A group of treasure hunters that has been searching for the fabled “Lemminkäinen Hoard” treasure in Finland since 1987 claims that they are finally just “meters away” from finding it.
Known as the Treasure Twelve, 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, with an estimated value of over $15 billion. Now, 34 years after their search for the Lemminkäinen Hoard began the Treasure Twelve are closer than ever to finally getting their hands on it.
Photo: János Venczák/Unsplash
The massive Sibbosberg cave system, located 20 miles east of Helsinki, in Finland is where the members of the Treasure Twelve are convinced the Lemminkäinen Hoard was stashed away hundreds of years ago. 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.
Ior Bock died in 2010, after being stabbed by one of his personal assistants, but the hunt for the Lemminkäinen Hoard continued without him. The cave system that Bock claimed housed the legendary treasure trove is known by some as the Temple of Lemminkäinen. Despite countless official explorations and the expeditions of over 100 treasure hunters, the hoard has yet to be discovered.
The Temple Twelve are arguably the most dedicated of all the treasure hunters that have ever shown interest in the Lemminkäinen Hoard. They have spent the last 34 years of their lives digging and exploring through the Temple of Lemminkäinen, and they are allegedly on the brink of reaching their prize. But they’ll have to wait until next summer to get their hands on it, as the rest of the year the cave system is filled with freezing rainwater.
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. 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.
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”.
