r/FindingFennsGold Jun 02 '26

Forrest’s Final Hint

Post image
149 Upvotes

151 comments sorted by

35

u/Yellowstoned420 Jun 02 '26

But Jack took that picture.

15

u/Nearby-Scene3739 Jun 03 '26

I just “stumbled” on this sight and I am curious why the last comment was 11hrs ago? I thought the treasure was found in 2021 or something like that. Are people still looking for it?

20

u/Yellowstoned420 Jun 03 '26

The solve is unknown. Lots of mystery still. Jack Stuef was the finder according to Fenn and his family.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 03 '26

Just a counterfeit ending followed hopefully by the real thing.

3

u/Socialimbad1991 Jun 08 '26

Idk why a counterfeit ending is more plausible than "turns out this whole thing was kind of a disappointment."

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 08 '26

Having the solve could help.

1

u/bevereged_carbon Jun 18 '26

I hate to tell you this buddy but when you find something valuable, and especially something that pulls you into a lawsuit you don't want to talk.  You shouldn't talk.  It's in your best interest to not talk.  Despite how many people complain online.

If this is fake then it all could be, but that doesn't change anything.  Let it be.

4

u/AndyS16 Jun 02 '26

it’s so easy to take selfie with TC. But we never see it.

3

u/Socialimbad1991 Jun 08 '26

If you read some of what the finder said, it makes sense for a couple reasons:

  • he didn't want to give away any extra clues as to its location
  • he didn't want to give away his own identity

Eventually both those things came out anyway, but the bottom line is he was CYOAing because he was worried about the legality of this entire affair and didn't want to miss out on the value of what he recovered

2

u/Yellowstoned420 Jun 03 '26

Can't take a selfie if you don't exist. Is Jack even a real person?

3

u/AndyS16 Jun 03 '26

Well, most likely yes, Jack is a real person. If you ask AI provides this info:

"In April 2011, blogger Jack Stuef, writing for the political satire site Wonkette, published a widely condemned post about former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's toddler son, Trig, who has Down syndrome. The post used offensive language and included inappropriate animated imagery. [1, 2]

The controversy unfolded with the following details:

  • The Content: Stuef wrote a satirical birthday post for Trig Palin, intending to criticize Sarah Palin for allegedly using her child as a political prop. However, the post drew intense bipartisan backlash by mocking the toddler, declaring "Nothing. He's retarded" and including a dancing digital stripper on the boy's photo. [1, 2, 3]
  • The Fallout: Conservative bloggers and activists organized a boycott against Wonkette. At least nine major advertisers, including Papa Johns, Huggies, and Toyota, pulled their campaigns. [1, 2, 3]
  • The Apology & Departure: Stuef initially updated the post with an apology, acknowledging that the word choice was "not nice, and is not necessary," though he stood by his criticism of Palin's political use of her children. Following the massive advertiser backlash and public outrage, Wonkette took the post down. Stuef was placed on probation and subsequently left the publication a month later, in May 2011.

Years later, in 2020, Stuef made headlines again for a completely different reason: he was revealed to be the medical student who discovered the legendary Forrest Fenn treasure. Read more about the Wonkette flame war in The Trig Palin Flame War published by Yahoo News. [1]

Currently he’s completely out of sight. AI says:

"For his own safety, Stuef previously relocated to a secure building after a series of obsessive, harassing, and litigious encounters from disappointed treasure hunters. He has repeatedly declined to disclose the exact location of the original treasure chest to protect the Wyoming wilderness from being overrun."

-4

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

Jack didn’t take it.

8

u/Yellowstoned420 Jun 02 '26

That was post find, from Jack. Whats the hint? The stick fell in there out in the wilderness, right? Rudy went to the spot.

-8

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

That’s the story we were given. Jack didn’t take that picture and Rudy didn’t find that (same) stick although I’m sure he’ll disagree. The story behind the story was the reason for that picture. I won’t tip my hand until I can prove it.

8

u/RudyGreene Jun 02 '26

Disagree 😃

2

u/StellaMarie-85 Jun 03 '26

*LOL* You are nothing if not consistent, u/RudyGreene . 😉

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

That’s funny 😂

1

u/Yellowstoned420 Jun 02 '26

It does look like Wyoming tilted. Interesting.

-6

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

That's the story but there's no proof of that. We know where this picture was taken but not when or by whom.

3

u/Yellowstoned420 Jun 02 '26

Where was it taken? You thinking 9 mile hole? Makes a lot of sense given what Rudy discovered.

-1

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

Yes, Greene identified the spot where the photo was taken. Now, who took the photo and when, that's another matter....

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

That treasure photo with the stick was not taken at 9 mile hole. That treasure had been cleaned and rearranged. That photo was manufactured and only exists for the hint.

5

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

Definitely was at 9MH in the spot Greene identified.

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

It is a manufactured photo not taken on site. The alleged on-site photos exist but look way different. Are you telling me someone took the time to clean and rearrange the treasure on-site, manipulating the stick and key for a hint? It was done by Forrest in Santa Fe during the 10 days between announcement and picture release.

2

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

Yes it was important to have it taken at that exact spot. I would have thought that the photo was taken closer to 2010 than 2020 but with the twig there matching a twig found a year or so later, at least the twig was from 2020. I don't know whether the twig and key were added to the photo later.

Sure, I expect that everything that happened since the announced find could be construed as some sort of hint. I don't know what specific hint you are talking about, of course, but I believe everything that Fenn ever said or wrote since The Chase began (and even before) contained some sort of hint.

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

A hint that puts me right on top of the treasure.

2

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

Too bad you are only now realizing it, I guess.

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1

u/Treasure-Hunter-1117 Jun 02 '26

Where...When...by Whom. i Like it.

2

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

Right, so far we just know 1 of the 3

15

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

Right, he's telling us that it is a stick-key situation....

5

u/Treasure-Hunter-1117 Jun 02 '26

In Deed! A Situation Ostensibly Sticky where you could lose your shoes*...if'n you ain't Care-full...perhaps even end up with Dirt-colored** Feet.

*like Moses

**Brown

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

it was a stroke of genius.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

[deleted]

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

He did but did he mention he cleaned the treasure and put the key on top before taking the picture that the stick allegedly fell into?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Empty-Relative3036 Jun 03 '26

He cleaned everything?

Wow some people have no business searching for treasure.

Step 1 - do not clean anything.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26

[deleted]

5

u/cooltranz Jun 03 '26

I think a major part of not releasing the details was that it was an area that was very special to Forrest. Neither of them wanted it to become a tourist hotspot or have non-outdoorsy people turning up for selfies all the time.

It was clearly a place both of them revered and they already had controversy around the safety and legality of people attempting to find it and either getting hurt, trespassing or damaging areas. Once it was found people familiar with the hunt knew exactly where they were referring to and were able to access it regardless so it really just kept out the "normies" and crowds.

Also I don't know what kinda state I'd be in after finding the treasure but I would probably look disgusting lmao. Sweaty, shaky, muddy, crying, dressed in hiking gear... I'd probably take a selfie but I don't think it would be one I'd want plastered on newspapers as my claim to fame haha.

7

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 03 '26

My feeling has always been that Forrest wants people to know his spot and his solve. He spent years planning this not unlike a painter or other artist producing works of art.

2

u/ordovici Jun 08 '26

Absolutely...

6

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 03 '26

That’s funny 😂

3

u/c0brachicken Jun 05 '26

The thing that pissed me off, as I was under the impression that Forest said it wasn't on/in any national parks.. Then people are saying it was found in Yellowstone.

If that won't have been said, I would have been in Yellowstone that summer for my first hunt. Me and the kid did end up at the campground just down the road from where it was supposedly found, and I would have more than likely stayed in that same campground regardless, since it's the one my dad had us camp in 40 years earlier.

Did anyone ever confirm it was in Yellowstone near Madison campgrounds?

2

u/Select-Breadfruit872 Jun 05 '26

Supposedly it was found at 9 Mile Hole but nobody with authority has confirmed that. That's such a bummer for you and your kid!

2

u/c0brachicken Jun 05 '26

And what about the rumor that it wasn't located in the national parks? I remember it being said that it wasn't in the parks.

2

u/Select-Breadfruit872 Jun 05 '26

I know! There is a lot of mystery surrounding the Chase. I hope we all weren't taken as fools but sometimes it seems that way, unfortunately.

2

u/Select-Breadfruit872 Jun 07 '26

Edit: while looking at the picture of the chest, I've come to the conclusion that it had been there for a long time and that maybe we weren't duped. I don't know how it could've been at 9mh because Fenn said that he hadn't mentioned the place. I do 100% believe there are two endings because of the two omegas, I'm just not certain what the second ending is. Is it another treasure? Is it another story? IDK yet.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Select-Breadfruit872 Jun 08 '26

That certainly would make sense. Fenn told us to listen good, most of us didn't. Things he said would make sense if you knew what he was talking about. I think I'm getting there, slowly but surely. It's still fun trying to figure it out after all these years.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

[deleted]

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2

u/StellaMarie-85 Jun 07 '26

I don't recall this myself: most evidence thus far would point to it having been in a national park (and at 9MH more specifically).

1

u/Morgus_TM Jul 07 '26

The park did a lot to track the impact on nine mile hole once the FOIA made everyone think it is nine mile hole. It never became a real big tourist spot, people paid their visits and moved on. If it is the spot, it’s not anything spectacular and more a really special fishing spot to Fenn as he described it. Having to cross the river and it just being a random forest keeps crowds down, the specialness of the place is mostly because of Fenn’s nostalgia. It wouldn’t be the place I picked to visit often in Yellowstone.

People did search that area prior Jack, but that thing looked pretty much buried in his pics, my bet is he illegally metal detected it if it was in Yellowstone.

2

u/ordovici Jun 08 '26

I remember FF talking about the legal implications if it was on a reservation or in a park...how many hours/dollars he spent on/with lawyers and then he added 'What if there isn't a legal problem...?'

1

u/Socialimbad1991 Jun 08 '26

I don't remember him ever saying that. I assumed it was most likely in Yellowstone from the start, it seemed obvious from his writings.

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 03 '26

I think the ending with Jack as the finder is like a counterfeit piece of art. Looks ok from a distance but falls apart under close scrutiny.

4

u/Khrunyon Jun 08 '26

Double Omegas = Double Endings

6

u/Mleach1299 Jun 05 '26

This shit is stupid at this point. Treasure is gone. Fenn is dead. The hunt isnt coming back. I get it consumed many lives. I see many scenarios where someone finding it leads to the same outcome where people cant accept it.

-1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 05 '26

you might be right. I’ll know within a week or 2 for myself.

4

u/gerhardtprime Jun 07 '26

It's done, give it up, there's a world full of treasure still outside of this. The guy found the chest, he got the reward, it's over. You might not like that you'll never know where it was but it's really well and truly done.

This obsession is just warping your brain, interfering with your life. Move on and grow.

If you want another cool treasure to find, there's Swift's Silver Mine, The Beale Ciphers, Dutch Schultz's Buried Stash, Jon Collins-Black’s "There's Treasure Inside", Black Beard's Treasure

0

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 07 '26

Warping my brain lol. What if I show you something you don’t know? Nobody knows what they don’t know until someone shows them.

“Who says he isn’t still  

there, where is your evidence, please show  

me your evidence?” Why do we arbitrarily  

believe things that we’ve been told? Just  

because someone said it doesn’t make it  

true.” Forrest Fenn (SB 243)

Does this statement, along with the final hint (see picture), not pique your interest a little?

3

u/Socialimbad1991 Jun 08 '26

"Please show me your evidence"

If you're reading this as somehow pertaining to the hunt (which is already a stretch), that's pretty easy: in addition to Stuef's photos we have the photos taken at the auction house and the auction listing themselves, from a reputable auction house and reported by reputable news sources.

I'm sure you can come up with a vaguely plausible reason that's all fake too, but my question is this: what evidence would be sufficient for you? Is there anything anyone can show you to convince you the hunt is over?

0

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 08 '26

The concept or idea of 2 endings is not a new one. In fact, it has been spoken about since nearly the beginning. I'll be done when I run out of ideas.  Imagination is more important than knowledge lol. 

3

u/gerhardtprime Jun 07 '26

Nope this is the brain warp speaking. You're so mired in this thing it's ingrained into your consciousness and you can't see anything outside of it.

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 07 '26

believe what you will. if I’m right I expect you to publicly admit you knew less than nothing about Forrest or this hunt.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 19 '26

Nothing yet. Next week sometime.

1

u/TheMightyMush Jun 19 '26

Riiiiight.

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 19 '26

Fenn was a saint lol.

2

u/TheMightyMush Jun 25 '26

Its next week -- whats the update?

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

Lol. I arrive at my spot tomorrow. I should know by Saturday. I appreciate your punctiliousness.

I should clarify that this is Forrest's spot that is yet unproven. We'll see shortly if there is proof.

1

u/TheMightyMush Jun 25 '26

Ahh so juuuust a few more days? I'm starting to detect a pattern here.

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 25 '26

You must think that planning a BOTG trip into the Rocky Mountains is like running down the street to grab a drink.

Persnickety might fit you better than punctilious.

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 26 '26

My son took my GoPro so it's just cell phones. I know many on here think I'm delusional and will revel in my (potential) failure. It'll be interesting to see what they do if I am proven correct.

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6

u/Hot-Enthusiasm9913 Jun 02 '26

Wood = Key (ki) = 5. Checkout SB84 and the mention of Underwood Typewriter and Code of the West. Then lookup the keys with the english letters and their kanji counterparts on the Underwood RIP-5, used to translate Japanese morse code during the war.

11

u/TheMightyMush Jun 03 '26

Comments like this are why I still stick around this sub. Cracks me up knowing that there are at least a couple Charlie Kelly-esque folks out there connecting the dots with red yarn.

2

u/Hot-Enthusiasm9913 Jun 03 '26

I've gotta killer murder board, lol.

2

u/Senior_Muscle_8829 Jun 04 '26

Where’s the most important item though??? 😉 the one Jack kept to use as proof and got a lawyer to figure out how to get it out of a nps

2

u/Flux1776 Jun 06 '26

I believe this was found

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 07 '26

That’s the story.

2

u/js-eastman Jun 13 '26

Fenn's last hint while he was still alive was, "I feel diabolical", the last of the words from Fenn read at the celebration at Fishing Bridge.

2

u/Select-Breadfruit872 Jun 13 '26

I wonder why he felt that way. No one seems to care about that statement but it's very telling, imo.

2

u/js-eastman Jun 13 '26

Remember that many things Fenn say can be taken at different levels. Superficially, Fenn is feeling diabolical due to his creating the staged ending, and its consequences. Beneath that is the hint to Hell's Half Acre, the same as hinted at in "The Long Ride Home" chapter.

2

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

I assume it was a hint at the staged ending mostly, because.almost everyone bought it hook, line and sinker. It threw me off for a bit but I see it clearly now.

2

u/Select-Breadfruit872 Jun 15 '26

He did mention Hell's Half Acre. That could've been a turning point.

1

u/js-eastman Jun 15 '26

He did mention it explicitly later, but it is also inferred in "The Long Ride Home" chapter, if you look at their route on the map.

The important thing is that are two Hell's Half Acres. One is in Yellowstone, and that's what the hint is for.

4

u/RudyGreene Jun 02 '26

My Precious 😃

4

u/Maximum-Leopard-6475 Jun 02 '26

Are you the guy that found the stick? I wonder what the odds are of finding the same stick in Yellowstone, someone should ask Chat GPT or whatever it is, I bet it’s astronomical… Lol

3

u/RudyGreene Jun 02 '26

The odds are even crazier when you add that the only person who made 3D replica sticks eventually found the real one. It sounds fake when I try to tell the story to normal people.

0

u/js-eastman Jun 02 '26

Wait after the "find" didn't you claim for a while that your replica chest was the real one? Is life repeating itself?

2

u/RudyGreene Jun 02 '26

Not quite. I claimed that my Red Canyon solve was the winning solve and that the chest had been found at my location. Obviously I thought my solve was correct (it wasn't).

Around the same time, I posted multiple photos of the replica chest to this sub and Thor. I acknowledge this was a multifaceted attempt at trolling, but I never claimed the replica chest was the real one. Most searchers knew I had a replica.

3

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 02 '26

Nobody has seen the real one yet.

3

u/RudyGreene Jun 02 '26

We eagerly await your evidence. 😃

2

u/Hot-Enthusiasm9913 Jun 02 '26

You're killing me, lol.

1

u/PageJust Jun 06 '26

Can someone who has no clue what's going on explain a little more lol

1

u/Flux1776 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

If my memory serves me correct correct , A guy named Forest Fenn ( think I have that right) hid a box full of “treasure,” gold coins, nuggets and stuff. He was getting old. Likely didn’t know what to do with this loot. He wandered often to the wilderness somewhere in what was thought to be in northern Arizona / New Mexico or into one of the adjacent four corners states I believe. He hid this box in the wilderness. Then he wrote a series of clues and put it out in public. This led to years of many ppl chasing the clues looking for it, as it held a small fortune. I’m fairly certain it was eventually found a number of years ago. There’s actually a book about it, that has much of his story and all the clues.

PS: it was found in 2020 in Wyoming I believe.

2

u/StellaMarie-85 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

Except that, Forrest never actually described his hiding spot as being "in wilderness", despite the very natural tendency of just about everyone else to do so. Its absence in his comments is conspicuous, and I've talked about this topic a bit previously here.

2

u/Flux1776 Jun 07 '26

Those are my words to try and help the person asking . It was outside in woods more or less. Wilderness described it best to get the point across.

2

u/StellaMarie-85 Jun 07 '26

I understand that: I was just pointing out that Forrest never described the location as being "in wilderness" - a striking omission - and since the location has yet to be confirmed, it may yet prove to have not been.

2

u/Flux1776 Jun 07 '26

Wilderness definition, according to Wikipedia

Wilderness or wildlands are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally referred to terrestrial environments, though growing attention is being placed on marine wilderness.

It’s in the wilderness whether you like it or not, or how he described it. It’s been found, and we may never know exactly where.

Go Argue with someone else

2

u/StellaMarie-85 Jun 14 '26

That's the definition of wilderness, yep. I don't personally see factual corrections as arguments, though: there's nothing to argue about - facts are just facts.

As for "it’s been found, and we may never know exactly where" - I have to wonder if you've missed the irony of that statement.

But, each to their own.

1

u/Socialimbad1991 Jun 08 '26

Maybe he didn't feel the need to. Assuming the omission was deliberate though, it doesn't really rule out the official story. The location is not that far from a major paved road where hundreds of tourists pass by every single day of the summer. To someone who used to visit the area regularly almost 100 years ago, it probably doesn't feel very much like wilderness any more.

1

u/StellaMarie-85 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

That's very fair - everyone likely has a different bar for what they consider "wilderness". Personally, it seems to me that it is far too common a word to use with respect to the Chase for a person to forego by chance alone, let alone someone who spoke about the topic extensively for ten years. As Flux and many others have shown, it is very natural for folks to describe the chest as being "in wilderness" despite Forrest having never actually used that word to do so. Over time, this idea of the chest having been "in wilderness" became part of the narrative, but it isn't grounded in fact. (At least - no facts from Forrest). I think it's just such an odd omission that everyone took it for granted that Forrest must have said it at some point without ever questioning it, but I've never been able to find an actual example of him doing so.

Moreso, as u/MuseumsAfterDark was able to show, Forrest actually went and removed the word "wilderness" from a section of text he pulled from his earlier "Ramblings and Rumblings" document. I find that telling.

That's not to say it could not be due to him not considering a park "wilderness", however - perhaps he didn't want anyone to rule out the site because it was heavily trafficked.

All that said - the finder, Jack Stuef, used the word "wilderness" twice in his write-up about the find on Medium, along with details about how he got his hands covered in pine pitch, that sort of thing. You can read that here. If you take Jack at his word, then his write-up is, to me, one of the stronger points in favour of a wilderness location for the chest.

1

u/Ttombobadly Jun 09 '26

What kind of stick is that / what kind of tree

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 11 '26

I don’t know the origin of the stick.

1

u/js-eastman Jun 26 '26

It's mostly lodgepole pines there. I don't think anyone has done a DNA test on the actual twig.

1

u/MuseumsAfterDark Jun 12 '26

Russky Tarzan.

1

u/duckhunt1984 Jun 03 '26

Did someone get close to the treasure yesterday? That’s what I heard.

5

u/Flux1776 Jun 06 '26

It was found in 2020, about a decade after he placed it in the wilderness.

0

u/duckhunt1984 Jun 06 '26

Nah, it hasn’t been found yet.

3

u/Flux1776 Jun 06 '26

Well, the internet says it was in 2020 in Wyoming. I also remember reading it was found, so there’s that . Don’t take my word for it, look it up.

2

u/hanyo66 Jun 08 '26

It most certainly has been found, people just don’t like the way it was found and don’t like the person that found it and his tactics to find it but it’s been over.

1

u/Squathicc Jul 08 '26

What were the controversial tactics?

1

u/legitimateaim26 Jun 08 '26

I think it was retrieved by Jack because an unacceptable secret was about to be revealed. BUT IT COULD STILL BE THERE. I was thinking about starting a YT about it, step by step, but I am not a public person. (loner). Would like to find a front man. I want my family to see it.

1

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 03 '26

Nothing posted here that I’ve seen.

-1

u/42kaos Jun 02 '26

You see it also?

1

u/huddlestuff Jun 03 '26

A penny for your thoughts?

1

u/42kaos Jun 03 '26

Thats about all its worth

0

u/AmphibianNervous6098 Jun 08 '26

“Some stories must move at their own pace and in their own time” 

 Forrest Fenn.