By Tim Binnall
A group of treasure hunters in Finland reportedly believes that they are close to finally locating a legendary hoard of riches after a decades-long search for the enormous cache of gold, jewels, and artifacts. The curious saga began back in 1984 when Finnish actor and mythologist Ior Bock made the fantastic claim that his family had been entrusted with guarding a secret temple that once belonged to the mythological figure Lemminkainen. The site, he asserted, could be found in a sediment-filled cave system hidden within a hill in the municipality of Sipoo and was loaded with a staggering 50,000 precious jewels, life-sized golden statues of human figures, and over 1,000 artifacts that had been stashed away around 1,000 years ago.
While Bock's story sounds rather fanciful and hard to believe, it captured the imagination of a group of individuals who joined him in 1987 in a quest to unearth what has come to be known as the 'Lemminkainen Hoard.' Since that time, the team has diligently excavated and searched the cave system in the hopes of locating the spot where the temple and its treasure, which is said to be worth a jaw-dropping $20 billion, are hidden. Bock's untimely passing in 2010 did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the group, who continued looking for the lost riches to this day. And now word out of Finland is that they believe that they are incredibly close to locating the hoard after an arduous 34 years.
Author Carl Borgen, who has been documenting the peculiar decades-long treasure hunt, revealed that "there is now talk in the camp of being on the brink of a major breakthrough." Specifically, he says that the group "have been able to remove several huge square granite rocks blocking the entrance to the cave, and have cleared the cave of hundreds of tonnes of smaller rocks and sediment." In a testament to just how optimistic the treasure hunters are, Borgen indicated that "it is now their strong belief that, after more than 34 years of digging, they are now within meters of the temple entrance."
The treasure hunters plan to resume the search towards the end of next spring, since the frigid conditions of the Finnish winter make work at the site impossible. Before commencing what could be their final dig, they must first pump a jaw-dropping 400,000 gallons of rainwater that accumulates within the cave system each year. After completing that task, they intend to use dynamite to blast through the remaining layers of rock that, they believe, stands between them and the temple. All told, the group hopes to reach the spot sometime between May and September of next year. At that point, we may find out if Bock's account was true or merely a whimsical story that took on a life of its own.