Are you someone who gets thrilled on hearing the term – ‘Treasure Hunt’? Are you someone who would like to solve a mind boggling puzzle of all time? Would you like to go any distance to discover a long lost treasure, one that is still on the verge of discovery? If the answer to all these questions is a big YES, then this article will impress you for sure.
As the title already gave an idea of what we are dealing with in this chapter, let me tell how I came to know of this puzzle. Recently, out of boredom, I went into the Discovery Plus app and watched an episode of ‘Expedition Unknown’ hosted by a notorious archaeologist Josh Gates. The episode fully covered the story of Byron Preiss and how he kept his treasure hidden across various cities in North America!!!!
This caught my attention to such an extent that I dived into the Internet to study more about this guy and the clues that he had left behind for the world to unravel. I believe, many of us have not heard of Byron Preiss, so I decided to let the world know. So, without further ado, let’s start.
The Story of Byron Preiss
Byron Preiss was an American author, editor and publisher who was a native of Brooklyn. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972 and earned a degree in communications from Stanford University.
Preiss’ first successful book was “The Block” which was an anti-drug comic book. He was coordinated by Jim Steranko and with the help of Steranko’s publication, Supergraphics, this book was distributed in schools nationwide.
Preiss founded his own publication firm Byron Preiss Visual Publications in 1974 to publish his original works. Some of Preiss book published by his publication firm includes Weird Heroes (1975), Schlomo Raven: Public Detective (collaboration with Tom Sutton), Starfawn (illustrated by Stephen Fabian), Steranko’s Chandler: Red Tide and the 1977 Son of Sherlock Holmes, illustrated by Ralph Reese. Other publications included a 1978 adaptation of Alfred Bester‘s The Stars My Destination as a two-volume graphic novel, illustrated by Howard Chaykin.
But his biggest publication for which he became famous was “The Secret”. The Secret was actually the guide to his treasure. How much Preiss loved to play with words, can easily be understood if someone reads the book. The story of the secret although not fascinating, but it grabbed the eye due to the verses and pictures which are actually a clue for a treasure. We will get to know all of that.
Unfortunately, Preiss died in a car accident in 2005, taking the solution to his treasure along with him. Apparently, he was the only one who knew where these treasures were hidden, so after his death, this puzzle book gained huge publicity and gained attention for all treasure hunt lovers. Preiss was succeeded by Sandi Mendelson, with whom he had daughters Karah and Blaire (also shown in Josh’s program).
The Secret (1982)
Byron’s famed book was published in the fall of 1982, but the actual preparation started from the winters of 1981-82. Before going into the details of the treasure, we have to know the tale behind The Secret.
The tale began three hundred years ago when the fair people – Goblins, Dragons, Fairies and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen world, left their Old World, to stay away from the ways of Man and settle in the New World. They brought with them the jewels from their own land – rubies, emeralds, diamonds. But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve magnificent treasures. And the treasures remained hidden, until now….
To add excitement and extra spice to this story, Byron added a twist. He had to travel across the country on various business and he took advantage of this. He hid the jewels over several months across places in 12 different cities of North America and placed the clue in the 12 full colored paintings in the Secret. According to some, Preiss, aged 29, used a six foot long shovel and various disguises to hide those treasures. He targeted random places – like a park, fountain side, church grounds and other unexpected places.
Besides the 12 full colored paintings in the Secret, there are also 12 verses, each associated with an image. The reader is expected to first identify the city through the picture and then identify the verse associated with it. Each verse described a specific spot in the city, and if decoded correctly, the reader would reach the exact spot where on digging, a ceramic casque enclosed in a glass box will be recovered. The casque will have a key which can be redeemed for the specific gemstone hidden in the picture. Each jewel was worth $1000 in 1982!!!! Currently, all the jewels are kept in a safe deposit box in New York.
Interesting thing is, even after almost 4 decades of the publication of ‘The Secret’, only 3 of the twelve riddles have been solved!!!
“Byron Preiss, according to family and friends, figured all of them would be found upon publication. I don’t think he realized how difficult the poems were”
James Renner, an author and filmmaker who’s working on a documentary about the book.
Discoveries Till Now:
Shortly after 1982, three university students, Rob Wrobel, Eric Gasiorowski and David James came across The Secret. They found similarity with a tower in Chicago in one of the pictures and found the first box. On Expedition Unknown, Josh revisited the former two guys, now in their 50’s to hear about their experience of finding the Chicago box in 1983 and also gave a view of the location where they had found it. Gasiorowski gave a view of the ceramic casque which he had unearthed (worth $500). Also, he told, they got an emerald from Preiss, worth $1000, which was stolen sometime in early 2000’s.
The second stone was recovered in 2004. An attorney named Brian Zinn tracked down a casque in Cleveland from a verse that mentioned Socrates, Pindar, and Apelles (all three names are etched into a pylon at the Greek Cultural Gardens). After four hours of digging holes, he found the casque buried next to a wall marking the perimeter of the gardens. The following video and images gives an idea how they cracked the code and found the treasure.
Preiss’ Indication:
After 1982, Preiss gave many hints of the location of the buried casques. To resolve the actual spots, an online forum was launched and is still active to this date. Those who are aware of this hunt, post their assumptions of the spots.
But who would know the location better than Preiss himself!!!! Even those who were associated with the publication of the book have no clue of the spots or even a city where he could have buried a box. On Expedition Unknown, Josh visited the illustrator of the book John Jude Palencar who was responsible for painting the 12 pictures in The Secret. He mentioned clearly that he have no idea of the treasures as Byron kept it to himself all along.
Since he took the answers to his grave, we have no other option than to look at various hints he had provided during his lifetime and solve the puzzle.
- “The stones that are worth the most will be the hardest to find.” – Preiss during the the 1982 interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- In a 2003 email, Preiss apparently confirmed that there was definitely a casque in Canada.
- “Very impressive work esp since the book is 20 years old. I think you deserve to know that you are correct about st. Louid,but not correct about the location.thanks for all your excellent work.” – Preiss in response to a person named “Johann” in 2003 who had submitted his proposed solution.
- In a 2004 email, Preiss apparently directly ruled out any casque in Central Park in New York City.
- “There is a treasure in Houston. that’s all I can tell you.” – Preiss in a 2004 e-mail.
- Preiss confirmed to Egbert, the Cleveland casque-finder of 2004, that the immigration references in the book were significant. For example, the casque Egbert found was in the Greek Cultural Garden. So, the associated jewel was the aquamarine.
- “When Siskel and I finally met BP, he ended up taking us to the bank vault in NYC where the jewels were kept. He also said the solutions to the puzzle were in the same drawer.” – Egbert on his meeting with Preiss.
- “It would not be a waste of time to dig there, but I cannot make any guarantees whatsoever.” – Preiss, in a 2005 e-mail, in response to a question about the Children’s Zoo in Houston, Texas.
Conclusion:
Byron Preiss’ treasure hunt continues all across the globe. An online forum dedicated for the treasure hunt purpose has been launched and is regularly updated. Click on the below link to navigate to the forum:
The Secret Wiki- Assumed Solutions
A special thanks to Josh Gates and Discovery Plus for acknowledging about this thrilling adventure. And also to Byron Preiss for giving us a worthy challenge, the price of which is a whooping antique gemstone, the key to which is buried somewhere for over 4 decades. As the hunt goes on, let’s hope the 12 gems will be recovered soon by the worthy ones…..
Histories + Mysteries 
Hello I can solve
LikeLike