#CIPHERHUNT Day 2 Summary
After eagerly awaiting for the University the next clue was supposed to found at to open at 7:30am, things were slightly derailed. It turned out, the clue which was supposed to be hidden behind a painting, was not only inaccessible to visitors, but wouldn’t have been there regardless. The note had been found some 3 months ago by staff and removed. It’s a little unfortunate that we’ll probably never know what the exact message was, but c'est la vie.
Made aware of the clue’s removal, Alex set up a substitute later in the day. He tweeted out the phone number from yesterday (323-283-8650) which had a new answering machine message from Stan.
A man whose first name is his last
A statue honoring his past
Right behind him by the sign of his park
A golden head shows light in the dark
I dunno what that means… Well, I don’t have to go out there; figure this out. Wonder what’s on tv.
The riddle’s answer led to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA, which was named after Griffith J. Griffith. @ramblewheels found the next clue. A golden Stan head, some loose pieces of paper with a message written in invisible ink, and a pen light to read the message with.
Ramblewheels traced the message to get the following:
50 + 50 THAT’S THE CITY
FROM ONE ANGLE IT’S QUITE PRETTY
YOU’LL FIND A BOW TIE AND ONE EYE, AT HIS HEAD IS A RECTANGLE
STONES BY STAIRS ATOP THE TOP RIGHT ANGLE
THE STONE WITH THE UV SWIRL CAN GLOW
FIND THE BLACK POUCH THAT’S BELOW
Fans cleverly deduced the next location to be the Century Plaza Towers in LA.
The temptation became too great for Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper) and Ariel Hirsch (Alex’s sister and inspiration for Mabel) who were close enough that they wanted to join in on the hunt. Along with a group of other Hunters, they were able to find the next clue!
(Find their live streamed videos of their discovery here (Jason’s) and here (Ariel’s). Compiled here.)
Found among rocks was one with a swirly pattern. Inside was a pouch, and inside that pouch was a USB drive. @Achillesheely took it home to load up the info onto their computer. Which turned out to be an audio file.
Sister Miley (who was the subject of the painting where the missing clue was originally supposed to be hidden behind) interrupts Stan as a ghostly figure. Luckily she is handily taken care of by Soos. (Transcript here.)
Stan informs us the next clue is only accessible to students of CalArts, and it’s in their basement. Amusingly, a student had already stumbled upon the clue a week ago. One even a month ago.
The above mix of numbers and letters are a hexadecimal code. When converted to decimal, we get the coordinates: 37°49'19.0"N and 122°13'59.0"W which is the location of Piedmont Park (which happens to be right next to Piedmont Middle and High school. Perhaps where Dipper and Mabel attend school. Ha.) The key to solving this clue was by referring to the rhyme on Waddle’s Lost Pet flyer.
across from the stones of the springs
you’ll find some peculiar things
tied to a root is a lone pink key
dig to find what waits for thee
A number of fans joined up together as they combed the area. However, after a few hours of searching (and perhaps a bit embarrassingly), Alex ended up giving us a map.
The group finally found the loot. A pink key wrapped around a root. Underneath which was a lightly buried treasure box. (Watch the live stream here from the approx. the 15:15 mark.) Inside the box was a bottle, and in that bottle was a cryptex wrapped in green cloth, that needed a passcode. That five letter code was PINES. When that was opened there was another key and a scrap of paper with an address inside.
LA has the clue you want
1825 N Vermont
27128’s the box for thee,
Don’t be puzzled, use the key
The address leads to a post office in Los Angeles. And @omgmei has agreed to take the minimally long 5.5hr drive tomorrow with the key to said P.O. Box.
*Trivia: The post office is next to the House of Pies where Alex first came up with the name ‘Gravity Falls.’
