It is both humbling and exciting! to announce the annual Masquerade Tribute ONCE AGAIN raised over $4000! This is now three years in a row! This year 2023’s donations went directly to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital for a final total of 4340! Of course, none of this could happen if not for the generous contributors – of not only those who donated, but those who created and hosted the treasure hunts! Thank you all!
It is also exciting to announce that this year’s Masquerade Tribute is ending with Medallion Militia! With not one, but two treasure hunts! How awesome is that!? Steven Sanftner, who manages Medallion Militia, decided to contribute a fully armchair treasure hunt and a Boots on the Ground treasure hunt. Both come with awesome treasure prizes – and if you read to the end you will discover the caches to claim have grown to value over $500! Will you be the one to claim these?
It is the perfect ending for this charitable event. As you will learn in the following Six Questions, Steven is a talented and creative treasure hunter – with success on both sides – finding and hiding! I am honored to have him part of the 2023 Tribute! Thank you Steven!
Let’s hear more about Steven, Medallion Militia, and more about his hunts for the 2023 Tribute! Best of luck to everyone who is taking part!
Six Questions with Steven:
- 1Q) For those unfamiliar with Medallion Militia Treasure Hunts, please share more. All the what, when, where, and why’s, on the hunts; And how searchers can get involved in them too!
It all stared back in the winter of 2007. I was 18 years young (now 35) hanging out in my parent’s basement along with my cousin Timmy. He was reading the newspaper and he came across the Pioneer Press Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt’s newest clue. I immediately had memories of my parents pulling me out of school early to go search for the medallion. This treasure hunt is well rooted in Saint Paul Minnesota, it is part of the city’s Winter Carnival and put on by our local newspaper the Pioneer Press every year in January. This hunt has been going on over 50+ years. The clue writer hides a clear acrylic medallion somewhere on public land within Ramsey County, almost always in a park. The finder of the medallion can receive up to $10,000 if they have a Winter Carnival button, and a printout of each clue. one clue per day is released in the local newspaper at midnight each night up to 12 clues. Keep in mind it is in the middle of winter so digging in the snow for a small medallion is hard work!
My cousin Timmy and I read over the 3rd clue of the hunt and the clue mentioned “old Saint Paul”. My cousin said with confidence, “That’s Hidden Falls Park, I used to hang out there when I was younger and that’s what we all called that area!” Because of how sure he sounded I asked him if he wanted to take a drive there and have a look around the park, he said sure why not. As we were driving to the park I decided to call the hotline number to make sure it wasn’t found before we got there. I was in shock as the hotline said “The medallion was found this morning in Hidden Falls Park”! My cousin and I were upset that it was found before we got there but also surprised we were right, this event sparked my interest in Treasure hunting.
From there I went on participating in the Winter Carnival hunt each year. In 2018 I finally found the Winter Carnival Medallion with a team of 5 at Harriet Island Regional Park in St Paul, the medallion was hidden at the bottom of a huge snow bank in the parking lot. A few years after 2007 I learned of more hunts that are put on during festivals in the surrounding cities of St Paul/Minneapolis. I soon learned that there was a subculture of avid treasure hunters with like mind that would search for local treasures. One member with the alias of “The White Rabbit” would put on his own independent Mock Hunt annually with a cash prize. After years of looking for treasures and having some success, In 2013 I decided it would be fun to put on my own Medallion/Treasure Hunt.
My self proclaimed treasure hunt name is the Coldest Hunter, or Coldest for short. the name signifies the willingness and drive to brave the coldest of environments to search for our local Winter Carnival Medallion or other sought after treasures. I named my local treasure hunt “Coldest Hunter’s Lost Treasure” and thus the Medallion Militia and my hobby as a Clue Writer was born!
Since 2013 my flagship hunt Coldest Hunter’s Lost Treasure has taken place every year, and I have crafted many other types of hunts from: Flash hunts, Mini hunts, Adventure hunts, Local city hunts, and other collaborations over the years. All hunts that I put on are non profit, some hunts require registration, but all donations are awarded to the finder. Every hunt that we have put on over the years has been local to the Twin Cities area. Therefore, I am very excited to team up with Mysterious Writings for the 2023 Masquerade Tribute Season and put on Medallion Militia’s first ever nation wide treasure hunt and share our local treasure hunting culture with the nation!
- 2Q) What have you enjoyed most about crafting the Medallion Militia treasure hunts?
I would say the thing that I have enjoyed the most out of crafting treasure hunts has been the joy of someone finding the treasures I have hidden and the fun and frustration they were put though to find it. As a clue writer it is a bit of a cat and mouse game. In our traditional 12 clue hunts I enjoy putting rewarding hints that are hard to crack in the early clues to see what I can get away with and see how far I can stretch the hunt. If I can make it last until clue 9-11 with great early hints than that is a win for me over the hunters. Many people and families will share stories and photos/videos how much fun they had searching for the treasures, many times they discover new land/parks and learn some history as well. That is always a feel good moment for me knowing that I was able to spread some fun, joy, knowledge, and excitement to other people.
- 3Q) Please share one of the most memorable moments you’ve had in treasure hunting. Either in a hunt you have hosted or one you were involved in – or better yet, one of each!
Man o’ man where do I begin, I’ve partaken in so many treasure hunts its hard to think of my most memorable one. I would say finding the Winter Carnival Medallion at Harriet Island Park in Saint Paul Minnesota in the year 2018 has to be my most memorable hunt that I have participated in. It went down to the final 12th clue that year. It was a very tough hunt with a lot of snow and very cold temps that year. At the night of the final clue there were hundreds of other hunters out there at midnight dawning their head lamps and hunting tools. I’ll never forget digging up that huge snow bank it was hidden in and one of our team members pulling it out once we finally got to the bottom of it. When I knew he had it I rushed him and picked him up in the air in triumph.
My most memorable hunt that I have hosted has to be the 2022 Coldest Lost Treasure Hunt. This was the 10th anniversary of my treasure hunt. I decided to hide it at Harriet Island Park, the same park where I found the Winter Carnival Medallion at. This hunts theme was based on the movie Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest. Anyone that’s familiar with this movie knows about Davy Jones, his chest, and his key. The proxy item ended up being a replica of Davy Jones’ key.
The clues made it seem like you were hunting for the Dead Man’s Chest. The key was hidden in a hole on the paved river walking path lightly covered by small rocks and sand, at a big red X made by red colored bricks. Once the person found the key there was a note attached that provided instructions to a storage locker at a business across the street from the park. With key in hand they made their way over to Davy Jones’ Locker. Once they opened up the storage locker sitting there was a replica of the Dead Man’s Chest with all the spoils and glory within it.
- 4Q) What do you find most challenging regarding treasure hunting? And I always like to ask those with more experience in treasure hunting, what advice would you have for anyone new coming into the hobby?
I would say the most challenging aspect for me at this stage of my treasure hunting career is physically finding the treasure with BOTG. I have done so many treasure hunts that figuring out the general location now comes natural, but physically finding it will always be difficult depending on the specific hunt. This is usually because there is always so much ground to cover and many treasures are hidden very well.
To those just getting into the hobby my advice would be to just stick with it. Your first year or so will be a learning curve. You will need to become familiar with your local parks/cities/areas amenities, streets, layout, and history. A big learning curve is being able to understand how clues are constructed, once you master this it will greatly aid you in solving clues. Always remember, you will not find it sitting at home, get our there, explore and most importantly have fun and enjoy the outdoors as you search! Treasure hunting is a mental and physical game, and can be rewarding and frustrating all at once.
- 5Q) It seems like treasure hunting is quite the weekend activity up your way – with multiple hunts happening throughout the year. Hunts like the Pioneer Press, TC treasure hunts, or yours, Medallion Militia, seem to differ a bit with the armchair treasure hunt books being published because they aren’t expected to last months (or years) on end, but only for a designated period of time. Both have their pros and cons. What would you say you like about each type? Do you prefer one over the other?
Respectfully, to say it’s a weekend activity is an understatement. In our local subculture it is now a year round hobby for the hardcores. With well over 40+ hunts a year and growing we find ourselves hunting sometimes around the clock. Whether that is physically hunting or noodling (solving) clues at home, it almost seems like there is always a treasure to find. Especially in the summer, it really ramps up during the summer hunting season with some weeks having 3-5+ hunts all going on at once!
What I like about our traditional hunts that normally last from 6-12 days is that it’s a race against time. You’re always on edge because you know another clue is coming out in 24 hours, you never know what clue will be the one to end it. Also you know that many others are also working the clues and hunting for it, so its a race to see who can figure out he puzzle first and who can physically find it. This style is fun as you likely will see other hunters with like mind at the locations that you surmised. When it gets to the end and its apparent where its at you will have a lot of other hunters and families all searching in one area. Your heart starts pumping with anxiety as you search as hard and fast as possible to be the first to find it. Because of meeting so many other hunters you will likely make some bonds and friends along the way, and will maybe end up sharing ideas about the clues.
What I like about armchair treasure hunts or hunts that are expected to have a longer duration is that you have that extra time to search and noodle. You are not as rushed as our traditional hunts. It feels like a long term project to figure out and or narrow down where it’s at. These hunts usually have a bigger puzzle to figure out and can be pretty rewarding once you finally get it. It’s a totally different style of treasure hunt and can sometimes have many people from all over working on solving it.
I might be a little biased but I do prefer our local traditional 6-12 day hunts more, but the long term armchair hunts are growing on me.
- 6Q) Do you do much ‘real life’ treasure hunting – as in looking for arrowheads, legendary lost treasures, or whatever? What are some of the other hobbies you enjoy?
I do not search for any other treasures in the sense of rocks, arrowheads, trinkets, or metal detecting. Legendary lost treasures have always intrigued me though. I have yet to physically put BOTG for any of them but I have followed along with many. The famous Forrest Fenn hunt I was actually able to surmise the general area of where we now think it was found. At the time my best guess was that it was near the Firehole River and the Madison Canyon area of Yellow Stone Park. At the time my idea sounded good, just not good enough as the massive search area it could have been in made me have my doubts. After learning that it was likely found there I am now kicking myself for not making at least one trip. It would have still been a huge challenge as that area is very massive.
Besides treasure hunting my other hobbies include: sports, fitness, astronomy, video games, movies, conspiracies and the unknown, and spending time with my son, family and friends.
Being called the Medallion Militia it would not be right if we didn’t offer one of our custom medallions as a prize in this Masquerade Tribute hunt. The winner of the Stone of Destruction hunt will receive a custom one of a kind Keepsake Medallion as an extra bonus. Additionally the winner of the Prelude to Devastation armchair hunt will receive a custom one of a kind Medallion Militia Mini Medal!
We also added a silver round to the Stone of Destruction’s Cache. I hope you enjoy the hunts and as always, HAPPY HUNTING!
