14 DAY TRIAL // A woman from Texas has been found alive after braving sub-zero temperatures in search for a hidden treasure in Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico.
According to ABC News, 33-year-old Chanon Thompson was eager to get to the $2 M (€1.5 M) bounty she heard was hidden in the mountains.
The Carrollton resident departed on her trip on Thursday, and was declared missing by her boyfriend on Friday. She wasn't located until 11 a.m. Saturday, and describes getting lost in the forest after walking for seven miles (11 km).
The gold rush was prompted by writer 82-year-old Forrest Fenn. A cancer sufferer, the former antiquities dealer claims he hid the treasure in the mountains of New Mexico some three years ago.
So far, he is the only one getting rich as a result of the exciting treasure announcement, which he made in his 2010 book “The Thrill of the Chase.”
He has Thompson as well as other hopefuls convinced that “emeralds, diamonds and rubies and sapphires,” lie hidden in the mountains.
The treasure map is in fact a riddle that one has to decipher from an encrypted poem. Fenn promises whoever finds it that they will be shocked by the contents of the 42-pound (19-kg) box.
“Begin it where warm waters halt And take it in the canyon down, Not far, but too far to walk. Put in below the home of Brown.
“From there it's no place for the meek, The end is ever drawing nigh; There'll be no paddle up your creek, Just heavy loads and water high.
“If you've been wise and found the blaze, Look quickly down, your quest to cease, But tarry scant with marvel gaze, Just take the chest and go in peace,” the poem reads, as relayed by Old Santa Fe Trading Co.