84-year-old millionaire Forrest Fenn, an art collector and author, had a strange idea. He wanted to get families together and off their couches and into nature. So he decided to create a treasure chest, fill it with valuables and hide it so these families could embark on a treasure hunt.
Fenn has supposedly hidden this chest somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe, at an altitude above five thousand feet. For those who wish to seek the treasure, Fenn wrote a book filled with poetry - titled "The Thrill of the Chase" - that gives nine clues into the whereabouts of its resting place.
“Nobody is gonna accidently stumble on that treasure chest. They’re gonna have to figure out the clues and let the clues take them to that spot.”
Fenn told ABC News that the treasure chest holds 265 coins emblazoned with “mostly American eagles and double eagles, hundreds of gold nuggets, some as large as chicken eggs, ancient Chinese carved jade figures, Pre-Columbian gold animal artifacts, lots of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds and other things." The New Mexico Tourism Department estimates the contents to be worth as much as $2 million.
Unsurprisingly, this treasure chest has drawn attention from the world and there are thousands upon thousands of people searching for it, both the American-born and those from foreign countries.
Fenn would like the treasure to be found while he is still around, but he doesn’t mind the treasure being a part of his legacy that inspires people to go out in search of it for the next 100 years.
“I would love it if someone found it tomorrow, but if nobody found it for a hundred years that would be okay with me too.”