How an eccentric millionaire went to the next world and arranged a quest-hunt for treasure worth a million

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Forrest Fenn is a war veteran and an eccentric millionaire. Ten years ago, he hid a treasure in the Rocky Mountains, worth about two million US dollars, and announced a hunt for it. Fenn encoded the location of the treasure chest in a poem of his own composition. On June 7 this year, the millionaire received a call from a man who said that he had found his treasure. Who and where found the treasure because of the search for which five people died?

Forrest Fenn was a pilot in the United States Air Force. He fought in Vietnam and rose to the rank of major. After leaving the army, he went into business, opened an art gallery. Made a fabulous fortune on this. In 1988, Fenn was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors gave him a negligible chance of recovery. The millionaire did not want to die like that - in the hospital, entangled in different tubes and chipped with catheters.

He came up with a real quest. Having sold his gallery, he took a bronze chest, filled it with gold trinkets, diamonds, antiques, various artifacts, gold coins and ingots. I wrote a poem-cipher and decided to go with this chest to a secret place, take pills there and die proudly looking at the world. A treasure hunter would find Fenn, as in pirate stories, with a chest full of treasures in his arms.

As soon as a miracle happened, Fenn recovered. He did not abandon the idea of / u200b / u200bthe treasure, because Forrest has always been an adventurer and romantic. He added a lock of his hair and an autobiography to the treasures. In 2010, the millionaire declared the hunt for his treasure open. A 24-line poem containing 9 clues was published in his memoir, The Thrill of the Chase. According to him, he wanted to distract people from gadgets and home sofas, to give them hope for the American dream and an unforgettable experience.

Fenn was always willing to meet with journalists, but avoided meeting with treasure hunters for safety reasons. Every day, the millionaire receives hundreds of letters from different people from all over the world. They write different things: someone threatens and demands to reveal the location of the treasure, someone assures that he is the most worthy and asks for more tips. There are many people who have not found the treasure, but thank Forrest for a great time with his family on the hikes, rediscovering the beautiful wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.

Unfortunately, over the ten years of searching, there have been a number of tragic cases. At least five people died in the treasure hunt. The local sheriff even asked Fenn to stop hunting. The millionaire replied that, according to statistics, an average of nine people die annually in the Rocky Mountains without looking for his treasure. Fenn declared that he would stop the hunt only if a person was killed for the treasure, for nothing is worth a human life.

On June 7, Forrest received a call from a man who wished to remain anonymous and said that he had found his chest. According to the millionaire, he named code words that can only be recognized by opening the chest. Although three people had spoken the code words to Fenn in previous years, he had never heard of them again. But this time, the treasure is indeed found, the millionaire has already presented the photographic evidence, which was sent to him by an anonymous author. In the coming days, he promises to publish absolutely all information about the treasure.

Fenn told reporters: “It was under a canopy of stars, in the shade of the lush forest green of the Rocky Mountains, in the very place where I hid it 10 years ago. I do not know the identity of the person who found him, but a poem from my book led him to the treasure. Forrest said the treasure was in the Rocky Mountains, over 1,200 meters, between Santa Fe and the Canadian border.

“I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they continue to be attracted by the promises of other discoveries,” Fenn concluded, promising more information “in the coming days.” The ten-year quest has proven to be very popular and controversial. Fenn says he feels a mixture of sadness and joy. Sadness that everything is over, and joy that a lucky one was found.

Three people have already filed lawsuits against the successful treasure hunter, claiming that they were the first to solve Fenn's riddle. Now he faces several court proceedings, payment of the due taxes.

The value of the treasure is estimated by some experts at 1 million, others at almost two and more million US dollars. Fenn said that he had been repacking his treasure chest for ten years. Sprinkled with golden sand, added hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. The millionaire put there figurines of prehistoric animals, jade figurines, antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.

Fenn's treasure hunt in the Rocky Mountains was something of a historical romance. Forrest himself wanted the treasure to be found by a person who really needs it. According to the millionaire, the quest attracted about 350,000 people. For the lost people Fenn showed great regret and expressed condolences to their families. “Rocky Mountains can be very violent. I'm so sorry for the family. I do not know what else to say. I can only add that I, an 80-year-old man, entered this cache twice a day. There is no need to climb the tops of the mountains and walk more than thirty kilometers to find my treasure."

Now everyone is only interested in one thing: who is the lucky one who solved all Fenn's riddles and found the treasure, causing so many waves of envy among those who were unlucky?

Read in our other article about how the builders accidentally stumbled upon the treasure during the renovation. abandoned village church, discovering a mysterious jug with a surprise.