0:00

It took eight years of

0:02

study and labor to

0:04

create the single hand-woven

0:07

garment, but in the

0:09

end, it was all

0:11

worth it. After all,

0:13

the robe was stunning,

0:15

a cape of billowing

0:18

golden silk, embroidered

0:20

with ornate botanicals

0:22

and dripping with

0:25

tassels, and dripping

0:27

with tassels. Draped

0:29

on a model, it almost seemed to

0:32

glow, as if the silk itself were

0:34

lit from within. And given the

0:36

sheer number of designers, silk extractors,

0:38

weavers, tailors, and more required to

0:40

produce the one brocaded robe, it's

0:42

no wonder it's the sole example

0:45

of its kind in the world.

0:47

Now let me be clear. I'm not

0:49

describing some medieval piece of clothing

0:52

handmade for a wealthy king. No,

0:54

the Golden Cape was actually created

0:56

in the early 2000s, showcased at

0:58

a London museum in 2012. And

1:01

there's a reason it's so special.

1:03

You see, the fibers in this

1:05

robe didn't come from silkworms.

1:07

Oh no, it came from 1.2

1:10

million spiders. That's right.

1:12

Spiders. This creepy crawly garment

1:14

was created by Englishmen Simon

1:16

Peers and American Nicholas Godley,

1:18

who sought to recreate extinct

1:20

19th century techniques in which

1:22

Madagascar's golden orb spiders were

1:24

harnessed for their silk. To do

1:26

so, Peers Godley and their crew would

1:29

place female spiders in special contraptions,

1:31

while human handlers extracted silk from

1:33

them by hand. And, well, let's

1:35

just say that there's a reason

1:37

why spiders aren't used for fabric

1:39

production more often. You see, on

1:41

average it took 23,000 of the

1:43

palm-sized spiders to yield only an

1:45

ounce of silk, hence the lengthy

1:47

production time, and the fact that

1:49

this cape is the largest spider

1:51

silk textile in the world. Sure,

1:53

it may not be practical, but

1:55

I have to admit, it is beautiful.

1:58

And of course, a little horror. since

2:00

the beginning of time,

2:02

humans have gone to

2:04

marvelous and often terrifying

2:06

lengths for fashion, be

2:08

it a spider silk

2:10

robe, lead-based makeup, or

2:13

belladonna eye drops will

2:15

do just about anything

2:17

to adorn ourselves with beauty.

2:19

But sometimes that hunt

2:21

for beauty might just cost

2:24

us, our lives. I'm Aaron Mankey,

2:26

and this is Laura. Some

2:41

cultural traditions develop organically, are

2:43

shared around campfires and kitchen

2:45

tables from generation to generation,

2:48

storyteller to storyteller, sacred recipes

2:50

and rituals created by the

2:52

very people who practice them.

2:54

And then there are the

2:57

traditions invented for an

2:59

advertising campaign. It was 1947 and

3:01

the De Beers Diamond Company had

3:03

sunk a whole lot of money

3:05

into their African mines. But between

3:08

the economic depression of the 1930s

3:10

and the World War of the

3:12

40s, folks weren't exactly clamoring to

3:14

spend their hard-earned wages on something

3:16

as frivolous as gemstones. Know if De

3:19

Beers was going to earn a profit,

3:21

they had to find a way to

3:23

make these luxury items seem like must

3:25

have necessities. And that's exactly what they

3:27

did, with the help of a catchy new

3:29

slogan. Diamonds are forever. And

3:31

so De Beers launched a

3:33

massive ad campaign equating diamond's

3:35

durability and strength with long-lasting

3:38

marriage. The Diamonds Are Forever

3:40

campaign was so successful that

3:42

soon enough diamond engagement rings

3:44

became a required talisman for

3:46

every betrothal. The link between

3:48

diamonds and marriage was officially set

3:51

in stone. No pun intended, I swear.

3:53

It's honestly amazing how much of

3:55

the culture we take for granted

3:57

was consciously orchestrated. But one thing...

3:59

that wasn't planned are the

4:02

diamonds themselves. No, real diamonds

4:04

are completely natural. So what

4:07

is a diamond exactly? Well, scientifically

4:09

speaking, their minerals made pure carbon,

4:11

which develop a whopping 125 miles

4:13

beneath the Earth's surface. Now, don't

4:15

worry, no one is drilling mines

4:18

that deep. The diamonds we can

4:20

access are actually pushed closer to

4:22

the surface in volcanic eruptions called

4:24

kimberlights. The last known kimberlite eruption

4:27

occurred around 13 million years ago,

4:29

which means that every diamond you

4:31

have ever seen was formed earlier

4:33

than that. A lot earlier, actually.

4:35

It's almost unbelievable that any object

4:37

can remain intact this long, but the

4:40

diamonds in our jewelry are between one

4:42

and three billion years old. Now, it probably

4:44

doesn't hurt that the diamond is

4:46

the hardest naturally occurring substance in

4:49

the world. In fact, the word

4:51

diamond is thought to come from

4:53

the Greek adamus, which literally means

4:55

unbreakable. Speaking of which, Adamus is

4:58

also the origin of the word

5:00

adamant, plus of course that impossibly

5:02

hard metal, adamantium, that comprises Wolverine's

5:04

claws in the X-Men comics. Etymology,

5:07

as always, is a wild ride.

5:09

Now for a long time, diamonds were

5:11

only found in India, and those

5:13

Indian gems were a rare treasure,

5:15

traded throughout the world. And then

5:18

in 1725, more mines were discovered

5:20

in Brazil. Then Russia, Canada, Botswana,

5:22

Angola, South Africa, Namibia, and onward.

5:24

Today most gem-quality diamonds come from

5:26

Africa, although apparently there is one

5:28

spot in Arkansas that spits out

5:30

some keepers too. And I'm sure

5:33

it's no surprise that as the

5:35

diamond trade spread across the world,

5:37

something else spread with it. That's

5:39

right. Folklore. And these mysterious gleaming

5:41

stones have inspired more than their

5:43

fair share of legends. Some ancient

5:46

cultures believe that diamonds were the tears

5:48

of the gods. others that they were

5:50

shards of a falling star. Medieval writers

5:52

claim that diamonds could reproduce like

5:54

people coupling up and having baby

5:56

diamond offspring, which is just really

5:58

cute to think. about. Various cultures

6:01

believe that diamonds had healing powers. Pliny

6:03

the Elder believed that they could heal

6:05

mental illness and counteract poison. German mystic

6:07

Hildegard of Bingen was said to have

6:10

recommended sucking on a diamond to both

6:12

prevent lying and stave off hunger, while

6:14

in India diamond powder was set to

6:16

protect against everything from tooth decay to

6:19

lightning strikes. For example, if you had

6:21

been lucky enough to be a wealthy

6:23

person in the 16th century and you

6:25

came down with a stomach ache, your

6:28

doctor would have prescribed you a tasty

6:30

snack of ground-up diamond to treat it.

6:32

Heck, when Pope Clement the 7th died

6:34

in 1534, the standing medical bill for

6:36

all the precious stones that were administered

6:38

to him on his sickbed was said

6:41

to have been 40,000 dukots. Even today,

6:43

many people still believe in the

6:45

healing properties of diamonds, from curing

6:47

running noses and laziness, to bringing

6:49

good luck and giving courage. One

6:51

modern crystal healer claims that, and

6:54

I quote, for best effect, a

6:56

diamond should be worn on the

6:58

right pinky on Friday during a

7:00

waxing moon. But a centuries of

7:02

healing lord developed, another storyline

7:04

was growing too. The idea that

7:07

diamonds weren't medicinal at all, but

7:09

a deadly poison. Now we think that

7:11

this idea actually started in the

7:13

Renaissance. Apparently the owners of these

7:15

diamond mines were having some trouble

7:17

with their employees. Minors were getting

7:19

a little hungry for the piece

7:21

of the financial pie. And I

7:23

mean that literally. That is a popular method

7:26

of theft was to eat a diamond and

7:28

wait for it to come out the other

7:30

side if you know what I mean. So

7:32

the bigwigs who owned the mine started to

7:35

spread a harmless rumor that the diamonds were

7:37

poisonous when ingested when ingested. Not a

7:39

bad deterrent, right? Well, the rumor caught

7:41

on, and it spread, and soon,

7:43

death by diamond poisoning became a

7:45

legitimate fear among people worldwide. The

7:47

powerful venom of diamond dust was

7:49

even blamed for a number of

7:51

famous deaths. One of those, the Swedish

7:54

physician and alchemist Paracels, which

7:56

is ironic because today he's

7:58

considered the father of a...

8:00

relevant field. Toxicology. But of

8:02

course, it was only a matter of

8:04

time before people would start trying to

8:06

murder each other with the stuff. Take

8:09

these 16th century women who, tired of

8:11

nursing her sick husband, attempted to poison

8:13

him with ground-up diamonds. Now

8:15

I say attempted because it didn't

8:17

work. Why not? Well, because diamonds

8:19

aren't poisonous. Nor have they ever

8:21

been proven to be medicinal. They're

8:24

just, you know, rocks. But just because

8:26

they aren't poisonous. Doesn't mean they

8:28

can't kill you. especially

8:30

if those diamonds happen

8:32

to be, cursed. It's a

8:35

chilling quote. There have

8:37

been death and disaster

8:40

enough, and more than enough,

8:42

to make a peg on

8:44

which to hang a tale

8:46

of imprisoned evil,

8:48

reaching out to blight whom

8:51

the diamond-whimmede whom the diamonds-baneful

8:53

rays may reach. So wrote

8:55

a journalist back in 1908.

8:57

He was warning the public

8:59

of a cursed jewel that

9:01

had been taking victims across

9:04

the world. But let's be

9:06

honest, the public didn't need

9:08

an article to tell them

9:10

this. After all, everyone had

9:12

already heard of. The Hope Diamond.

9:14

Currently in the Smithsonian Collection,

9:16

the Hope Diamond is a

9:18

45.52-carret diamond in the brilliant

9:20

shade of deep blue. These days

9:23

it's set into a necklace surrounded

9:25

by 16 smaller white diamonds. And

9:27

if salindians, my heart will go

9:29

on just popped into your head,

9:31

that's because the Hope Diamond actually

9:33

inspired the Heart of the Ocean

9:35

necklace from the Titanic movie. Now

9:37

while it's in Washington DC today,

9:39

it certainly didn't start there. This

9:41

shiny blue beauty first hit the

9:44

historical record in 1668, when a

9:46

French merchant named Jean-Baptiste Tavernier sold

9:48

it to King Louis XIV. And

9:50

in all likelihood he probably sourced

9:53

it from a diamond mine, but

9:55

then again, there are other rumors.

9:57

Legend says that the merchant actually

10:00

hold a full-on Indiana Jones maneuver, plucking

10:02

it from the eye of a Hindu

10:04

statue of the goddess Sita. As the

10:06

story goes, when the Hindu priest discovered

10:09

it was gone, they put a terrible

10:11

curse on the diamond, dooming anyone who

10:13

possessed it. And I'll be honest, evidence of

10:15

a curse is compelling. First, it passed

10:18

through generations of the French monarchy, eventually

10:20

landing in the hands of none other

10:22

than Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. And,

10:25

well, we know how things turned out

10:27

for them. Stolen during the Revolution,

10:29

it popped up again in 1812 in

10:31

London, or rather we think it did.

10:33

You see, the gem had been recut,

10:35

so it looked a little different than

10:37

the original. The jeweler who supposedly recut

10:39

it, well, he was killed by his

10:41

own son in a murder suicide in

10:43

what was said to be a fight

10:45

for the stone itself. But the Hope Diamond

10:47

wasn't done taking victims just yet. Through

10:50

the 1900s, it went through several owners,

10:52

each with a more gruesome tale than

10:54

the last. One drove his car off

10:57

a clip with his wife and child

10:59

inside, another lost her son to a

11:01

car crash, her daughter by suicide, and

11:03

her husband to another woman, all while

11:05

in possession of the diamond. Now to

11:07

be fair, that same lady, a woman

11:09

named Evelyn Walsh McLean, was also said

11:11

to affix the hope diamond to her

11:13

dog's collar and let him happily scurry

11:16

around her apartment with it. So you

11:18

can't say that she didn't at least

11:20

have a few good times. Eventually

11:22

though, the diamond made its way to

11:25

the Smithsonian in 1958 to become U.S.

11:27

public property. Traveling by postal service in

11:29

a brown paper bag, if you can

11:31

imagine that. And apparently the diamond wanted

11:34

to go out with a bang, because

11:36

Todd Field, the mailman who delivered it,

11:38

spent the next year of his life

11:41

having a spectacular string of tragedies befall

11:43

him. His leg was crushed by a

11:45

truck. His wife died of a heart

11:47

attack. He suffered a head injury after

11:49

being thrown from his car. His dog

11:51

died in a freak accident and his

11:53

house caught on fire and that's just

11:55

to name a few. But despite it

11:57

all, Field wasn't the superstitious sort. I don't...

12:00

believe any of that stuff," he said. If

12:02

the hecks is supposed to affect the

12:04

owners, then the public should be having

12:06

the bad luck. Still, if you ask

12:08

me, that big blue gem could use a

12:10

new name. The Hope Diamond doesn't sound very

12:12

hopeful at all. Now I wish that I

12:14

could say that this was a

12:16

singular sort of curse, but unfortunately

12:18

it's not. Another diamond called the

12:21

Koineur or Mountain of Light in

12:23

Persian has a remarkably similar story.

12:25

like the Hope diamond, it too

12:27

originated in India and ended up

12:29

as part of Europe's crown jewels.

12:32

Oh, and it's also very, very

12:34

cursed. The Koanor's first recorded appearance

12:36

was in 1628 as the centerpiece

12:38

of the Mughal Empire's peacock throne.

12:41

It glistened in the head of

12:43

a gemstone peacock right at the

12:45

very top of that glorious

12:47

royal seat. But then in 1739,

12:50

Persian ruler Nader Shah invaded Delhi.

12:52

In addition to killing tens of

12:54

thousands of people, he hauled off

12:56

so much of the city's treasure

12:58

that it took 700 elephants, 4,000

13:00

camels, and 12,000 horses to pull

13:02

it all. And amongst the loot

13:04

was, you guessed it, that opulent

13:06

peacock throne, from which Shah had

13:08

the diamond removed and set into

13:10

an armband. For the next 70 years,

13:12

the co-annour passed from ruler to ruler,

13:14

always in the wake of a bloodbath. One

13:17

former owner had his shaved head coronated

13:19

in molten gold game of throne style.

13:21

Another was placed under house arrest and

13:23

forced to watch his sons be tortured

13:25

until he agreed to give up the stone.

13:27

And at last it fell into the

13:29

hands of the British, which is a

13:31

nice way of saying that they forced

13:33

their way into India and as just another

13:35

evil cherry on top of the colonialist

13:37

project, they stole it. Oh, and by

13:39

the way, the ship that carried the

13:41

diamond back to Britain, back to Britain.

13:44

It suffered a nasty cholera outbreak on

13:46

the way. And suddenly the co-annour had

13:48

a new owner, none other than

13:50

Queen Victoria. A succession of British

13:52

queens inherited it after that, but

13:55

mysteriously they all seemed immune to

13:57

the curse. Why? Well, legend has it that

13:59

the curse... can only harm men. Today

14:01

the co-anour is on display at

14:03

the Tower of London, along with the

14:05

rest of Britain's crown jewels. And I

14:07

can't help but wonder, what will the

14:10

diamond do now that England once again

14:12

has a man on the throne? With

14:14

some gems it's obvious how they

14:16

gain their cursed reputation. Death and

14:18

despair followed the hope diamond and

14:20

the co-anour across oceans and centuries

14:23

alike, but other stones, while their

14:25

curses are a little subtler. Take

14:27

the Eagle Diamond, for example, which, I'll

14:29

admit, has never been officially labeled as

14:31

cursed, but after hearing a whole story,

14:34

I'll let you be the judge of

14:36

that. In the summer of 1876, workers

14:38

were deepening a well on a farm

14:40

in the small town of Eagle, Wisconsin,

14:42

when a strange golden glint caught the

14:44

light. It was a yellow stone, roughly

14:46

the size and shape of a canary

14:48

egg. Not thinking that it was valuable,

14:50

they gave it to a little girl

14:53

who was playing nearby, a relative of

14:55

the tenant farmers who lived there. When

14:57

the girl tired of it she left

14:59

it with those same relatives who after

15:01

being told that it was probably just

15:03

a bit of Topaz sold it to

15:05

a jeweler in Milwaukee for the equivalent

15:08

of roughly $35 today. Now this jeweler

15:10

was a fellow named Samuel Boynton who

15:12

didn't exactly know much about gems. So

15:14

in early 1884 he took the stone

15:16

to an expert in Chicago to get

15:18

it identified. There Samuel got what must

15:21

have been the shock of his life

15:23

because you see he hadn't bought Topaz

15:25

at all. No, that strange yellow stone

15:27

was none other than a 15-carat-yellow

15:29

diamond. The largest diamond in fact

15:31

that had ever been found in

15:33

the United States at that time.

15:35

And it was worth a whole

15:37

lot more than he paid for

15:39

it. In fact, in today's currency,

15:41

it would be worth between $25,000

15:43

and $35,000. Now, sure, Samuel might not

15:46

have been great at identifying diamonds,

15:48

but he did know one thing

15:50

about them. Wherever you found one,

15:52

there were likely to be more. Keeping

15:54

the news of his gigantic gemstone a

15:56

secret, he quietly purchased four acres of

15:58

the farm on which it had been

16:00

found. He pretended to be chicken farming.

16:03

All chicken farmers erect giant black curtains

16:05

around their land to keep out pry

16:07

and ice though, right? Nothing suspicious there

16:09

at all. Yeah, it was not exactly subtle.

16:12

And despite his best attempts, it wasn't

16:14

long before the people of Eagle put

16:16

two and two together. Samuel Boynton wasn't

16:18

chicken farming. He was mining for diamonds.

16:21

And that mining effort? Well, it didn't

16:23

seem to be going so great. In

16:25

May of that year, newspapers announced

16:27

that two new smaller diamonds had

16:29

been discovered in the Boynton mines.

16:32

But when a gemologist from Tiffany

16:34

and Coe stopped by later to

16:36

examine them, he made a slightly

16:38

scandalous proclamation. They weren't Wisconsin diamonds.

16:41

They weren't even American. No, they

16:43

were African diamonds, which Samuel had

16:45

clearly planted in his own mine,

16:47

probably to lure in investors.

16:50

Awkward, right? Well, Samuel must have thought

16:52

so too, because he sold that original

16:54

yellow diamond to Tiffany and Co. and

16:56

then slunk out of town and out

16:59

of this story altogether. In

17:01

1889, Tiffany displayed the Eagle Diamond

17:03

at the Paris World's Fair, alongside

17:05

381 other precious gems. While it

17:07

was there it caught the eye

17:10

of J.P. Morgan, who bought the

17:12

entire exhibit on behalf of New

17:14

York's American Museum of Natural History.

17:16

And there, in the museum, the

17:18

Eagle Diamond finally found a home.

17:20

Or it did for a while,

17:23

because little did

17:25

anyone know, that

17:27

humble stone once

17:29

found in a

17:31

Wisconsin well would soon

17:34

become a player in

17:36

one of the biggest

17:39

jewel heists the world

17:41

has ever seen. Scaling

17:43

the fence couldn't have

17:46

been easy. After all, that man

17:48

was wearing a green velour jacket,

17:50

a turtle-neck sweater, and quarter-right trousers.

17:52

Not your standard get-up for some

17:54

late night breaking and entering. But

17:56

this guy wanted to look good. You

17:58

got to have a little flare. He would go

18:00

on to tell the New York Times decades later,

18:02

if you get arrested and end up on the

18:05

news, you don't want to look like a schlub.

18:07

And so, dressed to the nines and

18:09

with a gun in his pocket, Jack

18:11

Murphy and a companion ascended the fence,

18:14

scrambled up a fire escape, inched their

18:16

way along a narrow ledge, and using

18:18

a rope to swing through a fourth-story

18:21

window like Indiana Jones rescuing his father

18:23

from the Nazis's, broke into the American

18:25

Museum of natural history. The year was

18:27

1964, an absolute heyday for jewel

18:30

thieves. Now, I know this number

18:32

sounds wild, but at the time

18:34

a U.S. gem heist was occurring

18:37

roughly once every 32 seconds. In

18:39

1963 alone, Stickyfinger Crook stole a

18:42

staggering $41 million worth of precious

18:44

and semi-precious stones. And that's just

18:46

counting the stuff that was insured.

18:49

Jack Murphy, better known as, and

18:51

I swear this is true, Murf

18:53

the Surf, was no stranger to

18:55

jewel theft. Having earned his moniker

18:57

due to a love of surfing,

18:59

the fellow was known for using

19:01

his swimming skills to make off

19:03

underwater with stolen jewels. Meanwhile his

19:05

two co-conspirators, Alan Coon, and Roger

19:07

Clark, were similarly experienced. All three

19:09

had taken parts in their fair

19:12

share of robberies, back home in

19:14

Miami. Now don't get me wrong here.

19:16

The trio hadn't traveled to New York

19:18

to commit a heist. No, they were

19:20

tourists. The World's Fair was in town

19:22

and the three fashionable 20-somethings wanted to

19:24

see the spectacle for themselves. And I'm

19:26

sure they had a blast, eating and

19:28

drinking and carousing through the Big Apple.

19:30

So how did they go from sight-seers

19:32

to breaking into one of the country's

19:35

major museums? Well, as far as I

19:37

understand it, it went a little something

19:39

like this. First, they went to see

19:41

a movie called Top Copy, a film

19:43

that just so happened to be about

19:45

a jewel heist. Second, they paid a

19:47

visit to the Museum of Natural History

19:49

where they saw the J.P. Morgan gem

19:51

exhibits, yes, the very exhibit containing the

19:53

Eagle Diamond. And third, with Top Copy still

19:55

fresh on their minds, the guys thought, hey,

19:57

I bet you we could steal these gems.

20:00

which brings us back to the night

20:02

of October 29th of 1964. With Clark

20:04

acting as lookout, Coon and Murf the

20:06

serf scrambled their way up to

20:08

that open fourth-story window and entered

20:11

the museum, which was honestly a

20:13

breeze. And I mean that literally,

20:15

the window you see had been

20:17

left wide open for ventilation. The

20:19

rest of the break-in process was

20:21

just as easy as all the

20:23

alarms had dead batteries and not

20:25

a single security guard was on

20:27

duty. You would think that during an

20:30

era in which there were about two

20:32

jewel heists every minute, they would take

20:34

a bit more precaution, but it was

20:36

a different time. Using duct tape

20:38

and a glass cutter, the thieves began

20:41

their careful work. They sliced a hole

20:43

in the case, removed one jewel, then

20:45

another, and another. The famous Star

20:47

of India Sapphire, the Delong Star

20:50

Ruby, and the Midnight Star Sapphire,

20:52

and then the Eagle Diamond. It

20:54

tossed off a bright golden glint in

20:56

the low light before vanishing into Murf

20:58

the serfs pocket. With their work complete,

21:01

the thieves slipped back out and were

21:03

on their way. Shortly after leaving the

21:05

property, Murf spotted a pair of cops

21:07

standing on the corner. Another two waited

21:09

nearby, and here he was with a

21:11

coil of rope over one shoulder and

21:14

a sack of stolen gems over the

21:16

other, like some sort of cartoon henchmen.

21:18

Thinking fast, he saw a man walking

21:20

a pet collie and whistling the dog

21:22

over, Murf the serf pretended that he

21:25

and the man were old friends. Together

21:27

they strolled right past the police. Murf

21:29

even greeted them with a smile and

21:31

a jaunty, good evening officers. And it

21:33

worked. The thieves vanished into the

21:35

night. In one fell swoop, they

21:37

had stolen four million dollars worth

21:39

of gems. Twenty-four stones in total.

21:42

Now, if you're wondering what on earth a

21:44

person would get up to after committing

21:46

one of the world's biggest jewel heights,

21:48

I'll let Murf tell you. I figured, he

21:50

said, if I wind up going to jail for

21:52

this, I might as well party a little. And

21:54

so he did. He hailed a camp,

21:57

jewels still in his pocket, and headed

21:59

to Times Square, where... Croupa's jazz band

22:01

was playing. They'd pulled it off. Now

22:03

it was time to have some fun. A

22:05

little too much fun, it turns out. They

22:07

spent so much money that night, someone

22:09

called the cops to report three men

22:11

dropping so much cash and I quote,

22:14

you'd think they were making it with

22:16

a machine. When the authorities searched

22:18

their hotel room, they found illegal

22:20

drugs, a few books about precious

22:22

stones, and a floor plan of

22:25

the Natural History Museum. Yeah, not

22:27

a good look at all. As damning as that

22:29

all sounds, though, it was still circumstantial

22:31

evidence. So although the trio were briefly

22:33

arrested, they were soon released on low

22:35

bail. As the police tried to figure

22:37

out a way to strengthen the case

22:39

against them, Murf the surf went back

22:41

to doing what he did best, having

22:43

a dang good time. He became something

22:46

of a media sensation. In fact, he's

22:48

been referenced as television's first true crime

22:50

celebrity. and it's easy to see why.

22:53

His quippy sound bites, his flashy clothes,

22:55

his general vibe. When asked in an

22:57

interview how he felt about the whole

23:00

arrest situation, he puffed on a cigar

23:02

and complained, I was supposed to be

23:04

on my way to Hawaii to surf.

23:07

Now all this inconvenience has followed things

23:09

up. But celebrity or not. It wasn't long

23:11

before the New York police were able

23:13

to connect Murf and his buddies to

23:15

other jewel robberies, and so they were

23:18

tossed back in jail. Everybody that is

23:20

except Koon. You see the authorities still

23:22

hadn't found any of the missing gems.

23:24

Like it or not they needed the

23:26

thieves help and so they sprung Alan

23:28

Coon free. And for days Coon led

23:31

the authorities around at one point

23:33

insisting that they rent a red

23:35

Cadillac while he spoke to various

23:37

underground contacts. Eventually the trail of

23:39

breadcrumbs led them to a key

23:41

which opened a locker at a

23:43

Miami bus terminal. There inside the

23:45

locker were two pouches soaked in

23:47

salt water. clearly having just been

23:50

retrieved from a hiding place in

23:52

the ocean, and inside, nine of

23:54

a twenty-four stolen gems, none

23:57

of which were diamonds. Diamonds

24:13

have fascinated us for centuries. Perhaps

24:15

it's their history that draws us

24:17

to them, how each diamond represents

24:19

billions of years of geology, each

24:22

brilliant stone, a literal fragment of

24:24

the past. Or perhaps it's their

24:26

beauty, the way they sparkle like

24:29

fallen stars, mesmerizing as if made

24:31

of light itself. Maybe we love

24:33

them for the stories we associate

24:35

with them, those marriage myths created

24:38

for advertising campaigns or fantastical tales

24:40

of curses and cures. But to

24:42

be honest, beyond any of that,

24:44

I think our obsession with diamonds

24:46

comes down to an obsession with

24:48

something else altogether. Power. Diamonds, you

24:50

see, represent wealth. If you're buying a

24:52

diamond, it means that you can afford

24:55

to toss money into something as frivolous

24:57

and opulent as a rock. You aren't

24:59

living paycheck to paycheck. You aren't scrambling

25:01

to feed your family. No, you can

25:03

spend the value of a house on

25:06

nothing more than a pretty bubble. History

25:08

has always been a record of the

25:10

haves and the have-nots. And what could

25:12

be a more tangible gaudy symbol of

25:14

that divide? Then the diamond. It's why

25:16

we tend to root not for the victims

25:19

of a heist, but the perpetrators. The

25:21

danny oceans and the Robin hoods, representing

25:23

not the elites, but the every man,

25:25

beating the rich at their own game.

25:27

It's fair to say that the myths

25:29

that we make up about these people

25:31

about these people, are often far holier

25:33

than the people themselves. Murf the surf,

25:35

for example, was eventually put back

25:37

in prison not only for robbery but

25:39

first-degree murder. He wasn't a good

25:41

person. But a story is more powerful

25:44

than the facts. And there are few

25:46

stories more powerful than those in

25:48

which oppressed classes and peoples went out

25:50

over their oppressors. As Marie Antoinette, Queen

25:53

Victoria, J.P. Morgan and the rest

25:55

of their ilk worried about whether their

25:57

jewelry was cursed or stolen, real

25:59

working class people starved in the

26:01

streets. The diamond represents all of

26:03

that and more, and at the

26:06

end of the day, this is

26:08

what I love about history, how

26:10

even the smallest objects, the tiniest

26:12

stories, can serve as a microcosm

26:14

for humanity as a whole. And speaking

26:16

of stories, I didn't quite finish

26:18

the tale of the eagle diamond.

26:20

You see of the 24 gems

26:23

lifted from the National History Museum

26:25

that fateful night in 1964, 14

26:27

of them remain missing to this

26:29

day, including all of the stolen

26:31

diamonds, the Eagle Diamond, among them,

26:33

which means that giant golden gem

26:35

is still out there somewhere, still

26:37

waiting to be found. It's likely that

26:40

the Eagle Diamond was cut up

26:42

into smaller pieces before being placed

26:44

into jewelry and sold in a

26:46

way that made it unrecognizable. So,

26:48

hey, the next time you're in

26:50

a jewelry store, take a peek

26:52

at the yellow diamonds. Who knows,

26:54

they might just be the eagle

26:56

diamond in disguise. But then again,

26:58

there's always a chance that it's

27:00

still whole and intact. Perhaps like

27:02

the other gems, it was hidden

27:04

in the ocean. Maybe it's still

27:06

there, tucked beneath the waves. Just

27:08

waiting for a treasure hunter to come

27:11

along and add a new chapter to

27:13

an ever-twisting legacy. I

27:29

hope today's exploration of diamond folklore

27:31

helped you see just how many

27:33

facets there are to these tales.

27:35

I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for a

27:37

good treasure hunt. If I live near those

27:40

Miami beaches where Murphy and his team hid

27:42

their jewels, it would be hard to pull

27:44

me away from the shoreline. And I know

27:46

I'm not alone. Humans love the thoughts of

27:49

buried treasure. Which is why, I have one

27:51

last story for you all about a

27:53

treasure hunt that continues to this very

27:55

day. Stick around through this brief sponsor

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32:07

The first man to die was

32:09

scalded to death in a boiler

32:11

eruption. The second plunged into oblivion

32:13

when a pulley failed. The next

32:15

four suffocated on engine gas or

32:17

swamp fumes with a fifth barely

32:19

escaping with his life, bringing the

32:21

total death count to six. And

32:23

yet, every year, more men suited

32:26

up, steel themselves, and descended into

32:28

the depths of the Oak Island

32:30

shafts. What was so compelling, you

32:32

ask, that even the threat of

32:34

death wasn't deterrent enough? It's simple,

32:36

buried treasure. The legend begins in

32:38

1795 when a teenager named Daniel

32:40

McGinnis noticed an unusual depression in

32:42

the ground on Oak Island, a

32:44

140-acre landmass just off the coast

32:46

of Nova Scotia, and immediately Daniel

32:48

had the same thought that any

32:50

kid his age might, if they'd

32:53

found a mysterious hole in the

32:55

beach. What if this was a

32:57

sign of pirate treasure? Daniel dragged

32:59

two of his buddies over to

33:01

the spot, and together they began

33:03

to dig. According to the story,

33:05

the boys found a 100-foot-deep shaft

33:07

with wooden platforms every 10 feet.

33:09

But that's it. No treasure. At

33:11

least, not yet. Eventually, though, one

33:13

of Daniel McGinnis's friends, Jack Smith,

33:15

ended up purchasing the property where

33:17

they had found the shaft, and

33:19

he kept digging. And in 1804,

33:22

Smith reported that 90 feet down

33:24

into the shaft, he had discovered

33:26

a flagstone bearing a thrilling encrypted

33:28

message. Decoded, it read, 40 feet

33:30

below. two million pounds are buried.

33:32

Now remember, this was more than

33:34

200 years ago, far before the

33:36

invention of motorized drills and cranes,

33:38

not to mention ventilation systems, sending

33:40

men 100 feet into a hole

33:42

and asking them to dig another

33:44

40 feet was a formidable task.

33:46

But hey, for buried treasure, suffice

33:48

to say the digging continued, and

33:51

it kept going for years. In

33:53

the mid-1800s, though, That shaft so

33:55

carefully hollowed out over so many

33:57

years, filled with water. And Jack

33:59

Smith and his team didn't think

34:01

that it was an accident. No,

34:03

they believed that it was evidence

34:05

of an elaborate trap designed to

34:07

keep eager treasure hunters away from

34:09

the prize, which of course convinced

34:11

Smith that they were on the

34:13

right track, closer than ever before.

34:15

They dug new shafts. Some collapsed,

34:18

as did the original, but with

34:20

each failing sight, new holes were

34:22

quickly dug to replace them. But

34:24

mining shafts weren't the only things

34:26

multiplying around the dig site. There

34:28

were also a fair share of

34:30

rumors, namely theories about who had

34:32

set the traps and whose treasure

34:34

was buried deep, deep below. Some

34:36

stories said that Captain Kidd buried

34:38

his pirate treasure there. Others that

34:40

Francis Drake's looted Spanish treasure was

34:42

inside the pit, along with his

34:44

body. While others believed Aztecs had

34:47

made their way to Oak Island

34:49

and buried their gold there to

34:51

hide it from the Spanish. Heck,

34:53

even FDR had a pet theory

34:55

convinced that Marie Antoinette's lost crown

34:57

jewels were buried there. In fact,

34:59

he was so sure of this

35:01

that in 1909, the future president

35:03

even invested in one of the

35:05

digging companies. There's honestly been a

35:07

staggering number of theories about what

35:09

was down there. As for the

35:11

wildest, I'd have to say it's

35:13

that the Knights Templar buried the

35:16

Holy Grail and the Ark of

35:18

the Covenant on Oak Island, or

35:20

that it's a box of lost

35:22

Shakespearean manuscripts which the Bard himself

35:24

left Clues to in his works.

35:26

So were any of these true?

35:28

Well, here's the thing. We don't

35:30

know. Because 200 years on, the

35:32

treasure hunters are still digging. That's

35:34

right, no jackpot has ever been

35:36

found, but true believers have not

35:38

given up. In fact, those four

35:40

men who died by inhaling poisonous

35:43

gas, that didn't happen in the

35:45

1800s. No, they lost their lives

35:47

in 1965. There's even a history

35:49

channel show that's been running since

35:51

2014 following one particular search for

35:53

the Treasure. Over the 12 seasons

35:55

so far, their investigation has unearthed

35:57

coins from the 17th and 18th

35:59

centuries. a lead cross, a garnet

36:01

pin, and a spike from a

36:03

Spanish galleon, and a lot of

36:05

really unusual buried structures. But alas,

36:07

no great hoard of riches. And

36:09

maybe there's a reason for that.

36:12

It turns out Jack Smith, the

36:14

guy who originally bought the shaft

36:16

and had been digging in earnest,

36:18

ran a treasure hunting business. And

36:20

the flagstone he claimed to have

36:22

found with that coded message, while

36:24

he conveniently discovered it right at

36:26

a time when he was searching

36:28

for investors. The whole thing may

36:30

have been a publicity stunt to

36:32

drum up interest. In fact, no

36:34

one appears to know where that

36:36

supposed flagstone ended up. Oh, and

36:39

the mysterious 100-foot shaft the boys

36:41

originally found? Well, geologists believe that

36:43

this was, in fact, a natural

36:45

sinkhole. But despite all of this,

36:47

people haven't given up looking. And

36:49

that says something about us, doesn't

36:51

it? That humans would rather believe

36:53

a beautiful fiction than a boring

36:55

truth. that we would rather chase

36:57

after the potential of a glinting

36:59

hopeful boon in the distance than

37:01

accept the life we've been given,

37:03

even when it might mean forfeiting

37:05

that life, altogether. Then again, who

37:08

knows? There could still be something

37:10

down there. One legend insists that

37:12

the treasure will be found when

37:14

the last leaf on the last

37:16

oak tree on the island blows

37:18

away. Perhaps we only have to

37:20

be patient. Then again, maybe the

37:22

answer lies in another more gruesome

37:24

legend. According to this story, the

37:26

treasure will be found once seven

37:28

men have died in pursuit of

37:30

it. The scalded man made one,

37:32

the fallen man two, the four

37:34

lost to the gas made three,

37:37

four, five, and six, which means

37:39

it may only take one more

37:41

sacrifice, one more priceless treasured human

37:43

life, for all to be revealed.

37:58

This episode of was produced by me, Aaron Mankey,

38:00

with with writing by Jenna Rose Nethercott,

38:03

by Cassandra and music by Chad Chad Lawson.

38:05

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