I've been assured that this theory is utter bull crap, but I've done a lot of work on it, so I'll go ahead and share it to save someone else the embarrassment. I've been working on an Image 7/Verse 2 theory that puts the casque in New Orleans. Apologies in advance for the wall of text and images. Much of it is just repeating info most everyone knows, and I'm going to explain the theory in the same boring order that I formed it. :p When I first came across Image 7, it was a pretty easy to make the connection to New Orleans, having been to Preservation Hall on multiple occasions. I started my search along the shore of the Mississippi, since I felt that since the Litany started the French out in Canada, riverboat was the likely method of immigration travel. Not that BP was that strict to lore, but it was somewhere to start. I eventually settled on Lafayette Square, because of its proximity to the river, and because the park looked like the face of the clock--the park is centered between two blocks in such a way that on either side, there is a thin block that mimics the panels on either side of the clock face: The boy on the clock being a pretty solid match for the Jon McDonogh statue reinforced the Lafayette Square connection. The tumor on his buttocks also forms the number "2" in the space between his butt and arm, and combined with what could be a "1" (his arm), the "21" could be a connection to the verse. From there, I was intrigued at the thought of the checker pattern being a map of city blocks, particularly around the edge of the French Quarter, since the squares in bottom right of the image go a little wonky like the city blocks do near the border of the Quarter. I moved down toward the river 8 blocks (to mirror the wolf head/horse head/state of Louisiana on the wall, which is 8 blocks down). There wasn't a whole lot that was promising down there, though so I abandoned it and went back to the image. I then came across a series of clues that jumped out at me. Here are four clues that I feel are intentional: The "V" in "PRESERVATION" is off-center to deliberately bisect it with the clock hands. The actual center of the word would be between the "R" and the "V". The colored circles on the rim of the clock, when connected to the center, form a peace sign exactly (45-degrees for the left and right lines). The loup-garoux hand is in a wholly unnatural position (try holding a stick like that). The index and middle fingers, as someone pointed out in the I7 thread, look like the hand is about to put up two fingers. On the loup-garoux's arm at the sleeve is the letter "V" (upside down). These four clues brought me back to something I saw when I was searching the river. Down 8 blocks on Poydras from Lafayette Square is this statue . A little more probing uncovered the facts that this location, British Place, stands beneath the largest hotel in New Orleans (a palace to shelter your head for a night?) and, prior to the construction of Mardi Gras World in 1984, was the very end of most Mardi Gras parades. Here's what it looks like: Kinda looks like the top of the clock, eh? British Place was dedicated by mayor Moon Landrieu, according to the plaque, which may explain the moon. It was also dedicated on November 19th, 1977, which I believe explains the 19 in the top left corner, and also the fact that "XI" (November being the 11th month) on the clock is the only number with the shading/highlighting behind it. British Place is also very close to the Canal Street Ferry Terminal, where the riverboats dock. There was even a riverboat named the City of St. Louis that docked at the terminal in the late 1800s. In the Image 7 thread, someone brought up the possibility that there's an anchor in the clock hands: Someone mentioned that it's the symbol on the Governor Nicholls Street Wharf near Jackson Square, which it is. But it's also something else. Winston Churchill had this tattooed on his forearm: Maybe the ink on the forearm of our loup-garoux isn't just a "V"? Also, there seems to be a "W" where the sleeve meets the arm and a "C" where the stick meets the sleeve. Anyway, that covers most everything. The mask, whether it's masquerade, vaudeville, or marionette (all French words) would be merely a France indicator. "Preservation" and the wolf head/state of Louisiana would be the NOLA indicators. The only other clue that is definitely intentional is the clock's alarm hand that points slightly above 3 o'clock. That would be where the casque is buried--at the 2:50 position in British Place. The obvious negative point here is that British Place is in an extremely well-traveled area. In 1980, the only thing nearby was the Riverside Hilton and the World Trade Center. Since then, they have added the Convention Center, the River Walk entrance, and Harrah's Casino. And also replaced the shrubs in the planter with a couple palm trees and some sparse flowers. I was down there last week, and the spot is directly in front of the hotel entrance, including the 24-hour valet, roving security guards, and a cab stand. There were also police cars parked there frequently at all hours. Nobody would be digging there without permission in 2015. It also doesn't fit with the theory that only the verses lead to the casque and the images are supplemental. Despite that fact, I'll lay out how I think it fits with Verse 2 in my next post.

Unknown: At the place where jewels abound Fifteen rows down to the ground In the middle of twenty-one Unknown: From end to end Only three stand watch Unknown: As the sound of friends Fills the afternoon hours Unknown: Here is a sovereign people Who build palaces to shelter Their heads for a night! Unknown: Gnomes admire Fays delight The namesakes meeting Near this site. In this theory, Verse 2 is taking us on a Mardi Gras parade. Given some of the wording and lines, perhaps even Rex itself--the oldest of the New Orleans Mardi Gras parades. The biggest stop on most Uptown Mardi Gras parades is Gallier Hall, where the Mayor of New Orleans sits in a lavish grandstand awaiting Rex, both the informal name for the Krewe that throws the parade and the king of Mardi Gras himself, Rex (Latin for "king"). This is the climax of the Mardi Gras season--as the Rex parade passes Gallier Hall, both Rex and the Mayor give champagne toasts, and the tradition after the toast is to hurl the glasses to shatter in the street. Gallier Hall has 15 steps, and these would be our rows. Gallier Hall is also on the exact center block of Lafayette Avenue. Lafayette Avenue is 21 blocks long--10 west of the block containing Gallier Hall, and 10 east. It's also been noted that there were floats called "Where Jewels Abound" and "Jewels from Byron" which both passed by Galler Hall in their respective years. Across St. Charles Ave from Gallier Hall is Lafayette Square Park, and there are three statues along the path that follows Lafayette Avenue through the square: Henry Clay (whose statue, incidentally, was originally in front of the original St. Charles Hotel referenced later in the verse), Benjamin Franklin, and John McDonogh. During parades, these three may very well be the only ones standing watch, as the rest of the people are in the grandstands watching the parade itself. Also, since Lafayette Square is offset between two blocks, the three statues stand in what would be the middle of the street on the other blocks of Lafayette. This sounds like a throwaway line that could refer to anything. But taken in the context of New Orleans, it could mean something specific. "Krewes" ( a play on "crews") are the groups of friends who put on Mardi Gras parades. They often fill the afternoons. Some of the longer parades last 5-6 hours. Rex in particular starts in the late morning on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras itself) and fills the afternoon hours. Other parades also start in the afternoon, and some start in the early evening. But all are run by krewes. This quote from Diego Sarmiento describing the original St. Charles Hotel could mean a couple things. The Uptown parade route runs down St. Charles Avenue, where the hotel originally stood, and it also ends near the biggest hotel in New Orleans (a palace in which to shelter one's head for the night). The most cryptic part of this puzzle, and still a mystery to me. A few possibilities, though: At the end of the parade route stands the building that housed the New Orleans World Trade Center until the 21st Century, as well as British Place and the New Orleans Riverside Hilton. This area is also where a few other things meet: Poydras Avenue, Lafayette Avenue, and British Place. Now, we could use the definition of "Fae" that includes all the magical creatures in the book, or we could use it more specifically: "Fae" is the plural of "fairies". And on the map in the book that details where each species migrated from, "fairies" actually get their own entry. Fairies came from England. So they may delight in the irony of finding British Place at the junction of Poydras and Lafayette--two famous French generals. Maybe the Gnomes admired the World Trade Center. And the Dutch notoriously admire the British. They may have also admired the levees near the river (similar to the dikes of the Netherlands). Also, before the convention center was built, Port Place and New Levee Street passed near British Place. It's also where Poydras Avenue meets its namesake--Poydras Station. The Poydras-Magazine line was the first streetcar line in New Orleans. It could also be where BP (Byron Preiss) met BP (British Place).

This belongs in the verse 2 thread better to clog that thread then clog the main page, with large numbers of indidvidual ideas.

Thanks for the input--that's exactly what I was looking for. Someone to go all OCD on forum aesthetics, since there have been all of 30 topics active in the last month. This place is just swarming with posters, and we need to make sure the front page looks uniform. The stuff that is likely be relevant to other theories is already in those threads. So rather than post half of the solution in one thread and the other half in another, I opted to make it easier to read, rather than fill a thread with useless information and make people, if they decide to actually read it instead of criticize formatting, jump back and forth from thread to thread trying to keep track of what I'm saying.

Frisco wrote:: I've been assured that this theory is utter bull crap... Hey now, I didn't say bull crap. I said horse shit. There's no bulls (like Chicago) in NO, just horses. See image.

I think the circular Peace symbol being defined by the shaded blocks is an excellent idea.

Frisco wrote:: So rather than post half of the solution in one thread and the other half in another, I opted to make it easier to read, rather than fill a thread with useless information and make people, if they decide to actually read it instead of criticize formatting, jump back and forth from thread to thread trying to keep track of what I'm saying. No worries, I get it, You opted not to read any of the threads where we tried to work out the best way of keeping all this data readable. as opposed to just starting new main threads over and over. You feel you know a better way to do it. What you are really saying is to avoid losing my theories in with everyone elses, I will create a new thread and set my theories apart. Carry on.

maltedfalcon wrote:: No worries, I get it, You opted not to read any of the threads where we tried to work out the best way of keeping all this data readable. as opposed to just starting new main threads over and over. You feel you know a better way to do it. Carry on. Thanks for giving me permission to play on your lawn, Bartles.

erexere wrote:: I think the circular Peace symbol being defined by the shaded blocks is an excellent idea. It popped out at me immediately. Unfortunately, it's hard to un-see, so I haven't really come up with an alternate explanation. It certainly doesn't seem accidental, IMO.

Could a peace symbol be a hint for a tombstone?

I've seen stranger things on tombstones, sure. It's possible that the "V" and the fingers making a peace sign and the peace symbol on the clock could be pointing toward the circular symbol. It's only a slightly bigger leap to connect the peace sign to the letter "V". I just gravitated toward what I felt was the simpler answer, and it just so happened that the simpler answer also happened to be sitting in the same spot as the wolf head in the image, in relation to Lafayette Square. For the record, Winston Churchill is actually giving the "V for Victory" sign. I find it interesting that the wartime "Victory" later became the symbol for peace. I suppose once you've kicked someone's ass, they stop trying to fight you.

I agree that it is unhelpful to create new threads when a discussion clearly fits into an existing topic. Why proliferate threads? It's not just about forum aesthetics - it's about finding information quickly and not having to sift through a million theads. I will give a substantive reply in the Image 7 thread.

I don't think we'd get to a million. If all 10 casques got narrowed down to their 5 most likely locations, we still wouldn't even have 3 full pages of threads. Given that most only have 2 or 3 likely places, it would be even less. But I get the sense that nobody likes change, so discuss it wherever you like, and I'm sure I'll respond.

Frisco wrote:: I get the sense that nobody likes change, so discuss it wherever you like I've decided I don't mind a bit of clutter. Freshens it up.

Well, fresh isn't for everyone, I guess, judging by the ~100 views and only a few comments relevant to the actual theory. :p