[instrumental music playing]
[Josh Gates] Bonnie and Clyde are household names.
Why did they become so famous?
[Stewart Fillmore] You know, Josh, there's so much about the case
that the public doesn't know, that we don't know.
There seems to be a pattern of locations,
that would make perfect hideouts,
that has never been investigated.
Ha-ha! Whoo!
-Oh! -[taps]
Somethin' there.
There could be cash out there, guns, jewelry.
-Oh, I got a hit. -Yeah, I got one, too.
-Look at this! -[Stewart] Josh, is that a cave?
[Josh] We got a cave!
They're kids.
You know, she's a poet, she's a dreamer.
But clearly they're also
not afraid of murdering people!
[Josh] Is that what I think it is?
[Stewart] Hold on, is that a bullet hole?
What if this was from the Barrow Gang's stash?
That's so cool.
Here we go!
Josh, do you see what I see?
Holy [bleep]! Is that possible?
[dramatic music playing]
Depression era criminal duo,
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
seized more than just cash and valuables.
Their love affair captured the attention
of a desperate American public
obsessed with outlaws and gangsters.
And they did it in unrivalled style.
Robbing, shooting and making high-speed getaways across eight states,
their passionate career would end in a violent
and unforgettable blaze of glory.
Thanks to pop culture, Bonnie and Clyde
have been celebrated as rebel Romeo and Juliet,
living and dying on their own terms.
Even Beyonce and Jay-Z declared themselves the "03 Bonnie & Clyde."
But who were they really?
Ninety years after their deaths
the public's fascination with them continues.
And artefacts associated with the outlaws
routinely fetch tens of thousands at auction.
Now, a former FBI agent is using bureau archives
to corroborate a local legend which could uncover
a lost cache of loot and relics.
And a metal detectorist, digging into forgotten history
is chasing down a lead
that may point to a buried stash
near one of the duos' bloodiest shootouts.
So, jump into a getaway car and let's go on the run.
As Bonnie herself wrote in a poem,
"You read the story of Jesse James,
of how he lived and died.
If you're still in need of something to read,
here is the story of Bonnie and Clyde."
[upbeat music playing]
[opening theme music playing]
My name is Josh Gates.
Hello!
Explorer...
It was nothing.
Adventurer...
[exclaims]
Oh, it's long night, now.
...and a guy who ends up in some very strange situations.
I'm alive... for now!
With a degree in archeology
and a passion for the unexplained,
I travel to the ends of the Earth
investigating the greatest legends in history.
Ready to rock and roll?
This is Expedition Unknown...
[upbeat music playing]
All right, well, the Bonnie and Clyde story
starts right here in West Dallas.
This was an area that was thought of as,
"the wrong side of the bridge."
A place known as the "Devil's Back Porch,"
because it produced so many criminals.
And it was in this place of crushing poverty
that Bonnie and Clyde were forged.
I'm cruising past what today is an empty lot.
But this was once the Barrow family filling station.
It was near here at a party in 1930
that a 20-year-old turkey thief named Clyde Barrow
fell in love with an artistic 19-year-old named Bonnie Parker.
It was a match made in heaven. Or maybe hell.
So how did this duo achieve such infamy?
Well, to crack down the real Bonnie and Clyde
as well as the secrets,
and maybe even the riches they left behind.
I'm headed to the other side of the bridge,
to the headquarters of the good guys
who hunted them down.
I'm attempting to roll up to the FBI's Dallas Field Office.
Yeah, this might take a second.
Okay, here we go.
-How're you doing, officer? -Doing pretty good, sir.
After a quick check around the car,
and under the car, and under the hood,
and in the trunk, I'm on my way.
All right. Welcome to the FBI. Here we go.
[legendary music playing]
My exclusive invitation to the world's foremost law enforcement agency
is thanks to retired FBI agent
and my known accomplice Stewart Fillmore.
-Hey, Josh. -How're you, man?
-Good, man. How are you? -I'm great.
-Great to see you. -Great to see you.
Here we are, our yearly investigation.
-It's our annual meeting. -Right? We've investigated...
-[Stewart] Dillinger. -Dillinger.
-[Josh] Alcatraz. -Alcatraz.
-[Josh] Now Bonnie and Clyde. -Bonnie and Clyde.
There's a reason I'm meeting Stewart here.
Agents from the Dallas FBI Field Office
led the federal pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde,
and their findings are archived on site.
You know, Josh, there's so much about the case
that the public doesn't know, that we don't know.
-Really? -Yes, absolutely.
I pulled the original FBI Bonnie and Clyde file.
-Okay. -I think it's gonna let us dig deeper,
and let's follow that lead and see what we can find,
because that maybe something
that no one has ever seen or heard before.
Absolutely.
-Why don't you come on back? -Okay, here we go.
Let's go.
Stewart leads me inside the complex
to examine something few get to see firsthand.
-In here, Josh. -All right.
The FBI is giving us unprecedent access
to rare and historic documents.
Come on in, have a seat.
-Wow! Look at this! -Yeah, it's a lot.
Oh, this is from the archives?
This is the original working copy file.
-Look at this... -Yep.
-"Barrow Parker." -Yep.
-"Do not destroy. Historical value." -Yep.
[Josh] The files reveal that Clyde is arrested in 1930 for stealing a car.
He's sentenced to serve his time away from Bonnie
in Texas' dreaded Eastham Prison.
This is where you don't wanna go.
You don't wanna go. I mean, this is where
hardened criminals, murderers,
the worst of the worst were already staying.
[Josh] Fortunately for Clyde, he's not there for long.
Bonnie smuggles in a gun and breaks him out.
Ah, the things we do for love.
But he's soon caught once again,
and this time Eastham takes its toll.
Clyde is repeatedly assaulted by a fellow prisoner.
A torture that only ends when Clyde kills the man.
His first murder, at the age of 20.
Another inmate already doing life volunteers to take the fall.
But Clyde Barrow is released a changed man.
One family member described it as
that he went in a school boy and came out a rattle snake.
Right. So once he's out of that prison,
this is really where
-Bonnie and Clyde come into their own? -Yes.
[Josh] In a career that only spans two years,
from 1932 to 1934,
Bonnie and Clyde terrorize eight states across the Midwest and South
robbing as many as 15 banks,
as well as their preferred targets,
gas stations and grocery stores,
where they often make quick getaways
in stolen cars.
Along with Clyde's childhood friend, W.D. Jones,
Clyde's brother Buck
and Buck's wife Blanche,
the Barrow Gang as they become known,
leave chaos in their wake.
As I go through this one of the things
that jumps out to me is so many of these crimes
-are so small. -Yes.
-And yet... -Yeah.
-...Bonnie and Clyde are household names. -Yes.
-But they are not knocking over the Bellagio. -No.
So, why did they become so famous?
Well, you know, Josh, I mean, this was the Great Depression.
Um, you know, a lot of people are out of work,
a lot of people struggling but it was that,
it was also the, the golden age of crime.
You had criminal celebrities, John Dillinger,
-Pretty Boy Floyd... -Yeah.
...and so in an effort I think to sell newspapers,
uh, you never had a boyfriend-girlfriend team.
-Right. Lovers with guns! -Yeah. Exactly.
-That sells papers. Yeah. -That sells newspapers, yes.
[Josh] These star-crossed and well-armed lovers
become national sensations.
Years later their exploits
also sell a lot of movie tickets,
when in 1967, Feya Dunaway and Warren Beatty
used their star power and sex appeal
to cement the couples' place in cinematic immortality.
But the real story in these files is far less romantic.
Bonnie, Clyde and their gang
are responsible for the murders
of around 13 people, nine of them law men.
It's really hard to get a clear sense of these two people.
They're kids. You know, she's a poet,
-she's a dreamer. -Mm-hm.
But clearly they're also
you know, not afraid of murdering people!
Without a doubt, and, you know,
a big part of that was driven,
at least from Clyde's view point is,
"I'm never going back to prison."
Right.
[Josh] In that at least, he was successful.
Bonnie and Clyde were dead
before anyone could cage him again.
But the question is, "Did the Barrow Gang
leave anything behind for us to find?"
-So I know you've gone through all these documents... -Yes.
-...what has jumped out to you? -Yes.
Geography, Josh, which jumps out to me.
There seems to be a pattern of locations
that would make perfect hideouts,
that has never been investigated.
-And when you talk about a hideout... -Yeah.
...like, what could stand to be in a place like that?
Josh, there could be cash out there,
guns, jewelry.
Anything associated with Bonnie and Clyde
is gonna be valuable historically and monetarily.
A few years ago, uh,
Bonnie's snub nose .38 and Clyde's .45 automatic had auctioned.
Went for a quarter million dollars each.
-A quarter of million each? -Yes.
Let me take you to the board.
-Okay. -Yeah.
Stewart takes me through the geography on a map,
specifically the FBI files indicate
a number of areas in Texas
where the gang was active but elusive.
Which means they likely had a hideout here.
It turns out that Clyde also had family connections to this region.
This includes Nacogdoches where Clyde's mother was born.
And Martinsville where his aunt lived.
Clyde committed crimes, in San Augustine.
There were sightings of him in Shelbyville.
And he was seen visiting a cousin in the town of Center.
And, Josh, if you notice those pins make up a really defined area.
-[Josh] Absolutely. -Right?
-[Josh] We're clustered right here... -Yes.
-[Josh] ...on far east Texas. -Exactly.
-I've got a new lead. -Okay.
Yeah, on some private property
that's right in the middle of that cluster.
-Like, right in here? -Right in there.
-Okay. What's here? -Yeah. A cave.
-A cave? -A cave.
There's a local legend there,
that they hid out there regularly.
People have talked about it for years.
-And this was never searched? -No.
And what about access there today?
So I've contacted the property owner.
I have some coordinates and a general area to search.
-And we're good to go. -We got permission?
-We got permission, yeah. -All right.
-Let's go. -Yeah.
[upbeat music playing]
[Josh] To find a cave near where Clyde's family lived
that oral tradition claims
was one of Bonnie and Clyde's hideouts,
we follow Stewart's map and head about 200 miles east towards Center, Texas.
So, here's my big Bonnie and Clyde question.
These two are not, like, polished criminals.
Yeah, I mean, they're flying by the seat of their pants.
Right. And let's talk about who is chasing them,
-because it's a lot of people, right? -It's a lot of people.
Okay, so, how are they pulling this off?
Uh, that's a really good question, Josh.
They had a couple of secret weapons.
And on our way over to East Texas,
I think I could show you one of them.
-You can? -I think so. Yeah.
All right. Secret weapon.
[Josh] To learn how Bonnie and Clyde
managed to make so many daring getaways
without being caught,
Stewart directs me off the main route
and down a country road.
Soon we find ourselves surrounded by buildings overflowing with antiques.
All of them owned by a man named Sam.
Josh, I want you to meet Sam Adam.
-Well, hello, Josh. -[Josh] How are you? I'm a big fan of your beer.
-Well, thank you very much. -And your revolution.
Well, I wish I could claim them both but I can't claim neither.
-Different Sam Adam? -Yes, sir.
Uh, I take it just from looking around here,
you're something of a collector?
I am.
-Josh, he may have too many cars. -Yeah.
There's two in particular
-that I asked him to pull out for us. -Okay.
This is a 1929, Ford Model A.
It is indicative of what police would've had in 1934.
[Josh] So, this really was the cop car of its day?
[Stewart] Yeah, I mean, Josh, this was very typical
-of the law enforcement car in those days. -[Josh] Got it.
And behind door number two?
[Sam] This, this car is 1934 Ford V-8.
It is an exact and true replica
of the one that Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker
were driving, the last car they ever drove, before they were ambushed.
So was this, like, a preferred car for Clyde?
Absolutely. I mean, he almost exclusively stole these.
-So this is really a head-to-head. -[Stewart] Yeah.
-This is law enforcement versus, uh, criminals. -[Sam] Yes.
Okay, and how do they match up?
Fellows, we can talk about this whole day,
why don't you drive it?
-Find out for yourself. -[Stewart laughs]
-We can drive them? -You can.
Let's do this.
[Josh] It's Ford versus Ford.
V-8 versus Model A.
Former G-man versus a poor substitute for Clyde Barrow.
Sam and Stewart even managed
to get a few miles of county road shut down.
Josh, you ready?
-All right, I think I'm ready. -Ha-ha.
Now, take your shoes off.
What?
Clyde Barrow never drove with the shoes on.
[Josh] When Clyde served his time in Eastham Prison
conditions were so brutal that Clyde took off a toe-and-a-half with an axe
to get out of work detail.
As a result he never walked right again
and he never drove in his shoes.
Now, you're ready.
I remember Warren Beatty taking his shoes off.
Josh, you're not Warren Beatty.
[laughing]
[Josh] Let's do this.
-[Sam] You ready, Josh? -I'm ready.
-You're ready, Stewart? -Ready.
When I drop my hat, you may begin.
[dramatic music playing]
[engines revving]
Here we go!
[laughs]
[upbeat music playing]
You're about to go down. Here we go.
-[laughs exultantly] -Come on, Stewart!
[Josh] To understand how Clyde Barrow and his gang
managed to stay one step ahead of the law,
former FBI agent Stewart Fillmore and I
are putting the cars of the time to the test.
He's in the law man standard Ford Model A,
while I'm in Bonnie and Clyde's preferred V-8 from 1934.
Boom! Oh!
Oh, she got power!
[Josh exclaims]
Come on! Third gear! Come on!
[whoops]
See you later, Stewart!
-Ha-ha! -Come on. Come on, baby!
I'm giving it all she's got.
Oh, it's over! It's over! Finish line!
Come on, baby! Yes!
[laughs]
Ooh!
-I'm sorry to see you with all that dust on your face. -I know.
The V-8 smokes the Model-A.
It absolutely does.
[Josh] Clyde's driving was legendary.
With gang covering hundreds of miles at night
out of reach of the law.
Okay so,
-cops are driving around in the Model A there. -Yep.
I could see why Clyde Barrow wanted to be in this V-8.
Oh, yeah. It's one of the secrets of their success.
-Big time. -Yup.
-Back to the starting line? -Let's go.
All right, I'll be the guy far ahead of you.
[laughing]
Now that we've learned how Bonnie and Clyde could run from the law,
it's time to learn whether they left anything behind.
We climb back in to our modern car
to find the rumored cave
which Stewart think could be an undiscovered hideout.
Clyde Barrow covered a lot of miles here in Texas,
but his record wasn't spotless.
On one occasion he crashed
and Bonnie's leg was so badly burned by battery acid
that for a time Clyde had to carry her.
Our own route, takes us
to the eastern part of the state.
And after a few hours we turn off on to dirt roads,
which lead, wherever this is.
[Stewart] This is all the road we got.
-[Josh] Okay, into the woods. Here we go, -In to the woods we go.
[Josh] We hike on to the property
rumored to have once been a hideout for Bonnie and Clyde.
As to the cave that's supposed to be here,
well, we haven't seen it.
-[Stewart] It's a very, very deep drop there. -Very cliff.
-[Stewart] Watch your footing here. -Yeah.
-[Stewart] Okay. Got it? -Yeah.
-You have water down here? -Yeah, well, there's a creek.
Looks like a spring creek actually.
-Nice protected gully down here. -Yeah, absolutely.
-What I mean, what a hideout, huh? -Totally. Okay.
-Good place to start searching. -Let's do it.
[Josh] This creek would have been
a necessary water source for the Barrows
if they hid in this area.
We start scanning the creek bed with metal detectors
in case they left any artefacts behind.
[detector beeps]
I hear metal.
Hey, Stewart!
-Yeah, Josh? -Come here, look at this.
What'd you got?
Thought I had a beer can. But I don't think so.
-See this? -Oh, wow, Josh, what is it?
This is old. Look at the...
This is really old. This is not something you buy today.
[Stewart] It's a food can, too.
[Josh] I don't know let's see what's written on it.
"Important. Stir well before using."
So, maybe soup? Maybe oil, maybe, who knows.
[Stewart] Hey, Josh, hold on. There's a hole right there, what is that?
-[Josh] Is that what I think it is? -Hold on,
-is that a bullet hole? -Is that a bullet hole?
It sure looks like it.
[Josh] Look, there's the exit. Wow!
That is a bullet hole.
-That is for sure a bullet hole. -There's no doubt about it.
-I mean look at that. -[Josh] Look at that,
-and you can see the exit at the back. -Yeah. Exactly.
Straight through.
We know that Bonnie and Clyde practiced shooting.
-[Josh] They did? -We know, that's documented. Yes.
-So this could be a little target practice. -Absolutely it could be.
[Josh] It's an intriguing find.
And we waste no time scanning the rest of the creek bed for more evidence.
-Ha! Stewart! -[Stewart] Oh, wow!
-Look at this! -Josh, is that a cave?
-[Josh] We got a cave! -Whoo!
-[laughs] -[Josh] Yes!
So, according to family stories, local legends
Bonnie and Clyde hid out right there.
[Stewart] The locals call it the Bonnie and Clyde cave.
Okay, let's get the lights. Come on.
Okay. After you.
-[Stewart] Oh, wow. -Oh, my word!
Ah, it's huge!
[Stewart] Josh, this is a huge chamber.
What do you think, it's 70, 80 feet up there?
[Josh] I mean, it's gigantic.
-[rustling] -What's that noise?
Josh, I think those are bats.
-[Josh] Those are definitely bats, -Yep.
Okay. Well, we got some
-circumstantial evidence outside... -Absolutely.
Little metal detecting in here
-to see what it looks like? -Yep, let's do it.
Let's search the place. See if they have left anything behind.
-[Stewart] Okay. -Come on.
Stewart and I branch out to explore the cave for signs of habitation.
Stewart, I got an old burned piece of wood here.
So, somebody was having a fire here.
Somebody was cooking in here, probably.
-Josh, does it look old? -Very old.
It's really brittle, dried out.
-And just burned to a crisp. -Wow, okay.
That's exactly what we are looking for.
What's that?
[Stewart] Got something?
Yeah, I don't know what it is. It might be junk.
-What is that? -What is that?
[Josh] I don't know. Is that wood?
[Stewart] It sure looks like wood.
I don't know. It's very light.
[Josh] I don't think it is wood.
At first I thought it was, I thought it was burned.
But the texture is wrong. It's like rubber.
[Stewart] Ah, okay.
-You see that? -[Stewart] Yeah.
-[Josh] Looks like, uh... -Yeah.
-It's a really brittle... Yeah. -[Stewart] Like rubber, yeah.
-[Josh] Oh, there's a writing. -There's a writing on it, too.
"BG...
BA..."
[Stewart] "BFG"?
"BFGoodrich." I can see it.
-"Goodrich." -Yep.
-[Josh] "BFGoodrich." -Yep.
-[Josh] This is from a tire. -This is from a tire.
[Josh] This now vintage logo
was common in Bonnie and Clyde's day.
That's because Henry Ford selected BFGoodrich
to supply tires for many of his vehicles.
We are talking about a gang here,
synonymous with getaway cars.
-I mean this would make Clyde Barrow famous. -Right.
-Yeah. -And here we have
-a piece of a classic American tire. -Right.
-In a cave associated with Bonnie and Clyde. -Crazy.
[Josh] We searched the rest of the cave
but the tire is all that's in here.
Or so, we think.
Oh, my, gosh, Josh!
-What did you find? -Come here. Check this out.
-What? -Do you see what I see? Right there.
-"CB" -Holy [bleep]! Is that possible?
-[Josh] "CB" -"CB."
-Clyde Barrow? -Clyde Barrow.
[Josh] In a lonely cave,
hidden in the wilds of Eastern Texas,
retired FBI agent Stewart Fillmore and I
have just found a stunning clue
in the hunt for a Bonnie and Clyde hideout.
"CB." Maybe Clyde Barrow, okay.
But it's also known back in the '30s,
they weren't often referred to Bonnie and Clyde,
they were sometimes referred to as the Barrow Gang
or Clyde and Bonnie.
[Josh] I mean could that really be their initials?
It's definitely old. I mean, you could see
-how weathered this rock is. Right? -Yes.
-And you can see how weathered the letters are. -Yep.
Is there any way that we can actually demonstrate it is theirs?
You could do handwriting analysis.
I mean, you know, we need some good pictures of this.
This is carved into rock, which is a different process,
-obviously to writing, but... -You never know.
[Stewart] ...it's worth a try.
All right, let me get the camera.
[Josh] This area, with evidence of gunplay,
remains of a period car tire
and now telltale initials
is a promising new pushpin
for Stewart's Bonnie and Clyde map.
And knowing Stewart as I do,
I have no doubt that he will be as dogged as the Feds were in their day
to find more of Bonnie and Clyde story.
Are you sure we should get out of here
before the sun goes fully down?
I think so, unless you want to be a meal for the bats.
We're leaving, come on.
[Josh] Stewart though isn't the only one
who's been scouring the historical record
for signs of Bonnie and Clyde.
An eminent metal detectorist
has rediscovered a forgotten tip.
A clue to the whereabouts of a possible stash of buried Barrow Gang loot.
So, I bid farewell to Stewart
and pick up a new set of wheels,
making sure it's got a V-8.
I'm also meeting my new partner
if I can find her.
Says, meet her at 11311?
I'm like a strip-mall here.
Where's this place?
And I think I found it.
Okay, where is she?
[upbeat music playing]
I'm guessing that's her.
Need a lift?
-Are you going north? -I am now.
-All right, let's go. -Come on in.
I'm guessing you're Nikoline.
-I am. -I'm Josh.
-Nice to meet you. -Great to meet you.
You ready?
-Let's go. -Let's roll.
[upbeat music playing]
[Josh] Nikoline Bohr is a metal detectorist
who works all over the world.
Originally from Denmark,
she's now set her sights on a uniquely American story,
Bonnie and Clyde.
Okay, so where are we going?
Iowa.
-Iowa? -Mm-hmm.
Okay, isn't that like, 500 miles from here?
Yeah, more like 700.
Okay, well, we're gonna need gas.
Why are we going to Iowa?
-Well, there this place called Dexfield Park in Iowa... -Okay.
...where there was a huge shoot out
between Bonnie and Clyde,
their gang and local law enforcement.
Okay.
[Josh] On July 24th, 1933,
the Barrow Gang goes up against an Iowa posse
and while Bonnie and Clyde managed to get away,
Clyde's brother Buck and his wife Blanche Barrow
are captured by police.
By researching documents about the shootout,
Nikoline has determined that Bonnie and Clyde
left behind more than just their relatives.
So, after Blanche was arrested,
she told the cops they had buried a loot
from a bank robbery in the woods.
So, maybe it's still in the ground.
-Okay, so it's Iowa. -It's Iowa.
Okay, here we go.
[classical music playing]
[Josh] To get to Iowa we'll be following
the same route as Bonnie and Clyde
on a 700-mile road trip
through the American heartland,
and towns large and small,
occasionally both at the same time.
-There it is, the Eiffel Tower. -Oh, wow.
Wait, why is it wearing a cowboy hat?
It's Texas, it's required.
Oh.
Like the one in France used to have...on it.
-Blew off in the war. -I'm sure it did.
[Josh] When you've got 700 miles of open road in front of you,
it's important to keep yourself fueled as well as your car.
-Ooh! Hey! -What've we got?
A PLT for me and fried bologna for you.
Fried bologna?
Yeah, Bonnie and Clyde's favorites.
Yeah, the 1930s.
[chuckling] It was also their last meal before they were killed.
Perfect.
That's a... that's a good omen then.
Here we go. All right, Stateline coming up.
You know when you cross a Stateline
on a road trip you have to honk?
-You ready? Here we go. -Yeah.
-Three, two-- -How do I honk?
How do you? Are you from Denmark or Venus?
-[honks] -There we go!
-[Nikoline] Come on! -Stateline! We're in Oklahoma!
[Nikoline] Very good.
-It looks a lot like Texas I know. -That's nice.
[Josh] In Oklahoma we connect with America's most famous highway,
first established in 1926.
What John Steinback called the "Mother Road," Route 66.
♪ Well, I'm rolling down the highway like a...♪
♪ I feel like riding... ♪
♪ Hard lane, hard road ...busier town ♪
-Hey, nice hat. -Thank you.
-I got one for you, too, Clyde! -Thanks.
-Also I stole them, come on! -What?
[Josh] Before commercial air travel,
Route 66 was the way to get between Chicago and Los Angeles.
Three hundred and fifty miles into our trip to Iowa,
we are halfway there
as we roll into Joplin, Missouri,
90 or so years after Bonnie and Clyde.
When they come through here in early 1933,
they've got the law on their tail
after a series of car thefts,
robberies and murders in Texas.
The gang lays low at an apartment here,
but on April 13th, they're reported for a noise disturbance,
and killed two police officers while getting away.
Among the possessions they leave behind
are several rolls of film.
When developed these photos make frontpage news,
introducing the whole world to images of Bonnie and Clyde,
lovers, with a lot of firepower.
From Joplin we follow the echo of Bonnie and Clyde north through Platte City.
It's here the gang nearly meets their demise.
Thirteen armed law men
surround a cabin they're renting.
Blanche Barrow is blinded in one eye,
and her husband, Buck, is shot in the head,
but makes it into the getaway car.
Buck lives?
-Yeah, surprisingly they all do. -Wow.
And the press love it.
They keep talking about Clyde's heroics.
-How he saved Bonnie once again. -Right.
But in reality they are in terrible shape.
And why did they go to Iowa?
They couldn't go back to Kansas City.
So, they fled north and they ended up in Iowa.
[Josh] After a dozen hours behind the wheel,
we roll into the city of Dexter, Iowa,
population 643.
This is where Nikoline believes
Bonnie and Clyde may have buried a cache of stolen loot.
Loot with historical value
that could be in the millions today.
-Take a right off here. -Okay.
Pull over, right up here.
-Where here? -Yeah, yeah, pull over right here.
Okay.
-[Nikoline] We're here. -We're here?
-This is it? -[laughs] This is, uh...
This is as close as we can get a car to the site.
-We're on foot from here? -Not exactly.
[exclaims]
It's not quite Clyde's V-8 but I'll take it!
-I think it's great! -Ah-ha!
[upbeat music playing]
Ha-ha! Whoo!
-This way? -Yeah, just keep going straight.
[Josh] In July of 1933,
Bonnie and Clyde, along with the rest of the Barrow Gang,
flee to this area and hastily set up a camp
to avoid capture.
So at this point we are talking about Bonnie and Clyde,
-W.D., Buck and Blanche. -Yeah.
And paint me a picture what kind of shape they are.
They are in a horrible shape.
[Josh] Bonnie's leg is still suffering
the effects of a car crash.
Blanche is blind in one eye,
and then there's Buck,
whose head is still wide open from a gunshot wound
he received in Platte City.
And Buck is still alive somehow.
Uh, they poured hydrogen peroxide on his open brain wound.
-[Josh] So, they're messed up. -Totally.
[Josh] A local tips off the cops to the gang's presence,
and in the early morning of July 24th, 1933,
a large local posse forms quickly
and descends on the site.
Then all hell breaks loose.
When the dust settles,
Clyde has been shot, so is Bonnie.
Buck has caught yet another bullet.
And gang member W.D. Jones is hit as well.
Somehow, Bonnie and Clyde along with W.D.,
manage to steal a car from a nearby barn
and escape.
Blanche and Buck aren't as lucky.
They're caught and Buck finally dies shortly thereafter.
[Nikoline] All right, pull up right here.
By this tree.
-In here? -Yeah.
[Nikoline] We made it.
-This is it? -Yeah.
All right. So, the shootout happened here?
-Around here somewhere. -Around here? Okay.
All right. Should we start searching?
-Let's go. -Come on.
[Josh] We grab our metal detectors to explore
where Barrow Gang and cops went to war.
[upbeat music playing]
[beeping]
[beeping continues]
Okay.
-[taps] -Oh!
-[tapping continues] -Somethin' there.
-Nikoline! -Yeah?
-Come here. -What did you find?
-Bonnie and Clyde's treasure. -Really?
It feels like a-- Here listen.
-[taps] -[Nikoline] Sounds flat.
I think it is. I think it's like a flat...
plate or something?
[Nikoline] That sounds like iron.
Yeah, like an iron lock box full of treasure.
[Nikoline] You want a bigger shovel?
Listen, don't-- Don't go shaming me.
-This is a perfectly good shovel. -Yeah.
-Yours is bigger and-- -Give it a shot.
-That's a better shovel than mine. -Hmm-hmm.
Oh, here it is!
It's right there.
[Nikoline] It is flat.
Would you look at that?
[Josh] Okay. This is definitely iron.
It could piece of farm equipment, who knows.
But I don't think we can connect this to Bonnie and Clyde.
-Here we go. -All right.
[music playing]
[Josh] It's an enormous area to cover,
and after hours of crisscrossing the field
it finally pays dividends.
[beeping]
I got a weird hit here.
What is it?
I don't know. It's kinda jumpy.
I'll check it out.
I got a weird cap down here.
I don't know, first I thought
it was like, from a beer bottle
-but I don't think so. -[Nikoline] I'll come look.
[Josh] Oh, that's glass.
Some glass. Hey, check this out!
[Nikoline] What'd you have?
Super old glass... Come here, look at this.
-Ah, awesome, isn't it intact? -Yeah.
I mean, what's really maddening is, look, there's little bits of paper
still adhered to this but it's all--
I think it's got writing on it.
-[Josh] It's just all destroyed. -Yeah.
[Josh] And then there's cap.
[Nikoline] This is like... early 1900's, right?
-[Josh] Totally. -Yeah.
[Josh] But it's not a beer. Look at that.
Definitely more of a pharmaceutical?
-You think so? It's a medicine bottle? -Yeah.
I... I'd say so.
[Josh] I mean this is old glass.
Do you think that's one of their medicine bottles?
Could that have had hydrogen peroxide in it?
-[Josh] That would be amazing. -That would be really cool.
[Josh] Let me do a search here.
-So, it's a company called Parke-Davis... -Hmm.
And it is...
pharmaceutical company.
So, it's medicine probably, of some kind.
Mid-19th through the 20th century.
-Old medicine bottle for sure. -Awesome.
It would be really cool if it's hydrogen peroxide.
-[Josh] Right. -Yeah.
[Josh] Parke-Davis was America's oldest drug maker.
Manufacturing bottles of various medicines
during the exact time period the gang was here,
including a match for this particular bottle that held, you guessed it,
hydrogen peroxide.
What if this was from the Barrow Gang's stash?
Wouldn't that be so fun.
Imagine if that was poured on Buck's head?
That's amazing.
[Josh] With remarkable evidence
from the time of Bonnie and Clyde in hand
we return to our search with a vengeance.
-[beeping] -Oh, I got a hit.
-Yeah, I got one, too. -You do?
Yeah, and it's really nice sounding.
All right, two more hits. You ready?
-Yeah, let's see what it is. -Let's see what it is.
[beeping continues]
[music playing]
Passing the town of Van Meter, Iowa.
Did you know that town has a monster in it?
1903, terrified residents, Van Meter, Iowa.
Reported encountering a giant bat-like creature.
-Really? -It's all true. Had a horn.
And a shot light out if it's forehead.
Wow.
[phone ringing]
Hold on, I got somebody on the phone for you.
[woman on phone] Hello.
Jess Chobot, how are you?
Good. How are you?
I'm in the car, and I just drove past the exit for Van Meter, Iowa.
I was telling my friend, Nikoline, here
there's a monster in that town and she didn't believe me.
There is, right?
Yes, there's a monster in that town.
What do you think it was?
I thought it might have been some sort of a
escaped zoo monster.
-[gasps] -By zoo monster
you just mean animal, right?
Yeah, exactly, an animal.
Jess, as always, thank you very much.
Have fun. Bye.
Told you, escaped laser bear.
-Really? -With wings.
[upbeat music playing]
[Josh] Something right here.
-[Nikoline] What is it? -I don't know.
What have you got?
-Shotgun shell. -Nice!
What kind?
I don't know. Let's see.
So this is a "U.M.C. Co."
-"New--" -Is it a New Club?
"New Club," that's right.
"U.M.C. Co. New Club"
Ten. It's a ten gauge.
[Josh] The Union Metallic Cartridge Company
manufactured these New Club ten gauge shells
in the 1890s and very early 1900s.
Clyde had a ten gauge, right?
He did. He had 1901 sort of Winchester.
I mean, that's... That's crazy.
What do you have?
I'm not sure yet. Hold on.
What'd you think?
-[Josh] Lead? -It is?
-Is this a slug? -I think so.
-[Josh] This is a slug from a shotgun. -Mm-hmm.
-This is like old... -Lead.
Lead one ounce slug.
So we got a shot gun shell over that way
-that we know is period. -Hm-mmm.
And now we've got a slug.
Now, we know that the cops, the posse,
-they were coming from the high ground here. -Yeah.
And they were shooting down at the gang
-that were camped down here, right? -Correct.
So, it maybe that the reason we are seeing shells up here
is that they're firing down this hill.
And maybe the slugs are return fire.
It's quite possible.
And we could be looking at both sides of the shootout right now.
That's incredible.
[Nikoline] Absolutely.
If this is from that event it's historically significant,
and probably valuable as well.
You know, I mean, an actual bullet
from Bonnie and Clyde's shootout, imagine that?
I mean, not many people have the pleasure of
-getting to find something like that. -Crazy.
So there's a great chance
this was either fired by or fired at,
-Bonnie and Clyde. -Absolutely.
That is so cool.
-Hey, nice work. -Yeah.
[Josh] Awesome job.
Look at you. Lethal weapon.
-Let's see what else there is. -Let's see what else there is.
[upbeat music playing]
[Josh] We scan the field until the sun begins to set,
overjoyed to have located probable remnants
of that fateful day when Bonnie and Clyde came to Iowa.
Turning to Stewart's investigation,
handwriting analysis of the initials on the wall
do show similarities to the way
Clyde penned his name.
Especially the hook on letter C.
This, combined with the Depression era car tire,
are indicators that this may well be a lost Barrow Gang hideout.
As to Bonnie and Clyde themselves,
about ten months after the shootout in Iowa,
they reached the end of the road.
On the morning of May 23rd, 1934,
legendary Texas ranger, Frank Hamer,
has assembled a posse in the woods,
alongside the Louisiana Highway 154.
Bonnie and Clyde never see them coming.
[gunshots]
A 120 rounds hit the car.
They don't get a single shot off in return.
It was the end of a love story
that began only four years before in West Dallas.
The tale of Bonnie and Clyde can be framed as a romance.
But we should have no illusions
about who they really were.
After all Bonnie and Clyde didn't have any.
They sowed violence and reaped the whirlwind.
And it was all according to plan.
To quote Bonnie's poem, "The Trails End."
[reading]
In a cruel, or perhaps
fitting twist of fate,
they weren't buried together after all.
Bonnie's mother saw to that.
And for all the guns
and the bloodshed and the mayhem,
Clyde ended up right here,
in an overgrown cemetery in West Dallas
right back in the gritty neighborhood
that he and Bonnie fought
so desperately to escape.
Just two kids from the wrong side of the bridge,
dead at 25 and 23,
but also immortal.