Article Written by Dustin White
Eighteenth day.
Twelfth hour.
Lit by lamplight.
These are elements of a tale we’re all familiar with. The story where the patriot of American patriots, Paul Revere, saw two lanterns hanging on April 18th, 1775 in the window of what is now known as the Old North Church and began his famous midnight ride through the streets of Charlestown toward Lexington to warn the residents that “The British are coming!” as made famous in: “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Something Longfellow couldn’t ever have dreamt up is that his recounting of that historic moment in American history would one day be used as a clue that would lead to the whereabouts of a legendary buried treasure.
What exactly does this well known story have to do with finding a buried treasure? As it turns out, the midnight ride of Paul Revere has everything to do with The Secret and the treasure casque that was, until a couple weeks ago, buried directly beneath home plate in Langone Park in Boston’s Italian neighborhood, The North End. Immigration is one of the central themes in The Secret and the Boston puzzle has always been linked to Italian immigration.
The area near where we today recognize Langone Park and Puopolo Playground was where it’s historically believed that Paul Revere got into a boat on the beach on the evening of April 18th, 1775. He rowed with two other patriots and slipped past the British warship the HMS Somerset while crossing the Boston Harbor. After the crossing Paul Revere was able to begin his famous ride.
Until very recently this stretch of waterfront was home to baseball fields, a bocce ball court, a basketball court, swimming pools, a playground and a sundial. In July 2019 the area had a major renovation begin that leveled all of these recreational areas with a plan to rebuild them and refurbish the park for the 21st century.
The major construction at this site got the attention of a few Bostonian treasure hunters including that of Secret Seeker Jason Krupat.
Krupat, a game and puzzle designer by trade, had taken to walking down Commercial Street to scout Langone Park and the surrounding areas for several months, where he believed this puzzle would lead him to the treasure casque and key that had been buried back in the very early 1980’s by the creator of The Secret, Byron Preiss.
When Krupat noticed that construction had begun and closed down the park he had been scouting and researching, he contacted the construction crew. He made them aware that there was a good chance they’d find a buried ceramic treasure encased in a plexiglass container somewhere close to home plate in the middle field of the three baseball diamonds in the park. The construction crew took his name and number and told him they’d contact him if they found anything that resembled what he was looking for.
Three months went by before Krupat received a text message from the construction crew lead. The message informed Krupat that something matching the description of the buried treasure may have been found and it was right where Krupat theorized it should be.
When Krupat saw the fragments of what was found, he knew immediately that he’d discovered something incredible that had eluded tens of thousands of searchers that came before him, he discovered a casque from The Secret.
Krupat then did what any sensible Secret Seeker would do. He rushed to contact Josh Gates to get the rest of the recovery documented by the Expedition Unknown crew. Gates is a central figure in the world of The Secret. His television show, Expedition Unknown, has aired two episodes about The Secret in the past two years and has attracted scores of new treasure hunters to take up the task of finding these buried treasures.
Gates received the email from Krupat letting him know that he found what he believed to be a piece of the fabled Boston treasure casque, that this was not a hoax and that he wanted to meet with him immediately to find the rest of the treasure.
Gates certainly seemed convinced because the new episode of Expedition Unknown featuring this find began with him explaining that he dropped everything and flew halfway around the world to come meet with Krupat and to examine what had been found in person.
Upon arriving in Boston, Massachusetts, Gates rushed to met with Krupat in Copley Square to begin discussing the details of the puzzle. They begin with discussion of the verse (a painting and verse combination when paired correctly can lead a searcher to the treasure grounds) that leads them to the names of Thucydides and Xenophon on the facade of the historic Boston Public Library – McKim Building. From there they set off on their quest to Krupat’s X marks the spot.
We learn that Krupat was introduced to The Secret by his children watching Expedition Unknown and the first episode Gates made about the treasure hunt in January 2018. Since then, he’s been hunting for the casque and key in Boston and that’s resulted in Krupat losing 40 pounds! Of course, this leads to a funny moment when Josh has a new business idea and suggests “The Secret to Weight Loss” diet to his viewers.
Krupat leads Gates onward to Christopher Columbus Park where he believes the woman in the painting matches the statue of the most famous of Italian explorers, the park’s namesake, Christopher Columbus. Remember; this is the Italian puzzle of The Secret. They continue their trek towards the goal of arriving at Langone Park by breaking down more of the verse that connects A to Z in more ways that one,
Upon arriving at Langone Park Gates is dismayed that the park is currently undergoing a heavy renovation and is blocked off from the public. They bypass the barrier and Krupat explains the rest of his solution and exactly why he believed he would find buried treasure in this spot.
Krupat points out the Tobin Memorial Bridge as his “green tower of lights” and Steriti Memorial Ice Rink as the “coliseum with metal walls”. They “Face the water” of the Boston Harbor with their “back to the stairs” of Copp’s Hill Terrace where “All the letters Are here to see” being the A through Z signal flags of Old Ironsides herself, the USS Constitution easily seen across the water.
Krupat goes on to describe how Paul Revere’s ride plays a role in this puzzle as described at the beginning of this article. Everything from the verse fit exactly to Langone Park and Krupat had an ace up his sleeve, his X marks the spot.
The line “Feel at home” from the verse was the key to finding the casque. Krupat decided that the casque must be near home plate, at least where home plate was, in the middle baseball field (“In the middle section”) at Langone Park.
Krupat introduced Gates to the construction crew that helped him make the discovery. They show Gates the piece of the casque lid, the very same object that Krupat sent an image of that got Gates to drop everything and hop on a plane to fly to Boston, and Gates was absolutely floored. He was looking at half of the lid of the casque and they saw a painted face smiling back at them showing a clock that clearly pointed to 8 o’clock.
It’s explained that each casque has a uniquely hand painted lid showing a clock with the hour hand pointing to the corresponding number that represents the month that can be found in the painting via birthstones. The gemstone featured in the painting is then awarded to the finder of the key. 8 o’clock represents the 8th month, August, and its birthstone the peridot is the prize for the Boston puzzle.
Gates was eager to begin digging through the spoils around where home plate used to be and he was joined in the digging by Krupat, his wife Colleen Brownell-Krupat and their children Molly and Jack Krupat. A few members of the construction crew helped as well for this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to look for any pieces of the buried treasure that yet to be found.
They recover pieces of the plexiglass container and shards of the ceramic casque. The all important key remains elusive during this frantic search. They continue searching until Jason Krupat with amazing luck and persistence exclaims “I’ve got something!” and he carefully pulls out of the mud the handle of the key. They continued digging and recover another piece of the key and the family of four embraced and celebrated. Finding the key was the most important piece of the puzzle, the key is what you need to exchange for the gemstone prize. While celebrating the finding of the key Gates informs Krupat that “You’re going down in the history books here”.
The next step is handing over the nearly mythical key and claiming the reward. A flawless peridot gemstone. This was done at a ceremony held at the Brooklyn Historical Society and hosted by Sandi Mendelson the widow of Byron Preiss (in 2005 Preiss passed away in an automobile accident). Byron’s daughters Karah and Blaire Preiss accompanied their mother during the event and were very emotional but so happy that this had happened and continued their father’s legacy.
At the ceremony Krupat exchanged his key for the gemstone prize and was inducted into the “Secret Society”, an elite and exclusive group of casque and key finders, many of whom were on hand for the event.
Rob Wrobel and Eric Gastorowski finders of the 1983 casque and key discovered at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois were in attendance. Also present were Brian Zinn and Andy Abrams of the 2004 casque and key find at the Greek Cultural Garden in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Krupat family all received pins from the “Secret Society” for their efforts during the heartwarming ceremony.
Gates was gifted a golden shovel and a plaque from the “Secret Society” and was inducted in as an honorary member for all his work on The Secret and for bringing this treasure hunt to the attention of millions of people and what ultimately brought the success they celebrated on that day.
One final surprise was in store for those gathered in the Brooklyn Historical Society. The illustrator of The Secret was brought in to congratulate Jason Krupat and his family. John Jude Palencar is a legendary artist. The Secret was one of Palencar’s earliest jobs that he credits with getting his foot in the door in the industry. He created the twelve beautiful paintings filled with puzzles for Byron Preiss’ The Secret. At the ceremony, Palencar dropped a couple bombshells about the painting connected to the Boston puzzle, the puzzle that had just officially been solved. He pointed out hidden letters in the painting that spell out “BOSTON”, how the woman in the paintings hair is flaired out in the shape of a baseball field and how on the women’s right cuff showed the shape home plate, right where that treasure was found in Langone Park. For anyone into The Secret, watching Palencar explain that was truly a magical moment!
Congratulations to Jason Krupat and his family on this amazing accomplishment! Another congratulations are in store for Josh Gates and his team at Expedition Unknown for being able to document this discovery and thank you to them for bringing the story to all of us.
Additional reading:
In the May 2019 Six Questions In Search for the Secret Casque Series with Adrian Krasniqi, he gave a ton of evidence that the North End of Boston would likely hold the treasure including his discovery that area’s zip code hidden backwards in the painting, 02113.
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If you love The Secret feel free to join the discussion on Facebook Group: The Secret: A Treasure Hunt managed by Deidra and Dustin White. All theories and collaboration is welcome.
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Below is a video highlighting the believed general locations for the other 9 casques yet to be found!
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