Let's solve a 40 year old unsolved treasure hunt!

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Let's solve a 40 year old unsolved treasure hunt!

BJG: Jun 4, 2013

Bifauxnen posted:

Now at first I thought that was too good to be true or just a freaky coincidence, it's just some random boat that was there on the day they got the photo, right? Nope, it's a historical vessel, the Balclutha:

New Q4Ter called Treetops has been poking around there.

quote:

Today I came across a 1986 Sunset Pictorial book about San Francisco (ISBN 0-376-05666-5). I'm thinking that contemporary travel guides and photo books are going to be more helpful than Internet research for some aspects of The Secret, not only for the photos and maps, but for a sense of what attractions were being emphasized at the time. For instance, this Sunset book has a disproportionate amount of space devoted to the Ghirardelli Square/Cannery area.

A few things that jumped out at me:

-"The [Ghirardelli] clock tower houses the studios of a radio station whose call letters are, appropriately, KFOG." So KFOG used to broadcast out of the Ghirardelli Square tower? I immediately thought of "Sounds from the sky."

-In 1986, the Balclutha was at Pier 43, not the Hyde Street Pier. This is of interest to anyone thinking that "High Posts are Three" might refer to the Balcultha's three masts, since the ship was about six blocks away from its current location. (Yes, 43 and the woman in image 1 pointing to the 4th and 3rd lines on her sleeves, but that seems like a coincidence to me.)

-The side-wheel paddle steamboat Eureka was at Hyde Pier, a candidate for "Object of Twain's attention."

-Here's a far-out one: The ship C.A. Thayer was, and still is, also docked at the Hyde Pier. I, of course, couldn't help seeing CATHAYer, and thinking of The Secret's references to China as "Cathay". Complete coincidence, but fun nonetheless.

BJG fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Dec 4, 2013

# ? Dec 4, 2013 19:16

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# ? Jun 7, 2024 10:45

GWBBQ: Jan 2, 2005

I just introduced some new people to this and we've been tossing ideas around. I noticed this in image 12 for the first time, St Louis is between latitudes 38 and 39, and the shape between the domes of the church looks like an outline of the city flipped vertically.

# ? Dec 5, 2013 01:30

56k: Apr 4, 2004; by T. Finninho

Just jumped from page 29 to this one. Have we solved these cases yet?

# ? Dec 5, 2013 08:08

56k: Apr 4, 2004; by T. Finninho

GWBBQ posted:

I just introduced some new people to this and we've been tossing ideas around. I noticed this in image 12 for the first time, St Louis is between latitudes 38 and 39, and the shape between the domes of the church looks like an outline of the city flipped vertically.

Looks nothing alike

# ? Dec 5, 2013 08:09

CK07: Nov 8, 2005; bum bum BAA, bum bum, ba-bum ba baa..

^^^Thanks for skipping 70+ pages to give us your very useful and well-written opinion! With you here, we're sure to solve every one in no time!

"Treetops at Q4T posted:

-The side-wheel paddle steamboat Eureka was at Hyde Pier, a candidate for "Object of Twain's attention."

THIS. This is super important and is something that's been tickling my mind lately. Without the Twain thing, the verse is impossible to link to to SF. This is looking like good info. I am not going to dig in Ghirardelli Square but I will watch someone else do it.

# ? Dec 5, 2013 13:38

xie: Jul 29, 2004; I GET UPSET WHEN PEOPLE SPEND THEIR MONEY ON WASTEFUL THINGS THAT I DONT APPROVE OF

56k posted:

Just jumped from page 29 to this one. Have we solved these cases yet?

We solved most of them, and are making a goon crown with the jewels to present to Lowtax at Gooncon 2014.

# ? Dec 5, 2013 14:08

GWBBQ: Jan 2, 2005

56k posted:

Just jumped from page 29 to this one. Have we solved these cases yet?

You missed all the good parts.

# ? Dec 5, 2013 16:21

CronoGamer: May 15, 2004; why did this happen

CK07 posted:

^^^Thanks for skipping 70+ pages to give us your very useful and well-written opinion! With you here, we're sure to solve every one in no time!

Why would he need to read 70 pages of lunatic rambling and endless dithering to be able to recognize what an incredibly implausible leap the previous post was? It's not like it was predicated on anything that came before.

# ? Dec 5, 2013 21:22

Nolan Arenado: May 8, 2009

This thread was really GBS 2.1 before GBS 2.1 existed, except crazier.

# ? Dec 9, 2013 21:16

Waltzing Along: Jun 14, 2008; There's only one
Human race
Many faces
Everybody belongs here

Did anyone ever find anything? I got bored after a month or so of nothing happening.

# ? Dec 9, 2013 21:25

Mr.Acula: May 10, 2009; Billions and billions of fat clouds

I found it, you can all stop now.

# ? Dec 9, 2013 21:26

Nolan Arenado: May 8, 2009

In all seriousness, no, no one ever found anything. There were a couple that had some good theories, but it was illegal to dig in the spot or there had been work done since the book was written so it was guaranteed to have been destroyed if it had been there. I don't know how the soil is in the south, but any of the ones in the northern part of the US won't be easily accessible now until it gets much warmer.

# ? Dec 9, 2013 21:31

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Bet you that if this thread had been on NeoGAF, they'd all be found by now.

Seriously, SA is just a bigger version of this.

:reject:

# ? Dec 10, 2013 03:51

Taima: Dec 31, 2006; tfw you're peeing next to someone in the lineup and they don't know

Synthetic Hermit posted:

Seriously, SA is just a bigger version of this.

No, it's really not.

# ? Dec 10, 2013 03:57

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

OctoberBlues posted:

In all seriousness, no, no one ever found anything. There were a couple that had some good theories, but it was illegal to dig in the spot or there had been work done since the book was written so it was guaranteed to have been destroyed if it had been there. I don't know how the soil is in the south, but any of the ones in the northern part of the US won't be easily accessible now until it gets much warmer.

Yeah. I think some of the solutions posted in this thread (especially for charleston) have a very, very high likelihood of being correct. It's just that digging there is a federal crime.

It would probably be worthwhile for someone to go through the thread and summarize the theories and repost the summary somewhere for future reference.

# ? Dec 10, 2013 13:56

Merlot Brougham: Dec 16, 2004; The White Darryl Strawberry; Salad Prong

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Yeah. I think some of the solutions posted in this thread (especially for charleston) have a very, very high likelihood of being correct. It's just that digging there is a federal crime.

It would probably be worthwhile for someone to go through the thread and summarize the theories and repost the summary somewhere for future reference.

I tried to keep up with updating the wiki as best I could until it ceased to function. It was by no means complete, but I thought it was progressing nicely. If Meat Street would be willing to forward that information along somewhere, we can figure out something to do with it.

# ? Dec 10, 2013 19:41

BJG: Jun 4, 2013

I'm glad it's over. We can all go home now.

# ? Dec 10, 2013 20:08

Demonachizer: Aug 7, 2004

I forgot about this thread. Now that it is GBS 2.1, I would like to take the opportunity to tell Urban Smurf that he is an annoying sperglord and should probably stop posting in this thread/in general.

Thanks!

# ? Dec 10, 2013 20:34

madeupfred: Oct 10, 2011; by FactsAreUseless

Merlot Brougham posted:

I tried to keep up with updating the wiki as best I could until it ceased to function. It was by no means complete, but I thought it was progressing nicely. If Meat Street would be willing to forward that information along somewhere, we can figure out something to do with it.

I'll remake the wiki.

# ? Dec 10, 2013 20:36

Never Been Banned: Sep 7, 2004; Okay well, maybe once...

demonachizer posted:

I forgot about this thread. Now that it is GBS 2.1, I would like to take the opportunity to tell Urban Smurf that he is an annoying sperglord and should probably stop posting in this thread/in general.

Thanks!

FTFY!

e: urbansmurf for governor

Never Been Banned fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Dec 10, 2013

# ? Dec 10, 2013 20:56

Putty: Mar 21, 2013; HOOKED ON THE BROTHERS

i hope you guys find the tresure

# ? Dec 10, 2013 20:57

Nocheez: Sep 5, 2000; Can you spare a little cheddar?; Nap Ghost

demonachizer posted:

I forgot about this thread. Now that it is GBS 2.1, I would like to take the opportunity to tell Urban Smurf that he is an annoying sperglord and should probably stop posting in this thread/in general.

Thanks!

Seriously. That guy has mental issues, and is one of like 3 people on my ignore list.

# ? Dec 10, 2013 22:06

Merlot Brougham: Dec 16, 2004; The White Darryl Strawberry; Salad Prong

Nocheez posted:

Seriously. That guy has mental issues, and is one of like 3 people on my ignore list.

That guy is now offering $50 to anyone who will count some rings on a tree in San Francisco if any SF goons are interested.

# ? Dec 31, 2013 19:40

Abysswalker: Apr 25, 2013

Putty posted:

i hope you guys find the tresure

they won't find the treasure

# ? Dec 31, 2013 20:10

gp2k: Apr 22, 2008

Hmong Moms posted:

they won't find the treasure

the search is the treasure! :ssh:

# ? Jan 2, 2014 07:33

Putty: Mar 21, 2013; HOOKED ON THE BROTHERS

Hmong Moms posted:

they won't find the treasure

spoilers tags please

# ? Jan 2, 2014 07:47

Oswald Kesselpot: Jan 14, 2008; HONK HONK HONK

gp2k posted:

the search is the treasure!

Turned the stone and looked beneath it, "Peace on earth" was all it said.

# ? Jan 2, 2014 22:00

Putty: Mar 21, 2013; HOOKED ON THE BROTHERS

the treasure was Love

# ? Jan 2, 2014 22:03

Merlot Brougham: Dec 16, 2004; The White Darryl Strawberry; Salad Prong

Urban Smurf's offer of fifty dollars to anyone in San Francisco who wants to count some tree rings for him is legit.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 00:35

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Now that GBS 2.0 has breathed its last (hopefully), how about we put a renewed effort into this mighty task?

# ? Jan 7, 2014 21:50

SheepNameKiller: Jun 19, 2004

hey goons let's solve this treasure hunt that requires us to go outside

ok

*97 pages and no one digs anywhere*

# ? Jan 7, 2014 22:11

Nocheez: Sep 5, 2000; Can you spare a little cheddar?; Nap Ghost

Now, now, there was that guy who found a rock.

# ? Jan 7, 2014 22:45

Homestar Runner: Oct 9, 2012; This is the best videogame
I have ever played!

random page, random Urban Smurf post

Urban Smurf posted:

There's a nearby rock feature called Rooster Rock. Looking at that bird outline in the illustration's rock I thought I'd check the map view and see if anything lined up.

lol

# ? Jan 7, 2014 22:54

Never Been Banned: Sep 7, 2004; Okay well, maybe once...

Homestar Runner posted:

random page, random Urban Smurf post

lol

He shoots... and it's off the rim!

So close buddy!

Urban Smurf for Governor.

Never Been Banned fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Jan 8, 2014

# ? Jan 7, 2014 23:55

SheepNameKiller: Jun 19, 2004

PYF urban smurf post

Urban Smurf posted:

I've been busy with this hunt and maintained a constant focus on a variety of possibilities. I recently built a replica plexi box and tested some probe equipment to see if contact with plastic at depth delivered any difference in response than if I had encountered a rock or tree root. Results were fairly good. Now I hope to have a good opportunity to put the method to use.

# ? Jan 8, 2014 00:26

Urban Smurf: Jun 12, 2013; Take this avatar, rotate it 180 degrees, mirror it, mark a point from the tip of the dogs noses and you will see it will line up to this image of the centaurs tail "exactly."