Chicago

 

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets.

—Ludwig Van Beethoven

The Chicago casque was found by Eric Gasiorowski, Bob Wrobel, and David James with some help from a few other friends and family. Long before there was any public knowledge about these puzzles, long before there was an internet, this small group of young men took on the challenge. Later, we’ll interpret the puzzle our own way, but for now, let’s review how these young men found the very first casque. The following account is per Eric Gasiorowski’s write-up of the experience, which can be found at thesecret.pbworks.com, and per the 2018 Expedition Unknown episode titled “The Secret” (season 5, episode 4).

In Image 5 they noticed that the central figure looked to be a leprechaun, and the green gem was an emerald, both suggesting an Irish influence. This led them to think that maybe the city associated with this image was Chicago, which has the largest Irish-American population in the US. The young men then recognized the windmill in the image as the Chicago Water Tower. 

Due to copyright restrictions, I cannot reproduce any portions of the puzzle images. You will need to either purchase the book, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt, or obtain Image 5 by other means, such as borrowing a copy from the library or a friend. See 12treasures.com or thesecret.pbworks.com for more information. This is also a good time to start following along using Google Maps and/or Google Earth. Maps is better for finding streets or places.  Earth is better for finding or seeing things. Following along via Google Maps or Earth greatly enhances the experience helping you to feel like you’re actually there! I realize that this is an unusual requirement for a book, but this is an unusual book. We will start with Image 5, so please, go acquire it right now. 

For the group of young men who solved the Chicago puzzle, picking the right poem was a bit of a guess.

Poem 12 begins:

Where M and B are set in stone

And to Congress, R is known

They took “M and B” to be man and beast, matching the bowman statue at the end of Congress Parkway (the name has now changed), which they also recognized from Image 5. (Byron later confirmed in 2004 that M and B actually stands for Mozart and Beethoven.)  

They interpreted “R” to be railroad, as they learned from a parent that the Illinois Central Railroad ran north-south between Congress Plaza and Grant Park, which took them through the main entrance of the Park. 

The poem continues:

L sits and left

Beyond his shoulder

Is the Fair Folks'

Treasure holder

They took “L sits” to refer to the sitting Lincoln statue, which is northeast of the Grant Park main entrance. 

They then followed the directions “…and left Beyond his shoulder “ northwest past the statue. 

The end of ten by thirteen

Is your clue

There they found what they counted to be roughly ten columns and thirteen rows of trees behind the statue. To the left and near the end of this rectangle of trees they found the unusual fence post and arch prominently displayed in Image 5, and described in the poem as “Fence and fixture.” The arch has since been removed.