Hidden treasure worth $50K found in Arkansas

A family of four from Kilgore, Texas, is $50,000 richer after finding a treasure hidden in Hot Springs by a Minneapolis author and publisher by following clues from his novel released earlier this year.

The Sentinel-Record reports the novel “Breakfast Tea & Bourbon” by Pete Bissonette, president of Learning Strategies, was released at 5:08 p.m. on Feb. 9, leading thousands of people to begin a systematic search of the U.S. looking for the hidden treasure, clues for which were woven into the narrative of the story.

In the novel, five friends join a treasure hunt, rent a dilapidated RV and set off in search of the treasure. Readers of the novel were tasked with using hints and clues from the book to solve their own real life hunt for the treasure that Bissonette had hidden somewhere in the United States.

“I hid $50,000 and wrote a novel about a treasure hunt. If you follow the hints and clues in the treasure hunt, guess what? You found the $50,000,” Bissonette told The Sentinel-Record on Monday.

He added that his company creates and publishes self-improvement audio and video programs geared toward helping people gain access to the part of the brain that houses intuition, creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity.

“We’re always trying to figure out, ‘Well, how do we get people to activate their deep inner resources?’ and so I thought about a treasure hunt. And I wanted to do something that was fun and different,” he said.

Coy Lothrop and his wife, Amy, found the treasure in Hot Springs on July 14. They were awarded the prize money on Monday. Lothrop said he discovered the novel after a friend suggested he purchase it and complete the hunt.

The family first narrowed its search to the Central Time Zone, because of the start time of the treasure hunt, 5:08 p.m. Central Time, while other treasure hunters searched the entire country.

While there are many ways in the book to determine the nearest city, Coy and his family used references in the first chapter to New Orleans as the base, then noticed a dot pattern embossed in the hard cover of the book that pointed to Hot Springs.