image 12

[erexere]

There was a time when nobody had any idea how these puzzles might work. If there is a nearby roadmap feature to be found in any or all of these, it can be a significant help to closing the gap. Roads may change though. Milwaukee had some major roadway alterations. Since the centaur tail came to my attention Ive been more concerned with flipped and rotated image tricks. I try to allow for only simple adjustments like exact 90 or 180 degree rotation. Anything else invites too much in the way of self-inflicted-herrings. Buying road maps from 1980 may be much more helpful than using modern day google maps.

[decibalnyc]

email from BP saying "nothing was buried in Central Park"

The guys from Chicago also were told "There was no treasure buried in Chicago" BUT....this came from BP's secretary not from him himself....very clever to deny everything at first. Siskel when you met with him you and Egg stated that he had a great poker face and wasn't leaking any info about the other casques....is this just another way of him saying that he just isn't saying...? Probably unlikely of him to bury it in the MOST LIKELY spot in New York.

He was from the Prospect Park area of Brooklyn, probably knew that park better than most, maybe spent more time there than any...Just thinking about him as a person, I would put it in Prospect Park. A friend of mine says there are some visual clues that can be seen there that relate to the picture, I can't verify them yet. In any case, one way to look at it different (as I do with these) is consider the man who buried them. The New York site was probably special to him as it was his home, his birthplace...of all the cities in North America, New York may be one of the hardest places to bury something unseen, just due to the enormous population. BP also had more time with this one...much more than a handful of hours during 1 week to bury the casque. Then again maybe he knew where to put it for years, a place he's been many times and knows like the back of his hand...somewhere familiar. I wouldn't doubt that he has visited that statue in Central Park many times, but that's just because his office is only blocks off the park...he surely made use of it....

Open your mind up to more than the hunt, think about the Man...BP, think about the era this took place, and put yourself in BP's shoes....what if you were creating this....what stumbling blocks might you encounter...what was going on in those cities back then that could effect BP's plan...Often it doesn't hurt to reverse engineer the puzzle....find a place that looks and feels like it could be right and work in reverse... It might be a little more tedious and difficult, but I assure you....you will see things differently, and it may help you unlock another clue.

Spend some time on the man and the myth and the answer may be more apparent. Don't close your eyes to the person BP was...consider how his personal feelings may have influenced his placements. Look for themes in the partial solutions...in literature, anything that points to a method...I would guess when all the riddles are solved and casque locations uncovered, there may be a bigger picture, which if we knew now, may help us get there.

By the way Siskel and Egg...why did you pick Cleveland when both of you were closer to NYC? Just curious? Also can we expect a report on what's going on with Renner's Doc and the hunt he and Brian are apparently going on in FL?

[erexere]

Once I played around with the possibilities, I found the acrostic puzzle might have a little more to do with Washington:

According to the historical walking tour at San Juan Island's American Camp (Military Base), General William Selby Harney ordered Captain George Pickett and his men to go to San Juan Island in NW WA to settle a dispute between American settlers and British soldiers. 1) move the "W" from the 2nd line to the 5th line. 2) move the "B" from the 5th line to the 14th line. 3) move the "O" from the 14th line to the 2nd. 4) shift the letters on lines 7-10 from AYSS to SAYS, you now have a coherent and complete message: TO NW WA SAYS SELBY. It's fascinating that there's a visual reference to a window relating to Washington in Selby, England and a veiled reference to a US Army General with the middle name Selby.

T T T
W T O
N N N
W W W
B B W
A A A
A A S
Y Y A
S S Y
S S S
S S S
E E E
L L L
O O B
Y Y Y

[WhiteRabbit]

you now have a coherent and complete message: TO NW WA SAYS SELBY.

No, we don't. Honestly. We don't.

[erexere]

Is that because you've solved something to the extent that you're willing to ignore any alternatives?

[erexere]

Reveille aka First Call might be how Preiss links this casque location to the "Goodness first" concept. I think all the solutions may incorporate a "first" association.

[Xieish]

The big fountain in Bryant Park was put there in May '13. I actually had put the same verses together recently myself but in a different direction. Bryant is very close to the Chrysler building.

Edwin and Edwina Booth are both actors, and the Booth Theater is over on eighth.

There's a statue of a portuguese revolutionary there, as well as the NYPL. It's not even close to fleshed out like your theory is, but I'm in Boston not NY.

[Xieish]

The more I learn about this cask the more I think it may be unrecoverable.

[erexere]

The more I learn about this cask the more I think it may be unrecoverable.

What reason(s)? Missing markers or other changes to landscape?

[Xieish]

Both. I know making pronouncements like this without proof is bad form, but as far as I know my solution to this one isn't public. My research has been done entirely in private (by myself) and I'm very confident I know approximately where it was buried. I am not confident that the verse can be followed to the casque anymore.

I'm going to come up with a time in the near future to put my money where my mouth is and go look, I guess

[erexere]

These forums are less private than they use to be, so your position on the subject is understandable. Its up to you to decide whether you are generating your own IP. It takes a lot to say you havent used anything said by others to help you form your approach or sense for the methodology. Its safe to assume here at this forum that everyone shares and shares alike to find these casques. Sir Eg and others have done a great job pioneering that philosophy.

I myself have to be careful of a particular solution that I'm currently only willing to trust a few folks with. My solution is probably out if bounds in its scope, but all the same, I really want to further the cause with a sense of whom exactly has access to that information. You know who you are. If you havent got a PM from me lately, send me a request for the intel. As far as 87.5% of my work goes, I've done my best to share it with all y'all. I know PMs can be cumbersome, but maybe we should tolerate that level of security for however long anyone remains concerned.

[Xieish]

I do not mean to say that my work is not 'standing on the shoulders of giants' at all - but at the same time borrowing methodologies or using an image/statue/etc. that someone suggested isn't quite the same as sharing resources. Even I don't have that level of hubris. What I meant is that besides a few odds and ends my proposed solution is not on the internet at all, or on anyone's (public) radar. As such, I would like to keep it that way. If anyone else is hot on the same location, they've kept it 100% off of these boards and others.

If I felt I needed help or some guidance I would absolutely say "here's what I have, I'm stuck." But I'm past that, there's nothing anyone can do here - the next step is to visit the site.

[wk]

Is it somewhere secluded where you could bury a casque without being interrupted?

[erexere]

I spent all my hubris on junk so I went and borrowed some from a goon at SomethingAwful...pretty high interest too.

Visiting a site if it has anything confirming is bound to be an awesome experience. Good luck when you go for it.

Where on the scale of difficulty to you think this casque lands? Which casque do you think is the hardest to solve?

[Xieish]

Neither of the other solved ones are particularly secluded. There was a wedding going on when Egbert & Siskel dug, and Grant Park has the 'hush' line for that reason. It's right by a road.

I know the park with 100% certainty, the area with STRONG certainty, but need to be on site to see if it can still be dug. I believe Preiss made an error burying it here in the first place, & all of NY got obliterated during Sandy as well, wiping away a ton of signage and markers, as well as generating millions in new construction.

There is a clear, unmistakable path that culminates in a location that I have also located in the painting with almost 100% certainty. Unfortunately, the rest is up to luck, whether or not you can solve the final piece of the riddle still. I suspect you can't. But I'm in Boston, it's not hard to arrange a trip.

I thought this one was he hardest for a long time due to the image's... Bleakness. but now I don't think so. I believe it's one of the more confined ones, I know some of them stretch over a few miles.