Charleston Treasure Hunts-Join the Chase and Test Your Problem-Solving Skills

A wall at 8 Legare Street, the Sword Gate house

Charleston and the surrounding Lowcountry is full of legends of lost treasures. $63,000 in gold and silver is believed to be buried on or near the Hampton Plantation. Drayton Hall was occupied by the British during the Revolutionary War. Supposedly, a few buried treasures are in the area. A large quantity of Spanish treasure is thought to be buried near Cape Romain. The notorious pirate Blackbeard, may have stored treasures on Daufuskie Island. Pirate Stede Bonnet, who was hanged in Charleston, is said to have buried treasure along the banks of the Santee River.

However, hunters beware, packing a sense of humor along with your snacks is a must as seen in the following example. An old treasure chest brimming with what looked like silver and gold coins was unearthed by a jubilant woman with a metal detector on a Hilton Head beach. Surprise. They turned out to be toy coins. Nonetheless, treasure hunting can be fun and rewarding, whether the pursuit is authentic or invented for entertainment.

If you can solve this French riddle, you could win a Golden Owl statuette worth half a million dollars. Sur la trace de la chouette d'or (On the trail of the golden owl) is the title of the book created by Max Valentin, Régis Hauser's pseudonym name. It contains eleven double-page spreads, each of which is a discrete riddle composed of a title, text, and a painting. Each pair of pages is numbered with a wavelength associated with its colors, and with an owl face.

Michel Becker painted the eleven paintings for the book and also created the replica owl made of bronze, which was buried somewhere in France by Hauser on the night of April 23, 1993. Solve the treasure hunt, unearth the replica, and exchange it for the real Golden Owl made of gold and silver with a hundred diamonds embedded in the owl's face. 

The treasure hunt was launched on May 15, 1993. As of the present, it has not been solved. It is the second longest-running contest in the armchair treasure hunt genre. Of course, you will have to go to France to participate. I included this because of Charleston's strong French Huguenot history.

It is similar to the treasure hunt in the United States created by Byron Preiss in his 1982 book called The Secret, A Treasure Hunt, which also has not been completely solved.

In 1982, Byron Preiss buried twelve treasure boxes in secret locations in twelve cities. He commissioned twelve mesmerizing paintings to be created containing clues for the seeker to decipher. The book was authored by Sean Kelly and Ted Mann and illustrated by John Jude Palencar. The ornate boxes were hidden on city property, in local parks, and possibly in your own backyard. Ironically, Charleston is believed to be one of those chosen cities.

Each box contains one of twelve keys. If you solve the clues and retrieve the key, the prize you receive is the jewel accompanying the artwork. You are instructed to send the key to the author and in exchange, he would send you the valuable treasure. There is over ten thousand dollars worth of precious jewels. So far, three have been discovered in Chicago, Cleveland, and the most recent, Boston. Nine remain undiscovered.

Strangely, both Regis Hauser and Byron Preiss were killed in car accidents. Hauser left the solutions to his treasure hunt inside a sealed envelope, which are now held by his lawyer. Preiss kept no record of the treasure boxes' exact locations, but his estate has chosen to honor his endeavor.

Charleston is believed to be one of Preiss's chosen cities. One of the mysterious paintings unmistakably contains a map of what looks like an outline of the Charleston peninsula and surrounding landscape. Josh Gates of "Expedition Unknown" came to the Holy City in May of 2019 to film a dig that would take place near Charleston's Defenders of the Confederacy monument. It was believed the clues had been solved and pointed to that location, but the attempt failed to reveal the ornate treasure box. Can you solve it?

You have the opportunity to participate in another Charleston treasure hunt. Blue Steel Promotions, On Purpose Adventures, and On Purpose Games have teamed together to sponsor the biggest and most epic scavenger hunt the Holy City has ever seen called The Hunt: Charleston. It will take place Saturday, November 13, 2021, from 10 am – 9 pm. The grand prize is an all-inclusive trip to Cancun for 5 days. Tickets are $85 - $150.

Teams of four will be pitted against the clock, the elements, and the competition to accrue points and solve clues to be the first to find the buried treasure. They will face tasks and challenges of all types including physical activities like kayaking, skateboarding, handstands, human pyramids, and wheelbarrow races. Other activities will be solving puzzles, riddles, anagrams, brainteasers, decipher cryptic codes, augmented reality, and more.

There will be a Welcome Party Friday night where you'll pick up your "welcome packet", meet and mingle with fellow competitors while enjoying drink and food specials. The weekend will wrap up with an After Party at a restaurant/bar close by the treasure site. Location will be revealed at the finish of the hunt. For full details, go to The Hunt: Charleston.

In addition, I invite you to be the first to solve the accompanying clues with a prize on the completion of a successful journey. It won't be an expensive ruby, but it does have monetary value. If you love the Holy City, it will be an enjoyable hand-son quest to some of its most cherished sights where you must collect vital information by way of challenging clues needed to take you all the way to the secret location. A capsule is buried just underneath the surface with instructions inside.

Check out my recently released book on Amazon, Charleston and Summerville, South Carolina, Soak in the History-Bask in the Amenities. It talks about "the chilling ghostly drink," the "telling ball," and much more. Enjoy Charleston and have fun, my friends.

More Charleston Treasure Hunts:

Charleston Ghost Tour Scavenger Hunt: A Walk on Charleston’s Dark Side

Charleston Scavenger Hunt: Charleston Treasures

Charleston Bar Crawl Scavenger Hunt: Charleston Chase Bar Crawl