THE world’s longest-running treasure hunt has come to an end after the mysterious Golden Owl was finally unearthed.
Made entirely of gold and silver, with diamonds on the head, the hunt for the Golden Owl has ended after 31 years.
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Tens of thousands of people had joined the hunt since a series of puzzles and clues were published in “On The Trail Of The Golden Owl”.
A message posted by the official game organiser and book illustrator Michel Becker said: “We confirm that the replica of the golden owl was dug up last night.
“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.”
The identity of the winner or the location where the Golden Owl was stashed have yet to be announced.
Treasure-hunters were in a joyous uproar after the news of the discovery came out om the hunt’s Discord forum.
One person said: “Finally – liberated!”
Another added: “I didn’t think I’d live to see the day.
“It’s like Covid. So good when it’s over.”
A third added: “Curiously, I’m relieved.
“I’m desperate to know the solutions now to see if I was on the right path.”
The armchair treasure-hunt book was created in 1993 by communications expert Régis Hauser under the pseudonym “Max Valentin” and illustrated by artist Michel Becker.
Under Max Valentin, Hauser buried a bronze statue of an owl in a secret location in France, with a series of 11 clues published in a book to help treasure hunters find the prize.
These clues were often short riddles, or plays on words.
The lucky finder would be able to exchange the bronze bird for a golden one, estimated at the time to be worth one million francs, the equivalent of €246,000 (£206,000).
Hauser died in 2009 and illustrator Michel Becker took over as the official game master.
In 2021, Becker was sent a floppy disk by Valentin’s heirs that was said to contain the solution.
Accompanied by a bailiff, he went to the spot where the statue should have been buried.
Instead, in a hole below the surface, he found a plastic supermarket bag and inside it, a rusting bird made of ferrous metal but not bronze.
While Becker wasn’t certain of what happened to the original owl, he decided to replace it with a second bronzed statue to allow the game to continue – until now.
What was the Golden Owl Hunt?
On The Trail Of The Golden Owl was a treasure hunt book created by Max Valentin.
The book contained several clues and riddles to a final location and a cache, hidden somewhere in France.
Michel Becker created eleven paintings for the book, as well as the final prize, the Golden Owl statuette.
The statuette is 10 inches high and 20 inches wide, and weighs 33 lbs.
The book consists of eleven double-page spreads, each of which is a discrete riddle composed of a title, text, and a painting.
Each pair of pages is numbered with a wavelength associated with its colours, and with an owl face.
Three specific techniques were confirmed by Valentin before his death:
- The use of maps. The reader must do something with a map, to reveal the final zone of the game, then use a precise map of that zone to find the cache that contains the owl.
- The existence of a “mega trick”, which is the key to using the sequence of eleven riddles to identify the final zone.
- The existence of a final, hidden riddle that completes the game. When a reader finds this riddle in the final zone, he or she will be able to utilise elements of the previous riddles to form and solve the last riddle. The decryption of the last riddle will lead to the cache that contains the owl.
