Welcome to the wiki for The Secret

  This is a wiki for solving the 12 puzzles contained inside The Secret, a puzzle book published in 1982 by Byron Preiss.  To set up the puzzle, Preiss traveled to different locations in North America to secretly bury a dozen ceramic vases, or, as he called them, "casques." Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding each casque was to match one of the paintings in the book to one of the verses in the book, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the twelve casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1983 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues. 

  For more background on the book and the authors, see the history page on this wiki.  If you would like to jump in and participate, visit the To Do page to see if you can help answer any of our big questions.  (Other contributions are always welcome too, of course!)

The Rules - Site Summary - Tips for Puzzle Solving - Online Resources

“It is not the intention of the Fair People to destroy the beauty of nature or Man through their challenge.”
- The Secret, p. 219

The Rules

(from page 219 in The Secret)

"Every treasure casque is buried underground, at a depth of no more than three to three and one-half feet.  The casques are protected by lustrous transparent boxes, and are sealed."

"The following places do not hold any treasure:

(a) any life-threatening location, such as a dangerous highway embankment, a contaminated area or active railway track
(b) any cemetery
(c) any public or private flower bed
(d) any property owned by the contributors to the book, their families or friends."

A few other bits of wisdom about the treasure spots are well worth keeping in mind:

• Byron Preiss was a businessman and was aware of liability risks.  Any place that is likely to have underground irrigation or electrical wiring should immediately be ruled out as a digging spot.  This would include zoos, formal gardens, bases of lampposts, and so forth. 
• Preiss was also a responsible citizen and he wouldn't have wanted his treasure hunt to cause any harm or do any damage.  Your solution shouldn't require you to tear up a lawn or disturb a natural area.  The casques are only going to be in places that have already been disturbed by humans and where further digging wouldn't be a problem.
• It appears that Preiss may have been casual about the distinction between public and private property (or he simply may not have known who owned a piece of land).  In at least two cases that we know of (St. Augustine and New Orleans), there is reason to believe that Preiss buried a casque on private land in a neglected bit of space beside a parking lot.  But it is highly unlikely that Preiss expected us to pay admission and go past a gatekeeper to get into some private property for digging.  If your solution requires you to smuggle a shovel down the leg of your pants, sneak past an admission booth, and dig a hole amid a mix of visitors and staff members, your solution has almost no chance of being correct.
• In every case that we know of, the burial site is beside some distinctive, man-made feature that is represented in the image or verse.  (See the Solutions page for more info on the "Aha! icon.")  The presence of the artificial feature within a few feet means that the casque can't be out in an open area or in some pristine natural preserve.  There has to be a distinctive object (made by humans) very close to the burial spot.
• Please do not dig without permission!  We have received many reports of unauthorized people digging holes around various parks.  That kind of behavior damages public resources and creates (understandable) bad feelings toward this whole adventure.  The Secret is only meant to be a fun exercise that gets people outside, exploring new places.  There is no "treasure" to be had for finding a casque.  So please take the time to work through the proper channels and solve the puzzles in a way that does no harm to the local landscape.

Site Summary

  Each of the 12 images in the book represents a groups of immigrants who came to North America from some foreign country. Each image is also linked to a particular month and contains that month's birth flower and that month's birth stone (which also the jewel for that casque). The text of the book includes twelve verses that describe (in varying detail) where a casque is hidden.  The first step in solving the puzzle is to match up each image with the appropriate verse, month, stone, flower, and country of immigration.  The table below gives the most likely connections, based on the work that has been done so far.

Image		Verse	Likely City	Birth Month	Source of Month Number	Birth Stone	Birth Flower	Immigration Country
Image 1		Verse 7	San Francisco	June	Time on clock (6)	Pearl	Rose	China
			Status: The search for Casque 1 has narrowed to a strip of land in Golden Gate Park, extending from the eastern end of Strawberry Hill to the California Academy of Sciences.  The map gets us to the right area and then the verse takes us on a stroll through some of the local landmarks.   San Francisco Searchers: We have a Proposed Solution for Image 1 and Verse 7 that narrows the search area to a small section of path at the top of an outdoor stairwell in Golden Gate Park.  The path is currently paved with asphalt, covering any potential dig spot, but in 1981 the paved area may have been narrower, or the path may not have been paved at all.  (We know from city planning documents that the park formed a task force in 1993 to begin bringing GGP facilities into conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.)  If the asphalt covering was put down 25 years ago to improve accessibility, it has probably kept the soil and the casque undisturbed all this time.  But now it presents an obstacle.  Any test of this solution will require cutting away a square of asphalt with the permission and active participation of the park staff.
Image 2		Verse 6	Charleston	April	Time on clock (4)	Diamond	Daisy	Africa
			Status: Casque 2 was almost certainly buried in a gravel path beside the Maine monument in White Point Garden, a small, historical park at the southern tip of the Charleston peninsula.  To understand the layout of monuments and other features in the park as they existed in 1981, see our White Point Garden Landmarks page.   Charleston Searchers:  We have a Proposed Solution for Image 2 and Verse 6, but the chances of recovery are very slim.  Following the removal of the Maine monument in 2007, the city dug a large hole to build a concrete base for the Moultrie monument.  In the course of that construction, the casque was almost certainly destroyed either by the process of driving sheet piling into the ground or by the mechanical excavation.  The sad reality is that this one is probably gone for good.
Image 3		Verse 11	Roanoke Island	January	Time on clock (1)	Garnet	Carnation	England
			Status: Casque 3 was likely buried on the edge of the Waterside Theatre inside the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island in North Carolina.  It's a beautiful spot but that selection is going to make the recovery a little bit difficult.  Historical records show that the amphitheater was going through a period of decline when Preiss hid his casques in the early 1980's.  He probably had no trouble digging a hole without anyone asking questions.  Unfortunately for us, the theatre has since been upgraded and it receives much more attention and care.  Security cameras will probably make a secret dig impossible.   Roanoke Searchers:  We have a Proposed Solution for Image 3 and Verse 11.  If you are interested in attempting a recovery, we strongly advise you to work with the relevant groups, including the National Park Service and the Roanoke Island Historical Association, in planning any dig.  Let us know how it goes!
Image 4		Verse 4	Cleveland	March	Triangle (3)	Aquamarine	Daffodil	Greece
			Status: The search for Casque 4 has been completed!  The casque was found in Cleveland in 2004.   We have a partial write-up for the Solution to Image 4 and Verse 4, but it could use more photos and more detail.  Please add any additional information you have!  It will help us learn more about these puzzles and about how we can solve the rest of them.   Wiki user Lori Sobota has provided a collection of photos showing the Greek Cultural Garden in Cleveland where the casque was found.
Image 5		Verse 12	Chicago	May	Warts (5)	Emerald	Lily of the Valley	Ireland & Scotland
			Status: The search for Casque 5 has been completed!  The casque was found in Chicago in 1983.   We now have a fairly detailed write-up of the Solution to Image 5 and Verse 12.  Two of the big lessons from this puzzle are that A) Byron Preiss used trees as landmarks, and B) trees make lousy landmarks when a puzzle can last for decades.  Even in 1983, just a few years after publication, some of the trees in Chicago had already been removed, making it difficult to find the burial spot.  The searchers were only able to clear up the confusion by calling up Preiss and getting some clarification from him on the meaning of "ten by thirteen."   Trees are thought to be very important for the solutions in St. Augustine, Houston, and Milwaukee.  Searchers will need to pay careful attention to old photos to see what has changed.  A spot that is completely bare today could easily have held several large trees forty years ago.
Image 6		Verse 9	St. Augustine	September	Asters (9)	Sapphire	Aster	Spain
			Status: Casque 6 was almost certainly buried at the base of a tall pine tree on the grounds of the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in St. Augustine, Florida.  Searchers were meant to line up the water jets of a fountain with the white dome of a building ("like moonlight in teardrops") and follow that line down to "the base of a tall tree."  Amazingly, the property has changed very little over the past 40 years and all of the major landmarks are still in place.   Florida Searchers:   We have posted a very detailed Proposed Solution for Image 6 and Verse 9.  The clues narrow the spot down to only a few square feet on the surface, so a dig would be practical.  Unfortunately though, the final spot is under a cabbage palm that the owners want to protect.  So no dig is likely to happen.
Image 7		Verse 2	New Orleans	December	Time on clock (12)	Turquoise	Narcissus	France
			Status: Casque 7 was almost certainly buried in downtown New Orleans on the site where the former St. Charles Hotel once stood.  The hotel, which first opened in 1837, was once one of the major landmarks of the southeastern United States.  It resembled the U.S. Capital building and had a dome that tourists could visit to look out over the whole city.  After the first two versions of the hotel were destroyed by fire, the third St. Charles opened in 1896 and stood for over 75 years until it was torn down in 1974.   The destruction of the St. Charles Hotel sparked an outcry and led to the creation of new groups and new laws intended to preserve the historic architecture of New Orleans.  In setting up his puzzle in 1981, Preiss included an obscure quote about the majesty of the former hotel.  Arrows along the edge of the clock face were meant to take searchers on either of two walking routes through the streets of the Central Business District from the Piazza d'Italia (constructed in 1978) to the parking lot where the hotel once stood.  The design of Image 7 linked the new architecture with the old, and the arrows of the walking route ended simply in the word "PRESERVATION."  Sadly, this casque was probably lost when the Place St. Charles was constructed on the site of the former hotel in 1983.   New Orleans Searchers:   We have a Proposed Solution for Image 7 and Verse 2 that explains the route to the former St. Charles Hotel.  There's never been a satisfying interpretation about the lines from Verse 2 about the "namesakes of gnome and fay" meeting at the site.  Those clues, and a few others, were probably meant to pinpoint the exact spot for digging.  Interpreting them now will probably be impossible unless someone finds a photo showing the details of the parking lot as it existed in 1980.
Image 8		Verse 1	Houston	July	Columns (7)	Ruby	Larkspur	Persia
			Status: In 1980 or 1981, when Byron Preiss visited Houston to bury a casque, there was an antique steam locomotive (Number 982) prominently positioned on the southern edge of McGovern Lake in Hermann Park. Most of the locomotive was painted black, but the nose was a bright, shiny silver that made it visible from a long ways away.  Preiss used a line of sight starting at the nose of the locomotive and passing through a fountain to guide searchers to the burial spot on the far side of the lake.      This was probably meant to be the easiest of all the puzzles.  But in 1982, the same year The Secret was published, the city repositioned both the fountain and the train, disrupting two of the major clues!  To understand how the area has changed over the past 40 years, see our Hermann Park history page.  Amazingly, despite all the major renovations that have taken place, there is still a chance that the casque may be intact although the hiding spot has now been covered by a path.   Houston Searchers:   We have posted a very detailed Solution for Image 8 and Verse 1 that walks through the different clues and narrows the spot down to about a square yard.  If you are interested in pursuing the recovery of this casque, you will need to somehow get the full and active participation of the Hermann Park Conservancy and Houston's Parks and Recreation Department.  At a minimum, you'll need to have a detailed plan showing how you'll do the dig, how you'll limit disruption to the park, and how you'll repair the damage to the path when you are done.  Ordinary digging tools aren't going to get through the path, so you might have to rent something like a concrete saw or even a Bobcat mini loader to clear the surface.  It won't be easy (or cheap) but a dedicated searcher might be able to get it done.
Image 9		Verse 5	Montreal	October	Roman Numeral X (10)	Opal	Calendula	Netherlands
			Status: Clues in Image 9 seem to direct the search toward Mount Royal and the "Golden Square Mile" neighborhood in Montreal.  In particular, the "legeaster dog" seems like a very specific detail to confirm the neighborhood.  It would be difficult to dig in a crowded downtown location without being observed, so that might explain why this is the only puzzle that tells us to "get permission to dig out."  But clues in Verse 5 seem to steer us more toward Saint Helen Island or Notre Dame Island in the Saint Lawrence river beside Montreal.  Those places would have made it far easier for Preiss to dig without being observed, but they would also make it less clear why searchers should get permission before digging.
Image 10		Verse 8	Milwaukee	February	Red Balls (2)	Amethyst	Primrose	Germany
			Status: The search for Casque 10 is focused on Lake Park in Milwaukee.  Although the image appears to have many references to the downtown area, the reference to "92 steps" in the verse would appear to focus our attention directly on the Grand Staircase.  We have identified a spot at the base of a tree that would agree with both the image and the verse.   Milwaukee Searchers: We have a Proposed Solution for Image 10 and Verse 8.  We need people to investigate the spot and map out the birch stumps along East Ravine Road.  If it seems like the ground may have been left undisturbed, it might be worth trying to get the necessary permissions.  (Just don't try to dig without permission.)
Image 11		Verse 3	Boston	August	Globe Gold Squares (8)	Peridot	Gladiolus	Italy
			Status: The search for Casque 11 is focused on the "Two Circles" structure in the Charlesgate neighborhood near the Back Bay Fens in Boston.  The site appears to have remained relatively undisturbed over the past 30 years, and the casque may be recoverable.   Boston Searchers:  We now have a Proposed Solution for Image 11 and Verse 3.  We now need people to investigate the spot, get the necessary permissions, and do the digging.  The site has no aesthetic or historical value, so it should be easy to get approval.  Let us know how it goes!  (Don't try it on your own though.  People in Boston are understandably nervous about strangers digging holes, and the police have already been called to investigate searchers at this spot at least once.)   There was a claim in October of 2019 that the Boston casque had been found.  Expedition Unknown showed up to film an episode, but no substantive evidence was produced to support the find.  (And the idea that Preiss, a baseball fan, would want to send people around tearing up the city's baseball diamonds is simply not credible.)  The real casque likely still awaits discovery.
Image 12		Verse 10	New York City	November	Time on clock (11)	Topaz	Chrysanthemum	Russia
			Status: The search for Casque 12 narrowed long ago to the base of a single street tree near the edge of New York Harbor.  It appears that the tree has survived intact over the past 40 years and the casque may still be recoverable.  The challenge now is to find a way to extract the casque without harming the tree.  The most promising strategy would be to use an air spade to loosen and remove the soil.  This approach would actually help the tree by undoing decades of compaction and allowing water and air to reach the roots.  If anyone knows of an arborist who might be willing to provide an air spade and handle the excavation, please contact us through this site.

Tips for Puzzle Solving

  Only two of the 12 casques have been unearthed so far, but those experiences allow us to give some general advice to anyone who is interested in joining the hunt.

  Broadly speaking, there are two types of puzzles in The Secret:

• Journey Puzzles take us on a trip through some interesting area to reach a casque.  These are the classic pirate treasure map routes that go winding and looping along indirect dotted lines until they lead us to the final spot.  Chicago, Roanoke Island, San Francisco, Houston, Milwaukee, and Boston are all puzzles of this type.
  
  
• Destination Puzzles, on the other hand, start us in the vicinity of the casque and give us a series of obscure clues to confirm the location and narrow down the spot.  These puzzles may have been Preiss's way of letting people join in the hunt even if they didn't live near a spot.  Many of the clues in these puzzles can only be solved by library research and obscure sources.  Cleveland, Charleston, St. Augustine, New Orleans, Montreal, and New York are all puzzles of this type.

  The key thing to keep in mind in solving a journey puzzle is that none of the clues after the initial starting point were meant to be interpreted by armchair enthusiasts (using 1980's tools).  There would be no point in sending people on the walk if they could simply "jump ahead" by interpreting a later clue.  What this means for searchers is that, after starting along the route, all of the clues are going to be for small, innocuous features that wouldn't be mentioned in any guidebook.  There will be references to the number of steps in a staircase, or the name of a highway bridge, or the view across a lake, or the naming of paths in a community garden.  What you won't see is any mention of a major tourist landmark that would have been on maps or brochures in 1980.  The "compass" is not likely to be a well-known lighthouse.  The "giant pole" is not likely to be a totem pole or other attraction.  The "object of Twain's attention" is not likely to be on any list of the first hundred things one might think of after researching the life of Mark Twain.  The whole point is to reward exploration and the discovery of the obscure features one can only see at "see-level." 

  With destination puzzles the situation is reversed.  Many of the clues can only be solved by poring over obscure sources in a library.  There is nothing in White Point Garden in Charleston that explains the naming of the twins Edwin and Edwina.  As far as we know, there is no public monument in New Orleans that includes the quotation about the St. Charles hotel.  Armchair searchers have made great progress on these puzzles, but even the internet has its limits when dealing with Preiss's convoluted way of making connections.  Phrases like "natives still speak of him of Hard word in 3 Vols" requires both some serious research and a willingness to make some jumps.

  Other things to keep in mind:

• Study the work that has already been done.  This wiki collects several decades of work on solving these puzzles.  You'll get a huge head start if you take the time to understand what has already been found (and what has already been ruled out).
• Start with the puzzle and work towards a place, rather than the other way around.  The images in The Secret are so abstract that they can be creatively interpreted to fit almost anyplace on earth.  If you start with a preferred destination and try to make one of the images fit, you're absolutely certain to find some "matches" but you won't really be making any progress.
• Keep in mind that Preiss and Palencar didn't have access to Google Maps.  Satellite views are fantastic tools for modern searchers attempting to reconstruct what a site looked like in 1980, but those same tools should not have been necessary for solving a puzzle back in 1980.  There are definitely many overhead views represented in these images, but they all show roads and sidewalks that would have been readily available in road maps and park brochures.  If your theory relies on knowing the overhead shape of a clump of trees or some natural feature, it's not likely to be right.
• Move from the famous to the obscure and from the public to the secluded.  Every image in The Secret includes at least one well-known landmark.  The painting for Cleveland included the Cleveland Terminal Tower.  The painting for Chicago included the Chicago Water Tower.  Those references are only meant to get us to the right city or the right general area.  The casque in Milwaukee isn't buried at City Hall, and the one in New York isn't buried at the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island.  Start with the famous places referenced in the picture and then move from there to the hidden spots that even the locals have never noticed.
• Beware of pareidolia.  The human brain has a strong ability to pick out the faces in an image, but sometimes those circuits are a little overactive and we see faces in clouds and other random shapes.  There may be "secret faces" hidden in some of the images of The Secret, but those faces may also be just our own imaginations.
• Similarly, beware of apophenia.  The human brain also has a tendency to see patterns in what are actually just random data.  The artist who painted the images for The Secret was very clever about throwing in random brushstrokes.  Sometimes they mean something and sometimes they don't.
• Use your common sense.  Preiss wasn't expecting you to dig through some nice lawn in the middle of a park or an athletic field.  He dug his holes in bare or weedy areas where the soil was already loose and where he was protected from view by trees and walls.  If your solution sends you to a well-maintained or heavily-trafficked area, it's almost certainly wrong.  You shouldn't need to cut through grass (or any other plant roots) to get to the casque and you shouldn't need to be in a very public spot.
• Don't mess things up for other searchers.  Unearthing the remaining casques will very likely require getting cooperation and permissions from various public and private landowners.  If you damage an area or leave holes for other people to fill, you'll only be giving the whole hunt a bad name.  So - please - be responsible, do no harm, get permission first if possible, and be sure to clean up your mess!
• Have fun!

Online Resources

Discussions about the search are hosted at:

• Quest4Treasure (Q4T) 
  
• Something Awful (sometimes available to the public and sometimes only available to members)
  
• MysteriousWritings

All of these sites attempted to solve The Secret using discussions and all ran into the same problem.  By posting new theories and new discoveries in a single, ever-lengthening thread, each forum created such a backlog of unorganized material that it was impossible for anyone to keep track of what had already been found.  The thread at Something Awful, for example, started on May 31, 2013 and in less than a week had more than 1,200 entries.  That thread now has more than 5,700 entries, making it very difficult for new people to join the search and get caught up.  The goal of this wiki is to present all of the discoveries in an organized way, so that searchers can quickly and easily see what is already known about each image and each verse.

There are many photo albums on Flickr and PhotoBucket where people have posted images relevant to The Secret. Some of the better ones are:

• 45 Degrees SA's photostream - Most of the relevant pages from The Secret stored as images.
• Secret Oracle's photostream - Maps and images for every site except New Orleans and San Francisco, organized by albums.
• Brian Zinn's photostream - Images for Roanoke, Cleveland, St. Augustine, and New York, organized by albums.
• Stercox's albums - Images from the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, divided into West, Midwest, Mideast, East zones, and the archived Webshots album. 
• Lori Sobota's photostream - Images from the Greek Cultural Garden in Cleveland, showing how the site looks in March 2018.
• TJWhite9457's album - A small collection related to the 2C site in Boston.
• Walstib140's photostream - Boston photos focusing on the Back Bay Fens and the 2C site. 
• Rookhunter's photobucket - Many images from most of the various search locations.
• Jadewire's album - A small collection related to Image 10 and Milwaukee.
• K.Kep's album - Photos related to Image 10 and Milwaukee, including shards that may have come from a damaged casque.
• LeighNole's album - Photos from St. Augustine related to Image 6.
• Celeritas' Google photo album - A collection of images related to San Francisco and the Image 1 / Verse 7 puzzle.
• Spacemunkay's Google photo album - Pictures from Golden Gate Park and other spots in San Francisco.
• Yagi_94118's photostream -  Pictures from Golden Gate Park, including some scanned slides from the 1980's.
• Streets of Montreal - Pictures of many relevant spots in Montreal, including Old Victoria Hospital, Ile Notre Dame, & Ile St. Helene.
• Kia's photos - A small set showing how some locations in Golden Gate Park are looking in 2019.

Important: As of early 2019, Flickr is planning to change their terms of service.  Free accounts will now be limited to only 1,000 photos, which means that many relevant photos from the albums listed above (and others) will soon be going away.  Searchers may want to download copies of the most useful photos now, so that they aren't lost forever.

Some of the useful websites for doing research include:

• Wikipedia
• Flickr
• Historic Aerials
• Old Maps Online
• Atlas Obscura
• Bridgehunter
• The Historical Marker Database

Downloads:

In the Files Section - A pdf template for a plexiglas casque container.

• http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/124326087/Casque_Container_Replica.pdf 

Wiki Update (2/18/18)

  It's been a month since the Travel Channel show aired on January 17th and thing are finally getting back to normal around here.  Page views on the site are back down to under 10,000/day and hopefully property owners are feeling less besieged by requests to dig.  But we've made some amazing progress over the past month and we've had some great contributions from new people who have joined the wiki and have quickly gotten up to speed.  So to mark this anniversary of the "big surge," I'd like to recognize a few of our contributors who have really moved the search forwards.  Here's my own personal assessment of the Top 10 Recent Discoveries on The Secret!

10) The concrete slab under the Moultrie monument in Charleston.
Wiki user Chris Andrews did some careful investigations in Charleston and documented that a concrete slab was installed below ground level when the Maine monument was removed (which is great to know but probably ends all chances of recovering the casque for Image 2).  

9) Sash-hattan
Wiki user Drumman spotted the shape of Manhattan that was staring us right in the face, hidden in plain view in Image 12.

8) A tree grows in New York Harbor.
Amazingly, there is also a large and fairly clear tree trunk hidden (sideways) in Image 12, but no one spotted it until wiki user Pizzoli pointed it out.

7) "Dryades Street and Cours de Naides (now St Charles Avenue) in New Orleans were named after wood and water sprites respectively."
We don’t get a lot of new input related to the verses, but wiki user Jess made a potentially big discovery related to Verse 2.

6) Watch out for the alligator!
We knew that Image 6 had lots of clues for Florida, but wiki user Halla4 was apparently the first person to point out that there is a very clear alligator lurking along the edge of the big stone.

5) It’s not a scythe - it’s Albemarle Sound!
People have struggled for years to understand the weird objects on the right arm of the knight in Image 3, but it took wiki user Drumman to point out that they form the shape of the North Carolina coastline.

4) That old pine tree?  It’s still there.
This wiki had a solution for Image 6 that required a large pine tree in a certain place, but we didn’t realize that the pine was still there until wiki users Marvin Calhoun, Zteam, and Andy Hafler nailed down the evidence.

3) Even more amazing? Palencar painted a picture of the spot with the pine tree.
This wiki has always promoted the idea that each image includes an “Aha Moment” of recognition at the burial spot, but it took wiki user Kang to point out the hidden depiction of the FOY hiding spot in Image 6.

2) Those blocks by the park are… blocks by the park.
People have almost certainly pointed it out before over the years, but it it didn’t really register until wiki user Kimberley posted about it: The squares on either side of the Golden Gate Park map in Image 1 are city blocks and the fingers are pointing at streets.

1) If the dragon head is on the left, the map is flipped from left-to-right
The single biggest discovery was the observation by wiki user Goonie68 that the head of the dragon in Image 1 matches the dragon above the entrance to the Golden Gate Park Senior Center.  For years now people have been saying that the backwards “Gh” at the top of the map must mean that the map itself is flipped, and the response has always been to point out that the “flare” in the bottom right corner where Fulton bends is in the right place.  But if there are only two objects above the crossed arms, and both of them are shown in a way that clearly indicates a flip, then it seems very clear that we are meant to flip the upper half of the image from left to right.  And that's what makes the solution finally clear.

  Thanks to everyone for these and all the other insights on the wiki over the past month.  I've tried to give credit where it's due in the above list, but if I got anything wrong, please let me know and I'll try to set it right.  Keep up the good work!

- Oregonian (wiki administrator)

Interested in Contributing to this Wiki?

  Careful and substantive contributions are always welcome!  Your contributions can explain a theory, but you should avoid lecturing the readers or putting down other approaches.  Be sure your contributions are always professional, courteous, and helpful to the search.  And, of course, remember that what you add may end up getting changed or removed by another wiki editor.  That's how the wiki process works.

  If you want to add to this wiki, but you aren't sure where to start, please check our To Do List.

  If you want to add to this wiki, but you're nervous about using the wiki editing system, feel free to play around and experiment in the sandbox page. 

  If you're contacting the wiki administrator about access or other issues, be sure to add "pbworks.com" and "gmx.com" to the safe list in your email program, so responses don't end up in your spam folder.

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