Did the FBI abscond with nine tons of stolen gold?

Fiction starts where real life ends.

If you have read my novel, Treasure of the Diary, you know that I wrote about Dents Run, Pennsylvania’s legendary buried Civil War Gold. Is it real, or did I make it up out of whole cloth?

Kris Maher in the Wall Street Journal writes about the allegation that the Federal Bureau of Investigation dug up nine tons of the gold, worth more than $500 million, and made off with it in the middle of the night.

According to the article, Warren Getler, co-author of Rebel Gold and a former Wall Street Journal reporter said he believed Confederate sympathizers allied with a secretive society known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, likely stole and hid the gold.

Treasure hunters were sure that they had found the spot where the gold was hidden, and believed they had a finder’s fee deal. There is no question about the dig by the FBI. They brought more than 50 agents to the location and dug down 12 feet, but “Nothing was found,” the FBI says. The treasure hunters who led the FBI to the spot have gone to court. They aim to prove the loot was in the ground, and the government took it!

To readers of Treasure of the Diary, it sounds familiar. You can read Maher’s full article titled, Three Men Battle the FBI Over Buried Civil War Gold. Stuff Just Doesn’t Add Up. in the August 5, 2023, issue of the Wall Street Journal.

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