RE: (TFT) Unicorn Gold

["John Gfoeller" <johng3110@hotmail.com>]

Saturday, 25 February 2006



Hi Everyone,

I was reading through "Treasure of Unicorn Gold," and I was wondering where 
the real unicorn was buried.

As you recall, the game was tied to a real-life treasure hunt that was 
sponsored by Metagaming.  A real golden unicorn was buried by Metagaming, 
and clues to its location were in the Unicorn Gold game.  Those who found 
the treasure would also be entitled to a $10,000 prize from Metagaming.  
However, the treasure was never officially found; Metagaming folded as a 
business; and Howard Thompson (the owner of Metagaming) vanished.  All of 
this was over 20 years ago (ca. 1983).

Personally, I suspect that the golden unicorn was retrieved long ago.  I 
suspect that it was recovered  by Mr. Thompson or by a Metagaming employee 
as the company was folding.  Or, perhaps someone else found the statue by 
piecing together the clues.  (Perhaps that precipitated the demise of 
Metagaming?)  Regardless, the statue was probably taken from its hiding 
place years ago.

Nevertheless, I am curious as to where it was buried.  How often do we hear 
of buried treasure these days?  The mystery has lingered for over 20 years.  
And, who knows: perhaps it is still wherever it was hidden.

So, here are some clues that I have come up with so far.

According to the preface of the game, the golden unicorn statue was hidden 
in a place that met the following criteria.

(1) in the U.S.

(2) on public land  (It was clearly stated in the rules that the statue was 
*not* on private property.  Therefore, it must have been hidden on public 
land.)

(3) in a physically safe place (It was clearly stated in the rules that the 
statue was in a place that was not dangerous to enter.)

(4) within 5 feet (up or down) from the surface of the earth.

As for the clues scattered throughout the game, one clue is repeated and 
stands out.  Throughout the game, there are several references to a large, 
smoking mountain.  One reference says that it is visibly glowing at the top 
(paragraph #220).

That would seem to imply a volcano.  The only active volcanoes in the U.S. 
are in Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

However, there are also references (#340 and 148) to a mountain on which a 
battle was fought in the clouds.  Furthermore, the old man telling that tale 
had a "crutch" that looked like a rifle or a musket.  Furthermore, the 
language he used reminded me a lot of the kinds of ballads that were sung 
around the time of the American Civil War.  The lyrics to the song described 
a battle on a mountain in the clouds.  All of that reminded me of an actual 
battle that took place in the American Civil War.  It was the Battle of 
Lookout Mountain, which is also called "the Battle above the Clouds."

I did a Google search, and I confirmed there was such a battle.  The Battle 
of Lookout Mountain took place on 24 November 1863 on a mountain (Lookout 
Mountain) that is outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee.  It was on a day when 
fog and clouds gathered low around the mountain --at and below the elevation 
where the battle took place.  Hence, the battle was above the clouds.  
Lookout Mountain also meets the physical description that was given at 
paragraph 340 in the game.  It is a mountain where a ridge comes to a 
towering point above a river valley.  See 
http://ngeorgia.com/history/batc.html and 
http://ngeorgia.com/mountains/lookout_mountain.html

Now, if Lookout Mountain is the site referred to at paragraph #340 of the 
game, what is the "smoking mountain" that glows at the top?  There are no 
active volcanoes in Tennessee and Georgia.

What else, besides a volcano, could be described as a "smoking mountain" 
that glowed at the top?

Perhaps the cooling tower at a nuclear plant?  I live not far from a nuclear 
plant.  The cooling tower at the plant gives off lots of steam.  The top of 
the tower and the steam that it gives off seem to glow because of the lights 
at the cooling tower.  Perhaps something similar was described in the game 
as a smoking mountain that visibly glowed at the top?

So, I did another Google search.  I searched for "nuclear plant 
Chattanooga.  It turns out that there *is* a nuclear plant in the area.  It 
is called Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, and it is 18 miles north of Chattanooga.  
It is also located on the banks of the Chickamauga River, and it has two 
cooling towers.  See http://www.tva.gov/sites/sequoyah.htm .

Those last two details are significant.  In the game (paragraph 380 -- >  
paragraph 270 ), the physical location has four characteristics.  (1) It is 
reached by crossing a small depression.  (2) After crossing the depression, 
there is a rise.  (3) The rise is next to a good sized river.  (4)  Across 
the river, there are two strange, unnatural" objects that rising above the 
trees.  Could those two "strange, unnatural" objects be the two cooling 
towers of Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, along the banks of the Chickamauga River?

Now, according to game's rules (in the preface), the golden statue was not 
located on private property.  Hence, it must be on public property.  Thus, 
to test this hypothesis, there must be some public land that is across the 
Chickamauga River from the two cooling towers of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant.

Well, after I did some looking on the internet via Google, I came across the 
following website:  
http://www2.una.edu/geography/tn_web/Recreation/ncjk_wtsbr.html   As you can 
see in the middle of that webpage, there is a photograph that was taken from 
Skull Island Park.  Skull Island Park is a public park, and it is directly 
across the Chickamauga River from the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant.  In the 
photograph that was taken from Skull Island Park, the twin cooling towers of 
Sequoyah Nuclear Plant rise above the trees.  The view in the photograph 
matches the description of the view from the rise that is at paragraph 270 
of the game.

Moreover, the treasure in the game was probably located near that rise.  
Reading paragraph 270 and then paragraph 475 yields a little map at 
paragraph 475.  On that map, there is a circular depression in the terrain; 
next to it is a rise; and next to the rise is a river.  Thus, the map 
matches the description given at paragraph 270.  (There is a similar map at 
paragraph 555.)  Furthermore, the map at paragraph 475 also has an arrow on 
one side of the map, and there are numbers and references to trunks (tree 
trunks?) on the other side of the map.  Finally, the text of paragraph 475  
reads, what you seek is here.  Therefore, the golden statue of a unicorn 
was probably buried at that rise:  at the arrow and according to the 
references to tree trunks, as indicated on the map at paragraph 475.

SO:  if anyone is in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area, you might want to go 
to Skull Island Park (with a metal detector) to confirm this hypothesis.  
Use the map from the game at paragraph 475 (and perhaps at 555 too) to find 
the spot where the statue may have been buried.  The references to tree 
trunks are over twenty years old, so they are probably useless.  However, 
you may find something at the point of the arrow.  You may find the statue 
of the golden unicorn.  Or, you may find nothing or only an empty box.  But, 
you may find signs that this was the site where the golden unicorn statue 
was hidden years ago.

If you do this, please take photos and share the results with the rest of us 
on this email list.

Good Gaming !

-- John
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