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In the Wood - Saddle?


I have talked a lot about horses in my book, Finding Forrest Fenn, and in my recent blog posts. Now it is time to consider the phase “in the wood.”

When I talked about John Wayne and my Western Theory there is a common theme - the saddle. In the wood often meant in the old west, in the saddle, mainly because the saddle is built on a wood frame or “tree.” Many searchers have quoted Mr. Fenn stressing to them “where are the trees?” Maybe he is stressing where is the saddle.

Mr. Fenn talked about twisting and bending words and I talked at length about this in my book but one thing I did not discuss is the saddle has a part called the “twist.”

In my previous blog post I mentioned the possible importance of lightning and particular his horse Lightning. Here are some quotes from Fenn’s memoir:

“I found that riding behind the saddle on lightning’s warm soft, furry, rump helped some but he didn’t like it much and kept doing some funny dance step that I didn’t trust completely, so I put my handkerchief over the hardest part of the saddle and tried to think soft thoughts.”

Mr. Fenn also talked about using a handkerchief to cover his treasure chest and then he replaced it with books so Peggy wouldn’t know when he hid the chest.

Form Mysterious Writings:

“Jamie, I’m not attached to shoes but I like my leather wallet, which has taken on a nice wear-polish over the years. I keep it in my back left pocket and wouldn’t even think of carrying it anywhere else. It’s just kind of bent a little to fit the curvature. Nothing special inside, just a couple of credit cards, drivers and pilot’s licenses, military ID and health stuff. And a few bucks, not many. In my back right pocket is a handkerchief and comb. Front left, Chap Stick, extra batteries for my hearing aids, and coins. My front right pocket contains my car keys and small pepper spray.”

He mentions handkerchief again which makes me wonder if the treasure isn’t located in a saddle. If the treasure is the wallet in the analogy above, he is precisely saying it is in the back left part of the saddle.

Alternatively, "wallet" could be a play on words like "wall -et" or scant. He has mentioned "Walmart" before, so maybe the play on words hints to "Wall - M - Art" or art on a wall marked by an "M."

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