Well, it’s already November 18 *ahem* December 6 three days weeks later than I said I’d have an answer. I still didn’t go get it. One of those time/money problems.
If you’re in the Raleigh area and want to fetch it for me, I’d love to have it returned. Email agrosso at texas dot net and we’ll figure it out. Thanks.
- – -
But answers; you want answers. Here they are.
There are no clues on the cover. The redacted text, the numbers lines that look like highways, the topographical map, the dedication, the cards, the block of code, etc. Everything on the cover is either a blind or made up. None of it ties to anything. All dead ends.
Same with the inserts. The map, the codes around the edge, the bingo card, the map on the CD itself. All made up to look interesting.
All the real clues are words. Things you hear (except one). How would you know this? Two big signposts. The first is that the package is a CD – as opposed to a book. The second is the first words you hear once you push Play. “Listen child, listen well…” Not coincidentally, this is the only phrase that’s repeated in another song. This is also important. That song is “The Story So Far”.
“The Story So Far” is the odd-man-out on the record. It’s music with voiceover. It contains the roadmap for the hints. The story snips were created, not to tell a story or be rearranged, but solely based on the word “silver”. That word appears exactly five times (and this song is the 5th track), in this order:
she opened the fish with a thin, silver blade (8th word)
a key, a large and finely-wrought key, made of silver pure and laid with a blood-red stone (11th word)
the fish was very large; it would bring five silver pieces, if he was lucky (10th word)
where everything looks touched with silver, or edged with gold (6th word)
a line, a silver hook, and a greedy fish (4th word)
Where the word “silver” appears in each sentence identifies which song has each clue:
8. Ever Upward
11. My Silver Key
10. Got To Find a Way
6. In One
4. Where the Blue Meets the Blue
Clue 1:
Ever Upward is the state motto of New York. If you write out the lyrics, and read the first letter of each line, you find another state motto – “Eureka – I found it” (California). These were both found. No one, that I know of, found the third motto. If you take the first letter of the first line, the second of the second, the third of the third, etc. you get “Esse quam videri” the motto of North Carolina. The key is in North Carolina.
Clue 2:
My Silver Key – the first syllable of each line is phonetically a letter. These spell, “next two capital” – two homonyms there, but the key is Next to Capitol. The capital of North Carolina – Raleigh – is almost never mentioned with Durham. The key is in Durham.
One idea that might show you’re on the right track: “next to capitol” means nothing for the other two state capitols. Neither Albany nor Sacramento have another city next to them.
Clue 3:
Got to Find A Way
An obtuse series of clues, perhaps, this song is riddled with park names in the Raleigh-Durham area. Off the top of my head (I don’t have my notes, I’m afraid) there are parks with the following words in them: East, Duke, West, Falls, Hill, and there may be others.
In addition to being the toughest clue (to me), it’s also the most annoying song on the album (to me).
Clue 4: In One
Clue 5: Where The Blue Meets The Blue
- Don’t hate me. I’m gonna hold off on those last two for a bit. I want to see if anyone wants to collect the key for me, first. But now you know where to look, at least.
As ever, thanks for playing along. I’m still rolling around the idea of another treasure hunt, and I’d have to hide the clues a totally different way.