What happened with Forrest Fenn telling us
mr1931S
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where he hid his treasure which he now says has been found? Here's a story from the Santa Fe New Mexican, December, 2019, when the treasure Forrest hid had not yet been found:
The saga of the search for Forrest Fenn’s treasure continues to twist and turn through the court system.
Two weeks ago, David Harold Hanson of Colorado Springs, Colo., filed a lawsuit against Fenn for $1.5 million, claiming Fenn has deprived him of the treasure through fraudulent statements and misleading clues.
Now an Arizona treasure hunter has filed a motion to intervene as a defendant for Fenn in that case, claiming he found the site of the treasure — which, in his view, is a “virtual art installation or metaphorical ‘treasure.’ ”
Brian Erskine of Prescott, Ariz., said in his complaint, filed in U.S. District Court last week, that he “solved the quest,” adding Fenn did not mislead anyone about the search.
He said the site in question is located in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, between the towns of Silverton and Ouray and accessible by U.S. 550, also known as the “Million Dollar Highway.”
His court filing says he presumes Fenn “concealed a box at the site only metaphorically.” In addition, the court document says Erskine assumes a “controlled, voluntary transfer of box ownership by execution of a legal deed” from Fenn to whoever finds the treasure.
Among other arguments for his case, Erskine says abandoning a chest of valuables in the wild, as Fenn says he has done, would pose significant risks and uncertainty.
Speaking by phone, Erskine said he is positive he is right.
“I solved it. I can prove it,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any reason [for anyone else] to pursue it.”
He said he spoke to Fenn by phone and Fenn said he had sent Hanson’s filing to an attorney to review and that he would not comment until the attorney got back to him.
Fenn told The New Mexican in an email last week that the treasure is still out there, outdoors, and that Erskine hasn’t found it.
“The treasure is still where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn said.
As of this year, an estimated 350,000 people have gone searching for the chest laden with valuables. Fenn said he hid the loot somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
Some have died in the hunt, while others have quit jobs and spent thousands of dollars to try to find it — using clues Fenn gave in a 24-line poem published in his autobiography, The Thrill of the Chase, and online.
In 2017, Fenn told The New Mexican the chest weighs 20 pounds and its contents weigh another 22 pounds. He said he brought the chest to its hiding place over two separate trips, by himself. The hunt has drawn worldwide attention and a number of unwanted visitors to Fenn’s Santa Fe residence, some of whom said they believe it is hidden there.
Fenn said the treasure is not at his home.
In his court filing, Erskine lays out a lengthy and complicated explanation for how he used various clues to find the site of the treasure.
Among those clues is an illustration by Allen Polt, found in the epilogue of Fenn’s book, and an outdoor photo taken by Erskine in August 2018 at the site in question.
Erskine said he searched the site with tools, including a metal detector, “finding nothing of tangible value.”
In the conclusion of his 17-page filing, Erskine asks the court to grant his motion to intervene in the case to validate Fenn’s argument that he didn’t deceive anyone in the ongoing adventure quest.
Via email, Hanson declined to comment.
Erskine said in an email if Fenn does award him the treasure, he plans to sell it to “an institutional buyer for display/curation/public museum enjoyment and more quest development as a great cultural and literary legacy of the West, ideally here in Prescott, Arizona, which is a place a lot like Santa Fe.”
He said he doesn’t think people, including treasure hunters, will be disappointed that the search may come to an end.
“I don’t think there’s any loss of hundreds of thousands of people running around the West looking for something that is not there,” he said.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Comments
Well that adds an interesting twist to the tale. I have always believed Mr. Fenn....and though I never embarked on the search myself, have followed the story for many years. Now that it has been found (or so it is reported), I wonder what will happen with this legal challenge. Cheers, RickO
I bought Fenn's book "Thrill of the Chase" recently. In the epilogue, indeed there is an illustration that probably is a major clue to where Fenn hid his treasure, metaphorically or actually no matter.
I will be taking a road trip later this year (before the snow flies) to the Southern Colorado/Northern New Mexico area. Won't be looking for the treasure but I'm seriously considering taking a drive on the so-called "Million Dollar Highway" U.S. 550 to see if I can see somewhere near the road what the illustrator has drawn in the epilogue of Fenn's book. Beautiful area, the San Juan mountains in Colorado so it will be a win for me even if I don't see along the Million Dollar Highway what Arizona treasure hunter Brian Erskine claims is the site of Fenn's hidden treasure.
I think I'll take my metal detector with me and poke around in a few places while there as well. Wish me luck. Maybe I can find a gold nugget that Fenn lost out of the box before he hid it.
Travel plans are tentative at this point but very likely to happen.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Well . . I guess I am hopelessly confused. I thought the box was found (hunter from 'back east'), photographed, sent back to Fenn for photos and verification (bracelet), and we were just waiting for Fenn to be able to disclose the location???
WT_?
Drunner
Fenn may have had misgivings about starting the treasure hunt in the first place after New Mexico police asked him to end it because there were five reported deaths of people hunting for the treasure over the years with more death to come. I know I would.
Would be interesting to see the photo that hunter Erskine took at the site he is convinced is the metaphorical hiding place and how it might compare to the cryptic illustration seen in the Epilogue of Fenn's book.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
I've got this bridge to Brooklyn that I need to sell.........
I think PT Barnum said it best. Me, I'm gonna watch Treasure Island starring Wallace Beery. Now that's a dead man's chest! Peace Roy
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I think Fenn came to a point in his life where he realized he can't take it with him. So why not try to have a little fun? Unfortunately, when it comes to looking for hidden treasures many people will lose the common sense they were born with. One fellow fell to his death while looking for Fenn's hidden treasure on the side of a mountain cliff high above ground. Talk about a wet blanket being thrown over what's supposed to be a thrilling adventure, the thrill of the chase.
Would a man in his late 70's hide a box laden with treasure weighing a total of over 40 lbs. on a steep mountain cliff high above the ground?
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein