Here is something well-documented that nobody seems to talk about: Cueva de los Tayos, a cave located in the Ecuadorian Andes. Early expeditions exploring within claimed mounds of gold and strange sculptures, but most interesting of all was a library comprised of metal books.

Interesting enough, but made even more so considering the local Shuar natives had no writing system nor sophisticated metalworking techniques prior to Spanish contact. Still, no concrete evidence of the metallic library really exists... but...

Why then did the Ecuadorian AND British militaries send in an expedition of over a hundred people in 1976, one of the most expensive cave expeditions in history, if there was nothing of note within? And why was NEIL FUCKING ARMSTRONG brought along on the expedition?

Details of what the expedition found are scarce, and the official report is that nothing of substantial note was discovered. A local Shuar indigene claimed they had searched the wrong cave, and that the location of the true cave was a secret. Nevertheless, quite convenient.

Worthy of note is that the Shuar people were somehow able to fend off the might of both the Inca and Spanish empires—perhaps they had some form of external assistance? Still, everything in this thread can be verified, it is an interesting tale that isn’t just standard /x/ posting