The Hunt for Captain William Kidd’s Lost Treasure

This episode of "Is This the Norm?" has hosts Lora, Heather, and Rebecca telling the story of Captain William Kidd — a respected Scottish-born sea captain who became a privateer for England in the 1690s, hunting pirates and French ships. After 18 months without a single legitimate prize, his desperate crew pushed him toward outright piracy, including killing a mutinous gunner and seizing the Quedagh Merchant, a richly laden ship flying a French flag but actually owned by Indian merchants. This act branded Kidd a pirate, leading to his arrest, an attempted (failed) bribe with buried treasure on Gardiner's Island, and his eventual trial and execution by hanging in 1701, after which his body was displayed as a warning. The episode continues into the legend of Kidd's undiscovered second treasure, following 1920s collector Hubert Palmer's treasure maps and 1980s adventurer Richard Knight's ill-fated expedition to Vietnam, which ended in imprisonment. Throughout, the hosts banter, joke, and speculate about the historical details, wrapping up with reflections on the story and teasers for future episodes. References Bath, G. J. (2025). Captain Kidd treasure maps: The reality. In Gjbath.com. http://www.gjbath.com/Misc/Maps1.htm Post #201. (2026, April 19). What happened to the Kidd-Palmer treasure maps? TreasureNet.Com. https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/what-happened-to-the-kidd-palmer-treasure-maps.712534/page-11 Prime video: Myth hunters. (2026). Primevideo.Com. https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0tnvat2jgnorg6qvfbebls1lds?jic=8%7cegnhbgw%3d&ref_=atv_dp_season_select_s1 Wikimedia commons. (n.d.). In commons.wikimedia.org. Retrieved July 27, 2026, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/