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Jan 17, 2024

Pirate Gold Of Adak Island: Was the Netflix Show Scripted?

Pirate Gold of Adak Island is an eight-part reality docuseries released on

Pirate Gold of Adak Island is an eight-part reality docuseries released on Netflix. It follows the expedition team which is called to hunt down the treasure hidden in Adak Island, Alaska. Each episode has a runtime of about 25 minutes to 34 minutes respectively. The expedition team includes Dr M Jackson, Burke Mitchell, Jay Toomoth, Brian Weed and the mayor of the island Thom Spitler.

In 1892, a Pirate named Gregory Dwargstaf hid gold coins worth $365 million dollars in 150 food and milk tin cans, on the island of Adak. He was running away from the govt officials and found the secluded island to be the best place to hide his treasure. But he died before he could come back to get it.

In World War II, the island was used as a base by America to attack Japan. During the construction of the base in 1943, a worker found a tin can with gold coins from the 1880s-90s which was worth thousands of dollars. Later on, in 1959, another can with $2.5 million dollars worth of gold was found by a Seabee while constructing drainage.

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The docuseries is tagged as a Reality-TV show on Netflix and it is evident in the style of presentation, which includes narration and separate interviews of the expedition cast to lead the series. Some interviews were filmed in LA in 2021, so essentially the cast is recalling what they saw and felt when they were on the field on Adak Island.

That's why many times their comments can be felt as scripted or a bit exaggerated as compared to the events happening on the screen. Since the interviews were filmed later, there's a definite possibility of the production crew interjecting in what they should say that will align with their compiled and edited story arc.

Secondly, there are some close-up shots of the things they found like the spears or the gold coin for example. When the team is digging it out, the camera can be placed at a distance only, so that they don't come in the way of their work. That's why they are not able to get a clear view of things in their hand as they pull it out. But they are shown in a close-up right after, which is shot a bit later to show the audience clearly.

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That could explain why the gold coin is seen in minted condition, even though they were buried in a tin can underground. The production crew also cleaned it up a bit before shooting it in their hands. Also, gold is the least reactive metal of all, it does not tarnish or rust as it doesn't react to oxygen. Most Gold nowadays is mixed with alloys that's why they become dark over time.

So if the treasure is from the 1800s then it is most probably pure gold which will remain the same, unless it is mixed. One of the popular audience opinions was that the expedition team first strategised that Gregory Dwargstaf must have buried the treasure near the places he anchored his boat. But later on in the episodes, they go to any place where they find clues about the treasure.

It is contradicting their own expert opinion but when you are faced with failure at every point, I won't blame the team to go after any small clue no matter where it leads, as long as they find something substantial. Like their expedition to Lake Betty, to find what the dead army personnel was looking for.

Pirate Gold of Adak Island on Netflix cannot be called a scripted show, since the presence of the treasure on the island has been a well-known fact/theory. Is the show edited in a way to create an interesting story? Yes. But it's not just this docuseries, every piece of content whether fiction or nonfiction is built from the scratch on the editing table, which will be entertaining to watch.

Not every scene that you see is filmed at the same time, sometimes two scenes of the same scenario might be filmed months apart. That's the work of the filming crew, to present you something in the form of a story. I think the Netflix series is definitely interesting to watch, I mean who doesn't like crazy pirate stories. But it isn't without some faults like the stretched-out episodes with cliffhangers at every end.

It could have been a six-part series if they had done away with unnecessary protocols they had to face and the drama around the bomb they found. I guess they were also trying to show and warn the audience, who might get motivated to find treasure after watching it, how dangerous it could be in case they dug out at the wrong place.

Pirate Gold of Adak Island is streaming on Netflix.

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The actors are in other fields, which is why they seem overly scripted and even stilted, but their excitement certainly is genuine. I wonder how they are being paid, and who decides what share each gets.

The cross they found pointed to red bluff hill. The cross there they said pointed to the top of the hill. I say that's false. I say their markers for where their buried and point to next spot. So follow the cross to next pin point and go there.

I also thought that the 2nd marker needed more investigation. Maybe there were a couple of tins buried near each marker (hence the can in the cut off hill and near the boat house, and found by the guy digging a trench) to throw people off, eg, they may have thought that was all there was so stopped looking.

Hate to break it to you all, but yes, the entire show is scripted. I have done some extensive research over the last week and I now firmly believe the entire pirate treasure is completely fictional, including the existence of Dwarfstaf and the treasure.

The original source of the story seems to be an article written in a Treasure Hunter's journal in 1972 by a Maurice Kildare, a pseudonym for a well known fiction writer of the day.

No mention of the story exists before that – and several of the details in the story can be veritably proven to be false.

Sorry to burst the bubble, I’m upset too! It's a really good story.

So explain the actual photo of a ww11 soldier holding a can with gold coins in it.

I think the treasure is real, the cans did look legit. I do think the military found a lot more gold than they let on and kept it for themselves

The story is 100% fake. Anyone who believes otherwise is extremely gullible. The show was meant to entertain.

So your saying there was never any gold on the island to begin with. Then how did 2 soldiers find gold there. I’m so confused are you just saying that made it up btw I am extremely uneducated about this topic. Just curious seems fun doing some outer banks stuff.

I normally don't watch these documentary/reality series, but I was intrigued by the whole treasure hunting aspect. I didn't like this show at all. I was really dissappointed. Were the lines scripted? I believe so, because the ‘acting’ is horrible. If it wasn't scripted, then these were unfamiliar with being in front of a camera, because conversations sound unnatural and a bit creepy…Every time they decide "there is gold in them thar hills!", they sound so irritatingly confident, only for every episode to end with a let-down. No. This show was silly and a waste of time. If there is a season two, I will give it a pass…

Episode 8 "parcel 4" if you watch around 22 minutes next to the metal bar they use for a prop there is a gold coin next to the bar idk how anyone didnt see this

Not sure why people complained about ‘bad acting’ if these people are not actors or comfortable being in front of cameras. IMB shows no actor casted for this show.

That article isn't the only mention of the events surrounding this story. I saw this posted on another site. It's pretty interesting. Actually court documents from the sealing associations boat seizure. It says the boat was seized after making just one stop of many to buy seal pelts but there was hardly any gold left for the rest of their stops. Looks like it was taken off the boat like the legend says.books.google.com

I can see it, right under the bar

Sooo. Screw the gold. That doctor chick is low key hot af

Am I the only freak who thought this show was hilarious? These people zig zagging across the island with swinging their metal detectors. Spoiler the dude who reminds me of Steven Avery that always wears camo, has a reaction when they pull the can out of the ground and he says"what the h*** is that , weed?" To which the someone else goes that's the solder mark. It takes place at the end of episode seven.

Really enjoyed this show, mainly because it was about Adak. I spent a week on the island in 1968 while stationed at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage doing a quality assurance review of the White Alice Communication System. Adak was large Navy base then with several thousand folks, even dependents and families. Unexploded ordnance (UXO) from WW II everywhere in 1968. Visited "The Adak National Forest," one scrawny, scraggly, twisted pine tree about 3 foot high, surrounded by a miniature white picket fence put up as a joke by the Navy guys. No big trees on this island of volcanic rock. Very much enjoyed seeing how Adak has changed from 1968 to 2022. Only 45 people now! And enjoyed the search for gold and actually finding some! Great story. Looking forward to Season 2.

my laptop has been a piece of garbage for the past week so I don't know how i can be able to write cause everything moves as slow as molassus. I believe the show is real and the story is real. i see the danger of uxos too. example being, you are looking for a geocache but you have to use a metal detecter to find it, you pick up a metal sound on your radar and digit up but your life ends because of a half ton real life japenese bomb blows up under your feet because you weren't careful enough. do you want that to happen if you are stuck on a remote desolate island and you know that the entire island could be a mine field but instead of mines, it carries bombs that could level an entir mcdonalds? I would/n't want that to happen. they are risking their lives out there in search of gold. btw, if any of you are so sure the story is fake, what you should actually be doing is looking to see if their actually was a ship. if no ship/shipwreck= story fake. there was a ship/shipwreck=story is real.where do you think the artical fiction writer got his inspiration? the mayor said they were hand picked, and it also toke him months to find people to be on the team. do you think that actors are hand picked? do you think it will take months for actors to be picked and get ready to travel over there? instead of finding if the story is real or not, instead look for a ship, or see if the actors are actors or if their actually what they say they are. this ttok e way too long to type which is why there are a lot of spelling errors. I type and it takes a couple minute for it to actually shpow what i typed. i’m done with my rant. this has been: UltaStorm on youtube sining off. cya punks. Adios.

I was stationed at NAS Adak for two years and worked in the Commanders office. Not once did I ever hear of the pirate and his gold story. As far as unexploded ordinces all over the island that's bs too. Military personnel were allowed to hike and hunt all over the island. The only place off limits was the microwave station. Never heard of the seven doors of doom either. Like other reality shows, it's just another Oak Island. There is nothing there to find.

Yes the "acting" is bad because these people are NOT ACTORS. One of these people happens to be my brother and I can tell you he is no actor. He is very genuine.

Which one? Not saying I don't believe you oc I’m just curious.

I read another review that said that photo doesn't actually exist….implying it, too, was faked. Who knows?

Well…I didn't know my reply to a specific question would wind up at the end of all of these comments where it makes no sense now!! Someone asked about the photo of the Seabee holding the can he had dug up….that's what I was replying to.

Your post is gay.

There is no real photo. The only ones that exist are the ones in the show, and they were staged.

Ha! So you’re obviously a paid actor as well trying to "vouch" for your bro? Not buying it "Jacqueline". Dumb story and dumb actors, sorry THAT’S the truth!

It was fake.

A picture of a soldier holding a jar filled with gold, it could easily be faked.. who say its from this island?

The stones must have been known by the locals.

The gold coin beneth the heavy rock…. that was a story to tell your pals at the bar.

They dont want ppl to look because of bombs…

I thought it was fun. No more fiction than a lot of news stories$

It wasn't all that bad for 7 dollars a month for Netflix. At least they found something. More entertaining than curse of oak island

I would agree…I lived on Adak in 1968 and I never heard of buried gold or pirates(I know that means little in the scheme of things, but you would think it would have been common knowledge). Second the munitions that they found were found in areas where I lived and explored, there were no warnings of any kind….so I look at that with suspicion since the military was very proactive in puting up warnings. The last thing is that Japanese munitions were found(?) but while they may have visited Adak they were pretty much only on Kiska and Attu….the two islands to the east. YMWV

Actually….you’re right.

Hey buds. Yall need to research on a wider spectrum, don't look at just the theories based around the pirate and the gold, look at the facts between when the story was created and now, look at how the government was, and how it is, look at what's changed. Read other stories of other gold findings. Look at government secret missions, cover ups, operations, etc… get out of your own skin and float above a higher spectrum and just watch, minimal research is required to find your answers, as long as you’ve been listening and paying attention to the whole human exsistance, starting with the beginning of human documenting. (Cave drawings). It's a hard show to find because it's been removed several times and episodes have been changed and edited after launch, (America's book of secrets) Small hints like this exsist all through humanity, but because of evolution, we learn from mistakes and evolve into a better being. Not many people are able to see the signs but for the ones who don't, just keep pouring your money and time into something you won't be apart of and will never know about. Because without you knowing how or why, you’re still helping, and thays the way they want it. If someone found buried gold or buried value, do you not think the government would step in? Their the only ones with the power and money to quickly get results. Why do you think there's so much houses and construction that went on on navy 2. And army 1, why do you think the army and navy are involved with the only findings of this gold? And why do you thinks there's people saying the stories and pictures are fake, the hard evidence, can never be found as long as there's someone more powerful running above. The truth will never be told and continues to get buried the more and more we let government hold the power. By the way, if yall are reading you can recruit me at any time and cover up any hints I may have tipped and I’m cool with "not exsisting" you guys are doing great and I’m tired of living society lol. I’m smart, hardworking, and above all, intelligent. But anyways. Yall keep finding new ways to throw away your money and keep the gears greased. Watch the story of alcatraz. After all these years the story of the escaped convicts was finally solved, bit the geography changed and covered the "hard evidence"

do you actally see any coins in the photo?

No UXO whenever you were there, but all over the island in 1968?

I was stationed on the island for 2.5 years and I worked with EOD, I can assure you there were many more off limit areas on that island. Let's just take the MAUW compound for example, it was not only off limits but use of lethal force was authorized if necessary. Still, there were many areas that were off limits strictly because of UXO. A lot of these areas were not were the majority of island residence would have gone, but they were there. Other areas were places were people could have accidentally come in contact with UXB like the Lake Andrew beach front. On this beach ordinance continually would wash up as after WWII they dumped tons of unused bombs off the coast in this area.

A contractor was putting in an underground cable going up to Bering hill and hit a shell that was enormous, we had to get a full size detachable gooseneck trailer to put it on because of how heavy it was. There was not a gun anywhere in the Pacific theater during WWII big enough to fire that thing according to our chief. Somehow it wound up on Adak. All I know for sure is the first shape charge we pulled didn't even knock the dust off that monster. Secondly, the next charge worked, but in the words of our chief right after the detonation "we didn't get back far enough" I was in bad shape for a good bit afterwards, pretty sure we all were lol.There were several cases where UXO was found in old quonset huts under the flooring where it had been hidden for whatever reason. There were lots of incidents that's primarily why there was an EOD detachment there to begin with. I personally detonated entire pallets of bombs, rockets, and mortars that were found out in the tundra. It was awesome for a kid just out of high school!I never heard of the treasure, but man I wish I would have!! I don't know if the story is true, I do think they are over dramatizing the hell out of it though. I do feel that they are shooting with a scripted scene, it's not just spontaneous filming. I am also having a hard time with finding the one coin, I mean who would have watched another season of a team that comes up with a theory based on really nothing, then declare yep that's where the treasure is, go out and dig the whole time like yep it's here, then shocked when it's not there lol. They had to give the viewers something, I think they planted the coin.

LOL!!! The coke I was drinking came out of my nose reading your last few sentences. Good thing you let them know that you are smart, and above all intelligent, because I would not have got that from your post had you not pointed it out lol!

P.S. there are these things called paragraphs…..

LIke SallyM I didn't know my replies would not appear below the comment I was replying to, my first comment was in response to Jeanne "I worked in the Commanders office" and therefore I know everything Lewis Dubbel.

Of course my second comment was for that train wreck Cory I’m smart and intelligent Scofield lol

22:02 to be exact definitely a gold coinUnder the bar. In mint condition not even dirtyAnd no smashing marks there's no way that coinWould be in mint condition being under a "1000 pound rock" it's all scriptedAlso by the time they done the "soil samples "They could have simply just used the metal detectors.And also if he Tuned the metal detector for that specific gold coin it wouldn't pick up any "cans"

Lol Cory, you gotta self evaluate bro. Everything you’re saying seems uneducated and a reach! The true definition of conspiracy. You are literally claiming very broad and ambiguous theories with now real facts or sources lol. You’re not intelligent you are just a little creative with your paranoia 😂

All of a sudden every one here has been stationed there some say there was uxo others say no, and also why is no one talking about the guy who was looking for the gold and died, how can you say they mais these Up! if back then there was already people looking for it

Photos can be staged/faked with relative ease. No real mystery.

Biggest pile of shit i have ever wasted my time watching.

You mean the grainy picture of two guys standing together and one holding a can that could contain anything? Yeah sure, that is proof enough….

That was discussed in the show. The majority of the loot would go towards saving the island of Adak for the folks still living there and to build it back up. Still, the treasure hunters had agreed to take like 10% of what was found. That's substantial, if they hit the motherlode in anybodies book. But it looks like they are going to get screwed. It appears the majority of the pay lode is buried with hundreds and hundreds of UXO's. There's no way the military is going to assist in that venture….Sad, because I think they solved the mystery. Great show!

I would believe it….

First of all you are lying about the two people that found the gold. Both were army men digging out a path to build a walk way and accidentally hit the gold with there shovel at two different time periods. Secondly, the person who died at Lake Bety was not an army man, he was a normal man who was looking for Dwarkstof's lost gold and fell down a ravine and died. And thirdly they never found a gold coin and the camera men did not wait until they cleaned up the object to show it. So you are not telling the truth I watched the whole show and you are not being honest.

Your probably right about all the military buildings. Plus personnel.

You won't believe the amount of tax payers money the military spending on munitions and other materials they discard

22:02 in and I DO see it now that you mention it

One of the treasure hunters is using one of Garrett's cheapest detector made. If he was a professional detectorist, he’d be using a much more professional model.