At noon Friday, Chris Doyle stood on Wing Island in Brewster surrounded by hundreds of footprints, a dozen shallow holes, and sadly, a discarded coffee cup - remnants of the treasure hunters who came before him.

Within hours, Doyle and his friend Jack Bicker, both 28-year-old Brewster residents and outdoor enthusiasts, had found it - a treasure chest that was exchanged for 500 golden-hued Sacagawea coins and an equal donation to Wild Care in Eastham, the charity of their choice.

"We buried the treasure a week ago and posted on Facebook Dec. 12," the hunt's co-creator Jordan Fowler, 27, said. "We thought maybe we'd get five or 10 people but the whole thing blew up."

Fowler picked up hundreds of Facebook friends and nearly 200 shares about the hunt, a story in the Cape Cod Times and broadcasts on two radio stations. Treasure hunters dug up Fowler's phone number and called day and night with questions.

The treasure map, so to speak, was a riddle written by the hunt's co-planner Aaron Lynn, author of the Troika fantasy trilogy, who grew up in Brewster.

The plan to bury a treasure chest was hatched on Thanksgiving day because Fowler and Lynn wanted to give back to the community where they had so happily grown up.

As for their own treasure, paid in gold-colored dollar coins, Doyle said he is keeping it.

"I can't see ever spending it," Doyle said. "I want to keep it so we can sit around and have a laugh about the time we actually found buried treasure."

To read the complete article, see:
Riddle solved, Cape Cod buried treasure found on Brewster island(https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2020/12/20/cape-cod-treasure-found-brewster-boys-500-goes-wild-care/3976649001/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
FORREST FENN FORTUNE FINDER FOUND(https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n50a32.html)