In 2010, art dealer and former fighter pilot Forrest Fenn published a poem in his memoir hinting at the location of a hidden treasure chest filled with gold and rare artifacts. Over the next decade, thousands of people combed the Rocky Mountains for the estimated $2 million prize. Some abandoned homes and relationships to join the hunt, and five searchers even lost their lives.
The mystery came to an end in June 2020, when Jack Stuef, a medical student from Michigan, quietly found the chest and informed Fenn. Two years later, the contents were sold at auction. Fenn passed away not long after the discovery. To this day, the exact location of the find has never been publicly confirmed.
Yet over time, details have surfaced through lawsuits, freedom of information requests, and message boards. Some believe the evidence points to a single location: Nine Mile Hole, a quiet stretch of river in Yellowstone National Park, and one of Fenn’s favorite fishing spots.
A rebooted treasure hunt
The Fenn treasure hunt drew global media attention during its peak, and the story has found new life with the release of the Netflix docuseries Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure.
One of the central figures in the series is Justin Posey, an American software engineer who spent years pursuing the chest without success. The documentary, in part, follows Posey’s journey. It includes the time he spent hunting with his brother, who later killed himself before the treasure was found.
Justin Posey. Photo: Netflix
Gold & Greed gave viewers a taste of Posey’s long obsession with Fenn’s famous treasure. His search ranged from the warm waters of Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, to the mountains of Glacier National Park, Montana. After Fenn’s hunt came to an end, Posey decided to launch a treasure hunt of his own. He had one simple goal: to share “the thrill of heading into the wilderness to look for a treasure,” he wrote.
Buried since 2023
This “treasure chest” is already hidden and is filled with gold, precious gems, rare coins, and “a bitcoin wallet that’s increasing with value every month.” And as Posey puts it, “You just might be the person who finds it.”
Posey had mulled the idea for years, but serious planning began in 2022. By 2023, he undertook two separate journeys across the American West, covering more than 15,000km to hide the treasure. During both trips, he severed all digital connections to avoid leaving any traceable data.
The treasure is located somewhere on this map. Photo: Justin Posey
According to Posey’s website, the first trip served as a reconnaissance. On the second, he hid the treasure somewhere along the route, and he intentionally extended the journey to help obscure the true location. Every aspect, from selecting the site to designing the verification process, seems to have been meticulously planned by the American.
At the end of the Netflix series, which first aired in March, Posey tells viewers about his new hunt. He later released a book and set up a website to provide more information.
What’s up for grabs?
Posey suggests he is legally unable to disclose the total worth of the treasure, but that doesn’t make it any less real.
“This is not a parable or a metaphor,” he writes. “It’s a real, physical treasure sitting somewhere out in the American West right now. Whoever finds it will hold gold, gemstones, and rare artifacts.”
The Netflix series filmed the treasure inside a leather briefcase, but that was only for display. “When you find the actual treasure, its container will be immediately recognizable,” says Posey. “I’ve intentionally kept the true container’s identity secret.”
And to clear up any confusion: “No, it is not hidden in the Fenn chest, and you don’t need any knowledge of the Fenn treasure hunt to recognize the container,” he added.
Weighing roughly 27kg, the chest supposedly holds multiple Suisse gold bars (each worth close to $100,000), gold flakes and dust, and a host of coins, including Gold Britannias, Austrian Gold Ducats, Canadian Gold Maple Leafs, and American Gold Eagles.
Photo: Netflix
Priceless artifacts
Posey also states that the chest also contains large emeralds, rubies, and amethysts, along with historical artifacts from the 3rd-century Kushan Dynasty, the Crusades, the Byzantine Empire, and the Persian Shi’ite Buyid Dynasty.
“I included one of the oldest coins ever made by man during the Lydian empire around 561 BC,” he promised.
There’s also a meteorite and Forrest Fenn’s dragon bracelet, studded with emeralds, diamonds, and rubies.
He included a cryptocurrency wallet as a bonus. “The crypto wallet is a secondary feature, not the main prize. It will grow as book sales increase.”
Its public address allows anyone to track its balance. The private key to access the cryptocurrency is partly with the treasure. Whoever finds it will receive clear instructions and any support needed to access the cryptocurrency portion. But Posey has words of caution: “Important: When found, protect the private key portion in the treasure. Don’t photograph it or share it with anyone — it’s as valuable as cash.”
How do I find it?
Posey encourages hunters of his prize to start with his map (above) of the American West, which doesn’t exactly narrow things down! For a little more help, the American has included a poem on his website, which he states “unlocks my treasure hunt.”
Posey has dubbed the hunt ‘Beyond the Map’s Edge.’ Image: Justin Posey
Like Fenn, he too has written a memoir, but it focuses on his own treasure hunting. The book, Beyond The Map’s Edge, apparently offers readers additional insights and different perspectives that searchers may find valuable, but it’s not required to participate in the hunt. A convenient money maker perhaps.
The final clues are also buried within Posey’s appearance on the Netflix series, though the staff and producers working on Gold & Greed weren’t told of the location of Posey’s chest or what the clues were.
“Not a soul knows the location except me. The steward has no knowledge of where the treasure is hidden. No one knows but me. No one,” he writes forcefully.
What if you strike lucky?
The American treasure hunter has created a verification system. Whoever finds the chest has 30 days to contact an unnamed steward, who can match the chest’s contents to a digital fingerprint.
The successful finder should make haste, though. “Miss that window and you’ll lose out on the Bitcoin, the legal rights to the treasure, and probably a decent night’s sleep fretting about it. So don’t delay, dear finder!” Posey explains.
The Brooks Range, Alaska. One of the many locations displayed on Posey’s map. Hunters will need to be experienced in the outdoors if they are to stay safe. Photo: Shutterstock
As with Fenn’s treasure, the finder(s) can remain anonymous. Posey states that the steward will make an official announcement through his website and verified social media channels once a successful find has been properly verified.
One of the criticisms of Fenn’s original hunt was that the finder remained anonymous and no details on the location were released. It caused Fenn and his family to face online threats, stalkers, home invasions, and lawsuits. As a consequence, Stuef revealed his identity.
To date, no one has found Posey’s treasure, but his website states that on August 4 several searches had solved at least the first two clues in the poem, and some hunters have been within 60m of a checkpoint, which will indicate that hunters are on the right track.
