True Story Treasure Hunt (I) — January-March 2023 (LI)

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TEASER

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INTRODUCTION

This is the history of a maladroit mystery
From the land of 10,000 flakes—
Belief dis-suspension enhances the tension
And raises the snowbound stakes;

Let it be said that the challenge ahead
Lies just beyond the pale—
To twist and embellish, with Coenesque relish,
A homespun murder tale.

So stomp through the snow in search of the dough,
A satchelful of glory—
And scavenge a scraper to solve the caper
THIS IS A TRUE STORY.

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CLUE ONE

Hauling the freight across the state
To a dingy dive in Fargo,
The man on a mission, a bungling tactician,
Hands over the keys to the cargo.

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CLUE TWO

Cooking the books to pay off the crooks,
Jerry doubles down,
As Carl and Gaear, the hapless pair,
Steal away through town.

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CLUE THREE

Dispatching a cop at a traffic stop
Just on the outskirts of Brainerd,
The crooks catch the eye of two passersby
And things take a turn for the wayward.

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CLUE FOUR

Large and in charge, expectant Marge—
Brainerd’s chief of police—
Is phoned to the scene from slumber serene,
Rousted out of her peace.

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CLUE FIVE

The couple on board the ’84 Ford
Were witnesses to the crime;
They fled, but sadly, things went badly—
In the wrong place at the wrong time.

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CLUE SIX

Abruptly completing their midday meeting,
Jerry, Stan, and Wade
Hash out the terms—as Norm gets his worms
And the fugitives split for the glade.

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CLUE SEVEN

At a seedy spot on a lakeside lot,
Marge interviews the pros—
To collect intelligence, gather evidence,
And glean where the story goes.

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CLUE EIGHT

The Gundersons gorge on a smorgasbord,
Feasting at Fryer Tuck’s,
While quick-tempered Carl hits a minor snarl—
A matter of four measly bucks.

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CLUE NINE

Things get bizarre at the hotel bar
Between Marge and Mike Yanagita
As Carl cavorts with a jaded escort
At a local dinner theater.

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CLUE TEN

Jerry the feckless—cowardly, reckless—
Tiptoes on thin ice,
So vengeful Wade attempts the trade
And pays a costly price.

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CLUE ELEVEN

Concealing the cash in a secret stash,
Carl returns to the shed
As the curious cop makes a breakfast stop,
Dissecting the case in her head.

While the garrulous goon finds it opportune
To take the Olds and make tracks,
The greedy Gaear doesn’t find that fair,
So he gives his partner the axe.

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CLUE TWELVE

Returning to make a trip ‘round the lake
Near the edge of her jurisdiction,
The chipper sleuth arrives at a truth
Considerably stranger than fiction.

And soon thereafter, the final chapter:
The cops close in on the fink,
Tolling the knell at the old motel
To haul him away to the clink.

Lost in the shuffle with all this kerfuffle?
There’s just one thing left to do—
A little amending for an alternate ending
To make the story true:

Follow the plot, going shot for shot—
The movie as your map;
By boxing clever and working together,
You’ll solve it in a snap!

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BONUS CLUE #1

Don’t get caught nappin’! A lot can happen
Out here in the middle of nowhere;
It’s finders takers on forty acres—
Just scout the location and go there!

Stick to the plot to find the spot—
A challenge to chase down the goods;
The pathway follows through widest hollows,
Wending ‘round the woods.

So circle the lake to the edge of the brake
And scrape through the snow for the case;
A pretty sweet deal will help you reveal
The secret hiding place.

To hoist the flag, recover the bag
Where the boys directed and starred,
Making a scene on the silver screen—
Right in their own back yard.

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BONUS CLUE #2

Find your thrills at Westwood Hills,
Where things get a little bit meta—
On the platted plot of a would-be lot:
Those 40 acres there on Wayzata.

We hid the goods at the edge of the woods,
Where the brothers used to roam—
Past the pond found just beyond
The fence of their childhood home.

So traipse and tromp across the swamp
And follow the boardwalk trail
To trudge and trundle through the jungle
In search of the holy grail.

Stop for a rest at two abreast—
A moment to survey the scene;
Take a seat, get off your feet,
Then search the gap in between.

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SOLUTION

The teaser, intro, and clue videos hinted at 25 known Twin Cities metro locations showcased in the 14 featured clips from the movie Fargo; a red ice scraper similar to that featured in the film was hidden in a public space at (or very near) each location:

Jerry's Parking lot meltdown (Teaser) — 505 Waterford Park, Plymouth
Outside Fargo (Introduction) — Carver County Rd 51 at 166th St., Norwood Young America
King of Clubs (Clue #1) — Vegas Lounge, Minneapolis
Lundegaards' (Clue #1) — Timber Creek Conservation Area, Eden Prairie
Gustafson Oldsmobile (Clue #1) — Knox Ave. Park & Ride, Richfield
Blue Ox Motel (ext.) (Clue #1) — Stockmen's Truck Stop, South St. Paul
Blue Ox Motel (int.) (Clue #1) — Super 8 Motel, Shakopee
Minneapolis skyline (Clue #2) — Franklin Steele Square, Minneapolis
Highway Murders (Clue #3) — Carver County Road 33 at 158th St., Washington Lake Township
Gundersons' (Clue #4) — Pillsbury Ave. at W 22nd St., Minneapolis
Embers (Clue #6) — Pennsylvania Ave. at 13th Ln., St. Louis Park
Brainerd Police Department (Clue #6) — Edina City Hall
Moose Lake Cabin (Clue #6) — Square Lake County Park
Lakeside Club (ext.) (Clue #7) — Wildwood Park, Mahtomedi
Fryer Tuck's Smorgasbord (Clue #8) — Arrowwood Park (Tinucci's), Newport
Long-term Airport Parking (Clue #8) — MSP International Airport
Radisson Bar (Clue #9) — Shelard Park, St. Louis Park
Carlton Celebrity Room (Clue #9) — Chanhassen Dinner Theatres
Carlton Celebrity Room (Clue #9) — Killebrew Dr. at Old Shakopee Rd., Bloomington
Shep's Apartment (Clue #9) — Icehouse Plaza, Minneapolis
Radisson Parking Garage (roof) (Clue #10) — Minneapolis Club
Radisson Parking Garage (exit) (Clue #10) — Normandy Inn, Minneapolis
Hardee's (Clue #11) — Hardee's, St. Paul
Outside of Bismarck (Clue #12) — Hardwood Creek Regional Trail, Forest Lake
Fargo Pictures, Inc. — 2313 Wycliff Ave., St. Paul

The film cell icons at the bottom of the TC Treasure home, hunt, and rules pages were each intended to suggest one of those locations; the icons were updated (and “filled in”) with each location’s first appearance.

In addition, a 26th “virtual” ice scraper was hidden on several pages at TCTreasure.com and at FargoPictures.com

With the discovery of each ice scraper, an update was made to the “puzzle” at the bottom of the screen—physical scrapers were “slashed out,” while the virtual scraper, represented by an icon of a laptop and phone, was updated with a small red badge showing the number of finders; clicking this icon would send hunters to a running leaderboard for the hunt.

Each of the ice scrapers had a different QR code on the handle; when scanned, the codes led to a secret TC Treasure page containing one of the letters (or numbers) 0, T, O, R, W, 4, A, T, A, A, O, N, E, Y, R, A, Z, C, E, T, E, S, E, H, S. The "virtual" scraper page contained the letter H.

Properly arranged—perhaps with a little help from the Fargo movie, screenplay, or trailer—those letters yield the phrase “THOSE 40 ACRES THERE ON WAYZATA” (Jerry’s parking lot MacGuffin from the film), suggesting hunters search for a roughly 40 acre lot on public land along the Interstate 394 corridor/Wayzata Boulevard.

With a little research, one can find 40 acres that fit the bill—perhaps the 40 acres the Coens had in mind when writing the script for Fargo…

Westwood Hills, in St. Louis Park, was the childhood home of Joel and Ethan Coen; they began their careers creating short films with their friends in the woods behind their house on Flag Avenue. Today, 40 lakeside acres remain mostly untouched; a wooded area in the northwestern section within that space, steps from the Coens’ own childhood back yard, housed the jewel. It was nestled between two benches, in a small mound of snow—beneath a final red ice scraper, and hidden in a miniature leather satchel.

Finally, a secret bonus clue, designed to circumvent the jumbled-letters puzzle, was hidden at FargoPictures.com—published along with the fourth clue of the hunt. In the event the satchel went unfound through March 4 at 9am, an additional bonus clue would have pinpointed its location.