The New Order

 

If Thucydides is

North of Xenophon

As mentioned earlier, these names appear on the front of the Boston Public Library. Why include the library in the puzzle at all? It’s over two miles from Langone Park and the Puopolo Baseball Fields. I think the library is part of this puzzle not so much because of its location, but because of its motto—Omnium Lux Civium (Latin) "The Light of All People.”

A green tower of lights

…

Lit by lamplight

…

With metal walls 

As noted earlier, The Statue of Liberty’s official title is “Liberty Enlightening the World.” The statue's name comes from the Goddess Libertas, a Roman deity personifying freedom. Lady Liberty’s torch is a symbol of enlightenment. The broken Chains at her feet symbolize the breaking of the chains of oppression. We sometimes forget just how important this little experiment in freedom and democracy was and is to the rest of the world. Those who founded this country called our form of government “The New Order.” Most governments today and the United Nations have followed, for the most part, this American model. The word green can also refer to something that’s new and inexperienced. At its inception, when it first gained independence, the United States of America was seen by many as a green towering light of liberty in the world. 

All the letters

Are here to see

The word letters can also refer to telegrams, like the ones written by Horace Walpole. Maybe we should look further into Walpole’s letter. Here is a larger portion of the letter alluded to in Byron’s poem. 

Horace Walpole to Horace Mann November 24, 1774:

Don't tell me I am grown old and peevish and supercilious—name the geniuses of 1774, and I submit. The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul's, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra; but am I not prophesying, contrary to my consummate prudence, and casting horoscopes of empires like Rousseau? Yes; well, I will go and dream of my visions.

What does this letter have to do with The Secret of The Secret for Boston? Everything, absolutely, positively, everything! This is a fascinating perspective of the early parts of the rebellion. Walpole was a prominent member of the British government and yet seems here to think very highly of these rebels. He contends that there are no great minds of his time, not like those he references, giants of history, literature, and science. He’s saying that he believes that it is in the Americas that the next great enlightenment will occur, a time of great advancement in history, science, and the arts, the next Augustine Age. But why does he think this?

Walpole most certainly had read the writings associated with the rebel movement. He seems to admire their beliefs regarding individual rights and self-governance. But it’s more than that. He’s saying that it is these beliefs that will bring about enlightenment, that the beliefs are the source of enlightenment and, in turn, prosperity. 

Walpole’s letters are famous among historians. They ogle over them and reference them often. What makes them so rare? Almost all historical documents prior to the American Revolution lack a singular, very important quality—candor. Prior to 1776, documents were carefully worded so as to appease those in power. In other words, they were propaganda, to varying degrees. There were no individual rights, no freedom of speech, thought, belief, or religion. Most everything written publicly was done so through the filter of politics or religion. Any words that offended the hierarchy of power were met with punishment. 

Walpole’s letters were kept secret among his close friends, which allowed him to be completely honest. His letters are invaluable to historians because they are untainted by oversight. Thucydides and Xenophon also wrote with candor because they were powerful Generals and had leadership that allowed them the freedom to speak their minds. 

Conspiracy Theories

Solutions to these puzzles will at times feel like conspiracy theories. That’s because they are—like them. Conspiracy theories tie together naturally occurring coincidences using hypothetical conspiracies. Byron, on the other hand, connects coincidences with puzzles. When we hear a litany of seemingly related but clearly coincidental details strung together, our knee-jerk reaction is to mentally gag or tune out, which is a perfectly normal and healthy response. However, in this case, we’re dealing with a very complex puzzle that requires us to find patterns among several disparate clues. 

Byron had a rare talent for finding associations in the natural world. He has always been described as an avid reader, constantly pouring over all sorts of unusual books and records. We have to keep this in mind as we decipher this puzzle. It gets quite convoluted, so bear with me. 

…the coliseum

With metal walls

Face the water

Your back to the stairs 

Feel at home 

The name of the Coliseum in Rome was derived from the huge statue that, in ancient times, stood beside it, the Colossus of Nero. This statue in turn was named and patterned after the Colossus of Rhodes in Ancient Greece. We now circle back to modern times. In 1883 Emma Lazarus wrote a poem in honor of The Statue of Liberty, parts of which we’ve all heard, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” However, most of us don’t know the name of the poem: “The New Colossus.” The Statue of Liberty is a colossus, with copper metal walls, and holding a lamp. She is positioned to face the water, the route immigrants take on their way to Ellis Island, so they might feel welcomed, feel at home.

A green tower of lights 

Lady Liberty’s copper exterior has turned a pale green due to oxidation. Her official title is “Liberty Enlightening the World.”  She could be described as a green tower of lights with metal walls. 

Lit by lamp light 

In addition to the torch (lamp) in her right hand, she also holds something in her left, which is “lit by lamp light.”  It is a tablet, representing a book of law with only a date on its cover, in Roman Numerals, of course, July 4, 1776. The fourth of July is the most powerful symbol of American Independence. This is our distance: four. Now let's see if we can confirm this in the image and maybe figure out the units—feet, yards, etc.

The four petals of the gladiolus are near the feet of the fairy—four feet. The foot stepping on home plate depicted on her right sleeve also suggests the units are in feet. We also have the four words “In truth, be free,” the number four in the upper right of the ring around the witch’s head, the foursided peridot, and the four four-sided symbols in the image (baseball bases) lit by lamplight. 

Using our scattergram logic, this all points to the casque having been buried four feet from home plate—specifically, in the middle baseball field, four feet east northeast from home plate (toward second base). This location is consistent with the best guess of the workers who inadvertently dug it up. The location of the Google Earth marker for the treasure now appears off by a bit because the field was renovated and home plate moved. So that’s it, we’re all done. Mystery solved, right? Well, except for the secret of The Secret. Let’s review the Boston clues, starting at the beginning, looking for patterns, and see if we can figure out the secret of The Secret for Boston. 

Welcome to Level 8.

Old Ironsides

 

In 1794, Congress authorized the construction of the six warships. These were the first United States Navy ships born in America. Each of the six ships were built at different seaports along the eastern coast. The USS Constitution was built at Hartt's shipyard in the North End of Boston. It was launched October 21, 1797. 

On June 18, 1812, the US declared war against England, the greatest naval power in the world. There are many reasons for this declaration that I won’t go into here. Regardless, in early July 1812 the USS Constitution, captained by Isaac Hull, sailed from Annapolis to join an assembling U.S. squadron near New York. Lookouts sighted half a dozen British ships off Egg Harbor, New Jersey on July 17. The British, being a far superior force, gave chase.  Just as the Constitution turned to flee, the winds died. What ensued was a long and extraordinary slow-speed chase rivaled only by OJ in his white Bronco. 

Captain Hull tried wetting the sails of the Constitution to extract every possible breath of the feeble wind. Occasionally the British came within range and would send volleys of cannon fire trying to slow or disable the Constitution. Some fell short, some wide, and some passed over the ship—but they all missed. 

Hull launched the row boats and tried towing the Constitution, but it wasn’t enough. Hull made use of the anchors, tossing them off the bow, then pulling the ship forward. But this too didn’t help. Finally, in desperation, Hull dumped much of the ship’s drinking water overboard allowing the Constitution to slowly pull away. When twelve miles separated them, the British broke off the chase. 

The Constitution put in at Boston to resupply. Then on August 12, 1812 the Constitution headed east by northeast, in the direction of Nova Scotia, intent on capturing English ships. Over the next two weeks the Constitution took three prizes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, uncontested. However, in the open ocean, southeast of Nova Scotia, on August 19 she encountered the British frigate Guerriere, one of the ships that had given chase earlier. What ensued was an epic sea battle, the first of many in this war. 

The British fired their long range cannons with little success. When two shots finally struck the hull of the Constitution, they both bounced harmlessly back into the sea. Observing this, one of the crew yelled, “She’s got iron sides!” The nickname stuck. The four-layers of different types of oak that comprised the hull of the Constitution distributed the force of the blow, allowing her to take a direct hit without suffering any damage. 

The two captains performed several intricate maneuvers, struggling to gain the advantage. Hull eventually was able to pull in front of the Guerriere, so close that the bow of the Guerriere was, for a time, stuck in the Constitution’s rigging, allowing the American ship to pummel the Guerriere with volley after volley of maximum cannon fire, while the British ship was limited to only her forward cannons. For twenty minutes the Constitution decimated the Guerriere, bringing down all of her masts and causing her to take on water. The Guerriere surrendered, her crew was transferred to the Constitution, and in the end, the Guerriere was so badly damaged it had to be abandoned and burned. 

This was the first major naval battle of the war and proved to be an important morale boost to a young nation that had already suffered significant losses. Before the war of 1812 was over, the US would see its capital burned to ground, but never its resolve diminished. Many called this test of our young republic a Second War for Independence because we came so close to losing it. 

Why the history lesson? Have you figured it out? “With iron walls,” has a second meaning. The word with can also mean to move in the same direction as. It tells us to move in the same direction as Old Ironsides, not toward it this time, but to match its heading when leaving Boston in 1812 en route to earning its new name, toward Nova Scotia, east by northeast, toward second base!

The poem continues:

Lit by lamplight

This, combined with the previous two lines, alludes to Paul Revere’s midnight ride, but taken separately, it also tells us the direction of the casque. Look at the image and see if you can figure it out. Follow the lamplight emanating from the box. The rays of light fall upon four squarish symbols, the second of which being different from the rest, highlighted if you will. Can you think of four squarish things found on a baseball field? Yep, bases. This is telling us to move toward second base. Now all we need is a distance, which hopefully we can glean from the last line of the poem. 

In truth, be free.

We have now reached the “almost impossible” level of difficulty in this puzzle where the clues become more vague and confounding. There has been much speculation about these final words. Some say it’s just a poetic ending, an artistic expression. Suffice it to say, it’s baffled everyone. To understand this clue we have to again employ scattergram logic. 

Welcome to Level 7.

Let’s look at all of the Boston clues together, as if they were on a graph. Do you see it—the pattern? Our clues include Horace Walpole’s letter, Paul Revere’s ride, Boston Harbor, The War of 1812, and “In truth, be free.” What is the common thread among all of these clues?

Here’s a hint:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

If you were to condense the Declaration of Independence into four words, it might look something like, “In truth, be free.” Which raises the question: Why four words? Why not five or six?

Let's review our clues in detail: The Walpole letter gives us a British perspective during the time leading up to the American war for Independence. Paul Revere and Boston Harbor (the location of the Boston Tea Party) played crucial roles in achieving American Independence. And Old Ironsides helped protect American Independence. Furthermore, the Declaration of Independence consists of five steps (or parts)—the introduction, the preamble, the indictment of King George III, the denunciation of the British Government, and the conclusion. This puzzle appears to have a hidden theme: American Independence.

This theme allows us to ask the question: What number best symbolizes American Independence? This is subjective, but I would say that the Fourth of July is the best numerical representation of American independence. Can we arrive at the Fourth of July through other clues? Yes, but first, I have to address the possible gag reflex you may experience while reading it. 

Escape Room Rules

 

Escape rooms are essentially a series of theme-based puzzles that a group of people must solve together. This has become a whole industry. Most escape rooms have a rule that each clue may be used only once, because clues within clues makes the puzzle exponentially more difficult and virtually impossible to solve in the typical hour allotted for the “escape.” The Secret has no such rule! Furthermore, this concept of clues within clues reflects the very nature of The Secret. This is the essence of its beautiful complexity. 

The poem continues:

Eighteenth day

Twelfth hour

As I said earlier, this refers to Paul Revere’s midnight ride on April 18, 1775, and yet, it appears here, near the end of our detailed treasure hunting instructions, at a point where we expect the direction we are to go next, the direction of the casque. How could these lines possibly give us a direction? This is one of my favorite clues in all the puzzles! Contained within the Paul Revere allusion are the ordinal numbers eighteenth and twelfth, or eighteen and twelve, which gives us 1812, the year the USS Constitution earned its nickname, Old Ironsides, alluded to in the poem as “metal walls.”

Ready Player One

 

My second favorite book in the whole world is Ready Player One, where an eccentric multi-billionaire wills his entire fortune to whomever can solve a series of puzzles buried in a virtual world called the Oasis. (If anyone cares, my favorite book is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.) There are many similarities between the treasure hunt in Ready Player One and the hunt in Byron’s book. Most importantly, the puzzles in  Ready Player One are based on and intended to promote the creator’s passions, including pop music, movies, television, and, of course, video games. It follows that Byron’s puzzles too would be based on and promote his passions. 

As with the solutions to the puzzles in Ready Player One, we too must get inside the head of Byron Preiss, to understand how he thought, how he lived his life, his abilities, and his passions. Every clue must be consistent with his standards, values, experiences, and skills. In essence, the hunt is Byron and Byron is the hunt. 

So often, when a clue seems to have no good solution, I hear treasure hunters complaining about what a terrible puzzle designer Bryon was. This really bothers me because based on what I’ve learned about Byron, professionally, he didn’t make many mistakes. This questioning of Byron’s abilities reminds me of when I was a teacher’s assistant while working toward my masters degree in computer science. I lost track of how many students came to me during my office hours convinced that their code was right and the computer was wrong. It usually took me about two minutes to find the bug in their code. Likewise, I have yet to find a mistake in Byron’s puzzles; it has always turned out to be a failure in my interpretation. If a clue seems in error, it isn’t a mistake, it's another clue. 

Working through these puzzles felt a bit like being in the book Ready Player One, but without all the money, or fame, or cool graphics. However, in the case of Byron’s puzzles, even without all that stuff, what you’re still left with is…everything—absolutely, positively, everything!

With metal walls 

It is important here to highlight the author/editor part of Byron’s resume, suggesting a deep understanding of the English language. In this context, “With metal walls” does not refer to a structure that has metal walls. It takes advantage of a less obvious interpretation of the word with, specifically “in the direction of.” This means that we are to move in the direction of “metal walls,” which is an allusion to the famous war ship Old Ironsides.  

Face the water

Your back to the stairs

Feel at home

Starting at the bottom of the stairs, moving in the direction of Old Ironsides (the USS Constitution), moored across the bay (north northwest), takes us across the middle baseball field to home plate. 

All the letters

Are here to see

The USS Constitution, back in 1982, used to fly naval signal flags (per George Ward). John Palencar, in a recent interview with Mr. Ward, confirmed that symbols approximating these flags appear in the image. If you look at the two symbols closest to the smaller bubble (the two lit by lamplight), they appear to be most similar to the signal flags for “o” and “s”. The “o” signal flag is rotated so as to double as the letter “n” in Boston.

In the Expedition Unknown Boston episode, John Palencar said that the purpose of the bubble near the bird’s beak was the visual pun, “Boston Pops.” This has been decried as a bad clue, too abstract. But I think this is looking at it the wrong way. A bad clue, an imperfection, is a clue itself. Maybe it’s not about the pun at all. Maybe it’s about giving Palencar an excuse for having bubbles in the image. Maybe it’s really all about the bubbles.  

The light source is reflected from the outside and inside of each bubble, producing two dots, one upper right, the other lower left. In the Braille alphabet two dots in this orientation is the letter “i.” 

Reading top-down, symbol, bubble, symbol, gives us “o”, “i”, “s”: Old Ironsides. Now, the puzzle gets even harder. It follows that, if Byron has us standing on home plate looking at the USS Constitution, we should continue in that direction toward the casque. But that would be too easy!

Welcome to Level 6.

There is no Spoon

 

In the movie The Matrix, the protagonist, Neo, observes a boy monk bend a spoon with his mind. He asks the boy how he did it. The exchange follows:

Boy: “Do not try and bend the spoon—that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.”

Neo: “What truth?”

Boy: “There is no spoon. Then you’ll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

To solve the mystery of “A green tower of lights” we must only try to realize the truth, to change our interpretation rather than try to change reality. The simple truth is that there is no tower, not a green one anyway. Nowhere in the vicinity of the Puopolo ball fields is there a green-colored tower. The idea of a green tower is just a façade, a distraction from the truth. Embracing the fact that there is no tower allows us to look for other interpretations of these words, and  ultimately, to bend the spoon. 

When we think of the word green, we generally think of the adjective, the color green, but there are also some less common noun definitions to consider, such as a putting green. In context, one reasonable definition of the word green that I was previously unfamiliar with is, “a piece of public or common grassy land.” Similarly, we usually use the noun form of the word tower, such as the Eiffel Tower. But there’s also a verb form of the word, as in how a tall person might tower over someone shorter. Putting these two definitions together, the words “A green tower of lights” become a piece of public grassy land towered over by lights. I think this is a decent description of a lit ball field. The next line, “In the middle section,” tells us that we want the middle ball field. 

As noted earlier, when Byron wrote, “...Man often found his strength in words,” he was likely hinting at the importance of the words in these puzzles. Byron’s vast knowledge of the English language combined with his deep understanding of grammar allowed him to write sentences and phrases that are puns, holding multiple meanings, one being a straightforward interpretation meant only as a distraction, and another hidden interpretation that is the actual clue.

Regarding my interpretation of the “green tower of lights,” if you don’t believe me, please go to a dictionary and look up the words “green” and “tower.” You’ll see that the definitions I’ve described are correct. 

Near those

Who pass the coliseum 

With metal walls 

Now we look for something that resembles a coliseum with metal walls, right? 

Welcome to Level 4.

In the introduction to the Japanese version hints, Byron states that part of the challenge of each puzzle is determining which lines go together. Our current point in this poem is an excellent example of just how tricky combining lines can be. We want to read the clue to include “…the coliseum with metal walls,” but there’s nothing in the area that fits this description. So we must look for an alternate explanation.

“Near those who pass the coliseum” is meant to be taken all by itself. It alludes to the people who pass the Coliseum in Rome every day, in other words, Italians. Byron has slyly hidden another allusion to The North End where there is a high concentration of Italian-Americans. Now we need to figure out where to go next. 

Welcome to Level 5.

Take Five

 

The poem continues:

Take five steps 

In the area of his direction

We must, of course, somehow find our way to the Puopolo ball field. Krupat’s proposed path from the Boston Public Library to Columbus Park, and from there counting five “steps” (wharfs) north, is as good as any theory that you might find online, but Palencar confirmed on Expectation Unknown that the woman in the image was not Columbus, not by design anyway—and even if it were, that’s not what the poem says! The steps are not taken in the direction of north, but “in the area of” north. “The area of his direction” then refers to the area of north in Boston, in other words, Boston’s North End. Therefore, interpreting the whole sentence we get: Take five steps in the North End. Instead of taking five steps to the North End from Columbus Park, we start in the North End looking for a place where we can “take five steps.”

Let’s see if we can confirm in the image that Boston’s North End is part of the puzzle. Remember the number 112 near the flower? If you look a little to the left, you’ll see a 3 hidden there. To the right of 112 there is a circular indentation in the wall resembling a zero. Writing these numbers in reverse order we get 02113, one of the zipcodes of Boston’s North End. 

The term steps, when outdoors, can refer to a flight of steps, as in the sentence, “Take the steps to the garden.” The phrase, “Take five steps,” therefore, could refer to five flights of steps. The question then becomes—Where in the North End can you take five flights of steps? If you know the North End well, then you know exactly where I’m going with this. If you descend from the south edge of Copp Hill Terrace, heading north, you will take exactly five flights of steps (ignoring a couple very small landings) as you descend to Commercial Street and the Puopolo baseball fields just east of Langone Park. To verify these five flights of steps using Google Earth, you will have to go into 3D mode and pan around a little to be able to see the top flight of steps. There are some trees directly above it obscuring the view. 

A green tower of lights

Most people think, as did I, that this refers to one of the floodlight towers illuminating the Puopolo baseball fields, just west of Langone Park. In the Secret Podcast episode about Boston, George Ward said in passing that someone told him that the floodlight towers were at one time painted a pale green. Hearing this sealed the deal for me. Case closed. 

When typing up my notes for this clue, I had trouble determining which tower of floodlights the puzzle referenced. The poem clearly states that there’s “A tower…,” just one tower—but which one? I also had trouble reconciling the floodlights with the good puzzle principle—it’s not interesting. I carefully ignored these red flags.

Again I turned to my online acquaintance Renovator to review my interpretation. Unsurprisingly, he found a crucial flaw in my interpretation of the line “A green tower of lights.” He had researched this clue and had determined that these floodlight towers were never painted green, that they had always been white. I then had multiple problems with my interpretation and no viable alternative. I could argue the Tobin Bridge fits the description as Krupat had, but a bridge is not a tower. It has towers, but isn’t one. I had to concede that my interpretation was wrong, and I was back at square one. 

Welcome to Level 3.