Man That Uncovers An Ancient Item Worth Millions Ends Up Regretting It For The Strangest Purpose…

In 2009, Terry Herbert of West Midlands, Britain, had a lot of time on his hands. The only silver-lining of being unemployed, he discovered, was being able to dedicate every day to his one true love: treasure hunting. 

Most of his days were spent grazing through the plush fields of the West Midlands, waiting to hear the rare high-pitched beep of his metal detector. His searches usually ended in silence…until one summer day when everything changed. 

Fourteen years before that fateful July day, Terry was at a yard sale when he came across a used metal detector. It was ￡2.50, and it became his tool of choice over the next decade. It also led him to his fortune…

And so, on that day in 2009, Terry and his metal detector searched through grass and dirt for something interesting. This time, he took his hunt to his friend Fred Johnson’s farm. He didn’t expect much to happen…until he heard the aforementioned beeping.

He immediately started digging, and when he came upon a small, indistinguishable object that looked a lot like gold, all he saw were dollar signs. So did the historians he called to appraise the objects. 

After days of digging, it was deduced that Terry had uncovered the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon treasures in British history. Every piece of misshapen gold and silver was valued at a higher price than anyone expected — least of all Terry and Fred. 

About￡3.28 million ($4 million) later, Terry and Fred were international sensations…they just had to figure out the “money” thing. It was a complicated situation: Sure, Terry found the loot, but it was all buried on Fred’s land. So the two came to an agreement.

They decided to split the money 50/50. But as the years passed, both men had time to think about their little agreement…and the more pages they turned on their calendars, the more dissatisfied both men became. 

In his new bungalow, Terry had a realization: Why did he have to share the money? He was “not that happy with [his] lot really,” he said. He remembered a prophetic warning he had received long before he even found the treasure.

“Five years before…I was warned off of it because I was told Fred would want all of anything that was found,” Terry revealed. This stuck with him in the years following the discovery, and a decade later, he had a message for Fred.

“He’s acting like a child and cutting his nose off to spite his face….I’m not sure…we can patch things up,” Terry admitted. He likened the treasure to a “curse” — despite it making him rich, he thinks it destroyed his friendship with Fred.

A good feud has anger on both sides, and Fred more than supplied his share. “I wish I’d never met the man,” Fred said of Terry and his metal detector. “It has caused me nothing but bother, all of this.”

Like Terry, Fred blames greed for ruining their friendship. “Sometimes I just wish one of the poor veterinary students had found it instead, because it would have set them up for life rather than me,” Fred lamented. 

It’s true: In a twist move, Fred claimed that the money meant very little to him. What he valued was hard work and loyalty — two things Terry, according to Fred, had pushed aside as soon as he heard his metal detector beep.

But when Terry heard this accusation, he was quick to deny it. “Sometimes, I wish I’d never found that hoard,” he admitted, citing the problems caused by the money. You always hear of people regretting their riches, but you never think it’s true…

For the two ex-friends, however, the rift the money caused is all too real, not to mention permanent. The strangest part? Three years after Terry’s lighting-in-a-bottle discovery, archaeologists captured lighting-in-a-bottle once again.

In an ironic turn of events, archaeologists in 2012 found even more artifacts buried underneath Fred’s property, which meant more money going Terry and Fred’s way. The world waited to see if the duo would use this chance to rekindle their friendship…

But all the money in the world wouldn’t bring them back together, and Fred’s plowed fields only stirred up painful memories. “Some people would write to me asking permission [to search], but I’d chuck the letters in the fire,” Fred said.

Even ten years after the discovery, the duo hasn’t buried the hatchet. At an event that marked the 10 year anniversary, Fred showed up without Terry. “Terry was never a friend, so I haven’t lost any friends,” he claimed.

For Fred, the most exciting part of the whole experience wasn’t the money or the feud with Terry — it was the discovery itself. “The money was a plus but seeing the treasure coming out of the ground was a wonderful experience,” he said. 

Terry and Fred’s findings will change the way we think about Saxon Britain forever. Among the treasure found were golden crosses, sword hilt fittings, and numerous jewels. Some consider it a tragedy that such priceless artifacts were buried for so long…

But for others, the real tragedy is Terry and Fred’s ruined friendship. Yes, the history-making treasure sheds light on Britain’s past, but at what cost? Some believe that everyone would be better off had the treasure never been found.

But the allure of riches will always be too strong. At least, that’s how the eccentric Forrest Fenn, an 87-year-old in Santa Fe, New Mexico, saw it. He, along with his wife Peggy, dealt artworks and antiques out of a high-end gallery, and he tore his community apart with promises of gold.

He receives 90 emails per day, none of which inquire about the exotic items in his personal collection (like a mummified falcon from King Tut’s tomb or Sitting Bull’s peace pipe, to name a few). They don’t ask about the paintings he’s sold, either. Instead, they ask about hidden treasure.

See, a few decades ago in 1988, Forrest faced mortality in a serious way. Diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer he wanted to leave his mark on the world in a meaningful way. So he plotted a crazy scheme: Bring treasure into the mountains and die beside it.

Amazingly, Forrest beat cancer so he shelved his treasure idea… at least for a few decades. On his 80th birthday, however, in the thick of an intense American recession, Forrest revisited the idea.

“Lots of people [were] losing their jobs,” Forrest recalled. “Despair was written all over the headlines, and I just wanted to give some people hope.” Treasure could be that hope. Who doesn’t secretly wish to find treasure and strike it rich?

So the 80-year-old man loaded a 10-inch-by-10-inch Romanesque box into the back of his sedan and stuffed an estimated $2 to $5 million worth of jewels, trinkets, and gold coins into a backpack. Then, he started to drive…

He drove into the Rocky Mountains before parking his car and making two short trips on foot: One, where he carried the box to the hiding spot; another to bring the jewels to that box. He hid the 42-pound chest, but “don’t say I buried it,” he added, cryptically.

Curious treasure hunters now send him emails pleading for more information as to where the treasure might be. Sometimes, Forrest gives little hints, but most of the time, he lets the major clue he left behind do the talking…

Forrest published the memoir titled The Thrill of the Chase, a book once found only in a single New Mexico bookstore. On page 132 of the memoir, he included a cryptic 24-line poem that points towards the treasure’s final hiding spot. It goes like this…

“As I have gone alone in there / And with my treasures bold, / I can keep my secret where, / And hint of riches new and old. / 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…

So why is it that I must go, / And leave my trove for all to seek? / The answers I already know, / I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak. / So hear me all and listen good, / Your effort will be worth the cold. / If you are brave and in the wood / I give you title to the gold.”

Naturally, people were stumped by the poem, which Forrest insisted contains 9 distinct clues as to the treasure’s location. Dedicated communities pooled their resources, playing at Indiana Jones in the hopes they find the treasure.

As of July 2018, the treasure remained unfound. But the search wasn’t a zero-sum game for all adventurers and amateur travel hunters. For instance, Dal Neitzel of Washington, below, managed a TV station by day—but by night…

Dal made 70 trips to the Rockies over the years, searching for the treasure, and led a blog titled “The Thrill of the Chase” (sound familiar?), an online forum for people discussing the hunt. He, like many others, was thrilled by the adventure…

Another treasure hunter claimed clues from the poem guided her to the Christ of the Mines Shrine in Silverton, Colorado. She didn’t find treasure there. But, she found “the eternal love of Christ”— a spiritual treasure.

Meanwhile, the memoir that once sold for peanuts started selling for over $1,000 on Amazon. With such demand, Forrest started doing book signings, too. People wanted to comb through the book for insights into Forrest’s thinking—anything for the treasure.

Overall, Forrest estimated over 350,000 people went searching through the Rocky Mountains for his treasure. Unfortunately, not all of them lived to tell tales of spiritual re-awakenings and fun adventures…

Six people have died in pursuit of the Forrest Fenn treasure, including Randy Bilyeu, below. Authorities found his car, his raft, and his dog at the Rio Grande south of Santa Fe, but he never turned up. Eventually, the man’s death was blamed on Forrest…

New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas, below, pressured Forrest to end the treasure hunt. But Forrest never relented, reminding people the treasure was in a spot an 80-year-old man could get to in a sedan.

In fact, Forrest reminded hunters he ultimately hid the treasure to inspire family-friendly adventure. Kids “spend too much time in the game room or playing with their little handheld texting machines,” he said. The treasure—the hope—was for them, too.

“The search is supposed to be fun,” he said. To appease authorities he also noted that the treasure “is not underwater, nor is it near the Rio Grande River. It is not necessary to move large rocks or climb up or down a steep precipice.” Still, people are suspicious.

Forrest’s detractors claimed the hunt was nothing more than publicity for his memoir—the treasure, they say, never existed. The bookstore, however, claimed he never took a penny from sales. As to the treasure’s existence…

A friend of Forrest’s, New York Times best-selling author Doug Preston—who actually sawthe treasure at Forrest’s house—put it best: “Knowing Forrest for as long as I have, I can absolutely say with 100 percent confidence that he would never pull off a hoax.”

Indeed, by all accounts, Forrest’s definitely the type of guy who would bury $2 million in jewels. “Sure, I’m eccentric,” he once said. “I pride myself on being eccentric. I don’t want to go down the center line like a lot of people do.”

And hunters better not hope for some deathbed confession from Forrest. “No one knows where that treasure chest is but me,” he said. Even his family remains in the dark. “If I die tomorrow, the knowledge of that location goes in the coffin with me.”

With all the fun and excitement around the hunt, Forrest admitted hiding the treasure was “successful beyond [his] wildest dreams.” But who will be the lucky person to finally find it?