Photo: sundown001 (Getty)
I love myself a good treasure hunt story, especially if it features Nicolas Cage. What I’m not a fan of is people risking their life looking for something that may not even be real. Well that’s the case with a treasure that is said to be hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. And guess what? People are dying left and right in search of it.
A 53-year-old Illinois man named Jeff Murphy is already the fourth person who has died looking for this treasure. It is said that New Mexico art dealer and millionaire Forrest Fenn buried a $2 million treasure chest “somewhere in the Rocky Mountains between Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Canadian border,” as he states in his self-published 2010 memoir The Thrill of the Chase.
Reporters at KULR 8 filed a Freedom of Information Act request and discovered that Yellowstone officials were aware that Murphy had emailed Fenn in the days before his death, confirming a link to the seven-year treasure hunt that has allegedly drawn many thousands of people.
In the book, Fenn included a 24-line poem he later told ABC News was the key to finding “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.” Fueling some of the sensation may be Fenn’s reputation as an individual allegedly willing to skirt the boundaries of antiquities laws. Numerous people have questioned whether the chest is just a hoax, though Fenn clarified after it became clear the hunt was getting dangerous that the chest was hidden in a location accessible to an 80-year-old man traveling solo, per the New York Times.
Fenn specified the treasure was buried at least 5,000 feet above sea level in the mountains; Murphy died after falling at least 500 feet off a cliff on Turkey Pen Peak.
Aside from Murphy, since 2016, 31-year-old Eric Ashby, 52-year-old Paris Wallace and 54-year-old Randy Bilyeu have all died looking for that cash. Fenn did offer to pay for the cost of a helicopter to search for Murphy. Gee, thanks Fenn.
As amazing as coming across a chest filled with loads of money sounds, it’s probably best to do your research before embarking on a risky adventure. Hell, a quick Google search may do a world of wonder for you.
In other news, I’m currently searching for flights heading to Colorado.
