by Siskel » Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:22 pm
For those interested, a synopsis of my recent trip to New York with James Renner:
Met up with James and his film crew AND Byron's two daughters. Lovely girls and they were THRILLED to be part of the search. Was so interesting to see it through their eyes. Showed them all the Roman Orthodox Church in Brooklyn across from McCarren Park and got some ooohs and ahhs. Went next to Prospect Park, after first stopping at the house where Byron was born (near the park!!). After traveling from one end to the other and ending in Concert Grove (aka Rhapsodic Man's soil) I can confidently say that the treasure is NOT buried there. The girls were excited at the "prospect" (excuse the pun) and felt confident their dad would have buried a casque in the borough of his birth. And there were even some high hopes - like when we were looking at a map in the park and saw a refernce to a small man made island just north of Concert Grove called Musical Bear Island (The Isle of B???). And then when we found a large gazeebo that looked like it might have housed a carousel (cars abound) many years back and, after jumping over the do not enter fences to do a more thorough investigation, we saw not only the same color scheme in the inside roof (pale yellow, maroon and blue) but more amazing, there is a stain glass panel at the very center that even had some small circlular baubles in different spots that sort of resembled the color blind panels, albeit in small doses. After some initial goosebumps, we traversed that Concert Grove area looking for a V and walked 22 steps "or Moore" (towards the bust of composer Moore) in an area near busts of Mozart and Beethoven, both of whom have been referenced in previous prose, hoping we might find a suitable spot for digging. But alas, we all came to the conclusion that there is simply no way that the casque is buried in Prospect Park. And that was after exploring the large arch (grey giant?) adjacent to the Brooklyn Public Library (that was adorned with gold images including an indian and Moby Dick -- Melville, him of Hard Words?). Bottom line is that this entire location seemed like a stretch at best and there was NEVER that "A-Ha" moment that I experienced so clearly in Cleveland when Egbert and I discovered the treasure in the Greek Cultural Gardens 10 years ago.
From there we headed to Downtown Manhattan and explored the Battery Park area. Lots of clues to match up to the prose - the fact that the Fraunces Tavern sign mentions the West Indies native being a block from Mellvile's birth plaque ("A man thinks that by mouthing Hard Words he understands hard things") and standing at the very end of Broadway and looking north up that long "aisle"/isle of B (Broadway) the only structure visible in the distance is CLEARLY the Chrysler building, perfectly framed by the aisle of B itself (that dreaded Eagle gargoyle?) Whirring sounds from the nearby Staten Island Ferry and the nearby helliport, and clear sight lines for both Lady Liberty and Ellis Island (though not the docking area that appears to be referenced outlined in red in the illustration) and also some nice sculptures above the Battery Tunnel that show both the archway for the Verrazano Bridge and (in a separate panel) Peter Minuet buying Manhattan from the Indians (for the glass baubles?) Still, despite some better clues all around, the Battery Park area just did not feel right. Too spread out with no one place that seemed right.
We did NOT get to explore the area at the base of the Verrezano (JPJ Park and Ft. Hamilton) which remains a popular theory for some. We also did not get to visit Roosevelt Island, a theory that I feel is quite valid (formerly Blackwell's Island and if standing at the Southern tip in the park area, you can gaze north to the Isle of B (Blackwell). From there, you can hear the whirring sound of the overhead Roosevelt Island Tramcar, opened in the late 1970s and according to his daughters, they lived right there, and their dad loved taking them on that tramcar to Roosevelt Island. It also stands in the shadow of a Grey Giant (the UN Building that looks like the grey monlith in the image) and has a remarkable view of the Chrylser building (the eagle). But I digress ...
So, after traversing a LOT of ground and re-exploring some old theories with some new friends, the consensus is that while Byron MUST have buried a casque in his hometown area of Brooklyn or lower Manhattan, it is NOT at Prospect Park and probably not at Battery Park. Again, JPJ Park remains in the hunt, assuming the prose can really be tied in, and Roosevelt island (where Dickens visited -- him of Hard [Times] Words in Three original Vols. -- to write about the Lunatic Assylum there) remains a personal theory of some value, Image 12 and NY as a whole remains one heck of a mystery. When comparing Cleveland to Chicago, both images contained specific images that could be seen at the site location and the prose contained specific words or imagery that could also be seen at the exact spot, giving you the X marks the spot undeniable feeling. Unfortunately, that feeling did not exist at any of the locals we had a chance to visit, leaving us to feel more like we were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. The search, and the documentary, continues ...
