The Beale ciphers

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.