I had a local (senior citizen type) tell me that there is Rebel gold buried in the hills around us somewhere. They said before the Union army got here the locals buried all their valuables in the hills, and carefully noted where it was. After the war, whoever knew the location was no longer around. He said his dad and grandad used to spend time hunting for it.
I bet this is stolen bank money. The robbers were either caught by the sheriff and hanged or indians caught them and staked them out in the hot sun.
Or they buried the money then forgot where they buried it and spent the rest of their life roaming the hills and ended their days driven mad.