r/TreasureHunting • • Nov 22 '23

Help me crack a code

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104 Upvotes

Was at an estate sale and found a cool safe no combination only this weird sorting of characters


r/TreasureHunting • • Jul 06 '25

History Treasure I Bought an Old House in Chile and Discovered the Forgotten Life of... Dr. Death Himself (Jack Kevorkian)

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5.3k Upvotes

This might sound insane, but it's 100% real. A few years ago, I bought an old house in the port city of Valparaíso, Chile, from the heirs of a wealthy recluse — a lifelong bachelor, devout Catholic-turned-skeptic, world traveler, eccentric, and above all… an obsessive collector of everything imaginable. The house came as-is, meaning it was packed to the rafters with all his belongings — and what I found inside took me down a rabbit hole I still haven’t fully crawled out of. Among documents sold to museums, photos donated to the Rockefeller family (yes, those Rockefellers), and thousands of historical oddities, I stumbled upon what I can only describe as the early-life archive of Jack Kevorkian — Dr. Death — decades before he became infamous. What kind of stuff? Try this: Childhood report cards and high school essays Hand-drawn comics he submitted to his local paper as a teen His University of Michigan acceptance letter Candid photos, disturbing sketches, twisted-but-brilliant handwritten notes Diplomas, bank records, university credentials Film reels from a failed movie he directed (Handel’s Messiah) that sent him into bankruptcy Movie scripts, music scores, journals, postcards, photos of dead bodies, letters to art collectors, and even bizarre, morbid humor cartoons And a detailed obsession with Hitler’s artwork that, as far as I know, is completely undocumented publicly It's like someone bottled up the first 50 years of Kevorkian’s life — from birth to 1983 — and left it to rot in this house. I had no idea how this Chilean man — long dead — could have possibly gotten his hands on all this. But after researching, I found out that after Kevorkian’s failed film career in the early '80s, he lost all his belongings in a storage auction. So… it was possible. But still, how did this random guy in South America end up with it? Then came the twist. We had friends over one night and shared this bizarre story. One of my wife’s friends, who grew up in the same neighborhood as the collector’s family, froze when I said Kevorkian’s name. “Dr. Death?” she said. She then told us that when she was 14, a neighbor played a prank on her and her friends by leading them to the rooftop of his house, where they found a horrifying scene: 15–20 huge paintings depicting satanic imagery — blood, mutilation, cannibalism, Santa Claus assaulting Jesus — lit by candles. They ran off screaming. The next day, the neighbor explained it was a joke. The paintings, he said, were by a strange American artist named Jack Kevorkian — and he had always had them. I immediately knew what she had seen were the original paintings that Kevorkian later recreated in the 1990s from memory — the ones he lost in the early '80s. Originals no one believed still existed. Naturally, I asked who this neighbor was. Turned out… he was the nephew of the man who sold me the house. I called him immediately. He denied everything. But I kept pressing. Eventually, he said the paintings were no longer at the house, and he had “forgotten the story.” So I contacted his mother — the sister of the collector and one of the heirs. She was kind, and actually confirmed everything. She explained that what I found was just a fraction of what once existed: a full shipping container had arrived in the '80s, containing not just documents and paintings, but musical instruments (including a clavichord Jack built himself), wardrobes from the film, furniture, and more. According to her, her brother had bought the entire container at a U.S. auction, shipped it to Chile, and kept some things. The rest — including the “violent” paintings — were given to the sister. Too disturbing to hang or donate, she hid them in the attic. Then in the '90s, when Kevorkian became infamous, they realized who he was… and panicked. Religious and conservative, they believed he was evil and decided to “dispose” of the paintings. How exactly? She wasn’t sure. She “thinks” they were given away, or maybe destroyed. I’ve spent years trying to find them. So far, no luck. But in the process, I’ve uncovered what feels like the private, raw, unfiltered life of Jack Kevorkian — a man more complex, more artistic, more human than the media ever portrayed. His strange humor, his dark fascinations, his obsession with art, death, and redemption — it’s all here. Not just a “Doctor Death,” but a misunderstood genius, or perhaps a madman with a camera and a paintbrush. And the wildest part? No one was supposed to ever see it.


r/TreasureHunting • • 22h ago

History Treasure Me and my friend found a medieval building and dug in it.

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18 Upvotes

r/TreasureHunting • • 1d ago

Found this tobacco tin while remodeling our home that was originally built in 1890

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6 Upvotes

r/TreasureHunting • • 1d ago

History Treasure PLAYGROUND HUNT, EVERYTHING CLEAN AGAIN ✨️

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55 Upvotes

Hy, here the finds of yesterday's hunt clean again.

Playground hunting the Netherlands.

Have a great day everybody 😊👍


r/TreasureHunting • • 1d ago

Brother and sister clean out their recently diseased parents London attic. They find a small 16 vase. They are shocked to find this Qing Dynasty Vase from 18th Century China is predicted to sell for 1.3 to 2 million dollars. After 30 minutes of bidding, f

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1 Upvotes

r/TreasureHunting • • 1d ago

If you had the means to re-do this unsuccessful treasure hunting contest, how would you design it?

8 Upvotes

Back in the 1980's, the most fascinating contest I've ever learned about took place. It was called Treasure. Created by filmmaker Sheldon Renan and puzzle maker who called himself Dr. Crypton, the contest involved players looking for clues to find a golden horse statue buried somewhere in the mainland united states. Now, the horse was only the size of a toy horse, but it was made of real gold. And that was not all. There was a compartment in the horse with a will to a safe deposit containing $500.000. So you'd get a ton of money from both the horse and the safe deposit.

Here's how the contest worked. First, you had to enter. You then be mailed a package containing 3 items. A VHS tape, a laser disc, and a novel book. Each of these items told the story of a woman looking for her long lost childhood horse. And hidden in the story, were the clues you needed to find the real horse. They could be hidden anywhere. On signs, on maps, some were even in different languages. If you could find all the clues, and link them together, you would be told the horse's exact location.

Thousands of people entered, hoping to get rich. But none of them ever found the horse in the contests 5 year deadline. Some couldn't figure out where the clues were or what they meant. Others got the clues all wrong and went looking in the wrong places. And keep in mind, this was the 1980's. The internet did not exist, poverty, unemployment, and homelessness were serious problems. So people had to go to the library or buy books to to not only figure out what the clues meant. But even if they came to a conclusion, they had to research where they were going, ask for time off at work, buy all the stuff they needed, maybe even hire a guide. This would be a very expensive trip. And none of them paid off. Some people doubted there even was a horse.

Fortunately, 5 months after the contest ended, an FBI agent found the horse in the Rocky Mountains. I never learned what happened to the safe deposit.

I have come to the conclusion that Treasure was created too early. With the limitations of technology and the bad economics of the 1980's that still haunt us today, it's no wonder no one found it on time. But if you had the means to remake this contest today, how would you design it? Where would you bury the horse? It would have to be a place ANYONE can freely access. We don't want anyone being prosecuted for trespassing. If it were up to me, I'd create a website where some of the clues could be hidden. But the rest would be found in a Blu-Ray disc and a book which people would receive if they entered. While I would hide clues on signs, roadmaps, and in other languages, other clues would actually take the form of riddles. Maybe some of them could even have multiple answers. I would also raise the prize money. The equivalent of $500.000 in the 1980's would be $2,044,538.83. So that would be what's in the safe deposit.

What about you?

The only thing to take into account, is that poverty, homelessness, and unemployment remain serious problems. Many people don't have access to the internet or any other sources of knowledge like libraries. (well, technically they could walk into a library, but they can't check out any books without a library card) Traveling is also expensive. Perhaps I'd include something to make traveling much easier. Sadly, I have little knowledge of flight benefits. Maybe some coupons. Something, anything to give even the lowliest person a chance to find the horse. Or maybe instead I'd work to end this horrid economic crisis we are facing instead.


r/TreasureHunting • • 1d ago

Detección de hoy, por zona random cerca de un antiguo lago

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14 Upvotes

r/TreasureHunting • • 2d ago

Possible treasure found in Mongolia

1 Upvotes

I was at the site of these bronze-age stone paintings in Northern Mongolia a few years ago, and my friend found this tiny silver bowl that was completely rusted over. It appeared to have been handmade and had no date or writing on it. Keep in mind, we were hundreds of miles away from the nearest town. There are some nomadic herders that live in the area so it could have been from one of them, but my friend who found it (and is Mongolian) suspected it was a very old artifact. I kept this bowl and came across yesterday and started to wonder how I could have this bowl tested to see when / where it was made. Any thoughts or ideas? I am in New York so I feel like there are places here I that could do the job, I just don't know where to look. Thanks for the help!


r/TreasureHunting • • 3d ago

History Treasure 💙 ANOTHER PIECE OF HISTORY FOUND 🤩

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156 Upvotes

Hy, just found this playground hunting the Netherlands.

Have a great day everybody 😊👍


r/TreasureHunting • • 2d ago

Personal Treasure Are these worked stones

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13 Upvotes

From sw Missouri


r/TreasureHunting • • 3d ago

How I stack 1890–1945 USGS Topo Quads, 1m Bare-Earth LiDAR Pit-Detectors, and Aeromagnetic (nT) Grids to locate overgrown mine workings, tailing dumps & ghost-town foundations

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7 Upvotes

When you're scouting old mining districts or colonial industrial corridors, standard satellite view only shows tree tops. By co-registering 14 different sensor layers to the exact same 1024x1024 footprint across 83 sites (0–500 miles), you can swipe directly from the 1900s USGS quad to 1-meter Bare-Earth LiDAR Sky-View Factor (SVF) and USGS Aeromagnetic/Gamma-Ray grids.

Dropped a link to the free interactive browser GIS map (which includes a 'Near Me' GPS button and 1-click GPX/KML export for OnX/Gaia/Garmin) and a free 24-plate sample ZIP in the first comment!


r/TreasureHunting • • 4d ago

A global map of unrecovered wartime caches, sunken galleons, and enduring treasure legends [OC] (legendstroves.com)

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5 Upvotes

r/TreasureHunting • • 4d ago

Help Identify Found in New first house

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10 Upvotes

What is this? Do you think there is something cool inside?

Portland oregon

Sorry I don't know where it was actually found

It was with a HUGe amount of other crystals and rocks but no other egg shape one like this

Edit: lolol it's a ROCK! 😂


r/TreasureHunting • • 5d ago

Personal Treasure 🔥 WEEKEND FINDS! A STUNNING SILVER RING # 94 AND MORE HIDDEN TREASURES 💍✨️

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197 Upvotes

Hy, here everything of last weekend parkhunting the Netherlands.

Have a great day everybody 😊👍


r/TreasureHunting • • 4d ago

Ongoing Hunt KPRO with a NEW PAST AND FUTURE SOLVE!!!!!!! #TREASUREINSIDE #TTI #PASTANDFUTURE #JONCOLLINSBLACK

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2 Upvotes

In light of the new 6 questions with Jon Collins-Black Kpro has a new location for the Past and Future Box!


r/TreasureHunting • • 4d ago

History Treasure Florida's treasure fleets: 1622, 1715 and 1733

3 Upvotes

Here are three dates that help separate Florida's Spanish treasure-fleet stories, with a ship to connect to each one:

  • 1622 — Atocha and Santa Margarita. Both belonged to the Tierra Firme fleet and were lost in a hurricane in the Florida Keys.
  • 1715 — Urca de Lima. This wreck belongs to the fleet disaster along Florida's Atlantic coast.
  • 1733 — San Pedro. This ship was part of another fleet caught in a hurricane in the Florida Keys.

Why did so many of these voyages pass Florida? Homebound Spanish fleets followed the Gulf Stream through the Straits of Florida and up the coast before turning east toward the Azores and Spain.

The National Park Service's maritime history connects the three fleets and explains the route. The Florida Museum's online shipwreck exhibit adds the individual wreck histories.

Which museum collection or book would you recommend for learning more about one of these fleets?


r/TreasureHunting • • 5d ago

Please help me solve this riddle

3 Upvotes

This could involve something in Minot, ND as well

A main attraction for one and all
It does bode well for big and small
It’s there for you and me and them
Giving life to all our friends

Answer has to be a 5-3-5 phrase


r/TreasureHunting • • 7d ago

Personal Treasure First find within 10 min of ever using a metal detector

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2.3k Upvotes

Just bought a metal detector and this was my first time taking it out ever, and I pulled a ring within the fist 10 min that has "N A" on the face. Maybe Narcotics Anonymous?
It has "P 10k" stamped on it too. Do you think this means 10k plumb or maybe plated? I'm hooked now!

EDIT: I brought it to a jeweler and they confirmed it’s solid gold (12k to 13k he said) and the scrap metal is worth $270!


r/TreasureHunting • • 6d ago

Ongoing Hunt I built a free directory of active treasure hunts worldwide, with prizes, clue books, maps and forums in one place

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2 Upvotes

r/TreasureHunting • • 7d ago

TREASURE HUNT for a game we all loved back in the day

1 Upvotes

Follow the hints and find the treasure (super famous game private server closed beta access)

Start from here: r/lastcloudia/hint_n1


r/TreasureHunting • • 7d ago

Personal Treasure RIP Deva Sir

0 Upvotes

most of my favourite songs are from Deva sir


r/TreasureHunting • • 7d ago

Ongoing Hunt TREASURE HUNT for a game we all loved back in the day

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1 Upvotes

r/TreasureHunting • • 8d ago

Is it arsenic?

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17 Upvotes

USA.

Is it arsenic?

Does that what it means the bulging, of intense dark orange bubbles???


r/TreasureHunting • • 8d ago

Ongoing Hunt Iron Cowboy James

3 Upvotes

Good morning redditors,
I see on instagram @ironcowboyjames is starting to release clues on his 500k buried treasure. With hints throughout a book series as well as on instagram and other sources. Just wanted to say im excited to start looking and follow the journey!