Forrest Fenn's Rocky Mountain Treasure Chest Found After Ten Years
My friend David S. told me about this 6 or 7 years ago. I spent some time trying to research guess its location -- without being able to go look at it. David said he was becoming obsessed with it, not long before he died. The place I had in mind, based on the riddle of a poem, was in Western Colorado, specifically west of and upstream from Molly Brown's Gold Mine near Gunnison & Crested Butte, Colorado. The place it was hidden has not yet been revealed.
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Treasure chest hidden in Rocky Mountains finally found
Associated Press•June 8, 2020
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago somewhere in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found, according to a famed art and antiquities collector who created the treasure hunt.
Forrest Fenn, 89, told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday that a man who did not want his name released - but was from “back East” - located the chest a few days ago and the discovery was confirmed by a photograph the man sent him.
“It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn said in a statement on his website Sunday that still did not reveal the exact location. “I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.”
Fenn posted clues to the treasure’s whereabouts online and in a 24-line poem that was published in his 2010 autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase.”
Hundreds of thousands have hunted in vain across remote corners of the U.S. West for the bronze chest believed to be filled with gold coins, jewelry and other valuable items. Many quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search and others depleted their life savings. At least four people died searching for it.
Fenn, who lives in Santa Fe, said he packed and repacked his treasure chest for more than a decade, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Columbian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric “mirrors” of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.
He said he hid the treasure as a way to tempt people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches.
Fenn told The New Mexican in 2017 that the chest weighs 20 pounds (9 kilograms) and its contents weigh another 22 pounds (10 kilograms). He said he delivered the chest to its hiding place by himself over two separate trips.
Asked how he felt now that the treasure has been found, Fenn said: “I don’t know, I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over.”
“I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries,” he said on his website. https://www.oldsantafetradingco.com/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/forrest-fenns-treasure-hidden-rocky-185842140.html
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Forrest Fenn, Who Started a Famous Hunt for Hidden Treasure, Says His Chest Has Been Found
BY JULIA GLUM JUNE 7, 2020
A famous modern-day treasure hunt that has captivated hundreds of thousands of people around the world may have just come to an end. Last year we reported on Forrest Fenn, the elderly art collector who claims to have hidden a chest full of gold, jewelry and other precious items in the Rocky Mountains about a decade ago - and now he says someone has finally found his stash.
The announcement arrived late Saturday in a post on dalneitzel.com, a website devoted to dissecting the poem Fenn wrote containing clues about the treasure’s location. (Fenn doesn’t post directly on the website himself; instead, he sends in messages to Dal Neitzel, a searcher based in Washington.)
The same wording appeared on the website for the Old Santa Fe Trading Co., Fenn’s official website. It read:
THE TREASURE HAS BEEN FOUND
It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago. I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot. I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries. So the search is over. Look for more information and photos in the coming days.
Fenn later confirmed the news to MONEY, writing, “Yes, it is true.”
This is a major development in the legend of Fenn’s treasure hunt, which the collector has said he was inspired to start after a cancer diagnosis in the 1980s. The search picked up steam in 2013 and has involved an estimated 350,000 people - many of whom have invested their savings and retirement into the hunt. Some are even making money from it, selling coins, books, maps and art inspired by the search.
The chest is rumored to be worth up to $5 million, but for many, the search is more about the online community than it is the money. People congregate in Facebook groups, chase-dedicated forums and on YouTube to debate their solutions to Fenn’s poem, forming connections along the way. It’s not necessary to do boots-on-the-ground visit out west in order to join the fun.
However, there are some critics. Even on Reddit Sunday, one searcher asked why Fenn didn’t give more information about the finder in his post and why he phrased the announcement the way he did.
In the past, skeptics have argued the entire search is a hoax - and a dangerous one, given that roughly five people have died in the wilderness looking for the treasure. In 2017, the then-chief of the New Mexico State Police demanded Fenn call off the hunt because “people make poor decisions” when there are such riches at stake. In May, an Indiana man got a five-year ban from Yellowstone National Park after he had to be rescued while looking for Fenn’s treasure.
The antiques dealer himself has been at risk, too.
Searchers have stalked Fenn, shown up to his New Mexico house uninvited and threatened him for information. This past December, a Colorado man sued Fenn for $1.5 million, saying that he’d been fooled “by fraudulent statements.” That prompted another searcher to file in Fenn’s defense saying he’d located the cache, which was actually a “virtual art installation or metaphorical ‘treasure.'” (Fenn counter-sued the Colorado man, and the lawsuit was dropped in March.)
All of that is to say that there’s a lot riding on Fenn’s claim that his treasure has been found. A lot of questions remain - Who found Forrest Fenn’s treasure? Where was it? What happens now? - but it seems the story is far from over.
https://money.com/forrest-fenn-treasure-found/
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Treasure chest hidden in Rocky Mountains finally found
Associated Press•June 8, 2020
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago somewhere in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found, according to a famed art and antiquities collector who created the treasure hunt.
Forrest Fenn, 89, told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday that a man who did not want his name released - but was from “back East” - located the chest a few days ago and the discovery was confirmed by a photograph the man sent him.
“It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn said in a statement on his website Sunday that still did not reveal the exact location. “I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.”
Fenn posted clues to the treasure’s whereabouts online and in a 24-line poem that was published in his 2010 autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase.”
Hundreds of thousands have hunted in vain across remote corners of the U.S. West for the bronze chest believed to be filled with gold coins, jewelry and other valuable items. Many quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search and others depleted their life savings. At least four people died searching for it.
Fenn, who lives in Santa Fe, said he packed and repacked his treasure chest for more than a decade, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Columbian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric “mirrors” of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.
He said he hid the treasure as a way to tempt people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches.
Fenn told The New Mexican in 2017 that the chest weighs 20 pounds (9 kilograms) and its contents weigh another 22 pounds (10 kilograms). He said he delivered the chest to its hiding place by himself over two separate trips.
Asked how he felt now that the treasure has been found, Fenn said: “I don’t know, I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over.”
“I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries,” he said on his website. https://www.oldsantafetradingco.com/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/forrest-fenns-treasure-hidden-rocky-185842140.html
----------------------------------------------------------
Forrest Fenn, Who Started a Famous Hunt for Hidden Treasure, Says His Chest Has Been Found
BY JULIA GLUM JUNE 7, 2020
A famous modern-day treasure hunt that has captivated hundreds of thousands of people around the world may have just come to an end. Last year we reported on Forrest Fenn, the elderly art collector who claims to have hidden a chest full of gold, jewelry and other precious items in the Rocky Mountains about a decade ago - and now he says someone has finally found his stash.
The announcement arrived late Saturday in a post on dalneitzel.com, a website devoted to dissecting the poem Fenn wrote containing clues about the treasure’s location. (Fenn doesn’t post directly on the website himself; instead, he sends in messages to Dal Neitzel, a searcher based in Washington.)
The same wording appeared on the website for the Old Santa Fe Trading Co., Fenn’s official website. It read:
THE TREASURE HAS BEEN FOUND
It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago. I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot. I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries. So the search is over. Look for more information and photos in the coming days.
Fenn later confirmed the news to MONEY, writing, “Yes, it is true.”
This is a major development in the legend of Fenn’s treasure hunt, which the collector has said he was inspired to start after a cancer diagnosis in the 1980s. The search picked up steam in 2013 and has involved an estimated 350,000 people - many of whom have invested their savings and retirement into the hunt. Some are even making money from it, selling coins, books, maps and art inspired by the search.
The chest is rumored to be worth up to $5 million, but for many, the search is more about the online community than it is the money. People congregate in Facebook groups, chase-dedicated forums and on YouTube to debate their solutions to Fenn’s poem, forming connections along the way. It’s not necessary to do boots-on-the-ground visit out west in order to join the fun.
However, there are some critics. Even on Reddit Sunday, one searcher asked why Fenn didn’t give more information about the finder in his post and why he phrased the announcement the way he did.
In the past, skeptics have argued the entire search is a hoax - and a dangerous one, given that roughly five people have died in the wilderness looking for the treasure. In 2017, the then-chief of the New Mexico State Police demanded Fenn call off the hunt because “people make poor decisions” when there are such riches at stake. In May, an Indiana man got a five-year ban from Yellowstone National Park after he had to be rescued while looking for Fenn’s treasure.
The antiques dealer himself has been at risk, too.
Searchers have stalked Fenn, shown up to his New Mexico house uninvited and threatened him for information. This past December, a Colorado man sued Fenn for $1.5 million, saying that he’d been fooled “by fraudulent statements.” That prompted another searcher to file in Fenn’s defense saying he’d located the cache, which was actually a “virtual art installation or metaphorical ‘treasure.'” (Fenn counter-sued the Colorado man, and the lawsuit was dropped in March.)
All of that is to say that there’s a lot riding on Fenn’s claim that his treasure has been found. A lot of questions remain - Who found Forrest Fenn’s treasure? Where was it? What happens now? - but it seems the story is far from over.
https://money.com/forrest-fenn-treasure-found/