Boy, it’s been a good week to be a treasure hunter!
First, the trophy stashed away in Massachusetts by Project Skydrop was found.
This trophy, valued at $26,000, is only part of the prize, since the trophy contained a code that granted the lucky treasure hunter who found it access to a prize pool of over $87,000! This prize pool was composed of entry fees from the many treasure hunters who signed up for the hunt.
Since the prize was found faster than Project Skydrop organizers predicted, they offered $100 each to the first twenty people to guess the exact coordinates of the now-claimed treasure. The deadline for that second-place prize is today, so I’m definitely curious how many folks were able to claim that c-note.
But that was only the beginning of big treasure hunt news, as the hunt for the Golden Owl has also reportedly come to an end.
In 1993, the book On the Trail of the Golden Owl was published, igniting a thirty-year search for the titular owl. Solvers had to parse Max Valentin’s eleven riddles to locate the owl, and for decades, the prize eluded even the most ardent solvers.
Hilariously, the creator intended for the hunt to last for only a few months, open to both amateur hunters and experts. “If all the searchers put all their knowledge together, the owl would be found in… two hours”. This sounds like the folks behind Monopoly who claim the game can be played in 45 minutes.
Three years ago, the artist for the original book, Michel Becker, took over the hunt from author Regis Hauser (aka fictional treasure hunt creator Max Valentin), going so far as to dig up the owl to confirm it was still there.
There was supposed to be a bronze owl there (to be exchanged for the actual golden owl, worth over $100,000), but Becker found a rusty iron one instead. He replaced it with a bronze owl, buried it, and continued the hunt for another three years. Chouetteurs — the owl-seeking treasure hunters — got back to work.
Until last week when the owl was finally discovered.
As reported by the BBC, the hunt came to an end in France on October 3rd. Details have been scarce, and hunters around the world have been told to stop looking.
“We confirm that the replica of the golden owl was dug up last night, and that simultaneously a solution has been sent on the online verification system… It is therefore now pointless travelling to dig at any place you believe the cache might be situated.”
Some solvers are relieved that the hunt is finally over, while others are skeptical, believing that instead of hard work and puzzly grit, the prize was found by metal detector instead (which would be expressly against the rules). Still others are disappointed not to have more information, if only to see how tantalizingly close they may have gotten to the correct solution.
The trials and tribulations of the hunt over the years have only added to its legend.
The puzzle hunt lasted so long that it outlived the original publisher of the book, which caused the golden owl to be seized as a bankruptcy asset, something that required four years of legal wrangling to resolve.
The hunt also sadly outlived its creator, who passed in 2009. Some chouetteurs blame the stresses of legal proceedings surrounding the hunt for hastening the death of Hauser.
Two years later, it took the dedicated efforts of a group of treasure hunters to prevent Becker from selling the owl, forcing judicial intervention and saving the hunt from a premature end.
What a saga.
With the end of both the Golden Owl hunt and Forrest Fenn’s treasure hunt a few years ago, this leaves The Secret as the longest ongoing puzzle hunt in the world at this time.
But maybe some intrepid puzzler out there is already cooking up the next great puzzly treasure hunt. I suppose only time will tell.
