The world’s longest-running treasure hunt has lastly come to an finish 31 years after the elusive “Golden Owl” was hidden someplace in France.
The seek for the Chouette d’Or – a statue crafted from gold, silver, and treasured stones – has captivated and consumed treasure hunters for many years.
The pursuit turned so intense that it’s rumored to have induced monetary smash, damaged marriages, and even pushed some to insanity.
Organisers of the hunt revealed on Thursday that the owl was discovered. Officers are actually, nevertheless, verifying the artefact to make sure it’s actual, as there’s some suspicion it may very well be a buried reproduction.
Following the invention, Michel Becker, the artist who designed the Golden Owl and runs the treasure hunt, stated: “We will affirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed final evening, similtaneously an answer was despatched to the web verification system.
“There may be subsequently no have to go digging on the location you assume to be the cache… we’re checking the validity of the proposed answer.”
In keeping with the Telegraph, some hunters turned so consumed by the search that their marriages led to divorce. Others spent huge sums touring throughout France in pursuit of the elusive prize. At the very least one is believed to have been dedicated to an asylum.
In keeping with the hunt’s creator, one treasure seeker was so sure the owl was hidden beneath a chapel that he thought of blowing it up, whereas one other confirmed up at a financial institution armed with a pneumatic drill, satisfied the treasure was buried beneath the ground.
In 1993, a French businessman, beneath an alias, buried the bronze owl statue someplace within the nation and printed a ebook revealing 11 clues to its whereabouts.
The statue was made out of gold, silver and diamonds. It’s believed to be price round £125,350.
Régis Hauser (the hunt creator’s actual identify) died in 2009 – six years precisely to the day after burying the artefact.
Becker, who now runs the hunt, has encountered a sequence of lawsuits and complaints from pissed off treasure hunters through the years.
Earlier this yr, he took authorized motion in opposition to Yvon Crolet, a retired engineer who had spent 20 years attempting to crack the clues, solely to later declare the whole hunt a rip-off. He stated: “Whenever you research the proof, it’s a must to conclude there’s nothing buried in any respect.”
In response, Becker stated: “He thought he’d discovered the answer however when he went there, he dug a gap that was empty. The plain reality is that his answer was incorrect.”