Original subtitles

So, this guy is a superstar.

He was the single most famous entertainer

on the face of the Earth.

[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,

Buffalo Bill Cody!

And what happens to him when he dies?

Well, that is one of the contentious mysteries

about Buffalo Bill.

You believe this is where Buffalo Bill is buried?

I know it.

[Josh] This is one of the men who claimed to take

Bill's body.

It could be worth millions. And there's cases of them.

[Josh] That's crazy.

Will these dogs detect something

that's over a century old? -Absolutely.

All right. Release the hounds.

[loud bark]

[Josh] Both of the dogs got a hit right in here.

Ooh! Ho-ho! Holy [bleep]!

Oh!

Hang on!

-[Josh] What do you got? -[Tony] It's shiny.

Shiny? Oh, that's a bottle!

That is a whole bottle! Oh, my word!

[twangy music playing]

Billy the Kid,

Jesse James,

Wyatt Earp,

larger-than-life heroes and villains of the Wild West

still loom large in our imagination.

But amongst this pantheon of historical legends,

only one man can lay claim to the title of king,

Buffalo Bill Cody,

whose crown was a broad-brimmed Stetson.

Before the turn of the 20th century,

when the American frontier was still being forged,

William Frederick Cody

made a name for himself.

His legendary adventures as an army scout and hunter

were published in newspapers

and adapted into novels and plays,

culminating in Buffalo Bill's Wild West.

-[horse neighs] -[shots blast]

[Josh] A live touring spectacle that brought the myths

and heroes of the Wild West to the rest of the world.

Cody became a friend to every president,

from Ulysses S. Grant to Woodrow Wilson,

entertained European royalty,

and earned millions.

By the year 1900, he was America's biggest celebrity

and the most famous showman on the planet.

When Bill died in 1917, he was buried here

on Lookout Mountain, just outside Denver, Colorado.

Or was he?

Because here lies one of the great mysteries

when it comes to the legendary cowboy.

Despite what this marker claims,

that he was laid to rest here at his request,

there are many who contend that his mortal remains

are somewhere else entirely.

One historian claims his own grandfather

helped steal the body and buried him

near the town that Buffalo Bill founded.

Now, we might finally learn the truth.

And in a mystery befitting the world's most famous cowboy,

a team of researchers is tracking down

a missing stash of whiskey hidden by Buffalo Bill,

that would be worth millions today.

So, saddle up, as we ride in search

of a lost fortune in Wild West whiskey

and the true final resting place of Buffalo Bill Cody.

[shot blasts]

[Josh Gates] The past is all around us.

Oh, my god!

It goes on forever!

[Josh] A world of mystery...

Come on! Look at that!

[Josh] ...danger...

Hang on!

[Josh] ...and adventure.

It's just straight down!

I gotta get a new job.

[Josh] I travel to the far corners of the Earth

to uncover where legends end...

We got it!

Yes!

[Josh] ...and history begins.

Whoo-hoo! Here we go!

I'm Josh Gates, and this is...

"Expedition Unknown."

[country music playing]

You don't achieve a legacy

as grand as Buffalo Bill Cody's

by dreaming small.

As the king of the Wild West,

he needed a kingdom.

Welcome to Cody, Wyoming,

the town founded by Buffalo Bill.

In 1895, in a flourish of enormous ambition,

Buffalo Bill founded a frontier settlement,

a cowboy mecca meant to celebrate

the world's first national park, Yellowstone.

Move over, Dutton family, because 'round these parts,

nobody was bigger than Bill.

To chase the world's most famous cowboy,

I consider picking up a pair of shiny new boots.

These will look great on you.

Oh, these are beautiful. Look at these.

150th Yellowstone National Park Anniversary.

And these are $25,000?

That's correct. They are $25,000.

I'll take 'em.

Let me just get the company card.

The card was rejected.

Guess my current footwear will have to do.

Fortunately, they're good enough to get me over

to the Buffalo Bill's Center of the West,

a sprawling 300,000-square-foot complex

that's actually five world class museums

dedicated to Western and Native American art,

natural history, and guns.

Lots of guns.

The Cody Firearms Museum has more than 7,500 of them,

so I wouldn't try robbing the gift shop.

They have famous guns,

big guns,

and this.

Nobody move.

The area I'm most interested in is, of course,

the Buffalo Bill Museum,

the repository of thousands of artifacts

from Cody's life.

Curatorial assistant Sam Hanna is giving me exclusive access

to the museum's vault to view the legend's possessions

up close and startlingly personal.

[Sam] Here we have...

one of Buffalo Bill's iconic show coats.

Oh my word, these are actual coats that he wore during

the big Wild West extravaganzas.

And it gets even better.

I receive special permission to actually try on

one of Buffalo Bill's iconic hats.

I mean, this, I might cry here.

Talk about being connected to history, right?

Wearing history.

Yeah, experiencing history.

This is unbelievable.

Any chance I could interest you in a trade in here?

[Josh] OK, so I'm keeping my hat.

But Sam does bring me to see something else

that absolutely flips my lid.

[Sam] This is what remains

of Buffalo Bill's Model 1866 Springfield.

[Josh gasps]

[Josh] This is no run-of-the-mill rifle.

Cody named this firearm Lucretia Borgia,

after a famous Italian femme fatale.

He was issued the weapon as a Union scout in the Civil War,

and carried it throughout his life.

[Josh] You know, this is one of those moments where you just

think about all that this gun saw.

I mean, incredible.

[Josh] The items in the vault are priceless, but to find out

where Buffalo Bill currently lies, I'll need something

even more valuable... information.

In the museum's main gallery, I meet one of the world's

foremost Bill Cody historians, author Steve Friesen,

to help me separate fact from Wild West myth.

When it comes to myth, who's more mythical

than this guy? -[Steve] Exactly.

[Josh] Buffalo Bill, the man.

Yes, this is the man, the myth, the legend.

This is Buffalo Bill performing for Queen Victoria,

in London, in 1887.

[Josh] And is this accurate?

He's performing for 20,000 people?

Yes, 20,000 people each show.

Two shows a day.

They did that for over, oh, four or five months.

Wow! So this guy is a superstar.

He was the single most famous entertainer

on the face of the Earth. -And so, how?

How does this guy from the American Frontier

rise up to be performing for royalty,

for kings and queens of Europe?

I always like to say he was the right person

at the right time at the right place.

[Josh] Born in 1846, outside of LeClaire, Iowa,

William F. Cody had to become a man very early.

After his abolitionist father was stabbed and killed in 1857,

11-year-old Bill became the family breadwinner,

eventually working as a freight company messenger,

cattle driver, gold miner,

and delivery boy on the Pony Express.

He was a scout for the army

during the so called "Indian Wars,"

where he tragically assisted the U.S. government

in the genocide of the Native Americans

of the West.

It's a very complicated time, but over time,

his relationship with the Native Americans evolved.

It changed, so that he became a champion of their rights

and a supporter of them.

[Josh] But perhaps most famously, Buffalo Bill

was a buffalo hunter.

Millions of these American bison once roamed the West

and were regularly hunted for their hides.

Bill was said to have received his nickname in a contest

when, using the Lucretia Borgia Winchester I held downstairs,

he rode onto the plains and killed 70 buffalo

in an hour.

His prowess earned him a reputation that commanded

top dollar as a hunting guide.

The princes of Europe and tycoons of New York

would pay to have Bill take them into the untamed West

and to tell them stories of the adventures he'd had,

along with his gunslinger friends like Wild Bill Hickok.

These hunting parties may be the origin

of Buffalo Bill the showman,

as eventually the stories he told reached the ears

of a dime novelist named Ned Buntline,

whose accounts of Bill's life

made Cody a nationwide sensation.

A play based on those novels made him even more famous.

And then, at the ripe old age of 37,

Buffalo Bill went on the road

with a show that would make him an international legend,

a touring extravaganza called

"Buffalo Bill's Wild West."

Well, Josh, this is what this all turns into.

This is a model of the Wild West.

We have a huge main arena here.

We have thousands of people there, enjoying the show.

But all these other things surround it.

You have the bison tent. You have a large kitchen.

You've got military tents, cowboy tents,

and also the teepees.

[Josh] I mean, this is, like, a city.

It is. It's like...

Actually, it's bigger than my hometown.

-[chuckles] Really? -Yeah.

So imagine traveling that every day in a different town

all over the United States and in Europe.

[Josh] Crazy.

[Josh] For 30 years, starting in 1883,

the Wild West show brought

a romanticized version of the frontier to people

who could never meet a cowboy in real life.

That was just the beginning.

There were full reenactments of Custer's Last Stand

with authentic Native American performers,

shooting demonstrations,

even a version of soccer on horseback.

And amongst this, we had a huge cast here.

We had standout individuals.

[Josh] The legendary Sioux warrior, Sitting Bull,

toured with Buffalo Bill.

So did gunslinging trickshot artist Annie Oakley.

These were the kind of people who made this show

a smash success.

I'm sort of obsessed with Annie Oakley.

I have kind of a thing for Annie Oakley.

-OK, well, she was married. -[Josh] OK.

She did shoot cigarettes out of her husband's mouth.

-[cowboy whistling] -[shots blasting]

Don't ruin my historical fantasy, Steve, all right?

So listen, all of this huge success that Buffalo Bill

ultimately achieves must have also come

with some real wealth.

Oh, it does, and he enjoys it thoroughly, and gives money away

quite liberally to people. -[Josh] Right.

And then there are his investments.

One of his biggest investments was where we are standing

right now, and that is the town, and in fact, the whole area

around Cody. -[Josh] Right.

And he put a lot of money into this area.

So, with all that money going out, when he died,

he was rather cash poor.

And what happens to him when he dies?

Well, that is one of the contentious mysteries

about Buffalo Bill.

[Josh] Steve leads me to the museum library,

where he has exclusive access to the historic documents

which tell the twisting tale of Buffalo Bill's end.

So what are we looking at here? This is a death certificate?

Yes, this is Buffalo Bill's death certificate.

[Josh] I love this. Occupation -- showman.

[Steve] Showman, yes.

And he dies in Denver on January 10th, 1917.

So, cause of death?

Buffalo Bill comes down with a very bad flu,

goes to his sister's house in Denver,

dies of kidney failure.

OK, and so what becomes of the body?

Well, for that, we turn to the will.

His will, OK.

So, here's his will, this is from what year?

From 1906.

[Josh] And his will says, "It is my wish and I hereby direct

"that my body shall be buried in some suitable plot of ground

on Cedar Mountain, overlooking the town of Cody, Wyoming."

So, case closed, right?

This is where he wanted to be buried.

Easy as pie, it's done.

[Steve] Not really.

This is where the controversy emerged.

OK, what happens?

Well, in 1913, he writes another will.

[Josh] Oh boy, there's a second will.

[Steve] There's a second will.

And this is one where he basically leaves it

up to his wife.

So, in this will, he says, "I hereby appoint my said wife,

Louisa M. Cody, executor of this last will and testament,

hereby revoking all former wills."

And she decides to bury him somewhere else.

Yes, outside of Denver, on Lookout Mountain.

There was a huge funeral, actually, downtown,

and then a huge burial as well.

12,000 people, maybe more, downtown,

11,000 people on Lookout Mountain.

So we have a lot of eyewitnesses saying he's buried

just outside of Denver, on Lookout Mountain.

There are, there are.

OK, but it sounds like not everybody agrees with this.

Not everybody agrees.

There are other ideas and theories about it.

[Josh] One big theory, in fact.

And hold on to your cowboy hat, because that's where

this story gets really crazy.

And if you wanna know about the alternate theory,

there's one guy you wanna talk to.

And I'll give you one guess where you can find him.

-Right here on Cedar Mountain? -You got it.

To meet the man who's dead certain

about where Bill ended up,

I'll have to ascend 8,000 feet.

The road is really rugged and washed out in places.

Things might get a little wild.

Hang on!

I am climbing up the side of Cedar Mountain,

which tops out at nearly 8,000 feet.

It's at the summit of this peak in northern Wyoming

where, if the theory is true, the legendary cowboy,

Buffalo Bill, is said to rest, despite a grave in Colorado

that says otherwise.

Things might get a little wild.

Hang on to something.

Oh! Here we go!

Whoo!

[rock country music playing]

Hang on! Whoo-hoo!

Up, up, up.

Here we go!

Whoa! Hang on!

[bleep]

Yikes! Oh!

Whoo-hoo!

The guy that I'm attempting to get to is named Bob Richard.

He firmly believes that his very own grandfather

was part of an elaborate plot to make sure that Buffalo Bill

was buried here, and not down in Colorado.

And now, he's aiming to prove it.

[country music playing]

-[Josh] Hey! -[Bob] Look at this view.

[Josh] Oh, man, I call that a million dollar view.

I agree with that.

Right here is the Shoshone Canyon

with the Shoshone River going through it.

Rattlesnake Mountain.

Off in the distance is Cody, Wyoming.

-[Josh] And a big buffalo. -[Bob] And we can't forget that.

This is to commemorate where Buffalo Bill

wanted to be buried.

And as I understand it, you believe this is where

Buffalo Bill is buried.

Yes, I believe it, and I know it.

OK, now you gotta convince me.

-That's easy. -OK, perfect.

So, take me through it, because I went

to the grave, there on Lookout Mountain.

There's a grave, there's a plaque,

the whole nine yards.

So, tell me why everybody's got it wrong.

They couldn't bury him in the middle of the winter.

[Josh] Right.

So he was put at Olinger's Mortuary.

[Josh] Without backhoes to dig the frozen ground,

Olinger's Mortuary hosted Buffalo Bill's refrigerated

remains for several months while his widow decided

where to bury him.

She was leaning toward Cody, but according to Bob,

the City Fathers of Denver wooed her with about $20,000

in cash, or half a million today, to keep Bill local.

She opened up her big valise and scooped it in

and said, "He's yours."

And I imagine the people here in Cody

are furious. -They were mad.

OK, but it seems like the die has been cast.

He's gonna be buried down by Denver.

So, what happens to change that?

A few months go by, and a rancher south of Cody

had a cowhand pass away.

[Josh] And here's where things get wild.

The body of the cowboy was brought to a local mortician

named John Vogel, who noticed he bore

an uncanny resemblance to Buffalo Bill.

And with that, a plan was hatched.

Vogel looked at the body and he says,

"I think we can exchange him

for Bill down in Denver."

Oh, a body swap.

And they wanted to do a body swap.

And then he called Fred Richard, my granddad,

and Ned Frost, friends of Buffalo Bill,

guides for Buffalo Bill.

So your grandfather was one of Buffalo Bill's guides?

He and Ned both were guides for Buffalo Bill's guests

from Europe. -This is awesome, I love this.

This isn't some 12-hand account.

No.

Your grandfather was working for Buffalo Bill

and knew the mortician here in town.

Very well, they were all friends of Buffalo Bill.

"[In The Hall of The Mountain King" playing]

[Josh] OK, buckle up, people. This is one crazy caper.

Bob's grandfather, Fred Richard,

and his friend, Ned Frost,

along with help from the local mortician,

hauled the random cowboy's corpse on ice,

from Wyoming all the way down to Denver.

A trip that would have taken two days on horseback.

And then, under the cover of darkness,

they snuck into Olinger's Mortuary

and switched the bodies.

Then they turned around and went right back to Cody

with the one true Buffalo Bill.

Finally, the group brought him all the way up here

and secretly put him in the ground.

-Right here on Cedar Mountain. -Right in this area.

[Josh] And here's where the plan turns ingenious.

To make sure the folks in Denver don't look too closely

at the Buffalo Bill imposter they left behind,

the group then wires Denver and warns them

that an angry mob from the town of Cody

is coming to take the body by force,

which scares the folks in Denver

enough to rush their fake Buffalo Bill

into his grave on Lookout Mountain,

and then seal it with enough cement

that nobody would ever be able to steal the body,

except that it had already been stolen.

Phew!

So let's say that this absolutely astounding story

is true. How do we prove it?

Like, how do we figure out where Bill was buried,

exactly buried, up here on this mountain?

Uh, my dad was a photographer and photographed Ned Frost

pointing to where Bill was buried.

I'm sorry, there are photographs that show where

Buffalo Bill was buried? -Yes, we have photographs.

Can I see those?

[dramatic music playing]

[Josh] Bob leads me across the summit

to look at what he believes

is the proof of his grandfather's story.

-Josh, take a look at these. -[Josh] Who is this?

[Bob] Ned Frost.

So this is one of the men who claimed to take Bill's body.

And he is literally standing next to a sign that says,

"Buffalo Bill's chosen burial place",

with what looks like a rock pile, a burial pile.

It is.

And these photos were taken up here?

[Bob] Right here.

[Josh] So, this formation here is exactly the same

as that formation back there. -[Bob] Yes, sir.

That's Jim Mountain.

Now, how do we prove that Buffalo Bill is in this spot?

-Well, I brought in some help. -You got help?

And with that, the cavalry arrives.

Bob has called in archaeologist Paul Martin

and Project Manager Janie Merickel,

along with a couple of four-legged specialists,

dogs trained to detect the scent of human remains.

-[Paul] This is Abby. -[Josh] Abby.

-[Janie] This is Charger. -[Josh] And Charger.

I wasn't expecting dogs today.

So, will these dogs detect something

that's over a century old?

Absolutely, they should be able to detect something

that's over a century old.

[Josh] With roughly 200 million olfactory receptors

in their nose, a dog's sense of smell is 40 times greater

than that of an average human.

This allows them to sniff out everything from bombs,

and drugs, to human remains.

A few years ago, researchers in Croatia

even used cadaver dogs

to successfully locate prehistoric burials

dating back 3,000 years.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Josh] Paul and Janie keep track of the dog's movements

through cameras and GPS collars,

accurate to within centimeters.

When a dog sits rooted in one spot, that's the signal

that they're picking up on one of the 400 chemical compounds

that emanate from human remains.

Janie and Paul will log the coordinates

so we can follow up the hits

with ground-penetrating radar.

-Charger, you ready to go? -[Charger barks]

-Yes. -[Josh chuckles]

-You speak dog, too. -[Janie] I do.

-[Josh] Incredible. -[Janie] I do.

All right, release the hounds.

[dramatic music playing]

[Josh] This is, like, the Paw Patrol.

This is amazing.

Charger takes the first shift, bolting across the mountain

and sniffing around like a really nice treat

depends on it.

Very interested here. Oh, Charger's sitting.

OK, so a real interest in this rock here, yes?

[Janie] Yes, and I'm gonna mark it.

[Josh] Jackpot. Charger has a hit.

Janie logs the exact GPS coordinates to follow up later.

[Charger barks happily]

Now that Charger has gotten us started,

it's Abby's turn out of the gate.

[dramatic music playing]

[Josh] Abby's got a different style,

slower and steadier than Charger.

But making her way over the hillside,

she gets her own results.

Oh, we got a sit.

[Paul] We've got a sit.

[Josh] OK, we got a sit right here next to this pile.

[Paul] Yes.

[Josh] And I think that Charger sat near this rock here.

Correct.

So this area right in here, which I got to say,

is right in the heart of where we think these photos are taken.

Let's get the GPR out. Let's do it.

Come on.

Paul brings out a ground-penetrating radar unit,

which uses high frequency radio waves to determine

if the ground has been disturbed at depths of up to 30 feet.

The team marks out a search grid that encompasses

both of the hits the dogs detected,

while I clear some of the larger rocks away

to make the terrain easier to scan.

[rock music playing]

[Josh] OK, so while these guys are using

the ground-penetrating radar,

I'm grabbing a metal detector because, if in fact

this is a burial, there may well be metallic objects

associated with that grave, so let's see.

It's not gonna interfere with you, right?

-[Paul] Nope. -[Josh] OK.

[upbeat music playing]

[fast beeping]

Something there for sure. Strong signal.

[several beeps]

What is that?

[rocks rattling]

[detector beeping]

[long beep]

Ooh, ooh! Ho-ho!

Holy [bleep].

[dramatic music playing]

-Hey, Bob! -[Bob] Yes, sir.

Bob, I'm gonna need you over here.

Whoo!

Bob Richard and I are searching for what he believes

is the true grave of American legend,

Buffalo Bill Cody.

Bob's grandfather claimed to have stolen the body in 1917,

and buried it here, atop Wyoming's Cedar Mountain.

Time to find out if the story is true.

What do you make of that?

-[Bob] That's off a spur. -[Josh] That's off a spur?

-[Bob] Yes. -[Josh] It is, right?

[Bob] This goes around the heel, and this is where the row was.

Look at that. Look at the detail on that.

[Bob] Yes. Look at this.

This is very old.

You found a real treasure here.

That's a little piece of the West right there.

[Bob] Absolutely.

OK, so if this is here, who knows what else?

Yeah, exactly. Let's keep looking.

-Unbelievable. -[Bob] I'm excited.

[Josh] This rusty old spur doesn't seem to have a matching boot

that we can find, but archaeologist Paul Martin

is still scanning the area with ground-penetrating radar.

Hey, Josh, come over here and take a look at this.

-[Josh] You got something? -Yeah.

What do you got?

[Paul] OK, we've got a change in the soil.

[Josh] Oh, yeah, you do. Look at that.

[Paul] Yeah, it's about 18 to 24 inches deep.

and it's about four to six feet wide.

[Josh] That sounds about right, doesn't it?

Yes, and this is right above where Abby gave her trained

final response. -Maybe we back the GPR out.

Let's see if I get anything on the metal detector here.

[Paul] OK.

[detector beeping]

-[Josh] One hit. -[detector beeping]

[Josh] There's something here.

[Paul] I think we've got to check it out.

This is in the area of a historic photo of Ned Frost

that marks Buffalo Bill's reported grave.

It's also the exact spot

where one of the trained cadaver dogs

strongly indicated a target.

OK, let's see what's here.

[twangy music playing]

[thwacking]

[thudding]

[Josh] Oh, we got a soil color change,

you see that? -[Paul] Yes.

It's white colored soil, what is that?

[Paul] It's much, much lighter.

Almost looks like ash, doesn't it?

Looks like something out of a fireplace.

[Bob] You bet.

[Josh] Turns out that in this case, an ash-hole is a good thing.

At that time of year, at this elevation,

they would still need to set a fire to thaw the ground

to be able to get a burial in.

Wow, that's an interesting possibility, right?

Somebody set a fire here so they could make this ground

easier to work, so they could dig a burial hole.

-Always a possibility. -OK, let's keep at it.

[Josh] With a clue that we could be digging in the right place,

we put our backs into it until the sun begins to descend.

I'll tell you one thing, if there's no dead body in here,

there's about to be.

Please lay me down inside of this.

[country music playing]

[pickaxe thuds]

[Josh pants]

OK, let's look at this stone that runs all through here.

I'm gonna try to get the pick under it, see if we can

wedge it, yeah?

-[Paul] Yep. -[Josh] OK, here we go.

OK, stand by.

See if we can get that shovel in, hold on.

I'm under it. OK, hold on.

-Got it? -[Paul] Yep.

[Josh] OK, up, up, up. Good -- Whew.

Hey, hold on a second.

-Oh, it's natural? -[Paul] Yeah, yeah.

OK, so a couple things.

First of all, this ash is everywhere once you get down

a couple feet.

I think definitely, fire here of some kind, yeah?

-Yes. -And we have this huge rock.

Could this be what you saw on the radar?

-Very much so. -[Josh] Yeah.

Beyond that, there is clearly a soil disturbance here,

which is that we have this loose,

kind of ashy layer below this.

And below that, there's a layer that's hard and undisturbed.

So I think no question that at some point,

somebody dug a hole here and at least had a fire.

But I don't see any signs of a burial.

-Paul, Janie? -[Janie] No.

[Paul] No.

Now, Bob, I'm not doubting your grandfather,

but in this spot,

which seems like it's where that photo was taken,

we don't seem to have a burial.

-That appears to be the case. -Yeah.

But there's a lot of space around here where it could be.

-[Josh] That's right. -And we've just started.

I have to say, though, reading that first will of his,

he's so clear and passionate

that he wants to be buried here.

Well, this is the prettiest place in the world.

In fact, I wanna be buried up here when it's my time.

Really?

My sons are gonna bring my ashes up and scatter them

here with Bill.

I mean, I can't imagine a better place to be.

That is as beautiful as it gets.

Perhaps Buffalo Bill's body is still near Denver.

Perhaps it's somewhere nearby, just beneath our feet.

But in either case, I still get a big win,

a sunset over the Wild West.

["Highway Call" by Carlton Moody playing]

♪ I'll just start looking 'round again ♪

♪ It happens time and time again ♪

The next morning, I'm refreshed and ready for a new adventure

and an all-American road trip.

♪ Till I hear that highway call ♪

Buffalo Bill rode his fair share of horses in his day,

but never 400 at once.

He probably also never had cup holders.

That's good.

A couple of hundred miles through God's country,

and I arrive in the small town of Estes Park, Colorado,

to pull the thread on another tale from the life

of Buffalo Bill.

The question of his final resting place isn't the only

buried mystery when it comes to Bill.

There's also the story of a lost stash of whiskey

worth millions.

Time to meet an unlikely new character

in our Wild West story,

an Irish nobleman known as the Fourth Earl of Dunraven.

Wyndham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, from County Limerick, Ireland,

arrived in Estes Park, Colorado, in 1872,

and immediately became enamored with the area's natural beauty.

Being an enormously wealthy man in the 19th century,

that meant he had to own it, turning 15,000 acres

of the pristine Rockies into his personal playground,

with a hotel, hunting cottage, and private game reserve.

And when somebody like that wants a guide,

who does he call?

He calls the best, Buffalo Bill Cody.

Dunraven and Bill spent time together hunting,

and also drinking.

And reportedly, they buried expensive 19th century whiskey.

And I'm talking about the good stuff.

[Josh] It's that whiskey, stored underground for a winter,

and never recovered, that I'm here to find

in a very changed Estes Park.

[Josh] Today, Estes Park has to be one of the prettiest places

in America.

An artsy, little mountain town dedicated

to historical preservation and clean mountain living.

Oh, it is also famous for something else.

One seriously haunted hotel.

[eerie chord playing]

[Josh] Dunraven leaves town for good before retrieving the booze

he buried with Buffalo Bill...

Oh, boy.

[Josh] ...selling some of his land to fellow tycoon,

F.O. Stanley, who then builds the Stanley Hotel.

It's where a young Stephen King would stay in room 217,

for a single terrifying night in 1974.

That's right, the Stanley is the inspiration

for "The Shining."

Little slow tonight, isn't it?

[creepy cackle]

Yes, it is, Mr. Gates. What'll it be?

I'm awfully glad you asked me that, Lloyd.

Actually, it's Grant.

Oh, I didn't see the name tag.

I'll have a Dunraven Manhattan.

[Grant] Excellent, sir.

The Dunraven Manhattan has rye, sherry,

vermouth, and bitters, and looks damn attractive.

Oh, and at 20 bucks a throw, you could buy 50,000 of them

with the proceeds

from Buffalo Bill's whiskey stash.

Excellent.

Now let me ask you something, Lloyd, my man.

Again, it's Grant.

You know anything about any buried whiskey around here?

Only rumors.

Now, you wouldn't lie to me, would you, Lloyd?

-It's Grant. -OK, all right, jeez.

I'll let you know if I find anything.

TV hosts...

[Josh] To find a fortune in firewater, I leave to connect

with a local man named Chris Pedersen.

He's mounting a new search

for Buffalo Bill's missing whiskey,

and he has incredible access

to the Earl of Dunraven's hunting cottage.

After all, he was raised there.

-Chris, how are you? -Good, Josh.

Nice to meet you. Welcome to Estes Park.

[Josh] Hey, thanks. Great to be here.

This is a beauty.

What year was this cottage built?

It was built in 1876, by Lord Dunraven.

1876?

As a kid growing up here, did you hear about this legend?

Oh, yeah. We knew all about it.

Anytime our parents wanted to get us out of their hair,

they'd send me and my brother and sister out looking

for the Irishman's whiskey. -That's amazing.

That's parenting right there. Kids, go find some booze.

Go find some whiskey in the woods.

[Josh] So help me understand this legend.

How does this whiskey end up in the ground?

Well, Lord Dunraven was a man who worked hard

and played even harder. -OK.

And at the end of a successful hunt, they would throw

some wild, raucous parties.

And one year, they threw such a wild party, the hotel manager

kicked Dunraven and his entourage out.

Out of his own hotel?

Out of his own hotel, and they came to the cottage

to finish the party. -I kinda love this guy.

Yeah.

[Josh] And when we talk about these hunts,

like when he goes out with Buffalo Bill,

this is not just a couple of guys sitting

in a hunting blind, right? This is, like, a major affair.

[Chris] This is a big event with a lot of people.

-[Josh] Yeah. -[Chris] They had lavish tents.

-They had waiters. -[Josh] Armies of attendants.

-[Chris] Yes. -[Josh] Wining and dining.

-[Chris] And whiskeying. -[Josh] And whiskeying, right.

So these guys weren't swigging wild turkey out of a flask.

No, they were drinking the finest whiskey you could find.

And at that point, it may have been 150-year-old whiskey then.

[Josh] Wow, imported all the way over from Europe.

Yes, and a good bottle of that today could bring

hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And if it was associated with Dunraven and Buffalo Bill?

It could be worth millions.

And there's cases of it.

-That's crazy. -It really is.

And yet, it's missing. So why bury it?

Well, rumor has it, Dunraven would bury the whiskey

rather than transport it and risk breaking it.

So they would bury it for the winter, and then dig it

back up in the spring when they returned to town.

Got it.

Dunraven returns in the spring,

and he can't find it.

He can't remember where he buried it.

Has no idea.

So that whiskey is still out there.

It's still out there.

Let's go find it.

-Let's go find it. -[Chris] Let's do it.

[Josh] Come on, let's do it.

[wild country music playing]

So that whiskey is still out there.

It's still out there.

Let's go find it. Come on, let's do it.

[Josh] Estes Park, Colorado native Chris Pedersen thinks

the land around his childhood home

is hiding a million dollar cache of whiskey

buried by Buffalo Bill Cody himself.

Buffalo Bill always traveled with a big entourage.

To find his whiskey, so has Chris.

Josh, I brought in some professional help today.

I'd like to introduce you to Heidi Short.

She's an archaeologist here in Colorado.

[Josh] Heidi, really nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

[Josh] And the gentlemen armed with metal detectors

are from the Eureka Treasure Hunters Club.

You guys look like you're here to work.

We are absolutely here to work.

Let's talk about your strategy here.

Whiskey, last time I checked, not metallic.

Definitely not.

OK, so how are we gonna find it?

Well, you know what?

The reports are that these whiskey bottles were buried

in crate or crates, which would have nails and hinges,

typically for lifting that lid.

Those are definitely metallic, and we can find those.

This will be the most comprehensive search

of this property ever conducted.

The team believes the whiskey is likely on the grounds

of Dunraven's cottage or in the surrounding woods

that once led to Dunraven's hotel,

an area which has never been systematically scanned...

until now.

OK, so should we start swinging these detectors?

-Yes, we should. -Absolutely.

Heidi, lead us to the bar, please.

Let's go find some whiskey, guys.

-Come on. -[country music playing]

♪ The train was moving through the past ♪

♪ At the foot of the hill ♪

♪ And the chief got a word it was headed by Buffalo Bill ♪

♪ That's the story of the love ♪

♪ Between Minnie and Buffalo Bill ♪

[Josh] What you got?

-[detector beeps] -[Josh] Sounds like a hit.

[detector beeps]

[Josh] Ooh.

-Well, it's not whiskey. -No?

Still get drunk off it, though. The old beer tab.

It's a classic.

You gotta find a few of those every day, right?

Right.

And just a note to the current generation,

please dispose of your beer cans responsibly.

You're wasting our time.

[upbeat country music playing]

You got something?

What do you got? ooh.

Old tin can.

And I would guess it to be a paint can.

[Josh] Look at that. Wait a minute.

This is the same color as the cottage.

Chris, when you were a kid, did your parents ask you

to paint the cottage? -We did.

Numerous times.

Chris, did you bury the paint in the yard?

-Might have ran out. -Unbelievable.

That is the same color as the cottage.

-[Chris] That's avocado green. -That's it, man.

-Look at that. -Boy.

Chris, you're getting busted here.

What else did you bury in this yard as a kid?

I think we're done here.

OK, stack of old Playboys coming up.

[Chris cackles]

[Josh] We get back to work, fanning out into the nearby

woods with the metal detectors.

[Wild West music playing]

[detector beeps]

-Sounds like something good. -Got a good hit?

[Jeff] I got something good here, I think.

I don't know.

Right in here.

[detector beeps repeatedly]

-Ooh, right near the surface. -It's definitely shallow.

-Ooh, is that a casing? -[Jeff] It is a casing.

Ooh, it's the whole bullet!

It's the whole thing, It is a dropped cartridge.

Oh, my word. Look at that.

Totally intact. That's incredible.

And this is, what do you think, like a.40 caliber?

40, yeah.

[Josh] So this has no head stamp on it.

And more modern casings actually have

head stamps on them.

So it's definitely older, late 1800s for sure.

And this would have been from what?

A revolver or a rifle?

-Rifle, a lever action. -Right.

We're in the money, in terms of the period here

and in terms of the equipment.

Who knows? This could be from this Dunraven-Buffalo Bill

expedition right here. -[Jeff] Absolutely.

[Josh] While some of the team decides to stay focused on this area,

we split up further to cover more ground.

[detector beeps]

[Josh] Ooh. Got a coin.

A super old dime.

This is from...

'76!

1976...

It's in great condition. You know what that's worth?

Ten cents.

Every cent counts.

[fast guitar music playing]

[Tony] Oh, my god.

Guys, I got something incredible.

-[Josh] What do you got? -[Tony] It's shiny.

-Look at this. -[Josh] What is that, Tony?

-[Tony] Look at this. -[Josh] Where?

[Tony] Right here. Right here.

[Josh] Ho-ho!

Oh, my god! Look at this.

-[Tony] Whoa! -[Josh] Look at this!

It's a piece of jewelry. This is, like, a brooch.

Oh, my word. Are those stones?

-[Tony] Five stones in it. -[Josh] And then the pin.

The pin is still in it. Look at that.

-[Tony] What? -[Josh] Are these cut stones?

[Ken] Yeah, I got a loupe on me.

They glass, they diamonds? What are they?

They're definitely cut stone

in the shape of a diamond. -Yep.

And around it, it's definitely got gold gilt

on the metal. -There's gold gilt on there?

-[Ken] There's gold on there. -Amazing.

But can't tell if they're diamonds.

So could be diamonds, could be cut glass.

We would need a diamond tester to check those out.

Heidi,

what are we looking at?

This brooch looks like it's late 1800s, early 1900s.

Oh, my word.

And I'll tell you what, this is gonna look great on me.

[Heidi chuckles]

I had 50 years to find that, and I didn't.

A thousand times, I've walked over this.

-It was right under your feet? -Right under my feet.

Unbelievable.

And what else could be under our feet right now?

Yeah, how about that? That's history right there.

Oh! That's a beauty.

All right.

Find some whiskey now, will you?

-[Tony] I'm trying. -[all laugh]

I'll stop digging all the diamonds

and I'll start looking for the whiskey.

Come on, man.

[Josh] The brooch is a sensational find and matches designs

from the late 19th or early 20th century.

This could have adorned a kilt from Dunraven's party,

or even the jacket of Buffalo Bill Cody himself.

We continue metal detecting in this vicinity.

After all...

one treasure deserves another.

[dramatic music rising]

[detector beeping]

Hey, Josh, I got the top of a bottle here.

A bottle?

[Chris] Glass bottle, and I got some metal with it.

[Josh] Oh-ho!

[Wild West music playing]

[Josh] To learn how to shoot like Buffalo Bill,

there's only one place to go,

the Cody Firearms Experience.

We're gonna shoot the 1873 Winchester.

Easy to load, easy to aim, easy to shoot.

We'll see about that.

[shots blast]

-That's a bullseye. -There we go!

You got anything with more firepower here?

I do.

That "anything" turns out to be

an 1862 hand-cranked Gatling machine gun.

-[continuous shots] -Ah! Ha-ha-ha!

-Whoo-hoo! -[blasts continue]

Yeah!

Oh, that's a bullseye right there.

I can't hear anything. Is that normal?

-What? -I can't hear anything.

No, thanks. I already ate.

What? What?

What? I don't know.

-It's Thursday. -Oh...

[Josh] Ho-ho!

Where?

[Chris] Come on in and take a look.

[Josh] Look at this!

That is the top of a bottle.

Oh, my word.

Near the hunting cottage that once belonged

to Buffalo Bill Cody's patron, Lord Dunraven,

we're searching for a cache of lost whiskey

buried by the American legend.

-Is there a whole bottle there? -Let's find out.

A little more.

-[Josh] Come on. -[Chris] Oh, no!

It's broken!

No!

Let's see it.

A heartbreaker.

Look at that, though.

That is old glass. What do you think?

Whiskey bottles are a lot longer here.

[Josh] Right, narrower neck.

[Heidi] And it doesn't actually flare out.

This is more like a soda bottle.

It's thinner than whiskey would have been.

Whiskey bottles are a lot fatter.

But what set off the detector? You got metal in here?

Well, I got some metal in here.

-[detector beeps] -[Chris] Here we go.

[Josh] Is it a lid? Cap or something?

[Chris] I think it's a tin.

A tin? What do you think?

It's a lid to a snuff box.

[Josh] Oh, that's from a snuff box?

[Heidi] Yep.

So, "snuff" is this very fine tobacco that people

would literally snort.

This is exactly the kind of thing that guys

like Buffalo Bill and Dunraven

would have up here in a hunting expedition,

for sure. That's a cool find.

-That's really neat. -That's a great one.

OK, so we got something to drink and we got some snuff.

What else is in here?

[trowel thuds]

[Josh] Oh! What is that?

Gentle. That sounded like glass.

Is that glass?

[Chris] That's glass.

Be careful, guys.

-Oh, that's a bottle! -That's a bottle!

That is a whole bottle! Oh, my word!

Look at that! oh!

That's a bottle. And it is old.

Look at that iridescence in the glass.

Oh, there's writing! There is writing on this.

-It says Fellows... -[Heidi]...and company.

-[Josh] And company. -[Josh and Heidi] Chemists.

-[Heidi] St. John. -[Josh] N.B.

N.B. is New Brunswick?

New Brunswick.

[Josh] This is from New Brunswick?

So this is not whiskey,

but some sort of medicinal bottle.

Right, it'd be a tonic or syrup,

you know, that you mix with tonic water.

Some kind of medicine, of some sort.

[Josh] Wow!

So, no question, this is 1800s, right?

Look at the thickness of this glass.

-[Heidi] It fits the period. -[Josh] For sure.

Well, Josh, I'm about to blow your mind.

-OK. -'Cause I remember the story.

Lord Dunraven hunted moose in New Brunswick.

-He was in New Brunswick. -Yes, he was.

-He wrote about it. -Get out of here.

Because you have to ask yourself, how did this bottle

get here from a couple of thousand miles away

in New Brunswick...

in the 1800s? -Incredible.

-Yeah. -Right?

-I mean, nobody flew this here. -No.

-This was carried here. -Yeah.

So who would have the resources to do that?

-Lord Dunraven. -Lord Dunraven.

This feels like it really could be from his party.

-I got goosebumps. -[Josh] I do too.

It's just unbelievable.

That is awesome!

It isn't whiskey, but it may well be Dunraven's.

And finding glass in the ground here makes the legend

that Chris was told as a child, startlingly real.

I'd say that deserves a toast.

Incredible finds all around today.

Unfortunately, not crates of historic whiskey,

but I did manage to dig up this very expensive bottle

on the company's dime.

So I wanna say thanks to all of you for an awesome,

awesome search today. Really, really cool stuff.

Here's to Lord Dunraven.

Here's to Buffalo Bill Cody.

And as Buffalo Bill himself would say...

"True to friend and foe."

In this case, friends. Cheers!

-[all] Cheers! -[glasses clinking]

[epic music continues]

-Oh, that's good. -That's good.

-Whoo! -Yeah.

OK.

I'd say let's bury this, but let's be honest.

We're gonna finish it.

All right, let's do it.

I've spent the last week chasing Buffalo Bill Cody

around the American West.

It's a place that, in no small part,

he helped create.

In the town that bears his name,

but also in its enduring spirit.

His tales of epic adventure and daring deeds cemented

the myths of the Wild West around the world.

He was also a man of his times, in regrettable ways.

But eventually, he became a vocal advocate

for Native American and women's rights,

and a leading figure of the conservation movement

to preserve the American bison population.

As for the mysteries surrounding his life and death,

like all great myths, they continue to captivate us.

And I don't think Buffalo Bill,

the great showman of the West,

would have it any other way.