Thread: Treasure - In Search of the Golden Horse

Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse

Puzzle by Dr. Crypton
Story by Sheldon Renan
Illustrated by Jean-Francois Podevin

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The search was for a sculpted horse made of pure gold. Within the belly was a compartment containing a safe deposit box key. Inside the safe deposit box was a certificate redeemable for $500,000.

This book is idenical to A Treasures Trove in that it has clues hidden within pictures and text.



It was never solved.........

And it STILL haunts me to this day! It was a great puzzle...

G.

The Captain Nemo solution is here

Just follow Treasure - In Search of the Golden Horse link on the left then click on Solution.

Mark

i was part of the Treasure fiasco, and spent a lot of $$$ traveling to the wrong location many times. After reading the solution (and just now re-reading it), i'm still stunned by the complexity. I had solved NONE of it, not a single aspect (yet in my mind *had* constructed a plausible, sufficiently detailed 'solution' that i felt warranted to spend $$$ to investigate a location by plane ... repeatedly).

I bet almost everyone else besides the two very bright men (one of whom i talked with, a very friendly fella) solved little or none of it. Moral of the story: dont expect any 'easy' answers to ATT. If he's using ciphers to any degree, all bets are off - there is *no* progress towards a solution until you've hit upon the correct scheme. In the Golden Horse solution you had to realize/recognize that Mary Queen of Scots was important, her cipher was used, etc. etc. The 'leaps' needed to go from point A to point B were way beyond my abilities.

Here, here!

I suspect there are a lot of us Golden Horse types here, as the contests are so similar. For my part in it, I wound up in Eastern Oregon, looking for a corral. It was a 13 hour, non-stop, one-way drive, and that's how I spent the last few days of the contest... blindly turning corners in a strange place, looking for something that wasn't there.

I had discovered the Tennessee puzzle piece and actually spent some time with it, but abandoned it, since it didn't connect with anything else I had. Too bad I didn't know more about Mary, Queen of Scots! That's WAY too out there for me, too. I realized the pig meant something, too, but never put that and a Bacon cipher together. And, the Rabbit Card? Forget it! That caused me more headaches than I can recall. Very frustrating!

A few months ago, I purhcased a replacement copy of the book I had torn up so long ago, as well as a copy of the Laserdisc. My goal is to transfer the Lasedisc to DVD. Why? Well, that adventure had quite an impact on me and my family. My daughter just asked me about it the other day! We spent many, many hours watching the video and reading the book. I want to give my kids a copy of the DVD next Christmas... they're now starting to have kids!

You may recall there's still a SILVER horse buried out there somewhere in Oregon. I contacted Sheldon Renan several years ago and asked if he could remember exactly were it was located, and he declined, saying it's "best to let sleeping horses lie".

He was very friendly, and I feel sad for him; Treasure was his dream, and he lost control of it. I think it bothered him greatly how poorly the contest was handled, and that nobody found the horse. I did thank him, for my family, and for all of us, who will forever have a piece of that puzzle as part of our lives.

Yeah, it had quite an impact. See? Here we all are again!

Good luck!

G.

Originally Posted by JamesP

Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse

Puzzle by Dr. Crypton
Story by Sheldon Renan
Illustrated by Jean-Francois Podevin

------

The search was for a sculpted horse made of pure gold. Within the belly was a compartment containing a safe deposit box key. Inside the safe deposit box was a certificate redeemable for $500,000.

This book is idenical to A Treasures Trove in that it has clues hidden within pictures and text.



It was never solved.........

Needless to say, I am still working on it. There were 2 parts to the hunt. The key in the belly was a totally separate puzzle, Dr. Crypton's puzzle. He secretly slipped his own treasure hunt in the belly just like the blacksmith slipped the key in and this one has no time limit. Part II, could it be ATT?

I too was looking in Oregon, southern Oregon to be exact, just outside the border of Crater Lake National Park. I had forgotten about the Silver Horse
aspect, have to assume someone in the know would have dug it up long ago.

The contest certainly impacted me as well, it taught me that belief is stronger than logic, and how we have an innate tendency to make things fit our beliefs ,regardless (typically in spite of) the correctness. Hopefully i wont make the same mistakes here. I do know i'm not going anywhere this time based on obvious, disconnected theads.

I also spoke with the author, seemed like a nice guy. No question Dr. Crypton made the puzzle too difficult, without enough 'pointing' clues. Considering the role Mary Queen of Scots played in the solution, more clues pointing you in that direction should have been given.

Even with an engineering degree, a strong math background, and a medical degree... I would have never gotten anywhere on this hunt.

If ATT is this complicated, then I am doomed

What keeps me going is that MS states "no special knowledge" is needed and that anyone who can read can find the treasure.

i hope so to. There's certainly a LOT of agreed-upon info now (the poem, 5x5 box, colors, etc) that is now in the public domain and is almost certainly important. I think he's put the vital concepts out there to locate, which we have, now tying them together is the last (tough) part. I just hope it's not a multi-layered scenario, where one part solved then ties into another, which ties into another, etc. One 'gap' in the process and you're sunk. All his statements imply it'll be fair, but considering how long he put into it, what he constructed may seem simple to him but really isnt.

One thing to beware of is that hunt setters really fdon't want you to find the treasure.

In one treasure hunt the hunt setter said that the treasure was not buried near any ancient monuments which was true but the puzzle led you two a stone circle (ancient monument) where there was buried a further set of clues that took you to the final restin place.

Don't take anything at face value.

Mark