This is the fourth of a series of Six Questions with dedicated searchers of The Secret (A Treasure Hunt) published in 1982 by Byron Preiss. Each Six Questions of the series will take a look into a location for a buried Casque of The Secret Armchair Treasure Hunt. There were 12 buried casques of which only two have ever been found.
Following are Six Questions with George Ward who is actively searching out the buried casque in St. Augustine, Florida. George also manages Shhh The Secret Podcast and a large Facebook Group of ‘Secret Searchers’. Join them- It’s not that secret!
Enjoy!
It is believed Image 6 matches with Verse 9 leading to St. Augustine, Florida (shown below)
- 1Q) When did you first hear about The Secret?
Oh man, That was years ago. I used to work with a team of people who would organize online treasure hunts, and build super complicated puzzles. I was looking for ideas to use for our puzzle when I happened upon an article about the Secret.
I was hooked from there.
- 2Q) What inspired you to look for the St. Augustine Casque?
Like most people, I initially focused on that one because I live in St. Augustine.
I remember when I first started researching the secret, I was laying in bed with my fiancee Rachel and I told her “This puzzle is easy! I’m going to solve it, get this gem, have it set in a ring and use that as your wedding ring!”
10 years later… we are still engaged. She’s holding me to my word. So I guess… getting married inspires me to keep going.
- 3Q) What makes you believe the Casque is in St. Augustine? Would you mind sharing some of the highlights of your solution?
There are lots of locations you can fight over. Think The Montreal puzzle is about St. Louis? Alright, that can be argued. Think the Nola verse actually references San Francisco? You can argue that too. There isn’t really any serious doubt that there is a casque in St. Augustine. It’s pretty set in stone.
St. Augustine is also unique in that it is probably the city where Byron came up with the word ‘Casque” for his treasures. Casque is the french word for Helmet. It’s not a word that has ever really been used to describe a box. Except at the fountain of youth in St. Augustine!
Back in the 1908 the Fountain of Youth was a botanical garden of sorts. A gardener was digging up a tall tree and in the roots he found a silver egg, inside the egg was a parchment document buried by Ponce de leon’s men on March 3, 1513 describing how they had landed on site, and found a spring which they described as being ‘sweet to the taste’.
It is not… they are liars. The water tastes horrible.
After the egg was found, the owner of the gardens used it for publicity. She put it on display, and… for some reason… called it ‘The silver salt Casque.
No one knows why she called it that, and it is the only time a container has ever been called a casque that I can find. That alone would be pretty good evidence one of the puzzles points to St. Augustine, but when you couple that with lines in verse 09 coming word for word from signs inside the park. Well… it doesn’t leave much room for doubt.
- 4Q) What is the most unique thing you found while searching or what did you enjoy most about your search?
Matt Sparks.
He’s pretty unique.
All joking aside, that’s sort of an honest answer. The people that I have met, and the friends I have made because of this hunt are by far the most rewarding.
- 5Q) What would you say is the major obstacle preventing a successful unearthing of the Casque?
Time travel. If we could nail down time travel, solving these would be a breeze.
- 6Q) Do you have any advice for someone else looking for this treasure or is there something more you would like to add?
Do a little research. You can find the verses, and the images on 12treasures.com Go look at them, listen to the podcasts, then get involved by finding a community and sharing your ideas. (you can find ours here: TheSecretTreasures). Get involved with a team who will help your ideas grow and form into a solution. Then go dig up a casque and make everyone else look dumb! 😉
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Below are some other highlights for Image 6/ Verse 9 leading to St. Augustine
As shown below, the outline of the state of Florida can be recognized in the negative space of Image 6. Also the older version of the State Seal of Florida holds similarity to the tree and rock/island in the background of image 6 to the Seal’s background.
The character on top of the image is attired much like a Spanish Conquistador. Ponce de Leon was one of the first known and famous for his search for the Fountain of Youth- in St. Augustine, Florida.
The first line of Verse 9, The First Chapter, is seen at the Fountain of Youth entrance in St. Augustine.
Many other connections are seen with Image 6 and Verse 9 to this area. More thoughts and details in other MW Posts…
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Best of luck with all that you seek! Always Treasure the Adventure!
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So you believe this treasure is still able to get? I’m looking at one of the casque too concentrate on. Do you recommend the St Augustine one?