I know there’s a few threads on them. My son bought me a book on treasure legends in Nevada. One treasure legend is located about 7-8 miles from my house. A hunter found a rich gold vein while out hunting. He offered to show the land owner where it was if they could reach a mutual agreement on splitting the gold claim. They couldn’t.
Today I was researching placer gold from an old BLM publication. One of the locations it was found was near where this legend is based. The BLM publication said the source of placer gold was never found.
Makes me wonder if that legend is true?
I put very little stock into the legends. As to the uncanny-ness of the particular set of circumstances you describes (ie.: pieces of the puzzle seeming to substantiate a legend), here's where that has an easy explanation:
Every treasure legend (telephone game gone awry) is based on
facts. Eg.: real names, dates, events. Right ? None of them ever started with
"Once upon a time". Right ? So it SEEMS to substantiate and prove a legend when (gasp) you research a name of a person, a date, a mineral deposit zone, etc.... And lo & behold, you find truths that fit-with-the-legend. So at first blush, that seems to "make the legend true" therefore . Eh ?
But all that shows is that a legend was blt. around true names, dates, and events. It doesn't prove there's a treasure or lost mine anywhere. In other words: Every treasure legend is 99% true, eh ? But if the remaining 1% (of whether or not a treasure or mine exists) is NOT true, then what good does the remaining 99% do ? Nothing at all.
The reason why they're so easy to believe , is the human psychology of "no one wants to be left behind" (eg.: laughed at all the way to the bank). So we put aside skepticism (the ability to see more plausible explanations) . It is SO easy to believe in the legends. They're fun after all.
