Phantom Key in the Water?

A significant clue to solving K3 may be discovered by looking into the whirlpool at the base of the Kryptos Tableau.  Sanborn mentioned in his 1989 letter to CIA Agency employees that he “also uses another symbol; water.  In a small pool on the plaza, partly surrounded by the copper plate, water will be turbulent and provocative…”  He later describes this movement of water as representative of the dissemination of information.  Water is central to the composition of his work.  “…between two massive outcroppings, water will be calm, reflective, contemplative.”

What would one see when peering into the swirling water?  If the surface is reflective, a phantom image would appear inside the well.  Depending on the viewer’s angle, either the Vigenere Tableau or the Kryptos ciphertext would appear as though it were inside this basin.  It would also have the appearance of some force attempting to twist or turn the text.

We now know that k3 is a rotational transposition.  Does this mean an agent in the field would be trained to discover a key or method by peering into water?  Looking into the whirlpool, a tableau appears to start turning.  What is reflected in the calm “reflection pool?”  Is there a key in that coy pond?  Consistent with the theme of Kryptos, the images appearing in the mirror-like surface of water gives the illusion that an alternate space exists below that surface — a space that doesn’t exist except through the antipodes of that which exists above it.  Could the water be drained from these containment areas, no phantom would exist.

K3:

ENDyaHrOHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHNEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW

Pad to 24 x 14 and rotate clockwise 90 degrees:

DAEGIFWQEWRNDEMGGRBIEHONAOYNRTOI
SONEEDRHSDIDEEETAETIPSHyPHAWDU
TNFTENNaFAOFDEACOESOAHERSENTMTL
ELSIrIDDBIUAASNNMAOMPDAAATYERN
RCHENREAEECDAEWHNHEYCHOGRTHLXTLN
ODTTTYEICEMNSLHLDTOEIWTBNRRSMO
DMAEFEELEEHSGRHSRRTNNPTYETFIITML
BHEIPUOTMTLEABRAUIRLCRFRCWETSED
ANDPTEKEPEEPIRCGSTVULIIREAOEAALED
HMHETFMYTETLOOELSRNOHTNWISIHE
EIORANEHMHLBWCHTATSEYATNLI

Pad into 8 columns, then rotate 90 degrees clockwise again:

SLOWLYDESPARATLYSLOWLYTHEREMAINS
OFPASSAGEDEBRISTHATENCUMBEREDT
HELOWERPArTOFTHEDOORWAYWASREMOV
EDWITHTREMBLINGHANDSIMADEATINY
BREACNINTHEUPPERLEFTHANDCORNERAN
DTHENWIDENINGTHEHOLEALITTLEIIN
SERTEDTHECANDLEANDPEEREDINTHEHOT
AIRESCAPINGFROMTHECHAMBERCaUSED
THEFLAMETOFLICKERBUTPRESENTLYDETA
ILSOFTHEROOMWITHINEMERGEDFROM
THEMISTXCANYOUSEEANyTHINGQ

Gary Warzin’s Palimpsest Theory

Gary Warzin’s 2001 Palimpsest Theory has been reproduced as a permanent mirror (in memoriam) at KryptosRevisited.com!

Discover how this Kryptos enthusiast used Jim Gillogly’s CIA Sculpture report in conjunction with Simon Singh’s “The Code Book” to develop a theory about K4.  Warzin claims that Kryptos is a physical palimpsest with underlying alphabet characters from the Vigenere Tableau peeking through.

http://www.kryptosrevisited.com/sculpture/solutions/gary-warzin.asp

Serpentine Yin-Yang: The Ribbon

Over the course of time, ideas about the nature of Kryptos becomes convoluted.  Every good researcher maintains a notebook with facts stripped of conjecture, and my notebook happened to be within arm’s reach of my laptop this morning.  Sifting through the organized collection of material I’ve collected about the CIA sculpture over the years, my eyes were drawn to a particular page with large words written on them.  In haste, and considering that the single-page document was compiled in several dozen sessions of study, sources were vague.  However, there is enough information present to trace these words back to Jim Sanborn himself, given the time to complete such a task.

The title of the page is “Jim Calls the Copper Scroll:” and is followed by this list (partially reconstructed here to focus on certain titles):

• Yin-Yang (attributing it to balance)
• Copper Ribbon (noting it furls from a tree that could represent a printer)
• Serpentine
• The Sculpture (distinguishing it from the other elements of his artwork at CIA)
• The Source (of information that is disseminated into the whirling abyss below)

The mind has a way of automatically organizing its volumes of information over time, and “Copper Ribbon” brought several links to mind.  Suppose that petrified tree represents a typewriter, and the Ribbon represents its ribbon (as opposed to printer paper, the popular belief).  Typewriter ribbons are cyclic, which means they are reused by a single typewriter until the ink is diminished.  A ribbon is a prime example of a textual Palimpsest.  Evidence of previous writings can be found on a single ribbon, and a little detective work can result in decoding those plain messages.

“Copper Ribbon” is Jim Sanborn’s description of his sculpture.  When did this change?  Even he claims to have had loose lips in the early discussions, being ambiguous as to which interviews or publications.  “Copper Ribbon” comes from one of the earliest known official documentaries on his work at CIA.  This choice of terminology is what kryptosrevisited.com chooses to use, because it is one of the first, raw descriptions of what Sanborn did in that courtyard.  As a professional, you are urged to explore why it is you choose to describe works such as Kryptos in the way you do, and to be ready to answer when it all comes together.

Unexplained Metaphor & Other Kryptos Oddities

A new topic at KryptosRevisited.com explores “Unexplained Metaphor,” which can be found within the pages of “In-Depth Analysis.”  Discover some of the stranger anomalies in Kryptos.  In his Exhibition catalog for the Covert Obsolescence Installation, James Sanborn said, “Metaphor has always been important to me.  Petrified trees and fossils were once moving, growing, and living, but have been somehow transfixed — turned to stone.”

The Internet is flooded with old, rehashed information about Kryptos, and this section of the web site is intended to look at the more obscure elements of the CIA sculpture.  For example, did Jim Sanborn sign his artwork?  Find out here.

Sanborn’s Kryptos Sculpture Transcripts

The Kryptos Copperplate Transcript is available at KryptosRevisited.com.  The ciphertext as it appears on the copper scroll and the plain text discovered using Vigenère (first two parts) and Transposition (third part) are now available with easy copy and paste capabilities.  Spacing has been omitted in the plain text transcripts to minimize the introduction of interpretation error.  The layout of the plain text as it coincides withs its corresponding ciphertext is properly represented and is difficult to find elsewhere online.  The tableau is also depicted backward, as is in the sculpture.

Kryptos Copperplate Ciphertext (left panel)

Kryptos Copperplate Tableau (right panel)

Kryptos Copperplate Plain Text (decrypted using Vigenere and Matrix Rotational Transposition)

Abscissa

In persuing what I deem to be a rather good theory this afternoon, I came across a new idea regarding one of the K2 keywords — abscissa.  My theory is that abscissa, meaning “cut off” in its Latin etymology, is more widely understood to mean the X coordinate on a Carteasean graph.  Specifically, if a point is (x,y), the abscissa is x.

Abscissa is X.

Now I haven’t completely tested my new theory yet, and I assure you another post will ensue in the near future.  For now, let’s think of abscissa as both “removing” and “X.”  Removing the X’s. I think this is further suggested by the typo announced in 2006 — an anomaly I’m not entirely convinced was an accident.  What Sanborn claimed resulted in an error introduced when he cut out an X from the plain text for aestethic reasons, was perhaps a more significant clue to the process of decrypting k4, a detailed palimpsest theory I proposed in 2004.  The last few lines of k2 plain text is, after re-inserting that lone X near the end (spaces added for readability):

THIS WAS HIS LAST MESSAGE X THIRTY EIGHT DEGREES FIFTY SEVEN MINUTES SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES FORTY FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO

The X’s have gone relatively unnoticed, perhaps the elusive clue teased by Sanborn, and I certainly don’t think the X’s have been given nearly the thought they demand.  I might be on to something here.  I might not be.

Gary Phillips is the author of KryptosRevisited.com and journals Kryptos-related news at his kryptos.info network blog.

Sanborn’s CIA Sculpture: Kryptos Copperplate

KryptosRevisited.com posted a new article this week about the origins of the Kryptos Copperplate.  Learn about the font Sanborn purchased for his CIA sculpture, and discover the methods he used to cut out nearly 2,000 characters in the Kryptos Copper Scroll.  Find out how one researcher extracted that font from dozens of photographs in 2005 and the techniques required to remaster the entire Kryptos Font in 2009.

The font, which includes both monospaced characters and a complete International Morse Code set, can be downloaded for free.

The history of the Kryptos Copperplate is revealed by a group of Kryptos Enthusiasts who met with Sanborn in 2005.

Kryptos Font Questions, Comments, Concerns, Criticism

Have you tried the new Kryptos Sculpture Family of Fonts?  Beautiful work, wouldn’t you say?!  Maybe it was better than you expected, or maybe you have a suggestion.  You’ve gone through the font’s user guide, and you’re still a little uncertain…

Post your questions, comments, concerns, or criticism regarding the Kryptos Font here.  This page is associated with the Kryptos Font Test page from Kryptos Revisited.

Kryptos Font Journal of Guests

So you’ve downloaded the Kryptos Fonts from kryptosRevisited.com?  The next step is to leave a note about yourself to the group.  Your name and organization, a brief comment about how you’re involved with the “Kryptos Code” and a link to your web site should suffice.  Don’t forget to link back to kryptosRevisited.com!  If you need help installing the font, check out the user manual.

Enjoy,

gary

Authentic Kryptos TrueType Font

A new Kryptos Font has been replicated!  Now Kryptos enthusiasts have a new resource to add to their tool chest.  Gary Phillips, the designer of the first known Kryptos transcript depicting the copperplate’s exact font and orientation, has produced an entirely new installable Kryptos font.  The Kryptos Sculpture Family of Fonts is a replica of the Kryptos Sculpture typeface comprising four distinct font sets.  One is monospaced for producing attractive Kryptos Transcript tables, and another representing the complete set of International Morse Codes.  The other fonts combine the glyphs from the sculpture for authentic copperplate replication.  Mr. Phillips has generously made these tools freely available for download from KryptosRevisited.com.

Learn more about the techniques used to extract the Kryptos font and the meticulous methods involved in reconstructing the entire character set over a six month period at Gary Phillips’ web site KryptosRevisited.com.  Get the Kryptos Sculpture Family of Fonts for Windows, Mac, and Linux in TrueType and Type 1 True Vector Fonts.  His web site  explores Kryptos and has reproduced content related to Jim Sanborn’s sculpture that can be found nowhere else online — an invaluable service to Kryptos enthusiasts.

Download the Kryptos Font here!