Josh Gates Finds Who Drew The Paintings For The Secret Treasure Hunt | Expedition Unknown

and I’m here to tell you about the  greatest puzzle you’ve never heard of It’s called The Secret A mysterious book  that leads to hidden treasure right here in the United States But be warned because once  you crack this open there’s no turning back In 1982 an enterprising publisher named Byron  Price buries 12 treasure boxes across the United States and then releases a book filled with  cryptic images and verses that reveal clues to their locations Each box contains a  key that can be redeemed for a valuable gemstone Within a year three teenagers  triumphantly unearthed the first box in Chicago But then the trail goes cold for nearly two  decades But in 2004 a second box is discovered in [Music] Cleveland In a tragic turn of events  Byron Price dies in a car accident taking the locations of the remaining 10 treasures to his  [Music] grave But the secret lives on Thanks to

the power of the internet and new technology  several teams of puzzle fanatics are right on the edge of solving the mother of all riddles  And I can’t pass up the chance to join them So get ready to get obsessed as we crisscross the  nation and write the next chapter in The Secret At the foggy docks of Battery Park I board a  nearly empty ferry Morning where I’m meeting the only two people who truly know the mind  of the puzzle master Byron Price his daughters Hello Hi I’m Josh Blair nice to meet you Blair  how are you tara nice to meet you Sarah how are you this is a super spooky morning here in New  York You know I’m I’m kneede in your father’s uh puzzle here Do you think that he would be  surprised today to know that people are still looking for this yeah absolutely I think that he  thought that people would find it very quickly I

think he thought that the puzzles were like a lot  easier than they are Right People get so hung up on the treasure itself Tell me about the core of  the book I would say the book is about immigration Every puzzle that’s in there is representative  of a different immigrant group Right While the 12 paintings and poems drive the hunt the preamble  to the secret gives the treasure a mythological origin It tells the tale of the fair people fairy  creatures who left Europe and settled in the new world where they hid 12 precious treasure boxes  This was Byron Price’s heartfelt framing for his one-of-a-kind game Yeah No honestly there’s no  better place to be than Ellis Island probably to talk about him I get it now No more famous  immigrant hub in America than than right here Nearly 40% of Americans have a family connection  to Ellis Island Between 1892 and 1958 more than

12 million immigrants journeyed to the island  of hope seeking the American dream And your family came through here right mhm Our dad’s  dad And that’s what I think made my dad so sort of obsessed with the immigration story The  more that I learn about your father the more I understand that this is really about heritage  and him connecting back to his roots in a way Definitely Each park and city that Byron  hid a treasure in celebrates a different immigrant group The Irish in Chicago the German  immigrants who helped settle Milwaukee And here in New York Jewish immigrants like the relatives  of Byron Price This is actually my family That’s why Cara and Blair have brought me here because  of the personal connection to their father and his own immigrant history Obviously his his  life was tragically cut short This is now a legacy that lives on I think that this book sort  of asks his readers to stop and take a second to

appreciate your surroundings and appreciate where  you’ve come from Yeah Yeah Absolutely Is there any doubt in your mind that one of the boxes is  here so he did say in a very fatherly way where would daddy bury a treasure and so in New York  And of course it would be crazy if he didn’t bury a treasure in New York right and so and  which illustration do you think is the New York illustration the the last illustration This you  think leads to the New York box absolutely I think the woman in the photo has the face of the  Statue of Liberty Oh yeah Mhm She does I think the bottom of her dress sort of outlines the shape  of Manhattan That’s really compelling [Music] He said that for the New York one where you’re  standing where the treasure is buried you can see all of the features that are in that  illustration You can see them all from

the dig spot From the dig spot in the New  York Really Okay that’s really intriguing To do a bit of investigating for the New York  box I’m bidding farewell to Byron’s daughters and heading across the water to Wall Street where some  think the clues point to the treasure The poem portion of the New York puzzle starts off with a  doozy of a clue In the shadow of the gray giant find the arm that extends over the slender path  Now the most obvious choice for the Grey Giant is the Statue of Liberty but she’s obviously green  and not gray This could also be the Grey Giant the Statue of George Washington a giant of American  history And we see that Washington’s arm is outstretched over Wall Street And Wall Street is  one of the most narrow streets of lower Manhattan Look down the slender path and what do you see at  the end a clock that looks a lot like the clock

from the image Come on You get down to the end of  Wall Street and you find this This is the Trinity Church one of the oldest churches in New York  City And very much tied to the next clue in the puzzle It says “The sign nearby speaks of Indy’s  native.” Now there’s only one person that could be most famous indies native in American history is  Alexander Hamilton who immigrated here from the West Indies He went on to found the US Treasury  He’s the guy on the front of the $10 bill and the star of a Broadway musical that for some reason I  still cannot get tickets to But the point is there are signs of his name here at the Trinity Church  because he’s actually buried here in the graveyard And just beyond is Bowling Green Park one of the  most famous and most historic parks in the city

Bowling Green Park is actually the oldest  park in the city It’s also reportedly where the Dutch bought the island of Manhattan from the  Native Americans So it really fits with Byron’s immigration theme And the park also has kind  of a Vshape which fits with the next line of the puzzle which mentions one branch of the V And  then well and then it all falls apart Even though you can see some of the clues from here you could  even see Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty on a clear day there’s plenty of other things in  this poem that don’t seem to appear here at all Before I tackle another puzzle from The Secret  I’m heading to Cleveland to meet the one person who might hold the key to all the puzzles the  book’s illustrator John Jude Palenar Josh how are you how are you oh look at this These are  the originals Look at this Look at this These

are the originals Yes these are the original  paintings They’re bigger than I expected and they’re beautiful in person Simple question First  if you could just tell me where the treasures are buried I’m sorry I can’t Okay I’m sorry I wanted  I’d have to kill you if I Okay I understand I You know I had to take a crack at it In the world of  fantasy and science fiction John is a legend From HP Lovecraft to Aragon he’s done covers for  the best But his first big gig was The Secret In 1981 Byron Price traveled to parks around the  country jotting down notes and photographing key landmarks He would return later disguised as  a maintenance worker to sneak in and bury the treasure boxes How would this work he would he  would send you things He would send me a folder a dossier if you will would contain numerous  photographs There would be a sheet of things

that should be included in the painting John would  receive the pictures and a set of instructions and incorporate them into his paintings He never saw  the burial sites or even Byron’s original notes With Byron’s tragic passing John became the only  person with some knowledge of the puzzles Can you give me any hint as to where any of the remaining  boxes are buried beyond signing contracts to say I can’t say anything i’m legally bound right  but uh I wouldn’t tell anybody because a you know he’s my friend Yeah And this is his legacy  Kind of being loyal Exactly Yeah I burned all the photos all his notes because it wasn’t  meant to be seen once it was done Like any good spy you destroy the evidence This is like  Watergate It’s been 37 years now Don’t mind me Sorry 37 years Yeah Are you surprised that only  two of the 12 boxes were found i try to figure

some of them out and I can’t figure them out You  know I’ve read through the verses That’s crazy In fact John would be very pleased if people stopped  trying to reach out to him with their pet theories about the puzzles I do not know where these  treasures are buried Please stop writing Please Does John know more than he lets on perhaps But I respect his commitment to his friend  and to keeping the secret Hush hush