Hello fellow treasure hunt people...  I too recieved an E-Mail from Mr. Priess today and here it is... I wrote... Hello, I cannot believe what I just read on the site for your book The Secret.  I used to own one of the books and you had a page in the back that a person could submit if they knew where one was and could not get to retrive it.  That way it was availiable to everyone to play.  I personally thought that I found one and have submitted you several requests and now know that you are not accepting E-Mail's or the page out of the book for answers to where we think one is.  We must have the actual casque.  That is so very wrong.  You never stated in your book that there was a time limit to find one or that we had to have the actual casque. He responded... I am truly sorry you are disappointed. When the book was published there was no internet, no email and no chat rooms. Many people are trying to participate by viewing (illegal) reproductions of the art on the internet, something never contemplated by the book when I wrote the treasure hunt. Nor did the book stipuliate EMAIL as a way of communicating with us. I am unaware of any other 22-year old treasure hunt that is still allowing people to participate. So I would say that we are being reasonable under the vastly changed circumstances of the 21st century. This was his response to me asking about why E-Mail submitted answers were not allowed.  So...  get the shovels...   let's dig up the world!  :D Hehehe...  seconds after I got this E-Mail he responded back with another one for me... I wrote... I understand...  it just comes down to now we have to be on the money and I personally cannot afford to fly all over the United States looking for a casque.  I hope you understand that I did not mean to come across rude... just upset that I am now out of the hunt for I cannot make it to the location I found.  Oh well...  I will wait to see if somebody else finds it there and if they do then I will just have to be satisfied with that.  One final question...  do you ever plan to make a second book and or reveal the remaining locations in the future if you discontinue the hunt for them? He responded... We don't plan a second book. There is no restriction , by the way, on finding a person in another place to do the digging for you and splitting the jewel if you win... So like I said...  get out the shovels...  let's get to digging up the world!!!

ooops. BP did make several valid comments though.  The book & the rules pertained to the time the hunt was created.  It would be quite hard to include in the rules that which does not exist.  Be grateful he didnt have the P copies removed from our site. Back to the hunt........

Unknown: Many people are trying to participate by viewing (illegal) reproductions of the art on the internet, something never contemplated by the book when I wrote the treasure hunt. Ooooooo Dan, I think you just got your hand slapped....

lol

Unknown: Ooooooo Dan, I think you just got your hand slapped.... Ouch! *waves hand fast* He's right, of course. Copyright includes the right of distribution, so I am violating the law. However, I think it's worth noting that Mr. Priess has never contacted me with a request to remove the materials, which I would gladly do if that is his wish. Mr. Priess rarely contacts anybody in regards to this book, if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps Mr. Priess is planning a reprint, making the book publicly available once more and therefore making my digital copies irrelevant? I own the original book, but I would eagerly and immediately buy the reissue and remove my scans. I would gladly change my link from the .ZIP file to which it currently points to a press release announcing the reissue of an anniversary edition of The Secret.

I can't imagine he really cares (if he even knows) about the scans especially since the book is way out of print and even hard to find. I'm thinking hes just really trying to give as many reasons as possible as to why he cant take anything but the casque as proof of a solution. The scans are great and i still use them to check close up stuff but the fact is i own a copy of the book as im sure most of us do. So anyway...just my 2 cents that i think Priess would actually think the scans you made are a cool idea as i do. He just is a busy guy and cant deal with this anymore unless someone follows Egberts great example and DIGS ONE UP! Get to it people!  :)

True enough. But still...if, as a business person, you had a commodity, knew a market existed for it, and had the ability to deliver that fully-finished, effort-free content to the willing and eager audience in a risk-free format with such incredibly low overhead...? Glad I don't own stock in Priess Publications, that's all.  :)

Of course your assuming that BP owns the rights to all the artwork and content out right and that he didn't share any rights to the paintings or text when the book was created - I figure if they were using standard contracts then the text and paintings were licensed for use in the one printing with  options for the next, but E-books or a revision would take new contract negotiations with everybody involved. So while the book is already written, its proabably not as easy as you think to get permissions from all involved to re-release it.... arent lawyers wonderful....

Egbert, About how tall was Mr Priess, Im wondering how big a step a giant step would be for him Matt

I had a thought today - (Just one, that's all I can handle)- If I understand the Chicago pics, and Egberts, both casques were found right next to walls. In the book originally, if you couldn't get to the casque and sent in it's location, Preiss would go get it for you and send you the jewel.  Well, even though he had photos of the sites, a casque would be much easier to find if it was right next to something, even if that something wasn't an actual clue. Could it be that the casques are located next to large permanent fixtures, such as statues or walls, which may not be clues? wilhouse

Unknown: Egbert, About how tall was Mr Priess, Im wondering how big a step a giant step would be for him Matt He was about 5'10" or 5'11".  I am 5'6".  Here is the link to the pic: hxxp://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/armchair_treasure_hunting/files/Cleveland/

Really cool pix how about a closeup of the the Gem itself? what kind was it?

EG!  Is that you in the suit? wilhouse

Yes need more pics! I also need a shirt like Byron's lol.  :)

I have tried to see the picture several times but the link is not working.  Please help.

Piper, you have to have a Yahoo Groups user name, and log into yahoo groups to view the pics. wilhouse