Viral Hoax of the Day: A 60-Year-Old Man's Suicide Note Prompts a Wild Goose Hunt for Dead Man's Treasure

A 60-year-old former Kansas City Star reporter's sprawling suicide note has pushed Reddit into a frenzy today, prompting a real-life treasure hunt for $200,000 worth of gold coins in Overland Park, Kansas. Shortly before taking his own life at 5 a.m. on the morning of August 15th, Martin Manley launched the website Martin Manley: My Life and Death, a meticulously-written memoir about different chapters of his life and his spiritual journey leading up to the day of suicide. Among the parts that peaked Reddit's interest were Manley's claimed possession of $200,000 in gold coins, which was immediately followed by a set of GPS coordinates located somewhere in Overland Park. Inevitably, a handful of local Redditors headed out to the spot in search of Manley's gold coins, but within a few hours, family members of Manley had called the police to inform them that the buried treasure was a hoax, according to letters Manley had overnighted to them the previous day.