Treasure Clue, can you help?

[RonMN]

Could the fairys (or trees) be using sign language All this talk of brail has me thinking...but i don't know sign language...
Ron...

 

[pancho_semplice]

RonMN, I think it's entirely possible. Like you, I have no real knowlege of sign language. If it does appear in the book, I do believe it will be individual letters, and not words.

 

[bamacherf]

I like the petrified forest idea. It is written about in the book. On the 5x5 box idea it has been suggested to fill the box with the alphabet minus Q. Has anybody came up with a string of letters that contain all 25 letters exactly once? The zip code idea gives a good way to list the city and state in a short way.

 

[CMSCHUT]

PANCHO,THANKS! RONMN, IF YOU LOOK UP AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE IT WILL GIVE YOU ALL YOUR INFO ON SIGNING . IDONT HAVE THE EXACT ADDRESS AS IT WAS AWHILE BACK THAT I LOOKED THIS UP. ALSO FOR ANYONE WHO NEEDS HELP WITH CIPHERING WWW.SIMONSINGH.COM IS A GREAT SITE DEDICATED TO CODES AND CIPHERS. IT IS IN THE BLACK CHAMBER IN THE CRYPTO CORNER. ANY CODE OR CIPHER OUT THERE IS IN HERE AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY PUT YOUR CODES AND CIPHERS IN THERE TO TRY AND DECODE. SIMON SINGH ALSO HAS A BOOK CALLED " THE CODE BOOK" HOW TO MAKE ,BREAK IT, HACK IT, OR CRACK IT. ALSO LOOK UP BRAILLE BUG IT IS ALSO A HELPFUL. TO ANYONE, DO YOU THINK MS USED A DIFFERENT CODE OR CIPHER FOR EACH SEPARATE CREATURE? JUST A THOUGHT.

 

[pancho_semplice]

CMSCHUT,

The whole tackle repositorys=start cypher key in tools points to possibly one key to the ciphers, but many possible solutions. I think there is a LOT to be said for the recent posts regarding interesting aspects of the chapters, gman's pertrified forest for instance?

Not sure I mentioned this last week or not, but one of the most basic ways to start a cipher off is to throw in a random element that does not fit. It could be as simple as a synonymn for something. Or the many references to different woods; ironwood, tigerwood, etc. . . I still need to look at that regarding my token. Finding that odd element of the different chapters may hold a key to finding the ciphers locked within.

 

[CMSCHUT]

PANCHO,THANKS I FIND THE DECODING OF CIPHERS DIFFICULT. THE WEB SITE I MENTIONED EARLIER HAS HELPED ME I HOPE IT CAN HELP OTHERS. BACK IN DEC. I WAS LOOKING UP GINKGO TREE AND RAN ACROSS THE PETRIFIED FOREST IN WA ALSO . WHILE LOOKING INTO THAT I FOUND SEVERAL OTHER SITES ABOUT PEOPLE TRYING TO SAVE GINGKO TREES . ONE WAS ON A CAMPUS IN IOWA WHERE SOME STUDENTS WERE TRYING TO GET RID OF IT BECAUSE IT STUNK REALLY BAD AND OTHER PEOPLE WERE TRYING TO KEEP IT FROM BEING DESTROYED. ALSO THERE WAS ANOTHER ONE IN CA THAT APARRNTLY DEAD AND WAS GOING TO BE CUT DOWN UNTIL IT STARTED BUDDING AGAIN THEN THERE WERE SOME PEOPLE RALLYING TO SAVE IT. IN THE POST ON THIS PARTICULAR ONE IT ACTUALLY GAVE AN EXACT ADDRESS IN CA. I DIDNT GO ANY FURTHER ON IT THOUGH CAUSE CA. IS TO FAR FOR ME BUT I THOUGHT IT INTERESTING BECAUSE THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT TAKING CARE OF THE FORESTS AND CREATURES IN IT. I ALSO DID A LITTLE DIGGING IN FOREST PRESERVATION AND SAVE OUR TREES BUT DIDNT GET FAR.

 

[bguetzlaff]

I know this has been mentioned before, but I never saw where it was really addressed.? My hope is that someone can help clarify this for me.? People keep mentioning all kinds of ciphers: Vingere, Caeser, Morse code, sign language, Braille...? What ever happened to not needing to know any special knowledge?? All of those different ways of "encoding" information are not commonly known.? Information about them is commonly accessible, yes, but I know that I personally don't know how to read Morse, Braille, or sign language.? I imagine many other people are in the same boat.

So what I'm wondering is this:? Many of you are obviously VERY bright, and have been able to spot many things that aren't easy to find.? Is there anything in particular that leads you to believe that MS would use these ciphers as genuine information, and not as some trick to throw people off the trail?

I know this forum encourages discussing and dissecting thories, but that's not really what I'm trying to do here.? I just want to understand this jump in logic that I can't seem to follow.? Thanks!

PS - I'd also thought of the petrified ginkgos in Washington.? I went there on a road trip with my family several years back, and mention of the ginkgo tree in the book brought it back to mind.? I'm glad to see I'm not alone in that thought? ?

---Shaddow

 

[LitDoc]

Pancho, could you give one example of a random element that could be thrown into a chapter? ?Thanks!

 

[RonMN]

Shadow, The difficult clues may be to throw us off the trail...we don't know...it may be so easy we're all missing it. Lately i've been trying to go back to the basics & study "AN EVEN CODE WITH ONE PIECE"...i was thinking that maybe there is another visible code right in the same spot & maybe MS hid one visible code under another visible code...
So far...NADA I'm also thinking of cutting the book apart & seeing if the entire book will assemble like a giant jigsaw puzzle...

Another way of thinking outside the box (i've been hesitant to say it cuz i know i'm gonna get the snot beat out of me ) is when i first heard of "Tackle repositorys" i thought of a football stadium...then on the tools page i see ram horns, a drill (oilers) and 2 rulers with the #6 missing (6 = VI and rulers = kings...VIKINGS). But the bottom line is we're just as clueless as the next person

Ron...

 

[Lucidious]

MS states the "simple" clues need no special knowledge to find or decipher. What makes everyone so sure all of the clues are simple? I don't believe that simple clues alone can give a detailed description of where the tokens are. I have gained special knowledge from researching the "simple" clues in the book. If and when a puzzle is solved it will be specific as to the location and there will be no doubt as to the exact location of the token pertaining to that puzzle. It is easy to get the puzzles mixed up, remember we at least know there are 12 different puzzles in this book. Keep in mind MS spent over 10 years creating this. Also MS says if you can read you can figure out the puzzles. Well if you can read you can learn about anything known to man.

I have found clues that very obviously relate to each other. They come together to give me all but one element of a playfair cipher. I have everything but the order of the cipher text. It is a puzzle in itself. I have the keyword and its very obvious. This makes sense because if it had been easier to find the cipher text order than the keyword the cipher could be cheated. That is all I will say about that, for now.

I will point out something I noticed that I haven't seen mentioned yet. On page 44 there appears to be text in pook's spots. Check it out and tell me what ya think.

 

[TSpoon]

Pancho - personally I buy into the alternative anagram for "Hint: Tackle Repositories". It works out perfectly to "Cipher Key Start in Tools", or "Start Cipher Key in Tools". Too much of a coincidence.

 

[pancho_semplice]

TSpoon, my bad, I keep forgetting about Hint:!

 

[Gemini]

Re: morse code, Braille, sign language etc.

My feeling is that there may be examples of any and/or all of the above, and maybe other types of language (Esperanto? Flag language?), and that they provide ADDITIONAL clues that can help with the identification of the sanctuary, a location, etc.

However, all of those are a "special knowledge" of some sort, so I'm operating under the assumption they are not REQUIRED to find the tokens. They give added clues if you know that language, but the primary way to find the tokens does not involve them.

Gemini

 

[CMSCHUT]

GEMINI, I FORGOT ABOUT THE FLAG LANGUAGE . I FOUND SOME INFO ON SIGNAL FLAGS AND NUMERIC FLAGS AND THOUGHT THAT MIGHT HELP ME TO DECDE THE COLORS ON THE BORDER OF PAGES 20 & 21. I FEEL THERES SOMETHING THERE , BUT I GOT ZILCH. DOES ANYONE NO OF ANY OTHER COLOR CODES OUT THERE? I ALSO WANT TO SAY I AGREE WE DON'T NEED ANY SPECIAL TOOLS TO FIND THE LOCATIONS , BUT TO FIND THE EXACT LOCATION WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET. OR WE WILL JUST WANDER THE WOODS FOREVER . I THINK THIS IS A GOOD WAY FOR PARENTS AND KIDS TO DO SOMETHING TOGETHER. THE YOUNG EYES CAN SEE THE EASY CLUES AND THE OLDER MINDS DEFINE THEM.

 

[ashley07]

hey all.im new and so confused all i kno is that there has to be tokens in

COLUMBUS.OH
BUCHANNAN,NY
AND
SOMEWHERE IN COLORADO!

 

[ashley07]

DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE ZIP CODES OF CITIES AND THERE STATES

 

[ashley07]

IS ANYBODY THERE?

 

[RonMN]

Question: If i got the clue "IRONWOOD 1 BLOCK SOUTH OF METRODOME"...wouldn't that be an EXACT LOCATION Especially if there was only one ironwood tree that was 1 block south of the metrodome?

 

[RonMN]

Ash, I've seen a couple of (what i suspect to be) zip codes...but i didn't notice the ones you've mentioned...

Ron...

 

[pancho_semplice]

RonMN, I believe that might be the manner in how he positioned the tokens! I just booked a ticket to the Twin Cities, thanks for the hint! ha ha, just kidding.

Anyway, as for the rest, there is a park here in Houston call Hermann. Interesting thing is that it has an overlook; called the McGovern Lake Overlook. It's essentially a patch of grass surrounded by these random fountains that children run through in the summertime. Not much else to it except that it's raised up above the area around it a 1 to 2 feet.

I went around looking for a token recently, but didn't have any luck. I'm almost positive that there isn't a token in Houston. I could be entirely wrong, but that would make everything I'm seeing wrong too, and that just doesn't seem like the case. Anyway, we'll all see soon I guess!