Questions with Fenn: Archive 1

Questions with Forrest Fenn and The Thrill of the Chase Treasure Hunt

ARCHIVED QUESTIONS PAGE 1

On May 23rd, 2014, I had the wonderful honor to begin posting Questions sent to me by searchers, and then later Answered by Forrest Fenn.  The segment allowed all searchers to share in these Questions and Answers.  It was an awesome way for everyone to learn more about the Thrill of the Chase and Forrest, and hear what he was saying.  This particular segment went from May 23rd to July 8th, and then continued with Featured Questions with Forrest Fenn.

Archived Page 1 posted Questions from May 23 to June 20, 2014:  Archive Page 2 posted Questions from June 23rd to July 8th, 2014.

There are many other segments found on the Chase on MW.  Some are pictured below, but for a complete list click here: The Thrill of the Chase.

Question posted 6/20/2014:

I have a question for Mr. Fenn:

When you hid your treasures, did you take the same path that is described in the poem, or were you able to skip some of the steps because of your familiarity with the area?

Thank you Curtis

The clues should be followed in order Curtis. There is no other way to my knowlege.f

Question posted 6/20/2014:

Dear Forrest, which is the first clue; the first line or the line that starts with Begin it where warm waters halt? ~Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn, you guess.f

Plus two more: (from carolyn)

Will you ever start talking about where the bronze bells are hidden and are you still writing the children’s book?

I have talked about where the bells and jars are buried. They are in the mountains and the desert. I plan to bury about 15 more this summer. Thanks for asking.

I considered co-writing a children’s book with a very talented lady but decided that fiction was not for me.f

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Question posted 6/19/2014:

Hi Forrest,
I’m curious about your time spent in Biloxi, MS, at radar mechanics school, and I was wondering if you received any technical training on electrical/electronic theory and circuitry? Schematics, circuit tracing, troubleshooting components, things like that.

That is what the school was about mostly and I’ll admit that I don’t feel rewarded for having attend it.

Also, you’ve mentioned on multiple occasions that it took two “trips” to secret the chest and contents to a very special place. Perhaps someone has already asked this, but I’ve not found an answer yet posted or video recording that contains an answer. Forgive me if this is redundant, but were both trips made on the same day/date? Not to be anal, but that would be one spinaroo of the giant ball we call Earth that constitutes a single 24-hour day to its humble inhabitants.

Thanks so much.
Kind Regards,
Joe

Joe, you make this thing so complicated. Reminds me of the reason I don’t like meetings. I hope you don’t belong to a PTA someplace. I made two trips from my car to the hiding place and it was done in one afternoon.f

Question posted 6/17/2014:

“What is the most valuable object in the chest?” ~ed

Hard question to answer Ed. A beautiful gold nugget can be worth four times the weight value. There are several in the chest that fit that description. So maybe that’s a good answer to your question.f

Question posted 6/16/2014:

“Why do you want the bracelet back?” ~New Mexico Searcher

Dear Anon New Mexico Searcher. I’m not going to tell you my name either.

I am intrigued by the bracelet’s history as I revealed in my book, The Thrill of the Chase. Many years ago one of the small prehistoric turquoise beads fell out of the bracelet. The Indian silversmith who repaired it for me buffed the 22 beads that were aligned in a row across the breadth of the bracelet. It turned a beautiful antique object into something new looking. At first I was upset, but then I realized that we each view life from a different perspective. The Indian wanted to give the bracelet back to me as he thought it looked when new, so that was ok with me.f

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Question posted 6/14/2014:

“Are you willing to say whether the place of the treasure chest is the same as the one where you had previously plotted to have your bones rest forever?”~anonymous

Dear Anon,
I feel somewhat disadvantaged since you chose to not identify yourself but I will answer your question anyway.
Yes it is. f

Questions posted 6/13/2014:

“Forrest,
You talk about how you worked on, and changed, the poem for many years. As you read it today, are you still completely content with the belief that someone will eventually understand and follow your poem precisely to the treasure?” ~ John

Thanks John,
I think your question is wrought from misinformation. I have no real feelings about when the treasure might or might not be found. But eventually sounds too far away. The treasure is there for the person who can find it and I think that person will be positive in their attitude and deliberate in their actions. No one has any secret information that will take them to the hiding place. It’s in the poem for all to see.f

“Was Robert Southey part of your inspiration for writing the poem?” ~ Jessie

No Jessie, that name was unknown to me until just now when I googled it. I congratulate you on your worldliness. Are you a school teacher, librarian, or just very cultured?f

Question posted 6/10/2014:

“What do you feel is one of the most important things that helped you become a successful business person?” ~Amy

Amy, my answer might surprise you. Because I had no education and no business or art experience everything was new to me. I didn’t know the many rules that make businesses fail. I am curious by nature, have wild imaginations, guts, a logical mind, and I’m willing to work. When I put those assets in play, and with the able assistance of my wife – things began to work for us. Hustle is an important word to me.f

Question posted 6/9/2014:

Forrest,
You said in the past that the chest is not in a dangerous place; yet searchers are searching along Cliffside’s, raging water, and other seemingly dangerous places. Could you please elaborate or qualify your statement in which you said” The chest is not in a dangerous place”
Thanks
Edward

Edward, thanks for the question.
The treasure is not hidden in a dangerous place in the normal definition of the word, realizing that there probably is no place on this planet that is safe under all conditions. Bloggers have quoted me as saying that a child could walk up to the treasure. I don’t think that’s an accurate quote because a three year old girl would have a problem without some help. Remember, I was about 80 when I hid the chest, and had to make two trips.f

Question posted 6/8/2014:

Dear Forrest, In your book, The Thrill of the Chase, you mention how great your brother Skippy was.  Did you ever learn what happened to the plane he flew onto Hebgen Lake?  ~Don

Thanks for asking an easy question Don.

The family never learned what happened to that airplane or where it came from. It wasn’t a big deal because of who Skippy was and how he operated. Things like that were almost expected. I thought he was a genius. He may have invented ESP if he had lived long enough.

During the war my dad had a barn where we kept Bessie, our cow. Skippy was about 16 when he nailed a large, flat piece of tin to the wall and smeared it with cow manure to attract flies. He had an electrical gun that he plugged into the wall socket. When a fly landed on the tin Skippy would put the barrel of the gun about 10” from the fly and pull the trigger. A spark miraculously shot at the fly and killed it. It was like a mini lightning bolt that made a loud PSSSSTT sound. Most of the time he missed the fly and had to move the lightning over a little. There were so many flies it didn’t matter.

The electrical smell always started our adrenalin pumping and we played war. The flies were German paratroopers who were landing to steal American secrets.

It was great fun and after a couple of days the “General” stationed me by the gate to collect a nickel from each neighborhood kid who wanted to watch. For a dime they got to pull the trigger.

Skippy tried to explain his secret gun theory to me. He said it was “negative volts going to positive” or some such foolishness that I never understood. He said he was going to give his secret lightning gun invention to the Army to use against enemy soldiers. I remember asking him where the enemy would get cow manure. Life was tough in my lane. f

Question posted 6/8/2014:

Forrest,

Have you reflected on the notion that a person(s) could find your treasure and never let you or the rest of the world know that they accomplished the undertaking? And that the same person(s), now privy to the location, could add to the mystery and adventure of it all, leaving their own token(s) and/or hints of treasure in the coveted spot for forthcoming seekers/generations to find…all the while remaining anonymous? If the right someone were to find it (or has), the chase perpetuated and preserved could take on a new direction that could be timeless. Of course as quixotic a thought as this is, it would need to be a special someone all around. My observation of human nature is most would want the world to know how smart and successful they were in completing treasure hunt. Then again, there are treasure hunt examples out there where the location is found with no treasure to be seen or explanation to be had.  I like the intrepid belief that if you get it right, there will always be something there at the exact location to find and treasure.

Domino

I have tried to answer those questions several times and finally decided that what I say would be conjecture and might mislead some searchers. So I think I’ll pass on those. f

Questions posted 6/2/2014

(Following is part of my email and then the Questions with Forrest’s response)
Hi Forrest,
I have received quite a few questions about the nine clues and the solving of them.  Below are some of these.  Please share what you feel comfortable in saying.  Thanks so much ~Jenny

Mr. Fenn,

It has been a while since you have updated us on searchers figuring out clues in the poem and how close people have been to the chest. How many of the 9 clues have searchers correctly figured out that you know of and just how close has a searcher actually been to the chest? ~ Craig

And a couple more from other searchers:

Who has been the closest to the chest; man or woman? (that you know of)

With your recent comments to the search community, would you tell us, to your knowledge, if one or more searchers have solutions to 5 or more clues?

Has anyone to your knowledge solved all nine clues and still walked right pass the treasure?

Can we really find the treasure with just the first few clues, and how many is a few?

I don’t want to answer all of those questions but will try this one. 

Who has been the closest to the chest; man or woman? (that you know of)

As far as I know the closest person to the treasure was a man, but there may have been a woman with him. The most common mistake that I see searchers make is that they underestimate the importance of the first clue. If you don’t have that one nailed down you might as well stay home and play Canasta.f

Question posted 5/29/2014:

Dear Mr. Fenn

Since you have mentioned “olives” a number of times, I wondered if you had visited The Olive Branch (IL) dig site. It was a fascinating read for me, learning both about the Dalton people’s site along the Mississippi in Southern Illinois and the New Madrid Fault. I continue to learn at least something new on a daily basis while on this journey.

Interestingly, while researching The Olive Branch site, I learned about “The Fenn Clovis Cache” that I believe you purchased in 1988. I looked at photos of some of the amazing (56) stone artifacts, learning also that they are from an unknown (field) site near the borders of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Is the Fenn Cache currently on display anywhere?

I was going to try to sneak in your “how deep is a hole?” question also, but I will refrain, as perhaps I understand why you asked it.

As always, thank you.
Ellen

Good questions Ellen.
I have not visited the Olive Branch site but I have several friends who have excavated there.

How I obtained the Fenn Cache maybe of interest to you. I was called by a local trader to look at the 56 large Clovis projectiles and preforms. They were affixed to a wooden frame. At first glance I told myself that they were too good to be real and I was about to reject them when I noticed the copper wire that held them to the frame was heavily patinated. I knew from my days casting art bronze that it takes many years for copper to reach that dark brown color, not unlike the color of an old penny. So I asked to take the pieces overnight for study.

Upon high power magnification I discovered that each piece had minute traces of red ocher (hematite) in the flake scars, and was pretty sure that the pigment came from the Sunrise Red Ocher mine in Wyoming, a known Clovis site.

Further inspection revealed that amber mastic was present in the flutes of three obsidian points. It had been used to attach the projectiles to atlatl dart shafts.

That did it for me and I purchased the collection, which has since been published in numerous stories related to early man in North America. A book has been written about the collection and it has been widely exhibited at shows. It is now being studied at Texas A & M University.f

Question posted 5/28/2014:

Is the Blaze one single object? ~ Scout Around

In a word – Yes

I have received a few hundred emails from searchers who are sure they know what the blaze is. Ideas range from a mark on a tree, a rock, a sign, a fire, the side of a bluff, a waterfall, a spot on the head of a horse, a rainbow, and even a live owl that flew away when it was approached.

As a side note: with summer on the close horizon, searchers should review the rules about being safe in the mountains. f

Question posted 5/27/2014:

Forrest,
When creating the hunt, was there any serendipity involved? Did you find that things just clicked together somehow?  ~ Shaun

Shaun,
Serendipity: An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

The word carries several connotations Shaun, and I don’t think it works for me in the context you mentioned. Playing a hunch is nearly always fraught with disappointment, especially if the stakes are high. A searcher who guesses through life is destined to carry a thin wallet.f

The first question of the segment was posted on 5/23/2014:

Mr. Fenn,
With all your travels and searches, studies and involvements with certain organizations, as well as your passion for artifacts and the knowledge they hold and give; What is your opinion on how prehistoric man made their way to the western hemisphere? There are many theories. That the ancients came by way of the land bridge, followed the Glaciers route by way of Greenland and Iceland, crossed the ocean to South America and travel to the north by land…
I would like to know which theory you may take a liking to from over the others, or maybe you have another theory of your own you would like to share, based from your personal knowledge and thoughts, of this subject. ~ Mike

Dear Mike,
You are asking a question that the greatest archaeological minds in the world can’t answer. Guess I should be flattered. The latest thinking by Dennis Stanford at the Smithsonian is that the first human to take a step in North America left the Iberian Peninsula (what is now Portugal and Spain) and sailed to the east coast of America. That may have been Solitarian Man (later Clovis Man). The date is highly debatable, ranging from about 14,000 years ago or earlier. What Dennis needs as proof, is the discovery of a sunken sailing vessel off the coast of Maine that has igneous tool-stones from Spain used as ballast. I certainly don’t have any answers and may be wrong in some of my statements written here. Thanks for the question. Next time you might ask me how deep is a hole. f

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