1 00:00:03,670 --> 00:00:06,920 - Tonight, a fortune worth hundreds of billions 2 00:00:06,965 --> 00:00:10,835 of dollars plundered by Japan during World War II. 3 00:00:10,886 --> 00:00:12,636 - Artwork, priceless treasures, 4 00:00:12,679 --> 00:00:16,929 a hundred billion or more in gold and silver alone. 5 00:00:16,975 --> 00:00:19,305 - It’s whereabouts are still unknown 6 00:00:19,353 --> 00:00:21,063 and shrouded in mystery. 7 00:00:21,104 --> 00:00:23,064 - The Philippines is 7,000 plus islands. 8 00:00:23,106 --> 00:00:25,146 You can’t think of a better place to hide things. 9 00:00:25,192 --> 00:00:27,692 - Now we explore the top theories 10 00:00:27,736 --> 00:00:30,776 about this infamous, missing treasure. 11 00:00:30,781 --> 00:00:33,161 - The United States government would be very interested 12 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:34,700 in finding out where this gold was. 13 00:00:34,701 --> 00:00:36,661 - [Stephanie] These aren’t just treasure hunters, 14 00:00:36,703 --> 00:00:38,622 these are CIA agents. 15 00:00:38,622 --> 00:00:40,752 - The Marcoses aren’t really doing a great job 16 00:00:40,791 --> 00:00:42,211 of trying to hide the fact 17 00:00:42,251 --> 00:00:43,841 that they suddenly have a bunch of money. 18 00:00:43,877 --> 00:00:46,207 - In retrospect, how did they get so rich? 19 00:00:46,255 --> 00:00:47,715 Nobody was asking that question. 20 00:00:47,756 --> 00:00:52,046 - What really happened to the lost gold of World War II? 21 00:00:52,094 --> 00:00:55,104 (suspenseful music) 22 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,900 It’s the spring of 1942, 23 00:01:08,902 --> 00:01:11,112 just a few months after Pearl Harbor. 24 00:01:12,072 --> 00:01:14,162 War is raging in the Pacific. 25 00:01:16,368 --> 00:01:19,408 Japan’s vast empire stretches from Manchuria 26 00:01:19,454 --> 00:01:21,004 through Southeast Asia 27 00:01:21,039 --> 00:01:23,419 all the way to the Solomon Islands, 28 00:01:24,209 --> 00:01:26,339 and in every territory it conquers, 29 00:01:26,378 --> 00:01:29,708 Japanese forces seize a fortune. 30 00:01:29,756 --> 00:01:32,176 - The Japanese are actually meticulous in their ability 31 00:01:32,217 --> 00:01:36,387 to extract wealth and they do so at every level. 32 00:01:36,430 --> 00:01:39,680 So not only will they go after things like national banks 33 00:01:39,725 --> 00:01:43,395 and depositories of gold bullion and silver bars, 34 00:01:43,437 --> 00:01:45,857 but they will also raid individual houses 35 00:01:45,897 --> 00:01:49,317 to amass enormous stockpiles of jewelry 36 00:01:49,359 --> 00:01:52,899 and other symbols of wealth and value. 37 00:01:52,946 --> 00:01:55,566 - Think about the entire national treasure 38 00:01:55,616 --> 00:01:57,446 of 13 countries. 39 00:01:57,492 --> 00:02:00,202 This is a lot of value, a lot of money. 40 00:02:01,038 --> 00:02:04,118 The value of what’s estimated that the Japanese looted 41 00:02:04,166 --> 00:02:07,876 is between 60 and a 100 billion dollars 42 00:02:07,919 --> 00:02:10,419 in 1945 dollars. 43 00:02:10,464 --> 00:02:12,764 You know what that translates to? 44 00:02:12,799 --> 00:02:15,389 Between three and $5 trillion today. 45 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,600 - [Laurence] In March of 1942, Japan has another conquest 46 00:02:20,682 --> 00:02:25,272 in its sites, the US territory of the Philippines. 47 00:02:25,312 --> 00:02:27,652 - The Japanese going to very quickly sweep south 48 00:02:27,689 --> 00:02:29,569 toward the capital of Manila. 49 00:02:29,608 --> 00:02:31,898 There they’re going to run into elements 50 00:02:31,902 --> 00:02:34,282 of the United States army that’s been in placed 51 00:02:34,363 --> 00:02:37,663 under Douglas MacArthur to try to halt their advance. 52 00:02:37,699 --> 00:02:39,489 But before that happens, 53 00:02:39,534 --> 00:02:42,044 MacArthur and his headquarters team are ordered 54 00:02:42,079 --> 00:02:45,959 by President Roosevelt to withdraw from the Philippines. 55 00:02:45,999 --> 00:02:49,459 - So the Philippines will fall in 1942 56 00:02:49,503 --> 00:02:51,463 and MacArthur will have to evacuate. 57 00:02:51,505 --> 00:02:53,465 So he will leave the Philippines. 58 00:02:53,507 --> 00:02:55,257 He makes his sort of famous promise. 59 00:02:55,300 --> 00:02:56,840 I will return, I will be back, 60 00:02:56,885 --> 00:02:58,965 back to help you against the Japanese. 61 00:03:00,263 --> 00:03:02,473 - In some ways, the Philippines is the perfect place 62 00:03:02,516 --> 00:03:05,686 for the Japanese to amass a lot of the loot 63 00:03:05,727 --> 00:03:09,307 that they’re pulling off of the mainland of Asia. 64 00:03:09,356 --> 00:03:10,686 And that’s because the Philippines 65 00:03:10,732 --> 00:03:12,532 is an island location. 66 00:03:12,567 --> 00:03:14,527 It’s a very easy transshipment point. 67 00:03:14,569 --> 00:03:16,909 There’s a lot of great ports and harbors 68 00:03:16,947 --> 00:03:20,617 and there’s no possibility of an enemy overrunning 69 00:03:20,659 --> 00:03:22,119 any of those storage depots. 70 00:03:22,202 --> 00:03:24,452 And so what they’re gonna do is they’re going to consolidate 71 00:03:24,496 --> 00:03:26,536 the material that they’re stealing 72 00:03:26,581 --> 00:03:28,751 in a few specific locations 73 00:03:28,792 --> 00:03:30,592 and then they’re going to transship it 74 00:03:30,627 --> 00:03:32,087 directly back to Japan. 75 00:03:32,963 --> 00:03:36,883 - [Laurence] But by early 1943, a US submarine blockade 76 00:03:36,925 --> 00:03:40,135 has cut off the sea routes back to Japan’s home islands. 77 00:03:40,178 --> 00:03:43,428 The Japanese hold onto the Philippines, for now. 78 00:03:43,473 --> 00:03:45,893 - There’s still this hope among the Japanese 79 00:03:45,934 --> 00:03:48,444 that the Philippines will be one of the last things 80 00:03:48,478 --> 00:03:50,018 that will kind of fall. 81 00:03:50,063 --> 00:03:53,653 That they will continue to be able to control that at least. 82 00:03:53,692 --> 00:03:57,652 - [Laurence] By late 1944, the tides of war are turning. 83 00:03:57,696 --> 00:03:59,736 MacArthur makes good on his promise to return 84 00:03:59,781 --> 00:04:03,031 to the Philippines, arriving with 200,000 troops. 85 00:04:03,076 --> 00:04:06,866 His opponent, the notorious Japanese General, 86 00:04:07,456 --> 00:04:09,536 Tomoyuki Yamashita. 87 00:04:09,583 --> 00:04:12,093 - Yamashita is one of the great troubleshooters 88 00:04:12,127 --> 00:04:13,457 of the Japanese army. 89 00:04:13,503 --> 00:04:14,713 He’s widely perceived 90 00:04:14,755 --> 00:04:17,175 as one of its greatest field commanders. 91 00:04:17,215 --> 00:04:20,385 His job is to both enhance the defenses 92 00:04:20,427 --> 00:04:22,927 and make it as costly as possible 93 00:04:22,971 --> 00:04:24,931 for any potential American invasion. 94 00:04:24,973 --> 00:04:26,773 - They called him the Tiger of Malaya. 95 00:04:26,808 --> 00:04:29,228 What a great name, from his victory in Malaya. 96 00:04:29,269 --> 00:04:31,849 And what better a man to lead the defense 97 00:04:31,897 --> 00:04:33,357 of the Philippines than him. 98 00:04:34,357 --> 00:04:36,777 - [Laurence] According to some, fighting off the allies, 99 00:04:36,818 --> 00:04:38,738 wasn’t Yamashita’s only mission? 100 00:04:39,654 --> 00:04:41,824 - Some historians do suggest 101 00:04:41,865 --> 00:04:45,375 that it wasn’t just winning the war or staying 102 00:04:45,410 --> 00:04:46,580 and keeping hold the Philippines, 103 00:04:46,620 --> 00:04:49,460 it was also what to do with all of this wealth 104 00:04:49,498 --> 00:04:50,918 that he had accumulated. 105 00:04:50,957 --> 00:04:52,207 - If they’re gonna lose the Philippines, 106 00:04:52,250 --> 00:04:54,460 they have to hide this treasure somewhere 107 00:04:54,461 --> 00:04:57,051 where they can come back in the future for it. 108 00:04:57,088 --> 00:04:58,418 - [Laurence] The following summer, 109 00:04:58,465 --> 00:05:01,301 after the US drops two atomic bombs 110 00:05:01,301 --> 00:05:04,141 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 111 00:05:04,179 --> 00:05:06,509 Emperor Hirohito finally surrenders 112 00:05:06,556 --> 00:05:09,976 on August 15th, 1945. 113 00:05:10,393 --> 00:05:14,113 But Yamashita and his army take another 17 days 114 00:05:14,147 --> 00:05:17,897 to surrender, holding out in the mountains of Northern Luzon 115 00:05:18,902 --> 00:05:23,112 leading some to ask what were they doing during that time? 116 00:05:23,156 --> 00:05:24,656 - According to Sterling Seagrave, 117 00:05:24,699 --> 00:05:27,119 an author who’s an expert in this field, 118 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,700 a General Yamashita, was working in cahoots 119 00:05:29,746 --> 00:05:32,166 with an organization called the Golden Lily. 120 00:05:32,207 --> 00:05:33,787 Who was in the Golden Lily? 121 00:05:33,834 --> 00:05:36,464 Military strategists, economic experts, 122 00:05:36,503 --> 00:05:39,263 members of the Japanese royal family, 123 00:05:39,297 --> 00:05:43,257 they had the job to find, take and use, 124 00:05:43,301 --> 00:05:46,051 and ultimately hide all of this treasure. 125 00:05:49,975 --> 00:05:54,605 So 1943, tons of gold and treasure piling up in Manila 126 00:05:54,646 --> 00:05:59,146 and Emperor Hirohito hires his brother Prince Chichibu, 127 00:05:59,192 --> 00:06:02,452 to head the Golden Lily and to spearhead the operation 128 00:06:02,487 --> 00:06:04,157 of securing the treasure. 129 00:06:04,197 --> 00:06:06,697 - The Philippines is 7,000 plus islands. 130 00:06:06,741 --> 00:06:09,371 You can’t think of a better place to hide things. 131 00:06:09,411 --> 00:06:12,291 Prince Chichibu arranged this group to create locations 132 00:06:12,330 --> 00:06:14,540 to place these hundreds of tunnels. 133 00:06:14,541 --> 00:06:15,751 - And you can’t do this alone. 134 00:06:15,792 --> 00:06:17,292 You need thousands of laborers 135 00:06:17,335 --> 00:06:19,125 and the Japanese had plenty of them. 136 00:06:19,170 --> 00:06:21,590 - They would build these tunnels with allied forces. 137 00:06:21,631 --> 00:06:23,971 They would use American and Allied POWs 138 00:06:24,009 --> 00:06:26,219 and they would use enslaved Filipinos 139 00:06:26,261 --> 00:06:28,351 to construct these tunnels. 140 00:06:28,388 --> 00:06:31,598 - They were really complex so they weren’t just a tunnel 141 00:06:31,683 --> 00:06:34,983 underground, they were just massive. 142 00:06:35,020 --> 00:06:38,020 There were all kinds of little kind of secret ways 143 00:06:38,064 --> 00:06:41,034 and a lot of things designed to throw off anyone 144 00:06:41,067 --> 00:06:45,277 who might go underground who might discover the tunnels. 145 00:06:45,363 --> 00:06:48,033 - The defensive aspects of Japanese tunnels 146 00:06:48,074 --> 00:06:50,704 included booby traps and these could take the form 147 00:06:50,744 --> 00:06:52,044 of physical traps. 148 00:06:52,078 --> 00:06:54,038 So pits with spikes at the bottom of them. 149 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,880 Chemical weapon attacks, fragile containers full of cyanide. 150 00:06:57,918 --> 00:06:59,418 - They even used the water table 151 00:06:59,461 --> 00:07:01,001 so that when people would come in, 152 00:07:01,046 --> 00:07:02,256 the water tables could rise 153 00:07:02,297 --> 00:07:04,337 and the people in the caves would drown. 154 00:07:04,341 --> 00:07:08,391 Likely the last 17 days they would seal these entrances 155 00:07:08,428 --> 00:07:11,178 with concrete and then they’d let the jungle take over. 156 00:07:14,059 --> 00:07:15,769 - [Laurence] The story of buried treasure 157 00:07:15,810 --> 00:07:17,480 sounds like the stuff of myth, 158 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,650 but there’s at least one witness who says 159 00:07:19,689 --> 00:07:22,859 he survived the destruction of one treasure tunnel. 160 00:07:22,901 --> 00:07:27,071 - Decades later, a Filipino civilian Ben Valmores 161 00:07:27,113 --> 00:07:29,453 came forward, claimed he had information. 162 00:07:29,491 --> 00:07:32,541 - As a kid, at 14 he was hired to be the valet 163 00:07:32,577 --> 00:07:34,827 for Prince Takeda. 164 00:07:34,871 --> 00:07:37,831 So Valmores claims he was there when this massive tunnel 165 00:07:37,874 --> 00:07:41,461 was built that was 225 feet below the ground. 166 00:07:41,461 --> 00:07:44,131 And Yamashita says they want to have a party 167 00:07:44,172 --> 00:07:46,762 to celebrate the construction of this massive tunnel 168 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:50,430 and he tells all the engineers to go inside the tunnel. 169 00:07:50,470 --> 00:07:53,350 At that time, Prince Takeda calls Valmores out. 170 00:07:54,474 --> 00:07:55,734 He says, "No, you’re my valet come out. 171 00:07:55,767 --> 00:07:57,977 You don’t get to go to the party." 172 00:07:58,019 --> 00:07:59,769 They blow this thing up. 173 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:04,360 Everyone dies inside. 174 00:08:04,442 --> 00:08:06,112 So Prince Takeda saves Valmores, 175 00:08:06,152 --> 00:08:08,492 who is the witness to watching the Japanese kill 176 00:08:08,530 --> 00:08:11,570 their own engineers again to keep everything silent. 177 00:08:11,616 --> 00:08:13,656 - The Japanese were really interested in secrecy. 178 00:08:13,702 --> 00:08:16,702 They wanted to preserve what they had done, 179 00:08:16,746 --> 00:08:19,956 making it off limits knowledge-wise to the allies. 180 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,790 Anybody who knew about this gold was gone. 181 00:08:22,836 --> 00:08:23,876 - [Laurence] According to Seagrave, 182 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,340 the loot is so cleverly hidden, 183 00:08:26,381 --> 00:08:30,011 Golden Lily members will need maps to find it again. 184 00:08:30,051 --> 00:08:32,761 - Maps were produced in blue for the engineers 185 00:08:32,804 --> 00:08:35,314 who actually designed the various vaults 186 00:08:35,348 --> 00:08:36,848 throughout the Philippines. 187 00:08:36,891 --> 00:08:39,811 And then maps were designed in red 188 00:08:39,853 --> 00:08:42,403 to tell people how to find the treasure. 189 00:08:42,439 --> 00:08:44,399 And these maps would have flags 190 00:08:44,482 --> 00:08:46,902 that pointed in one direction if they were to be read 191 00:08:46,943 --> 00:08:48,993 in a mirror and in the other direction 192 00:08:49,029 --> 00:08:51,819 if they were to be read normally. 193 00:08:51,865 --> 00:08:55,085 - So even if you can read this map 194 00:08:55,118 --> 00:08:56,618 and you can find where the vault is, 195 00:08:56,661 --> 00:08:58,201 you could have the map upside down. 196 00:08:58,246 --> 00:08:59,656 You could have the map backwards 197 00:08:59,706 --> 00:09:02,626 and realize that you go the wrong place, you can die. 198 00:09:04,461 --> 00:09:06,671 - [Laurence] The cartographers supposedly draw up 199 00:09:06,713 --> 00:09:08,381 several copies of the maps 200 00:09:08,381 --> 00:09:10,681 which go only to the highest ranking members 201 00:09:10,717 --> 00:09:11,877 of the Golden Lily. 202 00:09:11,926 --> 00:09:13,676 - The Golden Lily was really counting on 203 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:15,350 keeping the Philippines for the peace talks, 204 00:09:15,388 --> 00:09:17,268 to allow ’em to go back and get the treasure 205 00:09:17,307 --> 00:09:19,057 to refund the imperialist army. 206 00:09:19,100 --> 00:09:20,350 They didn’t get that. 207 00:09:20,393 --> 00:09:22,062 So Japan has to keep not only the treasure 208 00:09:22,062 --> 00:09:24,022 in the Philippines now because they can’t transport it, 209 00:09:24,064 --> 00:09:26,114 they’ve gotta keep it secret. 210 00:09:26,149 --> 00:09:28,569 - [Laurence] But did Yamashita and his soldiers 211 00:09:28,610 --> 00:09:31,280 really hide billions in gold? 212 00:09:31,362 --> 00:09:34,741 - There are lots of maps to this gold in the Philippines 213 00:09:34,741 --> 00:09:36,241 that start cropping up, why? 214 00:09:36,284 --> 00:09:37,584 ’Cause everybody wants to go hunting for treasure. 215 00:09:37,619 --> 00:09:40,039 The question is, are these maps real? 216 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,620 - Ben Valmores claims that as Prince Takeda 217 00:09:42,665 --> 00:09:44,625 prepared to leave Japan, 218 00:09:44,667 --> 00:09:48,457 he approached him and gave him a satchel that included maps 219 00:09:48,505 --> 00:09:52,935 to 175 different treasure sites throughout the Philippines. 220 00:09:52,967 --> 00:09:54,927 - Takeda was on a submarine fleeing, 221 00:09:54,969 --> 00:09:56,929 and in case the submarine sunk, 222 00:09:56,971 --> 00:09:59,181 he wanted someone to know where the gold was. 223 00:10:00,058 --> 00:10:01,558 - So Prince Takeda goes back, 224 00:10:01,643 --> 00:10:05,943 he instructs Valmores to bury these maps, these 40 maps, 225 00:10:05,980 --> 00:10:08,070 and he does, he buries them in his backyard. 226 00:10:08,108 --> 00:10:09,978 Keep in mind that Prince Takeda saved his life 227 00:10:10,026 --> 00:10:12,446 when that tunnel was exploded, he called him out of there. 228 00:10:12,487 --> 00:10:15,777 And so maybe there’s a sense of duty on Valmores’ part. 229 00:10:15,782 --> 00:10:16,952 - It’s sort of weird, 230 00:10:16,991 --> 00:10:19,291 you think if he got these maps from Takeda 231 00:10:19,327 --> 00:10:21,367 that maybe he would’ve gone and dug one up 232 00:10:21,412 --> 00:10:23,122 and gone and gotten some gold 233 00:10:23,164 --> 00:10:25,924 and lived an immensely luxurious life, no. 234 00:10:25,959 --> 00:10:27,919 - [Laurence] Despite allegedly being in possession 235 00:10:28,002 --> 00:10:30,592 of so many of the Golden Lily’s maps, 236 00:10:30,630 --> 00:10:33,420 Valmores never seems to profit from them. 237 00:10:33,466 --> 00:10:36,426 - Publicly, Valmores never found anything, 238 00:10:36,469 --> 00:10:38,139 never became a rich man. 239 00:10:38,179 --> 00:10:39,809 - But think about it for a second. 240 00:10:39,848 --> 00:10:41,968 If you have a map and you find treasure, 241 00:10:42,016 --> 00:10:43,346 are you gonna tell anyone? 242 00:10:43,393 --> 00:10:44,643 I wouldn’t. 243 00:10:44,686 --> 00:10:47,096 (suspenseful music) 244 00:10:51,693 --> 00:10:53,493 (suspenseful music) 245 00:10:53,528 --> 00:10:55,698 - [Laurence] It’s the fall of 1945. 246 00:10:55,780 --> 00:10:57,530 The Pacific War is over, 247 00:10:57,615 --> 00:11:00,325 but the US maintains a strong military presence 248 00:11:00,368 --> 00:11:01,618 in the Philippines. 249 00:11:02,996 --> 00:11:05,496 America’s prime mission is to rebuild the country 250 00:11:05,540 --> 00:11:08,500 and provide relief for its suffering people. 251 00:11:08,543 --> 00:11:12,803 But there are also whispers of hidden gold. 252 00:11:12,839 --> 00:11:14,339 - Think about this. 253 00:11:14,382 --> 00:11:17,385 Estimates are that the value of just the gold between 60 254 00:11:17,385 --> 00:11:19,845 and a billion dollars in 1945 money 255 00:11:19,888 --> 00:11:23,888 that’s between three and $5 trillion today. 256 00:11:27,061 --> 00:11:30,231 - It’s a pretty history altering amount of wealth, 257 00:11:30,231 --> 00:11:31,731 if it does exist. 258 00:11:31,816 --> 00:11:34,316 And it wouldn’t just be Japan that would want it, 259 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,990 it might be other nations who might be interested 260 00:11:37,030 --> 00:11:38,410 in getting it as well. 261 00:11:41,075 --> 00:11:43,985 - [Laurence] According to some, President Truman is briefed 262 00:11:44,037 --> 00:11:47,077 on the Golden Lily hoards and orders the fortune 263 00:11:47,081 --> 00:11:49,331 to be found and seized. 264 00:11:52,921 --> 00:11:55,511 - There starts to be rumors that again soldiers, 265 00:11:55,548 --> 00:11:59,888 American soldiers know of perhaps former Japanese soldiers 266 00:11:59,928 --> 00:12:02,348 or people who knew Japanese soldiers 267 00:12:02,388 --> 00:12:04,518 who had heard about Yamashita’s wealth 268 00:12:04,557 --> 00:12:07,177 and they know someone who knows where to look for it. 269 00:12:07,227 --> 00:12:08,517 - [Laurence] According to this theory, 270 00:12:08,561 --> 00:12:11,361 Japanese officers looking for leniency 271 00:12:11,397 --> 00:12:13,357 begin sharing information 272 00:12:13,399 --> 00:12:16,359 about the Golden Lily’s top secret operation. 273 00:12:16,402 --> 00:12:18,612 That doesn’t mean they know exactly 274 00:12:18,696 --> 00:12:20,696 where the treasure filled tunnels are, 275 00:12:21,783 --> 00:12:24,743 but apparently there’s one prisoner who might. 276 00:12:24,744 --> 00:12:26,454 - The person that has the information, 277 00:12:26,537 --> 00:12:28,867 most information is Yamashita, who they have in custody. 278 00:12:28,915 --> 00:12:30,585 He is in prison in Manila. 279 00:12:30,625 --> 00:12:32,045 How do you get that information from him? 280 00:12:32,126 --> 00:12:34,086 You can’t torture him, it’d be a war crime. 281 00:12:34,128 --> 00:12:35,708 So US is trying to think what they can do 282 00:12:35,755 --> 00:12:37,255 to get this information. 283 00:12:37,298 --> 00:12:39,258 Yamashita will never give it up because in his eyes, 284 00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:41,300 this is the future of imperial Japan. 285 00:12:41,302 --> 00:12:44,932 - [Laurence] But Yamashita’s driver, Major Kojima Kashii 286 00:12:44,973 --> 00:12:46,813 is a much easier target. 287 00:12:48,142 --> 00:12:51,562 - Yamashita’s driver finds himself in a small dark cell 288 00:12:51,646 --> 00:12:53,806 being interviewed by a couple of OSS operatives, 289 00:12:53,898 --> 00:12:55,648 the precursor to the CIA. 290 00:12:55,733 --> 00:12:57,283 It wasn’t a good day for him. 291 00:12:58,152 --> 00:13:00,492 - According to Seagrave’s notorious American spook 292 00:13:00,571 --> 00:13:02,991 Edward Lansdale and a 293 00:13:03,074 --> 00:13:04,494 Filipino National by the name of 294 00:13:04,575 --> 00:13:06,785 Santa Romana, who is referred to 295 00:13:06,828 --> 00:13:08,658 generally as Santy, 296 00:13:08,663 --> 00:13:10,163 were the people who were involved 297 00:13:10,248 --> 00:13:12,828 in the torture of Yamashita’s driver. 298 00:13:12,834 --> 00:13:15,134 - So the driver cracks, big surprise. 299 00:13:15,169 --> 00:13:16,339 What’s he do? 300 00:13:16,421 --> 00:13:19,671 He leads Santy and Lansdale to a dozen or so 301 00:13:19,674 --> 00:13:22,974 of the more easily accessible treasure troves. 302 00:13:23,011 --> 00:13:24,431 What do they find? 303 00:13:24,470 --> 00:13:28,516 Gold bars, platinum bars, diamonds, gold Buddhas. 304 00:13:28,516 --> 00:13:32,686 They not literally, but figuratively find Fort Knox. 305 00:13:32,770 --> 00:13:35,440 - [Laurence] While Santy and his team are supposedly 306 00:13:35,481 --> 00:13:37,651 breaking open more vaults, 307 00:13:37,692 --> 00:13:40,692 Lansdale flies to Washington to brief President Truman 308 00:13:40,778 --> 00:13:42,358 about the find. 309 00:13:42,447 --> 00:13:43,657 - Truman consults with his cabinet 310 00:13:43,698 --> 00:13:45,948 and makes a really pivotal decision. 311 00:13:45,992 --> 00:13:47,792 He says like, we are gonna keep this. 312 00:13:47,827 --> 00:13:49,537 We are gonna keep all of this, 313 00:13:49,620 --> 00:13:51,870 but we’ve got to keep it under wraps. 314 00:13:51,873 --> 00:13:54,709 - You’re looking ahead to a cold war 315 00:13:54,709 --> 00:13:57,709 that the US is gonna be engaged in. 316 00:13:57,795 --> 00:14:02,375 And the fear of communist domination was at a fever pitch. 317 00:14:04,052 --> 00:14:08,062 Pragmatic approach is to say we have access to these funds, 318 00:14:08,139 --> 00:14:13,019 we can keep off the books to advance US democratic interests 319 00:14:13,061 --> 00:14:14,061 around the world. 320 00:14:15,063 --> 00:14:17,313 And why would we give that up? 321 00:14:17,357 --> 00:14:19,567 - To use this wealth, you have to keep it a secret. 322 00:14:19,650 --> 00:14:20,900 And what does that mean? 323 00:14:21,569 --> 00:14:23,649 It means silencing Yamashita. 324 00:14:24,197 --> 00:14:26,817 - [Laurence] On October 29th, 1945, 325 00:14:26,866 --> 00:14:29,406 an American military tribunal in Manila 326 00:14:29,494 --> 00:14:33,004 begins presenting its case against General Yamashita 327 00:14:33,039 --> 00:14:36,829 for war crimes relating to his campaign in the Philippines. 328 00:14:36,876 --> 00:14:38,836 It’s a controversial move. 329 00:14:38,878 --> 00:14:40,918 - So you think about how long these tribunals usually take. 330 00:14:41,005 --> 00:14:42,835 You think about like the Nazis that were brought up 331 00:14:42,882 --> 00:14:43,672 on trial. 332 00:14:43,716 --> 00:14:44,676 It takes a long time. 333 00:14:44,717 --> 00:14:45,927 Sometimes it takes decades. 334 00:14:46,010 --> 00:14:49,430 Yamashita’s trial is run through very, very fast. 335 00:14:49,430 --> 00:14:52,430 - [Laurence] Yamashita, once Japan’s outstanding general 336 00:14:52,433 --> 00:14:53,933 takes the stand. 337 00:14:54,018 --> 00:14:56,768 Before him witnesses have presented harrowing evidence 338 00:14:56,854 --> 00:14:59,364 of atrocities committed under his command. 339 00:14:59,399 --> 00:15:01,899 - The big question is what’s Yamashita’s guilty of? 340 00:15:01,943 --> 00:15:03,783 Yes, he was a Japanese general, 341 00:15:03,861 --> 00:15:06,280 but he is not on record ordering the death of, 342 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,116 for example, American POWs. 343 00:15:08,116 --> 00:15:14,036 - Yamashita himself says he was not aware of 344 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:16,040 half the stuff he was charged with. 345 00:15:16,082 --> 00:15:19,252 In his position and with the number of troops he oversaw, 346 00:15:19,293 --> 00:15:20,628 he couldn’t have been. 347 00:15:20,628 --> 00:15:23,088 - [Laurence] On December 7th, 1945, 348 00:15:23,131 --> 00:15:25,421 the four year anniversary of Pearl Harbor, 349 00:15:25,425 --> 00:15:27,385 they deliver their verdict. 350 00:15:27,427 --> 00:15:30,097 - The commission finds you guilty as charged 351 00:15:30,138 --> 00:15:33,388 and sentences you to death by hanging. 352 00:15:33,433 --> 00:15:36,233 - Yamashita is really the first commander 353 00:15:36,269 --> 00:15:38,559 to be held responsible for things 354 00:15:38,646 --> 00:15:41,066 that his men commit without him knowing it. 355 00:15:41,107 --> 00:15:44,647 And that feeds into this idea of why the execution? 356 00:15:44,735 --> 00:15:46,895 Well, if the government does want the money, 357 00:15:46,946 --> 00:15:48,066 you wanna keep him quiet 358 00:15:48,114 --> 00:15:51,624 and that’s how and why he is executed. 359 00:15:51,659 --> 00:15:53,619 - [Laurence] The notorious general is hanged 360 00:15:53,661 --> 00:15:56,751 on February 23rd, 1946. 361 00:15:56,789 --> 00:15:59,749 Whatever secrets he’s hiding about buried gold, 362 00:15:59,792 --> 00:16:02,292 go to his grave with him. 363 00:16:02,336 --> 00:16:05,006 - What happens to the wealth that supposedly 364 00:16:05,089 --> 00:16:06,969 as historians claim was collected 365 00:16:07,008 --> 00:16:08,588 by the United States government? 366 00:16:08,634 --> 00:16:09,844 Well it has to go somewhere. 367 00:16:09,927 --> 00:16:13,257 And that’s this secret banking society, 368 00:16:13,306 --> 00:16:17,346 this secret wealth container system, the Black Eagle Trust. 369 00:16:21,314 --> 00:16:22,524 - And according to the Seagraves, 370 00:16:22,607 --> 00:16:25,437 this is a trust which now houses all the funds 371 00:16:25,526 --> 00:16:26,936 of the loot seized from Yamashita, 372 00:16:26,986 --> 00:16:29,946 but also all the loots seized from the Nazis. 373 00:16:29,989 --> 00:16:31,529 And it wasn’t until decades later 374 00:16:31,616 --> 00:16:35,036 that a former deputy director of the CIA Ray Cline 375 00:16:35,036 --> 00:16:38,536 admits to Seagraves that this money 376 00:16:38,623 --> 00:16:43,293 was put into 176 different banks spanning 42 countries. 377 00:16:45,379 --> 00:16:47,879 Now a lot of historians will sort of question that idea. 378 00:16:47,965 --> 00:16:49,465 Was there really a Black Eagle Trust? 379 00:16:49,509 --> 00:16:51,219 Is this a conspiracy theory? 380 00:16:51,302 --> 00:16:55,222 But the reality is that when Santy, Santa Romana died, 381 00:16:55,223 --> 00:16:58,392 he left hundreds of millions of dollars. 382 00:16:58,392 --> 00:17:01,562 - Some historians say it was because he had access 383 00:17:01,646 --> 00:17:03,396 to the looted Yamashita Gold 384 00:17:03,397 --> 00:17:06,147 for his role that he was able to play in uncovering it. 385 00:17:06,192 --> 00:17:07,692 If you wanna question this theory 386 00:17:07,735 --> 00:17:10,895 or think about how truthful this is, 387 00:17:10,905 --> 00:17:12,907 one question would be, well, 388 00:17:12,907 --> 00:17:17,697 why does the United States care about keeping this secret? 389 00:17:17,703 --> 00:17:21,833 One explanation could be all of the logistic trouble 390 00:17:21,874 --> 00:17:24,844 that we would have to go through in admitting 391 00:17:24,877 --> 00:17:27,497 that this stuff came from victims of war. 392 00:17:27,547 --> 00:17:29,507 - This is the fruit of the poison tree. 393 00:17:29,549 --> 00:17:32,679 I didn’t steal the money, but it’s stolen money. 394 00:17:32,718 --> 00:17:34,888 You’re responsible and you’re accountable. 395 00:17:34,929 --> 00:17:37,509 So that’s why the US government would probably want to keep 396 00:17:37,557 --> 00:17:39,517 the existence of these billions and billions 397 00:17:39,559 --> 00:17:41,889 and billions of dollars, a state secret. 398 00:17:41,936 --> 00:17:43,726 It begs a very tantalizing question. 399 00:17:43,771 --> 00:17:47,571 If the US government got their hand on billions of dollars 400 00:17:47,608 --> 00:17:51,358 from 12 sites, what happened to the other 163? 401 00:17:51,445 --> 00:17:52,355 So what does that mean? 402 00:17:52,446 --> 00:17:54,566 Billions of dollars today, 403 00:17:54,615 --> 00:17:57,025 trillions of dollars could be sitting hidden in caves 404 00:17:57,076 --> 00:17:59,746 throughout the Philippines waiting to be discovered. 405 00:18:05,876 --> 00:18:07,286 (suspenseful music) 406 00:18:07,295 --> 00:18:08,805 - [Laurence] If in fact hundreds of millions of dollars 407 00:18:08,879 --> 00:18:11,299 in treasure was buried in tunnels in the Philippines 408 00:18:11,299 --> 00:18:13,589 during the end of World War II, 409 00:18:13,634 --> 00:18:15,594 then where did it go? 410 00:18:15,636 --> 00:18:18,136 Was it handed to a secret government slush fund 411 00:18:18,139 --> 00:18:21,976 as some believe or did it end up somewhere else. 412 00:18:21,976 --> 00:18:23,436 - Decades after the war, 413 00:18:23,477 --> 00:18:25,807 one of the most infamous dictators in world history 414 00:18:25,813 --> 00:18:28,323 in the 20th century, he becomes part of the story. 415 00:18:29,817 --> 00:18:32,647 - [Laurence] It’s 1986 and the eyes of the world 416 00:18:32,653 --> 00:18:34,113 are on the Philippines. 417 00:18:34,155 --> 00:18:38,955 As notorious dictator Ferdinand Marcos is overthrown 418 00:18:38,993 --> 00:18:40,953 in a popular uprising. 419 00:18:40,995 --> 00:18:43,255 - There’s a lot of complaints living under a dictator, 420 00:18:43,289 --> 00:18:46,629 but living under the Marcoses has a very specific complaint. 421 00:18:46,667 --> 00:18:50,337 While the Filipinos are living in abject poverty, 422 00:18:50,338 --> 00:18:51,958 Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, 423 00:18:52,006 --> 00:18:53,836 they’re living in the lap of luxury. 424 00:18:53,966 --> 00:18:56,636 - I vividly remember being a kid in the 1980s 425 00:18:56,677 --> 00:19:00,347 and reading about these million dollar shoe shopping sprees 426 00:19:00,431 --> 00:19:02,641 that Imelda Marcos went on. 427 00:19:02,683 --> 00:19:05,313 - The Marcos aren’t just rich, 428 00:19:05,353 --> 00:19:09,313 they’re significantly wealthier than most of the country. 429 00:19:09,357 --> 00:19:12,526 And the way they spend money is in complete contrast 430 00:19:12,526 --> 00:19:15,316 to the way that most Filipinos are living 431 00:19:15,363 --> 00:19:17,873 after World War II in the Philippines. 432 00:19:17,948 --> 00:19:20,448 - There’s the one story that they went to Rome on vacation 433 00:19:20,493 --> 00:19:22,453 and on the way back they had to turn the plane around 434 00:19:22,495 --> 00:19:23,875 because Imelda Marcos had forgotten 435 00:19:23,954 --> 00:19:26,044 that she wanted to buy a particular kind of cheese. 436 00:19:26,123 --> 00:19:28,376 - The Marcoses aren’t really doing a great job 437 00:19:28,376 --> 00:19:29,836 of trying to hide the fact 438 00:19:29,877 --> 00:19:31,545 that they suddenly have a bunch of money. 439 00:19:31,545 --> 00:19:33,045 The good only question comes, 440 00:19:33,047 --> 00:19:34,297 where’s that money coming from? 441 00:19:34,340 --> 00:19:37,218 It’s obviously not from his government salary. 442 00:19:37,218 --> 00:19:39,048 - [Laurence] There are accusations that Marcos 443 00:19:39,053 --> 00:19:42,890 and his cronies embezzled upwards of $10 billion 444 00:19:42,890 --> 00:19:45,059 from the Philippines treasury. 445 00:19:45,059 --> 00:19:47,349 But is there more to this story? 446 00:19:47,395 --> 00:19:50,365 Could their wealth in fact come from another source? 447 00:19:50,398 --> 00:19:54,735 - So if the Marcos are in charge of the Philippines, 448 00:19:54,735 --> 00:19:56,895 then they have such vast power in the Philippines. 449 00:19:56,987 --> 00:20:00,657 One explanation could be, were the Marcos are drawing 450 00:20:00,700 --> 00:20:03,040 from Yamashita’s gold. 451 00:20:03,077 --> 00:20:05,867 - [Laurence] If that’s the case, it all begs the question, 452 00:20:05,913 --> 00:20:09,923 how did the Marcoses get their hands on Yamashita’s gold? 453 00:20:14,422 --> 00:20:16,672 The Marcos chapter of the lost gold saga 454 00:20:16,716 --> 00:20:19,216 really begins in 1961, 455 00:20:19,260 --> 00:20:24,180 with the 17 year old boy named Rogelio Roger Roxas. 456 00:20:24,223 --> 00:20:26,183 - Enter Rogelio Roxas, 457 00:20:26,225 --> 00:20:29,385 who is born towards the end of the war in the Philippines. 458 00:20:29,437 --> 00:20:32,227 And keep in mind the Philippines is an impoverished country. 459 00:20:32,273 --> 00:20:34,113 Roxas is born into poverty, 460 00:20:34,191 --> 00:20:37,111 but he’s also born into the legend of this gold. 461 00:20:39,613 --> 00:20:45,623 - And he meets this Japanese man who claims to know 462 00:20:45,703 --> 00:20:49,543 from a Japanese soldier where Yamashita’s gold is located. 463 00:20:49,582 --> 00:20:53,382 So he claims to know of a site of one of these tunnels. 464 00:20:53,419 --> 00:20:55,629 He has a map and he knows where it is. 465 00:20:56,797 --> 00:20:58,467 - If he’s interpreting this map correctly, 466 00:20:58,549 --> 00:21:00,759 it says that one of the Golden Lily vaults 467 00:21:00,801 --> 00:21:02,761 is actually very close to his hometown of Baguio. 468 00:21:02,803 --> 00:21:04,763 In fact, right by the hospital. 469 00:21:04,805 --> 00:21:06,885 Roxas thinks he’s actually onto something. 470 00:21:07,767 --> 00:21:09,137 - [Laurence] In early 1970, 471 00:21:09,268 --> 00:21:13,438 Roxas gets a permit from a local judge to begin excavation. 472 00:21:13,481 --> 00:21:17,441 That judge’s name is P.O. Marcos. 473 00:21:17,485 --> 00:21:19,820 - Roxas didn’t really make the connection, 474 00:21:19,820 --> 00:21:24,160 but the judge that grants the excavating permit to Roxas 475 00:21:24,241 --> 00:21:26,951 is actually connected to the Marcos family. 476 00:21:26,994 --> 00:21:32,084 So he is part of, you know, this vast network of Marcos. 477 00:21:32,750 --> 00:21:37,500 It connects Roxas to Marcos and to Yamashita’s gold. 478 00:21:37,588 --> 00:21:42,008 So now Yamashita’s Gold is part of the Marcos story. 479 00:21:42,009 --> 00:21:43,929 - [Laurence] In May of 1970, 480 00:21:43,969 --> 00:21:46,639 Roxas and his team start hacking away 481 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,850 through dense vegetation near the hospital. 482 00:21:49,850 --> 00:21:52,480 - So after two months they find a cave. 483 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,310 While the bad news is about a hundred yards inside the cave, 484 00:21:55,356 --> 00:21:58,776 it’s caved in and it appears to have been dynamited shut. 485 00:21:58,818 --> 00:21:59,988 What does that mean? 486 00:22:00,027 --> 00:22:02,197 They’re gonna have to tunnel around it. 487 00:22:02,279 --> 00:22:06,199 - [Laurence] Weeks go by, the men are running out of money. 488 00:22:06,283 --> 00:22:08,453 - Treasure hunting, it’s like gambling. 489 00:22:08,494 --> 00:22:10,004 You’re sitting at a roulette wheel 490 00:22:10,037 --> 00:22:11,705 and you just can’t get up. 491 00:22:11,705 --> 00:22:13,825 It’s that last spade of dirt. 492 00:22:13,874 --> 00:22:16,464 It’s that last pass with the metal detector 493 00:22:16,502 --> 00:22:18,379 and that’s like Roxas. 494 00:22:18,379 --> 00:22:20,669 They’re about to quit and Roxas decides to give it 495 00:22:20,714 --> 00:22:22,383 one last look with his metal detector. 496 00:22:22,383 --> 00:22:23,343 And (makes buzzing sound), 497 00:22:24,635 --> 00:22:26,555 the metal detector senses something. 498 00:22:28,013 --> 00:22:29,973 - Full of adrenaline, they start digging and digging. 499 00:22:30,015 --> 00:22:31,515 They break through, they find, 500 00:22:31,559 --> 00:22:33,189 you know a whole chamber underneath them. 501 00:22:33,227 --> 00:22:35,727 - And they look down and what do they see inside? 502 00:22:35,729 --> 00:22:40,029 28 inch tall, golden Buddha, Burmese style. 503 00:22:40,067 --> 00:22:41,317 They’ve hit the jackpot. 504 00:22:42,903 --> 00:22:43,903 - The thing weighs a ton. 505 00:22:43,988 --> 00:22:45,488 It’s only this big. 506 00:22:45,531 --> 00:22:47,911 They get it up and they bring it back 507 00:22:47,992 --> 00:22:50,332 and he stores it in his closet 508 00:22:50,369 --> 00:22:51,869 because they want to get back to excavating 509 00:22:51,912 --> 00:22:53,332 and digging more. 510 00:22:53,372 --> 00:22:54,712 - [Laurence] That’s when Roxas claims 511 00:22:54,748 --> 00:22:56,918 to have bound another chamber, 512 00:22:57,001 --> 00:23:01,341 crammed with wooden boxes from floor to ceiling. 513 00:23:01,380 --> 00:23:05,340 - He opens one of the boxes, inside gold bars. 514 00:23:05,384 --> 00:23:07,554 And if Roxas is telling the truth, 515 00:23:07,595 --> 00:23:09,395 this is a massive quantity of treasure. 516 00:23:09,430 --> 00:23:11,010 It’s a mind blowing experience. 517 00:23:11,056 --> 00:23:13,846 It’s like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. 518 00:23:13,893 --> 00:23:15,273 This is too much gold to move in a day. 519 00:23:15,352 --> 00:23:17,442 They’re gonna go home, sell the Buddha 520 00:23:17,521 --> 00:23:19,231 and use the money to hire more workers 521 00:23:19,273 --> 00:23:20,773 and get more personnel. 522 00:23:20,774 --> 00:23:23,074 Go back up in the cave and get the rest of the gold. 523 00:23:23,110 --> 00:23:25,240 And Roxas of course wants to celebrate. 524 00:23:25,279 --> 00:23:26,906 He has his brother take a picture of him 525 00:23:26,906 --> 00:23:28,276 next to the Buddha. 526 00:23:28,407 --> 00:23:30,237 - We’ve got this picture of the one thing of Roxas 527 00:23:30,284 --> 00:23:33,287 with this golden Buddha and a prospective buyer comes 528 00:23:33,287 --> 00:23:35,367 and looks at it, test the gold 529 00:23:35,414 --> 00:23:37,794 and finds it is actually 22 karat. 530 00:23:37,875 --> 00:23:41,755 - [Laurence] The mysterious buyer offers Roxas a $160,000 531 00:23:41,795 --> 00:23:42,545 for the Buddha. 532 00:23:43,714 --> 00:23:45,634 Roxas says, he’ll think about it. 533 00:23:45,716 --> 00:23:47,296 - And as he’s thinking about it, 534 00:23:47,301 --> 00:23:49,761 he’s looking at this Buddha and he notices 535 00:23:49,803 --> 00:23:52,893 what just imperceptively looks like a fine liner 536 00:23:52,932 --> 00:23:54,472 on the neck of the Buddha. 537 00:23:54,558 --> 00:23:56,888 So he takes this and he looks at it and he starts to strike. 538 00:23:56,936 --> 00:23:58,476 It takes a fricking wooden stick 539 00:23:58,562 --> 00:24:01,442 and he starts hitting this thing until it comes loose, 540 00:24:01,482 --> 00:24:05,322 removes the head and inside are handfuls of diamonds, 541 00:24:05,402 --> 00:24:05,902 cut and uncut. 542 00:24:09,949 --> 00:24:12,579 - Is all that glitters in the Philippines really gold? 543 00:24:12,618 --> 00:24:16,118 More than 20 years after the Japanese Imperial Army 544 00:24:16,163 --> 00:24:17,963 surrenders the islands, 545 00:24:17,998 --> 00:24:21,418 Rogelio Roxas digs up what appears to be part 546 00:24:21,460 --> 00:24:23,960 of Yamashita’s legendary treasure. 547 00:24:24,046 --> 00:24:27,006 But just as Roxas is celebrating his find, 548 00:24:27,049 --> 00:24:31,009 the tale of the lost gold takes another dramatic twist. 549 00:24:33,305 --> 00:24:37,225 - April 5th, 1971, 2:30 am and there’s a knock at the door. 550 00:24:37,267 --> 00:24:39,847 Bad thing in the Philippines, opens the door, 551 00:24:39,895 --> 00:24:41,305 it’s the police. 552 00:24:41,397 --> 00:24:45,397 They come in, they arrest Roxas, they seize the statue, 553 00:24:45,442 --> 00:24:46,532 they later put him in jail. 554 00:24:46,568 --> 00:24:47,938 But guess who is there? 555 00:24:47,945 --> 00:24:50,785 The buyer and Roxas knows what’s going on, why? 556 00:24:50,823 --> 00:24:52,993 Because on the rifles there are these little red ribbons 557 00:24:53,033 --> 00:24:56,293 and that means palace guard, Ferdinand Marcos, 558 00:24:56,328 --> 00:24:57,698 who knows who’s behind this. 559 00:24:58,789 --> 00:25:01,289 (dramatic music) 560 00:25:01,333 --> 00:25:03,673 - And if you go back and realize that the permit originally 561 00:25:03,711 --> 00:25:06,591 came from P.O. Marcos who was related to Ferdinand Marcos, 562 00:25:06,630 --> 00:25:07,920 connect the dots and you realize 563 00:25:08,007 --> 00:25:09,297 that’s where their information came, 564 00:25:09,341 --> 00:25:11,051 then Marcos probably sent that buyer 565 00:25:11,093 --> 00:25:12,553 to make sure it was legit. 566 00:25:12,636 --> 00:25:15,596 Then the palace guards come and confiscate and arrest him. 567 00:25:15,639 --> 00:25:18,225 - [Laurence] Outraged, Roxas goes to the police 568 00:25:18,225 --> 00:25:20,805 and the media with his story. 569 00:25:20,853 --> 00:25:22,653 It’s not long before the word spreads 570 00:25:22,688 --> 00:25:25,188 of his treatment by Marcos. 571 00:25:25,232 --> 00:25:27,572 - When the Buddha is stolen from him, 572 00:25:27,609 --> 00:25:28,939 this is really heartbreaking. 573 00:25:28,986 --> 00:25:30,736 Again, it’s not just about the money, 574 00:25:30,779 --> 00:25:33,659 but what it meant to him and what it meant for being able 575 00:25:33,699 --> 00:25:35,739 to continue to search for the truth. 576 00:25:35,784 --> 00:25:37,744 - Everyone knows about Roxas and this Buddha. 577 00:25:37,745 --> 00:25:39,505 And so there’s this enormous public outcry 578 00:25:39,538 --> 00:25:41,788 when this happens ’cause he’s sort of a folk hero 579 00:25:41,832 --> 00:25:44,882 and Marcos decides to return the Buddha. 580 00:25:44,918 --> 00:25:47,548 But the Buddha that’s returned isn’t the same Buddha. 581 00:25:47,588 --> 00:25:49,338 Buddha that returned isn’t made of gold, 582 00:25:49,381 --> 00:25:50,171 it’s made of bronze. 583 00:25:50,215 --> 00:25:51,465 The head is stuck on. 584 00:25:51,550 --> 00:25:52,800 It’s just not the same Buddha that gives this like 585 00:25:52,843 --> 00:25:55,353 copycat Buddha to try to appease the public. 586 00:25:56,430 --> 00:25:58,180 - [Laurence] When Roxas speaks out, 587 00:25:58,223 --> 00:26:01,063 he’s arrested and spends the next two years in jail. 588 00:26:02,352 --> 00:26:06,312 - The guards then torture Roxas and all of his teammates. 589 00:26:06,356 --> 00:26:09,146 Roxas supposedly never breaks, which makes sense, 590 00:26:09,193 --> 00:26:10,863 being that driven as a treasure hunter. 591 00:26:10,903 --> 00:26:12,993 You’re not gonna break, that’s your life’s goal. 592 00:26:13,030 --> 00:26:15,160 But apparently one of his team breaks 593 00:26:15,199 --> 00:26:17,159 and gives up the location. 594 00:26:17,201 --> 00:26:19,161 - [Laurence] After Roxas is released from prison 595 00:26:19,203 --> 00:26:23,373 on November 19th, 1974, he finds soldiers 596 00:26:23,415 --> 00:26:27,375 standing outside tents near the Baguio General Hospital. 597 00:26:27,419 --> 00:26:30,049 - And the hospital staff later actually remembers seeing 598 00:26:30,089 --> 00:26:32,419 and they’ve reported seeing soldiers come out of the cave 599 00:26:32,466 --> 00:26:34,676 behind the hospital, carrying wooden crates 600 00:26:34,718 --> 00:26:36,428 and putting them in military trucks. 601 00:26:36,470 --> 00:26:38,350 They didn’t have to guess what was inside, 602 00:26:38,388 --> 00:26:40,348 ’cause some of these boxes they were rotten 603 00:26:40,390 --> 00:26:42,060 and they broke up and now they’re being carried. 604 00:26:42,101 --> 00:26:45,271 And what falls out, gold bars the size of cigarette boxes. 605 00:26:45,312 --> 00:26:46,982 - To give you an extent of how much gold 606 00:26:47,022 --> 00:26:51,032 we’re talking about, it’s 10 boxes a day going up every day 607 00:26:51,068 --> 00:26:51,988 for a year. 608 00:26:52,736 --> 00:26:55,106 - [Laurence] Roxas is certain Marcos’s soldiers 609 00:26:55,155 --> 00:26:57,945 have found his tunnel and stolen his treasure, 610 00:26:57,991 --> 00:27:01,791 but there’s nothing he can do, at least not for now. 611 00:27:02,913 --> 00:27:05,583 Meanwhile, Ferdinand Marcos is on the hunt 612 00:27:05,624 --> 00:27:09,504 for even more Golden Lily vaults. 613 00:27:09,545 --> 00:27:11,425 - Fast forward not long after this, 614 00:27:11,463 --> 00:27:13,723 Marcos allegedly gets his hand on something else. 615 00:27:13,757 --> 00:27:17,337 Not more treasure, but a full set of Golden Lily maps. 616 00:27:18,679 --> 00:27:21,349 So, remember those maps that Valmores had 10, 15 years ago? 617 00:27:22,266 --> 00:27:23,926 Maybe the same maps. 618 00:27:23,976 --> 00:27:26,016 - [Laurence] Allegedly Marcos uses these maps 619 00:27:26,061 --> 00:27:29,611 to successfully excavate five more tunnel complexes 620 00:27:29,648 --> 00:27:33,938 piled high with dizzying amounts of gold and jewels. 621 00:27:33,944 --> 00:27:36,914 - Ferdinand and Imelda constantly spend money 622 00:27:36,947 --> 00:27:39,067 and they do it with wild a abandon 623 00:27:39,116 --> 00:27:41,906 if it is connected to this hoard. 624 00:27:41,952 --> 00:27:43,622 Well that goes back to this idea 625 00:27:43,662 --> 00:27:46,212 of whose money are they actually spending. 626 00:27:46,248 --> 00:27:49,748 They’re not spending just Japanese captured goods, 627 00:27:49,793 --> 00:27:53,303 they’re spending goods that belong to all different people 628 00:27:53,338 --> 00:27:54,918 across the Pacific. 629 00:27:55,007 --> 00:27:56,677 - So if Marcos is gonna make this work, 630 00:27:56,717 --> 00:27:58,967 he’s gotta make this gold appear like it didn’t come 631 00:27:59,011 --> 00:28:01,601 from the Japanese, stolen from other countries. 632 00:28:01,638 --> 00:28:04,268 So Marcos hires a mining expert 633 00:28:04,308 --> 00:28:06,308 and a metallurgist named Robert Curtis. 634 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,650 - The theory is that one of the things 635 00:28:12,691 --> 00:28:15,361 that Robert Curtis was able to do for Marcos 636 00:28:15,402 --> 00:28:18,112 is to doctor the gold or make it seem 637 00:28:18,155 --> 00:28:19,825 through playing around with the properties 638 00:28:19,865 --> 00:28:22,125 that it did actually come from the Philippines 639 00:28:22,159 --> 00:28:23,869 and didn’t come from someplace else 640 00:28:23,911 --> 00:28:26,711 and wasn’t captured and brought to the Philippines. 641 00:28:26,747 --> 00:28:30,627 - [Laurence] But in 1986, Marcos’s plans change 642 00:28:30,667 --> 00:28:33,627 when over a million Filipinos take to the streets 643 00:28:33,670 --> 00:28:36,630 to protest his corrupt regime. 644 00:28:36,673 --> 00:28:40,343 On February 26th, 1986, 645 00:28:40,344 --> 00:28:43,474 the Marcos family flees the Philippines undercover 646 00:28:43,513 --> 00:28:46,933 of darkness and having been granted asylum 647 00:28:46,975 --> 00:28:50,395 by President Reagan take up a life of exile 648 00:28:50,437 --> 00:28:52,477 in Honolulu, Hawaii. 649 00:28:52,522 --> 00:28:54,022 - But when the Marcos flee, 650 00:28:54,024 --> 00:28:57,154 they leave behind a lot of mystery. 651 00:28:57,194 --> 00:29:00,454 There’s a lot of questions about what happened to 652 00:29:00,489 --> 00:29:02,069 you know the rest of Yamashita’s hoard. 653 00:29:02,115 --> 00:29:03,365 Is it still there? 654 00:29:03,408 --> 00:29:05,618 And that’s something that fuels Roxas. 655 00:29:05,661 --> 00:29:07,831 - Roxas is trying to figure out what he can do. 656 00:29:07,871 --> 00:29:10,291 He’s not gonna get the gold back. 657 00:29:10,332 --> 00:29:13,002 He decides to turn to the law and he files a civil suit 658 00:29:13,043 --> 00:29:15,303 in Hawaii against the Marcoses 659 00:29:15,337 --> 00:29:18,047 and the suit goes through the courts for years 660 00:29:18,090 --> 00:29:18,840 and years and years. 661 00:29:18,882 --> 00:29:20,382 It takes forever. 662 00:29:20,425 --> 00:29:23,335 - [Laurence] Meanwhile, Roxas’s lawsuit against the Marcoses 663 00:29:23,387 --> 00:29:25,347 takes another turn. 664 00:29:25,389 --> 00:29:26,599 - The suit’s still going on. 665 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,430 Roxas dies in a fairly suspicious manner. 666 00:29:29,476 --> 00:29:32,056 - Official cause of death is tuberculosis. 667 00:29:32,104 --> 00:29:35,774 But there are questions about how is it that he died. 668 00:29:36,984 --> 00:29:38,574 - According to his family, 669 00:29:38,610 --> 00:29:40,240 he never had any signs of symptoms of tuberculosis. 670 00:29:41,613 --> 00:29:42,953 - [Laurence] But despite his death, 671 00:29:42,990 --> 00:29:46,200 Roxas has one trump card still left to play. 672 00:29:46,243 --> 00:29:51,213 In 1993, the court hears Bob Curtis’s sworn testimony. 673 00:29:52,666 --> 00:29:54,166 - [Speaker] Can you raise your right hand to be sworn. 674 00:29:54,209 --> 00:29:55,789 Do you solemnly swear the testimony you’re about to give 675 00:29:55,836 --> 00:29:57,546 is constantly the truth, so help you God. 676 00:29:57,587 --> 00:29:59,007 - I do. 677 00:29:59,047 --> 00:30:00,627 - [Speaker 2] Your name again on the record please. 678 00:30:00,674 --> 00:30:02,934 - Robert H. Curtis. 679 00:30:02,968 --> 00:30:05,388 - [Laurence] Bob Curtis claims he was hired by Marcos 680 00:30:05,429 --> 00:30:08,009 to launder Yamashita’s gold. 681 00:30:08,056 --> 00:30:11,936 He testifies to seeing another item in Marcos’s possession, 682 00:30:11,977 --> 00:30:16,227 a solid gold Buddha with a removable head. 683 00:30:16,273 --> 00:30:20,613 The very same golden Buddha Roxas is photographed with. 684 00:30:20,652 --> 00:30:22,452 Curtis’s testimony helps the court 685 00:30:22,487 --> 00:30:24,027 to come to a final decision. 686 00:30:25,407 --> 00:30:29,157 In 1996, the court awards the Roxas estate damages 687 00:30:29,202 --> 00:30:30,702 of $22 billion. 688 00:30:31,872 --> 00:30:35,212 The largest civil settlement in history. 689 00:30:35,250 --> 00:30:36,670 - 20 billion is a lot of money. 690 00:30:36,752 --> 00:30:39,502 This was what the treasure was worth from that one vault 691 00:30:39,546 --> 00:30:40,456 that he found. 692 00:30:40,464 --> 00:30:42,594 There were 175 vaults. 693 00:30:42,632 --> 00:30:44,592 But even more important from like a history perspective, 694 00:30:44,634 --> 00:30:45,974 it’s not about the money, 695 00:30:46,011 --> 00:30:49,061 it’s the that a court of law actually validated 696 00:30:49,097 --> 00:30:50,967 that the existence of these vaults, 697 00:30:51,016 --> 00:30:54,186 that these things were real, that Yamashita did bury these, 698 00:30:54,227 --> 00:30:57,057 and that this legend is actually based in fact. 699 00:30:57,064 --> 00:30:58,524 - [Laurence] It was a hard fought victory 700 00:30:58,607 --> 00:31:02,357 for the Roxas family, but a largely symbolic one. 701 00:31:02,402 --> 00:31:04,492 Despite Bob Curtis’s testimony, 702 00:31:04,529 --> 00:31:07,869 the Marcos fortune is still caught up in legal wrangling. 703 00:31:07,908 --> 00:31:10,738 The Roxas family has yet to see a penny 704 00:31:10,744 --> 00:31:14,504 and the mystery of Japan’s lost gold still lingers. 705 00:31:14,539 --> 00:31:18,169 - Now this just gives even more sort of proof 706 00:31:18,210 --> 00:31:20,960 if you subscribe to this theory of Yamashita’s hoard 707 00:31:21,046 --> 00:31:22,836 that there’s more to be discovered. 708 00:31:28,053 --> 00:31:30,263 - [Laurence] Some people are convinced whatever gold 709 00:31:30,263 --> 00:31:32,563 the Japanese may have hidden in the Philippines 710 00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:35,559 was cleaned out by Ferdinand Marcos. 711 00:31:35,602 --> 00:31:36,937 - There’s another theory, 712 00:31:36,937 --> 00:31:39,106 the Marcos regime just pretended to find gold 713 00:31:39,106 --> 00:31:41,606 so they could cover their tracks for embezzlement. 714 00:31:41,608 --> 00:31:44,068 - [Laurence] But others think there’s reason to believe 715 00:31:44,111 --> 00:31:46,701 that some Japanese gold remained hidden 716 00:31:46,738 --> 00:31:50,778 in the Philippine jungle through the late 1980s. 717 00:31:50,784 --> 00:31:54,621 It’s the promise of this gold that brings retired US Army 718 00:31:54,621 --> 00:31:57,541 General Jack Sinlaub to the Philippines. 719 00:31:58,959 --> 00:32:03,589 - So Jack is a retiree and an amateur fortune hunter. 720 00:32:03,630 --> 00:32:04,798 That’s what he says. 721 00:32:04,798 --> 00:32:06,588 And the US Embassy, they back up his claim, 722 00:32:06,633 --> 00:32:09,433 they paint him to the local media, just a hobbyist. 723 00:32:09,469 --> 00:32:10,799 But no one believes this 724 00:32:10,929 --> 00:32:13,309 because in addition to being a rabid anti-communist, 725 00:32:13,390 --> 00:32:17,227 he also happens to be one of the founders of the CIA. 726 00:32:17,227 --> 00:32:21,147 - Jack Sinlaub forms his own treasure hunting organization 727 00:32:21,148 --> 00:32:22,978 that he calls Nippon Star. 728 00:32:22,983 --> 00:32:25,113 And his objective is to go to the Philippines 729 00:32:25,152 --> 00:32:27,152 and potentially take advantage of information 730 00:32:27,237 --> 00:32:31,277 he already knew about these possible treasure troves. 731 00:32:31,324 --> 00:32:32,994 - One of his associates, Alan Foringer, 732 00:32:33,076 --> 00:32:36,496 he’s the acting CIA head at the embassy in Manila. 733 00:32:36,496 --> 00:32:37,956 - And so there’s this idea 734 00:32:37,998 --> 00:32:40,498 that these aren’t just treasure hunters, 735 00:32:40,500 --> 00:32:43,500 these are CIA agents operating as part of a deeper, 736 00:32:43,503 --> 00:32:45,673 darker, or more secret mission. 737 00:32:45,755 --> 00:32:48,585 (dramatic music) 738 00:32:49,593 --> 00:32:51,143 - [Laurence] According to this theory, 739 00:32:51,178 --> 00:32:55,008 Jack Sinlaub decides Nippon Star needs to recruit someone 740 00:32:55,015 --> 00:32:56,985 with proven insider information. 741 00:32:58,143 --> 00:33:00,103 - All they need to know is where to dig 742 00:33:00,145 --> 00:33:01,485 and who has that information. 743 00:33:01,521 --> 00:33:06,026 They know one guy who’s got it, Bob Curtis. 744 00:33:06,026 --> 00:33:07,316 - Bob Curtis is the metallurgist 745 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:08,860 that worked with Ferdinand Marcos, 746 00:33:08,862 --> 00:33:12,162 essentially to not only decode Japanese maps 747 00:33:12,199 --> 00:33:14,199 that were in Marcos’s possession, 748 00:33:14,284 --> 00:33:16,834 but also then to effectively money launder 749 00:33:16,870 --> 00:33:18,620 any loot that was discovered. 750 00:33:18,663 --> 00:33:21,541 Bob Curtis saw himself as an American patriot. 751 00:33:21,541 --> 00:33:23,841 And according to one version of the story, 752 00:33:23,877 --> 00:33:27,297 President Reagan himself had endorsed Sinlaub’s efforts 753 00:33:27,339 --> 00:33:30,719 to recover stolen loot that the Japanese had hidden 754 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:32,550 in the Philippines. 755 00:33:32,636 --> 00:33:34,136 - [Laurence] With all their expertise 756 00:33:34,179 --> 00:33:36,719 and alleged deep pockets, Jack Sinlaub’s team 757 00:33:36,848 --> 00:33:39,478 should be well placed to find Yamashita’s gold. 758 00:33:40,352 --> 00:33:44,147 But their search for the treasure doesn’t go to plan. 759 00:33:44,147 --> 00:33:46,897 - Publicly, Nippon Star is a, is an abject failure 760 00:33:46,900 --> 00:33:48,400 throughout the 1980s. 761 00:33:48,485 --> 00:33:51,905 There are a whole host of media stories about their efforts 762 00:33:51,905 --> 00:33:54,375 to uncover buried treasure and their failures 763 00:33:54,407 --> 00:33:56,237 to be successful in those endeavors. 764 00:33:57,244 --> 00:33:59,504 Is it possible that they actually recovered treasure 765 00:33:59,538 --> 00:34:01,328 and put out a cover story 766 00:34:01,373 --> 00:34:02,923 that suggested that they’d been a failure? 767 00:34:02,999 --> 00:34:06,589 Of course, Curtis claims he was inspired 768 00:34:06,670 --> 00:34:09,510 to give his all towards these treasure hunting efforts 769 00:34:09,548 --> 00:34:12,548 because any treasure recovered might be used 770 00:34:12,592 --> 00:34:15,342 as a private funding source for defense 771 00:34:15,387 --> 00:34:18,427 and intelligence initiatives on behalf of the United States. 772 00:34:18,515 --> 00:34:21,185 - [Laurence] As Foringer wrote in a letter to Curtis, 773 00:34:21,226 --> 00:34:24,096 those initiatives included the private funding 774 00:34:24,104 --> 00:34:27,107 of defense projects like the B-1 Bomber, 775 00:34:27,107 --> 00:34:31,027 MX Missile and Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars program. 776 00:34:31,027 --> 00:34:32,607 - He appears to have been convinced 777 00:34:32,612 --> 00:34:35,282 that these private funding sources might create 778 00:34:35,365 --> 00:34:37,705 so-called black budget programs 779 00:34:37,742 --> 00:34:40,792 that would protect the United States from Soviet aggression. 780 00:34:40,870 --> 00:34:44,290 - This money, if they find the Golden Lily treasure 781 00:34:44,291 --> 00:34:48,628 is going to be used to establish a new arch conservative, 782 00:34:48,628 --> 00:34:52,878 military industrial complex controlled by the United States. 783 00:34:54,634 --> 00:34:57,137 - [Laurence] But by 1990, the pressure is growing 784 00:34:57,137 --> 00:34:58,547 on Nippon Star. 785 00:34:59,639 --> 00:35:01,599 And there are rumors of Soviet agents 786 00:35:01,641 --> 00:35:04,811 listening in on their communications. 787 00:35:04,811 --> 00:35:06,980 - While Foringer’s vacationing in Hawaii, 788 00:35:06,980 --> 00:35:09,270 he’s at the beach and a passerby walks by 789 00:35:09,316 --> 00:35:11,276 and something nicks his leg. 790 00:35:11,318 --> 00:35:12,818 Within a day, he’s in the hospital 791 00:35:12,819 --> 00:35:15,739 suffering from mysterious ailments. 792 00:35:15,780 --> 00:35:18,160 And although he pulls through, 793 00:35:18,241 --> 00:35:20,581 after returning to his apartment in the Philippines, 794 00:35:20,619 --> 00:35:24,409 the usually healthy 37 year old begins having seizures 795 00:35:24,456 --> 00:35:26,576 and his heart gives out and he dies 796 00:35:26,625 --> 00:35:28,845 under mysterious circumstances. 797 00:35:28,918 --> 00:35:31,498 - You gotta ask, was Foringer’s worked with Nippon Star? 798 00:35:31,504 --> 00:35:34,264 Is there a connection to his death? 799 00:35:34,299 --> 00:35:35,469 You gotta ask the question. 800 00:35:35,508 --> 00:35:37,468 Maybe that put a target on his back. 801 00:35:37,510 --> 00:35:38,930 - [Laurence] Despite Foringer’s death, 802 00:35:38,970 --> 00:35:43,270 no gold is ever officially found by Nippon Star. 803 00:35:43,308 --> 00:35:47,018 - Conspiracy theories love unexplained deaths, 804 00:35:47,020 --> 00:35:49,360 particularly to individuals that are getting close 805 00:35:49,439 --> 00:35:50,689 to the answers. 806 00:35:50,690 --> 00:35:52,859 And we’ll often link those deaths together 807 00:35:52,859 --> 00:35:55,109 to suggest they’re part of a bigger pattern. 808 00:35:56,196 --> 00:35:59,316 Oftentimes humans die for unknown causes. 809 00:35:59,366 --> 00:36:01,446 Sometimes it really is just an accident. 810 00:36:04,996 --> 00:36:07,326 - [Laurence] Since the end of World War II, 811 00:36:07,374 --> 00:36:11,174 the legend of Japan’s lost gold has captured the imagination 812 00:36:11,211 --> 00:36:12,921 of treasure hunters worldwide. 813 00:36:14,214 --> 00:36:16,724 But as the decades have passed without new discoveries, 814 00:36:16,758 --> 00:36:19,468 some question if the treasure ever existed, 815 00:36:19,511 --> 00:36:22,601 and if yes will more ever be found? 816 00:36:27,435 --> 00:36:29,765 - We do know, we’ve got one great photo of Roxas 817 00:36:29,813 --> 00:36:30,903 with that Buddha, 818 00:36:32,190 --> 00:36:35,440 and after 80 plus years of searching for that treasure, 819 00:36:35,485 --> 00:36:38,615 that is the only real proof that we have. 820 00:36:38,655 --> 00:36:40,245 - Like a lot of theories, 821 00:36:40,281 --> 00:36:43,911 there are certain key points that you can see 822 00:36:43,952 --> 00:36:46,162 or that you know are real. 823 00:36:46,204 --> 00:36:48,084 And so with Yamashita’s hoard, 824 00:36:48,123 --> 00:36:50,583 we certainly know that the Japanese plundered. 825 00:36:51,710 --> 00:36:54,170 - They stole tens of billions of dollars. 826 00:36:55,255 --> 00:36:57,675 The Japanese conquered the Pacific, 827 00:36:57,716 --> 00:37:00,126 they plungered like there was no tomorrow. 828 00:37:00,176 --> 00:37:03,216 They brought the wealth back to the Philippines. 829 00:37:03,263 --> 00:37:05,513 - There certainly was looting in the Philippines 830 00:37:05,557 --> 00:37:07,517 just like there was looting by the Japanese 831 00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:10,189 in really anywhere that they went. 832 00:37:10,228 --> 00:37:11,478 That is a fact. 833 00:37:12,564 --> 00:37:14,734 - But there’s no photos of vaults, 834 00:37:14,774 --> 00:37:18,364 there’s no records of how much gold was brought into Manila. 835 00:37:18,403 --> 00:37:20,283 - Probably the diamond filled Buddha 836 00:37:20,321 --> 00:37:22,741 is a spoil of the Japanese looting, 837 00:37:22,782 --> 00:37:25,122 but maybe it’s more of a one-off 838 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:26,950 than the tip of the iceberg. 839 00:37:26,995 --> 00:37:29,215 Maybe this was just one tunnel that was filled 840 00:37:29,289 --> 00:37:30,409 and we found it 841 00:37:31,583 --> 00:37:32,963 and maybe there isn’t this vast network 842 00:37:33,001 --> 00:37:34,711 that was part of the Golden Lily. 843 00:37:37,922 --> 00:37:41,182 - [Laurence] Some also point to logistical concerns 844 00:37:41,217 --> 00:37:44,387 around Yamashita’s last days during World War II 845 00:37:44,429 --> 00:37:47,269 to question the extent of the legendary treasure 846 00:37:47,307 --> 00:37:48,927 he supposedly buried. 847 00:37:48,975 --> 00:37:51,765 - If you think about just how much gold was purported 848 00:37:51,811 --> 00:37:54,311 to have existed, how heavy and how much it was, 849 00:37:54,355 --> 00:37:57,935 the logistical requirements to move that kind of wealth 850 00:37:57,984 --> 00:38:00,074 would’ve been not only one of their main tasks, 851 00:38:00,111 --> 00:38:02,611 it would’ve been the only thing that they could do. 852 00:38:02,655 --> 00:38:05,735 (suspenseful music) 853 00:38:08,203 --> 00:38:10,623 I think one of the real treasures in the Philippines 854 00:38:10,663 --> 00:38:14,626 is that millions of dollars spent on the local economy, 855 00:38:14,626 --> 00:38:16,586 fortune hunting and treasure hunting. 856 00:38:17,629 --> 00:38:20,379 - Treasure hunters are drawn to the Philippines 857 00:38:20,423 --> 00:38:22,303 and the Philippines, from my experience, 858 00:38:22,342 --> 00:38:25,302 seemed quite easy to embrace them, 859 00:38:25,345 --> 00:38:28,225 comfortable embracing them and trying to send them 860 00:38:28,264 --> 00:38:29,434 to these sites. 861 00:38:29,474 --> 00:38:31,524 And again, I think it’s, from what I’ve seen, 862 00:38:31,559 --> 00:38:33,979 it’s people who really believe that 863 00:38:34,020 --> 00:38:37,440 you can find these things buried on the island. 864 00:38:37,482 --> 00:38:39,732 - A lot of these legends that sort of become folklore 865 00:38:39,776 --> 00:38:41,816 that stay because they become part of our history 866 00:38:41,861 --> 00:38:44,361 and part of our culture and the Filipino people like 867 00:38:44,405 --> 00:38:46,195 are immensely proud people. 868 00:38:46,241 --> 00:38:48,661 And in many ways they’re very, very attached to this idea 869 00:38:48,701 --> 00:38:50,581 that this could exist and it could be here. 870 00:38:50,620 --> 00:38:53,040 So it in many ways lives because of the people themselves. 871 00:38:53,081 --> 00:38:54,666 - Treasure in the Philippine jungle, 872 00:38:54,666 --> 00:38:56,246 it’s a story that never dies. 873 00:38:56,292 --> 00:38:59,422 Just when you think it’s over, it comes right back to life. 874 00:38:59,462 --> 00:39:03,342 - [Laurence] Over the course of one weekend in 2017, 875 00:39:03,383 --> 00:39:06,343 a video is uploaded to YouTube. 876 00:39:06,386 --> 00:39:09,346 It quickly gains hundreds of thousands of views. 877 00:39:09,347 --> 00:39:11,557 In a submerged cave in the Philippines, 878 00:39:11,599 --> 00:39:15,186 what appears to be gold bars. 879 00:39:15,186 --> 00:39:16,686 - They were really dirty and muddy, 880 00:39:16,729 --> 00:39:18,109 but became this internet sensation 881 00:39:18,147 --> 00:39:19,937 where people found them and all of a sudden 882 00:39:19,983 --> 00:39:21,943 the Yamashita’s gold legend comes back. 883 00:39:21,985 --> 00:39:23,995 Maybe this is really happening. 884 00:39:24,028 --> 00:39:27,318 That stokes the fire again and makes that legend continue. 885 00:39:27,365 --> 00:39:29,525 - Is there a connection to Yamashita’s gold? 886 00:39:29,576 --> 00:39:32,236 Maybe and a lot of viewers like me, they remain skeptical. 887 00:39:32,328 --> 00:39:33,828 Maybe they just want views. 888 00:39:33,872 --> 00:39:36,752 It definitely warrants further investigation. 889 00:39:36,791 --> 00:39:38,921 - Now you have a lot of amateur treasure hunters 890 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:40,590 who can upload videos. 891 00:39:40,628 --> 00:39:43,838 They can upload what they claim is proof of what they found. 892 00:39:43,882 --> 00:39:47,432 And going back to Roxas and his Buddha’s statue, 893 00:39:47,468 --> 00:39:49,598 that’s something that people can see. 894 00:39:49,637 --> 00:39:51,217 And when you can see something, 895 00:39:51,264 --> 00:39:53,974 it makes it a little bit more real. 896 00:39:54,017 --> 00:39:56,437 The fact that it does still spark interest, 897 00:39:56,477 --> 00:39:58,517 I think is something that it’s still creating 898 00:39:58,563 --> 00:39:59,903 the conversation. 899 00:39:59,939 --> 00:40:01,519 And as long as there’s a conversation around it, 900 00:40:01,608 --> 00:40:02,688 it’ll never die. 901 00:40:04,027 --> 00:40:07,357 - I have no doubt that treasure went into the ground. 902 00:40:07,405 --> 00:40:11,195 What I believe today is that whatever is left there 903 00:40:11,242 --> 00:40:13,122 is going to be incredibly hard to find. 904 00:40:13,161 --> 00:40:17,121 And based upon the stories that we know about the way 905 00:40:17,165 --> 00:40:19,255 that these places are booby trapped 906 00:40:19,292 --> 00:40:20,712 and trying to seek this treasure 907 00:40:20,752 --> 00:40:22,587 would be incredibly dangerous. 908 00:40:22,587 --> 00:40:24,507 And you know, I mean a billion dollars worth of gold 909 00:40:24,547 --> 00:40:26,627 would be really nifty to have, 910 00:40:26,674 --> 00:40:29,724 but it’s also nice to be alive. 911 00:40:29,761 --> 00:40:31,471 - We never run out of treasure hunters 912 00:40:31,512 --> 00:40:34,852 and people never stop dreaming for being the one person 913 00:40:34,891 --> 00:40:37,231 that’s gonna find this thing, to be the next Roxas. 914 00:40:37,268 --> 00:40:39,848 To find that next Buddha and to pop open the head 915 00:40:39,896 --> 00:40:40,936 and find diamonds. 916 00:40:40,980 --> 00:40:42,150 Every treasure hunter wants that. 917 00:40:42,190 --> 00:40:44,280 And so that legend’s never gonna diminish. 918 00:40:48,905 --> 00:40:51,866 - For 80 years the lure of Japan’s lost gold 919 00:40:51,866 --> 00:40:55,696 has mesmerized world leaders and commoners alike. 920 00:40:55,745 --> 00:40:58,835 We won’t know the full truth about this legendary treasure 921 00:40:58,873 --> 00:41:02,003 until someone finally strikes gold. 922 00:41:02,043 --> 00:41:05,003 But with such a dazzling fortune still on the line, 923 00:41:05,088 --> 00:41:07,208 there is one certainty. 924 00:41:07,256 --> 00:41:10,336 No one’s laying down their treasure maps anytime soon. 925 00:41:11,344 --> 00:41:12,764 I’m Laurence Fishburne. 926 00:41:12,804 --> 00:41:16,184 Thank you for watching, History’s Greatest Mysteries.