guys, the wood no lion fears clearly refers to woods to right of obelisk, as they are IN THE SHAPE OF AFRICA…lions are kings of the jungle in africa…

its in those woods around where the bend in the track (only bend back then mind you) was…bw 4 trees of which 3 are winged elms…not easy to find these days.

do you believe it gives you an exact location to dig that would be consistent with the date of burial?
wilhouse

Based on TexWriters photos, I believe theres a chance of recovery. There are several challenges to overcome. 1) the park authorities are not likely to grant permission to dig, 2) the hill and sculpture have been modified to some degree which changes the accuracy of pinpointing the dig spot, 3) it is uncertain whether the spot was originally defined at head level or at ground level.
Probably Im missing some vital component of the puzzle. The Atropos Key is a great focal point, so I’d expect the verse to give pacing to the dig spot, but it doesnt look that way. Ultimately, I feel this casque is lost to circumstance.
Wilhouse, you were as close as it gets. I bet Preiss would’ve given you credit had you not been occupied by the zoo and its mysteries.

Actually, is there a hint for a pacing? Its not 9 8 2….obviously. i dont see justification for seperating out a number, 9 or 8 or 2, or summing 9+8+2=19…, etc.
Could the line “In December night” be a number? Is there a Christmas Eve feel to this? 24 paces maybe?

This is what I was thinking, I’m curious to see if this spot at roughly 24 paces in trying to fit with Christmas Eve = 24th December is close to where TexWriter set his keys for that picture he once shared with us.

I still enjoy the “Magic Carpet” feel of this puzzle, but I’m quickly liking the idea that the scarlet jewel includes a metaphor for Santa Claus, dressed in red, entering a rooftop’s narrow opening to place something like a toy train at the base of a tree for a child’s delight.

Yes.
I think the tilted stone anchoring each side of the theater is exactly like the stone thats tilted next to the base of the camel column. I like how the faceway of the Djinn’s headscarf is a strong but not perfect fit for the general character of the theater’s open face shape. I think the spikey leaves are drawn with the spikey Atropos Key features in mind. Lastly, the base of the column strongly resembles the base of the super tall light towers (still intact and original from pre1982 btw). Maybe thats all weak in your eyes, but the verse is doing a very good job bringing each of these pieces together.

Wilhouse, i was just reviewing some VERY old posts of yours describing your emails to and from Byron. one said his response to you was ‘dont dig there’  .    where in herman park was that?

Most people know that the “What we take to be / Our strongest tower of delight” lines come from Melville’s “Pierre.” Well, there’s another book with that title (by Maurice Sendak), and in it Pierre has “no lion fears.” I’m reading more children’s literature these days, so I tend to notice illusory links all over the place…

Wilhouse:
When you were in the zoo, where were the camels? Did you ever take any photos of their area?

Sonoran,
A technical question….
How did you manage to embed all of those fabulous
photos in one message?
(always ready to learn more about these computers…)
AP

I was able to get some aerial photos of Hermann park (not in very much detail though) from the mid 80’s and a design drawing from the early 70’s. I don’t have a scanner but i’ll try to find one or pull the current online map into paint and edit it so i can post it. The noticeable differences are the shape of the lake, the route of the miniature train, and the area between the lake and the zoo. There seemed to be a road that ran in between the lake and zoo in 1972 but by 1984 it was closed off and replaced with the pavillion that is there now. Also, i think i can see where the 982 train is in the 1972 drawing. Its not labeled, but there is a long rectangle representing something south of the lake and a little to the east (it also fits the description of the 982 train being 90 degrees and 100 feet closer to the park).

Oh yeah, the clarification that Sam houston was not at the Alamo is unnecessary.  I thought that was clear.  Sam Houston has much to do with the Alamo.  He was the response to the event.  That’s why I mentioned the battle of San Jacinto.
Maybe  “Remember the Alamo!” Has something to do with this.

Hey I’m from California, In Texas that alone is a hanging offense, much less making an Alamo history mistake.
The clue though is “Fortress North”
Not Statue, not defender, not General, not even participant.
North without any modifier, in a treasure hunt pretty much indicates North of your position or the position of the treasure.
That part of the verse as you have indicated usually tells you where to start after you have found the correct image.
The only way I would concede the houston statue has somehting to do with the quest, is that if the word Fortress was inscribed on the base.

erexere

And please, get back to us when you have verified the identity and origin of the person who wrote that Wikipedia sentence.  How dare they suggest the Alamo was a place of battle.

Sadly that section of the page is un-editable so it doesnt show creation history, however Here is a quote from the same page, Just scroll down a little.
You can plainly see that the Alamo never was built by a military people for a fortress.
Letter, dated January 18, 1836, from engineer Green B. Jameson to Sam Houston, commander of the Texan forces.[27]

I drop the statue of Houston as a reference.
Any building used for the principle purpose of fighting is a fortification.  The Alamo, a mission, becomes a fortress by usage for that purpose.  No semantics on your part can argue that point.
Assumption alone supports the convention that the meaning of north in the first line is specific to the treasure site.  I am assuming its use in a dual sense.  My argument is that the word base is sufficient in the context of the word fortress and necessitates that Mexico is south of the Alamo.  The leader of the Mexican forces, Santa Anna was defeated by Sam Houston in response to the Alamo battle.  it first serves to narrow our focus to Texas and lastly becomes the base of a hill north of the sculpture and apex.
Lets bury the hatchet and find a casque.  Feel free to point out errors, just don’t make nitpicky points that don’t apply to the principle argument, please.

The first line:  Fortress north
Initially it puts us on the Alamo, the focal point with respect to the Mexican (from the south) engagement that signifies the beginning of Texas history.  The following battle establishes and recognizes Sam Houstons role with the Battle of San Jacinto.
Later, at the site of the casque we look at the base of a light tower at the base of a hill, and should at that point see the simple idea that a base is also a term for a fortress.

Seriously the alamo does not fit at all, you are trying so hard to shoe horn a clue into what you want it to be because it sounds good to you.
Alamo- not a fort or fortress, it was a church.
Alamo- Southwest of Hermann Park.
Yes I realize there is a statue of Sam Houston, at the north end of the park, yet he is not a fort or fortress either.
It does not make sense.

Unknown

Unknown:
The Alamo, originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero, is a former Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound and was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. It is now a museum in the Alamo Plaza District of Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Unknown

Unknown:
…
8. A center of organization, supply, or activity; a headquarters.
9.
a. A fortified center of operations.
b. A supply center for a large force of military personnel.

Its okay with me if you think the Alamo was more about parishioners having a disagreement than a place where US soldiers egaged in military conflict with Mexican forces…
Its also okay that you don’t see the sense that such an event had any involvement in connection with the man the city of Houston was named after.
Also, shoehorning isn’t the case.  I tried that with lots of nearby buildings, but to take a step back and look at the big  Texas picture, making use of the Alamo seems like an ideal choice.  So what if it doesn’t phisically put us in Houston.  Other clues do that task.  Think about what the Alamo represents and who played a role in those events.  Starting with Alamo as the idea of a fortress is big sense.  Ignoring for the moment that we are predisposed to Houston is clearly not shoehorning.
And let us not groan too loudly as I quote the Wikipedia on this, but if this is an invalid use of the word fortress please be so inclined to edit the page,
Casque at the base of Miller Hill,
base (n.)

using wikipedia as a primary source should get you an F on any research paper. I have given out several to my students.
I would be willing to bet that whoever added that sentence was not from Texas.
First let me clarify for you, No, Zero none nada, U.S Soldiers were at the Alamo.
2nd and more importantly Sam Houston was not at the Alamo…
If it was a statue of Davy Crockett or Jim Bowie, Maybe but Still really not.  The Alamo is not North of the park, it is southwest.
So of all the things Sam accomplished, we ignore and only associate his statue with a battleground  not anywhere nearby.
Seriously this doesn’t make any sense.

I stand corrected on the US soldier reference, I was being lazy.  Now that you’ve resolved that point, there is still no basis for pointing out that the Alamo isn’t north of Houston.  I have only ever asserted that the Alamo is an association north of Mexico.  When I say Mexico is south, that means the Alamo is north of Mexico.  That should make sense to you.
One more time, I’m not saying the Alamo is required to be north of Houston or the casque site.  It’s strictly about the theater of war and the role of those who were involved.  The battle that took place immediately after the Alamo involved Sam Houston.  That was the victory point for those who fought, I dare say soldiers, of the the Republic of Texas.
Please stop nitpicking points that don’t come close to sundering the real argument.
And please, get back to us when you have verified the identity and origin of the person who wrote that Wikipedia sentence.  How dare they suggest the Alamo was a place of battle.
My serious apologies to those who might have been offended by my inaccuracies on Texas history.  It was truly lazy on my part, since it’s easy to fall into the anachronism.  Many lives were lost in those early battles of the Mexican-American war.  Many of the players became US soldiers once Texas joined the US.

Just came across a book called “Fortress North”.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EGYIAQAAIAAJ&dq

erex, if I knew that I’d probably have the casque on my mantle
wilhouse

In terms of plants, “Tripteris” means “Three-winged”…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripteris
http://www.plantzafrica.com/planttuv/tripopposit.htm
Doesn’t look very promising though.
I’d been thinking of the “four alike” as forming some kind of square, but I guess they could be in a straight line. I’ve also been wondering vaguely about “trefoil”…kind of connects with peas (alike, small, split) and wings (aerofoil, three-foil)…maybe a decorative motif.

Some thoughts while I have the Atropos and MOT in mind:
Fortress north : My initial thought is to find an important building, perhaps surrounded by a wall
Cold as glass : Whatever it is, it isn’t made of glass, but it has the quality of being cold and may involve “looking through” or “far away” (thinking glass as in telescope)
Friendship south : I’ve liked the suggestion of Texas, the Friendship State, but to attribute the quality of friendship to something might indicate something supporting, helpful, assisting in some way
Take your task : a chore, something that’s maybe unpleasant, but necessary
To the number / Nine eight two : a train that is retired, separated from it’s rail and cars -why would we take our task to a retired engine?
Through the wood : among the several reasons I like the Atropos Key sculpture, the plaque which has the name WOODWARD fits my notion of this line as “in the direction” of “wood”, like “forward” or “backward”, in this cass, wood + ward
No lion fears : “there is no predator to fear, but there is an apex”
In the sky the water veers : rain falling directly down is caused to change course as it comes into contact with a sloped surface
Small of scale : a short ascent
Step across : move from one side to the other
Perspective should not be lost : observe a visual alignment as you move
In the center of four alike : four things equal in some way, same in measure, or same in type, etc.
Small, split, : as in a relationship, a split, may refer to a longing to be back together, or “pine”, and small like a needle
Three winged and slight : each wing is a separate job, so three winged = three jobs, all involving something which is very slender, such as a thread tended by the three sisters, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos
What we take to be / Our strongest tower of delight : Pierre (Melville quote)
Falls gently / In December night : I think of “final sleep” or “end of the year / final years”
Looking back from treasure ground : lay on your back and look upside down at the object
There’s the spout! : a nozzle, a “nose”
A whistle sounds. : a sleeping person may whistle through their nose

Unknown

Unknown:
The verse says to start at the number 982.  If this verse is Houston, the 982 is the train in front of the zoo.

Just a point of clarification here.  The 982 train was moved at some time in the past (but I’m not sure exactly when).  It’s not a question of whether the train is in front of the zoo now, but where it was located within the park in 1982 (or 1981 or whenever the clues were written).  I’m sure Wilhouse is taking this into account, but I thought I would mention it for anyone joining us in midstream.

Cath – it’s always a pleasure to see you commenting.
The train was moved at the end of 1982.  It was about 100 feet closer to the zoo entrance, and turned 90 degrees.  One of the old zoo pictures I scanned has a shot of the old zoo entrance. It was all changed in 1981-82, when they added the aquarium, made it cost money to get in, and added turnstiles.  Next time I go I’ll take a shot of the entrance.
The “now” position is outside of the zoo; however, the pre-1982 position was outside the 1982 zoo, but would be INSIDE the current zoo.
The 100 feet difference wouldn’t change where the next line tells you to go.  Through the woods no lion fears.
wilhouse

Guys, I was just kidding.  Sorry if you took offense.
I guess I just got frustrated after reading another Erexere post which I thought was a bit “out there.”
I am trying to be as tactful as possible.  I guess if Erexere was not posting, there would be nothing to read these days.
But I do get frustrated with things such as the previous post, where he takes “number 982” and converts “number” to “taker.”
The thought process to get from “numb” to “take” is very “unusual” to say the least.  The word “numb” has 2 definitions: deprive of the power to be normal, and “indifferent.”  To get to the word “take,” you have to look at the Old English origin of the word “nome,” which is no longer in use and did not survive into Modern English.  It is that type of stretch that gets me frustrated.  Do you really think that Byron Preiss would be referring to an Old English word’s definition which is no longer in use in Modern English?
I will just keep quiet.

Seriously, MF. I was with you up until you got to FEMGOO. After that, I got distracted and visited a few other sites. I need to wash my hands.

The word numb itself is a normal word.  Take is a normal word.  I’m not trying to make it complicated.  My reference to the word origin is appropriate given there is some level of obscurity in Preiss’ attention to various resources.  Whether “taker”is going to far or not is just up to what is contained in your dictionary.  I have a more recent edition oxford and I use etymology lookup online.  I’d love to get hold of an old edition dictionary just to maintain perspective and limit myself to pre-80’s information.
I may not know squat about Preiss, but  I’m content to believe he has outwitted us in a very simple way.  I’m sure he knew well his literature, his Shakespeare, his Homer, Ovid, Livy, R.L.S., Sarmiento, Melville, Dante, Keats, etc.
The re is no line “number 982”.  982 is on its own line.  Whether you like it or not, it is a potential spot to hide useful information in how lines may be put together.  Theres simething obvious about its construction and that is where we get lazy in our attention to details.  You may have won a casque, Egbert, but you are just as stumped about this process as the rest of us.
There’s room for interpretation on much, where you choose to limit yourself is up to you.  I’m sorry if my process bugs you.  I don’t have all the answers, neither do you, and so I’m just making use of the forum to collect notes that may apply or be dismissed.  I’m glaf you asked the question of whether Preiss wouldve made use of an old word meaning.  I don’t know, maybe he did.  I’m finding some potential in it, personally.
When I focus on the Atropos sculpture I consider how conventional it is to think of the mythological figure as a spider.  I’m not sure about that, but I am aware of many cases that do so.  I’m just not sure I want to put my faith in that idea.  The roof of the Miler Outdoor Theater seems to be getting attention with “In the sky / the water veers”.  It looks like it has a spiders web pattern.  My conclusion in applying the word numb to these observations are potentially simple.  Do spider bites have the effect of causing numbness?  Isn’t their poison, aside from being potentially lethal, also anesthetic?

Egbert

Guys, I was just kidding.  Sorry if you took offense.

Please do not include me in the people taking offense. I think it’s hilarious that you are still trying to be tactful, or even explain reasoning is a reasoned manner. BTW, your mock process was spot on.

Glossiphoniidae

Please do not include me in the people taking offense. I think it’s hilarious that you are still trying to be tactful, or even explain reasoning is a reasoned manner. BTW, your mock process was spot on.

Don’t lose focus on the hunt by being a jerk.

erexere

Don’t lose focus on the hunt by being a jerk.

It’s OK… I can multitask.

Good.  Looking forward to more of what you’re brewing.  I think you’ve had some far out ideas but always interesting and potentially useful.  Your work on the Boston solution was excellent.

Glossiphoniidae

It’s OK… I can multitask.

I think this verse is dripping with clever.  Preiss intended to make it “easy” on some level, so we can count on at least one succinct perspective.  How we treat each line, and each word within is entirely our choice.  The first line, “fortress north” is just two freaking words and yet we’ve all been less than 100% confident in its purpose.  It’s all a matter of convention.  Even without getting into archaic word meanings, it’s clear that the line could be pointing out there is either something to the north or from the north.  There is no way to be sure and so the presence of ambiguity MUST be included in our investigation.
Here’s my update on my latest considerations on how to treat the verse with the following visual details and loose interpretations kept in mind:  a bright star = point navigation, three figures facing the same direction (camel = hump/back, rhino = hide/horn, genie = wish/service), and a tilted stone = incredibly close to those piers on the Miller Outdoor Theater.
Fortress north = something we can’t travel directly through, something which requires going around
Cold as glass = “window”, something which is open and can be seen through
Friendship south = steward = friend + ship, providing service to those in need
Take your task = “sieze”, or “participate”
To the number = that which “numbs”, something which is cold or frozen
Nine eight two = the retired 982 steam locomotive which may be simply a point of reference but also may have many other significances: steam = heated water or pressure, industrialization and growth, the head or top or force which motivates a train of cars or carrying of loads, etc.  Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…but then there is context.
Through the wood = in the direction of wood
No lion fears = apex (subtract ‘predator’ from apex predator)
In the sky the water veers = rain, changing into a slant as when falling on a sloped rooftop
Small of scale = proportional or thin and overlapping (like the hide of some creatures) or a relatively small climb
Step across = a literal step (a single step stone), or an active stepping over something
Perspective should not be lost = straight lines maintain perspective
In the center of four alike = Atropos Key’s diamond faceway has four equal sides
Small, split, = “separate”, “spare”, “skinny”, “ribs”
Three winged and slight = “together in a group”
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
In December night = From Melville’s Pierre: or, the Ambiguities.
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout! = “deluge” or “precipitation”
A whistle sounds. = “hail” (to call from a distance, also the stones from frozen rain)
—

Glossiphoniidae

Seriously, MF. I was with you up until you got to FEMGOO.

Dont blame me it was egbert!

Couple of things Wilhouse…
– Which columns in the CZ have horizontal “stripes”?
– Any good pictures of the Sam Houston statue?
– In the Image 8 thread you mention the casques being associated with permanent structures.  This has a place in my “landmark” theory that I described as Reply #66 on the “Cleveland” thread, but note that I was worried about the apparent lack of Houston landmarks.
– In defense of bushy areas, I’ve been interpreting Cleveland’s “rectangular plot” to have been a planter, so shouldn’t one expect there to be bushes there?  Maybe what I’m saying is that the CZ areas that you’re now worried about might have had plants in and around them, but were still open enough for digging.
Pine

Pine, the pole holding up the North America sign and another pole shown in one of the old photos are basically wood poles cut to look like totem poles, with horizontal cuts or stripes.  I have some shots of the in the “Digging” photos.
In the first set of photos I published were shots of the Sam Houston statue. There was a fence around it at the time so I couldn’t get in close.
There is no landmark that I can see, per se, but there are rock / concrete walls around the benches that had only dirt next to them, not plants.  This interests me…
From what I get from Egbert, the dirt next to the wall in Cleveland was not really a planter.  One end had a bush, the other end (with the treasure) was just dirt.  I am trying to find more photos of the CZ to determine where there were plants and where there was just dirt.
wilhouse

My thoughts have really settled on the idea that the casque is buried in the middle of four trees of a very specific type.  Preiss informs us of what kind by allusion and description of the ‘samara’ a winged-tree fruit that is more commonly known as the whirly helicopter seeds belonging to the Sycamore Maple.
I think you will find this specific set of four trees just north east of the Pioneer memorial fountain and past the path about halfway to the grounds of the Miller Outdoor Theater.

I just have trouble with your analysis after BP said the Children’s Zoo would be a good place to look.

If I’m right then this puzzle is basically about finding a bear…a zoo is a good place to find an Ursa…but so is the sky.

about 6 inches
maybe 8 if it has rained

Great! Show us a picture of the casque you have!

Forget everything you know about this verse. It does not describe many places, it all leads to one place. Everything after “take your task
to the number
nine eight two”
The verse is more literal than we initially suspected. Trust me, I’ve already cracked this nut!

…something I forgot to mention in my July 30th theory…
When you’re standing in the center and turn half-right to plant your shovel between the path and the fence of the Asia exhibit, you could “look back” over your left shoulder and see the spout, if the Aqua tunnel is the spout.  This also puts you looking back to where you had earlier been walking, if that’s what “looking back” means.
So, wilhouse, when’s the next excavation?
Pine Tree

For those who are interested….i started a group on FACEBOOK for the Houston searchers. Just go to the
Search box and type in “
The Secret A Treasure Hunt (Houston)
“. I figured it would
be a good place for the Houston treasure hunters to chat, post images and get to know
others in the area. I wanted to have a place to post my pictures, talk about my theories,
and let others follow what I have been doing lately.

Cool idea. I tried to visit your page, but someone broke Facebook.

Facebook is back up and running. Try the search box now “
The Secret A Treasure Hunt (Houston) Byron Preiss”

if we now have three potential v’s matching p’s, we should perhaps be getting closer to matching more of them

Hi Erexere (Eric),
I will call you saturday (10am CST) so we can talk on the phone. It is much easier and faster to discuss our notes about verse 1, image 8 and the things i see when i walk around hermann park.
-Dave

I know I’m a broken record but be cognizant that almost everything you see in Hermann park wasn’t there 33 years ago, or looked completely different.
wilhouse

I agree wilhouse…
we have to go by what the 1979 map layout has. I believe you have a strong case for looking in the zoo. With my recent dig at the zoo and not finding anything…i was a little discouraged. But i know you have been searching the zoo many more years than i have. I have a deep respect for all the work you’ve done. Hopefully we can get together some time this fall and compare notes.

I would like that.
wilhouse

jayheedan1

Anyone know if/when/why Sam Houston became known as “The lion of Texas?”

It’s the name of a 2016 one-man play based on his life. That’s where the name came from. There’s no indication of anyone going by that name before then.
http://www.lionoftexas.com

the link is from 1994 too…

Here’s a minimal event with regard to “Our strongest tower of delight”, how about a bus stop?  It seems to happen not frequently enough when we are waiting for a bus…and when it shows up we are surely delighted.

it’s a stretch. not much of a tower
wilhouse

Unknown

Unknown:
Noun
through (plural throughs)
A large slab of stone laid on a tomb.

I might have to abandon all my previous ideas about Blimps, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rodgers…
I wonder if the “Through the wood” line is sufficient as a reference to the Portable Trojan Bear.  The word ‘through’ has many interesting usages.  It can even be a term for a large slab of stone lain over a tomb.
But that gets away from my point unless someone has a stone slab in mind.
The Portable Trojan Bear is a mostly wood and iron art sculpture.  Recalling the story about the Trojan Horse, it was a wooden construct used to gain entry through the gates and then the soldiers contained in its hollow form emerged through a secret hatch.  Through the wood. I feel that these three simple words might be a most economical way of saying “Hey, look for that Trojan Bear sculpture: corner of Montrose and Bissonet.”
Fortress north
Cold as glass
Friendship south
These lines are presented as introduction. I think the Fortress is the towering section of the St. Paul church on Bissonet as seen from the corner of Montrose near the Glassel Art School.  We are then considering something south.
Take your task
To the number
Nine eight two
This sets our goal to head to the iconic locomotive steam engine, requiring us to travel south through the north entrance area of Hermann Park.  Beginning our trek south from the Glassel Art School, we pass the Jung Center of Houston (Hey, there’s one of those where I live in Eugene, ORE. too).
Through the wood
No lion fears
The main point of the ambiguous line “Through the wood” is followed by “No lion fears” seems to be a relatively simple assertion that a “Jungle” is the wood a lion as king of the jungle wouldn’t fear.  Is it sufficient to reason that “Jungle” = Jung institute?
In the sky the water veers
I wonder if the focus here is seeing the sky’s reflection in the large rectangular pool that follows Hermann Circle.
Small of scale
Step across
I have little doubt this is the miniature train track you first encounter as you pass the Pioneer monument.
Perspective should not be lost
Using the image, you should see that you have found the exact spot intended.  I’ve used the Golden Spiral to show that it resolves to a point just near the base of the large column with the ball on top.  Taking a map or aerial perspective, that puts us right around the spot off the southeast corner of the Pioneer monument.  Holding the image up and looking north you’ll see that the Sam Houston statue fits the position of the camel on column in the image except he (Sam) is facing to the right whereas the camel is facing left.  This is a curious situation.  We’ve just traveled south and not necessarily made our trek all the way to the 982 and we have a possible match to the image but in the perspective the heads are facing left.  We can, however, find a perspective that fits Sam to the camel if we double back.
In the center of four alike
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
Sam Houston statue in the center of a circle has(had) four trees in a square around him.  Hermann Circle has three main offshoots (three winged?).  Passing through and to the north side of the statue we find he again fits the perspective when we look back south from a small area where Fannin splits into San Jacinto.
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Looking for a minutest event…a small indication of something, like a leaf indicates a tree, a road sign indicating a road, a date engraved on a stone, there was once a short utility post in the middle of the Fannin split…
Falls gently
In December night
This cries snowflake to me, but it could be something else.  Falling gently
to sleep
?  In December night
use a heater and a light
?
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout!
A whistle sounds.
Further confirmation that we are in the right spot if we see a spout of some sort.  I say it’s the Mecom Fountain.  Don’t really know what the whistle could be unless its an intersection, like how a Police officer would direct traffic.

I really like a lot of your thoughts. They mirror a lot of what I was looking at before I ended up in the CZ.
Two issues – the rectangular pond and the tracks are both radically different to day than in 1982.
That whole are you are referring to was dug up in construction and if the casque was there, it’s probably not any more.
wilhouse

Let’s take a closer look.  Excuse the large image uploads, going for the best detail I could find available.
Comparing 1981 with 2002 aerials, I didn’t think there was a rail system installed prior to 1984, yet looking closely you can make out the rails on Fannin (see yellow arrow).  There are just TWO trees on what I call the “Fannin Split” in 1981, still in place in 2002 (see yellow circle).
As for the large reflecting pool, it’s obviously under construction in 2002 and has been done several times over past decades of improvements.  The Pioneer Memorial looks like it was relocated south about 50-60 feet.  The mini-rail tracks seem to have been moved north by the same margin.  Neither change affects my interpretation much since this is just the location where the Golden Spiral resolves and is only a very rough indicator of where to stand in order to find a perspective which might resemble something in the image.
Surely you’ve passed on most of my more imaginative correlations (blimps, BSG, etc..) but how about that Jung School idea?  I’m really enthusiastic about that more down to earth idea.  See how several very good connections are within grasp from the vicinity of Montrose and Bissonet.

I always enjoyed your more imaginative quests.
This is more down to earth for sure. I am a little nervous digging out in the open there though…
wihouse

the blueprints are in seattle. the zoo has hired a firm to do the geotechnical and layout work, and they sent them the blueprints. I’m trying to get a copy of them.
as for the timetable, the official word is next summer for beginning the demo. however, they need $20MM and have only raised about $2MM. you know how it goes.
Preiss told me to dig there after I showed him my photo of the zoo area with image 8 superimposed on it. He told me it in two different emails. It’s the right place.  Unforturnately, there’s lots of square footage, and it’s hard as rock.  I’ll get it…
wilhouse

Wilhouse,
Is that the image that you previously posted with the two photos combined together and the Image 8 elements superimposed on top?

erexere, we know you like the key as a solution, but you’ll never be able to dig anywhere around there.
wilhouse

I agree. I believe that casque is unrecoverable based on the regrading of the hill during the major overhaul.
The verse still holds much mystery. Fortress north is still very puzzling to me.

Hi folks, the Oliver Twist in connection with a whistle idea doesnt really sit well.
Moving on to something that does sit well, consider words ending in -ward like forward, downward, skyward, homeward, etc.  These words utilize -ward to say “-in the direction of” front, down, sky, home, etc.  Can we then consider the example of WOODWARD to be “in the direction of wood?”  If so, does that equate with “through the wood”?  The name Woodward appears on the plaque at the base of the Atropos Key sculpture in front of the Miller Outdoor Theater.  Looking hrough the center of the sculpture’s diamond squared cutout we can see the apex of the Theater from a distant position near trees at the base of the hill.  I’m fairly certain of this alignment from photographs online.  Does “no lion fears” equate with “no APEX PREDATOR fears” which equates with “fear no predator but see apex”?

I like Woodward
wilhouse

saw this looking at Gimgs for zoo, on the left looks, ( Small, split,Three winged and slight )
on the right looks like the leaves of the tree in img,just throwing it out there
Small, split,
Three winged and slight

can you tell exactly where this is?
wilhouse

Dave, do you have a full view of the 1980 map of Herman Park that you have on the Facebook page? The one I am referring to is the two maps side by side posted on Sept. 29th, one current (2015) and the other labeled 1980. I would very much like to see that map in it entirety if possible to answer some questions I have.
Also, I have requested to be added to the Facebook page when you get a chance. Thanks.

I realize this may be a lost cause, but…
I may also have found the meaning of “small, split 3-winged and slight”.
There is a tree, grows in Australia, called Nuytsia Floribunda. It’s also known widely as the Australian Christmas Tree because it blooms at Christmastime.
It would be a good tree to put in a zoo for several reasons:
(1) It would be fine in the Houston climate, warm and moist–this tree grows well in the same sort of conditions in Australia.
(2) It would be visually interesting in the winter, a time when most foliage is not.
(3) It would be a colorful bloomer–the flowers, which are prolific, cover the tree in bright clusters of yellow-orange
(4) AND THIS IS THE BEST PART!!  It is SMALL–it’s a parasitic tree that grows in the clefts of branches of other trees–
the flowers are SPLIT–pictures are available on line–
and the fruit is THREE-WINGED and SLIGHT.
Anyone seeing this tree would be able to see these characteristics very well–at a single glance–and the tree would indeed be an attention-grabber. This tree is a native of Australia–where were the Kangaroos kept in the zoo? Or the wombats? Or Koalas?  THere may have been a place where four of these trees (Four Alike!) were shown, or grown, or kept–and they may have been kept near the Australian animal exhibit. This could pinpoint the site where the casque was buried.
I know there is almost no chance of getting this casque back, but it would be nice to know if there actually were any of these trees on display at the zoo and if they were near the animals mentioned. And just for the record, this is not an “obscure” tree–it’s very WELL known in Australia. This is a very real possibility.

This may be a bit of a stretch, but what if these four things are really far apart?  Maybe the place where we have to dig IS small split three winged and slight!  Yo wilhouse wanna check?
I always thought that the four things were small split three winged and slight.  but it could be what the dig site looks like.
Maybe they are trees?  or maybe the trees are the same (birches
) like four oaks, which would make them alike, they could be small forked trees (small, split), but three winged and slight, maybe the three wings are very short or small (slight)
I have a very good feeling about this theory.

AND I AM ASSUMING THAT THE TRAIN WITH THE NUMBER 982 IS VISIBLE FROM THE CASQUE SITE.  THAT WOULD EXPLAIN THE “THERE’S THE SPOUT! A WHISTLE SOUNDS” (WHOO WHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
WHAT WE TAKE TO BE OUR STRONGEST TOWER OF DELIGHT FALLS GENTLY IN DECEMBER NIGHT,  MAYBE THIS IS AN INSCRIPTION ON A PLAQUE IN THE PARK.  OR AT LEAST PART OF IT.
I THINK WE WILL FIND THIS ONE NOW.
LET’S GO WILHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seems to me the BSG theory is workable when we need to pick our way south to the Childrens Zoo entrance in order to recognize the viper helmet similarity to the lionhead fountain and then realize the place that fits three winged and slight is back north, the Hermann Loop shape that fits the viper spaceship.

Real quick, anyone have something that would connect to the idea of a rainbow as veering water?

erexere

Real quick, anyone have something that would connect to the idea of a rainbow as veering water?

rainbow = promise that the earth will never again be completely covered by water…. ??

erexere

Im getting a Jethro Tull vibe here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D4xeRIn … ata_player
Got book.  Smaller than I expected
.

i think thats why some think,maybe you only needed a magnifying glass to see
what you need to see,and the verse to find the casque,and pgs 34 & 47 states
that all you need is the verse and the img,and some digging is the task,to find
the treasure

I really like it so far.  All the fair folk stuff is great.

Generally, no. For the purposes of this puzzle, probably. But aren’t we already saying world sounds like whirled?

Glossiphoniidae

Generally, no. For the purposes of this puzzle, probably. But aren’t we already saying world sounds like whirled?

The idea I’m looking at concerns what hints to the final locating method might lie in each puzzle.  For Houston I believe a line-motif is used similar to using a sight and crosshair projection in a straight line.  Perhaps Milwaukee is best described as a turn-motif.  I don’t know how to elaborate on that one yet, but I’m closing in on something soon.
Thanks for answering.

Imagine looking at this for the first time…
Fortress north
The most northerly fortress is Superman’s
Fortress of Solitude
in the Arctic, with its giant key.
We’re looking for a key. The picture shows a man floating, or flying.
Cold as glass
Ice is cold, and “as glass” (like glass). The Fortress of Solitude is made of ice.
The strongest tower of our delight
Falls gently in December night
Snow falls gently in December night. Snow is ice.
The “strongest tower” reminds me of the “fortress”. Why might the Fortress of Solitude be a tower of “delight”…?
Dunno…the quote on the fountain plaque is by Wordsworth, which reminds me of the “bliss of solitude” from his most famous poem. Bit of a stretch though. But maybe we’ve overlooked some icy clue.

find a casque

I have that issue!
wilhouse

I have similar issues…just put a lock on the bedroom door to keep the kids out.
So, where would you feel like you are a ‘Superman’?  Is Sam Houston super?  Dowling?  Something in a “red cape?”
No, I got it, its “solid dude” = solitude.  The statue of S. Man.  A dude is an eastern man in a western ranch setting.  Sam Houston was from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  His statue is solid.  I think every bit of focus is on him.

I think wilhouse nailed both the “fortress” and the cold “glass”.  Let’s once again not look to the bizarre and think in more simple terms.  What is cold and looks like glass?  Seems pretty obvious to me.  Ice.  The building itself doesnt have to be cold….nor do it’s glass windows……It is just that it looks like ice cubes and ice cubes are cold.

c’mon guys, it’s possible! the next line says “looking back”………doesn’t that make you think of the old year, old friends?
wilhouse???

Too depressed to respond, slaps. It’s just heartbreaking that the CZ has been leveled. Now we’ll never know.

shecrab

So, accordiing to a couple people, this location was confirmed by BP. Why, then, was the casque not found? And why wasn’t the Wiki updated with the confirmation?
Just curious.

LOL.  I guess I’m the best one to answer this.
Since we can’t pinpoint the center of 4 alike, there’s probably 300-500 sq feet of open space that the casque could be.
If you read back, you’ll see I even got a backhoe and dug around the area!!
Now the CZ is flattened.  The zoo is turning it into a wildlife area.
It isn’t because I didn’t try, that’s for sure.  The ground there was hard as rock in summer and muck in the winter.
Why isn’t the wiki updated? Cause I’m lazy.
wilhouse

Although BP confirmed Houston, did he confirm that this is the verse for Houston?

the number 982 has to be it.  the train.  i’m pretty sure he confirmed it being in the zoo…  besides the quote definitely confirms it.
-regulus

Correctomundo reg.  i suppose you could discount the 982, but there is no way around the quote from herman

Thanks, Wilhouse. I wondered why it wasn’t found. I guess it just has to be extremely precise sometimes. I didn’t feel the chicago solution was precise at all, so maybe I was expecting the rest to be like that. Also, reading through the back posts, it isn’t really clear. I looked at the pictures, the backhoe etc….good effort anyway. I suppose then there are 3 that we are certain of–this one, and Cleveland, and Chicago.

i haven’t finished rereading all this, just wanted to throw this out there
there’s a bust of robert burns in the sculpture garden he’s the guy that wrote “Auld Lang Syne”, that we sing on New Year’s eve, december 31st…..december night
doesn’t look like anything in the picture
http://flickr.com/photos/focalplane/387 … 532905619/
but maybe if you look back from it you’d see the fountain…
another thought…step across…. a cross…railroad crossing X sign….

I stand corrected. I programmed on a PDP 11/45, but we used Fortran and Basic. We also used APL.  Small C was very specific and clearly not well known. I doubt if Preiss could be referring to it.  Small C generated compiler code which would only be used by programmers, not general users.
wilhouse

I’ve of course thought about this a lot, especially while standing in the CZ.
IMO, the best fit to this is the little cinder block statues that used to be in the CZ and can be seen in the pictures. I can only find three of them in the photos, but there’s more there.  They are alike, some look like they have wings, some are “fat” some “slight” or thin.
Otherwise, I don’t know. All we can do it look at the old photos and try to guess.
wilhouse

For any of you who are still following along, I want to bounce a theory off you. Egbert, especially you.
The book says that the casque is not buried in a planter.  I have problems with defining what a planter is.  I have to believe that BP wouldn’t want his treasure seekers digging up flower beds and bushes.  Almost all of the dirt areas in the CZ were flower beds. My mistake has been looking at it the way it is now, not the way it was. I contacted John D., the old CZ director and he confirmed that only 3 areas were not beds.  All three areas were grassy areas.  To find dirt only areas I have to go behind some buildings outside of the CZ where I haven’t really looked before.
Do any of you think that BP would bury these casques in a grassy area, where we would have to dig up the grass? Keep in mind that when he buried them, he’d have to disturb the grass. I’m not sure how long it was between burying and publication, but it is possible that he didn’t want to bury it in grass which is easy to see if it was disturbed.
If I eliminate all flower beds and all grass areas, I need to find other places to dig. That doesn’t leave much.  WHICH IS GOOD!!
wilhouse

Wilhouse,
I think the Chicago casque was buried in a grassy area.

Unknown

Unknown:
so they named them Two, Eight & Nine accordingly.

So then is it possible the train is not 982
but the flamingo enclosure is 982
nine eight and two the flamingo’s
So it would change around the route of the path
start at the flamingos and then
look for the wood no lion fears….
It would actually set the whole walking path in the CZ wouldn’t it?
Did I miss reading about these flamingos before (I don’t recall them)

I looked at those shots from loph and it seems that the grass in that area was kind of spotty, but I agree with you.
wilhouse

You didn’t miss it because it was not written.
Be wary of the sly fox.
Note his “long long ago” phrasing.
wilhouse

Egbert

I think this has GOT to be a play on words, like a pun.  There is probably a word or phrase with “wood” in the name, that for some reason no lion fears it.

Zebrawood?  Any of that around the zoo?  Or, how about:  “You’ll have NO LION FEARS because they’re all in cages”?
Hey catherwood, do lions fear you or not? 🙂

on the museum website (101 things to do) I noticed two things:
there are statues in the park of animals.  animals!! perhaps a rhino and a camel.
there is a snow cone machine near the miniature trains.  snow (cones) falls gently??
johann, I have been to the museums many times. yes, there is a big granite ball there similar to the one in the picture 8.  all the museums there are huge glass buildings.
there is big church just north of the park.  it is an old style cathedral type church. It looks like a fortress, with parapets and towers.
this is what I found in the tree on pic 8:
In the tree, on the left side, there looks like a number 8.  In the tree, there is clearly a 95.  in the right side, there looks like a 9 and maybe a 6 (96) or 9E.  at the top of the tree, there is a space that looks like an N or S or Z or 2.  Or maybe I am just seeing things.
boy is this fun.  If this is wrong I am going to be so sad.
wilhouse

Unknown

Unknown:
Take your task
To the number
Nine eight two
– train
Through the wood

could this be another instance where we are “reading” these lines how BP wants them read?  In reading, it seems only logical that “To the number” & “982” go together but what if they dont?  Is there another prominant
number
around somewhere?  Maybe we are to take our task to a different number (not 982) and go from there.  I have only seen limited pics of infamous eng 982….but, do the tracks it is sitting on extend out of site?….perhaps into a stand of trees?  Thinking just maybe “982” goes with “Through the wood” if the tracks extend.
Just tossing out more thoughts.

Fox, keep tossing thoughts, they are welcome.
The 982 train sits upon tracks.  That is the complete extent of the tracks.  They start and stop with the train.
I will look for other numbers, as suggested.
wilhouse

Thank you tanban, these are fascinating! You can find more Youtube videos by searching for Houston Zoo as well, some from the 1970s and 1980s. Everyone interested in the Houston casque should watch some of these to get a feel for what the place was like.
This is a frame from a 1986 video:

Yes, but the problem is the path is not finished. It could take you by the fountain. I just don’t know where to continue to.
But I agree that the spout is more probably the return pipe from the aqua tunnel. I confirmed today that you could see it from any part of the CZ as long as you weren’t behind a building.
wilhouse

where were the llamas kept?

I spent another 3 hours today digging in the zoo. I had some thoughts about trying to dig around the concession stand, the “tower of delight” that sells snow cones.
There were several dirt area to dig, but the ground is hard as a rock and full of roots.  I tried using a poker and dug as well as I could, without success.
It’s time to take another approach and use technology to solve this problem.  More on that if what I want to do works out.
Take a look at some shots here.
http://share-dell.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeEMmbdmzaNmFH
In the image 8 thread, I left a note about my opinion that the stitching in image 8 leading up to the djinn spout could be the steps leading to the spout in the zoo area.  It’s the same number of steps / stitches.
wilhouse

I think that you have a valid question, and I have talked about it with both the current zoo director and the 1980’s children’s zoo curator.
The Children’s Zoo (which we all call the CZ) is at the southern part of the houston zoo.  It has it’s own entrance, and it, along with the whole zoo, was free in 1982.
The CZ was not patrolled at night, and closed as late as 8pm.  It is right off the street.  Preiss could have easily thrown a shovel over the fence in the bushes, come around to the entrance, waited till dark, got the shovel and buried this thing without anyone being around, near or close to him.
Plus, as we’ve seen, there was only lights around the buildings, and none in the center area.  So it’d be dark there.
And actually, there was so much construction going on in the area, the curator thinks he could have walked right into the CZ with a shovel and not one person would have questioned him at all.
No, the CZ curator absolutely believes it would have been easy to bury this in the CZ in 1980’s without being seen.
wilhouse

take a look at this. the date on the slide is dec 1978.
for some reason it won’t post, I’m sending it to FB to post for me.
wilhouse

I want to make a few comments to FB’s great posts on this verse.  I do not want to blunt the thought process or good converstations, so unless I have facts to add, I’ll leave out conflicting thoughts.
Fortress north / Cold as glass
The Glassell art studio is made of tiles, which look like ice.  There is a church across the street which looks like a fortress. I believe these clues were to help lead you to the zoo area, once you decoded the lat / long to determine you were in Houston.
Friendship south
John Donahoe, the children’s zoo director for many years, said that he drove on the street south of the zoo every day going to work, and there was a sign right by that wooded area, for years, that said “Friendship Woods”. That would be just south of the CZ.  The sign is no longer there, so it is anecdotal evidence only.
No one could ever confirm the llamas named Pierre and snowflake.  Sometimes I think that’s just wishful thinking.  The data base of animal names (yes there is one) doesn’t go back that far, so I am depending on 30 year old memory of the administrators.
Let me posit one thing:
Some clues lead you directly to the casque (hop up 7 steps and dig, etc.), some do not.  Some images are representations of the general area, not the specific area.  What if some images are actual maps of the dig site, and the image has the clue you need for the final location, not the verse?  If so, then I should find the casque right next to a pole.  This is where I plan to dig more aggressively in the next few weeks, with some help.
Thanks to FB for posting the pics.
wilhouse

From wilhouse:
Here’s a couple of shots of Glassell.  Note how the tiles look like ice:
Here’s a shot of the church, across the street from Glassell. Note how it looks like a fortress:
I believe these are landmarks to steer you in the direction of the zoo.

wilhouse – I’m completely sold. Thank you for the pictures and the clarifications.

great work. thank you for the pictures.  🙂

I am going to post this under V1, though I could easily post it under P8, and perhaps I will make a note on it there.
Today, we took our second trip to the Hermann Park Zoo.  This post will summarize both visits.  We met the Zoo Director, an extremely nice fellow who finds our quest amazing and amusing. A general link to the files of the pictures I took is here:  http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/armchair_treasure_hunting/files/Hermann%20Park%20Zoo/
I wanted to rule out the zoo as a possible site.  First I was given a 1975 map of the zoo that the Director says was about the same in 1982.  The map is called Map1975.jpg
in the link above.  If the camels and rhinos were, in 1982, where they are in 1975, they are in the same perspective as in P8.
I worked on an interpretation of this verse that would fit the zoo: “small of scale, step across” could mean enter into the Children’s Zoo, which is located at the south end of the zoo.
“In the center of 4 alike” – if you look at the map, in the children’s zoo, there are 4 compounds, North (F) and South (H) America, Africa (A) and Asia (B). The SA compoud had 3 pictures of birds on it, pictures 50 and 51.  There was a statue of an elf at the location directly north of the big round circle near the south entrance (the auditorium), which was a fountain (see pictures 44 and 49).  It was filled in later but in 1982 it was all water.  The fountain was relocated to the central water way in the late 80’s.
In the center of the 4 compounds was a circular area, with two dirt holes, and 3 locations where large boulders are / were (picture forty eight).
I was allowed to dig in the circle.  I dug about 2 feet deep and hit a thick layer of pebbles, probably backfill.  I was not able to dig through the pebbles with the small hand shovel I had.
Picture 30. 35 and 37 show a column I found in the children’s zoo.  I tried to post a smaller image here, but for some reason the yahoo groups server won’t display it. If someone can get it displayed feel free to post it (image “39small”)
The children’s zoo is closed off and is slated to be demolished. The Director has been kind and allowed me to search in it, but I have to be accompanied.  I can probably convince him to let me in again, but I’ll have to have a good reason.
In 1982, the zoo was free and open till 8pm.  There were exits on both sides of the zoo, so you could go in the south entrance and no one would see you.
I thought this was a good place to check because: 1) the small of scale worked here, 2) there is a water tunnel in which you look at fish underground and the fish are in tanks all around you, including above you 3) the 4 alike could be the compounds, 4) the spout could be the elf fountain 5) there is an asia compound, and P8 has an Arabian theme.
Please take a look at the map and photos and let me know if you have any other ideas.  I am just plum out of them.
wilhouse

erexere

small, split,
Back?  Small of the back.  A halfback; half = halved or split.
Miller Hill.  Front = side facing theater stage.  Back = location of casque.
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout! = an oration on stage
A whistle sounds. = alternative to clapping or cheering, a whistle might be used to as an alternate form of applause.

Thank you Eric, for always reminding me of this funny clip.  (PG-13 language alert.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lflRbv3HA0E

I haven’t watched SP for years.  I would be caught up if it wasn’t for this treasure hunt.

yes and no.  some of the animals stayed in the enclosures, some did not.  However, regardless of whether they did or not, there’s no way it’s in the enclosures.
Zoos use special fill instead of dirt in animal pens. If they used regular dirt, the animals would dig ruts in the area and even escape.  The fill they use is pliable like dirt, but is like asphalt.  You can’t dig through it.
More than you wanted to know about zoo’s huh?
wilhouse

Hey man, whatever works!
That makes me think, though, that what would be really helpful is a large, detailed, and accurate ground map of the CZ so that you could mark off places that are definitely wrong. Do any 70’s-era blueprints exist? They would make the search a little more systematic, I think.
I’m currently going through the messages on this thread with a fine-toothed comb (about half-way through now) and saving local copies of the most informative pictures so I can review them at leisure. I have a pretty good mental picture of what the zoo looked like 20-odd years ago now, thanks to everyone’s diligence. I think I’m the only armchair treasure-hunter on this list; the rest of you are the real thing, out there with shovels and post-hole diggers, etc. Wouldn’t it be great if the jewels were worth more than a plane ticket?

I’ve been looking for blueprints. They exist somewhere, but no one knows where.  The blueprints would show where the cinderblock guys were too.
At this point, the treasure casque is the real valuable item to me.
wilhouse

After noting TexWriter’s marvelous find that the quote from Pierre precedes a reference to the Fates, there’s little doubt the Atropos Key is a focal point of the puzzle. It may be a crumb along a trail or the absolute center of the puzzle. We cant be certain, but I feel the most remarkable situation presents itself if you consider the plaque on the statue has the mame WOODWARD and through through the center of FOUR EXACTLY EQUAL LENGTH SIDES the apex of the theater may be aligned. The line “through the wood” being the equivalent of “in the direction of wood” or “woodward” similar to words like “homeward” or “westward”, etc. This also plays nicely on the words “no lion fears” if anyone looks to the common description of a lion as an APEX predator. This is to say “no predator fears” = apex.
Astounding to me is how useful this information can be in solving the other puzzles and yet it seems to be a silent or marginal topic around here.

TexWriter

As for my visit, I think I have ruled out my areas of interest numbers 2 through 5. There is just nothing there that points to “In the center of four alike …” that I could see. I also found the line of intersection of the peak of the Miller Theater through the Atropos Key strikes the ground still on the hill.

TexWriter, I enjoyed your photo album, thanks. Is it okay that I cropped your photo to help illustrate my idea? I think the idea is to have the pointy peak dead center to the diamond pattern. There’s no arguing that the center of four alike could refer to a square OR a diamond. Both have equal length sides. I had a problem perceiving this visually, so I’ve taken four lines measured off a square’s edge and built a diamond from those lines to help. Tricky eh?
Anyway, I agree with you that the casque was likely destroyed.

MrSeabass

You seriously need to resize the photos on your webpage. I gave up after waiting 5 minutes for it to load.

That’s good advice. On a related note, I recall a couple occasions where people strongly dislike it when people post images or lengthy source material here at Q4T, because they also cause frustration while loading or things look better as clickable links. I occasionaly adhere to such etiquette, but I think it’s unreasonable to link every little thing. It doesn’t take that long to load a 400-800px wide image and should fit most screens.
Here’s my take on “Three winged and slight”. I think it’s jst a reference to the Fates, three sisters who share in tending the threads, each doing a different part. It’s no different than how one might describe our division of Government into three branches, judicial, executive, and legislative, since the word “wing” in that sense is a synonym of the word “branch”.

Site is redone. Enjoy.

Last line analysis:
A whistle sounds = pitch
The Atropos Key looks like a baseball pitcher on the mound. Home plate is the base of the giant light pole just a bit farther past TexWriter’s colorful keys.

We were close on this one. Where I think the forum got off track on this one was going into the zoo and staying there. I probably would of too; it is a huge zoo and probably contains a good amount of tempting features.
Fortress north
Cold as glass
As I believe was already found here, Houston Museum of Natural Science and Cockrell Butterfly Center.
Friendship south
Texas Medical Center is south of the park; I believe the first three lines are bracketing the park. This wide perspective makes continues more later in the verse when we step outside the park briefly.
Take your task
To the number
Nine eight two
The once present 982 locomotive you guys found.
Through the wood
This is an image that aerial photos don’t do justice. While looking from ground level this is more perceptible.
No lion fears
Pass the zoo and continue south.
In the sky the water veers
I like this one. “In the sky”; I kept trying to understand what was meant by this line. At one point I decided to broaden my search, so I zoomed out on Live Search Maps and scanned the whole park. Since this “travel” verse had a southward direction I worked toward the south side of the park. And then I caught on the edge of my screen the “water”. Sure enough there was some pretty good veering going on. It wasn’t the water that was supposed to be in the sky, it was us! From the sky looking down it was it was Brays Bayou that was doing the veering. But I was thinking “Why put another general area park clue in the verse after we already have two huge landmarks with Houston Museum of Natural Science and Texas Medical Center. This made more sense later when I found the final spot at the very southern edge of the park (the closest to Brays Bayou). Here is a wide aerial picture of the area.
Small of scale
The rest of the verse is zeroing in on the final spot. This is the Major Richard Dowling Monument (our final spot). Compared to the huge Pioneer Monument up north in the park this is certainly “small of scale”
Step across
This is the first time we have to leave the grass of the park for a little. Step across in the street you have to get across to the monument in the center strip.
Perspective should not be lost
“Perspective” can be the key word here. We have two perspectives already in the verse. One perspective is from ground level, the other is from the sky. And we are told not to lose that perspective. We are to apply that perspective to the next three lines.
In the center of four alike
This is the Pioneer Monument we passed earlier. As most of you know, it is centered in the middle of four identical fountains. This may be our ground perspective.
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
These two lines are the object we are comparing to the Pioneer Monument. We need to switch to the sky perspective. Looking down on the Dowling Monument area we can a similarity to the Pioneer Monument. In addition we have the matches of the islands being “split” by the roads, a quantity of “three” and slender (“slight”). Perspective could also simply mean big monument and small monument. Both work, your pick.
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
In December night
This is a final spot reference. Simply, the Major Dowling Monument is our treasure location. The last two of the four lines is a reference to the color of the monument; snow should be our solution for “Falls gently In December night” and the color of the monument is white.
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout!
A whistle sounds.
We need a side of the monument to dig on. These lines point to the side toward a fountain and a train. I am guessing the northeast side is the dig spot. Any thoughts on which side? I think that’s about all Turtle and we have on Verse 1.

The Pioneer monument was moved to its current location in 2003. Prior to that, it would have been elsewhere.

how do we know that it is there?  and BTW what is the cz?

regulus

how do we know that it is there?  and BTW what is the cz?

Reg-
CZ is City Zoo (the name of the zoo in Herrmann park Houston)
The lower photo shows a ‘totem pole’ that matches up identically to
the pole in the image with the rhino top.
The pole in the image with the globe top matches up with the light posts of the
top photo.
While these poles in the zoo were not unique, it does inidcate that if you find the
correct ones, you can orientate yourself to the burial spot.
Wilhouse can speak more on this from his personal surveys.

small, split, three-winged and slight
could refer to the purple hopseed bush (dodonaea viscosa purpurea) which does grow all over the south and southwest.
Its leaves and seeds are as described. Perhaps there is a place these bushes were planted at your zoo.
ck

i saw this on a website about Hermann Park,
“Stand at the dock of McGovern Lake plaza and get sprayed by the geyser. “
That might be the spout or the water that veers in the sky. I’m also from Houston and checked out the 982 train recently but couldn’t find anything else around it resembling the verse. This is going to be a tough one to crack because there have been many improvements and new constructions made to the park in the last 10 years. If i had to guess i’d say its somewhere between McGovern Lake and the Japanese Garden, but i think i read they expanded McGovern Lake fairly recently.
If only i had known about this book when i moved to Houston in ’82!

Unknown

Unknown:
Many of the myths of ancient Greece sound like they were written for Hollywood. There’s beauty, mystery, and treachery, with enough nasty monsters to occupy passels of computer animators. One of the nastiest is Cetus, the sea monster, which crawls across the southern sky on December evenings.

I’m beginning to wonder if “the whale” constellation aka Cetus, the sea monster, is partly involved in this Melvillian puzzle.

I’m off for Herman Park. It’s a glorious day in Houston.
I’ll post any pictures I take later.
wilhouse
as a post script – no luck.  I was there for 4 hours and could not find any columns that resemble the ones in the book. I could not find any 4 alike that made sense.  And for some reason, the Friendship Pavillion, which is supposed to be in the park, is no where to be found. No one who works there has even heard of it.
I have to think a bit and I’ll post the shots I took.

Unknown

Unknown:
-The 4 shaded in green figures are the only thing close to something looking 4 alike from the design. Although they may not look from my rendition, they are pretty evenly spaced out in the shape of a diamond and roughly the same size (I think they were trees).

SoonerFan, if those trees were the 4 alike, then the treasure is under the train, where it is now. But that wouldn’t follow the part regarding “through the wood no lion fears”.
check out image 58 that I posted for a potential “fortress north, cold as glass.  It would be almost directly north of the Houston Garden Center where the Friendship Pavilion was located.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/arm … k/wilhouse

that’s NOT small!! and remeber, we need in the center, which means they can’t be one thing, or you need three of them
wilhouse

They come in different sizes.
The long skinny seed pod that dangles from the tree are small and split.
Considering a leaf to be a wing isn’t that bad of an idea.  Three leaves that sprout from the same branch point is called a whorl.   The verse doesnt say “small wing”.  We cant assume multiple lines fit the same context since we don’t have enough evidence to support either case.
Actually, just forget about the tree identification stuff.  This feels too complicated.
We know the Sam Houston statue stands/stood in the center of a circle with four trees in a square.  We know the 982 is/was a big steam locomotive and centerpiece to the park.  Overall, we have a smattering of tourist attractions, sculptures, and landmarks.  Asking how any of these could give us a sense for a location is how we might work this.
I’ve been thinking more on the “take your task” line and the line about 3 wings.  I was thinking of how a big task could be split up into smaller more manageable steps.  For instance, a large work force could be employed to build something and the three separate tasks might be required.  This work force could operate in three subgroups, divisions or wings to manage each of the tasks.  Task organizations commonly use these terms.
Now consider the mythological task of managing our fate.  Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos each performed their portion of a larger task.  They, the Fates, were an organization of three wings.  The line is “Three winged and slight”.  I’ve been all over the map on the meaning of ‘slight’, but one of the most common uses of the term is to describe skinniness.  I’ve tried to work this out as a reference to a ‘skeleton’, since obviously that is as skinny as it gets when we’re talking about a person.  The Atropos Key sculpture DOES have a skeletal form within it’s hollow center.  It does represent something of a three winged organization.  It stands across a step, “step across,” and it even has a small scale representation of the large angled roof lines of the Miller Outdoor Theater,
“small, split,” I realize doesn’t have to mean split just once, it could be split in many ways like a pizza, split in 8 or 12 slices.  Judging the overall shape of the Atropos Key, I realize it has a large pear shape with a wide middle, with a small skeletal center and circular heart, and it has a relatively smallish diamond cut-out for a head with many off-shoot rays like a star or a sun forming its crown.  Could this be the small, split?

One problem with
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
being a catalpa tree leaf:

Good try.  That’s 1 of 3 on a whorl.  I did my research.   Cant rule it out yet.  Right now I’m into considering for various reasons the southern catalpa which produces the skinny beans that split and stay on the tree in winter, the fineal acorn producing oak tree, and the spiraling samara producing sycamore maple.
Rookhunter and wilhouse are both right about lots of renovations in the park…itll be a miracle if this casque hasnt been lost ffor good.
Just had another idea.  I think we’ve overlooked the context of ‘fortress north’ by expecting a building.  Its about seeing the implied fortress in recognizing the Portable Trojan Bear.  The trojan horse was exactly about breaching the impenatrable fortress.  If this makes sense then we should also consider the methodology for making more such creative adjustments to locate signifucant sculptures.
The Portable Trojan Bear establishes the north boundary of this puzzle.  The 982 establishes the south boundary.

I’ve been having new thoughts on this relating to Christmas.  I’m envisioning a toy train being gifted by Santa.  Falling gently / In December night, might apply to this gift as Santa lands softly on a rooftop and then proceeds down a chimney.
It could be there is a large portion of verse lines directing our attention to sky, roof, and train.  The lion and wood still puzzle me.  Some things I read about while considering the anatomy of a steam locomotive: funnel/chimney/smokestack all the same thing, sand dome, steam dome, and saddle.
Looking at image 8:
The sandy background might account for something literal, 1) look for a sandy connection, 2) look for a hill.
The camel and rhino elements might be referring to humps.  The domes on a train are like humps.  Both train and camel may have saddles.  The saddle on a train acts as a water reservoir, so maybe its more like the camels hump despite the name saddle.
The genie’s lower half is similar to a water funnel or spout.
The lion is a man eater.  The train carries man inside its cars/bellies.
Melville could still be kicking around a whale reference.

Fortress north
trojan bear sculpture is clue
Cold as glass
metal
Friendship south
a gift waits at the doors of an impenetrable wall
Take your task
To the number
Nine eight two
982 Southern Pacific Steam Locomotive
Through the wood
Woodward
,  plaque on Atropos statue.
No lion fears.
lion = apex [predator]
In the sky the water veers
the roof of the Miller Outdoor Theater is an impenetrable wall to rain
Small of scale
dimensions of a large something are represented by a small something
Step across
the step beneath the Atropos Key
Perspective should not be lost
follow a straight line
In the center of four alike
the diamond shape viewport of the Atropos Key
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
Atropos of three sisters of Fate, in charge of cutting the thread
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
last, the signature, a moment of precision
Falls gently
In December night
a snowflake, but in this case, death, as Atropos perorms her task of cutting the thread.  December is the end of the year and metaphor for the end of life.
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout!
view of 982’s funnel
A whistle sounds.
proximity to the miniature train
—
So, no toy train for Christmas idea here.  No whale swallowing either.  Just imagery conveying “hill/hump” and “top/apex”.  Sand andDecember are symbolic of “time running out”.  Think of the hourglass and the December romance.  Camel, rhino head, and genie all convey a one-directional motif.  Preiss liked Indiana Jones.

While not strictly in Verse 1, there is a reference to the Peri in both the Passage to the New World and The Vanishing. I was looking at this old article linked from the Wiki site and this stone wall with the words Perennial Gardens jumped right out at me. With the overgrown vines, it sure looks like PERI.
http://offcite.org/wp-content/uploads/s … _Cite3.pdf

I like the fact that the Friendship Pavillion in Herman park is also visible in the photo

Who is that statue of?

Hello,
Had this book and gave it to a friend. Been looking to find it ever since and now there is a whole site, How Cool!!!
I don’t believe the casque is in the zoo for many reasons…
it’s in the park.
c

Welcome to the hunt!
until a casque is found – one idea is as good as the next –
why do you feel its in the park?

Because it has to be on open ground
Zoo’s in a sense aren’t open.
I live in Chicago now and the last one here from the painting wasn’t quite right but helpful. The verse nailed it down but with some digging (pun intended).
The cleveland find was kinda exact so you have to see the painting as the location and the find from the verse.
c

not ever having been there I can’t say for sure,
but I thought that in 1982 the childrens zoo was unfenced- and open to access it didn’t “close” at night
so the author would have been able to go there as easily as the park.

Look at the Chicago painting. The Water Tower .  it’s in the park but it was a distinct marker but not even near to where the casque was found.
The verse is the direction.  Standing in the park you have to see those elements they describe. Glass museum. The garden. The train.  The fountain. From there you walk and dig.

The casque was in the park.
The Water Tower is downtown a long ways from the site.

Thats true – but we have been figuring there are several symbols/numbers that merely indicate the city. the water tower- the building silouhette in cleveland –
lattitude/longitude numbers – but why does that preclude the zoo from the park especially if the zoo is in the park?
I agree the verses seem to be almost a journey from general to the specific locations but from what Ive read on this board there is a strong indication the verse leads into the childrens zoo, My question was how do you translate the verse so that it leads you elsewhere.

I should also point out that in the cleveland picture there was a wall that was actually within touching distance of the casque and then in the chicago picture there is the outline of the fountain in grant park which is just a short distance from where the casque was located as was also the statue of the archer.

Welcome aboard Christo – any thoughts are good thoughts in this game.
In 1982, the Houston zoo was not a registered Zoological Memeber zoo.  It was free, loosely patrolled, yes, it was fenced and had hours, but you could pretty much come and go as you pleased. It was really an extension of Hermann Park back then. It had a very small budget, and few lights at night. It was open as late as 9pm in the summer.  The children’s zoo was even darker and less patrolled, and had no gates.  Actually, one could sneak in from the back gate and never go through the zoo itself.  You could toss a shovel over the fence, wait till dark, and sneak in without anyone seeing you.
HEY EGBERT – did you ever get an idea of WHEN Preiss buried all the treasures? I remember reading that he did it in a couple days.  When exactly would be a great thing to know.  I assume it was 1982, but maybe not!!
If the casque is in the park itself, and trust me, I have spent hours there looking, then we are probably screwed. The park has been completely rennovated, with new concrete walkways, new paths, new train tracks routing.  But I don’t think it is.  Here’s why:
Every clue in the painting is IN THE ZOO.  The pillars, the animals, the elf, the elf’s hat, the berms.  It is even exactly lined up the way the painting shows.
The verse says to start at the number 982.  If this verse is Houston, the 982 is the train in front of the zoo.  From there, there are only two ways to go – through the park or through the zoo.  The most obvious small of scale to step across in the park are the train tracks. I’ve scoured around where the tracks are and used to be, and there’s no clues whatsoever, even in the verse or the picture, that helps pinpoint where to dig. I could have missed it, for sure.  There are a couple of small bridges in the park and I’ve been across those, but there’s no hints that lead you around to where to dig…they are just mostly out in the open areas.
Yes, fortress north, cold as glass could be the Glassell Museum, but it can’t be seen from any part of the park and is not really even part of the park.  Also, there are several other things it could be – the aquarium, the gorilla area, I don’t know.
The verse does not mention a garden.  However, there does happen to be a Friendship Garden in the children’s zoo.
From the children’s zoo you can see the spout (return pipe or waterfall in aqua tunnel), water veering (aqua tunnel, water forms a “V” over head as it flows past you), there is four alike, it’s across from the hospital so there’s often police routing traffic with their whistles.
The question in the verse is, where is the specific direction to dig?
Until the casque in Houston is found, anyone can be right. All suggestions are helpful. Don’t let my comments deter you, I could certainly be wrong, and will consider your thoughts next time I am out there.  I am only trying to give you my impressions from a first hand knowledge.  Let’s both keep plugging.
Oh, one final thing.  The theme of this image 8 is Araby, Arabia, which is in Asia.  One hump camels are from Asia.  There is an Asia contact area in the CZ.  Don’t know of any Asia related locations in the Park.
wilhouse

Hey! You’ve revealed my secret identity!
wilhouse

How about this?
X Latin America              X Africa
X North America               XAsia
dig here
but where is here?

Too bad… could the sculpture have been moved or is it entirely new?
I noticed something in maltedfalcons second pic. Could the reflection pool be tied to “perspective should not be lost”?
Another thing – the reflection pool on the map resembles the globe column of pic eight.
It says Lake Spur on the map. That sounds a bit like larkspur (probable flower of pic eight) to me.

The reflection pool ended up not being built in that time frame.  Ironically, it was just built this year.  The round circle at the end in reality was a momument and a water area. It is now bricked in.  If that’s the globe representation, there’s no way to dig there anymore.
Interestingly, I don’t think Lake Spur was ever a “signed” name (I dont’ think it had signs that said that.) But even so, that “road” doesn’t exist any more.
The first time I was looking for the casque I started at the train, went through the woods over the track past the pool and ended up at the statue of Sam Houston.  There were 4 trees surrounding the statue. Can a tree be winged? or three winged? I never found anything related to the image in that direction, especially the columns.
wilhouse

for Wilhouse

Ok here is a picture of the CZ:
http://www.hpbinc.org/images/Child%20Zo … terfly.jpg
you can see “4 alike” “winged” (butterflies are “small” and “slight”?).
what is on the ground in the center of the 4 green beams, a dirt area where you can dig, perhaps?
What do you think could this be the right place?

Luker, whew, it took me a while to figure out where that picture was from.
This picture is from the NEW Children’s Zoo, which was finished in 2003.
wilhouse

hey wilhouse.  I cant believe how friendly Mr. Zoo Director has been to you.  I think you should butter him up a little more with maybe dinner or a nice bottle of wine and he will give you the keys to the zoo, any tools you need & his blessings in tearing up his zoo.

Fox, to be perfectly honest with you, all I have done is promise him whatever PR he wants from finding the casque.  He has essentially given me the keys to the zoo (I can come and go any time I please), and dig pretty much where ever I have some thread of assurance that the cask might be.
He wants this thing found as much as I do. When (not if) I find it, I plan to do something nice for him.
wilhouse

No one’s really sure what it means. But if we see the words “four” and “three” in the same 3-line stretch, it’s at least possible that the “three” is part of the “four” just referred to.

I was pondering different ways to parse* the verses today and this occurred to me.
In the center of four alike
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
…could mean, of the 4 things that are alike, one of them is “small and split” and the other three are “winged and slight.” This would solve the troublesome anatomical impossibility of finding a beast with three wings (where would that third wing go? on its back, like a dorsal fin??).
*funny note: I tried to type P-A-R-S-E above but the dirty word filter decided that’s not what I meant!

Why does this have to mean beasts? It might mean plants, paths or even buildings.
Buildings have wings–and they can be “slight” (anything can be slight).
My problem with this part of the verse is that it says “small”
AND
“slight.” Why two different words to mean the same thing for the same objects?

I wish I would have read about this book a long time ago! I live in Houston and love things like this!

erexere

I think its looking grim for that casque ever being found.

… At that location.

I’ve considered this verse for a very long time today.  I have to find out if the play Twelfth Night involves or typically has a flute arrangement of some kind or if a character in the play uses a whistle.  I’ve never seen or read the play, so maybe someone who has might offer an answer to this.
In December night
really seems a simple fit for being another way to put “Twelfth Night”, given that December is the twelfth month.  The line preceding
A whistle sounds
,
There’s the spout!
seems also like a reference to a person on stage using a loud projecting voice or “spouting” the lines of a play.  This supports the Miller Outdoor Theater as the venue for what we would see
Looking back from treasure ground
, and strictly implies that to find the casque we must be facing in the opposite direction from the theater.  This supports my theory that a straight line must be taken from the apex of the theater through the center of the diamond shaped slit in the Atropos Key sculpture to a point projected on the back side of the hill.

Sadly for the method I believe used to locate the casque there’s been some alterations that may affect recovery.  In the mid 90’s the lawn and hill was regraded in some areas, not sure where exactly, and the statue was removed restored and replaced.  I’m hoping that didn’t include redoing its foundation.  It could all be off an inch and that would effect a significant change in a line projection from roof peak to ground. *sigh*  I think its looking grim for that casque ever being found.

Does anything on site have an Arab connection?
“The Ruby out of Araby:
Scarlet of desert sky at dawn.”

Johann, while nothing specifically is arab related per se, as we know Arabia (now known as Saudi Arabia) is considered part of Asia.
Here’s a description for those geography minded:
“On the north, Asia is bounded by the Arctic Ocean; on the east, by the Pacific Ocean; on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the West by Europe, the Black Sea, the Greek Archipelago, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea. “
There is an Asia compound, and a camel pen, see my drawing on page 9.  Camels are typically native to Asia and specifically to the mideast, though they are also in Africa.
Here’s an interesting tidbit on camels:
“The Arabian camels (or Dromedary) have one hump”
So I guess you could say the camel pen is considered Arabian.
wilhouse

or an envelope in a drawer in new york
wilhouse

About the rail line that went along Fannin in 1981, I discovered that was part of an old electric trolley track that connected Downtown Houston to Bellaire via Fannin street to Holcolme Blvd.  Rails were reconstructed for the Metro Light Rail after.  That’s why I can see tracks in the 1981 and earlier aerials.

I have to admit I’m not feeling confident in my overall view of the execution of Preiss’ setup.  The road construction was dramatic even though trees and ground looks the same in areas, there’s the uncertainty that ground was escavated significantly and then refilled and reseeded with grass.  Also, my arbitrary selection of the rectangle used to create a golden spiral doesn’t align with the star, thus the star has become an assumption for a location on the map.  If that is so, then its hard to say what pinpoints the treasure based on what surroundings look like today given all the change with the adoption of light rail.  A new consideration, based on a reset of the spiral so that the rectangle chosen fits exactly the star and the bases of the smaller background columns brings the focus right to the base of the camel column.  That creates a new location for consideration.  I’m working on that now.  Sadly, I don’t feel as strong about the Fannin Split in this new view.
Gotta keep a fresh perspective and open mind.  I was just thinking Pierre:Moby Dick::Anthem:The Fountainhead where Melville and Ayn Rand are concerned.

yeah, remember that Preiss was an author, editor and publisher. He loved words. And he didn’t care that readers might not get the references. There was no internet back then either!
I’d be interested in an analysis that centered on the CZ. I still think it’s in there, but I’m missing the final pieces for the location since things were moved around.
wilhouse

I’m looking at a spot about halfway between the Pioneer Memorial and Miller Outdoor Theater.  Someone with the book in hand will need to spend awhile surveying a 50 foot radius.

I think the exact location of the 982 in 1981 matters.  It was moved a hundred yards or so to the east of its original location and set at an angle.

Remember the lion head fountain at the cz?  Plot that location on a map.  Now consider that the 982 is also a head to a train.  Plot that.  Draw a line to include those points.  See if that intersects the center of my new spiral adjustment.  Is like to do this when I get back home.  Can someone give me a precise location for the lion head fountain?  Is the current remodled lion head the same location as the 1981 version?
I should also consider the aquatic tunnel as a preferable interpretation of the line “in the sky the water veers”.

there’s very few markers between the memorial and the theatre…
yes, the 982 was moved when the zoo expanded. by expanded I also mean added a fence.
wilhouse

Some items is like to fact check:  has the fountain center in McGowan always been known as “Leo the fountain”?
Has Whistlestop been the name of a location since 1981?
I was just thinking “a whistle sounds,” could simply mean “there’s a stop.”. Usually a whistle is a signal to stop.  A stop sign would indicate a roadway or perhaps a spot where a walkway crosses a rail track.

yes – here it is again.
wilhouse

How about this for the Fortress North: Just north of the zoo…First Pres Church, used to be St. Pauls.
wilhouse
https://www.google.com/maps/place/First+Presbyterian+Church+of+Houston/@29.727681,-95.389783,2a,90y,90t/data=!3m5!1e2!3m3!1s34056131!2e1!3e10!4m5!1m2!2m1!1sSt.+Paul+church+on+Bissonet!3m1!1s0x0:0x9e2b2ae3eb4a9614!6m1!1e1?hl=en

Maybe. I think of a fortress as a fortification or area which is impassable requiring someone to “go around”. I like the idea of it being a higher ground and having a wall around it.

There’s a wall around the place. It looks like a fortress.
wilhouse

I found this picture most compelling.  It’s incredibly lucky that this person with the camera had a natural inclination to see this site in the same way as Preiss.  It must’ve been taken from very nearly the exact spot where I believe Preiss buried the casque. See how the apex is centered in the diamond.  This is likely right next to the light tower post at the base of the Miller Hill.

wilhouse

can you tell exactly where this is?
wilhouse

i realized i didnt cut past the whole thing,i think it is at the entrance
http://goo.gl/maps/qQJNn
scroll zoom
http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer … ser=873256
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/21266972

Aaaaaarrrrrggg. (expression of excitement, yet wise patience)  Somebody get this thing!
–Johann

I’m wondering about the word ‘friendship’.  Friend + ship.  Of the many roles onboard a ship, which would best be classified as a friend?  A steward is the best I can come up with.  Anyone have a better answer?  I see the definition as their task of looking after the ships passengers, provisions, supplies and other caretaking duties.
Previously I concluded that the name of the donor of the Atropos Key statue, Woodward, was a possible breakdown of the line “through the wood”.  By he same extremely simplified logic I thought of applying it to the third line,” Friendship south” in coordination with a theory similar to V12, left of where Lincoln sits.  I felt that this line should be most directly with the casque location.  The statue’s artist name is Hannah Stewart.  I’m pretty sure Stewart shares the same etymology as ‘steward’.

Or…
Battlestar Galactica was not actually on TV at the time the Secret was being written; rather, it had been unceremoniously canceled after just two seasons on the air.  HOWEVER, the producer of the series, Glen A. Larson, went on to produce the series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century — which WAS still on the air in April of 1981, well within the time frame that Byron Preiss would have been scouting locations and hiding his casques.
But it gets better.  The design for the fighters in Buck Rogers was actually the *ORIGINAL* design for the Colonial Vipers in Battlestar Galactica, created by Ralph McQuarrie (who, of course, was the original designer of the STAR Wars series — STAR? Like the STAR in the image?!).  You read that right.  The original Viper design was actually “borrowed” from Battlestar Galactica to be used in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century!
So maybe it’s not as straightforward as Byron Preiss wanting us to make the (obvious) Battlestar Galactica connection.  Rather, maybe he’s expecting us to look directly at our TV sets and realize that there’s no way he’d reference a TV show that was out of production for two years at the time, but instead for us to make the clear, but perhaps subtler, connection that the BSG legacy lived on visually as a part of Buck Rogers.
Where does this all lead?  Now Houston is obviously the Space City.  And Buck Rogers was an ASTRONAUT, who was frozen in space for 400 years before being discovered in the 25th century — but presumably, as an astronaut, he must have done his training in HOUSTON.  If that’s not an obvious connection, I don’t know what is.
But maybe more compelling is that the most iconic character from Buck Rogers was the Mel Blanc-voiced Twiki:
Look at his chest.  Does that circle remind you of anything???
I think we’re onto something here; I’m anxious to see what other evidence you all can come up with on this connection.  Very exciting!

I dont see the connection.  I recall watching BSG in its first run before 81.  BP couldve seen it then and not needed to have seen it during his writing.  The connections i’ve worked with might seem too loose for your tastes, i get it, but theres something to be considered if would be weak clues alone become stronger when paired or corroborated within a theme supported framework.
I see a good connection to the illustrations lean towards the historic Apollo columns and the pull of Starbuck from the verse lean on Melvile is as far as im willing to go.  Pulling partials like Buck from that isnt my style.
The 982 as a steam locomotive fits an interesting context with water and snow, if thats allowed as a consideration with the lines about gently falling in December.  H20 in a desert dune setting is interesting.  Im not sure what to make of that yet…what would B.R. say?
Here we go,
Energenie?

.  . which brings us back to the suggestion of contacting JJP.  since wilhouse has the photos and knowledge of this excavation, perhaps he should be our spokesman. at least JJP may let us know that we had the right pairing. he might even explain the clues. lets all decide on this before JJP gets a slew of annoying email from various hunters.

I vote “no.” Why should the fact that a suspected casque site has been destroyed mean we should get new insights into the locations of other casques?

leveled as in completely? so there is no hope? should we contact john jude? at least we will know for sure if our pairing was correct.

leveled flat.  I went by not too long ago and the only thing left was a couple trees.
I’ll try to take some shots next time I’m in the area.
wilhouse

Were you present during the leveling?

wilhouse

leveled flat.  I went by not too long ago and the only thing left was a couple trees.
I’ll try to take some shots next time I’m in the area.
wilhouse

I thought they were suppose to call you to come and dig before they leveled it?

Questions, questions…let me try and answer a couple:
what did they do with all the animals? are they going to have another zoo?
The Children’s Zoo in the Houston Zoo hasn’t had animals in it since the late 90’s.  It was “retired” as a CZ.  The animals are all relocated.
do you know anything about the sculpture garden? where was it in relation to the zoo? and the train tracks? and the fountains?
there is a sculpture garden in Hermann Park, north of the zoo itself. the train tracks run all over Hermann Park. There are many fountains all over the area, the biggest is north of the zoo.
i saw one picture of these kids playing in, it looked like several fountains, and the stone looked like the stone in the picture. do you know the names of those fountains? somehow i lost that picture.
no, but that’d be great info if you can find it. I’d recognize it if you did.
maybe “perspective” meant some distance from the zoo.
they still have the train right? and you know where the old one was located.
if everything is still there but the zoo, there is still hope, right?
the 982 is gone, and it’s previous location was not the location in 1982. That location is actually closer to the zoo than the location before they moved it last year. it is now located at minute maid field where the Astro’s play.
There’s always hope!
please say they didn’t take out the fountains.
and that there is a light post close to robert burns
there has been significant reconstruction at hermann park since 1982.  the original fountain is there, but the lake was significantly increased in size.  if it was near the lake with the giant fountain, then it is gone.
i think burns is in the rose garden, was that part destroyed?
the rose garden is still there
last one:
I thought they were suppose to call you to come and dig before they leveled it?
they did, and I bulldozed, but didn’t find it.  we just ran out of time.
see my two pics below:  one of the CZ with Image 8 superimposed on it; one with the dozer!
wilhouse

Wilhouse-
Looking at that super imposed image again,
“in the center of four alike”  could mean the totem pole as
sen in the image.
“small, split” could be that three in the center of the photo
and if the spout – elf is as you have it super imposed,
your back would be to it if ou dug at that middle tree.
Just saying.