---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:13:45 -0400 From: XXXX To: bhance@maydaymystery.org Subject: New Theory Bryan, I found your website via the wikipedia article on it (random surfing) and became intrigued. Have developed a theory which I thought I'd share. Sorry if it doesn't gel with some of what you all have worked on over the years, but I haven't had the time yet to dig through everything. Started by going back to the earliest ads, and began thinking about why someone would post a series of ads. Given that the ads repeatedly refer to locations and dates, I think you're right on in assuming the exist to set up a series of meetings. Specifically, given a number of references in the ads, I think they can potentially be interpreted as meetings of a romantic nature. By this theory, the ads became more complex over time either a. because the person or people placing the ads were trying to maintain anonymity and the security of their meetings by obscuring the information in the ads or b. as a sort of highly intellectual game played between two smart people who are romantically involved. Or both. And if much of this is part of an intellectual game between the two people meeting, then much of the information may be personal, inside references, etc. that have no bearing on the message of where and when to meet and detract from our ability to understand the messages. I think interpretation of them is complicated further by a couple factors: 1. There must have been communications outside of these ads. If it is a pair of people meeting, then they could have pre-arranged dates, times, code phrases, etc. So, for example, the first ad which only mentions 'Richmond' (in addition to the Mao quote and SC/RL which I think are only salutations or identifiers, as in Dear Mao,) could confirm a location for a pre-arranged date and time. Another possibility is that these ads were placed in a paper in the recipient's town, but that the sender lives somewhere else. If this is so, then it's entirely possible that the recipient is placing ads in the sender's local paper as well. There could be another whole set of ads out there. 2. When you and the others on your site began digging into the ads, a number of things probably happened. First, it's possible that some of the messages you have received have been hoaxes by people who trolled your site and decided to mess with you a la wikipedia vandals. Second, the people who are using the ads to get together may have started making them more complex or may have been communicating with you in an attempt to throw you off their trail. Or, they may now be using the site to communicate with each other now. This may partially have become a vanity exercise. If they thought you might crack the code, they would stop sending the ads in order to avoid being found out. So they don't think you can crack it. There's another possibility, that the early ads were not placed by a single individual but by two. The first few ads alternate regularly between the Mao quote and quote from various classical languages (Babylonian, Latin, Hebrew). So maybe one of the people is a classicist of some sort? I've seen elsewhere on your site that people have suggested it may be a Professor of history, philosophy, classics, etc, but it's also entirely possible that it's a clergyman, because of the classicism and the religious references. Some specific interpretations: 5/1/81: The Mao quote and SC/RL are identifiers and have no bearing on the message being sent. SC/RL could be taken as initials in the sense of SC to RL. Or perhaps the Mao quote has some significance in terms of a nickname, etc. The only other word, Richmond, is the location of their meeting that year, at a pre-arranged date and time. 8/24/81: [When will we meet again?] Soon. 5/1/82: Nothing except the identifiers, perhaps noting confirmation of a pre-arranged meeting site or a request for further communication. 4/19/83: "We will find a way, or we will make one." As in, we will find a way to meet. Perhaps their previous meeting had not gone as planned? 4/29/83: Same as 5/1/82 11/1/83: Check the November 22 issue for coordinates. This may have been placed either a. because the person communicating wants to give multiple advance warnings for an unscheduled communication to make sure that the intended recipient is paying attention (they don't start adding the 'unscheduled' notation until much later) or b. because the recipient got in touch somehow to say 'when are we going to meet' and the sender needed time to prepare a response. 11/22/83: Here's where it gets interesting. I think this is the first communication where the full details of the meeting were included in the ad, and because it's the first it's also the least obscure, since the messages have become more obscure over time. The only parts of the ad that I can't figure out with this theory are the coordinates for Liberia and the meaning of the first Greek quote form Plutarch's *Themistocles*. The ad is setting up a trip or vacation to Africa. The end result is the course of the trip Cairo to Cape Town. Perhaps this was a trans African trip, or it could refer to the continent generally, as in 'we're going to Africa'. Schedule: A time, two times, and half a time is the meeting time, perhaps 12:30. Staging Area: New York, and fourseventyfive could refer to a flight number. Worldview: Cromwell's speech was about new beginnings. Operational Area Paradigm: Gordon Pasha traveled extensively in Africa, including Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, and Congo. Founding Doctrine: The quote is from a bible verse preceded by this: "But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power." Inception: February 1, 1984. So one possible translation is this: *We're going on a trip to **Africa** to start over. Meet me in **New York**on **February 1, 1984** at **12:30** for flight 475 to **Cairo**. I will come to you shortly (implied meaning 'I miss you?')* 5/1/84: Same as 5/1/82 and 4/29/83 maybe these are celebrations of a significant date in their relationship in the past, a later message refers to May of 1972, so that could be the beginning of the relationship or the beginning of the need for secrecy in the relationship. 9/13/84: Check the Arizona Daily Wildcat on March 15 for 1. Khartoum coordinates (referring to a more immediate meeting, or referring back to the Africa trip for some reason?) and 2. meeting places for 1985-1988. 3/15/85: The Kitchener quote here is "It is necessary to make war not as one would but as one must." So it seems like something has required a delay in the message, which is why it points to May 1. The schedule of the sender prohibited them from setting up a meeting at the time, so they had to delay. 5/1/85: Cruel necessity has forced them to meet in Hollywood (derived from the right-to-left reading of the binary, implied by the use of Hebrew) instead of somewhere more exotic. The location is a bit of an inference if this is some sort of tryst it's a lot more likely to happen in Hollywood than in some obscure part of Illinois. 5/1/86: This one presents a series of dates and meeting locations in different years. Because they get more complex, there's a lot more ambiguity about references starting this one, but I still think it fits the theory. But it may be that in order to make sure they are free to meet, the sender is putting out references to specific dates so they can do advance planning, that is, clear their calendar. So the 86 meeting is scheduled for Lammastide, August 1. The 87 meeting is scheduled for the anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, June 25. The meeting schedule for 86 may take place either in DC (dept of education reference), in Berkeley, CA (the Owsley reference), near Dallas, Texas (the Corsicana coordinates), or in Riverside, California (explicitly mentioned). Or maybe there are multiple meetings, because there is another date embedded in the reference to the River Neva during the Russian Revolution the sailors of the Aurora sparked the revolution on October 25. So perhaps they began scheduling multiple meetings. I haven't gone further than that yet, but the theory may explain some additional things. - A safety deposit box at a bank would be a good place to secretly transfer a gift or a key to a room for a future meeting. Of course, if the sender is an out of towner it would be difficult for them to place anything in the box. - The unscheduled ads exist to set up meetings not previously scheduled, perhaps due to changes in the sender's availability. - The pigs may refer to those trying to figure out the ads correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the references to pigs only really begin after your site went up, and it would explain lines like this one from Sept 20, 2000: "The pigs continue to slumber under the miscalculation that they are encountering arcane ensorcelment." i.e. we've got those guys trying to figure out our ads thinking this is some sort of arcane conspiracy. And later "in the event of imminent interception by the porcine opposition the Failsafe is 'et pulsanti aperietur'", the last being a reference to Matthew 7:8 trans. to he who knocks it shall be opened. Or this, from April 2, 2008, "The Orphanage directly commends the The Little Orphan Children for continuing to use the Local Yokel Pig Pond Scum as a totally secure portal" i.e. they're now using your site as a way to communicate. - The theory bears out in the most recent ad: ignoring all of the imagery and focusing only on the box in the lower right quadrant, the meeting is set for June 25th (the 478th anniversary of the Confessio Augustana), 12:00, in the federal room of the Hotel California. This latter may refer not to a hotel called the Hotel California, but to a hotel in California that they have previously visited. The wine reference makes sense if this is a romantic meeting, i.e. "Here's when we'll meet, I'll bring the wine." A quick and entirely superficial google search finds this: http://www.vrbo.com/98355, a rental house in Santat Cruz, CA that has a federal room. But Bed and Breakfasts often give pretentious names like that to their rooms so it could be any of dozens of places. Of course, this is just a theory, and the evidence could just as easily fit an expanding secret group or pact of graduate students like others have theorized. If it were something more sinister, as some of your readers seem to imply, than it's likely they would change their method of communicating as soon as you and your readers started poking around. Anyway, thanks for the puzzle. It's an interesting mystery. Eric
07.09.2008 Name: near a terminal Comments: Just read or at least glanced through the latest new theory from the person who thinks these are agendas for romantic assignations or two lovers who enjoy each other's minds as well as their bodies. Just guessing, mind you, but one thing stands in the way of that analysis and it is Bryan Hance. (I'm thinking of the New Theory that is dated Sunday, June 22nd.) For that to be correct would have to mean the lovers hold Bryan Hance in contempt and we know that is not true. They speak well of you (whoever they may be) and generally commend your readership for their various efforts. I think the Scum they despise is some other Tucson media which they are also using albeit contemptuously, to send various mechanical information about their latest projects. For people who don't live here, there are a couple of local "publications" that are lower than filth and likewise anyone associated with the rags. seems more likely the raw contempt the Freaks have for the Local Yokel Pigs refers to a filthy rag published here in Tucson; couldn't be the Arizona Daily Wildcat as the Freaks like it as much as they like Bryan which seems to be quite a bit. Take it for what it is worth but I can't think the Freaks have a low opinion of either Bryan or the ADW.