(Kitco News) – A decade-old mystery that has tormented the treasure-hunting community has been solved: the Fenn Treasure has been found.
In an interview with the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday, famed art and antiquities collector Forrest Fenn confirmed that someone found the bronze chest that he buried in the Rocky Mountain more than ten years ago.
Fenn said the man who found the $1 million treasure in gold and jewels did not want his name released; however, he added that he was from “back East.” The discovery was confirmed by a picture the man sent to Fenn a few days ago.
Although the treasure has been found, Fenn remains elusive as to the exact location.
“It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn said in a statement on his website Sunday. “I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.”
For the last ten years, the hunt for the Fenn Treasure has captured the imagination of thousands of would be-treasure hunters. According to the New Mexican, an estimated 350,000 people have hunted for the treasure chest. The hunt has also had some deadly consequences. At least five people have died while searching for the chest.
The hunt started in 2010 when Fenn published clues to the treasure’s whereabouts in a 24-line poem in his autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase.”
Over the years many people have dismissed the treasure as a massive hoax.
Fenn said he hid his treasure to entice people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches.
“I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries,” he said on his website.
Asked by his hometown newspaper about how he felt now that the mystery has been solved: “I don’t know, I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over.”