When I moved from Tucson to go back to Iowa (a few years ago), my soul kind of cried because I felt that I would never see another treasure sign or symbol....at least not in Harlan. Boy, was I wrong.
It didn't take me long to see the signs that are carved in the Shelby County Courthouse, which is located in Harlan, Iowa. The signs that I saw on the east side of this building were the very same signs and symbols that I had been studying for decades in Tucson!! There are no mines of gold or silver in Harlan, and the treasure signs carved on the courthouse would eventually lead me to 7 treasure accumulation rooms located in and around this town.
I would realize later that the very first treasure room was located right under the courthouse, and sings also showed the tunnel openings around the town square that are located in the basements of certain business's. One of the main tunnels led right across the street from the courthouse, to a building that started out (back in the very early 1900's) as a bank. Other tunnels (from the courthouse) lead to buildings that originally housed a bar, a lawyers office, and other businesses with "connections."
As you follow these treasure signs from the courthouse, the next treasure room is located just north of the square, next to the Shelby County Speedway. There used to be an old Hotel located just north of the speedway, and I remember seeing the remains of it back when I was a kid. Today, nothing remains of this hotel, except for the stories about how Jesse James used to visit this hotel quite regularly. This hotel was also a stage coach stop, so the stories about Jesse didn't mean much to me for a while. Then, as this second treasure room location became known, it hit me that this old hotel was just a block or so away from this treasure room location. By then I also understood that Jesse James was something of a "regional sentinel", and that he was in charge of making sure that the sentinels in charge of treasure rooms throughout the Midwest were not stealing from these rooms that they were supposed to be protecting. Doc Noss was a sentinel, and he was killed for doing just that, stealing from the treasure rooms that he was supposed to protect.
Anyway, I began to ask around town to see if any of the old timers had heard about any places where Jesse James was known to visit. One man told me about how his grandmother had repeatedly told stories about how Jesse and his gang would visit, quite frequently, a place south of Harlan, known as Cuppy's Grove. One day I went out to Cuppy's, (to investigate and to prove my theory that wherever Jesse James visited more than once, that he was there to inspect the treasure rooms contents, and to make sure that the room had all of the contents that it was supposed to have. Jesse had a manifest of every treasure room, and he knew what was supposed to in the rooms) and sure enough, there was the bent tree, with one branch bent to make a "4", which is a major treasure sign. When you find a bent tree in the shape of a 4, then you are literally within a few hundred feet of a treasure accumulation room. With more searching, I was able to locate the covered opening to the treasure room.
In my time, I have been in trouble on a few occasions, which meant that I had to go to court (yes, in THAT courthouse). I would get there early and pace the floors, waiting for my time to come. I noticed in one room, a Superior Court Judge office, a map of Shelby County. It is a huge county map, about 4 feet wide by 5 feet long. This map was created in the year 1883. Knowing about how these types of maps show the locations of the treasure rooms in the counties that they represent, I wanted to get a close up view of this map. I knew the Judge....a great guy. One day while in the courthouse waiting (once again), this judge walked in and after a few pleasantries, I asked him if I could have the map for a few days to study. He said "no problem." (I still have it, after three years).
Once I got the map home, I unrolled it and put it up on a wall for easier studying. Now I already knew about the Cuppy's Grove treasure room as well as the treasure room by the speedway, so I immediately looked for these locations on the county map. BINGO!!!! Both of these treasure rooms are located (using coded symbols) on the map!!! But it didn't stop there. By the time I was done, there were a total of 7 treasure rooms located throughout Shelby County, and that doesn't include the treasure room that is located in a tunnel under the Masonic Lodge, Parian Lodge 321.
Across from this Lodge there USED TO BE an apartment complex that started out as a funeral home. Built in the early 1900's, this funeral home became an apartment in the 1950's or 60's. I rented an apartment in the basement of this building, and had permission to gut it out a remodel it. As the layers of sheetrock and floor tiles came off, I began to notice treasure signs carved into the brick walls and carved into the concrete fllor that had been covered up with tiles. These signs spoke of a tunnel that went to the Masonic Lodge right across the street. On this apartment building was a huge bell, and the bell is a symbol for a "BANK." As in...MONEY.
I called the head of the Lodge and spoke to him about this fact. At first he denied everything, then he realized he couldn't just blow me off, and then we had a very pleasant conversation. Three days later I was kicked out of the apartment,, and 7 months later the building was burned down. It was convenient that, during the fire, the pumper trucks didn't work, so the fire department called another truck, from a town 40 miles away....giving the fire just enough time to destroy the building.
Well, you can burn down a building, but you can't burn down a tunnel. Once the lot was cleared of all debris, the Police Department next door to this apartment, decided to build an addition to their station, effectively covering up the tunnel entrance that leads to the masonic Lodge.
These treasure rooms in Shelby County are all still there, but how much is stored in them is anyone's guess. Once the crops get out of the field by the speedway (where the first treasure room is located), there'll be a recovery made. How big or how small of a recovery has yet to be determined.
It didn't take me long to see the signs that are carved in the Shelby County Courthouse, which is located in Harlan, Iowa. The signs that I saw on the east side of this building were the very same signs and symbols that I had been studying for decades in Tucson!! There are no mines of gold or silver in Harlan, and the treasure signs carved on the courthouse would eventually lead me to 7 treasure accumulation rooms located in and around this town.
I would realize later that the very first treasure room was located right under the courthouse, and sings also showed the tunnel openings around the town square that are located in the basements of certain business's. One of the main tunnels led right across the street from the courthouse, to a building that started out (back in the very early 1900's) as a bank. Other tunnels (from the courthouse) lead to buildings that originally housed a bar, a lawyers office, and other businesses with "connections."
As you follow these treasure signs from the courthouse, the next treasure room is located just north of the square, next to the Shelby County Speedway. There used to be an old Hotel located just north of the speedway, and I remember seeing the remains of it back when I was a kid. Today, nothing remains of this hotel, except for the stories about how Jesse James used to visit this hotel quite regularly. This hotel was also a stage coach stop, so the stories about Jesse didn't mean much to me for a while. Then, as this second treasure room location became known, it hit me that this old hotel was just a block or so away from this treasure room location. By then I also understood that Jesse James was something of a "regional sentinel", and that he was in charge of making sure that the sentinels in charge of treasure rooms throughout the Midwest were not stealing from these rooms that they were supposed to be protecting. Doc Noss was a sentinel, and he was killed for doing just that, stealing from the treasure rooms that he was supposed to protect.
Anyway, I began to ask around town to see if any of the old timers had heard about any places where Jesse James was known to visit. One man told me about how his grandmother had repeatedly told stories about how Jesse and his gang would visit, quite frequently, a place south of Harlan, known as Cuppy's Grove. One day I went out to Cuppy's, (to investigate and to prove my theory that wherever Jesse James visited more than once, that he was there to inspect the treasure rooms contents, and to make sure that the room had all of the contents that it was supposed to have. Jesse had a manifest of every treasure room, and he knew what was supposed to in the rooms) and sure enough, there was the bent tree, with one branch bent to make a "4", which is a major treasure sign. When you find a bent tree in the shape of a 4, then you are literally within a few hundred feet of a treasure accumulation room. With more searching, I was able to locate the covered opening to the treasure room.
In my time, I have been in trouble on a few occasions, which meant that I had to go to court (yes, in THAT courthouse). I would get there early and pace the floors, waiting for my time to come. I noticed in one room, a Superior Court Judge office, a map of Shelby County. It is a huge county map, about 4 feet wide by 5 feet long. This map was created in the year 1883. Knowing about how these types of maps show the locations of the treasure rooms in the counties that they represent, I wanted to get a close up view of this map. I knew the Judge....a great guy. One day while in the courthouse waiting (once again), this judge walked in and after a few pleasantries, I asked him if I could have the map for a few days to study. He said "no problem." (I still have it, after three years).
Once I got the map home, I unrolled it and put it up on a wall for easier studying. Now I already knew about the Cuppy's Grove treasure room as well as the treasure room by the speedway, so I immediately looked for these locations on the county map. BINGO!!!! Both of these treasure rooms are located (using coded symbols) on the map!!! But it didn't stop there. By the time I was done, there were a total of 7 treasure rooms located throughout Shelby County, and that doesn't include the treasure room that is located in a tunnel under the Masonic Lodge, Parian Lodge 321.
Across from this Lodge there USED TO BE an apartment complex that started out as a funeral home. Built in the early 1900's, this funeral home became an apartment in the 1950's or 60's. I rented an apartment in the basement of this building, and had permission to gut it out a remodel it. As the layers of sheetrock and floor tiles came off, I began to notice treasure signs carved into the brick walls and carved into the concrete fllor that had been covered up with tiles. These signs spoke of a tunnel that went to the Masonic Lodge right across the street. On this apartment building was a huge bell, and the bell is a symbol for a "BANK." As in...MONEY.
I called the head of the Lodge and spoke to him about this fact. At first he denied everything, then he realized he couldn't just blow me off, and then we had a very pleasant conversation. Three days later I was kicked out of the apartment,, and 7 months later the building was burned down. It was convenient that, during the fire, the pumper trucks didn't work, so the fire department called another truck, from a town 40 miles away....giving the fire just enough time to destroy the building.
Well, you can burn down a building, but you can't burn down a tunnel. Once the lot was cleared of all debris, the Police Department next door to this apartment, decided to build an addition to their station, effectively covering up the tunnel entrance that leads to the masonic Lodge.
These treasure rooms in Shelby County are all still there, but how much is stored in them is anyone's guess. Once the crops get out of the field by the speedway (where the first treasure room is located), there'll be a recovery made. How big or how small of a recovery has yet to be determined.
