Once again I owe my apologies to our readers. I have fallen behind in posting something on the blog the last couple of weeks. The weather has gotten really nice where I am and I have been taking advantage of it to get in as much treasure hunting as possible.
I would like to tell you that in the future I will manage my time better but I would probably be lying. As long as I have active treasure sites I will always be behind on everything else, I just can’t help myself!
With that said, here is a story of a family treasure hidden away in the 1800’s that dear old Uncle Sam got part of and is keeping anyone else from finding the rest.
During the middle of the 1800’s there was a wealthy family with the last name of Whitley who owned a large plantation in the area that is now Fort Benning in Georgia. Just as the Civil War broke out the elder Whitley took the family fortune, which consisted of $150,000 in gold and silver coins, placed it into two chests and buried it somewhere on the plantation. He apparently didn’t discuss this with the rest of the family and didn’t tell anyone else where it was hidden. This angered a couple his nephews, so much so that Mr. Whitley was found shot to death on his plantation.
The family made several futile searches for the money but never found it. Jump forward to the 1920’s and three soldiers who decided to search for the treasure. These three soldiers found one of the two chests. It was buried near a ravine near the present day Outpost #1.
There luck didn’t stay with them because two of them contracted pneumonia just after making the recovery and died. Shortly after their deaths the third man also came down with pneumonia and passed away.
Rumors were that the ghost of old man Whitley was protecting his treasure and a curse would follow anyone who took his money. The military conducted an investigation into ther deaths and the recovery of the treasure. After concluding the investigation Uncle Sam confiscated the treasure and stopped allowing people to search for treasure on the fort property.
Granted, this isn’t a treasure you can go searching for but I thought it was an interesting story.
Maybe a long lost relative can lay claim the treasure and make Uncle Sam cough up the gold and silver coins. It would be worth a pretty hefty amount these days!
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2 comments:
I have looked literally everywhere for this "outpost 1" location. Old maps, current maps, Fort Benning directory, etc. and cant find it. I have also looked at pre-benning maps in hopes to find this plantation. I have looked for Whitley's name in records, as well as articles talking about the 1920's discovery. I am currently at benning and would really like to research this more, but I am having a hard time fining anything about it. Do you have any links for the story about the find, property records, family journals, etc. Also possibly the coordinates to where this outpost 1 is at? I have scoured the internet and just cant find anything! I absolutely believe it, because its on a military installation. If there is one thing I noticed about treasure legends...if the land was purchased by the GOV, there was a reason as to why!
Any info? Is this site still active?
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