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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Alice Irazari.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm Colin Lowva. Spotlight uses a special English method

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<v Speaker 2>of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no

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<v Speaker 2>matter where in the world they live.

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<v Speaker 1>On August seventh, nineteen seventy nine, Kit Williams buried a

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<v Speaker 1>piece of jewelry in Amphil, a small town in the

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<v Speaker 1>south of England. There was only one other person there

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<v Speaker 1>to see it happen. The jewelry was made from gold

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<v Speaker 1>and valuable stones. It was shaped like a rabbit, an

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<v Speaker 1>animal with large ears and long back legs. Williams put

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<v Speaker 1>the rabbit in a special box so that no one

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<v Speaker 1>could uncover it with devices that find metal. He buried

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<v Speaker 1>it deep in the earth.

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<v Speaker 2>Later that month, Williams released a picture book. It was

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<v Speaker 2>called Masquerade. The book contained sixteen beautiful paintings. It told

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<v Speaker 2>a story about a rabbit bringing a treasure from the

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<v Speaker 2>moon to the sun. At the end of the book,

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<v Speaker 2>the rabbit loses the treasure. The book asked readers to

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<v Speaker 2>help the rabbit find this treasure. Its pages contained the

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<v Speaker 2>information needed to find the treasure. People could study the

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<v Speaker 2>pictures to find what Williams had buried at Ampt Hill.

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<v Speaker 1>The reaction to William's book was massive. Masquerade sold over

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<v Speaker 1>a million copies. People all over Great Britain tried to

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<v Speaker 1>find William's treasure. When the hunt was over three years later,

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<v Speaker 1>it had become a world wide event. Today's spotlight is

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<v Speaker 1>on the hunt for William's golden Rabbit. It is also

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<v Speaker 1>about the other treasure hunts that Masquerade set in motion.

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<v Speaker 2>Before publishing Masquerade Kit, Williams was mostly known as an artist.

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<v Speaker 2>He made paintings and statues, but in the nineteen seventies

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<v Speaker 2>the publishing company Jonathan Cape called him. The publisher asked

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<v Speaker 2>him to make a new kind of picture book. Williams

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<v Speaker 2>decided he wanted to make a book that people would study.

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<v Speaker 3>He said, I was to spend two years on the

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<v Speaker 3>sixteen paintings for Masquerade. I wanted them to mean something.

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<v Speaker 3>I remember how as a child I found treasure hunts,

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<v Speaker 3>but they were not exciting. The treasure was not worth finding.

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<v Speaker 3>So I decided to make a real treasure of gold,

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<v Speaker 3>buried it in the ground, and I painted real pictures

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<v Speaker 3>to lead people to it.

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<v Speaker 1>The treasure that Masquerade promised was enough for some people

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<v Speaker 1>to buy the book. But William's book was also interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>No one knew where to begin, so readers spent a

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<v Speaker 1>long time looking through its paintings. They spoke with each

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<v Speaker 1>other and shared ideas. The search gave readers a sense

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<v Speaker 1>of excitement. Ash Charlton was a student at the University

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<v Speaker 1>of Glasgow. In twenty twenty, she wrote on the blog

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<v Speaker 1>simply Archivists.

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<v Speaker 4>The interesting thing about Masquerade is that it is a

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<v Speaker 4>lovely object by itself. It has amazing artwork and storytelling.

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<v Speaker 4>There is no longer treasure at the end of it,

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<v Speaker 4>but there is still a desire to work through the pictures.

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<v Speaker 4>You want to see how to solve it.

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<v Speaker 2>It took treasure hunters three years to solve William's book.

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<v Speaker 2>Mike Barker and John Russo were English teachers. These two

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<v Speaker 2>were the first to put the pictures together, but they

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<v Speaker 2>were not the ones to find the treasure. It was

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<v Speaker 2>found by a man named Dougaled Thompson. But Thompson did

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<v Speaker 2>not find the treasure fairly. He was friends with a

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<v Speaker 2>woman who had once dated Williams. She remembered visiting a

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<v Speaker 2>place with Williams. It was the same place where he

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<v Speaker 2>buried the.

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<v Speaker 1>Rabbit Williams was not happy that Thompson found the rabbit,

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<v Speaker 1>but there was nothing he could do about it. Some

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<v Speaker 1>readers felt that they had been cheated. They blamed Williams.

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<v Speaker 1>The artist made one more book, he called it The

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<v Speaker 1>Bee on the Comb, but after this he stopped writing.

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<v Speaker 1>He still painted, but he did not want many people

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<v Speaker 1>to see his work.

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<v Speaker 2>The reaction to Masquerade was difficult for Williams, but he

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<v Speaker 2>had created a new kind of book, and in the

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<v Speaker 2>years since, hundreds of authors have made books like Masquerade.

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<v Speaker 2>Experts call these books armchair treasure hunts. They are called

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<v Speaker 2>this because people can find their treasure without leaving their chairs.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the most difficult of these armchair treasure hunts

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<v Speaker 1>was On the Trail of the Golden Owl, written by

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<v Speaker 1>French author Reggie Hauser. The Golden Owl was a lot

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<v Speaker 1>like Masquerade, but it was even more difficult. Hauser took

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<v Speaker 1>four hundred and fifty hours to make his book. To

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<v Speaker 1>find the treasure, a person would need to understand music, numbers,

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<v Speaker 1>and the way planets moved through space. Houser also used

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<v Speaker 1>special languages and pictures.

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<v Speaker 2>On the Trail of the Golden Owl was not as

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<v Speaker 2>successful as Masquerade, in one way. It did not sell

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<v Speaker 2>as many books, but The Golden Owl was more successful

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<v Speaker 2>at fooling its readers. Hunters took over thirty years to

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<v Speaker 2>find its treasure. By the time people solved its mystery,

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<v Speaker 2>Houser had died. Many people thought that the solution would

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<v Speaker 2>die with him, but in twenty twenty four, one treasure

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<v Speaker 2>hunter dug up The Golden Bird.

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<v Speaker 1>Only one treasure hunt has gone on longer than on

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<v Speaker 1>the trail of the Golden Owl. It is called The Secret.

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<v Speaker 1>This book was written by a man named Byron Price

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty two. Instead of just one treasure, Price

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<v Speaker 1>hid twelve boxes across North America and Canada. Anyone who

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<v Speaker 1>found one of these boxes could exchange it for a

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<v Speaker 1>valuable stone.

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<v Speaker 2>Price book was also very difficult. Hunters found the first

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<v Speaker 2>box quickly, but the remaining boxes were far more complex.

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<v Speaker 2>Price's writing also became more difficult to understand over time.

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<v Speaker 2>Often the book spoke about different trees or buildings. Hunters

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<v Speaker 2>were supposed to use these landmarks to find the treasure,

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<v Speaker 2>but many no longer exist. Some buildings were torn down

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<v Speaker 2>over the years. The trees the book pointed to may

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<v Speaker 2>have died.

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<v Speaker 1>Hunters found the second of the Secret's treasure boxes in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand and four, but in two thousand and five

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<v Speaker 1>Price died. He did not write down the place where

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<v Speaker 1>any of his boxes could be found, so no one

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<v Speaker 1>now knows exactly where they are. Hunters found a third

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<v Speaker 1>box in twenty nineteen, and people believe they know where

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<v Speaker 1>other boxes are. But some now have buildings on top

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<v Speaker 1>of them. Others may be in private property. The ground

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<v Speaker 1>may have shifted, the boxes may have been destroyed. It

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<v Speaker 1>may be that the secret of the secret has been

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<v Speaker 1>lost forever.

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<v Speaker 2>Hundreds of arm chair treasure hunts have been published since Masquerade.

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<v Speaker 2>These hunts may not have the same appeal as the

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<v Speaker 2>first one. Masquerade was a worldwide event. It was the

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<v Speaker 2>first of its kind, so it felt special. Today, only

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<v Speaker 2>a special group of treasure hunters work on these hunts,

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<v Speaker 2>but this does not make these hunts any less interesting.

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<v Speaker 2>Shane Richardson is a treasure hunt writer. He spoke to

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<v Speaker 2>the website Mysterious Writings.

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<v Speaker 5>The real prize comes from the excitement, It comes from

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<v Speaker 5>the questions. It comes from the sense of community you

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<v Speaker 5>build along the way. There are small victories you solve something,

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<v Speaker 5>make friendships and share the experience. These bring great value

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<v Speaker 5>that cancels out the cost of entry. In these hunts.

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<v Speaker 5>The experience is just as important as the treasure itself.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you have a special hobby that you enjoy?

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<v Speaker 4>What is it?

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<v Speaker 1>You can leave a comment on our website at www

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<v Speaker 1>dot Spotlight English dot com. You can also find us

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<v Speaker 1>on YouTube, Facebook, and x You can also get our

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<v Speaker 1>programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through

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<v Speaker 1>our free official Spotlight English app.

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<v Speaker 2>The writer and producer of this program was Dan Christman.

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<v Speaker 2>The voices you heard were from the United States and

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<v Speaker 2>the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program

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<v Speaker 2>and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called Finding Treasure

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<v Speaker 2>from Your Chair.

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<v Speaker 1>We hope you can join us again for the next

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<v Speaker 1>Spotlight program. Goodbye,