Is the Hunt Stalled Out?

[astree]

For me, too many possible solutions. Still can't confirm anywhere near 100% any one location, which I'd want to do before traveling.

[goldhunter]

And if you we're 100 percent sure of your solve, someone else may have already got it.

[GeneticBlend]

I am not looking any further. I had my solution, searched, and it was not there. I think someone (greedy) found it already and is waiting to turn it in after August 9th.

My solution could very well be wrong. But things are very quiet. So I think a lot of people have given up. No matter what kind of solve they have, at this point, people think, "Why bother?" Just wait it out until August 9th and see if someone turns it in.

[zaphod73491]

I think the handcrafted object remains unfound, but would agree that interest in Pete's hunt has stagnated because so few people are actually involved, and there is no continuing "buzz" to lure new people or renew interest from "old-timers". Add to this that most people that know about BT&B are also TTOTC'ers, and we're now in the height of Fenn hunting season. I still dabble with BT&B, but Fenn is my priority -- especially since I know where Fenn's chest is to sufficient accuracy to warrant multiple BOTG searches, while all I have for BT&B is a city, and I'm not 99% sure it's the right one.

[GeneticBlend]

If I knew where Fenn's chest was, I would go get it.

If I had a nickle for every person who posted on these forums that they knew where Fenn's chest was, I would have more money than what that chest and its contents were worth.

Sooo many people know where it is, yet it hasn't been found.

[zaphod73491]

Hi GeneticBlend -- yes, I know. Everyone "knows" where the chest is, and yet they all fail. But every after-the-fact "solution" I've ever read was absolutely AWFUL, to the point of embarrassingly arbitrary, illogical, or both. The fact is that nobody who has solved the first two clues has ever posted those answers on HoD, and with good reason: they are so obviously correct. And it's equally obvious to me why almost everyone who HAS solved the first two clues did not get any further: they failed to solve clue #3 because they don't even recognize it for what it is.

When I say I know where the chest is "to sufficient accuracy to warrant multiple BOTG searches" (<-- critical dependent clause!) it means that I know with very high confidence where the chest is to within less than a square mile area, and I would never search outside that square mile. In "The Lure" post-screening Q&A, Forrest was asked "Has anyone determined the nine clues and what they represent?" Forrest replied: "Well, there's about 250,000 people that think they have. And, uh, I don't know that anybody has … has … has told me the clues in the right order." Notice the change in his answer since the last time he was asked about searcher progress last year. There is an implication (though not an affirmation) that someone has figured out the nine clues, or at least most of them, but their order was incorrect. I think there's at least a small chance that this new answer came about because of the solution I sent Forrest after my trip early last October. Over the winter, I believe I found a clue I missed which alters the order of some of the clues that I previously mentioned to Forrest.

"If I knew where Fenn's chest was, I would go get it."

I'll be returning soon enough. I'm not terribly worried about someone else getting there first. If the chest is found in the next few weeks, it won't be by anyone who posts here or on Dal's -- it would have to be by someone who has "quietly solved the clues" because I haven't seen any evidence that people who post at either site even have WWWH figured out. If there's an unknown factor that worries me it is that the fraction of searchers who have ever posted a message on a blog is probably very tiny relative to the number of people searching. I think a lot of people who post on blogs think the smartest players are among their number, which is a rather biased view that reveals an ignorance of statistics. It's the lurkers who are dangerous.

[zaphod73491]

Let me amend that prognostication about prospects for the chest being found in the next few weeks: two searchers that DO post that could very well find it are Diggin Gypsy and Hear Me All. In fact, I'm pretty sure Diggin Gypsy was the "one person in particular" Forrest was referring to years ago who would tear up the countryside if she knew she was the one within 200'. I've told Diggin as much, and naturally she agrees. ;-)

[toppop]

Cool, I've emailed DG in the past, I was out there when she was there 3 or 4 years ago...Wow how time flys

[zaphod73491]

Diggin is definitely a contender just because of her shear tenacity, moxie, and intuition about the places that Forrest would consider special. I do NOT underestimate her.

[decall]

Have you read my solve?

[zaphod73491]

Decall -- I'm pretty sure I did. If my memory serves correctly, your solution had beautiful graphics accompanying it, and if that recollection is correct, you are certainly very talented. I'd like to revisit it to refresh my memory -- can you save me some time and post a link? I know it was on Dal's site, but I fear it might take me awhile to find it...

[zaphod73491]

Okay -- I found it: dalneitzel.com/tag/decall/

You had the same WWWH as Dal and probably hundreds of other searchers. It is probably the best "wrong" answer that's out there (since it addresses the plural *waters*), but let's face it: if it was correct, Forrest wouldn't have said early on that only a few groups had solved the first two clues (or worse, that some of them didn't even know it). Those that have chosen Madison Junction as their WWWH didn't do it by accident.

The correct WWWH is trickier. It can't be solved just by thinking about it and looking at maps. There is missing information, and that information is supplied by the "word that is key". More on that later.

Your solution also makes the same assumptions about "not far, but too far to walk" and "home of Brown" that hundreds of other searchers are stuck on. Pretty much everyone assumes NF,BTFTW is a distance, and that if they have read TFTW, they come to the natural conclusion that that distance is 10 miles. But in doing so, what have they forgotten? They have used information outside the poem, outside of maps, and even outside of TTOTC. Where is the ten-mile distance clue in the poem? I don't see it. Wouldn't it be much more interesting and unexpected if NF,BTFTW wasn't a distance at all?

As for Brown, we all know Forrest was a fisherman, so could there be a more obvious choice for home of Brown than some river, stream, creek or lake where brown trout are found? Like WWWH, home of Brown is not a broad area like Hebgen Lake, or some long linear feature like a river. It's a precise point on the map. Brown representing brown trout would not be very imaginative.

You are wise to focus on the picture in TTOTC of the kids holding the rope crossing the street with the teacher flashing the hand halt signal; it's just that the rope isn't the Madison River. It represents something else.

Your I-one-one is much closer to matching the sort of games that Forrest is playing with the poem, and in fact may be a deliberate hint.

Your red-black-green = 205 is actually quite clever! Using the resistor color code is an excellent example of lateral thinking, and it is that sort of thinking that is required to unravel the poem (as well as find hints in the books, Scrapbooks, and other Fenn communications).

As for your salamander glyph, I'm afraid I don't see it. I think it's just a case of pareidolia. I thought Diggin Gypsy's recent zoo of animal and people shapes from the air were a little more obvious to the eye, but still just pareidolia.

I think if you focus your efforts more on the poem and less on omegas, life themes, and the general rabbit-hole distractions of the books, your demonstrated ability to think laterally will pay greater dividends. In order to solve WWWH, you're going to need that key word. It isn't the first word in the poem, as you speculated. It isn't even a poem word. Nevertheless, the word is secreted in the poem, and is hinted at hundreds of times in almost every form of written communication Forrest has supplied. If/when the chest is found and/or someone reveals the key word (my lips are sealed!), people are going to be gobsmacked by all the ways that Forrest hinted at it. I look forward to each new communication from Forrest (e.g. Weekly Words or Q&A) to see if he has supplied that key yet again. I've kept a tally of every instance I've found (and I have pages of them), but I'm also sure I've missed plenty.

On a final point of clarity: all of the above is my opinion, not FACT. Only Forrest knows all the answers, but I'm pretty confident I'm dialed into his radio frequency.

I probably should have moved this over to one of the TTOTC threads, but interest is BT&B is so flat these days that perhaps folks won't be too put off by the brief intrusion. Nevertheless, if you want to continue this discussion thread, feel free to start one up under TTOTC -- I'll find it. ;-)

[decall]

Thanks for the feedback zaphod73491.
I like your analysis, and of course I could argue a few points.....
What gives you the confidence to speak as someone knowing the correct wwh?
You are competing against the cover of TFTW in favor of your opinion, and against the most obvious answer.
I'm seldom snarky, and arguing is a hobby of mine. Give us an example of your work on one of the 24 lines.

[zaphod73491]

Jul 11, 2017 17:30:23 GMT -5 decall said:

Thanks for the feedback zaphod73491.
I like your analysis, and of course I could argue a few points.....
What gives you the confidence to speak as someone knowing the correct wwh?
You are competing against the cover of TFTW in favor of your opinion, and against the most obvious answer.
I'm seldom snarky, and arguing is a hobby of mine. Give us an example of your work on one of the 24 lines.

Hi Decall: unfortunately, I think the evidence you would need to appreciate my confidence level on WWWH cannot come without me telling you where I think it is, as well as giving you a sample of some of the key hints from Forrest that make it pretty clear it's correct. But I'm okay with addressing your second request because if you dig deep into Dal's archives you can find where I already gave everyone what I'm about to post below in a more direct way. Since you've already mentioned I-one-one, let's take another look at that first stanza, with some acrostic highlighting:

AS I HAVE GONE ALONE IN THERE
AND WITH MY TREASURES BOLD,
I CAN KEEP MY SECRET WHERE,
AND HINT OF RICHES NEW AND OLD.

Now, one four-letter acrostic word is hardly a revelation -- after all, you can construct the word "GAIT" in a similar fashion using the first line. Forrest would need to give us a bit more than that to raise an eyebrow, and as it turns out he did. Remove the spaces, lay out the text in a non-proportional font (e.g. Courier), and look at column 20:

A S I H A V E G O N E A L O N E I N T H E R E
A N D W I T H M Y T R E A S U R E S B O L D
I C A N K E E P M Y S E C R E T W H E R E
A N D H I N T O F R I C H E S N E W A N D O L D

This gives you some idea of what Forrest meant when he said he felt like an architect when he constructed the poem, and also why he cautioned people not to "mess with the poem". You can see that even minor changes would risk destroying a hint.

[decall]

So we have gait and horn.
I always go back to "why would Fenn do this". Any codes in the poem seem unnecessary since he can say what he wants at face value... no one can say with authority (yet) the meaning of any line of the poem. For example, would we prefer a code as a name or hint over a direct segment of the poem? He's been clear, no codes, yet almost everyone still hold it as possible. IMO Fenn is more of a story teller... we will find the correct solution in plain sight.