Whenever a person thinks of a treasure hunt, they may think of an old pirate (with a parrot on his shoulders) from long ago who buried his booty underneath a couple of palm trees and left behind a treasure map. Despite what popular culture told you about treasure hunts, they are still a cultural phenomenon that still occurs to this day.

Oak Island

On the Oak Island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, there is a mysterious pit known as “the Money Pit”. Back in 1795, a local boy named Daniel McGinnis discovered the pit underneath one of the island’s many oak trees. When he started digging into the pit, however, McGinnis discovered a 230 foot flooding trap that consisted of stone slabs, wooden planks and mats made out of coconut fiber.

As a result of this discovery, there were rumors about what’s at the bottom of the trap. This supposed “treasure” ranged from treasure that was buried by the Knights Templar to the hidden works of William Shakespeare. Through radiocarbon dating, the trap was built sometime during the 16^th century.

Although the island was privately owned by Dan Blankenship and David Tobias since the 1960s, there have been calls by the Oak Island Tourism Society to have the Canadian government buy the island for tourism purposes.

The Golden Hare

Back in 1979, a British artist named Kit Williams created a jeweled golden hare and buried it at Katherine’s Cross in Bedfordshire, England. That same year, Williams published a picture book entitled “Masquerade” in which the illustrations gave clues to where the golden hare is buried. This resulted in a nationwide treasure hunt. It was found 1982 and was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for £31,900 (which is equivalent to $122,233 when adjusted for inflation). In the 2009 documentary “The Man behind the Masquerade”, the current owner’s granddaughter arranged for Williams to be briefly reunited with the golden hare after expressing a desire to see it again earlier that year on BBC Four radio. Although the book sold thousands of copies and was translated into eight languages, Williams felt that his credibility was damaged by the book’s publication. He currently makes his living as a painter.

Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse

“Treasure” was a multimedia armchair treasure hunt that was launched in 1984 by Intravision Inc., a video production company that is based in New York. The objective of this treasure hunt is locate a 2.2 pound golden horse that contains a key to unlock a $500,000 cash prize (which would $1.1 million when adjusted for inflation). The clues for the location of the golden horse was in an 81 page picture book and a 70 minute video cassette (each were sold separately). However, the puzzle was not solved by the treasure hunt’s deadline of May 26, 1989 and the prize money was donated to the Big Brothers and Sisters of America, a charity that is based in Philadelphia. The treasure hunt still has a cult following online.