Very cool…an insight to how the author hide the clues, as there seems to be occurring themes in the clues…especially on location.
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Here’s a long Plain Dealer feature article that tells the whole story behind the discovery of the Cleveland casket. A reporter and photographer were on scene.
Image 11, Verse 10:
First of all, on the bracelet I read: 42
On the squarish stand thing below center: 83
That gives us Detroit.
Then the text:
“In the shadow
Of the grey giant”
Might be the GM Renaissance center…
“Find the arm that
Extends over the slender path”
This could be the Joe Louis statue, although this might not work timewise (the book came out before, I think).
“In summer
You’ll often hear a whirring sound
Cars abound”
Cars = Detroit, but also I looked for a race track (whirring of race cars in summer?) and found:
So Belle Isle.
“Although the sign
Nearby
Speaks of Indies native”
This marker speaks of the natives, and the siege of Detroit by an Indian called Pontiac: http://detroit1701.org/Siege%20of%20Detroit%20Marker.html
“The natives still speak
Of him of Hard word in 3 Vols.”
Don’t know, but Hard is probably a name because it has a capital. 3 volumes could refer to a book in three volumes, but then again it’s abbreviated.
“Take twice as many east steps as the hour
Or more”
The image has a big circle which could be interpreted as a clock using the star and the moon as dials. Perhaps ten o’clock? So twenty steps…
“From the middle of one branch
Of the v”
Looking down from Belle Isle, I find this V, which also looks a bit like the image:
“Look down
And see simple roots
In rhapsodic man’s soil”
Look down and see simple roots might just be grass. Rhapsodic man’s soil stumps me. It seems to refer to a composer of sorts?
“Or gaze north
Toward the isle of B.”
Belle Island can be seen to the north.
That’s it for now…
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Have you looked down the back of the sofa?
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I actually think I have picture 1 figured out.
Anyone in the California area up for a road trip?
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The wiki says Verse 2 is connected to New Orleans, but the corresponding Picture 2 is clearly Charleston, SC. With all the allusion to royalty and palaces my guess would be King Street and Meeting Street - which terminate at White Point Gardens down by the battery where the rows of antebellum houses were the palaces of their day.
Try a different verse. The verses are not in order, and figuring out which verse goes with which picture is part of the puzzle. It won’t be 4 or 12, those go with the found casks.
You are correct about Joe Louis’ fist. That was dedicated 3 years after The Secret was published.
My thoughts jumped to
which I puzzled over for hours as a kid.
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this might be the Ambassador Bridge?
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That’s pretty damn plausible. Though I’m about to venture a trip to the site I’m convinced is the location of this verse, in New York.
I think picture 2 is Charleston, SC.
Also, I think it links to verse 6.
I may be able to tighten it up more, too.
I haven’t been to SC, my guess is from the following clues in the verse:
Of all the romance retold
Men of tales and tunes
Cruel and bold
Seen here
By eyes of old
This whole section sounds like it’s talking about an old theater. The Dock Theatre in Charleston, SC is one of the oldest in the country.
Stand and listen to the birds
Hear the cool, clear song of water
This part sounds like the location should be near the water (or named for the water). The Dock Theater is both.
Then I’m lost for a bit, and then:
Edwin and Edwina named after him
Edwin Booth’s father, Junius Booth played at The Planter’s Hotel before it became The Dock Theater. (Edwina is Edwin’s only child.) Ooh! EDIT: EDwin was named after Edwin FORREST, so there may be a pun at play.
And then I’m lost again, but like I said — I’ve never been to SC.
Oh! This is the one… my parents poured over this. They created 30’-long exit->entrance linechart diagrams to map out the book. It was a pretty intense investigation.
They eventually burned it, claiming the Ichthys above the main entrance was a falsehood or some such. Things were weird until mom discovered the New Age movement… then it got more curious (but more accepting and less fundamentalist, cue the Hypnosis Certification Course as my graduation present).
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