John Limbach’s Reverse Six Questions with Jenny Kile Regarding Forrest Fenn Treasure Found – Three Years Later
Hello, Jenny. I really liked the six questions that George Ward did reversing the lens and focusing on you. George did a great job!
Thank you again for inviting me to do the Six Questions with you on The Secret at the end of 2022.
We are now well into 2023 and will mark the three-year anniversary in June of Forrest Fenn notifying the search community that his treasure hunt was over. Since we both have a deep appreciation for Forrest and The Thrill Of The Chase, I thought it would be fun to ask you six questions since he enjoyed promoting his hunt with you via Mysterious Writings. It is easy to see why Forrest chose you and Mysterious Writings to share information because of your professionalism and true love of mysteries, puzzles, and treasure hunts, making it the premier website for it. So, here we go!
- Q1) How did you first come in contact with Forrest and then correspond with him for the first time?
First, Thank you John for this opportunity. Charmed.
The Thrill of the Chase was not the first treasure hunt for me. I had been involved in armchair treasure hunting years before, and had previously created a Six Question segment on my website for which to share information about the hobby.
After hearing about Forrest’s hunt a few times- (I must confess it took me a while to realize it was a real deal for there were other ‘million dollar treasure hunts’ I followed at the time) – I decided to ask Forrest if he wanted to participate in my Six Questions segment. He said, sure, and the rest is history.
Our first Six Questions was posted about a month before his initial appearance on the Today Show. It was before there was a huge audience, or coverage, on the Chase. However, that appearance spurred the Chase on, and in the Spring of that year, hundreds of searchers set out to find the chest, and each year after.
Forrest and I continued to correspond through the years – while sharing information about the hunt on my site. We were planning to do a ‘Forrest Fenn Treasure Found’ Six Questions, but sadly, the situations, and then time, did not allow.
- Q2) What is your favorite memory of your exchanges with Forrest? I’m sure that you have to laugh and/or smile just thinking about at least one.
It must be exploring San Lazaro Pueblo with him. He invited my husband and I to stop off at his house on our trip from Santa Barbara, CA to Wrightsville Beach, NC– we were doing a southern states coast-to-coast drive.
We stopped off in Santa Fe and spent much of the day with him on that occasion.
Early on in our conversations I had seen ‘gaming pieces’ on his website. I collect and research old board games and was under the impression they were pieces from games – so I asked about their history. Forrest must have gotten a chuckle at that because they were not actual ‘game pieces’, as I mistakenly took them – but only named gaming pieces because they didn’t know what else to call them. They are deliberately shaped pottery shards. To this day, it is a mystery what their true purpose was – which for me makes them all the more special! Forrest knew how much I loved them and asked if I wanted to look for gaming pieces at the pueblo. OF COURSE!
We explored Medicine Rock (a ritualistic site at the location), searched for beads on ant hills, toured the ruins, and obviously hunted for gaming pieces. (There were pottery shards a plenty, but gaming pieces were difficult to come by)
Along with the other times we visited, we also enjoyed just listening to Forrest. He is a never-ending history and story book – on constant play. Tale after tale – told in a manner that is never boring. Forrest had the gift of storytelling – and stories sell. He easily sold himself to anyone who listened. Of course, to be the most successful at storytelling, you had to live the life worth talking about – which he did.
I think that was one of his purposes of the Chase – he wanted to give us all an adventure worth talking about – an adventure worth more than the gold. I think some may have missed the point of it all.
- Q3) Forrest was not shy about “free promotion” as a consummate marketer among his plethora of talents. Several searchers that appreciated him were willing to put in their own time and treasure to help him. He had many people “working for him’’ of their own volition that were able to spread the word of the chase and update searchers. How do you feel in retrospect about promoting TTOTC and the times that Forrest gave you information to post on behalf of his hunt?
I was, and still am, doing what I enjoy – writing and sharing on my website – how and when I want. Zig Ziglar quotes something like– you help people they help you – and vice versa. I never felt like I was ‘working’ for him. Maybe at times he felt like he was ‘working’ for me. Ha!
Mysterious Writings is a service for all searchers, and treasure hunt creators. It is the largest community there is in sharing hunts, enjoying discussions, and having fun (via the MW Forum, Facebook Page, and Discord Channel). Searchers and Creators only need to take advantage of it. The community pages are there for both creators to engage in their hunts, which will help promote them, and for searchers to post ideas and thoughts, which helps build community and furthers the hobby. It is there to use… (but not abuse).
Nonetheless, if I was working for him, I failed horribly at the opportune time. The night the big announcement came down – he emailed Dal and I to post the official statement on our websites. I was busy that Saturday night, didn’t check messages before going to sleep, and woke up in the morning to Forrest’s message – and a multitude of other messages from searchers asking if true. Sure, I posted Forrest’s statement then – felt honored to be one of the first he shared the official news with to spread the word the treasure was found – but it was in a bit of delay (oops :)).
Oh well. He didn’t fire me, and I didn’t fire him. We had plans of offering answers to the community once things calmed down, and the time was right. I respected and understood his decision for delay. But as mentioned, time had its own plan.
- Q4) As a champion of treasure hunting and promoting the hobby for people’s enjoyment, Mysterious Writings has become the place where people come to find out about new and ongoing hunts as well as the solution to a hunt once it is completed. The ending of TTOC has been controversial not only with lawsuits against Forrest and his estate, but a finder who has now seemed to vanish without the poem meaning and solve location confirmed by either him or Forrest posthumously. This isn’t common in most hunts, is it? What is your take on this controversial ending to a ten-year, epic treasure hunt?
It’s actually very common. Unfortunately. There are numerous hunts with controversial endings. Many times, hunts are left without solutions, simply left forgotten, or are given no updates – with creators just vanishing or losing interest themselves. Sometimes in hunts the treasures are not there – giving no closure at all to searchers.
But you must consider the legendary treasures – hunts like The Beale Papers or The Temple Treasure. Is there closure? Does anyone know all the answers? Does it matter or anyone care now? Doesn’t it make them all the more mysterious…..and interesting?
Maybe that is why the ending to the Chase isn’t so distressing for me. We were given the Chase, never guaranteed answers, and I never expected them. Those that demand to know all, I feel are missing the true meaning and purpose of the Chase. Forrest quoted it in our first Six Questions; “They never knew it was the chase they sought and not the quarry.” How quickly some forget.
And as mentioned, it really goes with the territory. For example, in The World’s Greatest Treasure Hunt, an actual historical treasure, the emerald from the Atocha! was STOLEN! NO ANSWERS to date – hunt cancelled. There are lots of questions surrounding the circumstances, and lots of controversary – but because the hunt didn’t become as widely known as the Chase, it goes under the radar.
Also there have been many other hunts that have been cancelled unexpectedly or don’t end cleanly.
The produced treasure hunts seem to fall in line with the legendary lost treasure hunts – Some are found with all becoming known, others are not. And the others can fall anywhere in between.
- Q5) We’ve had some exchanges about the silly and serious sides of Forrest. One is him allegedly being associated with the government and the D.B. Cooper hijacking in 1971. Two searchers even published a book that researched whether he was in fact Cooper. Some believe that his brother, Skippy, may have been involved or that it was a government ploy to advance airline security more quickly on a federal level. Some believe that while neither of the Fenn brothers were involved, that Forrest was the author or at a minimum paid homage to another book with a treasure hunt in it, “HA HA HA by D.B. Cooper”. And, of course, some think this is completely daft and are even offended that anyone would even consider that Forrest would be associated in any way with air piracy. You once did a “Featured Question with Forrest: Aston Kutcher?” back in 2016. We all know that Forrest was a prankster and enjoyed the fun of having things “attributed” to him. Do you know if Forrest sculpted this question himself? If so, was he being serious, silly, or both in your opinion?
I feel Forrest loved to spark interest, and at the first sign of fire, he would then fuel those fires, so to speak. I pictured him as someone who listened carefully, observed keenly, and then pounced on any given opportunity to cleverly gain advantages and benefits.
There were times he’d message Dal and I and ask for ideas on how to guide the community into a more positive, uplifting atmosphere– especially during the times of the YouTubers drama, lulls in search talk, or negative media. He’d either create his own Q/A for me to post on MW or have Dal or I host a contest. I’m sure he had Dal post scrapbooks at times for the same reasons (my opinion but based on my experiences).
As a matter of fact, the Q/A you mention, he sent me to post. He even asked me not to tell anyone that he signed as DBC. It was at the time there were lots of conversations going around, along with a book being published, that maybe he was DB Cooper. He played? right along, fueled the talk, by creating and signing his name to the Q/A – he did things like this, as well as lots of other things over the years, for interest?
As a DB Cooper investigator yourself, John, what do you think the chances are Forrest Fenn was DB Cooper? Or knew more about the skyjacking than just a casual spectator? He seemed to especially enjoy the idea of others thinking he was DBC. We’ve since come to learn he had associations with the CIA, so it doesn’t seem so ludicrous, as maybe once thought. Oh! The mystery- and unanswered questions. You gotta love it.
Six Questions were always especially fun too. They were unique – for the Six in Six Questions doesn’t only refer to the number, but my nickname Sixer. They were ‘Six’(my) questions. Some tried to duplicate or work their way into helping to ask Six Q’s with Forrest Fenn, but of course then they wouldn’t be authentic. Forrest and I worked on those together each year. He was always excited to answer them, except in 2019. If you recall they were the last official ‘Six Questions’. He seemed tired of the Chase with the drama and all the other troubles surrounding it at that particular time. I don’t think the Chase was turning out how he meant it to be.
- Q6) When you think of Forrest and his treasure hunt three years later, what do you think the overall legacy of The Thrill Of The Chase will be?
I believe The Thrill of the Chase will go down in history as one of the best treasure hunts of all time. However, unfortunately, it will also go down as one of the most problematical – for many different reasons to each.
Ultimately, when the Chase was over it left a void for many. When Forrest passed soon after the chest was found, without conclusion of the Chase, that void became wider. It will never be fully filled. This needs to be accepted.
I am of the opinion that when Forrest first hid his Treasure Chest, he never expected, or ever wanted the Chest to be found in his lifetime. I could be wrong, but I can’t believe Forrest would work on something for 15 years, for it to end in less time. But……. as time went on and the Chase turned into a raging Beast, instead of the gentle giant it was when first released, I think he may have been relieved, even relished the thought of it being over. The ending, unfortunately, was less than perfect and didn’t give a happy ever after to all. But that is for fairy tales. No one can anticipate all that real life holds.
I think the legendary tales of lost treasure was more what Forrest had in mind when initially hiding his Treasure Chest. I feel, from the conservations we had, he fancied the idea that for generations to come, there would be whispers of a lost chest of gold, hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, waiting to be found. And that this would inspire many to head out in search of lost treasure and adventures.
I wish it would have been like that. I think that is what he truly imagined and desired. He certainly didn’t imagine all that happened or the current ending.
But alas ‘the best laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry.’
Again, much appreciation for these questions, John. I think we are so fortunate to have been part of one of the best ‘Chases’ of all time, and to have known Forrest. I for one am taking what I learned, recognizing and appreciating the treasures I found during it, and applying them to chasing after other treasures of life. They are out there for all to realize and pursue. I wish everyone to truly ‘Treasure the Adventure’.
You may also be interested in the post: ‘Where was The Forrest Fenn Treasure Found’
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