Six Questions More with Douglas Pearson: Author of The Bossall Treasure Hunt Book

In the Fall of 2015, I had the great pleasure of asking Six Questions to Douglas Pearson, author of The Bossall Treasure and creator of The Bossall Treasure Hunt.  Again, I have that wonderful opportunity!  To date, no one has solved the clues within the book to discover the book’s hidden treasure: A Golden Lorraine Cross.  I’m so excited to learn more about how the hunt and other projects of Douglas’ which are going.

I’m also thrilled to announce that with the sharing of these Six Questions and Answers, MW will be hosting a GiveAway:  A FREE PRINTED and SIGNED copy of The Bossall Treasure armchair treasure hunt book by Douglas.  (see how to enter below(GiveAway ends May 15th, 2018))

The Bossall treasure hunt offers readers the extraordinary chance to explore history, while trying to discover a real-life hidden treasure!  Douglas weaves a perplexing account about an actual historical lost treasure into a tale which involves treasure readers can find of their own. Truly remarkable and fun!  I’m sure you going to enjoy the following Six Questions and Answers!

Six Questions with Douglas:

• 1)Thanks so much for participating in another Six Questions, Douglas. I love treasure hunts, and your book, The Bossall Treasure, is proving to be an adventurous and meticulous journey through history. Clues, of course, for discovering the location of the Lorraine Cross are scattered within the book’s pages and images.  I would like to ask, if one discovers one clue, will the other clues be found in a similar way?  Or are all the clues found differently? Will a searcher know they discovered a clue or are they subtler, and need pieced together for this realization?  Maybe I should just ask, are you able to offer any thoughts about the finding of clues and how they might relate to each other?  😊

There are some similarities in how the clues are found but not all use the same formula. Each chapter gives one final clue to be combined with those from other chapters so that you end up with an eleven part description of where the cross is hidden.

Once the reader has found two or three clues, even if they are not from consecutive chapters, I think they will start to make sense to them. I do not think I have made the clues too difficult to find. I hope that is the case.

I might just add that you do not need to carry any of your own research regarding history, geography etc. Everything you need is in the book. I have had some feedback from readers where they are looking to expand what is in the book hoping to find clues there, with all respect to their enthusiasm they are making the task more difficult by introducing things that will not help. It’s all in the book, it just needs finding.

• 2) The Bossall Treasure book is available in both Kindle and Print versions. Some may ask, however, if one version offers an advantage over having the other. Can you address this question?  Can the clues be found and solved, just as easily and the same, by having either?  

A good question, I have been asked this many times.

I am probably not the best person to ask because I am a real book person. I like the feel of books; I like to see my books in a book case and I hate to dispose of any of my books. Maybe something to do with age, I am 76 and still batting.

Joking apart there are pluses and minuses on both sides. First I must say the content of e-book and the printed book is identical. I was very impressed with the presentation of my e-book.

Remember when searching for clues, some clues are in the images and some are in the text and connected. The print book allows you to have a page open and easily switch to another page by simply keeping your finger between the pages. I think this is a valuable plus for the print book.

The e-book has the “search” and the “go to” facility which are brilliant. Finding words and places is great and I find that a boon as it is on Microsoft Word. I think it is very much about personal preference and whether you were brought up with the technology that we enjoy today, I don’t think you gain any advantage whichever format you choose. It is certainly a shame for small operators that Amazon UK are unable to sell printed copies to America, the system does not suit self published books like mine.

On balance, particularly as you can also read your kindle in the dark, I think the e-book has the edge, although give me a print copy every time.

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  3) You had mentioned you are currently trying to solve a mystery of true life importance on your own. A murder mystery.  Very admirable.  Can you share what inspired you to take up this challenge, and how is the search going so far?  From reading The Bossall Treasure, I feel you definitely have sleuthing skills to follow a trail to its end, if one can be found.  Since beginning the endeavor, do you feel you are closing in on an answer? Do you plan on writing a book about your search? 

You are right Jenny, I have been working on another project and it is developing into another book but a complete change from an armchair treasure.

When I was around 7 years old I moved with my family from Goole in East Yorkshire to Wakefield in West Yorkshire due to my father’s work. I lived there until 1963 when I married.

On Saturday afternoon on the 9th October 1965, fourteen-year-old Elsie Frost, a bright and happy schoolgirl on the brink of womanhood was brutally murdered in broad daylight; the time was around 4.15pm. Elsie was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in a railway tunnel close to the Calder and Hebble Canal in Wakefield, Yorkshire. She had been attending the school sailing club. Her life was snatched away.

Her murder became one of the most notorious crimes of the 1960s. Over fifty years later the killer has never been brought to justice, one of the longest unsolved murder cases in the country. The investigation was very quickly abandoned in 1966/67. The files, deposited at the National Archives, are locked away, closed until 2060. The more you think about the case you have to deduce that something went radically wrong.

The public, but more importantly Elsie’s family, deserve better. Despite the case being looked at again in 2013 and again opened in 2015, the 50th Anniversary of the murder, nothing has so far been resolved.

When I first researched Elsie’s story I felt an immediate closeness. Every one of the places mentioned in the case were so clear in my mind. I found it hard to believe that such a distressing event had happened in an area where I had enjoyed some of my youth and Elsie had hers taken away from her.

Elsie lived on the Lupset Estate where I lived; she went to the same school as I had. On that fateful day she had been sailing on Horbury Sand Quarry, where when a lad, I used to swim in there.

All my connections to the area in my youth and listening to the harrowing interviews with Elsie’s brother and sister, Anne and Colin, on the BBC Radio programmes prompted me to delve further. As I studied the case I decided to devote my time to try and throw some new light on the event. If the book helps in any way, no matter how small a contribution, then I shall derive some satisfaction. If I can help in giving Anne and Colin some closure then it will have been very worthwhile.

• 4) The Bossall Treasure shares a factual account of buried treasure discovered in a moat around Bossall Hall in 1779. It’s a stunning record, and from your previous Six Questions, you mentioned you unearthed this detail while searching your family history. Were there any other finds which surprised you? Do you feel other treasures, like the Bossall Hall treasure, exist still and wait to be found? Have you searched for any real lost treasures?

I have never searched for any real lost treasure, but I am astonished at the number of discoveries made in the UK, sometimes from a planned search and at times by pure chance. The nearest I have come was when I was age around thirteen my mother lost her wedding ring while working in the garden. The family searched the garden for hours without success. Years later my father was hoeing in the garden and there it was, in perfect condition.

One find I was blessed with when writing my family history was regarding my great grandfather on my mother’s side. He was a merchant navy captain originally from Devon in the south of England but then living on the river Tyne in Newcastle. I was sure I should be able to find more about him but he proved very elusive, including never appearing on the national census, either by design or circumstances.

The BBC television had a family history programme called “Who Do You Think You Are”. I spent quite a lot of money and time with their maritime expert but he could find nothing. Reading a magazine one day I saw mention of a man who had the Custom House records of all ships coming into and out of Newcastle at the period. I only wanted to buy the disk if there were any “Maddicks” (my mothers maiden name) on the list.

The guy was also trying to sell some old stocks of two books on Newcastle ships and ship building. He said he would search for Maddicks if I bought two of his books. I received the books and a couple of days later he confirmed there were Maddicks listed on the Custom House records. Fantastic. I then sent the details to the expert and he found lots of information in the maritime records at Greenwich in the City of London.

There must be lots of lost treasures out there but what you need is a subject and then a really driving ambition as your search is likely to be long and arduous with lots of disappointments on the way.

• 5) How do you feel researching your family history has helped you with today? It seems you acquired incredible investigative skills and enjoy the digging.  You are finding treasures of a different kind by doing so. I know in my previous Six Questions, you shared some of your heartfelt finds. Would you like to share any others?  Do you continue to ‘dig’ and what do you enjoy most about it?

In my previous six questions I described how researching family had helped me to better understand my relationship with my father. That remains close to me.

The only regrets I have about the journey, was that I should have started it earlier when many more people were alive and records available. If you would like to have a go, but like me you feel you don’t have the time, start a collection of anything that may help you should the time come. Discussions with people, photographs, records, dates, you will be amazed at how long it can take to collect the information at a later date. Most of all you must have a burning desire for the project.

• 6)I’m sure you would love someone to find the hidden Golden Lorraine Cross. Although out of country searchers are not required to travel to retrieve the treasure to win, there is a Lorraine Cross secreted somewhere in the UK for in country (or visitors) to find. (Out of country searchers can email a claim, and if correct, win the prize).  Can you confirm the Treasure is still hidden where you placed it? Do you feel any searchers are close to finding it or have come close in the past? Are you confident it would still be there even in 100 years or more if no one discovers sooner?

To the best of my knowledge the Lorraine Cross is still where I placed it. I can’t believe anyone would not tell me if they had found it. Will it be there in 100 years if nobody finds, I see no reason why not.

I receive contact from people quite often with ideas and questions. I do feel bad about not being able to respond in any detailed way. However that would be unfair to everyone who is out there hunting. As I say all the answers are in the book but I do get people wanting me to confirm this bit or that, I love the enthusiasm and I am overjoyed that people are having fun. However a complete correct answer is the only one I can accept.

There must be someone out there who can outwit me – get cracking now.

Best of luck to you all.

Thanks so much, Douglas, for your answers.  I appreciate your time taken to provide us all with a bit more information on the Bossall Treasure Hunt, and spurring us on!  We must find that Golden Lorraine Cross! I know there are some determined searchers out there trying to do so!

And what a compelling project and future book you are working on.  I wish you the best of luck in unearthing pieces of information that just might help bring justice for Elsie after all these years.  What a tragedy.  Please keep us updated on the status of your book release and finds.  I would love to read it!

Plus, thanks for providing the FREE SIGNED copy of The Bossall Treasure for MW’s May GiveAway!  What an awesome opportunity to win a prize and then use it to find another Treasure!

Enter below!  (Drawing will be held May 15^th!)

GIVEAWAY ENDED