Over a decade ago, author and art dealer Forrest Fenn hid and buried a treasure chest with millions in antique gold coins in it. In short: a treasure hunters wildest dream! Now, someone has finally discovered the location of the chest…
Forrest Fenn and His Treasure
Forrest Fenn’s obsession with treasure started a long time ago, when he started selling art after serving in the Vietnam War, just like his obsession with writing. So, when Fenn recieved a cancer diagnosis in 2009, he decided to fulfill every treasure hunter’s dream: a confirmed, real treasure chest worth millions, taken from Fenn’s personal collection and savings. “I’ve had so much fun over the last 75 years looking for arrowheads and fossils and strange things out in the forests and along the river banks, why not give others the opportunity to do the same thing?” he said.
After hiding the treasure, Fenn included clues and a cryptic map in what he presumed to be his final book, his autobiography, The Thrill of the Chase. Thankfully, his cancer when into remission, and Fenn has been able to watch many go after his chest, which he has not moved once. Over the years, he released more clues, letting people it lie somewhere between Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Canadian Border, at roughly 5,000 feet. However, not everyone has always been happy about the treasure hunt…
Controversy Around The Treasure
It turns out, the chest wasn’t only full of gold but also with controversy and danger, as five people have died since 2010 while looking for the treasure. Meanwhile, others have been trapped and needed rescuing. Fenn says while he feels terrible about these incidents, he could not stop the hunt. “Searchers have spent money and vacation time looking for the treasure, and I don’t feel I could do that, even if I wanted to,” he told People Magazine. “I certainly did not anticipate anyone was going to get killed, but I answer those people this way: If a hunter goes into the mountains looking for deer, and is lost, does that mean we should stop deer hunting?”
For years the treasure remained undiscovered and, some thought, completley fabricated. That is, until earlier this year…
More Claims
Apparently, Fenn recieved an email and photos (one seen above) from a man claiming to have found the treasure chest – and it turns out he did! While the finder would like to remain anonymous and unfamous, “he understood how important some closure is for many searchers,” Fenn said, “and so agreed to reveal the treasure was found in Wyoming.”
However, many on Facebook are not buying it. “He needed attention, and this is how he got it,” commenter Linda Bilyeu said. “Fenn needed more attention, which is why he said the treasure has been found with ‘no proof.’
“If there is truly a person and not a hoax and the chest was truly found, I would want to find this person and say how did you get to this very strange location in the middle of nowhere because you have to get there by solving the puzzle,” said Barbara Anderson, who has hunted for the treasure in the past herself.
For now, Fenn didn’t give any additional information except some old photos of the treasure and the new pictures as proof. And while he stays silent, fans are getting impatient to know more details…
Sources: CPR, KRQE, People Magazine.