The last time I was visiting my parents, I happened to watch part of the movie "National Treasure," and it got me thinking.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, it is about a treasure map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence leading to several clues that give the location of a massive secret treasure. It’s a fun movie, even if it isn’t historically accurate.

But, like I said, it got me thinking. Every town I’ve lived in has its supposed secret treasures and hidden history. When I lived in Platteville, Wis., there was a house near where my parents built their new home that was supposedly used for witchcraft and that may or may not hide a tunnel system full of gold bars. That was the story, at least. There were also tales of supernatural events happening to early settlers of a town just a few miles down the road. While interning in Alexandria, there was the story of the Runestone – a stone with Norse inscriptions found in Minnesota supposedly dating back to long before Columbus’s famous voyage. There was probably some buried treasure somewhere in the story, too.

Everyone wants to believe that there are hidden caches of treasure out there, somewhere, just waiting to be discovered. I know I readily accept most hidden-treasure stories as at least partially true, because I want to be the one to discover it.

So I was wondering where Jordan’s secret treasure is. What sort of legends of lost gold surround our town? Or maybe even Scott County? Are there legends of hidden bank robbery loot? Is there a farm somewhere that is supposed to house a hidden tunnel system of gold?

I don’t necessarily want to find any treasure, but I’d at least like to think it was a possibility.