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!

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Strongylocentrotus posted:

Well, here's how I just (as in minutes ago) reached my conclusion about Roanoke being the locale of #3:

Painting on left, satellite shot and map of Roanoke on right.

As for exactly where the cask can be found on the island, that's going to be a lot tougher to work out. Going by what the OP said about these things tending to be in parks, that narrows the possibilities down a bit, and like I said in my first post, my kneejerk reaction is to think it's the Elizabethan Gardens.

I grew up on the Outer Banks, and I think they may in fact be referring to it STARTING at Roanoke Island:

"Verse 11
Pass two friends of octave (The towns of Manteo and Wanchese on the island)
In December
Ride the man of oz (Go over the Washington Baum Bridge)
To the land near the window
There's a road that leads to
Dark forest (Oceanside Drive to Nagshead Woods, our local "haunted forest" park. Oh and look, the armor in the picture is sporting the helmet of an old horse's head!)"

The rest would then seem to indicate specific directions inside the park perhaps (which has indeed changed a lot since the 80's). I don't live there anymore but my sister does, maybe I can get her to scope it out. It could be the Elizabethen Gardens, but the "Ride the Man of Oz" line makes me think otherwise.

Premeditated Toast fucked around with this message at 16:38 on May 31, 2013

# ¿ May 31, 2013 16:15

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 18:12

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Sham I Am posted:

That the first line could be referring to Octave Chanute, who was friends with and helped out the Wright brothers. That would start you at kill devil hills. If that is the case I think you'd be going across the Baum bridge the opposite way than you are saying here, right? If you take The Window in "the land near The Window" to mean the Lost Colony Amphitheater, then it could still be the Elizabethan gardens.

ETA: and this line �From this hallowed ground they walked away through the dark forest and into history.� is apparently on a plaque at the entrance of the gardens.

Very good points. That would make the "After circle and square" part make more sense if they're talking about this part of the garden:

# ¿ May 31, 2013 22:22

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Strongylocentrotus posted:

I'm going to go ahead and propose that Cask 3 is buried somewhere below the gate in the Elizabethan Gardens here:

You're welcome, now send me some of that sweet sweet money and/or a shard from the cask that I can frame.

I know exactly which gate you're talking about, :ssh:

It's the gate us darned local kids would use to sneak into the place at night :ssh:

You can most definitely see the Wright Brothers Memorial from there, it's straight across the Roanoke Sound. I think I'm gonna have to call my sister and see if she can let me crash at her place later in the week. I just gotta explain all of this treasure business to her..

lfield posted:

To add to this, from lemontiger.co.uk:

I posted this earlier, but my hunch is that the "Under that/Which may be last touched" line refers to the "Croatoan" tree that John White found when he returned to the colony.

Does anyone know if that tree is still there? Or maybe a monument/information board at the site of the tree?

Nobody knows where the original tree is, or specifically where the colony was located for that matter, just that it was on the north end of the island somewhere (where Fort Raleigh/Elizabethan Gardens is now). It wasn't until the 30's that people started to really look into the Lost Colony mystery and the tree could have been carelessly used for lumber for all we know.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 07:33

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Cask 3/Roanoke
Besides some minor renovations over the years, yeah it's stayed the same. I also noticed this while looking at your pics, Mnemosyne:

That's the Wright Brothers Memorial as seen from across the waters! I'd guess to say it's buried by one of the gate pillars, which has a ball top. As for the pine tree, I recall there being a lot more around that area but my memory could be fuzzy.

Premeditated Toast fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Jun 2, 2013

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 09:30

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Cask 3/Roanoke
:siren:

I will be heading to Roanoke Island to check out the possible Cask #3 location either Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week if all goes to plan :siren:

I'm still waiting to hear back from my dad and sister and I'm trying to shift work schedules around. My dad would probably eat this kind of stuff up but he's old and has a bad back and probably couldn't do any fence-hopping or digging.

TShields posted:

Be careful, guys.. don't get arrested for digging up a national park for a ceramic pot buried by someone with way too much time on their hands.

I went to school with most of the Sheriff Deputies so if worse comes worst I'll pull the "Small Town" card. I'm also calling around to see if I know anyone in the Park Service over there. The place is more or less abandoned at night, but I'd prefer to do this the "right" way, or at the very least as close to "right" as possible and not piss anybody off.

Premeditated Toast fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Jun 2, 2013

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 18:57

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Cask 3/Roanoke
Does anyone know how deep down the two found casks were buried?

edit: Nevermind, one of the news articles says that the book claims that the casks are buried no more than three and a half feet deep. I think the cask found in 2004 was only buried about a foot down though, seems to depend on location.

Premeditated Toast fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Jun 2, 2013

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 19:02

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Cask 3 Roanoke
Due to scheduling conflicts I couldn't make it down. My friend and I are trying to get in touch with people living there right now to see if they can scope things out, otherwise I can't make it until next week.

Sham I Am posted:

Roanoke

"Under that which may last be touched or first seen standing" is a complete mystery to me.

I think it refers to the Garden Gate, since a gate is either the first thing you touch or the last thing you touch depending on if you're coming or going. The Wright Brothers Memorial is a barren field atop of a big hill, if something was buried there I don't see how you could dig it up without a Park Ranger seeing you from miles away.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2013 17:19

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Strongylocentrotus posted:

Any news on Roanoke? That feels like the one we're closest to finding, just need to get some brave soul on the ground to start rooting around for it.

I was planning to head there this past Wednesday but the Outer Banks is currently getting slapped around by Tropical Storm Andrea.

BJG posted:

Q4T don't agree on a lot, but pretty much everyone favours this scene as a prime candidate...

...apart from the sign, it's the only angle I've seen though. (The rationale is on P30.)

That's located in Fort Raleigh National Park, right beside the Elizabethan Gardens. If you hop the rail and hang a left you'll get to the Garden Gate. Could be worth a shot.

Sham I Am posted:

the more I think about it the more I think that the casque is not actually in the elizabethan gardens. There is little in the image that anyone can definitevly match up to anything in the gardens.

I don't know dude, Strongylocentrotus and Mnemosyne both made some strong arguments between pages seven and nine of the thread. Some casques may be tied more to the verse than the pictures.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2013 02:19

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

rookhunter posted:

There is evidence in Roanoake that leads the the spot where the bench is at. The shape of the trail is on the image, the wooden post/fence thing is also in the image. What it comes down to is how you interpret, "Under that which may be last touched or first seen standing." A bench meets that criteria.

For reference, the bench is located on the Thomas Hariot trail in Fort Raleigh. I made a dot for that, and where the gate is located in the Garden Gate theory. At this point I'm too busy to actively speculate, but I'll gladly poke around and dig at different spots people suggest if and when I can finally get down there. My birthday's in July so I might just try and use that as an excuse to crash at my sister's place on the island since she doesn't seem to care about this search. Stupid work and personal life getting in the way of treasure!

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# ¿ Jun 15, 2013 06:03

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Sham I Am posted:

All the Roanoke clues lead up to the area around the EB/Fort (or more specifically IMO to the path by the marker stone)
F

For reference, here's where the Marker stone you keep referring to is located: Right in the middle of the park's path, near the visitor center. Probably the most exposed spot to dig out of all the theories besides the Wright Memorial, which is basically a barren field on a hill.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2013 17:34

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Sham I Am posted:

I know where the marker stone is. I was not suggesting digging by it, just that I believe it is possible that the trail of clues leads up to the path by it and then gets murky, not that the trail ends there.

I'm sorry if my previous post came off as snarky or confrontational, long story short I've been dealing with a lot of personal stuff that's been piling up and I guess the stress has been starting to bleed through into poo poo like Treasure Hunts of all things. This cask in particular is a serious "less is more" conundrum, because there really isn't a lot of poo poo on this island compared to say Montreal, but that just makes it even more frustrating as we delve further and further into the minutia.

I tend to lean towards the garden gate theory, although if that's the case the cask very well may have been swept away by one of the hurricanes that have come through since '82..my memory's a little fuzzy on how high or low the ground is near the gate. The bench is another possible spot in my opinion (although I agree with you that the theory is more flimsy than the other) because it's halfway through the nature trail, and honestly not a lot of people go on it compared to the main route. It would be a nice secluded area to dig, but I also fear that the bench might be bolted down to a slab of concrete so it doesn't get blown away by hurricanes. Either way the search area we're dealing with is no big sweat compared to the other casks, so if we're wrong, it won't take much energy to keep on looking

I'm hoping to head down there some time in the middle of July, but I'm also trying to get in touch with one of the people who works at the Fort to see about permissions.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2013 18:13

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Urban Smurf posted:

Cask 3

I consider the line "ride the man of oz" to be a very strong clue to take us to Chicamacomico. The word "ride" may main "to ridicule" and the reason for the lower case 'o' might be a subtle suggestion to think of the Munchkins of Oz, since they are Little People.

Or you know, there's the Washington Baum (aka the author of Oz) Bridge. That you can take via Hwy 12 ("In December" referencing the number 12).

# ¿ Jul 7, 2013 06:45

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

Urban Smurf posted:

Why do you ask?

Are you not aware that most of the thread is just humoring you, and having a laugh at your expense?

# ¿ Jan 11, 2015 08:14

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

I don't think anyone takes this three year old thread seriously anymore, Cobalt60, it's just an excuse to read/enable a bunch of rambling Urban Smurf posts. :shrug:

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 07:01

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 18:12

Premeditated Toast: Apr 24, 2008; Same as it ever was.

HoAssHo posted:

Because no one cares enough about this to "debunk" your theories. This thread's purpose at this point is to just lol in amazement at how much time and energy you've put into this extremely pointless thing.

It's been the point for several YEARS now.

edit: Wow this thread is older than some toddlers.

Premeditated Toast fucked around with this message at 21:00 on May 23, 2017

# ¿ May 23, 2017 20:58

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