The Fenn Treasure is a treasure reportedly worth $1m–$3m hidden by art dealer and writer Forrest Fenn in the Rocky Mountains. According to Fenn, many people have claimed to have found the treasure, but no one has provided any evidence to him supporting their claim. As of 2015, Fenn has stated that to his knowledge it is still not found.
This article was seen on CBS Sunday Morning, Jul 12, 2015. I had heard that someone had hidden a treasure somewhere, which many were very reluctant to talk about, obviously because others would then try to beat them to it. I didn’t (and still don’t) think much about it, for reasons I may state later. But given that the Rocky Mountains are so large, it seems very unlikely that some independent treasure hunter, even with help, would be able to find it in a reasonable length of time. It did say that he had periodically given hints about where it is, but a hint can be very vague and abstract.
I have looked at this from Fenn’s point of view, and I had some thoughts about how I would go about it. In the last year or so there was another person who hid money in several places and gave hints to the money’s whereabouts online. The news media had videos of hordes of people showing up at a beach and finding money hidden in the sand. The individual may have done this to get media attention. Or perhaps someone wanted to create a flash mob.
The same motives may be had by Fenn. So his much more valuable treasure may be hidden much better.
I also thought that if I was Fenn, I would not hide the whole treasure, I would hide a small part of it, along with a note telling the finder to contact me for the rest of the treasure. That way, the finder would not be able to disappear with no one knowing that he had found the treasure.
This would also make it much easier to hide the treasure, since the treasure’s size could be as small as a single coin, along with my contact information and instructions. This could be in a small plastic bag, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. It could be hidden in a hole bored into a tree. I would not have to carry this ‘treasure chest’ around, and risk having someone see me concealing it. A treasure chest would have a much greater chance of being damaged by the elements, scavengers and insects.
But what if the finder decided to keep just what he had found, and not contact me? I suppose that that person could be satisfied with what he found, and not contact me. But if he had read the included note and knew how much more the treasure was worth, he would most likely contact me to collect the bulk of the treasure. It could be that Fenn his it so well that it may never be discovered. Or Mother Nature played a dirty trick on Fenn and moved, AKA rehid the treasure so not even Fenn knows where it is. Only time will tell.
