The longest treasure hunt has come to an end, it seems, as it has been announced that a golden owl statuette has finally been unearthed in France - after 31 years.
"We confirm that the replica of the golden owl was dug up last night and that this solution has been sent to the online system for verification," according to the announcement of the organizers from Thursday morning.
"That's why it's pointless now to travel and dig any place where you think there's a hiding place."
The message was published by Michel Becker, who illustrated the original book Chouette d'Or (Chouette d'Or - golden owl) and sculpted the buried statuette in 1993.
No additional information about the location or the finder was released, and Becker was not available for comment.
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Tens of thousands of people participated in the search, and many books, brochures and texts were written about it and on websites.
All of them followed the trail of 11 complicated riddles set by the author Max Valentin in the first book.
When Valentin died in 2009, Beker took over to lead the treasure hunt.
Complicated instructions were to lead to a precise point somewhere in France, where underground was a bronze replica of an actual golden owl.
The winner will receive a valuable gold original.
In the French Kanal+ documentary about this search at the beginning of the year, it was said that the value of the owl is estimated at 150.000 euros.
The news about the possible find shook the world of shooters - as treasure hunters are called - on Thursday morning.
"Finally - freed!" reads one comment on the Discord forum.
"I didn't think I would live to see the day," writes another.
"This is like Kovid. Great when it's over."
"Interesting, I'm relieved. I desperately want to find out the solutions to see if I'm on the right track," commented one of the participants.
Some hunters are still skeptical, fearing that the hideout was detected by a metal detector.
According to the rules, the finder has to show that he solved the riddles correctly and that he did not accidentally run into the owl.
Hunting was also mired in legal disputes for years after Valentino's death, and not all hunters accepted that Becker took the leading role.
At first, Becker himself had no knowledge of what was happening with the buried owl.
The solution was in a sealed envelope owned by the Valentina family.
Once the legal issues were resolved, Becker read the decision and traveled to the site to check if the owl was still there.
In recent years, he has released more clues to the tracking community, fueling the interest of a new generation of shooters.
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