Forager Takes Secret Chanterelle Spot to Grave, Family Disappointed to Inherit Only Money

The family of legendary Pacific Northwest forager Harold 'Hal' Sporesworth gathered Monday for the reading of his will, hoping to finally learn the location of the chanterelle patch he had secretly harvested for 35 years. They were bitterly disappointed to discover he had left them only a house, two vehicles, and $340,000 in savings. 'We don't care about the money,' said eldest daughter Fern, visibly frustrated. 'Dad pulled eight pounds of golden chanterelles out of those woods every October. At market price, that patch is worth more than the house. And he told no one where it is.' Sporesworth, who died peacefully at 81, was renowned in foraging circles for the quality and quantity of his annual chanterelle harvest. For decades, fellow foragers attempted to follow him into the woods, tail his truck, and in one case, attach a GPS tracker to his basket. All efforts failed. 'He drove in circles for an hour before every trip,' said neighbor and rival forager Pete Mycelium. 'He wore camouflage. He once doubled back through a creek to throw off a follower. The man had tradecraft.' The family conducted a thorough search of Sporesworth's home office, hoping for a map or coordinates. They found only a single sticky note reading 'Nice try' taped inside his desk drawer. 'That is so Dad,' said son Harold Jr., shaking his head. A cadaver-detection dog was briefly considered to locate the patch by scent, but mycologists pointed out that dogs trained to find dead humans and dogs trained to find chanterelles 'have very different skill sets and confusing the two would be upsetting for everyone.' The family has placed a notice in the local foraging newsletter offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who can locate the patch. Twelve claims have been submitted so far, all of them wrong.