The Voynich Manuscript

[zoxxy]

The Voynich Manuscript has been dubbed "The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World". It is named after its discoverer,the American antique book dealer and collector, Wilfrid M. Voynich, who discovered it in 1912, amongst a collection of ancientmanuscripts kept in villa Mondragone in Frascati, near Rome, which had been by then turned into a Jesuit College (closed in 1953).

No one knows the origins of the manuscript. Experts believe it is European based on the drawings. They believe it was written in between the 15th and 17th centuries. The manuscript is small, seven by ten inches, but thick, nearly 235 pages.
It is written in a language of which no other example is known to exist. It is an alphabetic script, but of an alphabet variously reckoned to have from nineteen to twenty-eight letters, none of which bear any relationship to any English or European letter system.

http://www.crystalinks.com/voynich.html

The language looks like this:

Nobody has even come close to revealing what it means. *shivers*


*Mysterious fog sweeps in*

 

[F1GTR]

It might just say: 'Remember to close the gate at night'....

 

[Anderton Prime]

Not in 235 pages. Obviously there must be some difference in the pages, it doesn't just say the same thing over and over...

 

[Omnis]

It's the question to 42!


edit: Well, there is a streamer with a bunch of confetti coming out of it at the end, so it must be a happy language or a party manuscript.

 

[Danoff]

With 235 pages of writing they can't figure out how to read this?

 

[ferrari_chris]

With 235 pages of writing they can't figure out how to read this?

It all depends who's working on it.

If it had something to do with Terrorism or Oil, it'd be translated before you can finish reading this post...

 

[Danoff]

It all depends who's working on it.

If it had something to do with Terrorism or Oil, it'd be translated before you can finish reading this post...

Right... because we know that it doesn't have anything to do with terrorism or oil. That's the point. We don't know what it's about. 💡

 

[Omnis]

OMG GUYS!


I'm going to ebay this ROSETTA GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH I just cooked. The burnt-in melted butter spells Alpha-Mu, and then there is a whole bunch of Voynich symbols everywhere. Of course, I realized the correlation upon dunking it in my alphabet soup; a revolutionary breakthrough!

 

[Anderton Prime]

It all depends who's working on it.

If it had something to do with Terrorism or Oil, it'd be translated before you can finish reading this post...

Did you think that through prior to posting it?

 

[ferrari_chris]

Did you think that through prior to posting it?

Yes.

What I'm saying is that if it was found in Osama's bunker ior under Saddam's mattress it'd be decoded promptly. 'Top' code-crakcing people would work on it and it wouldn't be an issue.

But, because of the nature of the find and it's whereabouts, the resources aren't available to the 'crackers' to decipher it. There's probably a few University students and one or two professors? Perhaps if the Governments of the world cared as much about history, intrigue and new discovery as much as they care about Oil, Terrorism and Natural Resources, then it would be decoded by now.

I thought that would have been implied by my original statement.

 

[SRV2LOW4ME]

Its a coupon book!!!
I can read that one easily, it perfectly and clearly states "redeem this coupon for 50 cents off fresh chicken liver, while quantities last, 5 per household, no rain checks"

 

[Anderton Prime]

Yes.

What I'm saying is that if it was found in Osama's bunker ior under Saddam's mattress it'd be decoded promptly. 'Top' code-crakcing people would work on it and it wouldn't be an issue.

But, because of the nature of the find and it's whereabouts, the resources aren't available to the 'crackers' to decipher it. There's probably a few University students and one or two professors? Perhaps if the Governments of the world cared as much about history, intrigue and new discovery as much as they care about Oil, Terrorism and Natural Resources, then it would be decoded by now.

I thought that would have been implied by my original statement.

I'm wondering if you read the entire article. It states that this document was given to top codebreakers and encryption experts when it was brought to light in the early 20th Century. The problem is that it is NOT encoded or encrypted at all, so trying to crack it or decipher it is pointless.

It's also a document that is hundreds of years old, with no real pertinence in the world that people can see, other than the fact that it's a mystery. So obviously something found in Saddam Hussein's bedroom would be more important and would be decoded promptly. But I'm having a hard time figuring out why you're comparing a historical document that uses an alphabet that makes no sense to any language expert alive to anything pertaining to Iraq.

 

[Omnis]

The three similarly sized characters at the bottom left corner are probably, "WTF"

 

[240Z]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

A lot of interesting information about it.

The "Codex Seraphinianus" link at the bottom is interesting as well, if for purely artistic reasons.

 

[ferrari_chris]

I'm wondering if you read the entire article. ...

Ahhh, no I didn't. I read the forst post though, but in this case it seems that was not enough.

... But I'm having a hard time figuring out why you're comparing a historical document that uses an alphabet that makes no sense to any language expert alive to anything pertaining to Iraq.

I was using that as an example, but as it seems it has already been given to 'top code breakers', then my example is rendered useless.

That'll teach me for not reading the whole article.

 

[Fonce Diablo]

Hey, this reminds me...have they finished cracking Kryptos yet? I'd like to know what's at that spot it's pointing at in the cracked code.

 

[Anderton Prime]

Not sure what you're talking about. Explain, or maybe post a link, so those of us in the dark can learn about it!

 

[Fonce Diablo]

This is Kryptos:

It's a statue located in a courtyard at CIA Headquarters. It contains four distinct blocks of coded text. Three have been decoded and read as follows:

I: "Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion."

II: "It was totally invisible. How's that possible? They used the earth's magnetic field. x The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location. x Does langley know about this? They should: it's buried out there somewhere. x Who knows the exact location? Only WW. This was his last message. x Thirty eight degrees fifty seven minutes six point five seconds north, seventy seven degrees eight minutes forty four seconds west. ID by rows."

WW is confirmed by Kryptos' creator, Jim Sanborn, to be ex-CIA Director William Webster, who was Director when Kryptos was installed. He also has an envelope from Sanborn detailing at least some of the decoded text, although Sanborn says it's not the completely decoded version.

38 degrees, 57 minutes 6.5 seconds N by 77 degrees, 8 minutes 44 seconds W refers to a very specific point within CIA Headquarters proper, approximately 100 feet southeast of Kryptos itself.

III: "Slowly, desparatly slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. And then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in. The hot air escaping from the chamber caused the flame to flicker, but presently details of the room within emerged from the mist. x Can you see anything?"

Another note here: "iqlusion", "undergruund", and "desparatly" are not errors -- the corresponding code is sculpted into Kryptos, and Sanborn himself has vetted their accuracy.

The unbroken remaining code of Part IV:

OBKR
UOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYP
VTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR

Hope I've explained myself.

 

[Danny]

It might just say: 'Remember to close the gate at night'....

Or maybe "Beware of fake manuscripts"

 

[TheCracker]

But, because of the nature of the find and it's whereabouts, the resources aren't available to the 'crackers' to decipher it.

They just didn't offer me the right money

 

[Anderton Prime]

Hope I've explained myself.

Quite well, thanks. But who made it, and what is its purpose?

 

[Fonce Diablo]

WW is confirmed by Kryptos' creator, Jim Sanborn...

Did you miss that part? XD

And it really has no purpose, except to be cracked, I suppose.

 

[Omnis]

This is Kryptos:

It's a statue located in a courtyard at CIA Headquarters. It contains four distinct blocks of coded text. Three have been decoded and read as follows:

I: "Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion."

II: "It was totally invisible. How's that possible? They used the earth's magnetic field. x The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location. x Does langley know about this? They should: it's buried out there somewhere. x Who knows the exact location? Only WW. This was his last message. x Thirty eight degrees fifty seven minutes six point five seconds north, seventy seven degrees eight minutes forty four seconds west. ID by rows."

WW is confirmed by Kryptos' creator, Jim Sanborn, to be ex-CIA Director William Webster, who was Director when Kryptos was installed. He also has an envelope from Sanborn detailing at least some of the decoded text, although Sanborn says it's not the completely decoded version.

38 degrees, 57 minutes 6.5 seconds N by 77 degrees, 8 minutes 44 seconds W refers to a very specific point within CIA Headquarters proper, approximately 100 feet southeast of Kryptos itself.

III: "Slowly, desparatly slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. And then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in. The hot air escaping from the chamber caused the flame to flicker, but presently details of the room within emerged from the mist. x Can you see anything?"

Another note here: "iqlusion", "undergruund", and "desparatly" are not errors -- the corresponding code is sculpted into Kryptos, and Sanborn himself has vetted their accuracy.

The unbroken remaining code of Part IV:

OBKR
UOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYP
VTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR

Hope I've explained myself.

Good god... That's nuts.

 

[ferrari_chris]

... II: "It was totally invisible. How's that possible? They used the earth's magnetic field. x The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location. x Does langley know about this? They should: it's buried out there somewhere. x Who knows the exact location? Only WW. This was his last message. x Thirty eight degrees fifty seven minutes six point five seconds north, seventy seven degrees eight minutes forty four seconds west. ID by rows."

...

III: "Slowly, desparatly slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. And then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in. The hot air escaping from the chamber caused the flame to flicker, but presently details of the room within emerged from the mist. x Can you see anything?" ...

Does this sound like LOST to anyone else?

 

[Sharky.]

Someone's been watching a bit too much telly...