A Journey By way of Thriller and Intrigue

When Santa Fe artwork supplier Forrest Fenn hid a treasure chest within the Rocky Mountains, it set off a phenomenon, inspiring the Netflix documentary, “Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure.”

This treasure, estimated to be value between $1 and $5 million, drew over 300,000 “clue solvers” to embark on a real-world treasure hunt over a decade, poring over maps, learning supply materials, and risking their lives in pursuit of the treasure.

In the summertime of 2020, it was lastly found in Wyoming by Jack Stuef, a 32-year-old medical scholar, who used the clues to piece collectively the placement the place Fenn had wished to die.

The Seek for Forrest Fenn’s Famed Treasure

In 2010, Forrest Fenn wrote a self-published memoir, “The Thrill of the Chase,” which contained 9 cryptic clues meant to information seekers to a 42-pound treasure chest he had hidden within the Rocky Mountains.

As a former adorned fighter pilot and artwork supplier, Fenn’s purchasers included Ralph Lauren and Michael Douglas. Whereas Fenn was a widely known Santa Fe native, it was not till he hid the loot that he captured worldwide consideration. Through the 2010s, appearances on The In the present day Present and different nationwide media fueled the legend, whereas on-line boards, YouTube channels, and blogs fashioned a devoted treasure-hunting subculture.

Many hunters devoted numerous hours to the seek for the treasure, with some going to jail and 5 folks even dropping their lives. It was not till June 2020 that Jack Stuef, a 32-year-old medical scholar, lastly solved the clues and located the treasure in Wyoming. Finally, Stuef auctioned off the treasure’s contents, together with a gold copper pendant courting again 1,000 years and a necklace from 500-1,000 BC.

A New Chapter: A Treasure Hunt Reimagined

The story doesn’t finish there. One purchaser within the public sale featured within the Netflix documentary, Justin Posey, started a brand new treasure hunt impressed by Forrest Fenn that features among the authentic treasures along with his personal assortment. Posey, a Texas-based software program engineer, was a devoted hunter within the seek for Forrest Fenn’s treasure, and thru the course of the documentary, it reveals that Posey hides clues by his collection of interviews.

In the present day, hunters have begun trying to find Posey’s new 60-pound treasure, which incorporates gold bars, rubies, emeralds, a meteorite, and cryptocurrency. Simply as Fenn wrote a guide containing clues to discovering his treasure, Posey printed “Past the Map’s Edge,” which features a poem revealing the placement of the loot.

Treasure hunter Eric Johnson describes his seek for Posey’s treasure, “I’ve learn all the things, each books, all the data on the web site, and manner too many wacky theories on Reddit and Discord. This treasure hunt is type of like wine. The deeper you dive, the much less you understand you truly know.”

In the meantime, Indiana-based Mike Kress describes what impressed his pursuit, “What drives me most is the story. The layers of historical past, the symbols, the best way folks encoded which means into land and legend.”

On the coronary heart of the hunt is to honor Forrest Fenn, whereas sparking a love for the outside, and to hold on the journey.

The Backside Line

Forrest Fenn’s treasure hunt led hundreds of individuals to go looking distant areas of the wilderness for his well-known chest. As devoted searchers misplaced their jobs, depleted their financial savings, and went to excessive lengths, the search swirled with controversy and intrigue. 

Whereas Forrest Fenn’s treasure was ultimately present in 2020, a brand new search devoted in his honor has begun, with clues embedded in Justin Posey’s “Past the Map’s Edge” and the just lately launched Netflix documentary, “Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure.”