Hidden treasures seem like something part of a folklore, but the recent news is likely going to leave you baffled.
After 10 long years of wait, the chase of finding the hidden treasure in the Rocky Mountains come to an end.
Forest Fenn, who is a popular art collector from New Mexico was the one who created the treasure hunt. He announced over the weekend that the bronze chest that he had buried in the mountains was finally found by someone. It is allegedly filled with “gold nuggets, coins, sapphires, diamonds, pre-Columbian artifacts and other items”.
According to Fenn, the estimated valuation of the chest is around $2 million.
“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,” said the 89-year old art collector on his website. He didn’t divulge on the exact location.
Fenn further exclaimed that he doesn’t know the person who found the treasure but knows for a fact that the poem in his book is what led the man to the treasure.
Fenn also gave an interview to the local newspaper saying that the man found the treasure a few days back. He said that the person confirmed the discovery by sending a photograph of the chest. The chest alone weighs around 9kg while the contents of the chest weigh more than 10 kg.
Fenn is a former air force fighter pilot who settled down and owns a art gallery in Santa Fe now. The idea for the treasure hunt struck his mind a decade ago when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
He has planned to bury himself with all his riches that he had acquired all throughout his life. But, once he recovered from the disease, he decided otherwise. He buried the treasure and left behind clues and tips for the families to get off the couches in hunt of the treasure.
The treasure quest was announced in the self-memoir that he wrote titled “The Thrill of the Chase”. In the memoir, he includes 24 different clues in cryptic forms in a poem.
His mention of the chest being in the Rockies 5000 feet above the sea level had even propelled some of the hunters go into the dark and deep wilderness to get the chest out.
“Begin it where warm waters halt and take it in the canyon down,” read one clue.
As per the reports shared by Fenn, tens of thousands of people have set out in search of the chest but to no avail. People have trailed through Colorado, New Mexico and even Montana. With the desperation that people set out with, Fenn clarified to his readers that the chest is not in a place that an octogenarian would find hard to reach.
Situation became so worse that Chief Pete Kassetas of New Mexico State Police urged Fenn to put a stop to this treasure hunt because of the risks it brought to people.
“People are coming from other states and other parts of the world to find this elusive treasure that may or may not exist, with very few clues,” said Kassetas.
In retaliation to Kassetas, Fenn denied taking out the chest. He further said that if someone drowns in the swimming pool, it is not likely that someone will drain the pool. They’ll teach others how to swim.
The Dreadful Side
Given how much of an interior spot the chest was hidden in, people have had close calls and police have been called for rescues as well. It was reported in 2013 when a Texan woman who came to find the chest in New Mexico got lost near Bandelier National Monument, an area that is filled with steep trails, rugged woods and empty areas.
She was rescued the next day.
A dedicated blogger, Jenny Kile, who had been out hunting down the treasure for years and updating the same on her blog reported that the reason why so many people set out to find the treasure was because it made them believe that anyone could get it.
“This belief did have some go against caution, either financially, physically or emotionally. But for the vast majority, the opportunity was an adventure of a lifetime. Who doesn’t want to look for treasure?” said Kile.
Fenn had also congratulated thousands of people who have participated in the search, hoping to draw the promises of the other discoveries.
It is likely that the person who had found the chest is going to stay anonymous, even to Fenn. Anyone who find the treasure is likely going to have to pay taxes for the same, which is the case for this person too.
