On a random winter day, the sun pierces with its cold light the rows of fir trees that populate this Vosges forest.
About a hundred meters from the small asphalt road that crosses it, a damp path sinks into the undergrowth, towards an open space where three old milestones, carved with old writing, are planted.
In time, they marked the border with Alsace.
Today, the moss is eating away at them.
“These are the sentinels of the 650 enigma
,” explains Joseph*.
In his car parked on the stones, wrapped in a blanket, this unshaven, poorly-combed man fiddles with a set of scribbled notebooks and maps.
When we approach, he hastens to hide all the pieces of paper on which mysterious formulas accumulate to our uninitiated eye, diagrams and enigmatic sketches.
“This is maybe the twentieth time I've come, and I've dug almost 100 times
,” he explains after rolling down his foggy window.
“I’ve never been closer.”
The man is looking for treasure.
He is on the trail of the golden owl.
This precious metal object, which would have a value of more than 100,000 euros, was buried more than 30…
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