Decoding "The Secret: A Treasure Hunt"

we're taught from a young age to love treasure hunts from finding Easter eggs hidden within the bushes of our grandparents backyard to summer camp scavenger hunts the thrill of deducing clues and finding hidden objects is deeply ingrained it's no surprise that many of us grow into adulthood still searching for this feeling and in the modern age of the internet where treasure hunts cannonless large numbers of players with a diverse range of skills all working together from around the world the threshold for complexity is nearly infinite but in the early 1980s a treasure hunt which required advanced levels of coordination collaboration problem-solving all culminating into a nationwide search was presented to the public long before the public was ready for something of such scale and due to its difficulty and the lack of any practical way for its players to confer with one another it has remained unsolved and nearly forgotten for decades I'd like to introduce you to the treasure hunt known as the secret the secret was a fantasy book published in 1982 created by author Byron Preiss although the cover suggested to be simply another fantasy novel once the reader begins it's quickly revealed to be a puzzle welcome we've been expecting you the book opens you are about to embark on a fantastic adventure a quest for 12 treasures over ten thousand dollars in precious jewels they may be hidden in your city or your local park or even in your own backyard you might even figure out one of their hiding places without leaving your house treasure precious jewels it's the stuff of cliche fantasy fiction although in this case it's real prior to the publication of the secret creator Byron Preiss traveled the United States hiding 12 keys in various locations across the country and corresponding with each key he set up safety deposit boxes which would hold the 12 jewels until someone found the keys to unlock them the fictional backstory for these jewels can be found in the books lore which chronicles an immortal race of creatures known as the fair people as the story goes the fair people consisted of 12 tribes made up of different races goblins fairies dragons at some point centuries ago the tribe sought out a new homeland and they chose North America which they refer to as Newfoundland each of the twelve tribes carried with the magenta stone a memento intended to preserve the culture and history of their native lands but upon arrival of the Europeans the fair folk fled disappearing into the woods the deserts the mountains hiding from these new intruders the fair people observed as the Europeans colonized the land damn the rivers and destroyed the natural landscape although the fair people disapproved of their lifestyle they decided to offer them a truce in the form of their gemstones in exchange the fair folk would come out of hiding and live in harmony however in order to claim the gemstones they must first be found and in order to find them they must solve the riddles the book provides this rhyme by way of instruction a dozen paintings share the clues yet fairy secrets come in twos to sing a happy treasure song to have a cask do you belong a Wed one picture with one verse for fair folks peace goodness first as the first line suggests the book includes 12 paintings each featuring a gemstone somewhere in view [Music] it also features 12 poems which are intended to be paired with the paintings together these two mediums contain the location of the gemstone the reader is meant to locate the keys fill out the form provided at the back of the book and mail both to the address in exchange they will be sent the gemstone each one reportedly worth a thousand dollars but whose value today is incalculable the mystery byron tells us in the text is yours to unravel [Music] in order to understand what prompted Byron Preiss to create the secret let's take a look at the previous decade in 1979 at the book which directly inspired it masquerade masquerade which was arguably the first treasure-hunting book of its kind was created by author and illustrator kit Williams it featured 16 incredibly detailed paintings which told the story of Jack hare who is depicted carrying a treasure from the moon to the Sun however upon arriving at the Sun Jack hare finds that he's lost his treasure somewhere along his journey the readers of masquerade were intended to study the paintings and decipher the clues embedded within them in order to find Jack hares treasure a small statuette of a hair made from 18 karat gold the clues were difficult to solve requiring its readers to draw a line from the subjects in the paintings eyes to the longest digits on their hands and feet which directs them to a letter on the page border once all pictures are solved the reader will have spelled out the following message Catherines long finger overshadows earth buried yellow amulet midday points the hour and light of equinox look you taking the first letter from most of the word spells out close by opt Hill opt Hill is a city in Bedfordshire England which contains a monument to 16th century Queen of England Catherine of Aragon consulting the original clue one is intended to follow the shadow cast by the monument at noon during the equinox in order to pinpoint the exact location of the treasure although these two titles the secret and masquerade are similar there is one major difference as difficult as masquerade wise it only included one puzzle which was solved within a few short years after its publication the secret however with its 12 puzzles was so difficult that in the 37 years since its publication only two of the twelve keys have ever been uncovered the first key was found the year following the secrets publication near the Art Institute of Chicago by man named Eric gassy arouse key let's take a look at how he solved it as the book constructs the first thing one needs to do in order to find a key is pair the painting with its corresponding poem all 12 paintings Chronicle the immigration of each of the 12 tribes of the fair people each tribe carries with him their own jewel as told on pages 20 and 21 of the secret and the section titled the litany of jewels by identifying the jewel in each painting and matching it with a corresponding tribe listed in the litany of jewels one can determine the tribes country of origin in the example of the first key the stone in the picture is an emerald consulting the litany of jewels one quickly finds the line brilliant as eyes of Celtic folk cold morning green their emerald okay so the tribe represented in this painting came from Celtic countries but how is that helpful the secret clearly states that these keys are hidden within the United States well remember the diaspora story of the twelve tribes each of them went to live separately after the colonization of the United States and the fact that this tribe appears to be from Celtic regions is a clue a reader may ask themselves what are some of the American cities with a high population of Irish and/or Scottish immigrants there's Boston Chicago New York keeping these cities in mind let's look back to the painting there the shape created by the negative space between the Hat and the wire could this suggest the shape of Illinois the windmill near the top of the picture could this be the Chicago water tower and the silhouette on the left side of the painting looks nearly identical to a statue called the Bowman which is just outside of Grant Park in Chicago finally this fairy pouring water seems to point to the fountain of the Great Lakes a sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago all clues seem to suggest that this key is buried somewhere in the Windy City but in order to pinpoint the exact location we need to find the corresponding poem at a cursory glance the poems don't reveal much but now that we know what city were looking for we can get each one a more targeted read poem number 12 begins with the line where m and B are set in stone and to Congress R is known although ambiguous those with knowledge of Chicago's landmarks may recall the names Mozart and Beethoven chiseled into the stone of the Chicago Orchestra Hall the next line answer Congress R is known beginning at Chicago Orchestra Hall and proceeding down Michigan Avenue one will find the Roosevelt University auditorium located on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress and to Congress R is known R Roosevelt as if to confirm were on the right track this building is located directly behind the Bowman so now we can be reasonably sure that we have the correct city and the corresponding poem which gives us the trailhead to finding the key the poem continues else it's and left beyond his shoulder is the fair folks treasure holder else it's the Lincoln monument in Grant Park walking from the direction of the Bowman the player must go left into the trees behind the monument the end of 10 by 13 is your clue the player finds a row of 10 by 13 trees and follows it to the end in order to find fence and fixture this fixture in the fence which borders Grant Park is confirmed by this image in the painting central 2 for finding jewel cask seek the sounds of rumble near Grant Park the player continues the trail by finding the Illinois Central Railroad tracks the poem concludes with the lines brush and music hush across the train tracks is the Art Institute of Chicago brush and just beyond that the patrol of bandshell music and buried within a patch of secluded lawn nearby Eric Garcia rocky and his friends after three years of work found the cast containing the first key we were digging around for a bit and then a friend he leaned up against the wall and fell off and there was a thought unfortunately the secret never quite took off after all the concept had already been done in masquerade where it was much easier to solve remember this was long before think tanks from around the world could develop on online message boards dedicated to these types of mysteries because of the complexity and difficulty of the puzzles or simply the books limited release the first key remained the only key to be found for decades and although the finders of the keys were promised acknowledgment in the second volume of The Secret due to its lack of player participation a second volume was never made a visionary Byron Preiss moved on to other projects and the secret faded into obscurity until in 2004 when the second he was found using similar techniques which uncovered the first key treasure hunter Andy Abrams determined that this picture corresponded to the city of Cleveland which was confirmed by finding the shape of Ohio hidden within the picture following the trail had provided by the corresponding poem and he made his way into the cultural gardens and this is where things got complicated and perhaps now you'll truly understand why not many have solve these puzzles near the end of the Palmer these convoluted lines in a rectangular plot beneath the tent stone from right to left beneath the ninth row from the top of the wall including small bricks seven steps up you can hop from the bottom level socrates penned our Appel EES these directions don't lead to the location of the treasure if read linearly the player is meant to deduce from this sideways view of the painting stone enclosure that the correct way to read the directions is back each key each puzzle has its own unique set of rules and learning this about the secret is what led to a new key being found for the first time in over 20 years unfortunately only a year later Byron Preiss creator of the secret was tragically killed in a car accident at the age of 53 the amount of effort creativity and dedication he put into making the secret is astounding unlike his contemporary pazzo master kit williams who worked alone Byron wanted to create something bigger to create the secret he enlisted the help of a team of writers painters and sculptors to fully realize the world of the fair people together they built an imaginary world hidden within our own even though Byron never lived to see all 12 keys found at least he knew that a fanbase however small still existed and were committed to solving his puzzles by it as dedicated as his fans were it was still another 14 years until reports surfaced of the third key being found in San Francisco in late 2018 for the small but enthusiastic community of the secret this was incredible news but when asked for proof the treasure hunter provided these pictures comparing this cask to the ones previously found suspicions of forgery were voiced on the forums and allegedly both Joelle and trilling and John Palin car the respective sculptor and illustrator who worked on the secret have identified this cask as a forgery so at the time of writing it's likely that only two of the 12 keys have ever been found and since it's been several decades since the keys have been buried the game has become more difficult for obvious reasons for one the only person who knew beyond any doubt where the keys are buried was Byron Preiss himself but since his death it appears the only way to confirm a keys location is to physically locate it unfortunately in the 37 years since the publication of the secret a lot of the natural landscape has changed buildings have been erected turf has been bulldozed or paved some of the suspected locations of these keys are no longer accessible even brute-force methods such as using a metal detector around suspected burial sites won't work as the keys were made of ceramics specifically to prevent this the ever-growing and likelihood of locating the keys has deterred some years but another's it sparked a sense of urgency to find them before they become lost forever unlike its predecessor masquerade it's obvious that the secret was never intended to be solved by one person alone it's simply too complex requiring coordination from people all over the country but with the growing popularity of alternate reality gaming there seems to be a renewed and trust in the secret a dedicated team of treasure hunters can be found in the usual places where modern-day mysteries are solved online message boards although the achievement of having solved a puzzle that no one has been able to solve is a powerful motivator it's important not to underestimate the nuanced and esoteric nature of the secrets puzzles but perhaps the notion that Byron Prices puzzles would be so difficult that they would stretch across generations that people would still be searching long after his death that a new technology would have to come along before people could adequately solve them was part of Byron's plan all along for the secret I've gotten several requests to cover an arg known as kept there e and while this is something I may consider in the future in the meantime I'd like to recommend this analysis video by nefarious TV he does a very thorough job and if you guys like my approach to video coverage I'm willing to bet you'll also like his I'll leave a link to his channel in the description below also I'd like to extend a warm welcome to my new subscribers when I uploaded my last video fewer than 5,000 people had subscribed to atrocity guide and now there are nearly 30,000 of you to those of you who have been around for a while your encouragement has kept me motivated to continue growing and improving this channel to those of you who are new welcome and I hope we will continue exploring the oddities of the internet and beyond together for a long time if you enjoyed this video and look forward to similar content please consider subscribing and if you have any suggestions for future videos please leave them in the comments below also if you'd like to stay up-to-date on Channel news you can follow me on twitter at atrocity guide [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Atrocity Guide

Views: 371,319

Rating: 4.952498 out of 5

Keywords: atrocity guide, the secret, the secret: a tresure hunt, byron preiss, treasure hunt, scavenger hunt, kit williams, masquerade, reddit, 12 keys, weird, bizarre, mystery, rabbit hole, arg, unsolved mystery, alternate reality game

Id: vfGk0dFAhjo

Length: 17min 36sec (1056 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ShiversTheNinja]

This is actually how I just found this sub. Very interesting stuff. Doubt I'll be much help but I'm curious to watch for any potential developments.

[u/EmuCult]

Just found this sub from that video. Reading and looking at everything this is incredible. Hope it brings more awareness and maybe even some solutions. Cant wait to see the future progress.

[u/Rotsuoy]

This is video why I'm here! I've been studying the Boston Key (Verse 3, Image 11), and I'm thinking about planning a day trip to follow the Freedom Trail since the end of verse 3 seems to suggest (to myself and a couple of friends anyway) locations around the Freedom Trail area. Even if that does nothing and the casque is closer to the Green Monster, I'm going to have a lot of fun, and that's the point right? The journey and not the destination? Anyway, good luck to the new wave!
I suggest people start looking at the information compiled on thesecret[dot]pbworks[dot]com. Studying the solution to the first one (Chicago Verse 12, Image 5) has helped me get into the mindset of how these are solved!

[u/bz237]

Join the FB pages and check out the podcast!

[u/burnstyle]

All of the info for the book can be found on 12treasures.com

There are links in the sidebar

[u/ParagonDeku]

The New Orleans one has such a freaky hand