Mammoth-bone tale sparks treasure hunt at N.Y. river

NEW YORK — Ask people what you might find buried in the muck at the bottom of New York City’s East River and they’d probably say “mob boss” before thinking of mammoth bones.

But several groups of treasure hunters have taken to the waterway in recent weeks after hearing a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast claim that a boxcar’s worth of potentially valuable prehistoric mammoth bones was dumped in the river in the 1940s.

Despite a lack of evidence, treasure seekers using boats, diving gear and technology such as remoteoperated cameras have gone searching, in hopes the murky waters are hiding woolly mammoth tusks.

“I think the chances are just as good as the lottery. And people buy those tickets every day,” said Don

Gann, 35, of North Arlington, N.J., a commercial diver who’s been out on the water since early this month with his brother and two workers.

It all started when John Reeves, an Alaskan gold miner with a passion for fossils, came onto “The Joe Rogan Experience” — which has been criticized for airing false COVID-19 information — for an episode Dec. 30 to talk about his land, where he said he has uncovered ageold bones and tusks.

In the first half of the 20th century, under previous ownership, digging for gold unearthed a trove of prehistoric mammal remains.

Some of that material was brought to New York City decades ago to be handed over to the American Museum of Natural History.

Reeves cited a draft of a report put together by three men, including one who worked at the museum, that included a reference to some fossils and bones deemed unsuitable for the museum being dumped into the river.

“I’m going to start a bone rush,” Reeves told Rogan, before reading from the draft and giving a location: East River Drive, now known as the FDR Drive, at around 65th Street.

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

After the episode aired, the American Museum of Natural History threw cold water on the tale.

“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,” it said.

When reached by phone, Reeves told a reporter to read the pages he had posted on social media.