Buried Gold: How the FBI Got Involved In a Treasure Hunt
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The sun is going down in Pennsylvania. It's time for little kids to get some sleep. Dennis Parada tucks in his young son, Kem, and settles in to tell him a bedtime story. It's one he's been telling for years. A legend about the lost gold of Dent's Run, a community northeast of Pittsburgh.

According to local folklore, the story begins in the summer of 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, when a small group of Union soldiers made their way through the wilderness with a shipment of gold. They were headed for the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, but they never made it. Over the years, theories proliferated about what happened to the gold, but most versions of the tale seem to agree.

To this day, it's buried somewhere in Elk County, just waiting for someone to find it. Dennis had even searched for the treasure himself once upon a time, but eventually he gave up. Kem pleads with his dad to go look for it again, together. But Dennis tells him they can't. They don't have the resources, and it's dangerous. They likely have no idea that years later...

The father and son will locate the exact spot where they believe the gold is hidden, or that they'll go head to head with the FBI in their attempt to uncover the fabled treasure.

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In 1974, Dennis Parada is working in the furniture department of a large store when something strange happens. Today, his employers are bringing in a man who claims to be a psychic. It's not uncommon for the store to lure in customers with flashy sales tactics. But at just 22 years old, Dennis isn't too interested in what the psychic has to say.

He's still skeptical when, during the demonstration, the psychic addresses him by name and implores him to go in search of the dense-run gold. The psychic even points out a spot on a map and gives Dennis a task. Go to Elk County. Climb up the wooded mountain and bring back dirt samples.

Dennis thinks it's a bunch of BS, so he decides to test the psychic. He does bring back some dirt, a few samples from Dent's run and a few from somewhere else entirely. But the psychic somehow knows what he's done. Not falling for the trick, the man immediately weeds out the random samples from the lot, proclaiming they are not related to the treasure. Then, according to Dennis...

He zeroes in on dirt sample number five. He takes a pen and paper and draws a crude map. And he says the gold is there inside a cave underwater. And it's within 500 feet of where this dirt sample came from. Now, Dennis is curious. He and some buddies throw themselves into a treasure hunt all summer. But they never do find a cave like the one the psychic described.

And so they move on with their lives. 30 years pass. In 2004, Dennis tells this story to a friend who asks if they can go back up the mountain. Dennis agrees and shows him the area where the psychic directed him all those years ago. And that's when the friend sees it. An entrance to a cave, low to the ground, just like the psychic said to look for.

So Dennis gets serious again about finding the treasure. Over the next few years, he, his son, Kem, who's now grown, and other associates form a company called Finders Keepers USA. They make about 300 trips in search of the gold. They mostly use metal detectors along with other instruments as they explore the small cave, but it's slow going.

Inside, the space is tiny and it's filled with spiders and other creatures. They even get formal permission to perform these tasks from Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, or DCNR, which manages the land there. Finders Keepers sends them periodic updates, and whenever the treasure hunters stumble across something they think may be of historical significance,

They hand it over to the local museum commission. Above all else, they're having the time of their lives. But what they don't find for many years is any clear sign of gold. Until a representative at the DCNR tells them the further they explore in the cave, the more at risk they are. The cave could collapse. It's safer, he says, to drill into it from above.

When Dennis does, he inspects the drill bits and sees what he believes are flecks of gold. Around this time, the finders keepers team uses stronger ground penetrating radar devices around the site and they find something underground near the cave that seems to have qualities similar to gold. They think they finally found their treasure.

Only by now, the finders keepers crew has been butting heads with the DCNR for a while, which results in getting their permission revoked. They're asked to leave the site. So even though Dennis knows right where he wants to dig, there's not a whole lot he can do about it. In 2017, a journalist named Warren Gettler is scrolling through an online forum for treasure hunters when he comes across a post written by Dennis.

Warren has also spent his fair share of time researching legendary caches of gold, including the treasure of Dent's run. He's even written a book about the subject. Warren knows right away he has to reach out to Dennis because Warren has his own theories about how the gold allegedly wound up in Elk County.

First, let's review the basic legend. There are variations, but many of the details that get repeated come from the Lost Gold Ingot Treasure. It's a short story with a mysterious origin. It's unclear who wrote the account, but it is housed in the archives of the Military History Institute, which seems to give it some credibility.

It tells of a Union lieutenant named Castleton and his sergeant O'Rourke, who in 1863 led a small group toward the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. They traveled by covered wagons outfitted with false bottoms to conceal the 26 gold ingots or bars hidden within. But by the time the group made it through the city of St. Mary's, trouble was afoot.

Castleton was sick with malaria, and he hired a mountain guide who turned out to be a swindler. The lieutenant attempted to navigate the wilderness himself, but with no knowledge of the area and a high fever, the party got lost. Castleton sent some of his soldiers for help, while he and O'Rourke stayed behind with the gold, but they disappeared.

along with the ingots. The soldiers who went for help told their story, prompting an investigation directed by the Alan Pinkerton of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. But over the years, all the Pinkertons found were two and a half gold ingots and the scattered remains of three to five men. When Warren reaches out to Dennis, he says he's read the story of the lost gold ingot treasure too,

And he has his own theory about the mysterious writer behind it. See, Warren's research concerns a secret society known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, or KGC. The KGC was a real organization in the run-up to the Civil War. And their plan was to create a massive slave-holding empire stretching from the southern U.S. down to Central America and over to Cuba.

According to the Texas State Historical Association, the KGC disbanded not long after the Civil War came to an end. Warren tells Dennis that his research suggests the KGC was raising money to fund this empire by robbing banks and stealing from the Union. And he believes they buried a lot of their stolen loot in treasure troves that are still hidden all over the place.

including, maybe, in dense run. The reason, he suspects, the KGC has ties to this particular treasure goes back to the short story, The Lost Gold Ingot Treasure. Warren theorizes that it was actually a fictional account written by the KGC, with coded clues leading back to one of their caches. In other words, the details were made up, but the gold is real, and the story is

is like a treasure map. Warren's theory about the KGC is news to Dennis, but the bottom line is they have the same goal, to uncover the treasure. And they both think Dennis knows exactly where it is. He just can't get to it. So Warren says he can try to put Dennis and his son, Kem, in touch with the FBI.

It works. By January 2018, Dennis, Kem, and Warren sit down with two FBI agents. Dennis makes the case that if they do find the gold that was headed for the U.S. Mint, then it rightfully belongs to the federal government. All he wants is to witness the discovery and hopefully get a finder's fee. A few days later, they all convene at the site near Dent's Run.

along with a few more FBI agents. The finder's keeper's crew demonstrates their ground-penetrating locator right then and there. With all eyes on Dennis, the locator once again shows promising results. It indicates that something like gold may be directly underfoot.

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They've already seen firsthand the encouraging results from Dennis's gear. Now, they've hired an unaffiliated company to bring in an advanced piece of equipment called a gravimeter. The gravimeter also detects an underground anomaly at the site, something that appears to weigh between 8.5 to 9 tons, with a density consistent with gold.

And if it's made of pure gold, it could be worth a reported $250 million. The FBI wastes no time. One of the agents who originally met with Dennis, Cam and Warren, requests a warrant to seize, quote, one or more tons of United States gold. The document lays out the case for why the FBI believes the legends could be true.

citing the stories provided by Dennis and his team, as well as the Bureau's own findings. It argues if there really is gold, it belongs to the federal government. A Pennsylvania judge agrees. On March 9th, a warrant is issued authorizing the FBI to proceed with their search. But, the judge says, they must do so in a timely manner.

within two weeks, and they can only work between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The dig begins just a few days later. On March 12th, preparations are made and photographs are taken around the area. The FBI breaks ground on March 13th. Dennis, Kim, and Warren carpool to the site that morning. When they arrive, they're told to wait at the bottom of the hill for now because space is tight.

It's a little odd. They believe they had an understanding with the FBI that they could be present during the excavation. Now, they can't see what's happening from their car down the hill. They wait for an hour, then two. They have no choice but to keep waiting for six hours. They say it's about 2 p.m. when they're finally escorted to the dig site.

Just one hour later, the treasure hunters are told it's time to go home. The FBI is wrapping up for the day. To Dennis, it doesn't make a lot of sense. They're potentially within a few feet of their goal, with hours to go before sunset. But the agent persists. It's cold and they can resume in the morning. The next day, the finders keepers crew says that they are given the same treatment.

They arrive early on the 14th and are instructed to stay in their car. This time, they're informed that snow has melted, creating a puddle at the bottom of the hole and causing a delay. Again, it's early afternoon before agents bring the trio up the hill to the dig site. By then, the FBI has dug two holes, one 11 feet deep and the other over 12 and a half feet deep. Dennis realizes the FBI...

has already finished the dig without the treasure hunters present. Even worse, Dennis alleges he's made to feel embarrassed by the outcome. He later tells writer Chris Heath from The Atlantic that the agent in charge walks him up to the edge of the hole and tells him to look inside. At this point, Dennis is still hopeful that they've found something. When he looks down, all he sees is dirt.

Right away, Dennis can't help but wonder if the FBI really did find gold and just didn't want to admit it. The treasure hunters turn to leave, but according to them, before they do, they're allegedly instructed not to talk about this project with anybody. The thing is, they've been operating in a small community...

Residents who live near the dig site are already aware of the FBI's presence, and some of these neighbors began to share stories that get back to Dennis as well as journalists. One woman tells the press, on the night of March 13th, she was trying to get some sleep. She had to wake up early for work the next day, but the noise coming from the direction of the dig site kept her awake. She believes she can identify the sounds as hammers and backhoes.

Just as bad as the noise, though, were the bright lights. The Atlantic corroborates part of her story with the woman's husband. He'd been out of town for work that night, and he confirms she called him late, protesting about the racket. To Dennis, this story raises eyebrows because of the time of day the witness says it occurred.

If you'll recall, the seizure warrant obtained by the FBI said that work had to be completed between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Not to mention, the treasure hunters were told that operations ceased before sundown the first day. Now, the FBI asserted in multiple statements to media outlets covering the case that no work was done at night.

But if what the witness is saying is true, it would suggest some kind of work was allegedly being done under cover of darkness. Other neighbors come forward saying they saw armored vehicles in the area, but the FBI later denies it used armored vehicles at all during this investigation.

Still, in light of all this information, Dennis and Warren wonder why all of the ground scans suggested something metallic and high density was at the site, only to turn up dirt and debris. Soon after the FBI clears out, Dennis returns to the spot. He brings along the same equipment that previously gave him promising readings. If anything ever was there, it's now gone.

The equipment no longer picks up on any underground anomalies. Of course, a few stories or even a suspicious ground scan don't mean the FBI secretly made off with a bunch of gold. Just a few days after wrapping up the excavation, the Bureau releases a three-line statement. The FBI was conducting a court-authorized excavation last week at Dense Run, Elk County, Pennsylvania.

Nothing was found and the excavation ended on Wednesday, March 14th. As this is related to an ongoing investigation, any additional comment would be inappropriate at this time. But Dennis still has questions. So that May, a lawyer for Finders Keepers files a Freedom of Information Act request on their behalf. By law, it should prompt the FBI to turn over any non-exempt records related to the dig.

The team does receive a swift response from the FBI, but it's not what they're hoping for. According to legal documents that are later filed by finders keepers to compel the agency to produce records, they are told, quote, "...after a search of its central record system, it was unable to identify any main file records responsive to the plaintiff's request."

The treasure hunters don't accept that answer. Via their lawyer, they reach out to then-Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey. He sends an administrative appeal to the Department of Justice, requesting that the FBI take another look around for the records. The FBI's second response is also a letdown for the treasure hunters.

In their complaint, they say the reason for the Bureau's rejection this time is the records in question are, quote, law enforcement records and that in view of a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding, release could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings. Dennis and his team file an appeal, which pays off.

In the summer of 2019, the FBI comes back saying there actually are over 2,000 pages of documents and photographs as well as videos. But, they warn, it could take a very long time to process and release all of that information. Years, in fact. In January 2022, nearly four years since they first met with FBI agents...

Finders Keepers USA files a lawsuit. They allege that the Department of Justice is in violation of the Freedom of Information Act. Throughout all of this, the FBI maintains the same story. They didn't find anything of note during the dig. Then in April, a judge rules. The FBI has to start releasing documents right away. At the rate of 1,000 pages per month, and they have...

just 30 days to comply. It's May 2022 when the FBI starts releasing hundreds of pages of documents relating to the dense run excavation from four years ago. The Bureau makes these available on their online vault. The documents contain some interesting insights, like the depth of the FBI's research surrounding the legend of the Civil War era gold,

According to the complaint filed by Finders Keepers, much of that was supplied by Dennis, Kim, and Warren. But there's also an email exchange between an FBI agent and an employee of Wells Fargo's corporate archives looking for any corroborating materials to back up the legend. Specifically...

The agent wanted to know if Wells Fargo was involved in any shipments of gold to the U.S. Mint via stagecoach back in the summer of 1863. The archivist responded no, but said that their records from the time period aren't always complete. The FBI also reached out to the Military History Institute, where Dennis and others got the mysterious lost gold ingot treasure story from.

But the Institute reported they found no official records to support the legend. Also of interest is the geophysical survey performed by the third party at the FBI's behest. Their equipment had detected a high-density mass that might weigh as much as nine tons. Michael Rubincombe, a journalist with the Associated Press, sends this report to another geophysics expert for review.

He says the third party company's methods were, quote, very good and it was reasonable to theorize they could have stumbled upon the lost gold. But it's not a sure thing. He says the company might have gotten the same readings for a number of different reasons. Once more, the FBI holds firmly to their stance. They didn't find anything. And then there are the photographs provided by the FBI. Hundreds of them.

Most are released in black and white, and at times it can be difficult to tell what you're looking at. There are shots of the trail leading up to the dig site, images of personnel and vehicles, and of course, the holes in the equipment used to dig them. But mostly there are pictures of trees, trees, and more trees. What's missing from these photos?

Well, any obvious evidence of gold, for one thing. Dennis and his team ask the FBI to resend some of the photographs. They want to see sharper images rendered in color, and they get them. But none of this assures the treasure hunters that they have the whole story, because they know that the Bureau has the legal ability to withhold some of the records under FOIA.

As we mentioned, when a government agency responds to a FOIA request, they can legally withhold information that is exempt from public release. According to the Department of Justice, that could include anything that puts a person's privacy or the nation's security at risk. There are actually nine categories of exemption listed on the DOJ website.

The FBI cites some of these as the reason they withheld certain documents. But Finders Keepers raises questions about certain records that were released. First, there's the brief communication explaining that one year after the dig, the case is being closed. A lawyer for Finders Keepers, who once worked for the Justice Department, tells AP journalist Ruben Kamm that the document is brief and lacking in detail.

It's just one paragraph. The Bureau responds to this. As reported by Rubincom, they state that the report, quote, is representative of the standard summaries filed when formally closing an FBI investigation. According to these suspicions, a new witness comes forward in October 2023.

Eric McCarthy is an elk shed guide. He helps clients hunt down elk antlers after they naturally fall off, usually as winter turns to spring. It's a popular hobby in parts of Pennsylvania that's not unlike searching for gold. It can also be pretty competitive, which is why elk shed hunters have to get an early start.

Eric says he was doing just that on the morning of March 14th, 2018, the second day of the dig. He was searching for antlers on a hill near the dig site between 5 and 5.30 a.m. when he noticed something strange. Here's Eric in an interview with the Associated Press. You could hear clanking and different sounds.

noises that just, you know, it's 530 in the morning. It should be quiet. You should hear some leaves crunching or something, you know, some acorns dropping or something, you know, whatever. But there was different noises, vehicles, machinery, sounds of steel. It was just weird. It didn't belong. After climbing farther up the hill, Eric claims he could actually see the excavation site. That early in the morning, the FBI should not have been working.

And they have stated over and over, in no uncertain terms, that they weren't digging at that time. But Eric says he saw bright lights, heavy machinery on the move, and people huddled together near a large hole. He estimates it was less than a quarter of a mile away. Later that same day, he and his client took a lunch break. They both say they witnessed another curious sight together.

Three armored vehicles flanked by dark SUVs driving away from dense run. And that's not all. One of the armored cars looked to be riding way, way, way lower than the other two. It was almost like one was completely full of something and the other two didn't have anything in it. When Ruben Calm, the AP journalist, reaches out to Eric's client, he backs up the story about the armored vehicles.

And although he was on a different hill early that morning while the two men fanned out in search of antlers, he did hear some loud noises. As we mentioned, the FBI asserts they did not use armored vehicles for this investigation. They provided a statement to The Atlantic clarifying that there were FBI personnel present at the site throughout the night, but they weren't digging. They were there to keep the site secure.

With several witnesses having come forward, believing they saw something to the contrary, it's safe to say Dennis Parada isn't the only person who thinks they aren't getting the full story about what went on at Dent's Run. As of this recording, there have been no further filings in the lawsuit since March 2024.

It's hard not to wonder why so many different types of ground scans pointed to the possibility of some high-density mass hiding below the surface in dense run. The FBI's files note that as they dug up the earth, they used metal detectors and visual scans to check the dirt. There was nothing to suggest gold had been there.

And all the evidence they provided along the way, from sign-in sheets to photographs to detailed timelines, doesn't point to any malfeasance. In a statement to The Atlantic, the Bureau reaffirmed it found no gold and, quote, "...continues to unequivocally reject any claims or speculation to the contrary."

We reached out to the FBI for additional comment, and they said they maintained the same stance as given in prior statements. Maybe if Dennis, Cam, and Warren had been allowed to witness the dig, there would be no question about what was or wasn't there. They'd put years of their lives into researching and hunting for the gold. They went into their treasure hunt having the time of their lives and came up empty-handed.

Dennis has returned to the site with his equipment to seek out more underground anomalies, and the Finders Keepers team has found some promising readings. In a YouTube video uploaded in 2021, Dennis and Cam lay out their side of the story. And they preface it all by saying, if you choose to believe us, if you choose not to believe us, that's your choice.

People have questioned whether the legendary Dents Run gold really exists or not for decades. The argument is nothing new, but these treasure hunters choose to believe and they aren't giving up easily. Thank you for watching Conspiracy Theories. We're here with a new episode every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at theconspiracypod.

If you're watching on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts or email us at conspiracystories at spotify.com. For more information on this story, we found reporting by Michael Rubicam for the Associated Press, as well as the Atlantic article, A Lost Trove of Civil War Gold, an FBI Excavation, and Some Very Angry Treasure Hunters by Chris Heath, extremely helpful to our research. Until next time, remember...

The truth isn't always the best story, and the official story isn't always the truth. This episode was written and researched by Mickey Taylor, edited by Chelsea Wood, fact-checked by Laurie Siegel, and video editing and sound design by Ryan Contra. I'm your host, Carter Roy.