Unsolved 1982 Treasure Hunt

[BJG]

Hi all -

I've recently been researching an old unsolved 1982 US treasure hunt called "The Secret" by Byron Preiss. I've posted up various theories here about where various ceramic "casques" might be hidden...

http://www.lemontiger.co.uk/images/misc/thesecret/map/

(Click on the city for some notes in PDF format.)

I'm in the UK, and finding people willing to try digging these things up is almost as difficult as trying to figure out where they are...!

Anyone in New York, Milwaukee, Houston, San Fransisco etc feel like doing a spot of digging in their local park...?

[kireta]

One of the most interesting threads I have ever read.The Cleveland site was only about an hour and a half away,but its been discovered.Fascinating!!!

[BJG]

Cheers kireta! There's an old newspaper article about the Cleveland discovery here...

http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/egbert/secret.html

The finder recently related this anecdote about meeting Byron Preiss to collect his gemstone...

When Siskel and I finally met BP, he ended up taking us to the bank vault in NYC where the jewels were kept. He also said the solutions to the puzzle were in the same drawer. I got the impression that he was very similar to the "absent-minded professor." Don't forget, it took him about a year to find the key to the vault. Siskel and I stood outside the private room as BP sifted through the drawer which he had not looked through in about 24 years. One thing he found were savings bonds totalling $25,000 which he had forgotten about. You would think that since Siskel and I were responsible for him finding those bonds, that he would have treated us to lunch at least, but no such luck.

So, each jewel was individually wrapped in white tissue paper. He apparently looked through them all, and gave me what he said was "the only blue one here," which turned out to be the sapphire. I was too excited at the time to notice the mistake, and I have no idea why it would be the only blue one. It was a little dark in the vault, so he could have just thought the aquamarine was grey or some other color, or he could have missed it entirely. I did not get to see the open drawer. He also said that there were no solutions in the drawer, and made the comment, "they must be in closet at home I guess," or something like that.

It was not until I took the jewel to a jeweler that I was told it was a sapphire. BP was later killed in a tragic car accident a short time later. I wrote to his widow about the solutions possibly being at their home, but she said she looked and could not find any. I have no idea what happened to the jewels. Perhaps they are still there, if no one knew what the key was for.

[ATProGuy]

Pretty interesting to say the least. Thanks for sharing.

[gordonquixote]

This seems like fun!

The big problems I see are as follows:

• Upon his death the contents of the deposit box become part of his estate and are disbursed to same
• After the first annual renewal fee that went unpaid due to his death, the contents of the box were auctioned off a long time ago
• Finding a key in a ceramic pot gets you squat but a ceramic pot if there's no deposit box to redeem the key upon

Just speculating, but let's be for real.

If anyone knows otherwise, let us know!

[BJG]

...true, you can forget the gems nowadays. But then, one man's ceramic pot is another man's decorative "fairy casque" created by New York artist Jo-Ellen Trilling, only one of which has ever been recovered intact, originally valued at $500, and providing irrefutable proof that you've cracked a puzzle which has defeated people for 30 years...:-)

(OK, so it's a minority sport...)

[Zse]

Even if you don't get a 'reward' for it, I think it would still be wicked cool to find one of them!

[327]

I bet I couldn't even get a shovel in the ground near where they suggest digging in New Orleans before one of NOPD's finest would ask me what I thought I was doing.

It would be neat to find though.

[Patton]

Very Interesting......

[Metal-Magnet]

Anyone now how much the jewels were worth? Good story never heard of it before. I'll deffinately do some research on it just for kicks. You won't see me out hunting for any of that, I have a hard enough time finding something not clad....

[BJG]

I think the jewels were originally worth $10,000 - and that's for all twelve...which isn't a huge amount by nationwide treasure-hunt standards; possibly one of the reasons it never really took off at the time.

These days, though, it's not about the jewels. It's just about solving the ****** thing. ;-)

Palencar's illustrations have a certain magic. You can download a set of high-res versions here.

http://www.bunnyears.net/misc/secret.zip

[Robo99]

Cool read.

[BJG]

Here's a picture of one of these "casques", which were buried in a plastic container.





(Each picture corresponds to a month, which connects to the casque's clock picture on the inside of the lid. This is the Chicago casque, which was May -> 5. The prize was the birthstone for that month, an emerald in this case. He then had it stolen! V annnoying. When the Cleveland one was found, it was in fragments. The "key" was also ceramic. I think it had a trace of metal, but the general consensus is that they can't be found with a metal detector. Since these were both in public parks, it's likely some of the others are as well.)

[erine]

OMG I WANT TO DO IT! I'm in "upstate" NY.

[MadTownScoop]

Ok, Ok. Now Im annoyed. After clicking on that link BJG gave for "lemontiger" ALL my display settings are very weird. Even when I RElaunch Firefox pictures are almost "sepia" or whatever. SOMETHING changed when Adobe opened to read those clues. WHAT WAS IT???? Until I figure it out. My modem will be unplugged strictly for my computers safety. I'll check back sometime tomorrow for a response.

[AIRFORCEMIKE]

sure that would be great..Milwaukee here!!!

[RebelNYC]

Originally Posted by MadTownScoop

Ok, Ok. Now Im annoyed. After clicking on that link BJG gave for "lemontiger" ALL my display settings are very weird. Even when I RElaunch Firefox pictures are almost "sepia" or whatever. SOMETHING changed when Adobe opened to read those clues. WHAT WAS IT???? Until I figure it out. My modem will be unplugged strictly for my computers safety. I'll check back sometime tomorrow for a response.

I've been to that link a couple of times now and haven't had a problem. Hope you get it figured out soon.

[MadTownScoop]

Seems after a restart today that my video display went back to normal. Never had that happen before and it happened just when I clicked that link. Very strange. Upped my firewall settings and my antivirus settings are stronger now too. LOL. Dont need my comp hacked. LOL. Oh well. Im in Madison and don't get to Milwaukee much so I'm outta that one. Besides. I'm terrible at solving riddles.

[TRYKER]

i have been reserching the one in boston. i'll be gong in there in aug. to do some scouting around.

[lorddean13]

I am very familiar with the field in Brooklyn.MY H.S. was 5 blocks from Ft. Hamilton H.S. and the lacrosse team use to practice up that way.