Treasure Hunt

Back in the day, I used to create Treasure Hunts..or more precisely..Clue Hunts. This game consisted of around seventy-five clues. Each clue would lead the person or team to the next clue. The clues were usually written in cryptic verse form and the hunt was always on my folks property. There were just so many things there that lent themselves to this sort of game. The hunt would start with one clue that was handed to the team (the groups usually opted to work together for the good of all!) and after that was read, the fun began. The clues were usually all tied together by a theme such as movie classics, songs or children's book characters. The theme was then tied to everyday things such as..."Pinocchio should have stayed in school, this friend led him to play the fool!" The friend in this case being the key word to finding the next clue. Lampwick was the friend and a kerosene lamp has a wick..hence, the clue was hidden in an antique oil lamp. Round and round the house, yard and fields went the team until all the clues were found. The last clue would lead them to the treasure box which was usually a large wooden box filled with trinkets and a last note. This final note would say something on the order that no matter how far and hard you searched, true treasure is always found in your home where things are dear to your heart. The clue hunts were just a fun way to spend an afternoon at a family gathering. A time for the children and adults to interact with each other. It had the added plus of getting most of us out doing some much needed exercise after having eaten some large, home-cooked meal!

These clue hunts were brought back to memory by a simple little box. I was actually hunting for a rubber band and opened up the roll-top desk. There was the little box that held the last clue hunt that I wrote. My mother had saved all of the little scraps of paper that held the clues. She carefully put them in order of the hunt and tied them with a red ribbon. These were then placed in the box where they have been for the past twenty or so years. I had forgotten about them until today. A flood of memories filled my brain when I started reading the clues! I need to write more hunts! Then I looked at the contents of the desk. This appeared to be a treasure hunt in the making! There in the top of this desk were so many odd, weird, unique and unusual items. Nothing in the desk was remotely related to its neighboring item. There were religious pictures, cigarette lighters, antique car parts, old letter openers and brass angels. There were antique candle holders for the Christmas tree, autograph books, belt buckles, ticket stubs and pocket knives. There was a thimble with a bullet hole in it, my dad's old wallet (empty..I checked!), and postcards of "Old Biloxi". So many things! So many unrelated things that for some reason all melded together to be a collection. It was like I had opened a door to the past by opening the roll-top of the desk! A treasure hunt! Now if I only knew what to do with all of these treasures..ooohhh, my kids are going to love me when they have to deal with all of these nice items!

I thought this ticket was rather interesting merely because of the date! Barton High School (State Champions of Alabama) vs Biloxi High (Coast Champions)! Thursday Nov. 30, 1922.....oh the treasures that I find in my house!