Forrest Fenn: Unedited New Mexico True Stories Interview

This interview was conducted for the New Mexico Tourism Department's "New Mexico True Stories" series of videos. The ad made with this footage was released in 2015 and can be seen here:    • The Searchers-New Mexico True Stories  

I was interested to see the raw footage from this interview because of Forrest's comment about "saying too much." (You can see that here in its original context at 43:08.)

As the Tourism Department is a state agency, I wondered if it would be subject to a public-records law. It turns out there is one: the Inspection of Public Records Act of New Mexico. This law says that not only are state agencies subject to the law, but materials made by others doing work for a state agency are subject to it as well.

My first attempt to get a copy of this interview was denied in November of 2018 by the governor's press secretary (of all people). She said the department did not have the footage.

I tried again with the director of the video. He did have a copy, and the Tourism Department facilitated my request in February of 2019 by sending me a DVD of the raw footage of the interview from a single camera. The DVD did not have any of the other footage used in the commercial.

As per the Act, this video is a public document, and I am sharing it in its full, raw form. There are no edits by me. I do not know why the crew seem to misnumber the takes in the video.

When I received it, I emailed Forrest to ask if I could post it online, and he initially said yes but changed his mind when I mentioned he said in the video that "the treasure is not buried where you're going to find it." Now that I've found the treasure, the buried vs. non-buried point is moot.

This is my favorite interview of Forrest. He's in rare form here, and I always chuckle at 29:25. I'm sharing this not because I think there are any hints or important slip-ups here (I don't), but because I think other searchers who miss Forrest will enjoy seeing it.

For the credits for this video, please see the description here:    • The Searchers-New Mexico True Stories  

RIP Forrest Fenn 1930-2020