Map to the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountains.
Has the gold been found or is it still there?
Posted on 02/20/2018 7:25:35 PM PST by BenLurkin
Last summer, 53-year-old Jeff Murphy was hiking in Yellowstone National Park when he disappeared. Park investigators found his body on June 9, where Murphy had fallen 500 feet from Turkey Pen Peak, after accidentally stepping into a chute.
But he wasn't on just any hike. He was looking for a treasure box of gold and jewels worth up to $2 million, buried somewhere in the Rocky Mountains by an eccentric millionaire named Forrest Fenn.
Fenn, an art dealer and millionaire in his 80s, lives in Santa Fe, N.M. In his self-published memoir, Fenn included a poem that supposedly leads to the treasure he hid in the mountains.
"The ornate, Romanesque box is 10-by-10 inches and weighs about 40 pounds when loaded," NPR's John Burnett reported in 2016. "Fenn has only revealed that it is hidden in the Rocky Mountains, somewhere between Santa Fe and the Canadian border at an elevation above 5,000 feet. It's not in a mine, a graveyard or near a structure."
Murphy is the fourth man to die while searching for the chest.
While his death was reported at the time, it wasn't clear until NBC affiliate KULR obtained a copy of the park's investigation that Murphy was looking for Fenn's treasure when he died.
"The report shows that Murphy emailed Forrest Fenn in the days before Murphy's death," KULR reports. "It also shows emails from Fenn to Yellowstone officials during the search. The man who invited people to look for his chest of gold and jewels in the Rockies was very concerned about Murphy, and also offered to help pay for a helicopter to find the missing man. He also wrote that he had never been to the area where Murphy fell."
Linda Bilyeu, whose former husband died searching for the treasure in January 2016, told NBC News that the hunt was "ludicrous" and "should be stopped."
After the death of 52-year-old Paris Wallace, also last June, Fenn posted additional clues to a treasure-seekers' blog, apparently with the hope of preventing people from searching in unnecessarily dangerous locations.
"The treasure chest is not under water, nor is it near the Rio Grande River," he wrote. "It is not necessary to move large rocks or climb up or down a steep precipice, and it is not under a man-made object."
He was about 80 when he hid the treasure, he reminded the seekers, and he had to make two trips from his vehicle.
"Please be cautious and don't take risks," Fenn wrote. "The search is supposed to be fun."
I honestly don’t believe there is a “chest.” I could say I hid eleventy gabillion dollars worth of platinum somewhere too. Guy died for nothing.
Forest Fenn needs to stop selling this legend. Too many hopeless, desperate middle-aged men think this is their last chance to get rich and live the good life.
Forest obviously has a gift for storytelling. Maybe he should write historical fiction. One of these days, one of those bereaved widows may want to pay him an ‘unannounced visit’ at his private, secluded residence. That is what I see coming for Mr. Fenn. He seems to enjoy playing the Pied Piper.
Murphy is the fourth man to die while searching for the chest.
And according to legend, a 5th must die before the treasure can be found.
The irony is that compared to past generations of people in their prime earning years, many young people of today are not big collectors of historic artifacts at all. They are not likely to pay very much for the purchase, display and storage such things. In the past, almost every family home had a China Cabinet. Not as common today.
Map to the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountains.
Has the gold been found or is it still there?
No, the irony is that NPR publishes this crap on our dime-—rather on our trillion dollar debt. Why do we need this agency that lives on the taxpayer’s teet? Why?
I think the search for “treasure” is secondary. These men like being outdoors, and they like solving puzzles and seeking. its why geocaching is popular.
>>Linda Bilyeu, whose former husband died searching for the treasure in January 2016, told NBC News that the hunt was “ludicrous” and “should be stopped.”<<
It’s not that easy, nor is it desirable, to nullify Darwin.
It's hard to believe that one park has attracted so many weirdos and bizarre unimaginable deaths. If there is a horrible way to die, Yellowstone has it.
Note to self:
Never step into a chute.
These who get boiled to death always amaze me
Death in Yellowstone....
Yeah, horrible.
There's one account of a twenty-something bad ass whose dumb golden retriever jumped into one of the pools of 200 degree water. He starts stripping off his shirt to jump in and rescue the dog. Bystanders begged him not to do it, but he was a macho bad ass—"to hell I won't!!"
Within in a minute they fished tough guy out, but his skin was already peeling off in sheets and his eyeballs had been melted. He was alive but barely. They helicoptered him to a hospital in Utah, where he died the next day in unimaginable agony.
I can’t think of a better place I’d rather die.
I'll start looking after that 5th death, then. Or not.
Sounds like a good book to check out from the library.
“Bystanders begged him not to do it, but he was a macho bad ass”
No, he heard his beloved dog screaming in pain and tried to rescue it. He was a brave man.
When I was about 12 years old, I read in Parade Magazine about gold loot from a stagecoach robbery in Idaho. The loot was supposedly hidden in the Cassia City of Rocks. I wrote to the author of the article and he sent me some additional information which I really thought was cool.
That summer, we took our bi-annual driving trip to Idaho to visit grandparents and my aunt & uncle. I tried to convince Dad that we should detour through the City of Rocks on our way, but to my everlasting dismay, he declined.
I could have been rich!
Murphy is the fourth man to die while searching for the chest.
I'm still looking for that Canadian Club treasure they hid in 1970. ;') Thanks BenLurkin.
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