June 10, 2025 • 44 mins
Sierra is all moved in and back with her underwater crimes episode. This week she tells us about some treasure hunting gone wrong with the case of Tommy Thompson and the gold hunt of the SS Central America.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Twisted humans.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Do you find yourself wanting to know more about the
latest murder, conspiracy, cult or haunting.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Than this is the podcast for you. I'm Alicia and
I'm Sierra and this is Twisted and Uncorked.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hello, and welcome to the long awaited episode one ninety nine.
I am finally here to tell you my underwater crimes episode.
When I was deciding which case to use for this
special topic, I had a lot to choose, from diving accidents,
underwater welding accidents, scuba homicides, submarine accidents and homicides. But
(00:41):
I'm having a strange mental health time in my life,
so I didn't want to cover anything super sad. If
you are interested in those cases specifically, though, please request
them and at a better mental health time in either
mine or Alicia's lives. We absolutely will cover what you request.
But today I wanted to talk about treasure hunting gone
(01:04):
a little bit a ry. First, do you have a
fun fact for me?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I do have a fun fact, and I don't know
there it is. I'm like, why is my computer not computering?
So I had a guesstimate based on what today's beverages
that you will get to in a moment about what
your topic would be, So naturally I had to make
my fun fact pirate related. So there are a lot
(01:31):
of myths in a pirate lore, as we all know,
but there are also a lot of factual pirate lures.
For instance, parrots were actually very common pirate pets. Pirates
often kept parrots because of their entertainment and because they
were easy to obtain within tropical regions. Another pirate fact
(01:56):
is that there was no written history anywhere that suggested
that walking the plank was actually a thing that pirates
did to people that they wanted to go off their boat.
They likely just threw them overboard. And finally, pirates didn't
always bury treasure. While the idea of hidden treasure is
a popular trope, most pirates divided their loot amongst the
(02:20):
crew and actually spent it on goods and services. I mean,
why would you get treasure if you're just going to
hide it? But Sierra may debunk that today we may
have some real life treasure.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
We may have some real life treasure. Those are all
very fun facts. I love that. I love that they
would keep parrots, and also it makes sense that they
didn't hide their treasure if they did keep parrots, because
I feel like the parrots would tell all of their secrets.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, you know, like, oh yeah they buried right. It's
a terrible pirate impression.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
But no, it was a parrot impression. It was great.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
What is your fun back?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
My fun fact? Have you ever heard of the author
Forest Finn and his poem titled The Thrill of the Chase?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I have, but I haven't read it. Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So this poem was released in twenty ten and was
twenty four lines of clues that were supposed to lead
the reader to a treasure chest of gold that Forest
had hidden somewhere along the Rocky Mountains. In twenty twenty,
the treasure was finally found and the chest containing gold
was sold at auction for one point three million dollars.
(03:30):
That's not the fun fact part, though, that's just knowledge
that those are facts. But this is the fun fact part, okay. Originally,
this idea came to Forest Finn in nineteen eighty eight
when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His wishes were
to have his remains, along with all of his treasures
(03:51):
hidden and have people search for them with the poem.
But he beat the cancer, and in twenty ten he
decided to hide his treasure anyway as a way to
get people outside and off of their devices. And it's
also during this time that geocatching became popular. I think
that is super cool. Forrest Finn lived to see whose
(04:15):
treasure found and then died later that year in twenty twenty,
so that's.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Kind of cool. That is super cool. And also now
what I'm going to be doing when I'm old.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Right, like if I give it a terminal diagnosis, so
fucking lutely.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, not that I really have treasure unless you count
like an obnoxious amount of Crystal's treasure. Yeah, and books,
So basically Sierra is going to be the only one
looking for it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Finding out this information just made me want to do
geocashing more, and not just finding it, but making the geocatches, Like, yes,
I want to write little poems and hide stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
You know, they'll have my creepy calcified skip rope pandlem Yeah. Cashing.
I didn't actually know what that was until the second
time I went to see Sierra and me and her
kids went geocashing in Florida, and the rule is you
must only pick one treasure and you must put something
(05:14):
in the box. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, the right rules something.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
We left a lot of twisted on corkstickers, so if
you are a particular listener in Florida, you may have
our original stickers. Oh I forgot about that, and I
kind of love that. But I picked this because it
looked creepy and old and calcified. And the weird part
is is I'm not really sure what it is. It
looks like a skip ro pandel though, but then I'm
(05:40):
not sure how it attaches to it. I really hoping
it's not a bone, but that's what we initially thought
it was, and you know, naturally it lives in the podcast.
It was interesting, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Speaking of treasures, this episode pairs well with a drink
I found on a website called Seduction in the Kitchen,
which I right. The drink is called Pirate's Booty, and
it calls for three ounces of pineapple juice, one ounce
of cranberry juice, three fourths an ounce of coconut, one
fourth teaspoon of edible gold glitter, and then add booze
(06:15):
if you choose in the amount of one and a
half ounces of spice rum serving coconut for coconut rum.
I did not add alcohol, so mine came out a
little bit pinker. Then you don't have alcohol in it?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, mine I put inside of my skull glass because
skull and crossbones was pirate related. Naturally. Yeah, it's a
versatile cup and it is really tasty. I am naturally
a fan of rum and pineapple juice because that's what
Kevin and I drank on our honeymoon pretty much the
entire time in Hawaii. I asked him today, I'm like,
(06:53):
do we have coconut rum at home or malibuu? And
He's like, yep, still not ready to drink that shit.
We definitely overdid it while we were there, but I
still have a fond taste of it. I skipped the
edible glitter mostly because I couldn't find gold edible glitter
that and after Cierus Glitter conspiracy episode, I'm a little
(07:13):
afraid of it. Still.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, I have edible I mean it's not glitter, it's
like sprinkles that are gold.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Like, is it the same thing that you've used that before? Yeah,
it's for making It still works, but yours is very pretty.
How is it with the extra coconut.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It's good. I didn't use extra coconut. I just used
instead of coconut rum, I used the coconut cream. Oh
gotch and then no regular rum. So I also what
did I say goes in it?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Kinda juice? Cranberry?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah? I also put what did I put? Pineapple? Cranberry edible? Oh?
And so instead of rum, I needed more liquids. I
put some lime in it.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It works probably, but it's good, so it sounds tasty.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I really like it. Thank you for picking a pirate's booty.
Kevin was really cute and he caught up mango and
I'm like, that's not what's in the drink, but I'll
just eat it.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Just have a little bowl of sliced uff mango. I'm
not upset. It's a really good mango. When you go
to the store, What mangoes do you buy?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Mango?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Right? Right? Right? I forget about this every time, and
every time it catches me off guard as being the
funniest thing you've said.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I can't do it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's like armpit smell. Okay, listeners, what kind of mangoes
do you buy? Because I really like Adolpho mangoes, the little,
the wide orange ones or yellowy ones. Not the ones
that are green and pink. Those ones are hard to eat,
harder to eat than they are worth. Then not you
think it's sweet.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
The green and pink ones are the ones that I
know taste like armpit smell. So maybe I could try
the orange ones.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
The little, the little, yellowy orange ones are quite sweet
and quite tasty. Listeners, let me know if you agree
with Sira, and let us know if you've been listening
long enough to have understood that reference, because I would
like to send you some stickers and a little thank
you for listening.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, if you if you heard Alicia say what kind
of mangos do you buy? And you thought I was
gonna say, mango taste like arpet smell, you're a winner.
Okay you are already please?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah he's right. I just who's who that? Like? How
do you know what armpits taste like?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I didn't say what they taste like? They taste like
armpits smell.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Noses and mouths are connected. Sometimes things can taste like
smells that sometimes things can smell like tastes.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I often wonder that if I didn't have horrendous sinus issues,
how much I could taste?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Did you start? You don't realize.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Mangos are only good because I can. I was gonna say, though,
did your taste or like sense of taste, get better
when you stop smoking?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Everyone says that I didn't really notice.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No, that's so interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I was sure. I mean, I I was food sheltered
as a child. We've talked about this on Bitch and Wine.
I didn't eat very much when I was little, and
I started smoking as soon as I left That's why
my house. And then I stopped smoking, and then I
started trying new things, So maybe I would have, but
(10:48):
I just didn't taste those things until after I had stopped.
Maybe you know what I mean, Like I don't know.
Has always been weird, all right, So anyway. The first
documented gold nugget found in the Americas was in seventeen
ninety nine in North Carolina, but it wasn't even discovered
to have been gold until the eighteen hundreds, and it
(11:13):
wasn't investigated much further than that in the area either.
It was around the eighteen fifties that the gold rush
was officially in full swing. With California's gold rush beginning
in nineteen forty eight, and even places as far away
as Australia having a gold rush in eighteen fifty one,
(11:33):
but by eighteen fifty seven the area would be experiencing
a financial crisis known as the Panic of eighteen fifty seven.
People were mining and sifting for the gold too quickly.
It was running out and becoming more and more scarce
in the area. I feel like, I'm all you can
see is my eyelids. So I'm gonna put this somewhere else.
(11:57):
I'm like, I'm just looking at my phone.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
For those of you that are watching on youtubes, here's
got a new background. I do all sat up.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
This is my new room. It might be a little argo.
I I'm sorry if you can hear that, we're working
on it. I'm getting we got this, we got this.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I'm getting a rug.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I'm getting a rug. So many businesses had invested in
the California area when the gold was first discovered, and
so many people, some thirty thousand, had moved to the
area to find the gold. But the more people there were,
the less gold each person found, and then on September twelfth,
(12:36):
much of it that was collected would be lost, along
with the lives of four hundred and twenty five people.
The SS Central America was a wooden steamship that traveled
regularly from Central America to the east coast of the
US starting in eighteen fifty two. This allowed people, businesses,
(12:59):
and the United States government and banks to transport their
gold from the unindustrialized California area to the major manufacturing
areas of New England at its surrounding Eastern States, giving
the SS Central America the nickname of the Ship of
Gold Wild.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
I also love that our underwater crimes both involved SS
ships because I can ask Kamloops for mine with believing
the bizarre, which, by the way, we got into another
roundtable urban legend thing with them because I gave them
(13:40):
five urban legends that they had never heard of, just
from our patret. So really we're just saying something. So
shout out to Tyler and Charlie because Sierra missed them,
and shout out to SS ships. Mine wasn't carrying gold,
though mine was carrying life savers and just miscellaneous equipment
(14:01):
between Canada and the US. Wasn't exciting, No buried treasure.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
On September third, eighteen fifty seven, four hundred and seventy
seven passengers joined the one hundred and one crew members
on board the SS Central America in Panama, each passenger
carrying their own riches that they had journeyed to California
to find. Aside from carrying passengers back to New York,
(14:31):
the Ship of Gold was also acting as a postal ship,
carrying gold from the US Mint in California, which was
meant to stock the banks and help the failing businesses
back in New York and the surrounding states as the
economy was on the decline. The ship was carrying approximately
eleven point two tons of gold bars and coins from
(14:57):
the Mint, which in today's money is a about seven
hundred and sixty five million dollars worth.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Just a casual amount of gold.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, just almost a fucking billion yeh gosh.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And like also a ballsy thing to carry on a ship, Like,
wouldn't that be heavy as hell gold bars? You might like,
that's a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Right, You might think that a ship of gold would
cause it to become a target for pirates that too.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
But I didn't even go robbery. I just went pure piffics.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
But yeah, well that would make this inn on the
water crime, not an underwater one.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So it was the Mermaids, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
And the one hundred and one crew members included the
United States Navy members, so it was relatively a safe
trip if only the weather would cooperate. On September eleventh,
having made it from Central America all the way to
South Carolina, the ship of Gold ran right into a hurricane.
(16:05):
The ship's sails were torn, and there was so much
water on board that the crew and passengers had to
start a bucket brigade to stop the ship from going
down like full on, pass the bucket and toss the
water over ridiculous, like a site to behold, no kidding.
(16:28):
Their efforts afforded them another day and a rescue of
one hundred and fifty three passengers by lifeboats, but the
weather was still bad and even the rescue ship couldn't
stick around long enough to be of much help without
going down themselves. At about eight pm on September twelfth,
eighteen fifty seven, the SS Central America sank, along with
(16:51):
its captain and four hundred and twenty four others, and
all of the Gold years later, the historic ship of
Gold became a legend for treasure hunters, but try as
they might, no one could find the sunken ship until
AE hundred and thirty one years later Tommy Thompson, a
(17:14):
marine engineer called treasure hunter Tommy Thompson Tommy Thompson, a
marine engineer and treasure hunter born in Indiana, became obsessed
with attempting to discover the wreckage of the SS Central America.
In nineteen eighty three, now living in Columbus, Ohio, Tommy
(17:36):
recruited the help of a geologist, scientist, and historian named
Bob Evans, who was hired to go over and over
and back over historical accounts of the ship's last known location,
wind speeds and directions, and other historical documents that might
give way to where the ship went down. Together with
(17:56):
the help of a man named Larry Stone, an expert
in underwater search theory. Didn't know you could be an
expert in that, and nearly three years of research later,
the group was able to create a list of probable
places where the ship would be today as in nineteen
eighty four, Wait nineteen eighty six, because I said three
(18:19):
years later. Now they just had to get down there
and search. But how would they reach the depths of
the bottom of the ocean.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Why would you want to? Well, besides the treasure.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
But besides seven hundred and sixty five million dollars.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Or aside, does I don't know? That's the only contributing
factor to why I would even attempt to go down there.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
They came up with a business plan of sorts kickstarter
if you will. A remote controlled submarine equipped with a
camera and a claw in order to grab the gold
would be needed, as well as a boat and a
team to operate it all. But all of that costs money,
so they took their plan to investors one hundred and
(19:05):
sixty one investors to be exact, who donated a total
of twelve point five million dollars to the cause of
discovering a shipwreck worth at minimum one hundred and fifty
million dollars. Not all of them thought it would actually work,
but they had money to blow and thought this would
be a good cause to be known for if it
(19:26):
ended up working out. So all these rich people are like,
you're doing what, sure, take my money whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I'm pretty sure that's what the rich people when they
were looking for the gemstone at the beginning of the Titanic.
Did it was the same thing that they used to
the ocean to get the same Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Just after hiring a team of scientific experts and divers
with some of the money and creating the group called
the Columbus America Discovery Group, Tommy Thompson set off with
the others to the Atlantic with their underwater robot named
Nemo three.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
What happened in Nemo two in one super prototypes.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
They searched nearly all summer in nineteen eighty six and
again in nineteen eighty seven, but exactly one hundred and
thirty one years after the ship of Gold experienced that
Category two hurricane that sank it. On September eleventh, nineteen
eighty eight, Tommy Thompson and his crew discovered the wreckage
(20:33):
of the SS Central America and a large amount of gold,
claiming it claiming that it will prove to be quote
the largest treasure treasure trove in American history end quote.
Though not all of the gold was recovered, much of
it still remains on the ocean floor.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Can you imagine, just like scuba diving one day, just
coming across the gold.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Bar right there's audio of them when they first see
it in the camera of the underwater. They're so happy.
They're so fucking happy. They're like, do you know what
that is? It's so great, Like I can't imagine even
if I didn't get to keep any of it, finding
something like that that it has been missing for years.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, Like it's very cool. It's a cool side of history,
to be honest.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah. Unfortunately for Tommy Thompson and his team, though, even
one hundred and thirty one year old gold has people
looking to claim it, especially the thirty nine insurance companies
who had to pay out to the people in companies
one hundred and thirty one years ago who ensured their
lost gold.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Oh a fuck off. Come on, Paul, it a lost guys.
You can't predict a hurricane.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
The courts got involved, and the gold was stuck in
limbo as he waited for a court order to determine
who it belonged to. Ten years later, in nineteen eighty
nineteen ninety eight, the Columbus American Discovery Group was awarded
ninety two percent of the gold they recovered and were
(22:08):
ordered to give the rest to the insurance company, which
is like eight percent. It's fine. And but again they
didn't discover all of it, like they grabbed some and
that was it. There's still so much down there. I
think the amount that they grabbed, well, I'm going to
get to it. With the gold he was allowed to keep,
Tommy went into negotiations with buyers who would turn the
(22:29):
gold into usable money so that he could pay back
his investors and the people who helped him. But after
selling what he had for fifty million dollars is what
he got for it, he sort of went off grid
without paying back the thirteen million, oh that he owed
(22:50):
to investors or giving any to the other two guys
who helped him. Oh so, the investors sued Tommy Thompson,
and the courts ordered him to produce a record of
the sale of gold. How did you only get fifty
million dollars? And why aren't you sharing it?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
During this time, it was learned that the company he
sold the gold to gave him an extra one million
off the record to keep for himself, okay, as well
as allowing him to keep five hundred of the gold
coins worth about three million that he would not have
to report to the government or the other people that
(23:31):
he was supposed to be paying, but guess what they
found out. As I said, though, he was sort of
off grid at this point. His lawyer was attending hearings
for him on his behalf, but he was living in
Florida under different names, many different names. In two thousand
and eight, he was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida for possession
(23:54):
of prescription drugs at a gas station and was found
to have nine different driver's license on him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Casual met somebody in a parking lot for those.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Oh yeah, he was let go. No charges were pressed
against him by the police officers. I wonder how much
gold he gave them. And then he just continued to
live his unassumed life, unknown to anyone around him. He
rented a mansion in Florida, but nothing was ever put
in his name, and he paid everything to the landlord
(24:29):
in cash with moldy one hundred dollar bills.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Ooo why were they moldy?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Okay. So the theories are either there were one hundred
dollar bills on the boat that he pulled up it's
like this is the money I'm paying you with, or
he One of the theories is the more believed theory
is that he was hiding the money. He did get
the fifty million dollars in some sort of underwater area
(24:57):
in Florida.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I don't know why, but you know interesting. Finally, after
not getting an inventory of the gold, the Ohio judge
ordered Tommy through his attorney, to appear in court in
August of twenty twelve, and when Tommy Thompson still did
not show up, he was considered a wanted fugitive.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Oh It's escalated so quickly.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
When the US marshals finally discovered where Tommy had been
living and raided the place, they were too late, and
the only thing they found was a book called How
to Live Your Life Invisible, empty bank wraps for ten
thousand dollars, stacks of one hundred dollars bills, and twelve
active cell phones. So he was like completely, you know,
(25:48):
living a whole different life. In twenty fifteen, Tommy Thompson
was found and arrested in Boca Raton, Florida. He pleaded
guilty to skipping his hearing and was sentenced to two
years in prison under the condition that he would tell
the courts the location of the five hundred gold coins.
(26:09):
He was able to not so secretly keep for himself.
But the most that Tommy Thompson would admit to is
that he put the coins in a trust in Belize.
He claims to not remember anything more than that. It
was decided that his two year sentence would not begin
until he disclosed the location of the coins, and he
(26:33):
would incur a one thousand dollars a day fine for
every day that he didn't tell, all.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
While being held in so much money.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
How long until you tell? Like, you just found.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
These I don't have any so one day?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
I mean no, I mean you have found these coins.
You have fifty million dollars. Okay, you you found these coins.
You just want to keep these coins. But they're like,
if you give us, you're gonna get charged one thousand
dollars per day until you give up these coins? How
long until you tell? And you're in jail, until you
tell them where they are? How long until you tell?
Speaker 1 (27:14):
I still feel like I'm not made for you?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Ready? You're ready for the crazy part? It has been
ten years Tommy Thompson has been in jail and is
in jail to this day. Since he looked like.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Fifteens, I need to know what he looks like.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
He's not telling where the fucking coins are.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
He look unhinged. He looks like he was a pirate.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Tommy Thompson has been in jail and is in jail
to this day, since twenty fifteen, all because he refuses
to tell the courts the location of the five hundred
coins that he helped discover and bring up from wreckage
of the historic ship of gold, the SS Central America
this year. In twenty twenty five, the judge finally decided
(28:09):
to end his being held in contempt one thousand dollars
a day. Thing as Tommy Thompson million dollars though is
now much money, seventy three years old, and could actually know,
there's a chance he actually no longer knows where the
coins are. I think at first it was a matter
(28:29):
of principle not wanting to tell, and Tommy and the
courts were playing chicken to see who would give up first.
It's clear the courts gave up first, but at a
pretty high cost to Tommy. His win at the game
of chicken costed him a total fine of three million,
three hundred and thirty five thousand dollars, which is likely
(28:52):
more than the gold coins are worth. They're only worth
three million.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, he also.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Has to pay nineteen million that the courts awarded to
the investors to pay them back, which he never has.
He spent ten years of his life so far behind bars,
and now he is just beginning his two year sentence
for not showing up to court in twenty twelve, so
he's still not done. He has two more years to go.
(29:22):
I don't know how I feel about all of this.
In a way, I feel bad for Tommy Thompson. I
think he should have just paid the investors back and
maybe the courts never would have gotten involved. So maybe
this is his karma. Maybe if he just paid them
the thirteen million, kept the other you know, thirty seven
and the gold coins, no one would have known he
(29:43):
had the gold coins. But at the same time, you know,
so karma, that's what you get. But at the same time,
I understand wanting to keep some of the coins for
yourself and not turning them into today money, like he
was ordered to turn all of it into today money
so it could be given away. But it's like a
souvenir for the hard work and the mystery. Really, he
(30:03):
was so obsessed with solving for so long and he
was actually able to solve it. You know, that's super cool.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And it's like kind of sad too that, like he
was so excited he had this win. He searched for
it forever, went to jail. Yeah, I had to lose
basically all of it by holding out for one thousand
dollars a day. And now he doesn't even really get
to enjoy it, Like.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, he's like he's like, fuck you, government, let me
let free.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I found it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Fighters keepers, Yeah, losers, weepers.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
We learned this on the playground.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Since all of this has taken place, Bob Evans, one
of the you know, initial partners of Tommy Thompson, was
granted permission to continue excavating the ship's wreckage. Much more
gold has been brought up and sold, and Bob has
created a new search group without Tommy Thompson. Good for him,
he's doing great. I don't think Tommy cares though. For him,
(31:01):
I think it was the thrill of the chase. He
found it, and that's what matters. That is the case
of the I don't know, the SS Central America, the
underwater criminal, Tommy Thompson, treasure hunter, I don't know. I
don't know what you call it. It's weird, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, it is weird, and I'm actually really surprised that
I've never heard it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, so I'm glad you brought.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
It to our attention. And if anyone ever finds their
way at the bottom of the sea, yeah, you never
know what you're gonna find.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
You never know.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
You never know.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Alien, oh for sure, Animals that haven't discovered. Oh god, gold, gold,
who knows?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I mean, go away, go away?
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I know I have a fruit fly flying around my
face on me. Don't later anyway, don't squish it, It'll
just turn into dust. I don't understand moths, Like, what
is what are they made out of? That? When you
squished they were all made from dust?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
You know?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Really true?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
It literally is?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Okay, couldn't agree more. Well, I'm kind of sad. I
stick with what I said. I'm sad for him. I'm
with you. I feel bad for him. I don't think
that's fair.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I feel bad for him. I do think he was
sketchy for not just paying back the investors.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Oh for sure. But he was absolutely greedy for that. Yeah,
like you put it, it's absolutely a game of chicken,
Like who's gonna fold first, and he didn't, So I
mean he didn't. Got to respect the stubbornness. But that's
saying stubbornness is what helped him find it in the
first place.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
I mean, after you've done like three years, it's like,
I've already done three. I'm going to keep going. I
can't get those three years back. I'm not giving up
the coins now, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
It's true, It's like, what how far would you go?
Because like I said, prison's not made for me.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah, Like like you after the first couple of days,
like maybe a month, I'm like, okay, i gotta get
out of here. But if it's already been if he
knows he has at least two years and it's already
been a couple months, and like you're going on your
third year, then it's like why even because afterwards you
have to give away your gold coins, you know what
(33:34):
I mean, Like, if I'm already doing two almost three years,
why give them up? Keep me the bungs you on,
I'm not giving them up, Like it's the.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Principle of the thing. Yeah, I respect that you're just
a stubborn to stop. Yes, I also love that that's
his name. I love that that's what he looks like.
If you're not following us on social media, I will share,
of course, and it will be at our woods site.
And you know, our website has been inactive for a
little while guys, because we haven't been posting, and I'm sorry,
(34:08):
but we're back now, so they you know. Weirdly enough,
we got like the most amount of patrons than we
have not posting. So thank you to those who jointed
who were just like, fuck this, I need more, Alicia
and Sierra, we appreciate you. Sorry, We're sorry. No, no, no,
everybody was like wishing you well and hoping for the best.
And honest was.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
When I got out of it, look at my room.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
I know, it's so beautiful. I love the color. It's funny.
Was there a similar color in your last place on
the walls or yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
And not. It was much darker, it was more foresty.
But yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Okay, okay, because when you were watching TV the other
day and you sent like a snapchat or something of
you watching the Karen Reid Trials, I was like, your living.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Room wall looks the same that was my bedroom walls.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
But yeah, no, I like it. I'm excited to see
the rest of the place. Send me a photo at
least of your creepy bookshelf. Always cool and uh, speaking
of snippets and things to look forward to in life,
I want to share my something happy with you because
I transitioned, and that's just how we're going to do this.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Tell me things.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
I found the perfect necklace. It is a little metal
cage that holds my crystals, so now I get to
wear them as accessories and bring the healing properties on
the go with me. And I know that sounds really dumb, but.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
It is not at all I made.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
That's a lot of fucking crystals.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, I made, Bubba, you've made out of rope though
not metal, but I love them. They're awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I like the rope. I know this is like really bright,
but it's like I have howl lighted there right now,
but I haven't tested it with the smaller ones. That
makes me a little more nervous, but it's so cool.
You just like pull this little thing up and it's
like a little cage that you drop your.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I'm excited. I wanted one of these forever. I think
I asked for one for Christmas. And for my birthday
and I didn't get one, so I'm like, yeah, houck
you guys, I'm buying it myself. Yeah, sometimes you just
gotta And uh, that adds to my list of accessories
because I got to look a little bit nicer when
I'm at work. So there we go. And what is
(36:27):
your something happy other than being in your new home.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yeah, I'm finally in the new home. This picture right
here is the coolest thing I've ever seen in the moment.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I'm obsessed love it.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
It's the best. It's like a Victorian lady in a
field with chickens and a UFL. It's the best thing ever.
It's also it is that is me in the past
slash future. I don't really know anyway, but you live
in the stuff if you want it. Yeah, is me
(37:00):
in another life. Mostly my happiness comes from the fact
that my brother is here living with us, and I'm
so excited for him to experience all of the Alabama
things and discover new things and learn new things.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
And about it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I'm excited. I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
And I know that you guys are really close, so
that'll be cool for you guys to be together. Yeah. Also,
you know be sure Forde to look out for the
wild time that is the peanut festival.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Oh yeah, I watch out today.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Watch out. They're throwing peanuts. It's rogue.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
It's so fun.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Every time Steer sends me videos of like that is
weird behavior. Get catching peanuts off the road, all right.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
If people come with bags, they like scoop them up
off the ground in bags.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
And then make boiled peanuts afterwards.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Custure mark exactly exactly that.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Every time I see a peanut in a shell, I
think of you, which happens more often than I care
to admit, because I've recently learned where this is coming from.
But I think I've complained about it over the years
that every time I rotate my dirt in the spring
to plant new flowers, that I find fucking peanuts and
random shit in my dirt all the time. Okay, like
(38:29):
whole peanuts.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Peanuts grow in dirt, I.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Know, but they're not growing in my flower bed. Okay,
And so I'm like, where the buck are these peanuts
coming from? I figured it out my neighbor. He's on
our strata, Cancel. He's really nice. His name is Greg.
He puts peanuts on his balcony for the squirrels because
(38:53):
he lives on the ground floor, and then the blue
jays take them. And then the blue jays fly onto
my deck and bury them in the dirt, and they
like dig with their little beaks and they stick them in.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
The dirt to record it. I need I didn't need.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
To because he's home all day, so he witnessed it
because we cleaned the deck every spring, and then I'll
go out there and there's dirt everywhere, and there's little
holes in my planters and I'm like, what the fuck
happened here? Like, what is this crime scene? And so
that's so great blue jays and so every time I
dig a peanut out of my dirt, I think, yeah,
(39:31):
And we have a squirrel friend that comes onto our
deck and it has encouraged me to have to clean
quicker because we put turf on our deck like the grass.
But we had one strip of my parents' grass from before,
but it's different. So we rolled it up and we're
gonna give it to my brother and his girlfriend for
their patio. But the squirrel has been hiding things in it.
(39:55):
It's on my deck and I'm scared to open it
because I'm like, what a am I going to find
in there? It scared the crap out of Kevin because
it just like popped out, rolled up like a carpet
just popped out of the whole like and he's like,
what the fuck? So I'm like, is there babies in there? Like,
I don't know what I'm gonna find. If I find
little babies, I think my day might be made great.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Anyways, that was a very random rant about peanuts, But
I'm happy for you. But this was a lot of
fun and we hope you guys enjoyed it, and we
will be back next week for some exciting stuff for
our two hundred episode part one, and we will have
some exciting announcements and things for you then. But in
(40:41):
the meantime, be twisted.
Hello, Twisted humans.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Do you find yourself wanting to know more about the
latest murder, conspiracy, cult or haunting.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Than this is the podcast for you. I'm Alicia and
I'm Sierra and this is Twisted and Uncorked.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hello, and welcome to the long awaited episode one ninety nine.
I am finally here to tell you my underwater crimes episode.
When I was deciding which case to use for this
special topic, I had a lot to choose, from diving accidents,
underwater welding accidents, scuba homicides, submarine accidents and homicides. But
(00:41):
I'm having a strange mental health time in my life,
so I didn't want to cover anything super sad. If
you are interested in those cases specifically, though, please request
them and at a better mental health time in either
mine or Alicia's lives. We absolutely will cover what you request.
But today I wanted to talk about treasure hunting gone
(01:04):
a little bit a ry. First, do you have a
fun fact for me?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I do have a fun fact, and I don't know
there it is. I'm like, why is my computer not computering?
So I had a guesstimate based on what today's beverages
that you will get to in a moment about what
your topic would be, So naturally I had to make
my fun fact pirate related. So there are a lot
(01:31):
of myths in a pirate lore, as we all know,
but there are also a lot of factual pirate lures.
For instance, parrots were actually very common pirate pets. Pirates
often kept parrots because of their entertainment and because they
were easy to obtain within tropical regions. Another pirate fact
(01:56):
is that there was no written history anywhere that suggested
that walking the plank was actually a thing that pirates
did to people that they wanted to go off their boat.
They likely just threw them overboard. And finally, pirates didn't
always bury treasure. While the idea of hidden treasure is
a popular trope, most pirates divided their loot amongst the
(02:20):
crew and actually spent it on goods and services. I mean,
why would you get treasure if you're just going to
hide it? But Sierra may debunk that today we may
have some real life treasure.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
We may have some real life treasure. Those are all
very fun facts. I love that. I love that they
would keep parrots, and also it makes sense that they
didn't hide their treasure if they did keep parrots, because
I feel like the parrots would tell all of their secrets.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, you know, like, oh yeah they buried right. It's
a terrible pirate impression.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
But no, it was a parrot impression. It was great.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
What is your fun back?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
My fun fact? Have you ever heard of the author
Forest Finn and his poem titled The Thrill of the Chase?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I have, but I haven't read it. Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So this poem was released in twenty ten and was
twenty four lines of clues that were supposed to lead
the reader to a treasure chest of gold that Forest
had hidden somewhere along the Rocky Mountains. In twenty twenty,
the treasure was finally found and the chest containing gold
was sold at auction for one point three million dollars.
(03:30):
That's not the fun fact part, though, that's just knowledge
that those are facts. But this is the fun fact part, okay. Originally,
this idea came to Forest Finn in nineteen eighty eight
when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His wishes were
to have his remains, along with all of his treasures
(03:51):
hidden and have people search for them with the poem.
But he beat the cancer, and in twenty ten he
decided to hide his treasure anyway as a way to
get people outside and off of their devices. And it's
also during this time that geocatching became popular. I think
that is super cool. Forrest Finn lived to see whose
(04:15):
treasure found and then died later that year in twenty twenty,
so that's.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Kind of cool. That is super cool. And also now
what I'm going to be doing when I'm old.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Right, like if I give it a terminal diagnosis, so
fucking lutely.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, not that I really have treasure unless you count
like an obnoxious amount of Crystal's treasure. Yeah, and books,
So basically Sierra is going to be the only one
looking for it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Finding out this information just made me want to do
geocashing more, and not just finding it, but making the geocatches, Like, yes,
I want to write little poems and hide stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
You know, they'll have my creepy calcified skip rope pandlem Yeah. Cashing.
I didn't actually know what that was until the second
time I went to see Sierra and me and her
kids went geocashing in Florida, and the rule is you
must only pick one treasure and you must put something
(05:14):
in the box. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, the right rules something.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
We left a lot of twisted on corkstickers, so if
you are a particular listener in Florida, you may have
our original stickers. Oh I forgot about that, and I
kind of love that. But I picked this because it
looked creepy and old and calcified. And the weird part
is is I'm not really sure what it is. It
looks like a skip ro pandel though, but then I'm
(05:40):
not sure how it attaches to it. I really hoping
it's not a bone, but that's what we initially thought
it was, and you know, naturally it lives in the podcast.
It was interesting, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Speaking of treasures, this episode pairs well with a drink
I found on a website called Seduction in the Kitchen,
which I right. The drink is called Pirate's Booty, and
it calls for three ounces of pineapple juice, one ounce
of cranberry juice, three fourths an ounce of coconut, one
fourth teaspoon of edible gold glitter, and then add booze
(06:15):
if you choose in the amount of one and a
half ounces of spice rum serving coconut for coconut rum.
I did not add alcohol, so mine came out a
little bit pinker. Then you don't have alcohol in it?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, mine I put inside of my skull glass because
skull and crossbones was pirate related. Naturally. Yeah, it's a
versatile cup and it is really tasty. I am naturally
a fan of rum and pineapple juice because that's what
Kevin and I drank on our honeymoon pretty much the
entire time in Hawaii. I asked him today, I'm like,
(06:53):
do we have coconut rum at home or malibuu? And
He's like, yep, still not ready to drink that shit.
We definitely overdid it while we were there, but I
still have a fond taste of it. I skipped the
edible glitter mostly because I couldn't find gold edible glitter
that and after Cierus Glitter conspiracy episode, I'm a little
(07:13):
afraid of it. Still.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, I have edible I mean it's not glitter, it's
like sprinkles that are gold.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Like, is it the same thing that you've used that before? Yeah,
it's for making It still works, but yours is very pretty.
How is it with the extra coconut.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It's good. I didn't use extra coconut. I just used
instead of coconut rum, I used the coconut cream. Oh
gotch and then no regular rum. So I also what
did I say goes in it?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Kinda juice? Cranberry?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah? I also put what did I put? Pineapple? Cranberry edible? Oh?
And so instead of rum, I needed more liquids. I
put some lime in it.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It works probably, but it's good, so it sounds tasty.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I really like it. Thank you for picking a pirate's booty.
Kevin was really cute and he caught up mango and
I'm like, that's not what's in the drink, but I'll
just eat it.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Just have a little bowl of sliced uff mango. I'm
not upset. It's a really good mango. When you go
to the store, What mangoes do you buy?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Mango?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Right? Right? Right? I forget about this every time, and
every time it catches me off guard as being the
funniest thing you've said.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I can't do it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's like armpit smell. Okay, listeners, what kind of mangoes
do you buy? Because I really like Adolpho mangoes, the little,
the wide orange ones or yellowy ones. Not the ones
that are green and pink. Those ones are hard to eat,
harder to eat than they are worth. Then not you
think it's sweet.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
The green and pink ones are the ones that I
know taste like armpit smell. So maybe I could try
the orange ones.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
The little, the little, yellowy orange ones are quite sweet
and quite tasty. Listeners, let me know if you agree
with Sira, and let us know if you've been listening
long enough to have understood that reference, because I would
like to send you some stickers and a little thank
you for listening.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, if you if you heard Alicia say what kind
of mangos do you buy? And you thought I was
gonna say, mango taste like arpet smell, you're a winner.
Okay you are already please?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah he's right. I just who's who that? Like? How
do you know what armpits taste like?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I didn't say what they taste like? They taste like
armpits smell.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Noses and mouths are connected. Sometimes things can taste like
smells that sometimes things can smell like tastes.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I often wonder that if I didn't have horrendous sinus issues,
how much I could taste?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Did you start? You don't realize.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Mangos are only good because I can. I was gonna say, though,
did your taste or like sense of taste, get better
when you stop smoking?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Everyone says that I didn't really notice.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No, that's so interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I was sure. I mean, I I was food sheltered
as a child. We've talked about this on Bitch and Wine.
I didn't eat very much when I was little, and
I started smoking as soon as I left That's why
my house. And then I stopped smoking, and then I
started trying new things, So maybe I would have, but
(10:48):
I just didn't taste those things until after I had stopped.
Maybe you know what I mean, Like I don't know.
Has always been weird, all right, So anyway. The first
documented gold nugget found in the Americas was in seventeen
ninety nine in North Carolina, but it wasn't even discovered
to have been gold until the eighteen hundreds, and it
(11:13):
wasn't investigated much further than that in the area either.
It was around the eighteen fifties that the gold rush
was officially in full swing. With California's gold rush beginning
in nineteen forty eight, and even places as far away
as Australia having a gold rush in eighteen fifty one,
(11:33):
but by eighteen fifty seven the area would be experiencing
a financial crisis known as the Panic of eighteen fifty seven.
People were mining and sifting for the gold too quickly.
It was running out and becoming more and more scarce
in the area. I feel like, I'm all you can
see is my eyelids. So I'm gonna put this somewhere else.
(11:57):
I'm like, I'm just looking at my phone.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
For those of you that are watching on youtubes, here's
got a new background. I do all sat up.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
This is my new room. It might be a little argo.
I I'm sorry if you can hear that, we're working
on it. I'm getting we got this, we got this.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I'm getting a rug.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I'm getting a rug. So many businesses had invested in
the California area when the gold was first discovered, and
so many people, some thirty thousand, had moved to the
area to find the gold. But the more people there were,
the less gold each person found, and then on September twelfth,
(12:36):
much of it that was collected would be lost, along
with the lives of four hundred and twenty five people.
The SS Central America was a wooden steamship that traveled
regularly from Central America to the east coast of the
US starting in eighteen fifty two. This allowed people, businesses,
(12:59):
and the United States government and banks to transport their
gold from the unindustrialized California area to the major manufacturing
areas of New England at its surrounding Eastern States, giving
the SS Central America the nickname of the Ship of
Gold Wild.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
I also love that our underwater crimes both involved SS
ships because I can ask Kamloops for mine with believing
the bizarre, which, by the way, we got into another
roundtable urban legend thing with them because I gave them
(13:40):
five urban legends that they had never heard of, just
from our patret. So really we're just saying something. So
shout out to Tyler and Charlie because Sierra missed them,
and shout out to SS ships. Mine wasn't carrying gold,
though mine was carrying life savers and just miscellaneous equipment
(14:01):
between Canada and the US. Wasn't exciting, No buried treasure.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
On September third, eighteen fifty seven, four hundred and seventy
seven passengers joined the one hundred and one crew members
on board the SS Central America in Panama, each passenger
carrying their own riches that they had journeyed to California
to find. Aside from carrying passengers back to New York,
(14:31):
the Ship of Gold was also acting as a postal ship,
carrying gold from the US Mint in California, which was
meant to stock the banks and help the failing businesses
back in New York and the surrounding states as the
economy was on the decline. The ship was carrying approximately
eleven point two tons of gold bars and coins from
(14:57):
the Mint, which in today's money is a about seven
hundred and sixty five million dollars worth.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Just a casual amount of gold.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, just almost a fucking billion yeh gosh.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And like also a ballsy thing to carry on a ship, Like,
wouldn't that be heavy as hell gold bars? You might like,
that's a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Right, You might think that a ship of gold would
cause it to become a target for pirates that too.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
But I didn't even go robbery. I just went pure piffics.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
But yeah, well that would make this inn on the
water crime, not an underwater one.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So it was the Mermaids, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
And the one hundred and one crew members included the
United States Navy members, so it was relatively a safe
trip if only the weather would cooperate. On September eleventh,
having made it from Central America all the way to
South Carolina, the ship of Gold ran right into a hurricane.
(16:05):
The ship's sails were torn, and there was so much
water on board that the crew and passengers had to
start a bucket brigade to stop the ship from going
down like full on, pass the bucket and toss the
water over ridiculous, like a site to behold, no kidding.
(16:28):
Their efforts afforded them another day and a rescue of
one hundred and fifty three passengers by lifeboats, but the
weather was still bad and even the rescue ship couldn't
stick around long enough to be of much help without
going down themselves. At about eight pm on September twelfth,
eighteen fifty seven, the SS Central America sank, along with
(16:51):
its captain and four hundred and twenty four others, and
all of the Gold years later, the historic ship of
Gold became a legend for treasure hunters, but try as
they might, no one could find the sunken ship until
AE hundred and thirty one years later Tommy Thompson, a
(17:14):
marine engineer called treasure hunter Tommy Thompson Tommy Thompson, a
marine engineer and treasure hunter born in Indiana, became obsessed
with attempting to discover the wreckage of the SS Central America.
In nineteen eighty three, now living in Columbus, Ohio, Tommy
(17:36):
recruited the help of a geologist, scientist, and historian named
Bob Evans, who was hired to go over and over
and back over historical accounts of the ship's last known location,
wind speeds and directions, and other historical documents that might
give way to where the ship went down. Together with
(17:56):
the help of a man named Larry Stone, an expert
in underwater search theory. Didn't know you could be an
expert in that, and nearly three years of research later,
the group was able to create a list of probable
places where the ship would be today as in nineteen
eighty four, Wait nineteen eighty six, because I said three
(18:19):
years later. Now they just had to get down there
and search. But how would they reach the depths of
the bottom of the ocean.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Why would you want to? Well, besides the treasure.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
But besides seven hundred and sixty five million dollars.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Or aside, does I don't know? That's the only contributing
factor to why I would even attempt to go down there.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
They came up with a business plan of sorts kickstarter
if you will. A remote controlled submarine equipped with a
camera and a claw in order to grab the gold
would be needed, as well as a boat and a
team to operate it all. But all of that costs money,
so they took their plan to investors one hundred and
(19:05):
sixty one investors to be exact, who donated a total
of twelve point five million dollars to the cause of
discovering a shipwreck worth at minimum one hundred and fifty
million dollars. Not all of them thought it would actually work,
but they had money to blow and thought this would
be a good cause to be known for if it
(19:26):
ended up working out. So all these rich people are like,
you're doing what, sure, take my money whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I'm pretty sure that's what the rich people when they
were looking for the gemstone at the beginning of the Titanic.
Did it was the same thing that they used to
the ocean to get the same Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Just after hiring a team of scientific experts and divers
with some of the money and creating the group called
the Columbus America Discovery Group, Tommy Thompson set off with
the others to the Atlantic with their underwater robot named
Nemo three.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
What happened in Nemo two in one super prototypes.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
They searched nearly all summer in nineteen eighty six and
again in nineteen eighty seven, but exactly one hundred and
thirty one years after the ship of Gold experienced that
Category two hurricane that sank it. On September eleventh, nineteen
eighty eight, Tommy Thompson and his crew discovered the wreckage
(20:33):
of the SS Central America and a large amount of gold,
claiming it claiming that it will prove to be quote
the largest treasure treasure trove in American history end quote.
Though not all of the gold was recovered, much of
it still remains on the ocean floor.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Can you imagine, just like scuba diving one day, just
coming across the gold.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Bar right there's audio of them when they first see
it in the camera of the underwater. They're so happy.
They're so fucking happy. They're like, do you know what
that is? It's so great, Like I can't imagine even
if I didn't get to keep any of it, finding
something like that that it has been missing for years.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, Like it's very cool. It's a cool side of history,
to be honest.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah. Unfortunately for Tommy Thompson and his team, though, even
one hundred and thirty one year old gold has people
looking to claim it, especially the thirty nine insurance companies
who had to pay out to the people in companies
one hundred and thirty one years ago who ensured their
lost gold.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Oh a fuck off. Come on, Paul, it a lost guys.
You can't predict a hurricane.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
The courts got involved, and the gold was stuck in
limbo as he waited for a court order to determine
who it belonged to. Ten years later, in nineteen eighty
nineteen ninety eight, the Columbus American Discovery Group was awarded
ninety two percent of the gold they recovered and were
(22:08):
ordered to give the rest to the insurance company, which
is like eight percent. It's fine. And but again they
didn't discover all of it, like they grabbed some and
that was it. There's still so much down there. I
think the amount that they grabbed, well, I'm going to
get to it. With the gold he was allowed to keep,
Tommy went into negotiations with buyers who would turn the
(22:29):
gold into usable money so that he could pay back
his investors and the people who helped him. But after
selling what he had for fifty million dollars is what
he got for it, he sort of went off grid
without paying back the thirteen million, oh that he owed
(22:50):
to investors or giving any to the other two guys
who helped him. Oh so, the investors sued Tommy Thompson,
and the courts ordered him to produce a record of
the sale of gold. How did you only get fifty
million dollars? And why aren't you sharing it?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
During this time, it was learned that the company he
sold the gold to gave him an extra one million
off the record to keep for himself, okay, as well
as allowing him to keep five hundred of the gold
coins worth about three million that he would not have
to report to the government or the other people that
(23:31):
he was supposed to be paying, but guess what they
found out. As I said, though, he was sort of
off grid at this point. His lawyer was attending hearings
for him on his behalf, but he was living in
Florida under different names, many different names. In two thousand
and eight, he was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida for possession
(23:54):
of prescription drugs at a gas station and was found
to have nine different driver's license on him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Casual met somebody in a parking lot for those.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Oh yeah, he was let go. No charges were pressed
against him by the police officers. I wonder how much
gold he gave them. And then he just continued to
live his unassumed life, unknown to anyone around him. He
rented a mansion in Florida, but nothing was ever put
in his name, and he paid everything to the landlord
(24:29):
in cash with moldy one hundred dollar bills.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Ooo why were they moldy?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Okay. So the theories are either there were one hundred
dollar bills on the boat that he pulled up it's
like this is the money I'm paying you with, or
he One of the theories is the more believed theory
is that he was hiding the money. He did get
the fifty million dollars in some sort of underwater area
(24:57):
in Florida.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I don't know why, but you know interesting. Finally, after
not getting an inventory of the gold, the Ohio judge
ordered Tommy through his attorney, to appear in court in
August of twenty twelve, and when Tommy Thompson still did
not show up, he was considered a wanted fugitive.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Oh It's escalated so quickly.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
When the US marshals finally discovered where Tommy had been
living and raided the place, they were too late, and
the only thing they found was a book called How
to Live Your Life Invisible, empty bank wraps for ten
thousand dollars, stacks of one hundred dollars bills, and twelve
active cell phones. So he was like completely, you know,
(25:48):
living a whole different life. In twenty fifteen, Tommy Thompson
was found and arrested in Boca Raton, Florida. He pleaded
guilty to skipping his hearing and was sentenced to two
years in prison under the condition that he would tell
the courts the location of the five hundred gold coins.
(26:09):
He was able to not so secretly keep for himself.
But the most that Tommy Thompson would admit to is
that he put the coins in a trust in Belize.
He claims to not remember anything more than that. It
was decided that his two year sentence would not begin
until he disclosed the location of the coins, and he
(26:33):
would incur a one thousand dollars a day fine for
every day that he didn't tell, all.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
While being held in so much money.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
How long until you tell? Like, you just found.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
These I don't have any so one day?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
I mean no, I mean you have found these coins.
You have fifty million dollars. Okay, you you found these coins.
You just want to keep these coins. But they're like,
if you give us, you're gonna get charged one thousand
dollars per day until you give up these coins? How
long until you tell? And you're in jail, until you
tell them where they are? How long until you tell?
Speaker 1 (27:14):
I still feel like I'm not made for you?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Ready? You're ready for the crazy part? It has been
ten years Tommy Thompson has been in jail and is
in jail to this day. Since he looked like.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Fifteens, I need to know what he looks like.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
He's not telling where the fucking coins are.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
He look unhinged. He looks like he was a pirate.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Tommy Thompson has been in jail and is in jail
to this day, since twenty fifteen, all because he refuses
to tell the courts the location of the five hundred
coins that he helped discover and bring up from wreckage
of the historic ship of gold, the SS Central America
this year. In twenty twenty five, the judge finally decided
(28:09):
to end his being held in contempt one thousand dollars
a day. Thing as Tommy Thompson million dollars though is
now much money, seventy three years old, and could actually know,
there's a chance he actually no longer knows where the
coins are. I think at first it was a matter
(28:29):
of principle not wanting to tell, and Tommy and the
courts were playing chicken to see who would give up first.
It's clear the courts gave up first, but at a
pretty high cost to Tommy. His win at the game
of chicken costed him a total fine of three million,
three hundred and thirty five thousand dollars, which is likely
(28:52):
more than the gold coins are worth. They're only worth
three million.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, he also.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Has to pay nineteen million that the courts awarded to
the investors to pay them back, which he never has.
He spent ten years of his life so far behind bars,
and now he is just beginning his two year sentence
for not showing up to court in twenty twelve, so
he's still not done. He has two more years to go.
(29:22):
I don't know how I feel about all of this.
In a way, I feel bad for Tommy Thompson. I
think he should have just paid the investors back and
maybe the courts never would have gotten involved. So maybe
this is his karma. Maybe if he just paid them
the thirteen million, kept the other you know, thirty seven
and the gold coins, no one would have known he
(29:43):
had the gold coins. But at the same time, you know,
so karma, that's what you get. But at the same time,
I understand wanting to keep some of the coins for
yourself and not turning them into today money, like he
was ordered to turn all of it into today money
so it could be given away. But it's like a
souvenir for the hard work and the mystery. Really, he
(30:03):
was so obsessed with solving for so long and he
was actually able to solve it. You know, that's super cool.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And it's like kind of sad too that, like he
was so excited he had this win. He searched for
it forever, went to jail. Yeah, I had to lose
basically all of it by holding out for one thousand
dollars a day. And now he doesn't even really get
to enjoy it, Like.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, he's like he's like, fuck you, government, let me
let free.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I found it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Fighters keepers, Yeah, losers, weepers.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
We learned this on the playground.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Since all of this has taken place, Bob Evans, one
of the you know, initial partners of Tommy Thompson, was
granted permission to continue excavating the ship's wreckage. Much more
gold has been brought up and sold, and Bob has
created a new search group without Tommy Thompson. Good for him,
he's doing great. I don't think Tommy cares though. For him,
(31:01):
I think it was the thrill of the chase. He
found it, and that's what matters. That is the case
of the I don't know, the SS Central America, the
underwater criminal, Tommy Thompson, treasure hunter, I don't know. I
don't know what you call it. It's weird, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, it is weird, and I'm actually really surprised that
I've never heard it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, so I'm glad you brought.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
It to our attention. And if anyone ever finds their
way at the bottom of the sea, yeah, you never
know what you're gonna find.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
You never know.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
You never know.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Alien, oh for sure, Animals that haven't discovered. Oh god, gold, gold,
who knows?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I mean, go away, go away?
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I know I have a fruit fly flying around my
face on me. Don't later anyway, don't squish it, It'll
just turn into dust. I don't understand moths, Like, what
is what are they made out of? That? When you
squished they were all made from dust?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
You know?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Really true?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
It literally is?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Okay, couldn't agree more. Well, I'm kind of sad. I
stick with what I said. I'm sad for him. I'm
with you. I feel bad for him. I don't think
that's fair.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I feel bad for him. I do think he was
sketchy for not just paying back the investors.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Oh for sure. But he was absolutely greedy for that. Yeah,
like you put it, it's absolutely a game of chicken,
Like who's gonna fold first, and he didn't, So I
mean he didn't. Got to respect the stubbornness. But that's
saying stubbornness is what helped him find it in the
first place.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
I mean, after you've done like three years, it's like,
I've already done three. I'm going to keep going. I
can't get those three years back. I'm not giving up
the coins now, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
It's true, It's like, what how far would you go?
Because like I said, prison's not made for me.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah, Like like you after the first couple of days,
like maybe a month, I'm like, okay, i gotta get
out of here. But if it's already been if he
knows he has at least two years and it's already
been a couple months, and like you're going on your
third year, then it's like why even because afterwards you
have to give away your gold coins, you know what
(33:34):
I mean, Like, if I'm already doing two almost three years,
why give them up? Keep me the bungs you on,
I'm not giving them up, Like it's the.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Principle of the thing. Yeah, I respect that you're just
a stubborn to stop. Yes, I also love that that's
his name. I love that that's what he looks like.
If you're not following us on social media, I will share,
of course, and it will be at our woods site.
And you know, our website has been inactive for a
little while guys, because we haven't been posting, and I'm sorry,
(34:08):
but we're back now, so they you know. Weirdly enough,
we got like the most amount of patrons than we
have not posting. So thank you to those who jointed
who were just like, fuck this, I need more, Alicia
and Sierra, we appreciate you. Sorry, We're sorry. No, no, no,
everybody was like wishing you well and hoping for the best.
And honest was.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
When I got out of it, look at my room.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
I know, it's so beautiful. I love the color. It's funny.
Was there a similar color in your last place on
the walls or yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
And not. It was much darker, it was more foresty.
But yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Okay, okay, because when you were watching TV the other
day and you sent like a snapchat or something of
you watching the Karen Reid Trials, I was like, your living.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Room wall looks the same that was my bedroom walls.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
But yeah, no, I like it. I'm excited to see
the rest of the place. Send me a photo at
least of your creepy bookshelf. Always cool and uh, speaking
of snippets and things to look forward to in life,
I want to share my something happy with you because
I transitioned, and that's just how we're going to do this.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Tell me things.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
I found the perfect necklace. It is a little metal
cage that holds my crystals, so now I get to
wear them as accessories and bring the healing properties on
the go with me. And I know that sounds really dumb, but.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
It is not at all I made.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
That's a lot of fucking crystals.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, I made, Bubba, you've made out of rope though
not metal, but I love them. They're awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I like the rope. I know this is like really bright,
but it's like I have howl lighted there right now,
but I haven't tested it with the smaller ones. That
makes me a little more nervous, but it's so cool.
You just like pull this little thing up and it's
like a little cage that you drop your.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I'm excited. I wanted one of these forever. I think
I asked for one for Christmas. And for my birthday
and I didn't get one, so I'm like, yeah, houck
you guys, I'm buying it myself. Yeah, sometimes you just
gotta And uh, that adds to my list of accessories
because I got to look a little bit nicer when
I'm at work. So there we go. And what is
(36:27):
your something happy other than being in your new home.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yeah, I'm finally in the new home. This picture right
here is the coolest thing I've ever seen in the moment.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I'm obsessed love it.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
It's the best. It's like a Victorian lady in a
field with chickens and a UFL. It's the best thing ever.
It's also it is that is me in the past
slash future. I don't really know anyway, but you live
in the stuff if you want it. Yeah, is me
(37:00):
in another life. Mostly my happiness comes from the fact
that my brother is here living with us, and I'm
so excited for him to experience all of the Alabama
things and discover new things and learn new things.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
And about it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I'm excited. I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
And I know that you guys are really close, so
that'll be cool for you guys to be together. Yeah. Also,
you know be sure Forde to look out for the
wild time that is the peanut festival.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Oh yeah, I watch out today.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Watch out. They're throwing peanuts. It's rogue.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
It's so fun.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Every time Steer sends me videos of like that is
weird behavior. Get catching peanuts off the road, all right.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
If people come with bags, they like scoop them up
off the ground in bags.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
And then make boiled peanuts afterwards.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Custure mark exactly exactly that.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Every time I see a peanut in a shell, I
think of you, which happens more often than I care
to admit, because I've recently learned where this is coming from.
But I think I've complained about it over the years
that every time I rotate my dirt in the spring
to plant new flowers, that I find fucking peanuts and
random shit in my dirt all the time. Okay, like
(38:29):
whole peanuts.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Peanuts grow in dirt, I.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Know, but they're not growing in my flower bed. Okay,
And so I'm like, where the buck are these peanuts
coming from? I figured it out my neighbor. He's on
our strata, Cancel. He's really nice. His name is Greg.
He puts peanuts on his balcony for the squirrels because
(38:53):
he lives on the ground floor, and then the blue
jays take them. And then the blue jays fly onto
my deck and bury them in the dirt, and they
like dig with their little beaks and they stick them in.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
The dirt to record it. I need I didn't need.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
To because he's home all day, so he witnessed it
because we cleaned the deck every spring, and then I'll
go out there and there's dirt everywhere, and there's little
holes in my planters and I'm like, what the fuck
happened here? Like, what is this crime scene? And so
that's so great blue jays and so every time I
dig a peanut out of my dirt, I think, yeah,
(39:31):
And we have a squirrel friend that comes onto our
deck and it has encouraged me to have to clean
quicker because we put turf on our deck like the grass.
But we had one strip of my parents' grass from before,
but it's different. So we rolled it up and we're
gonna give it to my brother and his girlfriend for
their patio. But the squirrel has been hiding things in it.
(39:55):
It's on my deck and I'm scared to open it
because I'm like, what a am I going to find
in there? It scared the crap out of Kevin because
it just like popped out, rolled up like a carpet
just popped out of the whole like and he's like,
what the fuck? So I'm like, is there babies in there? Like,
I don't know what I'm gonna find. If I find
little babies, I think my day might be made great.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Anyways, that was a very random rant about peanuts, But
I'm happy for you. But this was a lot of
fun and we hope you guys enjoyed it, and we
will be back next week for some exciting stuff for
our two hundred episode part one, and we will have
some exciting announcements and things for you then. But in
(40:41):
the meantime, be twisted.
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