Gift Giver
The Gift Giver is an anonymous Facebook account that occasionally posts hints or "nudges" related to The Secret (treasure hunt). According to George Ward, the account was created in 2021 after two of the hunt’s creators expressed a desire to release hints on an annual basis. Ward reports that two creators agreed to share a single anonymous Facebook login so they could post as needed; one of them made the account’s first post the following day.[1]
Gift Giver Post #1
The first Gift Giver post[2] was posted December 21, 2021, and read as follows:
The Secret's official nudge of 2021.
Not too long ago I was watching a film which featured whirling dervishes.
In the scene the Sufi has one hand pointing to the sky accepting something from God, and one hand pointed to the earth giving something back. For a brief second I was reminded of the Roanoke painting.
The painting seems to involve parallels doesn't it? One side matching the other, but not exactly.
Left hand accepting, right hand releasing.
Why does the right hand have a string with nothing attached?
Why is the left holding a watch?
Should you add something to the right?
Should you remove something from the left?
Is it the reverse?
How would you know? Maybe there are instructions in the painting. Perhaps a plus and minus sign somewhere.
Are you looking at these paintings correctly?
Is anyone?
I don't remember exactly what John and Byron were going for. Maybe you can help fill in the blanks.
Merry Christmas, see you next year.
Gift Giver post #2
The second post[3] was made at the same time Ward was conducting an interview during The Impossible Meetup. This was likely done to show searchers that Ward was not in control of the account.
It was posted Sept. 10, 2022, and reads as follows:
I spoke with Mr. Ward recently about his goal for the 40th anniversary of the Secret. I didn't quite understand why he has been doing all of this. I didn't understand why this year was so special. After speaking to him I found his goal to be admirable, and I thought I would help him reach it. My favorite areas are areas that contain casques buried by my close friend Byron. Here are a list of my favorite areas in no particular order.
San Francisco, California
Charleston, South Carolina
Dare County, North Carolina
Naples, Florida
Chicago, Illinois
St. Augustine, Florida
New Orleans, Louisiana
Houston, Texas
Montreal, Canada
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Boston, Massachusetts
New York, New York
I hear Louisville, Kentucky is nice too.
See you next year.
Analysis: These correspond to the generally accepted cities (with two exceptions), and as such might be interpreted as confirmation of those casque locations. Naples, Florida is where the Cleveland casque currently resides, and Louisville, Kentucky is generally believed to be the location of the Tribute casque.
Gift Giver post #3
The third Gift Giver post[4] was posted on Dec 25th 2022 and reads as follows:
In order for an artist to get a message across the art must have a subject as well as other elements which give that subject context.
For instance, if an artist wanted to illustrate a pea, he could simply paint a green sphere. But how would you know it's a pea and not a simple green circle? Perhaps the artist could add a spoon as context.
Which begs the question. What is the most important part of that message? The subject or the context?
Merry Christmas.
Gift Giver post #4
The fourth Gift Giver post[5] was posted on Dec 23 2023. The text bears strong indications of having been run through ChatGPT or other AI text program, likely to hide the distinct writing style of the author. The post reads as follows:
Happy holidays everyone.
Back in '82, some iconic stuff went down—Thriller dropped, E.T. hit the screens, and the most popular computer was the IBM PC boasting 64k of RAM and a display capability of 16 colors. Photoshop was still 10 years away. Scanners and color printing were all but nonexistent. Want to send an email? Yeah, right.
Now, when it came to crafting the Secret, imagine this: a Polaroid and a fax machine were the high-tech tools of the trade. Byron snapped grainy, out-of-focus pictures of important things, sent them to John, who then sketched them out and faxed them back. It was a game of clear communication, sometimes requiring bold and basic drawings to make sure they were both on the same page.
I'm saying all of this because I am hoping to keep you all grounded. Generally, before Christmas, I log into this account and read some of the posts on these groups. I admire a lot of people's creativity, but I wonder exactly what treasure hunt they are working on.
Is it Byron's or their own?
I see a lot of paintings superimposed over maps, or landmasses, when such things would be impossible when this book was made. If they couldn't envision you ever having the technology to do that, why would they include it in their treasure hunt? I see posts where people are trying to match super up-close details from a photograph of John's paintings to, say, a tree... or a road. Why would John put details that small in his paintings if he never imagined you would ever see the actual paintings? Why would he put something smaller than Byron could see in a fax?
There are things you know about this puzzle. You know about the Chicago fencepost, you know about the terminal tower, you know about home plate. These are all big obvious things.
You know Byron's mind when working on these puzzles because you have seen his hints. You can wax poetic about all the connections you can make to "High posts are three," but because of Byron, you know they are just wooden posts. You know M and B were just composers. You know Octave is a proper noun.
So, here's the deal: what you know is direct, so why assume the rest is so indirect? Especially when Byron and John had no clue you'd ever know any of it. They didn't picture you seeing their work. John never imagined you would see his paintings. Byron never imagined you would see his hints. Yet there they are, simple and direct.
You're going to be very upset when you find out that a bunch of the most overthought lines in the poems are just... a sign.
Now, what you don't know is that the whole treasure hunt, from brainstorming to execution, took just a year. Not a decade of pre-planning, just one solid year.
This project was very compartmentalized... most of you would assume out of necessity. But that's not why. It wasn't about secrecy; it was because everyone had a job. Ben snapped pics, JoEllen sculpted, Sean and Ted did their fair folk thing, and Byron and John crafted the treasure hunt. Each to their own job, no overlap. We all met once for dinner (except Overton for some reason), and while the National Lampoon guys were very funny, it was clear this project had two teams—Byron and John, and everyone else.
Hope this year's treated you well. Be kind to one another, and keep the magic alive in this nook. It's a place I never thought could exist, and I hope it sticks around. Keep loving and working on Byron's treasure hunt, or your own—whichever tickles your fancy.
Oh right. I'm supposed to give you a nudge.
Think like Byron. Take a piece of paper and make a few columns. Start going through the book from the start through the verses and find lists, or frequent similar things. Start putting those in their respective columns. Include things you know, like months and coordinates. See if you can find a pattern. All that information has to be there for a reason right? Organize it.
That might help.
Gift Giver post #5
The fifth Gift Giver post[6] was posted on Dec 13 2024. The text’s format is an allusion to the Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas. The post reads as follows:
on the 12th day of Advicemas my true love gave to me:
12: Don't minimize the obvious.
11: Kooky conspiracies.
10: Lions in Lake Park.
9: Legs a-eating.
8: Trains a-tooting.
7: Out of place shadow.
6: A tree is a tree.
5: I DIS-AGREEEEEEEEE! (I had to throw that in somewhere.)
4: Calling birds? (I have nothing to say.)
3: Has a typo.
2: Play with the wings.
And a hotel in a rose tree.
That should be enough for awhile right? Thank you to both the moderators and the community for letting me join you for awhile. Most of you are such fun and creative people. I really enjoy seeing all of the Secret Santa posts, Byron would have loved that. He really would be proud of the Secret community.
Have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday season.
Analysis: It appears to be noteworthy that the numbering of these hints appears to correspond with the numbering of the paintings.
Below is a breakdown of each number to its location, with any notes that may be needed for clarification.
12: (New York) Don't minimize the obvious.
11: (Boston) Kooky conspiracies. this seems to be talking about the conspiracy theories surrounding the discovery of the Boston casque. Several vocal hunters have called this find a hoax.
10: (Milwaukee) Lions in Lake Park. John Jude Palencar has stated several times that the face of at least one of Lake Park lions is in the Milwaukee painting, as he initially pointed out on the television show Josh Gates Tonight.
9: (Montreal) Legs a-eating. This seems to allude to the design in the Montreal painting commonly referred to as the Leg Eater.
8: (Houston) Trains a-tooting. This seems to allude to the 982 Train in Hermann Park
7: (New Orleans) Out of place shadow.
6: (St. Augustine) A tree is a tree.
5: (Chicago) I DIS-AGREEEEEEEEE! (I had to throw that in somewhere.) This is a reference to a Q&A session during the Cleveland Meetup, during which John Jude Palencar was asked a question as to whether additional casques were buried. When he said no, the questioner contradicted him with this reply.
4: (Cleveland) Calling birds? (I have nothing to say.)
3: (Roanoke) Has a typo.
2: (Charleston) Play with the wings. The commonly-accepted image pairing for Charleston (image 6) features a woman with butterfly-type wings.
(San Francisco) And a hotel in a rose tree. This seems to allude to the Fairmont Hotel logo in the painting’s rose stem.
Gift Giver post #6
The sixth Gift Giver post[7] was posted on Dec. 15th, 2025 and is as follows:
Merry Christmas everyone.
Think back to the start of the recent Cleveland event. You could tell John Palencar wasn't exactly thrilled to be there. Given his history with hunters over the years, his hesitation was understandable.
But by the end of the day? Total transformation. He was joking with everyone in the autograph line, taking selfies, and hugging hunters. At the end he said Byron would have been proud of the community the Secret has formed.
Something changed his opinion. He started interacting. He started trusting. Then, he started making his work available to this community.
Why?
Putting his paintings and drawings up for sale may seem like a simple cash grab to some, but John has never done that. He has never made his work publicly available. Much less to a specific community.
Let’s debunk the "cash grab" theory right now: If it were about money, he would have targeted the Eragon fanbase, which is infinitely larger than this one. But he’s been keeping this within The Secret community.
Why? I think it's trust and respect. I think he was testing the waters so to speak, for something else to come.
I wonder, if an artist wanted to help a community how would he do it? He might have tried words. But words can be confused. Maybe he could try to do it with art? Something he knows. Something he has experience with.
How could he best help?
If he were to release art related to a solved city, he wouldn't just be posting a drawing; he would be giving you a Rosetta Stone. He'd be showing you the answers to a test you've already finished so you can identify his technique. Then he could post drawings for the unsolved cities, and you would know what to look for and how best to use them.
Would he post new drawings related to the cities? Would they be old studies from the '80s? Who knows? Maybe he would make a series of these, one to help with each of the cities.
Just maybe.
Stay tuned.
P.S. The personal painting which was incorporated into The Secret was not Milwaukee. It was San Francisco. And it was changed dramatically. Looks like the podcast guys finally got something wrong about that one. It was the first started, and one of the last finished for that reason. Milwaukee and Montreal followed, which is why they do not have many visual clues.
- ↑ George Ward, personal communication.
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesecrettreasures/posts/3218592121760564/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesecrettreasures/posts/3422689871350787/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesecrettreasures/posts/3523292127957227/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesecrettreasures/posts/3785825835037187/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesecrettreasures/posts/4086401031646331/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesecrettreasures/posts/4465564153730015