In a rural corner of France, a small bird statuette, hidden beneath the earth for over 30 years, has finally surfaced. The long-running search for the golden owl, one of the world’s most enduring treasure hunts, seems to have reached its conclusion.
“Verification of a potentially winning solution is underway,” read an announcement on the official chat platform at 6:11 a.m. on Thursday. “No further solutions may be submitted. More information will follow.” Just after 8:00 a.m., a follow-up post on Discord confirmed: “Stop digging! The golden owl replica was unearthed last night, and a solution was simultaneously submitted.”
The announcement came from Michel Becker, the French artist who illustrated On the Trail of the Golden Owl, a 1993 book whose clues have puzzled treasure hunters for three decades. Becker, who also sculpted the original gold-and-silver owl, set the challenge for enthusiasts to find a bronze replica, with the promise that whoever unearthed it could exchange it for the original treasure, valued at nearly €300,000.
Inspired by Masquerade, a 1979 British bestseller by Kit Williams, the hunt required treasure seekers to decode 11 complex riddles scattered throughout the book, a task that has consumed the attention of thousands since it began. Unlike Williams’ gold hare hunt, solved in just three years, the quest for the owl persisted for 31 years, boosted by the rise of online forums where participants—known in French as “chouetteurs”—shared theories and strategies.
While many of the riddles were eventually solved through collective efforts, a final, elusive 12th riddle, pieced together from fragments of the first 11, remained unresolved for decades. Over the years, some hunters grew frustrated by the endless theories and competing interpretations online, further clouding the path to the treasure.
Becker himself was drawn into legal battles over the owl, especially after the death of the book’s author, Max Valentin (real name Régis Hauser), in 2009. Valentin had been the only person who knew where the owl was buried, and Becker had to sue to obtain the exact location after Valentin’s family inherited the sealed envelope containing the final solution.
As the years wore on, Becker began releasing additional clues, sparking mixed reactions. On Thursday, the reaction to the end of the hunt was bittersweet for many. “It’s hard to process,” one participant wrote on a forum, while another admitted shedding a few tears. Some, however, were relieved. “I’m free!” one user declared.
Still, many questions lingered: who had unearthed the replica, and where exactly was it buried? As of Thursday afternoon, those details remained undisclosed, fueling speculation among the treasure-hunting community.
While the owl’s saga seems to be nearing its end, The Secret, a treasure hunt launched in 1982 by Byron Preiss, still holds the title of the world’s longest-running. It involves a search for 12 hidden treasure boxes across the U.S. and Canada, only three of which have been discovered.
