This is the stranger than fiction true story behind Netflix‘s latest docuseries Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure, which explores the deadly ten-year quest for a real life loot filled to the brim with ‘$1million worth of riches’.

Eighty-year-old art dealer Forrest Fenn created chaos back in 2010 when he buried his fortune in the mountains of Santa Fe.

The key to finding the elusive prize in the Yellowstone National Park lay within a cryptic 24-line poem; and adventurous hopefuls gave up their jobs, families – and tragically, even their lives – in pursuit of the hidden reward.

It was 10 years until Fenn’s goods were finally discovered, with a medical student and former journalist Jonathan ‘Jack’ Stuef claiming the prize in Wyoming.

The docu-series, which is directed by Jared McGilliard and filmed in the aftermath of the find, centres on a few of the die-hard thrillseekers who spent years dedicated to the chase.

It also explores Fenn’s motivations for hiding the chest, as well as the dark side of the treasure pursuit, notably the fact that five people died while looking for it.

Meanwhile, another twist from the docuseries suggested that the hunt may not be over yet. 

Here, FEMAIL looks at what drove Fenn to bury his riches – and the baffling stories that followed… 

Who was Forrest Fenn?

Forrest Fenn was born in 1930 and went on to be an air force pilot who fought in the Vietnam War, where he was shot down twice – and survived both times.

After his time in the military, he became an antique dealer, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with clients like Suzanne Somers, Ralph Lauren, and Michael Douglas.

In 1988, Fenn learned he had kidney cancer and was told he had a 20 per cent chance of surviving three years.

His illness inspired him to create a legacy – as he thought about how he would be remembered and what he wished to leave behind. 

He had originally planned to write the cryptic poem, hide the treasure and eventually hike back out to that same location and take his own life; hoping someone would one day discover the riches that remained at his final resting spot. 

However, after he unexpectedly recovered from the cancer, Fenn decided to hide the treasure anyway – and self published his memoir with the clues. 

‘It had been so much fun building my collection over the decades, why not let others come searching for some of it while I’m still here, and maybe continue looking for it after I’m gone?’ he wrote in his 2010 memoir, The Thrill of the Chase.

‘So I decided to fill a treasure chest with gold and jewels, then secret it – leaving clues on how to find it for any searcher willing to try,’ he continued.

‘I didn’t expect it to catch fire like it has, but I think 350,000 people have been looking for the treasure,’ Fenn told DailyMail.com in 2018. 

Speaking of what drove him to create the quest, he explained: ‘I went through all of the emotions like everybody else does – denial, anger, all of those things.

‘But then, after a week or so, I told myself: “Okay – if I’ve got to go, who says I can’t take it with me?” 

‘I had a bunch of stuff, and I had so much fun collecting it over 75 years, why not give somebody else the same opportunity that I had?

‘I mean, I’m not going to miss these things. My family has been cared for. And so I got this beautiful little treasure chest; I gave $25,000 for it, and I started. 

‘My problem was, I wanted it to be valuable, but I also wanted it to be survivable, also. That boils down to gold, essentially, and precious gems.’

He added: ‘I’ve given to charity, and everybody else has, too. That’s been done. I wanted to do something that would last. 

‘I wanted to introduce the Rocky Mountains to people – flatlanders – that’d go back over and over again. I mean, if I gave to a charity, that’d be the end of it.’ 

He died in Santa Fe of natural causes at 90 in 2020. His wife, Peggy died later that year. The couple had two daughters, and multiple grandchildren.  

What was in Forrest Fenn’s treasure chest? 

Fenn filled an antique lock box with a heap of treasures he had accumulated over the years, including gold nuggets, gold pieces and coins – claiming there were at least $1 million of gold.

It has even been estimated to in total be worth up to $2 million, Business Insider revealed. 

The box’s treasures were also said to include ancient Chinese carved jade figures, a Spanish 17th-century gold ring and an antique gold bracelet set with 254 rubies, six emeralds, two Ceylon sapphires and several small diamonds.

Also allegedly included were approximately 476 gold pieces, coins, jewellery, and other precious artefacts. 

Fenn spent years building the box, and eventually hid it in the Rocky Mountains in around 2010. 

What did Forrest Fenn’s poem say?

The poem in his memoir contained nine clues, which ‘if followed precisely’ would lead to the location of his hidden treasure. 

He told people to read the poem ‘six, eight, 10 times, study every line, every word’, in a 2011 interview with Lorena Mills from Report.

He added: ‘You can find the chest with just the clues, but there are hints in the book that will help you with the clues.’ 

The poem read: ‘As I have gone alone in there. And with my treasures bold, I can keep my secret where, And hint of riches new and old. 

‘Begin it where warm waters halt, And take it in the canyon down, Not far, but too far to walk.

‘Put in below the home of Brown. From there it’s no place for the meek, The end is drawing ever nigh; There’ll be no paddle up your creek, Just heavy loads and water high.

‘If you’ve been wise and found the blaze, Look quickly down, your quest to cease, But tarry scant with marvel gaze, Just take the chest and go in peace.

‘So why is it that I must go, And leave my trove for all to seek? The answer I already know, I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak.

‘So hear me all and listen good, Your effort will be worth the cold. If you are brave and in the wood, I give you title to the gold.’

In addition to the cryptic poem and hints in his memoir, Fenn let a few details slip over the years – saying the treasure is at least 8.25 miles north of Santa Fe and that it’s above an elevation of 5,000 feet.

Key elements mentioned in the poem are ‘warm waters halt,’ ‘the blaze,’ ‘canyon down’ and ‘home of Brown’ – all of which are open to interpretation by searchers, who have traced them to landmarks across Colorado, New Mexico, Montana and Wyoming.

One of the major clues was that it’s at a location that was reachable by a man 79 years old, which was Forrest’s age when he hid the chest.

How dangerous was Forrest Fenn’s treasure hunt? 

The hunt for Fenn’s treasure became extremely dangerous, taking amateur searchers into rugged and perilous terrain. 

At least five people died while searching for the treasure. Police officials had publicly implored Fenn to end the treasure hunt, saying it was a danger to public safety.

Michael Sexson, 53, from Deer Park, and his companion, an unnamed 65-year-old man from Thornton, had set out in March 2020 to look for the riches in a remote section of Dinosaur National Monument – the same area where the pair of adventurers had become trapped in the snow in late February and had to be rescued.

On this occasion, by the time rescuers tracked down the two treasure hunters, who had been reported missing four days earlier, Sexson had died. His companion, who was said to be wearing more weather-appropriate gear, survived the ordeal and was airlifted to safety.

Elsewhere, Randy Bilyeu went missing in January 2016 and was found dead in July that year. His body was discovered by workers along the Rio Grande, and an autopsy could not determine cause of death.

Bilyeu’s ex-wife has publicly stated her belief that the Fenn Treasure is a hoax.

Jeff Murphy, 53, of Batavia, Illinois, was found dead in Yellowstone National Park on June 9, 2017 after falling about 500 feet down a steep slope.

The investigation by Yellowstone officials into Murphy’s death was kept private, but KULR-TV obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request in February 2018.

The investigative report revealed Murphy’s wife told park authorities that Murphy was looking for the treasure when she called to report him missing.

Pastor Paris Wallace, of Grand Junction, Colorado, told family members that he was searching for a buried treasure, but he failed to show up for a planned family meeting on June 14, 2017.

His car was found parked near the Taos Junction Bridge and his body was found five to seven miles downstream along the Rio Grande. 

Eric Ashby, 31, was found dead in Colorado’s Arkansas River on July 28, 2017.

Friends and family state that he had moved to Colorado in 2016 to look for the treasure, and was last seen on June 28 rafting on the river 10 to 15 miles upstream from where his body was found.  The raft overturned, and Ashby had been missing since that time.

In 2017, Fenn said in a statement that he would not encourage people to stop seeking the treasure.

‘I have given a lot of thought about ending the search, but I am not sure what that would accomplish,’ the statement read.

Who found Forrest Fenn’s treasure?

The search for Fenn’s treasure ended a decade after it began when it was confirmed that Jack Stuef, a then-32-year-old medical student, had found the antique box in Wyoming on June 6, 2020. 

Jack, who spent two years searching for the treasure, said the hunt was the ‘most frustrating experience of my life.’

He wrote in an article published on Medium: ‘There were a few times when I, exhausted, covered in scratches and bites and sweat and pine pitch, and nearing the end of my day’s water supply, sat down on a downed tree and just cried alone in the woods in sheer frustration.’

One thing Jack is refusing to disclose, however, is the precise location where he found the treasure and the clues that led him to it.

‘[Fenn] didn’t want to see it turned into a tourist attraction,’ he told Outside. ‘We thought it was not appropriate for that to happen. He was willing to go to great lengths, very great lengths, to avoid ever having to tell the location.’

Jack sold the majority of Fenn’s treasure at auction in 2022 and he got about $1.3 million.

Jack said he had initially hoped to maintain his anonymity, and said Fenn had been fully supportive of protecting his identity. 

He added: ‘Not because I have anything to hide, but because Forrest and his family endured stalkers, death threats, home invasions, frivolous lawsuits, and a potential kidnapping – all at the hands of people with delusions related to his treasure, I don’t want those things to happen to me and my family.’

However, he ended up revealing his identity in December 2020 after a lawsuit was brought against him by a woman he didn’t know. 

Fenn had been targeted by lawsuits both before and after the chest was found, by hunters claiming that the treasure was rightfully theirs.

Many hunters, dissatisfied by the lack of disclosure from Fenn, even suggest that something nefarious was afoot, and that Fenn had never really hidden the treasure or that he had ended the hunt before it had even been found.

In one lawsuit, filed immediately after Fenn had announced that the hunt had ended, also targeted the then unnamed finder of the treasure as a defendant, claiming he had found the chest by hacking her texts and emails.

Jack has denied the charges laid out in the suit, in addition to a number of other ‘conspiracy theories’ surrounding him finding the treasure.

Jack called the litigation an ‘abuse of the court system’, for no person ‘has any remotely valid claim against me.’ 

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