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.

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.

Kryptos Employs a Fibonacci Sequence?

Does that CIA Sculpture, Kryptos, employ a Fibonacci Cipher?  Vorlath, a.k.a. “Krazy Kryptos,” has been spinning his Kryptos wheels for some time now.  He proposes at his blog that the misspellings in Kryptos are a clue to be used in conjunction with the misaligned letters of K3.  The position of those misspellings form a Fibonacci Sequence as observed by other sleuths years ago.

What Vorlath suggests is that endYAhR (capital letters depicted here are actually raised letters in the sculpture) is a reversed Fibonacci sequence.  Matter-of-factly, he is correct, and I think the correlation between this and the misspellings is noteworthy if nothing more than one of the hundred thousand insignificant coincidences we could fine in the sculpture.  However, there are other anomalies that suggest “a reverse” of something.  We have the backward ciphertext or tableau.  We have “Antipodes (look up the meaning),” the CIA sculpture’s sister sculpture at the Hirshhorn Museum, and we’re aware of other oddities that may tie a Reverse Fibonacci Sequence into Kryptos.

When Sanborn asked, “Has anyone figured out what those are?  They’re important,” he implied that the misaligned letters could be interpreted with some finality (not to imply certainty) that leads us into the entire algorithm that unlocks the cipher known the world over as K4.  Is, “Yes, Mr. Sanborn, we know what those are.  Now what?” get us any closer to the answers?  I certainly think it’s worth the effort to pursue at this point in time.

Go check out Krazy Kryptos’ recent article: “K3 DYAHR Curiosity”

and then peruse the rest of his blog to see the untamed inner-workings of a person who loves puzzles.

Interactive Kryptos Sandbox

Interactive resources are now available at kryptos.info to aid in experimental sleuthing.  You can explore the growing list of helpful tools under the “Interactive Solutions Sandbox” toolbar.  Discover Morse Code Tables, translators, and exclusive solvers related to Kryptos, the sculpture at CIA Headquarters.  Subscribe to the RSS feed on this page to learn about new tools as they become available.  Future plans include an interactive palimpsest solver at the “Interactive Kryptos Sandbox”, a visual Vigenere solver, and many other unique resources pertaining to classical cryptography.

Morse Code Tables

Morse Code Translators

kryptosRevisited.com Introduction

Welcome to the kryptos.info network!  (click here to see the web site connected to this blog)

“Kryptos Revisited” is a web site that explores Kryptos, a sculpture by James Sanborn located at CIA HQ in Langley, VA.  The Kryptos Sculpture contains several encrypted messages, and much of the focus has been on three of four passages encoded on its prominent copper scroll.  The quest has been to unlock the final passages of the encoding and to unveil the remaining mysteries yet shadowed in the veil of uncertainty.

I personally welcome you to this group and ask that you introduce yourself to the growing number of kryptos.info participants.  Your name, a brief background, and general purpose for your visit will suffice.  Individuals and groups are welcome to participate in the discussions that span this web site, and we all ask that any information used herein leading to a breakthrough or solution be credited back to this web site and this group.  This implies that any press release will credit kryptos.info or kryptosRevisited.com as a resource instrumental to any new information.  By all means take personal credit, and acknowledge the rest of us, as we in turn will do so for you.

Without further adieu, here’s to a successful and worthy journey as we explore Kryptos.

looking forward to meeting you,

gary