Lost Treasure Research Reports

The Case Files are a numbered series of research volumes. Each one takes a specific treasure claim, traces it back to the earliest surviving source, tests it against court records, company ledgers, newspaper archives, and terrain data, and publishes a verdict — whether that verdict helps the legend or kills it.

The method is consistent across volumes. A claim is graded CONFIRMED only when it rests on a named primary source; PLAUSIBLE when it is supported but unverified; HYPOTHESIS when it is interpretive and testable; and RULED OUT when the record contradicts it. A null result is published with the same weight as a positive one.

Volume 1, Arizona Robbery Caches, examines the Wham Paymaster Robbery and the 1889 Canyon Diablo train robbery against court records and participant accounts, and introduces the Pursuit Filter — the timing test that asks whether the robbers had the hours needed to cache anything at all. One famous cache dies in that volume; one survives conditionally.

Subsequent volumes cover the Coronado corridor campsites, Skeleton Canyon, the Lost Dutchman, the Vulture and Stanton high-grader caches, the Alvord-Stiles train robberies, Arizona meteorite strewn fields, the lost Butterfield Trail stations, the 1857 Beale Wagon Road, and a closing verdict on Canyon Diablo.

Volumes are delivered as PDFs with full source citation. Titles still in research can be joined by waitlist, and buyers are notified when a volume publishes.