Forrest Fenn Treasure Q: How about those illustrations?

[Jenny]

We are told only the poem is necessary, but clues in the book (TTOTC) hold subtle hints to help find Forrest's Treasure.... So what about those illustrations? Do you think the images of the book hold clues?

[Jenny]

We know Forrest likes the use of Illustrations….. and he has said:

“Illustrations can say so much more than words can say in some instances.”



Still though.... are there clues in them?

[heidini]

Somehow I am recalling that someone inquired about the thrill of the Chase PDF book. He said something like it wouldn’t work without the pictures. Or was it a book for the blind or something I can’t remember. Anyway, they made me think that the books were important because they have the pictures in them.

[zaphod73491]

If Forrest in any way doctored the pictures, the illustrations, or both, then that would certainly explain his recent remark that a blind person would be at a disadvantage.

[kk]

I love that he put pictures in his books, both drawings and photograph's. Worth 1,000 words, I hear.

Perhaps that is why children have an advantage?

[Jenny]

We have those Postmarks too..... clues or decorative, meaningless, additions only...?

[zaphod73491]

Jul 23, 2019 9:00:50 GMT -5 Jenny said:

We have those Postmarks too..... clues or decorative, meaningless, additions only...?

Hi Jenny: In the beginning of the Chase (for me) I worked those darn postmarks for months every which way and finally decided that there's nothing critically helpful there. The date/day-of-week mismatch for every postmark that we can read is ~interesting~, and it's worth computing the odds of it happening purely by chance. At most 13 complete dates out of 20 can be read, and the probability of getting all 13 days of the week wrong is about 13.5%. So not that unlikely that it could happen purely by chance.

The more interesting thing to me about the postmarks is the single duplicated one: the one on pages 51 and 126. This is doubly significant because page 51 is the only odd-numbered page out of 20 with a stamp. It is also the only stamp with a rotated title that begins with a number (Forrest's childhood address) instead of a letter.

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2019 17:32:08 GMT -5 zaphod73491 said:

Jul 23, 2019 9:00:50 GMT -5 Jenny said:

We have those Postmarks too..... clues or decorative, meaningless, additions only...?

Hi Jenny: In the beginning of the Chase (for me) I worked those darn postmarks for months every which way and finally decided that there's nothing critically helpful there. The date/day-of-week mismatch for every postmark that we can read is ~interesting~, and it's worth computing the odds of it happening purely by chance. At most 13 complete dates out of 20 can be read, and the probability of getting all 13 days of the week wrong is about 13.5%. So not that unlikely that it could happen purely by chance.

The more interesting thing to me about the postmarks is the single duplicated one: the one on pages 51 and 126. This is doubly significant because page 51 is the only odd-numbered page out of 20 with a stamp. It is also the only stamp with a rotated title that begins with a number (Forrest's childhood address) instead of a letter.

The fact that the dates frequently don't match the days of the week indicates that the postmarks are not real and strongly suggests that they contain a hint of some kind.

A few years ago, Chris Yates on ChaseChat called attention to the fact that "Fort Worth" was hiding in the second line of stanza 6. On page 34 of the book you will see Fort Worth overlying one of the postmarks. The date is 10 Jul or 10-7. Yates wondered whether 10-7 or 107 had some meaning but got no further.

In the same stanza, all four lines end in D.  4D is pronounced the same as 40. (Interestingly, the identical homophone also shows up in the solution to Fandango.)

Note that the line of the poem containing Forth Worth is horizontal and that the string of Ds is vertical.

Glenwood Springs, to the nearest degree, happens to be at 40N and 107W.

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.

In short, the solution to the postmark puzzle is the first half of a gentle confirmer that Glenwood Springs is the first clue. 

P.S.

There is an analogous hint in the map that comes with To Far to Walk. You just draw a horizontal line extending through the midpoint of the poem, drop a vertical from the midpoint of TTOTC at the top, and they cross at Glenwood Springs. The curved lines are just sneaky distractors (see Scrapbook 62 and the warning about paying attention to curved lines and magnetic variation)

[davebakedpotato]

This is a good question: the inside cover states there are clues 'scattered among these pages', whereas p133 states there are clues 'sprinkled in the stories'. The latter implies just the text contains clues and the former includes pictures amd date stamps etc.
In an effort to try and resolve this, I dropped Allen Polt an email to ask how much input Forrest had into his drawings, but got no response. But here's the thing, Allen is a serious artist (check out his website), but some of the drawings in TTOTC look a little...odd (no disrespect!). See the biddie's hands p20, kid's curving arm p33 and the 'dismembered foot' p43 as examples.

[Deleted]

I think the pictures very well give you an area to consider for your search. That and the postmarks (probably dates on the back of the photos) tell you what time of year they fished those areas. For example, it's my understanding Brown trout are predominately a "Fall" time of year fish. Makes you wonder if HOB really means trout or something else. I am finding there's a lot of places in Yellowstone you can't find on a map that only the old timers only know about.

[Jenny]

Was it ever mentioned or implied by FF that the postmarks were purely decorative? or that the illustrations didn't have clues?

[zaphod73491]

I believe he said the postmarks were not his idea. (Susan Caldwell's?) None of the illustrations were made by Forrest, yet that doesn't mean he couldn't have subtly doctored some after Allen was finished. Couldn't be anything glaring as Allen would be tipped off. Forrest has never claimed there AREN'T hints in the illustrations or photographs.

[Jenny]

It was mentioned on the FB group- Chasing Forrest Fenn Treasure - that Allen Polt did all the TTOTC illustrations BUT the one on page 99. Is there any more information/confirmation on this interest?

[zaphod73491]

Concur, Jenny. Page 99 was done by a war correspondent who was once a backseater in Forrest's F-100F. Some may not have seen this e-mail explanation from Forrest in late February 2018:

"The drawing on page 99 was made by a war correspondent/combat illustrator whose initials are JF. I was an instructor pilot in Vietnam, which meant it was my job to take non pilots on combat missions so they could see what war is really like, mostly high ranking military officers and war correspondents. I flew with that JF guy in the back seat of my F-100F. I'm sure I knew his name when we flew in 1968, but when I wrote TFTW, forty two, or so years later, his name had escaped me…

"That drawing is not a map of any kind and I did not draw it…

"I spent some time looking for JF because I wanted to send him a copy of my book. I could not find him. I even advertised in the Air Force Times for information about him and came up with zero. I think he was a civilian, but don't remember. I figured if he ever saw my book he would contact me. If you want to launch a serious search I think he could be located if he is still alive."

[Jenny]

Thanks for that information, zap....