In March 2021, it was published by the Association Press that the FBI was engaged in a strange project for a law enforcement agency: looking for buried treasure. It came out then that in 2018, FBI agents went into a remote part of Pennsylvania woods looking for a legendary shipment of gold that was lost or stolen during the Civil War in 1863.
The US government has remained secretive over whether the shipment was funded, and now new witnesses have come forward to share details about the relentless search with the AP.
Notably, the FBI’s search for buried gold is at the center of a legal battle over records of the search and whether or not it was successful. A judge in a recent ruling summed up this situation like this:
“The FBI may have found the gold — or maybe not.”
The FBI alleges that nothing came from the search under the grounds of Dents Run, Pennsylvania. Treasure hunter Dennis Parada said otherwise and is taking the FBI to court to reveal the truth.
Now, Dents Run elk guide Eric McCarthy is volunteering to share his testimony with the press, convinced that Parada was given an unfair shake and that he happened to see the FBI carry away something ‘heavy’ out of the ground and ship it elsewhere in a routine elk hunt in 2018.
The AP confirmed McCarthy’s story from Don Reichel, the client whom McCarthy was guiding in an elk hunt that morning:
“Reached by phone, Reichel, McCarthy’s 73-year-old shed hunting client, corroborated his account of hearing early-morning clatter and seeing a loaded truck on March 14, 2018. Their recollections echo earlier statements from residents who told the AP of hearing a backhoe and jackhammer overnight and seeing a convoy of FBI vehicles, including armored trucks.”
FBI spokesperson Carrie Adamowski stated otherwise:
“No gold or other items of evidence were located or collected. The FBI continues to unequivocally reject any claims or speculation to the contrary.”
McCarthy’s timeline conflicts with the FBI’s in many ways, most notably in his assertion that the FBI was doing ‘night digs’ after hours on the site, something the FBI also denies. However, Parada and his treasure hunting team believe the FBU was digging after dark to remove the gold from the site secretly.
Legends of lost Civil War gold shipments are renowned in the area, but very few of these buried treasures have ever been found. Nonetheless, treasure hunter Parada thinks the FBI found something but for some unknown reasons they are trying to keep it a secret.
As for how much of that gold shipment would be worth, no one who is talking can say for sure. But in 2021 it was reported to be in the neighborhood of “hundreds of millions” in case the legends proved true.