Treasure hunters have been tuning in closely to Joe Rogan’s podcast. Curiosity peaked when they heard a guest from the podcast mention valuable artifacts in New York City’s waterway. A search in the area revealed prehistoric mammoth bones.
John Reeves, Alaskan gold miner and fossil enthusiast, made an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast and mentioned a draft of a report by a former American Museum of Natural History worker with connections to fossils and bones dumped in the river in the 1940s.
“I’m going to start a bone rush,” Reeves said. “We’ll see if anybody out there’s got a sense of adventure. Let me tell you something about mammoth bones, mammoth tusks — they’re extremely valuable.”
People felt a surge of energy as they darted to the river with boats, diving gear and technology like remote-operated cameras to execute the search in a thorough manner.
Don Gann, a 35-year-old commercial diver, went deep between Manhattan and Brooklyn for almost two weeks with his brother and two workers. “I think the chances are just as good as the lottery. And people buy those tickets every day,” said Gann.
There were a few mammoth bones found in Alaska that are put up for display in the Upper West Side museum. However, officials aren’t hopeful about any other bones floating around in the river.
“We do not have any record of the disposal of these fossils in the East River, nor have we been able to find any record of this report in the museum’s archives or other scientific sources,” the museum said in a statement after the podcast aired.
That statement still doesn’t stop people from searching for valuables. Gann said he had seen other groups of fossil hunters on the river during his trips. “I’ve hunted for weird artifacts my entire life, so this one, it just kind of fits into my repertoire,” he said. “If I find nothing, then I find nothing. I gave it an honest shot.”