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Comstar posted:The minute hand represents the pole. the hour hand is pointing at a "V". There is a notch in the lake directly south west of the pole. Go (4 feet 33 inches??) in that direction from the pole...and dig. Only thing that comes to mind is a major third is four half steps or two whole steps. polysynth fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 03:53
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Also that clock is vaguely like the one at St Louis Cathedral, which is about the only notable clock in the city.  e: Oh, and the wobbly background reminds me of cobblestone streets, which are fairly common in New Orleans. e2: Image again for a new page.  Bea Nanner fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 03:57
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Can anyone explain the Salt Lake City connection? I'm in Park City, UT and even though I probably won't wander around downtown SLC digging up poo poo, I'm definitely curious why it shows up on the map as a confident location.
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Jun 2, 2013 04:05
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I live in montreal and could spend an afternoon to check out areas if you've fond a spot to dig or test with a metal rod. one of the websites seemed tosay it might be at the base of a checkered sign, Am I looking at this wrong?
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Jun 2, 2013 04:09
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General, also New OrleansFistgrrl posted:I don't get the countries either but the list is on the front page of the wiki: (scroll to Summary) quote:Each image is associated with a country (France in this case) and a month, with its birthstone and birth flower [...] There's a verse in the introduction to the book which lists the countries and their associated gems:
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Jun 2, 2013 04:17
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Cask 10 - Milwaukee A little field recon with davey4283 this afternoon left us with more questions than answers but clues seem to point to the City Hall, Pabst Theater and Red Arrow Park. In the City Hall, 92 steps takes you to a landing looking at the Pabst Theater and a large golden harp on the roof. The grand 200 is the number of steps to the top floor. The floor mosaic is a compass. The bell is cast from a mix of metals including copper and the roof towers are copper. The Pabst Theater has designs similar to that on the neckpiece of the costume that the woman in the illustration is wearing and could be referred to with the verse about the woman and the harpsichord. This is the view of City Hall from the northeast corner of Water & Kilbourn. Head a half block north and the view will be identical to that shown in the illustration.  This is looking north on Water Street, just north of Kilbourn. Red Arrow Park is on the right. The far trees are birch but the original configuration from the 1982 era is gone.  Possible things to investigate: In the illustration, the woman is facing away from the back of City Hall and looking west. Is the gem and cask west of that point? Where is the culvert below the bridge? That will be where we need to make the final walk to find the buried cask. The last seven verses seem to refer to trees, possibly all birches. Is the "proud, tall fifth" another tree or something else? Edit: davey4283 looked a little bit around the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts across the street to the west and seemed to think there may be something there. Looking again at the picture, the gem is directly under a flower which seems to look like the Horsechestnut flower. The grove of trees at the Marcus Center are all Chestnut trees which are flowering right now... Neutrino fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 04:19
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Absolute Lithops posted:General, also New Orleans Oh, that's good information to have. In that case, I think St. Louis over Montreal for #9 since St. Louis has a "Dutchtown." I think it was named after German immigrants though. Unless anyone can say Montreal has a Dutch population?
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Jun 2, 2013 04:27
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I think the map showing Salt Lake is a bit older before they had the cities (other than St Louis or Montreal) pinned down, I haven't read anything anywhere to suggest SLC is one of the cities now.
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Jun 2, 2013 04:42
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SAN FRANCISCO Repeating my comment from earlier today - I'm free all Sunday and can go to the park to investigate and take crummy smartphone pictures. However, I don't want to do this alone (not a great photographer or riddle figurer), so are there any other goons in the city that want to meet up? I need 90 min warning so I can get into the city on the ferry. I have PMs if you don't want to discuss this in-thread. (I also know a couple of other forum members who can vouch for my not being a creepy murderer.)
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Jun 2, 2013 04:49
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Cask 7,New Orleans Well the result of around 40 minutes in an image manipulator left me with a mess of jumbled static, so I'm taking that as my cue for it being too late and heading off to bed. Summary posts tomorrow, and a to do list! so exciting!
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Jun 2, 2013 04:54
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Case 9, Montreal (possibly St. Lious.) Okay, so operating on the assumption "Montreal" for image 9, I noticed this. Maybe I'm crazy and there is no match at all, and again I know hardly anything about Montreal.  And  The lines of the face around the nose and mouth stood out to me as a river line on a map, possibly noting an island in the center. Its not a perfect match, but its close. I didn't know what to do with the nose, other than noticing that when the eyes are blacked out, it looks like Bobba Fett's ship from Empire Strikes Back. I thought it might be a bridge or some such initially, but I have no idea and sort of took the liberty and tried to force it. What I did find interesting though is the fact that someone made a connection, when arguing this picture depicts St. Lious, between the lapel pin/flag and a golf course. Looking at the map of Montreal, there does appear to be a golf course on this island. If it has been there since 1980, I have no idea, so it might just be a happy coincidence. ZombieLenin fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 05:13
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Fistgrrl posted:Edit: okay I guess a lot of these countries were important sources of immigration for the cities (Milwaukee=Germany, New Orleans=France, St. Augustine=Spanish). Still not sure where they're getting them assigned from. Chicago's should've been Poland. I don't think they're all immigration related though. Living in Cleveland, I think of Poles or Ukrainians, or even Italians, before I think of Greeks. AFAIK, there's no Greek town anywhere. Greek doesn't even make the ancestry percentage list of wikipedia's Greater Cleveland entry. There's a Greek fest in a suburb once a year, that's about it. I'm so bummed the one here has already been found. I love poo poo like this.
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Jun 2, 2013 05:16
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ruebennase posted:Yeah, starting out at the UN, crossing via the Queens-Midtown Tunnel (the entrance to which is right at that heliport on FDR) could work. Actually there are a couple of small parks near there. The rhapsodic man COULD (might be grasping at straws) be Louis Armstrong, who is buried in Queens, as is his "roots", his first home. He starred in a Movie "Rhapsody : Black and White"
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Jun 2, 2013 05:16
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Cask 1, San Francisco I think the possible torii clue in (see the annotated pics on the first page) may give a hint about the cask's specific location. Even though torii are Japanese, not Chinese. General At the forum, the guy who found the Cleveland cask wrote: quote:Preiss was a very good poker player, and was not giving out any hints about any of the other locations. However, he did confirm my theory that the countries of origin of the faeries do connect with the sites. Thanks to the forum, I've been able to gather all the country/continent verses here. The book's conceit is that the fairies of the world are entrusting these jewels to humankind (but only the humans in the US and maybe Canada, apparently). Cask 1, China "From far Cathay, the dragon's Pearl: Chaste, perfect as the silver moon." (Edit: I know pearls are traditionally associated with the moon, because of their appearance and their shared connection with water. But given the 11 moons in the image for this one, could this verse be another hint?) Cask 2, Africa "Africa's Diamond, earth-born star, Bright harvest of the midnight rock." Cask 3, England "Fairies of England proudly bear Garnet, crown-jewel of their Queen." Cask 4, Greece (** found) "The Nymphs of Hellas cherish sweet Aquamarine, spring-water clear." Cask 5, Ireland (** found) "Brilliant as the eyes of Celtic folk, Cold morning green, their Emerald." Cask 6, Spain (I'm not sure how they ruled out Portugal.) "The Hadas of Iberia: Sapphire, shy as a wild field flower." (Edit: I looked up "hadas." It's the Spanish word for "Fair Folk," while the direct cognate in Portuguese is "fadas.") Cask 7, France "Turquoise the Fays of France keep: stone Rare as a blue midsummer's day." Cask 8, Arabia (Saudi, I guess?) "The Ruby out of Araby: Scarlet of the desert sky at dawn." Cask 9, Netherlands "The Opal of the Lowland Gnomes: A cloud of shining, shifting smoke." (Edit: I think the image for this one deliberately references Rembrandt's paintings. It may be a general nod to the Netherlands, or it could mean something more specific) Cask 10, Germany "Dwarves' treasure: purple Amethyst, Imperial star of Germany." Cask 11, Italy "Peridot of old Italy: antique, and olivine, and rich." Cask 12, Russia "A Topaz is the Russian prize: The royal sunstone, frozen fire." Absolute Lithops fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 05:19
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The "within a month" thing got me thinking. You've been looking at long-term, stable things like geography. But if it was intended to be a short-term contest? It's very possible that the verses are referencing events happening right when the book was written/published. Stuff we would never think of unless we found it in a newspaper from that short timespan. Some Wolfram Alpha word-tools stacked on an Ngram search might pull these kinds of clues out.
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Jun 2, 2013 05:25
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I think you're going too deep. I think we need to look at the clues for both the solved ones, and see what they have in common. There was a book that came out when I was a bookseller, so 7 or 8 years ago, that did a similar thing, with jewelry hidden in parks. The big "ah ha!" moment for solving it came when someone realized that something on each of the pages matched up with various park trail maps. Each page also had a drawing of a tree, which was a sketch of the tree in which the treasure was hidden. While I'm not saying the clues are exactly the same style for each picture, knowing more about the other found one may be of great help.
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Jun 2, 2013 05:34
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Absolute Lithops posted:Cask 5, Ireland (** found) Well goddamnit. I had been working under the assumption that the Boston one (cask 11) was an emerald...there goes the connection to the Emerald Necklace. 
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Jun 2, 2013 05:35
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Mescal posted:The "within a month" thing got me thinking. You've been looking at long-term, stable things like geography. But if it was intended to be a short-term contest? It's very possible that the verses are referencing events happening right when the book was written/published. Stuff we would never think of unless we found it in a newspaper from that short timespan. The full quote from the guy indicates that he was more afraid that the puzzles would be solved in a month than he really expected them to be. He was afraid of early victories because once all of the casks were found, the book's sales would theoretically plummet. So no, the guy probably hoped the contest would last for at least a year. I mean, honestly, he had to work with an illustrator on creating these mind-shattering picto-riddles and a team of writers to write the bulk of the book's contents, so it's not as if the book was published within a week of the casks being buried and the riddles being conceived. I highly doubt he worked immediate local news into the puzzles.
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Jun 2, 2013 05:39
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Domus posted:I don't think they're all immigration related though. Living in Cleveland, I think of Poles or Ukrainians, or even Italians, before I think of Greeks. AFAIK, there's no Greek town anywhere. Greek doesn't even make the ancestry percentage list of wikipedia's Greater Cleveland entry. There's a Greek fest in a suburb once a year, that's about it.
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Jun 2, 2013 05:53
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Dumb question but the OP mentioned the contents of the safe deposit box were auctioned off... what was in them?
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Jun 2, 2013 05:54
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Absolute Lithops posted:They were listed as immigration countries on the old wiki, but I agree that they're not necessarily linked to immigration. At least not having many Greece-related spots in Cleveland made the cask easier to pin down. China for SF and France for New Orleans are, uh, kinda broad. I think it's just a theme of each puzzle in some way. For example, the Russian aspect of the New York one seems to be symbolized by the onion-domed Russian Orthodox cathedral in silhouette, which links with the likely "rhapsodic man" - George Gershwin - who was born of Russian immigrant parents in the Brooklyn. The relationship between the nationality and the puzzle seems a bit fluid. It's not the same in each one, and sometimes is rather subtle.
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Jun 2, 2013 05:58
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Mister Fister posted:Dumb question but the OP mentioned the contents of the safe deposit box were auctioned off... what was in them? The ceramic casks each have a key that you're supposed to be able to exchange for the gem. The gems were in the safety deposit box. His liquidation of his estate was pretty interesting. I'll find the links I read earlier... Edit: http://comicsbeat.com/byron-preiss-assets-on-the-block-for-150k/ His company owned some works from R. Crumb and GRRM...
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Jun 2, 2013 06:05
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Absolute Lithops posted:
Well, that cements the Elizabethian Gardens pretty well then, doesn't it? Dollars to donuts, it's there.
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Jun 2, 2013 06:06
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LargeHadron posted:Boston I dunno, the Boston (assuming it's boston) one is really vexing me. The painting seems almost useless for detail, unless someone manages to match up some of the latticework or other patterns. I figure the solved ones are some of the easier ones, but Cleveland and Chicago both had ridiculously easy imagery all over the place. Direct copies of stuff visible near the location, and the Chicago tower was barely hidden at all. It could be that the others are just harder, but man it seems like we got stuck with a really rough one. I don't see any definitive answer for the castle looking buildings on Pandora's Box, and the clues really don't seem to make sense with your location. There could be more to it, and I'm just interpreting them wrong, but Copley is nowhere near the water. The Colosseum is a better clue than people are giving it credit for. All I've seen are people trying to shoehorn various things in, but Harvard Stadium is seriously a Colosseum. The location I was at today fits the clues very well, and the park also fits the painting. I'm weirdly confident that it's there. I feel like anyone who goes there will understand what I mean. PM me if you'd like to work together. xie fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 06:08
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Case #9, Montreal (possibly St. Lious) So I'm really starting to believe this is Montreal.  Looking at the outline of the building made by the collar of the shirt, and doing a quick google, I find myself wondering if this building isn't the Dome of Marie Reine du Monde pictured here:  It's close, shape wise, but not perfect. Then the structure in the small circle, this is clearly something. Could it be the Montreal Biosphere pictured here? 
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Jun 2, 2013 06:12
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NYC: Cask #12quote:
So I was looking at the UN building again as an option for our grey giant. There happens to be an island right off the coast of the UN building's location.  This island, currently called U Thant Island, is legally named Belmont Island. Maybe our isle of B? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant_Island Furthermore, there is an Arch on the island called the "Oneness Arch." I can not locate a date for it's construction, but it could be somewhere between 1977 and 1999. This is the best image I could find of it. The island is very small.  I'm hitting a wall here though.
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Jun 2, 2013 06:19
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wezyap posted:I havent a lot to contribute with, but I have made a small application that implement the same algorithms as used in MRI scans to enhance subtile details (Median filter, Unsharpmask filter and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization), here is an example: I've been thinking for a while that the cross shape--just left of the dangling figure's leg, on the left side of the picture--is very intentional. It's not a natural shape for a cracked stone. The pattern of cracks makes more sense without it, frankly. Sesq posted:The face of the clock is a series of concentric circles framed by a square. Jackson Square has the same layout. The flagpole interestingly lines up with the second hand on the clock, and might be the giant pole referred to in verse 7, but it seems too ordinary to be a landmark. Intuitively, this looks like Peter Pan. The animal head in the lower right is pretty clearly a wolf. Since you're already looking into the Municipal Auditorium, is there any connection between that building and "Peter and the Wolf"? [edit]Actually I feel quite sure that's peter pan:   [/edit]Devyl posted:Sounds from the sky "Ace is high" could refer to poker, blackjack, bridge, or any number of card games the names of which could be significant. I think you're really close bro, your clues are pretty promising bagshotrow fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 06:51
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San Francisco I'm pretty sure this is/was in the City Hall plaza. If you look at the image and assume the large rectangle is Golden Gate Park, then the Pearl is located off in the direction of where City hall is. Verse 6 Of all the romance retold Men of tales and tunes Cruel and bold Reference to Opera? At say the San Francisco Opera House? Seen here By eyes of old It's across the street from City Hall, the facade of which is covered in stone faces Stand and listen to the birds Hear the cool, clear song of water Not positive, but this looks an awful lot like where a fountain used to be: http://goo.gl/maps/8VB7x Harken to the words: Freedom at the birth of a century Lincoln reference(Lincoln statue on east side of City Hall) Or May 1913 The new City hall was started in May 1913 after the old one was destroyed in the 1906 quake Edwin and Edwina named after him John Wilkes Booth reference? Points back to Lincoln and Opera House Or on the eighth a scene Where law defended Between two arms extended Treaty of San Francisco signed (Arms extended being a handshake?) at the War Memorial Opera house (with Japan, if you need more Asia references) edit: On September 8th Below the bar that binds I'm guessing this is a reference to the flag poles in the City Hall plaza (binding nations, states, etc) Beside the long palm's shadow There is a long line of trees along what looks to be a sand pit in the plaza. Maybe they used to be palm trees? Maybe one of them looked particularly sad. Embedded in the sand Did I mention the sand pit? Waits the Fair remuneration White house close at hand. Figurative reference to the City Hall, being the capital of San Francisco?
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Jun 2, 2013 07:06
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Actually now that I've written it down it seems like the Opera house courtyard is a pretty strong bet too, but all the Lincoln stuff led me over to the other side of City Hall
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Jun 2, 2013 07:12
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Which one could be Colorado? I am on the hunt if one actually points to Colorado. Also, Devyl, "ace is high" seems like a poker reference as he was an avid poker player. If there were any places were major poker games were played that could be something.
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Jun 2, 2013 09:06
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I just stumbled onto this thread, but is it possible the Houston image is more or less a literal map? Each pillar representing a sort of landmark you could see with the star orienting you into the proper perspective. One starts at the 982, which is a train, following it through a wooded area. It seems a fountain will be encountered and should be crossed while keeping your perspective in line which I think refers back to the picture itself. I think you also use the brightest star in the December sky to orient yourself. Whatever object has that star overhead while still maintaining the perspective that puts the zoo exhibits into the right places. And from where the treasure is you can still see the fountain and probably the train. I think the whole thing relies on a perspective that doesn't necessarily make it in the zoo, but uses the zoo as a landmark that you might be able to easily observe from the cask site. I think it was originally buried between four trees, three of which were in poor health possibly. I'm a little worried using satellite maps is problematic because he would have written these for people with access to only what he had at the time himself. It's why I'm not completely convinced the ball topped tower is that fountain because he would have had to either access a map or some kind of aerial photo which wasn't as easy of a feat then.
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Jun 2, 2013 09:26
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Kingnothing posted:NYC: Cask #12 Saddly Belmont Island has been a protected bird sanctuary for a number of years. Would be fairly improbably also due to its size.
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Jun 2, 2013 09:44
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Mr. Toodles posted:Also, Devyl, "ace is high" seems like a poker reference as he was an avid poker player. If there were any places were major poker games were played that could be something. My fear is that one or more of these verses were based on a store, shop, bar, etc. because in the French Quarter businesses open and close on what seems like an almost daily basis. There's only a few that I can think of that have been there for more than 10 years.
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Jun 2, 2013 09:59
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Pepslexic posted:Saddly Belmont Island has been a protected bird sanctuary for a number of years. Would be fairly improbably also due to its size. But the verse doesn't say it's on the isle of B. It just says that if you look north, you'll see the isle of B. If we look south from B then, it could be the very westernmost tip of Queens, or possible one of the parks along the East River in Brooklyn?
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Jun 2, 2013 10:06
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CronoGamer posted:But the verse doesn't say it's on the isle of B. It just says that if you look north, you'll see the isle of B. If we look south from B then, it could be the very westernmost tip of Queens, or possible one of the parks along the East River in Brooklyn? The only green space I can see that would be South-ish of U Thant Island is a small space in the Hunter's Point area, just south of the East River Ferry.  Earliest aerial I could bring up of the area was in '94 though.
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Jun 2, 2013 10:50
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The Adama posted:Cask 7 From that pole, walk two steps towards the "V" cut in the lake shore. Though I also agree the two flowers(?) or bells in the top corner's of the clock are significant.
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Jun 2, 2013 11:27
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Is there a spot that at some point during the day you can hear two sets of church bells?
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Jun 2, 2013 11:39
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New Orleans Where would the shadow of that green pole be at midday (when else would Church Bells ring?) in December (is there a day in December that has bell's ringing, or flowers are significant)?
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Jun 2, 2013 12:24
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I live in uptown New Orleans, so it wouldn't be too hard for me to go check out the spot. Also anyone interested in the New orleans cask go read my post on page 2. It solidifies that it's in Armstrong park in my mind.
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Jun 2, 2013 12:51
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Cask 12 There's a pretty famous restaurant in NYC called the Russian Tea Room, and it's pretty close to Central Park. Maybe it's a starting place>  EDIT: It doesn't really seem to match up with anything else that we've figured out, though. The Monkey Man fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 13:11
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