He still can’t believe it. In front of a small format facsimile of the famous Golden Owl, which has put an entire community of “owlers” in suspense since the launch of the game in 1993, Pierre Blouch smiles but sighs. “The treasure hunt is officially over (following the announcement of the discovery on the social network Discord, Thursday October 4), but we are all waiting to find out more. Who solved the riddle? Where was the countermark buried? I hope the answers will meet our expectations. But it will remain a mystery. I’m sure a lot of owls will continue to dig.”
In his living room in Plouzané, the retired Météo France engineer recalls, amusedly, the taste for games which made him embark on this treasure hunt, the largest ever launched in the world. The work of a certain Max Valentin (real name Régis Hauser), of which the creator of the owl-shaped trophy, Michel Becker, is today the custodian. “I really liked orienteering rallies at the time. I saw an article from L’Express presenting the book and the eleven enigmas “On the trail of the golden owl”. With an office colleague, we found it cool and we started together. It lasted a year and a half. Me, 31 years old! »
“The scare of my life”
There were ups and downs in this frantic quest for clues, which led the Finisterian to decipher Morse code, calculate densities or plot weighted barycenters on a road map to the twenty-five thousandth. “The first fifteen years, I was hooked. I immersed myself with delight in sacred geometry, the story of Napoleon’s 100 days, Victor Hugo’s Hernani… I visited the mythical places (Bourges, Compostela or the small village of Dabo in Moselle) that Max Valentin had put in our path. I was also convinced that I had found the final treasure spot! »
Three times, between 1997 and 2000, he took his loved ones on board the adventure, traveling hundreds of kilometers to dig, as discreetly as possible, a point where the precious €150,000 voucher could be buried. “All my research led me for years on a false trail, near Bourges. I found myself all alone with my spade, on a moonless night, searching a spot in a communal wood without light. I didn’t find anything but I got the scare of my life. The barking of a dog scared away a large game which surprised me. I’m still shaking! »
Who solved the riddle? Where was the countermark buried? I hope the answers will meet our expectations. But it will remain a mystery. I’m sure a lot of owls will continue to dig
“Pierre is the star”
A founding member of the very serious association of gold owl researchers (A2CO), Pierre Blouch continued to regularly participate in “owl parties” and annual mini-hunts, even when professional life temporarily took him away from the riddles. “There were so many false leads and stories after the death of Max Valentin, in 2009, that I had somewhat resigned myself to never finding the treasure,” he sighs.
The relaunch of the game on Discord, in 2019, put it back in the saddle a little. “Since yesterday, at least, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Pierre is the star. Everyone wants to know if he’s the winner! », laughs his wife Françoise, who is frightened by the owl somewhere. “Many will have difficulty realizing that it is over. The owls, among themselves, they are a little strange, you know.”