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That's BetterHelp.com.
Hey, it's your favorite secret host from your favorite secret podcast.
And my secret adventure today took me to a truly great mystery subject.
Buried treasure.
That's right.
We've got holes digging shovels, divers flooding the works, plus a historical cameo by a certain president of the United States.
So keep on listening.
I'm Carly Q, and this is Who, When, Wow!
Mystery Edition.
Our past is vast and wild.
Many things have brought us to this day.
As history has been compiled, Some important details have slipped away In our spectacular shared existence.
We consider it our business to recognize a few folks you may not know.
Made important inventions.
Asked all the right questions.
History will never be the same.
I can't believe it.
I told Linda all about it on my way to the basement.
It's a one-billion-piece, three-dimensional puzzle of the Statue of Liberty holding a pie.
Three-dimensional puzzle?
Yes, like a regular puzzle, except instead of just being an image of the building, it's the scale model of the whole building itself.
I can't figure it out.
The reviews call this model the most impossible puzzle ever. created.
I am struggling so hard, it is making me want to brush out my curls.
Not the brush, Carly.
Just imagine the frizz.
I know, I know.
But I am determined to finish it, no matter what.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Down in the basement, I found Lewis already there waiting for me.
Kali Q!
Oh, he didn't do that!
Let me guess, you couldn't wait for a new time-sealed mystery.
What can I say?
I'm hooked.
Like me with this 3D puzzle.
Huh?
Oh, nothing.
Just an insanely difficult puzzle I'm working on.
A puzzle?
My bother.
But before I could explain to him the joys of mastering the impossible, something new came down the vacuum tube.
A new time-sealed file!
Event 1795.
Oak Island Money Pit.
Oak Island Money Pit?
Ooh, a pit full of money.
I like the sound of that.
I pulled out my digital assistant device HDAD and entered in the event keywords.
Oak Island Money Pit. refers to a stash of buried treasure on Oak Island, Nova Scotia.
Buried treasure?
Many treasure hunters have tried and failed to recover it since the late 18th century.
Hole emoji, bank of money emoji.
What kind do you think it is?
Gold?
Jewels?
Secret alien artifacts?
Um, H-Dad?
Analyzing.
While each dad got down to analyzing, Lewis went back upstairs.
See you at lunchtime, you know, for the travel back in time and find money thing.
You bet.
Oh, hey, Nibbles.
You waited for Lewis to leave, huh?
I filled in my rat friend Nibbles on the whole puzzle situation.
Look up a guide for the puzzle?
No way!
Because it defeats the whole point.
I've got to solve it on my own.
After a few more rounds of debating the ethics of cheating at puzzles, I finally got down to work.
And a few hours later... Attention, butthead employees.
It's mindful Monday lunch break.
Eat your meals and have your meals.
Yes!
Lunch!
I should call Louis.
And there he is.
Louis, Nibbles, and I took off for the elevator.
Odie!
Hello, basement companion.
Lewis, what have we got today?
A mystery all about buried treasure on a spot called Oak Island.
Heard of it?
I believe I have.
If I remember right, all sorts of things were rumored to be buried there.
Gold, Marie Antoinette's jewels, the Holy Grail, Shakespeare's manuscripts.
What is this, a who's who of the world's greatest missing objects?
We could solve like ten mysteries at once.
Okay, first, let's review our time travel rules.
No changing the past, and don't forget to be back by the end of lunchtime.
Okay.
Also, the elevator's time cloak function will make your clothing more appropriate to the location.
Ooh, cannot wait to see what it cooks up for us this time.
Remember, too, that you can always fast forward to another date on the file.
So many people have hunted this treasure over the years.
If you can't find enough clues in 1795, you may want to jump ahead to see what was found later.
Sounds like a plan.
Then I think you two are ready.
But remember, dig too deep and you might never come back up.
Wait!
Oh, what a beautiful island.
Trees everywhere, clear blue sky, the ocean sparkling all around us.
Fishing gear?
Oh, we're wearing fishing gear.
I look terrible in boot foot waders.
These ankles need to breathe.
I don't know.
I like it.
I'm loving all the pockets on this vest.
Whee!
Me too!
Oh, hey, Nibbles.
I love this.
It's like a jungle gym all over your clothing.
Watch out for the fishing lures, okay?
Shh!
Look!
There's someone nearby.
Lewis was right.
There was a teen boy with a shovel sitting a few yards away.
And right next to him, a big hole in the ground.
Nibbles stuffed down into one of my pockets as we walked over.
Good morning.
Good morning.
You fishing here around the island?
Uh, yes.
Yes, we are.
We catch fish all day, every day.
Fish love us, and we love them.
Sometimes I even- Carly.
Yes, right.
Okay, I'm Carly, and this is Louis.
What's happening here?
Name's Daniel.
Nice to meet ya.
A few days ago, I found a dip in the ground here, and scars on that tree over there.
I figured that might mean the use of a pulley system.
A pulley system?
Like for raising and lowering things.
Perhaps down a hole?
He gestured to the hole, so we peeked out over the edge.
About 15 feet below, we could see two other boys digging out the bottom.
Hello!
You know those guys?
Those are my friends Christopher and Luke.
There's a rumor here about Pirate's Booty.
Two million pounds buried on this island.
We think it might be here.
Really?
You found anything?
Lots of tool marks. plus a layer of flagstone about two feet down.
And then 10 feet below that, a platform of rotted oak logs.
But unfortunately, we're not gonna be able to dig much more.
Ooh, shovel fatigue, de-exhaustion.
Nice!
Well, we don't really have the right tools.
And there's only the three of us.
Unless you two want to help?
We'd give you a cut of the prize, of course.
Oh, sorry, Danny boy.
My fisher associate and I just need to discuss a moment.
What is it, Lewis?
I don't want to dig, Carly.
Dirt under my fingernails?
Everyone at work will know something's up.
And we're not supposed to mess with stuff anyway.
But Odie said if we can't find enough clues here, we should jump forward in time.
So maybe we head back to the elevator?
Anything other than digging.
We excused ourselves from Daniel.
Hey, Dan!
Uh, what's over there?
Huh?
And ran back to the elevator where I punched in the next date from the file.
Eight years later, 1803.
He's still looking!
Ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha!
This time, no digging!
We stepped back out to find the island mostly the same, except there were at least a dozen people over by the hole.
Look!
That guy with the shovel!
Isn't that...
Sure looks like him, but older?
Funny how time works that way.
Hello there.
You two look very familiar.
Have we met before?
Uh, yeah.
We happened to stop here one day on our fishing route.
What was that, eight years ago?
You and your friends were digging out that hole.
That's right.
Goodness, it doesn't look like you've aged a day.
Oh, yeah.
We have excellent skin care routines.
Where have you been?
I thought you said you were fishing the island.
Oh, our boat reassigned us.
We've been working off the coast of Tennessee, Kansas, Utah.
Why are you only naming landlocked states?
So, Daniel, what's happened since we were last here?
Well, we found a businessman who bought us better tools in exchange for some of the treasure, so we've been able to dig far deeper than before.
Ooh, found anything good?
Strange stuff.
There were platforms, coconut husks, but the weirdest thing we found was a stone with writing on it.
Sadly, it's in a foreign language.
We can't make out what it says.
He pointed over by the other workers.
There on the ground was a square stone two feet on each side.
Unreadable mystery stone?
I wonder what it says.
Oh, maybe it's a map to where the treasure's buried.
Or instructions on how to disable the booby traps.
Or a magical phrase that opens up the tunnel holding the gold.
Please excuse my fisher associate.
She gets very excited about mysterious clues and puzzles.
It's true.
I can't get enough.
Daniel walked over to the hole and, with everyone distracted, Lewis and I went to check out the stone.
There were two rows of letters carved into the rock.
Must be some ancient language no one speaks anymore.
Like Latin, or... But just then... Big Latin.
Commotion over by the hole.
Everybody out!
It's flooding!
All the workers were helping each other up out of the dig site.
One!
I hope they all get out, okay?
You know what I'm thinking?
That ever since Daniel mentioned coconut husks, you've been wanting coconut cream pie?
Now we're talking, baby!
No!
Well, yes, but no, no, no.
Let's go back to the elevator and jump forward in time again.
Do we have to?
My stomach is on the express train to Indigestion Town.
Ah, you'll be fine.
Come on.
I pulled Louis back to the elevator and punched in the next date from the file.
1849.
1849, here we come!
We stepped back out 40 years later now and while I would love to say something had been found, unfortunately it was kind of like Yeah, and it also feels like we've been through this before.
There was a foreman in charge who asked if we were fishermen.
Yep, that's us.
He gave us some new info on the hole, and then We found more clay, bits of wood and some links of gold chain.
What?
Oh, no.
Everybody out!
It's flooding.
Here we go again.
Back to the elevator.
Carly.
Kept fast forwarding in time, but the same thing kept happening.
First in 1861.
Here we are.
Hello there.
Everybody out.
It's flooding.
We're out of here.
Then in 1896.
Hey.
Hello there.
Everybody out.
It's flooding.
Back to the elevator.
Carly, please.
And then in 1909.
Oh, hi.
We're just a couple of fishermen who... Wait, hold on.
Did you say Roosevelt?
I did.
You wouldn't happen to be President Roosevelt, would you?
What?
President?
No, you're thinking of my cousin, Teddy.
I'm Franklin.
Franklin.
Delano.
Roosevelt.
FDR.
That's right.
How do you know my name?
Lucky guess.
Can I ask you what you're doing here?
Well, I was fascinated by stories my grandfather used to tell about this place.
So I joined up with this group looking for the treasure.
The hole's now been dug to 113 feet, but... Let me guess.
It flooded again.
Indeed it has.
We've sent divers down to investigate.
Hopefully they'll be able to find something.
I don't understand.
It seems like no one ever finds any treasure here.
Why do you all keep trying?
Well, a dozen years ago, a language professor finally translated the message on the stone.
The stone from the hole with the writing no one could understand?
That's right.
He believes it says something like, 40 feet below, 2 million pounds lie buried.
Whoa.
Pig Latin.
Just then, the divers came back up.
Ah, what did we find down there, boys?
Nothing yet, sir.
Sorry.
Oh, fiddlesticks.
I'm coming over.
Tell me everything you saw.
Goodbye, Mr. President.
I mean, Franklin.
Can I call you Franklin?
Or maybe Frank?
Farewell, my friends.
All right, Lewis, back to the... No!
Carly Q, this is it.
I am done.
What?
It is bonkers and probably dangerous to use the elevator this many times in one day.
So what?
We have to find out what happened.
Come on, we have to.
Carly?
What, Nibbles, what?
Any chance you remember Odie's riddle earlier?
Dig too deep and you might never come back up?
Uh, yeah, so?
I think this might be what she meant.
Yeah, that sometimes you gotta know when to stop.
Analysis.
H-Dad.
Took you long enough.
What you got?
Other attempts at finding the treasure took place in 1931 1935 1965 1971, the 1990s and since 2014.
A reality TV show on the History Channel.
Giant letter H emoji. and Carly Q would have had us visit each and every one of them.
Oh, shush.
H-Dad, what's been found on all these other attempts?
Nothing.
Zip.
Zero.
Bupkis.
No substantial treasure has been found other than discarded mining tools, a few pieces of jewelry and, in 2023, a handful of coins.
So then what happened here?
What's the explanation for all of this?
Theory number one.
There was no treasure and the original dip in the soil was just a natural sinkhole.
But then what about the wooden platforms and the stone?
Theory number two.
This was the site of a tar making facility for the British Navy.
That maybe explains all the random stuff down there.
Anything else?
Theory number three.
There actually is undiscovered treasure left behind by pirates or sailors from the British, French or Spanish Navy.
And yet, no one has ever found anything substantial.
Hmm.
How about that, Carly Q?
Ugh, fine.
I get it.
Attention, employees.
It's time to pack up your meals and bottle up your feels.
Mindful Monday lunch break ends in five minutes.
And so one final time, we went back to the elevator.
Think your stomach can handle one more jump?
Ugh.
There's only one way to find out.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Maybe it was these elastic waist pads I'm wearing today.
Hello, time travelers.
Any luck with your buried treasure?
Do we look like we found treasure?
You do not.
That's because despite a lot of attempts over the years, nothing substantial has ever been found.
Maybe there really is, or was, something down there.
But at this point, you really gotta think someone would have found it by now.
Not that that stopped people from looking.
Even right now, to this very day.
It actually reminds me of what you said, Odie.
Dig too deep and you might never come back up.
Did I say it?
You did say that.
And I think we get it now.
Because, just like the new treasure hunters kept coming back to dig out the pit with no luck, I kept trying to go forward in time, hoping someone had found a juicy new clue.
And sometimes you gotta know when to call it quits.
Well, sort of.
Some stuff you do just have to keep working at, no matter how long it takes.
But you also have to do what's right for you.
And after all those jumps forward in the elevator, Louis was right to have us call it a day.
Oh!
Did you hear that, Odie?
Louis was right!
We're gonna have to slap that on a sticker or something.
Okay, calm down.
I'm glad your treasure-hunting hops through time were so productive today.
But if you put any stickers in my elevator, it will be the last time you ever ride it.
Have a pleasant rest of your day.
As Louis and I walked back to my desk, I told him our adventure today had another effect on me, too.
I'm thinking that maybe I try solving some easier puzzles first and then working my way up to the more difficult ones.
What a plan!
And I would love to hear so much more about it.
But right now, I need to go chug a whole bottle of Pepto-Bismol.
Toodaloo, Carly Q!
See you tomorrow!
Bye!
And with that, it was back to work.
Even if we didn't find any treasure today and maybe I gave Louis a stomach ulcer from riding the elevator too much, it was still a pretty interesting adventure.
And we got to meet FDR before he was president.
Hashtag spoiler alert.
That doesn't happen every day.
Maybe next week we'll get to meet another old president with a great name.
Calvin Coolidge, I'm looking at you.
Anyway, until then, this is Carly Q signing off.
And remember, you never heard this.
H-Dev, initiating end credits mode.
Who Went Wow Mystery Edition is an original Tinkercast production with help from Gen Z Media.
Handshake emoji, high five emoji.
For Tinkercast, the executive producers are Guy Raz, Mindy Thomas, and Meredith Halpern-Ranzer.
The shows are written by Aaron Weissman, Danielle Nicky, Tom Van Kalken, Kenny Curtis and Mindy Thomas.
Carly Shiraki is a producing consultant.
Big shout-outs to Jed Anderson, Steph Sosa, Henry Moskal, Jessica Bode, Natasha Crandall, Rebecca Caban, Sona Ali-Mohamed, Anna Daniker, Anna Zagorski and the rest of the team at Tinkercast.
Megaphone emoji, applause emoji.
Who Went Well's theme song was composed and performed by The Pop-Ups.
For more information on their three-time Grammy-nominated all-ages music, find them at thepopupscom.
Producers for Gen Z Media are David Kreisman, Ben Strauss, Chris Terry, Claire McClanahan and Amy Cervini at gzmshowscom.
Sound design and editing is by Chris Terry and Oded Lev Ari.
Voice editing by Yoni Reckham.
Headphones emoji.
Microphone emoji.
Thumbs up emoji.
Original music was created by Jennifer Rohkamp.
And voice direction is handled by David Kreisman.
Our main cast features Carly Shiraki as Carly Q. Brandon Salerno as Louis.
Melissa Vanderschiff as Nibbles the Rat.
Kenny Curtis as H-Dad.
And Angela Desai as Odie.
Want to explore Who Went Wow's mysteries even further?
You can find free activities and resources to extend the wow at whowentwow.com.
And if you have a time-sealed mystery you want Carly Q to explore, email us at hello at tinkercastcom.
H-Day, powering off.
Made important inventions.
Asked all the right questions.
History will never be the same.
Blue Worm Wow was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
Shh, it's starting.
GCN shows Imagination Amplified.
