Beale ciphers
Encyclopedia
The Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertext
s, one of which allegedly states the location of a buried treasure
of gold, silver and jewels estimated to be worth over USD
$63 million as of September, 2011. The other two ciphertexts allegedly describe the content of the treasure, and list the names of the treasure's owners' next of kin
, respectively. The story of the three ciphertexts originates from an 1885 pamphlet detailing treasure being buried by a man named Thomas Jefferson Beale in a secret location in Bedford County, Virginia
, in 1820. Beale entrusted the box containing the encrypted messages with a local innkeeper named Robert Morriss and then disappeared, never to be seen again. The innkeeper gave the three encrypted ciphertexts to a friend before he died. The friend then spent the next twenty years of his life trying to decode the messages, and was able to solve only one of them which gave details of the treasure buried and the general location of the treasure. He published all three ciphertexts in a pamphlet, although most of the originals were destroyed in a warehouse fire.
However, in 1982 Joe Nickell
published a scholarly analysis of the papers, using historical records that cast doubt on the existence of "Beale" and linguistic evidence showing they were not written at the time alleged (words like "stampeding" for instance were of later vintage). Evidence from writing style showed that "Beale" was almost certainly James B. Ward whose 1885 pamphlet brought the Beale papers to light. Nickell argues that the tale is thus fiction—specifically a "secret vault" allegory of the Freemasons; Ward was, in fact, a Mason.
Since the publication of the pamphlet, a number of attempts have been made to decode the two remaining ciphertexts and to find the treasure, but all have resulted in failure.
The treasure was said to have been obtained by an American man named Thomas Jefferson Beale in 1818, to the north of Santa Fe, New Mexico
, most likely in what would now be Colorado. Beale supposedly led about 29 adventurers on the discovery, but no solid proof of Beale's existence, or that of any of his companions, has yet been found in any public or private record.
It is claimed that Beale placed the ciphertexts in an iron box, and left it with a reliable person in 1822, a Lynchburg innkeeper, Robert Morriss. The treasure was supposedly buried near Montvale in Bedford County, Virginia. Beale asked Morriss not to open the box, unless he, or one of his men failed to return from their journey within 10 years. Beale promised to have a friend in St. Louis mail Morriss the key
(s) to the cryptograms, but they were never received. In 1843 Morriss opened the box and unsuccessfully attempted to solve the ciphers on his own but, decades later, passed the box and contents (three letters and three ciphertexts), and the story, to one of his friends.
Using a particular edition of the United States Declaration of Independence
as the key for a modified book cipher
, the friend successfully deciphered the second ciphertext, which gave descriptions of the buried treasure. The friend ultimately made the letters and ciphertexts public, apparently via James B Ward, in an 1885 pamphlet entitled The Beale Papers. Ward is thus apparently not 'the friend'. Ward himself is obscure, and is almost untraceable in local records except that someone of that name was the owner of the home in which a Sarah Morriss, identified as the consort of Robert Morriss, died at 77 (Lynchburg Virginian newspaper, May 21, 1865) and became a Master Mason in 1863, so perhaps he was "the friend" after all. There was no explanation of the accident which led to the solution of the second ciphertext, which perhaps suggests that there was additional information now lost (from Morriss?).
reads:
The second cipher can be decrypted fairly easily using any copy of the United States Declaration of Independence
, but some editing for spelling is necessary. To decrypt it, one finds the word corresponding to the number (i.e. the first number is 115, and the 115th word in the Declaration of Independence is "instituted"), and takes the first letter of that word (which would be "I"). Note that this method of encryption is slightly different from a standard book cipher
.
Beale used a version of United States Declaration of Independence
different from the original. To extract the hidden message, the following 5 modifications must be applied to the original DOI text:
Furthermore:
Finally, in the decoded text there are 4 errors, probably due to wrong transcription of the original paper:
s.
es. An early researcher, Carl Hammer of Sperry UNIVAC
, used supercomputer
s of the late 1960s to analyze the ciphers and found that while the ciphers were poorly encoded, the two undeciphered ones did not show the patterns one would expect of randomly chosen numbers and probably encoded an intelligible text. Other questions remain about the authenticity of the pamphlet's account. In 1934, Dr. Clarence Williams, a researcher at the Library of Congress, said, "To me, the pamphlet story has all the earmarks of a fake . . . [There was] no evidence save the word of the unknown author of the pamphlet that he ever had the papers."
The pamphlet's background story has several implausibilities, and is based almost entirely on circumstantial evidence
and hearsay
.
There have been many attempts to break the remaining cipher(s). Most attempts have tried other historical texts as keys (e.g., the Magna Carta
, various books of the Bible
, the U.S. Constitution, and the Virginia Royal Charter), assuming the ciphertexts were produced with some book cipher, but none have been recognized as successful to date. Breaking the cipher(s) may depend on random chance (as, for instance, stumbling upon a book key if the two remaining ciphertexts are actually book ciphers); so far, even the most skilled cryptanalysts who have attempted them have been defeated. Of course, Beale could have used a document that he had written himself for either or both of the remaining keys, thus rendering any further attempts to crack the codes useless.
Before 1850 the U.S. Census recorded the names of only the heads of households; others in the household were only counted. Beale, if he existed, may have been living in someone else's household.
In addition, a man named 'Thomas Beall' appears in the customer lists of St. Louis Post Department in 1820. According to the pamphlet, Beale sent a letter from St. Louis in 1822.
Additionally, a Cheyenne legend exists about gold and silver being taken from the West and buried in mountains in the East, dating from roughly 1820.
has sometimes been suggested to be the real author of the pamphlet. He had an interest in cryptography and used it as a plot device
in several of his works, most notably his short story "The Gold-Bug
." He is also known to have lived nearby at the time of Beale's encounters with Morriss; in the 1820s he was a student at the University of Virginia
in Charlottesville
.
However, Poe died in 1849, long before the pamphlets were published. The references in the narrative to the Civil War
, which occurred in the 1860s, also cast doubt on the Poe claims. Writer William Poundstone
's stylometric analysis in his book Biggest Secrets found that Poe's prose is significantly different from the pamphleteer's.
There is reportedly a story of a woman digging up the cemetery of Mountain View Church in February 1983, because she was convinced that Beale had hidden the treasure there. This took place at the top of Porter's Mountain exactly four miles east of Buford's Tavern.
Several other digs were completed at the top of Porter's Mountain. One dig was completed in the late 80s with the land owner's permission as long as any treasure found was split 50/50. The treasure hunters only dug up Civil War
artifacts. The value of these artifacts paid for time and equipment rental; these hunters broke even.
The story has been the subject of at least two television documentaries (one is in the UK's Mysteries series; another is the 2011 Declaration of Independence episode of the History Channel TV show Brad Meltzer's Decoded), several books, and considerable Internet activity.
Many locals who believe in the treasure think it is near Peaks of Otter, although the Peaks are over four miles from Buford's Tavern. The majority of locals believe the treasure is located at the top of Porter's Mountain located just behind Buford's Tavern. A trip to the top of Porter's Mountain from Buford's Tavern is four miles. The land owners on Porter's Mountain are fully aware of treasure hunters and permission from these owners must be obtained before any hunting can take place.
Ciphertext
In cryptography, ciphertext is the result of encryption performed on plaintext using an algorithm, called a cipher. Ciphertext is also known as encrypted or encoded information because it contains a form of the original plaintext that is unreadable by a human or computer without the proper cipher...
s, one of which allegedly states the location of a buried treasure
Treasure
Treasure is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered...
of gold, silver and jewels estimated to be worth over USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$63 million as of September, 2011. The other two ciphertexts allegedly describe the content of the treasure, and list the names of the treasure's owners' next of kin
Next of kin
Next of kin is a term with many interpretations depending on the jurisdiction being referred to. In some jurisdictions, such as the United States, it is used to describe a person's closest living blood relative or relatives...
, respectively. The story of the three ciphertexts originates from an 1885 pamphlet detailing treasure being buried by a man named Thomas Jefferson Beale in a secret location in Bedford County, Virginia
Bedford County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 60,371 people, 23,838 households, and 18,164 families residing in the county. The population density was 80 people per square mile . There were 26,841 housing units at an average density of 36 per square mile...
, in 1820. Beale entrusted the box containing the encrypted messages with a local innkeeper named Robert Morriss and then disappeared, never to be seen again. The innkeeper gave the three encrypted ciphertexts to a friend before he died. The friend then spent the next twenty years of his life trying to decode the messages, and was able to solve only one of them which gave details of the treasure buried and the general location of the treasure. He published all three ciphertexts in a pamphlet, although most of the originals were destroyed in a warehouse fire.
However, in 1982 Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell is a prominent skeptical investigator of the paranormal. He also works as an historical document consultant and has helped expose such famous forgeries as the purported diary of Jack the Ripper. In 2002 he was one of a number of experts asked by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr...
published a scholarly analysis of the papers, using historical records that cast doubt on the existence of "Beale" and linguistic evidence showing they were not written at the time alleged (words like "stampeding" for instance were of later vintage). Evidence from writing style showed that "Beale" was almost certainly James B. Ward whose 1885 pamphlet brought the Beale papers to light. Nickell argues that the tale is thus fiction—specifically a "secret vault" allegory of the Freemasons; Ward was, in fact, a Mason.
Since the publication of the pamphlet, a number of attempts have been made to decode the two remaining ciphertexts and to find the treasure, but all have resulted in failure.
The story
- It is important to note that all of the following information originates from one source — a single pamphlet published in 1885, entitled "The Beale Papers"
The treasure was said to have been obtained by an American man named Thomas Jefferson Beale in 1818, to the north of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, most likely in what would now be Colorado. Beale supposedly led about 29 adventurers on the discovery, but no solid proof of Beale's existence, or that of any of his companions, has yet been found in any public or private record.
It is claimed that Beale placed the ciphertexts in an iron box, and left it with a reliable person in 1822, a Lynchburg innkeeper, Robert Morriss. The treasure was supposedly buried near Montvale in Bedford County, Virginia. Beale asked Morriss not to open the box, unless he, or one of his men failed to return from their journey within 10 years. Beale promised to have a friend in St. Louis mail Morriss the key
Key (cryptography)
In cryptography, a key is a piece of information that determines the functional output of a cryptographic algorithm or cipher. Without a key, the algorithm would produce no useful result. In encryption, a key specifies the particular transformation of plaintext into ciphertext, or vice versa...
(s) to the cryptograms, but they were never received. In 1843 Morriss opened the box and unsuccessfully attempted to solve the ciphers on his own but, decades later, passed the box and contents (three letters and three ciphertexts), and the story, to one of his friends.
Using a particular edition of the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
as the key for a modified book cipher
Book cipher
A book cipher is a cipher in which the key is some aspect of a book or other piece of text; books being common and widely available in modern times, users of book ciphers take the position that the details of the key is sufficiently well hidden from attackers in practice. This is in some ways an...
, the friend successfully deciphered the second ciphertext, which gave descriptions of the buried treasure. The friend ultimately made the letters and ciphertexts public, apparently via James B Ward, in an 1885 pamphlet entitled The Beale Papers. Ward is thus apparently not 'the friend'. Ward himself is obscure, and is almost untraceable in local records except that someone of that name was the owner of the home in which a Sarah Morriss, identified as the consort of Robert Morriss, died at 77 (Lynchburg Virginian newspaper, May 21, 1865) and became a Master Mason in 1863, so perhaps he was "the friend" after all. There was no explanation of the accident which led to the solution of the second ciphertext, which perhaps suggests that there was additional information now lost (from Morriss?).
The deciphered message
The plaintextPlaintext
In cryptography, plaintext is information a sender wishes to transmit to a receiver. Cleartext is often used as a synonym. Before the computer era, plaintext most commonly meant message text in the language of the communicating parties....
reads:
I have deposited in the county of Bedford, about four miles from Buford's, in an excavation or vault, six feet below the surface of the ground, the following articles, belonging jointly to the parties whose names are given in number three, herewith:
The first deposit consisted of ten hundred and fourteen pounds of gold, and thirty-eight hundred and twelve pounds of silver, deposited Nov. eighteen nineteen. The second was made Dec. eighteen twenty-one, and consisted of nineteen hundred and seven pounds of gold, and twelve hundred and eighty-eight of silver; also jewels, obtained in St. Louis in exchange for silver to save transportation, and valued at thirteen thousand dollars.
The above is securely packed in iron pots, with iron covers. The vault is roughly lined with stone, and the vessels rest on solid stone, and are covered with others. Paper number one describes the exact locality of the vault, so that no difficulty will be had in finding it.
The second cipher can be decrypted fairly easily using any copy of the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
, but some editing for spelling is necessary. To decrypt it, one finds the word corresponding to the number (i.e. the first number is 115, and the 115th word in the Declaration of Independence is "instituted"), and takes the first letter of that word (which would be "I"). Note that this method of encryption is slightly different from a standard book cipher
Book cipher
A book cipher is a cipher in which the key is some aspect of a book or other piece of text; books being common and widely available in modern times, users of book ciphers take the position that the details of the key is sufficiently well hidden from attackers in practice. This is in some ways an...
.
Beale used a version of United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
different from the original. To extract the hidden message, the following 5 modifications must be applied to the original DOI text:
- after word 154 ('institute') and before word 157 ('laying') one word must be added (probably "a")
- after word 240 ('invariably') and before word 246 ('design') one word must be removed
- after word 467 ('houses') and before word 495 ('be') ten words must be removed
- after word 630 ('eat') and before word 654 ('to') one word must be removed
- after word 677 ('foreign') and before word 819 ('valuable') one word must be removed
Furthermore:
- The first letter of the 811th word of the modified text ('fundamentally') is always used by Beale as a 'y'
- The first letter of the 1005th word of the modified text ('have') is always used by Beale as an 'x'
Finally, in the decoded text there are 4 errors, probably due to wrong transcription of the original paper:
- 84 (should be 85) 63 43 131 29 ... consistcd ('consisted')
- 53 (should be 54) 20 125 371 38 ... rhousand ('thousand')
- ... 84 (should be 85) 575 1005 150 200 ... thc ('the')
- ... 96 (should be 95) 405 41 600 136 ... varlt ('vault')
Size of the treasure
The totals given in the second cryptogram come to 35,052 troy oz gold (worth about US $63m in September 2011), 61,200 troy oz silver (worth about US $1m in 2010) and jewels which were worth US $13,000 in 1818: this sum is worth around $180,000 in 2010 terms. The treasure would weigh about three tonTon
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s.
Truth or hoax?
There has been considerable debate over whether the remaining two ciphertexts are real or hoaxHoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
es. An early researcher, Carl Hammer of Sperry UNIVAC
UNIVAC
UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day...
, used supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s of the late 1960s to analyze the ciphers and found that while the ciphers were poorly encoded, the two undeciphered ones did not show the patterns one would expect of randomly chosen numbers and probably encoded an intelligible text. Other questions remain about the authenticity of the pamphlet's account. In 1934, Dr. Clarence Williams, a researcher at the Library of Congress, said, "To me, the pamphlet story has all the earmarks of a fake . . . [There was] no evidence save the word of the unknown author of the pamphlet that he ever had the papers."
The pamphlet's background story has several implausibilities, and is based almost entirely on circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
and hearsay
Hearsay
Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience. When submitted as evidence, such statements are called hearsay evidence. As a legal term, "hearsay" can also have the narrower meaning of...
.
- Later cryptographers have claimed that the two remaining ciphertexts have statistical characteristics which suggest that they are not actually encryptions of an English plaintext. Alphabetical sequences such as abfdefghiijklmmnohpp are both non-random, as indicated by Carl Hammer, and not words in English.
- Others have also questioned why Beale would have bothered writing three different ciphertexts (with at least two keys, if not ciphers) for what is essentially a single message in the first place, particularly if he wanted to ensure that the next of kin received their share (as it is, with the treasure described, there is no incentive to decode the third cipher).
- Analysis of the language used by the author of the pamphlet (the uses of punctuation, relative clauses, infinitives, conjunctives, and so on) has detected significant correlations between it and Beale's letters, including the plaintext of the second cipher, suggesting that they may have been written by the same person.
- The letters also contain several English words, such as "stampede" and "improvise", not otherwise recorded before the 1840s; implying composition no earlier than twenty years after their purported date, Beale's "stampeding" apparently first appears in print in 1883.
- The second message, describing the treasure, has been deciphered, but the others have not, suggesting a deliberate ploy to encourage interest in deciphering the other two texts only to discover that they are hoaxes. In addition, the original sale price of the pamphlet, 50 cents, was a high price for the time (adjusted for inflationInflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, it is equivalent to $ today), and the author says he expects "a wide circulation".
- The third cipher appears to be too short to list thirty individuals' next of kin.
- If the Declaration of Independence is used as a key for the first cipher, it yields alphabetical sequences such as abfdefghiijklmmnohpp and others. According to the American Cryptogram AssociationAmerican Cryptogram AssociationThe American Cryptogram Association is an American non-profit organization devoted to the hobby of cryptography, with an emphasis on types of codes, ciphers, and cryptograms that can be solved either with pencil and paper, or with computers, but not computer-only systems.-History:The ACA was formed...
, the chances of such sequences appearing multiple times in the one ciphertext by chance are less than one in a hundred million million.
- Robert Morriss, as represented in the pamphlet, says he was running the Washington Hotel in 1820. Yet contemporary records show he did not start in that position until at least 1823.
There have been many attempts to break the remaining cipher(s). Most attempts have tried other historical texts as keys (e.g., the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
, various books of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, the U.S. Constitution, and the Virginia Royal Charter), assuming the ciphertexts were produced with some book cipher, but none have been recognized as successful to date. Breaking the cipher(s) may depend on random chance (as, for instance, stumbling upon a book key if the two remaining ciphertexts are actually book ciphers); so far, even the most skilled cryptanalysts who have attempted them have been defeated. Of course, Beale could have used a document that he had written himself for either or both of the remaining keys, thus rendering any further attempts to crack the codes useless.
Did Thomas J. Beale exist?
A survey of U.S. Census records in 1810 shows two persons named Thomas Beale, in Connecticut and New Hampshire. However, the population schedules from the 1810 U.S. Census are completely missing for seven states, one territory, the District of Columbia, and 18 of the counties of Virginia. The 1820 U.S. Census has two persons named Thomas Beale, in Louisiana and Tennessee, and a Thomas K. Beale in Virginia, but the population schedules are completely missing for three states and one territory.Before 1850 the U.S. Census recorded the names of only the heads of households; others in the household were only counted. Beale, if he existed, may have been living in someone else's household.
In addition, a man named 'Thomas Beall' appears in the customer lists of St. Louis Post Department in 1820. According to the pamphlet, Beale sent a letter from St. Louis in 1822.
Additionally, a Cheyenne legend exists about gold and silver being taken from the West and buried in mountains in the East, dating from roughly 1820.
Alleged Edgar Allan Poe authorship
Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
has sometimes been suggested to be the real author of the pamphlet. He had an interest in cryptography and used it as a plot device
Plot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
in several of his works, most notably his short story "The Gold-Bug
The Gold-Bug
"The Gold-Bug" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Set on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, the plot follows William Legrand, who was recently bitten by a gold-colored bug. His servant Jupiter fears him to be going insane and goes to Legrand's friend, an unnamed narrator who agrees to visit his...
." He is also known to have lived nearby at the time of Beale's encounters with Morriss; in the 1820s he was a student at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in Charlottesville
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
.
However, Poe died in 1849, long before the pamphlets were published. The references in the narrative to the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, which occurred in the 1860s, also cast doubt on the Poe claims. Writer William Poundstone
William Poundstone
William Poundstone is an American author, columnist, and skeptic. He has written a number of books including the Big Secrets series and a biography of Carl Sagan...
's stylometric analysis in his book Biggest Secrets found that Poe's prose is significantly different from the pamphleteer's.
Digging for treasure in Bedford County
Doubts have not deterred many treasure hunters, however. The 'information' that there is buried treasure in Bedford County has stimulated many an expedition with shovels, and other implements of discovery, looking for likely spots. For more than a hundred years, people have been arrested for trespassing and unauthorized digging; some of them in groups as in the case of people from Pennsylvania in the 1990s.There is reportedly a story of a woman digging up the cemetery of Mountain View Church in February 1983, because she was convinced that Beale had hidden the treasure there. This took place at the top of Porter's Mountain exactly four miles east of Buford's Tavern.
Several other digs were completed at the top of Porter's Mountain. One dig was completed in the late 80s with the land owner's permission as long as any treasure found was split 50/50. The treasure hunters only dug up Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
artifacts. The value of these artifacts paid for time and equipment rental; these hunters broke even.
The story has been the subject of at least two television documentaries (one is in the UK's Mysteries series; another is the 2011 Declaration of Independence episode of the History Channel TV show Brad Meltzer's Decoded), several books, and considerable Internet activity.
Many locals who believe in the treasure think it is near Peaks of Otter, although the Peaks are over four miles from Buford's Tavern. The majority of locals believe the treasure is located at the top of Porter's Mountain located just behind Buford's Tavern. A trip to the top of Porter's Mountain from Buford's Tavern is four miles. The land owners on Porter's Mountain are fully aware of treasure hunters and permission from these owners must be obtained before any hunting can take place.
The Beale ciphers in media
In 2010, an award winning animated short film was made concerning the ciphers called The Thomas Beale Cipher.See also
- List of famous ciphertexts
- Rennes-le-ChâteauRennes-le-ChâteauRennes-le-Château is a commune in the Aude department in Languedoc in southern France.This small French hilltop village is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories, and for being the location of an alleged...
– a similar case where encrypted documents, discovered in a church in France, allegedly refer to a hidden treasure
Further reading
- Viemeister, Peter. The Beale Treasure: New History of a Mystery, 1997. Published by Hamilton's, Bedford, Virginia
- Gillogly, James J.. http://members.fortunecity.com/jpeschel/gillog3.htm#"The Beale Cipher: A Dissenting Opini on April 1980, Cryptologia, Volume 4, Number 2
- Easterling, E.J. In Search Of A Golden Vault: The Beale Treasure Mystery ( CD/AUDIO BOOK 70 min. ) copyright 1995/ Revised In 2011 . Avenel Publishing P.O. Box 7 Blue Ridge, Virginia 24064