Human history is literally interwoven with mysterious tales of powerful and lost civilizations that overflowed with wealth. Mostly it’s just legends.

Recently, social networks and some media have been filled with stories about the alleged British traveler Alfred Isaac Middleton, who explored the island of Sumatra at the end of the 19th century. According to these stories, which are also accompanied by some photographs, he was supposed to have found the old and rich city of Dawleetoo . Many experts doubt the veracity of such reports. The truth remains that no such city has yet been found in Sumatra.

Reports of the traveler were kept secret

According to Smithsonian Magazine, reports of the Middleton traveler’s existence are said to come from a collection of papers by Sir John Morris, a former assistant to Arthur Conan Doyle, who knew the traveler. He should have received these from the British consulate. Anyway, news about the traveler was to be kept under wraps for more than a century . One of the explanations that you can find in various sources are allegedly photos of objects depicting some kind of cosmonauts and spaceships.

According to the presented story, Alfred Middleton should have gotten his hands on a map that showed the way to the town of Dawleetoo located near Lop Nur Lake. Allegedly, it abounded in gold and other riches , probably the most valuable here was a golden statue of a woman who was said to have come from the extinct Atlantis. The traveler is said to have collected amazing treasures on his expeditions, which he was supposed to bury in a coffin.

They were trying to get the secret out of him

However, Middleton’s fate was unfortunate. Other people found out about the amazing treasures he was supposed to possess and they decided to get hold of them. They managed to capture the traveler and they were trying to get the secret of the treasure and most likely the found city out of him. Nowhere is it said how successful they were. Middleton was supposed to have perished in this captivity, but the details are not known.

But there was also a man named John Hargreaves, who allegedly commanded another expedition trying to find the fabled city. What happened to the expeditions is unknown. The origin of the images that have recently been circulating on social networks is also not properly clarified. It is therefore impossible to say whether they are genuine and whether they are at all related to any travel expeditions of the alleged Alfred Middleton. The story about him and the town of Dawleetoo might start to circulate similar to stories about the mythical Eldorado.

In theory, of course, it is possible that the jungles of Sumatra may have harbored some secret in the past. There are also very high mountains, the highest peak is over 3,800 meters. However, at present, this sixth largest island in the world is relatively densely populated . Around 50 million people live on it. It is not very likely that an ancient city that existed at the end of the 19th century would have been hidden from them in an area the size of six Czech Republics.