Theyd already encrypted the information about the location, so they would not have needed add a further cryptic layer. Near a church. Sometimes I kind of believe it, then I dont, he says. Some say it is Jefferson. Named after Thomas J. Beale, who purportedly buried the trove, the Beale Treasure of gold and silver and jewels has languished in the ground for two centuries. He claimed to have solved 100 of them in a six-month period, according to a 2000 Scientific American article. A man by the name of Thomas Beale discovered an entire mine filled with gold, silver, and precious metals in the Colorado desert. A pamphlet published in 1885, entitled The Beale Papers, is the source of this story. The first letter of the 811th word of the modified text ("fundamentally") is always used by Beale as a "y". Although he didnt find the treasure he brought to light previous clues and keep the hope of finding the treasure alive. (For a complete history of the treasure story, read Lucas Reillys wonderful 2018 feature at MentalFloss.com.) Can you break it? Despite the Beale Papers' unproven veracity, treasure hunters have not been deterred from trying to find the vault. We leave the peak and head to the Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library to meet with Jennifer Thomson, genealogical librarian and education director. Its fun to go into their world every so often. So, what if the friend who received the cypher couldnt figure out what to do with it and created a forgery with the other two cyphers because Beale never returned. This all fits the time period., Then the bombshell: I do believe, the author writes, Captain Castleton Johnson is Thomas J. Beale, and I think he deserves recognition for what he did for he definitely changed the lives of many people during his time.. Read More. Such an action would have changed everything for the region. ), United States Declaration of Independence, "Leading cryptanalysts seek to break secret code reported to tell of buried treasure in Virginia", "Historical London Fix Prices Current Year| Kitco", "Motley group gathers to solve ciphers to treasure", "A basic probe of the Beale Cipher as bamboozlement", "On the Role of Base 10 in the Beale Ciphers", "Generation of random sequences by human subject: A critical survey of literature", "The Thomas Beale Cipher: A Short Film by Andrew Allen", "The Beale Cipher: A Dissenting Opinion April 1980, "The Quest to Break America's Most Mysterious Code And Find $60 Million in Buried Treasure", "Historical and Analytical Studies in Relation to the Beale Ciphers", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beale_ciphers&oldid=1146161670, Undeciphered historical codes and ciphers, Articles containing potentially dated statements from January 2018, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. after word 154 ("institute") and before word 157 ("laying") one word must be added. The area has been repeatedly explored through the years, and possible locations for the Beale Treasure investigated. The more annoying ones are the ones that say, I solved it. Im like, If you solved it, alert the media.. How seriously do people take this legend? The frequency of the solved cipher stays non-uniform. He asked Morriss to open the box on that year if he never heard from Beale again. The differences are shown here as {alleged decipherment | actual decipherment}: I have deposited, in the county of Bedford, about four miles from Buford's, in an excavation or vault, six feet below the surface of the ground, the following articles, belonging jointly to the parties whose names are given in number {3, | three} herewith: The first deposit consisted of {one thousand | ten hundred} and fourteen pounds of gold, and {three thousand | thirty-} eight hundred and twelve pounds of silver, deposited {November, 1819 | Nov. eighteen nineteen}. Dvoo dszg wl blf pmld? Between 1819 and 1821, Thomas Beale buried a giant treasure in Virginia. It was well known he placed notices of his abilities in the Philadelphia paper Alexander's Weekly (Express) Messenger, inviting submissions of ciphers which he proceeded to solve. My guess is that six feet was just in the consciousness of the author of the papers, *because of* the common depth for a grave, but that its not a clue to a grave or graveyard. Her idea is as good as any so far. "Does the Beale Ciphers' Code of Numbers Detail Hidden Treasure?" They elected Beale as the leader. The story has fascinated people and treasure hunters since 1885 when James B. While the jury is still out if it even really exists, our writer went looking anywayand found it might just be the thrill of the chase thats the real treasure. A caveat: The Brit says the treasure is buried in or near a cemetery, likely one now located on federal land. In 1817, a group of thirty young, affluent, and well-educated men set out from Virginia to find adventure in the West. Page three lists names and residences of who should receive the treasure. With the right keythat is, the document the ciphers are constructed onanyone can translate the ciphers, locate the treasure, dig it up and, in accordance with modern Virginia law, keep it for themselves, even if its on private property. Some theorists suggest someone dug up the treasure long ago. With a small pang of regret, I point the car in the direction of I-81 and give it gas. All and all, however, a nice drive and meanders through beautiful county, exploring and enjoying the landscapes, is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. "Those unanswered details seem to always keep the door slightly ajar, no matter how hard some slam it. In 1816, Thomas Beale and a few companions came into a large sum of gold and silver while mining somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Theyve wasted incredible amounts of time. Beale Paper 1 is said to give the exact location. His 7,000-word exhumation is as exhaustive and comprehensive as it gets. If the modified Declaration of Independence is used as a key for the first cipher, it yields alphabetical sequences such as. The friend then spent the next twenty years of his life trying to decode the messages, and was able to solve only one of them, which gave details of the treasure buried and the general location of the treasure. Thanks Jenny for letting us stretch our imaginations. to the Beale Vaultwere entirely decoded from this cipher and no other.Beale's use of landmarks, the location of the [20], Additionally, a Cheyenne legend exists about gold and silver being taken from the West and buried in mountains in the East, dating from roughly 1820. Copyright 2023 Northern Virginia Magazine. In 1862, he passed the burden on to a young man whose identity remains anonymous. The writer includes a translated cipher of page one, which suggests Beale was an alias and that Castleton divided the treasure and gave it to locals, including Native Americans who lived in the area. The unknown friend, who Robert Moriss gave the papers, finally admitted defeat and handed the documents to James B. Beale, if he existed, may have been living in someone else's household. According to the pamphlet, Beale sent a letter from St.Louis in 1822. Howso@centurytel.net By the way, it was 6 million. Over the years, the Beale mystery has drawn attention to the region via international media outlets. In todays economy, its value totals over $60,000,000. Beale promised he would leave the information needed to analyze the ciphers with a friend in St. Louis and, should he never return, the friend would mail that envelope to Lynchburg in 1832. He has no idea where the treasure is, and, in short, he hopes no one ever finds it, even if its there. When he appeared at the Washington Hotel in January of 1822, he buried the remaining treasure in the same place. The directionsto thevault There hasnt been any clue saying, here I am. Johnson, a spry and voluble 81, knows a bit about the tangled tale of Thomas Jefferson Bealehis family has been here since the 1700sand though hes the go-to person for any media outlet covering the Beale legend, hes not a cheerleader or a salesman. How about if it had a head on it too? The Chimney of Bufords Tavern and Location of The Beale Treasure. Im a history nerd., Does she take a lot of phone calls about the treasure? Two miles look east the cemetery atop Goose Ways.. Fortunes have been lost. BealeSolved.Com But how does one go about solving an unsolvable cipher? [20], Edgar Allan Poe has been suggested as the pamphlet's real author because he had an interest in cryptography. For more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly magazine. Now, of course none of that helps if you dont know where to start. It was a message describing the fortune, which consisted of 2,921 pounds (1,325 kilograms) of gold, 5,100 pounds (2,313 kilograms) of silver, and a quantity of jewels that had been obtained in exchange for silver. The codes were made out of an 1878 History Book with the DOI in the Appendix. A Net Inceptions project. He uses some kind of computer to run the other cyphers against the Declaration of Independence (which is said to be the code to the first). Everyone who thinks they know where it is is positive they know where it is, he says. For this reason, another location was soon selected. Beale! From 1970 to 1996, there was even an organization, the Beale Cipher Association, composed of people who paid a $25 annual fee for the privilege of receiving a quarterly newsletter and attending "periodical seminars and symposiums" on the mystery. A survey of U.S. Census records in 1810 shows two persons named Thomas Beale, in Connecticut and New Hampshire. To decrypt it, one finds the word corresponding to the number (e.g., the first number is 115, and the 115th word in the Declaration of Independence is "instituted"), and takes the first letter of that word (in the case of the example, "I"). This websitecurrently offers a glimpse ofourdiscoveries The pamphlet's numbering has eleven words between the labels for 240 and 250. after word 466 ("houses") and before word 495 ("be") ten words must be removed (probably "He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions"). each page so that no difficulty will be had in finding them. It also included another letter from Beale, written in January of 1822, shortly after returning to Lynchburg. Soon, those leaves will turn crimson and gold, and tourists from as far away as Canada will make the drive to take in their autumnal splendor. Shes the author of Introduction to Codes and Ciphers, Plus 20 Famous Unsolved Codes, Ciphers, and Mysterious Writings; Mysterious Writings is the name of her longtime blog covering all things coded. I like those the best, she says. The area that Beale had allegedly found the treasure, was a mine located north of Nuevo Mexico (New Mexico). So there is gold in Bedford, and you can take it home in six-packs. 20 36 comments Add a Comment AutoModerator 7 mo. Near a small graveyard. Dad said people talked to him about it, says Johnson. Sometimes a clearing in woods will reveal an old homestead with daffodils grew near. I ask Danny Johnson as we sit on a picnic table at his winery and fruit farm. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I think it is real, he wrote. You just have to find itif its even there. More than the legend, Johnson is fascinated by the psychology surrounding such tales. The 50-cent publication thrilled the nation, and Ward pocketed substantial royalties. Visitors come from all over the world to experience the Blue Ridge Parkway, Peaks of Otter and Smith Mountain Lake, and also to see the National D-Day Memorial, she says. The key was the Declaration of Independence. However, because Beale Paper 1 has not been deciphered, then thinking about where buried six feet below the surface might lead to, could imply Beale Paper 1s location is a Grave. Other hotel tenants found him to be popular, especially the women. A small pre-dig mpeg video clip is located below..left click to open or right click to download! The author/Beale described it as six feet below..and so it could be in a grave to my mind. This includes approximately 35,052troy oz gold, 61,200troy oz silver (worth about US$42m and US$1m, respectively, in January 2017[8]) and jewels worth around US$220,000 in 2017. It must be correct.. This indicates that the ciphers are fraudulent. Its so interesting to talk to someone who is a true believer, he says. Blame the excursion West on cognitive bias. It worked for the second cipher. $200,000 worth of jewels. Yet contemporary records show he did not start in that position until at least 1823. He fought in the War of 1812, Johnson says. Well, according to an obituary by the George C. Marshall Foundation, he was an American cryptologist, considered by some experts to be the greatest of all time., Even the greatest cryptologist of all time banged his head on Beale: So far as my attempts to produce an authentic reading is concerned, I can most earnestly say I have tried to the best of my ability and now must confess myself beaten., But even Friedman could not avoid cognitive bias. Ward. The Beale treasure remains unaccounted for, at least as far as we know. That counts for something when the subject at hand is worth about $93 million. Still concerned he was being tailed, Beale allegedly buried the treasure near Bedford, then scribbled out three coded messages, locked the papers in a box, and gave them to a tavern owner. A group of hunters led by Thomas Jefferson Beale set out 300 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, to hunt in this account. Im not sure if it leads to a physical treasure or a spiritual one, she says. Driving on the many back roads of the county, cemeteries with a few headstones and fenced in area, are seen often. While most of it burned in a warehouse fire, enough copies circulated to excite quite a few people. Until officially debunked, people will continue to believe that over $60,000,000 in gold, silver, and jewels lies buried in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The first time I think I heard about the treasure was in the 1950s.. One of the three ciphers which has been decoded specifies that the Beale Treasure is buried six feet below the surface. This of course is the common depth for a grave. For reasons unexplained, Morriss didn't break the lock and open the box until 23 years later, in 1845. I emit a short gasp. New information will be on display hereasas But you just end up pulling more strands and getting more tangled.. "I can only suppose that he was killed by Indians, afar from his home, though nothing was heard of his death," Morriss explained. (Members agreed to donate 10 percent of the proceeds to the association if they ever actually found the treasure.). In addition, the original sale price of the pamphlet, 50cents, was a high price for the time (adjusted for. Fisher is famous for investing 16 years into the search for the shipwrecked Atocha. [20], Several digs were completed at the top of Porter's Mountain, one in the late 1980s with the land owner's permission as long as any treasure found was split 50/50. It read: [blockquote align=none author=]I have deposited in the county of Bedford, about four miles from Bufords, in an excavation or vault, six feet below the surface of the ground, the following articles, belonging jointly to the parties whose names are given in number three, herewith:[/blockquote]. They traveled to St. Louis, where they geared up for buffalo and bear hunting. I dont think I would put it in a grave with an unmarked headstone. Web6.1K views 14 years ago A treasure was deposited in the county of Bedford, about four miles from Buford's, in an excavation or vault, six feet below the surface of the ground. It sits and looks down over the valley where the Tavern was. Moriss stored it away and forgot about it until he received a letter from Beale, dated May 9, 1822. ago I think its probably not a clue at all they didnt need one. The name on the undated white stone: Otey. Danny Johnson and I know the location of the $60 million Beale Treasure buried out in Bedford County. In 1885, a man named James Ward published the story and three ciphers as The Beale Papers. The second was made December, 1821, and consisted of nineteen hundred and seven pounds of gold, and twelve hundred and eighty-eight pounds of silver; also jewels, obtained in St. Louis in exchange for silver to save transportation, and valued at $13,000., Heres the deal: In 1885, J.B. Ward published a substantial and anonymously written pamphlet called The Beale Papers, Containing Authentic Statements Regarding the Treasure Buried in 1819 and 1821 Near Bufords, in Bedford County, Virginia, and Which Has Never Been Recovered.. Some of the largest industries are advanced manufacturing, engineering, research, agriculture, and food. (Nicole is not related to Danny: I wish I was! she says. I assume Beale would have felt the same. THE BEALE VAULT Was located by decoding secretly hidden directions located within Cipher One of the Locality Cipher. I hadnt any intention of doing any digging; I only wanted to see if any clues or possibilities could still be realized. But it didn't contain a map or simple instructions on how to find the fortune. The second cracked cipher outlines the contents of the buried treasure as follows: 2,921 pounds of gold. Many of the old head stones on the grounds of this church are nameless and lost in time. As we turn to head back to the car, I glance down at an in-ground stone. A document in the archives of no less than the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland was sent to William F. Friedman, who lived on North George Mason Drive in Arlington, from Alfred Perry of Madison Heights, Virginia. Johnson says that lately hes been getting letters from a correspondent in England who has figured things out and suggests the treasure is on top of that mountain up there, he says, pointing to the peak across the hollow. We wanted to see if there was anything there that would catch your eye, she says. Ward published a pamphlet called The Beale Papers, written by an anonymous person who acquired the Beale Cipher from a hotel proprietor named Robert Morriss. WebThe Thomas Beale Ciphers. The man who found a buried chest that had enraptured scores of treasure hunters for a decade has revealed his identity. The voice from the dashboard tells me to take the next left, Route 741 to Beale Trail Road, and I have a silent laugh. Copyright 2001 SWN [30] Also in 2015, the Josh Gates series Expedition Unknown visited Bedford to investigate the Beale Ciphers and search for the treasure. He died in 1849, well before The Beale Papers were first published in 1885. [29] One explanation for the difference between base 10 and the other ones is that the numbers were produced by a human in base 10, which would mean that the ciphers are fraudulent. Words 509 and 510 of the modified text ("mean time") are counted as two words, despite being shown as one word. 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I ask Danny Johnson as we turn to head back to the pamphlet 's author... Asked Morriss to open the box on that year if he never heard from Beale written. And you can take it home in six-packs Those unanswered details seem to always keep the hope of finding treasure. I would put it in a six-month period, according to the Museum! Clues and keep the hope of finding the treasure? or right click to download receive the treasure... According to the region of thirty young, affluent, and you can take it home in.. And keep the hope of finding the treasure alive I kind of believe it, says.... Dad said people talked to him about it, alert the beale treasure found 2020.. how seriously people! A young man whose identity remains anonymous agriculture, and food young affluent! And open the box until 23 years later, in Connecticut and Hampshire! Have needed add a Comment AutoModerator 7 mo would not have needed add a further layer... 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