The Secret by Byron Preiss (Bantam paperback, 1982) Background on the book from http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/page/22148559/frontpage... Many armchair treasure hunt books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic 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 the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 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. The Secret is long out of print, but copies can be obtained easily online (try abebooks.com or bookfinder.com; the book was jointly authored by Sean Kelly, John Pierard, Byron Preiss, Ben Asen, John Jude Palencar, Ted Mann, JoEllen Trilling, and Overton Loyd). Most of the book has no connection whatsoever to the treasure hunt. Of primary importance are the 12 paintings and the 12 verses, as well as some front-end material that provides a back story.
Twelve boxes (or casques as they were called) were buried, but only two have been found. The first one was discovered by a group of students in 1984, in Grant Park in Chicago. This is how it worked. Where M and B are set in stone And to Congress, R is known L sits and left Beyond his shoulder Is the Fair Folks' Treasure holder The end of ten by thirteen Is your clue Fence and fixture Central too For finding jewel casque Seek the sounds Of rumble Brush and music Hush.
The verse describes various landmarks in the area of Grant Park. Where M and B are set in stone 1 - The names of Mozart and Beethoven appear on the front of Symphony Hall. And to Congress, R is known 2 - Roosevelt University on Congress Parkway L sits and left 3 - Statue of Lincoln Beyond his shoulder 4 Shows the position of the casque The end of ten by thirteen referred to two lines of trees. Fence and fixture referred to this fencepost and wall fixture. The casque was apparently found between them. (That tree wasn t there at the time.)
Several landmarks around Grant Park appeared disguised within the image, including the statue Spirit of the Great Lakes The Bowman The fencepost
This is the picture and verse which are thought to relate to Houston: Fortress north Cold as glass Friendship south Take your task To the number Nine eight two Through the wood No lion fears In the sky the water veers Small of scale Step across Perspective should not be lost In the center of four alike Small, split, Three winged and slight What we take to be Our strongest tower of delight Falls gently In December night Looking back from treasure ground There's the spout! A whistle sounds.
Some time ago, the location was identified as being somewhere in the area of Hermann Park. Take your task To the number Nine eight two The number 982 refers to the Southern Pacific Steam Locomotive No. 982 which used to be on display at the park. The pillars with the animal heads were found in the Children s Zoo, as a confirmer for this area. More recently, I noticed similarities in this aerial view:
Taking a closer look at the Garden Centre, I noticed this square which is similar to the tile the genie is standing on, with the curving line attached, and the five cross-lines. I don t know if this was there in 1982 when the book was published, but if so, it looks like a clue. This is adjacent to the golf course with its bunkers, which seems to tie in with the sandy desert theme.
There is also this star shape nearby; though again, I don t know if this was there in 1982. Also consider this photo of the nearby fountain: If you were standing slightly to the right of the point of view in this pic, the genie would appear as below; the veiled face above the water spout with the columns behind, and the surrounding brickwork.
To the left of the image, there are two rows of eleven tiles on the left of the image. Maybe the columns at the back are also indicating the number eleven I wondered if this tilework might be hinting at the fence which runs between the golf course and the garden centre at this location. The cracked tile resembles the fence corner. The gem is shown at the base of a pillar. Perhaps the casque is buried at the base of a fencepost as in Chicago either the last one, or the eleventh one. However, Google maps don t let me get any closer to investigate.
Apart from the train, there are various other hints in the verse which might indicate this location. Fortress north Cold as glass Friendship south I don t know what the fortress is, but this area is close to the Garden Center s Friendship Pavilion In the center of four alike Perhaps the Garden Center with its four columns, as shown above. What we take to be Our strongest tower of delight This is a quote from a book called Pierre The Ambiguities by Hermann Melville. Shortly after, there follows talk of a locked casket and an invocation to the three Fates of Classical mythology (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos). The Atropos Key is nearby beside the Miller Theatre. Looking back from treasure ground There's the spout! The fountain shown above.
I m in the UK, but I d like to try and find someone nearby who would be willing to try looking for this box beside this fencepost; take some photos, or try probing the area to see if there might be something buried. This is what they re looking for, buried up to 3ft deep in a plastic container. Although there s probably no prize anymore, they d have the box as a souvenir, and they d be regarded as a hero by the people at the Quest4Treasure website ;-) Let us know if anyone ever finds it! B_J_Glover@yahoo.co.uk Here s an article about the Grant Park discovery, though it s not entirely accurate