I Do Like Stories About Treasure Hunts,

and they do not get much bigger than this one,

all photographs © Carl Borgen/Palamedes/SWNS and as far as treasure is concerned it does not get much bigger than this, with an estimated value of over $15 billion I can not think of a bigger hoard waiting to be found, known as the Treasure Twelve, pictured above, the group of treasure hunters has spent every summer since 1987 looking for the Lemminkäinen Hoard, the whereabouts of which were revealed to them by a mystic just before their death. Apparently, a labyrinthine cave complex near Helsinki is home to the most valuable treasure the world has ever known, Although the existence of the treasure has never been confirmed, those who believe it’s a real claim that it contains over 50,000 gemstones including rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, several 18-carat gold life-size human statues, as well as over 1,000 artefacts dating back thousands of years, the story of the Lemminkäinen Hoard began in 1984, when mystic Ior Bock claimed that his family were direct descendants of Lemminkäinen, one of the heroes of Kalevala and a prominent figure in Finnish pagan mythology. Bock claimed that a sealed chamber on his estate contained the Lemminkäinen Hoard and that his family had guarded against invaders for centuries,

in case you want to join them here is the map of the mines location, the original Temple Twelve group consisted of 12 men and women from Finland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Russia, America, and Germany, none of whom had any archaeological experience,

and this will make finding the treasure easier still, they used rudimentary tools and worked with Ian Bock to explore the vast cave system, over the last 34 years, most of the group’s original members either died or retired, but two of the original crew still remain involved in the hunt for the Lemminkäinen Hoard and they now believe that they are only meters away from the sealed treasure chamber that has eluded them for so long, 

winter floods have halted the operation for this year, but next year who knows? historian and author Carl Borgen, the world’s leading authority on the Lemminkäinen Hoard, has chronicled the exploits of the Treasure Twelve in his book, “Temporarily Insane” reading all of this I cannot but think it would be such an adventure, to be in this treasure hunting team, I mean for next year when the treasure is found, I am not so sure about being on the team for the previous 34 years!