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.

Gift Giver Post #1

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The first nudge was posted Dec, 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

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The second post was made during an interview George was conducting during The Impossible Meetup. This was likely done to show searchers that George 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.

Gift Giver post #3

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The third Gift Giver post 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 was posted on Dec 23 2023. The text was clearly run through ChatGPT. This was done to hide the distinct writing style of the author. The post reads as follows:

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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 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.

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