ClueOther than the poem describing how to locate the Trove and one of its purposes to encourage people to get out of the house and away from electronics, is the poem designed to convey a deeper significance? Is there a subtle message you are sharing with the reader and hope they realize? ~ Seeker

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No Seeker,
The poem is straight forward with no subterfuge in sight. Someone in an email asked me if I didn’t know where the treasure was, and could have the answer to any clue in the poem, which would I choose. I think that question is so funny and it makes me wonder how Jenny’s readers might answer it.f

 

57 Comments

  1. Since we love and appreciate you answering Questions…..it is only right we should answer one of yours….lol…

    Let me think….hmmmm….I suppose, for me (if I wanted an answer to a clue) it would be the first clue of where to begin….now is this for sure Where Warm Waters Halt?

    Jenny Kile
      1. Forrest already made that joke 🙂 And having the answer to the last clue won’t help if the answer is just, say, a geographical feature like a needle. Then you’d still be looking for the proverbial and literal needle in the haystack 😉 No… give me something more concrete…

    1. Rick, I agree with you but I also find it interesting that Forrest has turned the tables and asked Jenny’s readers to answer a question.

      My Clue #3 response was not because I personally was begging for an answer, but because I believe anyone who knows the answer to Clue #3 will, like in the game of Monopoly, be able to pass go and collect.

  2. It’s quite obvious that the sender of the email was fishing. Personally, I feel TTOTC was meant to not only be a means of getting people out into the great outdoors, but also as a challenge.

    After 15 years of perfecting such a Master Piece, which was 15 years out of a man’s life, I feel it is only fair that we take what he has given us and not look for any easy solutions. There is none.

    It was meant to be difficult, but not impossible.

    1. 🙂 I took the question similar in nature to the question many people ask….IF you were going to be stranded on a deserted island, what one thing would you definitely take? Obviously, I am not planning on being stranded on any island, just like I am not expecting any clue to be answered, but I would take….hmmmm….now I got think about that…lol….

    2. Rick,

      If your comment is directed at my question then all I can say is, read the question again. I didn’t ask for help on a clue or clues, I did not mentions clues. My line of thought to my question was, if the Author of the poem was trying to relay a message other than, for lack of a better term, we the searchers understand the poem to be… how to locate a chest full of gold and trinkets and get folks out exploring.
      Hope that clarify my question and intent.

  3. Mr. Fenn, thank you for your response to my question. As far as what I think about searchers asking for a clue to the poem, I would respond, where’s the adventure and the challenge if you give a clue from the poem away.

    If I chose of a question, that did not relate directly to the 9 clues in the poem… The one I would ask is, Would you be willing to eliminate one of the remaining states in the search area that the chest does not lay in wait?

    And thanks Jenny for a great and enjoyable site.
    Seeker.

  4. One simple question to answer please forrest.

    Are the clues literal, or meataphorical, i.e. would take it in the canyon down refer to actually walking down a canyon….or something more cryptic?

    Loving your work with this Forrest!

    P.S. Is there any chance you could come and bury something in the UK, or at least subsidise a 6 month visit for me and my family to stay in the US with full use of a Hummer, room and board… 🙂

    1. My point exactly:

      Why keep begging and asking for help? Spit on that, and keep your dignity intact.

      Now I didn’t say split on Fenn. Like the man and his stories.

      Anything thou relating to the poem he digs in and people start begging and crying for help. It’s more than pathetic………. It causes stress on his end as well as yours.

      It’s turned into a real slaughter, like watching Custard and the Seven Cavalry

      Dig in, make a stand give the man a fight.

      R.

    2. Deb,
      I believe he answer the question with a definite “No”. I have always wondering if the poem itself held an alternative reason, other than just designed to locate the chest. The word FF used “Subterfuge” Basically mean: trickery, deception, dishonesty… So if the poem is straight forward, I take that the poem is only about the locating of the trove.
      So I’m content with the one word direct answer. So why do you feel he may have done ‘an end run’ or avoided answering the question more? Just curious.

  5. I’d ask for Clue #3 as well. Two reasons: 1) If people have gotten the first two corrrect and passed on by the third, it must be something special. 2) That would let me know what the first two clues even were. Still lost.

    (It’s not begging for help; just playing along with the game.)

    And, yes, I think he answered the question about no hidden soapbox message. Just get outdoors.
    I wonder if he knew how much extra internet time he caused, though. : )

    Thanks for the thrills, Forrest. Thanks for the flow of info and comments from him, Jenny.

  6. Because he used the words, “no subterfuge in sight” . Subterfuge is hidden by definition. So what did he really say ? Did he say there is no hidden meaning or did he really say you cant see it if it is ? Its all about how he phrases things and uses words.

    deb
    1. Deb,
      I see your point. Unless My question was misunderstood or I word it incorrectly, The answer NO Hidden Subterfuge in Sight, means no intent. If a reader wants to see a message or alternative motive, then they will see what the want to see.

      I think what FF was stating is, there is Not an intentional meaning to the poem, other than, get off your butts, explore, and try the challenge of solving the poem.

  7. I wouldn’t ask . How can you ask if you aren’t even sure which are the clues? If its straight forward you throw out most of the poem and look only at canyons down, warm water halts, meek, nigh, paddle , heavy loads water high , ect.
    So why bother asking ?

    deb
  8. Deb, His answer is a subterfuge. There’s a difference between “straight forward” and “straightforward”. And the “no subterfuge in sight”, you are right, “subterfuge” by definition is to hide or hidden, we are not suppose to see it if it’s there. So the answer to seeker’s question is a definite “yes”.

  9. I’m married so my dignity is out the window 🙂 but that being said, Great question Seeker! The poem is direct and straight forward but the TTOTC is a whole lot of subterfuge (trickery) throughout it.

    His answer to the question is more like a analogy of the meaning of subterfuge. So Seeker maybe he thought with your question you might be using subterfuge to get a answer to a deep meaning to your question or maybe he is returning subterfuge to you by answering no.

    This chase has me second guessing all my thoughts, the other day I wasn’t sure if I could use the men or womens bathroom so I went outside!

  10. Will,

    After reading Fenn’s reply to my question, I kinda agree that he may have mistaken my intention to be trickery. I truly was only interested in if there was a personal motive other than the thrill of the chase and an attempt to get folks back to nature/exploring, to the poem.

    I should have taken more time to pharse the question better… Paraphrasing, Fenn made a comment to a question about legality of the area the chest was placed. His answers what something like, It did not concern him, but wouldn’t be interesting to find out. I believe the question was in the daily beast a year or so ago. [ sorry I don’t have the exact information at hand, i’m sure you can look it up if you would like]

    So I have always wonder if there may have been a alternative reason to hide the chest in the spot he chose, other than just being a special place to him as well as getting folks interested in the thrill of the chase.

    Oh, Sorry about your “dignity”. been there, done that. lol

  11. My location has a straight forward connection but the area could have a deeper meaning, in TFTW one of his stories kind of confirms that for me but IMO if he had to answer the same question I believe he would say no but the deeper meaning back ground is just a bonus to add to his special spot.

    I really can’t wait for the chase to be over just because I have some questions that I would love the answers to.

    One question off that topic would be ( Forrest the secret spot is yours but have anyone besides you have ever been in it? Not to point out a family or friend but anyone you might have known? )

    Or

    Forrest I was watching a old childhood movie called Willy Wonka and the idea of the movie was that he was looking for a protégé, someone like him to take over the factory but this made me wonder after read on blogs of some very smart people and some not so smart that among other reasons for hiding the chest that you would like a Indiana Jones type of person such as yourself to find the chest as a added bonus?

  12. Pingback: Forrest Fenn Poem Facts » Mysterious Writings

  13. The POEM isn’t designed to convey a deeper significance (that’s the question), that’s what the book does. The poem is both straightforward and straight forward (as you follow the clues in order). You can find the treasure by following the clues. But when you add all the hints from the book, it takes you on another journey as well. One that does convey a deeper significance.

    The book does another thing too. Think of it this way:
    Of all the possibilities in the Rocky Mountains, you can find the solution but you might consider yourself lucky to have found the first clue, and luckier still to have found the right solutions to each of the following clues since there are (as I’m sure any searcher of experience knows by now) multiple ways you can go. All depending on how you read those following clues and what you consider the answers.
    So! You can do it with the poem alone. It’s just very hard to do, and maybe requires some luck, or the alternative of – follow every idea.

    But the book gives you more insight. It adds to the poem and the journey…and the story. And in the end, it defines the solution with total confidence.

            1. I’ve always enjoyed that song though I’m not sure I ever heard the words before.

              On my journeys into the forest one image in the book that burns in my mind is the photo of the clear cut trees.

              I’m not sure how a man having done that wouldn’t have a heavy heart afterwards.

              Point Foot

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