That's right. Masquerade by Kit Williams [1] was a phenomena in 1979 - a book of weird illustrations that somehow contained a puzzle as to where a golden hare was buried.
Even a fifteen year-old living in Kansas at the time was drawn to it, got caught up in it.
The golden hare was found after a few years — the whole story of the hare and its finding are well documented in the book by Bamber Gascoigne, Quest for the Golden Hare [2].
The account is a fun read: why Kit decided on buried treasure, how he went about creating the artwork/puzzle, the adventure of burying the rabbit.... But far and away the most fascinating bit describes the various treasure-hunters that then came after the hare.
The party that solved the puzzle did not find the hare. The party that dug it up had not solved the puzzle.
Even a fifteen year-old living in Kansas at the time was drawn to it, got caught up in it.
The golden hare was found after a few years — the whole story of the hare and its finding are well documented in the book by Bamber Gascoigne, Quest for the Golden Hare [2].
The account is a fun read: why Kit decided on buried treasure, how he went about creating the artwork/puzzle, the adventure of burying the rabbit.... But far and away the most fascinating bit describes the various treasure-hunters that then came after the hare.
The party that solved the puzzle did not find the hare. The party that dug it up had not solved the puzzle.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_(book)
[2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1176887.Quest_for_the_Go...
Short summary of the whole escapade here: https://youtu.be/3yaHBdhIsCo