Original subtitles

-Wow. -There's something right there, about 90 foot down.

We're walking right on top of the tunnel.

Do you feel that's a man-made structure

-on the bottom of the lake? -Oh, yeah.

-MARTY: Go get the permit. -BRAD: Charles Hackley

had secrets to keep, no doubt in my mind.

-So you like secrets, huh? -What kind of secrets?

DEBBIE: I'm gonna show you something in the basement.

Oh, look at there.

-AL: Yeah, you're through it. -KEVIN: Look at it. Oh, wow.

JEFF: This could lead right to Hackley's side door.

♪

NARRATOR: In Muskegon, Michigan...

Let me, uh, pull up a few things here and I will get going.

NARRATOR: ...treasure hunters Kevin and Al Dykstra,

along with researchers Jeff Zehr, Brad Richards

and Frederick J. Monroe,

have gathered for an important meeting in Kevin's workshop.

Joining them is

underwater visualization expert Brian Abbott.

Were the images as clear as what

-they showed on the computer? -Yeah.

We've got good short-range scans I was able to mosaic together.

Because if you remember, when I was on the boat,

I started with long-range scans and walked it in.

NARRATOR: Last week, Kevin invited

Brian Abbott to make a series of sonar scans

out on Lake Michigan, off the coast of Frankfort.

He is hoping the scans will help him pinpoint

the remains of a sunken boxcar

that Kevin believes contained an estimated

$140 million in Confederate gold.

Gold that, according to Kevin,

was stolen by Union officers

and brought to Michigan in 1870,

where it was then laundered by Charles Hackley

a prominent lumber tycoon turned banker

who used the gold to build an enormous empire.

Okay, it's coming in now.

We can see the outline of the structure.

This could be the boxcar laid like this...

Yeah.

It's a possibility.

NARRATOR: Using data collected from the various scans,

Brian has created larger maps, or mosaics,

of two key search areas.

It is Kevin's hope that these mosaics

will be enough evidence to convince the state of Michigan

to grant him a permit to dig at these sites.

If we don't have enough evidence to bring

to the state of Michigan, we're never gonna get that permit.

We'll never be able to find out what exactly

is under the bottom of the lake.

So this area that we're about to see is what area?

It's next to the big stone pile in the area

where you identified that you'd found a boxcar.

So, this is what we would want to bring to the state?

Yeah; everything's laid out, gridded out.

Referenced everything i-in there

that we took the time out in the field to collect the data.

Now I've been able to put it together and we're able

to take a look at it and see what we got for you.

-All right. -Excellent.

So, um, I've got a target down there,

it's interesting to look at.

So I-I'll kind of leave that up to you guys

to decide what you think it is down there.

Now, towards the top of that target right there,

-we see that dark area... -Right here?

-Is that a shadow? -Yes, that's an acoustic shadow.

It's just like shining a light on something

or the sunlight hitting a tree, casting a shadow

during the daytime, same thing that happens acoustically

-to the sonar. -Can you tell how high up

-that target is? Off the bottom? -BRIAN: Yeah, well, I mean,

it-it's about two and a half to

2.8 feet off bottom.

-So it's, you know... -KEVIN: Okay.

BRIAN: So... high up and so forth, so...

BRAD: That's impressive detail.

What do you think of that, Brian?

BRIAN: Well, I'm not sure.

You know, the dimensions are kind of big for a boxcar,

I would think. I don't know that for sure.

But, you know, we've got it

13 and a half by 14 and a half roughly.

It's a wooden structure of some sort.

-Yeah. -KEVIN: But regardless,

you feel that's a man-made structure for sure?

Oh, yes.

I would definitely call this a man-made structure

that needs a lot of further investigation.

Excellent.

-KEVIN: That was an exciting find right there. -Yeah, for sure it was.

I've got one more for you here.

Let me, uh, turn this for a second.

So what area did you guys end up diving at?

Well, what he's gonna show us next is a debris field.

And this debris field is where we believe

we got that footage of the gold bar.

So we're right back to that spot.

I'm gonna be looking for, for bars.

-That's what I'm gonna be looking for. -[laughter]

NARRATOR: It was in the same debris field last year...

KEVIN: Boom. Right there.

NARRATOR: ...that Kevin and his team

obtained what they believe to be video evidence

of one of the stolen gold bars, part of a large cargo

that was deliberately pushed off a ferryboat

while en route across the lake and out west to Utah.

MARTY: That does look like

a metal bar, doesn't it?

So, let me blow this up a little bit more.

These are areas where you were looking.

Right next to the sonar.

And we've got this location

on the opposite side of the sonar, about 180 degrees away.

So I was able to mark those locations for you.

-BRAD: And the metal detector hits. -And the non-ferrous hits.

So, we'd be able to get right back

to those areas whenever we want to.

Absolutely; we've got the GPS positioning and stuff.

Uh, that is huge.

NARRATOR: Could the wooden structure and debris field

actually be the remains of the missing boxcar?

Constructed primarily of wood,

boxcars made during the late 19th century

were reinforced with metal frames

that were held together by steel rivets.

If, as Kevin Dykstra's research indicates,

a boxcar, containing some $140 million in gold,

was in fact deliberately pushed off the back of a ferryboat

and into the lake,

the full force of its weight,

plus approximately two and a half tons of gold,

would have likely shattered the boxcar walls

as it struck the lake bottom.

Do you think that we have enough to go to the state?

You know, I'm not an archeologist,

but I think you've created a really good baseline survey.

I think it may be a good idea to go and talk to the state,

to show them what you've done

and-and present the information to them.

Yeah, good.

It's really exciting for us to be at this point.

We've never been to this point before.

We've never had the advantage

that Brian brought to the table with the sector scan.

And I think with the data that he provides,

our chances of getting a permit just went through the roof.

I think it's really gonna show Marty and Alex

that we're pulling out all the stops.

We're getting as much data as we possibly can get.

We got great video, um, we've got the side-scan sonar images.

We've got a nice pile to put together.

We can't thank you enough for, for your effort.

I'm always ready to go out

and drop a sonar down, see what's down there.

-Thank you very much, Brian. -You're welcome. Thank you.

KEVIN: Can't wait to share this with Marty.

NARRATOR: Later that day...

FRED: Cool. We've arrived.

-Looks like a nice house. -BRAD: Yeah.

NARRATOR: While Kevin prepares the team's permit application,

Brad Richards and Frederick J. Monroe

head over to a house in Muskegon

which Brad believes might be one of the places

where banker Charles Hackley hid the gold

during the years after the Civil War.

BRAD: So here's Terrace Street.

NARRATOR: Last week,

Brad and Jeff Zehr met with local resident

Steve Habetler, who shared with them an incredible secret.

STEVE: There's a house near the Hackley house

that was a starting point for the tunnels

that I had heard about.

BRAD: Can you point out which house you think had the tunnel?

That house, right there.

This house connected to the Hackley house

underneath the street by a tunnel.

NARRATOR: Meeting Brad and Frederick

at the currently vacant house is property manager

Debbie Oklad-Vanlue.

-Hi. -Hey, Frederick Monroe.

-How do you do? -Nice meeting you.

-Nice to meet you. -Good to see you.

-Good to see you, welcome. -Thank you. -Thank you.

Well, Deb, I can't tell you how excited I am

to finally get inside this house and take a peek around.

There's a lot of history here.

-BRAD: Yeah. -A lot of history.

BRAD: So, I've heard all kinds of

things that really are interesting to us,

that will hopefully help us, uh, develop this story.

Well, you're really lucky because right now,

-I'm in between tenants... -BRAD: All right.

...so it's a perfect time to be able to see it. Come on.

-I-I'll give you a tour. -All righty.

BRAD: This house is directly across the street

from Charles Hackley.

I'd love nothing better

than to find an important piece of the puzzle

that helps our research get to the next level.

-Come on, let's go upstairs. -All right.

BRAD: I mean, it's one thing to sit in the basement

of a library for hours on end, and to be researching

on the Internet for countless hours,

but it's another thing to actually be at the location.

BRAD: Wow.

This is old-school stuff here.

When was this house built?

We have proof that there was something

on this property in the 1860s.

-Right during the Civil War Era. Yeah. -Yeah.

-Look how big that window is. My goodness. -Yes. Yes.

You can see the mansion right from here.

A lot of people also don't know

that this was Mr. Thomas Hume's home.

-What? -Yeah. Mr. Hume lived

-in this home... -The Hume home is

on the other side of the Hackley mansion.

But before he built the Hume home on the other side

of the Hackley home, he lived in this home.

-You're kidding. -No. 1887. He...

he lived here, yes.

NARRATOR: Shortly after emigrating

from Ireland in 1870,

Thomas Hume got a job working as a bookkeeper

in Charles Hackley's lumber mill.

After seeing great promise in him,

Hackley took Hume under his wing as his protégé

and eventually made him a full partner

in numerous business ventures.

Like Hackley, Thomas Hume became a 32nd-degree Freemason,

and also reached the highest level

as one of the organization's Knights Templar.

What particularly intrigues Brad Richards, however,

is the fact that both men built enormous houses

directly across the street from each other--

houses that Brad has been told may have been connected

by means of a secret underground tunnel.

But if so, why?

Hume was Hackley's trusted business partner.

Hackley was a shrewd, sharp businessman

who did everything himself, but as they got later on in years,

Hackley sent Thomas Hume everywhere for him.

To buy land, to buy timber,

-out to the... -He had a very small circle

-of trusted people. -Yeah.

Charles Hackley had secrets to keep.

There's no doubt in my mind.

-DEBBIE: All right. Come on. -BRAD: Thank you.

BRAD: And I believe he finally found the right person

to pass on this monumental secret about Confederate gold.

Well, you know, Hackley needed someone

who could keep a secret,

and if you go to the cemetery, you'll see that

Thomas Hume, Knights Templar,

and keeping secrets, like, top of the list for those guys.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

So, you like secrets, huh?

What kind of secrets do you know about?

Well, you know, there'd always been a rumor

that there was a tunnel here.

Do we have enough to get that permit?

And the tunnel went from here into the Hackley home.

-The tunnel. -Exactly. Yes.

NARRATOR: In Muskegon, Michigan,

Brad Richards and fellow researcher Frederick J. Monroe

are investigating rumors concerning

a 19th-century house,

one that could be connected to millions

in stolen Confederate gold.

As far as I knew, it had always been a rumor,

until I had someone ask me to actually look downstairs

in the basement and, uh, I'm gonna show you something,

it'll be real obvious just by the first look.

-I'd love it. -Come on.

Let's go check it out.

NARRATOR: If Brad's research is correct,

there could be a tunnel connecting this house

to one owned by Muskegon lumber tycoon-turned-banker

Charles Hackley--

a tunnel which Brad believes may have been instrumental

as a secret means of transporting

and then laundering the stolen gold.

Every piece of property that Charles Hackley developed,

there's rumors of tunnels.

So to actually get a chance to see, possibly,

one of those tunnels?

I mean, I'm super excited about it.

I can't believe we're finally gonna get to see a tunnel here.

Wow.

DEBBIE: You can see the patina on the brick

that's on the rest of the basement.

-BRAD: Really old-looking. -Right. And then...

-It's been here for a hundred years or more. -...you look over here

where they've put shelves in front of it,

BRAD: Oh, look at there.

And the bricks are obviously different.

-Much newer bricks. -Much newer bricks,

but if you also look out that window,

that window is what's gonna face directly towards

-the Hackley home. -Oh, my goodness.

BRAD: There's Hackley's mansion.

DEBBIE: You've got to have a passion for history,

and this definitely needs to be investigated.

BRAD: Would you be willing to contact the owner and, uh, see

if we could take this a little farther and maybe investigate

behind this wall?

You know, I think they'd be happy to let you.

-They're big history buffs. -Really?

-Yeah. -Because who knows what could be in this tunnel?

-Yeah. -Yeah.

BRAD: As I'm looking at this wall, patched over,

possibly the tunnel to go to Hackley's mansion,

I'm blown away.

-This is an incredible find. -Very much so. Yeah.

BRAD: The next step is to try to figure out the logistics

of how we can get behind that wall

and see what's behind it.

-Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. -Yep. You're welcome.

-FRED: Appreciate all your expertise. -You're welcome.

All right. I'll just head the way out here?

This is awesome.

FRED: I want to dig a hole and get the gold.

NARRATOR: Back at his workshop,

Kevin Dykstra prepares to contact his friend

and financial partner Marty Lagina

to share exciting news about his team's progress.

-Hey, guys. -MARTY: Kevin.

NARRATOR: And joining Marty on the call is his son Alex,

who, in addition to his duties on Oak Island,

has been working closely with Kevin in recent weeks.

Did you get those images that I sent over?

Yep. I'll pull them out here.

Hang on.

Quite impressive, aren't they?

Is it what you hoped to see? I mean...

What specifically are you seeing?

I don't see a boxcar-looking shape or anything.

Walk me through this.

Do you see the-the image there that has

the parallel timbers running side-by-side?

MARTY: Yes. That one I see now, yes.

KEVIN: Those images look exactly like

what Al and I have seen on the bottom of the lake.

Big, heavy timbers.

Looks like it was made to carry a lot of weight.

-MARTY: Yep. -There was some thought

that possibly what we're looking at is the side of a boxcar

and possibly the roof still connected together.

Okay. So what else on these pictures, you know,

what... where's your targets to dive on?

KEVIN: Right. The other mosaic

that Brian put together,

it was four different drops that he did.

MARTY: I see. All those things

that are sticking up from the bottom,

basically, unidentified.

KEVIN: Right. And that's what we see

when we're down there, guys.

We see those targets down there.

Not being able to dig and see what they are

is a severe handicap for us.

Okay, these are clearly accurate images, Kevin.

What are we gonna do with them? What's the next step?

This is all evidence.

This is all data we can bring to the state,

and hopefully, this will be enough to convince them

to give us a permit to actually dig into the sand

on the bottom of the lake.

Okay, well, our part is easy.

Alex and I both say, go get the permit, Kevin.

-Yep. -KEVIN [chuckles]: We're trying.

We're trying, guys.

MARTY: I have to agree with the guy.

Nothing he's come up with hurts his theory

and everything he's come up with helps his theory somewhat,

so let's go, let's finish this up.

[Kevin laughs]

Good, Alex.

[laughter]

NARRATOR: The next day...

Keep going. Exit 95.

...Kevin and Al travel to the city of Lansing,

where they have a scheduled meeting with state officials.

They are hoping to obtain permission

to excavate the areas at the bottom of Lake Michigan

where they believe millions in Confederate gold

could lie buried beneath several feet of sand and silt.

AL: What do you think this meeting is gonna be like?

I have anticipation that they're really gonna want to know

exactly what we're looking to do with that data.

Do we have enough to get that permit?

We'll know after this meeting

-if we had enough. -Mm-hmm.

I think when the state sees that video

of that potential gold bar,

you know, I-I think they're gonna sit back in their chair

like we did the first time that we saw it.

I mean, to me, it very clearly looks like a gold bar.

It looks like it to me, too. It's pretty compelling.

Or we could get shot down.

You know, this-this really could go either way.

Well, here it is.

[sighs]

I am getting a little nervous now.

[laughs]: I am, too, really.

[exhales]

-Well, here we go. -Yeah.

KEVIN: I'm just curious what they have to say.

AL: I am, too.

-BRAD: Here we are. -JEFF: Yeah, I'm excited to see

what we're gonna learn here.

BRAD: Yeah. You're gonna be impressed.

NARRATOR: While Kevin Dykstra and his brother Al

are meeting with state officials in Lansing...

A lot of money was spent on this,

during the same time period that we're researching right now.

...Brad Richards, along with team researchers Jeff Zehr

and Frederick J. Monroe, arrive at the Ryerson wing

of the Grand Rapids Public Library.

They are hoping to find solid evidence

that the gold Kevin believes is at the bottom of Lake Michigan

is, in fact, gold that was once part

of the Confederate treasury.

BRAD: So this is the Civil War room.

What we're trying to do is connect the dots between

the gold and the capture site of Jefferson Davis,

all the way back here to Michigan.

JEFF: Mm-hmm.

We're gonna really go all out today

and I'm going to try and sift through those books

and, uh, see if we can't find some interesting accounts.

You're like a kid in a candy store.

-[laughs]: I know. -Let's get after that money trail.

All right. Let's do it.

NARRATOR: According to Kevin Dykstra's research,

during the arrest of Confederate president

Jefferson Davis on the morning of May 10, 1865,

Union officer Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Prichard

of the 4th Michigan Cavalry,

acting on orders from his superior officer

Colonel Robert H.G. Minty,

took possession of six wagons filled with gold,

silver and jewels.

The gold was then buried for five years,

until a special railroad track could be built

which would literally transport the gold directly

to the Muskegon offices of lumber tycoon-turned-banker

Charles Hackley.

For the next two decades, Hackley and his associates

laundered the gold and silver through local banks

as well as at a number of Hackley-owned gold mines

in Utah.

-What do you got there? -JEFF: Well, this 13th census

of the United States 1910, this shows Minty in Muskegon.

Oh, really?

JEFF: It also has his son and his insurance business.

And remember this: General Minty's son ends up working

in the Hackley National Bank building in Muskegon, Michigan.

You know, that's a tight connection, when your son's

working with Charles Hackley.

If Minty gave the orders to Pritchard...

-That's right. -And Minty also knew Hackley,

we have the major connection,

and that's how the gold ended up in Muskegon.

-That's right. -Yep.

Somebody h

NARRATOR: While searching the Civil War archives

at the Grand Rapids Public Library,

Brad Richards, Jeff Zehr and Frederick J. Monroe

have just made an important discovery,

one that directly connects area businessman Charles Hackley

to two of the men involved in the arrest

of Confederate president Jefferson Davis

at the end of the Civil War.

'Cause Minty was Pritchard's superior officer,

Minty knew Hackley,

and his son worked in the Hackley National Bank.

I mean, there's a direct connection there.

And that's how the gold ended up in Muskegon.

BRAD: That's right.

This isn't recorded in history books,

but I think this is the connection between

Jefferson Davis' capture and the gold that was with him,

and Charles Hackley moving the gold up north.

Well, next I think we need to find more information

on how to connect Pritchard to Hackley.

-Keep reading. -I'm gonna.

-FRED: Get after it. -[chuckles]

This is old.

This one has every telegraph, you know,

ever sent during the Civil War.

Well, now, wait a minute.

Here-- here, General Pritchard's writing a telegraph.

It's the account

from the time period of the capture of Jefferson Davis.

FRED: All right.

"To Captain T.W. Scott:

"Sir, I have the honor to report

"that of daylight yesterday at Irwinville,

"I surprised and captured Jefferson Davis and family

together with his wife's sister and brother..."

Um, a few other names here.

Um, wait a minute.

"I returned to this point last night."

Pritchard says he returns to the point of the capture last night.

-Why would he do that? -Why would he do that?

He knows where the gold is.

NARRATOR: Could Brad Richards have just

found an account, in Pritchard's own words,

secretly referring to the theft of the Confederate treasury?

How far back did he have to go to get to that point?

BRAD: At the first daylight,

he would've gone about 20 miles.

Point being, it took a lot of effort to go back.

It wasn't, like, just, "Oh, hey, I forgot my boots."

He was hiding that gold.

And we know that after the war

in 1870, he opens up a national bank.

What kind of a coincidence is that?

This is great stuff.

[phone camera clicks]

NARRATOR: In 1870,

five years after Jefferson Davis' arrest,

Benjamin Pritchard,

a schoolteacher and young attorney

prior to the Civil War,

established the First National Bank

of Allegan in Michigan,

but how did a simple schoolteacher

get wealthy enough to become a prominent banker?

Is it possible that he did so with the help

of stolen Confederate gold?

So Pritchard captures Jefferson Davis

and ends up with a national bank in Allegan.

Charles Hackley ends up with a national bank in Muskegon

where the gold ends up being.

It's possible to think

that this could have been a huge conspiracy.

Well, the connection between Pritchard and Hackley

sounds like a carbon copy.

Two banks. Same time.

Out of nowhere. Somebody has some extra money.

-Yeah. -JEFF: I'm hearing banks.

I'm hearing gold.

-Mm-hmm. -So, you know, there may not

only be gold in Muskegon and where we've been looking,

but Allegan, too.

Well, guys, let's not waste any more time. Let's keep looking.

JEFF: Yeah. We're finding some good stuff.

NARRATOR: Later that day,

after finishing their presentation

to Michigan state officials...

Let's see what they got to say.

NARRATOR: ...Kevin and Al Dykstra have arranged to meet

with the rest of their team at a local restaurant.

Hey, guys.

-Hey, man. -Hey.

That was productive.

-The state? -Yup.

-Aw, man. -Pretty cool?

Yeah, it went great.

JEFF: I can't wait to hear.

Yeah it was a it was, uh,

it was, it was a great meeting.

You know, we had three people pretty high up in the state

meeting with us, very cordial, very nice people,

but you could tell that these people hold

the bottomlands of Lake Michigan in their hands.

We basically walked through all of the data that we had.

You know, Brian Abbott's sector scan images seemed to really go

-a long ways with them. -Yeah.

You know, it-it kind of just launched right into

what we're looking to do.

What-what permit would work the best,

but the other thing they informed us,

regardless of whatever permit

they suggested, this all has to go through

the Army Corps of Engineers as well.

-Yep. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: Because the Army Corps of Engineers

is a federal agency, it means that,

even with the State of Michigan's blessing,

Kevin could still be denied permission to dredge

what he believes to be a key target area.

KEVIN: I hope that it's enough to pursue this permit,

but I'm sure that if it isn't, they're gonna give us

some guidance on what else we could do

to help our chances to get a permit.

They want to protect our-- the site.

They don't want anybody else knowing about it.

Well, you've been completely aboveboard this whole process.

We've tried to. We-we tried to be as forthcoming

as we can, but at the end of the day,

not feeling like the door was shut in our face,

but that this could go to the next step

and possibly get a permit? That was huge,

-that was exciting to me. -That was extremely exciting.

Any idea on timeline? Like, did they give you any clue at all?

They made it clear they have to be very thorough

when issuing a permit.

It felt like it was gonna take a while.

I feel like the state is rooting for us to find it.

-JEFF: Do you really? -Yeah.

Wow.

How did your day go? What did you guys d-discover?

So Benjamin Pritchard, after the capture of Jefferson Davis,

sent a telegraph.

In fact, I took a picture of it and I'd like to read it to you.

"Sir, I have the honor to report at daylight,

yesterday, Irwinville, I surprised and captured

Jeff Davis and family."

Here's what we found super interesting.

"I returned to this point last night."

It makes us think we should look into Pritchard

a little bit more.

I've always felt somebody had to go back and deal with the gold.

Yeah.

KEVIN: So here we got Benjamin Pritchard,

a significant player in this game.

He opens up a bank with gold.

Charles Hackley opens up a bank with gold.

Hackley opened up his bank in 1870.

So Hackley and Pritchard both opened up banks

-in the same year? -The same year.

KEVIN: There's more going on here.

We definitely need to research

much more on Benjamin Pritchard.

Way too many questions with this guy.

It's all hollow back here.he,

Kevin Dykstra,

along with his brother Al, Brad Richards, Jeff Zehr,

and Frederick J. Monroe,

are excited by the prospect

of investigating the former home

of Charles Hackley's business partner, Thomas Hume.

-Hey, guys. -Hey, guys.

NARRATOR: If they can find evidence

of an underground tunnel,

one which connects to Charles Hackley's home

directly across the street,

then they might have found an important piece of evidence

linking Thomas Hume to an elaborate conspiracy

to steal a large portion of the Confederate treasury

after the Civil War.

-Good. You are? -I'm Joe.

NARRATOR: Assisting the team in their efforts today

is ground penetrating radar expert Joe Glidden.

So this lady reached out and said we've heard about

the research with Hackley and the gold,

and the house right across the street from Charles Hackley

had a tunnel going to it, to Charles Hackley's house.

-So Joe here says if there's a tunnel, he can find it. -Yeah?

He was just explaining that to us.

Well, it looks like he's got the equipment to do it with.

What do you got here?

It's a Leica DS2000.

It's a ground penetrating radar.

NARRATOR: The Leica DS2000 ground penetrating radar device

works by sending electromagnetic pulses

into the ground.

These pulses reflect off objects, including voids,

creating two-dimensional images

of their locations as well as their size.

Have you ever found a tunnel before?

-I've found a few. -Really? -All right.

-Yeah. Yeah. -He has.

KEVIN: All right, guys. Let's go.

With the resources that Marty

and Alex have brought, like the ground penetrating radar,

it's gonna make this project a lot easier to see

if that tunnel exists, where it exists,

and possibly what state the tunnel currently is.

I think what I want to do is, um...

Al and Brad, why don't you

go with me into the basement, and then

Jeff and Fred and Joe, you can start doing

-the searching out here. -All right.

What would you think about kind of coming around

the perimeter of the house and see if you can localize

-a spot right off the bat? -That sounds like a great plan.

Grab that stuff, Jeff, and let's get in the basement.

Is that going with you?

NARRATOR: While Jeff and Fred assist Joe Glidden,

Kevin, Brad and Al head inside to investigate

the brick wall located in the basement.

Oh, boy. Oh, yeah. There it is, right there.

Ah, yes.

Look at this.

Yeah, you can definitely see the new, uh, the new brick in there.

-Yup. -Oh, yeah.

Yeah, and there's-there's the old, right there.

-That's old. Yup. -Right there.

-Let's get started. -Okay.

NARRATOR: Could there actually be

a secret entrance behind the wall leading

to Charles Hackley's mansion? And if so,

could it contain important evidence?

So we're just gonna take this one out.

-Here you go, Brad. -Yeah.

-You got it? -Yup.

It's all hollow back here, this whole area.

-I-I totally hear it. -This one out right here.

We're just gonna have to go right through the brick,

just bust the brick out.

-All right, ready? -Yup. Go ahead.

NARRATOR: While Kevin, Al and Brad

begin jackhammering the brick wall,

Jeff, Fred and GPR expert Joe Glidden

scan the property for signs of other possible

tunnels or secret chambers.

Got something right there, about nine foot down.

Hey. Nice shot.

Learned from the pros.

JOE: Looks kind of hollow down there.

-Those bright spots? -Oh. Yeah.

JEFF: The bright spots indicate that it's hollow?

Could be. Could be hollow.

JOE: The white and black is just

a positive or a negative reflection.

Either the presence of more

coming back, or the absence.

-JEFF: Mm-hmm. So, the contrast. -JOE: Yeah.

These lines right here, underneath the magnifying glass,

and then this right here.

Well, it's coming right off the front door right now.

Did you mark that, Fred?

-Yep. -Yup. Perfect.

So, can you get an idea

of how wide that is then?

JOE: Maybe.

NARRATOR: A void?

Has Joe Glidden just found evidence

that rumors of secret tunnels

underneath Thomas Hume's property are true?

Let me-- let me back up a little bit

and I'll recalibrate this on here.

Fred, let's do what we did on the other side.

Get two flags, and see if we can get an idea

of the width of that.

NARRATOR: While Joe, Jeff and Fred

scan the property outside,

Kevin, Al and Brad continue their search for a tunnel

that directly connects to the home of Charles Hackley.

AL: A little bit more.

That's a thick brick, ain't it?

KEVIN: When the homeowner allowed to go

through that brick wall to get to the other side,

I promised her that I wouldn't do anything

that would structurally damage the house.

We've got to get through this layer,

and then the layer behind it.

KEVIN: I didn't go wider with the hole because I didn't want

to compromise the integrity of that wall.

AL: Yeah, that'll pop right out, Kev.

KEVIN: So as I start to penetrate that wall

with the jackhammer, I'm anticipating seeing

-one of two things. -Grab it.

I'm either going to just see dirt,

or I'm going to see dirt and wood.

If I see wood on the other side of that wall,

that's going to indicate to me

that there's most likely a tunnel.

[Kevin chuckles]

AL: Yeah, you're through it.

I can't see.

KEVIN: There's wood right there, guys.

BRAD: Sweet!

KEVIN: Wood right there, look at it.

BRAD: All right.

NARRATOR: ...Kevin Dykstra, his th brother Al and Brad Richards

may have just made an incredible discovery.

-KEVIN: Look at that. -BRAD: Look at that. Nice.

NARRATOR: They believe they have found evidence

of a secret tunnel running between the 19th-century homes

of Charles Hackley and his business partner Thomas Hume--

a tunnel which Kevin believes was used to hide

and transport millions of dollars

in stolen Confederate gold.

It is old and it's rotted.

AL: Oh, wow, look at that.

BRAD: That's old wood.

KEVIN: That would have been 1870.

Yeah. 150-year-old wood right there.

Yep.

-KEVIN: You can see more of it. -AL: Oh, yeah.

-KEVIN: It's really just fibers left. -BRAD: Yup.

KEVIN: When they built a basement, back in the day,

the stone masons would've laid up all that stone.

There really is no reason to have any wood at that level.

It's all stone and mortar.

-You can see the pieces coming out, so... -AL: Yep.

Hand me that camera right back there, will you?

NARRATOR: Because the wall may be structurally weak,

Kevin will now use a small fiber optic camera

in an attempt to see what could be located behind the bricks.

BRAD: Well, it's definitely a space back in there.

AL: Yeah.

BRAD: It's not compacted against the house, like normal.

KEVIN: See the wood right there?

AL: Yup. Yup.

KEVIN: For there to be wood on the back side of that wall,

there had to be a door or a tunnel.

-They just closed it off. -That was a door.

Well, we were told there was a tunnel right here,

from this house to Hackley's mansion.

KEVIN: Once we started pulling big pieces of wood

from the other side of that wall, it told me we were

more than likely in the entrance of a tunnel that had collapsed.

It would be nice to be able to punch through it, wouldn't it?

KEVIN: I believe if we get through that, that

that tunnel is just going to be totally collapsed.

I think the only way we're going to see that tunnel

-is with the GPR. -Okay.

Let's go tell the other guys what we found.

All right.

-Yeah. Number eight. -Nice.

NARRATOR: Outside the house...

Eight's next.

NARRATOR: ...GPR expert Joe Glidden, along with Jeff Zehr

and Frederick J. Monroe, are now scanning the direct path

between the Hume house

and the former mansion of Charles Hackley.

JEFF: Oh, hey. You guys had to come up for air?

-Yeah. -Whew!

JEFF: Well...

FRED: Kind of dusty down there?

KEVIN: It's a little bit dusty.

We got through the bricks in that basement wall,

and pulled out wood, so I know

there's wood on the other side of that wall.

Yeah, this wall? You were right out--

You were right, like, there?

Yeah, right outside this wall.

We reached through the wall and pulled out pieces of wood,

so I know there was a door or something right there.

I'm seeing stuff that points to that direction, too.

-All right. -Yep.

JOE: You can also see here, this got a little bit bold here.

KEVIN: Yeah. What is that?

That's when you get, uh, into a void pocket.

KEVIN: If that tunnel was there

and the-the timber rotted and collapsed,

is that what you would expect to see?

I mean, I don't know if it'd necessarily be collapsed,

because the layers are still somewhat there.

Otherwise, you'd see a big old sink in there.

So, you might actually have a tunnel down there.

-That you can walk through. -Sounds like it.

There very well could be a tunnel down there.

We need to see if we can get inside that tunnel.

I think we're gonna see if we can open it up

-on that end and send Al in it. -Oh. All right, Al.

Well, why not? I've lived long enough.

[laughs]

KEVIN: All right, guys. Let's get back to work.

to go much wider.

I want to take this one out and part of this one for right now.

NARRATOR: After using GPR to confirm

that a tunnel most likely exists between the homes

of Charles Hackley and his business partner Thomas Hume,

Kevin Dykstra and his team make yet another attempt to find out

what might lie on the other side of the basement wall.

Definitely in.

I still can see some remnants of wood.

Look back there, to the left.

AL: Oh, yeah, I see it. Yep.

-BRAD: You hitting a cavity? -AL: Yup.

-It's air space back there. -BRAD: All right!

KEVIN: I'd like to get, I'd like to get that camera.

AL: I'll go grab it.

That's a long ways in there.

KEVIN: We're definitely into an area here.

And I can see part of it's open back there.

-AL: Yup. -But right in here, it's collapsed in.

My arm won't go any more.

NARRATOR: Kevin has come to a troubling

and frustrating realization.

Any further dismantling of the wall could risk causing

a major collapse in the foundation of the house.

KEVIN: There was a definite void

on the other side of the wall, and I really wanted

to get inside the tunnel myself,

but I couldn't open that wall up any more and be safe.

Let's go see what they've come across out on the street.

Yeah.

[grunts]

-JOE: I got a pattern. -JEFF: What, three?

FRED: Three?

JOE: About there.

JEFF: Joe starts showing us anomalies

that start to look like what he called, like,

-a caved-in tunnel... -JOE: About there.

JEFF: ...and all of a sudden, I'm looking and I'm realizing,

this looks like it could lead to Hackley's side door.

Oh, man. Look at that.

-Look at that. -[laughs]

It does go from porch to porch.

JEFF: You guys see something

that looks a little compelling?

-[laughter] -Yeah. You can see it.

-Yeah. -I see a connection between Hackley and Hume.

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

-Yeah, we are. Yeah. -JEFF: Yeah.

AL: It's wide enough to get a cart down.

Look at this.

Right on this crack.

-Yeah? -Crack in the street.

-You can see there's a... -Wow.

-[Brad laughs] -AL: Oh, it's a weak spot.

JOE: It looks like a weak spot, probably.

KEVIN: How deep is it, do you think?

JOE: Eight, eight and a half.

-See it, there? -AL: There was a collapse.

-This thing, this collapsed. -KEVIN: Yeah.

KEVIN: Doesn't it look like it's coming this way,

and it's coming right up, right up to the porch, there?

-Doesn't it? -JEFF: Yep. Right to the door. -BRAD: Yeah. Porch to porch.

KEVIN: Wow.

BRAD: To have Joe and Fred and Jeff up there

with empirical evidence showing that there was a--

clearly, an anomaly going the same direction that

we found the tunnel, I mean, what more scientific evidence

do you need that, yes, there was a tunnel here?

KEVIN: There's only one reason you go

underground with stuff, is you don't want to see it

-above ground. -JEFF: Yep. -BRAD: That's right.

-That's right. -BRAD: It's also a way

that you can move things, like gold,

any time of the day or night, 24 hours a day, and not be seen.

I agree. Totally agree.

So to have two houses, one owned by Charles Hackley,

one owned by Thom Hume,

connected by a tunnel underground

is very significant to me.

If we were moving gold from one home to another,

underground is the way to do it.

Sometimes, on a journey of many years, you have that big moment,

-and this has been one of those. -This was huge.

-Yeah. -Joe. -All right, man.

-Thank you. -Thank you so much.

NARRATOR: Although, for now, Kevin Dykstra must abandon

his search for a secret tunnel linking the home of Thomas Hume

to that of Charles Hackley,

he and his team are convinced

that the information given to them was correct.

A tunnel did exist.

But now another question: could there have been more?

And if so, where did they lead?

Because as much progress as Kevin Dykstra has made

after eight years of investigation,

he is more convinced than ever that his search

for the lost Confederate treasury has only just begun.

KEVIN: Get 'em!

A search...

KEVIN: This is where it all happened, guys.

-...that has, so far... -BRIAN: Diver on surface.

...taken him and his team underwater...

...in the air...

...and underground.

AL: It's air space back there.

BRAD: All right!

A search which Kevin believes

could lead to a treasure much more valuable

and more dangerous...

-[gunshot] -...than mere gold.

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

I have heard rumor of Confederate gold

-underneath the Pritchard house. -Oh.

It's not every day you get to search the property

-of a Civil War general. -BRAD: Hey, hey, hey! It's a coin!

-Oh, man! -Pritchard didn't come home empty-handed.

KEVIN: Could what you see on the screen there

-possibly be a tunnel? -It is possible.

-You just got wood. -You're kidding.

It could be part of a vault.

-[beeping] -What is it? Bring it up.

AL: That's it!

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