Warning: This article contains suicidal themes some may find distressing.
A casual hike turned into a treasure hunt for one person when they came across a note directing them to hidden treasure.
Reddit user H0TcH0C0LaT3YaIdS posted the note with the caption: 'Founds this note hidden while rock climbing at the Badlands, South Dakota'.
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It read: 'If you're reading this, I'm dead. I jumped from the cliffside [...] Besides me and this note no one has the knowledge of where the treasure is.'
It continued with directions to the supposed treasure: '50 paces up. 20 paces left, the moon @ 8.00pm will be just above the location where I hid it.
'If you find this burn it. Bring a shovel and a trusted friend. Split the treasure between you, trust me greed will be your downfall.'
Then the eerie note got even weirder: 'Once found call [number] it's a trusted dealer who will help you deal with the treasure. When the call is answered say "wheat" 3 times.
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'God speed friend and remember murder is never the option - Bella.'
The Reddit community is split on whether the note is a prank whilst others weren't so sure.
'Seems like a bait,' one indicated whilst another wrote: 'do. not. seek. the treasure.'
Others were confused about the moon's position to the treasure as it moves quite frequently: 'Wouldn’t the moon be at a different spot at 8 am depending on time of year?' and 'The moon will be just above a 8PM is useless information since no specific date was provided.'
One commenter suggested: 'Call the number and see who answers. They don’t have to know that you found the note. see if they deal in treasure.'
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The OP later responded to their post and it turns out, it's nothing more than a meme: 'Haha someone definitely only put it up there for a meme, but I thought it was interesting enough to share'.
A little disappointing for nothing to come of the note but luckily it wasn't anything dangerous.
However, people are hoping the supposed author of the note, Bella, is found safe as other users did some more digging. Reddit user Square-Laugh-2697 searched up missing persons in the Badlands area and found an 'Isabella Cedar Face [who] was reported missing 6/2/2024. The report was made by the Rapid City Police Dept which is only 57 minutes away from where you found the note'.