6 Real Treasures That Still Haven't Been Found

Whether we want to admit it or not, there’s a little treasure hunter in all of us. We don’t listen to him all that often, but whenever the opportunity to find some money pops up, we know he’s still there. Unfortunately, he’s lead a lot of people around by the nose through the years. Treasure hunters are known to go for broke as they attempt to solve this or that mystery and lay claim to some shiny loot. Want to get in on the action? Here are:

6 Real Treasures That Still Haven't Been Found

1. Golden Owl of France

Why not start with one of the longest running and well known treasure hunts of modern history? There’s not a treasure hunter or cryptographer worth his salt who hasn’t heard of the hunt for the Golden Owl. The madness of this particular hunt started in April 1993 when Régis Hauser published “On The Trail of the Golden Owl” under the pseudonym Max Valentin. The book contains several puzzles and riddles that points to a golden owl hidden somewhere in the French countryside, and the 1 million francs that goes with its discovery.

As the story goes, Hauser had expected the treasure to be found within the year; it seems the communications expert and author had very, very high expectations of his readers. Hauser died in 2009, but before his death he’d confirmed that the owl was still hidden away. He did say that it’d looked like treasure hunters had been nearby, but that the owl itself had remained hidden.

The hunt is still ongoing, despite having been at risk at one point – some treasure hunters got a little too eager, burning down a chapel. One of the ‘custodians’ of the treasure hunt apparently didn’t want to protect the treasure or wait for someone to find it anymore either, and came very close to making off with the owl. Thanks to the efforts of the treasure hunting association A2CO, however, the owl is still hidden and waiting for the lucky treasure hunter who finally solves all the clues to find it.

2. The Dead Sea Copper Scrolls

In 1952, deep within a system of Jordanian caves, a pair of copper scrolls were found. Scrolls that, as it turned out, was a treasure map that had been broken up into two pieces. And what a find it was indeed, pointing out the locations of 64 different treasures that had been scattered around Israel. What luck, wouldn’t you say?

Unfortunately, the scroll is probably the most frustrating treasure hunter’s map ever found. Not only is it written in a unique derivation of Hebrew, making it a bitch for the average hunter to read, but the directions are about as clear as mud. Not on purpose, of course, but the map was written for someone who would actually know the places mentioned. Sadly, no such person has been alive in well over two thousand years.

Want to give it a try? Here are the instructions for “Item 3”: “In the funeral shrine, in the 3rd row of stones: One hundred gold ingots.” Because, naturally, we all know about that funeral shrine. There’s just no way anyone has moved the third row of stones. And then there’s the “staircase of refuge” mentioned by Item 5. We know that one, too; it’s two streets over from the Staircase of Ambiguity, opposite the Pit of Hopelessness. The treasure is as good as ours.

3. The Fenn Treasure

Everyone wants to know that when they die they’ll be leaving some kind of mark on the world. For some people, that’s more important than for most. So important that, when told of their impending death due to cancer, they gather up all their treasure and bury it for the world to find. That person was Forrest Fenn, and in 1988 he was diagnosed with cancer. In response, Fenn created a bronze chest and filled it with gold, rare coins, jewels and gems – he’d been quite the treasure hunter himself, you see, so what better way to leave a legacy behind?

As it turned out, the doctor that diagnosed Fenn was a few years off and it was only much later that he finally hid his treasure, and he published his memoire, “The Thrill of the Chase”, in 2010. The memoire contains a poem with clues that lead to his treasure, and over the years Fenn has continued to leave clues behind for eager treasure hunters. In 2013 he published a second book, “Too Far to Walk”, that contained a map which revealed the treasure to be hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Despite further clues, such as “The treasure is not in a graveyard.” and “The treasure chest is wet.”, the bronze chest still eludes treasure hunters.

But somewhere 5’000 feet up on those mountains near Santa Fe there lies a $3 million treasure, just waiting for someone to finally stumble over it…

4. $63 Million In Bedford County, Beale Ciphers

Thomas Beale was either paranoid, or one cruel sonofabitch. As the story goes, Beale and his fellows just so happened to find a pretty hefty treasure while they were mining in the Rocky Mountains. The treasure itself is estimated to be worth around $63 million today, so it’s only natural that Beale and his friends wanted to make sure that the money found their families – just in case they didn’t make it themselves.

Instead of just taking their damn treasure and going on with their lives, Beale decided that the treasure needed to be kept a secret, and that they would only come back for it in ten years. To protect it, they hid money and Beale wrote three ciphers – one to describe the location of the treasure, one for the contents, and one that contained the names of the men and their next of kin. In a brilliant move, Beale then gave an innkeeper in Virginia, Robert Morriss, the ciphers along with very specific instructions. Morriss was to wait for ten years, and then open the box. Beale would either come back then, or mail Morriss a key to the cipher.

Neither event occurred, cruelly leaving Morriss with half a puzzle. He spent years trying to decode the ciphers but, in a cruel twist of fate, the only cipher Morriss and his friend could figure out was the one that described the contents of the treasure. At least they know exactly what they’re missing while they try to figure out where to find it.

5. $200 Million of Silver in Key West

No list of treasures is complete without some mention of a Spanish treasure fleet (there seems to be so many, after all), and this one is no different. For this particular list, we’re going with the galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha and its accompanying fleet. Over $1.2 billion in treasure has already been found, so it’s pretty safe to believe that this isn’t just another yarn of an over-eager Spanish captain setting sail when he shouldn’t.

In 1622, the fleet that set sail to Spain found themselves caught in a hurricane off the coast of Key west. All the ships – and their cargo of gold, silver and gems – was send to Davey Jones’ for their efforts. Aside from the treasure of the fleet, treasure hunter Mel Fisher found another $500 million in treasure less than 160km off the coast of Key West. Considering how much treasure has been found, one would think that this golden goose is nearing its end.

Not so, says experts. According to the original manifest – compared with what has been found – there’s still 17 tons of silver, 128,000 coins of different values, 27 kilos of emeralds, and 35 boxes of gold just waiting to be found. 

6. Lake Guatavita and the El Dorado Gold

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. El Dorado is a myth, and there is no city of gold. And if there ever was a city of gold, it’s long gone now. Don’t fret, I agree with you. But that doesn’t change the fact that the area around Lake Guatavita was inhabitant by native Colombians who had a very particular custom – one that left evidence behind.

When a new tribal chief was initiated, they would cover him in gold dust and send him sailing on the lake with a treasure filled raft. The purpose was simple – once deep into the lake, the chief would throw the treasure into the water, thus gifting it to some very greedy gods. What they’d need all that treasure at the bottom of a lake for is anyone’s guess, but there you go.

Over the years the lake has been partially drained many times as excavators attempted to retrieve these sunken treasures, and reportedly over 40 tons of treasure has been found. One American company succeeded in draining the entire lake… and trapping the gold in rock hard mud. But some of the efforts have been fruitful, with large amounts of gold already recovered from Lake Guatavita.

However, it is the belief of many that the bulk of the treasure is still deep in the lake, waiting to be found. Unfortunately, the Columbian government is, understandably, quite pissed off that people keep destroying their lake. The – full – lake is now protected by law. Too bad.

Did you enjoy the article? Feedback is always welcome; leave a comment below, and don't forget to share! Remember to subscribe to receive notifications about new posts!