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Once in a lifetime, two events beautifully coincide and make us think we're living in a Douglas Adams novel. Today, that is AOL's plan to dig up gold from a spammer's backyard, one month before AOL has its users hunt for gold bullion in the AOL Gold Rush.

In case you missed it: AOL won a $12.8 million lawsuit against spammer Davis Hawke (who is, by the way, a neo-Nazi). Now the company says he hid $500,000 in gold and platinum bullion in his parents' backyard. The parents say that AOL's welcome to dig up their yard, but they won't find a single troy ounce.

Meanwhile, AOL is about to launch a promo contest where users answer pop-culture clues to hunt down hidden gold. The game's called Gold Rush, and it's produced by Mark Burnett (creator of Survivor and dark lord of reality TV). And now AOL has the perfect prize supply.

Just think of it — AOLers could hunt for Nazi gold through adventurous venues like Reading the Back Page of TV Guide, or Channel Surfing at 4 AM In A Dazed Stupor, or Clicking Through Endless Ad-Soaked AOL Pages! Excitement! Adventure! Digging up a backyard!

AOL Gold Rush [AOL]
AOL to hunt down spammer's gold [Reuters]