
$1M treasure in Rocky Mountains has been found, says Forrest Fenn - rmason
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/07/forrest-fenn-treasure-rocky-mountains-found
======
andrewstuart
I buried a wooden ship in the sand at the beach when my little boy was 5 years
old.

We were digging sand castles when "he found it".

Back at the house when his grandfather was having a closer look at the ship,
grandad "discovered" an old map and little key inside the ship - strange we
hadn't noticed it earlier.

The map had a big X marked on it - also down at the beach near a big cave. I
happened to know just that area....

So we went down there and dug in the sand and found a wooden treasure box
wrapped in a metal chain and padlocked. When my little boy tried the key in
the lock.... it fit!

Inside the box was overflowing with jewellery and coins and weird little
trinkets. He had discovered buried treasure!

In fact I had bought the wooden ship, and the wooden jewellery box from the
local opportunity shop and also bought $5 worth of shiny junk jewellery and
old overseas coins and trinkets and filled it up. I then bought a chain and
padlock and wrapped it up and buried it.

He's 11 years old now and still doesn't know the true story. Credit is due to
my friend who did this first - he buried a pouch in the sand for his kids to
find - I just expanded on the idea with the ship and the map and the treasure
box, chains and padlock etc.

~~~
sigacts
Someday he will realize this situation was staged, but he will forever
appreciate the sense of exploration and adventure that you instilled in him.

~~~
natmaka
This sort of thing seems also useful to teach to the youngster, upon the time
he understands/learns that he was tricked, that even folks may lie to him
(deliberately or not).

In a society truth is less important than relationships, communication, shared
"knowledge" (myths).

It may be one of the reason why the Santa Claus character (among other ones)
stays "alive" in the culture.

~~~
jon_elbrook
>In a society truth is less important than relationships

Then he should have create a relationship of honesty. it's good to know that
somebody wont lie to you, even to make you happy.

~~~
chongli
It’s not lying, it’s called make believe [1]. Children play this way all the
time. It’s a healthy part of development. Adults play along with Santa Claus,
the Easter bunny, and the tooth fairy. When kids get older and figure it out,
they generally have fond memories of it. The only cases I’ve heard of where it
was upsetting was when somebody else spoiled it for them, just like how people
spoiled the end of the 6th Harry Potter book.

Adults do it all the time as well, when we consume fiction. It feels good to
escape our current reality and inhabit another, magical reality, if only for a
while. It’s a healthy thing to do as long as it doesn’t lead to a breakdown in
our relationships and other aspects of our lives.

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

~~~
natmaka
Interesting and useful information, thank you!

I'm really more and more convinced that each and every human group has such
foundations ("myths"), and that the larger the group, the larger the
distortion between the myth and reality.

~~~
lowdose
You have to read some of the work of Douglas Holt, cultural branding.

[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Douglas_Holt3/publicati...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Douglas_Holt3/publication/297468415_Cultural_brand_strategy/links/57d4193208ae6399a3921fab/Cultural-
brand-strategy.pdf)

------
gryson
As others have pointed out, the timing of this is a bit suspicious. Another
searcher was just found dead in March of this year, and Fenn was also sued in
Dec 2019 (links available on the Wikipedia page).

Without proof, it's impossible to know if Fenn is just trying to call the
whole thing off to avoid future troubles (and impossible to know if the
treasure ever existed).

Even if he posts pictures, I'm not sure that will be adequate proof.

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

~~~
Cthulhu_
The article mentions people quit their jobs and died to find that treasure;
he's caused a dangerous gold rush on his own.

I like the idea, but it's caused too much loss of life. I think it'd be better
if he had spread out the 'treasure' over much more smaller packages, for
example. Of course, there'd still be people that try to find everything.

~~~
driverdan
He didn't force those people to make foolish decisions, that's on them.

~~~
valuearb
Sure he did. He lied about the existence of a treasure chest, just as he’s
lying about its discovery now.

------
neuralzen
I always figured it was somewhere near Agua Caliente Canyon, NM. Largely
because it was in the right elevation, had the types of brush Fenn said he
could smell there (which he later said he wish he had not commented on), was
within a range that a sick or dying Forest Fenn could get to fairly quickly
(he talked about wanting to go there before he passed away, if he was dying),
and Agua Caliente translates as Hot Waters (noted in the poem). - I never got
a chance to look, but it will be interesting to find out once the location is
revealed.

~~~
harrylove
No bs, I searched that canyon about four years ago. Had a blast hiking those
trails and saw some beautiful country, but came up empty. Totally worth it.

~~~
ethbro
I'd be fascinated to hear how well marked the exact location was.

If it was truly natural, undisturbed cover & dig in a specific spot... wow!

~~~
neuralzen
I believe it was near or in water, but not buried from what I recall of Fenn's
comments about its location (he said it was 'wet'). He said the location he
chose reminded him of a plateaued area with a waterfall that he found in the
jungles of Vietnam, with a forgotten soldier's grave.

------
purple_ferret
Somebody died as recently as March looking for it. I wonder if Fenn just
decided to call it quits and claim somebody found it (if there was anything
ever to find at all). I find wanting to remain anonymous a bit of head
scratcher since being part of Fenn's treasure might add more value to the
goods.

~~~
swimfar
Given the choice between a publicized $1.2M lottery win and a secret $1M
lottery win, I wouldn't hesitate to chose the $1M prize.

~~~
OJFord
And yet in actual lotteries, (a certain sort of) people routinely waive
anonymity for the benefit only (I assume) of the lottery organisation/'s
marketing department.

~~~
nathantotten
Many states require you to reveal your identity to claim the lottery prize.

~~~
joejerryronnie
I’ve been told to setup a blind trust and accept your winnings through this
trust

~~~
abeppu
Are you using the term "blind trust" in a non-standard way? My understanding
is that it refers to arrangements where the beneficiary doesn't get to know
about (or choose) assets held, not where the beneficiary gets to be anonymous.

~~~
joejerryronnie
It’s being used in both contexts these days

------
JKCalhoun
I assume most people who have heard about Forest Fenn and his treasure know
about Kit Williams and his "Masquerade" from the 1970's — an illustrated story
book containing a puzzle that would lead to a treasure buried somewhere in
England.

If not, Bamber Gascoigne's "Quest for the Golden Hare" (1983) is a fascinating
account of the puzzle, and the worldwide (!) search for Kit's treasure.

Truth is stranger than fiction? Yep. The person who unearthed the prize had
not solved the puzzle. The party that solved the puzzle did not get the
treasure.

A wild ride.

~~~
fortran77
What I loved about the solution to Masquerade is that it _seemed_ obvious once
we were told what it was and the answer was exact and unambiguous. It's a
shame Kit's ex-girlfriend betrayed him and leaked the location before it was
solved.

I wonder if people, being more connected today, would have been able to solve
Masquerade very quickly.

~~~
JKCalhoun
Bamber doesn't mention anything at all regarding Kit's ex-girlfriend leaking
it. It reads more like social engineering by the guy, Ken-somebody, who digs
it up.

~~~
fortran77
See:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_(book)#Scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_\(book\)#Scandal)

> On 11 December 1988, The Sunday Times printed a story accusing the winner of
> the Masquerade contest of being a fraud. "Ken Thomas" was revealed as a
> pseudonym of Dugald Thompson, and Thompson's business partner, John Guard,
> was the boyfriend of Veronica Robertson, a former live-in girlfriend of Kit
> Williams. Guard had allegedly convinced Robertson to help him because both
> were said to be animal rights activists and Guard promised to donate any
> profits to the animal rights cause.[1]

> The Sunday Times alleged that while living with Williams, Robertson had
> learned the approximate physical location of the hare, while remaining
> ignorant of the proper solution to the book's master riddle.

------
Melting_Harps
> Fenn, who lives in Santa Fe, said he hid his 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.

Pretty cool. I wonder how long before we see that part of the plot of Ready
Player One come into being from now?

~~~
NotSammyHagar
Yeah, if Gate dies without giving it all away, he said it wasn't going to his
kids.

~~~
arrosenberg
Pretty sure Gates' money is already spoken for -
[https://givingpledge.org/About.aspx](https://givingpledge.org/About.aspx)

~~~
casefields
"It does not actually dictate that the money will be spent in any certain way
or towards any particular charity or cause, and there is no legal obligation."

If these billionaires wanted more than just free good publicity, they could
whip up actual legal paperwork.

That doesn't mean they won't give away a lot in their remaining years.

------
mythrwy
I spent a day looking in the mountains of Northern New Mexico last summer
based on the clues. Of course I didn't expect to find anything, and I didn't,
but it was an awesome day.

Northern New Mexico has some really great mountains.

------
m0ngr31
I originally heard about the treasure from HN a few years back. I wrote a
little webapp to help narrow down the available areas. I'm hoping that the
location is eventually revealed and that it shows up on one of the layers I
came up with...

[https://intothefor.rest](https://intothefor.rest)

------
rayhendricks
I think Jeff Bezos or another random Billionaire should do a $100MM chest
next. Would be great for getting people outside.

~~~
giarc
There is a local treasure called GoldHunt
([https://goldhunt.com/](https://goldhunt.com/)) where someone hid $100k (well
a chest with some paper that you could claim the $100k). You could buy a map
for $25 which was a set of clues (they also just got posted online instantly).
It became quite popular when they did the first hunt a few years ago. The
problem was that it meant a ton of people would flood an area and trample
gardens and parks.

~~~
ethbro
Is it illegal to claim a $1M treasure, actually put an IOU in the box, sell
$40 maps for a few years, fill the treasure once you break even, then keep
subsequent profit?

I supposed you'd have to figure out a way to make the maps single use.

~~~
PopeDotNinja
You'd probably be on the hook for the amount of the IOU, so you'd better hope
no one found it before breaking even.

~~~
c17r
Take out insurance that covers the $1MM. That’s how things like Hole in One
tournaments work.

------
valuearb
Found by a mysterious man from the east who doesn’t want to be identified?

Sounds like Forrest Fenn’s bullshit will never end.

~~~
jamestimmins
Why do you assume that he's lying? Given the amount of land to cover, 10 years
seems like a short amount of time to have found the treasure.

~~~
hckr_news
It’d be nice to even see a photo of the treasure.

~~~
usefulcat
Maybe, though not because you'd know whether it was genuine..

------
mrfusion
Do we know where it was found. And how? It would be interesting to see how
close people were and how it jibes with the clues.

~~~
valuearb
We don’t know that it was found or ever existed. No photographs, no evidence,
just the word of an inveterate bs artist.

------
1024core
What are the chances that someone compromised his phone and tracked him via
that? With $1M at stake, anything is possible.

~~~
spuz
Tracked who?

~~~
1024core
Fern. Apparently he used to visit the treasure a couple of times a year.

------
bobowzki
I always enjoy reading about hidden treasures. But reading that people have
died looking for it puts it into perspective.

------
red_admiral
The Beale treasure might still be out there, if anyone fancies their hand at
treasure hunting.

------
jamisteven
Damnit, there goes my retirement plan.

------
mehrdadn
> Many quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search and others
> depleted their life savings. At least four people are believed to have died
> searching for it.

Damn

