In 1820, as the forces of the revolutionary leader José de San Martín advanced on Lima, Peru, Spanish authorities hurried to save the riches they had amassed since their conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. When Hernán Cortés arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519, Emperor Montezuma II greeted him and his men with great ceremony. While some buried treasures have been found, the majority are still out there. It’s unknown whether the holy chest was hidden somewhere before the siege as protection, or destroyed by the Babylonian invaders. The prisoners were blindfolded, marched to the site, and burdened with heavy sacks which they were forced to carry back to the village. They notes were forged during WWII in an attempt to destabilize the British economy, but were dumped in the lake at the end of the war. Most of the Fabergé eggs were confiscated and sent for safekeeping in Moscow. Gold and silver may have been demanded as tribute from vassal cultures. Treasure hunters have been searching for it ever since, seeking clues everywhere from Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay to the Caribbean and Cayman Islands. Departing from the site of each Indian village it is not difficult to encounter water in just about any direction. The Aztecs even offered Cortés gold and silver in the hopes that these white-skinned “gods” would leave Tenochtitlan in peace. Hidden treasures. gold, silver, jewelry, candlesticks, and other family heirlooms, incredible underwater treasures have actually been found, ancient mystery researchers still can’t explain, who earned the dubious honor in your state. America's Lost Treasures The difficulty in finding the site has been complicated by the fact that there was more than one village named Chillicothe, and the villages moved from time to time. Wealthy casino heir Ted Binion has been dead for two decades, but his legacy lives on in the form of a silver collection said to be worth several million dollars that’s rumored to be buried somewhere on the property of his Pahrump, Nevada ranch. The … Unfortunately, all of these artistic treasures were melted down. Sacambaya lies in Bolivia and Jesuits are … The Shawnee Indians of the Ohio Valley possessed silver in large amounts, but from whence it came has never been proven, and throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia there are sites believed to be the source. Later, he sent seven of his men back to retrieve it, but they were captured and executed. Now if the robbery took place—and it’s not a foregone conclusion that it did—the gang probably hid it in the Portneuf Canyon. The lost haul, which reportedly included a life-size solid-gold image of the Virgin Mary encrusted in gems, is thought to be worth around $200 million today. Somewhere in Oklahoma and most likely somewhere in the vicinity of Robbers Cave in the Wichita Mountains, there is said to be over $1 million worth of hidden treasure left behind by Jesse James and his band of outlaws back in the 19th century. Clues and hints to the location of the treasure are in his two books and contained in a poem, which according to Fenn is all that is required to locate the treasure, once properly deciphered. The prisoners who described carrying the silver mentioned that it came from a place not far from a stream. Though Cortés returned with a rebuilt army the next year and conquered the Aztecs for good, the so-called “Montezuma’s Treasure” would remain lost. Some believe all the silver has been recovered, but others think a buried fortune remains somewhere on (or under) the property. The Inca also practiced basic mining. The idea of finding a lost treasure has universal appeal. From the lodgings of Union General Edwin Stoughton, Mosby reportedly took a burlap sack stuffed with more than $350,000 worth in gold, silver, jewelry, candlesticks and other family heirlooms, all of them taken from the homes of wealthy Virginia planters. Many objects were made of solid gold. In late 1718, a British naval force led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard succeeded in killing Blackbeard after a hard-fought battle; Maynard had the infamous pirate decapitated and hung his head from the bowsprit of his ship. Thomas J. Beale came across an abandoned mine full of gold, silver, and jewels in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the early 1800s. Most of it was in the form of jewelry, adornments, decorations, and artifacts from various temples. Evidently though, the treasure is not. To date, at least seven people have drowned in the lake’s freezing waters looking for the lost Nazi gold.