Forrest Fenn’s Treasure: Meet the Searchers Dedicating Their Savings to Strike Gold | Money

In 1988, Forrest Fenn thought he was going to die. The Air Force veteran-turned-fine art collector had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, and doctors told him he faced “an uphill battle” to survive.

One night, as he lay awake in bed, Fenn began thinking about how much he’d loved assembling his art and artifacts collection over the years. Then, in what he’d later write was “a perfect match of mind and moment,” an idea struck: “Why not let others come searching for some of it while I’m still here, and maybe continue looking for it after I’m gone?”

So Fenn “paid way too much” to buy a cast bronze chest and transformed it into what he described as an “opulent cache.”

And then he lived.

According to legend, it wasn’t until about 2010 that Fenn took action, driving into the mountains, hiking an indeterminate distance and leaving the chest in a secret spot. He also self-published a book, The Thrill of the Chase. In it, he coded nine clues about the treasure’s location into a 24-line poem about “the home of Brown,” “the blaze” and “where warm waters halt.”

The search really took off in 2013, when Fenn appeared on the TODAY Show to generate buzz. By 2018, an estimated 350,000 people had searched for the chest, which is estimated to be worth up to $5 million.

Today, the hunt is so popular partially because there’s such a low barrier to entry.

Meet the searchers dedicating their lives and savings to finding Fenn's treasure: http://bit.ly/2Xkz3wD

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