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The Secret (a treasure hunt) / Image 6 Verse 9 Solution
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Image 6 Verse 9 Solution

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Saved by Oregonian
on November 24, 2018 at 5:35:50 pm
 

Synopsis

  The casque associated with Image 6 and Verse 9 is (or was) buried in St. Augustine, Florida at these coordinates: 29.907125, -81.316125.

 

  The image of a Spanish conquistador atop the outline of Florida ties in with the book's immigration theme and tells us to look for a spot associated with the arrival of Spanish explorers on the Florida peninsula.  Abundant map and location details confirm that our destination is the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park.  The alignment of a fountain and the moon-like dome of a building pinpoints the exact spot for the dig.

 

 

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 6 or Verse 9.) 
Clues Interpretations
 
 

  The negative space created to the right of the rock formation is a very strong match for the shape of the Florida peninsula. 

 

  The blue splash of the palm canopy in the lower right corner is even a reasonable representation of Lake Okeechobee ("Florida's inland sea").

  The rock and the palm tree in the lower right corner of the image represent some of the more bizarre elements of the Florida state seal as it existed from 1868 to the early 1980's.  The coconut palm that was mandated by state law is not actually native to Florida (and was displayed with no reflection or shadow in the water).  Even more strangely, the seal showed sharp mountains of rock that do not exist anywhere in the state.  (The seal was finally revised to correct some of those errors in 1985.)

 

  The fellow on horseback at the top is a stereotypical Spanish conquistador.  He's wearing the stockings and red-striped "pumpkin pants" and matching puffed sleeves that are associated with such figures.  The crested helmet he's wearing is called a morion.

 

  The first known Spanish conquistador to arrive in Florida was Juan Ponce de León, who arrived in 1513.  A popular myth about his voyage is that he was seeking a "fountain of youth." 

 



  The winding, tapering banner carried by our horseman is a good match for the general impression of the St. John's Waterway in northeast Florida.  The waterway is located near the stretch of coastline, between St. Augustine and Jacksonville, where Ponce de León is thought to have landed.

 

   

  The city of St. Augustine is built on a set of peninsulas where several small rivers converge before meeting the Atlantic.  The most distinctively-shaped peninsula is the easternmost one that holds Anastasia State Park.  There is a smooth, rounded corner at the top of that peninsula, and then a flat face on the west side.

 

  The pattern on the face of the white rock shows an artistic representation of three of those same peninsulas. 

 

  (Note: This is, by far, the most abstract clue associated with Image 6, and searchers who find the comparison unconvincing can freely ignore it.  There are plenty of other clues in the image and verse to confirm the final location.)

 

 

1)  The first chapter

 

  With or without the abstract map shown on the rock, the combination of the conquistador and the clues to northeast Florida would eventually bring searchers to Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth, a historical park and tourist attraction located near downtown St. Augustine.  And prominently displayed at the entrance to the park in 1982 was a large sign inviting visitors to enter "The First Chapter."

 

  (Obligatory disclaimer: It's obviously absurd and inaccurate to describe the arrival of Europeans in 1513 as the "first chapter" in "our U.S. history" when native Americans had already been living in the same area for thousands of years.  But Preiss was presumably quoting the phrase without endorsing it.  The sign was finally replaced sometime around 2016.)

 

  Sure enough, the text on page 30 of The Secret specifically mentions Florida, conquistadors, and a fountain of youth.  It even capitalizes "Fountain of Youth" to tell us that it is using the proper name of a specific location.

 

  By the standards of The Secret, this is overwhelming evidence.  Our search should be focused on the grounds of the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in St. Augustine.

 

 

2)  Written in water

 

  "Written in water" refers primarily to the arrival of the Spanish explorers by boat.  They were writing the "first chapter" of European exploration in the area of Florida when they traveled over water.

 

  This line of the verse is probably also a hint toward the coastal location of the site.  The Fountain of Youth park (hereafter referred to as "FOY") is located on the waterfront near the mouth of the Saint Augustine inlet, where the three peninsulas shown in the "rock map" are close together.

 

 

3)  Near men

 

  "Near men" probably refers to several life-size conquistador statues that resemble the figure in Image 6 and are prominently displayed at FOY.  The statues have moved around a little bit over the years, but there is always one beside the ticket booth or near the cafe area to draw visitors in from the parking lots.  There's always another statue inside the diorama at the fountain building.  And there is often a third near the driveway that exits from the park.

 


 

 

4)  With wind rose

 

  This line is the most powerful and specific clue in the verse up to this point.  (In fact, it's one of the most specific clues in the entire book.)  A "wind rose" is a primitive navigational tool used by early sailors to track the directions of the wind.  An exhibit at FOY (shown at left) displays a wind rose, identifies it by name, and explains how it was used. 

 

  The FOY wind rose is located in the Planetarium Building (#4 on the map below).  It is, as far as we know, the only wind rose that was on display in all of north Florida at the time Preiss was there.  This is a very strong clue that we are close to the correct spot.

 

 

 

At this point, we need to take a look at a map of FOY:

 

<----   NORTH       Magnolia Avenue       SOUTH   ---->

 

  Note that this map is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise from the usual orientation.  North is at the left here and east is at the top.  Magnolia Avenue runs along the edge at the bottom.  The entrance driveway to the park, where the "First Chapter" sign was displayed is shown at bottom left (marked as #1 on this map).  There is no gatekeeper at that entrance and there is no charge to drive in through the gate and park in the parking lot (#26).  The ticket office where you pay admission is beside the parking lot (#2).  There is usually one of the life-size conquistador statues in that area.  The fountain building nearby is where another conquistador statue appears in a diorama (#3).  The planetarium building is where the wind rose is on display (#4).

 

A few notes:

  • One consistent, reliable guideline for all of the puzzles in The Secret is that Preiss never expected searchers to smuggle a shovel past a gatekeeper and risk getting caught digging in a crowded tourist attraction.  The casque on Roanoke Island is not in the Elizabethan Gardens.  The casque at Hermann Park in Houston is not inside the zoo.  The casque at the Fountain of Youth is not going to be beyond the gate where one pays admission.
  • In addition to being a tourist attraction, Fountain of Youth is also a legitimate archaeological site, where digs are regularly conducted and artifacts left by early settlers and native Americans are regularly found.  (The main dig area is shown as #11 on the map above.)  Preiss would obviously not want searchers to dig in any site with archaeological value.  But the northwest corner of the property (shown in the lower left on the map above) has already been enormously disturbed by the construction of the parking lot.  That area no longer holds any archaeological value, which is why Preiss is telling us to stay near the conquistador figures and the wind rose.

 

 

5)  Behind bending branches

 

  Magnolia Avenue, shown along the bottom edge of the map, is (ironically) lined not with magnolias but with majestic old oaks that arch and bend outwards to form a canopy over the road.  The street was supposedly named one of the "10 Prettiest Streets in North America" by National Geographic and it is widely photographed

 

  The arching trees on Magnolia Avenue are in front of FOY, so all visitors have to go behind them to enter the park.  These may be the bending branches that Preiss is describing, although the reference is too vague to be certain.

 

 

 

6)  And a green picket fence

 

  The mention of "a green picket fence," like the mention of the wind rose, is a very specific and powerful clue to confirm that we are in the right place.  The FOY property contains a green picket fence and historical photos confirm that it has been the same color and in the same places for at least forty years.

 

  The fence is divided into three segments as shown on the map at left.  Segment C runs alongside the parking lot used for tour buses (#27 on the map).  It's a quiet location, but it isn't near the wind rose or the conquistador statues.  Segment B is closer to the statues and the wind rose, but it is beyond the ticket office (#2) and inside the fenced-in portion of the property.  One would need to pay admission and enter the park to get there, so it isn't a possibility.  (It's also highly unlikely that Preiss would expect us to dig right beside the ticket office, in full view of the staff.)

 

  That leaves us with only Segment A, which runs alongside the exit drive from the parking lot to Magnolia Avenue.  The fence in this area is part of the boundary controlling access to the park. The area south of the fence requires paid admission, but the area north of the fence (the driveway side) is freely available.

 

 

Bird's-Eye View of the Fountain of Youth Property

(note that the view is facing east)

 

<----   NORTH       Magnolia Avenue       SOUTH   ---->

 

7)  At the base of a tall tree

 

  The photo at left shows a conquistador statue positioned at the east end of our green picket fence (Segment A) as it begins its run along the exit drive.  The white-domed building in the distance (above the exit sign) is the planetarium where the wind rose is on display.

 

  The small strip of land between the fence and the exit drive has only a few medium-sized trees, but the area directly north, across the exit drive and closer to the restrooms (#22 on the map above), has several large trees.

 

 

8)  You can still hear the honking

9)  Shell, limestone, silver, salt

 

  These lines give even more hints at general features of the park, to confirm that we are in the right place.  "Honking" could refer to the swans that once lived in a swan pool on the grounds or to the noisy peacocks that currently roam around freely.

 

  "Shell, limestone" refers to the makeup of the walls along Magnolia avenue and other places.  (There are interpretive signs in the park explaining the use of limestone and why it contains so many shells.)

 

  "Silver, salt" is another very specific and very strong clue.  It refers to the silver salt cellar that was unearthed on the site of FOY in 1904.  A replica of the salt cellar is now on display in the park.

 

   

 

10)  Stars move by day

11)  Sails pass by night

 

  These two lines bring us back, again, to the planetarium.  During the daytime, the building displays the movement of stars to visitors by projecting dots of light onto the domed ceiling.  ("Stars move by day.")  But the setup is designed to illustrate how early sailors used celestial navigation and so there is a mast with furled sails to show how the sky would have looked from the deck of a boat in darkness.  ("Sails pass by night.")

 

  The return to the planetarium after the earlier reference to the wind rose emphasizes the importance of being in this area.

 

 

 

12)  Even in darkness

13)  Like moonlight in teardrops

 

  These two lines are the most crucial part of the entire solution.

 

  Earth's moon, of course, is a large gray sphere that rises in the night sky and glows with reflected light.  (It doesn't emit any light of its own.)  And the only orb that even remotely resembles a moon in the whole area of St. Augustine is... the Fountain of Youth Planetarium!  It is a gray half-sphere positioned on top of a building, where it is lifted up to near the visible horizon.  Even at nighttime, there would be enough light from the moon, the stars, and the city of St. Augustine to make the dome appear like a full moon rising through the treetops. 

 

 

 
 

  "Teardrops," of course, are drops of water.  To view the roof of the planetarium in the evening "like moonlight in teardrops," we need to be looking through droplets of water.  And, by no coincidence, directly north of the planetarium is... a fountain!  (Preiss, of course, must have absolutely loved the idea of including a fountain in his solution for a casque buried at the Fountain of Youth.)

 

  The modern photo at left shows the view looking northwards from the planetarium past the fountain to the green picket fence along the exit drive.  A person standing in the exit drive and looking back southwards along the same line would see the fountain in line with the planetarium.  But it isn't enough to simply line up those landmarks.  The verse specifies that we should view the "moonlight" (the half-dome of the planetarium) "in teardrops" (i.e., through the droplets of water in the fountain).

 

 

  The 1978 photo at left shows the same view looking northwards from the planetarium through the fountain to the green picket fence and the trees beyond.  The photo was taken in late afternoon in heavy shadows, but the original slide has been scanned at a high enough resolution to see some crucial details.

 

  The picket fence is there, along with the concrete lamp post positioned just inside it.  There's a row of agaves along the inside of the fence and two large magnolias just outside it (on the south side of the driveway).  And across the driveway, almost perfectly in line with the fountain, is a large, tall pine tree.  A line going through the planetarium, sidewalk, and fountain would pass over the western base of that tall tree.

 

  The original solution posted on this wiki assumed that the casque couldn't be positioned on the north side of the driveway because it would not be possible to see the dome of the planetarium through the water of the fountain from that spot.  The modern photo at left shows the view of someone standing just inside the green picket fence looking south at the fountain and the planetarium.  In taking the photo, the camera appears to have been held about four or five feet above the ground (just below the height of the hourglass fountain).  As you can see, the water jets are only clearing the rim of the hourglass structure by 8 to 10 inches.  As a result, the angle isn't quite enough to allow the "full moon" of the planetarium dome to be seen through the fountain.  Stepping back one foot, to be on the driveway side of the fence, would make the angle even worse.

 

  Only by crouching down to ground level beside the fence could someone change the angle enough to bring the fountain up into the line of sight toward the dome.  That factor seemed to restrict the search to a very small part of the narrow strip of ground between the exit driveway and the green picket fence.

 

  BUT... the single most important bit of evidence from the 1978 photo is that the fountain was slightly different back then.  The cherub that now sits on top of the fountain was originally a taller urn.  And, crucially, at least one of the fountain jets shot water much higher in those days.  Droplets of water (indicated by the red arrow) went at least 18 inches higher than the water in the modern photo shown above.  (The height of the water spray in the 1978 fountain can be seen even more clearly in another photo by the same photographer.)

 

  What this means is that someone standing across the driveway and looking south in 1982 probably could see the dome of the planetarium through the "teardrops" of the fountain.  And a person standing in that spot would be standing at the base of the pine tree behind the red arrow.  That person would be "at the base of a tall tree" as predicted in Line 7 of the verse.

 

  The nagging flaw in the original solution was that it seemed to suggest we should dig near the base of the concrete lamp post by the exit drive, where there would very likely be underground wires.  The corrected solution that directs us across the driveway to the other side avoids that problem and makes much more sense.

 

 

14)  Over the tall grass

15)  Years pass, rain falls.

 

  There are some reports that the exit driveway may have once been landscaped with tall grasses.  It's also possible that "years pass" is a subtle allusion to the hourglass shape of the fountain.  Mostly though, these final bits of evocative imagery are poetic filler to complete an acrostic that Preiss is making.  The capitalized letters that start the five lines at the end of the verse spell out "SELOY" which is the name of the Timucuan village that is recreated at Fountain of Youth

 

  Perhaps ending his verse with this reference was Preiss' way of acknowledging that the arrival of European explorers was not the "first chapter" for this part of Florida but only a new chapter in a history that had already existed for thousands of years.

 

Photo used under a Creative Commons License Attribution Some rights reserved by Dave in the Triad on Flickr

 

So here is the final hiding spot.  North, again, is on the left.  The casque for Image 6 is (or was) buried on the north side of the exit drive at the base of a tall pine tree in a spot where the domed roof of the planetarium could be seen through the droplets of the fountain.  The fountain doesn't spray water quite so high, but all of the other elements are still in place.

(Note that both of these illustrations are just general representations and are not drawn to scale.)

 

Photo based on Google satellite maps.
(Click on image to see full-sized.)

  Satellite imagery of FOY (left) shows that a straight line from the middle of the planetarium dome that passes over the middle of the fountain would continue over the exit drive and pass underneath a large pine tree just before crossing the sidewalk to the restrooms.

 

  A ground-level view looking back south along the same line (right) shows that we now have a young, 3-foot cabbage palm growing at the base of the pine tree.  The palm is almost certainly a volunteer that started from seed.  (There are several mature, fruit-bearing cabbage palms nearby.)  Having the palm in that spot is a minor obstacle to digging, but it also confirms that no one has disturbed the spot in the past 10 years or so.  The pine tree also confirms that there hasn't been any trenching for pipes or underground wiring.  This casque is very likely recoverable!

 

(Note that the ground-level view on the right isn't quite perfectly in line.  The head of the fountain cherub is visible below the "A" in "planetarium" when it should be below the "E."  If the photographer were standing a few steps to the left, the line of sight would pass directly from the weathervane over the doorway, straight over the fountain, and down to the cabbage palm at the base of the tall tree.)

 

Thanks to wiki user Andy Hafler for this photo!

(Click on image to see full-sized.)

  So here is our final spot.  The casque was buried on the west side of a tall pine tree, directly in line with the fountain and the dome of the planetarium.

 

  This photo shows a modern view of the spot.  A pine tree is on the left.  A sago palm (Cycas revoluta) is on the right.  And between them is a cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto) with the stumps of cut-off leaves poking out.  This cabbage palm, at the base of the tall tree and in line with the fountain and the planetarium, marks the spot where we believe the casque is buried.

 

  It's difficult to estimate the age of a cabbage palm (see note below) but it's very possible that a palm of this size, in these growing conditions, could be anywhere from 30 to 50 years old.  It's even possible that when Byron Preiss dug his hole and buried the casque he inadvertently knocked a stray palm fruit into the newly-loosened soil.  And the rest is history.

 

  The presence of the cabbage palm has prevented any use of ground-penetrating radar on the spot.  The pine roots and palm roots that have filled the soil over the past 40 years make any probing pointless.  The only way the casque can be recovered is by the removal of the cabbage palm and the careful use of an air spade to explore the subsurface without damaging the tree roots.

 

  Until that happens, the casque will be waiting, guarded by a palm.

 

Final Location: 29°54'25.7"N, 81°18'58.1''W

(Latitude: 29.907125, Longitude: -81.316125)

 

 

 

 

Cabbage Palm Growth:

  • Cabbage palms are very slow growers that go through an "establishment phase" where they store up energy from leaves at ground level before they begin the development of an above-ground trunk.  Depending on the growing conditions, the establishment phase can take anywhere from a minimum of 14 years to many decades more.  One study found that (under natural conditions) the average age at which the palms begin developing the trunk is 60 years.  But the cabbage palm in our casque location at FOY is in a landscaped area where it has presumably received regular water and possibly even fertilizer.  The other vegetation that would normally grow around it and block the sunlight has been regularly removed.  Under these ideal conditions, a germination date somewhere in the early 1980's seems very reasonable.
  • For more information on the growth rates of young cabbage palms, see McPherson, K., & Williams, K. (1996). Establishment Growth of Cabbage Palm, Sabal palmetto (Arecaceae). American Journal of Botany, 83(12), 1566-1570. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2445830

 

 

Other Notes:

  • This was probably meant to be the easiest of the 12 casques.  There are plenty of clues and they are all fairly simple.  They also reference words and sights seen by thousands of tourists every year.  It was only the change in height of the water sprayed by the fountain that made this more of a challenge than it should have been.
  • Various searchers have used this solution to search in the general area of the pine tree.  The show "Expedition Unknown" came to FOY and attempted to use ground-penetrating radar in the open area between the exit drive and the sidewalk to the restrooms.  Other groups have attempted to do something with probes.  But the cabbage palm and the roots of the pine tree have been the consistent obstacles in every case.   
  • The only way to pursue this search will be with the full cooperation and permission of the owners of the Fountain of Youth.  If the casque is ever to be recovered, we will need to carefully remove the cabbage palm and use an air spade to move the soil without harming the pine tree. It will cost a few hundred dollars to rent the air spade and an air compressor.  (To get permission to do a dig, we may also need to raise a small amount of money to pay for a replacement plant to fill the spot currently occupied by the young cabbage palm.)
  • Good luck, Florida searchers!  Let us know if you find it. 

 

 

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