The Curse of Civil War Gold (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 7 - The Plot Thickens - full transcript

Tonight on
The Curse of Civil War Gold...

I believe that there are,

potentially, billions in gold

hidden by the Knights
of the Golden Circle.

And it played out in Muskegon

because of Charles Hackley.

-He fits the profile.
-KEVIN: Wow.

AKRAM:
Here you're in
the Mason's Temple.

I've always felt
that the Masons collaborated

about the missing
Confederate gold.

What gold?



-Vault number one.
-[laughs]: Oh, my goodness.

Every history textbook
in America has this wrong.

Absolutely.

ALEX:
Are you saying
that Stanton was involved

in the murder
of Abraham Lincoln?

-Yes.
-You are?

-How do you know that?
-I know it for a fact.

-BRAD: Wow.
-Wow.

NARRATOR: While tracking down connections

between the men who arrested
Jefferson Davis

on the morning of May 10, 1865

and Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton,

the man who gave the orders, treasure hunter Kevin Dykstra,

his brother Al, along with
researcher Brad Richards



and Marty Lagina's son Alex

have traveled
to Washington, D.C.

They are meeting with
investigative journalist

and author Warren Getler,
whose bookRebel Gold

makes numerous connections
between Stanton

and an elaborate plot
to assassinate

President Abraham Lincoln

and then steal millions
in gold and silver

from the Confederate treasury--

a portion of which,
Kevin believes,

now lies at the bottom
of Lake Michigan.

The story
that I've heard is that

John Wilkes Booth
was just, like,

a rogue Southern sympathizer
who executed Abraham Lincoln,

-but you're saying
that that's not the case.
-WARREN: Right.

That's the established history,
but it's, it's not true.

NARRATOR:
On the evening
of April 14, 1865,

President Abraham Lincoln
was attending a production

ofOur American Cousin

at Ford's Theatre
in Washington, D.C.

John Wilkes Booth,
a famous actor,

entered the president's
private box

and fired a single
.44 caliber bullet

into the back of his head.

As chaos erupted
in the stunned theater,

Booth leapt to the stage,

injured his leg
and then shouted,

"Sic semper tyrannis"--
death to tyrants.

He then escaped out the back door of the theater

and fled into the night
on a waiting horse.

But Booth's act of treachery

was by no means a solitary one.

That same night,
there were similar plots

against two other members
of Lincoln's cabinet:

Vice President Andrew Johnson,

and Secretary of State
William H. Seward.

Although the attempt
on Johnson was foiled

before it could take place,

the attack on Secretary
Seward-- while not fatal--

was exceptionally brutal,
leaving the statesman

scarred for life.

There were eight people who were
convicted and four were hung.

We are talking about one
of the most elaborate schemes

of what we call today
"regime change."

Whoa.

The actual act by Booth,
I believe, was organized

by the Knights
of the Golden Circle.

And I think there is
a real possibility

that Edwin Stanton
was a major coconspirator.

NARRATOR:
The Knights
of the Golden Circle?

The secret organization that was reportedly planning

to take the remains of the Confederate treasury to Mexico

and then use it to set up
a rogue government?

In 1854,

as anti-slavery sentiment began growing in the United States,

pro-slavery advocates
formed a secret society

known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, or KGC.

Members are believed to have included John Wilkes Booth,

the outlaw Jesse James

and Confederate President
Jefferson Davis.

When the Confederacy lost
the Civil War,

the KGC plotted to form a new nation of slave territories

known as the Golden Circle,

that would stretch from Mexico
to the Caribbean.

Is it possible,

as Warren Getler's
research suggests,

that not only was the KGC
behind the plot

to assassinate Abraham Lincoln,

but that one
of the conspirators

was Edward M. Stanton, a member of Lincoln's own cabinet?

If we want to look at some
very incriminating evidence

-against Stanton...
-Okay.

...the question becomes, did
Booth lose his diary, which is--

I actually have a copy
of this here to show you guys.

-AL: John Wilkes Booth's diary?
-Yes.

-BRAD: Whoa.
-And isn't it interesting

that when Stanton returned it,
18 pages were missing?

Wow.

NARRATOR:
18 pages?

Missing from the diary
of John Wilkes Booth?

Is it possible that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton

was involved
in the plot to assassinate

America's 16th president?

And, if so,
what had Booth written

that Stanton would have wanted erased from history?

They're obviously missing
for a reason.

Somebody didn't want people
to know what was on those pages.

WARREN:
Lincoln, he wasn't just
fighting the Confederacy,

he was fighting
a secret society.

The Knights of the Golden Circle
had the power, I would argue,

of the CIA, the FBI

and the National Security
Administration combined.

-Oh, wow.
-Why do I say that?

Because the U.S. government

was after the Knights
of the Golden Circle.

And this is where it gets
really interesting.

If we recall, the Knights of the
Golden Circle was two things:

it was a Confederate
organization

and a Scottish Rite
organization.

Oh, my goodness.

NARRATOR:
The Scottish Rite
is a branch of Freemasonry

designed to advance
Master Masons

beyond the organization's
third degree.

Formed in 1801,
and then later refined

by noted Freemason Albert Pike in the 1850s,

Scottish Rite Freemasonry
is considered

one of the most prestigious
and elite branches

in the organization.

It is also
one of the most secretive.

If you look
at the Masonic connection,

he was a Mason,
he was a Mason,

he was a Mason.

There it is.
That's the package.

BRAD:
All the major players
are Scottish Rite

33rd degree Masons.

KEVIN:
Does any of your research

reveal Stanton in an effort
to seize Confederate gold

of any kind and then store it
or hide it in places?

The Knights of the Golden Circle
were all about

seizing gold and keeping it.

-Okay.
-A classic modus operandi

of the Knights
of the Golden Circle

was to have sentinels in place

who would protect this money
at all costs under a blood oath.

-Wow.
-KEVIN: Really?

WARREN:
I believe that there are
potentially billions in gold

that are underground,
hidden by the Knights

of the Golden Circle.

-Still, to this day?
-Yes, absolutely.

These huge depositories
of underground gold exist,

in Arizona, Utah,
New Mexico, Texas.

They would have people
who would be in charge of them,

and, if they were smart,
they'd give to the town.

To keep the town happy,
maybe to keep the town quiet.

And it played out in Muskegon
because one interesting fellow,

Charles Hackley,
who was a high-level Mason,

-did exactly that.
-He fits the profile.

He built hospitals,
he built schools, libraries.

He really pulled the town
on his side.

So you're saying Charles Hackley
could have been a KGC sentinel?

It's very hard to eliminate
the possibility.

We knew it.

NARRATOR: According to Kevin Dykstra's research,

the Union officers who arrested Jefferson Davis

at the end of the Civil War

took possession
of six wagonloads

of gold, silver and jewelry.

After being hidden in Georgia
for five years,

the treasure was then brought to Muskegon, Michigan

where lumber
tycoon-turned-banker

Charles Hackley began
laundering it

through a number of local banks and charities,

as well as in gold mines
out west.

According
to a deathbed confession

made by a lighthouse keeper
in the late 1800s,

it was while transporting
the stolen gold

to one of Charles Hackley's
gold mines in Utah

that a boxcar full of it

was deliberately pushed off
a ferryboat

and sent crashing to the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Although Kevin believes he has found a possible debris field,

he must wait
for the necessary permits

to see if his theory
is correct.

So the question with Stanton is,

was seizing that gold important
to keep the economy going?

Right? He made a big fuss
about this money.

Or was it that he was
an operative

of the Knights
of the Golden Circle?

ALEX:
Right.

-Two conflicting motives.
-Two conflicting.

Or did he, did he thread himself
kind of between both?

I've been on this story
for 20 years,

and there's a guy
I would love for you to meet.

He's a real Booth
assassination expert.

Nate Orlowek.

And I think it would be great
for you guys to talk to him.

Yeah, I'll get in touch with
him. I'll set something up.

-The more we can learn,
the better, really.
-Absolutely.

We knew this conspiracy
was large.

I felt we were
at the tip of the iceberg.

I think we're at
the tip of Antarctica,

-loaded with icebergs.
-[laughter]

As a history teacher,
it's mind-blowing.

Yeah, well,
it's not the history we learn

in high school or in college.

AL:
We appreciate your time.

WARREN:
Yeah, great.
Good seeing you guys.

Take care.

NARRATOR:
After scheduling to meet

with John Wilkes Booth expert Nate Orlowek the next day,

Alex Lagina has
arranged for everyone

to find out more
about Freemasonry

by suggesting a visit
with a former Grand Master

of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia.

Al and I managed to get in touch
with a guy by the name of Akram,

who is a former Grand Master of
the Scottish Rite here in D.C.

-33 degree.
-Yep. Yep.

-BRAD: Really?
-KEVIN: Oh, wow.

NARRATOR: For Kevin Dykstra and his team,

what started as a quest

to retrieve millions
of dollars' worth

of gold bars at the bottom of Lake Michigan

has expanded to a treasure hunt
of a very different kind.

Have any of you guys
been in a, like,

-a Masonic temple before?
-Never.

NARRATOR:
They are now
increasingly convinced

that a plot to steal a portion of the Confederate treasury

-was actually part
of a vast conspiracy.
-[gunshot]

KEVIN:
It's really interesting

that research that started
in Muskegon, Michigan

now looks like
it could very likely involve

John Wilkes Booth.

We're uncovering
a bigger conspiracy here.

We very likely could be
rewriting history.

ALEX:
Well, this is it.

The oldest Masonic temple
in D.C.

-BRAD: This thing is huge.
-ALEX: Yep.

AL:
Man, that's impressive.

-KEVIN: Right here.
-Hello, gentlemen.

-ALEX: Hey. How are you?
-BRAD: Hey, Akram.

-AL: Hey, Akram.
-Fine. How you doing?

-I'm Alex.
We talked on the phone.
-Hi, Alex.

-How are you? I'm Akram.
-I'm Al.

NARRATOR:
As the president

of Capital Communications
Group, Inc.,

a consulting firm
that specializes

in international business

and cultural/political
networking,

Akram Elias is considered

one of Washington, D.C.'s
most respected residents.

He is also one of the nation's most high-ranking Freemasons,

having achieved
the 33rd degree,

the fraternity's highest level, in 2001.

Since then he has served
as the head

of several Masonic lodges

and even
as Grand Master of Masons

for the District of Columbia,

overseeing all Masonic lodges
in the jurisdiction.

Please, come on in.

-Just follow me.
-All right.
-Okay.

KEVIN: You know, I'm really surprised

that a Grand Master Mason

is willing to take us
inside of the temple

and answer questions,
because my belief

was that the Masons
really didn't share a lot.

-Welcome
to the House of the Temple.
-Wow.

AKRAM:
Salve frater,you know?

Welcome, my brother.

-AL: It's huge.
-BRAD [chuckles]: Whoa!

AKRAM:
This is the atrium.

This is where people
are welcomed into the building

before they go to, um,

the Temple Room.

Is that where
the ceremonies are at?

In the Temple Room, yes.

NARRATOR:
According to the principles
of Freemasonry,

the bond between members
is considered more sacred

than any allegiance to creed or even country.

This system of beliefs
is taught to members

inside Masonic lodges and temples through secret rituals,

and in the outside world,
they employ

secret handshakes, passwords

and signals used
to identify each other.

So, this is the tomb
of Albert Pike?

AKRAM:
This is where he is, uh,
entombed, as we say, yeah.

In other words, the sarcophagus.

This is where

the remains of Albert Pike

were preserved.

NARRATOR:
Although he was from Massachusetts, a Union state,

Albert Pike not only helped organize the South's secession

but also served
as a brigadier general

for the Confederacy
during the Civil War.

Upon his death in 1891,

he was buried
in Oak Hill Cemetery

in Washington, D.C.,

the same cemetery

where fellow Scottish Rite
Freemason Edwin Stanton

was laid to rest in 1869.

But in 1944, Pike's remains were moved here

to the House of the Temple,

although the circumstances as to why are still a mystery.

-Do you want to follow me
this way?
-Sure.

-Sure.
-Yeah.

AKRAM:
Uh, as-as we go up here...

Well, take a look at this.

-Wow. This is amazing.
-Man.

AKRAM:
Isn't that magnificent?

-AL: That's crazy.
-BRAD [chuckles]: Whoa!

AKRAM:
Now, here you're really
in the temple itself, you know?

KEVIN:
This temple is massive.

Everything was figured
right down to the nth degree.

And all of those features
have a reason.

It really puts in perspective

what we're dealing with here and the size of this effort.

There was a lot of power

with the Masons
back in the day.

[chuckles]: What do you guys
talk about in here?

-What do we talk about.
-AL: Yeah.

Well, all kinds of things.

At the heart,
the center of this room,

of this temple, is the altar

upon which every Mason
would take his oath,

an oath that has to do
with duty and obligation.

Duties are things
that others expect of you.

An obligation is self-taken.

It's free will.

Masonry can never tell a person

to take an oath
against his religious belief,

his political affiliation

or the allegiance that he
or she owes to their country.

So it must have been
a real struggle

for Masons during the Civil War.

Absolutely.

Masons were on both sides.

Families were split.

You had generals on both sides
who were Masons.

But Freemasonry
would never tell you

you need to be with one side
or another.

[indistinct shouting]

NARRATOR:
During the four years
of the Civil War,

the United States
was more bitterly divided

than at any other time
in its history.

Because battle lines were
often drawn state by state,

as well as by ideology,

members of the same family

often found themselves
fighting each other.

However, despite the fact

that many Freemasons
found themselves

on different sides
of the conflict,

their strong bonds
of fraternal brotherhood

often trumped
their loyalties to country.

So, we're doing
as much research as we can

with what happened to the gold
at the end of the Civil War.

Gold? What gold?

-Well, the Confederate gold.
-[laughs]

So, when we ask you about gold
and Confederate gold,

I've always felt
that the Masons were involved.

-Am I close?
-AKRAM: I mean, as I mentioned,

many were Masons
on both sides of the conflict,

and if they were engaged
in trying to do something

with that gold,
that's quite possible.

AL:
Were the Masons connected at all

with the Knights
of the Golden Circle?

I wouldn't say the Masons were
connd with that as Masons,

but there are individual Masons

who have joined

different organizations,
esoteric groups.

That's where
the conspiracy theorists

never get it.

They think,
"Oh, my God, these Masons

-might have been conspiring!"
-Hmm.

It's not about conspiracy.

It's about making free men.

Think on your own.
Act on your own.

-So it's not about conspiracy.
-Hmm.

AKRAM:
When you're looking at the history of Freemasonry,

this is where
conspiracy theorists

confuse what's going on.

The idea in Freemasonry is that
the individual is sovereign

and can become members
of other organizations.

Can you discuss any
of these secret societies

from that time period?

At that time, when we're talking
about that period of time,

Freemasonry was no longer
a secret society.

In fact, Freemasonry was never

a secret society
in the United States.

But don't you take an oath
to keep secrets?

Yes.

-[laughs]
-I take an oath

to keep secrets.

But these secrets

don't have to do with anything

except my own obligation
as a Mason.

KEVIN:
Well, I can tell you
one thing, Akram,

on the theory that we have

with the missing
Confederate gold.

I feel a lot more confident
that it was

a group of Masons
who decided to do this.

It's very-- quite possible,
the same way, as I mentioned,

there were Masons on both sides
who fought

the conflict, but itas nothing
to do with Masonry.

It is up to the individual

to make that individual choice.

I know you're a busy man,

but thank you so much
for your time.

Oh, it-it is my...
it is my pleasure.

I'm glad
I was able to shed some light.

I appreciate, uh,
the questions that you've asked.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

-Appreciate it. My pleasure.
-AL: See you, Akram.

Thank you.

ALEX:
You know,

we've been encountering Masons

in the shadows
on Oak Island for years.

-Oh, yeah.
-For years.

KEVIN:
If we can connect

John Wilkes Booth
to Edwin Stanton

and then Stanton
to Charles Hackley,

we might be uncovering

a way bigger conspiracy
than we thought.

-ALEX: Yeah, I agree.
-AL: Me, too.

ALEX:
It's my first time in Baltimore.

AL:
I know. Me, too.

-It's cool out here.
-NARRATOR:
One day after hearing

Warren Getler's
incredible theory

that the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

may be connected
to Kevin Dykstra's search

for $140 million
in stolen Confederate gold

hidden at the bottom
of Lake Michigan,

Kevin,
along with his brother Al,

history teacher Brad Richards and Alex Lagina

arrive at the Maryland Historical Society

in Baltimore
for what promises to be

an important meeting.

-Hi, Nate.
-Hi, Alex. How are you?

NARRATOR:
Nate Orlowek is an educator
and historian

who has been featured
in numerous news articles

and documentary programs

both for his expertise
on Abraham Lincoln

and on the man
who assassinated him,

John Wilkes Booth.

-Well, thanks
for meeting with us.
-My pleasure.

Seems like a lot
of material there.

-Oh, yeah.
-Oh, this is a drop
in the bucket.

Just, um,
some of the major parts.

So, Nate, I don't...
I don't know

if you've heard of our research,

but we're basically following
Confederate gold

that went missing
down in Irwinville, Georgia.

While researching Edwin Stanton,
we got real close

to the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln

and John Wilkes Booth.

NATE:
Well, it is very plausible

that Stanton could have
very easily have been involved

in the plot to assassinate
President Lincoln.

When Lincoln went
to the theater April 14,

there was only one
security person assigned

to protect the president.

In the afternoon of April 14,

even Lincoln himself sensed

that there was possibly gonna be
an attempt on his life.

And he actually went to
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton

and asked him
for a strong guard.

And, Stanton said,
"No, you don't really need...

It'll be fine."

In fact, no security was there

except one policeman,
John F. Parker,

and he had the worst record
on the Metropolitan Police.

NARRATOR:
Although Officer
John F. Parker--

who had been assigned to guard President Lincoln's private box

at Ford's Theatre
by Edwin Stanton--

stood by his post for the first half of the play,

Our American Cousin,
at the intermission,

he inexplicably
left the premises,

leaving the president
completely vulnerable.

It was just minutes later

that John Wilkes Booth entered the room and shot him.

Could it be true

that John F. Parker
was not only ordered

to be the sole security officer protecting Lincoln that night,

but was also ordered
to leave his post

at a precise moment
by Edwin Stanton?

Definitely
after the assassination,

Stanton helped to cover it up,
and it's very plausible that

he was covering it up because
he himself was involved in it.

John Wilkes Booth
was a passionate

supporter of the Confederacy.

He was actively helping

the Knights
of the Golden Circle,

and probably many of the members
of it were involved,

certainly,
in helping Booth escape.

NARRATOR:
Shortly after fleeing
Ford's Theatre,

John Wilkes Booth
was somehow able

to cross the heavily guarded Navy Yard Bridge

leading into Maryland, despite a strictly enforced curfew.

After meeting up with fellow conspirator David Herold,

the pair took refuge at the farm of Dr. Samuel Mudd,

where Booth received treatment
for his badly wounded leg.

[horse neighing]

Over the next few days,

the pair made their way
to the farm

of Richard Garrett
in Port Royal, Virginia.

It was here on April 26,

11 days after the death of President Abraham Lincoln,

that Union soldiers from
the 16th New York Cavalry

stormed the farm and reportedly cornered John Wilkes Booth

-inside the barn.
-Get out of the barn now!

NARRATOR:
According
to the official record,

Booth refused to surrender,

and was shot
in the back of the head

by Sergeant Boston Corbett.

John Wilkes Booth then
succumbed to his wound

and died two hours later.

Well, for over 45 years,
I've been

researching the question

of whether John Wilkes Booth
was killed in Garrett's barn,

as the government
would have us believe.

There's the person
who the government claims

was John Wilkes Booth,

but I have to bring in
the other John Wilkes Booth.

BRAD:
So, Nate, you say

"the other" John Wilkes Booth.

What are you getting at exactly
with that?

Our conclusion is
that the man killed

in Garrett's barn was not
John Wilkes Booth.

And there's a tremendous amount
of evidence.

One general category
is physical evidence

that the man killed in the barn

could not have been
John Wilkes Booth.

There were three different

individuals
who had made statements

that the man killed in the barn

had reddish hair,
and a freckled complexion.

By all accounts,
John Wilkes Booth had

raven black hair
and a smooth complexion.

The government called a doctor

and asked him
to look at the body.

Doctor said the right leg
of this body was broken.

By all historical accounts--

there were 2,000 people who saw
it-- Booth broke his left leg.

Not only did he say that,

but the very first sentence
of his statement--

it's crossed out,
but you can read under it.

What it says is,
"There is no resemblance

"to that body
of John Wilkes Booth,

and I do not believe it
to be he."

Who crossed it out?

Well, it must have been someone
from the War Department.

Of course, Stanton was
the head of the War Department.

Stanton did many things

that are extremely suspicious,
that certainly

point,
circumstantially at least,

to him being involved
in the assassination.

Stanton absolutely
was the person

who conducted the cover-up

of the assassination
investigation.

The railroading
of the eight defendants.

NARRATOR:
As Edwin Stanton
oversaw the investigation

and prosecution of those accused of conspiring

to kill President Lincoln,

and the attempt on the lives

of both Secretary of State
William Seward

and Vice President
Andrew Johnson,

eight suspects were prosecuted by a military tribunal,

and four were eventually
executed by hanging,

including a woman
named Mary Surratt.

All were portrayed

as undercover
Confederate sympathizers

acting together as one group.

But could their executions have
been an attempt by Stanton

to cover up his own involvement in the conspiracy?

One that involved the theft

of millions of dollars
in stolen Confederate gold?

-The man in the barn was not
John Wilkes Booth.
-Mm-hmm.

There have been many people
who've attempted over the years,

and are still attempting,

to try to prevent that fact
from coming out.

And for the last ten years,
we have been

attempting to do now a DNA test.

The man killed in the barn
had three vertebrae

taken out of him,
and they were sent

to Washington, and they've been
in Washington ever since.

We were gonna match
DNA taken from

one of two brothers
of John Wilkes Booth.

The Booth family was supportive
of this.

Unfortunately, the National
Museum of Health and Medicine

said, "We're not going to allow
a DNA test to be done."

KEVIN:
One has to wonder
why the government

won't allow DNA testing.

You almost wonder if that
conspiracy is continuing today.

Hey, Nate, I think
you've made a compelling case

that every history textbook
in America has this wrong.

KEVIN:
There's just too much.

You know,
it's not a smoking gun,

-but it's a hot gun.
-There's way too much.

There's-there's way too much.
This was a plot.

Edwin Stanton had his hands
in a lot of things.

If we can find evidence
to support Nate's theory

about how John Wilkes Booth
actually escaped,

it would answer
a lot more questions.

-Is that barn still here today?
-NATE: Well, no.

It's long gone.
So, right now, there is just

a marker on the spot
where the farm was.

It's in the northern neck
of Virginia, and I...

Is that close to here?

It's about a two-hour drive
from Baltimore.

I'd be glad to take you there,
and we can...

-you can see it.
-KEVIN: Oh, we'd love to go.

If you have time tomorrow,
it would be a great trip.

-We got time.
-Pretty sure we got time.
-Great. Okay.

-Thanks again, Nate.
-We'll meet you there.
-Thank you.

NARRATOR:
As Kevin Dykstra
and members of his team

conclude their business
in Baltimore,

700 miles west
in Muskegon, Michigan...

-New adventures.
Nothing like it.
-That's right.

NARRATOR:
...team researchers
Frederick J. Monroe

and Jeff Zehr are following up on a promising new lead

concerning Charles Hackley
that Jeff received

from one of his chiropractic patients.

How did you hear
about where we're going?

A patient of mine actually lives

right next door
to the Hume home.

-Really?
-Right next door,

and he said, "There's some
weird doors in our basement,"

and he cannot figure out
why they're there.

And they're giving us permission
to go to the basement?

-Is that what you said?
-They are gonna... they're gonna

take us right through their home

in their basement, so we can
see these for ourselves.

I love it.

-JOE GLIDDEN: Foot three.
-FRED: Three.

NARRATOR:
One month ago,

as Kevin Dykstra
and the team conducted

ground-penetrating radar scans

beneath
the 19th century home

of Charles Hackley's business partner, Thomas Hume,

they found strong evidence
of a secret tunnel

directly connecting
the property

to the Hackley Mansion.

-Yeah.
-We're walking right
on top of the tunnel.

-Yeah, we are. Yeah.
-Yeah.

NARRATOR:
The discovery foreshadowed
a similar one

made just one week ago...

This is the kind of architecture

you'd expect to see
in the 1800s.

NARRATOR:
...where Brad Richards
and Jeff Zehr

discovered a network of tunnels

that connected
the Hackley Mansion

to a number of other
Hackley-built properties--

properties that Kevin
and his team are convinced

were involved
in the secret transport

and laundering of millions of dollars' worth

of stolen Confederate gold.

I believe that Charles Hackley,

if he was gonna move
any kind of gold,

a tunnel would be
very, very necessary.

And this is just
following the gold trail

right to the big 140 million out on the lake.

This is just another avenue.

Old Charles Hackley has quite
a compound here, doesn't he?

I know. It's something to see it
all just lined up right here.

FRED:
Right in a row.
Charles Hackley's house,

-Thomas Hume's home.
-Yup.

FRED:
And we got this. Straight line.

JEFF:
Just right here. Yup.
They could talk through

-the windows if they wanted to.
-Oh, yeah.

[knocking]

-Hey, Doug.
-Hey, Jeff.

-Good to see you again.
-How you doing? Good to see you.

NARRATOR:
Meeting Jeff and Fred is
homeowner Doug Pollock.

-Thank you.
-Come on in, guys.

Oh, thanks.

Well, we are excited, uh, to see
what you have to show us, man.

Well, I'm excited
to have you here.

-I love talking about my house.
-So, thanks to what

you had already shared with me,
I went and did some of my own

-research on
Chauncey Chaddock...
-Mm-hmm. Yup.

...the guy who built this home.

Chaddock worked with
and for Charles Hackley,

-who is, like,
right next door here.
-Mm-hmm. Yup.

NARRATOR:
Chauncey Chaddock was
an attorney and businessman

who worked closely

with Charles Hackley
in the lumber industry

during the 1850s and '60s

while Hackley built himself up to be a powerful lumber baron

in his hometown
of Muskegon, Michigan.

Chaddock then went on
to serve as legal counsel

for the Hackley National Bank.

Because the bank was first chartered in 1870--

the year Kevin believes

Hackley had millions in stolen
Confederate gold smuggled

to Muskegon from its hiding place in Irwinville, Georgia--

Kevin and the team
are curious to see

if there could be yet another tunnel under the property.

When exactly
was this house built?

The lot was purchased
in the early 1870s.

Now, is it true that this was
the first house built here?

-It was the first one
in this row, yeah.
-In this row, yeah.

-It was before the Hackley-Hume
mansions were built.
-Yup.

-I'm anxious to see what you
really have to show me.
-Absolutely.

Let's go see it.

Be careful of the stairs.

-They're old and rickety.
-All right.

JEFF:
Really excited to be checking this house out.

We have the potential of being able to come up with stuff

that can add up and show
this whole theory to be true.

-JEFF: Oh, my goodness.
-Oh, my God!

-Vaults!
-JEFF: What in the world

are these doing down here?

NARRATOR: Two reinforced metal vaults...

located right next door
to the compound

once owned by Charles Hackley

and his business partner
Thomas Hume?

Why would anybody need a vault
in their basement?

The only reason you would need
a vault in your basement

would be to store something, of which you don't want anybody

to get their hands on.

-This is the larger
of the two doors.
-Mm-hmm.

-Try lifting that up.
-This here?

I don't know if I... Yeah.

I mean, I can't lift it up.

Doug, look at the steel casing!

Not to mention the door.

DOUG:
And it all leads
back to that question,

why is that thing here?

Is it okay if we get
inside there and look?

-Please. Check out anything
you want to look at.
-JEFF: Oh, my.

I mean, just don't shut
the door on me.

[Fred laughs]

JEFF:
Look here.

Concrete ceiling?

DOUG:
So, it looks
to be poured in place.

JEFF:
But you don't pour cement

like this after a house
has already been built.

I believe they built this wall
around... that door.

JEFF:
You're right. You can't
build this after the fact.

This had to be done
when the house was built

back in the early 1870s, right?

-Mm-hmm.
-It was not retrofitted.

FRED:
That's what I'm thinking.

-All right, Doug, can we see
that other vault now?
-Absolutely. Come on.

You'll see over here
I've done...

-I started turning it
into a wine cellar on the side.
-JEFF: Wow.

DOUG:
But this part is
pretty original to where it was

-when I found it.
-Wow.

The paint is the way I found it.
I sealed it,

just to keep the dust out of it.

This is the wall facing
the Hume home.

That's exactly right.

-Right here. Huh.
-Yep.

We have evidence that there's
tunnels that connected

a lot of these buildings
and a lot of these houses.

What if there was a tunnel here?

NARRATOR: Given the fact that the team already found evidence

of a tunnel between
the 19th century houses

of Charles Hackley and his business partner Thomas Hume,

could Jeff be correct that another tunnel might have also

been constructed between the
Hackley-Hume compound

and the vaults in the basement of Hackley's former

business associate and attorney, Chauncey Chaddock?

And if so, could this be
one of the places

where Hackley stored a fortune in stolen Confederate gold?

Knowing that that faces the
Hume... Hackley-Hume compound

is awful interesting to me.

I'm really curious to see
if there's a tunnel

going right to the Hume home.

Vaults and gold go hand in hand
together in my book. [laughs]

There's no question that the
location of this house

is significant.

It is right next door to the
Hackley-Hume compound,

which would make moving gold back and forth

much, much easier.

We know that the gold had to be
stored somewhere

before the bank was opened.

We-we know it got up
to Muskegon.

We know the bank wasn't ready
yet, but the gold was here.

I believe your house very likely
could have been that place.

This is what happens when we
follow the gold trail.

-We gotta come back,
don't you think?
-I'd say so.

JEFF:
We can get Gary Drayton in here.
He's a metal detection expert.

Uh, we've had GPR
already we've used

that's been very beneficial.

We'll get the team in here.

So, I mean, there's a lot we,
I think, could come back with

after we talk to Kevin.

You're welcome back
all you want.

JEFF:
Well, thank you so much.

NARRATOR:
One day after their
informative meeting

with Lincoln assassination
expert Nate Orlowek...

-It's just a small point right
off the highway, he said.
-AL: Huh.

NARRATOR:
...treasure hunters
Kevin Dykstra,

his brother Al,

Brad Richards and Alex Lagina
head to the site

of the Garrett Farm
in Port Royal, Virginia,

the place where John Wilkes
Booth was reportedly killed

during a standoff with Union soldiers on April 24, 1865.

KEVIN: We started this whole search

with Confederate gold
at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Now, I definitely feel that
what we're uncovering

is leading us to places
we never anticipated.

Mm-hmm.

I was able to find a
ground-penetrating radar company

-that's actually gonna
meet us up there.
-Nice.

And we'll be able to use the GPR
and see if, possibly,

there's remnants of some type of
a tunnel or of a cellar,

or some place that he could have
used to escape.

Leave no stone unturned.

NARRATOR: If Kevin and the team can find evidence to support

Nate Orlowek's theory
that John Wilkes Booth

may have faked his own death,

it could offer further evidence of an elaborate conspiracy--

one much larger
than any of them

had previously
thought possible.

-There's that sign.
-Cool.

KEVIN:
Oh, hey, there's Nate
right there.

NATE:
Well, we are here.
This is the sign.

BRAD:
"The Assassin's End. This is
the site of Locust Hill,

"Richard Henry Garrett's farm.

"Early on the morning of
26 April, 1865,

"a 16th New York Cavalry
detachment cornered

"John Wilkes Booth,

"the assassin of
President Abraham Lincoln,

and his co-conspirator,
David E. Herold."

They put the sign here because
this is where the highway is,

but the actual site is
into the woods.

-You don't believe it?
-Nope. Not at all. [laughs]

The man we believe was
John Wilkes Booth said

he was there briefly.

He continued on south, and the
man who was killed in his place

died on this road, and the real
John Wilkes Booth died,

most likely, in 1903,
in Enid, Oklahoma Territory.

NARRATOR:
According to Nate Orlowek's
research,

in the years following Abraham Lincoln's assassination,

John Wilkes Booth assumed a number of different aliases.

After living in both Texas
and Oklahoma,

he eventually committed suicide by ingesting arsenic,

shortly after confessing
his true identity.

Nate, if you're right,
this sign is wrong.

Let's get out to that farm site
and see what we can find.

This is the area, in general,

where the farmhouse
and the barn was located.

Right here?

This general area.
We don't know precisely,

but this is the general area.

NARRATOR:
Because many at the time believed farmer Richard Garrett

to be complicit
in Lincoln's assassination,

the Garrett family
became shunned,

and the farm soon fell
into decline.

For many years, the abandoned property became a destination

for curiosity seekers
and vandals,

until the federal government acquired the land

and tore down
the remaining structures

sometime in the 1950s.

If that farm was here, and Booth
did escape from this site,

it's possible that
there was a tunnel

that went down and out the side
of that hill somewhere.

-AL: Yep.
-Totally possible.

It could be that John Wilkes
Booth could have escaped

just as those soldiers
were showing up.

If there was a tunnel, he could have slipped into the tunnel,

exited through the woods
and been gone.

So, if that's a possibility, ground-penetrating radar

should find evidence
of a tunnel.

Say, Lucas,
I think we're gonna split up.

I'm gonna have Brad
and Alex work with you, and, Al,

why don't you come with me,
and we'll do some scouting

up along this ridge here.

If you guys see anything
on that GPR,

-holler out to us, all right?
-We will.

-We'll shout for ya.
-All right. Thanks.

Yeah, let's go.

NARRATOR: For Kevin Dykstra and his team,

a mystery that began
with a deathbed confession

about a fortune
in Confederate gold

at the bottom of Lake Michigan

has now exploded into
what appears to be

a vast conspiracy
connected to the death

of an American president.

But as Kevin continues to
follow the trail of clues,

will peeling back the layers of secrets that have been

so well-guarded
for more than a century

finally reveal the proof that will rewrite American history?

[indistinct shouting]

Next time on
The Curse of Civil War Gold...

LUCAS:
This is a void.

-Like an actual open space?
-Mm-hmm.

We've got a couple of
interesting targets.

They're casting
some weird shadows.

That's about half of a boxcar.

KURT HAZARD:
This is what was
passed on to me.

ALEX:
Wow.

KEVIN:
This gold was captured
by Jefferson Davis?

That seems like the piece
of the puzzle fitting together.

-I'm getting a bad feeling
about these waves today.
-AL: Yep.

MARTY:
This cries out disguise.

This was all supposed to be
a secret.

Subtitled by Diego Moraes
www.oakisland.tk