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Welcome to The Secret Wiki

Cover of the original 1982 edition of The Secret.

Here we compile and share information relevant to The Secret, a book published in 1982 by Byron Preiss, and the treasure hunt contained within. Although registration may broaden in the future, at present our contributors comprise a limited group.

The Secret presents puzzles consisting of verses and paintings. There are twelve of each, leading to twelve pairings corresponding to cities in North America. If solved, the puzzles lead the searcher to dig at a physical spot, where a unique casque can be found. Of the twelve casques, three have currently been located. There are also additional treasure hunts, inspired by and in tribute to The Secret.

The Secret was meant to be a source of enjoyment for everyone. Please approach this wiki in the same spirit.

If you are a registered contributor, please see the To Be Expanded list of recently-created pages awaiting your attention. Registered contributors can click here to login.

New pages

13 June 2026

• 13:0513:05, 13 June 2026 Commonly Accepted Cities (hist | edit) [656 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "The twelve ‘''commonly accepted cities''' correspond to the twelve puzzles that comprise the treasure hunt of The Secret, each generally believed to be the site of a buried casque. While other cities are still being propounded, efforts remain largely focused on these locations. They are: San Francisco New Orleans Charleston Houston Roanoake Montreal Cleveland (found) Milwaukee...")
• 12:5812:58, 13 June 2026 Commonly Accepted Pairings (hist | edit) [1,720 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "A '''''pairing''''' is a logical matching of one of the twelve full-color paintings in ''The Secret'' with one of the twelve cryptic verses. As the book itself instructs (p. 7-8), “The key to each requires the proper combination of one treasure painting with one treasure verse. You need only decipher the clues in any pair to learn the location of a treasure casque.” The following constitute commonly accepted pairings (CAP) of images...")

11 May 2026

• 17:5017:50, 11 May 2026 Acronyms (hist | edit) [1,182 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "Members of The Secret treasure hunting community frequently use acronyms in their communications. Here is a guide to several of the most frequently-encountered ones. BOTB Back of the Book. Refers to the section of The Secret that follows the centrally-placed illustrations. See also FOTB. BOTG Boots on the Ground. BP Byron Preiss, creator of the treasure hunt. FOTB Front of the Book. Refers to the section of The Secret that precedes the centrally-placed illustrations....")

21 March 2026

• 12:4712:47, 21 March 2026 The Treasure (hist | edit) [1,160 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "The Treasure is the central section of the book The Secret, containing full-color reproductions of twelve paintings by John Jude Palencar.")
• 12:3112:31, 21 March 2026 Painting 1 (hist | edit) [304 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "Painting 1, generally referred to as the San Francisco painting, is the untitled artwork appearing as the first of the paintings in the X section of The Secret.") Tag: Visual edit

19 March 2026

• 22:4022:40, 19 March 2026 New York (hist | edit) [171 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''New York City''', New York, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque is generally believed to have been buried.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3922:39, 19 March 2026 St. Augustine (hist | edit) [170 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''St. Augustine''',Florida, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque is generally believed to have been buried.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3922:39, 19 March 2026 Boston (hist | edit) [163 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Boston''', Massachusetts, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which remnants of a casque were discovered in 2019.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3722:37, 19 March 2026 Chicago (hist | edit) [141 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Chicago''', Illinois, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque was found in 1983.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3622:36, 19 March 2026 Milwaukee (hist | edit) [168 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Milwaukee''', Wisconsin, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque is generally believed to have been buried.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3522:35, 19 March 2026 Cleveland (hist | edit) [139 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Cleveland''', Ohio, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, and the one in which a casque was found in 2004.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3222:32, 19 March 2026 Montreal (hist | edit) [236 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Montreal''', Quebec, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque is generally believed to have been buried. It is the only one of these cities to be outside of the United States.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3122:31, 19 March 2026 Roanoake (hist | edit) [166 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Roanoake''', Virginia, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque is generally believed to have been buried.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:3022:30, 19 March 2026 Houston (hist | edit) [162 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Houston''', Texas, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque is generally believed to have been buried.") Tag: Visual edit
• 22:2522:25, 19 March 2026 Charleston (hist | edit) [867 bytes] Peregrine (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Charleston''', South Carolina, is one of the twelve generally accepted cities, in which a casque is generally believed to have been buried.") Tag: Visual edit