Gold Fever Or Myth Fever? (870 words)

The Fort Knox rumor has gone mainstream viral. I think I fist heard this story in maybe 2022. A friend of mine, the most ultra extreme tin foil hatty person you could ever imagine, told me about how he thinks the vault (officially called US Gold Bullion Depository which is NOT on the adjacent military installation) was plundered by Obama in 2009 all in one night, loaded up on a 747, flown to China as a present, and all involved were paid hush money, and anything still in there is a full replica, complete fake. [insert "frustrated Jackie Chan" meme]

I had to go to the web and dig deep on this rumor, it was not a common idea. I think my friend just added his own spin to it, but the theories are wild and varied, no one can agree on the story, but everyone seems to agree how easy it is to steal all of Fort Knox ... just like that. [insert "just like that Forrest Gump" meme]

If it involves gold, people get a fever. If it involves myths, that's another fever. Then combine gold and myths it becomes a full 5 alarm fever.

I had a couple fever dreams, literally, last month when I was sick. For some reason during recovery I revisited the old Victorio Peak legend, a story to listen to help fall asleep. The thing is problems like that get my wheels turning and I start working those problems and want to find the truth. I stumbled upon a lecture by Jim Eckles that makes some very good observations and debunks the whole 450 ton gold myth allegedly contained in that peak.

The brief backstory, Doc Noss claims to have found, while hunting, a cavern in Victorio Peak containing a treasure hoard, gold bars, and 79 skeletons. Him and his wife, Babe, file a couple claims, extract some gold, then blasted the hole shut in 1939, supposedly by accident. No one has been through the top opening since 1939. Doc died in 1949 by gunshot over a dispute with a potential buyer of his gold. Babe was kicked off her claim by the Army in the 1950s. A service member claims he found a lower passage access in the late 1950s, saw the gold, left it, and collapsed the passage for security. The gold and treasure Doc extracted was buried in the desert for security, none has been found, but only a small amount was retained by Babe. The military tried to file a claim on Victorio but was denied by New Mexico due to the Noss claim. Attempts at large scale mining operation to drill laterally to the supposed cavity have failed.

REALISTICALLY: The treasure never existed, not 450 tons, not 100 tons. Due to the lack of evidence. To haul that much material in the old days, 1600s or so, would have scarred the land and left debris behind. The number of humans and animals going through hostile open desert need food, water, shelter. So that is out. The peak itself is pretty small, about 500' vertically. Hundreds of tons wouldn't fit in there. The gold wasn't mined from the peak, lacking physical evidence of mine waste. So where does that leave us?

TWO SCENARIOS:

1) Doc Noss had a checkered past, arrest records, shady businesses. Consider that in that period, private ownership of gold was unlawful. I hate to play guessing games because that's how conspiracy theories start and get out of control, but quite possibly given Doc's reputation and the situation, he might have had some gold in his possession of questionable origin or undeclared when the government outlawed it. If he fabricated a treasure find, filed a claim, worked it for a while, then seal it shut "accidentally", when the feds come to inquire about the gold, there's the alibi. Doc had the chance to sell some gold in Mexico and net >$25,000 cash. He turned it down because he felt he was cheated offered the lower rate instead the full rate. [man, next time take the money and run]

2) The full cavern top the bottom does exist and quite possibly a small stash of gold placed there by unknown persons long before Doc. Probably around 1 ton at best. Origins unknown, not even going to guess that since I'm just guessing about anything being in there at all. If something like that was hidden there the previous possessors didn't want it found and couldn't risk being found with it.

SUMMARY

Moving massive amounts of gold and treasure quickly, quietly, secretly is like moving a whole mountain: impossible. Fort Knox is not going to be found empty and/or replaced with fake material. Victorio Peak's legend is bigger than any treasure it ever held. Most likely a cover story to explain an individual's possession of gold. Any gold really found there likely small in quantity.

Using words like viral and fever to explain obsessions is about right.

Many details have been left out for brevity. This attached video I think tells the Victorio Peak story best: “Jim Eckles on the Victorio Peak Treasure - 450 tons of gold or one tall tale?”