Extra Finds - Code to Gold

Josh heads down to Virginia backcountry to search for the legendary hidden Beale Treasure, made famous by Thomas Beale. In the 19th century, James Ward published the papers written by Beale, who supposedly found the small fortune of gold and silver in 1817 in the American southwest. Beale created three numerical book code ciphers, which provide the location, content, and names of the treasure's owners. Only the 2nd cipher describing the content of the treasure has been decoded using the Declaration of Independence as the key. After making a quick stop in Lynchburg, Josh heads down to Bedford County, Virginia where he stops by the old Buford's Tavern off the side of the road. The solved 2nd cipher describes the treasure being within a four-mile radius of the tavern. In order to get a bird's eye view of the area, Josh meets up with Mike Evans, a respected Beale treasure hunter who agrees to take Josh up in his airplane. Josh and Mike hope to find evidence of these old trails in order to narrow their search. They land and meet up with Mike's partner Steve Cole and drive off into the wilderness to search the area. After spending a night next to a campfire under the stars, Josh, Mike, and Steve head out into the forest following the river since they believe Thomas Beale may have stashed the treasure near a waterfall. Near an old dam, their treasure hunting turns up a few artifacts including a surprisingly old coin but not Beale's hidden cache. Deciding to test other theories, Josh heads to the Bedford County Museum to do some more research. Josh explores the theory that the Beale Treasure may be a hoax concocted by James Ward in a ploy to sell pamphlets. Josh's research shows that James Ward was a member of the Freemasons, notorious for using encoded message. He hops a train to Philadelphia and goes to the Grand Masonic Temple. At the temple, Josh meets with Michael Comfort, who sheds some light on Freemasonry's popularity and James Ward's Masonic past. With new information, Josh heads back to Bedford to meet with another treasure hunter named Justin Cannady. Justin is in possession of an early version of the Declaration of Independence, that when put under a black light shows the initials TJB. Justin believes the document is a map to the treasure, and one has to line up the ripped portion atop the paper with the topography of the hills to determine its location. Josh and Justin head out on river rafts and test the theory. When Josh finds a spot that lines up almost perfectly with the rips in the document, can they find the famed Beale fortune? Or will it end up being a historic hoax?