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.