Decadeslong Treasure Hunt Believed to Come to an End After Person Finds Owl Statuette Buried in 1993

Mar. 15, 2025

Stock image of a man searching an archaeological site.Photo:Getty

Getty

A decadeslong treasure hunt that has been fascinating participants in France since 1993 is believed to have come to an end after the discovery of a long-buried owl statuette this week.

The clues, per the outlet, would then lead the treasure hunter to the location of a buried bronze replica of the golden owl. As theBBCshared in 2018 when the hunt had been going on for 25 years, the 11 puzzles (or enigmas), were supposed to lead the treasure hunter to a town in France, where a hidden 12th enigma guides them to the location.

“The verification system is currently locked and no longer allows you to submit your solutions. Further information will be communicated to you as soon as possible,” Becker wrote in a translated message on Thursday, later asking participants to not “go digging” in a follow-up announcement.

“We confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night, simultaneously with a solution upload to the online verification system. It is therefore useless to go digging on the location you assume to be the cache,” he added. “As previously announced, we are verifying the validity of the proposed solution.”

Michel Becker’s ‘On the Trail of the Golden Owl’.Amazon

Amazon

It remains unclear where and how the owl was discovered, and Becker has not announced the name of the treasure hunter responsible for making the discovery as of Thursday.

The BBC previously reported that when Valentin died in 2009, he left his family with an envelope revealing his secret. He reportedly said in 1996 that “if all the searchers put all their knowledge together, the owl would be found in… two hours.” According totheGuardian, before his death, the treasure hunt creator provided 6,000 messages including hints and bits of information in the first three months of the search on French online service Minitel.

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source: people.com