17 Amazing Facts about True Life Treasure Hunters or the Real Indiana Jones

13Danny Douglas

Danny Douglas was hired to track down the Reliquary of St Maurus that was regarded to have contained the bones of St John the Baptist after it was allegedly stolen by Nazi collaborators. Just like Indiana Jones and the last crusade, the Nazi secret service followed him and also sent a female agent to seduce him into revealing the location of the treasure. The treasure was found beneath the floorboards of a church but he was made to give it up with the agents taking credit for the discovery.

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14Hiram Bingham II

Hiram Bingham II was credited for an amazing discovery that happened to be Macha Pichu, the ancient Quechua city and birthplace of Inca kings. The discovery was made in Peru in 1911. Like a regular Indy, Bingham also delivered lectures on archaeology in Yale. Bingham uncovered more than 40, 000 artifacts from the Macha Pichu find that included bones, artifacts, ceramics and Inca mummies.

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15Fredrick Mitchell-Hedges

If you’ve seen Indiana Jones and the crystal skull, then this guy discovered the real thing in Belize in 1920. Fredrick Mitchell-Hedges was an English discoverer who was obsessed with myths and legends and believed that the crystal skull he found belonged to an alien.  At one time he worked as a Mexican spy and also was known to have fought leopards and crocodiles while trying to find lost treasure.

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16Lawrence of Arabia

T.E. Lawrence was one of the most famous figures of his time spending several years in Northern Syria disguised as an archaeologist when he was actually a spy for the British government. He led Bedouin guerillas in a revolt during the 1916-1918 revolt including the most dramatic attack on a Turkish military train.

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17Brenton Easter

Among real-life treasure hunters, Brenton Easter is an unconventional Indiana Jones who dresses up like him every Halloween.  While there are many tomb raiders around, his job at Homeland security is to catch them. Till date Brenton has recovered almost 2,500 artifacts worth $250 million which have been returned to their respective countries.

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