A New Focus – a Break from the Break

From time to time I am compelled to revisit Kryptos via Google, and whenever I find myself spending more than an hour retracing that winding path from where I am to where I was when I abandoned my passion in 2009, I begin to feel that old, familiar urgency to write about possibilities.  It’s what we all do when we think we’ve discovered something no one else has.

I don’t think that my years with Kryptos was fruitless even if the only things I treasure now are memories of fascination and friendship with others who share this interest.  My only traceable research that remains is found in the ghostly record of others who saw it live and pursued it through blog articles, comments, and discussion forums.  Somehow all of the B-Roll footage I published on YouTube as KryptosInfo is still available, and I have not been sued by any major media organization for making their footage public without permission.  K5: Twilight Eyes remains one of my favorite projects, and I continue to think it could be somehow connected to Kryptos.  This blog is still around, and WordPress remembers who I am.  Five years is a considerable break, but it’s time for a break.

Sites are Live!

www.kryptos.info  online

www.RealmOfTwelve.net online

www.KryptosRevisited.com online

Point That Way

THIRTY-EIGHT DEGREES, FIFTY-SEVEN MINUTES, SIX…

POINT FIVE SECONDS NORTH,
SEVENTY-SEVEN DEGREES,
EIGHT MINUTES,
FORTY-FOUR SECONDS WEST

Proofread KryptosFan’s Kryptos FOIAs?

Proofread My Kryptos FOIAs?  KryptosFan over at Kryptos – Beyond K4 wants help proofreading his requests.

Parasystole, Standing Waves

Known as ponderingman on YouTube, this Kryptos new-comer suggests that the raised letters YA and R are markers referring to the plaintext characters in those same positions.

Those letters would be WL and D from the following:

SLOWLYDESPARATLYSLOWLY

Furthermore, he suggests a reason for the misspelling of DESPERATELY.  By removing the W, L, and D (raised letters) from the plaintext, we get a possible new keyword, if somewhat out of order:

SLOYESPARAT…

…PARASYSTOLE

Jim’s talks about standing waves and layers gives this idea some credence.

Apex of Kryptos

“No, [Ed Sheidt] doesn’t know the solution.   I made that very clear that I didn’t want him to be able to decipher what’s going on … that I’d be modifying systems and developing my own, which would make it virtually impossible for him to decipher all of it. I intended the 80 percent (of the text) that’s been deciphered to be deciphered and to be deciphered in stages and relatively quickly. The final part is obviously the, you know, the apex of the pyramid there.”

– Jim Sanborn in WIRED

Here is a picture of the apex of the pyramid.  Perhaps it just doesn’t exist.

The Apex is invisble or just doesn't exist.

He’s Watching You

WWII Poster

The following description can be found at a web site about vintage WWII posters.

In this image, a sinister looking soldier wearing a German Stahlhelm M16 steel helmet surreptitiously peers over a wall at the viewer. Under the Nazi regime, the unique German Stahlhelm M16 steel helmet became an icon of military prowess and national pride, while for the Allies it became a symbol of menacing evil.

“He’s Watching You.”

This striking poster was designed in 1942 by artist Glenn Ernest Grohe (1912 – 1956) for the Office of Emergency Management. It shows the menacing, shadowy figure of a German soldier peering directly at the viewer over a dark wall with contrasting large text: He’s Watching You. This cool caution poster was intended to motivate adherence to the laws and prudence to the wartime rules about secrecy in the industrial sector and the close proximity of enemy eyes and ears.

There were two schools of thought about wartime poster design, “realistic images” and “stylized art”. One school of art and artists believed the posters should be realistic and direct like the print advertisements of the time; this was understandable as many of the war poster artists were of course selected from the advertisement illustration field. This poster is obviously from the “stylized war art” school of thought. The stylized sinister Nazi character closely resembles the creepy Star Wars character Darth Vader. Neither the Nazis nor Darth Vader had yet taken their place in infamy so this early war poster was as it turned out ineffective.

A 1942 government survey conducted by the Office of Facts and Figures of the American public revealed that the poster was often misunderstood. Many people perceived the stylized German Stahlhelm M16 steel helmet as the Liberty Bell, while some factory workers mistakenly believed “he” to be the “boss.” Because of this type of issue, the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) was created in June 1942 to review and approve the design, content and distribution of government war posters, coordinate the release of war news and information for domestic use and other wartime responsibilities.

Ultimately, two contending groups within OWI clashed over poster design. Those who saw posters as “war art” favored stylized images and symbolism, while recruits from the world of advertising wanted posters to be more like ads. When admen eventually gained the upper hand at OWI, the look of government posters changed decidedly.

Espionage has been with us since early time but the immigrant/melting pot based nature of the United States and our relatively late involvement in World War 2 made 1940s America a lucrative environment for spies and potential saboteurs. Naturally the dangers and concerns of national security intensified when the United States entered the war and America’s overseas military and homeland patriots urgently needed additional protection. The U.S. Government had a great need to alert its’ military and private citizens to the presence of enemy spies and saboteurs lurking in American society.

A major advertising blitz involving all media eventually produced thousands of remarkable “careless talk” type posters to warn people that small snippets of information regarding troop movements or other logistical details would be useful to the enemy and could easily compromise national security and U.S. military personnel’ safety. These vintage 1940s public domain poster images like this one of the Stylized “He’s Watching You” displayed on this page from the Safety and National Security World War 2 Gallery of this website allow you to own a copyright free piece of WWII history, a historic patriotic artwork poster.

Twilight Eyes, a video exploring the idea that this same face exists in the layout of CIA’s New Headquarters Building (and surrounding elements), can be seen here:

For other posters, visit these links:

http://www.war-stories.com/war-posters-wwii-1.asp

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2010/08/propaganda-posters-of-world-war-two.html

http://www.usmm.org/postertalk2a.html

http://www.usmm.org/postertalk2b.html

Kryptos, Pyramid, Obelisk

From wikipedia: Obelisk

The obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra, and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure.

It is hypothesized by New York University Egyptologist Patricia Blackwell Gary and Astronomy senior editor Richard Talcott that the shapes of the ancient Egyptian pyramid and obelisk were derived from natural phenomena associated with the sun (the sun-god Ra being the Egyptians’ greatest deity).^[5] The pyramid and obelisk might have been inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset: the zodiacal light and sun pillars respectively.

Does this not sound like Jim Sanborn’s description of the Corcoran installation?!

The Corcoran installation had some references to Greek mythology. There was a freestanding cylinder in the center of the room that was totally perforated with encoded text. Half of the cylinder was perforated text dealing with CIA operations. The other half of the cylinder dealt with KGB operations. The two existed side by side. A pinpoint light inside the cylinder projected these encoded texts, including the word Medusa, which was embedded in the texts, over the inside of the gallery, so that they covered every inch of its surface. It created an effect where Medusa’s gaze, represented by these bright texts, fell over one’s body as one walked through the room. There was a petrified tree in the room, a tree that had turned into stone. I felt as if the projected light was a visible ray that was as toxic as the information on that cylinder. It was a transformation from a text written to a text projected to a text that became toxic when it touched your body.

(Atomic Time book excerpt)

(see APEX of Kryptos Blog for more connections between Kryptos and Obelisks)

Kryptos Clues Found in the Ordinary

“This is Vigenere’s Tableau.  The decoded parts that haven’t been decoded is this bottom line here, and it’s partially covered up with a— by a piece of stone at the CIA, so it’s harder to see, and it was also harder to photograph.  So that also delayed the dissemination of the image so that people could crack it.”

– Jim Sanborn

Transcript of Hirshhorn Museum Public Speaking 9/23/2005
transcribed anonymously and verified for KryptosRevisited.com

The only phantom reflection in the whirlpool is at an angle that reveals the twisting K3 cipher text on the copperplate.  All other perceptions are obscured by rock, which is far more tempting than the uninteresting, unobstructed view where the key lies.

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

Details of the Room Within

Details of the room within emerged from the mist x can you see anything Q?

-k3

Details of the room within emerged from the missed X?  The missed X, when put back in, reveals “Layer Two.”  Can you see anything Q?

A mask layer with holes at the X’s reveals an answer to this question when placed over the breached Q in the upper left-hand corner.  The underlying characters are YES QQQ.

Can you see anything Q? Yes QQQ.

This masking technique may explain why K2 is worded so strangely — the official explanation being that it was designed to sound like a Morse Code transmission.  Could it be that k2 was forced after a mask was used to position characters at certain locations in the ciphertext?

Secret Theories

Jim Sanborn said,

“The greatest chart we have for decoding is the Rosetta Stone.  Cracking that code gave us the ability to understand an ancient language.  What the CIA does now, as far as encoding and decoding, is a very similar kind of sleuthing: word sleuthing as opposed to physical sleuthing.”

Word Sleuthing.

The Rosetta Stone had a single text inscribed three times in multiple languages.  Knowing the first two provided a means of interpreting the last.  Imagine, conversely, inscribing a single text once with multiple meanings.  If one could hide the meaning, or the existence of alternate meanings, we would be confronted with steganography.  If those words were reused with different meanings, we would have a palimpsest.  A palimpsest of word meanings.  Words reused.

Ed Scheidt discusses with Nova ScienceNow how the art of steganography is hiding the notion that a secret message exists at all.

Word sleuthing.

“Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of illusion.” means: Between my ambiguity in word meanings and your ignorance of my technique, you are deceived into interpreting the deciphered Kryptos text at face value.

“Of the part that’s been decoded already there is certain ambiguity in the last few sentences and it’s been open to interpretation, as has the whole piece.” – Jim Sanborn.

Howard Carter’s journal means something different too:

“Slowly, disparately (sp?) slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhHFXRQgCPo

The ciphertext is considered a passage of text.  K4, the unsolved part of Kryptos, is debris, and it is to be removed.  This is why all attempts at cracking K4 has failed.  K4 does not exist as 97, 98, or even 100 letters.  K4 does not exist in the text at the bottom of the sculpture. However, the text isn’t simply to be disregarded as useless debris.  Even debris comes from something once constructed!  There is an algorithm of applying that text as a tableau grid over the oddly-worded K2 (and other sections) to create a null cipher. A cipher where overlapping characters are removed. Those letters are passage debris, and ultimately, debris gets removed.  It gets discarded.

Identify the debris.

“When you use the last part and you get the solution you should take out all the spaces and run [the remaining characters] all together.” – Jim Sanborn (2009) (in response to an inquiry as to whether or not he would acknowledge a solution posted online.  See Null-Cipher Theories posted in dozens of forums since 2004)

“With trembling hands, I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner…” refers to the raised letters of the K3 ciphertext.

A breach, as in a break-through.  A breach, as in a discovery.  A breach, as in compromising a relatively secure system — those raised letters in the upper left-hand corner of “Layer Two.”

“And then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in…” means:  We apply the Null Cipher Technique.  We shed light on the true meanings of the deciphered text.

“The hot air escaping from the chamber caused the flame to flicker…” could imply a chamber of people — officials, perhaps — an organization.  A flame is a criticism or violent, intense passion.  The flicker harks back to the raised letters as actual, physical portions of the new text as a guide (or grain of Kryptos Sand).

“‘Kryptos brought me back to my first love. Like my childhood programming days, I was once again free to pursue a challenge that didn’t have the limitations of ‘this is how to do it’,” Phillips told The Guardian in 2005.  (continuing) “Mr Sanborn admits he would feel a tinge of regret if Kryptos is solved.”

Regret that people finally figured out his puzzle?  Regret for what the message says?  Perhaps a flame against the CIA?

“But presently, details of the room within emerged from the mist.”  Mist is an ambiguous term that implies something obscured or hidden from meaning or view.  In context, it means “a hidden document.”

“I’ve made a statement which is straightforward, but that leads to something else. There’s another deeper mystery. As you peel off a layer of an onion, the myst – you get closer to the heart of what it is. And so y’know I just wanted to make it…  you had to go deeper and decipher something else. It’s in English, it’s in plain English, it’s in text, and you can read it, but that isn’t necessarily the whole story.” – Jim Sanborn

“Can you see anything?”

It is certain that we could be understanding the real power of art and Sanborn’s disposition as a Natural Scientist toward certain philosophies of institution.

“[The sculpture] could corrupt, somehow…” – Jim Sanborn.

“Just knowing Jim – in talking to Jim, he has philosophies that he would like to portray, and this is a medium for him to do that.” – Ed Scheidt

Details of this theory forthcoming.