The Bacon’s Cipher, or rather method of stenography, dates back to 1605, and was developed by Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon was an English Philosopher, Author, and Statesman, who was agent for Queen Elizabeth, and later King James. His many studies and works helped advance the sciences.
Stenography conceals a message within a normal plaintext. The Baconian Cipher does this by applying two distinct representations for ‘A’ and ‘B’ and developing a biliteral alphabet key. Bacon devised something like the following:
The two distinct representations for A and B could be lower and capital letters. Could be different fonts. Could be bold or italics. Any message which contains two differentiating characteristics could be hiding a message coded by the Baconian Cipher.
For ExAmple thIs text hiDes a HIddEN Word, can You Get iT?
Each coded letter is made up of 5 characters. It is a bit time consuming to code and process. You can imagine how a slight difference in font would be less noticeable, and more effective at hiding a message.
For the above message, the sentence would be divided into parts of 5 and the key used to decode it:
ForEx = BaaBa = T
Ample = Baaaa = R
thIst = aaBaa = E
exthi = aaaaa = A
DesaH = BaaaB = S
IddEN = BaaBB = U
Wordc = Baaaa = R
anYou= aaBaa = E
GetiT = BaaaB = S
However, a coded message, utilizing Bacon’s Cipher, doesn’t have to be concealed within a text. An illustration could hide vital information too. Say for example the following Illustration. Can you discover the word within it?
The use of an illustration for the Bacon’s Cipher hid a very important clue in the armchair treasure hunt, Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse. A group of trees of two different sizes were noticed on one of the pages. The trees had a pig next to it, which searchers suspected could suggest the trees were part of the Baconian Coded Alphabet (bacon/pig). There were also ten trees which tipped off searchers too.
They worked it out, and while not knowing for sure which size tree represented A or B or whether to go forward or backward, one of the options did decode to TN. After solving some other clues in the hunt, which led to TN or Tennessee being important, they were able to conclude the trees did indeed hide the letters TN. It acted as a very important confirmer.
There are lots of different ways the Bacon’s Cipher could be applied to hide a message. Be on the lookout for groups of 5, 2 varying items, or nearby pigs, bacon, or oinks to hint to it being a method of coding.
Best of luck with all that you seek! Always treasure the adventure!
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Hi!
I have to confess. I didn’t read the article…yet.
I just saw “bacon” and came running. 🙂
Thanks, Jenny.
JC117 you make me smile. Thank you for that.
Where’s the bacon JC1117? This code sizzles with…ABBA
https://youtu.be/BogW-2X_X6k
No worries about forgetting the bacon…As long as Pierce Brosnan makes an appearance
“Hi,” Jenny. I read this last night with a tired brain and understood not a word. buT I Get What YoU’re SaYinG NoW.
can i ask a question ? what about all that stuff written in the paddle wheel that makes me sea sick when i look at it . or am I the only one who sees it ?
It says “the pigs tail curls clockwise in the north, counterclockwise in the south.”
I’m not sure what that means.
I got it Bob ,the magnetic particles that steam from the poles have differential spins ,that what causes it.
Exactly. So that must mean that, when trying to solve a cipher, stick your tongue out the wrong way!
What Beth said!
I like that the ten trees decoded to TENnessee ( see ten ) so was parially self confirmed.
There was a code related to a very popular puzzle posted at this website a while back, which deciphered as
I HID OK O TEN
( so, ten letters confirming the message ). Im not sure of the “OK O” meaning.
So the paddle wheeler did just TN pass ( Tennessee Pass ). On Highway 24, The elevation is 10,424 feet… looks like some info for that in the picture too. However, these things only make sense once the site is known, as confirmation.