All language subtitles for Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo S01E02 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[air whooshing]
[dramatic music]

- Mysteries can be
buried anywhere.

Under the earth.

[volcano erupting]

Beneath the sea.

[plane whooshing]

Or even right
under our own feet.

[coins clinking]

[dramatic music continues]

And when we stumble upon them,

sometimes, what we find
can change history.

Tonight, unexpected treasure.

[dramatic music intensifies]

From a gold hoard stashed
in a suburban yard.

- Anytime you raise the
specter of stolen gold

and hidden treasure
in the Old West,

at the top of that list is
none other than Jesse James.

- To an astonishing
national prize.

- There's something wedged
between the painting

and the wood backing, and it's
worth millions of dollars.

- [Danny] To a huge
diamond in the rough.

- He notices a cool
looking rock sticking out

of the ground, and when
he gets a closer look,

he's stunned at what the finds.

[dramatic music intensifies]

- Join us now, because
nothing stays hidden forever.

[dramatic music intensifies]

[mysterious music]

Imagine learning that
something in your house

dates back thousands of years

and is actually priceless.

That's just what happened
in New York City.

[car horns honking]
[sirens blaring]

[computer keys clicking]
[dramatic music]

- In 2013, Roman art
expert Dario del Bufalo

holds an event in New York City

to celebrate the
release of his new book.

- The book is about porphyry.

Porphyry is a reddish
purple mineral

that has incredibly
fine crystals

that creates a
faint iridescence.

And it was used in frescoes,
paintings, and mosaics

throughout ancient
civilizations.

- While he's signing copies,

he overhears a couple as they're
thumbing through the book.

"Oh Helen, look.

That's your mosaic."

[people conversing]

- From the corner of his eye,

del Bufalo can see
that they're referring

to a 2,000-year-old Roman mosaic

that's been lost
since World War II.

He's completely in shock.

- He starts off
after the couple.

He points to the picture and
asks if this is the mosaic

in particular that
they're talking about.

And the man confirms that
his friend Helen Fioratti

has it in her house
as a coffee table.

[dramatic music continues]

- Right there in Midtown
Manhattan is this piece

of the ancient world.

And she's using it for coasters
and her remote control.

- [Narrator] del Bufalo believes
the coffee table may be

a missing artifact from the
infamous leader Caligula.

- Caligula is a
notorious Roman emperor

from between the
years 37 to 41 AD.

The histories describe
his reign as being filled

with murder, sex scandals,
and outrageous behaviors.

- He even makes his
favorite horse a senator

from the Roman Senate as a
way to insult other senators.

He might've legitimately
been insane.

- So in addition
to all the madness,

he constructed these two
lavish, massive party barges

where he would continue
his activities at sea.

- And right in the heart
of this hedonistic vessel

is the mosaic that becomes
Helen's coffee table top.

[mysterious music]

- [Narrator] By 41 AD,
even Caligula's guards

have had enough of his antics

and conspire to assassinate him.

- After Caligula is
stabbed to death,

the vessels are sunk to erase
any trace of his brutal rule.

- [Narrator] They
remain underwater

for nearly 2,000 years,

until an infamous dictator
goes looking for them.

[computer keys clicking]
[intense music]

- In the late 1920s,
Generalissimo Benito Mussolini

is looking to find whatever
pieces of ancient Roman glory

he can to boost his own cred.

So he's on a mission
to dig up old ruins.

He orders Lake Nemi drained,

hoping to find Caligula's fabled
floating pleasure palaces.

- It is an unbelievable,
Herculean undertaking,

but eventually, once
the lake is drained,

they retrieve two
massive structures,

each the size of a
modern jumbo jet,

but they are Caligula's
pleasure barges.

[intense music continues]

- Once these barges are
cleaned and examined,

they find art, they find
weapons, they find coins,

and they find these mosaics.

Mussolini is so
thrilled with this find

that he opens up a museum
in honor of these barges.

- [Narrator] Then,
on May 31, 1944,

[bombs exploding]
as World War II rages,

the museum burns to the ground.

[fire crackling]
And everything inside

is thought to be lost.

- So when Dario del Bufalo hears

that something from this
museum is in Midtown Manhattan

and is in this lady's apartment,

[laughing] he's taken aback
to say the very least.

[computer keys clicking]

- [Narrator] del Bufalo
alerts New York authorities,

who decide to pay Helen a visit.

- In 2017, Helen gets
a knock on her door.

It's the Manhattan
District Attorney's Office.

And they're here
about the mosaic.

They start peppering Helen

with all sorts of questions.

- The authorities suspect
that the mosaic was stolen

from the museum before
it burned down in 1944.

She explains that,
back in the 1960s,

she bought it from an
aristocratic Italian family

and that even an
Italian police officer

had helped broker the sale.

- Unfortunately for Helen,
the Italian government wants

that mosaic back.

And since she has no way of
proving that it wasn't looted

before she bought it,

the New York DA's Office
confiscates the coffee table.

[dramatic music intensifies]
- And ultimately,

this mosaic that was
owned by Caligula

and Mussolini and a lady
named Helen finds its way back

to the Museum of
Roman Ships in Nemi.

[mysterious music]
- That's not quite

the ending Helen hoped for,
but a couple in California

has much better luck.

[screen clicking]

[computer keys clicking]
[mysterious music]

- In February of 2013,

a Northern California
couple are walking their dog

on their property when
they see something

that catches their eye.

[dramatic music continues]

It's a can protruding
from the ground.

[mysterious music continues]

- But as they pull
on the wire handle,

they find that what it's
attached to is incredibly heavy.

- They take the lid off
and they can't believe

what they see.

The whole thing is filled,
crammed packed with gold coins.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] They go on to
discover seven more cans,

holding a total of
nearly 1,400 coins.

- The couple, now known
only as John and Mary,

because they wanna
remain anonymous,

get in touch with a coin
expert to authenticate

and evaluate the haul.

- [Narrator] The expert
confirms the coins are real

and estimates they
could be worth

as much as $10 million in all.

[dramatic music continues]

- Not only are these
coins in great condition,

they are from the late 1800s.

And most of them appear
to be uncirculated.

[coins clinking]

- Now, that's unusual.

That means that they never
made it from the mint

to circulate as common currency.

- These coins were probably
on their way to a bank,

and they were being transported
there by stagecoach,

which then may have been
liberated by robbers.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Narrator] If this is
true, who could've stolen

such a large hoard and why
didn't they come back to get it?

- Anytime you raise the
specter of stolen gold

and hidden treasure
in the Old West,

at the top of that
list is none other

than the most notorious outlaw,

[gun firing]

Jesse James.
[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] James is not only
known as a robber in the area

but he was amassing wealth to
create a new Confederate Army.

- But historians quickly
dismiss this theory.

James was killed by
Robert Ford in 1882,

and some of those coins
are dated as late as 1894.

So that eliminates Jesse James.

- Next on the suspect
list is Charles Boles,

better known as Black
Bart, gentleman bandit,

noted for his cunning
and also for his flair.

[suspenseful music continues]

- It is said that he robbed
somewhere around 30 stagecoaches

in Northern California,

which is where this couple
finds this vast amount of loot.

So for many, he's
an obvious suspect.

- In 1883, Bart is captured
and sentenced to prison.

He spends the next four years
behind bars in San Quentin.

So maybe he stole
and stashed the loot

after he was released.

If so, he never retrieves it.

- [Narrator] Regardless
of who stole it,

or if it's even stolen at all,

John and Mary wonder if they
can keep the loot they found.

- When news of the
discovery breaks,

there's some
speculation, maybe fear,

that the U.S. Mint will,
of course, swoop in,

but the mint investigates
and they are not able

to tie any of the coins
to any records they have

of stolen money from the past.

- Now that they're free to
do with them as they please,

the couple takes a
portion of the coins

and puts them up for sale.

And pretty quickly, the couple
pockets a cool $3.8 million.

[suspenseful music continues]

And to this day, it is
the largest discovery

of gold coins ever
in the United States.

Not a bad day for just
taking a walk with your dog.

[coins clinking]

- When the Founding
Fathers wrote

the Declaration of
Independence back in 1776,

they printed around 200 copies.

Just 23 were thought to survive.

Then a man on a day trip

uncovers something
really surprising.

[screen clicking]

[computer keys clicking]
[mysterious music]

- While browsing at
a local flea market

in Adamstown, Pennsylvania,

a man spots a dull and worn
painting of a country scene.

It's so worn that he
can't even make out

the artist's signature on it.

But he's not interested
in the painting.

He's interested in the
frame that's around it.

[mysterious music continues]

- It's gilded and
ornately carved,

and he wants it for a different
picture he already has.

So this guy plunks
down $4 and buys it.

- [Narrator] The
man takes it home

and begins to remove the
painting from the frame.

That's when he sees
something strange.

- There's something wedged
between the painting

and the wood backing.

It's about the size
of an envelope.

He unfolds it and he realizes,

[dramatic music]
[paper rustling]

it's the Declaration
of Independence.

[mysterious music]

- He doesn't think
much of this at first.

I mean, it's the
Declaration of Independence,

and there are copies
of this everywhere.

But it looks like
a pretty old copy.

- [Narrator] Curiously, this
copy contains no signatures

by the Founding Fathers.

- He has a friend who's
a bit of a history buff

who encourages him to
go and get it appraised,

just in the off chance

that this might be
something valuable.

- He takes it to Sotheby's
to have it examined,

and their experts
know immediately,

he's found something special.

- [Narrator] It's not
just any copy

of the Declaration
of Independence.

It's a pristine first edition.

- When we think of the
Declaration of Independence,

we think of the signed
version of the document.

The most famous signature
among them is the signature

of John Hancock.

But that version was
actually signed and completed

on August 2, 1776,

four weeks after the original

Declaration of
Independence was issued.

[dramatic music]

- You see, when the
Continental Congress adopts

the Declaration of
Independence on July 4, 1776,

it has a Philadelphia
printer, John Dunlap,

print 200 copies that
evening to carry the news

of independence
out to the people.

- Over the next few days,

they're distributed to
several colonial assemblies

and leaders, including
George Washington.

And they become known as
the Dunlap Broadsides.

- Finding one of the original
200 Dunlap Broadsides

is a pretty amazing thing,

but then finding one that's
in perfect condition,

now that is extraordinary.

- [Narrator] But how did
this priceless document

end up behind a painting?

- In 1776, the colonies were
still under British rule.

Having a copy of the
Declaration of Independence

in your back pocket
would lead to treason.

So some theorize that the
original owner stashed it

behind the frame to hide
it from the British.

- Most of the Dunlap copies
are owned by institutions,

mostly in America,
a few in the UK.

But this is only the third
to be held in private hands.

So when it goes up for
auction at Sotheby's in 1991,

it sells for $2.4 million.

This is the highest
price ever paid

for a piece of
Americana at the time

and a heck of a return
on a $4 investment.

[dramatic music continues]

- A $4 find that sells for
millions gets my attention.

But what if a missing treasure
stared you right in the face

every night at dinner?

That's what happened
to three brothers

from New Jersey in 2015.

[computer keys clicking]
[mysterious music]

- The Landau brothers
hated the painting

that was in their dining
room in their childhood home.

They found it kind of creepy.

- It depicts an
unconscious young man

being tended to by two people,

one of whom is trying
to resuscitate the youth

with smelling salts.

To the brothers and
their dinner guests,

[laughing] this painting
is not the type of thing

you want to contemplate
over dinner.

- According to family lore,

the grandfather
bought the painting

before the Great Depression
at an estate sale

and handed it down from
generation to generation.

- In 2011, after the
brothers' parents die,

the painting ends
up in the basement,

[light clicking]

where it's forgotten
for several years.

- [Narrator] Then in 2015,

the brothers decide it's time
to clean out the basement.

[mysterious music continues]

And when they
rediscover the painting,

they reach out to a professional

appraiser, John Nye.

- Nye is not impressed
with the painting,

which he calls
remarkably unremarkable.

But he thinks it might
be worth something.

- So he goes, "Okay,
on a good day,

maybe we'll get 500 to $800."

[computer keys clicking]
[mysterious music intensifies]

So in 2015, Nye and company set
up the painting for auction.

- Now, the brothers are
not expecting anything

to come of this.

Their expectations
are, in fact, so low

that they don't
attend the auction.

And because it's
a Jewish holiday,

they have their phones off.

- The auction goes
pretty much the way

Nye thought it would at first.

The bidding starts at $250,

then it goes to $500.

[mysterious music intensifies]

- A French bidder
jumps in at $5,000.

[dramatic music]

Suddenly, we have an
international bidding war

on our hands, 8,000, 10,000.

- Now, this painting is
reaching into six-figure region,

100,000, 200,000.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Andrew] The bids
continue to go up.

[dramatic music intensifies]
[gavel thumping]

- When the final gavel strikes,

a French dealer walks
away with this painting

for $1.1 million.

[dramatic music intensifies]

Needless to say, John
Nye is in complete shock.

- [Narrator] It turns out,

Nye missed an important
detail on this work of art.

[dramatic music continues]

- In the upper right-hand
corner of the painting,

there appears to
be some writing,

but it's hard to make it out.

The dealers think the
writing is a monogram

that spells out RHF.

[dramatic music continues]

- Rembrandt Harmenszoon Fesset,

which stands for Rembrandt,
son of Harmen, made this.

- The French dealer
believes that this is one

of Rembrandt's "Senses,"

a series that the artist
produced early in his career

when he was only 18 years old.

The five senses being a
popular theme at the time

for artists to depict.

This painting depicts
the sense of smell.

[dramatic music continues]

- The French dealer
gets the painting.

He has it authenticated,
and it turns out

that it is one of the
missing Rembrandts.

- [Narrator] That $1.1
million windfall

turns out to be nothing
compared to what happens next.

- The dealer now turns
around and sells it

to Thomas Kaplan, who is
a collector of fine art

from the Dutch Golden Age.

And it's reported that Kaplan
buys it for around $4 million.

[dramatic music continues]

Which is a profit of $3
million to the French dealer.

- For Kaplan, the
painting is invaluable.

He already has three

of the other Rembrandt
"Senses" paintings,

and the last one about
taste is still missing.

- So if you have a
creepy painting hanging

in your dining room depicting
a woman tasting something,

it might be worth
having that appraised.

[gavel thumping]

- Some people believe
in lucky charms,

like four-leaf clovers,
but one family uncovered

something amazing thanks
to a lucky horseshoe.

[mysterious music]

[computer keys clicking]

- In 1940, the Jones family
of Peterstown, West Virginia

is internationally famous.

[computer keys clicking]
- Grover and Grace Jones

are the equivalent to
modern-day celebrities,

and that's because
they have 15 children.

But here's the kicker.

All of them are boys.

[mysterious music continues]

- According to "Ripley's
Believe it or Not,"

this is a world record.

The New York World's Fair
celebrates Grover Jones Day,

and [laughing]
President Roosevelt

even invites the family
to the White House.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] But incredibly,

this won't be the family's
most rewarding moment.

That story begins
a decade earlier

when Grover finds
something unusual.

- Back in 1928, Grover
is playing horseshoes

with his eldest son,
whom they call Punch.

[horseshoe clinking]

During the game, one of Punch's
tosses goes way off course,

and so Punch goes off to
find the lost horseshoe.

[dramatic music intensifies]

- And he notices a
cool looking rock

sticking outta the ground.

[dramatic music intensifies]

- To Punch and his father,

this looks like an
interesting piece of quartz,

which is common in that
area of West Virginia.

So they put it in a cigar
box, put it on the shelf

in the family shed,
and forget about it.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Narrator] 14 years later,

Punch develops an
interest in rocks

and remembers the piece of
quartz he found with his dad.

- Punch reaches out
to a geology professor

named Roy Holden at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute.

[computer keys clicking]
Now, Holden is

used to people coming to
him with stones and gems

that they've found thinking
that they're something more

than they are.

So he initially blows Punch off,

but Punch is persistent.

- So Holden pulls out
his magnification loop,

and when he gets a closer look,

he's stunned at what he finds.

This rock is not
a piece of quartz.

It's an actual diamond.

[dramatic music intensifies]

- [Narrator] It's a
34-carat alluvial diamond.

[dramatic music continues]

And it's the largest ever
discovered in the United States.

- Alluvial diamond
is the term we use

for diamonds that
have been dislodged

from their point of origin.

Erosion over millions of
years washes them away,

and then they settle

in riverbanks or
on the ocean floor.

[water roaring]

[dramatic music]

- Holden speculates that
the markings on the stone

and the size of it suggests
that it was either formed

in Virginia or maybe
even North Carolina.

Then it washed down a river,

eventually depositing in the
creek behind Punch's house.

[screen beeping]

[dramatic music continues]

- [Narrator] But alluvial
diamonds this size

are found almost
exclusively in Africa.

So how did this one end up
in a West Virginia backyard?

- Back in the 1920s,

a circus comes to Peterstown.

And along with the bearded
lady and the carnival barker

was an African elephant.

[dramatic music continues]

- Perhaps the diamond was
embedded in the elephant's foot

back in Africa, then
dislodged later in the US,

where it eventually winds up
in Punch and Grover's backyard.

- Bottom line, it's as
good a guess as any,

because even Holden,
the geologist,

can't seem to figure
out this mystery.

But regardless of that,

it's an incredibly lucky find.

- [Narrator] But that luck
doesn't last forever.

- In 1944, World
War II is raging,

and Punch decides to
loan his lucky diamond

to The Smithsonian while he
goes off to fight in the war.

- Sadly, Punch will never
see the diamond again.

He's killed in an ambush
on Easter Sunday, 1945.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Narrator] Over the
next four decades,

the diamond spends
most of its time

in a safe deposit box
at the local bank.

- And then, in 1984,
the family decides

to finally sell the stone.

- The diamond sells
for just over $200,000

in today's currency.

It's purchased by an
anonymous Asian buyer.

[dramatic music continues]

- There's not much
known about him,

and for the last four decades,

the Punch diamond has gone
completely underground.

- Nobody knows where it is.

Nobody knows who has it.

And nobody knows if
we'll ever see it again.

[dramatic music continues]

- Unearthing a diamond
worth 200,000 in

your own backyard is
definitely thrilling.

But for students at
one school in Scotland,

finding treasure
is almost routine.

[mysterious music]

[computer keys clicking]

- 1984, a group of teenage
boys in Fife, Scotland

are messing around
the school yard

of the 300-year-old
Dalhousie Castle School.

[mysterious music continues]

One of the boys stumbles across
a strange looking object,

a bronze patina human figure.

[mysterious music intensifies]

- The students are excited.

They have no idea
what they've found,

but they think it's
gonna make them rich.

The boys race to the
Royal Scottish Museum,

and in their excitement,
they basically stampede

through the doors,

so eager to have someone
check out their find.

- After ordering
them to settle down,

the museum curator,
Dr. Elizabeth Goring,

takes a look at what
they've brought in.

- Immediately, she
is taken aback.

This looks like an
ancient Egyptian artifact.

[mysterious music continues]

- But when she asks
where they found it,

they say it's at the
300-year-old Dalhousie School.

- [Narrator] Goring's
colleagues realize

this isn't the first time an
Egyptian artifact was found

at the school.

Multiple children made
other smaller discoveries

over the last 30 years.

But this find
sparks new interest.

How did artifacts from
the sands of Alexandria

end up here?

[mysterious music intensifies]

- One working theory
is that they belonged

to Alexander Leslie-Melville,
Lord Balgonie,

who had served in the
Crimean War in the 1850s.

- During the conflict,

he suffers from
some mental distress

and he returns home ill.

To speed his recovery,

the family sends him to
the warm climate of Egypt.

- During this time,
it was really common

for dealers to try and sell

Egyptian antiquities
to tourists.

So it's possible
that he acquired some

and brought them
home to Scotland.

- Before the property
is the Dalhousie School,

it's Lord Balgonie's
family home.

He lived there, so it's
reasonable to think

that this is where any
artifacts he picked up in Egypt

would have landed
when he came back.

- According to some experts,

the artifacts are held
in a building adjacent

on the grounds, and when Lord
Balgonie dies a year later

of tuberculosis, it's said that
the building was demolished,

thus burying the
artifacts within.

[dramatic music]

- The majority of the
finds have ended up

at the National
Museums of Scotland.

The Scottish government
declares them a treasure trove,

the only ancient
Egyptian artifacts

to have received that honor.

[intense music]

- Titans like
John D. Rockefeller

have made fortunes from oil,

but in 2017, one man finds a
fortune in someplace unusual.

[mysterious music]

[computer keys clicking]

- British businessman Nick
Mead has an unusual enterprise,

a company called Tanks A Lot.

[tank whirring]

- They purchase
decommissioned military tanks

from all over the world
and they rent them out

for special events,

weddings, kids birthday parties.

And for $3,000,

he'll even give you a
guided tour around London.

[mysterious music continues]

- So it's fair to say
that Nick's a tank guy,

and he's always on the
lookout for something new

to add to his fleet.

- One day while he's
browsing online,

Nick comes across a real score.

[dramatic music]

It's an ex-Iraqi military
type 69 main battle tank

that was used in the Gulf War.

- This is a tank
with a lotta power

that has a
100-millimeter main gun

and a 12.7-millimeter
machine gun.

And believe it or
not, Nick gets it

for less than the price of
a lotta new cars, $37,000.

[dramatic music continues]

- When the Iraqi tank arrives,

Nick and his mechanic
dive right in.

And when they get
to the gas tank,

they find it's remarkably heavy.

- They're excited, but
also very cautious.

- [Speaker] If you
can lift a bit.

- What's the matter?
- What is it?

- What the?
- No.

- What the?

- Inside the fuel tank,
there are five gold bars

with an estimated

cash value of $2.4 million.

- [Narrator] Oil has been
called liquid gold,

but how did actual gold
end up in this tank?

[dramatic music]

- In August of 1990,
during the first Gulf War,

[guns firing]

Iraqi troops storm
into Kuwait and loot

almost everything in sight.

[dramatic music continues]

They steal the gold bath
fixtures from the Emir's palace.

They take computers.

They take rare antiquities
and Islamic art.

[dramatic music continues]

They even take animals
from the Royal Zoo.

[celebratory music]

- But their celebration
is short-lived.

US forces intervene and liberate
Kuwait in February, 1991.

And the return of the
looted merchandise

becomes a crucial part of
the peace negotiations.

[dramatic music]

- Six months after the
end of the conflict,

the Iraqis returned about
3,200 gold bars to Kuwait

under UN supervision.

And that gold was worth
a whopping $700 million.

- [Narrator] But it seems,
not everything is sent back.

[dramatic music continues]

- The Iraqi troops do their
best to hide their plunder,

and the gas tank of an
armored vehicle seems

as good as any place
to hide their loot.

- Then eventually the vehicle
makes it way to Great Britain,

where it's purchased
by a young mechanic

who puts new tracks
on the vehicle,

and repairs the engine, but
he never checks the gas tank

before selling it to Nick.

[dramatic music continues]

- To his credit, when he
discovers the gold bars,

Nick reports them
to the authorities.

British authorities show
up, they take the gold bars,

and they give Nick a receipt.

[dramatic music continues]

- This is all done
with the explanation

that they're going to
find the rightful owner

and return the gold
bars to that owner.

But it's been over
seven years now,

and as far as Nick knows,

the gold bars have
not been returned

to their original owner.

- He even tells
reporters that he regrets

turning the gold
over to the cops

and feels that he should,
at the very least,

[dramatic music continues]

have got a finder's fee.

[mysterious music]

- Imagine stumbling upon an
even older priceless find.

That's exactly what happened
to this curious man.

[mysterious music continues]

[computer keys clicking]

- In April 2022, a fabric
designer named Philip Jacobs

is out for this leisurely
stroll along the beach

near Kimmeridge Bay
in southern England.

[computer keys clicking]

- It's part of his
regular routine,

a chance to get some exercise,

as well as partake in one
of his favorite pastimes,

scouring the beach
for hidden treasures.

- [Narrator] Over the years,

many fossils have
been discovered on

this stretch of beach,

leading to its nickname,
the Jurassic Coast.

[mysterious music continues]

- As Jacobs walks
along the shoreline,

he catches a
glimpse of an object

that looks like just
a piece of driftwood.

[waves crashing]

- So he takes a closer look.

And what he finds is
this two-foot long snout,

complete with these
massive teeth.

And Jacobs knows he has
found something cool,

but he isn't exactly
sure what it is.

- In the meantime,
he contacts a friend

who's a paleontologist
named Steve Etches.

And he brings him to the site.

- [Narrator] Etches takes
one look at the snout

and can hardly contain
his excitement.

- Jacobs found part of
the skull of a Plesiosaur,

[dramatic music]

a marine reptile that
lived with the dinosaurs,

also known as the Sea Rex,

which is a nod to its fearsome
land equivalent, the T. Rex.

- Plesiosaurs ruled the
water 150 million years ago.

They were massive creatures.

They could grow to
about 40 feet long,

which is about the
size of a school bus.

[screen beeping]

And they were the apex
predators of the sea.

- And they didn't take
a backseat to anyone

due to their extremely
powerful jaws.

Today, saltwater
crocodiles are known

to have the strongest bite
of any living creature.

But the Plesiosaur was at
least twice as powerful.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Narrator] Etches and his team
continue searching the beach

hoping to find more
of the Sea Rex.

- They eventually discovered
that the fossil fell

from one of the cliffs
towering from overhead.

[gear clicking]

- They climb way up
the mountainside,

[dramatic music continues]

eventually excavating
the rest of the skull,

[dramatic music continues]

which turns out to be
over six feet long,

completely intact
with no missing bones.

[dramatic music continues]

Jacobs' discovery reveals
anatomical features

that researchers
haven't seen before,

including one that is believed

to be a light-sensitive third
eye used for stalking prey.

- And his friend
Steve Etches thinks

that this is just the beginning.

[dramatic music continues]

- He thinks the rest of
this creature is somewhere

buried here and is going
to reveal even more.

And it's all due to one
guy who went for a stroll

on a local beach.

[dramatic music continues]

[waves sloshing]

[mysterious music]

[computer keys clicking]

- In 2013, a French
mountain climber is scaling

the quite imposing
peak of Mont Blanc,

which is the tallest
mountain in the Alps

and Western Europe.

It stands at a staggering
15,000 feet high.

[dramatic music]

- As he's ascending
towards the summit,

something catches his eye.

[dramatic music continues]

It's a glint of
metal off to the side

poking out of the ice and snow.

He digs with his pick

[dramatic music continues]

and produces a metal box.

When he opens it,

[dramatic music continues]

he sees sapphires,
rubies, precious gems.

[dramatic music intensifies]

- Adding to the mystery,

the gems are packed
into little pouches

that are labeled, Made in India.

- The mountain climber turns
out to be an honest one.

After collecting
the frozen fortune,

he descends the mountain
and turns it into the police

in the town of Chamonix.

[computer keys clicking]

- While the authorities
are stunned by this find,

it doesn't take them very
long to trace the origin

of these glacier gems.

- [Narrator] The source
is an Air India flight

from the mid 1960s.

[computer keys clicking]
[plane whirring]

- Back on January 24, 1966,

Air India flight 101 is en route

from Mumbai to London,

with a layover in Geneva.

But 20 minutes away
from the airport,

it slams into Mont Blanc.

[dramatic music intensifies]
[sounds of crashing]

[regal music]

- [Announcer] The
airline air crash

near the summit of Mont
Blanc in subzero weather.

[camera clicking]

- Tragically, had the plane
been just 50 feet higher,

it would've cleared Mont Blanc.

Everyone onboard the plane dies.

It's 106 passengers
and 11 crew members.

- [Narrator] Also lost,
the plane's cargo.

[dramatic music]

- Immediately, search parties
are dispatched to the site.

[dramatic music continues]

They find the crash creates
this massive debris field

that's roughly a mile long.

- They find mail and
plane parts, human remains

among the wreckage.

But unfortunately, bad
weather forces them

to scrap any recovery efforts.

- [Narrator] While the
official cause of the crash

is ruled as pilot error,

some believe it was no accident.

- Onboard this flight was
India's top nuclear scientist,

Homi Jehangir Bhabha.

He's a strong supporter
of nuclear energy,

and he's known as the father
of India's nuclear program.

- Conspiracy theorists
quickly latch on

to this part of the
story and begin to argue

that this was an assassination
plot orchestrated

by the CIA to cripple India's
nascent nuclear program.

- Most of the wreckage
is actually still

on the mountainside today.

However, over the decades,

occasionally a climber
would come across debris

from the crash,
fragments from the plane,

shoes, and human remains.

[dramatic music]

- In 2012, some climbers
even discover a bag

labeled Diplomatic Mail.

But it doesn't have
anything of value in it.

[dramatic music continues]

- One of the climbers who
discovers this says, quote,

"We were hoping for diamonds
or at least a few gold ingots,

but instead we got
soaking wet mail

and some Indian newspapers."

- These are all things
that you can expect to find

when you're trying to recover
items from a plane crash.

But a year later,

when an entire box
of jewels is found,

it's a complete
surprise to everyone.

- Nobody has any clue that
they were even onboard

or who they could've
belonged to.

An exhaustive
investigation is launched.

French and Indian officials
collaborate in an attempt

to solve the ultimate
cold case mystery

of who owned these
frozen valuables.

[dramatic music continues]

- [Narrator] Finally, in 2021,

eight years after the
jewels are discovered,

the search is called off.

- With no discernible
next of kin

to pass the riches onto,

the jewels are divided
among the residents

of the town of Chamonix and
the climber who found them.

- The town's share is
placed in an exhibit

for people to see.

But the climber's share,

$84,350 in their pocket.

[dramatic music]

- The climber who
turned in the jewels

is handsomely rewarded
for his honesty,

proving that honesty
is the best policy.

[dramatic music continues]

- When most people think
of buried treasure

the first thing that
comes to mind is money.

But in 1908, one cowboy
unearthed a whole lot more,

thanks to a terrible storm.

[wind howling]

[computer keys clicking]
[mysterious music]

- This is no ordinary
thunderstorm.

[thunder crashing]

Within just a few hours,

you have 14 inches of
rain, which then caused

a five-foot flash
flood to occur,

which then proceeds to
wash away most of the town.

And it also carries,
unfortunately, 17 people

to a watery grave.

[dramatic music]

- When the skies
clear, George McJunkin,

who's a former
slave turned cowboy

and is now foreman of
the Crow Foot Ranch,

rides out to assess the damage.

[dramatic music continues]

- He sees a broken
barbed wire fence

that was washed
out by the flood.

So when he goes to repair it,

McJunkin notices something

that's sticking
out of the ground.

[dramatic music continues]

He digs it out and it
turns out to be bones.

[dramatic music intensifies]

Now, McJunkin's an
experienced rancher,

so when he's looking
at these bones,

he figures that they're
probably bison bones.

[bone whooshing]

- [Narrator] It's clear,
though, that these

are from no ordinary bison.

- They are big, bigger than
any bison he's ever seen.

McJunkin knows he's
found something special.

And he tries his best [laughing]

to bring it to the
attention of others.

He corresponds with
scientists and universities.

He approaches people who
are interested specifically

in prehistoric animals.

But no one bites.

- After years of trying
to solve the mystery

of what these bones are,

sadly, McJunkin passes
away on January 21, 1922

without any answers.

[mysterious music]

- [Narrator] Two months later,

a pair of researchers
McJunkin shared his find with

bring some of the bones

to the Colorado Museum
of Natural History.

- In 1926, four years
after McJunkin's death,

the museum sends a team
of paleontologists out

to the bone pit to formally
excavate it at last.

[dirt whooshing]

The excavation reveals
many more bones,

which they determine
to be from a species

of extinct bison from the Ice
Age called Bison antiquus.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] At seven feet
tall and 3,500 pounds,

Bison antiquus was

at least 25% bigger

than the modern bison.

It's an incredible discovery.

But what they find next
is even more surprising.

- They discover a
spear point lodged

into the rib bone
of one of the bison.

[dramatic music intensifies]

- And this sends
their heads spinning,

because this shows researchers
and these paleontologists

that the bison were being
hunted by human beings.

[dramatic music continues]

- Up until this
point, it was thought

that the earliest humans
only arrived in North America

around 1000 BCE.

But Bison antiquus roamed
the Earth around 9000 BCE.

- This is proof that humans
existed in North America

thousands of years earlier
than previously thought.

- [Narrator] Over the
following decades,

many books and
articles are written

about this
anthropological treasure,

but virtually none credit
Cowboy McJunkin for his work.

- Then, finally, half a
century after his passing,

historians begin to research

into the forgotten
cowboy's contributions.

And in 2019,
McJunkin is inducted

into the Hall of
Great Westerners,

solidifying his role
in the discovery.

[dramatic music continues]

[mysterious music]

- Whether it's lucky horseshoes

or school kids finding
Egyptian treasures,

being in the right
place at the right time

can make you rich and
also make history.

I'm Danny Trejo.

Thanks for watching
"Mysteries Unearthed."

[dramatic music]