The Secret - A Treasure Hunt San Francisco

The Secret, How I solved the San Francisco Chapter

So, I began by finding this 40 year old treasure hunt and falling down this rabbit hole. I did what I am sure most folks do and read up to see what other people are saying. I looked and compared to the other Secret hunts. I read the book a few times and searched for high resolution images. I watched theory videos and found those Expedition Unknown shows. I saw what the Facebook pulse was like. A lot of great ideas and solutions. Some seemingly complicated, others that went in a great direction then wandered off course to nothingness.

But, something bugged me about all these published ideas and solutions. There was no great Aha nor This is it, right here! solutions. They were close, but no real pinpoints. So that started gnawing at me. I read the verse over and over, but I could not pick out a pinpoint. It wasnt like Cleveland that said, count these stones and those stones, and there you will be. I agreed with most others, that the image all agreed upon to be San Francisco, was exactly that. I looked into the coordinates found on the image and saw that they put a nice big box around the Bay Area. I took a different verse that was assumed to be for a different city, and applied it to the image. I came up with a solve for an area close to Moffet Field. Everything fit, but I had no pinpoint nor did I really have a starting point that got me to the area. I basically threw a dart and made it fit. At this point, I lost interest a little bit and moved on to other pressing matters.

One day, I found a related Facebook group created by Linda Spaulding and I asked to join. I started looking where Linda was looking around. She had some pretty good theories. What really caught my eye was some of the detailed pictures she had been taking. Now, I am familiar with the Bay Area. I have had family up there for the longest time. But maybe not for the last 15 years or so? But, when I was visiting some of these places in town when I was younger, did I pay attention to the details? No. The park she was taking detailed pictures in? The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. I poked around, dug up some history, applied how someone making a puzzle, would make it simple. And then things started to click. And one after another, like dominoes falling, I got from start to finish without really guessing or assuming. It was all right there.

Let us get into it, shall we!

At stone walls door

The air smells sweet

Pick your stone wall. Whether you stand at the Maritime Museum granite slabs that line the entryway while looking across the street, or an actual entrance to Ghirardelli itself. The idea is that the description is about Ghirardelli. The air does not necessarily have to smell sweet. But you know sweets are being made or sold in that building. So it is an identifier to get you in the right neighborhood of the casque. And that neighborhood is the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.

Not far away

High posts are three

Balclutha, with its three wooden masts, was not at the park in the 1978-82 timeline. It was moored over at Pier 41 East. Still, not far away. BUT, the three-masted schooner C.A. Thayer was at the park at that time. How about that. Incorporated in to the verse just like the ship in the Boston puzzle, where all the letters were there to see. So, here we are standing at the South side of the Maritime Park, Ghirardelli behind us, over to the right a three masted ship. Let us see what else we can see!

Education and Justice

For all to see

Pick your poison for Education. The Maritime museum? Angel Island were you can learn about Asian immigration to the Western states? Justice? You can definitely see Alcatraz. I do not remember, can you see San Quentin from the park? Either way, there is plenty to meet the criteria.

Sounds from the sky

The obvious speaker towers that speak no more at the Aquatic Park. The image holds design cues taken from the towers. Especially on the center section of the dress.

Near ace is high

Running North, but first across

Ace refers to 1 or Highway 1. A lot of people can agree to that. But not at the location near GGP. Highway 1 joins the 101, and heads north. But first, it has to get across the bay. Yes, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge from the park. That bridge is high up off the water. One of my favorite images of the bridge is a black and white picture of an aircraft carrier, sailing under the bridge into the bay. Think about Boston, or think about what Byrons daughter said about New York. You can stand in one place and see a lot of the clues incorporated in the verse.

In jewels direction

Is an object

Of Twains attention

Giant pole

Giant step

To the place

The casque is kept.

So this stuck me for a minute. I thought to myself, that it might be time to refer to the image. I have been at the South side of the park, looking out at all the clues. Do I look North Easterly at the steamboat? Do I look for Mr. Twains previous home address? That guy gave tours of Angel Island. He was all over the place!! What can the image tell me??

So I look at the image. I see what others have picked out. The cable car, turntable, Angel Island in the flower. Wait a minute, and it does not matter that the cable car turntable is in a different position than it was in 1980, if I am standing at the turntable, and I am looking at the flower (Angel Island), I can see almost all the sites spelled out in the verse. And, I have 2 leaves on the image, pointing to the left. One pointing to the right in light and another one pointing to the right in dark and dark is bad. Dark alley, lighted street? Yeah, I will pick the lighted street! BTW, Linda, the stems in the image match the pictures you took of the stems in the clock details. Yeah, that is what got me going at this park!

So, two leaves pointing! And both pointing down at the ground, Where someone would typically bury a casque, in the ground. Two is better than one and they are both pointing the same way. Turn to the left and face West! What do we got? At the coast, West of standing at the park, is the Cliff House. There is your Mark Twain connection. Google, read up on it. What else do we have? Well, in 1980, I believe Fort Mason still had the giant flag pole. And the Aquatic Park has the stepped concrete seawall which sure does look like giant steps!

The stepped concrete seawall and the Eastern speaker.

The Fort Mason giant pole.

Okay! So that is it! The jewel is in that direction! But where? The verse does not give me a pinpoint! It is all generalities! That is not fair! I need an X marks the spot!

But wait! There is an X. And the only one I see in the image. It is on her lower tunic. But how does that help me. Well, most people see her arms or hands as a crossover. But, what if it is not a roadway crossover in GGP like most think it is, but a pedestrian one. Off I go to Historical Aerials to verify the configuration of the park from back in the late 1970s, early 1980s. It is the same!! So matching her tunic to the area, I see a round object at the bottom of her tunic, four objects up each side, a field in the center (with dragon) and a border on the outside. Lining that up with the round of benches to the West, the crossover to the East, the center area is a planter, with an outside border with four tree planters along each side, we have a match. No, it is not perfect match! Byron sent Mr. Palencar notes and photos. Certainly not aerial photos. And Mr. Palencar is an artist. He is allowed to interpret how he wants on to his canvas. And as far as I know, this place was not a place visited by Mr. Palencar during the project. How would you draw it up having info handed to you without ever seeing it personally? Pictures taken standing at a human level?

That puts X marks the spot on the North line of tree planters, third planter from the West. Currently, those are a 4 foot by 4 foot or 3 foot by 3 foot planter box. They used to be trees, now they are a yucca variety? Can the plexiglass box still be there? Sure. Replanting trees, they would dig up from the center of the box. And, if I were to plant something 2 or more feet deep, I certainly would not try reaching out as far as I could. I would work close to my core body, close to the edge. My old back would love to explain that to my young self! Think I can narrow down X marks the spot a little more? Let us try!

I am going to say that the casque is in the Southwest corner of that tree planter box. Why do you ask? The Gh. Yes, the backwards Gh. Like Cleveland, where they found that if they stood with their backs to the monument and counted blocks, they were actually digging in the wrong place when they started. I think Byron pulled one out of his same bag of tricks. So, stand at the planter, with Ghirardelli at your back, and dig at that corner.

But do not dig there. The National Park Service might want to have a word with you if you did.

I believe 100% that the casque is there. The clues, once you see them are easy and simple.

I am sure I am going to have some that will disagree with me and my solve, but that is okay. In my mind, I have found it, it can not be touched, and I am moving on to other things! If, by chance, things change and it can be dug up and is found because of my sharing of this story, maybe my name can be mentioned in passing? It would be nice.

The Secret, How I solved the San Francisco Chapter

Have fun digging!!