Treasure Hunters Explore NYC East River For Mammoth Bones After Joe Rogan Podcast

In the last few weeks, treasure hunter have started exploring New York City’s East River in an effort to find mammoth bones that they believe could be at the bottom.

The hype — and searches — began when John Reeves, a gold miner from Alaska, appeared on Joe Rogan’s mega-popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Reeves spoke out about his property, where he found many bones and tusks.

When different people were the owners of his land, prehistoric animal remains were found in searches for gold. Some of these items were brought to New York City and given to the American Museum of Natural History. Reeves pointed to a draft report that discussed how some bones and fossils were dropped into the river after the museum didn’t accept them.

Rogan was informed by Reeves about his identity. “going to start a bone rush” and read the report. Then, he announced East River Drive’s location, now known as FDR Drive.

“We’ll see if anybody out there’s got a sense of adventure,” He said it later, noting: “Let me tell you something about mammoth bones, mammoth tusks — they’re extremely valuable.”

Reeves stated to a member of The Associated Press he would look at the draft he had posted online.

As the Guardian reportedRobert Sattler is one of the draft’s co-authors. told the AP that another author — Richard Osborne — originated the story about the mammoth bones. Osborne however, passed away in 2005. Sattler said the draft report was authentic, but it wasn’t supposed to be put in a scholarly journal. Rather, it was the beginning of something else, perhaps a book centered on Osborne’s understanding.

Sattler said he didn’t have details past what Osborne recalled, but noted that Osborne was close to the recovery of mammoth bones in Alaska when he was younger.

“He would have had some knowledge from somebody telling him that they dumped some excess material in the East River,” Sattler said.

The American Museum of Natural History tried to rebut the story, perhaps in an attempt to ward off potential treasure hunters. But they weren’t entirely successful.

“We do not have any record of the disposal of these fossils in the East River, nor have we been able to find any record of this report in the museum’s archives or other scientific sources,” In a statement, the museum stated.

“I think the chances are just as good as the lottery. And people buy those tickets every day,” CBS News quoted Don Gann as saying. Gann, a 35 year-old commercial diver from New Jersey has been diving in the waters since the beginning of last week along with three others.

Gann also noted He has also seen 24 other groups of people looking.

“I’ve hunted for weird artifacts my entire life, so this one, it just kind of fits into my repertoire,” Gann, who was also in Discovery’s “Sewer Divers,” said.

Gann hasn’t discovered anything, but he has moved locations to a different area of the city, claiming that it would have been a more realistic dumping spot.

“If I find nothing, then I find nothing. I gave it an honest shot,” Gann stated.