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Image 1 Verse 7 Solution

Page history last edited by Oregonian 9 months ago

Synopsis

The casque associated with Image 1 and Verse 7 is (or was) buried in San Francisco, California near the northeastern edge of Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. The approximate coordinates of the most likely burial spot are 37°46'11.0"N, 122°28'16.7"W (37.769726, -122.471294).

This is the image associated with immigration from China. The woman's dress is a map of Golden Gate Park, rotated 90 degrees so the western edge is at the top. Clues from the image and verse narrow our attention to a small slice of the park directly east of the elevated Highway 1 (Crossover Drive). After leading us on a stroll through the park, the puzzle brings us to a long staircase that has a handrail (or pole) going up the middle. The casque was buried directly across from the top end of the pole.

Detailed Solution

The solution given below will present clues from the verse and the image in a way that narrows down the search area to that specific point. Bits of the original image are shown in the left column in cells with a tan background. Lines from the verse are in the same column but with a yellow background. (For more detail about any particular clue, check the page for Image 1 or Verse 7.)

Clues

Interpretations

The woman's hair forms the numbers "37" and "38."

The dress features Roman numerals arranged vertically on either side of the upper panel. The numerals give the symbols for "1, 2, 2" and "1, 2, 3." Taken together, the numerals seem to be "spelling out" the numbers 122 and 123.

(This is not, of course, the real way to write those numbers in Roman numerals. For an explanation of why the artist chose to express the numbers this way, keep reading.)

The San Francisco metropolitan area is framed by those latitudes and longitudes:

Several minor clues in the image and verse confirm the San Francisco location:

The face in the rocks is a strong match for the way editorial cartoonists portrayed Ronald Reagan, the former California governor who was elected president in 1980, shortly before The Secret was published.
The outline of the table post is very similar to the profile of a cable car, one of the iconic symbols of San Francisco.
There are visual references to Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and possibly Angel Island.
The word "giant" is repeated in successive lines of Verse 7 as a nod to the city's baseball team.

Most significantly, the woman in the image appears to be Asian and the overall theme of The Secret is of immigration to North America. The city most closely linked to Asian immigration to the United States is San Francisco, which had a huge influx of arrivals from China in the 19th century.

All of these clues strongly confirm that we should be looking in San Francisco.

Page 28 of The Secret contains a subtle clue indicating that one of the casques is located near the edge of the Pacific Ocean ("the Great Western Sea").

Golden Gate Park is one of the major open spaces in San Francisco. It is positioned just across the Great Highway from the Pacific and it forms a long rectangle that flares out slightly at the northeast corner, where Fulton Street bends. The panel on the front of the woman's dress has a similar shape and a similar flare, suggesting that it is a map of the park.

The dragon on the central panel of the woman's dress appears to be modeled on one of the two griffins shown in the ironwork above the doors of the Golden Gate Park Senior Center. Note, in particular, the arched neck, the protruding brow, the short lower jaw, and the way that the beak and some other bump (a tongue?) have been transformed into two upper fangs.

The Senior Center is located on Fulton Street, at the northern edge of the park, between the Great Highway and Crossover Drive. The corresponding spot on the map/dress would be on the right edge of the panel as we see it (or the left edge of the panel from the woman's perspective). But the artist has emphasized that the dragon is actually in the opposite position. The nose of the dragon isn't just located on the left edge of the panel, but it actually pushes out (with a blue halo) as if to draw our attention.

The doorway of the Senior Center actually has two of these griffins, one facing left and one facing right. The artist therefore made a deliberate choice to use the left-facing griffin and put the nose on that edge of the panel.

If we take a real map of Golden Gate Park and rotate it 90 degrees clockwise, so that the Pacific Ocean is at the top, there are six features that appear to match up with the panel on the dress:

The "Gh" at the top appears to be a reference to the Great Highway, which forms the western boundary of the park.
The dragon's nose on the edge of the panel is a reference to the Senior Center on Fulton Street.
The woman's crossed arms represent Crossover Drive, where Highway 1 crosses the park.
Stow Lake and Strawberry Hill are united into the blue strawberry-shaped area directly below the woman's wrists.
The curve where the talons are located is a representation of MLK Drive.
The flare in the lower right corner corresponds to the flare in the park where Fulton Street bends.

If the dress is intended to be interpreted this way, so that the crossed arms match Highway 1 and the bottom end of the panel matches the eastern end of the park, then the western area between Great Highway and Crossover Drive is essentially reduced to almost nothing. This indicates that we are meant to focus our attention on the eastern end of the park.

Of the six features that are shown in the dress, the upper two appear to be flipped horizontally (from side to side). The "Gh" for "Great Highway" is backwards and the dragon from the Golden Gate Park Senior Center on Fulton Street is on the left edge rather than the right.

The middle two features do not indicate whether they are flipped from side to side. Strawberry Hill would still be in the middle of the park either way and the arms would still run across the park either way.

The lower two features are positioned on the correct sides of the panel. MLK Drive makes a bend on the left side of the dress panel and the lower right corner of the panel shows the same "flare" that is present in the northeast corner of the park. This confirms that the orientation for this lower part of the panel is correct.

Taken together, all of this seems to be telling us that we should flip the upper half of the map horizontally but focus our attention on the lower half, which should remain in place.

Note the artist's clever touch of using Roman numerals and writing out the individual digits when putting the longitudes on the upper portion woman's dress. If the artist had shown the longitudes as "122" and "123" or as "CXXII" and "CXXIII," it would have made it too obvious that the upper panel is flipped horizontally. But the numerals I, II, and III all look exactly the same when they are flipped horizontally. Very clever.

Pause For A Moment

If you've followed the (admittedly very complicated) narrative so far, pause for just a moment to ask yourself: What is the significance of reversing the upper half of the dress?

If the artist is devoting most of the panel map to the lower (eastern) portion of the park, why include those two features - the "Gh" and the dragon's head - simply to show us that the upper portion of the map is flipped?

Each sleeve of the woman's dress is decorated with two columns of blue squares. The woman's left index finger is upside-down and pointing up at the lower edge of the fourth row of blocks. The woman's right index finger is right-side-up and pointing down at the upper edge of the fourth row of blocks.

Given that the center panel is a map of Golden Gate Park, it is very reasonable to assume that the blocks in the cuffs are the city blocks on either side of the park. And, because the columns start very sharply and cleanly at the top with complete squares but fade away into shadows at the bottom, it appears that we are meant to count from the top.

The index finger on the woman's right hand is pushing or pointing downwards (eastwards) and appears to be telling us to stay east of a street three blocks from the top. But the index finger on the woman's left hand appears to be pulling upwards (westwards) and telling us to stay west of a street four blocks from the top.

If the crossed arms represent Crossover Drive and the squares on the cuffs represent the city blocks on either side of the park, one way to interpret this clue would be to start each count from 19th Avenue, where Crossover Drive meets the city street grid on the south side of the park. In this case, the woman's fingers appear to be signaling that we should restrict our search to the area between 15th and 16th Avenues (the area between the red lines in the map at left). The strip of land indicated by the fingers includes large parts of Stow Lake, but it also includes the very eastern tip of Strawberry Hill, including Huntington Falls and the Chinese pavilion.

The problem with the analysis above is that Crossover Drive doesn't run straight across the park. As Verse 7 notes, the highway does a little zigzag as it runs through the park ("running north but first across"). The south end of the drive is 19th Avenue, but the north end is between 14th and 13th Avenues.

If we try to apply our sleeve/block count to that reality, it suddenly makes no sense. The right hand would be telling us to stay east of an avenue three blocks from 13th, but the left hand would be telling us to stay west of an avenue four blocks from 19th. There's no overlap between those instructions. What to do? A searcher cannot simultaneously be west of 15th Avenue and east of 10th Avenue.

SOLUTION: THE HANDS ARE REVERSED!

The entire message behind the reversal of the upper dress panel is to tell us that we should also flip the woman's crossed arms from side to side. The woman's right hand - currently pointing to blocks on the right side of the panel - is really meant to apply to blocks on the left side of the panel, and vice-versa.

Once we flip the blocks indicated by the two hands, and attach the block counts to the places where Crossover Drive enters and exits the park, we can see that the hands are telling us to stay in a seven-block range, between 9th Avenue and 16th Avenue. This reduces our search area to a narrow slice of Golden Gate Park extending from the east end of Strawberry Hill to the California Academy of Sciences.

All of the clues up to this point have brought us to an area in the center of Golden Gate Park where there are a number of special features.

(Note that Highway 1, Crossover Drive, and Park Presidio Blvd are all the same road.)

The artwork in Image 1 contains many visual references to confirm that we are in the right area:

The rose is likely a reference to the Golden Gate Park Rose Garden.
The shape below the crossed arms appears to show Strawberry Hill, the island in the middle of Stow Lake.
The stone formation of the fingers holding a baseball could be a nod toward what is often called the "ball-thrower statue."
The woman's eyes and nose, resemble features on the faces on the two concrete sphinxes that are located near the de Young museum.
The woman's thin, arching eyebrows that form a semicircle above each eye resemble the eyebrows on the Buddha sculpture in the Japanese tea garden.

Most of the curves in the dragon's body do not match up with the roads in Golden Gate Park. The one exception is in the area where we are now focused.

At the southern end of Crossover Drive, just before the freeway leaves the park, Martin Luther King Jr Drive begins a broad, sweeping curve that takes it out to the center of the park before returning to the edge and Lincoln Way. The dragon's body captures that same curve (confirming that the map below the crossed arms is not flipped).

Pay close attention to the spot that the dragon is pinpointing for us by making the small circle with its talons. That spot should be directly below (east of) Strawberry Hill, where MLK Drive is making the swing back to the edge of the park. That spot, between MLK Drive and the California Academy of Sciences, is the home of the Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers.

The San Francisco image is one of only two paintings in the book that have a rounded top. The image also prominently features an armored, arched doorway in the center of the image, seemingly giving extra emphasis to that shape.

Visitors investigating the Shakespeare Garden are likely to notice that the window at the top of Image 1 is a reasonable match for an armored alcove that holds a bust of William Shakespeare in Golden Gate Park. The alcove is recessed in a brick wall decorated with quotations from Shakespeare's plays. (Intriguingly, the brick-and-concrete pillars on either side of the alcove have patterns that look like stacked Roman numerals. Hmm....)

Shakespeare bust photo used under a creative common license: Some rights reserved by joshleejosh on Flickr

1) At stone wall's door

2) The air smells sweet

The combination of clues from the image and verse should make it clear that we are meant to begin our stroll at the Shakespeare bust and the wall that holds it. The reference to a "sweet smell" almost certainly refers to the San Francisco Botanical Garden's Garden of Fragrance located 100 yards to the west, across MLK Drive. Designed in 1965, the garden is specifically intended to benefit the visually impaired by providing a garden experience through the sense of smell.

Here, then, is our position at the start of the stroll.

(This map and subsequent maps will use yellow ovals to correspond to the lines of the verse.)

3) Not far away

4) High posts are three

The three "high posts" are the Sutro Tower, which dominates the skyline to the south, above the open area of the park.

Golden Gate Park photo used under a creative common license: Some rights reserved by torbakhopper on Flickr

The image on the right above is a high-resolution close-up of the symbol at the bottom edge of the woman's dress.

The image on the left above is a portion of the 1977 Rand McNally map of San Francisco, which would have been a very common map for visitors at the time Byron Preiss hid the casque.

The book provides two strong clues to help steer our attention to the eastern end of the park. One is the reference to "high posts are three." The other is the outline of Twin Peaks Reservoir in the margin of the dress. The reservoir is beside the Sutro Tower in the cluster of hills by the southeast corner of the park. (Click on map below to see a larger version in a new window.)

5) Education and Justice

6) For all to see

"Education" almost certainly refers to the nearby California Academy of Sciences, which has been in the park since 1916. Most of the original Academy buildings were damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and there has been been significant construction and renovation as a result. Any specific visual or verbal ties to those buildings are probably lost.

"Justice for all to see" could be in reference to a number of different monuments, but is probably just a reference to the flagpole and the Pledge of Allegiance that ends with "liberty and justice for all."

7) Sounds from the sky

8) Near ace is high

"Ace is high" refers to Highway 1 (also known as "Crossover Drive"), which runs across Golden Gate Park. "Ace" in this reference means "one" and "high" would mean both "highway" and literally "high" (because Highway 1 is elevated where it goes through Golden Gate Park). "Sounds from the sky" would match this interpretation because Hwy. 1 is a six-lane highway and a person standing nearby in Golden Gate Park can hear the roar of traffic coming from above.

9) Running north, but first across

This line is almost certainly meant to have a dual meaning. Highway 1 runs north through most of San Francisco, but at Golden Gate Park it turns and runs due east (across) for a few blocks before turning north again to go to the Golden Gate Bridge. Just at the bend where the highway turns there is a stone cross called the Prayer Book Cross that was a gift from the Church of England and was erected in 1894.

So Highway 1 runs north but first across, and before it leaves the park there is (first) a cross. (Click on map below to see a larger version in a new window.)

Lines 3 through 9 have just oriented us to the major landmarks near the Shakespeare Garden.

The precise interpretation of lines 5 & 6 doesn't matter because none of these lines are sending us off in any direction. (We're not expected to hike up to the Sutro Tower or climb into traffic on Highway 1.) The lines are just confirming what we can see and hear from where we're standing.

10) In jewel's direction

The ambiguity of this line is probably deliberate. Are we supposed to know "jewel's direction" and start off that way? Or are we meant to discover "jewel's direction" by solving the subsequent lines?

If "jewel's direction" has any inherent meaning, the "direction" in question would most likely be "west." San Francisco is the only west coast casque location and the book talks about reaching the "Great Western Sea." But a searcher in 1982 wouldn't have a cell phone or GPS unit to guide their walk. The tool for finding west would be a compass. And, in 1980, magnetic north in that spot was rotated 16.34 degrees clockwise from true west.

For more information about how a wiki user solved this piece of the puzzle, see Postscript II at the bottom of this page.

Note that the puzzle still works quite well even if a searcher isn't convinced that "jewel's direction" means magnetic west. If we are meant to browse around and solve the next lines to find the true direction, we will still end up on the same path.

screenshot from the magnetic field calculator provided by NOAA

11) Is an object

12) Of Twain's attention

"Twain" is capitalized here and is presumably a reference to Mark Twain, who worked as a newspaper reporter in San Francisco from 1864 to 1865. Because Twain was a prolific writer with an active and curious mind, there are almost an unlimited number of things around the city that could be said to be objects of his attention.

The crucial thing to keep in mind, however, is that Preiss has started us in the Shakespeare Garden looking at a particular door in a wall. The next step in our search (the object of Twain's attention) therefore needs to be reasonably close - within a short walk from the garden.

At a corner directly across Music Concourse Drive from the Shakespeare Garden — directly (magnetic) west of the door in the wall — there is a hard-to-miss, gold-plated bust of the composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Mark Twain had a love/hate affair with opera. He was a frequent attendee for many years but he complained that the music of unfamiliar operas was often "that sort of intense but incoherent noise which always so reminds me of the time the orphan asylum burned down." Verdi's Il Trovatore was one of Twain's favorites, however, and in August 1866 he attended a performance of it in San Francisco. The experience had such an impact on him that it prompted him to write his own version. Verdi therefore certainly qualifies as "an object of Twain's attention" and the position of the bust near the door in the wall makes this a very strong match for the clue.

Verdi bust photo used under a creative common license: Some rights reserved by torbakhopper on Flickr

By A.F. Bradley, New York (steamboattimes.com) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

It's worth stepping back at this point and asking why Preiss chose to phrase his clue this way. If he wanted us to use the Verdi bust as a navigation point, there are many, many ways he could have made the connection stronger and more direct using music, opera lyrics, clues to the name, and so forth. So why choose an extremely obscure connection to Mark Twain?

The answer is that in this, as in all the puzzles in The Secret, Preiss wanted searchers to combine library research with on-the-ground explorations and visual connections. And the bust of Verdi in Golden Gate Park has a strong visual connection to Mark Twain (with the long, wavy hair, thick eyebrows, and bushy mustache).

Any searchers who followed the clues to this point and investigated the Shakespeare Garden would likely come across the golden Verdi bust and have the response of "Whoa! Mark Twain!" Something would click in their minds and they would have a flash of insight. And then library research would confirm that there really was a Twain-Verdi connection.

So, unlike lines 3 through 9, lines 10 through 12 clearly ARE sending us off in a particular direction.

We...

start at the Shakespeare Garden,
proceed due west using a compass,
pass the Verdi bust that looks like Mark Twain, and
continue on in the same direction to the southern edge of the Japanese Tea Garden.

The connection to the Japanese Tea Garden obviously works well with the Asian theme of the painting, but there's no chance that a casque would be buried in such a manicured space. Instead, when we reach the intersection of paths at the edge of the garden, we are meant to discover a double set of stairs leads up through the woods to Stow Lake

13) Giant pole

These are the stairs that connect the Japanese Tea Garden to the edge of Stow Lake. Running up the middle of the staircase to the lake is a long metal handrail. It is, very literally, a "giant pole."

Readers who followed the earlier explanation about the cuffs on the woman's dress may have wondered why the rectangular city blocks were split into squares by a middle line. The most likely explanation is that the cuffs are meant to give us a visual clue toward this stairwell. As far as we know, this is the only stairwell in the central area of the park that features a long, straight pole running up the middle of many steps.

From the top of the staircase one can see across Stow Lake to the stones of Huntington Falls that resemble the stones behind the woman in the painting. One can also see a Chinese Pavilion near Huntington Falls that was given to the city of San Francisco as a gift in 1976. The pavilion was dedicated in 1981.

More importantly, the giant handrail that runs up the staircase ends in a spiral very similar to the spiral shown in the stem of the rose in Image 1.

Note that the representation of the handrail in the painting includes:

the spiral,
the support post (shown as a railing running across behind the woman), and
the bulge where the spiral was welded on to the pole. A bulge like that would never happen naturally on a rose stem.

There is no way that this combination of features could be a coincidence. The fact that they appear in the image and are given the "blue halo" effect means that they are important.

This is the iconic "Aha image" - the distinctive, man-made shape that appears in every picture to confirm that one has found the right spot.

14) Giant step

15) To the place

16) The casque is kept.

The spiral end of the handrail appears at the top of the staircase where the stairs intersect with a path. Visitors who have climbed the stairs to this point can turn left or right. But if we continue in the direction of our "giant pole" and take a "giant step" forwards, we find ourselves out in the path about 4' from the spiral. The spot is currently covered with asphalt, but in 1981 the path may have been narrower (or it may not have been paved at all). If there was bare soil here at the time when Preiss was visiting, it would have been an ideal spot for digging because the rock wall would provide some shelter from prying eyes on Stow Lake Drive.

The leaf on the stem of the rose seems to be confirming the same interpretation, pointing diagonally downwards from the intersection of the handrail and the post.

3/22/18: If any San Francisco searchers want a moment of internet fame, it would be nice to get a picture illustrating where a "giant step" from the top of the stairs would take us. Get a perspective similar to the photo at left and have an adult stand with one foot beside that post in the top step. The other leg, extended forwards in a "giant step" out into the path, should indicate our approximate burial spot (now covered with asphalt).

So here is our final hiding spot. It's in the central area of Golden Gate Park, within the boundaries described by the picture and the verse, but still a little-used spot where (in 1981) one might have been able to dig without attracting attention.

Final Location: 37°46'11.0"N, 122°28'16.7"

(Latitude: 37.769726°, Longitude:-122.471294)

Postscript I: An Unsuccessful Dig in February of 2018

Following the publication of the proposed solution on this page, one of our wiki users went to investigate whether the casque could be at the far edge of the asphalt, in line with the handrail. Here is his report from the field:

"We went to the park at first light. I went up the stairs and walked the line straight from the rail bottom to the rock face. I started scraping the dirt away and realized that the asphalt path pushed to the rock but not on purpose. It was the slop over from all the times it's been re-paved over the years. I chipped away a few asphalt rocks and tar from the side and viola...bare ground! I took my prod and place it in the dirt. I didn't put but an ounce of pressure on it and it fell to the handle! I about pooped my pants right there in public. Lol. I had my boy with the smallest hand reach in and feel around. The dirt was super loose. He pulled out a few dozen handfuls of dirt and I grabbed my longer prod. 2 3/4 feet down and only hard rocks we found that would not budge. We were devastated to say the least."

"I think the only way that it is still there is that the path back when he buried it was not as wide but if that is the case, the entire path would have to be jackhammered to look under the asphalt and the concrete under the asphalt."

Conclusions:

If the path in 1981 was paved to the same width it has now (almost to the rock wall), then the casque cannot be buried there and this solution is incorrect.
But... if the path was narrower and/or unpaved back in 1981, then there may have been open soil one giant step (4' or so) from the end of the handrail. It's even possible that there was a bench or something at the base of the rock wall that would have protected a small piece of bare soil from footsteps and compaction. (The top of the stairs would have been a logical place to put a bench, so visitors could rest after the climb.)
It is highly unlikely that we will ever find a photo showing us what the spot looked like 40 years ago. It is also unlikely that there are still any workers at the park who were working in 1981 and still remember the condition of the path.
The only way this solution can ever be completely resolved is by cutting into the path, lifting out an asphalt slab, and digging underneath. It's not a difficult or expensive operation (road crews do the same thing every day when they repair potholes) but it's not something that can be done by a casual searcher with hand tools. The recovery effort will require some special tools and planning and, obviously, it will require the full permission and participation of the Golden Gate Park staff.

Will it ever happen? Who knows?

Keep us posted, San Francisco searchers!

Postscript II: Strong confirmation found in 2022

In the spring of 2022, four years after this proposed solution was first published on the wiki, user Aaroncoastie made an interesting observation:
And it's true! If we go to the magnetic field calculator provided by NOAA, we can get the exact magnetic declination that would have existed in Golden Gate Park in 1980 (16.34 degrees east). In other words, if a visitor were using a compass in GGP in 1980, north, south, east, and west would all be rotated 16.34 degrees clockwise from the "true" directions we see on a map.
We can go to any online mapping utility and put in the coordinates of the Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers as our starting point and the coordinates of the stairs by the Japanese Tea Garden as our endpoint. Result: The bearing of the path is 286 degrees, which is true west (270 degrees) plus the magnetic declination (16 degrees). And the line goes right through the Verdi statue. This is no coincidence.

From the start of this puzzle, it's never been clear why Preiss would include the Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers. Neither the image nor the verse has any obvious connection to Shakespeare (or Verdi, or Twain). But we now have very, very strong evidence that Preiss reverse-engineered his puzzle. He chose his secluded dig spot at the top of the stairwell and then worked backwards by walking eastwards from the bottom of the stairs (using a compass) until he hit a couple of distinctive, permanent landmarks: the Verdi bust and the Shakespeare garden. And that's where he decided to start his puzzle. The pearl is a symbol of China, across the Pacific. "Jewel's direction" is west. We were meant to start in Shakespeare's garden, follow a compass bearing westwards, and hit the Verdi bust (that resembles Mark Twain) as a confirmation that we were on the right track. From there we only needed to continue on the same bearing and discover the stairway with the giant pole and the distinctive spiral at the top to know that we had found the right spot. The only thing that stopped this from being solved years ago was the asphalt put in at the top of the stairs that either destroyed or entombed the casque. Someday (hopefully) we'll find out if it's still there.

Postscript III: An attempted dig in 2023

A wiki user who visited GGP in July of 2023 sends along the photo below. It appears that someone recently used a pickaxe and tried to get through the asphalt to explore the spot described on this page. Result: A small hole that A) could not possibly give any useful information related to The Secret, and B) creates a tripping hazard at the top of a flight of stairs. This was a really dumb attempt.

We've said it many times on this wiki, but we'll say it again. The ONLY way to test this solution for the Image 1 casque is with the full permission and cooperation of the San Francisco Parks Department. You'll need a gas-powered asphalt cutting saw and you'll need a detailed plan for excavating the space, refilling the excavation, and restoring the spot to perfect condition. (All of which means that you'll also need some money.)

It may never happen, but it's the only path to success. Pointlessly vandalizing the spot doesn't help anybody.

Comments (112)

Just saw the hand rail yesterday. Anyone else notice the sundial at the Shakespeare Garden also resembles the clock in the picture.

Believe the sundial is a good clue .. we should be focusing on this area. Why? there is a connection to the sundial and the Roman numerals in Image 1, in my opinion.

If you flip the numerals at the middle of her dress(the ones not used in the longlat for location) it may give you something to play with

Are you talking about the mystery symbols on the sides of the dress panel (the ones in the "dress symbols" table on the Image 1 page)?

I'd love to hear some ideas for how to interpret them. A few look like Roman numerals, but some are just mystery shapes.

I do believe the mystery symbols on her dress are glyphs

circle w/dot at center = center of infinity

triangle w/dot = understanding

square w/dot = truth

2vopposite D's =moon

I think I figured out the mystery symbols. The dress is the park. As mentioned above, the arms folded are the highway. The symbol at the very bottom middle looks like a very stylized 'FO' that is meant to look like an infinite symbol, which also happens to be the shape of the 'Fell St' and 'Oak Street' roads at that location. Bottom Left is a football, it refers to Kezar Stadium where the pro football teams used to play. If you look at all the puzzles, he has a real focus on educational institutions. Maybe he knew his potential readers and the audience who would be likely to take on these treasure hunts. The bottom right looks like 'USF' written on top of one another referring to the University located at this corner of the park. Middle left is a flower referring to the San Fransisco Botanical Gardens. Keep in mind that the roman numerals above have cued us to turn the image upside to read this part. Most of the symbols so far do not have an orientation. But Middle right does. It is the distinct shape of the 'de Young Museum' with its unique upside down triangle tower. Now the roman numerals, the can be read in any orientation, when the two pairs are added vertically or horizontally you end up with 11(V and VI) and 15(X and V). Perhaps this is a comment about the versatility of the Chinese character written language? But these are the roads! When read vertically, the 11 pair exists on the '122' side which we know is the coordinate of the eastern part of the park. 15 pair falls under the '123' which gives us the other end. I think this is narrowing your search to 11th ave to 15th ave. This supports the claim that this post is making. The search starts at 'Shakespeare Garden' (admittedly slightly wider than our scope but close and ends at 'Stowe Lake' which is within the 15th ave scope to the other side. As for the top right symbol beneath the hand, do you think it could be a rose referring to the 'Rose Garden' roughly in that area? Your thoughts?

Just a thought, but is the leaf on the rose pointing to the location?

Just an observation .. has anyone thought that the table at K4 below the rose could be the sundial in Shakespeare Garden of Flowers??

I think so too

Yea it does look like they were playing with the imagery. Especially since they took the time to include a slightly elongated shadow of the watch. I also spotted a seated human or skeletal face in the stones in C4/5. Almost looks like a hand sitting in the lap. Ring any bells to someone who has been to this park?

I haven’t seen anyone make this observation, so I’ll offer it up. I believe it confirms the starting point at Shakespeare’s Garden. The outline that forms the shape of the lady’s shoulders and arms is a mirror image of the head of the Shakespeare bust. I believe the mirror image means that you are to start the search with your back to the bust. This would also be confirmed by the backward “G” and “h” depicted on the image, which coincides with the h in Shakespeare, and the G in Garden on the arched entry. This is where we find the twisted vines on the rose (vines on arch + flower garden) depicted in the image, as well. The fact that Shakespeare Garden is a flower garden, is why “the air smells sweet.” Lines 3 and 4 refer to Sutro Tower, of course, and I believe lines 5 and 6 refer to the Acadamy of Sciences and the flagpoles on the sides of the Amphitheater, which is the direction to start walking. I don’t think lines 7, 8, and 9 are talking about Hwy 1 cutting across the park. It’s too far away, and beyond the end of the search. It doesn’t make sense ( to me, anyway). I think it’s referring to the tunnel that runs north from Shakespeare Garden under the road to the Music Concourse, which is now closed, but wouldv’e been open back in ‘81. “Sounds from the sky” is the traffic on Music Concourse Dr., which is also “running north, but first across”, and “Near ace is high” if read as, “Near aces high”, is talking about Shakespeare himself, as there are 11 letters in his name. Lines 10, 11, and 12, I’m fairly confident, are referring to the bust of Verdi. The rest of the verse I’m still up in the air about.

The flower and curled vine it is attached to could be a reference to the Conservatory of Flowers. Just throwing it out there, at least making more sense that GG Park is the starting point.

The book, at its heart is the story of immigration to this country and discovery of its beauty and natural wonders. Theories are that the first and last images are book ends for west coast and east coast (SF and NYC) both places of important immigration movements. It's a celebration of our diversity and culture as a nation.

I think that the Verdi Statue makes sense as the thing that is Twain’s attention simply because it looks a lot like him. I know it sounds a bit too simple, but I think that is the point. The author thought these would be found within the first couple years. Many of the clues from the found have been things that resembled landmarks near the boxes.

I think you are very right about this, and I finally had time this morning to go back and make that connection more explicit.

Just to share the knowledge, I had a Chinese speaking friend translate the plaque at the Chinese gazebo on Stow Lake. It's a dead end. The large words translate into "Golden Gate Pagoda" and the smaller text to either side reference the date it was dedicated (Republic of China, Year 1969) and who gave it to the city (Mayor Lee of Taipei City).

If we start at the Shakespeare bust, then it seems the "air smells sweet" would reference one of his most famous plays, "Romeo and Juliet", which contains one of his most famous quotes, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". I usually try not to reach too far into the obscure when solving these, but I think the quote is famous enough to be firmly in our collective culture.

On the hands being flipped that’s why I originally thought the image was flipped, but I count the blocks differently than you do. On the left crossover drive is at 19th ave and she is pointing DOWN 3 or 16th ave- same as you, but on the other side it crosses roughly at 13rh/ 14th ave and she is pointing UP 4 so I get 17th/18th ave. This also blows up my theory about it being near the Chinese Pavilion, but still encompasses most of Strawberry Hill. I just think the direction her finger is pointing has a meaning.

I think you're close but reading way too much into it and applying too much math, jumping through too many hoops to force a solution.

She's pointing exactly to the zone between 18th and 20th Aves. The blocks on her sleeves number 18 and 20 each. The sleeves themselves are at the location of 18th and 20th. The zone between 18th and 20th contain several great possible way markers discussed here and in other forums at length. The clues literally point at 18th and 20th aves -- I can't see that as just a coincidence. What are the odds? Any other sequence of two numbers lower or higher would kill that theory... but they're as dead on and direct a clue as we can get :) Line up a map and take a look for yourself :)

I forgot to directly address a second point as to where her fingers are pointing. I honestly think she's just pointing at her sleeves, saying "hey, count these blocks that I'm pointing at on my sleeves" and look at your AAA map (because it was 1982).

I'm definitely not claiming this puzzle to be simple (I've been working it for three years)... but this is something that translates directly and is right there, staring at us.

I agree: the direction of the fingers definitely matters.

If we've already established that east is down on the dress-map and that the crossed arms are Crossover Drive, then the cuffs show blocks hanging down (eastwards) from Crossover Drive. As you say, the finger for the south side of the park is pointing DOWN at a street three blocks away and is telling us to stay east of that line (16th Avenue.) The hand on the other side is pointing UP at a street four blocks away, BUT... the blocks are still running in the same direction on both cuffs. So the street four blocks away is four blocks to the east. The finger pointing upwards (westwards) is telling us to say west of 9th Avenue.

Note that the finger direction also works for the avenue numbers. We should be below 16th (downwards) but above 9th (upwards).

I am just curious how man people on these boards think that Shake spears Garden has a major role in this puzzle? I think it does but would like to hear from people in the hunt.

I do think Shakespeare is the correct start point. I would like someone to determine what "In jewel's direction" is though. If in jewels direction is pointed in same line as Verdi. Then that would help confirm things.

I've been reading through the analysis these last few days, and I'm not too convinced. However, it is a well developed solution and I think should definitely be pursued. What worries me is that we are relying on "Stone walls door" being the Shakespeare statue in the niche as the starting point, but it just doesn't look like a stone wall to me. I had entertained the notion that "Stone wall" actually referred to Stonewall Jackson, but I don't know of any reference to confederate generals in GGP. Alternatively, Stonewall Inn in NYC (which if you Google, really does look like the picture). So unless if we are totally off on matching verses to images, then I think this is the best solution. However, I keep thinking of Angel Island as a possible hiding place (which really was significant in the history of Chinese immigration into the US, albeit due to the bad treatment of Chinese immigrants).

Hello everyone, this is Joe introducing myself. I'm a retired, former highly paid City of SF employee, so I have some time on my hands (and knowledge of City bureaucracy). Me and my lovely wife Rita are excited to join the search. Unfortunately we'll be out of town next weekend, but afterwards I can take field trips (during weekdays or weekends) and take high resolution pix from several vantage points.

So we spent a few hours in the park yesterday, and feel like we found quite a bit, but I’m afraid that my critical thinking has been skewed by reading these theories. We started at theshakespeare statue and followed the verse. I didn’t use any technology since that wasn’t available then. Going by the verse I feel we found all of the clues. After leaving the Shakespeare garden and walking out far enough to see Sutro Tower (three posts are high) we were near the (new) cal academy for science (doesn’t fit for education, but...), across music concourse from the DeYoung(fits for education) and the Japanese tea garden. There is a Beethoven statue that looks more like the silhouette of her arms than Shakespeare, but more importantly there is another figure on the bottom of the statue that looks identical to all statues of Lady Justice. Her hand is pointing in the direction of Stow Lake, and then highway 1. Taking that visual clue and looking at a map of the park, we followed her hand in the shortest possible route to where the paddle boats are (Twain’s attention) then highway one runs north but first across (also the direction of prayerbook cross in the bend) and the path lead us up the stairs with the curled handrail, and seeing the tree at the top it was pretty obvious that it is a giant pole up a giant step. When you reach the tree it is in an area that can only be dug to the right of it (3:00). I investigated the area a bit, and found that someone had already dug there (around 1:30 from the tree though). It just all seems too obvious when you’re on the ground with only the book and your imagination. It’s also a very short trek from the supposed starting point, which doesn’t seem right, but Chicago was also very close to the start so maybe so.

Also, as for the bottom of the path the paved area ends about 6-8” from the Rick wall and there is no way it was buried there unless it has been paved over. But having taken the giant step to be up next to the tree there is no doubt that if it is in fact the correct location that is where it is, not across a path that I could step across in one big step (read: not giant).

Cleveland verse counted a big ‘step’ (ie wall) like the one next to the tree as a step. I reckon that sounds right!

I uploaded 4 photos...recent activity section. These photos support what Samir posted yesterday and the photo proof Oregonian wanted regarding the spot across the top of the staircase. Also, the 3rd pic shows someone dug deep and around the roots directly in front of the tree between the rocks. It looked like it reached China so no luck there. The kids and I probed at the 3 o'clock position of the big tree, just in case the clock shadow was a clue. We are here til Wednesday so if anyone has a sudden vision...lol...email me or post the question. Good luck All!

Hello all. So we finally got back from GGP on Wednesday. I took over a hundred pics. I attached a link below of the hand rail dig and what I found at the top of the rocks in front of the tree. Someone dug a good 3+ feet deep hole in between the huge roots and I take it they found nothing. So the spot I dug was covered by the asphalt slop over from the several past re-pavings of the sidewalk. Once the asphalt gave way with some help, the dirt gave me minimal resistance dropping almost 3 feet. This told me one of two things...I was about to join the casque club or someone dug here a while ago. Unfortunately it was the latter...2 hours later I was 3' down and 6"x 6" wide. The bottom was hard as a rock as were the walls all the was down. My son buried his arm and felt around and confirmed what I had felt. IMO the casque is not buried near there unless the sidewalk was more narrow when Byron buried it. That would take jack hammering the sidewalk. Next, all 4 of us used our prods at the 3 o'clock side of the tree with no luck. The next day we arrived at sunrise, a little after 6 and prod the shadow of the tree just in case the clue meant 6 o'clock shadow and nothing. It was one of the best family adventures we have had to date. We did not want to leave and I have to concur with all the others that have visited the park. It makes a world of difference to actually walk the park in person and see the clues in person. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Lastly, I would like to thank Oregonian for all the work he puts into the wiki pages in the quest to solve the many puzzles. Good luck all!!!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wf68Qu0cdWPY_Cp49vZ4AVJMlyYNVqxT

Chris,
When you were at the park, what does the stair pole look like at the bottom of the stairs? Using google maps views I can see it has maybe the same curl end as the top. If so might that be a point to take a giant step from? The boathouse (my take on Twain's attention) is slightly to the right of the path if one were drawing a line. Perhaps a giant step over the small rock wall to the right of the bottom of the stairs? Perhaps changed since the 80s but do any of those rocks resemble the rocks in the image?

Google earth has the walking path that you can travel on that goes to and then up those stairs - perfect view of the area at bottom of stairs.

Greetings SF searchers! Given that Preiss seems to have hid the two solved puzzles in somewhat out of the way places not normally trafficked, in soil that was relatively easily dig-able where he could quickly dig a 2-3 foot hole and be on his way – I’m thinking that the top of the stairs path area doesn’t tick a lot of those boxes. Of course there’s no accounting for what may have changed since then, still maybe there’s a better alternative nearby. I believe much (all?) of the following may have been said before, but I can’t find the post to give credit.

I’ve come to believe that some items in the image may have more than one potential application and that some clues in the verses may have double meanings or be surprisingly literal. See link attached.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/124168977/Giant%20Pole%20Giant%20Step%20SF.JPG

I’m thinking that in addition to the already identified interpretations, the sleeves boxes may also represent the stairs, bisected by the Giant Pole. If so, the area the woman is pointing to could correspond to the left of the third step from the top. In that area, the landscaping rocks in that area form a shape that looks like three giant stairs. Literally three Giant Steps. So rather than at the top of the stairs, maybe that’s where to take the Giant Step – over the Giant Step. The area beyond looks (from Google Maps) to be fairly scrubby, with some ground cover vegetation. Maybe not an area that would be disqualified as a “flower bed?” In addition, it’s a tucked out of the way spot, with some concealment and appears to have ground that would look much easier to quickly dig a 3 foot hole. Last, from the angle that one would be looking in order to identify the handrail end scroll – the rose (which is clearly signalled as important due to the blue halo outline) could be an indicator of the approximate area to look for the dig spot.

Any thoughts on this? Has anyone explored that area? Or want to?

Hi Kang,

It's funny to see you post this because it's almost exactly the first solution I had to the Image 1 casque, just over three years ago. I saw the double row of squares as a reference to the stairwell, with the fingers indicating that we should be below the third step and above the fourth step. The problems I had with my own solution were:
- nothing in the puzzle indicated which side of the stairs we should use,
- there were big boulders on either side of the stairs, preventing a dig,
- "giant step" didn't have much meaning in this context,
- it wasn't clear why the spiral would be emphasized,
- it seemed odd to be digging halfway down the hill when the puzzle put such an emphasis on the Chinese pavilion, Huntington Falls, and Strawberry Hill,
and, finally,
- the slope seemed like a really lousy place to do any digging, because it's actually pretty steep and would be prone to erosion.

But, despite those doubts, it still seemed worth a try. So I dispatched two different teams of searchers to investigate. One team did a dig on one side of the path in November of 2014. The other team did a dig on the other side of the path in February of 2015 (almost exactly three years ago). And... they found nothing. Both teams reported that the soil was full of rocks and roots and it was really, really hard to dig on the slope. So I ruled out that solution and put the whole thing on the back burner for awhile.

When I took another look at the puzzle with fresh eyes in 2017, I realized that a hiding spot at the top of the stairs solves all of the problems I'd been seeing with my earlier solution. I still think the double-rows of squares are a visual allusion to the staircase, but I'm now convinced that the fingers are using those squares to point to the street grid on either side of the park.

The whole "flipped hands" thing is ridiculously convoluted, but that's "The Secret" for you. There's a reason why only two of these things have ever been found.

Hi Kang. I posted the pictures that were put up as the unsuccessful dig. I will answer all your questions. Not only did we dig at the top, we prodded both sides of the stairway from the landing at the 13th step all the way to the top of the 24th step. The dirt was super soft and had alot of top soil. Both sides had what looked to be new plants from top to bottom as well. A lady walking by asked why we in the planter, lol, we said we were looking for a geocashe. She said the grounds keepers replant new plants a few times a year on both sides. We also prodded extra where the 3rd and 4th step lined up just in case that was where her fingers were pointing. I think that has been a flower bed for a while but still think the area is too ambiguous to have the casque buried there. If anywhere near there, I think it still could be under the asphalt sidewalk at the top but farther under from where we dug, after the ADA path expansion. Feel free to email me directly if you have any more questions. Happy hunting, Chris

Oregonian, I'm totally with you on the street grid pointing. I was thinking there might be a second application. As for "nothing in the puzzle indicated which side of the stairs we should use" - We're locked in on the right staircase of the two that are there. Two staircases, two sleeve representations. In my mind the pointer would indicate the left side of the right staircase.

But if it's been searched, is too steep, too rocky then so be it. I hope then someone finds it at the top of the path. But I'll take one more flier. Did the search stick close to the stairs? Or venture out a bit? I tried to see if my rose indicator nonsense would clue to anything a bit further away. But all I have is there's a triple tree nearby (maybe representation of the three curled fingers?) and if I squint REAL hard, I can force myself to see some of the shadow lines from the JFK/RWR face in the shape of some branches in a tree a bit further out. (One branch looks to have been cut off at some point).
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/124207479/Giant%20step%20trees.JPG (my emphasis added).

Then I convince myself that I'm willing myself to see things. But as you say, that's "The Secret" for you....

And Chris - thanks for the reply. Glad to know someone has checked it out already. Hopefully you'll find it soon.

Does anyone know when the bench that sits on the other side of the tree at the top of the "Giant Pole" was installed? It sits on a small slab of cement and has a dedication plaque on it. I was thinking if you were a giant and took a step from the Giant pole you would indeed end up much further than just the base of the rock. I realize that to look at the base of the tree itself would require an air spade but has anyone probed near the bench? Photo from google maps: https://drive.google.com/open?id=11s1vI7ELpvT65rTwV7ngOvdvYwfqWyzV

Coincidentally I was in shakespeare garden this morning. I too had noticed the G and h reference last week. The vines around the gates entrance are a match with the picture. I have been up around the Cervantes statue, probably a month ago. I still have a problem with giant pole, giant step. These are ambiguous and seem much more like a pun than an actual direction. I have found different meanings for education and justice, and they are not as obvious as a building. I think it's an interesting solution you give, but one thing that always gets me is how we assume things like high posts are sutro tower. It's most likely because it looms large everywhere we are in the city, but I'm going to tear this riddle apart piece by piece until I go crazy.

For me I see the baseball at G4, for the ball thrower Statue, notice how the area has slightly lighter shading, the lighter area goes from her right shoulder to the mystery blue spot. Twain was an avid baseball fan. There is also the face at D5
There are sooooo many objects of Twain’s attention in the park, just like orbs (moons) and spirals, they are everywhere, almost makes one think they may be red herrings

Exactly. Twain had such an eclectic range of interests that this clue could point in almost any direction for someone trying to solve the puzzle at home.

It's almost like Preiss chose this line because he knew it would only be meaningful when searchers followed the other clues and made a discovery in the park. A discovery of, say, a bust that looks strikingly like Twain across the street from the Shakespeare Garden. If something like that existed, boy, it would sure make the Twain connection jump out at you. Hmm....

Hey fellow searchers, several of you now have asked me (since I'm local and familiar with City bureaucracy) if I was willing to help excavate in the location of your solution, and if so what would I ask for in return. Well I've given this some thought, and here is my response:

1. If you ask me to help you with a recovery, I have no interest whatever in keeping the casque, or the jewel if that is even available. I'll gladly give the credit where credit is due. I'm in this for the fun and the challenge only. However:

2. I would insist that: a) the solution be made publicly available (here or at another public forum), whether the recovery is successful or not, even the day of the excavation if you're concerned about being beaten to a recovery, as this could assist all other searchers to know what works for a solution and what doesn't, and b) that any recovered casque (and possibly key) be made publicly available somewhere, like a museum, a Rec and Park office or even a bar (like someone in another city page suggested), so that it can be enjoyed by the public and freely examined by the rest of the searchers. This would also help the searcher community to learn more about the casques, the keys and also the Plexiglas cases, such as their material and magnetic properties (if any), and also determine if any remains of casques have already been found in other cities.

3. It goes without saying, all excavations have the proper permits. If I see anybody walking around Golden Gate Park with a shovel and a copy of The Secret under their arm, and no permit, I'm calling the Park Rangers. In case you didn't know, our Park Rangers are _deputized_ by the County sheriff.

BTW, I'm working to get a proper excavation on the "consensus" solution posted on this page, but I haven't heard back from SFRPD. I'm not 100% convinced in this solution; I give it about a 70% chance of being correct. However, it appears IMO to be the best solution so far (although Jeff C's solution is very compelling). But until the casque is actually found, I won't dismiss any other potential solutions that have a good, logical and step-by-step approach (unless if the proposed casque location is in the Japanese Tea Garden, which I think is reasonably out of bounds).

So until the casque is finally found if you want to look into Angel Island, Ghirardelli Square and North Point, McKinley Square or Telegraph Hill, shoot me an email and we can go looking for clues. I have to say I've walked around more parks in SF in the last two months than I've ever done, and the exercise does me good.

Cheers!

Joe

Also, (and this is just me throwing my input in here) in regards to Twain’s attention, the Grant statue is a monument that memorializes his life, who he was, and the deed he accomplished. Mark Twain helped Grant finish his personal memiors. In essence, also a memorial, especially since Grant died three days later, after which Twain wrote his eulogy (another memorial). It could be said that a physical memorial would certainly be an object of Twain’s attention. Verdi inspired Twain to write his own opera once, but thats about as far as you can take it, and Twain pretty much hated the opera otherwise (or so I’ve read).

is the shakespeare garden sign original, or was that also added when the gates were added?

It’s not there in 1967, acording to photos...the gate, that is.

Jeff I agree with you. I have found man, many visual clues pointing there. However I did talk with the person who built the gate and the shakespeare sign yesterday. That was put up well after the book was published. So G and h are out. Other than that a lot of things line up there.

Jeff and whomever else is looking in shakespeare garden: I went there a couple weeks back and thought I was in the right place, but then I read the sign at the gate that stated that the gate was donated by Steve Silver in memory of Cyril Magnin. I looked up who built the gate, I emailed him and asked him when he put it there. It was some time in the 90's. I asked if it replaced a previous gate and he said there was no other gate there. Now, there might have been one before, but thete was not one there for many years. I have not seen a picture of the entrance back in the 80's. I truly wish there was a similar sign there, but I'm not very certain of that.

Not sure if this is any help. I managed to find an online pdf of an National Register Of Historic Places for Golden Gate Park. On page 33 there is a paragraph on the Shakespeare Garden and the last sentence (if I'm reading it correctly) says it was added in 1988. Doesn't say if there was one there previously but seems to indicated it was added rather than renovated/repaired/replaced. The pdf also has some quite interesting illustration of the park.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PIhwWdTeR3jVwEXl2VaVt9OBh-aLkfca

You can email Eric Clausen. He is an artist in the bay area. He built the gate.

Is someone, somewhere tracking all of the various Dig Sites so that we do not inundate the SF Parks and Recreation Department with duplicate/repeat requests? Thanks in advance!

Other than Jeff C and myself, I haven’t seen anyone else post that they had applied. Of course that doesn’t mean there aren’t others.

Kimberley did a dig on the island in Stow Lake on 2/6/18. She posted a comment about it on the front page of the wiki, but I'm going to move her note here to get things a bit more organized.

"So I went to SF today to do my dig with a permit monitored by a park ranger. I dug around the green concrete 'step' directly across from the Chinese Pavilion. Let me say that it was much more difficult to use the 4 foot soil probe than I anticipated. I am not strong, so it was difficult for me. Seemed like I hit lots of cement, rock and/or tree roots. With that said, I worked around the perimeter 5 inches out and every 5 or so inches. Then did another lap around at 10" out. I noticed a set of actual stairs about 2-3 feet away from the green concrete 'step' and probed around there as well. With the permit you are only allowed 1 hour and 1 hole no more than 2 feet wide. Since I had such difficulties with the soil probe around the green concrete I opted to dig a hole near the other steps. Just found tree roots. I did not do as thorough of a job as I would have liked simply because I was not strong enough. If there are any guys out there that live in SF I would love it if you could do a thorough probing around the green step. The park guys were very friendly and interested in what the dig was about. I asked them questions about how long the green step had been there and they weren't sure, but said for a long time. I found out after I dug that the other steps were actually more recent. I asked them whether there had been a pole next to the pavilion at one time (per a post from 2015 on the Verse 7 page), but they had no idea. I also am happy someone posted the EIR report for the pavilion which has a picture of it that has NO pole. So I think that recollection wasn't correct, but I encourage people in SF to see if they can't locate actual photos of what the pavilion looked like in 1981-1982. I'm going to do a separate post as to why I really believe the casque is near the pavilion."

Thanks Julie! Well, I have been following the search for exactly 9 months and these are the places that I believe to be previous dig sites: (1) Totem Pole removed from Lindley Meadow (2) Prayerbook Cross and now (3) Cervantes Statue. Anywhere else that I am missing, if I may be privy to such information?

Oh yeah forgot about totem, thought prayerbook was not a dig, more probing, do not recall. Even so it isnt it like 1 a month ?

Sorry for confusion... the places I mentioned were investigated years ago. That's why I am trying to keep track of them all. LOL

Hello everyone,
I believe I've figured out what Twains attention is in regards to this puzzle. Through my research I found that Twain was very involved with the Chinese. I believe the start point is in Golden Gate Park, at Shakespeare's flower garden. There we find a stone wall. The next verse talks about the air smelling sweet. The flowers were selected to bring pleasant aromas into the air. I believe the end point for the puzzle is the goddess of the forrest totem pole. It was a giant pole. Now to tie in the Chinese being Twains attention. The entire theme for the painting is china. Not far from the totem we have a Chinese pavillion. It's also known as a moon viewing pavillion. We have 11 moons in the painting. So from the totem we know where Twains attention is. From there we move a " giant step". I think it has something to do with 11. 11 feet, steps or paces but I would bet anything that one of those in the direction of the pavilion will hold the casque. Hope this helps anyone find it.

Here's the info on the Totem pole dig: http://www.sparkletack.com/2008/06/11/and-i-quote-buried-treasure-in-san-francisco/

He dug 6 feet around the base. My theory puts it at least 11 feet away. If not more. The guy would have missed it if I'm correct.

Thanks for all of the above comments.! I am feeling cautiously optimistic and thought I would share the following story:
After work today I stopped by my local Ace Hardware to buy tools to supplement my Soil Probe. As I was standing in the Gardening section feeling and looking helpless, an employee randomly approached me to offer assistance. Before I could finish explaining how he could help me he asked, "Is this part of that Treasure Hunt thing I saw on the news?" A warm-and-fuzzy feeling came over me, reassuring me that I haven't completely lost my mind... yet.

Crossing my fingers for you, hoping the meeting goes well....

And, I hope that any restoration of the building/area that might have occurred between '81 (when they started restoration, probably on the murals in the building, first) and around '96 (when it reopened) didn't disturb anything (if it is /was at your dig spot).

http://sfrecpark.org/destination/golden-gate-park/beach-chalet/

This was the by far the most common critique that I received which is absolutely 100% valid. To address this concern I have created an explanatory document which I am sharing here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MX-CdlQtNK93Gtl7PChBfa-goMh74K5R/view?usp=sharing

Just thought I’d create a little animated gif showing the Amundsen Monument in the same position as it was in the 1940’s till now (2017). Quite a lot has changed around it, but the monument appears to have stayed in the same place since the day it was installed. Have highlight constant lines such as the building (with a line running along side it) and the sea wall.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d3Q_KUp-fTzwxs-l7A3NxWxLU6h9kbeL

Good luck with your dig JR Peraza!

Wow, this is amazing work! I was hoping to create something similar but my skills are limited, so I am forever grateful for your teamwork. Thanks Burbank!

Ah...I see.

I'm not saying that the monument moved...I was saying that I hope that whenever they were working on the area, including possibly changing the paving and walkways (as illustrated by Burbank_Ian's gif), that they didn't disturb, destroy or cover the cask (if, it's in that general location).

Apologies for the confusion, I meant to answer you in two (2) parts. The 2nd part is to address that you are 100% on point. Of the time period when Byron would have been there, all that remains is the small 6x6 foot space of open land/dirt immediately behind the Monument. This means that if Byron did not bury the Casque behind the Monument, then it has been paved over by the additional parking or the pedestrian walkway that were added either during or after the restoration of the Chalet. I wholeheartedly admit that I am praying for a miracle here...

For anyone following my proposed 'lost cause' solution (as described by several people who have never actually attempted a physical excavation of the site), my meeting today was a huge success and I have been unofficially approved for an actual dig attempt by the Park Ranger and Park Gardner that met me on-site today. I now have to play The Waiting Game, again, in order to get my future dig date and time. Stay tuned... and Cheers!

Question to the unsuccessful dig? proposed above, was just curious why they didn't feel the giant step wouldn't have been above the rocks next to tree? Instead of below the rocks where he dug?

Hi Amy,

Just to recap the proposed solution on this page: the handrail that runs up the middle of the double staircase is thought to be our "giant pole" that points to the place where "the casque is kept." At the upper end of the stairway, the handrail points at a landing, a rock wall, and a huge tree. The casque obviously can't be inside the tree, and it isn't likely to be on either side of the tree (because nothing suggests that we should go to one side or the other). And it can't be further out beyond the tree because we would lose sight of the handrail (and also be in full view of the street). It would be extraordinarily cool if there were some way to hide the casque inside the wall, behind a fake stone or something, but that doesn't seem very likely. So we're left with only two spots: either below the rock wall on the landing or above the rock wall at the base of the tree.

I haven't visited GGP, but people who have investigated our spot say that the top of the rock wall is pressed right up against huge roots from the tree and that there isn't any place to dig. It would be nice to have some solid photographic evidence of that, but I don't have any reason to doubt it. Preiss probably expected people to visit the site, go through this same series of steps, investigate above and below the wall, and reach the conclusion that the only possible place for the casque was in the landing (which, presumably, wasn't completely covered in asphalt back then). The one delicate bit of confirmation that Palencar hid in the image was the blue-halo leaf beside the spiral on the rose stem. When you position the spiral in the right way, so it matches the handrail and the support post, the leaf points down diagonally at a spot four or five feet from the top of the stairs. There's no reason for the leaf to be in the image, in a blue halo and sharply pointing, if it isn't meant as a clue. So that's why some of us think the casque is under the asphalt on the landing.

Hello All,

I just wanted to update anyone interested in the results of my unsuccessful dig at the Roald Amundsen Monument/Statue. These are some of the possible reasons why I failed (other than this being the wrong location of the casque, of course):
(1) First and foremost, I was physically overwhelmed by the brute force required to dig in beach sand (i.e., each shovel scoop created an avalanche of more sand to be scooped out). In anticipation of this effect, I brought along a plastic storage bin that quickly filled up.
(2) Based on the Park & Rec's restricted dig area of 2x2ft squared, it was impossible to make progress beyond a 6x6 in squared area (although I did manage to get to 3.5 deep with the help of the Park Gardner). The only thing I found was some very old packaging tape.
(3) There were a lot of 'concrete clumps' left over from previous construction projects that created a slew of 'false positive' results. In fact, the Park Gardner believes these to be a sign that the casque, if it was there, was most likely found during these previous projects and/or destroyed as a result of these projects.

Based on on the above and my Life getting in the way, I took some time off to regroup. I am now ready to jump back in... Cheers!

I feel your pain...tho my dig (the ground) wasn't as hard and I was able to get down 3 1/2 feet but came up empty handed like everyone else, so keep at it! You have to fail to succeed good luck.

@JR Peraza, Sorry to hear that your dig did not end the way you wanted. But welcome back! Excited to hear about more of your efforts, especially if you're still working on your puzzle checklist. Each puzzle includes an icon city landmark, a transportation reference, etc. etc. Once you have that ready maybe we can all pitch in and try to fill in any of the missing ones.

hey whats that HUMP on her robe K 6/7 area, it seems to have a bump or hill of sort..can some one else see that>

Linda, my theory for the bump is that it represents knob hill. A bump is considered a knob, which California street runs up knob hill. The colors of the state are present in her robe. Also along California st you have a gateway to China town (Grant ave) and on the corner of Cal and Grant you have the Cathay House with 4 Yin & Yang on it. As you continue up knob hill you pass the Masonic where Alban Towne house once stood. After the quake 1906 his door way was still in tact and sits in GGP ...Portals of thePast.....

So, for the people out there who have dug in Golden Gate Park, how hard is the ground?
Are you able to get a probe into the ground?
I'm thinking the probing part is going to be really important in finding the SF casque.

Hey Steve. My name is Chris. I have dug twice at GGP. It depends on the area you pick. Some places are super hard and others soft. The probing works until you hit something. Then you have to be systematic by going lateral and then diagonal. Diagonal is the key, especially with roots. Remember that they have been buried for a long time. The plexiglass probably broken. The digging was harder because it seemed the deeper you got the harder it was. The Chicago Casque was found soon after it was buried and the other in a shallow planter. You are gonna have to be right on that thing to find it probing! Good luck. You can call me if you have any questions. 951-496-0398

What if image 1 does not represent San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, or even California? I know there are years of research that say so, but I have not found a map of California hidden in image 1. I have, however, found a map of Nevada! Rotate image 1 to the right, and you will see Nevada between her thumb and forefinger. In addition, the outline of her arms look a whole lot like the profile of Mt. Rose (ROSE as in image 1) and the mountain nearby. In Mt. Rose ski area, there is a run named "Dragon's Tail." Maybe I just need a vacation.

I've seen people overlay the state where her right-hand sleeve basically acts as Nevada so that California is the negative space between it and the rose stem.

Can you show is a picture of attachment of what you're seeing? This is fascinating.

If this is what you're thinking of, Burbank Ian posted this proposed image match up to the Image 1 page a while back.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/128162715/image_possible_state_match.png
To me, it's the most intriguing State outline I've seen proposed for this puzzle. Just my opinion. That said, I have seen State outline proposed matches for Chicago, Cleveland, Florida, NOLA, perhaps others. However I have not seen and for the life of me cannot find the same in Milwaukee, Boston, NY, Charleston, Houston, etc. So I'm of the opinion that there may not be one in each and every puzzle.

There was talk about getting together a master list/map of locations of digs and probes. I am happy to put in some time on this if people are willing to give me data.
I have just put together a good resolution map of the Eastern side of the park from Crossover Drv to the Eastern boundary that could be used as a base.
If people would like to collate the sites to check if your solution has already been investigated, please put them in the reply section to this comment and I will get to it and upload a file.
Specifics would be great. Photos of locations would be good. Feel free to use google maps and pins to show locations on a map.
B

Hi Brad. I think you have a valid hypothesis/solution, and I support the plan of displaying the casque in a public place for all to admire and study. I have some time in the next few weeks to do a field investigation, but don't have the tools for an excavation. Does anyone with a ground probe want to coordinate with me (Linda?)? I can handle the permit issues. Please message me offline. Cheers!

I live one (1) mile from Golden Gate Park and am more than happy to donate the tools that I previously used for my dig: Rubber Mallet, Probe with Handle, and Shovel. Just email me to coordinate pick-up. Thanks.

Just a thought about GGP vs other locations, I think one of the most compelling clues is the Rose Stem matching the staircase hand rail on the path between the Japanese Tea Garden and Stow Lake. It convinces me that the location is around that spot.

As noted in the clues section above: This is the iconic "Aha image" - the distinctive, man-made shape that appears in every picture to confirm that one has found the right spot.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/page/115903816/Solutions

The solution should pass along this rose stem hand rail but I don't think its at the top or bottom of the staircase.

Hello fellow rabbit holers!
Long time no post. Reason being that the theory I had a while back was in the middle of being tested. The Dr Gay saga (let's not go into it) bumped our timeline, and the scuttlebut of an impending dig in GGP pushed us to get something done.
So, a small group of dedicated hunters explored the area around the Verdi statue, based on a reinforced theory. The area was then dug on Friday, April 12th.
I have posted a full report and fleshed out theory on the wiki here:
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/133051455/GGP%20Dig-%20April%2012%202019.pdf
I have posted the full theory so that people can see how thorough we were in reaching the spot and investigating it. It was not a shot in the dark, but a well thought out location, and that kind of rigor should be brought into people's theories when they go out and dig.
I am extremely happy with the theory, and the dig crew did a fantastic job digging at the exact location we decided on.
To cut a long story short, the dig came up empty handed. No casque, no remnants, nothing.
The spot was at the end of the pole on the Verdi statue (photos in the report show exactly where the 2 holes were dug). A secondary hole was dug directly behind the statue.

What we learnt:
1. Straight-forwards theories that don't involve jumping around, chopping and changing the verse, micro-fine brush-stroke details, and involving 80-90% of the visual clues still exist, and this was untested. Obviously, this was incorrect, but they still exist.
2. No digs had been made here, even though people insist that digs have been made there. There is no way that people dug where we dug, given root structures, etc. So we're not believing scuttlebut on the internet without firm evidence.
4. I don't care what Dr Gay claims, he did not dig in the area around the Verdi statue. We found no evidence of any fresh digs within a big area around the statue.
5. We think we might be on the right track, but we need to fill in that last 5-10%. Any valid theory may need to fill in all of the blanks.
6. Our theory was wrong, and a casque was never buried in line with the pole on the Verdi statue.
Back to the drawing board!
X

All, it's been a while since I've posted to this forum, but believe me I've been reading all the updates. My lovely wife Rita has been caught up in Secret fever, and she brings a different viewpoint to some of the verse lines. We're not saying that her interpretation is correct, but we are hoping to continue the discussion, and perhaps some other searcher can fit her interpretation into their solution. All for the better good. Below is her take on two of the lines....

1. RE: “…an object of Twain’s attention…”
I suspect refers to Laura Wright, the subject of Twain’s lifetime obsession, though I can’t make a direct connection to the verse, I’ve highlighted some notable locations below that if they can be identified, might lend a clue. Here’s some background I pulled from various online searches:

Laura lived in San Francisco for some time throughout the 1860s – 1880s.
They met on a riverboat captained by her Uncle when she was just 14 and Twain was smitten. Although no courtship took place because of her age, he remained fixated, spoke about and wrote of Laura throughout his lifetime. A Laura-like apparition visited Clemens’ dreams at intervals throughout the rest of his life. He alluded to their fleeting waterfront romance in his notebooks and in his Autobiography. It is believed that Laura was the model for Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, for Laura Hawkins in The Gilded Age, for Puss Flanagan in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and even for Eve in “Eve’s Diary.” The essay, “My Platonic Sweetheart” published in The Atlantic chronicled her appearances in his dreams over the years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Platonic_Sweetheart).

'OBJECT OF TWAIN'S ATTENTION" referring to Laura Wright, continued:

From the Smithsonian article, “Mark Twain in Love” (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/mark-twain-in-love-14530235/)
“During the Civil War, she (Laura) married a river pilot named Charles Dake, and signed on as a Confederate spy. Perhaps to escape the dangers of life as an espionage agent. She and her new husband headed west.
In San Francisco, Laura opened a school for “young ladies” and attained some sophistication. A tantalizing question is whether Laura was in the audience at Maguire’s Academy of Music in San Francisco on the night of October 2, 1866. There, Mark Twain delivered a vivid and uproarious account of his interlude as a Sacramento Union reporter in the Sandwich Islands—present-day Hawaii. The performance launched him as one of the country’s most celebrated lecturers in an era when traveling speakers from the droll Artemus Ward to the august Ralph Waldo Emerson bestrode the popular culture.”

[Joe's note: there may be a significant qualitative difference between "object of my desire"/"object of my obsession", and the verse line "object of Twain's attention". However, the two are sufficiently close to each other that we should consider the possibility that the verse refers to Laura Wright, or something (street perhaps?) named Laura or Wright.]

My lovely wife's investigation into the "Giant pole " line of the verse:

2. And about that “Giant Pole” –
This may be a stretch, but the California Midwinter Fair in San Francisco in 1894 was a big big deal – modeled after the Chicago World’s Fair but a lot more successful in bringing the region out of recession. It was built on the concourse in Golden Gate Park, the area we’ve been searching for the casque – specifically the music concourse. A remote chance, for sure, but this happened during the Twain years, and it feels like something that might resonate with Preiss given its focus on local ethnic, immigrant and indigenous groups (the fair had a Japanese Village, Eskimo exhibit, and so on).

Regardless, here is a description that caught my eye regarding the fair's “Giant Pole”:

The fair centered on a large quadrangle of land consisting of a series of courts, including the central Grand Court and the Court of Honor, all surrounded by a roadway. These sunken gardens made up the Main Concourse, today called the Music Concourse. Erected in the center of the Grand Court, Bonet’s Tower rose to a height of 266 feet. Designed to display the power of municipal electricity, it presented a beacon drawing people to the fair.

Read more: http://www.sfcityguides.org/public_guidelines.html?article=349&submitted=TRUE&srch_text=&submitted2=TRUE&topic=

View 43 fair photos: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/bayarea/article/SF-Midwinter-Fair-that-no-one-knows-about-6713601.php#photo-9144853

Apologies for my previous cryptic posts, but I have officially met with the National Park Service today to submit my proposed solution for San Francisco. A very loud "shout out" to Linda S for all of her help! I only ask that you please be kind with your feedback. Cheers! https://youtu.be/yXBQssfc_Tg

your very welcome, good luck, glad I was able to help you out.

For anyone paying attention to my new solution, here is a follow-up video elaborating on my the methodology that I believe Byron used for San Francisco. I hope to eventually make a live, walk-through video soon. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/VaEKOxPhhkA

Where is everybody?! I'm beginning to feel like I am in the pilot episode of the Twilight Zone, except I do have Linda S for some company. Kidding aside, can someone please explain the radio silence?

It's mostly just a seasonal thing. Traffic on the wiki always goes up in the summer and always goes back down in the winter. It's just more fun to be outside hunting around when the weather is warmer.

Thanks, Oregonian! I can certainly follow that logic as a loyal contributor of this Wiki. That said, I'm also beginning to think people are preferring the unfocused, buckshot-style conversations taking place all day long on the FB groups. Oh well... C'est la vie!

Hi I read the comments here but seldom write, to many negative comments from others here. Seems everyone pursues the hardest way. The treasures were only valued at 1,000 so I do not think the puzzles were meant to be that hard. Yes I have heard it before and no I do have a box, or am I an expert but that being said I do consider other peoples thoughts! Linda seems to be the only open minded person here. I do not live anywhere close to them and I do not have the money to travel and stay for however long it might be.

I completely understand. I personally think this space, and others like it, offer an amazing opportunity for meaningful collaboration but all too often turn into 'I am smarter than you' debates. That said, I make every effort to focus on the constructive, not the combative feedback. For that I am grateful to Oregonian for all of his hard work on this Wiki.

One thing to keep in mind when dealing with GPS coordinates is that GPS was not available to the general public in 1982. When GPS started we found that the difference between old Lat and Long. coordinates from a map or nautical chart and GPS could be as much as 1/2 mile depending on how old the datum was. I believe the average distance is around 50-200 yards in any direction. Happy hunting🙂👍🍀

The middle of the stair case has a giant step.

Perhaps to the side under the trees. I assume that area has been looked at at least once in 38 years.

Hi Linda, I agree that the nose looks to point down to the pearl. I don't think its aquatic park as I think the rose matches the GG park railing (giant pole) and that confirms it for me. The shape of her head matches the Moon (Giant Step) Bridge in the Japanese garden. My solution is that it should be (or was once) around the eastern section either inside or outside the Japanese garden but so many changes have occurred in that area I think the casque was lost to renovations. I was able to get a permit twice to search in the gardens near the bridge and near the east end near the fencing/maintenance area. The existing fence is no longer in the same position as when the casque was buried, the De Young side was moved into the Gardens after the earthquake renovations. Good Luck

I ran a magnetic West ("pearls direction") line of position from Shakespeare's garden and not only does it run through the Verdi statue it intersects with the spot by the Tea Garden -- more or less. True West puts the line more south.
Preis may have been standing by Shakespeare with a handheld magnetic compass and then walked West until he found that spot by the top of that long handrail.

thats sool that you did that. i know alot of folks have been at the railings and have dug but if its off, that may really be a game changer.
wish you lots of luck

Let's hope! My guess is like most folks here that it is probably under the paved path. BTW the line I drew is would be different from a line drawn in the early eighties due to magnetic variation -- something someone could figure out with too much work.

Meant to say, 'not too much work.'

That's really one of the most interesting and original ideas I've seen in a long, long time! I think you have just made a huge contribution to our understanding of this puzzle.

It's never made sense why Preiss chose to start his walk in the Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers. Nothing about the verse or image has any connection to Shakespeare. And it never made sense that the verse told us to go "in jewel's direction." We're ALWAYS trying to go toward the jewels in these puzzles, after all.

But if Preiss knew that he wanted us to end up at that stairway beside the Japanese Tea Garden, it makes sense that he would work backwards to set up his clues by going east in a straight line, finding a suitable landmark, and then telling us to start there and go west ("jewel's direction" = "west toward China"). The idea of it being done with just a simple compass and magnetic north is even more brilliant. Someone working at home with a map and using the latitude lines would end up in the wrong place, somewhere on the southern edge of Stow Lake. Searchers would need to either know something about orienteering or be there in the park with a compass to find the correct line.

I took your suggestion and went to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to use their magnetic field calculator: https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/calculators/magcalc.shtml
If we put in the coordinates of the Shakespeare Garden (37.768627 N, 122.466803 W) and the year of 1980, we get a declination of 16.34° E. And you're right! The line runs through the Verdi statue and hits the base of that stairwell with the long pole! It doesn't change the solution that's been here for years, but it definitely fills in some of the remaining gaps. I'll incorporate your contributions into the wiki page when I have some time.

I am so happy that helps!! I was just there last week and it made even more sense for the reasons you mentioned. Thanks for linking he NOAA magnetic field calculator and doing the work -- I did not know it existed. Since I had to do all those calculations on paper when I was in the military, that is probably why I just "eyeballed" this one (lazy). If Golden Gate Park staff are tired of people probing and digging in he park maybe they can now be persuaded to do some maintenance on that trail and put the whole thing to rest once and for all by taking a look under that asphalt.

We will be using the Spotery system where you can select your treasure hunt dig in a draft. Each applicant will be assigned a draft position number based on the order their application was received and then will have a four-hour window to make their selection. Here are the details:
1. Each applicant will receive a designated draft time (4 hours long) to make their pick. Draft times will be between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm each day.
2. In order to prepare for the actual draft we will run a Pretend Draft on Tuesday, March 29 (this is not a real draft and will have pretend slot names) and it will give you a chance to test the system.

3. The Actual Real Draft will start on Friday, April 1. Real Draft times will be sent to you on Wednesday, March 30. Every applicant needs to participate in this draft in order to schedule a treasure hunt dig.
4. For each draft an email will be sent to the Authorized Drafter for each application. For your application, the email is the same one you are using to read this e-mail.
5. The first time you receive an email, you will need to click on the link within to go to the Spotery website and create an account (once you click on the link – see the “Sign Up” in the upper right corner of the page). Once you register, you will receive another e-mail asking you to verify your account. Please note: You DO NOT need to create an account again if you have already previously registered your e-mail with the Spotery system either in the Pretend Draft or for any previous drafts. You only have to register with Spotery once.
6. Spotery Users: The Spotery Draft is similar to a fantasy football draft or a college class picking system. You log on during your draft time (4 hours long), click “Field Draft”, then “My Teams” and then click on the name your name to enter the draft. (Each person selecting a slot for a treasure hunt dig is considered a “team”.) Then just hit “Select” on the slot you want and click Yes on the popup to confirm. That’s it!
7. Draft times issued are specific to the Authorized Drafter’s email of each registered applicant. If you log-on using another e-mail, you will not see your name or draft time.
8. If you cannot draft during your time slot, please ask someone else associated with your application to do it. If you miss your time, you will have an opportunity to make a selection after the draft is completed. In addition, there will be an open window at the end of the draft where you can switch your selection to another open time.

Since the American's With Disabilities Act or ADA wasn't passed until 1990 I think that there is a strong likelihood that the asphalt near the Tea garden was put down in response to that law sometime in the early 90's

I have it as Senior center to Crossover drive then South drive (now MLK) to Shakespeare garden, the face at the bottom represents Lincoln drive which borders the park. Behind the garden are 3 tall trees which are not far away and are made of wood from the Japanese edition and they mark the trail to take to the concourse. Education and justice for all to see refer to Academy of Sciences and De Young museum plus all the soldier monuments and it also refers to Francis Scott key monument for the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Sounds from the sky refer to the Bandshell and Beethoven statue. Verdi statue looks at Pershing statue which is the objection of Twain's attention because he is standing at attention. Running north but first across refers to Highway 1 going through the park and going north from Pershing to Serra statue that is holding a cross. Then you head back down past the Grant statue, lions and see the turtle sundial which is the shape of the clock and then to the tea garden and up the stairs and at the top is the giant pole which is the cypress tree then the giant step over water onto strawberry hill. Go past the waterfall to the pagoda and up the stairs which is 123 upward steps to the top. In the painting the fingers on the right side point to the top trail of strawberry hill, this is where this solve got lost. Crossover drive starts at 25th not at Park Presidio and you count 3 blocks down from 19th and several blocks down from 25th, or you could do it the same way you have just go above Park Presidio instead of beneath it. From there you go to the Huntington Falls marker you can read 1893 in the painting, rose stem 1, 8, small 9 from clock and 3. This is the final marker before you get to the dig area which is where I am at in my solve right now but it is tough to figure out and you need to be in person and find the right clues in the painting. Or you can do the Aquatic Park to Coit Tower to Angel Island option lol! Thanks for helping me get started :)

This is my solution for Image 1 verse 7. I also have the casque at the top of the steps near Stow Lake. I think that the flower stem and dado rail in Image 1 is indeed the location marker, being the handrail end at the top of the steps. http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/154128615/Image1_casque_location_GGP.jpg
The fingers of the lady at grid ref J5 & J7 are pointing to the spaces (Avenues) between square blocks (street blocks) - 13 on the left and 13 on the right. I think this refers to 13th Avenue (Funston Avenue). Drawing a line from the north side to south side of Funston Avenue through GGP goes right through the steps and giant pole of interest. http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/154128606/Image1_13th_avenue_through_GGP.jpg
This is how I get there following Verse 7. http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/154128618/Verse7_Limey%27s_solve.docx
NOTE: Please do not attempt any digging in Golden Gate Park without the prior permission of the relevant authorities.

I want to give full credit to Secret Searcher Vince, who emailed me about the shape of Twin Peaks Reservoir. I don't know how we never noticed it before! It's such a perfect match for the symbol, and the positioning at the lower edge of the dress (corresponding to the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park) just seems too perfect to be a coincidence.

It's possible that Twin Peaks is the only reservoir in the world with that shape. It only makes sense for a reservoir in a highly earthquake-prone region.

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Image 1 Verse 7 Solution

Synopsis

Detailed Solution

Final Location: 37°46'11.0"N, 122°28'16.7"

(Latitude: 37.769726°, Longitude:-122.471294)

Postscript I: An Unsuccessful Dig in February of 2018

Postscript II: Strong confirmation found in 2022

Postscript III: An attempted dig in 2023

Image 1 Verse 7 Solution

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