Author Dives Into The Forrest Fenn Hidden Treasure Obsession
Author Daniel Barbarisi s new book looks at how people around the world became obsessed with finding New Mexico millionaire Forrest Fenn s hidden treasure.
The story of Forrest Fenn and his hidden treasure somewhere in the American wilderness was the stuff of legend. After a terminal cancer diagnosis, Fenn miraculously survived and decided he wanted to inspire others to go out and enjoy life. Fenn filled a treasure chest with jewels, gold, and other precious items somewhere in the Rocky Mountains for some lucky treasure hunter to eventually find.
He penned his 2010 autobiography The Thrill of the Chase which contained a poem with clues as to the treasure s location. A decade went by and the treasure remained hidden until one lucky treasure hunter did the unthinkable and found the chest.
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The hunts for Forrest Fenn’s treasure and other hidden or lost caches of wealth pale in comparison to the 80-year search for vast quantities of gold allegedly sequestered away for safekeeping by the Nazis during World War II. Often referred to as ‘Hitler’s gold’, it’s a collection of treasures looted from lands conquered by the Nazis and rumored to have been taken to South America or buried somewhere in Europe. That “somewhere” has been narrowed to Minkowskie, a village in southwestern Poland in the historical region of Silesia, and pinpointed to an abandoned palace based on a treasure map that once belonged to a senior SS officer who gave it to a girl working in the brothel at the palace.