Here’s a thought: The Golden Stairs–(your back to the Stairs) were the stairs that immigrants to Boston stepped onto from the wharf when they got off the ship at their new home.  Feel at home could refer to the influx of immigrants–and the welcome they received in Boston when they got here to make it their new home!

Very good idea shecrab, that would make sense. The image just screams copley to me so I’m still not completely on board with the southie thing but you are slowly pulling me over lol

If you are to rule out the BPL, then you are also ruling out the Old South Church and Trinity Church match-ups that Insatiable found, shown on the image11 thread.  Is that correct FB?

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2378093430101570177odlYRz?vhost=good-times
Maybe this will make it more clear what I am trying to explain.  T is the second name down on the column of names on the left panel.  X is four names down in its column on the right panel.  If you stand facing the panels (facing west), T is North of X.
I read the first two lines to mean you do not take the five steps until you have T north of X and by doing this now you do.

I brought this up about six months ago, and I will bring it up again….
Across the street from Copley Square/Trinity Church
is Marshall’s (department store) and this picture had caught my
eye as the photo of the courtyard looks very much like a
coliseum… can someone in Boston confirm or deny this claim…
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/No … ?frdir=yes
(500 Boylston)

Trohn

I brought this up about six months ago, and I will bring it up again….
Across the street from Copley Square/Trinity Church
is Marshall’s (department store) and this picture had caught my
eye as the photo of the courtyard looks very much like a
coliseum… can someone in Boston confirm or deny this claim…
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/No … ?frdir=yes
(500 Boylston)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Boylston_Street
On wiki it says it was built in 1985, I have no idea what was there before that.

Here’s how I see this:
We are trying to make things fit in this verse a little too literally, and maybe we should try taking it more out of order.
Steps
= not human footsteps, but AREAS, or BLOCKS, or maybe even numbers in the ZIP code? i.e, from 0211
2
to 0211
7
?
In the area of his direction = In one of the aforementioned AREAS
Take five steps IN THAT AREA.
The verse doesn’t say take five steps TO that area, but IN THE AREA of his direction.
IN
THE AREA. WITHIN, in other words.
Face the water.
Is there a place in Boston where you
can’t
face the water? LOL….This is very ambiguous, but that works in our favor here. If you’re in the Back Bay, you face North. If you’re in Southie, you face, er, East and South. If you’re on or near Castle Island, you can face any direction.
Your back to the Stairs
Well one thing we know is that it doesn’t say YOU’RE (you ARE) back to the Stairs. It says YOUR BACK. The possessive, not the contraction. So If we put OUR backs to the stairs, and we think these might be the Golden Stairs, then WE FACE WEST Because the Stairs are in the East Boston Area–near East Boston Piers park and Brophy Park on Webster Ave.   But here’s he weird thing: if you FACE the WATER with your back to the stairs, then you can ONLY be in one place: on the piers in East Boston, looking across the water to the
North End
. So we’re back to the North End. And if that’s the area we need to be in, then we need to find five of something that make ‘steps.’
Feel at home
= the welcome that we gave to immigrants who landed on these piers in Boston. Much the same thing as “give me your tired, your poor, etc.”  I think this refers to the influx of ships that came here–from the Pilgrims who landed in Cape Cod to the Irish and Italians who populated most of Boston. Either that, or we should be able to see some baseball field from our location–which isn’t the case that I’m aware of.
Green Tower of lights
= we just don’t know. We don’t know if this means “green tower” or “green lights” on a tower. Or if it means something entirely different.
Just some thoughts.

Unknown

Unknown:
If you are to rule out the BPL, then you are also ruling out the Old South Church and Trinity Church match-ups that Insatiable found, shown on the image11 thread.  Is that correct FB?

Not necessarily – I still think this one is probably in Boston.

shecrab

Your back to the Stairs
Well one thing we know is that it doesn’t say YOU’RE (you ARE) back to the Stairs. It says YOUR BACK. The possessive, not the contraction. So If we put OUR backs to the stairs, and we think these might be the Golden Stairs, then WE FACE WEST Because the Stairs are in the East Boston Area–near East Boston Piers park and Brophy Park on Webster Ave.   But here’s he weird thing: if you FACE the WATER with your back to the stairs, then you can ONLY be in one place: on the piers in East Boston, looking across the water to the
North End
. So we’re back to the North End. And if that’s the area we need to be in, then we need to find five of something that make ‘steps.’

I thought the stairs were in South Boston, not East Boston? I also thought that the stairs ran from bottom (east, the water) to top (west, immigration hall)? I’m confused, I need a map lol

Here’s one photo of Copley Square’s previous sunken concrete pavilion.

Ok, I think we have some confusion here. I found the staircase you posted shecrab and it says those are the golden stairs in jamacia plain……whole other part of the city from south boston, or east boston. I’ll keep looking to try and find exactly what street. This would be a different “golden stairs” than what my bf mentioned in south boston, I will call him to get a more specific area.

Here’s another bunch of thoughts on the green tower of lights.
Tower=tall thing, Beacon
Green= grassy thing
Where is there a tall thing on a grassy thing? A beacon on a hill…Beacon Hill.
So I’m looking at the Beacon Hill area to see if there’s some tower there, and lo—look what I found!
This is the inside of the Athenaeum in Beacon Hill. The ATHENAEUM=
Athens
= where Greeks like Xeno and Thucy hung out….could any of these busts in here be our two Greeks?
And it would be really EASY to determine then if Thucy was north of Xeno!!

insatiable

Ok, I think we have some confusion here. I found the staircase you posted shecrab and it says those are the golden stairs in jamacia plain……whole other part of the city from south boston, or east boston. I’ll keep looking to try and find exactly what street. This would be a different “golden stairs” than what my bf mentioned in south boston, I will call him to get a more specific area.

Nope…the OTHER Golden Stairs (there are two!)….look here:
http://mass.gov/czm/coastguide/online/descriptions/boston_inner_harbor.htm
These
are the stairs from the Pier to the upper neighborhood–the ones the immigrants would have walked up from the ships docked at the harbor.  Sorry forgot this the first time:
Golden Stairs Stairway, overlook, and benches. Connects Brophy Park on Webster Street to East Boston Piers Park.

lizardlips

Here’s one photo of Copley Square’s previous sunken concrete pavilion.

Probably not relevant, but since there were questions about what it had looked like . . .
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 22-032.jpg

lizardlips

Probably not relevant, but since there were questions about what it had looked like . . .
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 22-032.jpg

Very relevant lizard, ty. So there was water there before contruction AND stairs

shecrab

Nope…the OTHER Golden Stairs (there are two!)….look here:

Geesh how many golden stairs does one city need! So far there are 4. Yours, the ones in East Boston from Brophy Park to Piers. Then there are some in Jamaica Plain that run from Park Ln. to Olmstead St., There are some in Dorchester Heights and some off of East 8th St. in South Boston. Crazy.
There are no golden stairs in the verse or the image so I think we would need to find something else in those areas to match for any of them to be even relevent.

lizardlips

Probably not relevant, but since there were questions about what it had looked like . . .
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 22-032.jpg

Did you notice the lights are globe lights not lamp lights like they are now? interesting.

Okay…here’s the problem with this. The verse says IF.
IF Thucy is North of Xeno. Well, in only ONE way, is Thucy “north” of Xeno. It’s actually ABOVE–higher than–Xeno. That’s a liberal interpretation of “North” strictly speaking.
The verse says IF Thucy is north of Xeno, take five steps in the area of his direction.”
But if you see Thucy as NOT being north, then what? Then you DON’T take five steps. That’s the only ‘legal’ inverse of that statement:
If A, then B.
If NOT A, then NOT B.
But also–what if the “HIS DIRECTION” means Xeno’s direction, not Thucy’s? You can interpret it either way. And if that’s the case, then you have an inverse of the inverse.
If Thucy is NOT NORTH, he is SOUTH. If you take five steps in the Area of his direction, you take five steps in the AREA OF SOUTH.
–or–
If Thucy is NOT NORTH, he is SOUTH, and XENO is North. If you take five steps in the area of XENO’s direction, you take five steps in the AREA OF NORTH.
In the North End, where Copley Square is, is the Old SOUTH Church (Trinity.) So you have the South in the North already.
I think this means we should not rule out
any
direction. AND that “steps” doesn’t mean human steps. It means something different. Neighborhoods, streets, blocks, boroughs–something else. If you take five steps in the NORTH or SOUTH AREA, you could be anywhere, and going in any direction! The verse does not say “Take five steps in HIS DIRECTION” it says “IN THE AREA of his direction;” i.e., not five steps North (or south) but five steps in the NORTH AREA or SOUTH AREA.
And I also think we shouldn’t rule out any of Melissa’s finds–they fix the location at Boston almost beyond a shadow of doubt. Just because the Terminal Tower appeared in the Cleveland find, it didn’t mean the casque was AT the Terminal Tower. Just because there was snow in the picture (image 4) did not mean we had to search in the snow, or only in the winter. There are elements in all the images that fix the locations in larger areas than where the casques actually are buried. The particular elements in Image 11 fix the location–but not the PRECISE location, necessarily. The verse is for that.
Also, I don’t think it’s so weird that Thucy and Xeno appear on two elements of two different locations. They’re very famous after all.  There is a website for the Cleveland Cultural Gardens that explains them, in a lot of detail–Google for it. It made more sense to me to have both of these names appear in a Greek garden and on a seat of learning than to have someone mention them both in a letter.
I think that (for me anyway) clinches the idea that the actual carved names on the Frieze, and the directions they lie in, are not what is important–that the location is BOSTON because Thucydides IS North of Xenophon–which is New York in Walpole’s letter–simply becasue Boston is north of New York–and nothing more. Occam’s razor: When all else is equal, the simplest explanation is often the most accurate.

All of these are Copley
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 22-032.jpg
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 2-031~.jpg
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 2-030~.jpg
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 2-029~.jpg
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 22-028.jpg
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 22-027.jpg

Unknown

Unknown:
If you stand facing the panels (facing west), T is North of X.

No – no matter what you do, X is north of T. T may be higher on the wall relative to X, but it’s a stretch to call that “north” unless it’s directly above X, as on a map (where up is indeed usually north). No amount of reorienting will make T be north of X on the face of the BPL.
But let’s say you’re right and that the verse is referring to this particular set of T and X. What do we do now?
Take five steps / In the area of his direction
. Whose direction? Logically it can’t be T or X, because “his” has an ambiguous interpretation. I read this part of the verse as follows:
1. Find the place where T is north of X. You’ll know it when you see it (but we haven’t found it yet).
2. Now, take five
literal
steps in a direction that should be obvious from the context.
3. At this point, you can follow the directions in the rest of the verse, find a spot, and dig.
All of this rests on finding a place where T is north of X, which the BPL ain’t.
If we’re looking for simple explanations (a la Occam), then literal interpretations should be given preference, as in the V4 solution. There are too many problems with the BPL idea, and we’re having to do gymnastics to make things fit. Perhaps we should be looking for statues of Greek historians with outstretched hands, pointing at a green lamppost near a stadium (?).

Notice in this image Trinity Church has 5 stairs
http://libraries.mit.edu/rvc/kidder/kjp … 2-031~.jpg

One more thought after seeing copley pre-constuction….it looks like the area in front of Trinity Church was all concrete so nothing could of been buried where the construction happened.

Not only that, but it says in the rules in the book that no casque can be buried in any public flower beds. The courtyard of Copley isn’t going to likely be where to find this casque.

I’m going to brainstorm a bit. For the sake of argument, let’s assume for the moment that we didn’t know about the inscriptions at the BPL. In that case, what would we be looking for? Here are some ideas:
Names carved in stone, metal, etc. (as in the BPL and the Grecian Cultural Garden in Cleveland).
Statues or sculptures (heck, even topiary) of Thucy and Xeno.
A passage in a book mentioning Thucy and Xeno along with a directional cue (we know BP loved his obscure literary references).
Place names including “Xenophon” and “Thucydides.” For example, there is a Xenophon Ave. in Tulsa, OK, and a tiny community called Xenophon in Tennessee. There is a Xenophon St. in San Diego, and another one in Morrison, CO. Just examples; there are probably others.
A sign with the letters T and X (or theta and ksi/xi) in some meaningful arrangement.
Zoo animals, large trees, rock formations etc. named Thucydides and Xenophon. Maybe they were zoo animals whose pens were in a N-S arrangement (echoes of Snowflake and Pierre, anyone?), or noteworthy rock outcroppings jutting out of a hillside.
Buildings. For example, in William Dean Howells’ novel
A Hazard of New Fortunes
(1890), there are fanciful New York City apartment buildings called “The Xenophon” and “The Thucydides.”
Just “thinking outside the casque” here…

shecrab

Not only that, but it says in the rules in the book that no casque can be buried in any public flower beds. The courtyard of Copley isn’t going to likely be where to find this casque.

Flower beds on the trinity church property maybe? ugh I wish I could get there before Saturday, this is driving me crazy. Hopefully there will be someone who works there that was around back in the 70’s & 80’s that will be able to shed some light on what was where and when.

Also note that the Chicago solve had M and B set in stone…Mozart and Beethoven were etched/carved/whatever in the building across the street from park if i recall correctly.  That is why i think BPL is the best fit we have found so far.  In both of the solved casques, the start of the physical journey basically started where something literally from the verse was etched/carved/whatever.
My explaination seems more logical than liberal to me, but that may just be my mathematical mind speaking.
1.  regardless of whether or not they are directly above one another, technically T is north of X
2.  In engineering and math classes, when there was a problem that had the key words “if” and “then”, you don’t do the “then” until the conditions of the “if” are satisfied.  If T>X then take 5.  How do I have to look at this to make T>X, because until T>X, I can’t take 5.
To me T north of X is the part that is to be looked at literally and taking 5 steps is where you need to interpret liberally because 5 literal steps will basically get you nowhere.
——————-
Here is another thought.  I read that Books written by the people on each tablet are located in the library directly behind each panel.  Can someone verify?  What if T is above, or “north” of, X as far as the books go.
Thinking outside box, what if it is 5 literal steps from the window to the bookshelf where the T and X books are located.  If that were true, thinking extremely outside the box, is it possible it is hidden inside the BPL?  How easily I don’t know, but you could find references to everything from the verse in a library I am sure.  The question would be how easily.  Do we know for a fact that every casque is definitely buried and/or buried under earth.  You probably need to disregard this line of thinking, its late and I am tired.
———————
Another option I haven’t been able to fully explore is the area of the MIT campus.  It has several buildings that have panels of famous historical figures much the same as BPL has.  I have came across pictures of some, but haven’t located X or T on the ones I have seen.  I know there are panels I haven’t looked at yet, but I haven’t found any pictures of them and living in TN have no way of exploring the campus.  MIT is just across the waterway from BPL so it is basically the same area of Boston.
———————-
The one thing that bugs me about this one is that we haven’t been able to nail down a building identifier yet.  For the two solved casques and for the Milwaukee casque, there are spot on identifiers.  We have pretty much focused on trying to match up something to the the castle looking building on the box, but looking back at the three i just mentioned, the castle almost seems too small and lacks the detail needed to match it as well as we have with the others.  I’m not going to stop trying to match it up with something, but I am also going to start focusing on different aspects of the image as well in an effort to find a match

I just want to throw this out there, in my recent searches I actually discovered that Thucydides is also on the wall of the Brooklyn Museum, right at the edge of Prospect Park. To be fair, I can’t find a clear fit for Xenophon nearby. But, Thucydides is not in very many other places in the US, and the fact that it’s on a museum at prospect park is really cool, for obvious reasons. Has this been vetted previously?

danielrisk

I just want to throw this out there, in my recent searches I actually discovered that Thucydides is also on the wall of the Brooklyn Museum, right at the edge of Prospect Park. To be fair, I can’t find a clear fit for Xenophon nearby. But, Thucydides is not in very many other places in the US, and the fact that it’s on a museum at prospect park is really cool, for obvious reasons. Has this been vetted previously?

That is an interesting find. Definitely something to think about.

I disagree. Thucydides is written on buildings in many places. I dont see what brings you to Brooklyn museum here to establish the importance of this Thucydides amount the other options. I also dont agree that it’s necessary to interpret Thucydides or Xenophon as requiring them to be written in stone. The Cleveland example of M and B are not necessarily a trend.

erexere

I disagree. Thucydides is written on buildings in many places. I dont see what brings you to Brooklyn museum here to establish the importance of this Thucydides amount the other options. I also dont agree that it’s necessary to interpret Thucydides or Xenophon as requiring them to be written in stone. The Cleveland example of M and B are not necessarily a trend.

On the contrary, I have not found Thucydides to be common on many buildings. The Greek cultural garden in Cleveland, BPL, library in Little Rock (circa 2001), and now the museum in Brooklyn. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, but I haven’t seen it in many other places. I do agree about there being a good chance it’s not carved. M and B were pretty obvious with the “carved in stone” bit. Especially when you consider that one is North of the other, it would make more sense that they were both on ground level and north/south of each other.
I do think it’s important that we put out other ideas to research. We have a whole new slew of people wanting to research these puzzles, and the go-to solutions have been exhausted to death. I think it’s fun to give new folks alternative avenues to explore.

erexere

I disagree. Thucydides is written on buildings in many places. I dont see what brings you to Brooklyn museum here to establish the importance of this Thucydides amount the other options. I also dont agree that it’s necessary to interpret Thucydides or Xenophon as requiring them to be written in stone. The Cleveland example of M and B are not necessarily a trend.

The BPL hasn’t really led us anywhere particularly convincing to me as far as image and verse matches go anyway. As far as alternatives ( not that this is a new idea):.
My initial impression of T&X is that it’s used to refer to two statues relatively close to each other and obviously in or nearby a park. Then you take “his direction” to be the direction of one of the statues and you are off to the races. I would also imagine the two statues have a relationship similar to T&X. They are often mentioned together in the same breath and they Xenophon really followed along in Thucydides footsteps and basically finished his history of the Peloponnesian war. I’ll do some more research on candidate statues but so far, the ones along the commonwealth avenue mall might fit ok. Or I have often thought about Columbus + Leif Erickson as matches but they are quite far from each other so it gets too ambiguous to follow.

I believe you mean Chicago when talking about M and B. I think it is useful as it is a methodology that Byron Preiss used
I believe clues set in Stone is more likely than old book references to Boston and New York but I could be wrong
I have read the forum but am curios as to the other places but Erexere do you know off hand where they are
The Brooklyn Museum is interesting but I dont see the coliseum or stairs and water in the verse
My theory is that the first lines of Chicago, Cleveland and Houston give you the boundaries or north and south of search area

Doghousereiley

I believe clues set in Stone is more likely than old book references to Boston and New York but I could be wrong

I whole-heartedly agree. Using quotes from popular literature as a reference is one thing, but expecting anybody in the early 80’s pre-Google to be able to reference these Horace Mann letters has always felt silly to me.
It also seems like a stretch to think the T and X and the Horace Mann thing only points to the city. In the other examples, no lines of the verse were meant to get you to a city. That’s the image’s job (presumably).

Oh ya, M B in Chicago…everything is melding together as the holidays approach…
Doghousereilly, RE: other places. I’ve found their names on the outside of library buildings and college campus buildings in several states.

danielrisk

I whole-heartedly agree. Using quotes from popular literature as a reference is one thing, but expecting anybody in the early 80’s pre-Google to be able to reference these Horace Mann letters has always felt silly to me.

Strong disagree.
How much do you know about Gilbert Parker? Are you familiar with his writings enough to recognize them when quoted?
Much of verse 5 are direct quotes from his writing. Honestly, without google, I wouldn’t have had the slightest clue who he was or that he had any involvement with verse 5.
Being a Boston local, Horace Mann and Horace Walpole are much more recognizable. Probably by design.

Never heard of Gilbert Parker.
Which part of verse 5 is attributed to him?
I recognize that some verses have some little know literary quotes. Herman Melville’s Pierre is obviously a quote although I think random and little known. Bryon Priess say it is a quote in the Japanese version of the text
and the New Orleans verse and Charleston verse quote Abroad in America which is another book I would call obscure
Gilbert Parker. sure why not? Horace Mann why not? I just think the Horace reference to two cities doesn’t work I think T and X and land marks

Doghousereiley

Never heard of Gilbert Parker.
Which part of verse 5 is attributed to him?
I recognize that some verses have some little know literary quotes. Herman Melville’s Pierre is obviously a quote although I think random and little known. Bryon Priess say it is a quote in the Japanese version of the text
and the New Orleans verse and Charleston verse quote Abroad in America which is another book I would call obscure
Gilbert Parker. sure why not? Horace Mann why not? I just think the Horace reference to two cities doesn’t work I think T and X and land marks

I believe parker’s poem/story “the citadel” is quoted in multiple lines of verse 5. (Wind swept halls, etc.)
I would love for t and x to be landmarks. The problem is that no one has found anything reasonable in 36 years.
It would be difficult to convince me that verse 3 doesn’t belong to Boston, and I just don’t think those landmarks exist here.
My opinion is that the Walpole quote is a more reasonable explanation than the names on the wall of the Boston Public Library. It’s simple, direct and doesn’t require a bunch of assumptions. Also, let’s not forget one commonly overlooked part of the quote. It starts with “ the next Augustan age”. Verse 3 has been assumed to be the puzzle for Boston and the month of August.
Others disagree and I’m fine with that.

I’m pretty convinced the verse is associated with Boston, although Paul Revere rode from Charleston, right by Boston.  But he did ride on April 18 at midnight and his signals were lamplights.  So the bottom verses seem to indicate Boston.
I, like Fox, looked right at the Boston Public Library, believing the greek authors would be in the library (which they are, I checked).  To me, the verse is indicating that the Prudential building (green at night) needs to be lined up in the middle of the library.  The P building is directly behind the library.
All signs seem to point to Copley Square, somewhere by Trinity church.  I think the Greek Authors might also indicate the church, since it is designed in the shape of a Greek Cross.
Check out this site for Trinity Church:
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/bost … nrich.html
The most puzzling thing is the coliseum.  Initially I thought of Fenway Park, a modern day coliseum which is nearby.  This still may be the case.  But in the early 1900’s Harvard used to have an old Football Colisuem (right before the ‘new’ one was built–which is the oldest stadium in the US).  Don’t know the exact location, and don’t think it is around, so how could anyone pass by it?  But Feway is brick, not metal, so this doesn’t quite fit either.
Can anybody in or around Boston, go and check the area out?
ABQRAM

“In truth, be free”,  from “John 8:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
8 feet? church?
or is that line just pointing you to the longfellow bridge? has that flag always been there beside the hatch? i’m sure it is lit up by a light.
i know i’m rehashing old stuff that most of you have thought of but it’s all new to me
and i don’t know the area so maybe it’ll help someone.

hi shecrab
i looked up coliseum and it can be a theatre or a special building for public meetings. the hatch looks more like concrete to me than metal tho (from the internet)
i’d had a few thoughts about “home” and looked it up and read”Home is often a place of refuge and safety,.” and ” in the introduction to the film Patch Adams, home sweet home, the concept of “home” is compared to the human need for peaceful sanctuary, the absence of it thus leading to restlessness.”
which just made me think of a park or church.  the old north church is not in this vicinity is it?
the 18th day and 12th hour made me think of shakespeare, The Twelfth Night” and found they did shakespeare on the common every year, but i don’t think they did it 1982.
and of course the 1812 overture, hmmmm is there anything in the commons about tchaikovsky?

Let’s review this verse a little for some of the newer hunters to see where we’ve already gone:
Verse 3
If Thucydides is
North of Xenophon
This has been accepted by a lot of us to mean the carving on the frieze around the Boston Public Library, where the names Thucydides and Xenophon both appear. There is some dispute as to whether the one name is actually physically “north” of the other. It has also been suggested that Thucydides, which begins with the Greek letter THETA is actually “north” (further toward the top) of Xenophon (XI) in the Greek Alphabet and that this is stated in this manner only to fix the direction we must look as North. (This is the theory I favor.) It has also been suggested that both Thucydides and Xenophon, as THETA and XI, are suggestive of Fraternities.
If you favor the first theory, then the casque location narrows to Copley Square. If you favor the second, it broadens to the North End (Little Italy) or any area North in the Boston region. If you favor the third, it narrows to college or university grounds, for the most part.
Take five steps
In the area of his direction
We have pretty much determined this means take five steps North. There is another rather complex line of thought that reverses this direction to South, by using logic.
Steps can mean actual paces with human legs and feet, or they may mean blocks, stairs, areas….we just don’t know for certain.
A green tower of lights
The only explanation that has ever surfaced for this is the tower on Trinity church in Copley square, which is green due to copper patina.
There is dispute as to whether the words mean a “green tower” or a tower of “green lights” or a “Tower on the Green with lights in it.”
In the middle section
Undetermined. There are a lot of “middle sections” we’ve found and none seem to fit perfectly with all the other clues.
Near those
Those what? We do not know.
Who pass the coliseum
Again, undetermined. The closest match we’ve come across is Harvard’s stadium which is a dead ringer for the Roman Coliseum.
With metal walls
A couple of ideas here: Old Ironsides is one. It may also be that the coliseum is the place with metal walls. We just don’t know.
Face the water
In Boston this isn’t hard. Pretty much every direction you face you will somewhere face some water.
But water may also mean a fountain, a pool, a pond, or a drinking fountain! Maybe it even means a picture of water–a mural on a wall or a building with plumbing supplies!
Your back to the stairs
We’ve found a lot of stairs. There are the Golden Staircases in Jamaica Plain and in Little Italy–steps that immigrants came up from the wharves to their new homes. There are the steps at Boston Public Library. There are steps at the Charles River Reservation near the Hatch shell. There are steps at pretty much all the locations we came up with.
Feel at home
Unknown at this time–maybe a home plate, a new home (for immigrants), Paul Revere’s home, a home for the unusual, a half-way house, a Home Depot–we don’t know.
All the letters
Are here to see
Again, we’ve found a few explanations: The Printing office in the North End; Paul Revere’s house (which contains his letters); Boston Public Library; a mosaic on the plaza with an alphabet border; colleges or universities. Lots of things we can look at, nothing fixed upon yet.
Eighteenth day
Twelfth hour
Lit by lamplight
This probably only has one explanation: that of Paul Revere’s ride, which happened on the 18th of April at midnight. Of course, it has also been suggested that “twelfth hour” means Noon, not midnight, which is more accurate.
In truth, be free.
there is a better explanation for this in the very first post in this thread by Catherwood:
QUOTE:
I found lyrics from
“Ode on Washington’s birthday” By Mrs. Dr. Macgowan.
“Dedicated to the Ladies’ Relief Association, for the opening of their Fair, February 22d, 1864.”
1) I have not yet found WHERE this fair took place.
2) I’m thinking that the letters could be engraved at a location:
-a) on the site of the fair
-b) on a Washington memorial
-c) something to do with the lyricist
3) or the phrase has nothing to do with these lyrics:
Burst the fetters of oppression,
Let our land in truth be free,
And no longer Slavery’s curse
Blast the land of Liberty.
On to victory! brothers, on!
Shout the name of Washington.
Another poem
“Freedom”, a long poem with a section
“The Spirit Voice; or Liberty Call to the Disfranchised” (sic)
NEWYORK, JULY20, 1841
The captive in his hut, with watchful ear,
Awaits the sweet triumphant songs to hear,
That shall proclaim the glorious jubilee
When crippled thousands shall in truth be free.
Come! rouse ye brothers, rouse!
That’s what we have so far…any new ideas are appreciated!

Good synopsis..
One thing I just reviewed, which may explain the globe in the image,
walking in the Darthmouth entrance of BPL,
the map room is on your right just prior to entering the
courtyard.
Also, with your ‘back to the stairs’,
straight in front of you, on the western wall,
is a clock (still working I believe) that is illuminated
(lamplight?) from behind.
Check it out on the old courtyard phtotos.
edit:
Monumental inscriptions
Bates Hall has a coffered ceiling in a wide catena-arched barrel vault. Internet and power connections are discreetly placed under the large wooden research tablesArchitect Charles Follen McKim chose to have monumental inscriptions, similar to those found on basilicas and monuments in ancient Rome, in the entablature on each of the main building’s three façades. On the south is inscribed: “MDCCCLII • FOUNDED THROUGH THE MUNIFICENCE AND PUBLIC SPIRIT OF CITIZENS;” on the east: “THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON • BUILT BY THE PEOPLE AND DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING • A.D. MDCCCLXXXVIII;” and on the north: “THE COMMONWEALTH REQUIRES THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE AS THE SAFEGUARD OF ORDER AND LIBERTY”.
The last quotation has been attributed to the library’s Board of Trustees. Another inscription, above the keystone of the central entrance, proclaims: “FREE TO ALL”. Across the street from the central entrance to the library is a twentieth-century monument to the Lebanese-born poet and philosopher Kahlil Gibran who as a young immigrant educated himself in the Boston Public Library. The monument’s inscription responds to the McKim building reading “IT WAS IN MY HEART TO HELP A LITTLE, BECAUSE I WAS HELPED MUCH”. The text is excerpted from a letter enclosed with Gibran’s generous bequest to the library.
Is this the “his” mentioned for “in his drection”  ?
(a male figure on the building frieze)
http://maps.bpl.org/ex/about/

Now there’s a new idea!! Good thinkin’ Trohn!!
I never thought of it but you’re right—In truth BE FREE may also be referring to the
public library system in general
–and that Boston had the
very first FREE public lending library
in the United States. And the figure on the frieze–could be, could be.
Nice work.

shecrab

A green tower of lights
The only explanation that has ever surfaced for this is the tower on Trinity church in Copley square, which is green due to copper patina.
There is dispute as to whether the words mean a “green tower” or a tower of “green lights” or a “Tower on the Green with lights in it.”

Awesome post shecrab….I have one correction though.
The green tower of lights is at the Old South Church notTrinity Church. Actualy there are two things at Old South Church that would fit with “green tower of lights” …the first is the green copper cupola that you mentioned but there is another  tower at Old South Church that is lit up with green lights in the evening.

hey guys look at this picture of the hatch.
it has composers.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= … F%26sa%3DN

Ooops!! Sorry!!
You’re right…I had forgotten that one!

That does make sense.  If you look at the map, Back St runs parallel to the Charles River for quite a ways.  “Face the water”  Now, where are the stairs?  Are there any streets in the area called Stair St….Step Ave….etc…?

could there be stairs leading down to the river? I know there are in New Orleans and there are near the rivers I lived by in other states.
wilhouse

Here is an image of the odd shape on the wall (Image 3) overlayed on a map of The Back Bay Fens Park.  Looks like a pretty good match.
Also, there are two baseball diamonds in the park (“Feel at home”) and gardens.

Hey Wilhouse, that gives me an idea.  Maybe we are reading these lines all wrong.  Instead of “Back to the stairs” = bum, butt, rear-end, posterior, etc.. to the stairs   ——   maybe it means Take Back St to the stairs.  Anyone familiar with Boston…are there any famous stairs nearby?  or just maybe a simple set of stairs leading to the river?
Could we be onto something?  It has been awhile since anything important has come up…maybe this will lead to the discovery of casque #3.

The more I look at this V, I like the idea of somewhere quite close to Fenway Park.  The “green tower” {Prudential Tower} is still quite nearby……The “coliseum” sure fits the baseball park….”Feel at home” might refer to homeplate….”Face the water” the park is right near the river or there is what appears to be a nice sized park called {our favorite casque burial site} southwest of Fenway with a small creek/river running thru it. (check out my extremely long URL a few posts above).  Here is another aerial photo showing both Fenway and the park:  http://www.skypic.com/boston/17-3142.jpg
….check out the name of the bay  🙂
looks like the park is the Back Bay Fens state park :  http://www.fenwayculture.org/images/muddyriversm.jpg

Thanks FB. I will try to get some photos. The current Google street view isn’t much help.

forest_blight

No, but I found lists online of the names that are chiseled in the tablets. If you view the building from Google street view and look up, the tablets are near the top of the facade. Search this thesis for “Xenophon” and you’ll see it.
http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/bitstrea … 2_BODY.pdf
The same list can be found here (p. 23):
http://books.google.com/books?id=_5K_AA … &q&f=false

it seems as though on the SFPL, however, that Xenophon is north of Thucydides. this was the same with their names in Cleveland.

I believe the same list appears on the facade of the Multnomah County Library.  I did a scavenger hunt there last year that asked me to locate names on it.

While not buildings, we do have the muses at BPL.
http://www.bpl.org/guides/chavannes.htm

bclews:
Yep the muses, I’m pretty sure that’s what I was thinking of that I mentioned in a different thread.  But the picture on the BPL website is too far away to see any of the details of the mural.  I’ve been hoping to find a better photograph of it.  I’ve been trying to find something somewhere that the fairy in Image #11 might match up with, and my mind is wrapped around the art at BPL.

ringo
there isn’t any “logic” to anything i do! you’ll see once you read some of my posts, lol. luckily,  i have logical people around me who beat it into me. just kidding!! they only try to, lol. and also, the smart ones here (on this board) tend to keep me grounded. (mostly
)
i had that problem too, with some of the sites disappearing, but hopefully got the gist of the threads.

Trohn

The last thought “In the area of his direction, a green tower of lights”
is not a sentence or a complete thought; it is not likely broken up this way.
More inclined to have the first four lines act as one.

Trohn, In verse, there are no sentences.  And usually, as like these verses, the reader completes the thought.
I see what you are saying FB.  I was looking at it differently.  It basically comes back to the word “IF” again.  Take that word out of there and you have the name of the person for which direction to travel in.
Thucydides is north
Of Xenophon
Take five steps
In the area of his direction
What “IF” not?

boogie

I see what you are saying FB.  I was looking at it differently.  It basically comes back to the word “IF” again.

Ringo

What if T and X are being used at metaphors for something else?

I disagree, boogs. There is still complete ambiguity over the antecedent if you remove “IF.” Think “Cleopatra” for each one in turn and you’ll see.
I like it. To continue this line of thought, perhaps T represents a history building and X represents a political science / philosophy building. If we were to locate a campus where the History Dept. happens to be just north of the PoliSci Dept (c. 1981), maybe that would nail it.
It wouldn’t hurt if there were a statue of some guy between them pointing at, oh, a patch of dirt with a big “X” on it.

My own reading Boogie is that this is a case of logic:
” I this is true, you are in the right place” and
“If not, you’ve got to keep looking”
My thinking is that there may be more than one place with both names present.  The definition of “North” appears to have been debated, and I think is likely still up for farthur debate.  Does it mean map direction, or one is above the other?
I’ve been trying to find other references to either name, and it seems near impossible to find anything outside of searches for books.  I’m probably just looking in the wrong places.

Once again I like your thinking Forrest.  If we can make a guess what college or university to look at if MAY be easy to find out where buildings were at one point.  My school had plaques on walls saying “former X Dept” where appropriate.  Also, we had access to old catalogs going back to the 1960,s at the school library, and those all had old maps of the school.  Not that I ever had a use for such materials…  It was fun to go and find out what classes were offered twenty years earlier…  but if most schools hang on to such things…  A trip with an educated guess may lead in the direction we’re discussing.
Also:
There may be a good chance that those buildings are still being used for said purpose…

ringo, i know it’s a lot to read, but a lot of this has been discussed in the Image 11 thread also, as that is the picture we think is boston……..it’s long but it has a lot of information. i really love reading about boston, and even tho i’m trying to zone in on charleston now, when you all discuss boston i keep being drawn back.
the one thing i am trying to keep in mind, if i am recalling it correctly, the ones that were solved, the first lines of the poems named streets and buildings close by or something on a building.
i believe they were both historians and we discussed it just being “greek” or greek architecture,  or just the “t” or the “x” and even “ex”.
image 11 thread is over 40 pages! but something we said on there, since you know the area, might give you an “aha!” moment, i hope.
maybe something from the picture stands out to you that we don’t see.
i’m still getting the different parks and areas confused but i’m sure (if they aren’t found) then i’ll eventually know these places as if i’ve lived there, lol
i like your idea of “12” being straight ahead.

i like the idea of the campus buildings!
i remember learning truth tables in math class……..if this then that….
so maybe start at the math building and go toward the history building like forest said!
truth tables—in truth be free, hehe
lol, at least i’m offa babe ruth

I’ve read a great deal [although not all] of the image 11 thread as well.  One thing that I have noticed in most of the threads in these boards is that there are links people placed that no longer work, which has made trying to follow the paths of logic already present difficult, although I am trying to not purposefully repeat information already given.
Right now I’m really wishing I had a day to just drive down and take some photographs, but that’s not going to happen until at least March, but probably more like May or even June.
The first thought on the image I had, which I have already seen posted, but I will repeat so you know one of the directions my mind is in:
The squares in image 11 made me think of overhead views of either buildings, city blocks, or city parks.  Or at least a couple of them do.  The square within a square could be the BPL, with it’s courtyard.  Having stood within that courtyard, in fact having set up lights in that coutyard for an event only two years ago I will say that I am 90% sure or even better that that courtyard is not going to be the casque location.  There is no place that BP could have stood in that square where he would not have risked being seen from multiple directions.  Security is maybe tighter now than 25 years ago, but even 25 years ago it could have taken minutes for him to be stopped and at the very least questioned in that space.  I believe that space had some kind of remodling done in recent years that would have comprimised the casque were it there…  The location could be a great starting or mid point of the trek to it’s location.  It would be a great answer to “all the letter”  One of the murals inside might even explain the “Face the Water” the same as a fountain or the ocean would.  It doesn’t make sense as a burial spot though.  That is my opinion.  Perhaps something will lightup changes my mind.  The square above the one I feel could represent the library I think may be an intersection of streets, or a path through a park.  The line of thinking Forrest and I are tossing around makes me wonder if it’s a Quad at a college.
I wouldn’t want to dig at a college or university without being REALLY REALLY sure, and not without some permission in writing.

Slappy;
Truth tables?  I hadn’t thought of other meanings to that line yet [this is what brainstorming is about 🙂 ]
Have you ever taken a class in Philosophy/  Truth tables are used in intro classes as well as logic classes.
As for campus buildings:
Harvard seems a good guess, and I just did a search.  The philosophy building is Emerson.  History is PROBABLY spread over several buildings, but the head of the department is in Robinson, just north across a quad.  The philosophy building has a long history there, and would have been the philosophy building in 1981.  I don’t know how to find out if History was in Robinson that far back.  We should seek out the same information from other Boston colleges, but considering the Colesium Harvard is likely a best bet.

If I see a picture I think will be useful, *usually* I will toss it into a bin at my geocities site, then link to it from here. That way I know it will be around for a long, long time.

Forrest:
Glad to hear that someone has some kind of archive going.  If there is a particular one I feel the need to look at do you mind me asking to re-post then?
–Ringo

I showed this verse to a co-worker today.  They looked at it and said “Feel At Home” sounded like it meant “home is where the heart is”.
Has that been suggested?
I don’t know where to run with that.  I don’t think it could be “heart of the city” but perhaps heart of the park it’s in?
Boston’s state house was called “The Hub of the Universe”.
That meaning echoes the line “In the middle section.”
** I also want to appologize for bringing up things already mentioned.  I’ve not meant to.  I started a notebook of ideas being passed around here so I can try to minimize repeated ideas. If repeating others here becomes an issue please tell me before it becomes an issue.  **

You can ask, but I was referring to the images I included in my own posts. The majority of those are still there and visible.

Last night I went from “Holy Crap!” to just “Crap”.  My mother-in-law was over to watch a movie and we watched The Gameplan with Dwayne Johnson.  Cute movie.  It takes place in Boston and I remember when they were filming it at Gillette Stadium.
During one exterior shot they showed the skyline of Boston at night — that’s the Pru on the right, there’s the Hancock Building in the middle, and (“Holy Crap!”) what’s that tower of green lights on the left?!  “That’s got to be it”, I’m thinking.  We’ve been looking during the daytime and it needs to be night to see the lights.
I remembered, however, that someone (Ringo) had posted about a weather tower in Boston that he had remembered as being green, but his researched had shown that it is blue in fair weather.  Also, it was not lit in the early 80s so BP probably wouldn’t have seen it. Was this that tower?  Yep.  (“Crap.”)
It’s on top of the old John Hancock Building right beside the new Hancock Building.
Now I suppose that since it was off BP didn’t know that it was blue (others across the country use green), but that’s a long shot.  Also, John Hancock and “truth” and “free” certainly go together.
So I wasn’t going to even bother to post this, but I thought perhaps it would trigger some other thoughts.
Crap…
Here’s a shot of that scene —
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bclews/2263374968/
Close up —
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bclews/2262578345/

I didn’t think we were all looking for daytime in particular, I think we were just looking for the three words to fit SOMETHING, I saw a post where the Christmas tree was suggested which would certainly be a nighttime event.
Bclews:
I think you could have been spotting a light coming out of the Old South Church [also near the two Hankcock buildings and Prud].  I ALMOST posted a photo of that at night, because I found two different one on Flickr that show the light lookin green.  However, most of the night photos of Boston at night I have found show a yellow or white light coming from the church tower.  I took the two photos I found of a green light to be possible weird conditions the nights of the photographs, or reflections off something else.  If you are telling me that you also saw a green light in the skyline in that same area then perhaps it is lit green sometimes, and yellow others?  I don’t know what to infer.  But see if this looks like your green light:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/noisecollusion/211466570/
Here is a photo on Flickr of the Weather Beacon lit at night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterscript/448329549/
[My information on the weather beacon not being re-lit until 1983 came from Wikipedia so MAY not be correct, but you will see the light is clearly blue in the photo NOT the green I thought I remembered seeing as a kid]
I like your thought process a lot.  I don’t have time to research this because I have to jet to work, but with the weather beacon unlit, could the top of the Old Hankcock look green?  I think the metal around the top is copper, and copper does look green with age?  I haven’t thought to look at photos of it unlit or imagine it unlit until your suggestion.
Running to work, look forward to some more brainstorming later.

Don’t forget that at M.I.T., there is a building called “Green Tower.” Designed by I.M. Pei.
This could also be the Green Tower of lights…
http://eng.archinform.net/projekte/1511.htm

Unknown

Unknown:
Amymisha,
For instance, for Image 11 it might be the circular window, the castle on the box, or a globe.  For Image 3 it might be the arched windows, the pedestal, or a bell.  Either way, I suspect that something relatively permanent (stone, structure, memorial, etc.) should be in the Image and at the casque site.
Pine

Just a thought here….. the Esplanade Deicatin Memorial is a circular thing….there’s a picture at this website
http://web.mit.edu/scotty/Public/artifa … tm#Statues
and Monuments
I will take pictures this weekend of it… that’s the first thing that jumped out at me.
A.

I see that a while back there was some discussion about the Charles River. Well there are stairs there, near the big head on the esplanade… if you climb the stairs you are on a bridge that takes you over Storrow Drive. But this is awfully close to the half shell.
Just an idea..
Amy

I’ll try to get out and take some pictures this weekend. If you cross Storrow, from the Public Gardens side, to the Esplanade you do face the water with the stairs at your back, I think! I haven’t been for a while, so I will take a visit this weekend and take pictures. In the meantime I will study the images and familiarize myself with them. Maybe I’ll look for the big head…I need to print the pictures out on better paper….wish I had a book to work with!
Amy
Pine wrote:
Amymisha,
What’s the Esplanade like in this area?  Any chance you could post pictures somewhere on the web?  If you try to cross Storrow Drive from Dartmouth Street (headed generally north) are there any stairs that could fit the description of facing the water with your back to the stairs?  I guess the same question goes for any stairs near the Hatch Shell.
Another way to approach this is to look around the Esplanade area for distinctive “hard” features from the Images (11 or 3) that are under consideration as matching Boston.  For instance, for Image 11 it might be the circular window, the castle on the box, or a globe.  For Image 3 it might be the arched windows, the pedestal, or a bell.  Either way, I suspect that something relatively permanent (stone, structure, memorial, etc.) should be in the Image and at the casque site.
Great to have you and Ameliaelf both on board from Boston.  Feet on the ground beats Google any day.
Pine

Unknown

Unknown:
Hi Amymisha, glad to have another Bostonian on board.  I’d definitely be up for doing some recon together sometime!  I’m pretty busy these days, but hopefully I’ll have more time in the weeks to come.
Update on that Greek lit prof: he didn’t have any solid ideas except for the Boston Public Library, although he did mention that Xenophon’s histories begin exactly where Thucydides’ unfinished history ends.
I’m going to an event in downtown Boston tomorrow (Wednesday), so I’ll look around the BPL and Copley Square.  I may not have time to check out the Esplanade (it’s a pretty long strip of waterfront).
I don’t have a working digital camera anymore, so I’ll try to see if I can borrow my roommate’s camera before I leave the house tomorrow.
– Amelia

Hi.. thanks for the welcome. I also am pretty busy, but we shoudl try to get together sometime.
Will you be near the part of the Esplanade that is closer to the Public Gardens? Near the big head. I’ll try to get there this weekend and take some photos.
I know there is a letterbox there… I take that as a good sign, because if one can find a secluded enough place for a letterbox, then one can find other secluded places….
Amy

Amymisha,
What’s the Esplanade like in this area?  Any chance you could post pictures somewhere on the web?  If you try to cross Storrow Drive from Dartmouth Street (headed generally north) are there any stairs that could fit the description of facing the water with your back to the stairs?  I guess the same question goes for any stairs near the Hatch Shell.
Another way to approach this is to look around the Esplanade area for distinctive “hard” features from the Images (11 or 3) that are under consideration as matching Boston.  For instance, for Image 11 it might be the circular window, the castle on the box, or a globe.  For Image 3 it might be the arched windows, the pedestal, or a bell.  Either way, I suspect that something relatively permanent (stone, structure, memorial, etc.) should be in the Image and at the casque site.
Great to have you and Ameliaelf both on board from Boston.  Feet on the ground beats Google any day.
Pine

Hi Amymisha, glad to have another Bostonian on board.  I’d definitely be up for doing some recon together sometime!  I’m pretty busy these days, but hopefully I’ll have more time in the weeks to come.
Update on that Greek lit prof: he didn’t have any solid ideas except for the Boston Public Library, although he did mention that Xenophon’s histories begin exactly where Thucydides’ unfinished history ends.
I’m going to an event in downtown Boston tomorrow (Wednesday), so I’ll look around the BPL and Copley Square.  I may not have time to check out the Esplanade (it’s a pretty long strip of waterfront).
I don’t have a working digital camera anymore, so I’ll try to see if I can borrow my roommate’s camera before I leave the house tomorrow.
– Amelia

I don’t need to defend my theory.  Its easy to see there is no right or wrong approach, certainly not enough proof of Preiss’ prcess to go around smearing or criticizing peoples ideas.  Malted, if you have any actual errors or reasonable considerations to point out than please share.
If it helps you to understand I’ll spell out my approach once more:  I’m making the assumption that Preiss was capable in execution of a thematic creation.  If you wish to adhere to your own rigid  method based solely on gleanings from Chicago and Cleveland, then we understand your resistance to any progressive approaches.  I think its short sighted to be so rigid especially to support the idea that Preiss would consider creating a challenge devoid of theme, that is to say he chose a start, middle, and ending to his process and only described random features in his surroundings.  If I am able to reflect on a variety of possible connotations then I think its more a testament of the rich location choices.  I cant see how you can look at the picture or verse and not see any relationship between the ideas.  I see baseball connection, therefore its reasonable to ask how something baseball related might be included in a method applying to locating a specific spot.  That is a HUGE example of straightforwardness.  Everyone here might do better to look for the underpinnings involved in each pairing.
Come on man, HOMER?  That’s both baseball and Greek!  That’s totally cool even if Preiss didn’t intend it…but I expect he did.

Spiritr

“If Thucydides is
North of Xenophon
Take five steps”
1 2 3 4 5
T U V W X

Maybe it’s a way of placing the map on the table.
T north of X.
T and X are both crosses.
Lets say T is Trinity church and X is for XP (Chi-Rho) for Church of Christ or Old North.
Set the map on the table so Trinity church is on top.
Another word, turn the map upside down.

I was thinking about this Verse the other day and recent discussions regarding sentence structure.
This is very strange linguistically:
“Take five steps
In the area of his direction”
We would not typically say:
“
In the area of his direction
“
It would normally be written, “In the direction of his area.”
This tells me a few things. First we are going north because we are kind of instructed to do so in a round about way. Once we are there, “his direction” could mean a male Director (Conductor, Leader, etc.). “In the area” would be the the general area we are in. If we interpret it this way, we are not necessarily taking five steps North, but rather five steps toward the casque location. If this is the case, then there are other instruction in either the Verse or the Image, including the line about “Your back to the stairs”, which then does not necessarily have us facing north.
Discuss.

I visited the Paul Revere Mall (Prado) a while ago and realized a few interesting things while standing there.
While standing in front of the statue, I noticed there is a water fountain directly in front of me. (Behind Paul).
There were a few granite steps directly behind me at the entrance. The statue is Paul Revere sitting on his horse, looking forward but pointing at something almost behind him.
Back to the stairs, facing the water. Take 5 steps in the area of his direction (Paul is pointing or giving us direction). 5 steps from Paul’s hand puts you into a tree planter. The entire area is brick walkway with the exception of the tree planters. The Prado/Mall is directly under the Old North Church steeple and it’s famous lanterns from the midnight ride. Also, all of this is located in the most Italian area in all of Boston.
I didn’t find anything casque related, nor any image matches. But, if you are spitballing for ideas of what the area of his direction means, I think something like this could definitely apply.

BINGO

I visited the Paul Revere Mall (Prado) a while ago and realized a few interesting things while standing there.
While standing in front of the statue, I noticed there is a water fountain directly in front of me. (Behind Paul).
There were a few granite steps directly behind me at the entrance. The statue is Paul Revere sitting on his horse, looking forward but pointing at something almost behind him.
Back to the stairs, facing the water. Take 5 steps in the area of his direction (Paul is pointing or giving us direction). 5 steps from Paul’s hand puts you into a tree planter. The entire area is brick walkway with the exception of the tree planters. Not to mention the Prado/Mall is directly under the Old North Church steeple and it’s famous lanterns from the midnight ride.
I didn’t find anything casque related, nor any image matches. But, if you are spitballing for ideas of what the area of his direction means, I think something like this could definitely apply.

Did you probe the planter? Reading the Verse, it seems like the casque location would have to be bounded by something.

gManTexas

Did you probe the planter? Reading the Verse, it seems like the casque location would have to be bounded by something.

Yes, multiple times. Also, the entire mall was dug up this past summer and is still being rebuilt. I made multiple stops during construction. Since I work for one of the biggest contractors in the city, it’s very easy to talk to the guys doing the work. Everyone is always looking for a contact person when looking for their next job.
None of the workers saw anything interesting during the excavation.
I’m definitely not trying to say that I think it is or was there at any point. I’m just sharing an experience that opened my eyes to other potential meanings to lines in the verse.

Did you probe the planter? Reading the Verse, it seems like the casque location would have to be bounded by something.
Would have to probe all of the planters there. They have all been thrown to one corner for the past few months, in order for the renovations of the prado to take place, therefore removing any sense of direction as to the planters and the verse/image once they are placed back. Surely each one wont be placed back exactly where they were, same location, however it wont be the same planter to the same location. I am unsure if this has been done prior to now, renovations there. I know some have been done, but I do not believe to this extent, full overhaul of the park/brick area. I know there was a flagpole by the fountain, possibly still there in the 80s too. I do not think a renovation of this current scale and magnitude has taken there place between 80 until now.

“strike13”

Would have to probe all of the planters there. They have all been thrown to one corner for the past few months, in order for the renovations of the prado to take place, therefore removing any sense of direction as to the planters and the verse/image once they are placed back. Surely each one wont be placed back exactly where they were, same location, however it wont be the same planter to the same location. I am unsure if this has been done prior to now, renovations there. I know some have been done, but I do not believe to this extent, full overhaul of the park/brick area. I know there was a flagpole by the fountain, possibly still there in the 80s too. I do not think a renovation of this current scale and magnitude has taken there place between 80 until now.

I’ll clarify this with a little more detail. There were urn like planters scattered throughout the prado that were for various plantings. Those are the planters Strike is talking about above. They are still there and likely will be reused when the prado is complete.
There are also fully grown trees within the brick walkways that have rectangular areas where the brick is absent to allow for the trees to grow. My immediate focus was these tree areas, but the urns got a piece of the probe as well.

Another thought on this Verse. What if BP didn’t know that the names Thucydides and Xenophon were carved into the library. Wouldn’t that change things significantly? In this case, the reference to Horace Walpole’s quote is only a locater for Boston, not unlike the Sarmiento quote in Verse 2 for New Orleans.
I still feel strongly that T & X stand for something else after we locate in Boston though.

gManTexas

Another thought on this Verse. What if BP didn’t know that the names Thucydides and Xenophon were carved into the library. Wouldn’t that change things significantly? In this case, the reference to Horace Walpole’s quote is only a locater for Boston, not unlike the Sarmiento quote in Verse 2 for New Orleans.
I still feel strongly that T & X stand for something else after we locate in Boston though.

Call me a skeptic or everything that Choice has called me, but I’m still not convinced about the T&X at the library. If it truly is a reference to the BPL, I think we are missing CLEAR instructions/clues on how to get there and where to go after we arrive.
The Horace quote could be coincidence as well. I just don’t think there is enough evidence to call either of these topics actual facts.

Acrostically speaking and somewhat a hybrid or selective notion, I cant bring myself to ignore the idea that
Thucydides
And
Xenophon
are hint worthy of the link to Boston’s TAX history.

erexere

Acrostically speaking and somewhat a hybrid or selective notion, I cant bring myself to ignore the idea that
Thucydides
And
Xenophon
are hint worthy of the link to Boston’s TAX history.

That could certainly make some sense if it were in the verse.

BINGO

Call me a skeptic or everything that Choice has called me, but I’m still not convinced about the T&X at the library. If it truly is a reference to the BPL, I think we are missing CLEAR instructions/clues on how to get there and where to go after we arrive.
The Horace quote could be coincidence as well. I just don’t think there is enough evidence to call either of these topics actual facts.

Thucydides and Xenophon seem too intentional and specific to be a coincidence.

gManTexas

Thucydides and Xenophon seem too intentional and specific to be a coincidence.

I completely agree. My opinion is pretty simple, I don’t believe anyone, including myself, has made a good enough argument to seal the T and X line into law. Every theory has reasonable doubt. Every theory is missing something important.
I just don’t think we have the evidence to say what it really means without question.
Doing this is a recipe for another fruitless 37 years in Boston. My opinion, nothing more.

BINGO

I completely agree. My opinion is pretty simple, I don’t believe anyone, including myself, has made a good enough argument to seal the T and X line into law. Every theory has reasonable doubt. Every theory is missing something important.
I just don’t think we have the evidence to say what it really means without question.
Doing this is a recipe for another fruitless 37 years in Boston. My opinion, nothing more.

You’ve probably considered numbers for the letters, but anyway.
T = 20
X = 24
Maybe dimensions or steps or something like that?

gManTexas

You’ve probably considered numbers for the letters, but anyway.
T = 20
X = 24
Maybe dimensions or steps or something like that?

Dabbled with letters too. Never got too far with any of it. T is North of X if you stack the alphabet vertically. It’s just hard to tell if it’s complete garbage or a clue.
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X

T>X is perfectly 5 steps

Spiritr

T>X is perfectly 5 steps

5?

“If Thucydides is
North of Xenophon
Take five steps”
1 2 3 4 5
T U V W X

But you don’t count the step that you are at.

citgo sign and triangle on sleeve, sign is 1 mile west of the hatch
could be getting closer
http://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO/BostonSign.jsp

thats a good find on that website, it looks as if they’ve taken pics periodically on the whole trail  (i did the same thing
) anyway, i did check the commons pretty thoroughly for any sort of visual clue, but came up empty.  and good call on the baseball diamond being in the commons, i got really excited when i saw that there.  the statue of Horace Mann in front of the state house also got me excited but i still couldnt piece it all together.  as for it being in the burying grounds, im doubting it.  if you look closely at the wall, you can see quite a few “doors” that kind of look like vents or something. well, those are doors to the crypts right there.  the pic that has a close up of the wall with writing on it (says George), is a pic of the “headstone” right above each crypt door.  so burying it around there has to be illegal or something; i could be wrong though.  im still liking the Back Bay Fens area the best, it seems to fit the verse the best.

Fox,
The people on the tour are a little geeky, but they took good pictures!  The picture is the backside of the burial ground.  The ‘pedestal’ you see is none other than Paul Revere’s headstone!  There has to be a link.  The wall (in my mind) is what separates the granary burial ground with the common.
By the way, I think there may be two statues of Paul Revere, one well known and a second at the Boston Common. see
http://www.worldtravelers.org/boston.asp
Could that be a place to look?
ABQRAM

thanks for the walking tour of Beantown Ram!  Quite enjoyable  8)
by referring to the picture showing the burial grounds backing up to the commons, do you mean the grassy shot with the wall running down the middle?  If so, just what is that white column/pedestal in the background?….looks a lot like what our knight in P3 is perched atop.

I’m a Red Sox fan, and go to games fairly often. While Fenway Park’s shape and grandstands are the same, almost every sign you see has been replaced or changed since 1982, the Jumbotron has been replaced a few times, seats have been built on top of the Green Monster (which is, by the way, a wooden wall sheathed in metal), a large club seating structure has been built above and behind home plate, various parts of the outside periphery have been rebuilt to give more space for new concessions inside (especially under the bleachers), etc.
Remember to use photos of the same era.

That’s true.  I’m not too enthusiastic about it.  I do however want to look for reasonable justification.  If all other pieces look to fit then such play might be a worthy approach.  The cuff of the arm looks like a foot and leg leading of a baseball plate…I’m convinced.

erexere

I do however want to look for reasonable justification…

erexere

The cuff of the arm looks like a foot and leg leading of a baseball plate…I’m convinced.

Then I’m sure you will find it.
… And the fairy looks like Hatch. That doesn’t mean the casque is there, or that it has anything to do with how we interpret the verse.
Follow the verse, not the pictures. It’s hard, I know.

erexere

I’m trying to determine if pretending you’re hitting a ball to the CITGO sign while standing on the metal box and imagining your back to the stairs might be bleachers and his direction being the direction of running to first base.  That would be like moving in a 45 degree to the northwest…

Yeah… I haven’t seen a whole lot of imagination or fantasy play used in the solved I/Vs.

I dont know how you can say that,
the locations for Chicago and Cleveland were extremely specific.
down to basically a 2-3 foot square
but a 3 foot by 3 foot square 3 feet deep requires you to move at the minimum 9 cubic feet of dirt.
but you actually have to move more than that because the sides of a hole need to slope down usually at approximately 35 – 45 degrees depending on the looseness of the soil.
which means to dig out a 3 foot square hole at the surface the hole needs to be 16 square feet in hard soil and in sand (ie Golden Gate Park) 25 square feet, Just to make a 3 foot square hole at the depth of 3 feet.
Frost heave, in an area that freezes can move the casque laterally as well as up or down, as well as crushing it.
but in examining the found casques, it is obvious they were placed in a specific location.

True, I am only saying it’s a matter of eyeballing a location and using the closest markers to do so.  I should’ve made my point clearer that I no longer think sun calculations or strict compass usage are required.  The Chicago finders did say they had a hard time.  It only takes being off an inch and you’d never know how close you were.  Like you say, moving a 3’x3′ square of dirt is probably the best approach after all this time.  Oh, and one more thing, I don’t think counting paces perfectly will make any difference.  You’ll know you’re in the right spot when you’re reading the verse correctly.  You’ll find those near-markers and see the right spot the simplest way.  It’s a matter of widening the dig hole enough to account for any meddling factors.

I’m not going to read all of the posts of this particular thread. I think we can attribute the line “In truth, be free.” to The Pilgrim’s Fathers – Poem by John Boyle O’Reilly. His statue sits at Boylston and Fenway.
Read this poem about the Pilgrims and coming to the New World.
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-pilgrim-s-fathers/
Here’s the first three lines of the poem:
ONE righteous word for Law—the common will;
One living
truth
of Faith—God regnant still;
One primal test of
Free
dom—all combined;
See Image 11 thread for possible solve location in Mothers Rest area of Back Bay Fens.

Durian

I’ve never visited Boston, but for all you Bostonians out there, this puzzle has given me a small glimpse of what a lovely city you have. I hope to visit in person someday to enjoy it—maybe take in a Red Sox game, and perhaps get photo evidence of the various things I’ve seen online that I think match the image.

Come on up. The city is a Mecca for education and medicine, but we are wicked friggin good at tourism too…

I like this area for BP.
A lot of stuff for him to key off of.
I love the Science statue of the Library
holding the world.
I love the fact that Copley Square had a
main street running through it
cutting the square in half.
(see the cut squares on the side of the Pandora)
Problems for solve:  Copley Square has new
statues in place since 1982 so I have not had luck
knowing exactly what comprised the square in 1982.
I have over head blue print shots of the time, but they
lack the detail to key off of the verse.
I found the old Boston Opera House had been referred
to as the Coliseum Theater.  It is down the block on St James
heading towards the Commons.  (I do not know how common
that name was for it though)
The North verse South on the Greeks needs to be resolved.
Did the architecture design any other buildings in the area and use
Greek names on the facade?
What about the Art Museum on the other front of the Square?
Any links to the verse?

ahhhh, right back to Copely Sq.  How refreshing

How about Trinity Church for the last line of verse 3?  I see it was mentioned earlier
in this thread, but this could tie it into the verse.
I found:
http://www.revelation13.net/Trinity.html
which is an inside shot of the church
which has the John 8:32 verse.  The church is located right next to Copley Square, across
from the Library.  Hard to tell from the picture, but maybe the sanctuary is lit with lamps?
The church webpage is
http://www.trinitychurchboston.org

In the middle section
Note, the double S on the gate of the Somerset building and the fact that a “section” symbol is also a double S, §.

gManTexas

I like this, but it seems a little abstract.

Highly abstract. Just trying to stimulate conversation and look at how BP could manipulate words while still pointing back to the subject matter.

Some of you know that I like the Hatch Shell. That would be an area of his direction, meaning Arthur Fiedler.

While we have no clear way to determine exactly what these lines mean, I’ll add to the possibilities.
Many prominent statues of men and woman are found all over the parks throughout the country. At one time, I was convinced that the pointed arm/hand on Paul Revere’s statue was Paul giving us his direction.
No clue what the intended meaning is, but taking 5 steps in the direction that a statue is pointing could fit the bill.
It seems more likely to me than jumping on a subway and sitting on your ass for 5 stops.

GoldenMartyr

Given Thucydides heavy use of cause and effect, the conditional structure itself must be a nod back to him. Could
his direction
not be referencing north or the location of his name but instead his direction as in his command? Thucydides was elected a strategoi and was given command of a fleet. Ultimately, his failure resulted in his exile.

I like this, but it seems a little abstract.

BINGO

…taking 5 steps in the direction that a statue is pointing could fit the bill…

This interpretation is supported by the Japanese clues. We’re moving in a very small area because we possibly start right on top the casque which is why he can’t give us any tips at all.

phrabbott

This interpretation is supported by the Japanese clues. We’re moving in a very small area because we possibly start right on top the casque which is why he can’t give us any tips at all.

Clever, silly Phrabbott.

gManTexas

Clever, silly Phrabbott.

The cleverist. I’ve come to believe we’re missing the mark on a lot of these because we’re trying to instill meaning to the clues and adventure to the hunt. We want this to be The DaVinci Code or National treasure and go here and there in search of an X spot.
Boston specifically? Maybe we’re trying to describe a path when we should really be describing where we’re standing already.

phrabbott

The cleverist. I’ve come to believe we’re missing the mark on a lot of these because we’re trying to instill meaning to the clues and adventure to the hunt. We want this to be The DaVinci Code or National treasure and go here and there in search of an X spot.
Boston specifically? Maybe we’re trying to describe a path when we should really be describing where we’re standing already.

You still have to arrive at the spot though. Even if the path is super short like Chicago.

phrabbott

Boston specifically? Maybe we’re trying to describe a path when we should really be describing where we’re standing already.

You’re preaching to the choir on this one. There is decent stuff elsewhere but I agree, that is the most logical reason for no hints.

McGovern15

Is the Charles Gate 2C’s area still worth inspecting with a probing rod? It seems like one of the strongest matches for where the casque could be hidden but when I visted today it was riddled with the holes made by other hunters. Is there a chance that people have just missed it? I know it took a number of attempts for the Chicago kids to actually dig up the casque despite being right in the general vicinity of it. My biggest concern with digging there is actually the abundance of heroin needles I saw there. There was even one inside the hole dug inside the notch between the two circles.

IMHO, it’s been dug to death. Nothing there.

McGovern15

Is the Charles Gate 2C’s area still worth inspecting with a probing rod? It seems like one of the strongest matches for where the casque could be hidden but when I visted today it was riddled with the holes made by other hunters. Is there a chance that people have just missed it? I know it took a number of attempts for the Chicago kids to actually dig up the casque despite being right in the general vicinity of it. My biggest concern with digging there is actually the abundance of heroin needles I saw there. There was even one inside the hole dug inside the notch between the two circles.

Don’t get stuck digging

I guess the bright side of the Charlesgate area is if you look hard enough, you will find ample Narcan packages to go along with the discarded needles.
Our junkies come prepared.

Kalessin

IMHO, it’s been dug to death. Nothing there.

My problem is I can’t think of an area that fits quite as well as the 2C’s area. It’s not a perfect solve by any means but none of the other solves I’ve seen come quite as close.

Been resting my attention to this verse for awhile, coming back to it I have this interpretation full of pomp and swank as usual…
If Thucydides is
North of Xenophon
Take five steps
T and X = Theta Chi, 1st fraternity at MIT.  Go 5×5 blocks north and west of Boston Public Library to the doorstep of Theta Chi.
In the area of his direction
“area” is a “square”, find the square on the upper right corner of the occulus in P11, it corresponds to a square area below an overpass at Beacon/Charlesgate.
A green tower of lights
Charlesgate has green tower architecture, ‘lights’ are aligned here
In the middle section
Near those
Who pass the coliseum
With metal walls
Face the water
your back to the stairs
Feel at home
In the middle of the block between the river and I-90 which allows people to pass by Fenway Park (green monster – 37′ metal wall), Gil Stratton quote: “Time to call ’em as I see ’em” = coliseum.  Face the water = light post globes (water orbs in P11), and then the actual set of stairs in this area.
All the letters
Are hear to see
New England College of Optometry
Eighteenth day
Twelfth hour
18th Greek letter = Sigma, 12th Greek letter = Mu.  Next door to Theta Xi is Phi Kappa
SIGMA
, Alpha
MU
chapter.  Day is subdivided by Hours is an analogy to the fraternity being subdivided into a chapter.
Lit by lamplight
In truth, be free
More focus on lamps and light to find the aligning perspective where the lamp globes match those in P11.
This pic shows the following: yellow arrow points to Fenway Stadium, orange triangle is staircase below overpass, red rectangle is Charlesgate Hotel with “green tower” design, blue dots are lamp globes, and green square is dig spot next to box and railing.

Hey all,
This post covers multiple verses (1, 3, 7, 12) and multiple pictures (5, 6, 7, 8 ).  There doesn’t seem to be just one thread that was appropriate for this kind of post so I just posted it in all 8 threads.  So if you have read this post once you don’t have to read the other 7 as they are all the same.
Socrates, Pindar, Apelles
Free speech, couplet, birch
To find casque’s destination
(Verse 4) (Lines 10, 11, 12)
The word birch rhymes with verse so I think the line is supposed to read FREE VERSE, COUPLET.  Now separate the initial letters of each couplet that rhymes from the initial letters of the free verse(i.e. the lines that don’t rhyme).  You can do this for all the verses(although some of them are all free verse with no lines that rhyme), however, for reasons that I will make clear below I think the only verses that matter here are Verses 1, 3, 7, and 12.  In all the verses below I have highlighted the lines that rhyme.
I will start with Verse 12 as we already know the answer for that one.
Where M and B are set in stone
And to Congress, R is known
L sits and left
Beyond his shoulder
Is the Fair Folks’
Treasure holder
The end of ten by thirteen
Is your clue
Fence and fixture
Central too
For finding jewel casque
Seek the sounds
Of rumble
Brush and music
Hush.
So you end up with: WABTICBH which when you rearrange the letters and use the B’s as blank spaces between the words you get: CHI B WA B T or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the B’s – Chicago Water Tower.  As we all know this is the tower in Picture 5.  This also explains the use of the word Hush in the verse, BP needed a word that started with H and rhymed with Brush.
On to Verse 1
Fortress north
Cold as glass
Friendship south
Take your task
To the number
Nine eight two
Through the wood
No lion fears
In the sky the water veers
Small of scale
Step across
Perspective should not be lost
In the center of four alike
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
In December night
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout!
A whistle sounds.
So you end up with: NISPOILA which when you rearrange the letters and use the I’s as blank spaces between the words you get: NO I S I PLA or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the I’s – New Orleans Spanish Plaza.  And there is a
Spanish Plaza in New Orleans.
On to Verse 3
If Thucydides is
North of Xenophon
Take five steps
In the area of his direction
A green tower of lights
In the middle section
Near those
Who pass the coliseum
With metal walls
Face the water
Your back to the stairs
Feel at home
All the letters
Are here to see
Eighteenth day
Twelfth hour
Lit by lamplight
In truth, be free.
This time use the letters that begin the free verse lines: INTANWWFYFAETL which when you rearrange the letters and use the extra WFA as blank spaces between the words you get: FT W WAYNE F LIN A T or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the WFA – Ft. Wayne Lincoln Tower.  And there is a Lincoln Tower in Ft. Wayne Indiana built in 1929.
And finally Verse 7
At stone wall’s door
The air smells sweet
Not far away
High posts are three
Education and Justice
For all to see
Sounds from the sky
Near ace is high
Running north, but first across
In jewel’s direction
Is an object
Of Twain’s attention
Giant Pole
Giant step
To the place
The casque is kept.
I first started anagramming this one using the same method of separating the letters that I used above and ended up with some wrong answers that wilhouse pointed out.  So I think for this one you anagram all the letters together: ATNHEFSNRIIOGGTT which when you rearrange the letters and use the G’s as blank spaces between the words you get
HST G NATION G FRET or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the G’s – Houston National Forest.  This one didn’t anagram to my satisfaction as you end up with an extra I but there is a Sam Houston National Forest in Houston.
Now as cool as all that was this is the really cool part and the reason that I think that this particular solution only deals with the above 4 verses.  Going back to verse 4 and using the words Socrates, Pindar, Apelles, birch along with information that we already have from the pictures(i.e. the latitudes and longitudes) you can as BP put it, “wed one picture with one verse.”
Birch = 5 letters, picture 5 we know is Chicago goes with verse 12 which gives us Chicago Water Tower.
Apelles = 7 letters, picture 7 we are pretty sure from the longitude and latitude is New Orleans and verse 1 gives us New Orleans Spanish Plaza.
Socrates = 8 letters, picture 8 we are pretty sure from the longitude and latitude is Houston and verse 7 gives us Sam Houston National Forest. (sort of)
Pindar = 6 letters, by process of elimination picture 6 goes with verse 3 which gives us Ft. Wayne Lincoln Tower.
So to sum up.
Verse 1 goes with Picture 7 and give us a starting location of Spanish Plaza in New Orleans
Verse 3 goes with Picture 6 and gives us a starting location of Lincoln Tower in Ft. Wayne
Verse 7 goes with Picture 8 and gives us a starting location of Sam Houston National Forest in Houston.
Verse 12 goes with Picture 5 and gives us a starting location of the Water Tower in Chicago.
Just some further thoughts that might not lead to anything but are rattling around in my head so I will throw them out for your consideration.  Two of the verses (9 and 11) are all free verse, nothing rhymes but there are two additional verses that do follow the free verse, couplet pattern. The first comes right before the pictures and second right after the pictures.  It is possible that some information is hidden in these two extra verses.
Also if you like the idea of the number of the letters in a word indicating a picture(or a verse) then you might find this interesting.  There is only on significant instance of a one letter word in all of the verses(I know that there are various A’s in the verses but I said significant) and that is the v in verse 10.  In addition there is only one 12-letter word in all of the verses, remuneration.  I know that wonderstone’s is also 12 letters but I don’t count that one because you need to add the possessive s in order to get to 12.
digger7

Hi guys, I know there have been a few people in other groups that have claimed to have “solved” Boston but with no information I thought I would throw out a few theories I have been working on with some information I hadn’t seen before.
First, I am using verse 3 and image 11. Verse 3 I tie to Boston with the “Eighteenth day/
Twelfth hour” reference. And then image 11 I like to Boston with the BOS on her left (our right sleeve), the 42 on her cuff, backwards 70 on the other sleeve, and maybe the 41 and 71 on the window frame.
In other cities there were ways to more definitively link the verse to the image, like in Cleveland “seek the columns” or in Roanoke “to the land near the window”. I think in Boston it may be more subtle. The bird in image 11 had been driving me nuts. It is definitely a falcon and the only falcon statue I can find in Boston is at the Steward Gardener Museum but that looks nothing alike. The bird has no feathers and looks like its stone in the painting and that leads me to believe that the falcon is a likeness of Horus the Egyptian god who is portrayed as a falcon. I think this relates to Horace Walpole who wrote the letter to Horace Mann “The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York.” Some people have said that the Horace Walpole letters were obscure so this may be a way to tie the images together and give a clue to the letters.
It is known that Thucydides and Xenophon are carved on the Boston Public Library and I think that is the Boston landmark where we have to start. I subscribe to the start with a landmark from the image and follow a path solve technique. I think the Library is in the image.
The orb floating over the marble slab in the picture is a perfect match for the orb held by the Science statute at the BPL being held over the stone next to the statue from an elevated perspective.
The statue isn’t green anymore and has been cleaned up but this is almost the perspective of the orb being held out over to the stone next to it.
Also those Orb lights where everywhere in Boston in the 80’s and in particular in Copley square opposite the library. This may explain the abundance of arbs and bubbles in the image.
So we start at the BPL but there is no place to dig there and in the early 80’s this whole area was all paved over. So we need to move away from the library. “Take five steps In the area of his direction” I am thinking that 5 steps is actually 5 subway stops. First I think the fairy in the image is a very good match for The Red Cross Knight painted by J.S. Copley.
The subway station immediately next to the PBL is Copley station (to be fair also Copley square is right there as well). Further, in the 80’s the entrance to Copley station Outbound looked like this:
A similar shape to the negative space if the box the woman is opening with the light coming up from where underground would be.
Copley station looks like this inside:
And if you look at the wires and conduits inside it kind of resembles:
Further the line “All the letters/ Are here to see”, On the green line om Boston all of the branches are assigned letters. B for Boston college, C for Cleveland Circle, D for Riverside and E for Heath Street. Copley station is the last stop on the line where all 4 lettered branches stop before the start branching off. So at Copley station all of the letters would be there to see pass by.
Copley stations famous inbound entrance looks like this, that the PBL in the background:
The clover shape circled in red is maybe the clover from the wings of the fairy in the image.

I have 2 theories from here that lead to dig sites but they go in opposite directions, one more probable than the other.
First we need to take 5 steps/stops in the area of his direction. “The area of his direction” is weird phrasing but on the Boston T there is no east/west/north/south there is just inbound and outbound. Here is a pick of the old 1980s station entrance:
In the area of his direction I think could be referring to Horace Walpole meaning West as he was talking about west across the Atlantic. Or maybe there is a Horace theme and the phrase attributed to Horace Greeley “Go West, young man” comes into play. But there is no West on the green line so we need to go in the area, outbound, of his direction, west as green line outbound heads west of the city.
5 stops, including Copley station at the first stop on the B line of the green line takes us to Boston University East station. At the corner of Granby ST. and Comm. Ave.
“Face the water” head in the direction of the Charles river just a short walk away. Once you are at the red star from the last image you see:
BU Castle that looks the most like the castle on the box in the image I have seen yet. Just past the Castle you are at Back Street. “Your back to the stairs”, take Back Street to the stairs. Admittedly this is more of a ramp over Storrow Drive than stairs and this is kind of weak.
“Near those/ Who pass the coliseum/ With metal walls” I think refers to Storrow Drive/Soldiers field road. First off Harvard stadium looks like the roman colosseum:
This would also be the Italian connection. Second Harvard stadium pioneer the use of steel reinforce concrete. So despite looking like a stone coliseum it does have metal walls. And those who pass it would be on Soldiers Field Road that turns into Storrow drive where our ramp/stars are. If you go over the ramp/stairs you end up next to the Charles river to “Feel at home” loving the dirty water like the Standells in 1966.
Maybe the last bit is her neck line shadow kind of looks like an exagerated bank of the river where we are standing:
Where here necklace could be Storrow Drive and the smaller section in her necklace could be the stairs/ramp to get over the road into the area that is her neck.
Thoughts? I can keep going and do my theory of takeing the green line inbound to the North end and while some parts work a little bit better that direction there are I think less matches in general.

You’ve got some slightly different approaches to very commonly discussed landmarks. At this point, I think the only way to prove or at least gain any solid data, for or against your theory, is to refine your dig site to a specific spot or spots. Then, probe and potentially dig.
If you are correct, you will be rewarded with a casque. If you are wrong, you will be another member of a not so exclusive club.
Coming up with a theory or even small parts of one that is universally accepted as fact seems to be more rare than actually finding a casque.
If you are local to Boston or even a Patriots hater from elsewhere, there are a few locals here that are always willing to help out. Don’t be afraid to ask. Best of luck.

Tomorrow Choice. Tomorrow will be your day to shine.
Do you have a favorite corner of the Ether monument (“home plate”) that you would like probed first? Or should I plan on taking 5 steps from each of them and probe them all?
Tomorrow…

This is a great angle the Montreal solve.
If Thucydides is                            Greek from Olympiad time
North of Xenophon                      North side(dig spot). Greek from Olympiad time
Take five steps                            Five Olympic Rings
In the area of his direction Ground area and Greeks Olympic in time
A green tower of lights Green stadium top
In the middle section                 Is in middle
Near those                                 Subway station entrance
Who pass the coliseum                 Subway route by stadium
With metal walls                 Subway car
Face the water                 Face the Olympic pool venue
Your back to the stairs                 Olympic podium
Feel at home                 Gold medal position
All the letters                 Flags of nations (“Letter of the country”)
Are here to see                 Displayed nearby
Eighteenth day                 July 18, 1976 The Olympic sport competitions begin
Twelfth hour                 Final hour
Lit by lamplight                 Olympic torch
In truth, be free.                 Recover casque

Here is good areal view the area.

“In the middle section”
Granary Burying Ground
With its massive Egyptian Revival-style gates facing Tremont Street, the Granary Burying Ground is the final resting place of many eminent Revolutionary-era patriots, such as Samuel Adams, Peter Faneuil, Paul Revere, and John Hancock.
Originally called South Burying Ground because of its location at the most southerly area of Boston settlement, it was then renamed Middle Burying Ground, as Boston sprawled toward the south. The current name is derived from the grain storage building, or granary, which stood on the site where the Park Street Church now stands.
Now about finding a tower of green lights….

Unknown

Unknown:
The verse on “with metal walls” always seemed
redundant to me, until I saw where
“Old Ironside” has been parked.

Trohn said:
I’ll respond to this quote here rather than in the Image 3 thread. I think this is a terrific insight! It’s
exactly
the kind of wordplay BP was up to in Verse 8. But why “coliseum”?

I am considering the Coliseum to mean
the old Boston Garden,
directly across the Charles, from USS Constitution.
This has since been torn down,
but certainly a historic landmark.

In truth, be free
Re: the Hatch Shell theory, I was thinking:
True – T
Be free – Hatch
Thatch…?
Thatcher St runs next to Freeman St. The section of Beacon St seen to the south is on the marathon route (shortly before it switches to Commonwealth Ave at Kenmore Square).
Alternatively…free, vacant, empty, like the box. MT / Maurice Tobin.

The end of the marathon route from Newton to Boston:
It seems to turn onto Beacon St at the reservoir. Interested to see it then goes Commonwealth…Hereford…Boyleston which takes it past that tall tower similar to the one on the box which I posted above.
“The course route map continues on Commonwealth through the Newton Hills, bearing right at the reservoir onto Chestnut Hill Avenue to Cleveland Circle. The Boston Marathon 2011 route map then turns left onto Beacon Street continuing to Kenmore Square and then follows Commonwealth Avenue inbound. The course then turns right onto Hereford Street then left onto Boylston Street, finishing near the John Hancock Tower in Copley Square.”
Here are the two ends of Beacon St and the reservoir (22 on the route map)…
So…yeah, I like the marathon thing; those who pass the Coliseum, a trail which seems to pass various things suggested in the verse & image, and a part of Boston history (eg see this piece on
Bobbi Gibb
).
This is the kind of spot I’m thinking about at the moment…steps beside the reservoir, the circle where the marathon turns onto Beacon St. just to the right.

I don’t think the Boston Public library statues are X & T, even in symbolism.  One statue is supposed to represent Art and the other Science — both our guys were historians.

Trohn

…It is a given that the only place one will find mention
of these two folks are on a college campus….

You will also find them on the outside of the Boston Public Library.

Nice photo of the hopscotch.
“All the letters are here to see”
I like it.
And it is on the Freedom Trail.
But with this area so densely concrete,
where to bury something in secret?
And by your phrasing of Thucydides and Xenophon
as “The Greeks”, could these be markings on Fraternity houses?
It is a given that the only place one will find mention
of these two folks are on a college campus.
I am fairly certain that this is the correct area in Boston:
Iron Side, Freedom Trail, Old Boston Gardens, Paul Revere
Home, MIT, the Charles crossing – now the hopscotch at
Old State House seems to cement it (no pun intended).
Just have to orient ourselves properly.
And now the image and its details….

For those looking to scout this area out,
see the hopscotch mosaic, a plaque with a
animal looking like the image’s stone
animal(lower left), Ben Franklin staue,
and Grainiery Burial Grounds all on the same four corners…
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/boston/A29758.html
http:/bizkard.com/freedom/firstschool/index.shtml
Old Iron Side is near but not right here.
Also here, King’s Chapel (do not know what year it was expanded)
and Park Street Church.
Also, Boston Athanaeum…
(where to face water??)

Hi all,
Started looking at this board again after job search/move.  Looking at this verse, some “random” thoughts popped into my head (in some cases helped out by Google).  I haven’t tied these together, but maybe they’ll jog someone else’s memory:
1.  As someone else mentioned, there is a 20-story building on the MIT campus called the Green building.  designed by I.M. Pei.  It’s almost exactly in the middle of the campus, and fairly close to the Charles.
2.  The line “In truth be free” brings to mind
a.  Harvard, whose motto “Veritas” is Latin for truth  Harvard also kinda sorta fits the “feel at home” line, as it uses the “house” system.
b.  Boston University has a memorial outside the Marsh Chapel for Martin Luther King Jr, who was an alumnus of BU.
3.  There is a plaque in the sidewalk outside the Old City Hall building commemorating the first site of the Latin school.  It is a “hopscotch” type board with the alphabet around the border (“all the letter are there to see”), and some facts about the Latin school incorporated in the design.  There is a park next to the Old City Hall building.  (
http://www.photographybymaureen.com/boston4.html
)
4.  If P11 goes with this verse, there is an old armory in Boston at Columbus and Arlington (1st Corps of Cadets Armory/Park Plaza castle).  There’s a pic at
http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/parkplaz.htm
(note that the skinny tower has arrow slits, like the one in the pic).
Don’t know about “the Greeks” (Thucydides/Xenophon) , but there are a number of libraries around Boston (Mary Baker eddy Library, Harvard University Library, etc.).  Also, Hellenic College is in Brookline right outside Boston
That’s all I can come up with now.  I’ll post other links as I find them.
-dan

AmeliaElf and I had seen that plaque and, after much excitement (i.e. ALL THE LETTERS ARE HERE TO SEE!!! IT’S HERE!!!), we realized that the plaque had been put there a few years after the book was written.
Alas.

AmeliaElf and I had seen that plaque and, after much excitement (i.e. ALL THE
LETTERS
ARE HERE TO SEE!!! IT’S HERE!!!), we realized that the plaque had been put there a few years after the book was written.
Alas.

Alas…
City Carpet, 1983. Ceramic,brass and stained Concrete 25′ sq.
Lilli Ann Killen Rosenberg (see Newton: Five Concrete Mosaic Sculptures).
Hi John,
Let me try to find that infomation for you.  I’ll get back with you shortly.
Management Office
Old City Hall Landmark Corp.
45 School Street
Boston, MA  02108
P:  (617) 523-8678
F:  (617) 523-3782
email:
[email protected]
—– Original Message —–
From: Alfano, John W (alfanoj)
To:
[email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 3:40 PM
Subject: Sidewalk Mosaic
Hi-
Can you tell me when the sidewalk
mosaic hopscotch recognizing the Latin School
was installed?  (in which year)
Thanks.
John Alfano
Juniata College

since paul revere was french the verse is either saying “longfellow”  or the
places
in the poem,  or maybe just boston.
longfellow bridge
longfellow house
soldier’s and sailor’s monument–by land and sea from the poem, and longfellow is on a plaque
are some of the  places with longfellow’s name
one thing i like about the hatch whiterabbit (except that he was russian), is that tchaikovsky’s name is on it, and he wrote the 1812 overture (eighteenth day, twelfth night), which has been played there by the boston popps since 1929, every independence day (liberty)
twelfth day, makes me think of shakespeare’s twelfth night, and they have the shakespeare at the common, by the parkman bandstand i think, which is closer to the Holmes (feel at home) path.
the soldier’s and sailors monument and the parkman bandstand both have very large stone circular paths around them, be nice to have better pics of those paths
just an aside…….wonder if another connection to all could be “scouts”,  the girl scout trail in milwaukee,  james storrow (storrow drive, boston)  was a president of the boys scouts of america, and there was a scout trail in city park, new orleans also…….

erexere

Something about all the blue orbs on Image 11 remind me of eyeballs, which are helpful when looking at art such as Copley.

Handy Longfellow summary.
Incidentally I noticed this statue while exploring the route to the Hatch Shell…not a brilliant match but I thought I’d point it out anyway. (BPL circled left, statue circled right.)
I’m thinking in terms of a trail from BPL via five steps (streets) / green (
Public Garden
) / tower of lights (Beacon St) to this point. Afterwards it might go towards one of two Shaw/Revere combinations – Hatch Shell / Longfellow Bridge or Robert Gould / Granary Burying Ground. (I’d forgotten, if I ever knew, that the Gould memorial was by Augustus.)
One way, those who pass the Coliseum with metal walls could be marathon runners / Fiedler footbridge, and “be free” could be hatching / birthdays. The other way, could be soldiers / plaque / Franklin. The main thing that’s drawn me to the Hatch Shell so far has been the visual matches, though these could just be in passing, like Milwaukee’s Pabst Theatre, or “iconic”, like the water tower.
Re: Erexere’s roof idea…Massachusetts State House roof near Gould also has possible visual connections to the main circle, or the globe stand…(and a Revere connection.)
“Revere built the first copper rolling mill in the United States in Canton Massachusetts and our first products sheathed our ocean going Naval fleet (Old Ironsides), and covered the roofs of government buildings including the Massachusetts Statehouse.”
…yeah, this always reminded me of weird glasses or optical equipment…
(While I’m on the subject, another circular/optical possibility I considered was Patton’s binoculars, another metallic Hatch resident.)
I suppose if it turns out to be Gould after all, I could draw comfort from the fact there’s a bird hatching an egg there too.
The nearest water would be the frog pond…
…although having a frog opening the box instead of Walsh, isn’t quite the same.

The castle on the box does not have to be fictional at all. The Boston Park Plaza hotel nearl Copley Square is known as the “Castle” because it looks very similar to the castle in the image.

Good theory Falcon, but how can you discount the last few lines of the V?  Aren’t they obviously referring to Paul Revere?

Here is a link to a good site about the Boston Public Library.  It includes a nice closeup of the statues I mentioned above.. too bad it may not be Thucy or Xeno.
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/f0a8/

Head north just past the Hatch Shell and you get to
Community Boating
, opposite Revere St.
Feel at home
All the letters are here to see
Home – House
“All” the letters
I am sailing, I am sailing,
home again across the sea.
I am sailing, stormy waters,
to be near you, to be free.

A little further north again, you reach the area round the Longfellow Bridge. The pics of the longships in the intro remind me of the Viking ships on the bridge.
The poet Henry Longfellow who wrote Revere’s Ride had a younger brother
Samuel Longfellow
, a clergyman and hymn-writer.
“One in the freedom of the truth”
Longfellow Bridge north, Hatch Shell south, circle marks footbridge and steps.
Steps and boathouse…
I reckon the fairy somehow holds the key. This shape gets my attention. I’m reminded of the I12/Liberty/Bridge thing.
There’s a tower thing on the patch of green that corresponds to the Peridot in that lineup, near the footbridge stairs on the opposite side to the river.
I like the look of that area.

Curious, what all connects Melville?  This Longfellow / hatch / sundial line up looks promising.

Unknown

Unknown:
“Inscription:  (On front of pedestal:) OLIVER/WENDELL/HOLMES/1809-1894 (On back of pedestal:) PHYSICIAN/PHILOSOPHER/POET/A MAN HONORED/AND BELOVED/BY MANY/MCMXV (On exedra bench:) FOR OVER 20 YEARS/DR. HOLMES LIVED AT NO. 296/BEACON STREET. HIS LIBRARY/OVERLOOKS THIS MEMORIAL unsigned
Description:  A semicircular plaza adorned with an exedra bench and two steps leading to a small circular pedestal. The pedestal is carved around the top with a shell design. Each end of the exedra bench is carved with a claw and ball foot.”

Unknown

Unknown:
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Boston residences
8 Montgomery Place, Beacon Hil, Boston (site no longer exists)
164 Charles Street, Beacon Hill, Boston (site no longer exists)
296 Beacon Street, Back Bay, Boston
Holmes also had country houses on the North Shore (Beverly) and in the Berkshires (on “Holmes Road,” in Pittsfield), where Herman Melville was his neighbor.

I’ve been trying to figure out where the Oliver Wendell Holmes memorial is. According to Wiki, “Bostonians placed a memorial seat and sundial behind Holmes’s final home at 296 Beacon Street”.
(He also has a memorial tablet at Kings Chapel, which is alongside Franklin and Revere.)
The buildings in the pic seem to match the view from Storrow Drive behind 296 Beacon St., though I can’t see it…maybe it’s screened off, or has been relocated…

erexere

Deuce, yes, there has been some conjecture on those alphabet ordered garden paths in the fens linked with the Mothers Rest site across the way.  No concrete purpose has been brought to light of using that site as a point of reference.  At best it suggests this is either a general area near the casque site or it’s contains a specific resource for locating the exact spot of the casque.

Duece, Most likely It’s a site confirmer. when you are at the site of the casque, all the letters are here to see.
So to really be considered as possible casque location somehow you need to be able to see “All the letters.” What that means is up for grabs.  But the pathnames with clearly readable signs from the possible casqe location at Mothers Rest make the location very probable.

I dont think anyone has mentioned this before,
In truth, be free = fence
A definition for “fence” involves the sale of stolen goods. How cool is that? A single word that both involves cost and dishonesty.
This idea comes as a methodology based on matching a large scale iconic feature for Boston with a small scale Fair Folk riddle hinted at specifically in the last line of verse. In my proposed case, the Green Monster is the best example for a giant fence, which is then followed by the short fence wall along Charlesgate.

Big building that can be seen from many different places

Has anyone ever tried to play with the periodic table for clues? Because of the Japanese translation hint, it really makes me think that same kind of cipher is needed that would immediately unravel the verse (hence he could give no clues).
Anyways back to the periodic table, When working with Thucydides and Xenophon, I lean more and more towards thinking those stand for something else. Played with T and X for awhile, which could mean Boston’s T and a railroad, or Texas. But if you add the second letters Th and Xe, Xe is Xenon on the periodic table. It’s also right next to “steps” of sort as it is drawn on some tables. And then of course “metal” walls, “all the letters are here to see”. A cipher playing with the periodic table would be pretty cool. I haven’t gotten anywhere further, but if someone is interested and wants to put a second pair of eyes on it, please feel free.
I’ve just never liked the Boston library answer for the names. There’s so many other names, it’s just way to open ended for my liking. The ONLY other places I’ve seen those names carved is next to the Cleaveland spot (very ironic) and Thucydides on Little Rock library, but that’s too new. Those just HAVE to be codes for something…but what? It will haunt me for all my years, as it has the past year 🙂

“Near those
Who pass the coliseum
With metal walls”
It would be helpful to have
city street maps of Boston
from 1980.
Apparently, the Mass. Turnpike was put underground
after 1982…And the elevated railway, which was still
in operation, was removed in the 1980’s.
Both of these modes of transportation could  possibly
be the reference from verse 3 above…Or any streets
that used to pass Fenway and the Copley Sq. vicinity.
Fenway Park is famous for its “Green Monster”, which is a
37 foot sheet metal wall…(which was later covered in
green plastic.)
More searching…
AP

Once again, (all this REhashing!!):
“Those” who pass the coliseum with metal walls does not have to mean “people”. “Those” can mean anything—streets (near the streets that go past Fenway or any
other
coliseum) or BUSES–near the BUS shelter that has a bus that goes past this coliseum–or taxis–near a taxi stand, or SUBWAY stop (The T–see the perch the bird is on!) that goes past the coliseum.
NEAR THOSE
–can mean near anything that passes some coliseum–like the Harvard coliseum–their athletic field has a perfect replica of the Roman Coliseum. Or it could mean Boston Gardens. Near a bus stop that takes you to Boston Gardens arena.  Or even near a bus that takes you to the wharf where Old Ironsides is docked. Or maybe a special shuttle that takes you to any of these places or others.

But Shecrab… I just love “Hash”…
Thanks for your constant re-supply…
AP

LOL…..I like hash too…but sometimes I just wanna steak!

I like the elevated trains.  They could be the
those with metal walls that pass the coliseum
.  I don’t like twisting the lines in the verse but maybe BP did.

shecrab

Or maybe a special shuttle that takes you to any of these places or others.

I think this special shuttle may take us a little too far away from our casque site unless one was buried at Mare Tranquillitatis.

Hey….I see the word “Harvard” on that wing….

strike13

Good post Bingo! I also am one who does not like the Victory Gardens for “all the letters are here to see”.
Additionally, I am not trying to push this theory, nor do I necessarily feel super strongly about it, but I will repost what I said a few weeks ago, just a different way to look at the line in the verse:
In thinking more about the month of this image (as is being discussed in another thread) August, I go back to something I was researching quite a bit this winter. The New England College of Optometry. This is located at 424 beacon street. Founded by a man named AUGUST Klein in 1894. It is the oldest continuously operating college of optometry in the US. In addition to the use of the month of August, it could be used for the line “all the letters are here to see”. As that is exactly what you are doing when undergoing an eye exam, looking at letters. I noticed in the past that the New England College of Optometry was discussed, but not in connection with the founder’s name, August.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3515916 … 312!8i6656

great clue. takes us all the way to sunny? LITHUANIA!

strike13

Good post Bingo! I also am one who does not like the Victory Gardens for “all the
letters
are here to see”.
Additionally, I am not trying to push this theory, nor do I necessarily feel super strongly about it, but I will repost what I said a few weeks ago, just a different way to look at the line in the verse:
In thinking more about the month of this image (as is being discussed in another thread) August, I go back to something I was researching quite a bit this winter. The New England College of Optometry. This is located at 424 beacon street. Founded by a man named AUGUST Klein in 1894. It is the oldest continuously operating college of optometry in the US. In addition to the use of the month of August, it could be used for the line “all the
letters
are here to see”. As that is exactly what you are doing when undergoing an eye exam, looking at
letters
. I noticed in the past that the New England College of Optometry was discussed, but not in connection with the founder’s name, August.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3515916 … 312!8i6656

great clue. takes us all the way to sunny? LITHUANIA!

Fenix

Have you local Boston folk given much thought to this? At the State House, corner of Beacon and Bowdoin. I know how everybody loves those c’s but this is a pretty strong contender for In truth be free. I’m sure it has been discussed in the past.

I fully admit that I’ve never given it the attention that it probably deserves. I’ve been there a few times, looked things over and nothing grabbed my attention. So, I moved on.
Myself and others in Boston tend to revisit areas regularly just to see if we missed anything and to take another look with fresh eyes. This is definitely a site that deserves another visit.

what i liked about the soldiers and sailors monument (last year, during my boston obsession, image 11, p. 40) was that Longfellow is pictured on one of the reliefs:
“Between these pedestals are four large bronze reliefs. In the front is “The Departure for the War,” with a regiment marching by the State House steps, the mounted officers, from left to right, being Colonels Lowell and  Shaw, both of whom were killed, Colonel Cass, General Benjamin F. Butler, and Quartermaster General Reed. On the steps are the Revs. Turner Sargent, A. H. Vinton, Phillips Brooks, and Archbishop Williams; Governor Andrew, shorter than the others; Wendell Phillips, Mr. Whitmore, the poet Longfellow, and others.”

Looking at verse 3,
Feel at home
All the letters
Are here to see
Moving past Quincy Market (where there are
the glass globes and a dome)…following the
Freedom Trail….starting at the intersection of
Hanover St. and Cross St….
At 211 Hanover St. is a restaurant named “Mother Anna’s”
(what better place to “feel at home” than at “mother’s”?)
It has been there for over 60 years…famous enough for
President Kennedy to stop and eat there…
Next door to it there are about 4 mailboxes on the sidewalk
in front of a Post Office sign…(all the letters there to see)
Hanover St. leads to St. Leonard’s Church (with the checkered
arches, and the statue of the girl that looks like the fairy…in the
Peace Garden). It is at the intersection of Hanover and Prince St.
Prince Street forms one of the sides of “North Square”
(intersecting Moon St….as the “moon” in  image 11)
where Paul Revere’s historic house is located.
There is also another famous restaurant in North Square named
Mamma Maria’s. (another “mother” to feel at home…)
It has been there long before 1982…(I have written to the owner.)
There are 5 steps in front of the restaurant.
Hanover St. goes past Paul Revere Mall/The Prado, with a round
stone fountain and park setting. ..You see the Old North Church
though the Mall…on Salem St.
Eighteenth day
Twelfth hour
Lit by lamplight
That is as far as I have gone…so far…
Now trying to find the reference to
In truth be free.
written on something.
AP

forest_blight

See images 1978 and 1979. The statues are still missing.

If they were gone in ’78 & ’79, would BP have known about them?

Here is how they looked loooong ago.

Flickr has others taken in both 2003 & 2008 that show the statues.  Big question is, were they there around BP’s burial trips…
Wait…the tag on this pic said taken in 2008 but that obviously isnt the case.
A more recent photo can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/radunzel/2801919252/

Unknown

Unknown:
If they were gone in ’78 & ’79, would BP have known about them?

Just numbers, fox, not dates!

DOH

forest_blight

If History is facing north, hmm… Thucydides and Xenophon were historians, were they not?
The web

Hmmmm, yes and no.  To be more exact, Xenophon was a soldier!  So now we have a greek historian {Thucydides} and a soldier {Xenophon} on this monument.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon

Famous quote by Xenophon:
“The sea! The sea! (Anabasis)”
egad, now the sailor too?

Nice tie ins AP.  One question for you though…is there a nice park nearby where the casque could be buried?  I am not too familiar with the area you are describing.  Is it toooo far from the Common for that to still work?

Fox,
The Prado is a park…BP may have gotten away with digging shallowly in the shadows at night.
If The trail leads still closer to the Bay (water) , The North End Playground may be a good
place to search. (It has been there for a VERY long time.)
I was thinking that the line “in truth be free” might be a good line to put on a headstone
in the Copp’s Hill burying ground..leading toward the Bay.  it would take a person on
foot to find a clue like that.
AP

Not a man at Copps’, but a woman…Mary Dyer. Hanged on Boston Common for heresy.
http://www.projo.com/specials/women/94root2.htm
or here:
Burst the fetters of oppression,
Let our land
in truth be free,
And no longer Slavery’s curse
Blast the land of Liberty.
On to victory! brothers, on!
Shout the name of Washington.
From “Ode on Washington’s Birthday (1864).
Or my favorite:
http://books.google.com/books?id=jEYyYiEqC9IC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=%22in+truth+be+free%22&source=web&ots=t-QT0dCNB2&sig=FFevbFqRU20_qzpzQiaWiBbtEAE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
The man who said this phrase, Thomas Hobbes, is famous for—-translating Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian Wars in 1628. In fact, he was the first to translate the book from the original Greek.

Shecrab,
It is also a line from a famous African American poet, Charles Reason
in his verse, “The Spirit Voice”…
http://tinyurl.com/668mw3
(but I cannot connect him to Boston)
AP

Any still working on this?…I wonder if any cluse are in teh book..besides verse, pics, and the poems at front with match gems..ect.

Xieish……I like it. I like it a lot. There are some very strong confirmers there. I am one of those that still believe the T and X are solely there to get us to Boston….not necessarily at the site itself. This area really needs some more investigating.
How far is this area from say downtown Boston or Copley Sq?

Oops, sorry, I misread. Xieish’s spot is in Cambridge which is pretty far from downtown Boston and Copley.

Before attempting a dig in that area I would have a criminal lawyer on retainer. I’m not being sarcastic, it’s a very public spot and there may be repercussions. The ground is also un-probable with anything that isn’t a drill.
I’m not so sure I am with you on the Thucydidies/Xenophon thing. For one, they would be findable for sure on the ground (which is I’m still pretty sure the main way these were to be solved – Preiss expected locals to solve them quickly). For two, while I can’t say for certain anything about the “X” – I’m fairly certain there’s no logical way to get the bird to be Thucydidies. A solver in ~1982 would need to confirm things, that solution only makes sense when you have a final spot in mind.
I think the hatch is the hatch and not too much more, I mean shoot we stared at this picture for how many years without recognizing it? I had it pegged as like 8 different objects/buildings around Boston.
edit: I do like the 1812 overture – whether or not it was intentional (even Preiss wasn’t all knowing or omnipotent) it has a nice feel to it

Unknown

Unknown:
I also don’t understand In Truth Be Free. But I think it’s irrelevant like the last lines of some other verses.

See my post on image 11 thread.

I wanted to share some information with everyone about the Victory Gardens in the Fens. Many people like to apply the lettered paths of the Gardens to the lines in verse 3 “all the letters – are here to see.”
In the past, I have done some volunteer survey work for the Fenway Garden Society that manages the Gardens. A while back, I decided to ask one of the organizers about the history of how the plots and paths were configured.
What she explained made me rethink this widely accepted association to the verse.
To the best of her recollection, the plots were organized numerically and some by surname. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s that the Gardens were cleaned up, organized and the majority of the paths were CONSTRUCTED. The booming economy of the 80’s brought in more donations and public funds to allow for these projects.
I checked the available aerial photos of the area and found one from 1978 and another from 1995. When you compare those photos, it’s pretty clear that only a few of the main paths existed in 1978.
Even today, it is difficult to see from any distance what letter path you are walking on. Many of the paths have no signage at all, and the ones that are marked have very small tags on the fences that line the paths.
I’m sure there will be people who dismiss and disagree with this information, but unless you have other information to the contrary, I am of the belief that my contact is correct. Feel free shoot holes, but I am officially out on all the letters are here to see.
Direct link (side by side)
https://i.imgur.com/fXH38HI.png

I wanted to share some information with everyone about the Victory Gardens in the Fens. Many people like to apply the lettered paths of the Gardens to the lines in verse 3 “all the
letters
– are here to see.”
In the past, I have done some volunteer survey work for the Fenway Garden Society that manages the Gardens. A while back, I decided to ask one of the organizers about the history of how the plots and paths were configured.
What she explained made me rethink this widely accepted association to the verse.
To the best of her recollection, the plots were organized numerically and some by surname. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s that the Gardens were cleaned up, organized and the majority of the paths were CONSTRUCTED. The booming economy of the 80’s brought in more donations and public funds to allow for these projects.
I checked the available aerial photos of the area and found one from 1978 and another from 1995. When you compare those photos, it’s pretty clear that only a few of the main paths existed in 1978.
Even today, it is difficult to see from any distance what letter path you are walking on. Many of the paths have no signage at all, and the ones that are marked have very small tags on the fences that line the paths.
I’m sure there will be people who dismiss and disagree with this information, but unless you have other information to the contrary, I am of the belief that my contact is correct. Feel free shoot holes, but I am officially out on all the
letters
are here to see.
Direct link (side by side)
https://i.imgur.com/fXH38HI.png

My take on “all the letters are here to see,” it could work as a clever way to connect two letter-i’s.

My take on “all the
letters
are here to see,” it could work as a clever way to connect two letter-i’s.

erexere

My take on “all the letters are here to see,” it could work as a clever way to connect two letter-i’s.

Maybe he was referring to a post office or mail box.

erexere

My take on “all the
letters
are here to see,” it could work as a clever way to connect two letter-i’s.

Maybe he was referring to a post office or mail box.

burnstyle

well damn.

Good post Bingo! I also am one who does not like the Victory Gardens for “all the letters are here to see”.
Additionally, I am not trying to push this theory, nor do I necessarily feel super strongly about it, but I will repost what I said a few weeks ago, just a different way to look at the line in the verse:
In thinking more about the month of this image (as is being discussed in another thread) August, I go back to something I was researching quite a bit this winter. The New England College of Optometry. This is located at 424 beacon street. Founded by a man named AUGUST Klein in 1894. It is the oldest continuously operating college of optometry in the US. In addition to the use of the month of August, it could be used for the line “all the letters are here to see”. As that is exactly what you are doing when undergoing an eye exam, looking at letters. I noticed in the past that the New England College of Optometry was discussed, but not in connection with the founder’s name, August.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3515916 … 312!8i6656

burnstyle

well damn.

Good post Bingo! I also am one who does not like the Victory Gardens for “all the
letters
are here to see”.
Additionally, I am not trying to push this theory, nor do I necessarily feel super strongly about it, but I will repost what I said a few weeks ago, just a different way to look at the line in the verse:
In thinking more about the month of this image (as is being discussed in another thread) August, I go back to something I was researching quite a bit this winter. The New England College of Optometry. This is located at 424 beacon street. Founded by a man named AUGUST Klein in 1894. It is the oldest continuously operating college of optometry in the US. In addition to the use of the month of August, it could be used for the line “all the
letters
are here to see”. As that is exactly what you are doing when undergoing an eye exam, looking at
letters
. I noticed in the past that the New England College of Optometry was discussed, but not in connection with the founder’s name, August.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3515916 … 312!8i6656

MERLIN

Maybe he was referring to a post office or mail box.

I dont think so. Im thinking more as in seeing “eye to eye”.

BINGO

It wasn’t until the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s that the Gardens were cleaned up, organized and the majority of the paths were CONSTRUCTED. The booming economy of the 80’s brought in more donations and public funds to allow for these projects.

well damn.