erexere

The Folletti. Italian elves. They like causing mischief and rearranging objects.
This looked interesting.
http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/224.htm

This is an interesting story, but what does it have to do with either image or verse? I read it twice and I’m definitely missing something.

Probably nothing. I just noticed the Italian folk tale had the word “true” in its title and the numbers 18 and 12 in the story. It’s not relevant to any serious degree.

erexere

Probably nothing. I just noticed the Italian folk tale had the word “true” in its title and the numbers 18 and 12 in the story. It’s not relevant to any serious degree.

I can see a loose connection to the verse. I’m trying to struggle through image issues. It seems like the majority of the proposed solutions rely solely on the verse. Many of those solutions can and have been argued without using the image at all.

Haarstick

I’ve been struggling with trying to find a Boston image/connection in the painting as well.

Earlier in this thread, someone else pointed out that the numbers configured as lat/long matches for Boston could also be rearranged to indicate Salt Lake City. I’ve been looking into a few other cities as well, based on state outlines in the Image. Although I’m still not fully convinced that the I11 casque is in Boston, I still catch myself searching online for statues, gates and historical markers in Cambridge.

BINGO

I’m trying to struggle through image issues

Good for you – the picture leads you specifically to the city and then to the start of the verse
then at the casque site there will pictures comfirming you are at the correct site.
Demonstrated in both cleveland and chicago.

Here is another spitball possible image connection.
The balls, globes, spheres in the image also remind me of a van de graaff generator. This is one of those round electrified balls that when you touch it, static electricity makes your hair stand up. (Much like our lady in the image.)
Here is what one of those looks like.
https://flic.kr/p/24nFwyW
One would ask what that has to do with Boston? Two things.
The largest van der graaff generator ever built is a popular exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science. It has been there for decades and I remember watching the lightning show there when I was a kid in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
The other connection to Boston is the inventor himself. Robert Van Der Graaff was a teacher and possibly a student at MIT. Before the generator went to the museum, it was used at MIT for power generation projects and countless electrical experiments.
I don’t think this is earth shattering news, nor do I have any image “confirmers” that proves this is important to a solution. I just hope this might spark a memory or a conversation that might lead to an important image discovery.

BINGO

this might spark a memory

Pun intended I hope!

gManTexas

Pun intended I hope!

You were one of the two people that I expected to catch that…

Im a believer. Didn’t know there was a local connection to van de Graff. Good job.

I’ve been struggling with trying to find a Boston image/connection in the painting as well. She doesn’t look like Columbus (kind of but not enough to say absolutely that’s the clue) – there is no MA state image, no definite building silhouette, no statue silhouette, no windmill=windy city reference, nothing. The poem gives more clues but per Chicago and Cleveland, that’s not how those puzzles worked.
The 42 seems to be the biggest clue and that would lead us to Boston but maybe it’s another city with a latitude of 42. I looked at some of the 42 cities per this list but nothing clicked.
https://cs.nyu.edu/visual/home/proj/tig … ng_us.html
. Do you see any cities that may work? Does the city have to be on water?

Haarstick

Does the city have to be on water?

It wouldn’t necessarily be along a coast, but port cities are the most common for immigration. If you want to pick a new location, consider whether it had an influx of settlers, or a significant population from another country or culture.

There is that pesky SLC in the painting….
I think it is boston
but when you look at the cities on the map they sure are east coast centric.
You would think there would be more than one out west.
So it is a possibility

Unknown

Unknown:
You would think there would be more than one out west.

There are. Including the two that have already been found, only 9 casques were buried east of the Mississippi River. Two were buried “out west” of the Mississippi River, and one was buried both east and west of the Mississippi River.
Hope that clears things up.

But should we be looking at the 42 as a locater? As in 42 latitude? Or is this 42 just completely throwing us off?

I wonder about the “take five steps / In the area of his direction” line. The 4 and the 2 are on separate panels of her cuff. Perhaps that’s an instruction to go 4 steps in one direction and turn to go 2 steps. Wouldn’t that be about 5 steps if the last leg makes a triangle?
E: 4.47 steps

Unknown

Unknown:
As in 42 latitude?

Seems like a reasonable assumption to me.

Euhirudinea

There are. Including the two that have already been found, only 9 casques were buried east of the Mississippi River. Two were buried “out west” of the Mississippi River, and one was buried both east and west of the Mississippi River.
Hope that clears things up.

Sorry for mis-communicating, As a native Californian, I pretty much consider the Mississippi to be out east… and the Continental divide through the Rockies as the division of east and west. but in this case I noting this discrepancy and that I thought there would be more to the left side than just one..

Unknown

Unknown:
I thought there would be more to the left side than just one.

Probably because Preiss said that there was a casque within “reasonable” driving distance for every person in the United States and Canada. I think we can pretty much agree that is not likely either. I’m comfortable with the fact that the casque cities are East-coast centric, mostly because that is consistent with the immigration theme of the overall puzzle.

Euhirudinea

Probably because Preiss said that there was a casque within “reasonable” driving distance for every person in the United States and Canada. I think we can pretty much agree that is not likely either. I’m comfortable with the fact that the casque cities are East-coast centric, mostly because that is consistent with the immigration theme of the overall puzzle.

So nobody lives in idaho or montana…. then
I still believe in Boston, but there is reasonable doubt to support a Salt Lake City Casque. Its been discussed before.

It has been suggested that the ANA panel resembles Copley Square.

forest_blight, you’re right, the “feel at home” would be little italy for colon Savenelli.
and that’s the location of paul revere’s house.

i noticed that big triangle from ck’s aerial picture, but i wasn’t sure if the road really went like that.
ck, i meant the other side of the 77’s
…down the left of that line coming out of her hair.

at paul revere park:
http://www.bostonharborwalk.com/dbuploa … evere1.jpg
i believe it’s Robert Frost’s poem “The Gift Outright” that he read for JFK inauguration
i think this park is also called “the prado”
does anyone know why i keep thinking prado means truth? dictionary says it means meadow.

Got to love Copely!
I believe that the fountain had been changed in the remodeling after 82′, but if the location of the new fountain is the same, then it really doesn’t matter, so long as the casque wasn’t buried next to it.  I like the 1910 thing, I just don’t see a zero in the window.  I see 19177 in reverse, I think.

The old fountain looks a lot smaller than the current one, but it also looks like the whole Square (the visible part, anyway) was paved over, leaving no room to bury a casque. Can we find more images of Copley Square from between 1965 and 1983?

it was early, my only excuse, i was getting The Pravda (the russian newspaper, which does mean the truth ) mixed up with the Prado, sorry

Unknown

Unknown:
I find it difficult to accept that Thucydides is north of Xenophon – it is literally the opposite on the facade of the BPL. Is any arrangement of these two names enough to pinpoint Copley Square as the spot?

Unknown

Unknown:
This sounds like a stretch to me. The obelisks on the fountain look nothing like our lady’s castle.

I think copley was pinpointed not so much because of Thucy and Xeno’s position, but because their names DO appear in Copley on the BPL frieze–also because the Trinity Church spires DO look like the box castle and has so many of the decorative elements appearing elsewhere in the image.
Even if they are not oriented in North/South
directions
on the frieze, I understood that Th. is actually HIGHER on the frieze than X. That would be “north” to some–and we can’t forget that literary reference about “a Thucy. at Boston, a Xeno. at New York, etc..” Boston is definitely North of New York. So either way, or
almost
every way, I suppose, you might say it works out that Th. is north of X. However, don’t forget that logically, if it’s not North, then it’s South–and we must take five steps SOUTH. Trouble is we don’t know from WHERE.
Well, they’re tall and they’re pointy at the top. Not too off–maybe. LOL….
You’re right, though–this is a bit of a stretch. Especially if this fountain was not built until after 1983 Yet–there was a fountain there–and i remember seeing the pics of it before now that you reposted them–sorry for duplicatiing the ideas!
And ditto for the numbers–but I had not considered
1910
as being significant until seeing the Brooks statue. I can’t think of any significance the other numbers might have–this has been the only one that has made any sense tp me so far.
I’m thinking that the grassy area by the new fountain is not where we dig–but closer to the church. Facing the water you can still have your back to the stairs, or so I believe from looking at the panoramic shot. We can’t dig in the flower beds, that is certain. And we can’t dig in the open areas, so that doesn’t leave too many digable places–unless you get in closer to the church.

Here are some other ideas. Someone wanted to know what the letters in the sleeve said: here’s a closeup you can see better. I think they are the letters N o i m(?).
And then there’s this: the crack in the wall, lower right of the Image: looks a bit like the satellite view of the Boston area to me. I reversed it to get a better match.
Then this: Maybe these represent our “five steps?” Perhaps the “middle section” is represented by the middle section of this dress apron?

Okay, but we still need Italy – this is definitely the Italian picture.
How about this? It’s got Italy, Boston, Old North Church, and Paul Revere…
http://turnhere.com/co_GoogleEarth.aspx?filmname=northend

I could kick myself for not thinking of this earlier, since I am, after all, somewhat of a hockey fan.
The Boston Bruins play hockey at a coliseum
. The TD Banknorth Garden. This is built on
top
of a transportation hub—the NORTH STATION–a major rail hub for commuter trains. It was built in 1995 to replace the original coliseum built on the same site, the Boston Garden.
those who pass the coliseum
With metal walls.
Duh.
Near those who pass the coliseum–may therefore mean the BUSSES that pass the station. Or the TRAINS that pass the station. Both trains and busses have metal walls. So the casque in Copley might be hidden near the bus stop or the train station stop–or maybe we’re supposed to use the bus/train stop to orient ourselves. It might be easier to find the “five steps” that way.
I have been trying to find landmarks in copley Plaza for the round spots/leaves/whatevers on the woman’s dress apron. I am unsuccessful so far, because I can’t find a satellite pic of hte place that doesn’t have the stupid shadow from the Hancock buildling obscuring it. The attached pic is the best I can get out of Google earth/maps. I’ve marked the stairs and the fountain (A and B) but you can see that the three squares of the plaza encompass the BPL (top square), Trinity church (bottom square) and the “middle section,” where the grass and trees are. That’s pretty clear, actually. So my belief is that “in the middle section” means simply in the middle section–of the three. Unfortunately, because the Hancock building obscures any details, I can’t tell what’s nearer the church.
FB, that pic of the statue of Brooks was AWESOME. You can see the eagle on the podium and that round circle at the feet of the officer!! I think that’s the window frame right enough.
And Slappy–thank you for a most entertaining ride through your mental processes!  I loved it.

Here’s a better pic of the middle section–still obscured by Hancock but a little clearer.

Check out the pavement directly in front of our MCMX Phillips Brooks statue — the part right at the officer’s feet:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1851449979&size=o

First, for nice aerial images of the area try local.live.com
To answer some questions —
No, I didn’t take that particular panorama.
I live a couple of hours away from Boston.
I believe the fountain is newer than the casque.
I’ve added a few more relevant pictures to my Flickr page.  I hope they help.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bclews

Nice work, Clews, thank you!!

thanks for enlarging the pictures ck!
could the circles in the skirt be certain spots in copley square?  or is copley square a rectangle?
i would have counted the big circle on the left as a spot too.
is there a # 19 copley square, i couldn’t find any addresses with bclews panorama
or could the skirt be spots on the freedom trail or national historic parks.  just seems with the verse you end up in front of paul revere, the park, a statue, a square, a house or something.
oh and doesn’t his house end up in little italy???

ck, lol, you’re so polite! i can live with “interesting”, that’s much better than what they call me around here!
now that you mentioned “bus” , i’m seeing the word “BUS” on her sleeve.
on the other sleeve looks like backwards 70
“hope” coming out of the box, makes me think of the church (faith, belief, dreams) or a hospital.
could those two columns or pedestals (at the bottom of the picture)  be the base of the water fountain?
bclews do you know where is the citgo sign is  in relation to copley and little italy?
ck, do you see letters or roman numerals on the left side of the big oval, on the left side of the crack, before the 77?
i know all you  have thought of copley square for a long time, but maybe something we say might spark something.
i really feel that the phillips brooks statue is a starting place, maybe it’s the big dot in the skirt.
after looking at bclews pictures again, i think those columns could be the bases of where the water falls off  the fountain.

boogieman i see the 77 also, but it could be LL, lol, i started to say like 100 in roman numerals, but that would be a C.
is there some big fan or vent around copley square? it’s stuck in my head about “near those who pass the coliseum” would be fans, you know like sports fans
, and remember that famouus picture of marilyn monroe with her skirt flying up? is there something like that there?

i tried making these parks fit the verse, but not being familiar with the area, i get all the parks mixed up:
# The Bunker Hill Monument – directly owned and operated by the NPS.
# The Charlestown Navy Yard (including the USS  Constitution) – The Navy Yard itself belongs to the Park Service, but the Constitution is still a commissioned U.S. Navy warship.
# Dorchester Heights – directly owned and operated by the NPS.
# Faneuil Hall – Owned and operated by the City of Boston, and interpreted by National Park Rangers.
# The Old North Church – Owned and operated by its parish.
# The Old South Meeting House – Owned and operated by an independent organization founded to preserve it.
# The Old State House – Owned and operated by the Bostonian Society since 1881.
# The Paul Revere House – Owned and (oops i didn’t copy it all)
see how it ends up at paul revere’s house?
don’t laugh but i was thinking like :
“those who pass the coliseum”—– fan
“with metal walls”—-  metal———fan and metal—-fanueil, ( i read where it rhymed with panel,
)
“face the water”—-the navy yard
“your back to the stairs”– dorchester heights (heights–steps)
“feel at home”—-the meeting house?
just thinking out loud
,
i did see at the paul revere park some words all around the base of something, i’ll go back and see if i can find what they were

just one more thing, hehe
if the tunic is copley square, the fairy is just a little ways off one corner….

Unknown

Unknown:
ck, do you see letters or roman numerals on the left side of the big oval, on the left side of the crack, before the 77?

Do you mean here? ‘Cos if you do, then no, sorry.
Here is another interesting feature:
NAA or ANA?  (sheesh–this is beginning to resemble Dar….everyone
RUN
!
)
These were really hard to see in the original pics, but when I enlarged them, they were easier.

Wow, good job! I’m not sure about the Lizzee Borden face but who knows, where did all that take place? might be helpful to find out if Lizzee had blue eyes?…. I too noticed the bracelet with the “4”, even though it is upside down (from her view point), I took this as the time piece in the picture… looks like a watch, left wrist, with a 4… the images near the flower, your “liz” may be something, they do seem to sit out there in space, and they don’t seem consistent with the rest of the flower image.. keep up the good work!

I have a few thoughts on this image.
First of all, I think you’re absolutely right on August–I have the book and it definitely looks like a peridot.  But what I don’t understand is why each picture is tied to a month…has that significance been understood yet, or is it just a matter of solvers having found a pattern without knowing what it means? It’s clear that there is a months pattern, but I’m not sure if anybody has been able to suggest why that is significant. (I have a theory for this one…read on.)
I was immediately drawn to the carvings on the stone circle. I’m guessing they are code of some sort. Clockwise, there is a horizontal line that does not connect to anything visible (which we can probably assume is a continuation of the line at the other end of the wheel), then two vertical lines, one vertical line and a dot, a diagonal cut, a flag-shaped cut (or a backwards P if you’d like to use it for support for that theory), then another vertical line, and finally a vertical line 2/3 of the way up that changes direction into a horizontal line. Also the “flag” is exactly half the width of the part of the wall above it. I don’t have a single idea what it could mean, but I am going on the hunch that it is a code of some sort.
Also, looking closely, there is a bracelet on the right (her left) wrist, but not on the other hand; what’s more, there clearly appears to be a number 4 on the bracelet.
I also suspect that the design on the dress’s skirt is likely the same as a door or other artistic metal object at or near the burial location.
Beyond that, I have a rather unusual theory on this picture. I was looking closely at some of the details, and I noticed this segment:
Hidden among the outer petals, I see either letters or numbers. It could be “112” and “2” below it. Or it could be letters, which I immediately saw, as “LIZZ.” With the last character on its own line, I actually read it as “LIZ – Zee” and, well, there’s one famous Lizzie that came to mind–Borden, infamous suspect in one of America’s most gruesome murders (she was found not guilty).  So I went to find a photo of Lizzie Borden on the web and here’s what I found (I flopped the Lizzie image in Photoshop):
Now, am I nuts, or are there some striking similarities? Secret woman’s face is slimmer and her lips fuller–but the right eyebrow is the same, the nose is about the same, both heads are at a slight tilt, the smile is approximately the same. I got a little more creative in Photoshop and overlayed one picture on top of the other.
Maybe any two faces look similar once you force yourself to want to see them as such? Beats me. I cannot find anything in any of the verses that implies details about the Borden case…but for the record, the murder took place not only in August, but on August 4 (bracelet).
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/borden/crime_2.html?sect=7

the statue of edward everett hale in boston public gardens, he wrote “man without a country, (i haven’t read it but the name conjures up immigration to me.
the base looks like the milk bottle, bottom right of picture
base has large oval
the walking cane
the charles street gate has orbs on pedestal
“man of letters” on base of statue
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=edward+ … le+boston+
he also wrote a story about “the jumping mouse”, and with the mouse (rat) in the picture by the perch/cane, seemed a neat coincidence
still trying to find a good picture around the oval at the base

still…i like that area shseverin, it’s still right around copley (if i’m looking at the right castle square)…just another place for me to get excited about, lol
ck, i printed out your spots, and can really see some numbers –3 at the bottom, 6 in the middle, either a 1 or 5 on the top…..
the spots might be entrances into a park or statues and the big gold one is important
those loops around the big spot bottom right is interesting
i was thinking the 3 blocks with the spots might mean 3 city blocks,
the fairy looks like she’s about to dunk a basketball  if anyone’s following the sports,  and the gem is  green like the celtics colors

look at this map of boston public garden…….sure looks like we could match those spots:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/stree … fs/map.pdf

I’m going to throw this out there in hopes that some adrenaline-soaked researcher (hear that Slappy? LOL) will take the ball and run with it.
I can’t find a lot of information about this place, however, and I’m fairly dogged myself.  But what the heck.
Okay. SOUTH Boston. Yes, I know Copley is the favorite, and Trinity church looks a lot like the box castle. BUT there is a lot to recommend South Boston, too.
(1)
All the letters are there.
All the streets are named after numbers and letters. And they don’t stop at H.
(2) Black Falcon avenue and port is right across the water. If you
face the water
you would face Black Falcon.
(3) There is a park called Independence Square there, abutting the Christopher Lee playground. It sits between M and N streets. One might say the ball fields at the playground could be the place you
feel at home
. The park was built on the site of one of the ‘redoubts’ (forts) that kept Boston from falling to British invaders. There is a Vietnam memorial there now, in the center of paths that are (from the air) clearly in the shape of a star–or rather, more clearly in the shape of the
two “A” symbols
on the left side of the woman’s dress. (See pic below.)
(4) The circular shape of the bird’s raised claw mimics the shape of the harbor and causeway that lead to
Castle
Island.
(5) Castle Island itself could be
metaphorically
pointing to our box castle.
(6) Logan airport is right across the water, past Black Falcon Ave., and might have our
green tower of lights
. I’ve only ever traveled to Boston in the daylight, so I can’t tell you what color the tower might be.
(7) The
coliseum
and
metal walls
might be any number of things–but
those who pass
could be referring to the runners in the Marathon.
(8) The wharves resemble the ends of the woman’s hair when seen from above, or on a map.
Anyway, this doesn’t match everything, but it throws a different light on what we do know. I think it’s worth exploring.
South Boston:
Independence Park:

no worries ck, i’m on it! lol
i’ve been trying  to match up statues in boston public garden to dots.
that dang 70 (reversed, on her right elbow) has to be important, and it’s all the way by the harbor, looks like around logan airport to me,.  it doesn’t hit on castle island tho.  i will start looking over there now.
i had been into the harborwalk and jfk library before, i think i’d checked castle island but nothing had stood out to me

DA25550

Could it be a red tailed hawk? Meaning the tail end of the red line? Is there any red on the bird’s tail? I can’t tell from the scans.
Anyways, the Porcellian club had a T stop directly opposite in 1982. There’s a pig-like drawing in the painting to the left of the “T” the bird sits on and Harvard was the end of the red-line for the early 80s.
The uncertainty is the 1982 Harvard stations were temporary. Would Preiss have anticipated the new Harvard station when the book was published? In truth, be free.

It’s been a few years since I’ve last visited Cambridge, but I’m pretty sure one of the gates around Harvard Yard has a pig on it. Might the school’s logo, “Veritas” (“Truth”), be seen somewhere near the final dig site?

FYI, the “McLean Gate” at Harvard Yard has a pig head on it, and it’s apparently named after the founder of the Porcelain Club.

Hey, let’s talk about the bird in Image 11. I think a lot of people have taken it on face value that it is a Peregrine Falcon. I can see some similarities, although maybe the bird is sort of nondescript, could be a pigeon. The thing is, it is very prominent in the image but no one really talks about it.
Plus for Peregrine:
The word peregrine and pilgrim are similar because they are essentially the same word, or rather, they come from the same root word. In this case, the root word is the Latin peregrinus, meaning ‘foreigner’. Also we have Peregrine White, was the first baby boy born on the Mayflower in the harbor of Massachusetts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_White
Negative for Peregrine:
Peregrine Falcons had been wiped out in the Northeast in the 1950’s from the widespread use of DDT. This chemical was banned in 1972 and the Peregrines were reintroduced in the mid to late 80s. This would mean that there were no Peregrines to be found in Boston at the time of the book.
https://www.uml.edu/falcons/about.aspx
What are people’s thoughts? Should we be making a connection to some other bird?

gManTexas

Hey, let’s talk about the bird in Image 11. I think a lot of people have taken it on face value that it is a Peregrine Falcon. I can see some similarities, although maybe the bird is sort of nondescript, could be a pigeon. The thing is, it is very prominent in the image but no one really talks about it.
Plus for Peregrine:
The word peregrine and pilgrim are similar because they are essentially the same word, or rather, they come from the same root word. In this case, the root word is the Latin peregrinus, meaning ‘foreigner’. Also we have Peregrine White, was the first baby boy born on the Mayflower in the harbor of Massachusetts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_White
Negative for Peregrine:
Peregrine Falcons had been wiped out in the Northeast in the 1950’s from the widespread use of DDT. This chemical was banned in 1972 and the Peregrines were reintroduced in the mid to late 80s. This would mean that there were no Peregrines to be found in Boston at the time of the book.
https://www.uml.edu/falcons/about.aspx
What are people’s thoughts? Should we be making a connection to some other bird?

Yeah, that’s great insight… I think I’m convinced it’s some other bird. Plus, using a bird just to say “hey, it’s somewhere where this bird used to be” feels like something an aspiring publisher like Preiss would avoid. Drawing good birds is hard, and birds fly everywhere.

gManTexas

…
Should we be making a connection to some other bird?

Could it be a red tailed hawk? Meaning the tail end of the red line? Is there any red on the bird’s tail? I can’t tell from the scans.
Anyways, the Porcellian club had a T stop directly opposite in 1982. There’s a pig-like drawing in the painting to the left of the “T” the bird sits on and Harvard was the end of the red-line for the early 80s.
The uncertainty is the 1982 Harvard stations were temporary. Would Preiss have anticipated the new Harvard station when the book was published? In truth, be free.

DA25550

Could it be a red tailed hawk? Meaning the tail end of the red line? Is there any red on the bird’s tail? I can’t tell from the scans.
Anyways, the Porcellian club had a T stop directly opposite in 1982. There’s a pig-like drawing in the painting to the left of the “T” the bird sits on and Harvard was the end of the red-line for the early 80s.
The uncertainty is the 1982 Harvard stations were temporary. Would Preiss have anticipated the new Harvard station when the book was published? In truth, be free.

This is interesting. I want to mull it over a bit, but great line of thinking.

fox

The “lit by lamplight” intrigues me.

Could the peridot be the sign…?
The belt and crease looks a little like the lamppost.

erexere

Thank you.  I’m satisfied with the Leif reference.  That spot on the placard matches up with the line that protracts to the spot on the 2C’s that’s 5 paces west of that back to the stairs spot.

just so you know, i very intrigued by the picture path that you’ve offered. i am actively trying to find ways of discrediting my own theory in an attempt to make me more/less confident with it. i thought this very much resembled the scrolling down the middle of the images dress. i was not making fun.

I have been chewing on teh idea that those T’s are meant to clue us onto the piers of the Bowken Overpass.

Glossiphoniidae

In an attempt to critique my own theory, i did a little “digging” on victory gardens boston. They are considered very private, which makes me doubt further that the site is on the gardens side of the river; conversely, i am more sure of the mothers rest site.
And this ones just for you, erexere:
and the leif placard has this on the podium:

Thank you.  I’m satisfied with the Leif reference.  That spot on the placard matches up with the line that protracts to the spot on the 2C’s that’s 5 paces west of that back to the stairs spot.

Dont get me wrong 421.  By stating my doubts over the 18/12 location pointer…I was in NO WAY stating I did not like this site.  I Love this site and truly believe you have hit the nail on the head.  I cant wait until we get someone on the ground there and start doing some serious looking around AND digging.

Glossiphoniidae

Boston seems to have a lot of towers like this, but…go on then, where is it? (I was wondering about the same globe match for the lamppost…)
“With metal walls” still bugs me a bit. And much as I like MF’s quotation match for “In truth be free”, it doesn’t actually seem to help much. But if you want to jump on a plane and take a look at that wall, I won’t try and stop you…
Go already!

I still like the 2C a lot, with its proximity to “all the letters” of the Victory Gardens.
BP could easily have snapped the overhead pic from the bridge overlooking it.
It seems people have dug around the central “nook” and behind the steps of the pump house. I guess a couple of other places I’d be interested in looking would be here:
The corner area appeals because it corresponds with facing the water, your back to stairs, lit by lamplight, and aligns with the flower in the image.
A spot beside the wall alongside the other lamp could also work with the “lit by lamplight” reference.
It would be nice to get some photos/video of this area showing the angles that can’t be accessed on Google; behind the pump house, and by the river beyond the 2C.

Charlesgate is a highway on ramp that everyone has hated and tried to renovate for years, basically since it was created. There is absolutely no “good” way to walk there from any landmark, T stop, museum, etc.
From various locations at Charlesgate you can see certain things that sort of match, but none of them from the same location, and no one spot where you can see them all. Also the Somerset condos being the Longfellow Poem reference is just bad. It’s not correct, anyone who does these puzzles has to know by now that it’s not directing us to read the poem, figure out a ship called Somerset was in it… Etc.
The globe lights are nothing at all. For one, I’m not convinced the gloves do anything in Image 11 other than hide the Hatch Shell and form a big ‘B’ for Boston. Second, there are lights like that and big stone ‘balls’ like that all over the city. Third, even at the ‘2C’ there are more than 3 of them.
The location is very physically near my site (and four21’s park find, I don’t ever want to take credit away from him), so all of the clues still work. Yep, Charlesgate is near MA-2 which buzzes right by Fenway, but the exit and a big sign that says “2A – Fenway” is visible from the esplanade. Yep, from certain spots you can see the Citgo sign over the highway, but from the park as you walk to the Hatch Shell you have a perfect, clear view of it, at approximately the scale it’s shown on the triangles in the Gypsy’s dress.
Im actually in New Orleans at the moment but will post some of the “no, it’s in this park” stuff when I get back which can hopefully put the other areas to bed. I know I’ve gone weird and been a total jerk before on these forums, and Im embarrassed by that, but that is not the case here. We have a park with a ton of absolute, concrete visual matches to the painting, a solid, easy to understand, and literal verse solve that culminates in a spot on the ground also depicted in the painting. That’s what sets it apart from “this kind of looks like the globes.” When I say this is the best chance we’ve had to dig one up in a decade I mean that at face value, not as a subtle way to pat myself on the back or put down other theories. All signs point to this being the spot. It’s so much more developed a theory with no missing pieces.

Xiesh, you have good reason for your objections, but what do we really know for sure at this point? Too little is for
The Landlords Tale seems like a good fit for three of the short lines of verse. 18th day, 12th hour, and feel at home. Why not give a smidgen of credibility to the Somerset idea?

Because it’s not really a good fit at all, it’s the type of super obscure, multi-layered ‘clue’ we’ve been chasing for years. I think the dig site located 25-30 feet from the Longfellow Bridge, which that line immediately invokes (Longfellow) and has parts of the poem painted on the actual bridge itself is not only a better solve, but the correct one in this case because
-It’s also located 30 feet from a boulder that says LEDERMAN on it, which is absolutely the best solve for “All the letters” out there
-It’s located in a park which contains a gigantic structure depicted in the image
-In a park with at least 2 ‘photograph’ level matches of statues that comprise the central figure in the painting
-In a park with unique benches sitting on concrete slabs that is accurately depicted in the painting.
-A park with lamps having a strikingly similar pattern to the light coming from the box in the painting.
Etc, etc. I am not interested in exploring parks in Boston looking for esoteric links the the verse anymore. If the casque was not buried in this park then I don’t know what to say. There is no point in exploring bad, multi layered verse solves. I can find you 70 more relevant/likely Longfellow references in Boston, including Longfellow Park, which is shaped like the dang painting.
Edit: if I seem overly frustrated remember that I live here. It’s so so frustrating to be told to give something a chance that I’ve given dozens and dozens of chances to, and spent tons of time exploring because someone who has never been here thinks the aerial view in gmaps looks kind of like something and wants to dig behind a tiny electrical shed in a dump. It’s not the right park, and clinging to the ‘2C’ and a single, bad, verse link is just getting on my nerves at this point.

marine park is interesting because olmsted designed it and it is connected to castle island and it has baseball fields.
it’s on william “DAY” blvd.

a couple of good pictures of the gate at thomas park:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antydiluvian/491319986/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antydiluvi … otostream/
joe moakley park is on william “day” blvd too.

do you think that little light in the picture could be for “boston light” ? that’s what they call the lighthouse on little brewster island.

gillette park is right there at the beginning of the channel, still looking for information about it.

I think this spot has all the right moves.  Dig between lamp and box.  I think four21 did a marvelous job tackling the verse.

I like it! Someone get out there and dig! Lets find another casque.

ive been trying to find the leaf,vine on her skirt, i found 2 buildings
named fenmore and on one of the fenmore buildings the one at charlesgate
at boylston has a flower vine looking carving
, it is not an exact match,
so maybe a loose confirmation,to the vine leaf on her skirt.
the one at charlesgate and ipswich does not have the flower vine carving
on the door facade
going up charlesgate from the corner of ipswich to boylston
doors on 1st building
http://g.co/maps/47d23
http://g.co/maps/pabh3
http://g.co/maps/n7768
next building door on ipswich
http://g.co/maps/ybefu
same building the doors on boylston
http://g.co/maps/2f7w5
http://g.co/maps/y8nxn

Trohn

“In the area of his direction”
Can ‘area’ be used in the context
given to mean ‘a subject of expertise’?
Thucydides was a general and Xenophon
was a poet.

What if we could disambiguate who’s area we should be traveling in, using this logic, by going towards both of their “areas”… towards Patriotism and Poetry.
Or you could go toward each of their “areas” individually and end up at the same place. Their “areas” are both in the same direction.

Why not history as the area?  Five steps in history…five hundred years before Columbus?  Back to Leif then?  Im in favor of the squigglies on the placard.

erexere

Why not history as the area?  Five steps in history…five hundred years before Columbus?  Back to Leif then?  Im in favor of the squigglies on the placard.

history= leif? steps=centuries? … before columbus? this is too much stretching for me. plus, it doesn’t put you on the overpass.
BP used “areas” to describe respective ancients in the cleveland verse. It may have been a prompt/clue to look for the “areas” of T and X in this verse.

Okay.  How about Greenland = grass?  Five steps in the green land.  That fits Leif better and it keeps us from thinking its under the paver stones.

erexere

Okay.  How about Greenland = grass?  Five steps in the green land.  That fits Leif better and it keeps us from thinking its under the paver stones.

Greenland? He sailed from Iceland.

Glossiphoniidae

Greenland? He sailed from Iceland.

From Iceland to Greenland, I’m pretty sure.

.
(Deleted posts – wrong verse)

Unknown

Unknown:
The visual arts played a significant role in Melville’s writing, and especially in the crafting of Moby-Dick. Scholars have identified many of the artworks that inspired Melville during the writing of his whaling novel. However, this exploration is a continuing enterprise. I believe one noteworthy piece of art that deserves further investigation in its connection to Moby-Dick is John Singleton Copley’s painting, Watson and the Shark.

…here we go, Copley had to come into it somehow….
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-135579404.html

In the interest of connecting everything in the Universe with everything else, I give you
Oliver Wendell Holmes
, a doctor who studied at Boston Medical College, and writer whose works include the celebrated poem
“The Last Leaf”
. This was inspired by Herman’s grandfather and Tea Party celebrant,
Thomas Melvill
. That’s one theory of how the image 11 feather lines up with the Boston University Medical Campus.

verse 3 line 3 and 4:
Take five steps in the area of his direction
This could be interpreted as THYCYDIDES – NEPOS – XENOPHON – RABELAIS – GREENOUGH – PARSONS
This is stepping diagonally in a straight direction across the areas.

you can take five of any type of steps you want in any direction, and the only place five steps away that will allow you to continue to follow the verse without ambiguity is Mass Ave.
There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at
Boston
, a Xenophon at
New York
, and, in time, a Virgil at
Mexico
, and a Newton at
Peru
.
If you consider recognition of the quote to be imperative, take five steps toward boston (massachusettes). all of the other names in the quote are associated with states or countries; interesting that boston is the only city. if we “repair” the analogy so that thucydide’s “area”(a state – the larger more encompassing piece of land that “boston” represents) is parallel to the others’, then we should take five steps towards mass ave.
verse 3 doesn’t tell us to take five steps north. thucydides cannot be equated to north… they might be separate places. if thucydides is north of boston, then we should take take five steps in the area of thucydide’s direction – which is boston according to the quote (or massachusettes according to the “repair”). Thus, if thucydides is north of xenophon, we can take “five steps in the area of
his
direction” without being forced to go navigationally north.
i want to emphasize that i am not forcing an answer on you, i am only trying, as others have, to show that
the
answer doesn’t demand that the line/solution lead us north.

“His” = John Singleton Copley

If recall from my analysis earlier in my life,
I had the verse lead me into the library and
had the casque buried in the garden on the lowest level.
Yeah, just re-reading the verse (for the first time in nearly
four years) I call that from the side of the library
with Thucydides and Xenophon – five steps (up) will
get you into the library (across from the square).
You pass the map room as you descend to the basement level
with the garden and the fountain.  (When there, you can face the water
with your back to the stairs  – the ones you just descended )
It goes with the image because pandora is inside a building.
If you look up from the garden through the open roof,
you can see a Green Tower of lights (I forget which it was )
I have had tons of library garden images posted around these boards.
The thing to note that is on the level above you, a walkway sourrounds the
garden so the people can look down on all sides.  (Where people pass the colleseum)
The garden perimeter does have columns on every side.
Check for my picture posts (photos from many different eras of the interior.)

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I feel like we have been overanalyzing the “his” in this.  Starting the sentence with a logic statement compels us to do so, i guess.  It wouldve been nice to see a “then” go with the “if”.  In all its vagueness i just read it to mean we have something historically significant North of the site that implies a direction.  The Leif statue does that just fine.

Glossiphoniidae

i want to emphasize that i am not forcing an answer on you, i am only trying, as others have, to show that
the
answer doesn’t demand that the line/solution lead us north.

Unknown

Unknown:
If Thucydides is
North of Xenophon

Unknown

Unknown:
Take five steps
In the area of his direction

I don’t think I did very well articulating what I meant about this.  Let me try again.
On the facade, Thucydides and Xenophon are on panels that are aligned north-south along Dartmouth street, which is a north-south road.  Thucydides is directly south of Xenophon on the panels.
But: if you take the Old South Church to be a marker for “south”, then you could say that Thucydides is directly “north” of Xenophon, relative to the Old South Church.
I’m trying to explain the “If” that starts out this verse.
If
you call the Old South Church “south”, then, from that perspective, you really could say that Thucydides is “north” of Xenophon.  So these lines could be saying, go to the one place where T could be considered “north” of X: Copley Square.
I agree with this.
Actually, to echo Shecrab’s recent reminder that the verses aren’t meant to be taken in order, I’m starting to think that the first four lines of this verse should be broken up into two parts.
…gets you to Copley Square, the one place in the world where Thucydides is “north” of Xenophon…
…but maybe this should be taken by itself, elsewhere on the treasure path.  “His” direction could refer to someone completely different from Thucydides, Xenophon, Horace Walpole or someone we haven’t even considered, but might be more obvious if taken in the appropriate context.

strike13

Def not! I know all things Cheers…haha…I work there once or twice a month…been there for over. It was the bull and finch though, since 69

Cheers
https://www.chibarproject.com/Reviews/Bull/Bull.htm

Trapezoid, nice work on those 1914 pics.

Just thought I’d share these probably-irrelevant pictures of Charlesgate East, back in 1914, shortly after the construction of the Boylston Street Line (the Green Line.)
I knew the brick circles were built in the 60s, but it’s mind boggling to discover that this dumpy little utility building has survived for over a century. These images are tagged “ventilation chamber” in the Boston Transit Archive. Present day, based on the signage I’m 99% sure it houses access stairs to the train tunnel. Again, probably irrelevant, but it’s nice and spooky to think about the treasure possibly being buried so close to a secret stairway leading beneath the river.
There was also a fancy old lamp in front of the building. A boring grey one is there now, but I wonder if the original still stood in 1981.

We had a great day in Boston.  Beautiful sunshine, moderate temps, and a nice breeze.
We started at the BPL (closed on Sundays) and moved on to Trinity Church (church services going on) and the fountain area.  I took a lot of photos including facades, scroll work, The Hancock Building, and a few dozen that will be stitched into 360º images.  We also walked the mall (not the shopping mall) which is a couple of blocks north of the library.
FWIW, nothing jumped out at me.  Sure, Thucydides and Xenophon said hello, but nothing lead me to anything definite.
There were, however, a few possibilities.  Those three buildings surround a plaza of sorts.  At the library end of that plaza are permanent flower planters.  They are ground level, run along the sidewalk, and are currently filled with flowers.  A matching set of planters also flank the fountain.  Either set would be perfect for BP, though I think digging without being seen would be impossible.  Plus other lines in the verse don’t seem to make sense for this area.  “All the letters”, “Feel at home”, etc.
Also, the Hancock Building certainly is green and it certainly is a tower.
FB, your suggestion that “metal walls” may indicate car doors kept running through my mind as every 60 seconds another “duck tour” would go by.  They use old amphibious vehicles and the walls of the vehicles are made of metal.
http://www.bostonducktours.com/
Unfortunately, that strange mark on the fountain was, apparently, nothing more than a water stain which has been removed.
So, my feeling is that IF we have connected this verse to this area correctly, then Copley Square may only be a starting point.
Tomorrow I will get the photos up for everyone.
BTW, we enjoyed our meal at The Globe!
Bud

bclews

Here’s another interesting ‘globe’ connection (wrong Copley, I know, but still interesting) —

Copley globes!  Too much to be coincidence I think.
If it’s not too late bclews, look for metal walls and a coliseum.  I know we have ideas on this, but maybe something will stand out.

forest_blight

bclews – If you can, it would be a good idea to take pictures of the facades of buildings around Copley Square, particularly the north side. JJP used details like that in the Chicago picture.

Would have to agree with FB here.  Even the littlest things may be important.  Was hoping to post the link but cant find it anymore….remember, the “collar” on the lady in P11 was found on a door in Milwaukee.
Good Luck,

bolddigger

So, I’d just like to make something clear for anyone reading these posts:
You can’t get a permit to dig for Secret-related treasure in Boston right now by calling the right department, being honest, knowing who governs the land, etc. They are not giving them out. You will get an unequivocal no from everyone you talk to. Maybe in the past it was easier, but not now. Maybe if you know someone in the local government you may have an easier time of it. But let me assure you, even if you are persistent and have the money for permits, COI, whatever, you will not get a permit to dig anywhere in the city of Boston by the usual channels. Anyone who tells you a different story is misinformed.
And it has nothing to do with the merit of your solution– they don’t even ask or care. It doesn’t matter if you have a really solid theory, new evidence, etc..
This is what I was talking about when I asked if anyone had recently gotten a permit, as in 2019 for this treasure hunt.
I’m not giving up by any means– far from it–but I want anyone who thinks the process is straightforward to know it’s not.
Feel free to prove me wrong by giving a straight answer with an actual contact number and a recently approved permit to your credit. I’m listening. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would appreciate actual information.

The last permitted dig that I personally witnessed was on April 22, 2019. The digger goes by Lat_ninram here on q4t. He was digging within the Boston streets and his permission came from the Public Works Department. If he feels the desire to share any more details other than that, I will leave that up to him to decide.
The last probing mission that I personally performed with a Park Ranger standing about 10’ away occurred on March 14, 2019 near the Ether Monument in the Public Gardens. That was done for my buddy Choice. People were actually walking by and asking what was going on. The ranger would tell them we are digging up treasure and splitting the proceeds. Contrary to popular belief, there are fun loving officials who enjoy taking part in this hunt.
I have a feeling that your quest for a permit is pointed at the wrong people in the wrong agency. And I will ask this again, why should I or anyone else give you a list of contacts simply because you want them? You haven’t shared a single thing other than you are a woman. Congrats on that.

I think I’ve figured out the idea behind “face the water / your back to to the stairs”.  I think we’ve allowed ourselves the inclination to think our heads must always face the opposite direction of our backs.
Suppose you’re a right handed baseball player at bat.  Standing north of the circular depression at Charlegate with a few steps of stairs and just between the globe light and the small rectangular cement pad where once stood a metal walled box, face north so you’re back is to the stairs but then turn you’re head west towards the CITGO sign like a baseball player watching for the incoming pitch.  You’re now facing the water as well.

i found  a 78 and a 95 map,i dont see stairs at MR,still not sure where to dig
if the stairs are found. i looked at the Gmap imgs,and thought about the last 4
lines,IDK
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=4.39752154956789E-06⪫=42.3458588876984&lon=-71.0917647731057&year=1978
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=5.32561349891477E-06⪫=42.3454541983939&lon=-71.0916025596&year=1995
stairs on duck house
http://goo.gl/maps/WFPj
light pole at Dhouse
http://goo.gl/maps/MGPW
stairs at the FCO
http://goo.gl/maps/zRzt
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.

Jovial, keep it coming. I like seeing people throw there thoughts out there. We are all right until we’re wrong. Welcome aboard.

Today I read an August 22nd, 1862 letter from Lincoln to Horace Greeley. It ends roughly this way:
“…;and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personalwish that all men every where could be free.”
I wonder if that’s a possible connect to “In truth, be free.”

The Harvard Club is almost across the street from the Leif Erikson statue and 2C.
I really think the 18th day 12th hour is the key to finding this. Imo it has to be coordinates by lamp posts fence posts or something to the location. The 2 other solves got pretty precise locations via directions.

Has anyone looked into The book of Icelanders? I was doing some research on Leif and came across it.
It was compiled in 1122 (above the flower in image 11?)
And is split into ten short chapter same as the secret?)
Chapter 4 deals with “fixing the calendar” could be a reference to 18 days and 12 hours
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Íslendingabók
I also wonder if although Boston is meant to be Italian since we already have a Greek reference in the verse and the painting is the cover maybe Boston incorporates things from other locales? Leif Erikson being one. Part of me wonders if BP was just excited by the Leif statue being in Boston and went from there disregarding staying solely reliant on Italy or perhaps as a snub of sorts to Italy (In truth be free) saying Italians didn’t discover North America.

erexere

I wonder if that’s a possible connect to “In truth, be free.”

Could the “Truth” line be an indication that the final location could be somewhere in Cambridge, near Harvard University? That town is in Middlesex County (the Middle Section?) as opposed to Boston’s Suffolk County, and the school’s motto, “Veritas”, literally means “Truth.”

Image 11 Verse 3 Solution Boston
The image is a merge of the Columbus Statue, Kelleher Rose Garden and Angel at the WWII Memorial. The Jewel box at the center of the picture is a combination of The Boston University Castle (an important vector point at 140 degrees), the turrets from Trinity Church (architect Henry Hobson Richardson) in Copley Square (the starting point of the verse) and the T entrance at the Boston Public Library at Copley Square.
The Cask should be found at the following location:
Near the lamplight base south of the World War II Memorial in the Back Bay Fens. There are five indicators in the verse and image for this location.
1) Latitude: 42.342022 (numbers are on the sleeve and above the flower) Longitude: 71.093710. The 71 is in the cement circle. The 093 is next to the palm frond in the circle (magnify 400% to see) and the 710 is near her right arm. GPS is only accurate within 9 meters.
2) Vector points 140 and 77. Numbers are in the cement circle and the 0 is a hole in the concrete. The vector 140 connects Boston University Castle with the palm frond the angel holds at the WWII Memorial. The 77 vector connects the fountain in the Kelleher Rose Garden with Symphony Hall, the “home” of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
3) There is a map in her right hand that shows the emerald necklace entrance near the museum of fine arts and her fingers touch the dig site.
4) There is a small green dot visible at 200% magnification under the concrete line (sidewalk) at C 8/9. This is the only green paint on the image and it is proportional to the dig spot. The Gem is a peridot.
5) The verse: Start in Copley Square (Copley painted the picture that the fairy is based on).
If Thucydides is North of Xenophen Walpole letter to Mann (names on library façade)
Take five steps in his direction Five T stops on the Green Line “E” branch Heath Street
Copley, Prudential, Symphony, Northeastern, Museum of Fine Arts. Walk around museum on museum rd.
Then to Fenway past Gardner museum (location of
Falcon statue. Enter Emerald Necklace path.
A green tower of lights in the middle section Green Monster at Fenway Park is in the distance.
Near those that pass the coliseum with metal Fenway Park on Yawkey Way/Jersey Street is near the Kelleher Rose Garden/WWII Memorial
Face the water with your back to the stairs WWII Memorial south steps facing Muddy River
Feel at home You are facing Symphony Hall where BSO is “home”
All the letters are here to see Back of Memorial lists names of all who died
18th day, 12th hour see next page map Walk 12 + 18 pavers
Lit by lamplight There is a street light near dig site
In truth, be free Near White Cherry Tree. Longfellow (author of Paul Revere’s Ride ) lived in same house while at Harvard
as George Washington “I cannot tell a lie”.
I am trying to upload a map of the dig site, photos of the sidewalk and other photos that are found in the image but am struggling with this site.

Image 11 Verse 3 Solution Boston
The image is a merge of the Columbus Statue, Kelleher Rose Garden and Angel at the WWII Memorial. The Jewel box at the center of the picture is a combination of The Boston University Castle (an important vector point at 140 degrees), the turrets from Trinity Church (architect Henry Hobson Richardson) in Copley Square (the starting point of the verse) and the T entrance at the Boston Public Library at Copley Square.
The Cask should be found at the following location:
Near the lamplight base south of the World War II Memorial in the Back Bay Fens. There are five indicators in the verse and image for this location.
1) Latitude: 42.342022 (numbers are on the sleeve and above the flower) Longitude: 71.093710. The 71 is in the cement circle. The 093 is next to the palm frond in the circle (magnify 400% to see) and the 710 is near her right arm. GPS is only accurate within 9 meters.
2) Vector points 140 and 77. Numbers are in the cement circle and the 0 is a hole in the concrete. The vector 140 connects Boston University Castle with the palm frond the angel holds at the WWII Memorial. The 77 vector connects the fountain in the Kelleher Rose Garden with Symphony Hall, the “home” of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
3) There is a map in her right hand that shows the emerald necklace entrance near the museum of fine arts and her fingers touch the dig site.
4) There is a small green dot visible at 200% magnification under the concrete line (sidewalk) at C 8/9. This is the only green paint on the image and it is proportional to the dig spot. The Gem is a peridot.
5) The verse: Start in Copley Square (Copley painted the picture that the fairy is based on).
If Thucydides is North of Xenophen Walpole letter to Mann (names on library façade)
Take five steps in his direction Five T stops on the Green Line “E” branch Heath Street
Copley, Prudential, Symphony, Northeastern, Museum of Fine Arts. Walk around museum on museum rd.
Then to Fenway past Gardner museum (location of
Falcon statue. Enter Emerald Necklace path.
A green tower of lights in the middle section Green Monster at Fenway Park is in the distance.
Near those that pass the coliseum with metal Fenway Park on Yawkey Way/Jersey Street is near the Kelleher Rose Garden/WWII Memorial
Face the water with your back to the stairs WWII Memorial south steps facing Muddy River
Feel at home You are facing Symphony Hall where BSO is “home”
All the letters are here to see Back of Memorial lists names of all who died
18th day, 12th hour see next page map Walk 12 + 18 pavers
Lit by lamplight There is a street light near dig site
In truth, be free Near White Cherry Tree. Longfellow (author of Paul Revere’s Ride ) lived in same house while at Harvard
as George Washington “I cannot tell a lie”.
I will attempt to post a Map, The image with notes on it and several photos which have not appeared on any websites.

Face the water Your back to the stairs…
Twelfth hour …….walk 12 tiles on the circle to first spoke
Eighteenth day…….walk 18 tiles toward lamplight
Right 9 feet to lamplight, which is 14 feet from cherry tree trunk.
Maybe 4 ft off sidewalk per the 4 in the painting at C7
Still trying to upload photos. Site won’t take them. Anyone can help?

Brian…er….Elizabeth….?
It helps to read the other threads and posts.
Like this post from Goldengate that was created a few days ago:
http://quest4treasure.co.uk/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=770&start=2265#p142471

I’ve been to Longfellow park. Nice park, it was my first theory when I first found out about this hunt. I don’t personally think it’s there – I spent a few hours there with a friend and didn’t really see any good or exact images.
The park itself is basically the same shape as the portal/drapes behind the woman, which is what led me to it. Certain parts of the verse fit really well, others not at all (what else is new?).
Somewhat away but directly behind the park is Longfellow’s home, which is staffed permanently (maybe not 24/7) by park rangers these days.
If you check the verse 3 thread you’ll see my detailed case for Cambridge Common, which I like significantly more than Longfellow at this point (the visual matches at Longfellow are too weak IMO), but I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who wanted to investigate it further. It’s nearer to the stadium, Longfellow wrote the poem, there are stairs, etc. I think it’s just missing something when you get there that made me want to dig anywhere specific.
If I had to wager a guess, somewhere in front of the monument between the two benches, or in the patch of grass in front of that area.

Four21, based on the visuals that’s a very cool area to consider.  My brain isn’t cooperating, but my eyes like what they see.

Xieish

… I spent a few hours there with a friend and didn’t really see any good or exact images.

I saw you mentioned the “4”; but other than that, what good or exact images has you found at the Commons?

Xieish

If I had to wager a guess, somewhere in front of the monument between the two benches, or in the patch of grass in front of that area.

No, my guess is behind the bush in line with 5 steps down.
Looking at the image, there is a bubble and a line behind the bird.

WhiteRabbit

…on the screen grab (left) I’ve boosted the brightness and contrast slightly towards the scan (right). I think the blue highlights were there, but perhaps the printing/scanning process brought them out…dunno though, you may be right…

WR, I have to finish going through all of the Images and see what I come up with, and then post to the methodology thread, however, the screen-grabs from the EU episode prove to me that the blue highlights are significant.
Anyway, I’ll post over there in more detail, but my theory is that the heavy blue highlights are map overlays. The lighter blue highlights are object matches. I believe that JJP was instructed to include map features into the illustrations and for some reason, maybe BP thought it was not prominent enough, the highlights were enhanced when the book went to print.

WhiteRabbit

…yeah, thanks for that; these screen grabs show up better detail than the scans. (See comparison.) Don’t suppose there’s a different frame which shows the right column without the brushes in the way…?

Would be helpful. Feel like there could be an undiscovered clue in the bottom panel, below the ‘checkerboard.’

Amazing Goldengate! Thank you! Now these symbols are going to drive me even more crazy. They look almost metallic in the scans – like they would be symbols hammered into metal sheets or armor or old decorative siding on a building. They’re definitely not nautical flags (I’ve researched every single version of them!).
I did find an interesting S scroll at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge where Longfellow is buried:
http://masshumanities.org/ph_spring-at- … -cemetery/
. I was going to see if Strike13 could go check it out. Obviously Preiss would never bury the casque in a cemetery but thought it was interesting. There’s also a castle like tower that may have some similarities to the circle window – markings or something? The cemetery also has an Egyptian gate – maybe that damn bird is nearby?
The hunt continues…….

There’s been discussions that the Horus reference points us to the letter by Horace Walpole sent to Horace Mann that says “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, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru.” So this leads us to believe Verse 3 points you to a casque in Boston.
But the bird is so distinct that I feel like it could also be a marker – either on a building, gate, something. The Egyptian gate at Mt. Auburn sent up a flag for me because of that.
The rest of the verse has strong Boston hints as well (Fenway Park, Paul Revere) but it’s finding Boston in Image 11 that has driven me crazy. There’s no obvious building silhouette, state shape, city shape, nothing concrete yet. The 42 is quite clear in her sleeve but that’s been the closest connection so far I think.

For anyone working I11/Boston: here’s a cool, easy to-use resource for digging up historical photos:
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org

For those who ascribe significance to the blue outlines around certain elements of the images, please consider some of Palencar’s other work:
http://www.johnjudepalencar.com/Images/neuro_head.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a7/fe/55/a7fe5526f319e66c80f9af140ee29b95.jpg
http://www.sinuousmag.com/sm/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/parable-of-the-sower-by-octavia-butler-artwork-by-john-jude-palencar-2-650×577.jpg
http://www.muddycolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/b7b0f-wildseedpalencar.jpg
I suppose you could go back and try to make the case that his work on The Secret added this affect to his toolbox, or say that Preiss observed this technique in Palencar’s work and asked him to utilize it for specific things, but isn’t it more likely that this is just something JJP does to make objects and people stand out from the background, especially when that background is close to the object’s color? Try to imagine image 1 without the blue outline around the woman. Wouldn’t she be rather indistinct against the dark background?

treetops

For those who ascribe significance to the blue outlines around certain elements of the images, please consider some of Palencar’s other work:
http://www.johnjudepalencar.com/Images/neuro_head.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a7/fe/55/a7fe5526f319e66c80f9af140ee29b95.jpg
http://www.sinuousmag.com/sm/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/parable-of-the-sower-by-octavia-butler-artwork-by-john-jude-palencar-2-650×577.jpg
http://www.muddycolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/b7b0f-wildseedpalencar.jpg
I suppose you could go back and try to make the case that his work on The Secret added this affect to his toolbox, or say that Preiss observed this technique in Palencar’s work and asked him to utilize it for specific things, but isn’t it more likely that this is just something JJP does to make objects and people stand out from the background, especially when that background is close to the object’s color? Try to imagine image 1 without the blue outline around the woman. Wouldn’t she be rather indistinct against the dark background?

While I agree that this could be a stylistic signature of JJPs work, do the Images in The Secret pass this litmus test? If we look at Image 9, there are dark areas that blend into each other, and have no highlights. Image 8 has highlights where there is clear distinction between a column and sky, etc.

Now that’s interesting. I can’t find any other photographs of the ground immediately surrounding the monument. Can any Boston locals go there and take pictures?

And take a shovel…I’ll bet there’s at least two feet of snow on top of it.
Ashburton park seems a very good place to hide a casque–it’s out of the way, yet central–it might indeed hold more information than we’ve been able to unearth in other locations!

the beacon hill eagle monument by the state house (feel at home??? who knows)
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/gallery/120707/
the stone pattern sort of reminds me of the one around the window.
and the top of the monument has a bird on it :
http://mass.gov/?pageID=mg2terminal&L=6&L0=Home&L1=State+Government&L2=About+Massachusetts&L3=Interactive+State+House&L4=Inside+the+State+House&L5=Statues+in+Bronze&sid=massgov2&b=terminalcontent&f=interactive_statehouse_statue_beaconhill&csid=massgov2

Ok.  I like the gladiolas.   I wonder if lei are made from those too.
I’ve broken the poem down to only a few key points.  The image becomes congruent with my theory in a few encouraging ways.
Stand with back to circle.
Walk in the 1 o’clock direction, the globe on the axis has a 1 o’clock position.
Falcon and Leif both face west.
After five steps there are two letter S’s, those positioned vertically on the dress and those directly across the road on the gate.
I think those are plain and helpful visual cues.
This is IT!!!

gManTexas

It looks like the Morse Code pattern repeats over and over around the top of the monument.
Lightning bolt dot dot dot dash dot dash
I wonder if there are any dates on the monument.
One point of interest, the Morse Code operators were in place to warn if Boston was being attacked during WWII. This is the same theme as Paul Revere and lighting the beacons in the North Church tower.
Plus you have the Longfellow connection with the Duck House. For those who don’t know, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the famous poem about Paul Revere’s Ride. Alexander Longfellow, who designed the Duck House shelter was related to Henry.

And there’s the poems Pandora’s Box and something about a North Star I think. Definitely many hints to Longfellow which make it not far off to think the casque could be buried near the Longfellow Duck House. I wonder if the monument that was moved has the word “truth” on it anywhere??? Wouldn’t that be amazing!!
So it seems we have three good spots in the Fens – near the WWII Memorial (but it’s quite public), behind the once existing bleachers at Clemente Field, near the Duck House………and near any other damn stairs that existed in 1981!
I’m heading up to Boston Saturday 3/24 – meet up to check locations???

Haarstick

And there’s the poems Pandora’s Box and something about a North Star I think. Definitely many hints to Longfellow which make it not far off to think the casque could be buried near the Longfellow Duck House. I wonder if the monument that was moved has the word “truth” on it anywhere??? Wouldn’t that be amazing!!
So it seems we have three good spots in the Fens – near the WWII Memorial (but it’s quite public), behind the once existing bleachers at Clemente Field, near the Duck House………and near any other damn stairs that existed in 1981!
I’m heading up to Boston Saturday 3/24 – meet up to check locations???

Haha, I’d love t meet up, but I’m in Texas. Go find Bingo and Strike13. I bet the three of you can solve this and dig it up in the same day.

Will do!

Just found a Longfellow poem titled “The Falcon of Ser Federigo” and another called “The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz”. So we have Masque of Pandora, The Evening Star, Paul Revere’s Ride and The Falcon and Agassiz. May all be coincidence but interesting. Here’s a list of his poems:
http://www.bartleby.com/356/618.html

Haarstick

Just found a Longfellow poem titled “The Falcon of Ser Federigo” and another called “The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz”. So we have Masque of Pandora, The Evening Star, Paul Revere’s Ride and The Falcon and Agassiz. May all be coincidence but interesting. Here’s a list of his poems:
http://www.bartleby.com/356/618.html

The Landlord’s Tale
is the proper title for “Paul Revere’s Ride”.

Haarstick

Just found a Longfellow poem titled “The Falcon of Ser Federigo” and another called “The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz”. So we have Masque of Pandora, The Evening Star, Paul Revere’s Ride and The Falcon and Agassiz. May all be coincidence but interesting. Here’s a list of his poems:
http://www.bartleby.com/356/618.html

I went down rabbit hole regarding the Peregrine Falcon yesterday. There is a lot of connection to Boston. A couple that stand out are:
Peregrine, Latin Peregrinus, is a name originally meaning “one from abroad”, that is, a foreigner, traveller, or
pilgrim
.
Peregrine White (c. November 20, 1620 – July 20, 1704) was the first baby boy born on the Mayflower in the harbor of Massachusetts.
Apparently Peregrine Falcons are local (even though a wide distribution through out the world) to Boston and somewhat famous. A new carousel was built recently featuring a Peregrine, among other local animals.
https://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/vis … -carousel/
They are known to nest in the bridges in that area near the Fens.

erexere

The Landlord’s Tale
is the proper title for “Paul Revere’s Ride”.

Thank you Professor Erex!

Hey guys! Here are some pics i just took of that memorial that used to be at the duck house. Yeah the lightning bolt dot dot dot dash dot keeps repeating, the lightning bolt switches angles every other time. Sorry about the one w the weird angle, that one was covered up by bushes. I’m totally down for 324
https://m.imgur.com/a/17Fqw

strike13

Hey guys! Here are some pics i just took of that memorial that used to be at the duck house. Yeah the lightning bolt dot dot dot dash dot keeps repeating, the lightning bolt switches angles every other time. Sorry about the one w the weird angle, that one was covered up by bushes. I’m totally down for 324
https://m.imgur.com/a/17Fqw

So, I am hoping someone else takes a crack at the morse code, but I’m seeing:
… = S
_._ = K
Why would SK repeat over and over?

gManTexas

So, I am hoping someone else takes a crack at the morse code, but I’m seeing:
… = S
_._ = K
Why would SK repeat over and over?

i wonder if the lightning bolts have any bearing on the morse code msg

It’s the code for ‘end of work’ or ‘end of service’. No secret alternate meaning here, it’s just symbolically stating that the people mentioned are dead.
Sorry guys, nothing to see here.
Cool! End of work…maybe means end of work on the hunt…you’ve found it, dig! Hahaha! Never know….

The only thing I could find having to do with lightning bolts and morse code pattern is stuff like this
http://www.oldpoliticals.com/lot-19952.aspx
https://www.hakes.com/SaleList/ItemDeta … MORSE-CODE
Interesting how we see the word Victory again

strike13

It’s the code for ‘end of work’ or ‘end of service’. No secret alternate meaning here, it’s just symbolically stating that the people mentioned are dead.
Sorry guys, nothing to see here.

Cool! End of work…maybe means end of work on the hunt…you’ve found it, dig! Hahaha! Never know….

Haha, could be!

So, in truth, the SK morse code means you’re free

treetopshot

The globe in the round bracket is part of the Astro Orbitor.

because as a publisher- he wouldn’t have any idea how litigious Disney is, so he would have no problem using Disney’s intellectual property without permission in a non-disney publication.

Hi librarian –
One of the strongest pointers for Boston is Verse 3, with its references to Revere and the Boston Public Library. (There’s no evidence for Thucydides and Xenophon, say, in Providence.) Given the confirmers in this image, we just don’t think it could be anywhere else.
WR

Hi all,
Sorry to butt in out of nowhere. I had joined a few years ago and was lurking, because I thought I had a Boston solution for this image. I hit a lot of dead ends and soon was certain that
my
Boston solution was wrong — but I still held onto the hope that there was
a
Boston solution. That said, I kind of gave up on searching and had kind of forgotten about this all together until a few days ago — so I logged in to see if there had been any developments and was glad to see that Boston is still on the table.
That said I wanted to just throw something out there that I have not seen proposed yet… what about a Providence, RI solution? I feel like you have to start with the coordinates and I see a lot of 71s (and mirrored 17s) as well as the 42 on her sleeve and I even think the 112 some see near the flower (that made some point to salt lake city) could actually be a 42 as well.
However I also see 41s and 14s — in the frame around the porthole (where I also see the 71/17s)
So could this point to Providence (41.8239N, 71.4133W) instead of Boston (42.3583N, 71.0603W)?
That would jive better with the 41-42 I am seeing in the image. That said, I have yet to find any visual matches from Providence with the imagery in the picture — but I have to say that although there are some close matches I also feel nothing has been found in Boston that is as close a match as they had for the solved images.
Just thought I would throw that out there to see what you all thought.
One other thing back on a Boston solution — don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but I see a lot of 26’s in the scroll work on the panel of her dress, which could be a nod to the marathon.

Hi WR,
Yes, I definitely understand the Boston connections with verse 3, but what 100% ties that verse to this image.
Also, which confirmers do you feel place this image for sure in Boston? The ones I have seen don’t seem to be anywhere as absolute a match as the ones the had for Cleveland and Chicago.
I still like Boston as a match — just have not seen anything to make me feel 100% yet — that said I have not caught up with all that has been discussed over the past few years still going back through the posts, so I may have missed something…
Thanks…

p.s. Here are the 26s I mentioned… notice they’re even more apparent when you inverse the image:

Hi Librarian, I’d like to welcome you as well.  I think there’s often the tendency to focus too strongly on any one single element and thats where we go wrong, but if it happens to be that one major link and you see a next super strong conection and another, then thats good as long as you’ve got enough juice left in your interpretation to support a final pinpointed dig spot.
I feel that the Boston connection is 100 percent through a BPL, Boyleston, and Longfellow connection ending in a “moon” type theme based on the passing of the Somerset warship by Paul Revere and the other men in his rowboat.

librarian

I definitely understand the Boston connections with verse 3, but what 100% ties that verse to this image.

I’m a stick-in-the-mud these days. The image/city matches are solid enough that we’d need a pretty complete and convincing interpretation of a verse/image pair to look at any alternatives to the usual suspects. If this isn’t Boston, then what is? Image 1? Nope, that’s SF. Image 2? Nope, Charleston. Image 3? Nope, that’s Roanoke, etc. Pretty much everyone on the forum is settled on this list.
This puzzle doesn’t need more radical theories. It needs more local contacts.

Well I am from the Boston area originally and still have a fair number of friends there so I could probably convince one or more of them to do some legwork — what do you need?

attached is a link to an alternate solution for the Cask in Boston.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13DyuUf … sp=sharing

librarian

Thanks Erexere… yeah thrasher mentioned that too, though that shape seems awfully rounded to me.

It wasn’t me! I really don’t think this is a home plate and a leg sliding in. I did mention that I’ve tinkered with it being the helmet and leg of Patriotism. I’ve also thought the pentagonal shape might be the cap-rock on beginning of the Richardson bridge, but I couldn’t convince myself.
And I am inclined to believe that the castle is probably the one attached… right near Copley, where you would see the segmented arch; and then on to the library, where you would see T and X. “All the letters are
here
to see” pretty much solidifies a Mothers Rest location for me. There are also a few nice turrets near Kenmore Square that match quite well.
You are definitely not the only one seeing letters in the box. Unfortunately, the letters are so unclear, we all just tend to see the ones we want to.

WhiteRabbit

There’s quite a few bits and pieces – stuff like the Copley fairy…
…the mapparium, and the 2C – which I known four21thrasher doesn’t believe in, but hopefully he’ll dig there anyway and find the strongest possible evidence in the shape of a small ceramic box.

interestingly, the picture is a scene from a story about a knight that was searching for Truth.
and i would prefer not to designate Charlesgate as a place I don’t “believe in,” but more like a place that only
intrigues
me.

So something hit me today about the “dome” and “leg” on her sleeve… I was thinking they were so simplified/stylized that it would be hard to match them to a real-life feature. Then I realized there could be a very good reason for this — they could just be icons in a rebus. We already have precedents with Mill+Walk+Key and Bell+Flower — maybe this is just another one of those?
Problem is I’m not sure exactly what they are…
Bowl+Leg
Bowl+Calf
Dome+Leg
Any ideas???

I’ve also still been looking around Providence, just to see if I can find any leads. So far just the coordinates… but I have to say 41 is one of the few clear things to me in that image and Providence is the best major city match for 41-42.
Turns out that Providence sure has its fair share of castle-like buildings. So far, no strong matches to the box in the image, but still interesting…

Librarian, thanks for reminding me of that, I think its a baseball homeplate and a leg of a player.

Thanks Erexere… yeah thrasher mentioned that too, though that shape seems awfully rounded to me.
One other thing, I have been looking at the squiggles some more trying to see if I could parse anything out. The ones in her dress are still a mess to me… just see some numbers – 26, 23? and that is about it.
But I was looking closer at the squiggle on the box and think I might be able to make out E. A. Poe. The E and A are on top of each other and then the Poe is at about a 45 degree angling upward.
Does anyone else see that or am I just seeing things? Of course there are Poe connections in both Boston and Providence…

urgh that should be “p.a.r.s.e anything out”
it keeps changing to “pass” for some reason even though I have tried editing it twice

There’s a mesh of at least three different perspectives, assume standing on the casque spot,
1) facing south, see a metal box (box has been removed sometime recently) and a lamp post (marked by orange rectangle and perspective fitting with circle), the circle of stone just beyond.
2) facing north, back to the metal box and the stairs of the circle and it’s stairs, see the facade of a building a block to the north, it looks like the hair line of the woman.
3) facing the green light tower, now the corner edges of the box might be compared to the two flat translucent angled squares at the bottom of the illustration.
I expect the CITGO sign is visable from this spot, espeically when standing on the metal box.  With no metal box, a good test would be to use a small portable stepladder and see if this is true.

This is a link to a 1976 National Park Service brochure that shows the Boston National Historical Park:
http://npshistory.com/brochures/bost/1976.pdf
. It’s got a decent street map, as well as a set-in map of the MBTA stops.
This weekend I was kicking around some thoughts using Image 11 & Verse 3… In case it helps anyone, I was working my way across the Charlestowne Bridge past the old Boston Garden (the “coliseum”) and near the USS Constitution (“metal walls”). On the other side of the river it looks like there’s a Paul Revere park… which of course, wasn’t opened until the 1990s.
I’d love to find some period photos of this area, though… curious if there might have been any stairs located by nearby Water Street?

Outline of hair on building across from next picture.
Globes.  Standing with his back to a set of stairs, Preiss must’ve stood on top of the stone wall next to the pyramid shaped topper to get this angle on the globes as their perspective would be correct from a position about 3 feet higher.  (Note: this exact same camera angle situation occurs with Image 6…Preiss liked to roost on stoops, apparently)

I should add that those globes are 10 to 20 ft apart, but this angle aligns them into a nice tight triangle.  This practice of intentional alignement of scenery near and far is the molten core of Preiss’ Secret.  (Why do I feel like I’m writing in pulpy tabloid style??)

I think i have a new discovery for the five steps.  The word stadia or stadion/stadium can be a reference to a unit of distance equal to 600 feet.  One measure for a city block or bealach as its called in Irish Gaelic is 660 feet.  The distance between BPL and the John Boyle O’Reilly statue is roughly five blocks in distance.

Deuce

If the verse is to give us an exact location, shouldn’t the “five steps” take us directly to the “green tower of lights”? Since its the next line of the verse after the steps, we should be right there.

The verses don’t work in a simple linear way; they often jump about.

Nice sleuthing cw0909! Here it is, blown up a bit:
Picnic shelter?

at this link is a statue some what like the lady in image
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image … on,_MA.JPG
Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant, i dont think it was there in 82,
i think just the neighborhood is little italy
if you go to street view at this link
on the west side of park plaza on arlington ave.
you can see windows, that look very much like
the port hole looking window in image
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&i … _medium=ha

That building isn’t in Little Italy, cw0909. It’s south of the Public Garden.

jekatt – Isn’t any circle an exact match for any other circle? What makes this match especially exact?

It’s not all bad though. Jekatt probably meant the general proportions of the circle and columns.

I dunno, I’m still not buying it. I thought you meant it aligned somehow with the cracks around the window. Also, everything below the circular window is part of our lady’s outfit, not the wall/window. So I don’t see this as a close match.

forest_blight

Also, everything below the circular window is part of our lady’s outfit, not the wall/window.

I’m not saying it’s a great match necessarily, but we’re talking about the columns either side of the lady. They’re not part of her outfit. (At least, I’ve never seen them that way.)

I disagree, WR. If you follow the one on the left up far enough, you’ll see it’s wrapped around her upper arm and hanging down.

As with the Milwaukee solve and the 2Cs clue, I think Google Maps provides a lot of false positives if we attach too much significance to overhead views. I really think most of these images are meant to be seen from ground level. Any overhead renditions were probably inspired by paper maps (and their inherent imprecision with regard to boundaries), and as such, we should not be too terribly concerned if the image isn’t an exact rendition of the satellite view. Having said that, I generally don’t like geometric matches of any kind. As FB said, a circle pretty much looks like any other circle.

forest_blight

I disagree, WR. If you follow the one on the left up far enough, you’ll see it’s wrapped around her upper arm and hanging down.

Nah, if that was hanging round her right arm, then logically you’d see the other one hanging round her left arm.
That’s just a bangle, is that.

That’s true, but it’s in front of the globe, and so clearly not part of the wall. What is it then, some kind of metal frame for her to lean against? I’m sticking with my ribbon theory.

…OK, so you’re probably right…

The bird in P11 is not an eagle, it’s a hawk. Eagles have huge beaks that take up half their heads. But hawks (for example, Cooper’s hawks) have tiny beaks just like the bird in the picture. There birds do not resemble each other.

The best match I have found on the spheres in the painting is the
Seagull Monument
.
Pluses:
The Seagull Monument is a well known landmark of the area.
The Monument sphere is uniformily round, like the painting.
The texture is similar in the painting and the Monument.
In one image the the sphere is placed on a pedestal
Minuses:
There are three spheres in the painting.
Questions:
Why is one sphere in the painting portrayed as globe?
Why is one partially displayed?
There are also multiple spheres on top of the Salt Lake City Temple.

I looked all over Salt Lake City for a perched Hawk, Falcon or any bird of prey. Then for the fun of it, I tried to see how common it is to find statues or fountains that have birds of prey in a perched pose, anywhere in the world. I found perched poses extremely rare and almost nonexistent in birds of prey. Sculptors seem to show birds in action with wings extended or in flight.
With the rareness of these poses in mind, I think
Turtle
‘s eagle is very likely the one portrayed in the painting. I was able to track down a couple more pictures. It looks like that eagle fountain is centered in the main walkway in Liberty Park in the southern area near Tracy Aviary. If this is the bird from the painting, it seems like it would be too obscure to be a prominent city landmark. So, I wonder if this would be more of a final location or park confirmer?

Not sure if this has been mentioned…but since numbers are still up in the air, I see a backwards 07 on her right elbow. This is more obvious if you invert the colors. Maybe there’s a 70 in this equation?

It is looking like 2 and 4 are going to be something other than a latitude. Because the latitude of 42 is up at the Idaho and Utah border and we are narrowing in on Salt Lake City (on the other side of latitude of 41), we can’t use it to bracket our casque location.
The good thing about the 2 and 4 not being part of a lat/ long coordinate is we can use them for support in the clues department instead. I wondered if the numbers stood for something like 2nd and 4th Streets, but I haven’t seen a fit yet. The solution could be very obvious once we find it, but I remain stumped.

Some general rules I have noticed:
• Every painting has a coordinate system.
• The numbers are not hidden from view but camouflaged in some way.
• Coordinates can point to a center area with one number.
• Coordinates can bracket an area with two numbers.
• When there are two latitudes they are both displayed (hidden) in the same way.
• When there are two longitudes they are both displayed (hidden) in the same way.
The primary reasons we can dismiss the 2 and 4 as 42 are:
• The 2 and 4 are in different scripts or fonts.
• The 2 and 4 are separated on the bracelet in different panels.
The secondary reasons we can dismiss the 2 and 4 as 42 are:
• We have evidence of a Salt Lake City location. Latitude of 42 would not work for SLC.
• The 41 in the window is displayed in a different font than the 2 and 4. So no 41 and 42, it should be one or the other if we follow convention.
Beyond all those reasons, why not. Why not give SLC and 41 and 112 a try?

With the image colors inverted the things that show up more for me is the “112” and the checkers off the sleeves. I am real curious what those checkers are. They are not prominent so I am not expecting much, but it would be fun to see them show up.

we have 42 for our first coordinate, perhaps the square and triangle on the sleeves could stand for 43?  square=4 triangle=3.
sorry if it’s been mentioned.  sounds solid to me.
-regulus

WHY does this have to be Salt Lake City? Because the temple slightly resembles (and really it IS only slight!) the box castle? If you had seen the image I posted yesterday of the castle in Aberdeen South Dakota, you would have been convinced
it
was the place–there was far more than a slight resemblance–but unfortunately it couldn’t have been because it wasn’t there yet in 1981.
Not only that, but since when are the numbers NOT latitudes and longitudes? In every image so far, those numbers are like gospel. Now all of a sudden, because they don’t fit ideas that this casque is buried in SLC they don’t count? That seems highly inconsistent to me. And it also seems as if we’re trying to force the location based on one small element. That’s a nonproductive way to look at it, as I’ve been told before.
I think we’ve gotten caught up in a sort of fever here–a fever for one place, that isn’t proven and doesn’t have much evidence to back it up. Let’s USE the numbers we are given to mark the PLACE first–and go from there, no matter WHERE that place is. There is a very definite 42 on her cuff. There is a speculative 112 under the fairy. In the circular window there is a 77 on the left and either a 41 or a 91 on the right. Either that, or the entire circular window frame has the number 77 141 or 77 191.
42-112 could be the area north of Salt Lake City. But it’s
quite a bit
north. This coordinate lands you almost directly on the border of Utah and Idaho–closest town, Malad (Idaho) which oddly enough, lies on “Old Highway
191
.”
41-112 is closer to Salt Lake City–though the exact coordinates pretty much dump you right in the lake itself.
42-91 is Cedar Rapids Iowa
42-77 is Corning NY (I would say this one was the most tenuous).
So there are other places here you might explore instead of being fixed on the one place, and trying to make everything fit that location. I applaud the efforts made, but I think the logic is a bit fuzzy.
Arguments against SLC:
1:
41
is the correct coordinate, and there isn’t really a GOOD representation of 41 in the image at all. The only one that shows up is in the circular window frame, and it looks more like a 9 to me. The 4’s I’ve seen are made like triangles, not squares. I’d be inclined to say it’s not a 4 at all. The 9 is quite clearly made, as you can see from the reverse color image.
2: The box castle does not look like the Mormon temple. It just DOESN’T. I’m sorry, but the only resemblance is that the M. temple has spires. The box castle has turrets and a crenellated wall, and the turrets are not all the same height. The M temple has four spires ALL the same. There are round windows in the M temple, but so what? There are round windows in a lot of architecture. That proves nothing.  Note also that the turrets in the box castle are round–and that one of them bears two windows. Those are not features of the M Temple. Additionally, the roofs are concavely made on the box castle–they swoop in a curve from tip to ends. The M temple’s spire roofs are not curved. The box castle looks like a short square crenellated wall with a turret bearing two windows behind it, with a smaller turreted spire next to it–even separate from it. A tall peaked-roof building stands behind the crenellated wall. This doesn’t resemble the M temple in any way shape or form.
3: other Image elements are either being ignored or unused to keep this fixed on SLC. The hawk–ignored. Yes, SLC has a seagull monument. When has a seagull ever resembled a hawk?
4: the peridot is the jewel for this painting…and the peridot comes from Italy according to the Litany. Why is SLC suddenly a likely candidate when there was not a large Italian  immigration into the area? Also the litany and chart in the book point to three locations for Italian fair folk: the borders, Washington DC, and THE DAKOTAS. Nothing about Utah or the west here.
I’m not trying to lecture, but I really do believe this SLC connection is just way too tenuous. I think we need to explore other places.

Here’s a castle in Washington DC. I think it resembles the tower on the box.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/4C84H0P_ … E5-KgeUcBQ

shecrab

WHY does this have to be Salt Lake City? Because the temple slightly resembles (and really it IS only slight!) the box castle?

shecrab

Not only that, but since when are the numbers NOT latitudes and longitudes?

shecrab

I think we’ve gotten caught up in a sort of fever here

shecrab

So there are other places here you might explore instead of being fixed on the one place, and trying to make everything fit that location. I applaud the efforts made, but I think the logic is a bit fuzzy.

shecrab

Arguments against SLC:

shecrab

2: The box castle does not look like the Mormon temple.

shecrab

3: other Image elements are either being ignored or unused to keep this fixed on SLC. The hawk–ignored. Yes, SLC has a seagull monument. When has a seagull ever resembled a hawk?

shecrab

I’m not trying to lecture, but I really do believe this SLC connection is just way too tenuous. I think we need to explore other places.

The main reason we are exploring the Salt Lake City angle is the belief in the latitudes and longitudes. Secondary reasons, so far, include matches (not always perfect) to the fountain in downtown SLC, the stone windows on the temple, the building on the box for the temple, the tables on top of the Conference Center, and the spheres for the Seagull Monument.
This is great point! I think we can find a few consistencies in the twelve paintings. I’ll post that later.
Yeah, but it is fun. Come join us.
I think we should explore SLC first.
Thanks for checking my theories. I think.
I disagree. Although we should not always expect perfect matches the simple building on the box seems a good match to me, including the parapets and the tops of the temple.
This is my top choice for now. If you can find a better match please let us know. This is Eagle Gate next to Temple Square.
Why not try this one first though. I invite you to continue your research on a Salt Lake City solution.

I tried to dig today, we scoped out our area for a few hours and paid attention to people paying attention to us.
In order to demonstrate to my partner how quickly we could start turning some dirt, I stuck my trowel in the ground as a test & can no longer fully close my hand around the tool. I play a racquet sport and thought I sprained my hand, but I think I broke a bone. This may end the 2014 digging season for me.
The good news is we have a strong plan of attack – if anyone is willing to play lookout PM me, with 3-4 people we can probably dig. We stuck around until dusk, which appears to be the death knell for digging here. Cops showed up to set up at dusk for speed traps and monitoring the park in general. The lamp the site is directly under also comes on, bathing you in a beautiful LED glow.
It was 58 out today so the park was packed but a few more weeks should fix that hurdle.

The spiky hair in this image previously reminded me of the Fiedler statue at the Hatch Shell, though a shoreline could be another possibility…eg, the North End.

Trapdzoid, great ideas!

Very good point indeed Mr. Falcon.
Shecrab…there is a large fountain sort of in the center of the park.  Unfortunately, almost every thing I read about it, it seems to always mention the fact that it is dry and hasn’t run water in quite some time.  Couldn’t we still consider a dry fountain as ‘face the water’?

(Some brainstorming on Image 11 / V3)
A couple more Pi suggestions in the Italian section of the prologue:
…cliff-dwellers from the wintry Piedmont…away they sped towards the Pillars of Hercules…
Among the names on the BPL is Pythagoras, “five steps” back from Thucydides. (Appears in the Field Guide under Calcubus.)
Pythagoras’ theorem
provides a way of approximating Pi.
(I see Pindar, from the verse below, also puts in an appearance.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
OK, enough about Pi already. I’ll get back onto my other pet subject, the Field Guide. I’d previously wondered if the Postmonster General (Benjamin Franklin, Postmaster General) had a caricature of this image…
…so I was interested to read about the lampost postbox theories, and Boston’s Franklin connections.
Re: the Walpole quote:
…name the geniuses of 1774, and I submit. The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston…
1774 is also the date of the
Boston Port Act
, a reaction to the tea party. (I suppose it might be worth considering some of the people involved, as the “geniuses”…)
Gladiolus comes from gladius, sword, hence gladiator – ties in with coliseum.
Can’t do much with the capitals of the litany verse except IPA. Brewery?
Pandora’s box resembles a tea caddy…
…reminded me of the
Japanese Tea Ceremony
, and opens up buddhist/golfing references for Field Guide believers.
Been playing with some anagrams of the verse initials. The best I’ve come up with so far is:
A fay flew tin – Twain II
People have suggested an SLC in this image. As well as Salt Lake City, these are also
Mark Twain’s
initials. (Other appearances in V7 and Dixie Pixie.) Here are some
newspaper interviews
, and a piece on
Boston
.
One of the intervews on this page with the
Boston Globe
refers to 42, talks about Twain’s
Innocents Abroad
(also called
The New Pilgrim’s Progress
, cf “Pill Grim’s progress” on P66), and took place in Boston at 388 Beacon St  (“tower of lights”).
(
Beacon St
was mentioned on
P28
of the V3 thread. Loads of stuff in that street isn’t there…buildings roofed by Revere and stuff.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I was wandering around Back St near the river, behind number 388, on Google Street View, pondering: “Face the water your back to the stairs”, and thought of another anagram:
If Twain, win a fay tile
…or we could forget about Twain…
If a twin, a fay tile win
Heck, it even rhymes.  😉
Too many possible anagrams of these letters. But the verse initials end with an anagram of “tile”, or working upwards, “a tile”, “fay a tile”. Wonder if that’s a clue to the final location. Maybe that’s Pandora lifting one up.
Re: the Boston legeater, the initials for “A green tower of lights” echo the capitals of the suspected Montreal litany verse  (The Opal Lowland Gnomes A). May be coincidence, though the word
Togal
relates to “the practice of the six lamps” in Buddhism. Since the Montreal legeater is on a lamp, I’m considering it as part of a possible set of hints orbiting around references to TM (meditation), MT (Twain), TAO, Tea ceremonies, lotus positions, etc.

No, coming from the backside of her shoulder and the underside of her arm down to her waist.

Unknown

Unknown:
Also, has anyone noticed yet that the fairy has red baseball seams on her right shoulder? Zoom in to check it out.

No, not at all. On the fairy’s right shoulder, it’s all white.

I visited the Esplanade today. The area around the Holmes monument had just been completely dug up by a bobcat. Was wondering if that was just random coincidence or part of a dig attempt? Any luck if so?
I like the victory gardens/rose garden so far. I’ve never been to that part of the fens so might make my way there to check it out.

Xiesh, I think your CCommons theory wasnt much different than 421s. Both assume there is an extensive trail of breadcrumbs derived from verse, leaving little behind for the purpose of detail and direction in the end.
In both approaches there was a hardened literal approach which gives it great value in terms of linking location facts. My problem with that is theres a chaotic aspect in reasoning when it comes to asking WHY would the puzzle be designed to include such minutiae? Is it for the purpose to get you somewhere and then see a clearly defined dig spot with the remaining verse and visual depictions? Isnt it possible that the majority of the verse works in some detail oriented fashion? Verse 4 spared us from having to identify a method of precision. Other Verses lack such explicit direction, so either it becomes obvious when we arrive at a spot with shovel or we might need to form a directional instruction out of the literal markers. Ive always resorted to asking why a marker makes sense. If the statue holds a book, maybe a library location becomes important. A statue that points with its finger might be an interesting idea. Endless possibilities, I know, but I rarely see people here invest further thought into why the objects are anything other than random assorted breadcrumbs on a scavenger hunt.
This image features a box being opened. A castle on that box suggests that the box could be a building. How does a castle or
building open? A drawbridge, portcullis, a gate, a simple door? The woman stands in front of a portal. I think the centered depiction of portal and box being opened is a key instruction to identify one gateway or opening and then another, connected by the details described in the verse. I wonder if “with metal walls” is about two things, “walls” not necessarily made of metal, and then somehow being in connection with “metal” taking the form of something wall like, gate like, or otherwise.

On another image 11 aspect…
If you look at the little fairy holding the jewel, you see an arrangement of
circles on her wing.  Looks like a clover. Has this been explained yet?
I am looking for a sculpture or frieze with either a child or fairy or angel
in the Copley Square or Boston common area. There is an angel sculpture
in the corner of the Public Garden…which has her skirt billowing out in a similar fashion.
But that is about all the resemblance.
AP

Okay…
I am convinced that this castle is the landmark for Boston
in image 11.
The semi-circle under the globe holder, has the same
checkered motif as the Trinity Church in Copley Square.
Has anyone been able to check out the stone fountain in the
“Third Lantern Garden” at the Old North Church?…(for the circular stone image.)
(Or any other circular stone fountain…in a park)
Also, the statues of Art and Science (at the Boston Library) were recently cleaned…but used to have
this lovely shade of turquoisey-blue found in image 11. (even though the
texture is not granite or stone.)

The fact that the “castle” contains the recognizable irrefutable elements incorporated
into the image 11 box, is more than coincidental…we may have no need for photographic realism.
AP

I like the side by side of the blue lady holding the globe next to our globe.  May not be the same thing but it sure looks nice
I really dont see how our castle could be anything but the Park Plaza Castle.  I really like your pics FB, especially IMG_2055.  I suppose it is a little too late since you are long gone, but did you happen to walk around the castle looking for a perspective  that matches the box castle?  I am just wondering if this is going to be an exact match {w/ proper perspective} like the Milwaukee building or if it is going to be a specific building with artistic license taken like Chicago’s windmill water tower.

Fox – I did walk almost completely around the castle, and there is no perspective that matches the box.

The checkered semi-circle in image 11 also looks like the motif over
the doorway of St. Leonard’s Church at 34 Prince St. near the
Old North Church…(just taking a walking tour of Boston to see
the churches and fountains.)
But there are also plenty of checkered arches on The Old South Church, too,
right across from the Boston Public Library…(Although its arches are not round,
but more “Gothic”.)

I have a modification to my previous solve.  I think it works really well.  PM me if you want it sooner, otherwise I’ll post it eventually, once I have time to sit at my desk. (on mobilme at the moment).

Here’s my description, 1) go to the place we’ve all been referring to as the “2 C’s” on the west side of the old Sommerset Building, 2) notice the big green pole with the square base and follow a line from that to the southwest so you step down into the double-circular area and climb over the farthest wall to the grassy area so that you’re centered in the arc when looking back at the green pole, 3) stand with your back to the stairs and face the water and take five steps (paces) exactly west (the same direction that Leif Erikkson faces nearby).
This solve is much simpler than my previous methods.  I was getting way to anal about little refinements and visual perspective from a mathematical point of view.  Forget that stuff.  Byron composed these all in a very staightforward way.  The largest portion of the verse pairs with the largest and most central elements in the image.  For this, it’s mostly the large stone ring with the shape of the woman’s garment bisecting the middle.  Iconic elements such as the BPL description of historical names and architectural building markers quickly put us in the area of Charlesgate near Mother’s Rest.  It’s always a little tricky near the end, like where to go from the Lincoln statue in Chicago’s Grant Park, or how to respond to a cryptic line like “beneath two countries”.  There’s no “right way” to really define all the casque solutions, obviously, but there are very similar thematic points in how the different pieces of information have been tied together.  In this, it breaks up the path into two different modes of description: picture and word.  We have to let ourselves wander for a moment before we pickup the trail as things alternate.  The easiest to locate had only a few turnovers, the hardest will no doubt have an additional or two turns or references to throw us off the trail, which is an exponential event given the challenge of 30 years and our own imaginations..  Standing at the 2 C’s there’s too much from verse and image pointing to that specific area.  I’ve been able to answer every question in terms of visual match and even caught the very smart Longfellow reference with the Sommerset Warship and Paul Revere’s float by moonlight.
Good luck to the brave soul who goes for this spot.  I highly recommend a simple battery powered drill with a 60 inch cable drillbit with the auger tip.  I’ve tested it a bunch and it only takes a few seconds to discover an object at 3 feet.  You can pinpoint that way so you don’t end up digging a huge trench that misses the mark by only inches.
Does anyone need me to post pictures of this specific tool?  I’m suggesting it because it’s by far less intrusive and will raise fewer eyebrows as you only need a few seconds and it’s as portable as a fishing pole.

Interesting I do not think I have ever been to Boston I have went around Boston twice on I 495 and I went to Cape Cod the year this book came out. I was about 2 2/3 years old we may have went then but I do not rember.

This is either Boston or Ottawa. Does anyone know the location of the building frequently showen in The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody. If it is in Boston it resembles the box image. With a little research on Image 9 we can tell if this image is Boston or Ottawa. I will coment more on what can be done to prehaps confirm the location of Image 9 in the appropriate thread.

The setting for “Zach and Cody” is supposedly the Tipton Hotel in Boston. HOWEVER….
From Wikipedia:
The Tipton Building itself doesn’t exist; shots of the building’s exterior are pictures of the
Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The moving vehicles and most people are animated or green screened. The various external shots of the Tipton Hotel along with views from the windows of the Martin’s and London’s suites would place the hotel in several different locations around Boston. One external shot has the John Hancock Tower close by and another has the Tipton reflected on the Hancock. That would put the hotel in the Back Bay section of Boston. Views from the suites would put the hotel down near the waterfront as the buildings seen outside the window are all near the New England Aquarium. Lastly, in “Birdman of Boston”, “Bubba” the hawk (also the name of Dylan and Cole Sprouse’s dog), at the end of the show, is seen flying around an open area with a church in the background. That church is the Park Street Church, so that shot would put the hotel right on the Boston Common.
But this doesn’t look anything like the box castle in P. 11.
http://www.fairmont.com/hotelvancouver

animal painter

Image 11 lady has an interestingly shaped cuff on her sleeve.
Does anyone else think it looks like the dome shape that you can
see from Copley Square in front of the Boston Library?
(next to the Old South church)

That sure is a unique shape,  Looks like a match to me.

As far as I know, the Spinoff/Jillian’s building was a warehouse before it opened as Spinoff. The buildings along Landsdowne street along Fenway Park didn’t have much in them before 1975, mostly decrepit warehouses and a parking garage, some of which were soon to be converted to nightclubs.
However, there is/was a bowling alley under the southwest corner of Fenway Park from the 1930’s until 2004, I believe called Ryan’s Amusements at the end, at the corner of Landsdowne St. and Brookline Ave.