The treasure chest is part of a popular belief around pirates and old Western outlaws.

Buried treasure is an important part of the popular belief around pirates and outlaws of the old West. According to the popular idea, criminals and others often bury their stolen goods in remote places and plan to use the treasure map to transport them back later.

In fact, it's rare for pirates to bury their treasures: the only known pirate to own them is William Kidd, who is believed to have at least part of his property buried on Long Island before sailing to New York City. Kidd was originally commissioned as England's private property, but his actions fell into the ranks of pirates. He hoped that his treasure could be used as a bargaining chip to avoid punishment. But his offer failed, and Kidd was hanged as a pirate.

In English novels, there are three famous stories that help popularize the myth of burying pirate treasures: Washington Irving's wolfert Webber (1824), Edgar Allan Poe and treasure island (1883) the Gold Bug (1843) By Robert Louis Stevenson they are very different in plot and literary therapy, but they are all blood relatives of the common ancestor of William Kidd legend. "We can't overestimate the impact of treasure island on our perception of pirates," said David cordingly, who said the idea of treasure map leading to buried treasure "is entirely fictional." Stevenson's Treasure Island is directly influenced by Irving's "wolfert Webber". Stevenson said in the preface: "my debt to Irving in Washington makes my conscience uneasy, and because of this, I believe that theft is rarely taken away The whole inner spirit and a lot of material details in my first chapter It's Washington Irving's property. "

In 1911, Ralph D. Paine, an American writer, investigated all known or claimed stories of buried treasure and published them in buried treasure. He found a common feature in all the stories: there was always a survivor of a pirate crew, he kept a chart in some way, showing where the treasure was hidden, but he could not return it, he transferred the map or information to a friend or ship owner, usually in his hospital bed. Then, the man would search for the treasure in vain, but not before passing the legend on to another unfortunate seeker