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The Secret (a treasure hunt) / Image 10
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Image 10

This version was saved 6 years, 9 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Oregonian
on June 21, 2017 at 5:06:48 pm
 

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.

  • C7 - The outline of "castle" on the rock is almost a perfect match for the Milwaukee City Hall as seen from the corner of E. State Street and N. Water Street.
  • G5 - The flower is a primrose, the birth flower for February.
  • H7 - The shape of the millstone (small square in the middle of a circle) is similar to the shape in the flag on Image 6.
  • H7/8 - There appears to be a faint image of a cicada nymph beside the millstone (see below).
  • I2 - The antique key is similar to the keys in Image 3.  (And a key, of course, is what was actually buried in the casque.)
  • I5 - The unusual arrangement of the hair beside the juggler's forehead is almost certainly a visual reference to Laureate (see below).
  • J6 - The jewel is an amethyst, the birth stone for February.
  • K2 & L3 - The two matching red balls could represent the balls used in lawn bowling.  They could also be the two large circles visible in the bridge that passes over E. Ravine Road in Lake Park, just north of the Grand Staircase. 
  • K4 - The pattern on the juggler's collar matches a kind of brickwork found around the city (see below).
  • L6-7 - The pattern in the cloak looks like birch tree trunks, turned sideways. 
  • P1/2 - The outline is a visual match for the Lake Michigan shoreline of Wisconsin (see below). 
  • P2 - "JJP," the initials of the artist, John Jude Palencar.

 

 

Other Notes:

  • The millstone, the cane, and the key may form a rebus that we are meant to put together: mill + walk + key = Milwaukee.
  • Based solely on Image 10, the most logical search locations would be Pere Marquette Park and Juneau Park.  However, the specificity of Verse 8 has focused the search on Lake Park.
  • The Milwaukee County website has a good collection of historical aerial photographs, including some from the 1980's.
  • Here is a photo of what Pere Marquette Park looked like when it was created in the early 1970's: 

 

 

Image Matches

Many of the shapes hidden in Image 10 are visual allusions to the most famous and iconic landmarks in Milwaukee, but a few of the images seem to point (more subtly) to the actual treasure spot.  The table below attempts to narrow down the clues from city-level to site-level.

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.

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.)

  Secret...

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 Footbridge. (Note the "millstone" at the bottom of the picture by the base of the tree.)

 

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.

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.  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

 

 

Latitude / Longitude Hints

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

 

 

 

Questions, questions, questions...

  • Has Laureate always been in the same spot where it is now?
  • What did Pere Marquette Park look like in 1980?

 

 

 

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