World's Longest Treasure Hunt for a 'Golden Owl' That Commenced in 1993 Finally Came to an End

A three-decade-old treasure hunt finally reaches its end in France. French writer, Régis Hauser, sent treasure hunters all over the world into a frenzy when he released a book in 1993 full of hints about the location of an elusive prize, My Modern Met reported.

For 31 years, the mystery remained unsolved. The pursuit became so popular that people chasing the treasure formed a group and called themselves 'Owlers.'

The book in question was On the Trail of the Golden Owl which Hauser published in collaboration with artist Michel Becker, Smithsonian Magazine reported. It contained eleven clues—all leading to the location of a bronze owl model in France.

Hauser along with Becker had created an ornate owl sculpture made of gold back in the day. The sculpture contained more than six pounds of gold and 15 pounds of silver. There were several diamond chips placed around the owl's face. The exquisite sculpture's present value will be somewhere around €150,000 (about $165,000), according to the fans. Hauser announced that the location his book unveiled contained the bronze replica of this sculpture.

After the book's printing Hauser declared that anyone who manages to get to the location of the replica by solving the riddles will get the gold owl model as a prize. The pursuit was taken seriously by Hauser and he did all of this under a pen name Max Valentin, to prevent participants from contacting him. Hauser wrote the location's name on paper and sealed it in an envelope, keeping it in his home.

Hauser died in 2009, and Becker took it upon himself to verify if the replica was still there at the particular spot, My Modern Met reported. Becker opened the envelope, visited the location, and declared that the hunt was still on. 

On October 3, the hunt’s official Discord forum announced that they were verifying a "potentially winning solution," The Guardian reported. The long-time fans were waiting with bated breaths to know if the three-decade-old question had been answered. Officials meanwhile were verifying not only the location but also if the person had solved all the riddles and not just stumbled on the treasure.

Soon the official website returned with the delightful news. "Don’t go digging!" The announcement continued. "We confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night. It is therefore useless to go digging. As for the lucky person who found the Golden Owl, their identity is being kept under wraps as they’ve asked to stay anonymous."