. As a consequence, then U.S. CIA-Director William Casey set in motion the riots and protests that began creating trouble for Marcos in the streets of Manila.
Although Casey flew to Manila, along with U.S. Treasury Secretary Donald Regen, CIA economist Professor Higdon and an attorney, Lawrence Kreager, to give Marcos a “last chance”, the Philippine nationalist would not buckle. Higdon told Marcos that he would be out of power “in two weeks” for not appeasing the international banking houses and their agents in the American administration.

The Seagraves report that a source close to Marcos advised them that Marcos was then approached by an emissary from David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission asking Marcos to contribute $54 billion in gold bullion to a so-called “global development fund”. Marcos’ response was to consign the Trilateral demand into a waste basket.
In no short order, of course, Marcos was forced from office and flown to Hawaii with his family where they were held effectively under house arrest. Marcos and his wife told many people—including reporters from The Spotlight—that they had never expected to be taken to Hawaii, that they had, instead, expected to be flown to safety from Manila to Marco’s home island of Ilocos Norte.

In the meantime, billions of dollars worth of gold certificates that the Marcos [couple] had taken with them were confiscated by the U.S. government. But when the Marcoses demanded the return of the certificates, the U.S. said the certificates were “fake”.
In other words, the Reagan administration casually and ruthlessly stole billions from the Marcos, at the same time helping perpetuate the media myth that the Marcos family had stolen billions from their own nation’s treasury.

(And it should be noted, for the historical record, that one of the key behind-the-scenes Reagan administration operatives plotting against Marcos was one Paul Wolfowitz, now internationally known today as one of the prime movers behind the American effort to depose Saddam Hussein—probably no coincidence considering Saddam’s refusal, like Marcos, to surrender his nation’s sovereignty to international banking interests.)
The Seagraves also outline—and this will interest many people—the strange dealings of the John Birch Society (as far back as the mid-1970s) in a scheme to cut business arrangements with the Marcos regime in the marketing of some $20 billion of Marcos’ private gold horde. These deals fell through and, in the end, the Birchers fell out with their partners in the scheme. Evidently Congressman Larry McDonald (D-Ga.), then a leader of the Birch group, was privy to these events and thus evidently knew quite a bit about the international Black Eagle Trust at the time of his death. [The “shoot down” of flight KAL 007 is still surrounded by mystery.]

Considering the fact that The Spotlight was the only American newspaper to honestly report on the behind-the-scenes intrigues that led to the destruction of Ferdinand Marcos, it was no coincidence that after his ouster, Marcos gave The Spotlight several exclusive interviews at his home in exile in Hawaii, pushing The Spotlight to the top of a long list of worldwide newspapers clamoring for the opportunity to interview the fallen leader.
It turns out that, at precisely the time when The Spotlight was interviewing Marcos, a young American CIA operative, Alan Foringer, was deeply involved in the covert operations trying to secure what remained of the Yamashita (and Marcos) gold.

So, it’s probably no coincidence, again, that Foringer popped up at The Spotlight’s offices on a number of occasions, posing as an international businessman. It was only the publication of the Seagrave’s book that exposed precisely who Foringer really was: a CIA figure trying to find out what The Spotlight knew (if anything) about the Marcos treasure. Foringer himself later died under mysterious circumstances, probably a victim of murder.

These are just a few of the revelations appearing in the 332 detail-packed pages of this remarkable new book, one which is thoroughly documented. The Seagraves know that they risked a great deal by bringing out these facts but they say right up front that “if we are murdered, readers will have no difficulty figuring out who ‘they’ are.” (Source: Existence of Secret WWII Gold Horde Confirmed, Exclusive to American Free Press, By Michael Collins Piper, http://www.preferrednetwork.com/GOLD_WARRIORS.htm
 
... Legitimate reports show that ....

Skippy, great "cut & pastes". Now ask yourself: Whenever someone is reporting a treasure that has supposedly been found (or still-waiting to be found), does the person doing the write-up (that you eventually cut & paste) ever consider it (or report it in such a way) as to be ILLegitimate ? Of course not. Everyone writing about treasure posts/writes it in the 100% affirmative first-person singular postive true accounting.

Thus when you write "legitimate reports", I had to chuckle thinking: Who would ever say write a treasure story and forewarn you "it's not legitimate" ? :roll: Who DOESN'T think their treasure stories are "legitimate" ?

I could dissect and propose counter explanations to all the stories. But then would perhaps get criticized for pee-ing on a parade. Suffice it to say: All those rumors/legends have more-plausible explanations.
 
I'm sure his wealth was likely a combination of skimming and possibly treasure. The price of gold in the 80s wasn't like now. In order to have billions he would of.had to find tons and tons of bullion gold bars. It would,make no sense to bury it in 100s of locations. A dozen.. maybe 2 maximum in different islands/locations.
Too bad conex wasn't around with their paper shorts out of thin air with no backing needed when this guy was still in power.. he might still be running the show
 
... It would,make no sense to bury it in 100s of locations....

Haha, well first off, assuming there is even a "treasure" or "treasures" IN THE FIRST PLACE, your next jump in the logic train is spot-on. Who ... in their right mind ... goes around to remote islands burying it all over the place. And ... of course, with obligatory signs left on rocks . Eg.: cryptograms, clues, turtle drawing, maps passed down through the generations, etc... And are all, of necessity "6 meters deep" , and protected with booby traps, poison darts, etc... ( has someone watched one-too-many episodes of Raiders of the Lost Ark ? :roll: ).

But to "make common sense" doesn't phase the faithful. The lure of treasure (and this even assumes there's "treasure") is so strong, that people put common sense "more plausible explanations" aside. Thus there is most certainly treasure buried in every cave, in 100's of locations. I bet I can even find some cool cut-&-pastes to back up the assertions.
 
Skippy, great "cut & pastes". Now ask yourself: Whenever someone is reporting a treasure that has supposedly been found (or still-waiting to be found), does the person doing the write-up (that you eventually cut & paste) ever consider it (or report it in such a way) as to be ILLegitimate ? Of course not. Everyone writing about treasure posts/writes it in the 100% affirmative first-person singular postive true accounting.

Thus when you write "legitimate reports", I had to chuckle thinking: Who would ever say write a treasure story and forewarn you "it's not legitimate" ? :roll: Who DOESN'T think their treasure stories are "legitimate" ?

I could dissect and propose counter explanations to all the stories. But then would perhaps get criticized for pee-ing on a parade. Suffice it to say: All those rumors/legends have more-plausible explanations.

. What follows is a degree of boredom filled with "passing of time." For true intentions, please see the picture below.


Tom, I don't disagree. Maybe the better phrasing would have been, "more plausible" or, "Possibly credible."

It's well known, and very documented (especially by you!, LOL) that most reports and the treasure hunters stories are amplified by time and rumor. It's also well documented that treasure does get found.

We should also all consider that if a person were to come across the treasure and NOT want it to be taken away, the last thing they'd do is widely publicize the info. Treasures are often found and NEVER publicly made known. It happens.

So... could there be credibility in the reporting of what happened between the governments and with the Marcos family? Could they have found a portion of the treasure? Sure. It's Possible. Is it likely? Well... that is actually an irrelevant contemplation, because ultimately, it's NOT about probabilities. It either happened or it didn't. Whether any individual believes or argues one way or the other doesn't change whether or not it happened or didn't. Reality is not put to a Vote. We can wonder, but we cannot know. Trying to convince everyone something did happen when it did not is JUST as absurd as trying to convince everyone something didn't happen when it did.

Let me add to this conversation in this way:

http://bigthink.com/think-tank/the-backfire-effect-why-facts-dont-win-arguments

The backfire effect shows that in an "argument" when an individual is presented with facts, data, testimony, eyewitness info, etc... contrary to an entrenched viewpoint, those things actually MORE entrench them. Data does not matter. Any data (anecdotal, real or somewhere in between), that presents an alternative viewpoint that MAY refute or challenge their belief, results in them becoming MORE entrenched as a result of the conversations, even if they're wrong.

So, knowing that principle... It means, that you sir, (or me, or anyone entrenched) everytime it is argued against the possibility of Yamashita's treasure and someone adds "possibility" to the conversation, your brain is hard-wired to shoot it down. The data I provided was a possibility. You dismissed it instantly with "it's copy-paste." I actually saw it coming, and laughed out loud (for realz) when I read your post. It's been my experience that you will dismiss anything related to this...outright.

Basically, you are so incredibly entrenched in the idea that Yamashita's treasure is ridiculous rumor, that even if it has been found in whole, or in part, that you would be MORE likely to dismiss it as copy-paste, additional rumor, or fantastic stories, even if someone confronts you with even more details, such as documentation, eye-witness statements, research, and government involvement (both circumstantial and legitimate), simply because there is plausible deniability in the fact that documentation can be forged, eye-witnesses can be wrong, and the government is all about mis-information anyway... You brain is wired to be correct, and it is likely so entrenched it will dismiss everything. Even now, you're probably dismissing things...

You appear to be entrenched so deeply, that anytime I see you enter a conversation about the Philippines, it is to disparage the rumors, dismiss them, and otherwise downplay the possibility of any treasure. This is based on my own observations of your statements. now... That doesn't mean your opinion is wrong... not by any means... In fact, you may be right on the money on whomever is posting their latest squiggly marked rock! It just gives strong evidence that your opinion would not likely be swayed by any evidence, real, or circumstantial to the contrary.

And yet... we have a legitimate 1980's treasure hunter who lived, eat, and breathed the search for buried loot. Stuff exists... just didn't manage to find the stuff he was looking for.

In the end:
Yamashita's treasure could have been found in part, or in whole and you'll never believe it. Not one word. Even if you were shown pictures, you'd still claim it was faked. You have (and none of us know if they're faked, either). The Marcos story is one specific set of details that is fairly well documented... the claims aren't that the gold existed... it's that they found some of it, and then leveraged it into greater wealth.

Yamashita's treasure was in fact STOLEN. It exists. We don't know where its been placed, but it was, in fact put somewhere. It could be in whole or in part still out there. Yamashita's treasure also includes the various stockpiles of looted goods from the Philippines. The US ordered the destruction of all mines in 1941 and 1942 (as they were strategic points of resources). Any number of loot points could have been buried. Even a simple map showing the based of operations by the Japanese could yield results of stockpiles of military goods or loot... Most of these have been lost to time, but there are STILL military stockpiles being found. This is fact, not fiction.

So... bottom line for me, how many rumors do shipwreck hunters wade through, before they can piece together the real story (and then usually GRID search multiple areas so thoroughly as to not miss a wreck), before finding it. There's a lesson to be learned there. People will say, "you'll never find it, it's all rumor!" but the reality is that ships went down, and the gold is there. Yamashita's treasure exists... Found or not, I do not know.

Then on top of it... maybe Marcos family tortured details out of Rogelio... Maybe the gold was put into the world markets by corrupt governments... Maybe it's still out there, actively being found, but never reported here... and don't be so quick as to dismiss that a random spot of loot isn't periodically found... because when and if it is, the LAST thing someone in the Philippines would do is report it. Why? Marcos is reported to have tortured the location out of Rogelio! There's a strong reason to keep it quiet!

Put it all together, and who knows... maybe there have been a dozen or more people who have found treasure stashes in the Philippines in the last several decades... We don't know...

One last parting comment (and it has nothing to do with real or not). Indiana Jones has nothing on the OP.. Pretty cool stuff, eh?
 

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Haha, well first off, assuming there is even a "treasure" or "treasures" IN THE FIRST PLACE, your next jump in the logic train is spot-on. Who ... in their right mind ... goes around to remote islands burying it all over the place. And ... of course, with obligatory signs left on rocks . Eg.: cryptograms, clues, turtle drawing, maps passed down through the generations, etc... And are all, of necessity "6 meters deep" , and protected with booby traps, poison darts, etc... ( has someone watched one-too-many episodes of Raiders of the Lost Ark ? :roll: ).

But to "make common sense" doesn't phase the faithful. The lure of treasure (and this even assumes there's "treasure") is so strong, that people put common sense "more plausible explanations" aside. Thus there is most certainly treasure buried in every cave, in 100's of locations. I bet I can even find some cool cut-&-pastes to back up the assertions.
\\

Piles of loot in many locations are very plausible in a war zone. Japanese soldiers looted many big cities and wealthy citizens. They took the goods an put it in a pile somewhere. Its' possible many "maps" were made by locals of the Japanese locations..> Who knows. Point is, don't discredit that loot cannot be found. Yamashita's treasure includes all loot brought to the island, not just one cache. And yes, it's also plausible that he divided it up into several locations among his loyal soldiers.

Don't you also diversify your portfolio? :)

Possible, yep... Definitely possible. Plausible, too.

In the late 1800s, a gang of three robbed a Wells Fargo wagon of $12,000 in gold just north of my city. The wells fargo people made it back to town, quickly organized a hunt, and when they got back up in the mountains, there was a shootout with the three guys. When they checked their horses, the loot wasn't there. It's assumed the gold was stashed somewhere fairly closeby, but they don't have a clue where.

100 square miles to search is darn near impossible. was it stashed in three locations, or one? Will it be under a rock, a fence post hole, or in a small cave? There's no telling. They could have even given it to a fourth party!

Could it also be that the guys who shot the robbers took the gold and reported it lost? yep> :)

What's my point? Two:
1) Even if it's a billion dollars in gold, an island is a freaking big place to search. LOL
2) *Giggles* Who says Yamashita's treasure was even still IN the Philippines? Why would the Japanese fleet take it there? LOL


So much about this makes me laugh... but... but the possibility that it's out there cannot be excused until every inch is searched! (and I'll just stick to finding rings in my city parks... LOL)
 
.... It's also well documented that treasure does get found....

Skippy, love your inputs. And I did read everything. And I did consider doing a point-by-point refutation. But in the end, realized it would become pages long ping-pong game of data going back and forth. Right ? Thus since I DIDN'T address point by point, it's easy for you to say everything else you did about the "backfire effect" and "data doesn't matter", etc.... You assume I have no refutations and am just being stubborn and entrenched in my views ("blind to evidence" and so forth). But what's my choice ? To take pages and pages to bat-down each point with what could be more plausible explanations ? And then risk the ire of the mod's, and bore the heck out of readers ?

Yeah, sure, "treasures get found". I never said they don't (some make banner from time to time on forum show & tells after all). But does this fact therefore make any hokey ghost story legend unassailable ? Of course not. So the fact of "some treasures have existed" does not "therefore lend credence to all treasure legends". It does not logically follow.
 
...Piles of loot in many locations are very plausible in a war zone....

Ok, sure. But then you do realize that the history of the world is FILLED with wars, on every continent. Right ? Europe, the USA, etc.... Why only the predominance of treasure legends just in certain places ? Let's face it: The putting-stock-in-treasure legends is more pronounced in certain cultures than others. So it has less to do with "wars" and "loots" . Because if that were all that's at stake, then so-too is there treasures on every continent.
 
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