Post by hi224 on May 3, 2021 5:09:33 GMT
Background on the Cavern:
A few years ago I took a trip to Indian Echo Cavern located in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. It's near Hershey, Pennsylvania (yes home of the famous chocolate bar). The cavern itself itself is vast and beautiful. It was also once used by Native Americans to store food or use it for shelter. It was also the home of a hermit named William Wilson who withdrew from society and lived in the cavern for the last nineteen years of his life because he believed his sister Elizabeth was wrongly executed for the murder of her sons. But that's another story in itself you can read about it more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_%22Amos%22_Wilson
The story I was to focus on is there was a mysterious box full of treasure found inside the cavern.
In 1919 a group of boys were exploring the cavern when one of them stumbled upon a small wooden black box full of strange symbols on it. When I visited it, the tour guide of the cavern pointed out exactly where it was found and said it was found beneath a heavy rock. The boy took it home and kept it for many years before selling it to the owner of the caverns. The mysterious black box and its contents is currently on display in the gift shop of Indian Echo Cavern.
So what was in this mysterious black box?
Contents of the Box:
It contained 17 coins inside from all over the world: Roman Empire, China, Brazil, Egypt, Greece, Argentina, England, Guatemala, France and Austria. One was dated from 1298 from the Middle East and the oldest coin was dated from 480 B.C. (I believe the 480 B.C coin was from the Roman Empire the tour guide told us but don't quote me on that) The contents were checked by museum experts who all verified the dates of the coins. But there was also coins from the late 1800's which shows that this box wasn't there for that long.
It contained a small package labeled “diamonds in the rough” which turned out to be more than a dozen moonstones.
Gold-mounted cameo engraved “My Mother.”
Some antique jewelry (not very valuable)
A small bottle of aluminum paint powder
A small block, containing strange characters, which was found to be hollow. Removal of a carefully concealed plug produced a cylinder on which was a note with a description of how to make diamonds with the aid of lightning. It had charts and diagrams drawn on it too. It had instructions on how to turn the moonstones into diamonds by use of a storm.
A list of the treasures found in the box
To this day we have no idea where the box came from or who put it there. But we have some clues. First the wooden box was made of wood around the turn of the century (1900) and the nails were dated back to 1880. The note about how to turn moonstones into diamonds was dated 1917. So its fair to say that this box was assembled between 1900 to 1917 and placed there probably in 1917. The cavern wasn't open to the public until 1929 but the cavern was known to the locals and could be easily accessed.
Theories
My guess was an eccentric collector decided to hide his or her treasure in the cavern for unknown reasons. Or a self proclaimed alchemist (because of the strange instructions on how to turn moonstones into diamonds) The collector had to be wealthy and well traveled in order to own all these coins from around the world. Or perhaps they inherited it from a wealthy family member.
Theory 1: The collector intended for the box to be found like a treasure. The strange drawings and symbols on the outside of the box to this day have no meaning-they aren't based on any known writing. I think the collector wanted to make the box look mysterious so when someone found it, it would be an exciting treasure. Also maybe the collector had no one to inherit their treasure so they decided to hide it for some lucky person to find someday.
Theory 2: The collector hid the box for reasons unknown (perhaps to keep it safe) and intended to come back for it one day. The collector could have suddenly died or returned to it only to find it gone. It was hidden beneath a heavy rock deep in the cave (although I don't remember walking too far before the tour guide pointed out where it was found but I could be wrong). Now the cavern is lit by electricity but back then it wasn't, so it would be pitch black in the cavern. So this points out the collector hid the box pretty well so maybe it wasn't intended to be found and they thought it was a good hiding spot.
The note had the date 1917 on it so I tend to believe it was hid there in 1917 and found two years later in 1919 which isn't that long in between. The boy who found it, kept it a secret until he sold it to the owner of the cavern. Maybe the collector came back to fetch his treasure only to discover to his or her horror, it was gone. Or he or she passed away without telling anyone about the treasure.
Theory 3: There was never a treasure and the owner could have made up the story in order to get publicity for the caverns. Or the boy made up the story. I find this theory highly unlikely because there were 5 boys who were there when the box was found and the boy who kept the treasure was named in the article I read and was paid a lot of money by the owner of the cavern for the box. It was said he told the townspeople first and then word got to the owner who offered to buy it. Granted the man could have made up the story but again there were 4 other witnesses there. Also the story really didn't generate that much publicity about the caverns anyway. This theory doesn't make much sense but I wanted to include it because its still a possibility.
I tend to lean on theory 2 that the collector intended to go back to the treasure someday and they either couldn't or it was gone by the time they came back.
What do you think? And do you think that note about turning moonstones into precious diamonds was a joke/prank or was it serious? I think the writer was serious since there was authentic ancient coins in the treasure and not everything was worthless. But there isn't enough evidence either way.
Let me know what you think!
References:
Article from 1971 about the mystery box:
www.pressandjournal.com/stories/from-the-vault-news-from-the-wednesday-june-23-1971-edition-of-the-press-journal,61737
Photos of Indian Echo Cavern to get a good idea of what it looks like.
stuofdoom.com/main/?p=2779
More history about the cavern and a little bit about the mystery box.
www.cheeseplatesandroomservice.com/2019/09/witnessing-wonder-of-indian-echo-caverns.html
A few years ago I took a trip to Indian Echo Cavern located in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. It's near Hershey, Pennsylvania (yes home of the famous chocolate bar). The cavern itself itself is vast and beautiful. It was also once used by Native Americans to store food or use it for shelter. It was also the home of a hermit named William Wilson who withdrew from society and lived in the cavern for the last nineteen years of his life because he believed his sister Elizabeth was wrongly executed for the murder of her sons. But that's another story in itself you can read about it more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_%22Amos%22_Wilson
The story I was to focus on is there was a mysterious box full of treasure found inside the cavern.
In 1919 a group of boys were exploring the cavern when one of them stumbled upon a small wooden black box full of strange symbols on it. When I visited it, the tour guide of the cavern pointed out exactly where it was found and said it was found beneath a heavy rock. The boy took it home and kept it for many years before selling it to the owner of the caverns. The mysterious black box and its contents is currently on display in the gift shop of Indian Echo Cavern.
So what was in this mysterious black box?
Contents of the Box:
It contained 17 coins inside from all over the world: Roman Empire, China, Brazil, Egypt, Greece, Argentina, England, Guatemala, France and Austria. One was dated from 1298 from the Middle East and the oldest coin was dated from 480 B.C. (I believe the 480 B.C coin was from the Roman Empire the tour guide told us but don't quote me on that) The contents were checked by museum experts who all verified the dates of the coins. But there was also coins from the late 1800's which shows that this box wasn't there for that long.
It contained a small package labeled “diamonds in the rough” which turned out to be more than a dozen moonstones.
Gold-mounted cameo engraved “My Mother.”
Some antique jewelry (not very valuable)
A small bottle of aluminum paint powder
A small block, containing strange characters, which was found to be hollow. Removal of a carefully concealed plug produced a cylinder on which was a note with a description of how to make diamonds with the aid of lightning. It had charts and diagrams drawn on it too. It had instructions on how to turn the moonstones into diamonds by use of a storm.
A list of the treasures found in the box
To this day we have no idea where the box came from or who put it there. But we have some clues. First the wooden box was made of wood around the turn of the century (1900) and the nails were dated back to 1880. The note about how to turn moonstones into diamonds was dated 1917. So its fair to say that this box was assembled between 1900 to 1917 and placed there probably in 1917. The cavern wasn't open to the public until 1929 but the cavern was known to the locals and could be easily accessed.
Theories
My guess was an eccentric collector decided to hide his or her treasure in the cavern for unknown reasons. Or a self proclaimed alchemist (because of the strange instructions on how to turn moonstones into diamonds) The collector had to be wealthy and well traveled in order to own all these coins from around the world. Or perhaps they inherited it from a wealthy family member.
Theory 1: The collector intended for the box to be found like a treasure. The strange drawings and symbols on the outside of the box to this day have no meaning-they aren't based on any known writing. I think the collector wanted to make the box look mysterious so when someone found it, it would be an exciting treasure. Also maybe the collector had no one to inherit their treasure so they decided to hide it for some lucky person to find someday.
Theory 2: The collector hid the box for reasons unknown (perhaps to keep it safe) and intended to come back for it one day. The collector could have suddenly died or returned to it only to find it gone. It was hidden beneath a heavy rock deep in the cave (although I don't remember walking too far before the tour guide pointed out where it was found but I could be wrong). Now the cavern is lit by electricity but back then it wasn't, so it would be pitch black in the cavern. So this points out the collector hid the box pretty well so maybe it wasn't intended to be found and they thought it was a good hiding spot.
The note had the date 1917 on it so I tend to believe it was hid there in 1917 and found two years later in 1919 which isn't that long in between. The boy who found it, kept it a secret until he sold it to the owner of the cavern. Maybe the collector came back to fetch his treasure only to discover to his or her horror, it was gone. Or he or she passed away without telling anyone about the treasure.
Theory 3: There was never a treasure and the owner could have made up the story in order to get publicity for the caverns. Or the boy made up the story. I find this theory highly unlikely because there were 5 boys who were there when the box was found and the boy who kept the treasure was named in the article I read and was paid a lot of money by the owner of the cavern for the box. It was said he told the townspeople first and then word got to the owner who offered to buy it. Granted the man could have made up the story but again there were 4 other witnesses there. Also the story really didn't generate that much publicity about the caverns anyway. This theory doesn't make much sense but I wanted to include it because its still a possibility.
I tend to lean on theory 2 that the collector intended to go back to the treasure someday and they either couldn't or it was gone by the time they came back.
What do you think? And do you think that note about turning moonstones into precious diamonds was a joke/prank or was it serious? I think the writer was serious since there was authentic ancient coins in the treasure and not everything was worthless. But there isn't enough evidence either way.
Let me know what you think!
References:
Article from 1971 about the mystery box:
www.pressandjournal.com/stories/from-the-vault-news-from-the-wednesday-june-23-1971-edition-of-the-press-journal,61737
Photos of Indian Echo Cavern to get a good idea of what it looks like.
stuofdoom.com/main/?p=2779
More history about the cavern and a little bit about the mystery box.
www.cheeseplatesandroomservice.com/2019/09/witnessing-wonder-of-indian-echo-caverns.html
