Online Scavenger Hunt Sends Locals Searching for Treasure Across Erie
If you had a few hundred dollars burning a hole in your pocket, what would you do? For one r/Erie user, sending people on a city-wide scavenger hunt would be the answer.
In a November 30th post, user u/ErieMoneyHunt posted about an unspecified amount of money hidden somewhere within the city limits. The user, who goes by "Mr. Money Hunts," said it was "more than $100, but less than $1000," but worth the effort for someone to find.
He stated it was somewhere on public property, and within a few feet of the ground, making it wheelchair accessible.
"I always want to be Santa Claus," said Hunts, who asked not to reveal his face and voice. "And then I realized I can't grow a beard so that limited my options. I couldn't be Amish or Santa Claus, so I just thought it'd be fun. I don't have any kids. And I did a sober October, so I did have a little extra cash. So basically that's basically why, I thought would be fun."
Hunts slowly sprinkled clues over the next few hours throughout the comments of his post, with hints hidden in history, pop culture, and Erie references. Hunts says his favorite clue was "If William Shatner come to Erie what do you think his favorite bus route would be?" This was a reference to Star Trek's famous "Space...The final frontier" quote, spoken by Shatner on the show.
Hunts' clues were a bit too good, as the money was found just a day after the original post by two local college students, who also declined to show their faces or share their last names.
"We were very overwhelmed," said Nick, who found the money with his girlfriend, Olivia. The two found the money on the back of a fence post near the corner of Front St. and Liberty St. "I'm sure Olivia could describe it a little bit better because it was just a lot of excitement."
The two said it was nice seeing other members of the r/Erie community searching for the treasure.
"It was just really cool to see people along the way and be like, 'Hey, you must be looking for this too,' because we were in the same place and obviously someone was looking for things," said Olivia.
And while for some people the money may not be a lot, for two broke college students, the money was life changing.
"Well, we've been living ends meet scraping by, with our loans and everything," continued Olivia. "And so even just having [that money] around [during] the holiday season as a buffer to even just buy a nice gift for our families, and not have to worry about deciding between rent and having a nice holiday season or having food. It's really great. So [we're] grateful for that."
Hunts says he's planning to continue the tradition again next year.