BUDDHA: Each and every one of you made it happen. The New Mexico Treasure Hunting Trip is fully funded. There’s no turning back now, Amy.
AMY: I wish we would’ve just stuck with the Doctor Who podcast.
BUDDHA: You’re really going to bring up, "Doctor Who gives a fuck?" The Podcast.
AMY: Yep. That should have been the one. No camping or bugs or bears involved with that.
BUDDHA: You haven’t watched a single episode of Doctor Who since they stopped casting handsome skinny British guys as the Doctor.
AMY: Hey, that’s not... Okay... that’s probably true and, but still... What I really wanted to do on today’s episode was to share with you all the story of our very first time hunting for the Fenn Treasure.
NEWS ANCHOR ONE: The Fenn Treasure Hunt has claimed another victim. Hiker, Buddha Kline has been missing for five days.
NEWS ANCHOR TWO: ...has been missing for sixteen days. Last seen in the Carson National Forest.
NEWS ANCHOR THREE: The pair left Austin, Texas, at approximately 10am on June 4th driving a black 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, headed northwest on US Highway 183 towards Taos, New Mexico.
NEWS ANCHOR ONE: It's been over three weeks since Buddha Kline was last seen alive.
NEWS ANCHOR THREE: But what exactly happened once they made it to New Mexico, remains a mystery.
NEWS ANCHOR TWO: What really happened on the hunt for the treasure? We'll have the answers for you.
NEWS ANCHOR ONE: We have breaking news that will turn this case on its head. Tonight at seven on Channel Seven.
AMY: I don't think either of us have ever mentioned this story on the show before, but (DISTORTED) So I was very surprised when we pulled up to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
BUDDHA: There's a clue there. (DISTORTED)
AMY: Right, right, we know, we know. (DISTORTED)
BUDDHA: I'm recording a message. For when they find us.
AMY: We knew it could be dangerous, sure, but we thought we had prepared.
GRAHAM (V.O.): At its core, that’s it. A married couple with a semi-popular podcast went into the wilderness of New Mexico searching for a legendary hidden treasure.. One came back. The other didn’t. There is, of course, more to the story... and I can assure you, Channel Seven News didn’t have the answers. No one does.
BUDDHA: Ugh... I guess, in a way, treasure hunting was important to me and I was hoping that I could make it important to you too. But in a fun way.
AMY: (sarcastic) Oh, definitely, a fun way. (Laughs) But that’s what I love about you, Buddha.
GRAHAM (V.O.): This is The Subjective Truth, stay with us.
GRAHAM: My name is Graham Anderson.
[TV SPORTS BROADCAST THEME SONG]
GRAHAM: Yeah (pause) that Graham Anderson. SportsCentral. Monday night highlight packages. All that shit. Usually its, Hey you’re the lady with the big red glasses, right? And I can’t tell at first if they’ve recognized me from TV or if they’re just mocking the red glasses I currently have on my face, so I nod and say yeah because either way its true. So yes, before you ask… I’m that Graham Anderson. The lady with the big red glasses who used to be on TV for almost a decade and still gets called Mr. Anderson every time I go anywhere or do anything. Sorry. The sooner you’re able to forget that, the better. With that being said, I’d like to start, with a story about myself. Back when I was still just a dirty faced kid growing up in Oklahoma, my hometown, Stonewater, would organize a county-wide Treasure Hunt every Summer for the kids. The local radio station, KLRU, and the Stonewater Times would broadcast and publish different clues every week, so you’d be forced to listen to the radio and read the newspaper. Every kid in town was into it, but I had a secret weapon… My Dad the puzzle nerd was obsessed with the Treasure Hunt. All summer long, we would stay up late… way past my normal bed time, pouring over the clues. Drawing lines and circling future search spots on the map. At times we were dead on with our analysis of the clues. We were in the right area. We were so close, but we were never the ones to find the treasure…
Throughout my adult life I’ve found myself drifting back to these memories of searching playgrounds and parking lots with my Father. Mystery was our common language.
The last time I saw him alive he asked me to raid his library. He told me to take whatever I wanted and added that I should also take a few books I thought I’d hate. Ya know, for personal growth and all that. I left with two stacks of books. Books about War Crimes and books about meditation. His signed first edition of ‘The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test,’ and his weather beaten warped copy of Anne of Green Gables that I dropped in the rain when I was thirteen. I was grounded for a week and banned from his library for a year. It felt weird to be given carte blanche to just… take whatever I wanted.
In the top drawer of his desk I found what might end up being the most important book of my life, ‘The Thrill of the Chase’ by Forrest Fenn. Part memoir, part literary treasure map to an actual treasure hidden in the Rocky Mountains. What drew my attention wasn’t the topic or the cover… it was the wear. Dog Ears. Highlights. Bookmarks. Notes in red ink. Theories and musings filling the margins. Words lost to white fold lines cutting through the page. It was apparent that at some point, my Father had become obsessed with this book and presumably, the hunt for Forrest Fenn’s Treasure.
Before we travel any further into to the unforgiving terrain of New Mexico it might be beneficial for you to understand why Buddha and Amy wanted to go there in the first place. What was this hidden treasure and who was behind it?
NEWS ANCHOR ONE: Retired Air Force Pilot and eccentric Art Dealer, Forrest Fenn.
NEWS ANCHOR TWO: In 1981, while in recovery for what was originally diagnosed as a terminal kidney cancer, Forrest Fenn became fascinated with the idea of hiding a treasure, leaving a trail of clues and creating his very own mystery.
NEWS ANCHOR ONE: Fenn took two trips north out of Santa Fe, New Mexico and into the Rocky Mountains with roughly two to five million dollars worth of gold coins and nuggets, pre-columbian gold bracelets, gemstones, diamonds, Chinese Jade Carvings and ancient artifacts.
NEWS ANCHOR THREE: And Fenn left his Treasure hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains for one lucky individual to find. The only treasure map, his memoir, The Thrill of the Chase.
GRAHAM (V.O.): In October of 2010, Forrest Fenn self-published a book, 'The Thrill of the Chase’ and told the world about the treasure he had left hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Initially the book had a small print run of 1,000 copies and was sold exclusively in one local Santa Fe bookstore. Within its first year of publication the book made its way into mainstream media and the small community of devoted hunters who had formed around the Fenn Treasure ballooned into an international community of thousands of hunters who analyzed every word of the text. And that’s the appeal in the hunt. No one knows the truth, so anyone can read Fenn’s memoir and poem and potentially find clues where no one else has. Hunters are able to study the Rocky Mountains and surrounding wilderness from the comforts of their home with the help of Google Earth. Others are compelled to get out into the wilderness, knowing that the only way to truly hunt for the treasure is to be there on the ground turning over stones. At the time of this recording, at least five individuals have died searching for the Fenn Treasure. Countless others, like Buddha Kline, remain missing.
I never gave the book another thought until one random day in June of last year. I was sitting on my couch and I saw the book on the bookshelf and thought, what the hell… there are harder ways to try to connect with your deceased Father. I googled ‘Forrest Fenn Treasure Hunt’ and then there they were… The headline was something simple like, hiker in New Mexico missing for nineteen days. Within the article was a short interview with a young woman who was participating in the search and rescue efforts. At the time, what particularly stood out to me was the shirt she was wearing. It read, ‘Help Me Find Buddha’. I wanted to know where I could get one. After the story went national, Amy sat down with the infamous Gotcha Television Investigator, Tammy Nance.
TAMMY NANCE: What would you say to your critics who claim you lured your husband into an isolated area and ended his life?
AMY: Wh... What?
TAMMY NANCE: I’m simply asking the questions that the people have been asking. Tell us about the Jeep...
GRAHAM (V.O.): So... about that Jeep.
AHANU: (on phone) Our dispatch got a call from a pissed-off hiker. He was yelling about Banksy. (Laughs) Banksy.
GRAHAM (V.O.): That’s the voice of Park Ranger Ahanu Bowdeway.
AHANU: (on phone) What I encountered when I arrived at the location was an abandoned black Jeep Grand Cherokee. What makes this strange is where it was parked. And how... Eagles Beak is a cliff edge in Carson. It’s a bastard trying to get up that thing. No roads or anything like that. Wouldn’t be room for a vehicle if they were, but somehow here was this Jeep standing at the edge of the cliff. I say standing because it was sitting on its rear with the front the vehicle facing up in the air. It looked like it was standing. It’s just sitting in there on its rear.. like... how in the hell did it get in there, ya know? Once we got it down we ran the plates and we’re able to link the vehicle to a Texas resident, Jerry Kline. And then to his son, Buddha.
GRAHAM (V.O.): Internet message boards went wild with the images and I was right there in the thick of it with the rest of the obsessives. They called it, Contemplative Jeep. Or Suicidal Jeep depending on how it was being applied. For some it was just another meme, but for many others the Jeep seemed to back up some of Amy’s wildest claims. I didn’t know what to believe, but I was hooked.
GRAHAM (V.O.): Jerry and Beth Kline sat on the couch across from me while I sat in a chair Jerry brought in from the kitchen. Their somber expressions flanked on all sides by smiling pictures of Buddha from his childhood and adolescence. You can see him age from a sticky third grader to an awkward punk teenager just by looking left to right across the living room walls. Mixed within the array of captured memories are rectangle wall discolorations of all sizes. Tiny gaps where a picture once lived, but has since been removed.
GRAHAM: What kind of a kid was Buddha?
BETH: Buddha was such a little angel.
JERRY: We must have raised two different kids.
BETH: My little Buddha was always an angel. A little weird maybe. A weird Angel.
GRAHAM (V.O.): I won’t pretend to know what they’re going through… So I don’t fault them for what happened during our first meeting.
BETH: We were a very outdoorsy family. Always hiking or biking. Camping at Possum Kingdom. Ever since I was a little girl I felt I had a deep spiritual connection to nature and that was something I wanted to pass on to Buddha. I... I just wish he would find a way home or find a way to let us know he’s okay.
GRAHAM: You believe he’s out there somewhere?
BETH: Yes, absolutely. I can feel it. He’s... (pause) he's still alive.
GRAHAM: How do you manage to stay so positive?
GRAHAM (V.O.): Jerry’s face darkened as I asked the question.
JERRY: (Upset) What’s that supposed to mean?
GRAHAM: Its just—
JERRY: Oh, everyone look at the delusional parents… Let me tell you a story. That’s what this is all about, right? Milking the story of my son’s disappearance for a little bit of cash. Lining your pockets and propping up all that batshit crazy bullshit Amy says happened out in the woods...
GRAHAM: That’s not what I’m saying.
BETH: Jerry, please.
JERRY: You’re the one that wanted to do this interview, Beth.
GRAHAM: Do we need to take a break?
JERRY: No, I need this to be over and for you to get the fuck out of my house.
GRAHAM: I want you to know that I have the best intentions.
JERRY: I bet you do.
GRAHAM (V.O.): They would come around eventually, but it would take some time. While I waited, I decided to reach out to Amy to see what all the batshit crazy bullshit was about.
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GRAHAM (V.O.): Amy looks confident in the way people look confident before a job interview or the opening of a play. It’s a sheer veil of polite energy draped over insomnia scripted conversations. And it’s impossible to hide.
AMY: Come on in. Sorry about the mess.
GRAHAM: It’s so nice to finally meet you. I feel like I know you so well already… but only through emails and avatars. This is different.
GRAHAM (V.O.): Since this was our first meeting, I knew that if pushed too hard too soon, I would risk pushing Amy away completely. So I kept it light. Informal. She’s recently started working at a new job. She’s answering Customer Service calls for a notorious cable company. Sounds like hell, but she says she enjoys the anonymity of it. We were winding down when Amy said…
AMY: Can I have one more thing? (Beat) Can I get a Boomshakalaka?
[Awkward silence]
AMY: Sorry. I thought it would be funny. For what’s it worth, I was a fan of the Boomshakalakas when I was a kid. My Dad used to make me say all those SportsCentral catchphrases when his friends came over to play dominos. Someone would throw down a twenty. I would yell Boomshakalaka and everyone would laugh. I thought I was such a little fucking comedian. Would it be better or worse if I told you I dressed up as you for Halloween when I was ten. I basically just wore my aunt Gloria’s suit and a pair of big red frame glasses.
GRAHAM: Sounds like a pretty spot on early 2000s version of me. Any chance you’ve got a picture of this?
AMY: Unfortunately, no, but I do have something else I think you’d be interested in.
GRAHAM (V.O.): Amy retreats to a bedroom and I hear the muffled sounds of frustrated rummaging coming from behind the door. She returns holding a small shoe box. Inside are micro-tapes. Thirteen of them to be exact. And then she said...
AMY: No one else knows these exist.
GRAHAM: Boomshakalaka.
GRAHAM (V.O.): Shortly after leaving Amy’s apartment I received a voicemail from Beth Kline.
BETH: (voicemail) I apologize for my ex-husband Jerry. He's a good man, he's just frustrated by it all...
BETH: (On phone) ... And yet Graham, the truth is, for me, it never really settled in as reality. I still have these thoughts of, oh I wonder what Buddha is doing or when is he going to come visit me again. And it takes a moment for me to collect myself and its like a little jab... He’s still gone.
GRAHAM: (on phone) You saw Buddha and Amy on Wednesday, June 3rd, the day before they left. Did you notice anything strange going on with Buddha or Amy during that last visit?
BETH: (on phone) Oh, He was happy. Really anxious and really excited.
GRAHAM: (on phone) Has your relationship with Amy changed since the...? I mean... I don’t know if there’s a respectful way to ask, so I’ll just be direct. Do you blame Amy for what happened to your son?
BETH: (on phone) Oh, bless her heart. No. She didn’t have anything to do with this. Such a sweet girl. I think she thinks I hate her now. If you see her tell her I don’t. She probably wouldn’t believe you. After... Buddha.... well.. After the Tammy Nance interview I think she was scared that we felt the same way. They took some things Jerry said out of context and ran with it. Made it seem, I don't know, like we hated her and blamed her for what happened. But...
GRAHAM (V.O.): Beth and I talked late into the evening and the conversation spanned from Buddha and Amy to Hogwarts and the Moon Landing. She’s truly a delightful woman who has managed to remain positive about a situation that most would describe as hopeless.
BETH: (on phone) See when Buddha met Amy, he was just drifting at sea. She was a lifeboat. Buddha had already dropped out of school at Texas State. He wasn’t working. The only thing he was devoting any real time to was this... (laughs) dumb stand up comedy thing.
[BUDDHA onstage doing StandUp Comedy at an Open Mic.]
BUDDHA: (onstage) My grandfather asked me to kill. He wants to choose when he dies and he wants me to help him. It's weird. I feel weird. But I owe it to him, right? So I do exactly as he says and I go through all the trouble of setting everything up just for ol' PopPop to get cold feet on me. Like jeez man, make up your mind. Don't ask me to murder three random people and then murder you so that your name lives on forever tied up in the details of some serial killer mystery... If that's not really how you feel.
AMY: (onstage) Oh, come on. At least it was the cringy kind of bad. That guy is going to be laying in bed reliving this set in his mind for the next few weeks just thinking... When did I lose I them? (FADE)
[A FEW LAUGHS AND BOOS FROM CROWD]
BETH (on phone): He was not very good. He told me, ‘that’s the point, Mom. It’s supposed to be ironic’ or something. He said he was just playing the character of a bad comedian. And I remember Jerry said something along the lines of ‘well you’re doing a great job of that.’ And Buddha’s face turned beet red. (laughs) But in the end I guess it served its purpose. I’m not usually one to talk about fate or destiny, Jerry and I met in fifth grade, so you know, for us it was less destiny more proximity, but with Buddha it was like he somehow knew he needed to be there at that comedy club so that he could meet Amy. As soon as she came into the picture, Buddha’s calls went from ‘Can you send me some money?’ to ‘We’re getting an apartment together. We’re starting this thing, we’re starting that thing.’ I was really proud. And since Amy was, you know, actually good at being a comedian, Buddha immediately retired his act.
GRAHAM (on phone): I remember seeing a lot of Drama trophies on your mantle. Did Buddha always have a love for the stage?
BETH (on phone): No. He... really hated talking in front of people. I don’t know where the whole comedian thing came from. I never could get him in any of my shows.
GRAHAM (on phone): They were yours?
BETH (on phone): Back when our school had a theatre department we were one of the best. But... you know.... Drama trophies don’t mean much when budget cuts come knocking. I do have quite the wardrobe when I need to dress like Caesar or Alexander Hamilton.
GRAHAM (on phone): Oh my god, do you rap for them?
BETH (on phone): No. I do the pre-Hamilton Hamilton. The one where I just talk. I can, however, do some pretty good accents though. I used to study and practice them constantly during my down time. Especially during rush hour traffic. Really helps with the road rage.
GRAHAM (on phone): I need to hear it.
BETH (on phone) One sec. Okay, it goes something like... (Irish accent) The light is green ya savage get off your phone. We’ve got places to be. Things to do. Move your ass.
GRAHAM (on phone): Very nice. But how about an English woman who had her sandwich order messed up?
BETH (on phone): (English Accent) Sorry. Excuse me. Sorry to be a bother. A few minutes ago, I ordered a turkey and swiss, but I’ve just now received a puppy. He is quite adorable, but I didn’t order a puppy. I trust you’ll get this sorted.
BETH (on phone): That was fun. That was so fun. (pause) I haven’t done that voice in so long. Buddha used to get so excited when his own personal Mary Poppins would read him a bedtime story.
GRAHAM (V.O.): Amy was hosting the comedy showcase at The Basement Parade that night. And the distinct laugh in the crowd during Buddha’s set… that was Amy. And that night… was the night they met. This video is still up under the title, Basement Parade Showdown Showcase, June 1st 2014. Go watch it for yourself. Buddha goes on fourth and struggles through a long three minutes, but Amy is right there with him, a disembodied voice in the crowd, laughing at every syllable because she gets it. She gets him. (Beat) But… for such an outgoing and seemingly likable person, most of Amy’s relationships seem to be strained. Almost no one I reached out to would agree to do an interview. This might be a case of private people just not wanting to get caught up in the drama of the story surrounding her, but the fact that there weren’t more people willing to defend Amy’s character is surprising and possibly quite telling in ways that no interview could be.
GRAHAM (V.O.): Thirty-one year old, Buddha Kline was left seen in and around Taos, New Mexico, on June 8th, 2020. He was wearing a blue jeans, converse sneakers, and a black t-shirt. He’s five foot eleven, one hundred sixty pounds. He has gray eyes and dark brown hair. No glasses, tattoos or piercings. He has a small incision scar on his right shoulder and a four inch burn scar on his left knee. If you have information, theories or ideas about what might have happened to Buddha Kline, please give us a call at [REDACTED]. We’ll be back soon with more of The Subjective Truth. Until then, stay safe and don’t become a story.
