$1 Million ‘Forrest Fenn’ Treasure Found

Forrest Fenn announced on Sunday that his famous treasure hunt had finally ended last week.

“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, a retired Air Force major, 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.”

Fenn declined to produce photographic proof of the success, deferring to the finder’s privacy. “The guy who found it does not want his name mentioned,” he told the Santa Fe New Mexican, “He’s from back East.” It makes sense; Fenn’s treasure has been pursued by over 350,000 people combing the Rocky Mountains for the answer to his cryptic poem, and at least four have died in the attempt.

One last mystery remains to be solved — whether the man who found it was the legitimate winner. According to Barbara Andersen, a Chicago real estate attorney, the location was stolen from her computer. She is currently in the process of filing an injunction in a federal District Court, alleging that she was the one to solve the riddle. “He stole my solve,” she said in an interview. “He followed and cheated me to get the chest.”

Controversy aside, how does Fenn feel, now that the modern legend has come to an end? “I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over,” he said. “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.”