I'm a new hunter with some new ideas.

[0o The Puzzler o0]

Hi,


I'm brand new to this forum and very new to The Secret overall, having only discovered it a few weeks ago.


I have a few ideas for many of the locations, but here I'll post my thoughts on Montreal...a combination of what I believe to be correct from the existing research that's been done plus a few new ideas.


In my opinion Montreal's solution uses Image 9 (well established), but I am in the camp that believes the Verse is 8 (and not 5).  I see many references in both Verses 8 and 5 that could apply, but I'll explain in my next post(s) why I think it's Verse 8 for Montreal.

[0o The Puzzler o0]

While I'm still far from a proper solution, here is my interpretation of Verse 8 in relation to Montreal:


View the three stories of Mitchell

As you walk the beating of the world


I believe this to be the starting point of the solve, beside Le Mount Stephen on Drummond Street.
The building is beside Le Mount Stephen (leg-eater lamps) and the brickwork has the "cross-hatch" pattern of the Image figure's neck area (between the checkerboard and collar, within the "Trafalgar school" shape).  In 1980, it had Mitchell-Holland etched into the stonework above one of the doors, the one closest to the leg-eater.  Standing in front of Le Mount Stephen would allow you to simultaneously see 2 visual references (leg-eater and the brickwork), as well as connect it to a verse with an obvious reference "Mitchell", all while standing on Drummond street (beating of the drum).

At a distance in time

From three who lived there


If the solution is Montreal, then the three who lived there becomes difficult to decipher as most downtown Montreal streets, particularly in the historically affluent Golden Square Mile.

But it certainly could be Drummond, Gauchetierre, and Dr. Penfield (the latter 2 being where Drummond begins and ends)...but perhaps this is meant to suggest a route instead--as we walk the beating of the world (Drummond), we first cross Maisonneuve (founder of Montreal) and then the next street is Sherbrooke (governor of British North America).

At a distance in space

From woman, with harpsichord

Silently playing

Here is the first point where I think something may have been overlooked so far.
The Musee des Beaux Arts (Museum of Fine Art) is located a block away if you turn left on Sherbrooke from Drummond. 

Why does that matter?

It is the location of a famous work by Dutch painter (Dutch seems to be the Montreal immigration reference) Emanuel de Witte called "Interior with a Woman Playing a Virginal", which has been in that gallery (not always displayed) for a very long time.  A Virginal is a type of harpsichord.

Now, the question is whether "at a distance in space" means that we should walk past "at a distance" (along the street while the painting is inside--which may be a different interpretation than if this verse goes with Milwaukee as the Pabst Theatre has the woman playing clavichord imagery on the outside of the building), or whether this could be an instruction to walk the opposite direction (North-East) or even walk past without changing course (i.e. walk the beating of the drum at a distance from the gallery, one block away but visible while passing Sherbrooke).

I've so far mostly explored the "towards the museum" angle...but plan to look closer at a solution that sends us the opposite direction, towards McGill University (which is also surrounded by streets named after famous people who lived there).

Step on nature

Cast in copper


This one definitely has me stumped, but confusing me more is a photo I found while using Google Maps Streetview, of a copper river art installation on the street running North from the Musee de Beaux Arts (Avenue du Musee, directly towards Mount Royal, which can be seen up ahead while looking up the street).

Google maps satellite view of Avenue du Musee shows it currently.  Also, streetview shows a closeup.

The photo was recent, but what is really messing with me is that the same photo shows a mini version of the sculpture that is believed to be the reason for the shape of the figure's hands in Image 9, "Man, 3 Disks", right beside the copper river installation.

Or, maybe the "copper river" is another mini replica of a larger installation (it is right beside the mini Man, 3 Disks, after all) somewhere else in Montreal?  There is a gallery near McGill as well, which I have yet to research.

I went with the "towards the museum" route so far...

Ascend the 92 steps


At the end of Avenue du Musee is a long staircase up to the edge of Mount Royal Park.

I'm not convinced that the museum detour is necessarily correct, however it does take us in the direction of the Trafalgar School, which is another 2 blocks further from Drummond and is on the corner of Dr. Penfield (i.e. could be reached by many routes using the same streets named after famous people who lived there).

In the event that my Museum link is incorrect, if you instead go straight up Drummond (note: Drummond changes names after crossing Dr. Penfield, which could again be a reference to one of the three who lived there...Maisonneuve, Sherbrooke, Dr. Penfield would then be the 3 major streets you cross as you walk up Drummond towards Mount Royal), then you again reach a long staircase up to the foot of Mount Royal.  This seems to be a common feature of Montreal and makes it tricky to pin-point the 92 steps.  I will need to head there in person to count steps and see if one is exactly 92 (can't see full run of stairs from internet photos).

After climbing the grand 200

Seems to reference both the Grand Staircase of Mount Royal and the fact that Mount Royal Park is about 200 acres and Mount Royal is about 200 meters above sea level...specifically 233m at its highest, with the lowest of the 3 peaks being Westmount at 201m.

However, the Grand Staircase has been recently (2017?) renovated extensively, including the addition of 80+ steps, so the path or the solve may be changed from Preiss' original path.

Pass the compass and reach

The foot of the culvert

Below the bridge

Walk 100 paces

Southeast over rock and soil

To the first young birch

Pass three, staying west

You'll see a letter from the country

Of wonderstone's hearth

On a proud, tall fifth

At its southern foot

The treasure waits.

The remainder of the verse appears to be very specific directions to the dig spot.  Point being, if I'm on the right track, then the remainder requires in-person walking of the route.

Or, I could be WAY off and too distracted by "red herring" finds of the painting and the copper river.

(I should note that I may in fact post in Milwaukee about the same verse, as it certainly has lots of potential markers there as well).

[0o The Puzzler o0]

The Image references:

I'm going to only post things that I've seen but haven't read much about in the puzzle discussions (i.e. I won't repeat things that seem agreed-upon that I also agree with unless I have something to add).

Checker pattern:

There are 3 distinct areas of checkered pattern, which could suggest 3 references or possibly just one general one.

If one, then any of the following, but I have found 3 distinct references:

1) As if often suggested, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the checkered flag car racing angle.

2) I've seen it referenced a bit, and I think on this forum someone posted an aerial photo of Habitat 67 showing the checkered pattern roofs, one are of which resembles the sleeves.

3) I have yet to see someone reference this, but it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the image and thought of Montreal--in 1979, one of the strongest chess tournaments ever played took place in Montreal.  It was often called the Tournament of Stars.  It was played at the Quebec pavilion of Expo 67 on Notre Dame Island, very close to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

So, regardless of whether it is 1 or 3 references, they are all part of the Expo 67 grounds.

Are these meant to simply refer us to Montreal, or do they convey that the solution should either start or end in that area?

Hat:

Definitely seems like an outline of Mount Royal, but of course the curiosity is jagged right side.  My first interpretation was that it was being viewed from an angle that has city buildings rising up to break up the view of the Mountain, so I spent lots of time trying to find that angle.

Recently, I was doing more research on the Mount itself and found the 3 peaks, one of which is Westmount (which also happens to be the closest to 200m above sea level (201m, and Grand 200 may refer to this).  Westmount has a very distinct profile that, it turns out, includes the jagged portion on one side from commonly viewed angles!

Newly found, just now!

In writing this up, I was looking at images of places in Westmount, and found the church called Saint Leon de Westmount, which has the exciting combination of the checked pattern and the "Trafalgar school" shape, which now I think may not be Trafalgar after all!  Google the church and see for yourself!

I'm cutting this post short to go investigate more of Westmount...

[0o The Puzzler o0]

Another visual reference I had noticed before that seems to make sense in itself, and so may be a "linkage" clue (tying together Expo 67, the Dutch immigration theme, and Image 9), is the Dutch Pavilion from Expo 67:





To me, this seems to be a clear reference for the "X / square" above the leg-eater in Image 9.

[xmarksdspot]

welcome whuffiecollector, Thanks for the Pabst Theater mention with the woman and harp/harpsichord. That would have probably been my choice if I had found it. I think it's better than my vega/lyra solution, although it worked and would not have changed the outcome.

Good luck in Montreal. I would look there if I could find coordinates or something to pin it down.

[0o The Puzzler o0]

I've looked at Milwaukee a lot too, mostly because I was able to find so many of the Image and Verse references in a relatively small area of the city.

I think there is no doubt that juggler image is Milwaukee--the literal millstone, walking stick, and key are just too obvious for it not to be the case. Which verse though?


If verse 8, then:

The 3 stories of Mitchell is often thought to be Mitchell Hall at UWM, but I think if this verse fits it's actually the Mitchell Building, 3 blocks south of the Pabst Theatre and City Hall.

Beating of the world--the best fit I can find is the Pabst Theatre is in the shape of a drum.

The 3 who lived there is still a mystery to me...lots to ways to make this clue fit in any city I'd imagine, so there must be an "ah-hah" moment for this.

Woman playing harpsichord would be Pabst Theater as I mentioned.

Nature cast in copper I don't know.

92 steps could be the Plankinton Arcade, where I've read there are 92 steps, but I haven't been able to visually confirm this.

Grand 200 could be related to Grand Avenue/Theater/Market.

The nice thing is that many of these are located within a few blocks of each other, on either side of the river, including the Laureate artwork that is likely the hair imagery, but the Riverwalk didn't exist in 1980 which means extensive landscape changes to his area, I don't think Pere Marquette Park did either (the only park in the area), and the Grand street area was extensively renovated since then also.

So, while many of the clues seem to fit this area, I don't see how it could lead to a casque.

The more accepted proposed solution, starting at Mitchell Hall at UMW and heading to Lake Park, might be the correct one but what I don't love about that is that is seems to use all of the Image references just to point out the city, while the path to the solve and final spot seem to all come from the verse without much in the way of visual markers.

[xmarksdspot]

I have been all in for the Summerfest grounds for several reasons. Mainly because I thought the juggling represented some physical structure that rotated like the SkyGlider there. Plus I think the sky glider has around 92 seats but haven't counted exactly. I also think the two red balls and the girls collar make the Summerfest Happy Face.

[0o The Puzzler o0]

"At a distance in time From three who lived there"

Le Mount Stephen (location of leg-eater) was built for Lord Mount Stephen. When he retired, he moved back to England and left the house to his sister and brother-in-law.

They were forced to abandon the house due to financial crisis and the property was taken over by a real estate company and converted into a social club.

That means that only three people are known to have lived there, and it was at a distance in time (1926 is when they abandoned the house).

So, the key part of the image is possibly very closely tied to the line "three who lived there". Previously I thought this referred to streets and so could be a directional clue, but I think it's a confirmation of where the route starts.