Image 10


General notes on Image 10

 

 

Image 10

 

Specific Observations

  Please record your notes about this image in the list below.  Use the letter/number grid to identify the point on the image that you're describing.  To keep things organized, 1) please start each observation with a letter/number combo (in bold), and 2) add new observations in the right place on the list to keep everything alphabetized.

 

 

Other Notes:

 

 

 

Image Matches

 

Milwaukee City Hall

The picture at the far right was taken from the northeast corner of Water & Kilbourn. To get a perfect match with the illustration, one would need to be standing one block further north at the intersection of N. Water Street and E. State Street.  At that location, with City Hall in the background, the juggler would be looking west (along State Street) toward Pere Marquette Park.

   

Juneau Pose

Some people believe that the posture of the juggler is meant to resemble the posture of Solomon Juneau in the bronze relief on the Juneau Monument in Juneau Park.

  Juneau-closeup

Laureate

The hair pattern above the juggler's forehead appears to be a very strong match for Laureate, a public sculpture directly across the Milwaukee River from Pere Marquette Park. The straight lines just below that could form a "Wi," indicating Wisconsin.

 

Laureate has always been in the same place since it was commissioned in 1969. It was commissioned to enhance the beauty of the Performing Arts Center (now the Marcus Performing Arts Center), and has always been between the back of the center and the river. Across the river you can see Pere Marquette Park.

Brick Pattern #1

The pattern on the juggler's collar matches the pattern of the brickwork behind the Wisconsin Club (the former Mitchell Mansion) at 900 W. Wisconsin Avenue.  (This is, however, a very common pattern.  You can buy the same bricks at Home Depot.)

   

Brick Pattern #2

The pattern on the juggler's collar ALSO matches the pattern of the brickwork on the parking garage on E. Wells between Cathedral Square and the Pabst Theater.  (Google Maps view)

 

The Red Balls

The two red balls in the juggler's hands are likely to be significant.  Under Interpretation 2A on the Verse 8 page, the balls would represent either the balls used in lawn bowling or the two large, circular holes in the Lake Park arch bridge that passes over Ravine Road.

 

Under Interpretation 2B on the Verse 8 page, the balls could represent the red spheres used to mark tee areas on some golf courses.  Similar markers may have been used on the Lake Park golf course in 1981.

Red tees

Cicada

In the brown background beside the millstone there is a shape that strongly resembles a cicada nymph.  Cicadas are often (incorrectly) called "locusts," so this could be a hint towards Locust Avenue or a locust tree.  Locust Avenue runs into Lake Park north of the Grand Staircase and there is a Locust Street Ravine Trail.  This, again, would work with Interpretation 2A on the Verse 8 page, which sends us on the Locust Street Ravine Trail.

Cicada, shell, upper marlboro, md_2014-07-10-19.57.12 ZS PMax

Millstone

The millstone floating in the air by the juggler is part of a hint to the name of the city ("mill" + "walk" + "key").  It may also be a visual reference to the large concrete disk located at the foot of the Locust Street Ravine Trail where it meets Lincoln Memorial Drive.

Expedition Unknown

  In early 2018, a Travel Channel show called "Expedition Unknown" featured an episode about The Secret.  The episode included a flashback scene showing what it would have been like for Palencar to receive the Polaroid photos of the casque spots from Preiss. 

  One of the photos used in that scene showed the manhole/millstone from the Milwaukee location.  But this doesn't actually help at all with the solution because the photos were actually taken by John Michaels of the Shhh! Secret Podcast, and were used with his permission in the TV Show.   Palencar has already stated that he destroyed the materials sent by Preiss after the paintings were finished.

Cape Folds

One of the most perplexing parts of the image is the design on the interior of the man's cape.  The design is large and centrally located.  We are meant to notice it and it obviously has some significance.  But what?

People have seen fingers, faces, teeth, and other things in the folds, but no one has explained how they would relate to the puzzle.

 

  One possibility is that the white folds actually represent birch tree trunks.  If we rotate the image 90 degrees counter-clockwise, we see five pale cylinders with black and white bands.

 

  Birch tree trunks have white bark that often peels off to leave dark bands.  (See photo at far right taken beside the Lake Park Footbridge.)  And birches often grow together in clumps, so that the upper portions are spreading apart.

 

  Verse 8 specifically tells us to look for birch trees and tells us that we should be looking for a "proud, tall fifth."  If the folds in the cape are birch trees, the most distant one is the center one that is standing straight (and "proud").

 

  Here is a view of Ravine Road taken sometime between 1975 and 1979.  Note that this view is from uphill (west of the footbridge) and is looking downhill (eastwards) to where the road curves to the right before meeting Lincoln Drive.  The handrail of the Locust Street Ravine Trail is visible as a horizontal black line to the left of the road that stretches from the slope in the foreground to near the middle of the picture.  Just where the handrail goes out of sight there is a "V" formed by two tree trunks, but the trees beyond that are obscured in this picture by the snow-covered bushes.  Slightly more detail is available in the full-sized image.

 

  If the proposed Image 10 Verse 8 Solution is correct, this would explain why no one has ever found a match for the folds in the cape.  Preiss intended for us to cross the bridge, go down to the Locust Street Ravine Trail, and then descend toward the birch trees.  We should have had an "aha moment" when we saw the alignment of the five tree trunks matching the folds in the cape.  But those trees were all cut down sometime in the past!  All we have left are the stumps, and that's why no one has made the connection.

 

 

Latitude / Longitude Hints

  There do not appear to be any hints to latitude or longitude in Image 10.

 

 

 

Questions, questions, questions...

 


 

Proposed solutions:

 

 


 

 

How to obtain permission for attempted recovery

 

Assumptions: Final location within a park in Milwaukee County, including Lake Park 

 

Process Status: Confirmed by Wiki user

Contact info Status: Confirmed by Wiki user

As of Date: 3/10/2018

 

A Wiki user who contacted Parks Department officials seems to have confirmed that a Geocache permit is not the proper process so is a time waster. http://county.milwaukee.gov/Geocaching21582.htm - This appears to confirm that the permit here is for someone wanting to leave a Geocache. The Park does not allow and will not approve requests for recovery for a buried Geocache – and that all such activities must conform to a “Leave No Trace” policy.

 

The same user obtained information that a Right of Entry permit is what is needed. 

 

Contact information:

Name: Guy Smith 

Title: Parks Director (Interim)

Email: ParksDirector@milwaukeecountywi.gov

Please note that there are likely gatekeepers for access to the Parks Director so you may have better luck a little further down the chain.

 

Milwaukee County Parks

9480 Watertown Plank Road, Wauwatosa, WI 53226

Main Phone: 414-257-PARK (7275)

 

Requirements document for Milwaukee County Parks Right of Entry dig permit

http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/124445423/Milwaukee%20Parks%20ROE%20Requirements.pdf

 

Alternate Contact info: 

Sarah Toomsen

Manager of Planning & Development

T: 414-257-7389

Sarah.Toomsen@milwaukeecountywi.gov

 

Permissions Process:

According to an email from Sarah Toomsen provided by a Wiki user: “...by ordinance it is required that any excavation taking place within a Milwaukee County Park be permitted by the Parks Director via a right-of-entry permit.  Review of such requests provided by Parks staff, with final authorization granted by the Parks Director or his/her designee.… I can also let you know that permit requests of this type typically have an associated fee of $1,000 that covers administrative time, as well as costs to hotline the private utilities that may be on site.  Additionally, previous requests related to The Secret have come with the stipulation that any artifacts or materials uncovered during the investigation shall be considered the property of Milwaukee County, and be turned over to staff.”

 

So be prepared that there are significant hurdles, cost (and even insurance needed) in order to have any realistic hope of gaining official approval for attempted recovery – and they expect to keep whatever is found.