18 Real Treasures Still Hiding Out There in the World

X-marks the spot?

Published 4 months ago in Wow

Despite inspiring centuries-old legends, fantasy novels, and the entire genre of pirate media, hidden treasure isn't just a thing of fiction. For as long as humans have had valuables, we've stashed them and lost them, leaving generation after generation to search for these long-lost riches.

From the — possibly soon-to-be-solved — mystery of Cleopatra's tomb to the nine-figure hard drive lurking in a landfill, here are 18 real-world hidden treasures waiting to be found.

1
“In 1907 the ‘Irish Crown Jewels’ were stolen from a safe in a Dublin Castle, and have never been recovered.”

2
“In 2011, a team of experts explored the gold plated Padmanabhaswamy Temple in India. They discovered $22 billion worth of valuables inside five out of six vaults. The sixth vault, Vault B, remains sealed shut under the order of the Supreme Court, and its Contents remains unknown.”

3
“The tomb of Genghis Khan (died August 18, 1227) has been the object of much speculation and research. To This Day, 800 years after his death, the site remains undiscovered.”
4
“In 1971, a suspect under the alias "Dan Cooper" successfully hijacked an airplane, demanded and received $200,000 cash as ransom, and then parachuted from the aircraft. He was never found.”

5
“In 1982, Byron Peiss wrote a book called the Secret. In it, there are clues to 12 treasure boxes hidden in various places all around the US and Canada. As of 2022, only 3 of the 12 boxes have ever been found. If a box is discovered, you can exchange it for bragging rights and a precious gem.”
6
“The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine, one of the most famous lost mines in American history. Located in the mountains outside of Phoenix, the mine is traced back to the 1870s, where a German immigrant supposedly discovered a cache of gold but never disclosed its whereabouts. It's still undiscovered.”
7
“Ivan the Terrible died without ever telling anyone where he put the library he inherited from his grandfather, and ever since there has been a treasure hunt for it.”

8
“Yamashita's Gold, also referred to as the Yamashita treasure, is the name given to the alleged war loot stolen in Southeast Asia by Japanese forces during World War II and hidden in caves, tunnels and underground complexes in the Philippines.”
9
“The tomb [of] China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, has not been explored partly because it is buried deep underground and surrounded by a moat of poisonous mercury.”
10
“$2.6 billion worth of treasure remains unclaimed in the wreckage of the Portuguese warship, The Flor de [la] Mar. The ship had been laden with treasure before getting caught in a large storm and sunk.”

11
“A man named James Howells who threw away a hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoin. The hard drive, currently under mountains of trash in a wales landfill is worth approximately [$505,573,020.86].”
12
“In 1715, a Spanish treasure fleet loaded with gold and silver was sunk by a hurricane off the coast of Florida. Divers over time have found coins scattered near the wreck, with a 2015 dive netting $4.5 million.”
13
“There was a room dubbed ‘The Amber Room’ in Russia made of several tons of precious gems. It was looted by the Nazis and none of it has ever been found.”

14
While as many as 69 Fabergé eggs — including roughly 52 “Imperial eggs” that went to Russian leaders — were thought to have been crafted by the House of Fabergé, only 57 eggs are accounted for.
15
“The location of the tomb of Alexander the Great has been lost to time. Alexander was entombed in Alexandria, the tomb was subsequently visited by many pilgrims throughout history, including Caesar . The tomb was well visited up till the 1500s, when its location was suddenly forgotten.”
16
While Cleopatra’s tomb has never been found, back in 2022, archaeologist Kathleen Martinez announced that her team had discovered a tunnel running underneath a temple outside of Alexandria, Egypt that could possibly give clues to the Queen’s final resting place. “The excavation revealed a huge religious center with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, more than 1,500 objects, busts, statues, golden pieces, a huge collection of coins portraying Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra and the Ptolemies,” Martinez said, per CNN.

17
“Alan Turing once bought 150lbs of silver, but didn't trust banks so he buried it in the woods instead. After the price of silver had almost doubled, he went to dig it up, but could no longer find it.”
18
“A large part of Pompeii. What they have excavated so far takes an hour to walk through, but a huge part of it remains hidden. This is because they've found that being discovered is causing more damage to the remains than 2,000 years of being hidden beneath the pumice and they're waiting for new technology to preserve it.”