Forest Fenn's Treasure Finally Found

check out the online community of treasure hunters is going wild for the sought-after mysterious decade-long hunts to find Forrest Fenn's million-dollar treasure has finally been solved nestled somewhere in the mountains in the Southwest United States one lucky individual has achieved the feat every treasure enthusiast has dreamed of finding the 12th century box filled to the brim with gold emeralds and antiques where was it how did the discoverer intercept the array of clues and how did one specific 24 line poem lead him to the discovery of a lifetime unleash your inner adventurer because we're about to reveal at all if someone told you that there was upwards of a million dollars worth of valuables buried somewhere in your backyard free for you to unearth you wouldn't just sit back and let someone else find it would you that was exactly the case with Forrest Fenn's treasure a coveted 20 pound bronze box chock-full of 22 more pounds worth of near priceless goodies including ancient Chinese faces carved from Jade and bedazzled with rubies and emeralds the treasure was hidden in the mountains north of Santa Fe between 2009 and 2010 at the time of its hiding the treasure was estimated to be worth somewhere between one and two million dollars that's a huge potential tax-free discovery and as you could expect the thought of stumbling across gold jewelry and gems piqued interest in New Mexico and beyond what's the news that the bronze chest had been hidden circulated the internet treasure hunters became obsessed in no time people from near and far were out wading through rivers trekking through mountains and turning over every stone in their search for the elusive pot of gold as soon as forests treasure was featured in an airline magazine popularity went through the roof the next day Fenn received 12,000 emails crashing his computer from that point there was no looking back it quickly became the talk of the treasure hunting town with gold coins pre-columbian animal figures and prehistoric mirrors of hammered gold up for grabs as many as 350,000 people from all over the world began their own searches some of which according to the mastermind behind it all even quit their jobs in the hope of winning their I own Golden lottery the treasure swept across the internet but also made it into mainstream TV as well in 2015 the Travel Channel covered the Fenn treasure in an episode of expedition unknown during which treasure hunters swept through the Rocky Mountains in search of the bounty of course they came up empty-handed British filmmaker Thomas leach propelled the treasures notoriety even higher releasing a documentary feature film in 2017 called the lore even the BuzzFeed unsolved true crime web series joined in on the hunt this was by no means a flashy publicity stunt with 15 seconds of fame over the last decade reddit has sporadically gone nuts when a clue was thought to have been solved and social media has gone into overdrive time and time again all because of the work of one man Forrest Fenn let's rewind for a moment who exactly is this guy and what made him inclined to a giveaway millions of dollars worth of valuables and be send adventurers on a wild goose chase through the mountains now 89 years old and living in Santa Fe Forrest is a Vietnam War vet who served as a pilot in the United States Air Force after retiring he opened up Fenn galleries with his wife Peggy an antiquities store which sold all kinds of art American Indian artifacts paintings mimicking the works of Modigliani Monet and Degas and a variety of bronze sculptures just to name a few of the items regularly rotating through the shop floor it was during this time that fens loved for the knickknacks and treasures really blossomed the store was bringing in close to six million dollars a year so he wasn't scraping for cash by any means but Forrest didn't hoard his cash he wanted to share the love around stating on record that quote having enough money is a lot better than having a lot of money and quote so we know that he loved antiques but why create a treasure hunt in 1988 Fenn was diagnosed with kidney cancer and the doctors told him that he had a 20% survival chance this news is what inspired him to share his wealth and orchestrate the incredible hunt in the first place fortunately he recovered from the illness but that didn't change his mindset he still wanted to follow through with the treasure hunt he wanted to find a way to get people off their couches away from their screens and out into the great outdoors to appreciate the true beauty of nature and what better way to do so than to dangle a million dollars worth of treasure in front of them in forests own words so I wanted to get the kids away from their electron gadgets and out into the sunshine out into the mountains hiking fishing picnicking anything but the couch get out of the game room people today are too busy to think there is so much going on in the world and they are distracted so he wanted to give them a chance to take a break from the stresses of life and launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches for more than a decade forests packed and repacked his treasure chest sprinkling in gold dust as the years passed and consistently adding hundreds of unique gold coins and nuggets this took him until the late 2000s when the global financial crisis was hitting people hard while people were losing their jobs and reading ongoing headlines flaunted with despair he wanted to provide a little spark of hope so the treasure chest was taken to its hiding place by Forrest himself over two separate trips thereafter he authored two books each of which contained clues to the whereabouts of the riches despite the treasures story coming from a position of hope and positivity it hasn't always been sunshine and rainbows as people became more invested in its discovery traversing through the wilderness of New Mexico Colorado Wyoming and Montana the consequences started to fall sadly at least five people perished in the pursuit of the gold mother nature can be cruel and these people unfortunately witnessed that firsthand one of those people was Michael Sexson he and his companion rode snowmobiles until at some point there wasn't enough snow on the ground to cross and the pair were forced to abandon their vehicles moving forward on foot according to officials they weren't dressed appropriately for the conditions even for a day trip but they wouldn't have been out there in the first place if not for forests treasure as you'd expect forests never hoped for anything like this to happen my heart and prayers go out to the family and friends he would say even before this event there were others like it Randy Bilyeu Jeff Murphy pastor Parris Wallace and Eric Ashby each succumbed to their own tragic fate back in 2017 police officials publicly implored phen to end the treasure hunt and yet it carried on on top of the human toll Forest has also faced legal scrutiny on more than one occasion in December of 2019 David Hansen from Colorado Springs sued Fenn for 1.5 million dollars essentially the same value as the entire treasure itself claiming that forest had deprived him from finding it by providing fraudulent statements and misleading Clues upon the news of the treasures recent fine a Chicago real estate attorney named Barbara Anderson got in on the legal action as well she filed an injunction at the federal district court which alleges that she solved the puzzle first but had her solutions stolen by an anonymous computer hacker what's she hoping to get out of it all she wants the person who actually found the treasure banned from selling anything that was inside the treasure chest and she wants the court to order that the chest be given to her instead whether there's any truth behind it or not does the lawsuit really surprise you whenever money or high stakes are on the table the puranas never take long to circle in 2018 while hunting for the treasure a Pennsylvania man named Scott Conway was fined by New Mexico State Parks officers after he dug a massive hole on state-owned land near Heron Lake in that same year another Pennsylvania named Robert Miller was arrested for burglary and Breaking and Entering after he snuck into Forrest Fenn's home and stole another old-looking chests that he'd confused for the real hidden treasure who would have thought that forest would be fending off intruders this adventure clearly became far more elaborate and dangerous than he could ever have anticipated but enough about the mishaps let's get to the good stuff finding the treasure for near enough to a decade tens of thousands of people have made it off their couch and searched for the chest hidden somewhere out there in the depths of mother nature's beautiful Rocky Mountains finally on Saturday June 6th 2020 the impossible became possible the mystery was solved the treasure was uncovered and the final chapter of the story was written that's right someone seemingly with more determination than the majority or perhaps with nothing more than pure luck actually found the infamous treasure the lucky man said to be from out east confirmed the finding by sending over a photograph to Forrest Fenn the finder follow the cryptic poem and hints that were published in Forrest's memoir the thrill of the chase to give you an idea of its complexity this was the poems second verse begin it where warm waters halt and take it in the Canyon down not far but too far to walk put in below the home of brown across the twenty-four line poem the location the x marks the spot so to speak was indicated to be related to one where warm waters halt to the blaze 3 Canyon down and 4 home of brown all of which of course are open to interpretation alas Fenn also led a few details slip over the years before catching his tongue because these unexpected hints the finder knew that the treasure was at least 8.25 miles north of Santa Fe and that it rested above an elevation of 5000 feet while we don't know exactly who found it as the lucky hunter is chosen to keep their name out of the limelight and stay anonymous we do have an idea where they stumbled across the pot of gold this is all that forest had to say once the treasure had been found quote it was under a canopy of stars in the lush forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not been moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago and quote we can also infer that its location is easily reachable because after all forest was 79 years old at the time he placed it there even though we're all kicking ourselves that we weren't the ones to find it the fact is that this miraculous adventure brought people closer together and did exactly what forests hoped got people active and out exploring in the wilderness countless families like Rhea and Chloe harp felt their bonds strengthened because of it all and even though it sets some families back thousands of dollars even more for those who quit their jobs it gave the world something exciting to follow so what happens now Forest says he'll reveal more information soon in the meantime he's come forward and said quote I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries end quote have you been following the hunt where exactly do you think it was finally found and tell us if you are going to hide some treasure of your own where would you put it share your thoughts in the comments down below don't forget to like this video subscribe to the channel and as always thanks so much for checking out the richest see you next time and have a great day stay safe [Music]

Channel: TheRichest

Views: 244,536

Rating: 4.7485504 out of 5

Keywords: treasure, hunt, discover, forrest fenn, explore, adventure, found, mystery, solved, gold, money, clue, the richest

Id: aJM2FeXGRUE

Length: 10min 34sec (634 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 12 2020