Deadman's Curse: Volcanic Gold – Details, episodes & analysis

It’s a summer night in 1998. Vienna, Austria. And petty thief Daniel Blanchard is about to carry out the heist of a lifetime. Stealing a crown jewel. The last remaining diamond Sisi Star. His plan? A daring night-time parachute jump. Daniel is no ordinary thief. His heists are ingenious, meticulously planned; his escapes from the law defy belief. And Daniel knows that if he can get his hands on the star, it will launch him into the criminal big-leagues. Daniel’s exploits unleash a relentless game of cat-and-mouse, as police track him across continents yet vanishes from their grasp.  What he doesn’t know is that the Sisi Star has a history. A dark history. Its original owner, the legendary Empress Elisabeth of Austria, used it to carve her own legacy of absolute beauty and power. That pursuit drove her to her very limits.  And now Daniel’s fate is fixed to that same star. But how long can Sisi’s star stay lucky for Daniel?  This is A Most Audacious Heist – it’s the story of a master thief, an intercontinental manhunt, and the jewel that changes everything. Contact: Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slumach’s lost mine isn’t the only tale of gold hidden in Western Canada with a dubious history. There is a trail of treasures in and around BC with wild stories, danger, and legendary paydirt attached to their provenances.  In this season finale episode, we dive into some of these other tales, and Jack Mould’s story comes to a close as we wrap up Deadman’s Curse: Volcanic Gold and reflect on what draws us to keep chasing the gold, in spite of a curse.  Host:  Kru Williams Guests: Don Froese Adam Palmer Judith Williams Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our mission to to uncover the truth behind the curse of Slumach’s gold mine, a major piece to the puzzle lies with Volcanic Brown. Although some things have been lost to history, one thing we know for sure he had been on the hunt for Slumach’s gold, for over a decade. Did their paths ever meet? How did Volcanic Brown become a prospecting legend? In this episode, we retrace Brown's journey from the gold fields of the Maritimes, to the labour disputes in Ontario, and to finally, landing in the wild west of British Columbia where our tale begins to take shape. Host:  Kru Williams Guests: Dr. Keith Carlson Don Froese Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Legendary prospector Volcanic Brown had a talent for surviving incredibly harsh conditions and a résumé of achievements almost too unbelievable to be true. So who was this larger than life character who had a knack for sniffing out treasure? In this episode, we take a look at Volcanic Brown, and dig deeper into the mystery of his disappearance. Could items found in his final campsite hold the key to the mystery? Host:  Kru Williams Guests: Adam Palmer Don Froese Taylor Starr Marc Ferrero Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1931, a larger than life prospector, in search of Slumach’s legendary lost gold mine goes missing in the wilderness of British Columbia. In this episode, we retrace the epic search and rescue efforts that went into looking for the missing prospector as well potential clues left behind at his campsite, that point to an even bigger mystery of what happened to Volcanic Brown? Host:  Kru Williams Guest: Adam Palmer Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada  Curiouscast website: https://curiouscast.ca/ Great Pacific Media Website: https://greatpacifictv.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1931, on a night cold enough to freeze your bones, a larger-than-life prospector, in search of a legendary lost gold mine in the wilderness of British Columbia, disappears without a trace. Known for his solid gold teeth and team of black stallions, he was a force of nature. So, was he murdered? Did he fake his own death? Or was he the latest victim of the dead man’s curse? The adventure begins June 3rd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special episode of Deadman’s Curse, Kru Williams is joined by co-writer and executive producer, Ernest White II, to allow Kru to share his personal insights on what it was like contributing to the podcast, filming the TV series, and diving into the legend, and the curse, of Slumach and his lost gold. Host:  Ernest White II  Guest: Kru Williams Contact: Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Instagram - @kru_williams Instagram - @ernestwhiteii Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the final episode of the season, we share our final findings into the investigation of Slumach’s story, the legend and the curse, and explore unanswered questions after walking the same path and sleeping under the same stars Slumach did over 150 years ago.  We’ve been entrusted to rewrite his legacy in our search for the truth, and Slumach’s story is not over. Neither is our quest for his gold. Host:  Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guest: Don Froese Taylor Starr Adam Palmer Len Pierre - @lenpierreconsulting Brian Antonson https://www.amazon.ca/Slumachs-Gold-Search-Rick-Antonson/dp/1894974352 Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

60 years after Slumach’s death, in 1951, The Province newspaper, one of Vancouver’s major dailies that is still in existence, connected Slumach’s name to a curse. Up until that moment, the curse was nowhere to be found in newspaper articles at the time, even when they reported on the misfortunes of those seeking gold. Pulp fiction turned Slumach into an evil madman, and promoted the idea that getting his gold was as easy as hiking into the mountains north of Pitt Lake, which led to the deaths of many ill-prepared prospectors. In this episode, we investigate the origin of: ‘Nika memloose, mine memloose,’ and the curse attributed to Slumach. Host:  Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guest: Len Pierre - @lenpierreconsulting Brian Antonson https://www.amazon.ca/Slumachs-Gold-Search-Rick-Antonson/dp/1894974352 Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years after Slumach died, on August 16, 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Yukon, bordering Alaska to the far north of British Columbia.  As it happened almost 40 years earlier with BC’s Fraser Gold Rush, some 30-to-40,000 fortune-seekers from around the world streamed into the Rocky Mountain wilderness in search of another El Dorado. Prospectors who passed through the region heard the tale of the old Indigenous man hanged for murder not so long before. Most knew of the Jackson Letter, which described the location of the bonanza above Pitt Lake that awaited the lucky finder.  Many went searching…some never came back. Host:  Kru Williams - @kru_williams Guest: Adam Palmer Daryl Friesen - @FrozenGoldDaryl Brian Antonson https://www.amazon.ca/Slumachs-Gold-Search-Rick-Antonson/dp/1894974352 Facebook - @deadmanscursegpm Facebook - @HISTORYCanada  Instagram - @deadmanscurse Instagram - @Historyca Twitter - @HistoryTVCanada  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices