Episode 249: The Beale Ciphers Treasure, An American Mystery

Let's Get Haunted

Comedy

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 112 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to “Episode 249: The Beale Ciphers Treasure Mystery”! In the 1820s, a mysterious traveler named Thomas J. Beale left a locked box with a Virginia innkeeper, instructing him not to open it unless ten years passed without anyone coming to claim it. When the box was finally opened decades later, it contained three coded messages and claims of buried treasure worth millions hidden somewhere in Bedford County, Virginia. More than 200 years later, only one cipher has ever been cracked, revealing the treasure’s contents but not its location. Treasure hunters have dug up mountains and cemeteries, cryptographers (and even reportedly the NSA) have analyzed the codes, and theories range from an elaborate hoax by entrepreneur James B. Ward to secret ties with President Thomas Jefferson or poet Edgar Allan Poe. Is the treasure still out there somewhere or has it already been found? Somebody call Nic Cage because on this episode of Let’s Get Haunted, Aly and Nat break down the Beale Ciphers’ history, codes, government intrigue, and theories. TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 - HOOK/INTRO 00:04:48 - NUTRAFOL AD 00:06:35 - PART I: THOMAS BEALE’S TREASURE 00:33:39 - VERACITY AD 00:35:30 - PART II: THE HUNT IS ON 00:52:43 - BLISSY AD 00:54:28 - PART III: LINGERING QUESTIONS 01:30:52 - PART IV: THE THEORIES 01:41:55 - CLOSING CREDITS THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED!! Find out more about this week’s advertisers below: NUTRAFOL: Get $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping at https://nutrafol.com with promo code HAUNTED. VERACITY: For up to 60% off your order, head to https://www.veracityhealth.co and use code Haunted. BLISSY: Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep—use code LGHPOD for an extra 30% off at https://www.blissy.com/LGHPOD. Link to Aly’s Slideshow: https://bit.ly/4tI66Hz —— Other Important Stuff: Join the Patreon today! https://patreon.com/letsgethaunted LGH Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/letsgethaunted Buy Our Merch: https://www.letsgethaunted.com Check out the photo dump for this week’s episode: https://www.instagram.com/letsgethaunted Send us fan mail: PO BOX 1658, Camarillo, CA 93011 Send us your listener stories: www.letsgethaunted.com OR LetsGetHauntedPod@gmail.com —— BACKGROUND MUSIC: “MAGIC TRANSITION SOUND - NO COPYRIGHT” BY SOUND TRUST, LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNHMu3Upgu4 “(Free) Horror Ambiance - Ominous Background Music” by ESN Productions, link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAO3x-Uhfoo “Elevator” - Local Forecast, License Dar Golan - Elevator Music - Royalty free music, “Elevator Music (Royalty Free, Infinite Loop)” by Dar Golan, free download link here: https://www.dargolan-free.com/funny-music “Haunted Memories” by David Fesliyan, link: https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/downloads-c/detective-music/80 Fesliyan Studios purchase license code 4d8f4582-7de6-4a3f-acc8-b492041f011a “Wild West | Country Ambient Guitar | Relaxing Cowboy Western Music” by Western Ambient, link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80JI9DvvJA VIDEO ASSETS USED IN THIS EPISODE WERE ALL PURCHASED AND LICENSED VIA STORYBLOCKS.COM ALL OTHER AUDIO ASSETS INCLUDING MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS LICENSED AND PURCHASED THROUGH: artlist.io —— KEYWORDS: Virginia, America, American, United States, Civil War, Treasure, Mystery, Unsolved, Unresolved, Unknown, Cipher, Code, Codebreaking, computer, algorithm, NSA, government, conspiracy, Edgar Allen Poe, Thomas Jefferson, freemason, freemasons, esoteric, secret society, secret, history Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Sometime in the 1820s, an innkeeper in Virginia named Robert Morris developed a friendship with one of his tenants,
0:08.8	a mysterious man who said his name was Thomas J. Beale. After meeting a few times, Beale pulled the
0:16.1	innkeeper aside and handed him a small metal lockbox. Beale then instructed Morris not to open it,
0:23.5	unless 10 years had elapsed with no one returning to retrieve it. Intrigued, Morris agreed to keep
0:29.5	the box safe, and, true to his word, resisted the urge to crack it open, despite his growing
0:35.6	curiosity. As the years passed and Beale failed to return to the inn,
0:40.1	Morris excitedly realized that the lockbox was now his,
0:44.6	and he was finally free to see what was inside.
0:47.3	What happened next would result in a treasure hunt that would span over 200 years,
0:53.4	and may have even served as the main inspiration for Nicholas Cage's
0:57.3	national treasure. Morris couldn't know it then, but Thomas Beale had gifted him instructions for a
1:03.0	treasure cache, a cash so tantalizing that even the U.S. government would get involved in the search.
1:09.2	The only problem? The instructions to the
1:11.8	gold were written in a secret code so convoluted that even sophisticated computer algorithms
1:17.6	couldn't crack it. Or could they? Join us on this week's episode of Let's Get Haunted as we
1:23.7	decode the mystery of the Beal Cipher's treasure.
1:38.9	Welcome back to Let's Get Haunted.
1:47.4	With your host, Nat Strawn and Allie.
1:55.5	Welcome back, haunties, to episode 249 of Let's Get Haunted. We are your ghost host, Nat and Ali,
2:00.0	but for the next one to two hours, we're just going to get you really, really haunted, whether you want to or not. And
2:01.1	speaking of which, Nat, for anyone out there who's new and might be listening for the very first time, can you please explain to the good folks who we are and what we do? We are, Let's Get Haunted, and we do what we say. We get you haunted. Every single Wednesday, we alternate telling stories. this Wednesday, Allie's going to tell me a story.
2:19.3	Next Wednesday, I'm going to tell her a story. And the host who is telling the story has the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Let's Get Haunted, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Let's Get Haunted and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.