Thread: Solving The Final Mystery

erexere-
I posted this on TCWAF, but I'll put it here as well:

I'm posting a suggestion for a location. I can't go check it out, but here it is for anyone who thinks it's a viable option. I tried (unsuccessfully) to keep this short:
Thinking of what Dodge saw while conducting his investigation as well as what "the man" would do, I came up with Big Springs, Nebraska. S/H/M would be I-80, mm 107 - or maybe somewhere in Big Springs itself.

Rational:
1. Using the dig sites around the country, draw a straight line from WA through AR to FL. Draw another one from CA through IN, IL &OH to CT. These lines intersect at Big Springs, NE. Dooley's video is called X Marks the Spot, and there is an X-file on the 1st floor.

2. There is a big spring on a chair in Quello's bedroom. Spring also means leap or jump and Dodge's mime jumped into the river. The blackboard on the 1st floor shows a big jump up from the 2nd floor to the 13th and again up off the roof.

3. Big Springs is on the Platte River. In Tuttling-Firp's diary, he says he went to his cot to "braid the flowing locks of my dolly". Another word for braid is plait. Flowing locks could refer to a river.

4. Big Springs is in southwestern Nebraska. Dodge is tall and pointy like a weathervane. Weathervanes point to the North, South, East and West, or NSEW, which by coincidence is the also heading of Gus's blog: The Clock Without a Face NEWS. Move the letters around again and you get SWNE, or SW NE.

5. The floors that go with the dig sites forming the big X on the US map are: WA(11) AR(12) FL(10) or a run of 10,11,12. The other line is: CA(3)IN(7)IL(5)OH(6)CT(, or a run of 3(4),5,6,7,8 (Notice the 4 is missing). If Dodge is hiding out in Big Springs, NE, it may represent the only floor with no associated dig: Floor 13. Place a 13 at the Big Springs marker and it makes the WA-FL line a numerical run of 10,11,12,13. It also completes the CA-CT line because 1+3 = 4, and that line was missing just one number: the 4. Dodge said "A lie is like a clock: if one piece doesn’t fit, the whole thing won't work". A 13 at that location makes both lines complete.

6. On Sept. 18, 1877 the Sam Bass gang robbed the Union Pacific train in Big Springs. They
split the loot under the "Lone Tree" on the outskirts of town. Most were captured or killed later by Pinkerton bounty hunters. They stole $60,000 in gold, which remains the largest Union Pacific robbery ever. They could not get into the locked safe because it was on a time lock: it couldn't be opened until the train arrived at its destination. The $60,000 in freshly-minted gold was found in some wooden boxes that had not been put in the safe. Ternky said how elaborate and secure his safe was , but in the end his system failed because the robbers circumvented the system. Also, Dodge could have been leaving himself a clue when he sat on the wooden box marked ELBOWS. The date matches Munari's date except for the year, but if you add the numbers in 1877, you get 23. I don't know my fish, but is that a bass in Klobberduck's fish tank? Could Dodge have gone fishing for Bass-Sam Bass? The biggest heist in history: Ida's pinball machine shows HI SCORE in the animation. Big Springs used to be named Lone Tree after the tree, which was hit by lightning 3 times (repetta? and Munari's lightning machine?) There is one tree on the blackboard on the 1st floor. With the exception of the #6 and the magnifying glass, all the numbers have been found under a lone tree. The Pinkertons could represent all the pink donuts-the posse fanning out to find the robbers. Tuttling-Firp overheard a sailor bragging about splitting up the numbers- one for each of us, just like the Sam Bass gang (who each got $10,000). The water and leaks could represent big springs.

Other less convincing items:

In Gus's most recent post he says "I believe he's a BIG jerk. Also, I believe I can eat this entire WATERmelon in one sitting".

Dodge's reference to returning to Washington could mean a ton of washing, like what on the roof of Ternky Towers, all over the 8th floor, and in Munari's laundry basket. The quote under the animation of the 13th floor: "Something was washed here". The gold was "washed" in Big Springs, NE. You can also fish for lots of things beside actual fish: gold, treasure, the truth, a clue, Sam Bass….
In Gus's most recent post, he says (a repeating theme) "Two paths diverge". Big Springs is at the junction of I-76 and I-80, a fork in the road, a dog leg, where paths diverge.

The robbery took place at 10:48 pm "under a big moon" Dodge had Montecore play Moon River. Add 1048 together and you get 13.

It might be a bass, but I am focused more on the idea of it being just a fish out of water. A fish leap....quantum leap...warp fish...who knows...I'm mostly concerned with why is there a fish there in the first place. What make's second floor so special? Where is the fish on 4th floor?

1. It's very little so hides easily
2. The water is murky so you can't see it
3. It died and they flushed it down the toilet
4. They ate it

My question isn't Where is the fish? but, Why do they have a lifeguard chair in front of the tank? The chair is too small for Plumpjack, and who-or what, would Montecore be guarding?

I don't think either the 2nd floor or the 4th floor are particularly special. I don't think we have to find an answer to every piece of minutia that cannot be explained.

Originally Posted by erexere

It might be a bass, but I am focused more on the idea of it being just a fish out of water. A fish leap....quantum leap...warp fish...who knows...I'm mostly concerned with why is there a fish there in the first place. What make's second floor so special? Where is the fish on 4th floor?

Lol. I love option 4

Hey, just trying to cover all bases!

Something i think pertaining to the most direct in book reference that i missed completely when someone else mentioned it in the beginning was the M.D. connection between 3rd floor's occupant and the 13th floor urinal. Thoughts? What "fountain" might be important?

Originally Posted by erexere

Something i think pertaining to the most direct in book reference that i missed completely when someone else mentioned it in the beginning was the M.D. connection between 3rd floor's occupant and the 13th floor urinal. Thoughts? What "fountain" might be important?

Doug Dooley is standing at a telephone pole when he says repetta [6:37] and the number 3 is circled followed by 13.

I found a fountain that looks a lot like the quad-dragon-head sculpture