The world’s longest-running treasure hunt has finally come to an end 31 years after the elusive “Golden Owl” was hidden somewhere in France.
The search for the Chouette d’Or – a statue crafted from gold, silver, and precious stones – has captivated and consumed treasure hunters for decades.
The pursuit became so intense that it is rumored to have caused financial ruin, broken marriages, and even driven some to madness.
Organisers of the hunt revealed on Thursday that the owl was found. Officials are now, however, verifying the artefact to ensure it is real, as there is some suspicion it could be a buried replica.
Following the discovery, Michel Becker, the artist who designed the Golden Owl and runs the treasure hunt, said: “We can confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night, at the same time as a solution was sent to the online verification system.
“There is therefore no need to go digging at the location you assume to be the cache… we are checking the validity of the proposed solution.”
According to the Telegraph, some hunters became so consumed by the search that their marriages ended in divorce. Others spent vast sums traveling across France in pursuit of the elusive prize. At least one is believed to have been committed to an asylum.
According to the hunt’s creator, one treasure seeker was so certain the owl was hidden beneath a chapel that he considered blowing it up, while another showed up at a bank armed with a pneumatic drill, convinced the treasure was buried beneath the floor.
In 1993, a French businessman, under an alias, buried the bronze owl statue somewhere in the country and published a book revealing 11 clues to its whereabouts.
The statue was made out of gold, silver and diamonds. It is believed to be worth around £125,350.
Régis Hauser (the hunt creator’s real name) died in 2009 – six years exactly to the day after burying the artefact.
Becker, who now runs the hunt, has encountered a series of lawsuits and complaints from frustrated treasure hunters over the years.
Earlier this year, he took legal action against Yvon Crolet, a retired engineer who had spent 20 years trying to crack the clues, only to later declare the entire hunt a scam. He said: “When you study the evidence, you have to conclude there is nothing buried at all.”
In response, Becker said: “He thought he’d found the solution but when he went there, he dug a hole that was empty. The plain fact is that his solution was wrong.”