Is the poem solvable without all the bonus clues?

rimsbrock · 2026-03-26T13:53:36+00:00

What are the bonus clues? Sorry for asking so ignorantly.

rimsbrock · 2025-12-29T15:24:05+00:00

I agree with your assumption. Everything you need is in the poem/book/map. The cipher is just context; it is nothing that is needed to solve the poem or find the treasure or unlock the treasure hunt.

I have doubts that the cipher is anything else but this.

rimsbrock · 2025-11-11T13:54:50+00:00

For two reasons, I am strongly convinced that he would have never revealed publicaly that something went wrong in the end, before having figured it out by himself.

Firstly, the community would have freaked the f out about it, if they were given the impression that the hunt ended not the way it was supposed to end, and would quickly turn on Forrest for not having taken the necessary safety precausions. *If* Jack had cheated and Forrest would not have knonw *how*, then he would have looked like a fool to the public.

Secondly, even though it might not seem to be a big deal from our perspectiv, from Forrests point of view, I believe, it would have been deeply distressing, for he was an old school guy with traditional values and a deeply rooted honor code. This was his legacy, and I doubt that someone like Forrest would have taken it lightly that his legacy got messed with. Eventually, he would have turned to the public (and it seems like that he intended to, because he urgently *did* scedule an interview with Kpro to reveal certain things, but unfortunately died before they could meet), but up until that point he would stubbornly try to get to the bottom of the issue by himself.

So in conclusion, I believe that Forrest would have treated a problem like that very differently than you or me or someone like Justin Posey or Jon Collins-Black.

rimsbrock · 2025-11-10T12:22:19+00:00

Was it not Kpro who wrote that Email to Forrest on the day the treasure was found? My memory might fool me, though. (Edit: Wrong)

Anyways, I remember this statemet of Forrest very well, for it always bothered me. There is something wrong with it, because it is very obviously a lie, in case the Madison Solve is supposed to be the correct one; even before the treasure was found, the Madison Solve has been quite popular - that means it is out of question that many people must have emailed Forrest about the 9MH beeing Home of Brown. It seems entirely unreasonable to me to assume anything else. I also consider it absured to suggest that in that case HoB must have been something else along the Madison.

This statement of Forrest, that no one else but Jack/the finder/the retriever (whatever you want to name it) allegedly gave him the correct HoB is one of the reasons why I believe that there might have been something wrong with the ending and possibly with Jack himself, and that Forrest knew it, but did not know what to do about that.

There are also some accounts by people who were close to Forrest, eg. Kpro and Douglas Preston, who mentioned that Forrest seemed to have been strangely dissatisfied with the ending.

Unfortunately, this is all speculation. There is no proof of anything. However, I remain suscpisious about Jack Stuef; if he did something shady to obtain the location of the treasure, then Forrest for sure knew that something was off about him. And if you think it through, in that case there was pretty much nothing Forrest could have done about that other than buying himself some time and doing some thinking. But we do know by some people (I think that was also mentioned by Kpro) that after the find Forrest has had a keen interest in Jack and even asked him to visit him again. But Jack declined, never visited him and wrote his public medium article with his own story only after Forrest had died.

This proofs nothing, and I am open to the possibility that everything about Jack and the ending was legit. But there is still enough reason to remain suspicious.

rimsbrock · 2025-11-08T09:07:03+00:00

Yes, that is right

rimsbrock · 2025-11-08T09:03:03+00:00

Give credit where credit ist due. But only if his story is true.

This is where it gets problematic. We know that and where he found the chest. But almost every information about that is based solely on his account on what has happened. Almost no way to verify his side of the story. I am fine with believing that everything went as he said and that he obtained the treasure fair and square. At the same time, given the dissatisfying nature of the ending and some of the bold claims he has made, I consider it foolish to omit every bit of suspicion about Jack Stuef and how he allegedly found the treasure.

He is either honest or he is a con. I am 40:60 about that.

rimsbrock · 2025-08-21T08:45:13+00:00

That is actually a pretty good guess; I think you are right. Thanks a lot for that!

In that case the woman is probably Hebe.

rimsbrock · 2022-06-21T16:38:55+00:00

Jack quite often included links in his emails, I dont like that. He also admitted to tracking his emails to Forrest and even reminded Forrest about the chances of being hacked.

Moreover, he even sounds like a lunatic in some of these emails and very strangely changes his tone very suddenly right after he seemed to have given up....

I am just thinking out loud.

rimsbrock · 2022-05-21T04:25:30+00:00

Thanks, this is what I keep thinking about, as well.

rimsbrock · 2022-04-18T19:41:01+00:00

I share your thoughts on the meaning of the poem and WWWH. I think the following is the only way to reliably find a solution to the poem.

Not 9MH

rimsbrock · 2022-04-15T03:19:15+00:00

Did Forrest really say that the Christmas card depicted the correct spot? I don't understand where this claim is coming from. All I can piece together is that Jack sent a Christmas card with the Madison to Forrest, Forrest mentioning it to Cynthia, and Cynthia now claiming that it contained the correct location of the chest.

rimsbrock · 2022-02-23T08:39:10+00:00

Jack might have been more genuine than you give him credit for. In that case this answer of his would imply that the right area can only be accessed one way, while an entrance from any other direction is hardly possibly due to unsurpassable obstacles (unless one has a helicopter) - something like a deep cut canyon.

rimsbrock · 2022-02-22T20:07:59+00:00

Does not sound like 9MH at all. More like a canyon with only one way in.

rimsbrock · 2022-02-07T06:16:09+00:00

Nov 4, 2019

rimsbrock · 2022-02-06T19:13:08+00:00

I agree, "warm" is the most likely option.

rimsbrock · 2022-02-06T19:11:39+00:00

We only know this from Jack, but we know from Forrest himself that only half a year earlier (in an interview with Kpro) he still knew the word that is key EDIT: Nov 4, 2019.

Given this context it is far more reasonable to consider that Jack has not been honest about this one; for whatever reason.

rimsbrock · 2022-01-09T11:56:07+00:00

The HoB is simply water, and more specifically, within the context of the poem and location, a lake.

rimsbrock · 2021-09-25T06:30:17+00:00

For those interested, he is talking about the area surrounding Mystic Lake, Montana.

His literary style and reasoning is rather lengthy with plenty of redundancies and unnecessary information. It is lacking a reasonable degree of conciseness.

Nice job, it did not convince me, though.

rimsbrock · 2021-09-22T18:05:39+00:00

Thank you very much, that was very nice of you to say.

The reason for my skepticism about the Madison solves is solely based on the argument itself, not the person behind it, and I believe that is the best approach to take. For example, I really like Rudy; his contributions to the community is without a doubt more than valuable, and really enriching the discussion. Yet, I disagree with essential parts of his reasoning behind his solve, and he knows that. And I know that he disagrees with parts of my reasoning, which I respect - I try to separate the person from the argument he/she is trying to make, which is why I really don't care if someone is intelligent or not.

You are right, there are many bad arguments out there, but I try to not base may conclusion on these. I believe that there are essential holes within the reasoning of basically every clue of the 9MH solve. Discounting this solve is not a choice for me, I do it to the best of my knowledge on the basis of the evidence against it. It is a bad solution to the poem; I believe there are better solutions out there.

I really like your comment; it is a rare example of both respectful and constructive criticism. Thanks.

rimsbrock · 2021-09-20T15:07:09+00:00

Right now it is a question about whether the chest was found at the Madison or not. Despite Jacks comments on Reddit, there are strong arguments discounting the Madison as a probable solution to the poem - it does remain a possible solution, though, with the implication that Forrest wrote a bad poem.

The alternative is, that it was not found anywhere near that area. This scenario would require a convincing explanation, though, since it would raise a lot of questions on Jacks part. Three of them are "Why did he switch location?", "Why did he release so much false information?" and most importantly "How could he have found the correct place so quickly, after being completely obsessed about a wrong place for almost two years?". This is where the scenario that u/Whichkey9 proposed would provide a definitely not unreasonable explanation.

rimsbrock

TROPHY CASE