A 31-year treasure hunt has finally ended

31 years, five months, and nine days after it began, a hunt for a golden owl has finally ended (via Gizmodo). Following a trail of clues left by author and puzzle designer Régis Hauser in his book On the Trail of the Golden Owl, published in 1993, the successful scavenger unearthed a bronze replica of the owl on October 3. The replica can be exchanged for the real prize, a 10-kilogram statue made of gold and silver decorated with diamonds that is worth roughly $US165,000.

Though Hauser died in 2009, the book's illustrator Michel Becker became the treasure hunt's caretaker and recently opened a Discord server that breathed new life into the search, making it easier for hunters to collaborate.

On the Trail of the Golden Owl is one of many "armchair treasure hunts" published following the invention of the genre by Kit Williams in his 1979 book Masquerade, which contained clues leading to a buried statue of a golden hare. Another example of the form, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt, contains puzzles whose solutions lead to 12 buried treasure boxes. Though the book was published in 1982, only three of the treasures have been found so far.