2024 Allison Wonderland Mock Hunt

The first paragraph is just introducing the hunt, though one could take “return” to mean a repeat park. There are several park features that predate 1909, though the one I meant in particular here was the Mannheimer memorial from 1906. Other “greater” features came later like the Conservatory and the Lakeside Pavilion. And of course St. Paul had to post a pretty large bond to establish the park. But the big clue here was taking one word from each line: see-0-‘em-owe to spell C-O-M-O.

Henrik Ibsen, the playwright whose bust was near the treasure, had a play called “The Wild Duck”. It also refers to the adjacent pond where one might see a duck. “buck-I” refers to the plaque on a tree identifying the buckeye trees there. The treasure was between the bust and the plaque. The thing with wings referred to the Butterfly Lot with a monarch (regal) butterfly being an example. Going around in rings referred to the turnaround in the butterfly lot, the labyrinth, and the Schiffman Fountain turnaround which are all in a row near the treasure.

This could refer to either Lexington Stadium, suggesting Lexington Ave. or Midway Stadium suggesting Midway Parkway. Both stadiums are gone now with businesses occupying their former land and both streets lead you to Como Park where you can find some nearby ball fields that do still exist.

From the hiding spot you can see the footbridge going over the lily pond. There is also a path right in front of the hiding spot. This also tells you to avoid hunting in the burr-filled brush nearby because who needs to get covered in those during a hunt?

This clue was more of a puzzle. The game you play alone is Solitaire. One particular version is called Canfield where you have three piles of cards, the stock, the waste, and the reserve. Canfield Ave. runs into the west side of the park, but is roughly in line with where the treasure is hidden. Being a “winder” is a reference to the labyrinth where you follow a winding path within the circle.

This clue is talking about the nearby golf course. You know it’s not on the golf course, but it is fairly near the treasure. A fence marks a clear boundary. Cosy (“comfy”) Lake used to be there, but since it dried up, it’s now just low lying (“depressed”) land. And of course a golf course is covered in holes (18 of them!) though you can’t see them when there is snow.

This refers to the Gates Ajar where the iron gate itself originally came from the Crosby estate. And even then, the Gates Ajar are not in the same place they were first put. Starting from there, take the bridge across Lexington and follow that path to the Lily Pond, well before you’d get to the Frog Pond. And then the hiding spot was in an area that could technically fall into shade at a certain time of the day, but was not directly under a tree.

This refers to the Butterfly parking lot which is located on Kaufman Drive. But if you look up the Butterfly Lot on Google Street View, and go down to the end of it, you’ll see the option to keep going forward. If you do, it’s like going through a time portal to 2007 (which probably wasn’t much different from 2005 which rhymed with “drive”) when Kaufman Dr. was actually a street that went all the way through to Lexington. The “time portal” is pretty close to where the treasure was.

This refers to the statues of Schiller and Ibsen, neither of which are looking at the treasure, so you can eliminate those areas to the south and west. The “90 plus degrees” referred not to angles, but to arcs. The bush that the treasure was hidden under was one of four in a semi-circle (180 degree) arc.

The 2010 Allison Wonderland Mock Hunt was also at Como. “Circle back” suggests the semi circle of bushes in back of the bench. There are many paths near the treasure, but the only intersection where you can fully cross it in both directions (i.e. a four way intersection) is the one nearest the treasure.

“Heart” references the “HART” graffiti on a piece of concrete next to the hiding spot. “Sitting on the job” refers to the bench in front of the treasure (there are only two in the immediate area), which is why you should “look back”. Also, the first letter of each line spells LILY to make sure you head towards the Lily Pond.

This just tells you to go to the Butterfly lot in Como Park. Then on the far end of the Lily Pond is a bench with four bushes in a semi-circle behind it. The treasure is under one of those bushes.