The Holy Grail was hidden somewhere in the American Rockies: after a decade of frantic research, the treasure of Forrest Fenn was found. In 2010, this rich New Mexico art dealer and former aviator had indeed hidden a chest and written a convoluted poem which, together with a map, would help locate it.
The treasure "Was under the starry canopy, in the lush forest vegetation of the Rocky Mountains, and had not moved from where I had hidden it more than ten years ago", wrote Fenn in a statement released this weekend.
Two hundred and sixty-five gold coins
This quest for the Grail has left tens of thousands of Americans addicted to research, dropping family and jobs to spend hours on Google Earth and in the field, in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Each time, they thought, it was safe, "it was the right one." At least four people died while searching for the chest, and around 350,000 enthusiasts participated in this quest for gold and precious coins.
A Wikipedia page, a YouTube channel, five to six calls a day to its creator and a hundred emails … Hunting has taken a lot of energy for many years. A man was even convicted in 2018 for spying on Forrest Fenn's daughter, convinced that she would lead him to the treasure.
"Some hunters were 60 meters from the chest", said Forrest Fenn a few years ago. " You imagine ? " caught dreaming of one of the treasure junkies, interviewed in July 2019 by the magazine Society. "Sixty meters … Of course, nobody knows who these hunters are, but everyone thinks it is him. "
Today, "I don't know who found it, but the poem in my book guided it", said Forrest Fenn, now 89, a few days ago. The trunk was supposed to contain a fortune exceeding two million dollars: "Two hundred and sixty-five gold coins and as many rubies, two Ceylon sapphires, emeralds, two ancient Chinese jade sculptures, jewelry and hundreds of gold nuggets, some of them the size of an egg ", had noted Society.
The man who discovered it and contacted Forrest Fenn does not wish his name to be revealed, but has sent photos to confirm his success, Forrest Fenn told a local newspaper.
