Can you solve this antique collector's clues that will lead you to gold-filled treasure chest buried in the desert?

  • Forrest Fenn, 84, spent years collecting gold coins, nuggets and antiques before a bout with cancer made him reassess his values
  • The New Mexico man chucked his precious collection into a chest in 2010 and lugged it to remote mountains north of Santa Fe and buried it
  • Fenn then wrote a memoir that includes a poem he says could lead a treasure hunter to his priceless loot

Years after the public caught wind that a treasure hunter's loot lies buried in remote New Mexico mountains, the precious chest remains undiscovered.

Forrest Fenn, 84, spent years assembling his bounty of gold, jewels and antiquities before a bout with cancer made him want to pass his treasures along to the next generation rather than continue to hoard it for himself.

But Fenn hasn't made his legacy easy to find. A puzzling poem stands between his hidden treasure and the man or woman who hopes to strike gold in the desert.

Treasue hunter: Forrest Fenn, 84, spent years assembling his bounty of gold, jewels and antiquities before a bout with cancer made him want to pass his treasure along to the next generation rather than continue to hoard it for himself

Treasue hunter: Forrest Fenn, 84, spent years assembling his bounty of gold, jewels and antiquities before a bout with cancer made him want to pass his treasure along to the next generation rather than continue to hoard it for himself

Buried in the mountains: Fenn says he carted his 40 pound chest of gold and other precious items north of Santa Fe and left it

Buried in the mountains: Fenn says he carted his 40 pound chest of gold and other precious items north of Santa Fe and left it

FENN'S POEM: A MAP TO RICHES?

As I have gone alone in there

And with my treasures bold,

I can keep my secret where,

And hint of riches new and old.

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.

From there it's no place for the meek,

The end is ever drawing nigh;

There'll be no paddle up your creek,

Just heavy loads and water high.

If you've been wise and found the blaze,

Look quickly down, your quest to cease,

But tarry scant with marvel gaze,

Just take the chest and go in peace.

So why is it that I must go

And leave my trove for all to seek?

The answers I already know,

I've done it tired, and now I'm weak.

So hear me all and listen good,

Your effort will be worth the cold.

If you are brave and in the wood

I give you title to the gold.

beloved pieces of jewelry in the chest: a turquoise bracelet and a Tairona and Sinu Indian necklace adorned with exotic jewels. 

At the bottom of the chest, in an olive jar, he placed a detailed autobiography, printed so small a reader will need a magnifying glass. After that, he says, he carted the chest of loot, now weighing more than 40 pounds, into the mountains somewhere north of Santa Fe and left it there.

'There's 265 gold coins, eagles and American double eagles,' he said. 'And there's hundreds and hundreds of gold nuggets. You're gonna be amazed at what you find.'

Next, Fenn self-published a memoir, The Thrill of the Chase, distilling the autobiography and, intriguingly, including a poem that he says offers clues to lead some clever — or lucky — treasure hunter to the bounty.

It wasn't long before word of the hidden trove got out, and the publicity has caused a mini-gold rush in northern New Mexico.

But is the treasure in the Land of Enchantment or someplace even further north? 

According to CBS News, Fenn's poem indicates his treasure is someplace in the Rockies of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, or New Mexico.

But the supposed clues have also set off a debate: Has Fenn truly hidden the treasure chest or was this, for the idiosyncratic, publicity-loving 84-year-old who loves to tell tales, just another way to have fun, a great caper to bolster his legacy?

One friend, Michael McGarrity, an author and former Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy, acknowledges it could be 'a private joke,' though he believes 'Forrest has certainly buried something.' If it was the treasure he saw, well, 'it really is quite an astonishing sight to see.'

There certainly seems to be no shortage of believers, including Doug Preston, whose novel 'The Codex' about a notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber who buries himself and his treasure as a final challenge to his three sons, is loosely based on Fenn's story.

'I've seen the treasure. I've handled it. He has had it for almost as long as I've known him. It's real. And I can tell you that it is no longer in his vault,' says Preston.

Clues: Fenn self-published a memoir, The Thrill of the Chase,  that included a poem he says offers clues to lead some clever — or lucky — treasure hunter to the bounty

Clues: Fenn self-published a memoir, The Thrill of the Chase,  that included a poem he says offers clues to lead some clever — or lucky — treasure hunter to the bounty

'I am 100 percent sure that he really did go out and hide this thing. I am actually surprised that anyone who knows him would think he was blowing hot air. It is just not his personality. He is not a tricky, conspiratorial, slick or dishonest person at all.'

Fenn says his main goal is to get people, particularly children, away from their texting devices and looking for adventure outdoors.

But probably few are having more fun with the whole adventure than Fenn himself, a self-described schmoozer and endless flirt who is reveling in what he says are 13,000 emails from treasure hunters — not to mention 18 marriage proposals.

'His net worth is much higher than what he put in the bounty,' says Preston, guessing the treasure's value is in the million-dollar range. 'He is having way more than $1 million worth of fun with this.'

It all began, Fenn says, more than 20 years ago, when he was diagnosed with cancer and given just a few years to live.

That's when he decided to buy the treasure chest and fill it with some of his favorite things.

'Nobody knows where it was going to be but me,' he recalls thinking. He revised the clue-poem's wording several times over the years, and made other changes in his plans. For a time, he thought of having his bones with the treasure chest, though how that might have been accomplished is unclear. 

Lifelong adventurer: Fenn was raised in Temple, Texas, where his father was a school principal, according to the book. The family was poor, he says, only eating meat on Sundays if there was a chicken to kill. But, Fenn writes, they spent every summer in Yellowstone National Park, where young Forrest and his brother Skippy launched many an adventure

Lifelong adventurer: Fenn was raised in Temple, Texas, where his father was a school principal, according to the book. The family was poor, he says, only eating meat on Sundays if there was a chicken to kill. But, Fenn writes, they spent every summer in Yellowstone National Park, where young Forrest and his brother Skippy launched many an adventure

Pilot: Fenn married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Jean Proctor, and spent nearly two decades in the Air Force, including much-decorated service as a fighter pilot in Vietnam

Pilot: Fenn married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Jean Proctor, and spent nearly two decades in the Air Force, including much-decorated service as a fighter pilot in Vietnam

Went on to success: As an art dealer, he hosted a virtual who's who of the rich and famous at his Santa Fe gallery and guest house, including Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Sam Shephard, Jessica Lange and Michael Douglas, to name a few

Went on to success: As an art dealer, he hosted a virtual who's who of the rich and famous at his Santa Fe gallery and guest house, including Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Sam Shephard, Jessica Lange and Michael Douglas, to name a few

'But then,' Fenn says with a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes, 'I ruined the story by getting well.'

In 'The Thrill of the Chase,' he lays out his unusual rags-to-riches story while sharing memories of his favorite adventures and mischief-making.

From the outset, the book tells readers the recollections 'are as true to history as one man can average out that truth, considering the fact that one of my natural instincts is to embellish.'

Average out the truth? Instinct to embellish? Well, one thing is certain: He certainly knows how to tell a tale.

Fenn was raised in Temple, Texas, where his father was a school principal, according to the book. The family was poor, he says, only eating meat on Sundays if there was a chicken to kill. But, Fenn writes, they spent every summer in Yellowstone National Park, where young Forrest and his brother Skippy launched many an adventure. He describes the brothers trying to fly a homemade plane and tells about being left on the side of the road after an argument during a road trip.

Fenn never went to college, although he did attend classes at Texas A&M University with his friends for a short time, before it was discovered he was not a registered student, the book says.

He married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Jean Proctor, and spent nearly two decades in the Air Force, including much-decorated service as a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

After returning to Texas, he, his wife and two daughters moved to Santa Fe, where, over time, he became one of this artistic enclave's best known and most successful gallery owners.

Details on how a man with no art background made such a dramatic but successful transition are scarce in his book. When asked to elaborate, he says simply, 'I never went to college. I never went to business school. I never learned the rules that make businesses fail.'

Those who know him credit his love of people. As an art dealer, he hosted a virtual who's who of the rich and famous at his gallery and guest house, including Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Sam Shephard, Jessica Lange and Michael Douglas, to name a few. Even at 84, he still throws one hell of a party, friends say, mixing up the guest list with the many actors, artists, writers and political leaders who live in or frequent this artistic mountain hideaway.

Perhaps the biggest misconception about Fenn — whom some locals refer to as Santa Fe's Indiana Jones — is that he was a treasure hunter himself.

Fenn, who lives with his wife in a gated estate near the center of town, insists he is the only person who knows where his treasure is hidden. Asked what his two daughters, Kelly and Zoe, think of him hiding part of their and their seven kids' inheritance, he replies only that 'they've been saying for years that I am crazy.' He doubts they have any interest in finding it, but says he wouldn't be surprised if one of two grandsons has gone looking for it.

And he is ambivalent about whether the chest is found soon, or even in his lifetime.

But 'when a person finds that treasure chest, whether it's tomorrow or 10,000 years from now and opens the lid, they are going to go into shock. It is such a sight.'

 

 

 

 

 

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