To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Not now
OK
Advert
Advert
Advert

Millionaire Art Dealer Sparked Decade Long Hunt After Hiding $2m Of Treasure

The UNILAD Team

Published 
| Last updated 

Millionaire Art Dealer Sparked Decade Long Hunt After Hiding $2m Of Treasure

Featured Image Credit: Fenn's Treasure

Art dealer Forrest Fenn hid a £2m chest of gold and jewellery in the Rocky Mountain, resulting in a 10-year global treasure hunt.  

The Texan tycoon Forrest Fenn, who passed away in 2020, successfully launched the treasure hunt in 2010.

Around 350,000 are said to have joined the hunt in the hopes of discovering the secret treasure trove.  

Advert

Thrill seekers spent thousands of pounds travelling to the Rocky Mountains, where the treasure chest was allegedly hidden.  

Miriam de Fronzo, a massage therapist from Florida, spent four years knee-deep in all things Forrest Fenn as she pinned her hopes on making the discovery. 

Credit: Fenn's Treasure/Instagram
Credit: Fenn's Treasure/Instagram

De Fronzo admitted to spending between $2,000 and $3,000 on each of her trips.  

Advert

Fenn, who flew 328 missions in Vietnam as a combat pilot in the U.S Air force, was skilled in flying several different aircraft, including 'most of the later jets' at the time, and also went through helicopter school.  

Following the Cold War, Fenn flew the supersonic F-100C jet during nuclear alert missions in Germany under the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC).  

Fenn, later took up as a job as an art dealer once he retired from the Air Force.  

Some of the paintings, arrowheads and Indian artefacts were left in the bronze chest as part of the £2m treasure hunt.  

Advert
Credit: Fenn's Treasure
Credit: Fenn's Treasure

In 1988, Fenn was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer which left him questioning how he could leave his mark on history.  

His cancer battle prompted him to write The Thrill of the Chase and sparked the global treasure hunt.  

Fenn told newspapers that he had invented the hunt to give families a reason to 'get off their couches' and experience nature.  

Advert

And despite five men dying in pursuit of Fenn's treasure, he never called off the hunt, simply calling the deaths 'tragic'.  

In 2017, Fenn told the New York Times: “If someone drowns in the swimming pool we shouldn’t drain the pool. We should teach people to swim.”  

The hunt for Fenn's treasure ended in 2020.  

A medical student is said to have found the £2m chest, and sent photographic proof to Fenn.

Advert

Fenn revealed the location of the chest in his own cryptic way, still not quite saying exactly where it had been found.  

He said: "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."  

Topics: News

The UNILAD Team
More like this
Advert
Advert
Advert

Chosen for YouChosen for You

Community

People can't believe how painful 'pulling tooth into place' with braces looks

6 hours ago

Most Read StoriesMost Read

People are leaving cinemas speechless after watching new ‘deeply disturbing’ movie

2 days ago