Author: Golden Owl Hunter

Links to useful sites

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Most of these websites are in French but it’s easy to set browsers to automatically translate sites, or you can use https://translate.google.com/

PDF versions of the clues

Download the enigmas from the 3rd edition of the book.

Wiki Chouette – A great wiki site full of information.

Madits Search App – An amazing search engine to study the thousands of ‘Madits’ the online Questions and Answers that Max participated in offering additional information about the Golden Owl hunt.

71721075.fr – A site listing the hints and discussion from Michel Becker about the clues, since he took over the hunt, knows where the owl is and has studied the solution. A very useful resource.

Wikipedia page – In English.

Societies

A2CO – The Association of Golden Owl Researchers, an organisation of owl hunters that organises annual events and operates a forum, they sought legal help and protected the Golden Owl when it was put up for sale.

L’association Chateau 1876 – An organisation connected to artist Michel Becker that’s trying to take charge of the Golden Owl hunt to promote it and open a museum in its honour in Rochefort.

Forums

Discord server operated by Michel Becker – The place for chat about the owl, Becker often answers questions here and chats to searchers. There is an English language channel.

La chouette.net  – A busy forum and website operated by the A2CO.

Les sans hulotte – A forum and community site with a nice design and features.

Blogs

Monglane – Blog by a longstanding owl hunter with an excellent study of the subtleties of this treasure hunt.

Zarquos – Good analysis of ‘madits’ and owl info.

Patrice Salvy – Interesting blog by someone who has searched for the owl since 1995 and written an encyclopedia about the owl hunt.

Marvin Clay – Owl blog that’s still updated fairly regularly.

Ilotresor – Blogger who believes in the popular theory that the treasure is near Dabo.

List of owl blogs – Many owl blogs are now abandoned but still hold interesting theories about the clues.

The authors

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Régis Hauser / Max Valentin

Régis Hauser wrote the Golden Owl book using the pen name Max Valentin. Sadly he died in 2009, but his memory lives on through the intriguing treasure hunt he created. Max worked in advertising and marketing before publishing ‘On the trail of the Golden Owl’ in 1993 with artist Michel Becker. Max Valentin also created more than forty other treasure hunts, whose prizes were successfully claimed. He also invented an interactive web game, ‘On the trail of the Cistes’, that allowed its users to create puzzles and hide small treasures in plastic boxes. Nearly 80,000 players registered on the site and more than 60,000 cistes have been hidden throughout the world. Régis Hauser was also the author of novels and humorous books.

Michel Becker

Michel Becker is an artist and treasure hunt enthusiast. He met Regis Hauser at a party and offered to get involved in his treasure hunt project, illustrating the clues and designing and funding the creation of the golden owl statuette. He created the pictures for the Golden Owl book, according to the specifications provided by Max Valentin. He currently owns the statuette of the Golden Owl, and, controversially, he tried to sell it at auction in June 2014. The sale was stopped by the legal action of the A2CO – the Association of Golden Owl Researchers.  In 2009 Michel Becker launched a visual only global treasure hunt called ‘The Treasure Tube’ selling a tube of paintings for €99 and offering a million euro prize,  but it was stopped a year later with the prize not awarded, there were estimated to be 2000 participants. In 2016, it was announced that a museum of the Golden Owl would open in the city of Rochefort, with the holding company apparently owned by Becker.  Becker’s paintings and the original specifications for the art will be displayed in an art gallery in an old water tower. This project also launches the Chateau 1876 association, its stated objective is ‘to create a place attached to the organized treasure hunt entitled “On the Trail of the Golden Owl ©” and, more broadly to group the objects and writings related to this operation for their ensure a sustainable existence and make them accessible to the public.’  In October 2021 it was announced that Becker would be the official organiser of the Chouette d’Or treasure hunt and a new set of game rules was published.

The prize

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La Chouette d’Or is a sculpture by Michael Becker of an owl with an approximately 50 cm wingspan, weighing about 10 kg in gold and silver and accented with diamonds.

This unique object was initially estimated to be worth one million francs, and as a unique collector’s item is likely to be worth somewhere between 250,000 to 350,000 Euros.

This valuable golden owl is not buried, but a replica made of bronze is hidden somewhere in France. The person who solves the 11 clues and finds the bronze owl can exchange it for the real Golden Owl.

The maps

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Max specified that only two maps were needed for the game, with the map only really becomes necessary in enigma 500.

A 1 in 1 million scale map

To set the Golden Owl puzzle Max used the Michelin 989 map published in 1993, at a scale of 1 in 1 million. The number 989 is no longer available, though the new Michelin 721 is the same scale. It is often possible to find old copies of the 989 map on eBay, and they can be downloaded online see this French site for details.

We know that this is the right map and scale for a few reasons. The enigma 500 mentions the scale with the line, “560,606 measurements, it is far. But the mega is a million times less.” This suggests the scale and the use of a much more detailed map for the ‘mega solution’ final stage.

The maker of the map was confirmed by a Supplementary Indication, which speaks of something, “inflated and his opinions hold the road”, that is, to say the famous Michelin Man. The Michelin brand was also clearly stated in a press article published in 1994.

A few things worth knowing about the maps. ‘Ronceveaux‘ is the answer to the 470 enigma but some later versions of the Michelin map use the Basque name for this town Orreaga.

The ‘precise’ map

The second map is the most accurate one possible. Max always refused to indicate the brand, it is most likely an IGN 1: 25000 map, or perhaps a local unbranded tourist map. He said, “The precise map is the one that is the most common!”

The first map is used to pinpoint an area about the size of a town, then you switch to a precise map to find the exact location of the treasure.

Other useful maps

It is widely accepted that solving this treasure hunt needs lines drawn on the map and/or towns plotted or marked. Many people use Google map or Google Earth Pro which is a free downloadable map program with many useful features. You can use this to stick ‘pins’ or trace lines and measure distances. It also has historic satellite imagery so it’s possible to see how locations have changed since the owl was buried more than twenty years ago. It’s my understanding that Google measures distance ‘on the ground’ so a mountaineous region would show as many more kilometre than a flat area, it’s a useful tool but worth considering that the Michelin map will plot things differently. If you decide that enigma 500 involves a 185km distance this is a simple 18.5cm of distance on the paper map, but it might reach a slightly diffent location than 185km measured by Google. It’s up to each individual owl hunter how much they think this may matter!

Google Earth Pro

There is also free software designed by owl hunting enthusiasts. Gribouillot is a Map Annotation tool created by Ludovic A. It allows the plotting of owl specific things such as spirals. It can be used with a downloaded version of the original 989 map.

B – Generally accepted solution

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HE IS NO MORE BLIND THAN ONE WHO DOES NOT WANT TO SEE

1 = 530

3 = 470

5 = 600

7 = 420

9 = 650

Solvability:   Most people seem to think this clue is completely solved.

This enigma sets the order of the puzzles. We can see that each enigma has a number and coloured owl head above the title. The number represents the wavelength colour and sorting these colours into the correct order reveals the correct order to place the clues.

How the solution is reached

In the example on the left the owl head is red. The colour red has a wavelength of 780 nanometers so 780 is listed.

Only the enigma B has no number or owl’s head above the title, it has the letter B to stand for blanc (white) light. There couldn’t be a white owl because a white head wouldn’t show on white paper.

The colours are shown on a chromatic circle on the left here, also called Newton’s disc. The puzzles are grouped in pairs because their associated colours are complementary.

The clue text for the B  enigma lists the order of riddles of odd rank and we deduce the riddles of even rank.

 

The order is as follows:

1 = 530

2 = 780

3 = 470

4 = 580

5 = 600

6 = 500

7 = 420

8 = 560

9 = 650

10 = 520

Le Figaro Magazine published the enigma puzzles in this order, so this solution appears to be correct. Max would have carefully controlled the way his additional clues were published.

Max has always said that this enigma only gave the puzzle order and nothing but the order.

The visual

The rainbow suggests light broken down by a prism into various colours. Max said the statue is a man, and it is most likely to be Isaac Newton who experimented with a rotating disc with segments in different colours. He famously owned a dog called Diamond, who also appears to be illustrated here. Isaac Newton’s work on prism light may be referenced by this picture.

Points to consider

It seems wise to assume that Max is true to his word, this puzzle reveals nothing except the order to study his clues.

There is a small chance that there is something more to understand in the title and visual, though most likely the rainbow and vision themes simply illustrate the theme of colours and light.

The title of this clue is an enigmatic, ‘He is no more blind than one who does not want to see.’ This presumably references light, seeing, and vision, yet there are many alternative ways Max could have phrased this title. Does it have some meaning?

It might also be worth noting that the concept of light appears frequently in the remaining 10 clues.

In conclusion

This puzzle reveals the order to read and solve the clues, starting with 530 and moving through to 520.

See also

Enigma B text

Enigma B madits and links

Next clue >

 

B – Madits and links

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‘Madits’ are the things Max said (‘Max dits’) about the treasure hunt. He answered searcher’s questions on a Minitel service (an early form of internet.) Here are some of the things he said about the ‘B’ clue. In Le Figaro Magazine (published on Friday June 27, 1997, pages 118-119) Max summarised the B clue, saying:
  • This riddle allows you to classify all the riddles in the order in which they must be deciphered.
  • The first three riddles are, in order: the 530, the 780 and the 470. For the following ones it is advisable to “make speak” the riddle “B”.
  • The B clue has no other use, and once this order is discovered, you can definitely ignore it.
  • The B clue specifies the usefulness of the coloured owl heads which are at the top of each of the other puzzles. Printing techniques did not allow the colours to be reproduced perfectly, the heads of the owls, on their own, were not sufficient so the colour wavelength numbers were used too.
  • The entity visible on the right on the visual is male.
Some selected madits on the B clue:
QUESTION n ° 10 FROM 1998-06-19
TITLE: B
IS THE ORDER OF THE RIDDLES THAT THE ENIGMA “B” GIVES US ESTABLISHED AS SUCH FOR THE ENTIRE GAME? MAY THERE BE A NEW ELEMENT THAT PUSHES US TO CHANGE PATH? LVD
THE “B” GIVES YOU ORDERS. PROVIDED THAT YOU DO NOT ASK ME IF THERE ARE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF READING THE RIDDLES, I CONFIRM THAT THIS ORDER IS IMMUTABLE. FRIENDSHIPS – MAX
QUESTION n ° 46 FROM 1995-08-21
TITLE: KEY
YOU ARE SAYING THAT THERE IS A KEY THAT ALLOWS YOU TO GO FROM ONE ENIGMA TO ANOTHER. IS THIS THE CASE FOR THE PASSAGE OF B TO 530? THANKS
I HAVE ANSWERED THIS QUESTION MANY TIMES HERE. THE “B” IS A KEY IN ITSELF, SINCE IT SHOWS YOU IN WHICH ORDER TO TAKE THE RIDDLES! FRIENDSHIPS – MAX
LINKS (French) You will find more Madits on Airyn’s excellent Wikichouette site. The B enigma on Monglane’s site The B enigma on Kaspius’s site

The game measure

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I go along with the generally accepted theory that the game measure is 33cm.

The third clue enigma 780 talks about ‘where you must by the compass and the foot.’

The ‘foot’ most likely refers to  ‘pied du roi’ , and it the word ‘step’ in the title also hints at this measure. A common value was close to 33cm.

The visual shows a compass.  The compass has a diameter of 10.5cm, which Max confirmed.  The method to work out the perimeter of the circle = 2 x Pi x radius, where the radius = diameter / 2 = 5.25 cm and Pi = 3.1415, or about 22/7. So, the perimeter of this compass is 33 cm.

The 33cm measure fits very well with the measures mentioned in the book, to give neat whole numbers eg. 185km rather than messy numbers like 176.457889km!

Other ideas for the measure

Some people think the measure is the compass AND the foot, so 10.5cm + 33cm so 43.5cm.

The historic measure the ‘foot’ had many variations over the centuries, as this French Wikipedia page devoted to the ‘Pied’ shows.  The 74 cm foot is used by some owl hunters.

The word “measure” appears in the puzzles. 500 , 420 and 650 , as well as an additional clue : ” For good measure, there’s only one in the book ” .

 

 

 

 

What we know about the owl’s location

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Max revealed many details about the location of the buried owl.

The general area where the owl is located
The cache is more than 100 km from the French coast.
The cache is at a lower altitude than mountain snow.
The owl is not on an island.
In a humorous mandit Max also ruled out a few places the Elysée, Matignon, the Bourbon Palace, the Senate, the Palais Brogniart, and Ginette’s bar in Mourmelon.

The place to dig
It’s public land, not private grounds.
It’s accessible at all times (except in extreme weather conditions.)
The immediate vicinity of the cache is on a less steep terrain than 20%.
The cache is more than 50 m from a human construction (this covered buildings, tarmac roads etc. but excluded molded or carved objects such as statues or standing stones.)
The cache is more than 150 m from private land.
The cache is more than 25 m from water.
The cache has no remarkable features, it is innocuous, Max left nothing on the site to mark that it was there.
The cache is in the open air not covered (so it’s not in a cave or similar.)
The owl is neither on a path, at the edge of a path (2 to 3 meters), nor is it in a ditch or at the centre of a crossroads of 2 paths that intersect.
The owl is not in a graveyard.
The owl is not buried at the foot of something and it is not backed by anything, you can go around the hole without encountering any obstacles, even spreading your arms, there is nothing within 2 meters of the cache.
The cache can not be pointed at the precise map because it is too small, but by checking things on the precise map it is clear where the cache is on the ground.
The cache is easily and quickly found. There are no “tricks” once you reach the location, there is no reasoning to be done on the site.
If you dig at night to be safe from witnesses, it is better to find the cache in the day.
To unearth the owl, Max Valentin thinks it will take 30 to 45 minutes.
You can not find roots by digging up the owl.
We do not see the site in any of the clue pictures.

See also

The final stage- The Super Solution

 

 

 

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