A claim made by a guest on comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast has set off treasure hunters to New York City’s East River to look for potentially valuable prehistoric mammoth bones.
Despite a lack of evidence to support the claim, treasure seekers using boats, diving apparatuses and equipped with technology like remote-operated cameras have been searching for the valuable piece of fossil that has allegedly been dumped in the 1940s.
It all began when John Reeves, an Alaskan gold miner, appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” for an episode that aired December 30.
In that show, he talked about his land, where he has personally unearthed numerous age-old bones and tusks.
Reeves said that under previous ownership, a lot of digging was done in the first half of the 20th century looking for gold, but what was unearthed was a trove of prehistoric mammal remains.
He claimed that some of that material was brought to New York City decades ago to be handed over to the American Museum of Natural History. But in that material, some fossils and bones deemed unsuitable for the museum were dumped into the river.
Reeves cited a draft of a report put together by three men, including one who worked at the museum, that included a reference to these fossils and bones, reports AP news agency.
“I’m going to start a bone rush,” Reeves told Rogan, while reading from the draft that gave out the location: East River Drive, which is now known as the FDR Drive, at around 65th Street.
“We’ll see if anybody out there’s got a sense of adventure,” he said, adding, “Let me tell you something about mammoth bones, mammoth tusks —they’re extremely valuable.
And since then, a hoard of treasure seekers has been assembling at the river in the hopes of uncovering those potential valuable troves.
“I think the chances are just as good as the lottery. And people buy those tickets every day,” said Don Gann, 35, of New Jersey, a commercial diver who’s been out on the water since early last week.
(With inputs from agencies)
