Shipwrecks, Long Lost Treasure, and ‘The Goonies’ Are All Connected in This New Documentary

Are you a fan of ‘The Goonies’? The film, released in 1985, is treasured in the memories of many. It follows a gang of adventurous young kids looking to save their home from a property developing company. They find a pirate map in the attic and begin to search for the long lost treasure implied in its contents, but of course, it’s never that easy.

It’s a movie so treasured that the sites used to film the movie (along the Oregon-coast) are marked with signs remembering the movie fondly, making the area a bit of a tourist attraction. People have speculated in the past that the movie might actually be inspired by true events. Sounds absurd? That’s not the half of it.

The movie is getting some more attention once again through a documentary titled “The True Quest for Fabled Treasure on the Oregon Coast”. It premiered on October 13th, so you may have already heard of it.

The documentary is made from the minds of Tony Altamirano, JB Fisher, and Doug Kenck-Crispin. The documentary will be the first in a video/podcast series titled “Secrets of the Mysteries.”

The documentary aims to explore the legend circling around the supposed treasure of Neahkahnie Mountain. Although there is nothing concrete about the tale, treasure hunters are adamant to keep the rumors alive.

If you aren’t familiar, these fables date back to a galleon, or sailing ship, called the Santo Christo de Burgos. It was supposedly a Manila ship that left the Philippines that left tbe summer of 1693 for Acapulco and was wrecked on Nehalem Spit. According to the Oregon Encyclopedia, the ship was carrying an assortment of fine Asian goods, such as Chinese silks, porcelain, and blocks of beeswax. The blocks of beeswax, which was often used to make candles, caught the attention of those who heard the tale, and so the alleged shipwreck was dubbed “The Beeswax Wreck. These fine goods were thought to be scattered and buried on Nehalem Spit, near Nehalem Bay.

The story has always been a lingering legend, but recently the Oregon Coast has been rocked with reminders of it. A team of investigators were able to remove timbers from some sea caves near Manzanita. This wouldn’t be too much of a surprise were it not for the fact that the National Geographic reported that they believed the timbers to be pieces of the Santo Christo de Burgos.

It’s this tale that will be focused on within the documentary, but that won’t be the only topic they cover. You may be asking yourself when ‘The Goonies’ are going to come in. The documentary hopes to explore the logistics of the trade route and what could have happened to the captain and crew, but they also take the time to linger on the 1985 film we all know and love.

According to the influx of articles claiming so after the discovery of the timbers, many believe that “The Goonies” was directly inspired by the take of Santo Christo de Burgos. After all, the kids in the fimp are hunting down treasure from a pirate ship back in the 1600s. Yes, the Santo Christo de Burgos is believed to have been a trading ship, but the likenesses are still there, right down to both the movie and the shipwreck taking place on the Oregon Coast.

The filmmakers are adamant in stating that they are not claiming to solve the mystery, but instead to explore an Oregon legend and whether or not it has a connection to one of the greatest movies of our time. They go into depth about the archaeological evidence and how it matches up to oral accounts and other evidence concerning the “long lost treasure”.

They also aim to discuss the legacy of the tale itself. They don’t want to prove or disprove the existence of any sort of treasure, but instead explore how a legend can keep treasure hunters on the trail for over 200 years. There’s a desire to always dig deeper and know more when it comes to this event, and the filmmakers do the very best they can to provide that without giving any concrete theories. They even cover real treasure hunters who adamantly believe in the existence of the long lost treasure; they pay particular attention to a treasure hunter named Ed Fire, also known as Tony Mareno, and the man certainly adds substance to the film.

The possible connection to “The Goonies” is a twist that if true, is astounding in hindsight. Although treasure hunters are unlikely to find a chest full of dubloons from a ship that traded large blocks of beeswax, the legend still spurs them on, and “The True Quest for Fabled Treasure on the Oregon Coast” captures it very well, in my opinion.