Found: A Treasure Buried by a Teen in 1981

On March 27, 1981, a Saturday, Paul Levallois, age 13 and 1/4, buried a treasure in his backyard. He included stamps, an empty lemonade bottles, coins dated from 1969 to 1981, a chip, transistor, a light bulb, other “typical 1981 electronic components,” and a tape recording of himself. Inside, he placed note:

“I hope wherever you are you find this treasure (when you dig it up!) valuable.”

Thirty-six years later, a woman living in the same place, a village in Hertfordshire, England, was out digging in her garden, and she found Paul’s treasure. The electronic components looked a little worse for wear, but as Paul promised in his note, there was still a tape recording of himself in the treasure. He even included a map of the context in which he had buried it, with local features such as the big shed, chickens, and the abandoned house next door noted on the map.

The family who discovered the treasure is looking for Paul now, to try to return it. He would be about 49 but so far they don’t see to know what happened to the enthusiastic boy who buried a treasure in the yard.