Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake" but he is not a 'true believer' himself. :icon_scratch: Thanks, Ernie LAKE ISABELLA, Calif . Born in Longview in East Texas and living in Houston, Gary has published works of history born of his curiosity about what happened long ago in East Texas that played a role in the history of the Republic and of the State of Texas. Maybe they can help them in their search from the insights learned from their own pursuit of the Money Pit. 5. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? Also join us in the Facebook Group: Beyond Oak Island Treasures for more discussions. The basic story is that in 1816 silver stolen by pirate Jean Lafitte from the Spanish brig Santa Rosa was being moved north from Matagorda Bay to St. Louis, Missouri, for disposal. Texas is full of buried bootyor, to be a bit more accurate, full of stories about buried booty that no one has been able to find. The story goes that wagon loads of silver Lets be honest, everybody loves a good treasure story. Cush Reeves. One person who is still committed to the Hendricks Lake legend is Jacksonville documentary film maker and treasure hunter, Christian B. Roper. Both were the surnames of early settlers in the vicinity. An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. By The Siberian Times reporter. According to one legend, a group of priests put about three hundred burro loads of silver in a mine on one of their expeditions to New Mexico. North of Tatum, in the middle of the woods, lies Hendricks Lake. Just about every book written about Texas in that era mentioned it. On his website, Fenn wrote, "It was under a. Jensen Beach. endobj The popularity of treasure hunting during this time period was profiled in numerous pulp magazines and news features, and the business of supplying treasure hunters was page one news in the Wall Street Journal. 151 0 obj But to this day, treasure hunters are unswayed. For more information on Sunken Silver, visit www.sunkensilver.com. Although they attended different universities, Roper reconnected with high school friends Brackston McKnight and Ryan Travis and the three now work together on the project. Signup today for our free newsletter, Especially Texan. Having grown up hearing these stories about buried treasure and now searching for it himself, hes becoming a part of history. They then filled in the shaft. Did the infamous privateer Jean Laffite steal a $2 million fortune in silver from a Spanish galleon and bury it in the Sabine River near the East Texas town Sabine? Charles Fitzhugh Grice had the technology needed to find Spanish silver if the treasure was there. . A Book by Gary L. Pinkerton, author of "Trammel's Trace", Ive seen fifty of em beaten by the lakes bog bottom, from oil explorers and water witchers to plain nuts. . Beyond Oak Island Summary of Episode 1: Pirate Treasures and the Search in Hendricks Lake for Jean Lafittes Lost Treasure. George Mallory (left) with Andrew Irvine in the last known photo of them on their fatal Everest climb in June 1924. My father did do a bit of treasure hunting and more notably he was involved in a few treasure hunting circles of scuba divers. A heating and air conditioning contractor. Discovering history is part of the adventure, and that never ends. . Here are six of the supposedly greatest Texas treasures still out there. Every penny counts! But alas, nothing came of it. hb```E@9Z9:sj*5)o(Hd`8iQ^gFMJNvZ7he);Ndx8uy}xc;Mt0u410[t0v4t40t40Zt00L@,E@`E,AsE^X/q5tDX4C#{ Mary Roger also tells us about how some fishermen much later got an unusual catch in their hoop net when fishing in the Sabine River; entangled in their net were several silver bars. La Belle was a French ship that sank in Matagorda Bay in 1685 after running aground in a storm. At the age of 25, Jean Laffite was living in New Orleans, operating a warehouse essential to dispersing the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre. 0000003470 00000 n In Gretna in 1960, across the river from New Orleans, a large number of gold coins were found in an area frequented by Lafitte and his men .According to another story, Laffite buried a large cache on an unnamed island in Lake Borgne. In an interview with KETK, Pinkerton discussed the treasure, or lack thereof, at Hendricks Lake. Hits are sounded off. As a backup plan, they would supply all adjacent markets with fresh fish on ice. The Galveston Daily News made light of the effort by suggesting they move their operation to the Gulf of Mexico since a good deal of wealth has been left under its waters by shipwrecks. A week after that humiliation, Paul Tatum clubbed a man to death after he made fun of Tatums attempt to drain the lake. All Rights Reserved. 0000017195 00000 n This is the place where six wagon loads of silver stolen by Jean Lafitte from a ship called the Santa Rosa were supposedly dumped, according to HendricksLake.com, a website run by author and independent researcher, Gary L. Pinkerton. mATTY BLAKE (HOST) AND cHRISTIAN B. ROPER. And the story was basically, you wanna be the guy selling the metal detectors, you dont want to be the guy out there looking for (stuff) that doesnt exist. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry. The team, known as the "Temple Twelve," have been . The information comes from books and treasure hunting Web sites (the best of which are legendsofamerica.com and treasurefish.com). LAKE CHIEMSEE, GOLDEN CAULDRON In Bavaria, in southern Germany, Lake Chiemsee has been the focus of many divers ever since a Nazi-themed gold cauldron, worth more than $560,000, was found there in . a must to have. Laffite was wounded in the battle and is believed to have died just after dawn. A.C. SoRelle, Jr., and his brother, Henry, were oilmen who brought detection equipment, draglines, and other heavy machinery to dig into the gumbo mud on the bottom of the lake. June 6, 2020 - Fenn writes on his blog that the treasure has been found. endobj The July 17, 1958 edition of the Panola Watchman includes this update on a search for Jean LaFittes treasure at Hendricks Lake near Tatum. . Winds light and variable. Barnie Waldrop. [150 0 R 151 0 R 152 0 R 153 0 R 154 0 R 155 0 R 156 0 R 157 0 R 158 0 R 159 0 R] The stolen loot was smuggled north some years later but ended up in Lake. Thats the one thing we all agree on about Sunken Silver, is that legend is a very powerful thing.. He frequently returned to Galveston or the barrier islands near New Orleans to unload booty or take on supplies procured by Pierre. On an 1863 map of the area, it was named Flanagan Lake but since the 1880s has been known by its present name. Error! <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. It featured Pirate Treasures. More maps appeared showing various locations of a lost silver mine. The silver was never recovered. Back in the 1580s, Spanish conquistadors and priests often passed beneath the peaks of the Franklins on their way to New Mexico to colonize the Indian villages. When the Embargo Act of 1807 came into force, the Laffite brothers moved their business from New Orleans to an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. 0000001829 00000 n It led all the way back to an 1884 account where the guy who was the son of the founder of Tatum, Texas in East Texas decided he was going to drain the lake. Hendricks Lake was the sight of many treasure hunts over the course of the 20th century. But people buy into it, and thats the part thats interesting to me.. 162 0 obj Hendricks Lake %PDF-1.7 % This lake has its dangers, of course. . Contacts. It certainly had promise since it was a round piece of wood, like the legend of the wagon sunk in the lake. Hotspots would include the many watercourses through the area and gravel arroyos northeast of Boise, near Idaho City. Pinkerton is an enigmatic figure. That set off a huge treasure hunting stampede. hill on the Lakes side, the scans show some promising images. Their father, Barnie Waldrop, was the most active local treasure hunter. Roper is the director of a four-part documentary series about the Hendricks Lake legend titled Sunken Silver. The documentary follows Ropers personal journey with the story, starting when he first heard it at 7-years-old and chronicling his dives and searches at Hendricks Lake. In the last chapter of the book, I really talk about where do we go from here now., Theres something inherent in us that wants to believe those legends, Pinkerton stated. There are still treasure hunters to this day who believe the Lafitte fortune would be found if the lake was drained. accessed March 05, 2023, In an interview . endobj Roper believes that the Little Cypress Creek story and the Hendricks Lake story may have a common heritage. Visibility is nil, so it is a touchy situation. For more information about this incredible project and to see a short film trailer, go to their website at www.sunkensilver.com. Legends live on! There are people who spend their whole lives and considerable sums of money searching for sunken treasure ships, lost mines, and hidden loot. Christian Roper and Brackston McKnight lay eyes on Hendricks Lake, the alleged locale of sunken pirate treasure. including dialogue . Not one of them found any of the reported treasure, but that never prevented the next person from trying. Only recently did I learn of a parallel effort to tell the story of the Hendricks Lake treasure legend via film. Ocean Breeze. <>stream In 1983 a German biologist accidentally discovered more forged British pounds, numerous Nazi-era rockets and missiles that had crashed into the lake, and a previously unknown worm. Spanish soldiers in pursuit overtook the transport at Hendricks Lake and rather than give up the silver, the transport leader cut six wagonloads of silver loose and pushed them into Hendricks Lake. Hendricks Lake is an oxbow lake one and one-half miles south of the Sabine River and about four miles northeast of Tatum in Rusk County, Texas (32.371864N, 94.493190W). Snavely of Taylor, who had hunted treasure for 60 years, found a ruby arrowhead weighing 15 karats, along with many other gemstones. Photo: WhisperToMe, Public domain. Mainly clear. Singer & Co., which was renamed the Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865. In 1965 a professional syndicate of treasure hunters, men who worked together at a packaging company in LeClaire, Iowa, and led by Clarence A. Barnie was a TV repair man, and he had built this underwater metal detector, like the size of a washing machine. Historian Gary Pinkerton says the legend is mostly unsubstantiated. To him it is the Chase and the history. Hendricks Lake, once a commonly-frequented lake both for recreation and treasure hunting, is no longer accessible to the public. (All you English teachers out there, stop making fun of me for using the what is now known as phrase two sentences in a row.) At times the story stayed in circulation due to the efforts of Harry E. Rieseberg, a man who was the self-proclaimed '"worlds greatest underwater treasure hunter.. The son of Corbett Akins, Brodie grew up with Hendricks Lake as a routine part of his life and still owned that land on the lake until mining began. Do@aj^HmFd*`G1 They have documented their search for reported treasure over eight seasons. 147 0 obj A brig named Santa Rosa plundered in Matagorda Bay in 1816. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . The Irish Crown Jewels, stolen from Dublin Castle over a century ago, are still out there for treasure-seekers to find today. Hendricks Lake, He also might have(might have, I remind you)come across a wooden chest containing what was then $80,000 in jewelry and coins. endobj Others have mounted full-scale salvage expeditions with backhoes and monster trucks and whatnot. March 11 Saturday Daylight Wasting C-tier . from oil explorers and water witchers to plain nuts.. "My father and his friends shared the Hendricks Lake treasure legend with me when I was very young, perhaps 6 or 7 years old," Roper said. He found what he was looking for in the Spanish colony of Texas. help him in his search. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. This page is for discussion about that early history,. endobj Laffite approached them and was granted a commission and given command over a 43-ton schooner named General Santander. Fearing an ambush by Native Americans, they then decided to hide the treasure by pushing it into the muddy waters of the Sabine River. George Mallory's lost camera. 2018 Sunken Silver. they might find something, a storm rolls in. In 1909 members of the United States Geological Survey visited the site, which they described as being unproductive. Texas oilmen who later drilled an oil well based on scripture. To view perks for contributors or to make a donation towards completion of the film, visit www.gofundme.com/sunkensilver. 0000003134 00000 n In June of 2020, the treasure was finally found by a man who chose not to be named (perhaps understandably, as he was suddenly $5 million richer!). 1930, it came up again, 35. 154 0 obj (In English documents, his last name was often spelled Lafitte, but Laffite was the spelling used by Jean and his brother Pierre.). That historic trail passed just to the east of the lake, with the trail making up two-thirds of the boundary between Rusk and Panola counties. Leave them blank to get signed up. By 1810, their successful smuggling operation had been supplemented with piracy. Now, two years later, in his book, "True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake," he has given new life to a legend about hidden silver that developed alongside Trammel's Trace. Handbook of Texas Online, endobj https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hendricks-lake. The show starts with the Lagina brothers, Rick and Marty, sharing how their search on Oak Island opened them up to a world full of mysteries and lost treasures to explore. e d u / e t h j / v o l 4 7 / i s s 2 / 1 0)/Rect[128.1963 131.7406 353.4453 143.4594]/StructParent 9/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> Six wagon loads of silver carried north along Trammel's Trace. Mainly clear. 168 0 obj One thing is certain though, East Texans will continue to be fascinated by stories like these. 24 Lake Toplitz In Austria Is Believed To Hold The Lost Treasures From World War II. 0000001730 00000 n Jupiter Island. If pirate plunder and sunken silver hidden in a lake seem like the elements of folklore, they are. In 1884, the guy Tatum is named after thought he would drain the lake, Pinkerton said. . When we were looking through the story and seeing some of the characters that got interested in it, seeing some of the nations most prominent treasure hunters getting interested in the story, the story being picked up by some of the largest magazines and news outlets across the country in the 50s and 60s, seeing involvement from one of the worlds most famous psychicsits an incredible story, Roper noted. There are two legends in particular that seem to have found purchase in the minds of East Texas treasure hunters. Eventually, the Mexicans unloaded the moneygold and silver coinsso they could make an escape. Im hoping someday that people can get back down there, Pinkerton said. He was reading a book about lost treasure that inspired him to do some digging online, where he found supposed evidence that a ship was lurking underneath the water. Read More about USS Hatteras, This is a funny little slot filled with intricate features and attention-grabbing symbols. His book, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, focused on the variety of people and their attempts to discover the fabled hidden silver and was released this past April. Legend has it that Basss part of the money is in Cove Hollow, about thirty miles from Denton. Access to the lake that for 150 years had been accessible for picnics and fishing was closed off to all but a few private landowners at the time. Access to those treasure seekers was largely through land owned by a former Panola County sheriff, Corbett Akins, and one of his deputies, L.E. Stories like this, its what created a filmmaker in myself, its what creates archeologists, its what creates people that come up with plans to conquer whatever they want to solve in life, its just a special place.. But all the treasure hunters declared that I must be hiding the truth. True West Magazine article on Jean Lafitte. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. https://www.tshaonline.org, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hendricks-lake. He sent soldiers to look for it, but they found nothing. The treasure, placed in a. The parade of those who made documented efforts for the treasure included oilmen, a television repairman, a pharmacist, a grocery store owner, dirt contractors, water well diggers, fraudulent treasure hunting equipment hucksters, a heating and air-conditioning technician, and numerous other true believers. Searchers used aerial photos, underwater metal detectors, and magnetometers to aid in their efforts. TV repairman in Carthage who kept up his efforts for years and was the local expert. . To the north of Tatum, in the middle of the forest, lies Lake Hendrix. He initially doesn't release any details on the finder or location. When you see Hendricks Lake it just looks like it should have treasure in it.. Jean Lafitte's treasure Photo of Hendricks Lake, courtesy of Gary L. Pinkerton In attempting to honor what he perceives to be Fenn's wishes . 2019. In the final battle of the War of 1812, Lafitte and his comrades helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents()/Rect[130.3037 595.1786 171.4307 606.1786]/StructParent 2/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> As Laffite and his men raced through East Texas with the wagons, Spanish. 0000004315 00000 n Palm City. His interest is in the people who have acted on their belief in the legend. Ho-hum, right? He also noted there were a handful of other treasure legends that were nearly the same but with a different location or body of water and no specific piece of evidence regarding the Hendricks Lake silver on which he can hang his hat., When asked what he hopes Sunken Silver will accomplish, he answered just to tell the story.. Please post photos and a general area if you have . endobj Over the years, Hendricks Lake near Tatum has been a place where many people have visited in search of a legendary treasure that was supposedly left at the site by Pirate Jean LaFitte. When he got on board is when things started getting fairly serious.. Pinkerton. Roper has been pursuing the legend and examining where and how the various parts of the story originated. Born to an American mother and English father in Knoxville, Tennessee, Hendricks was raised in Portland, Oregon, and Twin Falls, Idaho, where she became active in local theater. 0000001390 00000 n The area served as a naval base during the war, and the publication notes that when the Allied forces were approaching, the Nazi's began sinking treasures in metal boxes in the lake . There were treasure legends like that all over Texas, he said. Before I started to work on the story running in the July 2009 issue (Sleeping Booty) about California musician Nathan Smiths quixotic attempt to find a lost Spanish treasure ship near the town of Refugio, north of Corpus Christi, I assumed that there was no buried treasure at all in Texas. We need your support because we are a non-profit organization that relies upon contributions from our community in order to record and preserve the history of our state.
was the hendricks lake treasure found