‘Chasing the Thrill: Obsession, Death, and Glory in America’s Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt’ will be livestreamed via Zoom, 7-8 p.m. Thursday, May 26. Courtesy/LAC

COUNTY News:

The staff of Los Alamos County Library System will present a fascinating program about the hunt for the Fenn treasure.

‘Chasing the Thrill: Obsession, Death, and Glory in America’s Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt’ will be presented by author Daniel Barbarisi and will be livestreamed via Zoom 7-8 p.m. Thursday, May 26.

This is a rare opportunity to gain unique insight into the many thrilling, often controversial, and sometimes tragic circumstances that came to be embroiled with the decade-long hunt for Forrest Fenn’s treasure.  

In 2010, at 80 years of age, famed art dealer and Santa Fe local Forrest Fenn hid a treasure estimated to be worth over one-million dollars somewhere in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe. He left nine cryptic clues to its whereabouts in a poem first published in his memoir, The Thrill of the Chase. What followed is a legendary treasure hunt that ignited the hearts and minds of people all over the world, drawing treasure hunters by the thousands to seek their fortune.

For many swept up in the frenzy, the treasure’s eventual discovery in 2020—as well as the secrecy around the treasure’s location, the finder’s identity, and why these details went undisclosed—fed conspiracy theories and left much of the close-knit search community without answers. Hopes of a public discourse that would reveal the mysterious location alluded to by Fenn’s famous poem or the identity of the person who solved its riddles, were further deflated by the sudden death (only two months later) of Fenn himself.  

Barbarisi is a veteran reporter and author who has worked for the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Providence Journal, and The Athletic where he is currently a senior editor. He is a former acquaintance of Fenn and one of the few known individuals to have been invited to view the treasure first-hand, post discovery. A native of Rye Brook, NY, Barbarisi earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Tufts University and a Master of Public  Affairs degree from Brown University. He currently resides in Boston.  

This program is free to the public and will be livestreamed via Zoom. Registration is required to attend. Visit the event calendar at LosAlamosLibrary.org for more information.

For questions or help with registration, call 505.662.8257. This program is made possible by Friends of Los Alamos County Libraries.