In
1988, millionaire art and artifact collector and dealer, Forrest Fenn, of New
Mexico, was diagnosed with cancer and
told he hadn’t long to live. Feeling
that he would like to make his mark on the world, Fenn decided to go bury
treasure, publicize it, and leave a lasting legacy, one that would keep his
name in the limelight for years to come.
He sure as heck has done that—and lived to tell the tale.
Happily
for Fenn, his cancer went into remission and he went on to his write his
autobiography, The Thrill of the Hunt, in 2010, and a subsequent book, Too
Far to Walk. The books, which
contain clues to the whereabouts of the buried treasure, brought the mystery to
the attention of a wider audience, especially as the story has been picked up
by newspapers and television. What’s in
the treasure chest? For a photo of it,
head on over to http://www.npr.org/2016/03/13/469852983/seeking-adventure-and-gold-crack-this-poem-and-head-outdoors
, which also has a copy of the map Fenn subsequently provided. Apparently, the box contains a jar of Alaskan
gold dust, a Chinese jade figurine, and other antique coins and relics, all
worth over a million dollars. Fenn, now
in his late ‘80s, is not believed to be a prankster; he truly means the
treasure trove to be found. He apparently claims his reason for giving this
away, aside from the legacy, is to get overweight America off the couch.
But
if Fenn’s intentions seem to be good, the story isn’t a completely happy
one. Fenn’s Santa Fe mansion contains a
wealth of Native American artifacts, as well as Aztec relics, that might be
better served returned to the nations concerned or, at the very least, going to
a museum. In the 1990s, he excavated a
Pueblo Indian site he bought, and took away Aztec relics—something that does
not sit well with archaeologists nor Native Americans.
Furthermore,
the clues that Fenn has provided have led to a host of problems and
disasters. Many treasure hunters believe
the box is hidden in Yellowstone—which covers more than 3400 square miles—due
to Fenn’s childhood association with the place.
They have purchased metal detectors along with shovels for their hunt,
despite the fact National Parks do not permit either. Such use impacts the environment, and several
people have been arrested and/or banned from the park. Search and Rescue has been called out at
least five times in four years when people seeking the gold have got lost; one
man has died in his efforts.
And
things have not always gone well for Fenn, either. Apparently, he has had to call out 911 on
several occasions when people have appeared on his doorstep and threatened him
for the location of the chest. Others
have threatened to dig up his father’s grave.
He gets over forty emails a day asking for more clues. For the former fighter pilot, who was shot
down twice over Vietnam, life is not exactly quiet at home.
Meantime,
for some, the search has become an obsession.
I read about one man who has gone out more than thirty-seven times
looking, and a woman who has hunted more than sixty. There are others who come close to those
numbers, and still others who, according to Fenn, have come close to the
treasure—he says within two hundred feet.
But from what I can see, with a so-called ‘Fennboree’ for the searchers
to all come together, Trekkies have nothing on these folks. And, as with the
original ‘49ers, the real winners are those who sell to them; metal detector
and shovel sales have boomed in Montana near the Yellowstone entrance, and one
woman has set up a site selling promotional products for the Fennboree.
So
where is the treasure? Fenn has divulged
several clues: it is somewhere between
Santa Fe and the Canadian border; it is hidden at over 5,000 ft. but not in
Idaho or Utah; it is not in any structure, graveyard, nor any mine; and
apparently it is above ground—so why the digging and shovels, I have no
idea. Most of the clues are in a poem
found in his book. Me, I won’t be
joining in the hunt despite living part of the year within an hour’s drive of
Yellowstone.
I’ll
leave y’all to that pleasure.
http://andreadowning.com
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