A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago somewhere in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found, according to a famed art and antiquities collector who created the treasure hunt.
Forrest Fenn, 89, told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday that a man who did not want his name released – but was from ‘back East’ – located the chest a few days ago and the discovery was confirmed by a photograph the man sent him.
‘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,’ Fenn said in a statement on his website Sunday that still did not reveal the exact location.
‘I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.’
Fenn, 89, an eccentric art dealer, in 2010 announced that he had buried a treasure somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. This undated photo provided by Fenn shows a chest purported to contain gold dust, hundreds of gold coins, gold nuggets and other artifacts
The poem and map above gave people clues to where the treasure was hidden
Fenn posted clues to the treasure´s whereabouts online and in a 24-line poem that was published in his 2010 autobiography ‘The Thrill of the Chase.’
Hundreds of thousands have hunted in vain across remote corners of the U.S. West for the bronze chest believed to be filled with gold coins, jewelry and other valuable items.
In this 2018 file photo, Scott Etzel of Houston, Texas, displays a map of previously explored places of Forrest Fenn’s hidden treasure. Mr. Fenn marked the right spot in Santa Fe, New Mexico on June 23, 2018. Etzel was on a year long road trip, he stopped in Santa Fe to meet Mr. Fenn
Toby Younis, a 69-year-old father of six and grandfather of ten, is pictured in 2018. He had been searching for Fenn’s treasure for about five years – and co-hosts a YouTube show about the hunt offering interviews, updates and advice for fellow enthusiasts
Many quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search and others depleted their life savings. At least five people died searching for it, the most recent being in March when Michael Sexson, 53, from Deer Park died.
Fenn, who lives in Santa Fe, said he packed and repacked his treasure chest for more than a decade, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Columbian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric ‘mirrors’ of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.
He said he hid the treasure as a way to tempt people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches.
Fenn told The New Mexican in 2017 that the chest weighs 20 pounds (9 kilograms) and its contents weigh another 22 pounds (10 kilograms).
He said he delivered the chest to its hiding place by himself over two separate trips.
Asked how he felt now that the treasure has been found, Fenn said: ‘I don´t know, I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over.’
‘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,’ he said on his website.
Key elements mentioned in the poem are ‘warm waters halt,’ ‘the blaze,’ ‘canyon down’ and ‘home of Brown’ – all of which are open to interpretation by searchers, who have traced them to landmarks across Colorado, New Mexico, Montana and Wyoming.
One of the major clues is that it’s at a location that was reachable by a man 79 years old, which was Forrest’s age when he hid the chest.
And he was quick to point out that he’s never said it’s ‘buried;’ instead, he emphasizes that it’s ‘hidden’.
In an interview with the DailyMail.com in 2018, Fenn explained why he decided to hide the bounty.
Michael Wayne Sexson, 53, was found dead in a remote part of Colorado’s Dinosaur National Monument (pictured) in March, where he and a friend were looking for Forrest Fenn’s treasure
‘I had several motives,’ Fenn said. ‘First of all, we were going into a recession – lots of people losing their jobs. I wanted to give some people hope. Despair was written all over the newspaper headlines.
‘And secondly, we’re an overweight society – I think not only in this country, but the world,’ says Fenn, who ran a successful Santa Fe art gallery with his wife for 17 years.
‘So I wanted to get the kids away from their electronic gadgets … and out into the sunshine, out into the mountains, hiking, fishing, picnicking – and anything but the couch. Get out of the game room.’
In addition to the cryptic poem and hints in his memoir, Fenn has let a few details slip over the years – saying the treasure is at least 8.25 miles north of Santa Fe and that it’s above an elevation of 5,000 feet.
The Maroon Bells in the Rocky Mountains are two peaks in the Elk Mountains, Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about a third of a mile
The treasure seekers who have died while hunting Fenn’s bounty
Randy Bilyeu, pictured, was found dead in the wilderness west of Santa Fe
At least five people have died while searching for the treasure. Police officials had publicly implored Fenn to end the treasure hunt, saying it is a danger to public safety.
Michael Sexson
Sexson, 53, from Deer Park, and his companion, an unnamed 65-year-old man from Thornton, had set out in March this year to look for the riches in a remote section of Dinosaur National Monument – the same area where the pair of adventurers had gotten trapped in the snow in late February and had to be rescued.
On this occasion, by the time rescuers tracked down the two treasure hunters, who had been reported missing four days earlier, Sexson had died. His companion, who was said to be wearing more weather-appropriate gear, survived the ordeal and was airlifted to safety.
Randy Bilyeu
Jeff Murphy Murphy, 53, was found dead in Yellowstone National Park
Bilyeu went missing in January 2016 and was found dead in July.
His body was discovered by workers along the Rio Grande, and an autopsy could not determine cause of death.
Bilyeu’s ex-wife has publicly stated her belief that the Fenn Treasure is a hoax.
Jeff Murphy
Murphy, 53, of Batavia, Illinois was found dead in Yellowstone National Park on June 9, 2017 after falling about 500 feet down a steep slope.
The investigation by Yellowstone officials into Murphy’s death was kept private, but KULR-TV obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request in February 2018.
The investigative report reveals Murphy’s wife told park authorities that Murphy was looking for the treasure when she called to report him missing.
Pastor Paris Wallace
Eric Ashby, 31, was found dead in Colorado’s Arkansas River
Wallace, of Grand Junction, Colorado, told family members that he was searching for a buried treasure, but he failed to show up for a planned family meeting on June 14, 2017. His car was found parked near the Taos Junction Bridge and his body was found 5 to 7 miles downstream along the Rio Grande.
Eric Ashby
Ashby, 31, was found dead in Colorado’s Arkansas River on July 28, 2017.
Friends and family state that he had moved to Colorado in 2016 to look for the treasure, and was last seen on June 28 rafting on the river 10 to 15 miles upstream from where his body was found. The raft overturned, and Ashby had been missing since that time.