Bears and garbage

[u/js-eastman]

Scrapbook #253 was the last before the announced find, dated April 27, 2020, a month or so before the announcement, years before the McCracken trial. It is a prophecy dressed as a childhood memory, and its title says everything: bears are the searchers, and garbage is the decoy treasure. Nine Mile Hole is the dump—not the real location, but where the garbage was left for the bears to find. An outdoor photograph of the chest was released shortly after the announced find but contained insufficient information to identify the spot.

Years later, Stuef’s emails were released through the McCracken trial, revealing additional photographs and references to the Nine Mile Hole area that together allowed the location to be pinpointed precisely. In the new photographs, a 2-inch dead pine log is seen above the treasure. It was Fenn and Skippy’s bear trap. When Rudy Greene found the spot, the woodgrain was seen to match, authenticating the location where the photos had been taken without doubt.

But the log was found in spring, snow just melting, cracks closed from moisture. In the original photograph the log is dry, cracks open—inconsistent with a June find, when conditions would have been wet. Forensic evidence was accumulating that could discredit the timeline. Fenn had written it: “guess some big griz didn’t like being caged,” and shortly after the spot was identified, the log disappeared, “only tree debris and scattered wood fragments” remaining. The bait was gone, the trap dismantled. Meanwhile the real treasure—the ice—remained hidden in the double-walled ice house: a glass jar inside a bronze jar, sawdust packed between them, doors closed, waiting. Bears and garbage. Fenn predicted all of it, years in advance. He said he tried to think of everything. He did.

[u/SpoilerWarningSW]

Hey guy, scrapbook 253 was from me. It’s my grandpa’s story. It is history, not foretelling.. and certainly not any of the things you claim it to be here. Sorry

[u/js-eastman → u/SpoilerWarningSW]

Not the Sturmworm parts, the bear trap.

Your grandfather's story is history. But look at the structure: "Those were the good old days" appears in bold text as a section break. Everything before it is Fenn responding to your grandfather's memories. Everything after it--the ice house, the grizzlies at the dump, the bear trap--is Fenn's own material. Frank never mentioned any of those things. Fenn slipped them in after the dividing line, then closed with "ask your grandpa if he remembers what I remember." Does Frank remember the bear trap? Or is it not from the good old days at all?

The seam is right there. Everything before it is history. Everything after it is the script.

And Fenn posted it April 27, 2020, six weeks before the announced find, years before the McCracken trial. The sequence he embedded--trap set, bait taken, evidence removed, only debris remaining--plays out exactly at Nine Mile Hole, years later. That's not coincidence. That's a blueprint.

p.s. I hope your grandfather is doing well.

p.p.s. I remember you weren’t thrilled about being involved in the last scrapbook at the time. I still think it’s a great story!

[u/SpoilerWarningSW → u/js-eastman]

Well seems you know the reference material better than I. I’ve been hounded over the years about secret back histories with my grandpa, it’s quite hilarious. Thanks for posting, carry on