The Forrest Fenn Treasure
Forrest Fenn flew over 300 air combat missions in Vietnam, establishing his credentials as an adrenaline junkie, which he expanded upon in two books, Thrill of the Chase and Too Far to Walk. After his military service Fenn learned the business of art dealing. Eventually he and his wife operated the Fenn Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Fenn bought and sold art produced by locals as well as copies of great works by famous artists. Fenn was stricken with cancer in the late 1980s and while battling the disease he came up with the idea of hiding a treasure and providing its seekers with cryptic clues to its location.
The treasure which is said to be worth more than $1 million dollars (Fenn claimed he would recover it himself if it surpasses $10 million through inflation) includes gold and gems and is contained in a chest which Fenn secreted in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe. At the time Fenn placed the chest he was approximately 80 years old, and he claimed that hiding the treasure required two trips to and from his car, which he completed in an afternoon. Clues and hints to the location of the treasure are in his two books and contained in a poem, which according to Fenn is all that is required to locate the treasure, once properly deciphered.
According to Fenn, several people who have searched for the treasure have come to within 500 feet of it, a few within 200 feet, but as yet it has not been found. From previous searches, it has been established that the treasure is at an elevation above 5,000 feet, but beneath 10,200 feet and that it is wet, though not contained in a building nor a mine. There have been at least four reported deaths of individuals searching for the treasure, despite it being reported to be in a not dangerous location, not particularly arduous to reach, and likely only about 45 minutes away from a road (where Fenn left his car when he hid the treasure).
Within a nine stanza poem, there are said to be nine distinct clues which lead the seeker to the treasure once interpreted correctly. Fenn has said that people who have correctly solved the second clue are those who have found themselves within two hundred feet of the treasure, though unaware of the proximity of wealth. Additional hints and clues are in his two books but the poem is all that is necessary to discover the treasure. What those clues are in the poem itself are cryptic, though it contains no cipher or code, According to Fenn the first clue is the most important, failing to solve it renders all of the other clues worthless.
The first clue reveals the starting point, all of the other clues narrow the search within a relatively small area, according to Fenn, and within the distance of ten to twelve feet, the chest should be visible. So there you have it. A fortune worth $1 million when it was hidden in 2010 is waiting to be picked up somewhere in the Rocky Mountains just a few miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico. The poem, maps, comments from other searchers, and other guides to finding the treasure are online and easy to find. Evidently, though, the treasure is not.