Anyone Believe in Gasparilla?

[Golden Clue]

Oh...as far as Jose Gaspar...I really think that is indeed a crap load...but do i think pirates lived and worked in that area ....absolutely!

State Library's Work Projects Administration has a story on Gasper published in 1940
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/181522
This has a good account of Gasper and quite a lot of it sounds to be true. It'll be too much fiction to create.

 

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[jdflatblack]

Good Work!

 

[Nugget Hog]

Has anyone been poking around for any of this treasure? I am planning on a lettuce lake trip in a few months. I'm bringing my kayak this time!

 

[Golden Clue]

hey Nugget..I have exlpored the area extensively on my kayak...if you are looking for partner in crime do message me

 

[TheSeeker2]

Hi Fellow treasure hunters, this treasure has already been found. Two years ago a read where someone had gone to lettuce lake near Ft Ogden to look for the treasure and he said that the lake was infested with water moccasins and gators, so this winter I prayed for a very cold winter to chase these creatures farther south which God granted me. In December of 2009 I google earthed the area looking for the Indian burial grounds or just the mounds on the copper map and it took me and my partner two hours walking the fallen trees just to discover that what we thought were mounds from the google earth pictures turned out to be the bottom root system of a fallen tree, so we went to the small cove on the east side of the island and when I got out of the boat onto the muddy shore I immediately sank two feet deep up to my knees and had trouble pulling my feet out, my partner made it to the woods and threw me some thick branches that I needed to step on to prevent me from sinking. It took us 1 1/2 hours to go through heavy brush to a palm tree just 100 ft away which after metal detecting we found nothing. In Jan 2010 I bought a bass boat and brought another friend with a chainsaw and we landed at the southern front of the island and walked in this shore mud on wooden deck boards to prevent sinking in the mud. After two hours of cutting a wide path in the 6 ft high dense brush we came to a palm tree like on the map. I had walked out the directions on the copper map before hand and the treasure was supposed to be 20 ft north of this palm tree. We had to place some of these deck boards on this swampy soil and when I searched this spot with my Garrett 2500 detector the readings that I got were iron/gold/silver, 12+ inches deep. We dug a foot and a half and took another reading and the previous reading was gone. I then placed my detector over the mud that we had just shoveled out of the hole and got iron/gold/silver. So I reached down and took a hand full of this mud and wiped it with my other hand and saw tiny specks of gold shining in the mud. I further used my detector in a 100 ft circle from around this hole and got no further readings. So my conclusion was/is that somebody already found this treasure and being that it was fused together from oxidation and that because 200 lbs would be very hard to move altogether through this swamp mud that who ever found this treasure probably took a chisel and hammer to it and cut it up into manageable pieces. I also took an 8 ft rod and poked it down into this hole every which way to make sure that there was nothing further down. I just want to say that all the growth that we cut down with the chainsaw was dead and since I no longer need this 1989 Cajun bass boat if anybody is interested in buying it from me cheap it goes 80 mph within a few seconds at full throttle. But don't stop looking for treasure because yesterday I found some pirates treasure buried at the Atlantic ocean beach side of Florida at low tide in three spots which will be a little difficult to get as quickly as I thought after trying to get it out of the ocean sand with a shovel. I need a few large wet vacs and generator for electricity. Back to work treasure hunting. God my muscles are so sore from shoveling that beach sand. I'm getting old.

 

[BobInFla]

For those wishing to further explore the legend of Jose Gaspar follow the attached link. Scroll down to the end of the story and click on

The Legend of Gasparilla: Myth and History of Florida’s West Coast by Andre-Marcel d’Ans.

It is the best presentation of the history of this legend I have seen. And I am a Florida native of 66 years, having lived in Tampa for a few of those years and participated in their annual celebration of Jose Gaspar.

http://www.josegaspar.net/AboutJose.htm

 

[au79timer]

i am new 2this site but old to this area punta gorda fl.i do believe in jose gaspars treasure.have spent a lot of time in the marshes and terain along lettuce lake an boggess creek.

 

[fla_res]

I have been interested in this treasure for about 10 years now and have done massive amounts of research, I believe I have figured out most of the code but one thing the code doesn't tell is the starting point (it just says "Near the shore of Lettuce Lake" I beleive I know what land mark I am looking for but as before I could be wrong, as for the plates I would love to see them myself and I will check the museums around miami to see if they do have them (and maybe they will let me have a pic of them if i take my camera) I have maps of Lettuce Lake taken from Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth 3d, and Nasa WorldWind. I have a Laptop and a Gps unit so who knows? maybe I will find it and maybe I won't. there are other stories surrounding the area, such as the story about Lady Boggess, and a coffer dam, and a sunken skiff, even if I don't find this one at least I will have an adventure that many people cannot claim as their own. I am not saying that I will find this treasure but oh what fun it is to look, and besides I have permission from my better half (even though she thinks I am crazy) so I have almost everything I need except the treasure and the permits to claim it from the state archaeological board. Anyways I am interested in other peoples opinions and would consider cutting someone in on this if we partner up and find it. (I have physical limitations due to an auto accident that left me with a fused neck.) and who knows maybe we will find a few small ones as well. also in 1867 the treasure was worth several millions, when gold was one dollar an ounce, now gold is over $800.00 an ounce, so the value is astronomical in todays values.

More than likely, the story is a hoax. Specifically, there is no mention of Lettuce Lake on historical maps of Florida in the 1800s. Since no one can produce a picture of the alleged copper plate engraving, only that they have “seen” it, is definitely questionable. Don’t believe the hype!

 

[Tuberale]

I have been interested in this treasure for about 10 years now and have done massive amounts of research, I believe I have figured out most of the code but one thing the code doesn't tell is the starting point (it just says "Near the shore of Lettuce Lake" I beleive I know what land mark I am looking for but as before I could be wrong, as for the plates I would love to see them myself and I will check the museums around miami to see if they do have them (and maybe they will let me have a pic of them if i take my camera) I have maps of Lettuce Lake taken from Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth 3d, and Nasa WorldWind. I have a Laptop and a Gps unit so who knows? maybe I will find it and maybe I won't. there are other stories surrounding the area, such as the story about Lady Boggess, and a coffer dam, and a sunken skiff, even if I don't find this one at least I will have an adventure that many people cannot claim as their own. I am not saying that I will find this treasure but oh what fun it is to look, and besides I have permission from my better half (even though she thinks I am crazy) so I have almost everything I need except the treasure and the permits to claim it from the state archaeological board. Anyways I am interested in other peoples opinions and would consider cutting someone in on this if we partner up and find it. (I have physical limitations due to an auto accident that left me with a fused neck.) and who knows maybe we will find a few small ones as well. also in 1867 the treasure was worth several millions, when gold was one dollar an ounce, now gold is over $800.00 an ounce, so the value is astronomical in todays values.

"...in 1867 the treasure was worth several millions, when gold was one dollar an ounce,"

You have me going until the last sentence, Neo. Made me look.

Gold has NEVER been "... one dollar an ounce." In 1867 gold was worth over $20/ounce. That's why an 1867 $20 gold Liberty double eagle has 34.4360 grams of 0.90000 fine gold, or 0.9677 oz. Average Gold Weight.

Today's gold value is not "astronomical". It's just higher than in 1867. Most things are.

Once Gaspar's cache has been found, and we can put a bullion and collector's value on the coins/specie/plate, hope we can discuss the current value.

 

[Sandman23]

Hello all I happen to be one of the few that think Jose Gaspar was real but that's here nor there, want I would like to ask is this. Let's say he was real and so would be his treasure, as I have read he hind 13 chest worth $30,000,000.00 million back in the early 1800's so IF this is true HOW MUCH would it be worth today?

 

[mad4wrecks]

Gasparilla is a real estate fairy tale but as mentioned earlier, pirates did prowl the west coast of Florida and there are shipwrecks offshore.

 

[Sandman23]

Gasparilla is a real estate fairy tale but as mentioned earlier, pirates did prowl the west coast of Florida and there are shipwrecks offshore.

Link?? How do YOU know this?? Do you have any FACTS statting so IF not then your like the rest, either not wanting someone to find it or not caring. But either way YOU don't KNOW!!!!!!!!

 

[Jayong63]

The source of the Gasparilla legend

A Juan Gómez, or John Gómez, was a real person who lived in Southwest Florida in the late 19th and very early 20th century. The old man was well known locally for his tall tales of his supposed life as a pirate, and was said to have been the oldest man in the US at the time he died (though this is very unlikely). Gómez is widely speculated to have been the foremost contributor to the development of the Gasparilla legend, although no pre-20th century account of him specifically associate his piratical exploits with José Gaspar, whose story, real or fictitious, does not appear in writing until about 1900, when it was included in an advertising brochure for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad company.

This brochure was given to the guests of the Boca Grande Hotel situated in Boca Grande, Florida, the largest town on Gasparilla Island. It refers to Old John Gómez's death in 1900 and mentions that Gaspar's massive treasure, hidden somewhere on the island, had never been found. The version of the Gasparilla story told in the pamphlet influenced all later accounts, and served as the inspiration for Tampa's Gasparilla Pirate Festival, first held in 1904.

In 1923, a Boston historian named Francis B. C. Bradlee received a copy of the brochure from the president of Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad, and included the story of Gasparilla in a book he was writing about piracy. His book, Piracy In The West Indes And Its Suppression, was used as a source for works such as Philip Gosse's Pirates' Who's Who and Frederick W. Dau's Florida Old and New, the authors of which took Gaspar's historicity for granted. From this point on, historical works about pirates routinely included Gasparilla. At the same time, Tampa's Gasparilla Festival grew more and more elaborate every year; today it attracts thousands of people to the city. In 1980, French anthropologist Andre-Marcel d'Ans exhaustively chronicled the development of the Gasparilla story and the history of the festival in an article for Tampa Bay History.

 

[mad4wrecks]

Great information!

 

[Bum Luck]

The map:


The other side:


Couldn't resist!

I gotta add, though, that just because someone wrote something down, it doesn't mean it's true. The WPA program in Wisconsin turned out at least two pieces that I researched that were a total fabrication. This one has a conspicuously absent bibliography also.

 

[Gold Maven]

Hello all I happen to be one of the few that think Jose Gaspar was real but that's here nor there, want I would like to ask is this. Let's say he was real and so would be his treasure, as I have read he hind 13 chest worth $30,000,000.00 million back in the early 1800's so IF this is true HOW MUCH would it be worth today?

Gold is about $1500/oz. now, compared to $ 20/oz. then, so 1500/20= 75 times more, 30mill. x75 =$ 2,250,000,000.

 

[Nugget Hog]

Has anyone seen the cofferdam that is supposed to be in the area?

 

[Sull]

I'm very puzzled, what do you think the letters O-X mean? Also, do you know what happened to the two copper plates?

 

[ECS]

The source of the Gasparilla legend

A Juan Gómez, or John Gómez, was a real person who lived in Southwest Florida in the late 19th and very early 20th century. The old man was well known locally for his tall tales of his supposed life as a pirate, and was said to have been the oldest man in the US at the time he died (though this is very unlikely). Gómez is widely speculated to have been the foremost contributor to the development of the Gasparilla legend, although no pre-20th century account of him specifically associate his piratical exploits with José Gaspar, whose story, real or fictitious, does not appear in writing until about 1900, when it was included in an advertising brochure for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad company.

This brochure was given to the guests of the Boca Grande Hotel situated in Boca Grande, Florida, the largest town on Gasparilla Island. It refers to Old John Gómez's death in 1900 and mentions that Gaspar's massive treasure, hidden somewhere on the island, had never been found. The version of the Gasparilla story told in the pamphlet influenced all later accounts, and served as the inspiration for Tampa's Gasparilla Pirate Festival, first held in 1904.

In 1923, a Boston historian named Francis B. C. Bradlee received a copy of the brochure from the president of Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad, and included the story of Gasparilla in a book he was writing about piracy. His book, Piracy In The West Indes And Its Suppression, was used as a source for works such as Philip Gosse's Pirates' Who's Who and Frederick W. Dau's Florida Old and New, the authors of which took Gaspar's historicity for granted. From this point on, historical works about pirates routinely included Gasparilla. At the same time, Tampa's Gasparilla Festival grew more and more elaborate every year; today it attracts thousands of people to the city. In 1980, French anthropologist Andre-Marcel d'Ans exhaustively chronicled the development of the Gasparilla story and the history of the festival in an article for Tampa Bay History.

Many tales of buried pirate treasure were vogue in the 1890's,and many stories appeared in Florida newspapers at that time.
In 1904,Mary Louise Dodge,socirty editor of the TAMPA TRIBUNE,created the "Gaspar legend" so Tampa could have its own version of a Mardi Gras.
The fact that Gaspar never existed,therefore never buried treasure,never stopped those for looking for it.L Frank Hudson,along with other Gaspar treasure seekers,was charged with destroying Calusa burial mounds with a backhoe at several sites,damaging mangroves and wetlands in the 1990's,attempting to profit from a fictitious history while destroying real Florida history.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Old Hand Found In Florida Attic With Coins And Treasure Map