CLASSIC: Nosy Boraha: The Pirate's Paradise (And Cemetery)

Summary

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Ridiculous History: “CLASSIC: Nosy Boraha: The Pirate's Paradise (And Cemetery)”

Hosted by Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown | Released: June 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

Ben and Noel set sail into the real history behind the so-called pirate paradise: Nosy Boraha (Île Sainte-Marie), a tiny island off Madagascar that became both a haven for infamous pirates and the site of a legendary pirate cemetery. The hosts debunk Hollywood myths, spotlight true tales of pirate “retirement,” buried treasure legends, and explore the enduring allure of pirate culture. Combining research, banter, and plenty of nautical puns, this episode investigates the contrast between the popular image of pirates and their actual, often brutal, history.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Hollywood Pirate Myth vs. Historical Reality

• Pirates, as we imagine them today (swashbuckling, eccentric, “lovable rogues”), are mostly a product of fiction—particularly Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883).
  • Ben: “[Treasure Island] includes all those things that we consider cliches or mandatory parts of a pirate story...all the hits, all that slow cool jazz.” (08:04)
• The romanticized view (buried treasure, parrots, X marks the spot) began after Treasure Island – real pirates were much grimmer, often ruthless, and lived short, violent lives.
• Many depictions (walking the plank, talking like a pirate) are Hollywood creations and rarely (if ever) happened.
• Modern digital piracy is joked about and contrasted with the real dangers of historical piracy. (05:28)

2. Why Aren't Pirates Cancelled?

• The irony that pirates—despite being criminals—are still child-friendly pop culture staples.
  • Noel: “Why aren't people talking more about how pirates probably aren't the best role model for little kids?... It's a sports team. It's a series of Lego sets. It's a kids cartoon.” (06:10)

3. The Pirate’s Paradise: Nosy Boraha (Île Sainte-Marie)

• This island served as a base and, for some, a retirement spot for pirates in the Indian Ocean, especially between the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
  • Ben: “There was in the Indian Ocean again just off the coast of Madagascar, a real life pirate paradise.” (15:42)
• Geography: Close to East Indies trading routes, surrounded by protective bays, plentiful resources (fresh fruit, water), and storm-sheltered inlets.
• Pirates used it as an off-season home—upwards of 1,000 pirates were known to stay there at its peak.
  • Noel: “This was kind of their summer home, you know, their off-season paradise.” (15:53)
• Notable pirates associated: Adam Baldridge, John Pro, William Kidd, Robert Culliford, Henry Avery, Abraham Samuel, Thomas Tew.

4. Society and Coexistence on the Island

• Pirates built wooden huts marked with their own unique flags (representing different crews).
• Despite the lack of an overarching pirate “brotherhood,” many managed to maintain a functional truce and coexist.
  • Noel: “It was sort of like every man, every crew for themselves kind of situation. And yet they managed to coexist on this island.” (18:08)

5. The Pirate Cemetery

• The island boasts a legendary pirate cemetery with about 30 IRL pirate graves, including tombstones inscribed with skulls and cryptic markings.
  • Ben: “There are tombstones, there are weird messages and codes. Skulls. And there’s actually...skulls inscribed on the tombstones.” (20:05)
• The site is a tourist attraction today (entry ~$3-4), though many graves are damaged, partly due to treasure hunters searching for rumored buried loot.
  • Ben: “Over the years, surprise, surprise, not a lot of people have put time into taking care of the gravestones…and I would totally mess with their graves because I would figure they would be buried with their stuff—because again, I have like a Goonies level understanding of real pirates.” (21:23)

6. Buried Treasure: Myths and Realities

• The idea of pirates habitually burying treasure is strictly mythic—linked almost solely to William Kidd and fueled by Treasure Island.
  • Ben: “The only person we know for sure to bury anything was Captain Kidd and the entire reason he buried his treasure was to keep it away from the governor of New York.” (22:58)
• Much of the supposed “buried booty” (gold, art, artifacts) remains legendary, though treasure hunters still search.
• The cultural misunderstanding about pirates being buried with treasure contributes to grave robbing and graveyard vandalism.

7. Notable Pirate: Olivier Levasseur (“La Bouche”) and His Cipher

• French pirate Olivier Levasseur (“La Bouche”—‘the mouth’) is one of the cemetery’s more notorious denizens.
  • Before his 1730 execution, he shouted, “Find my treasure, the one who may understand it!” and threw a necklace with a 17-line coded message (cipher) to the crowd. This remains unbroken to this day.
  • Ben: “He yelled, ‘Find my treasure, the one who may understand it,’ and hurled a necklace into the crowd—a 17 line coded message.” (26:56)

8. Modern-Day Treasure Hunters

• Real-life treasure hunter Barry Clifford has explored the island for 20+ years, uncovering 13 shipwrecks and artifacts (including a 13th/14th-century Jesus statue), but no major treasure.
  • Noel: “Surely there are remnants of sunken pirate galleys…littered throughout Sainte Marie.” (28:53)
• The myth of massive, unclaimed pirate wealth persists—as does the lure of adventure.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the origins of pirate pop culture
  • Ben: "This romanticization begins in 1883. It's weird because we can pinpoint the exact moment where it began...with Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson." (06:46)
• On pirates as kid-friendly mascots
  • Noel: "Pirates...get up to a lot of stuff that's not so great...yet it's a sports team, a Lego set, a kids cartoon." (06:15)
• On the pirate lifestyle
  • Ben: "The life of a pirate was grim. They were ruthless. This was a time of homicide. This was a time of murder." (09:46)
• On hidden booty
  • Ben: "...the island today remains allegedly home to massive amounts of missing loot—or as you prefer, Noel, booty, booty, booty." (19:13)
• On the reality of pirate graves
  • Noel: "There are tombstones, there are weird messages and codes. Skulls. And there's actually...skulls inscribed on the tombstones." (20:05)
• On pirate retirement plans
  • Ben: “Some pirates did, as you say, Noel, have a retirement plan.” (11:22)
  • “It went on until 1719 with a pirate named John Pro.” (16:23)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Romanticization of Pirates & “Treasure Island”: 06:46 – 09:00
• Pirate Reality vs. Hollywood—Clichés Explored: 09:46 – 11:22
• Intro to Nosy Boraha / Sainte-Marie: 11:59 – 16:23
• What Made Nosy Boraha Attractive to Pirates: 16:23 – 18:23
• Daily Life & Pirate Society on the Island: 18:23 – 19:13
• The Pirate Cemetery—Description, Legends, Problems: 20:05 – 22:58
• Debunking the Buried Treasure Myth: 22:58 – 23:47
• Olivier Levasseur (“La Bouche”) and the Puzzle Cipher: 26:03 – 27:46
• Modern Treasure Hunts (Barry Clifford): 28:00 – 31:47
• Oak Island Side Note & Listener Call-Out: 31:47 – 32:47

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Conclusion & Call to Action

The episode wraps up with a tongue-in-cheek encouragement for listeners to reach out with leads on buried treasure and to join the Ridiculous Historians Facebook group. The hosts underscore how the real stories of pirates—especially their brief, brutal careers and rare sojourns into “retirement”—are stranger and often more compelling than the pop culture image.

• Ben: “The treasure’s out there, right? Also, Oak Island.” (31:47)
• Noel: “Let us know about your favorite pirate throughout history. And let me know, was Pippi Longstocking a pirate? I don’t know. I forget. It was a long time ago.” (33:47)

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Transcript

[Ben]

Fellow ridiculous historians, we are returning to you with a bit of an epilogue to our continuing fascination with pirates. Did you know, friends and neighbors, that there was a pirate's paradise once upon a time?

[Noel]

Yeah, and a lot like the Wild west wasn't quite as wild as people think. Do check out our previous episode on that. It turns out that pirates depicted in fiction often bear very little resemblance to the real life historical ones. And in in our previous conversations about some of history's most ridiculous pirates, we mentioned the quite egalitarian, dare we say democratic ways that the pirates organized their society. And I believe we hinted at something of a pirate paradise.

[Ben]

Absolutely. Folks, let's roll the tape.

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[Noel]

Why is it always chaos when we link up?

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[Noel]

And they got some kick too.

[Nissan Rogue Spokesperson 1]

That turbo torque is crazy. The most in its class. It moves, moves.

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[Noel]

Load up, we out.

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[Ben]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. R with a hard R. Avast and Ahoy, fellow ridiculous historians. Welcome to the show. Today we're diving into piracy. I guess diving is an accidental pun there. Hi, my name's Ben.

[Noel]

My name's Noel. Do were pirates known for their diving skills?

[Ben]

Well, they were maritime. You know, I would think they would

[Noel]

go to great lengths to stay as dry as possible.

[Ben]

They were known for their non consensual diving skills when they had to walk the plank.

[Noel]

I'm sorry.

[Ben]

Oh boy, Ben.

[Noel]

I felt bad about that one. No, it's very true.

[Ben]

I think we all feel bad about that, but we feel great about our super producer. Give it up for Casey Pegram. Now, none of us here in the studio, and hopefully none of you have been involved in acts of IRL piracy. But let's be honest, it is 2019 and in these, our modern days, many people are digitally pirating things.

[Noel]

Yeah, I was about to say, I think we've all probably downloaded a torrent or two in our day. We're not advocating that here. But you may remember that very pointed trailer where I told you about how piracy does hurt people.

[Ben]

You wouldn't Download a car, would you?

[Noel]

You wouldn't download a car. That's right. You wouldn't steal a car. That's right. So we're not talking about that kind of piracy. We're talking about a much more brazen form of piracy. And I want to start the show off by talk about the fact that in this age of political correctness and, you know, people getting canceled, why aren't people talking more about how pirates probably aren't the best role model for little kids? You know, you still can buy pirate hats and, you know, pirate swords and little eye patches with the Jolly Roger

[Ben]

on his sports team.

[Noel]

It's a sports team. It's a Lego set. You know, it's a.

[Ben]

It's a series of Lego sets.

[Noel]

It's a series of Lego sets. It's a kids cartoon. Remember the Pirates of Dark Water? Remember that?

[Nissan Rogue Spokesperson 2]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Oh, deep cut. I loved it.

[Noel]

I loved it. Liked it, too. They were sort of like future pirates.

[Ben]

They were post apocalyptic sci fi pirates. You know, it's. It's funny, Casey, you were mentioning that off the air as well. You specifically said, aren't pirates due to get canceled? Which I thought was a great point, man.

[Noel]

It just seems like they get up to a lot of stuff that's not so great.

[Ben]

You know, the lowest of hijinks. So nowadays we romanticize pirates. However, this was not always the case. And we should point out now that there are active pirates existing around the world, right? Some based in Somalia, some based off different coast. And these folks are not romanticized, but we have in our collective brains, we have this idealized, romanticized concept of a pirate. A swashbuckler. You know what I mean? A lovable rogue. This romanticization begins in 1883. It's weird because we can pinpoint the exact moment where it began. It began, arguably, with Treasure island by Robert Louis Stevenson. So Treasure island comes out. And you guys remember Treasure island, right?

[Noel]

Of course. Swashbuckling adventures on the high seas, I believe.

[Ben]

Long John Silver.

[Noel]

Long John Silver, you know, all of the kind of, like, tropes of pirateness were sort of solidified in that one book. And then it was taken and run with and everything, from the Pirates of Dark Water to the Disney Treasure island to everything.

[Ben]

Of course. Who knew that would work? That's a film franchise based on a ride. And I'll admit the ride's pretty dope. But it, you know, when you're a kid. But it's problematic. It is definitely, as you guys said, romanticizing things. But yeah, Treasure island has this Tremendous influence on how we think of pirates today. It includes all those things that we consider cliches or mandatory parts of a pirate story. Treasure maps that have an X on the spot. One legged sailors who have a trusty parrot. You know what I mean? All the hits, all the, all that slow cool jazz. But if we look at real pirates, we see a lot of dissonance between what they actually were and what Hollywood would have us believe when we engage with things like talk like a pirate Day or watching Pirates of the Caribbean 19 or whatever, whichever one they're on. How far are they into that? How many, how many.

[Noel]

Oh, how deep are they in the pirate. Well, Johnny, Johnny Depp got canceled briefly and I think he's okay now. I can't remember because I think it maybe turned out that his estranged wife was actually being abusive towards him. I saw that pop up in the press and then it kind of went away. So that's yet to be determined. I know he's not in the next

[Ben]

one, but they're doing it without him.

[Noel]

They're doing it without him.

[Ben]

Are they just going to get Keith Stewart to do it?

[Noel]

I'm not. You mean Keith Richards?

[Ben]

That's the one, yeah. One of the keys.

[Noel]

One of the keys.

[Ben]

I'm not discriminatory when it comes to Keith. Just get a guy named Keith in there, give him some dreadlocks, put him in the film.

[Boost Mobile Spokesperson]

Yeah.

[Noel]

Just kind of prop him up with a bottle of rum.

[Ben]

Is Keith Stewart a famous person? No, that's just, I think that's a guy who went to my high school, it's possible. Who had kind of a Keith Richards vibe.

[Noel]

I don't know any famous Stewarts except for Jon Stewart.

[Ben]

Rod Stewart.

[Noel]

Okay, well, you got me there.

[Ben]

He did not go to my high school, but. But, yeah, yeah. It's amazing this kind of, this kind of vision, this pop culture phenomenon exists. But we can, we can set the stage for today's show by looking at pirate fact versus pirate fiction. First things first. The life of a pirate was grim. They were ruthless. This was a time of homicide. This was a time of murder. If you think of Captain Jack Sparrow, realize in real life he could have never become the captain of a pirate ship. He would have been killed by his crew.

[Noel]

Was it for wearing eyeshadow?

[Ben]

I think it was less the coal liner and more the profound commitment to running away.

[Noel]

Oh, that's right. Because pirates didn't run away. If anything, they ran towards things.

[Ben]

Right. That's what they had to do. You know, they had to capture These ships. We know that the most famous pirates were probably not the most successful as well. We also see this whole buried treasure thing. You know, it probably happened several times, but it was not common. It was not normal. These guys, pirates didn't live super long. They weren't like long term thinking, you know what I mean? It's like one of the guys selling drugs in the wire is not wondering about what he's gonna do when he's 80 because he doesn't think he'll make it there.

[Noel]

Only here's the thing, Ben. Some pirates did kind of live the equivalent of a twilight years retiring to Florida kind of situation, didn't they?

[Ben]

They did. They did. Nail on the head. This is something that the three of us recently found out about because we're all right. We understand that Hollywood doesn't depict a lot of the truths about pirates, like the whole walking the plank thing. R and I, matey, those are kind of Hollywood creations. But some pirates did make it. Some pirates did, as you say, Noel, have a retirement plan. There is a small island off the coast of Madagascar that we call Nosy Baraja today.

[Noel]

Weird.

[Ben]

It's weird. It's a weird one. In the past, it was known as the Iles Sainte Marie. Casey, could you help us out with that?

[Noel]

Yeah. Iles Sainte Marie. That sounds about right. Casey and Ben on the case.

[Ben]

Whoa. And Noel.

[Noel]

Oh, thank you. I appreciate that, Ben, but you nailed it in the first place. We just got a little bit of confirmation from our resident. What do you call him? A francophone Frankophone. Yeah. Casey Pegram.

[Ben]

Casey Pegram. The man, the myth, the legend.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey there, it's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway for you. Save days are here now through June 25th. Find hot deals throughout the store and earn four times the point. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Kinder, Ghost Energy, Cottonelle, Ben and Jerry's and Popsicle. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more. Enjoy savings on top of savings. When you shop in store or online for easy pickup or delivery, restrictions apply. See the the website for full terms and conditions.

[Noel]

I turned off news altogether.

[Ben]

I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Ryan Seacrest]

It's the rage bait.

[Ben]

It feels like it's trying to divide people. We got clear facts. Maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move. Move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.

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[Noel]

always chaos when we link up?

[Nissan Rogue Spokesperson 1]

Because nobody plans anything, bro. Good thing the Rogue's ready like that for real.

[Nissan Rogue Spokesperson 2]

Rain, dirt, whatever available all wheel drive, five modes. We still outside and they got some kick too.

[Nissan Rogue Spokesperson 1]

That turbo torque is crazy. The most in its class. It moves. Moves.

[Nissan Rogue Spokesperson 2]

Rogue doesn't mess around and peep the space merch on merch gear mics, all the fits.

[Noel]

Load up we out.

[Nissan Rogue Spokesperson 1]

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[Ben]

and speaking of men, myths and legends, there was in the Indian Ocean again just off the coast of Madagascar, a real life pirate paradise.

[Noel]

Yeah, when about in the neighborhood of a thousand pirates weren't out pirating. This was kind of their summer home, you know, their off season paradise. There was a map from 1733 that was discovered of this area and it was simply headed with the island of pirates. It is near the East Indies trade route. Very, very central. Located to where these folks would have been pillaging and pirating and looting and raping their way across the high seas. It was very convenient and it was the perfect place to. It was like a real life treasure island in theory anyway. Right. Because it was perfect tucked away location where they could hide all of their ill gotten booty. I like saying booty.

[Ben]

Right, right, yeah. Since a pirate named Adam Balderidge started making that his base in 1691, this became a home away from home or in some cases a legit first home for a lot of pirates. And it went on until 1719 with a pirate named John Pro. There were multiple reasons for this tiny island to be attractive to pirates. They first off enjoyed proximity to multiple trading routes, you know what I mean? Ships would be returning from the East Indies with precious goods, fine clothing, spices and so on. And then it had a bunch of bays and inlets that were protected geographically from storms. It was situated in quiet easy water. It had tons of fruit. You could just live off the land if you had to. And so a bunch of people.

[Noel]

Or make their own rum.

[Ben]

Or make their own rum. Oh, that's probably more important than the fruit.

[Noel]

That was a big. That was a biggie.

[Boost Mobile Spokesperson]

I think.

[Ben]

Yeah, I think you're right.

[Noel]

And they lived in these little huts, right. They were like little wooden huts and each one was marked with an emblem or one of, you know, the pirate. The ubiquitous pirate flags, which presumably would have been different designs for the different crews that were under, serving under these different captains. And also, wouldn't you think, Ben, that some of these factions wouldn't necessarily, would be like vying for the same stuff. Like there wasn't necessarily like an overall brotherhood of pirates to my understanding. It was sort of like every man, every crew for themselves kind of situation. And yet they managed to coexist on this island.

[Ben]

That's true. Quite a few of them managed to coexist. So maybe they had kind of a truce situation, but we're talking legendary real pirates. William Kidd, Robert Culliford, Henry Avery, Abraham Samuel Thomas Tew and so on. The island had a main town called Ambodi Fotatra, which is a mouthful. And they also had family here. You know, they met women who were native to the area and they had children and they evolved this sort of non criminal lifestyle. But they took a bunch of stuff with them. So the island today remains allegedly Home to massive amounts of missing loot. Or as you prefer, Noel Booty, booty, booty.

[Noel]

Hard tea.

[Ben]

So we're talking gold, we're talking coins, works of art, religious artifacts, precious stones. And legend has it that the treasure of William Kidd is still buried somewhere in this pirate island in the bay near the main town. And people have been hunting around this area for buried treasure for decades and decades and decades and decades. But one thing that really fascinated us was the culture that sprang up on this island. Particularly that there is an actual pirate cemetery. That's nuts. There's actually, you know, like the whole nine. There are tombstones, there are weird messages and codes. Skulls. And there's actually. There are skulls inscribed on the tombstones.

[Noel]

Totally. And that whole Jolly Roger imagery.

[Ben]

Yes.

[Noel]

So it's not a huge one. It's on a hill shaded by palm trees and it overlooks the ocean and it's pretty small. Only about 30 real life IRL pirates are buried there. And they were buried there because they were residents of this island. This was their home away from their home on the high seas, I guess. And you can still go visit this site today?

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah. You can go tour it the same way that you could see another local attraction. It's only about three or four dollars to go us. There's a small pathway behind this long quay wall which is south of the Capitol, and signs from there will lead you to the cemetery. There's a small hut where you can pay your entrance fee and you can learn more about the pirates that are buried in the area and then you can walk over to St. Pierre. The problem is that over the years, surprise, surprise, not a lot of people have put time into taking care of the gravestones and the grave site. So a lot of graves and crypts were damaged because. Because of a very understandable crime. I have to say, guys, if I grew up in this area or if I were interested in being around pirates and finding their treasure, I would totally mess with their graves because I would figure they would be buried with their stuff because again, I have like a Goonies level understanding of real pirates.

[Noel]

Yeah, yeah. To be fair, that's probably one of the more historically accurate pirate films that's out there.

[Ben]

Right, right, right.

[Noel]

Mine was Pippi Longstocking. Remember Pippi Longstocking?

[Ben]

I do.

[Noel]

Was she a pirate? She wasn't a pirate. She was on a pirate ship. There was a pirate. I believe she served under some sort of pirate. And she had a monkey, right?

[Ben]

I think so. You know, I mainly remember her hair, but it's true though. This is one of the misconceptions that's leading to pretty serious damage to this real life pirate cemetery. Pirates didn't again, they didn't really bury treasure. It could happen, but it was not commonplace. Instead, just imagine if you listening and Casey and Noel and I are all together and we're pirates. We're sailing the high seas and we rob a ship and we get our booty with the hard tea. Then we're gonna keep it on the ship and then later we'll divide it up amongst ourselves again. This idea Buried treasure comes from Treasure island and the X marks the spot. The whole nine largely fictive. The only person we know for sure to bury anything was Captain Kidd and the entire reason he buried his treasure was to keep it away from the governor of New York. He buried it outside of New York? I don't know, like Yonkers or something. I'm kidding. He didn't do it in Yonkers.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey there, it's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway for you. Save days are here now through June 25th. Find hot deals throughout the store and earn four times a point. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Kinder, Ghost, Energy, Cottonelle, Ben and Jerry's and Popsicle. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more. Enjoy savings on top of savings. When you shop in store or online for easy pickup or delivery, restrictions apply. See the website for full terms and conditions.

[Noel]

I turned off news altogether.

[Ben]

I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Ryan Seacrest]

It's the rage bait.

[Podcast Announcer]

It feels.

[Ben]

Feels like it's trying to divide people. We got clear facts. Maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.

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[Noel]

Bro, from the show last night to this drive. Why is it never chill?

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[Noel]

Good thing Nissan builds for that kind of chaos.

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[Noel]

Yeah, you can tell.

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[Noel]

so one of the, I don't know, slightly more well known, certainly not as well known as Billy the Kid pirates that was laid to rest in this graveyard and spent a lot of time on this island was a French corsair by the name of Olivier Lavoisier, or AKA La Bouche.

[Ben]

La Bouche.

[Noel]

La bouche.

[Ben]

Casey, can we get a sound effect for that?

[Noel]

La la la la la la la la la la. Of course, that means the mouth. I don't know if he has some sort of weird snaggletooth kind of situation going on, or if he just talked too much, but apparently dead men tell no tales. But here's the thing. Labouche did tell tales after his passing in the form of a cipher. I know you're a fan of a good cipher. We're not talking about a freestyle rap then, are we?

[Ben]

No, but fun fact, I am actually very scarily good at freestyling. Yeah, we're talking about a cipher, as in a code. So he's executed in 1730 for his many, many, many, many crimes as a scallywag, a buccaneer, and so on. But apparently moments before his execution, he yelled, find my treasure, the one who may understand it, and hurled a necklace into the crowd. And this necklace had sort of a note, but it was actually a cipher. It was a 17 line coded message. And you can see, you can see photographs of this cipher on a great article by Magellan Times. The cipher itself remains. It's unsolved today. Right. No one's cracked it.

[Noel]

I believe that's true. And not that it wasn't attempted because maybe it's just. Maybe no one's figured it out yet. I mean, on the same article there is like a key with some of the little symbols and what letters they represent, but obviously it didn't do the trick.

[Ben]

And not for nothing, people have been trying to find this for such a long time. There's a guy named Barry Clifford who is a real life treasure hunter and somewhat successful too. That's nuts to me. Do you guys think about that? We're here in our podcast studio and we're having a lovely time making shows and exploring these stories, but this guy is actually out hunting treasure. I gotta say, if I had to pick another job, no offense to you guys, but I would totally be a treasure hunter. Would you guys be in like, if we had a chance of finding treasure

[Noel]

like Steve Zissou style?

[Ben]

Yes.

[Noel]

Well, he was more like a naturalist, like a more Jaco kind of figure. But yeah, I'd be down. Especially if you knew a good area to look. Where might that be? It's almost as though we've been talking about what might have been a hotbed of pirate activity.

[Ben]

It boggles the mind.

[Noel]

It boggles the mind. And it boggled Barry Clifford's mind to the point where he decided to. Surely there are remnants of sunken pirate galleys and all of the accompanying booty littered throughout Sainte Marie. He told the daily mail in 2015 that pirates had more money than they could spend in 10 lifetimes. So surely their stuff squirreled away in these little lagoons or in caves or what have you, right?

[Ben]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Noel]

So surely he must have had complete success. And he is now a very wealthy man.

[Ben]

Right. He changed his name to Jeff Bezos. No, he goes on and he says, he's like, yeah, you know, back in the day, if you were a pirate, this island's where you would go. It's where all the pirates hung out.

[Noel]

Why is this guy so haggard sounding?

[Ben]

He's lived a hard life, you know what I mean? He doesn't wear sunscreen. So that's the secret. It's very. Apparently it's very bad for your throat not to wear sunscreen. But he has been exploring the island for almost, well, more than 20 years. And during this time he's found 13 separate distinct shipwrecks and you can see photos. You can see some of the stuff that he's extracted from these crash sites or these. Oh, some of these ships were probably scuttled, too, if their damage was too great. And I know you love that work.

[Noel]

Scuttle butt.

[Ben]

Scuttle butt would be rumors, right?

[Noel]

Did you say scuttled butt?

[Ben]

I said scuttled. Some of these ships were scuttled. I know that's one of your favorite words.

[Noel]

No, it is, but it would have been funny if you had said, I know some of these ships were scuttled.

[Ben]

But it would have been.

[Noel]

Yeah, it's true.

[Ben]

The jokes. That would have been everybody who's seen Hunger Games. Go ahead, kiss your fingers. Do the. What was that motion?

[Noel]

Oh, I always thought of that as sort of like a badass, like, sign off, like, I'm out.

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think both of us have done that in social situations before. But anyway. Yes, he has not found treasure. Clifford has not. He has, however, found religious artifacts. He's found ships, of course, and pieces of ships. One of his big recoveries was an early statue of Jesus christ from the 13th or 14th century. So who knows whether you have a dream job or something that's just sort of a means to an end right now. Maybe a career in treasure hunting is for you. It takes some dedication and it sounds like it takes a lot of overhead, but I would personally love it. I would love it if someone listening now actually found buried treasure. You know what I mean? Cause even we know it was super unusual. No, it's largely a myth, but that doesn't mean it's totally a myth. The treasure's out there, right? Also, Noakisland.

[Noel]

Remind me about Oak island again, Ben.

[Ben]

The Oak Island Money Pit. We did a show on this for stuff they don't want you to know. And the Oak Island Money Pit in Nova Scotia is thought to be a site of largely unrecovered buried treasure. Now, this has also become a reality show phenomenon, so the producers got involved, and now you'll see all kinds of here you go scuttlebutt about what's actually in the ground there.

[Noel]

Thanks for doing that for me, Ben.

[Ben]

Hey, man, I got your back. So some things have been carbon dated, some people have claimed that they found something, but they haven't found any significant treasure. The thing is, there are real buried treasures out there, and I would love to be a part of finding one. So hit us up. Hit us up on ridiculous historians. If you have a. If you have a pitch for a likely sight of buried treasure.

[Noel]

You can find us on Facebook where we are ridiculous historians. It's a group that we have you might have heard of a time or two. We tend to mention it. You can join just simply by saying Ben and my name in the same way you might summon a genie in some sort of secret cave.

[Ben]

And of course there you will also see our good friends super producer Casey Pegram and Christopher Haciotes, among others. You know I noticed some of our co workers are sort of stealth hanging out on that page. Have you seen that?

[Noel]

Totally a lot of lurking.

[Ben]

You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram if you want to get a peek behind the curtain. You can follow us on our personal Instagrams. I am Benbolan.

[Noel]

I am Brionic Insider and big thanks to super producer Casey Pegram. As always, thanks to Alex Williams who composed our theme. Thanks to our here in Spirit cohort Christopher Haciotes, who is one day gonna see the light about how amazing a movie Mandy is.

[Ben]

And let us know about your favorite pirate throughout history.

[Noel]

And let me know, was Pippi Longstocking a pirate? I don't know. I forget. It was a long time ago. We'll see you next time folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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