Recently, I shared a YouTube video on our FaceBook page about a group of treasure hunters who found and recovered a Yamashita treasure. The main question is, “Is it real or fake?”

If you have not watched the video yet then I suggest that you should check it out before you continue reading this post. It’s because the whole content of this discussion is all about this footage. (You can check the video here)

The video has only 5 minutes run-time. From the start, it shows that the treasure hunters seems to be working in a certain deep underground environment. It could be inside a cave, tunnel or a deep hole that they dug. I speculated that they were working “deep under the ground” because of the presence of water unless the site is located near a water source.

A guy was shown cutting wires with his cutting tool. Thus, he is probably the bomb expert of the group. By the looks on how he was handling his job, it seems that he knows what he was doing by cutting wires here and there with such an amazing pace. I really find it quite surprising that the JIA (Japanese Imperial Army) made such kind of booby trap on this one that can be easily disabled.

Somewhere in the middle time-frame of the footage, it seems that his fellow treasure hunters came in to help him particularly in cleaning the gold bars covered with mud. The bomb expert then went on the other side, asked for his gas mask, equipped it and that was the end of the clip.

I just want to let you know that the footage is not mine or the one responsible for uploading it. It became viral in the social media in January 2, 2017 and that was how I came across it where I also shared it on our FaceBook page for everyone to check.

Is the Yamashita Treasure Found Real?

Take note: The answer into this question is based only on my “own personal opinion” and “speculations”, it shouldn’t be used as a conclusion because I could be wrong about it.

You have to know that it takes actual “physical examination of the site and the object” to confirm the legitimacy of the Yamashita treasure found by them. It is really hard to find authentic evidence by just merely watching a low quality video taken by a mobile phone camera.

The Yamashita Gold Bars

The most attractive part of the footage is the part where the gold bars was shown or revealed. That was plenty of gold bars piled on that constricted space underground. We can do nothing but to fantasize about ourselves being the one who found these precious items instead.

I cannot tell if what they had uncovered was a “main deposit”. What was shown were gold bars with similar sizes (a main deposit often consists of various deposits). Perhaps, this was a “medium deposit” but I can be wrong because only a few portion of the recovery site was shown. There can be other items around.

It is really hard to find the original source of this video which can tell some reliable information about this recovery. But, the majority of sources claims that the deposit was recovered inside a certain cave.

The Booby Trap

Aside from the gold bars, what makes the footage seems legit was the booby trap. A guy which seems to have a military hair-cut was the one disabling the trap. He also seem to be quite skilled at doing it where he knows his way around of cutting the wires without any hesitations. Maybe he has already done this kind of job several times.

There are actually four different types of deposits and those deposits with high volume surely does have dangerous traps setup on them.

High Volume of Deposits

When a high volume of deposit is found, the entire chamber is filled with treasure. In most cases, treasures of various kinds. The most common items are gold bars, gold/silver coins, jewelries and golden Buddha. And due to such amount of valuable deposits, the JIA ensured that the traps they setup to protect the items are of “no joke”.

Medium Volume of Deposits

Medium volume of deposit consists of several caches of precious items. They are usually a single type of item piled together in a certain storage. But still, the total value of the item offers great fortune to the finder. And just like the above type of deposit, traps are likely setup by the JIA.

Low Volume of Deposits

A hidden Yamashita treasure consisting of a single barrel of drum or storage chest is considered a low volume deposit. When it comes to the trap, it may either have one or none at all.

Give-Aways

Give-Aways are items such as a single piece of gold bar or gold coins found just lying around. They are commonly found by accident because they are not buried too deep under the ground or hidden inside a certain place that can be reached by a person accidentally. The main purpose of a give-away is that, it actually serve as a sign. Anyway, give-aways don’t usually have traps.

Wearing Gas Mask

It seems that the recovery site emits a terrible smell that the featured guy on the footage asked for his gas mask. I have already discussed several times about the “foul odor” and “itchy skin” that can be experienced when digging on a positive site. However, it seems that they only have one gas mask that they have to share it with one another.

When working on a site emitting any kind of suspicious smell (either good or bad), it is important that all diggers should wear their own gas mask for protection.

Overall, those are the aspects that I noticed watching this short footage of claimed Yamashita treasure recovery about its authenticity. It isn’t really not convincing enough to tell if it’s real.

Do you think it’s Fake?

I am so sorry for those who liked this video (especially those who got motivated by it) but based on my own personal opinion, the “fake aspect” outweighs the “real aspect” of the footage.

First of all, I am really curious to know why they share such kind of video to the public. The featured guy cutting the wire even showed his face to the camera without being worried that bad people might come after him. Do they really have to make videos of their successful recovery that they even have to share it just to boast themselves around? Unless, it is a leaked video. Perhaps the treasure hunter who took the footage lost his device and it ends up into the hands of a wrong person who uploaded it online.

The Gold Bars were not covered with Asphalt

Majority of gold bars that were successfully hidden by the JIA in the country are covered with asphalt. Those old photos of claimed Yamashita treasures found, specifically gold bars that were recovered and not covered with asphalt that are circulating around the internet are images of gold bars that were directly confiscated by the Allied Forces from the JIA by surprise. Thus, they weren’t yet soak into the asphalt.

Now, on the footage, we can see that the gold bars were “not covered with asphalt”. The color of the items also look so polished. Isn’t it supposed to be “tarnished” due to time especially that they do not have any special kind of coatings?

Aside from the asphalt, you can clearly see that the gold bars “do not have any markings” on their surfaces. Authentic once do have markings on them which I already discussed in the previous post.

Thus, I think those claimed Yamashita gold bars were fake.

Disabling the Booby Trap

Even my entire team mates don’t know how the guy knows his way around at disabling the booby trap setup by the JIA. He must be an elite. But in my own opinion, this is again “fake”.

If this is real, then “why not completely disable the trap entirely before calling the others?” He even warned them not to lift any of the item because it might trigger an explosion. Aside from lifting, they were not allowed to touch them or even to press their cleaning tools hard on the items. This makes no sense and it’s too risky. What if one of them did it by accident? This means, “They are all finish”.

The Gas Mask must be worn at All Times

It really bothers me a lot why the featured guy had to wear his gas mask after a certain period of time exposing his lungs to the air inside their recovery site. He should have been wearing it from the very beginning of their entire operation.

If the air is contaminated with poison then he won’t last long enough. The others should also wear their own gas mask as well. But on this case, it seems that they do not. They just covered their entire heads with clothing. Thus, it seems to me that the air is not contaminated and safe to breath.

Scam Video Footage

When I made further research about the video footage, I came to know that a certain group of people are using it for scam. The source claim that “Tulfo” was the one who exposed it.

However, basing on how I viewed the entire video, it was an actual footage of a scam. In the middle part of the video, you can hear other individuals entering inside the recovery site. And, they were not yet familiar on how to safely reach the chamber that they were guided which way to walk by those who were already inside. If they were their fellow treasure hunters then they should already know their way in-and-out. They should already been familiar with the place because they worked on that site perhaps for several months. But, they were uncertain of their paths.

The once that were already inside were the fake treasure hunters (scammers). I think that there were three of them. Aside from the featured guy who did the cutting of the wires and the person taking the shot on his mobile phone camera, I saw a third guy with similar haircut and outfit with that of the bomb expert.

The people that were being guided around on how they can safely get inside were guests. I think they were buyers who came to check the gold bars if they were real. As they enter, the featured guy was acting so cool by cutting wires here and there. He wants to emphasize to the guests that the trap was still active and dangerous.

Now this is the most catchy part, the guy warned the guest “not to lift” any of the item or even touch them with their own bare hands. It’s because this is the only way how the guest can tell or identify if the gold bars were real or fake on that kind of situation. All they were allowed to do was to clean the surfaces of those fake gold bars covered with mud which actually proves nothing. But for the amateurs, this kind of act is already good enough to convince them.

Don’t you know that a professional gold buyer can tell if a certain gold object is authentic by simply lifting it with his hands? He can determine it through its weight. Aside from weight, precious gold are soft materials that you can use your nails to press it on the surface leaving a mark behind. Unfortunately, such actions were disallowed by the featured guy from the footage.

And finally, the funny part of the video was that, he forgot to wear his gas mask. He just wore it after the guests entered the chamber. I think this was to show to their guests that aside from the booby traps, the air was also contaminated even though it was not.

If these group of claimed treasure hunters’ true intention is to really show-off their findings to the public, then they should upload more clear details of Yamashita treasure found by them. They should take closer shots into those claimed gold bars including those booby traps if they were really owned by the JIA.

Will Elmo also Release an Actual Footage of his Findings?

Some of you might have been so deeply disappointed about treasure hunting for the hidden Yamashita treasure in the Philippines especially after reading my post favoring the fake side of the footage. You might even start to think that the Yamashita treasure could just actually be a “myth” as most critics says. Well, “don’t be”, you should remember that Roger Rogelio Roxas already did proved the existence of the Yamashita treasures in the country several years ago ( started during the Marcos regime).

Do I really have to post an actual footage of our site particularly our findings just to convince everyone? In my own opinion, posting it online “won’t make any difference”, it won’t change anything and I get nothing in return but risks.

The main reason why I put up this blog is to provide the necessary information to help people like you who have deep interest on this kind of activity. It is “not about proving” the existence of the Yamashita treasure but to “share my knowledge” through my experience that I acquired in my long years of involvement on this industry.