Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by linux_is_nice 1224 days ago
> The Declaration was carefully examined by staff when the document was re-encased in 2001, and no secret treasure map was discovered. "No, that's a Hollywood myth," Kratz said. "There is no treasure map on the back of the Declaration.
3 comments

Actually, there was a treasure map...but General Washington had to dig up the treasure in early February 1778, so that he could meet payroll and make at least "good will" payments on overdue A/R for his Continental Army.

/s

Excuse me, but the highly acclaimed documentary National Treasure says otherwise.
Interestingly, there were multiple copies of the Declaration of Independence that were printed and distributed. The one that everyone focuses on is just the copy that the delegates signed.
Even more interesting is that people keep looking at the document itself when the hidden treasure map is under the Declaration of Independence.

This is a true story - when I took my son to the National Archives in 2020 right before the pandemic, the security guard sent my son on a treasure hunt in the rotunda holding all the founding documents. He found all but one of the treasures ;)