So where exactly did Captain Kidd, the infamous pirate, hide his fortune?
Was it somewhere in the Caribbean? Off the coast of Africa? On a remote island lost to the map?
As it turns out, Kidd did pick an island — but not the kind most people imagine. His alleged cache was hidden in what is now the heart of the Hamptons on Long Island, New York, the elite summer retreat of Wall Street executives and Hollywood stars. Little did they know, stories of buried gold, silver and priceless gems placed the treasure almost literally beneath their feet … back in 1699.
Had Captain William Kidd and his wife, Sarah, been alive today, they might have fit right in among the well-heeled crowd, mingling at cocktail parties, sipping gin and tonics and spending afternoons on the golf course. Yes, Kidd was a married man — and the couple had two daughters.
POPEYES TAKES OVER FAMOUS $150 CHICKEN TENDER TOWER AT HAMPTONS CELEBRITY HOTSPOT
Pirate Captain Kidd may have hidden a portion of his fabled treasure on a private island in New York’s Hamptons. A new Fox Nation series digs into the enduring mystery and the real figure behind the legend. (Johnny Milano/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They were New York’s power couple,” Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos said. “He was a very, very stellar member of New York society. He owned a great deal of real estate. They had dinner parties. They had silver. They had china and fine linens.”
The unexpected life and legend of Captain Kidd are featured in the new series, “Crazy American History with Eric Shawn,” now available to stream on Fox Nation.
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A pirate who was married with two kids and a big mansion. That’s crazy!
“It’s easy to believe the lore of pirates because people find it kind of sexy. You know, these are really hyper-masculine men who are out there, swinging swords and cutting people to pieces and coming around with bags of gold. And that’s kind of like, you know, dashing and dark and it’s all of that,” said Geanacopoulos, who wrote the biography, “A Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd.” “He was a normal guy.”
And that treasure? 40 pounds of gold, silver, silk and precious rubies and stones?
Captain Kidd wasn’t just a pirate. He was a wealthy New York landowner, husband and father before his dramatic downfall. (Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images)
“He hides the treasure on Gardiner’s Island,” said Samuel Marquis, author of “Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal.” He also is Kidd’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson. (That’s the ninth great-grandson.) Gardiner’s Island is a privately owned property on New York’s Long Island still in the hands of the same family as when Kidd buried his booty there. Marquis says Kidd also stashed valuables elsewhere, including Connecticut and Rhode Island. New Jersey is also a suspected spot.
We will show you the pirate’s secret spot where he buried his booty and go along with a man who still thinks more may be out there on the East Coast.
The American who you certainly do not know — the posh pirate — a crazy and curious story we tell in the third episode of “Crazy American History with Eric Shawn” now streaming on Fox Nation.
