The Secret Frequently Asked Questions

Do we know which cities Byron buried treasures in?

Yes!
Over the years various creators have slipped up and confirmed there are casques in a specific cities. But there are other ways we know the cities are correct. All but one of the paintings contain latitude and longitude coordinates which point to specific cities, most of the paintings contain the outline of a prominent building in that city, and in several cases an outline of the city itself.

If all that weren’t enough to convince you, John Palencar, the artist who created the Secret paintings, recently confirmed all of the commonly accepted cities are correct.
After the revelation you can rest assured that the cities are paired with the correct paintings.

See more:

Do we know if the correct verse is matched with each painting?

Nope.
We are pretty sure they are correct, but not certain. In most cases the verses contain words with can only be found in specific parks, or contain phrases which reference sections of specific paintings. Some contain quotes from books that apply to specific cities. some contain several of these things. There are a multitude of reasons to feel confident in the verse/painting matches… but since we can’t be sure, we have set up this website to allow you to choose any verse you would like when working inside a city page.

How many of the treasures have been found?

Three. Chicago was found in 1983

Cleveland was found in 2004

Boston was found in 2019

Who can verify that my solution is correct?

Byron Preiss, the author of The Secret, passed away July 9th 2005. Even though he previously stated that he would leave the solutions with someone in the event of his death… he did not.

At this point there is no one who knows the correct solutions to these puzzles. Because of that there is no one who can verify your solution is correct.
If you mail your solution in to the address in the back of the book, you will receive a form letter in return which looks like this:

John Palencar, and Byron’s wife Sandi have both said on numerous occasions that they do not know the exact locations of the casques, nor do they know the correct solutions to the puzzles.

How do I get permission to dig?

Here’s my general rule. It’s gotten me permission in lots of difficult places.

Parks don’t care about your solution, they don’t care about the puzzle. And because they don’t care about the puzzle all your solution is going to do is make you look crazy.

Parks care about people damaging parks.

Showing them you aren’t going to damage the park should be your main priority.

Find a low man on the totem pole, like a grounds worker, and tell him you want to dig a hole.

If he asks why, be honest, but be simple.

“I’m looking for a time capsule”

The less explanation you give, the better.

Tell the worker you know how to cut a plug in the sod, and you know how to fill the hole leaving no trace behind.

Don’t know how to cut a plug? Now is a good time to learn.

The parks worker will either say yes or no.

If he says yes, great. Dig a hole.

If he says no, ask the next person up the totem pole. His supervisor. But do it later.

This is why you start low. All you need is one person to give you permission. If you start with the director, or mayor, or city council, or whatever… You are going to get a no, and you have no where to go from there.

Basically stop bugging parks departments and start bugging park workers.

I found a casque, now what?

Congratulations!
You have just joined a small and celebrated group of searchers. The previous solvers will be excited to welcome you into their club!

First we need to get some verification out of the way. Hopefully you are holding the casque… or parts of it… in your hand. Snap a pic of it and send it to us at [email protected]
Include your name and phone number, we will be in touch very shortly. Before we get in touch, we will start doing some leg work for you.

All casques are coded in a specific way. We will start by reaching out to Joellen Trilling (who created the casques) and John Jude Palencar for verification that the casque is legit. Once that is verified we will reach out to the Preiss family and get them in touch with you!

We honestly can not wait for this to happen again!

How deep are the Casques buried? What are they made of?

Each casque is placed inside of a plexiglass box and buried at a depth of no more than 2.5 feet.
Here are some general facts about the casques:

All Casques have been identical.
All Casques have been signed.
The Casques seem to have not been fired.
The Plexiglass is a very specific type.
The Cleveland Casque had metal in the lid and key.
The Chicago Casque has metal in the lid.
The Boston Casque had no metal, and has burlap in the lid.
Each lid has a different time. The time matches the Puzzle month
Each lid has a unique painting.
Each Casque has a unique but specific figure painted.
Plexiglass box size: about 4.7/8, 5.5/8, 6.7/8
Each Plexiglass box is stamped in a specific way.
Chicago Casque depth: Less than 12 inches to the top
Cleveland Casque depth: About 18-20 inches to the top
Boston Casque depth: Unknown

More info can be found here

Can I use a metal detector to find a casque?

Maybe.
Two of the three found casques have small metal rods inside of them. But since not all of the found casques had metal in them, you shouldn’t assume the one you are looking for will.

Can I use ground penetrating radar to find a casque?

Maybe.
Several searchers have made and buried replica casques, then had GPR operators attempt to find the replicas.

So far, even knowing the general area the replicas are buried in, none of the GPR operators have been able to pinpoint any of them.

The new version of the book has horrible images. Can I even use the reprint?

There are several copies of the book available. Find out about each edition here.
The book was first published in 1982. The images in this copy of the book are clearly printed on gloss paper.
When Byron died his company was purchased by Bricktower press. A ‘print on demand’ publishing company. It began reprinting the secret in the mid 2000’s. These reprint editions are printed on sub par paper, with sup par printing. The images are dark, muddy, and difficult to see.
It is recommended that you do not try to use the reprint’s images.
By all means buy the reprint to read. But use the images on this site.

The images on 12treasures were scanned from an original 1982 copy of The Secret.

The artist John Jude Palencar has stated that the images do not need to be at a pixel resolution higher than 300-350 dpi.
The images here are scanned at a resolution much higher than that, enabling you to zoom into the image and see the original printing dots if you would like.

The images on 12treasures are unaltered from the originals.

Where can I see the original paintings?

John Jude Palencar is the artist and owner of the original paintings. He owns the actual paintings but does not own the rights to show them in any media format and therefore cannot display them, distribute them, or sell prints.

Can I buy one of the paintings or do you get a painting if you find a casque?

Nope.

It was possible to buy a painting IF you found a casque before Byron’s death. Back in 2004 John Palencar offered to sell the Cleveland painting to Brian and Andy with Byrons Permission.

Since Byron’s death the sale, transfer of ownership, or even the display of the paintings is no longer possible.

Can I contact Josh Gates, John Palencar, or Byron's family?

Josh Gates has asked that his fans contact him through Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshuagates or Email: [email protected]

John Jude Palencar, Byron’s family, and the rest of the creators of the book have politely asked that people not contact them.
We have set up a system to contact each of them if a casque is found. Otherwise they wish to be left alone.