The Hunt for the Golden Owl
In 1993, a Frenchman buried a bronze owl somewhere in France and published 11 riddles to find it. For 31 years, people dug up fields and forests looking.
What was reported
In 1993, a writer using the pen name Max Valentin buried a bronze replica of an owl somewhere in France, and published a book, Sur la trace de la chouette d'or, with 11 complex riddles leading to it. Whoever found the replica could exchange it for a golden owl decorated with diamonds.
The hunt became an obsession for many people. Hunters dug in fields, forests and even under monuments, and argued for decades online about the riddles. Valentin died in 2009 without the owl being found.
Explanations offered
In October 2024, more than 30 years after the hunt began, the organisers announced that the hiding place had finally been found. It's one of the longest-running treasure hunts of its kind.
- When
- Buried in 1993; found in 2024
- Where
- France
- Witnesses
- Hundreds of thousands of treasure hunters
- Status
- Found
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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