The Secret

The Secret – A Treasure Hunt

Looking for a treasure hunt to go on? This book, and subsequent treasure hunt, was produced by Byron Preiss in 1982, and contains hints and descriptions for 12 locations around the United States and Canada for treasure boxes that he had hidden. As of the time of this writing (January 2020) only 3 of the 12 treasure boxes have been found!

The book, written by Sean Kelly and Ted Mann (illustrated by John Jude Palencar, John Pierard, and Overton Loyd), was first published by Batnam in 1982, and contains 12 images and 12 verses that supposedly match up to provide clues to the 12 treasure box locations. Apparently they are pretty hard to decipher, and I had to pick up a copy of this book to see for myself. Unfortunately, what you can get on Amazon these days is a crappy “copy” of the original book that is quite blurry and not at all useful. Legit copies of the book are fetching hundreds of dollars.

The three treasure boxes that have been recovered were found in Chicago IL, Cleveland OH, and Boston, MA. The remaining 9 treasure boxes are presumably still out there somewhere, or have been destroyed or buried forever in a weather event or new construction projects.

Now apparently there are some rules of engagement per-say:

1) Every treasure casque is buried underground, at a depth of no more than three to three and one-half feet. The casques are protected by lustrous transparent boxes, and are sealed.

2) The following places do not hold any treasure:

(a) any life-threatening location, such as a dangerous highway embankment, a contaminated area or active railway track
(b) any cemetery
(c) any public or private flower bed
(d) any property owned by the contributors to the book, their families or friends.

Here are the 12 images and cities they are suppose to correspond to: