World’s Longest Treasure Hunt Ends After 31 Years, 5 Months, and 9 Days

The treasure hunt for the “Golden Owl” in France seems to be over after a number of European news outlets report somebody has lastly cracked the code and located the statuette. That makes it the world’s longest treasure hunt after 31 years, 5 months, and 9 days.

French writer Régis Hauser buried a statuette of an owl someplace in France again in 1993 as a type of promotion for his guide, On The Path of the Golden Owl, which he printed beneath the pseudonym Max Valentin. Hauser stated that the 11 puzzles in his guide would reveal the situation, one thing he assumed would occur comparatively shortly.

The sport’s co-creator painter Michel Becker introduced on the Discord for the treasure hunt that somebody had discovered the owl. It’s not clear but who could have lastly discovered it.

“We will affirm that the Golden Owl was unearthed final night time, concurrently with an answer add that was despatched to the web verification system. There may be due to this fact no want so that you can go digging on the location you assume to be the hiding spot,” Becker wrote in Discord in accordance with an English language translation.

La célèbre Chouette d’or cachée quelque half en France depuis 1993 aurait été découverte cette nuit!!! #chouettedor #maxvalentin pic.twitter.com/aUsmhwUlV0

— Steph Cruchon (@stephcru) October 3, 2024

Hauser was the one one who knew the situation of the owl and after he died a authorized battle ensued between the writer’s heirs and Becker, the co-creator of the sport. Becker obtained the solutions to the riddles within the early 2020s, in accordance with EuroNews, and reinvigorated the hunt by launching a Discord server for dialogue.

The prize owl weighs about 22 kilos (10kg), manufactured from silver and gold. The owl additionally has diamonds in its head and is billed as value about 150,000 euros ($165,000 US), although the one which’s been hidden is a bronze reproduction. Whoever has discovered the reproduction can now commerce it in for the true deal, which is in Becker’s possession.

Earlier than he died, Hauser insisted in 1996 that the puzzles actually weren’t that arduous if the folks engaged on them would simply work collectively. “If all of the searchers put all their data collectively, the owl can be present in… two hours,” Hauser stated in accordance with the BBC.

The treasure hunt that beforehand held the document for longest was within the UK and dubbed Quest: A Zetetic Treasure Hunt, which lasted 13 years and 7 months, from 1992 till 2006, in accordance with EuroNews. However even the individuals who could not have discovered the treasure this time could lastly get some closure concerning the 11 puzzles which have perplexed them for all of those years. The solutions to the puzzles are anticipated to ultimately be launched.