MM, it’s nots in the Children’s zoo, I have it in the Colonnade section of the park. I have an area I like but not an actual dig spot to probe.

Minotaur_moreno

Love, love, love the new Shh – The Secret Podcast Episode 4.5 (
http://thereisnothingleft.com/podcast/shhh-the-secret-podcast-episode-4-5/
!!! For whatever reason, I could only listen to 38 minutes of the 55 for some reason,
That said, as much as you Old Timers want to keep demanding to the rest of us he buried it at the Children Zoo and all signs point to it, with Byron taking service roads late at night in the dark and jumping over fences like people breaking out of jail, I will always see this as you all just incorrectly using confirmation bias solves that fit your original solution because you won’t view it any other way. Nothing personal, just my opinion.
Maybe you all are right and I’m wrong. I just respectfully whole-heartedly disagree with your particular solution.
Hopefully, one of us will be able to prove the other incorrect soon! If not, let the healthy debate continue, I guess!
Best of luck to everyone!!!
MM

Welcome! I look forward to hearing your insights on the puzzles.
That said, it helps no one to state false information to suit your own agenda. No one has ever said Preiss jumped fences, all sources say the back gate was usually unlocked. It is not weird that Preiss would bury a cask in the dark, why wouldn’t he for privacy and secrecy. Also what is wrong with taking a back road that gets you closer to your destination.
Keep in mind I don’t have an opinion on whether it’s in the zoo or not. It’s just that these boards are difficult enough to navigate with people seeing connections that aren’t there, if there’s also an injection if false information the puzzles will become unsolvable here.

There has been an influx of unusable and unnecessary information
That is the challenge of this forum
To decide for yourself what is true, usable, pertinent and applicable.
Why didn’t Wilhouse find the casque in the Children’s Zoo? According to the podcast he dug in almost every spot you could dig. The only spot was covered by concrete.
At what point can you rule out the CZ? It was throughly searched and dug. If it was there Wilhouse would have found it
I feel it is highly unlikely Priess dug in the Zoos packed red crush granite which gets like concrete after years of being packed down
Conclusion. It is not in the children’s zoo

Unknown

Unknown:
Conclusion. It is not in the children’s zoo

Not true. The only conclusion we can safely draw from Wilhouse’s experiences (or anyone else who digs for that matter) is that it was not in the places he dug, when he dug there. Until we find it someplace else, everything else is speculation. Including what Preiss meant when he told him “it would not be a waste of time…”.
That’s the puzzle’s main flaw. There are an almost infinite number of ways to be wrong, but only one way to be right. And with Preiss gone, nothing in between.

Doghousereiley

According to the podcast he dug in almost every spot you could dig. The only spot was covered by concrete.

Great point about misinformation. This is some. The CZ was large enough that Wilhouse did not dig in every spot. IIRC (and I hope Wilhouse will come set me straight if I’m wrong), the ground was so tough that holes took a lot longer to dig. The impression I got was that, technically, there was still a large portion of actual dirt left unturned.

I don’t know what was the Children’s zoo total area or where Wilhouse dug exactly in CZ. I have seen some old maps of CZ
Not misinformation. Just relaying what podcast stated. It is hard to know what areas were dug and what if any was left undug

Unknown

Unknown:
there was still a large portion of actual dirt left unturned.

This was because he was waiting for physical confirmation, in the form of a photograph, from Preiss. Unfortunately, he never received it and was left to his best guesses. And then he ran out of time.

On google maps It appears that the area that once was the Children’s Zoo no longer resembles what it did in 1982
The entire south part seems to have been renovated and is now the African forest. Some parts appear to be under construction
I would like to know what area was the Children’s Zoo was situated?
and where was the back gate the was open?
I am assuming Wilhosue dug in the four areas? Hard to see where else to dig in the children’s zoo and what was left undug
I have to wonder in all the renovations with the park director aware of the existence of a casque
that almost every part of what was once the Children’s Zoo has possible been turned over and repurposed that no one at any time found anything or ignored what they found
how more thoroughly could one place be searched?
In Herman park you dig clay about 12 inches down. The casques cannot be covered by more than 18 inches of ground. maybe less

Love, love, love the new Shh – The Secret Podcast Episode 4.5 (
http://thereisnothingleft.com/podcast/shhh-the-secret-podcast-episode-4-5/
!!! For whatever reason, I could only listen to 38 minutes of the 55 for some reason, though.
Anyways, I totally respect how intelligent all the ‘old timers’ are, how much work you have all put into this, and appreciate how hard you all are trying to keep moving things forward by doing these podcast, so please keep it up! I personally feel they are extremely valuable to everyone trying to solve these both new and old.
Let me just say, feeling I’m a pretty objective Expedition Unknown The Secret Newbie chap here, you Old Timers definitely quickly convinced me image #8 wasn’t Reunion Tower and Little Eygpt in Dallas, TX like I originally thought it was, but that it was Hermann Park in Houston, TX. That argument was extremely convincing at least to me personally.
That said, as much as you Old Timers want to keep demanding to the rest of us he buried it at the Children Zoo and all signs point to it, with Byron taking service roads late at night in the dark and jumping over fences like people breaking out of jail, I will always see this as you all just incorrectly using confirmation bias solves that fit your original solution because you won’t view it any other way. Nothing personal, just my opinion.
Maybe you all are right and I’m wrong. I just respectfully whole-heartedly disagree with your particular solution.
Hopefully, one of us will be able to prove the other incorrect soon! If not, let the healthy debate continue, I guess!
Best of luck to everyone!!!
MM

Unknown

Unknown:
how more thoroughly could one place be searched?

Excellent question. Wilhouse came up empty, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. I do not think this is what Preiss had in mind when he conceived the puzzle, and in hindsight, I’d be willing to bet that he wished he hadn’t made them so hard to find, physically.

Doghousereiley

There has been an influx of unusable and unnecessary information
That is the challenge of this forum
To decide for yourself what is true, usable, pertinent and applicable.

Hold on a second. With all due respect to the old guard here, there has ALWAYS been a large amount of unusable and unnecessary information available throughout this forum.
All of the newbies on here are brow beaten religiously to read the entire body of work before posting AND told to use the search function whenever asking a question that may have been asked previously.
Doing my due diligence, I read through 130+ pages of posts on one particular thread. There was a good 30+ pages discussing, arguing and fine tuning a location that never existed when Preiss buried the casques.
This influx that you speak of has always been here.

Unknown

Unknown:
there has ALWAYS been a large amount of unusable and unnecessary information available throughout this forum

True. But than does not negate Dog’s point that in recent weeks, the volume has increased significantly, hence his use of the word “influx”. It was never easy to separate the wheat from the chaff on the forum, but it is damn near impossible now. Of course, I am not wholly objective (nor do I claim to be), so the statement above may just be this medium timer’s bias showing.

Rohe, mentioned on p.158, was the architect for the building immediately north of Hermann Park.
1001 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX 77005

I just noticed that the Lincoln Memorial shares a similar layout to that of Hermann Park with circle and reflecting pool.

RacerX330, thank you for the response. So you think the use of a Herman Melville quote is okay, but the use of a Hermann Rorschach visual is too abstract when designing a puzzle to do with Hermann Park?
Why do you think the artist chose to draw an edge-centered vanishing point rather than a normal centered vanishing point? Thats why I tried using a mirror approach.

erexere

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Rorschach

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facepalm

A facepalm (sometimes also face-palm or face palm) is the physical gesture of placing one’s hand flat across one’s face or lowering one’s face into one’s hand or hands, covering or closing the eyes. The gesture is often exaggerated by giving the motion more force and making a slapping noise when the hand comes in contact with the face. The gesture is found in many cultures as a display of frustration, disappointment, exasperation, embarrassment, horror, shock, surprise, exhaustion, sarcasm or incredulous disbelief.
Just FYI

erexere i think you’re pretty far out in the weeds. Neither the author nor the artist, based on anything that we’ve seen from the two solved puzzles has that level of abstraction.

Added you to the FB group racerx330

Yes, I’ve seen the facebook group, and I’ve requested to join on there. Another post coming here shortly…

Dave,
Thank you.
Wilhouse,
Do you have all your pictures that you linked here archived somewhere? I cannot see them from their original links here in the forum anymore.

No those links are no goodaanymore. I’ll try to do something.
wilhouse

Ok, Pine, you caught me. The flagpole is in Africa. I checked the pics and it is clear.  I changed the post in verse 1 so as not to confuse anyone.
For Fenix’s sake, and anyone else who is confused, Pine and I are drawing overhead maps of the zoo with the image 8 items placed in the zoo.  Try this:
X982 Train
XCamel
(lots of blank lines)
XRhino
(lots of blank lines)
XConcession Stand           XAqua Tunnel
XLatin America                            XAfrica
(Flagpole)
XRound Tiled Area
XNorth America                           XAsia
XParty Room
XBrownie the elf

Please take a look at the picture of the CZ that I posted in reply number 108, the darker one with the japanese lantern in the middle:
http://share-dell.shutterfly.com/osi.js … mbdmzaNmF0
Right click on the pick and download it.  Then zoom in to see the lantern.
Is it my wishful viewing or does the stand that the lantern is sitting on (not the bottom base piece but the next vertical piece) look very similar to the piece that the camel is sitting on in image 8? I know it doesn’t have the “bulge” in the center, but artist’s license you know.
wilhouse

(…still working through these to get an overview…)
Great research on the zoo, and it looks like BP was referring to it, though in a way, I’d prefer that he hadn’t buried a casque there, aside from the fact that it’s unrecoverable. A zoo doesn’t really seem to fit the book’s ethos, and the caged bird on P127 doesn’t look too happy. So despite the landmarks, I’m hoping the picture’s story might include but not end at the CZ. (I haven’t seen his comments on this so I’m not sure how specific they were.)
Lawrence of Arabia’s
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
was mentioned briefly, and I’d have thought BP would have been aware of this. The preface reads:
I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To earn you Freedom
, the seven pillared worthy house
that your eyes might be shining for me
Freedom. The capitalisation in the litany phrase echoes the star theme.
T
he
R
uby out of
A
raby
S
carlet of desert sky at dawn
…then there’s the globe-pole/lamp of this image, with the star above and the gem at its base.
Lawrence is associated with
Pole Hill
, which also has astronomical links, being on the Greenwich meridian.
The title of his book is from a rock formation in Wadi Rum. Reminds me of image 1, with the barred window in the mountain.
Field Guide: “The Djinn Rummy originated in the Middle East”.
There’s another wisdom connection for this image, via rubies – “for wisdom is better than rubies” (Proverbs).
*** edit ***
…been looking at the
San Jacinto Monument
, a huge great tower with a star on the top, as a possible reference for the star / lamp post tower, and the “strongest tower of delight”. (Stands near Houston, apparently the tallest monument tower in the world, or something.)
There’s a San Jacinto St you can follow North from Hermann Park, which crosses the river. I think someone suggested an aerial view for this line…
In the sky the water veers
Small of scale
Step across
…but it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere much.

erexere

I knew before looking that you would find that penis. Nice work, you deviant.
I was thinking more along these lines, so partial credit goes to four21thrasher.

Unfortunately, this puzzle is a dichotomously scored multiple-choice question. And the key is not “atropos.”

Glossiphoniidae

I’m guessing it’s one of these two images:

Nice Girth

Ive been working on an idea for the Childrens zoo theory. The Auditoriums roof is pointy..like a witch’s hat (Perspective/vanishing point pointing to the sky). What if the roof is used like a sundial. If we look at wear the shadow falls in december it might reveal the place to dig. December 22nd is winter solstice this year. In 1981 it was december 21st. In 1982 it was december 22nd.
See my diagram for details…

I didn’t. Mainly because that area of the CZ was almost always in shadow because of the overgrowth of trees. True though back in 1982 it was much less overgrown and the top could have acted as a sun dial. I’ll lookvback at some old photos I have and see if I can see anything.
wilhouse

unfortunately, the area you mark as shadow is all concrete. There is a very small strip of dirt by the lands where the fence is. I poked around all that area, but it’s really a planter. You can’t dig in the lands as they have an asphalt top under a thin layer of dirt to keep the animals from digging out.
wilhouse

I appreciate your feedback. Im not sure where the shadow would be cast on december 21st 1981 or december 22nd 1982 (winter solstice). I was thinking more towards the north america area..outside the fence near the tree. But alas…time and progress does hinder us. At least you got to experience the adventure of the big dig
Wilhouse…had you ever though about the auditorium’s pointy roof as a sun dial when you were exploring and diging in that area?

Or…could Dallas, TX be a possibility for I8? The Reunion Tower here (built in 1978) also has the same general shape.
https://reuniontower.com

Unknown

Unknown:
The Ruby out of Araby:
Scarlet desert sky at dawn.

Unknown

Unknown:
Death (“Maweth”) is sometimes personified as a devil or angel of death (e.g., Habakkuk 2:5; Job 18:13).[4] In both the Book of Hosea and the Book of Jeremiah, Maweth/Mot is mentioned as a deity to whom Yahweh can turn over Judah as punishment for worshiping other gods.

The Arabic culture is well recognized for its contributions to astronomy. Given the recent interest in then planetarium I think its a good thing to once again look at the In the Litany of the Jewels on page 20 and 21 of the Secret.
I adventurously plugged the words december dawn stars arabic astronomy into an internet search and found this: Arab Star Calendars | Two Deserts, One Sky » Jawza’, Snow Queen of the Arabs
http://onesky.arizona.edu/2015/12/jawza … he-arabs/n
, which leads me to wonder if the Belt of Orion makes as a good example of lining up three stars in a row has a parallel to the finding of the casque spot.
On the side Ive been wondering about the common reference of “morning star” as a link to the fallen angel or perhaps the context of death. In the Semitic Arabic/Hebrew scriptures,
When I saw the reference to MOT, I wondered if there’s something to Byron’s choosing of the Miller Outdoor Theater (MOT) going on.

erexere

When I saw the reference to MOT, I wondered if there’s something to Byron’s choosing of the Miller Outdoor Theater (MOT) going on.

bon mot here.

OK. it looks to be Reunion Tower, next to the Hyatt:
http://www.dallasarchitecture.info/reunion.htm
built in 1978.  Someone in Dallas – feel free to check it out.
wilhouse

Good thoughts.
Swamped with finishing a job, at the moment, but have another idea or two which I’d like to see if anyone has mentioned before.
I’ll post it later.
– dero

googling for images gives the strangest results sometimes:
http://www.themescapesinc.com/wpe38366.jpg

Note…other people have created Facebook pages for there own cities treasure hunt.
Most noteably the New Orleans group or NOLA. Im just putting together one for Houston.
There are a handful of houston members. Wilhouse (Mark) being the most noteable in our area.

HoustonTxDave

I posted photos today on the Houston Group Facebook thread. I decided to make a FB thread yesterday to chronicle my efforts. Everyone is welcome to read and view my stuff.

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted on any new discoveries.