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The Beale ciphers

Documented folklore from the Club 49 map, told straight and sourced.

The story

In 1885 a pamphlet told of Thomas J. Beale, who in the 1820s buried a fortune in gold and silver somewhere in Bedford County and left three coded papers behind. One, decoded against the Declaration of Independence, describes thousands of pounds of gold; the other two, naming the exact spot and the heirs, have beaten every cryptographer and computer for a century and a half. It may be the greatest real treasure hunt in America, or its greatest hoax; either way the ground is real and still dug.

The ground it haunts

Bedford County, near Montvale (VA). Source: The most famous uncracked treasure cipher in the country. The Club 49 map pins this legend at its documented country, beside the real mines, active claims, land status and modeled honey holes of the same ground. Open the free map and go stand in the story.

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