A decade-long search for treasure hidden in the Rocky Mountains has ended as the man who hid the treasure confirmed Sunday that it had been discovered.
Forrest Fenn, an 89-year-old art dealer from New Mexico, announced on his website that his treasure had been found. The exact location of the treasure was kept hidden since 2010, although Fenn wrote a poem with clues revealing that it was “somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe,” a reference to the Rocky Mountains.
“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 added. (RELATED: Robot Finds $17 Billion Worth Of Treasure Trapped Inside Shipwreck)
The treasure, which was placed in a bronze chest, included more than $1 million in gold and other valuable items, according to CBS News. Fenn also revealed that he had packed and repacked his treasure chest for more than a decade with rare coins, ancient figurines and antique jewelry.
At least four people died searching for a chest filled with gold and jewels hidden a decade ago by Forrest Fenn
The treasure, worth over $1 million, has been found. #SundayMorning spoke to Fenn in 2015 https://t.co/rbVfNcAG7f pic.twitter.com/WLAW2IaOUg
— CBS Sunday Morning ???? (@CBSSunday) June 8, 2020
Fenn did not confirm where the treasure was found or who found it, saying that the man who found it wished to remain anonymous. Fenn also said he would not reveal the photo which confirmed the discovery, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
An estimated 350,000 people have embarked on the hunt for Fenn’s treasure since it was initially hidden. The search has been dangerous, however: at least five people have reportedly died in pursuit of the treasure. The body of a Colorado pastor was found in northern New Mexico in 2017. It was later revealed that the pastor had been searching for the treasure.
That year, New Mexico state police reportedly urged Fenn to discourage adventurers from seeking the treasure, but there was never any direct action taken by law enforcement or government authorities to stop the treasure hunt.
When asked how he felt now that the years-long search for his treasure had finally come to an end, Fenn told The Santa Fe New Mexican, “I don’t know, I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over.”