A Protracted Solution

 

Using a protractor, we can ascertain that the earring that looks like a compass rose is rotated ten degrees counterclockwise. This, I believe, tells us that our number ten is an adjustment of ten degrees counterclockwise (towards north) from the direction of east. This is some tricky stuff! That being said, I think this is the correct solution. In other words, I believe the casque was buried thirteen feet from the decorative post (fixture) in the direction of ten degrees north of east (80 degrees relative to true north). This is consistent with the dig site recalled by Eric Gasiorowski. 

Before we conclude, let’s make sure we’ve addressed all of our unanswered questions: The items hanging from the ears suggest a solution having to do with sounds or hearing. The magic pouring near the ear hints at “magical” music being important. The hooks allude to the improvisational themes of the duel between Beethoven and Steibelt, which inspired Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. The weathervanes relate to Steibelt being vain. The nasty bumps on the leprechaun’s nose and cheek map to Braille representations of a single quote indicating that our units are in feet. The mysterious number 89 when reversed directs us to go thirteen feet east. And the earring that looks like a compass rose tells us to adjust our direction of east by ten degrees to the north. 

That wraps up my interpretation of how we are to find the casque for the Chicago puzzle. All of the lines in the poem have been interpreted. All of the questions we had pertaining to the image have been answered. All of the Japanese version hints fit with our interpretations. So we’re all done, right? Right?

Welcome to Level 8.

I know why you're here, why you bought this book and why you sit at your computer scouring the internet for clues. You're looking for it. I know because I was once looking for the same thing, until I realized that I wasn't really looking for a casque, I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did: What is the secret of The Secret?

Bumps in the Knight

  

Let’s start with those curious bumps on the helmeted leprechaun’s cheek and nose. They are certainly prominent and oddly oriented. If Byron is using these bumps to communicate something, how might he do that? What means of communication uses bumps? I struggled for a long time trying to figure out what these bumps could possibly mean in Braille, but I couldn’t figure it out—not until I thought about it in terms of specifying units. A single bump in Braille, like the one on the leprechaun’s nose, can refer to the letter A, the number 1, a comma, or a single quote, depending on context and the physical level in which it appears. The grouping of four dots, like the ones on his cheek, could also represent a number of things, including 18 or “AH”. I was stumped until I noticed a sequence of four bumps just like the ones on the cheek that could translate to exactly the same character as the single bump on the nose—a single quote (‘). See below for the two ways a single quote can be represented in Braille.

These patterns are an exact match to the ones we find on our leprechaun. A number followed by a single quote commonly indicates that the value is in feet, as in the sentence, Joe is 6’ tall. This confirms that our distance is in feet!

Now we would like to confirm that thirteen is the distance in feet from the post to the casque and that east is our base direction. Maybe the oddly shaped number 89 beneath the bowman will tell us something. Interestingly, if we look at it backwards (inverted horizontally) the 89 could be interpreted as a lowercase “e” followed by the number “13” with the two digits smooshed together to a point where they touch. The “e” suggests the measurement is to the east and the number “13” matches the distance we were hoping to find. The number thirteen is near the feet of the horse suggesting the distance is in feet. Admittedly, there are many other ways the mysterious 89 could be interpreted, but this interpretation is consistent with what we know so far. But we still, unfortunately, have the problem of confirming what the ten in “Ten by thirteen” refers to.

Music Theory

 

The theme from the first movement of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony happens to consist of ten notes (see below).

The theme is played by cello, which is probably a callback to the aforementioned duel. The tenth and last note is C sharp. It has a sharp symbol in front of it because it is not part of the E flat scale. Like the word “jewel” stood out poetically, this note stands out musically, evoking a subtle dissonance. Every article I could find analyzing Eroica highlighted the importance of this single note in setting the tone for the symphony. I believe that this theme, inspired by the duel, and this particular note tell us exactly where to find the treasure. What we’re looking for is a number of degrees relative to an easterly direction. As it turns out, music theory has exactly what we’re looking for, degrees that are relative to the base key of E flat.

Each note in a scale has a degree associated with it relative to the base note in that scale. In the key of E flat, the first degree is E flat, the second degree is F, and so on, with the last being D, the seventh degree. Clearly this doesn’t help us as we’re looking for the number ten. However, C sharp is not in the E flat scale! To ascertain its number of degrees relative to E Flat, our base note, we must use the chromatic scale that incorporates all twelve notes. Starting from our base, we have the notes E flat, E, F, G flat, G, A flat, A, B flat, B, C, and C sharp. On the chromatic scale, C sharp is ten degrees above our base note of E flat. I think this indicates that the ten in “ten by thirteen” is ten degrees above (north of) our base direction of east, represented by the key of E flat. 

If you are of the opinion that this is far too obscure and complicated, then I agree. I think Byron came to the same conclusion when the young men who were physically close to the casque thought that “ten by thirteen” referred to rows and columns of trees. I think he divulged the exact location of the casque because, though they were only feet from the casque, they were still miles from solving the puzzle. Fortunately, he left the puzzle intact for us to ponder over years later. Now let’s see if the image will confirm our conclusions. 

Welcome to Level 7.

The Duel

Classical composers were the rock stars of their time. They had huge followings and made large sums of money. You could often hear the average person on the street humming or whistling the main theme of the latest hit. We sometimes refer to these catchy themes as hooks. I think this is why there are so many hooks in the image. 

Daniel Steibelt was a very popular German pianist and composer who thought very highly of himself. I think the large number of weathervanes in the image is also a pun—whether vain. Steibelt was a musician before being impressed into the Prussian army. He later defected and settled in Paris to study music. He became immensely popular after writing the song La Coquette for Marie Antoinette. Storm Rondo contained within his Concerto No. 3 brought him even further fame. 

In the spring of 1800, Steibelt decided to spread his glory to Vienna, the home of the young Ludwig van Beethoven. It was common at this time for wealthy patrons to sponsor a musician and pit him against another patron’s musician. These duels typically began with read music and ended with improvisation. 

Since Steibelt was the challenger, he played first, a quintet, his opus 28 no. 2. Here’s how an article at ClassicFM.com described Steibelt’s performance: “He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own music on the side, and played. Steibelt was renowned for conjuring up a ‘storm’ on the piano, and this he did to great effect, the ‘thunder’ growling in the bass.” 

After this dramatic performance, all eyes fell upon Beethoven, “he picked up the piece of music Steibelt had tossed on the side, looked at it, showed it to the audience…and turned it upside down!” He then sat at the piano and played the four notes in the opening bar of Steibelt’s music. “He began to vary them, embellish them…improvise on them. He played on, imitated a Steibelt ‘storm,’ unpicked Steibelt’s playing and put it together again, parodied it and mocked it.” Beethoven improvised for over an hour! 

Steibelt stormed out of the room while Beethoven was still playing. Humiliated, Steibelt swore to never return to Vienna as long as Beethoven lived there. He was true to his word. Beethoven’s victory was so complete that he was never asked to duel again. You can see a partially accurate version of this duel in the 2005 TV miniseries Beethoven. 

I believe that “Seek the sounds of rumble brush and music hush” refers to this epic duel (brush) between Steibelt (rumble) and Beethoven (music hush). We are then to “seek the sounds of” the duel. My first thought was that this could refer to the four notes on which Beethoven based his improvisations, giving us the number four. But what we’re looking for is a direction. Perhaps we’re looking for something based on the duel rather than something within it. Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony, his “Eroica Symphony” (meaning heroic), was inspired by his improvisations at the duel. Erotica was a groundbreaking work, ushering in the Romantic Age of classical music and considered by some to be the greatest symphony ever written. Originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, its use of the key of E flat major gave the symphony a dramatic or heroic feel. After Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven was so furious he literally scratched Napoleon’s name from the cover sheet. I believe this symphony best represents “the sounds of rumble brush and music hush.” Now we need to glean a direction from the Symphony.

In the 1986 movie Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Whoopi Goldberg’s character, Terry Doolittle, was required to break into a password-protected laptop, the owner of which was only known to her as Jumpin’ Jack Flash. The prompt the computer gave was, “Enter the key.” She listened to the song Jumpin’ Jack Flash over and over trying to come up with possible passwords, but every attempt failed. Finally, she figured it out. She needed to enter the key of the song, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, B-flat. I believe “seek the sounds” tells us to do exactly the same, to use the key of the music. Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony is in the key of E flat. I believe this tells us our direction, E for east, east from the post embedded in the fence. This is consistent with where the casque was found, but doesn’t tell us what the ten in “ten by thirteen” means. We’re going to need to learn some music theory in order to figure that out.

Welcome to Level 6.

Formulaic

 

The reason I stopped reading mysteries as a kid, such as the Encyclopedia Brown series, was that all of the age-appropriate stories of that genre follow the same formula: There’s a small detail at the beginning of the story that is the key to solving the mystery. We find ourselves at the end of this mystery without resolution. Therefore, we need to look to the beginning.

Where M and B are set in stone

What’s interesting about this line is that it’s not interesting! It’s superfluous, pointless. The young men who found the casque didn’t need this clue at all. Why didn’t Byron just start at Roosevelt University and Congress Parkway or at the Bowman? We therefore have to ask the question: Are the clues here to show us the path, or is the path here to show us the clues? This just might be the clue that is the key to solving the mystery. Let’s read the end of the poem again, but instead of reading the final lines of the poem individually, let’s read them together, as a complete sentence. 

“For finding jewel casque, seek the sounds of rumble brush and music hush.”

The verb hush means to quiet or to silence, in other words, a transition from noisy to quiet. “Music hush” then translates into music that becomes silent. Can you think of a clue (from the beginning of the poem) that fits this description, a case where there was music that fell silent? Beethoven started to lose his hearing around age 28, and by 45 was completely deaf. Maybe that’s what it alludes to.

The words rumble and brush seem like very different words. However, they do have one intersecting definition, that is to say, meanings that are the same. Both rumble and brush can refer to a fight or conflict, as in the sentences, I had a brush with Jeremy today, and your gang and mine will rumble tomorrow. Therefore, “rumble brush and music hush” gives us a fight and Beethoven. So the question now becomes, was the famous composer ever in a fight? That would be interesting! It would have to be a noteworthy one, one for the ages. The answer to this question is, emphatically, yes! Beethoven was involved in an epic battle, considered by many to be the greatest duel in music history!

Jewel Bearing

 

Does anything strike you as odd about the following line? Anything unusual?

For finding jewel casque

Why is it “jewel casque” rather than the casque? Casque is an unusual word, so clarity can’t be it. Inserting the word jewel actually makes the meter of the poem worse. It flows much better without it. The Cleveland poem uses the word casque without the word jewel in front of it. This awkward insertion of the word jewel is almost certainly a clue. Now, if you’re thinking—What’s the big deal, man? So what if it’s a little awkward—do me a favor and just slap yourself in the face right now! This is exactly the kind of subtle clue we’re looking for, a word that an editor like Byron would most certainly remove, a word that would grate on a literary genius, like Byron.

As a child, I used to take apart old wristwatches, the windup kind, just to marvel at the beautiful complexity, a hundred tiny parts all working together perfectly for a common purpose. I was surprised to find a number of small circular rubies embedded in some of the flat metal components. I now know why they were there. 

One definition of the word jewel is a hard precious gem used as a bearing at the pivot points in watches, compasses, and similar high-end sensitive mechanical devices. For example, some compasses have a concave hard gem embedded at the balance point of a magnetized needle, which is set atop a sharp metal point so as to spin with very little friction. Not only does the word jewel hint at a compass, but in this context it is a bearing, the word bearing being a pun, also meaning direction. I believe that the word jewel hints that what comes next gives us a bearing (or heading) to the casque and is pivotal to finding it. But before we try to understand the final lines in the poem, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture.

Square One

 

Fence and fixture

Central too

These two lines tell us that the fence and fixture are central to finding the casque in addition to “ten by thirteen.” By definition, a fixture (in this case a post) doesn’t move. A post is also slender and symmetric, an excellent place from which to measure. I believe that to find the casque we are to measure from the fixture (the post embedded in the fence), and “ten by thirteen” gives the casque’s relative position. Now Byron’s statement about “Ten by thirteen” being in feet starts to make sense. Sadly, the Japanese Version Hints say nothing about this clue.

The question becomes, are these both distances in feet or is one a direction and the other a distance? If we discount trees as places from which to measure, we are left with nothing else in the vicinity. This leaves us with only one conclusion: One number must be distance and the other, direction. Maybe Byron’s statement about “ten by thirteen” being in feet only refers to the second number, the number thirteen. Maybe. This would be consistent with most reports of where the casque was buried. Of those who found the casque, most said it was around thirteen feet roughly east and a little bit north of the post. 

We have now reached the almost impossible part of this puzzle. Here are the final lines of the poem:

For finding jewel casque

Seek the sounds

Of rumble

Brush and music

Hush.

What does Byron mean by “Seek the sounds”? The generally accepted interpretations are:

Rumble = Train tracks

Brush = The Art Institute of Chicago

Music = The Petrillo Music Shell

Hush = A nearby library or the park itself

But these answers don’t get us any closer to the treasure. What we need is to understand the meaning of the number ten in the poem. We seem to have hit a dead end.

Welcome to Level 5.

Peer Review

 

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.

—William Shakespeare

This chapter is included to demonstrate the importance of the process step called peer review and to demonstrate just one of the many, many times I was made a fool by these puzzles:

If “Ten by thirteen” has nothing to do with trees and isn’t ten times thirteen feet, then what does it mean? My first thought was that it might be 130 yards, rather than feet. Using Google Earth I verified that it was around 130 yards from directly in front of the Lincoln statue to where I’d estimated the fixture (post) to be. Unfortunately the post was covered by trees, so I had to estimate its location based on the Google Earth 360 degree picture taken from the approximate dig site.

Then I noticed that the direction from the Lincoln statue to the post embedded in the fence appeared to be around 313 degrees, which made me think—What if “ten by thirteen” combined both the distance and the direction? Ten o’clock could refer to 300 degrees, making “ten by thirteen” refer to ten o’clock plus 13 degrees giving us 313 degrees. This sounded like something Byron might do. I measured the angle on my computer screen and it came out exactly right.

When we’ve done our homework, got the answers we expected, and everything fits, we naturally conclude that we’re done—but we’re not. We still need to do peer review. Not having anyone in my circle of friends who knows much about The Secret, I turned to social media for a review of my analysis. I asked someone for whom I have a great deal of respect, a gentleman who goes by the online name Renovator. He graciously agreed to review my work and provided loads of constructive criticism. He described my interpretation of this particular clue as “fun with numbers” and “riddled with errors.” After getting over being offended, I pressed him for details, and I slowly came to realize that he was right! He had actually traveled to the location and taken measurements. The post (fixture) was 30 feet from the retaining wall to the north, farther than I had thought, making the distance from the statue to the post much less than 130 yards; and the direction to the post was actually 323 degrees, not 313. I had made an incorrect assumption and a math error. Each interpretation of these puzzles is a bit like a house of cards. It’s built on layers of thin clues stacked together perfectly supporting each other. If you pull out a card at the bottom, the whole thing collapses. I had to throw out my entire interpretation of “Ten by thirteen.” I was back to square one.

If you decide to venture onto social media to allow your peers to review your ideas regarding The Secret, I have a warning and a request. Time and time again I’ve seen “newbies” post their ideas on social media and be absolutely destroyed, become disillusioned, never to be seen again. Be prepared to be rebuffed! Experienced folks have a pile of arguments and details they will throw at you. They will call you names and berate you. Expect this. Be polite (even if they don’t deserve it), listen to what they have to say, look past the insults, and if after all that, you still like your ideas, or a version of them, stand your ground. Don’t back down. Feel free to agree to disagree.

Surprisingly, the few times that I’ve seen true brilliance posted online regarding these puzzles, it always came from a newbie and was always met with ridicule and condescension. Every rude response had a litany of reasons why the idea had to be wrong, and yet, in my opinion, the interpretation was dead on. In all of these cases, the litany of reasons were all incorrect, every one of them, assumptions and interpretations that fell prey to Byron’s amazing talent for deception. If a person posts an idea you disagree with, take the time to consider it, be courteous, positive, and helpful. Being rude in your response only serves to diminish everyone’s opinion of you. When participating in social media, expect there to be jerks, and do your best not to be one. 

To Tree or Not to Tree

 

I do not favor either of these interpretations for several reasons. Firstly, I don’t like trees—well, I like trees, just not for treasure hunting. They are each unique in shape and size, and are constantly changing. They can die or be modified at any time. Consequently, they lack accuracy, making them terrible clues for finding a relatively small casque. Furthermore, roots can be exposed when they meet the trunk, making measuring arbitrary. Determining the intersection of rows of trees that are hundreds of feet long has the same issue, no accuracy. Similarly, following a long diagonal line of trees without an exact heading is, again, arbitrary, potentially taking us down any one of several different lines.

Secondly, it’s interesting that Byron asked specifically what the young men thought “ten by thirteen” meant, as if this were some kind of litmus test. He chuckled at their response, which would be inconsistent with them being correct. There’s nothing humorous about them responding with the expected answer. It would, however, be consistent with him finding their interpretation unexpected and amusing. I think Byron didn’t want to just give the solution away, so he told them to count again hoping they would find their mistake. The suggestion to look at missing trees was likely intended to disprove this interpretation rather than confirm it. I think Byron hoped the young men would discount the rows of trees interpretation without him having to be explicit.

Finally, Brian Zinn, on the Secret Podcast Chicago episode, said that when he and Andy Abrams had lunch with Byron Preiss a few months after finding the Cleveland casque, Byron told them that “ten by thirteen” refers to feet, which Zinn took to mean 10 x 13 or 130 feet. Using Google Earth, we can verify that this is not correct. It’s well over 300 feet from the Lincoln statue to the general location of the dig site. Though it’s not clear what Byron meant by this, it is clear that it was not rows of trees. 

Given what we know, and just practically speaking, we have to expunge the idea of trees from our minds, giving up on a solution that simply cannot be correct. Doing so allows us to stop barking up the wrong tree, so to speak.

Welcome to Level 4.

Abundant Ambiguity

 

Unfortunately, there is disagreement among those who found the casque as to exactly where it was discovered. There are two general locations, one near the decorative post embedded in the fence to the west, and the other near an electrical box that used to be on the retaining wall to the north. Both locations have their own interpretations associated with them. 

Let’s start with the location near the post embedded in the fence. In the portion of the park containing the Lincoln statue there are many rows and columns of trees with a large open area in the center directly north of the statue. Many trees have been removed, replaced, and added since 1980, so accuracy here is difficult, but based on one layout documented at thesecret.pbworks.com, we get our first “solution.”

The end of ten by thirteen

Is your clue

If you search for trees that make a column and a row, one of ten and one of thirteen (accounting for missing trees), you can find a column on the far left of ten (if you count the two that are missing) and a row of thirteen, second from last at the top. These two lines of trees intersect (mostly) 16 or so feet east and a little north in front of the decorative post. 

The second solution again starts at the Lincoln statue and takes us diagonally north northwest toward the corner of the park counting trees as we go. I have not verified this but I understand there is a diagonal line of thirteen trees that ends at a tree not too far south of the electrical box that was on the retaining wall. From this tree we then measure either north or north northwest ten feet to obtain the dig site.

The Japanese Version Hints

 

In an effort to recoup some of his losses related to this project, Byron helped create a Japanese language version of The Secret: A Treasure Hunt. To help readers overcome language barriers, Byron, through a translator, explained some of the nuances of each poem, highlighting some of the possible pitfalls a non-English speaker might encounter. For those who speak English, they amount to hints translated from English to Japanese and back again. I was skeptical of these at first, but after learning about how they were produced and successfully applying them several times to my interpretations, I’ve come to trust and rely on these hints. 

They were created via a phone conversation between Byron and a Japanese translator. The hints are the translator's account of these conversations and speculation as to the true meaning of the clues. Because these hints are purported to come directly from Byron, the author, I have high confidence in them. See 12treasures.com for a full translation of these hints. There is a caveat, though. Byron makes it clear that some of these hints could be misleading. The translator put it this way: “Of course these are not hints that can easily lead to answers. Sometimes these provided hints might taint your imagination and make the endeavor even harder.” 

Where M and B are set in stone

The hint for this line indicates that these letters, M and B, stand for two “famous composers.” This too is consistent with Mozart and Beethoven.

 

And to Congress, R is known

The generally accepted interpretation is that "R" is a reference to Roosevelt University, which is two blocks south of Chicago Orchestra Hall. The University is on the corner of Michigan Avenue and what was Congress Parkway (the name changed to Ida B. Wells Drive). From there we travel east to Congress Plaza. According to the Japanese Version Hints, “Congress” refers to the “US Congress” and a “proper noun” as well. Congress Parkway is a proper noun and is named after the US Congress, or maybe “Congress” refers to the US Congress in some other way.

On the far side of the Plaza, on the corner of East Congress Plaza Drive and (what was) East Congress Parkway, we find the Bowman statue, which is pictured in Image 5. From the Bowman we travel east through the main entrance of Grant Park. 

L sits and left

Beyond his shoulder

Is the Fair Folks'

Treasure holder

After entering the park we head north to the sitting statue of Abraham Lincoln. The Japanese Version Hints indicate that both R and L refer to important politicians. That fits with Roosevelt and Lincoln. Up to this point in our analysis, most everyone, including myself, agree with the interpretations I’ve described. However, that changes now.

The end of ten by thirteen

Is your clue

Most folks believe, as did the young men who found the casque, that “ten by thirteen” refers, at least in part, to rows of trees. I do not.

Welcome to Level 3.

Don’t Listen to Watson

 

Now that I’ve encouraged you to accept what others have determined for level 1, I’m going to do the opposite for level 2 and beyond. Social media is crammed with thousands of wild theories regarding these puzzles, ninety-nine percent of which is based on faulty logic or nothing at all. Avoid these, all of them, until you’ve completed your own investigation and come to your own conclusions. Never start with what others think. That will bias you. Nor should you attempt your own theories until you’ve digested the entire puzzle. Make your own observations first, avoiding speculation. 

There’s a Sherlock Holmes short story where Holmes takes on a case knowing very little. He and Watson must first take a long train trip to observe the scene. Watson proposes that on the way they discuss some theories he’s come up with—but Holmes shuts him down. He says that he wants to observe the scene with “an unbiased mind,” much to the annoyance of Watson. You must resist the urge to speculate based on incomplete data. Data first, then theories. When you get stuck, check out what others have come up with, only then.

It absolutely drives me nuts when folks on social media strive endlessly to bias themselves. “There’s a visual confirmer in the image that can be seen from the dig site for all solved puzzles, so the other puzzles must be the same.” No, they don’t have to be the same! That’s like saying these three crimes involved blackmail, therefore all crimes must involve blackmail. No! Avoid baseless assumptions and do not bias yourself!

Over forty years, only three puzzles have been solved by three different groups. No one has ever solved two of these puzzles. Why not? If you can solve one, if you know how a puzzle works, why not solve two or three? My experience with these puzzles is that they are all different, unique, no formula, no lazy repetition of the same pattern. Techniques may be repeated, or not. Nothing is predictable. Nothing. To make it worse, there are types of challenges within these puzzles that have no name, not a cypher, not a riddle, not a rebus, not an acrostic, not an anagram, not any type of thing I could find described anywhere; challenges that are, as far as I know, unique in the world, completely original. Follow the clues of the individual puzzle only, wherever they may lead. 

I like to start with the image, looking for anything curious, any imperfections, anything that might be a clue. This is akin to turning all of the jigsaw puzzle pieces upright before starting. 

Here are a few questions that flow from Image 5:

• What is the meaning of the odd-looking number 89 beneath the bowman?

• Why are there so many weathervanes?

• Why are there so many hooks?

• Why is there magic pouring from the fairy’s bowl near the leprechaun’s ear?

• Why is so much stuff hanging from the ears?

• Why is the earring resembling a compass rose rotated slightly counterclockwise?

• What is the meaning of the oddly arranged bumps on the leprechaun’s cheek and nose?

The poem begins:

Where M and B are set in stone

Per Brian Zinn’s 2004 conversation with Byron Preiss, “M and B” refer to Mozart and Beethoven, which are engraved on the front of the Chicago Orchestra Hall at 220 S. Michigan Ave. These names are also consistent with the Japanese version hint for this line.

The Remix

 

Now let’s start over and resolve this puzzle our own way taking advantage of what we know about the casque location, tons of information posted online, and a few of my own techniques. Let’s see if we can figure out all the details and lay to rest the mysteries that still surround this puzzle. 

Not to give too much away, but all twelve puzzles are much like video games in that they have increasing levels of difficulty. The clues start out relatively easy, but as we progress, as we get closer to the treasure, they get harder, until in the end, they are almost impossible. Level 1 requires us to combine an image with a poem to determine a city. The generally accepted pairings for all of the puzzles were solved years ago by some very smart people in the Secret online community. The big breakthrough came from a gentleman by the name of Robert Fox. He found latitudes and longitudes in all of the images except Milwaukee, which could be determined by other means. 

The poems are less easily tied to a city, but using name references and other clues, The Secret online community was able to nail them down as well. These image and poem pairings are well described at TheSecret.pbworks.com. It is important to note that there are still some treasure hunters who question these pairings. With all due respect, if this is you, in my opinion, you’re wasting your time. So what are the generally accepted clues that tell us that Image 5 and Poem 12 relate to Chicago?

Welcome to Level 1. 

In Image 5, the numbers 41, 42, 87, and 88, originally found by Robert Fox, can be found in the arms of the windmill (some numbers being backwards). If you have trouble seeing them, as I did, the website thesecret.pbworks.com has an excellent graphic identifying them. These latitudes and longitudes form a huge box that surrounds the city of Chicago. 

In addition to the outline of the Chicago Water Tower, another well-known landmark can be found hidden in Image 5.  The sculpture called Fountain of the Great Lakes at the Art Institute of Chicago consists of five women representing the five Great Lakes.  Water moves between the women in the same way as it moves between the lakes.  The woman shown in Image 5 represents Lake Michigan, on which the city of Chicago resides. See thesecret.pbworks.com for a complete visual description of this clue. 

The Poem 12 clues that give us Chicago are a bit more thin. The poem contains references to “Congress,” which was a main thoroughfare in downtown Chicago (parts of the street have been renamed); and “Central,” which suggests Illinois Central Railroad that runs through Chicago. 

The month is May as evidenced by the five warts and the earring that resemble an upside down Roman numeral five. The gem is an emerald, and flower, lilies, in keeping with the birthstone and birth flower for May. 

Welcome to Level 2.