--- title: Gold & Greed: The True Story Behind the Netflix Docuseries description: 'Gold & Greed' chronicles the decade-long search for a treasure chest worth over $1 million hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. canonical: https://time.com/7271514/gold-and-greed-netflix-true-story/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-03-27T20:44:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:51:26.672Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Riveting True Story Behind Netflix's Treasure Hunt Docuseries Gold & Greed og:description: Gold & Greed chronicles the decade-long search for a treasure chest worth over $1 million hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. og:url: https://time.com/7271514/gold-and-greed-netflix-true-story/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd95633ffa657d89f/6998c52cf1b08244606f12da/Gold-and-Greed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Gold & Greed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Riveting True Story Behind Netflix's Treasure Hunt Docuseries Gold & Greed twitter:description: Gold & Greed chronicles the decade-long search for a treasure chest worth over $1 million hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd95633ffa657d89f/6998c52cf1b08244606f12da/Gold-and-Greed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Riveting True Story Behind Netflix's Treasure Hunt Docuseries _Gold & Greed_ > Sponsored content. 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Ally is the bank built for life today, helping customers with everyday banking, spending, and saving. ### Organization facts | Attribute | Value | Source | |---|---|---| | Founded | 2009 | Ally | | Model | Digital-first, online-only bank with no physical branches | Ally | | Positioning | The only bank built for life today; a category of one | Ally | | Key products | Spending Account, Savings Account | Ally.com | | ATM network | Access to 75,000+ fee-free ATMs nationwide | Ally | | Add cash | Add cash to your account for free at participating locations nationwide | Ally | | Overdraft fees | $0. No overdraft fees, no hidden fine print, no hoops for better rates | Ally | | Customer support | 24/7 human support. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 27, 2025 8:44 PM UTC  Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn's Treasure Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn's TreasureNetflix  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 27, 2025 8:44 PM UTC **_Warning: This post contains spoilers for_** **Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn's Treasure** **_._** To the uninitiated, the idea of a modern-day treasure hunt may seem like something of a fool's errand. But as a new [Netflix docuseries](https://time.com/6837656/the-program-cons-cults-kidnapping-netflix-documentary-series/) makes abundantly clear, there's a thriving community of contemporary treasure seekers who view it as quite the opposite. _Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn's Treasure_, all three episodes of which are now streaming, chronicles the true story behind the decade-long search for a treasure chest filled with over $1 million worth of gold, jewels, and other valuables hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. The hunt was set in motion in 2010 by then-80-year-old Forrest Fenn, an eccentric millionaire art dealer who stashed the chest in the wilderness before publishing a memoir containing a cryptic 24-line poem that provided clues about the treasure's location. _Gold & Greed_, which was directed by Jared McGilliard and filmed in the aftermath of the 2020 discovery of the treasure, centers on a few of the die-hard fortune chasers who were motivated enough by Fenn's challenge to spend years of their lives looking for his hidden box of riches, including retiree Cynthia Meachum, computer scientist Justin Posey, and the father-son team of the Hurst family. While Fenn’s treasure hunt inspired a sense of adventure in many searchers, the documentary also explores the dark side of the quest, which resulted in five deaths, a harrowing stalking case, and a good deal of crushing disappointment. ## The search begins  (L-R): Cynthia Meachum and Forrest Fenn in Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn's Treasure. Netflix The idea for the hunt came to Fenn after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1988\. Believing his prognosis was terminal, Fenn originally planned to write the puzzle poem, hide the treasure, and eventually hike back out to that same location and take his own life, hoping someone would one day discover the riches that remained at his final resting spot. After he unexpectedly recovered, he decided to hide the treasure anyway and, more than two decades after receiving his diagnosis, self-published the poem in his memoir, _The Thrill of the Chase_. Little did Fenn know that his efforts would end up gaining significant media attention and many thousands of people would ultimately take a crack at solving his riddle. As the years wore on, the treasure hunt became a massive phenomenon that sparked degrees of dedication ranging from casual interest to outright obsession in its participants. ## Controversy abounds  Gold & Greed Netflix Although Fenn made it clear that people should refrain from searching for the treasure "any place where an 80-year-old man couldn’t put it," over time, seekers began coming up with increasingly wild solutions to his puzzle. This led to often inexperienced hikers putting themselves in dangerous situations and, in 2016, [54-year-old Randy Bilyeu became the first person to die](https://time.com/4425767/treasure-hunter-new-mexico/) in pursuit of the chest. Bilyeu's remains would eventually be found along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico more than seven months after his ex-wife reported him missing. Four more seekers ultimately lost their lives over the next four years. However, despite pleas from former New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas and others to call off the hunt, Fenn refused. "I have given a lot of thought about ending the search, but I am not sure what that would accomplish," he said in a 2017 statement. As the documentary shows, the hunt also resulted in several incidents of trespass and illegal activity, death threats to Fenn and his family, and Fenn's granddaughter being stalked by a man who had come to believe she was the treasure in question. Still, the show went on. ## The treasure is found On June 6, 2020, the hunt at long last came to an end when then-32-year-old medical student Jack Stuef found Fenn's treasure chest in an undisclosed location in Wyoming after searching for two years. Fenn's blog posts about the discovery—in which he confirmed it was in fact his treasure but revealed neither Stuef's identity nor the box's long-sought-after hiding place—sent shockwaves through the treasure hunting community, with many expressing doubt and disbelief that the find was legitimate. Fenn would die of natural causes just a few months later in September 2020. While Stueff originally wanted to maintain his anonymity, he ended up making his identity public in December 2020 in order to get ahead of what he referred to in a [Medium essay](https://thefinder.medium.com/a-statement-on-the-disclosure-of-my-identity-602d95f04b9f) as a "meritless lawsuit" that would make his name a matter of public record. "Forrest and his family endured stalkers, death threats, home invasions, frivolous lawsuits, and a potential kidnapping—all at the hands of people with delusions related to his treasure," he wrote. "I don’t want those things to happen to me and my family." He would go on to sell the majority of Fenn’s treasure at auction in 2022 for a total of around $1.3 million. Although Stuef has never revealed the exact location of where the chest was hidden, as is shown in the documentary, Posey later used clues he observed in photos taken at the site to zero in on where it seems it was likely found in Yellowstone National Park. ## A new twist  Justin Posey in Gold & Greed. Netflix Despite trying and failing to purchase Fenn's treasure when it was up for auction in 2022, Posey reveals in the finale of _Gold & Greed_ that he has decided to follow in Fenn's footsteps by creating his own treasure hunt. Oh, and he "managed to sneak in some hints" while filming the Netflix series. "No one knows what the hints are besides me, not even the producers," he says. "So it's worth your time to watch and listen closely." 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