$100,000 Challenge
Encyclopedia
Blaine's $100,000 Challenge is an armchair treasure hunt hidden throughout the pages of Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic
by street magician
David Blaine
.
Blaine commissioned a gold orb engraved with the words: Magic, Enchantment, Conjure, Charm, Astonish, Spirit, Prestige, Endure, Legerdemain; and then concealed the gold orb inside a hollow rock along with a private telephone number. He then hid his treasure somewhere in the continental United States.
On March 20, 2004, sixteen months after the book was published, Sherri Skanes, an artist, and semi-retired school teacher from Ventura
, California
, solved the treasure hunt and claimed the $100,000 prize.
The hunt was designed by game designer Cliff Johnson
, creator of The Fool's Errand
.
Throughout the book, hidden in plain sight, were visual ciphers that decoded into forty-one key sentences. These sentences were then reduced to twenty-one key words: cherubim metropolis, numbered arm, remove sevens, double the first, mountain shrub chasm, concrete timbers, seventy ascents, south thirty east, solitary stone. These words, correctly interpreted, provided the precise location of the treasure, Harry Houdini's house.
Mysterious Stranger
Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic by street magician David Blaine was published on October 29, 2002 by Random House. Part autobiography, part history, and part armchair treasure hunt, the book also includes instructions on how to perform basic card tricks and illusions.In his chapter,...
by street magician
Street magic
Street magic falls into two genres; traditional street performance and guerrilla magic.- Traditional street performance :The first definition of street magic refers to a traditional form of magic performance - that of busking. In this, the magician draws an audience from passers by and performs an...
David Blaine
David Blaine
David Blaine is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records...
.
Blaine commissioned a gold orb engraved with the words: Magic, Enchantment, Conjure, Charm, Astonish, Spirit, Prestige, Endure, Legerdemain; and then concealed the gold orb inside a hollow rock along with a private telephone number. He then hid his treasure somewhere in the continental United States.
On March 20, 2004, sixteen months after the book was published, Sherri Skanes, an artist, and semi-retired school teacher from Ventura
Ventura, California
Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, solved the treasure hunt and claimed the $100,000 prize.
The hunt was designed by game designer Cliff Johnson
Cliff Johnson (game designer)
Cliff Johnson is an American game designer, best known for the early computer puzzle games The Fool's Errand and 3 in Three . Both games were notable for unique visual puzzles and a metapuzzle structure.- Biography :...
, creator of The Fool's Errand
The Fool's Errand
The Fool's Errand is a 1987 computer game by Cliff Johnson. It is a meta-puzzle game with storytelling, visual puzzles and a cryptic treasure map...
.
Solution
Throughout the book, hidden in plain sight, were visual ciphers that decoded into forty-one key sentences. These sentences were then reduced to twenty-one key words: cherubim metropolis, numbered arm, remove sevens, double the first, mountain shrub chasm, concrete timbers, seventy ascents, south thirty east, solitary stone. These words, correctly interpreted, provided the precise location of the treasure, Harry Houdini's house.
See also
- MasqueradeMasquerade (book)Masquerade is a children’s book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams, which sparked a treasure hunt by concealing clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare, created and hidden somewhere in Britain by Williams...
(1979) by Kit WilliamsKit WilliamsChristopher 'Kit' Williams is an English artist, illustrator and author best known for his book Masquerade, a pictorial storybook which contains clues to the location of a golden jewelled hare created by Williams and then buried "somewhere in Britain."Williams wrote another puzzle book with a bee...
, the illustrated quest for the golden hare. - A Treasure's TroveA Treasure's TroveA Treasure's Trove: A Fairy Tale About Real Treasure For Parents And Children Of All Ages is an illustrated children's book written by Michael Stadther and published in 2004 by Treasure Trove Inc, which he incorporated to do so...
(2004) by Michael StadtherMichael StadtherMichael Stadther is an author best known for his book A Treasure's Trove: A Fairy Tale about Real Treasure for Parents and Children of All Ages. Treasure Trove, Inc. was incorporated to distribute the book. A sequel to A Treasure's Trove, called Secrets of the Alchemist Dar was released in...
, an illustrated children's book which gives clues on the whereabouts of 12 bejeweled insect brooches.