Viruswithshoes posted:

You're doing the Lord's work, son. Keep going and post your results!

Tony Homo posted:

Don't listen to Urban Smurf. He's insane and rambles on making no sense ALL the time.

Viruswithshoes posted:

There's something about this puzzle picture that I see all the time and really bugs me:



It's the slab of stone propped up at the bottom of the camel pillar. Why is it there? My eye is drawn to it every time because it's right in the middle of the picture. Both of the solved puzzles have something quite specific which indicates 'dig here' (the flower planter and the picket fence). I can't help but feeling that a small detail like that could be the thing to unlocking the right place to dig. Maybe have a scout about in the area to see if a slab of stone can be found?

Also, the train track in your picture and the puzzle picture bends to the right


Is there a part of the track nearby where the track's curve is more prominent? Or perhaps something nearby that matches up with the other 2 curved cracks in the paving stones near the spout? (all the others are straight - another detail that bugs me) Could be a trough or pathway that lines up in the eyeline with the track to indicate you're in a more specific spot...

Anyway, keep going!

Tony Homo posted:

How about the mountains in the back ground. Could that line up with something? Also to the top right where the leaves are on the tree there's something that to me looks like stones and not leaves.

Drunk Nerds posted:

Sounds like good enough reason to request a dig permit, fill out all the paperwork, and wait for the snow to clear but the weather to stay cool.

BigFactory posted:

Houston has neither of these weather phenomena.

BigFactory posted:

BigFactory posted:

Urban Smurf posted:

The Miller Outdoor Theater roof is secured on either side by two large titled stone "pier" blocks.

Fat Shat Sings posted:

I know the location of a cask but while typing up the message that described my solution I broke my wrist.

After that heals, and if it isn't winter, and I'm not busy I'll tell you guys.

SUPERMAN'S GAL PAL posted:

Waitaminute, you broke your wrist but typed this post? Are you sure this just isn't your one Internet post from jail?

wilhouse 2005 email to Byron Preiss posted:

bp,

Byron, the children's zoo is being rennovated and bulldozed over. I
only have a few months to find the casque. After that, if it is
in the children's zoo, it will be destroyed and I will be heartbroken.

Can you at least confirm whether I am in the right location or not? We
found the original article on the casque found in chicago
and noticed that you did originally advise the Chicago finders that they
were right. If I am in the wrong location, then the clues to
the casque are gone and the hunt is over anyways. Any information that
you would be willing to give up would be greatly appreciated.

wilhouse

Preiss' Response to wilhouse posted:

From: BPreiss@aol.com
To: wilhouse
Subject: Re: A final plea before it's too late
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2005 16:43:38 EDT

> it would not be a waste of time to dig there, but I cannot make any
> guarantees whatsoever

Q4T Forums user wilhouse commenting on the exchange posted:

This was the last email I received from him, as he passed away shortly afterwards.

Let me be clear, BP and I conversed about many subjects. I am an avid sci fi reader and I purchased many books he published. I tried not to overload him on Secret stuff cause after Egbert found his cask he received hundreds of emails on the subject. I tried to make sure that I only emailed him sporadically about the secret.

He told me once that I had the wrong location, when I was out by the fountains near the museum. He told me several times that he couldn't tell me any more, just to later tell me I was close.

His message that it would not be a waste of time to dig there was, in my humble opinion, as close as he would come to telling me I was right. I say this because he had told me when I was wrong before.

I still think it's there, but our opportunity to get it is small.

Sam Elliot as John Buford in Gettysburg might as well have been talking about my dedication to this treasure hunt when he posted:

The way you sometimes feel before an ill-considered attack... knowing it will fail... but you cannot stop it. You must even take part and help it fail.

Urban Smurf posted:

Did Preiss say the negative "it would not be a waste of time" as another way of saying killing time would be a more correct approach?

.random posted:

quote:

It's Wilhouse, definitely NOT Milhouse...

well, interesting. I always just figured he accidentally hit send before he finished his email. He was a man of few words back then. I got several emails from him that were less than 10 words, including "it is me..happy searching!
."

I put the period where he did, on the next line.

There's some people who think the cask is not even in Houston. To that I say: "there is a treasure in houston. that's all i can tell you
."

and here is the line in question: "after 22 Years all I can say is l
."

According to my webmail program (I used nameplanet at that time), the font is "monospace 12 pt".

WIlhouse

Urban Smurf posted:

Merlot, you missed mentioning some other emails from Preiss to wilhouse on the Houston location,


I put forth the theory that Preiss intentionally sent an incomplete sentence in order to show he was "cut-off" as a way of dancing around the idea that the puzzle is largely based on Atropos, the Fate who decides when people's lives are "cut-off".

Urban Smurf posted:

The 982 reference is more than a Houston landmark reference. I think it suggests Preiss expressed some panache with his ability to find anagrams. The whole puzzle as it's been engaged and discussed in these forums has long been heavy on what is or isnt a fit in the Zoo and other features around the Park, but little gets tossed into the ring in terms of each clue being sought for reasons applied as the fair folk of Araby would be concerned. I think the 982 train engine is of interest because the word ENGINE can be rearranged to spell GENNIE or N-GENIE.

As we entertain various references, it might be fun to look for these odd little connections to the cultural element. I was just reminded of the New Orleans turqoise of the Fey of France and although nobody seems to happy with my efforts, I realised that my focus on the three Central and South American statues on Basin street always troubled me for not seeming very "France" connected, but then I noticed the name of one of the statues is Francisco. When we try look through the lense of each culture, we may discover a different set of clues for our consideration.

Tony Homo posted:

I noticed that in the written clues that the word "the" was used quite extensively. I would surmise that Preiss was attempting to cut short the word "THEory" which is a shortening of "THEORY of relativity. This to me means that Preiss was subtly attempting to shift our focus on Albert Einstein. I would further postulate that Since Einstein died in New Jersey that the cask is in fact buried somewhere in NJ.

RNG posted:

Man, this thread is 3 years old this week. Have we found anything?

ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:

Of course not. There's nothing to find and you're all morons.

RNG posted:

Man, this thread is 3 years old this week. Have we found anything?

TheChaosPath posted:

I've just been holding out for a handjob from xie

Urban Smurf posted:

Ive been researching the Charleston puzzle quite a bit lately. The triangulate at WPG theory would seem the most sensible as far as several parts of the verse and image would apply, but nothing there answers some of the nagging questions that would be directed towards the specific reasons or inclinations that led Preiss/JJP to include other parts of verse/image.

In WPG stands the capstan of the USS Maine, which was sunk off the coast of Havana. Congress approved funds to raise the wreck in 1911 and in 1913 the capstan and a cannon from the ship were delivered to Charleston. Ine of the four panels on the monument contains the date it was recieved "May 1913". That would seem like a good connection, but it seems very weird in the context of everything else.that isnt easy to explain.

I keep asking myself "why is each line of verse important", or "what function does it serve to recognize a key location, reference, or direction towards the prize". When someone (I think it was a Charleston local named TJ) mentioned that a slave won the Charleston lottery and bought his freedom at the beginning of year 1800, I was very interested in learning more about the name Denmark Vesey. I bought a used book titled "Denmark Vesey and the Slave Conspiracy of 1822". It confirmed what Wikipedia had already reported and supplies other details specific to his origins, the discovery of his plot and his trial, in a format as if it was a collection of actual docume ts and news articles. Three or four things stood out that seemed useful to a theme or location.

1) Denmark Vesey was a carpenter and lived on Bull st.
2) His wife and other free blacks at the time emmigrated to Africa to the former settlement that became Liberia
3) He had been known by the name Telemaque when he was a young slave in the West Indies.
4) He is a significant figure in Black history, being an example among other uprisings like the Nat Turner Rebellion and his name was used as a battle cry for soldiers in the Civil War led by Frederick Douglas.

Keeping these historic facts in mind, I move to consider the reference to Edward Wilmot Blyden, whom had twin babies Edwin and Edwina named after him. This is according to the books Abroad in America (1976) and EWB Father of Pan-Africanism(1966, the source used by the Abroad book). This historic figure is the focal point for civil rights among African Americans shortly after the Civik War. He supported legislation to continue emmigration back to Africa. He was active in education and politics in Liberia and Sierra Leone. His connection to Charleston seems to be largely a secondary or indirect connection to the exodus of emancipated slaves from Charleston in 1878 to Liberia.

Why would Preiss begin the puzzle with hints of the book Treasure Island and then bring attention to these two historic figures which seem to have no real historic landmarks associated with them in Charleston? There is no question that the puzzle has an African theme, but I dont understand why the capstan of the USS Maine is of any significance when we have a justifiable theme that includes these men of black history.

When I research Liberia, the President William Tolbert was discovered to be born on May 13th, 1913. Theres something special about these historic names and what they represent to the puzzle. A slave named Telemaque/Denmark Vesey, the father of Pan-Africanism and twin babies named after him, and a President of a country in Africa that owes its founding to the history of Charleston.

Just this amount of research seems to barely scratch the surface of the puzzle.

zimgr posted:

Houston poo poo

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I think you're overanalyzing. Every line points to a detail of white point gardens; the capstan is just a neat historical detail present in the park. Pirates were hung at white point gardens, hence the pirate references, and slaves were sold there. The two arms of each Statue give the triangulation point for the dig. With a laser pointer and some time you could point to the right dig spot within inches, but as with the others, digging there is wildly illegal.

Urban Smurf posted:

How does it make sense to WPG to say "Edwin and Edwina named after him"? This line seems to strongly support a theory that deals with Edward Wilmot Blyden. So far as I recall people think this is a generality since Abroad in America quotes Blyden's passage through Charleston and the excitement to hear news of relatives back in Africa. It seems unnecessary and cryptic to have such a reference if we are exploring a focus on WPG.