The most famous treasure found in Pennsylvania has officially never actually been found – according to the FBI, at least.
A local legend dating back to 1863 states that a special unit was tasked with transporting 26 gold bars, each weighing 50lb, across the country. The unit was ambushed, and the gold was lost forever. Or was it?
Decades later, local man Dennis Parada picked up the search and found the precise mountainside location of the gold. Situated on federal land, he teamed up with the FBI in 2018 to visit the area and used high-tech equipment to demonstrate the existence of the Civil War-era gold buried below.
However, once excavation work had started, Parada claims the FBI kept him away from the site and, when he was finally allowed to access the dig, they told him nothing had been found.
Teaming up with his son in a bid to show that the FBI took the gold, Parada demanded proof, including videos of the excavation, which the FBI refused to release. In 2022, Parada sued the Justice Department for covering up the results of its excavation.