
A US millionaire who buried treasure in the Rockies has offered one main clue - DanBC
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2142371/us-millionaire-who-buried-treasure-rockies-has
======
rboyd
I was looking at Fenn's poem the other day and did a little frequency
analysis. It's interesting to see three 'W's on one line, two 'Q's on another,
every other letter present except 'X'. Maybe find the X, as in 'X marks the
spot'?

He says he spent 15 years working on this poem.

~~~
411mrc
The map is unusual. It's rare to show magnetic declination lines - I suspect
there might be a clue there. Land ownership is seemingly a clue too. Nobody
who grew up in the west would hide treasure on someone else's private land and
then claim he did it to get people outdoors. In many of these areas, people
don't appreciate trespassing. Tribal land is out of the question too, unless
he's crazy.

~~~
411mrc
Eh, well, the declination theory is probably nothing. There is apparently
another map blessed by him w/o declination and land ownership.

[https://dalneitzel.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/04/Fennboree-...](https://dalneitzel.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/04/Fennboree-III-Map-small.jpg?x36947)

He claims all you need is the map, then leaves more offline clues in
interviews than on the map, e.g. above 5000 feet, near pine, near a road from
which he could make two trips in an afternoon. That is sort of annoying -
seems a treasure map /poem should be self-contained.

------
markbnj
Interesting to consider what you would do if you found it? Presumably you're
in the wilderness with a 40 pound chest. Your car might be fairly near, as
Fenn makes clear when he notes he was 80 when he made "two trips from my
vehicle" to the site. So if you're fit or have help you can probably get it
back to the car (40 pounds is a lot to carry in hiking terrain). What happens
once you do? How do you claim title to it? Who owns the land it is on? If it's
not Fenn's land you might have a problem with the owner, be it a private or
public entity. If you were to get pulled over with that chest in the car and
the police discovered it I think the chances of confiscation are high.
Probably finding it would only be the first of many problems.

~~~
analogmemory
I for sure would not tell anyone about it.

~~~
piokuc
And let the other people spend their time in fruitless search forever? Not
very nice.

~~~
pavel_lishin
That's an argument you ought to bring up to Mr. Fenn - since it appears that
an eternal search was more or less what he was going for:

> _He has also affirmed that hiding the treasure in the first place was
> largely about encouraging families to enjoy the outdoors. “I wanted to give
> the kids something to do,” he said. “They spend too much time in the game
> room or playing with their little hand-held texting machines. I hope parents
> will take their children camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains. I hope
> they will fish, look for fossils, turn rotten logs over to see what’s under
> them, and look for my treasure.”_

------
JKCalhoun
Reminds me of Kit William's "Masquerade". I remember his coffee-table book
that kicked off a treasure hunt in the '70's. I later read with fascination
how the treasure hunt was planned, executed, and finally solved. The party
that solved the puzzle did not in fact find the golden hare — instead an
individual who had not solved it did.

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1176887.Quest_for_the_Go...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1176887.Quest_for_the_Golden_Hare)

We need more hidden treasures, I think.

~~~
stevekemp
You can also read about that contest in these two pieces:

[https://www.filfre.net/2016/05/kit-williamss-golden-hare-
par...](https://www.filfre.net/2016/05/kit-williamss-golden-hare-part-1-the-
contest/)

[https://www.filfre.net/2016/05/kit-williamss-golden-hare-
par...](https://www.filfre.net/2016/05/kit-williamss-golden-hare-part-2-the-
aftermath/)

------
macNchz
I first read about this a couple of years ago and I admit to being fascinated
by it and following the story since. There's a kind of magic to the whole
thing–a treasure hidden in the mountains, a poem hinting at its
whereabouts–that really captivates me. I kind of wish I lived in the Rockies
so my frequent hiking trips could have an added dimension of treasure hunting!

------
mfoy_
Wouldn't it be ironic if it was found a few years after it was hidden, or
maybe even before he announced the Hunt...

I mean, the finder would probably think "best not tell people where I got this
from" a la Counte of Monte Cristo.

~~~
gbenzzz
I believe the guy has stated recently that it remains unfound.

~~~
giarc
He also claims to be the only person to know the location, therefore for him
to verify that, he would have had to visit it himself. He's now 86 and
probably not able to hike into the mountains to check. So perhaps it's not far
from a road?

~~~
trhaynes
Or he assumes people will tell him when they find it?

~~~
TrainedMonkey
Or he has access to aerial surveys that indicate that there was no digging at
the site.

Or the treasure is of the form "take this letter to the bank in order to get
your reward".

Or maybe he is confident it is not found because it can't be found because it
is a hoax.

~~~
solarkraft
GPS tracking? Some kind of tamper-detection with a sender? At his budget he
could be communicating through satellites.

~~~
nerfhammer
would need a permanent power source to do that. batteries slowly leak power
even if unused. with a solar charger batteries would eventually wear out from
the charge cycling. GPS and satellite communication is relatively power
hungry. plus, the radio emissions would be a dead giveaway.

~~~
solarkraft
Good points.

------
onychomys
The most recent death happened just last year, when a guy slipped and fell
down a cliff face in Yellowstone:

[http://www.ktvq.com/story/37560172/report-illinois-man-
fell-...](http://www.ktvq.com/story/37560172/report-illinois-man-fell-to-his-
death-in-yellowstone-national-park-while-treasure-hunting)

~~~
matte_black
Falling 500 feet takes about 6 seconds. Long enough for you to realize your
life is over.

------
triviatise
it goes to show like the netflix prize, x prize etc. Is that contests cause
10X the investment of time, energy, and money as compared to the prize. The
expected value on these contests is very low.

Instead of government grants, we should have government X prizes for solving
various problems. Solar for under $x/watt, fuel efficient vehicles, etc etc.

~~~
kej
This is the approach the British and several other governments took for
finding a reliable way to find the longitude of a ship at sea [1]. Dava
Sobel's _Longitude_ is an interesting but quick read about the problem and
John Harrison's eventual solution.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_rewards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_rewards)

------
acomjean
There is a whole activity called “geocaching” where people hide things and
others try to find. Nothing valuable though.

~~~
kornish
If the items were valuable, maybe the activity could be called "geocashing".
:)

------
c1utch1
Might be better to offer several "easter eggs" instead of one jack pot. If
people have been searching for it for decades to no avail then I'm not exactly
inspired to go look for it either. A string of discoveries would get me more
excited, even if the value was much less.

~~~
songzme
The maze isnt meant for you

------
ryanpcmcquen
Buried treasure makes the world seem so magical.

------
mburst
I've followed this treasure for a few years now and while I think a modern day
treasure hunt sounds exciting, I don't think there is any physical treasure
here. The treasure you find on this hunt is the emotional bond you form
between your family and friends while enjoying the great outdoors

~~~
WhompingWindows
This comment was sponsored by the National Parks of America

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bitwize
So who's up for forming a Hackernews gunter clan?

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axaxs
This guy is a scam artist of sorts. At first I thought his cause noble...to
get people outdoors. But now he's responsible for people dying. Not directly
of course, but still. He's not offered any proof that he ever had such a
treasure. His words are vague enough that any place could fit. He claims it's
not been discovered yet with certainty. The mentally ill and destitute are
flocking to his tale and killing themselves...at what point do regulators step
in?

------
ameerkat
Anyone know of a list of open puzzles/riddles like Fenn's poem, Kryptos, etc?

~~~
Invisig0th
[http://mysteriouswritings.com/top-ten-armchair-treasure-
hunt...](http://mysteriouswritings.com/top-ten-armchair-treasure-hunts-and-
their-lost-treasures-to-find/)

------
wolco
If I was connected enough I would follow this strategy. Get cell and/or car
gps records from 2010 from this person. Map this information and apply the
clues.

------
ackfoo
Don't click that link from IOS. A site more full of bullshit I have never
seen.

------
blackflame7000
It's likely that it will never be found publicly due to Tax implications.

------
crooked-v
I wonder how many people have died, or will die, looking for this treasure.

~~~
dljsjr
That's covered in the article.

> And for some, the quest has proven fatal. At least four people are believed
> to have died in accidents while searching. This led some to call for Fenn to
> end the hunt. He hasn’t, but he has added a few additional clues on his blog
> to try to help people stay safe.

> “The treasure chest is not under water, nor is it near the Rio Grande River.
> It is not necessary to move large rocks or climb up or down a steep
> precipice,” he writes. “Please remember that I was about 80 when I made two
> trips from my vehicle to where I hid the treasure.”

> “The search is supposed to be fun,” he added.

------
taysic
I love this story!

------
EADGBE
puzzling.stackexchange.com needs to get on this.

------
cryptoz
> all artefacts that Fenn, a self-taught archaeologist, amassed during his own
> sometimes controversial explorations in the Southwest, reports Vox. The
> millionaire was criticised in the 1990s for excavating the San Lazaro Pueblo
> Indian site he bought, for example, and the FBI searched his home in 2009 in
> connection with the sale of artefacts looted from the Four Corners area,
> though no charges were filed.

It sounds like a lot of people in the world might consider the treasure to
have been stolen. Who is searching for a treasure that doesn't seem to clearly
belong to even the person who buried it?

People are dying for this treasure, which was created through "controversial"
means while a 'self-taught' archeologist was digging around. It seems he
clearly had no formal training in morals, may not have been accompanied by
others, and very well may have stolen the entirety of the treasure from
potentially rightful owners.

Seems like not a treasure worth dying for to own. Chances of becoming a
millionaire by starting a business and working hard for many years? Somewhat
reasonable, probably.

Chances of dying looking for stolen treasure? Not worth it.

~~~
DanBC
It's a shame you got downvoted. I was interested in this article because I
hadn't realsied before the controversy around his aquiring of the treasure.

~~~
pavel_lishin
If there's controversy there, that definitely needs to make it into articles
about this treasure. Maybe whoever finds it will be an Indiana Jones type -
"It belongs in a museum!"

------
sp527
What's the proof that this treasure exists?

------
madengr
Would deciphering this be a prime use for AI?

~~~
rboyd
I definitely think somebody with some CS chops has an advantage. Here's an
interesting paper from some students that applied some filtering based on some
of Fenn's other clues.
[https://dalneitzel.com/2016/05/03/arcgis/](https://dalneitzel.com/2016/05/03/arcgis/)

Contrast this with a lot of the "solves" you'll find on /r/FindingFennsGold or
this poor guy who convinced himself 'Home of Brown' referred to a realtor's
office.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URitxNODZ8w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URitxNODZ8w)

Maybe word2vec on the poem mashed up against a place names database and
cluster?

