This episode is brought to you by Con Artists, a Parcast Original. For more episodes like this one, subscribe to Con Artists on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

After starting a string of failing businesses in the early 1900s, American Oscar Hartzell found himself looking for his next path to wealth. He found it when he heard about Sir Frances Drake, and his alleged inheritance. Soon Hartzell began to use tale's of Drake's fortune to make a fortune of his own.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices