“The Blitz Ciphers” were, according to their (rather reticent) owner, found by a relative of his just after WWII. They were discovered in wooden boxes concealed in the wall of an East London cellar that German bombing had exposed: the ciphers were first described in this December 2011 post on Cipher Mysteries, where they were given their name (though they appear to predate the 1940s by some considerable time).
Images
Eight images (each at roughly 4MP resolution) have so far been released, though it is believed that the complete set is significantly larger. Note that the numbering below is mine (based roughly on order of appearance on the web).
#1: 
#2: 
#3: 
#4: 
#5: 
#6: 
#7: 
#8: 
Codicology
As far as I know, the Blitz Ciphers have not yet been physically examined or analysed by specialist historians: they appear to be on hand-made paper, but no watermark has yet been determined. The text itself has at least one correction and appears to have been written by at least two different hands in apparently quite different inks – most notably, a larger, bolder ‘presentation hand’ and a small, finer ‘annotation hand’, which includes some underlining. Many parts of the writing are now badly faded.
The pages we have contain a number of unusual geometric diagrams, resembling annotated tiles or mathematical ‘trees’, which do not seem to have obvious analogues in other old documents. Another page has a large, well-structured table, with many internal regularities but also no obvious explanation or analogue.
Theories
If this artefact is not a modern hoax, it seems reasonably likely to me that it is a document created and held by a secret society, along much the same lines as the recently-decrypted ‘Copiale Cipher’, which turned out to relate to a secret “Oculist” society in Germany. Having said that, all kinds of other possibilities remain in play, so it is too early to say one way or another.
The text seems not to be a simple substitution cipher (because it employs roughly fifty different glyphs), nor a conventional polyalphabetic cipher (because the instance frequency counts have a ‘peakier’, non-flat distribution).
However, if it is a ciphertext, the underlying cipher system could very well be some homebrewed combination of:-
* homophonic cipher (using multiple glyphs for a single character)
* nomenclature cipher (using specialised glyphs for common words, such as “and”, “the”, etc.)
* nulls (using glyphs with no meaning to disrupt cryptanalysis)
Transcription
Here is my (provisional) transcription key (click on the image to open up a much larger version):-
Here is a (provisional) transcription of part of the text using this transcription key:-
BMnESCMXJoEDji
dYajJAQeEJVWYE
MlFZAYkETDlJC
fBDJiCEgIQpMBk
YkBSTZqYjMrqBlBSBjEeSEMD
BCEYABCDEFGHIJKLGMNFEO
PQRkEGSTjUCVBWXAYZ
ILaMCEBbZXcdDSDebJ
fgIYcdMeiCYejSDB
FXYSDeFHEkkCjSAeDE
GMaQejMEDEMAZDlTbIeX
SBCBlSBSDEe
jMpnElMEnYlBCEDlGeBMUElsmLDCYE
dDlSDEQKGYASDQHEDCD
QgCMsmYJoUWFBWgVCED
MfSaQiBBXCJoESBDBlDMDBl
fTBeMCZS
dsECEDYrEEJBeSBCBSEDBeebDlrES
BCDBDEMCEDEYbEg
ieeXYBDiSqEQMSCEDCEeS
lBDSC
BeYkElEVvEBultgLYQXCcjIcSIEBMqEdqlT
SBHATmYgEIDBjZXYBDDIpddZMDAVE
AQZBFjBqEetEuHebggdXYBnEIDeQmM
jgmHZYeeAEBdSgtjvMLgjEslUd
SlfBjgmMpXndZlwDgltjJoDm
FxMjCeANcjKnjMZHlTRlBfREl
dEDtuKNKMjAEDGToglEAVRZA
mcCZlpZdnBcmEGkED
Nick,
You may have missed a symbol in your transcription key. If you look at the 5 th para of your transcription…
MEnYlBCEDlGeBMUElsmLDCYE
dDlSDEQKGYASDQHEDCD
QgCMs(m)YJoUWFBWgVCED
MfSaQiBBXCJoE
the second “m” (in brackets) is different (it has a tail to the left). I noticed this becuase it occurs often as a pair with your “M” on the following pages.
Cheers,
Tim.
Tim T: thanks for that! I’ll revisit the Blitz Ciphers transcription in the next few days (I haven’t looked at it in at a fair old while) and fix this issue. Any other comments or thoughts that I should bear in mind when I do this?
Nick,
Here’s a couple of observations I’ve made which may or may not work out to be true.
At the bottom of the matrix page, the very last line (in darker ink) has a series of three “:::”. For me this is significant if we assume that this is indeed a substitution cipher because it must have an end word. This shows a couple of things, one that there’s no symbol for a space, and two that a word ends here with a double letter (ss?). Of course this could be roman numerals, or a number of other scenarios, but this seems most probable. Also, if we go to the last line on the group of symbols to the lower right of the matrix we have 4 symbols. Using your key we have “SEJB” as a separate line, which makes one believe that this is a single four letter word. Returning to the last line, we see this sequence in reverse at the start of the last word “BJES…”. If this is a substitution cipher then there’s only a limited number of 4 letter words that start a new word in reverse. (I haven’t written a script to do this yet).
Hope that is helpful.
Cheers,
Tim.
Hmm. Even the symbols are interesting. A mixture of runic, alchemical, astronomical and some that I know but cant put my finger on. I wonder how they chose them?
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Instructions and diagrams for setting tile in Colonel North’s Turkish bath and glass green house? Some N’ast-a- liq script is apparent in the Letterhead font. Some tile-cutting ‘math’ seems to be indicated in your latest offerings of diagrams. Were the folks at the North Campus of Greenwich University/Library able to give you any background info on how the property changed ownership over a couple of centuries?
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At least one of those pages should be showing the layout of flooring tiles to be set over the hot water plumbing pipes. Some home-owners in the general area of Col. North’s neighborhood probably had access to the same hot springs, and subsequently also had large glass conservatories and/or orangeries. Probably the glass houses had earthen floors.
The diagrams/writings seem consistent with alchemist writings (maybe late 1700’s/early 1800’s). The second image appears to show a covalent bond diagram.
Alchemist’s did use code, and worked with apprentices, which could describe the notes.
Instead of tiles, perhaps the placement of ground-floor level elements of brick walls interspersed with large panes of glass. The brick walls would become supports for the metal struts of the large glass panes. The glass panes would become more ‘tapered’ during the lead glazing and become a dome of glass panels.
The plans also seem to be indicating that the glass dome is entered through a door exiting from a larger structure.
The drawings seem to indicate a five-angled base structure for the dome itself. The closest I’ve come to guessing what the structure might have been (and still is) is Avery North’s Mansion. It is now the huge greenhouse which is the “Winter Garden” which is now attached to the Library Building of the Avery Hill campus of Greenwich University.
Oh, I wish I could visit!
bdid1dr
These are fascinating. Whoever wrote them obviously had considerable calligraphic and design skills, which would indicate that they are something more than a simple transfer of information. The annotations are in a different hand by someone considerably less skilled, and probably added much later. I suppose it’s quite possible they’re a hoax, but one wonders why anyone would go to the bother of producing them without some other motive. I’d like to think they are genuine. If not, they are very nice.
It might be worth mentioning that I put Blitz Ciphers into YouTube and they are up there, showing some reasonable detail. I’ll work on this, thanks
John: I don’t think the YouTube presentation gives any more detail than the actual scans themselves, so it’s probably more practical to work with the pictures themselves if you want to try to gain any insight.
Yes, I think you’re probably right. Thanks, Nick
Nick, have you been able to find anyone at Greenwich University’s Schools of Architectural Engineering to translate the drafts/drawings/specs (which Cutler Engineering submitted with their proposal)?
bd
Wow! I was exploring something different when I ran into this. Letters look like a enochian language, but little bit changed. Like in enochian letter ” I ” is write like this ” . ” It is a dot, here is ” : ” Just connect the dots. I am not good at this, for me, this is something new, juss guessing! But the drawings really look like enochian.
I have an organic geometrys fenomen “Vektor Process” Sience 1984
When I se the Bliz Chipers I suprices because its inclusive an figur just like the Vektor Processzus geometrys form
This is not a coincidence in this case
The figur its comming up with the Vektor Process own order. My organic geometrys metod are an unic system and the Bltz Chipers has som early reference in this strages geometry.
See my sites…
F.Molnar
http:corpuscuit.us
(Sorry my engish, I can spek only hungarian and swedish)
Hi Nick,
looks like astrolocical or alchemistry related pages, some symbols even look a bit like henochian style…
so maybe its worth to look for a relation to “modern” magical orders like “golden dawn” “OTO” or similiar… they have been quite active in London between 1890 and 1920 and the members had to copy old scriptings by hand…
regards from Germany
Andreas
Hello my friend Nick.
So I looked at the cipher Blitz.
Cipher = very simple enceyption.
I translated page. You’re labeled as 8 ( image 8). The author says there is one. ( name). How many years is it. And the rabbi. Also, he says. How to read the writing. Also, he says. What are delusional characters. ( deceptive character ).
Hi Champollion.
I have been looking at page #5 on the Blitz Cipher. Spanish to English translation. On the right, top side of the page is a triangle with a dot in the center of it. This represents the letter ” A “. The lines under this relate to Astrological Numerology. The first line deciphers to, ” yCBQhhCg “, or life path # is 9. The second line deciphers to, ” QMxgX “, or life path # is 4. The fourth line deciphers to, ” DiaiSQEY “, or life path # is 8. The fifth line deciphers to, ” naqECB “, of life path # 6. The sixth line deciphers to, ” ELDXLY “, or life path # is 1. Each of these life path numbers has a different meaning in Astrological Numerology, and describes a different type person and their attributes, both negative and positive. I will post some more later. Thank you.
Here is some more work on page five. The double three looking character is ” m “. The first line deciphers to, ” gEYlWC “, or life path # 3. The second line deciphers to, ” RrdXhEA “, or life path # 6. The third line deciphers to, ” BjeCEWg “, or life path # 10. The fifth line deciphers to, ” bMlIJEg “, or life path # 4. The sixth line deciphers to, ” QYXlYWqE “, or Karmic Debt life path # 13. The eigth line deciphers to, ” MEAYWBCE “, or life path # 6.
The first line of the vertical rectangle on the left hand side of page five deciphers to. ” YCAlDhXADMjAE ” , and adds up to the sum of 48. 4+8=12 and 1+2=3 ; the life path number is 3. The second line deciphers to, ” EEbXhAMZYADMCX ” , and adds up to the sum of 73. 7+3=10 and 1+0=1 ; the life path number is 1.
The vertical rectangle on the left hand side of page five deciphers to. ” YCAlDhXADMjAE ” , and adds up to the sum of 48. 4+8=12 and 1+2=3 ; the life path number is 3. The second line deciphers to, ” EEbXhAMZYADMCX ” , and adds up to the sum of 73. 7+3=10 and 1+0=1 ; the life path number is 1.
On page five, rectangle on the left hand side of deciphers to. ” YCAlDhXADMjAE ” , and adds up to the sum of 48. 4+8=12 and 1+2=3 ; the life path number is 3. The second line deciphers to, ” EEbXhAMZYADMCX ” , and adds up to the sum of 73. 7+3=10 and 1+0=1 ; the life path number is 1.
Page # 5 is Astrological Numerology.
Page # 1 has the deciphered letters, “CM ” in concentric circles at the top of the page in the center. Could this be an abbreviation for ” CHIEF MINISTER ” ? In Delhi, India there were seven Chief Ministers (Cabinet Ministers) since 1952. the government was first constituted on 17 March, 1952 and they gained independence. Two short lines that follow the five longer, preceding lines decipher as, ” BSBjEhSEMD “, and add up to a sum of thirty-three. If you add the two digits in thirty-three, you get six or life path # 6. The second even shorter line deciphers to, ” BCEY “, or the sum of seventeen. If you add the two digits in seventeen, you get eight or life path # 8.
Hi Nick.
Blitz cipher. It’s a wery nice and interesting cipher. Picture # 4. And elsewhere. It is written by English and Irish king. James I. Stuart.
There is no cipher. Who would not go to solve. Champollione 🙂
I was just looking at the Feynman Ciphers site. Misca had posted a message about Jakub Krocinek who was Rudolf’s Astrologer at Faust’s House. Supposedly his youngest son killed the older son for an alchemical treasure hidden in the walls of the house. Rudolf invited many people who had his same interests to the house. It came to pass that he invited Dr. John Dee. Dr. John Dee had written an alchemical work in 1549 that had twenty-four volumes and it was titled Mercurius Coelestis (Celestial Mercury). He was highly influenced by the Rosicrucians, ” CM ” is found on Page # 1 in concentric circles at the top of the page in the center of it. The Mercurius Coelestis (Celestial Mercury), was lost and never found. Could the Blitz Ciphers be the long lost Mercurius Coelestis (Celestial Mercury) ?
Messrs. Blitz cipher. 🙂
It is not alchemy. It is not rosecrucians.
The documents written most of Luxembourg. And specifically about Charles IV. Czech King. And his wives.
You can see some rounds , triangle and squares. And just thinking about alchemy. Well that’s bad.
First, try to find out. What are the characters in the text misleading. ( deceptive character). Also, you must correctly identity the characters. The entire encryption is not too complicated.
Champollion.
( Nick writes : bud please correct me if I’m wrong ! )
——————————————————————————-
Nick. Your destination sings is wrong. ( Provisional transcription key).
Key. I’ll show you the importance of character.
The first lines.
1. character. triangle with a dot. D = Deus ( 4 , DMT)
2. 24 = ( 2 = BRK,,, 4 = DMT).
3. mT = ( 4 = DMT).
4. II = ( roman 2 = 2 = BRK).
5. : = ( two dots = 2 = BRK).
6. triangle T = ( TT = 4 = DMT).
7. CI = ( C= 3= CGSL,,,,I = 1 = AIJQY).
8 . TO = ( T= 4= DMT,,,,O = 7 = OZ).
9. LL = ( L = 3 = CGSL)
10 . 1R ( 1 = AIJQY,,,,R = BRK).
11. KK = ( K = 2 = BRK)
12. triangl = ( T = 4 = DMT).
13. 3 = ( 3= CGSL).
Second line :
1. S = ( 3 = CGSL)
2. J = ( 1 = AIJQY)
3. omega T ( 74 = 7 = OZ,,,,, T = 4 = DMT).
4. 5 = ( 5 = EHN).
5. S = ( 3 = CGSL).
6 Pí = ( greek Fí = 8 = PF,,,,,í = 1= AIJQY).
7. V = ( 6 = UVWX)
8. ( dot).
9. three lines = ( 3 = CGSL).
10. 6 = ( 6 = UVWX).
11, TV = ( T=4 = DMT,,,,V=6 = UVWX).
12. OT = ( O = 7 = OZ,,,,,T = 4 = DNT).
13. IT = ( I = AIJQY,,,,,T= DMT)
( character = circle and dot = aurum = A = AIJQY)
( character = X = 6 = UVWX )
Blitz cipher. Picture # 2. Bottom circle.
Substitution Luxemburg. 🙂
It is written : Krfa Dfaj ( old czech language)
new czech language : Krev dvou.
english language : blood two.
Meaning : The blood of two people.
And to who they are. It is written in numbers. There are two dates. 3758 and 1378.
Charles IV died in 1378. A cryptogram is telling us that he went to God. The year 3758 is the birth date of Jesus of Nazareth.
The importance of the image is the same. As the Voynich manuscript. Author all shows. The writing and encryption. He used the Jewish substitution.
Figure ( picture) Voynich Page 1 — red symbol = 3758) 🙂
Blitz : some characters are rotated 180 degrees. This will author says : character are also reads . right to left.
Deceptive letter = Blitz cipher = 4. 🙂
Champallion.
supplement .
Below the date is written : Fí drac ( old czech language). Ví draka. ( new language)
English language : Knows dragon.
The dragon is a symbol of Luxemburg.
Nick. Cipher Blitz. He you never deciphered. Substitution cipher. And it is written in the old Czech language. Where is the date of jesus while Emperor Charles IV. It is written where he is buried. He says about Caple St. Vitus. Which is at the Prague Castle. Text rabbi wrote. Text reads from both sides.
Champollion. 🙂
Nick. Cipher Blitz, used old Czech language. Complete instructions. Key. It is written in the image ( picture) # 5.
Upper case letter. ( uppercase) . At the top of the page. Is there written. How to read the text. Most of the text Blitz. Concerns Luxemburg. Czech King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. And his son. Czech King Wenceslas IV. The code is the same as the Codex Gigas. The entire text is written as a quiz. The author leads you. And it writes what letter you need to delete. To qive. Write sense.
Rabbi name = Avigdor Kara. ( Avigdor ben Jicchak)
Nick
I believe I may have reproduced the intended geometrical designs on pages 2, 4 and 6. I’ve loaded an image that can be found at http://www.gjbath.com/Images/BlitzCipher.jpg. The diagram on page 6 is the most accurate of the images provided, and it looks like there was a significant error on page 4. The figures on pages 2 and 4 seem to be providing indications of the components with just a rough indication of how they fit together. Of course, the text might be saying more!
The scale bar shows four as yet indeterminate units but it may be seen that the radii of the two circles on page 4, the radius of the inner circle on Page 6, and the sides of the octagon on page 2 are set at 1 unit in the constructions.
With the same scale applied to page 5, the sides of the pentagon seem to be intended to be 2 units, but the figure is not actually regular (but was probably intended to be).
Is there any chance of getting the dimensions of the diameters of the circles and the sides of the octagon? If the unit can be identified then this might tell us something about the origin, either British or Continental.
It strikes me that the designs on pages 2 and 4 are quite clever in the way the pieces fit. The pentagonal design on page 6 is only of note in that the inner pentagon sits on the base of an equilateral triangle in the centre circle (dotted).
You might note that there are constructional arcs on page 4, so it looks like a compass could have been used. If the sheets are ever made available it might be pertinent to examine them for pin pricks.
Some further observations on the geometrical figures. There seems to be internal evidence on page 4 of the use of divisions of tenths of a unit, which might be more likely from the 17th century on. If anyone cares to reproduce the design they should note that the primary constructional circle for the design at the top should have a radius of two units, but it appears to be only 1.8 units. This is why the top line doesn’t align with the centres of the two circles having a radius of 1 unit, which were drawn correctly.
It seems that the diameter of the circle at the bottom, containing the hexagons, was first calculated at 2.3 units based on sides of two units for the equilateral triangles. The gap between this and the top section is drawn in my construction as 1 unit. However, it appears that this combined distance of 3.3 units was divided into three. Thus, the sides of the equilateral triangles are just under two units – and note that the constructional arcs suggest the circle was drawn first.
The overlay is a decent fit when applying these errors to the construction. Note that the top structure properly has a length of 3(SQRT2) units, then a gap of one unit, then the lower circle is SQRT(16/3), that is, (SQRT3) / 3 x 4 = 2.3 units.
The height of the design might therefore be expected to be closer to 7.2 units than the 7.5 units that it would be according to my construction. The heights of all the components of all the designs can be calculated to facilitate drawing. This would have been simpler from the early 17th century onwards (trigonometry and logarithms).
It might be noted that the design on page 4 applies the tangent ratio of 1/2, and the sine of 45 degrees. On page 2 it is the tangent of 22.5 degrees (SQRT2 -1)/1, and on page 6 it is phi (SQRT5 +1)/2 and multiples of 36 and 18 degrees. Two designs have SQRT3 added by the introduction of equilateral triangles.
I see no evidence of a modern approach to drawing the pentagons, which makes it surprising that the design on page 6 is so accurate (if Euclidean). Overall, then, I feel that the 18th century esoteric revival might be a better starting point on such internal evidence, but alas with nothing to rule out a modern hoax.
Geoff: the only information I have is from the EXIF data – that these images were taken with a Samsung L301 at f/3 without flash and a 1/90 second exposure time, and were processed in some way using Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 (early images) or Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.0 Windows (later images). The date stamps are:
#1: taken 07-Feb-2010 05:37:12, edited 17-Mar-2010 11:03:44
#2: taken 07-Feb-2010 05:37:40, edited 17-Mar-2010 11:07:07
#3: taken 07-Feb-2010 05:35:42, edited 17-Mar-2010 11:12:20
#4: taken 08-Feb-2008 06:35:12, edited 10-Nov-2014 11:33:05
#5: taken 08-Feb-2008 06:38:03, edited 10-Nov-2014 11:41:23
#6: taken 08-Feb-2008 06:39:08, edited 10-Nov-2014 11:45:59
#7: (I seem to have lost this image’s EXIF data, sorry!)
#8: taken 08-Feb-2008 06:38:33, edited 10-Nov-2014 11:43:41
I suspect Adobe Elements was used simply to crop the images (rather than to colour correct them or anything more esoteric), but that’s just my hunch. The Samsung L301 is a compact camera with a 12MP image sensor – a little long in the tooth now, but I’m guessing it was brand new in 2008.
Nick: Thanks. I suppose I just have to hope the images were taken using a stand at a constant distance from the sheet, unlikely but possible with that camera! The sheets do seem to be sized much the same, but that could have been done in Photoshop.
I simply noticed that having done all the constructions it turned out I had a common unit. If you ever come across the rough size of the sheets please let me know. It does seem they could have been torn/cut to much the same size.
s’il vous plait si vous avez d’autres pages
HMAIED: I’m sorry, that’s all that I have. It’s a good mystery, though! 🙂
j’ai pu déchiffrer une grande partie du document, et prochainement je vais écrire un article sur ce sujet.Est ce que je peux contacter les Blitz?
HMAIED: je n’ai pas les moyens de contacter le propriétaire des chiffrements directement, mais je peux essayer de lui passer votre email indirectement. Est-ce OK?
merci beaucoup
Picture number 7 is upside down, and the single line is a title
I recognize the seal on the first page, it is the order of Arcanous. The text is not a code each symbol is a word and it describes the methods of high alchemy. #2 describes transmutation of living tissue. #3 is the table of elements. #4 is chimera transmutation (using 2 different living samples and fusing them into one) #5 is creating a golem. #6 is creating the hollow stone, sometimes called a philosopher stone. #7 and #8 are warnings about the laws of equality. It is incomplete as the images you have are thus. Page 1,2,4,5,7,9,11,12. I can’t read all of what is written there but a couple of friends of mine may be able to. They are not very sociable but I may be able to get them to have a look at the images and translate them for you.
Raven Nightshade: I’m sorry, I’ve just been watching Beavis and Butthead Do America, and I couldn’t help but notice that you said ‘anous’. 🙂
Yeah, he said ‘anous’, I heard him, I heard him. 🙂
Sir;
I’ve dealt with esoterics and occult religions for most of my teenage years and have found out a lot about the actual meaning of the symbols used. Sine Alchemy uses symbols for nature, mathematics, elements, and processes; would it be possible we’re all going about this the wrong way? Maybe it’s not what the actual symbols represent as a letter, but the literal meaning behind said symbols. From what I know of, religion is merely based off of perspective, ethics, politics, psychology, and sociology. Shall we give it a go?
Also, Pages #2,4-6 also seem to be in some way, shape, and form a way of summoning for said written documents. Using said data collected in my years as a reference to Alchemy and Medival uses of said symbols and glyphs. From looking at it now; it looks as though it might not be some letter or message; but merely an instructions booklet on how to do things for this “order” everyone’a going on about. From your guys collective information, some rich guys had a big huge glass gardening house and they found these papers somewhere around there, yes? Alchemists from way back grew plants and homemade remedies to do their works. As it was hard to acquire Antimony and other elements not commonly found in the said Alchemist’s region.
Fletcher Grey: as far as the “order everyone’s going on about” goes, can you please tell me what that is or direct me to where you heard about it? A recent commenter here claimed to have decrypted a large part of the papers (and was planning to write an article about them), but I haven’t yet been able to get through to the man who owns these papers.
Incidentally, the papers were found in a box in a sealed-up cellar in East London exposed by the Blitz bombings, which is why I gave them their name. All the other stuff you mention is just speculation, falling a very long way short of fact, sorry. 🙁
Nick . 🙂
Blitz cipher. ????
It has nothing to do with alchemy. The document writes about St. Vitus Cathedral. – Prag -. And specifically about the grave.
Czech ruler, Czech King and Emperor, Holy Roman Empire. Charles IV.
( Czech language – Karel IV.)
Any other good resources for even understanding this cipher? I would love to chat with someone about this cipher over skype or over the phone. Please contact me via email at [email protected]
Hello i was wondering where everyone was getting there info for solving it Nick if you could contact me ide love to hear more. To me it looks like a series of equations and algorithms.
Ian: I have honestly no idea – this page has been getting a large amount of traffic over the last few weeks, but from where and as to why I have no clue. 🙁
Perhaps it’s equations and algorithms, who knows? Though I suspect it’ll turn out to be something else entirely. 😐
Dear Nick;
If you look at some of the symbols, they match near perfectly with the ones from Alchemy. The circle with the dot in it representing Gold and the Sun, the number 4 with the curve on top meaning the planet Jupiter and its corresponding element, the O with the line going through it meaning the mineral of Saltpeter; along with others. Maybe this one document isn’t solely based on Alchemy as a whole, but as an Omnistic approach. Omnisism being the belief that all things are connected. The 5 pointed star, for example, is usually used as a part of Wiccan and Pagan belief systems as well. If we took the time to look at all of these religious and “pseudo” scientific fields, well, we may have our answer. True I may be mostly speculating; but when has any scientific endeavor ever been started based on mere fact rather than observation; which in turn is speculation?
If possible; I’d like to collect data on what you know so far. Since speculation is the bases of all endeavors, we should reinforce such with facts to back it up. Sadly, science doesn’t allow just one answer to explain it all. It takes a lot of data, blood, sweat, tears, and teamwork from other sources. Maybe this approach might solve this age old puzzle; but I digress. Personally, I’d also like to see your opinion on what I’ve said this far. Not only would that provide and corrections to my theory, but it’ll also provide data as to the approaches I’ll need to narrow it down to in order to focus better on the topic. Checking in tomorrow if you need to contact me. Good Night and Good Luck Crypts!
Dear Nick;
The Omnistic approach I’m taking seems to be working a little bit so far. As you can see at the top part of the first page, there seems to be a Muddle Eastern form of writing at the top; possibly Arabic in nature. I have some friends from the area that know some so hopefully I can get that meaning down pat. Usually from ancient Alchemical documents, the people practicing the craft almost ALWAYS wrote in codexes; usually corresponding with the symbols used in their research and complex diagrams. These stars seem to be diagrams of glyphs used for these scientific endeavors as well. Most prominent on Page 4; the Seal of Solomon is shown being in the third of a 3 step process for such glyphs. Usually, the stars points and insides were inscribed with some glyphs corresponding with the practitioners intentions. Sadly, these were objects enshrined on and not paper, so finding these objects would be more common than in writing.
hi has this been worked out ???. only had a quick look at the drawings. As a bricklayer, to me the square with the dot seem to be plumb line and datum points and the circle with the line through seem datum lines to work from ( north to south taken from the pole star). it even gives you the angles to check for setting out. I thick this is part plans for a gothic church, Templar or masons.the 20×20 grind gives you 16 collums and outer doors and windows. I think that is a window rather than a dome. the angles it gives you are lines for cutting and setting out, (not 3d). the second hand writing s amendments by the mast mason. The more I look at this the more I can see and don’t understand why it is taking so long to work out !. shame there isn’t more pages, but I suspect this has been scanned from and old book and posted. please up date me before I start chasing my tail LOL Russx
I’ve been looking at the plans a couple of hours now (because that’s what they are) I don’t know if it was years working as a time served builder or I was a phonecian in a past life, but so much just jumps out of the pages at me. I’ve worked out about 20 signs now, I could almost draw this. Take the so called seal on the top of the page, it isn’t a seal, it gives you format of the geometry of the plans being used. Also the signs not only tell you were to fix beams and openings, but also gives you materials. has any one posted a key of the signs yet, as this is NO way a cypher !!!, or occult !!!. THEY ARE BUILDING PLANS, that any dark age mason would understand. CAN YOU PLEASE UP DATE ME ???.
i have checked out all the signs i have worked out and they all aline and add up. The secreate is in the seal with the 6 signs that give you the geometry, well in truth there are 9 within the seal (check it out). this doesnt write about a cathedal it tells you how to build one, TRUST ME on that.
hi has anyone spotted the embossed water mark on page 8 yet ???. if you zoom right in, up in the left hand corner the are to of the same signs that are in the text. a T with a line above it and 11, these two signs are written in the first line of the text on that page. just to the left there is a boy sat down, with his hand on his knees, looking to one side. just above him there is a man in a circle that looks as if he is running with marks around his head. if you mess about with the gamma and gray scale you can see it clear as day. you can tell it,s embossed as the stain goes around it. also some of the paper has been through a hand machine of some sort, as you can see the cog, roller lines in the paper. do you already know this ???
russ benham: I’ve looked very carefully and I’m sorry to say that I don’t think that what your image processing is highlighting is an “embossed water mark”, let alone anything “clear as day”. 🙁
Nick,
I know very little about code breaking, however I do hope I can throw a few things out. Looking at page 3, I can’t help but notice the resemblance to multiplication tables. Thoughts?
Also,
Have you tried putting them in different orders or perhaps even portrait form? I have not printed them out yet and thus have been unable to try this.
T. Mann: the big table in the Blitz Ciphers has a very specific structure, with sixteen blocks of 2×2 squares all the same, which is quite unlike any multiplication table in any base.
Nick,
Yes, I see what you are saying. Possibly a recipe of sorts? I’m not sure why it catches my eye, but I will have to print it and take a closer look at it.
I just noticed I may not have been clear in an earlier message
“Also,
Have you tried putting them in different orders or perhaps even portrait form? I have not printed them out yet and thus have been unable to try this.”
I was referring to all the pages in general, not simply the table. Sorry for any confusion!
It seems previous posters Champollion and Josef have worked this out. They seem certain…can you two please elaborate or anyone else. Good day.
Good evening. These ciphers caught my interest a few months ago, and after some long nights of study, I can see that many of these symbols are from the Phonecian alphabet. Most (if not all) of these symbols predate the Greek empire. The elaborate drawings tie into my knowledge of something called sacred geometry. A former commenter mentioned alchemy; a lot of these symbols are from the time period around then. For instance, the symbol that looks like a deformed four is the Greek symbol for Jupiter, or the alchemical symbol for tin. There are over forty distinct symbols, and in my opinion that points to phonetics, rather than a single alphabet. Please, contact me at my email address, there’s much more to discuss.
Looking at the notes taken about two thirds of the start with (using the provided transcription key): sb. Perhaps it means note, or insert. There are a couple other letter patterns I’ve noticed, like bj, and sd.
I”ve been unclear. The notes I’ve been mentioning are the ones written on the manuscript, that are not the main text.
What I’m saying, is if you look at the frequency of glyphs that go together in the text, you can figure out words, and grammar, which will be a big step in decrypting this cypher.
What does everybody think of my idea of using word frequency?
Cutler Engineering — Have any of you been able to find the records of Cutler Engineering (whose contract and proposal is now appearing (once again) on Nick’s pages herein).
Previously, I tried to locate them. They apparently went out of business not long after they built the greenhouse and spa. I hope you will be able to visit Greenwich University’s archives. I no longer remember which campus has the greenhouse and attached garden.
bd
The Avery hill campus is the one that has Colonel North’s greenhouse and spa.
@ Nick and Peter :
I hope I haven’t upset your teapot, so to speak. Over the years since my last post to Nick, I have hoped to be able to visit that part of England. Do you remember how Colonel North became so wealthy ? Guano from nesting birds offshore from South America. His most famous fertilizer buyers were England’s King/Queen’s gardeners (Kew ? ).
bd
bdid1dr: there’s a moral in there for all of us, I’m sure. 😉
@Nick
I meant no moral. Maybe just the observation that those who sneered at him for his livelihood soon learned that their gardeners desperately needed that imported fertilizer.
Greener gardens — greener pastures ? Not necessarily “heaven or hell” .
bd
I’m trying to stay within the “Tempest in a Teapot” bounds.
bd
Was it necessarily Colonel North who put the manuscript in there? It could have been Alonzo Henry Stocker, or, I do admit this is a very small chance, it could have been a student at the teachers college while it was running.
From what I gathered from Nick’s first presentation was that the person who gave Nick the drawings put a small restraint of (secrecy) on Nicks presentation of the documents. I did a little investigating as to where did the documents end up. I was told they were in off-campus storage…
I did find the storage location (on a tiny islet in the River) There was no response to my query in re members of the public obtaining access to the records.
bd
Yes. I also queried to compliance to freedom of information office of Greenwich University and got no reply.
Next step might be the records of the Royal Gardener (if there are any existent). I recently visited the campuses (via google) to see if anyone (of this generation) can tell us anything at all about the birdhouses. Not too long ago, Nick discussed “messenger pigeons’ used in WWII .
bd
Is there any records of how the wall that hid the Ciphers was made? That would be helpful in figuring out who put in in there. for instance, if it had a different mortar than the other walls, that means it was put after the wall was built.
Using @nickpelling’s cipher transcript, I have found the repeated sequences of letters.
I ignored line breaks, and even text breaks, so this is a rough approximation.
I will give the letter sequence, and the number of times it occurs.
Here are four letter occurrences:
SBCB, 2
XYBD, 2
Here are three letter occurrences:
CED, 5
XYB, 3
SBC, 3
jgm, 2
EID, 2
YBD, 2
DBl, 2
ESB, 2
EDC, 2
SDE, 2
BCB, 2
DEM, 2
EDE, 2
ejM, 2
SDe, 2
MCE, 2
BCD, 2
BCE, 2
MDB, 2
EeS, 2
YkE, 2
JoE, 2
Here are two letter occurrences that occur more than three times:
ED, 12
CE, 9
DE, 7
DB, 7
SB, 7
SD, 6
BC, 6
BD, 6
Dl, 5
Be, 4
El, 4
XY, 4
EB, 4
Ee, 4
lB, 4
Bl, 4
jM, 4
BS, 4
kE, 4
EM, 4
Jo, 4
I’m sorry if I destroyed the chat thread, but I think this is worth it.
Generated by Mathematica.
So I can’t be certain but i’m pretty damn sure that this manuscript is written in some amalgamation of the Phoenician and Aramaic Alphabet. The Alchemical Symbols for Tin, Gold and Cinnabar, there might be more but im gonna have to do some more digging but i think these pages could be a seriously big archaeological discovery!
Also just so you know, Phoenician is written right to left rather than left to right, so if this is a cryptogram aswell then i reccomend trying to read it the opposite way in the offchance anyone is trying to decrypt it still
Wow nevermind i was pretty off, I cant read it but its written in archaic Etruscan, if you look at the last page you can see it was written from left to right, then on the second line, right to left etc. Etruscan writing uses Boustrophedon or “Ox-Turning” one line is read left to right, then the next is written backwards for some reason, I’m going to keep researching but im 99% positive its written in some form of Etruscan
It can’t be Etruscan, because if it were written in the Etruscan “Ox-Turning” script, the Frequencies of n-letter occurrences would be the same forward and backward. For example, ED occurs 12 times, and if it were written in OT Script, then DE would occur near that amount. But DE occurs 7 times, so by analysis, it would be unlikely that it would be OT script.
Sorry I’ve said the same thing three times.
I am both redundant and uselessly repeating myself 😉
Cool idea, Matt. I would try analysis by Markov Chains before guessing what language it is.
this oddly enough like the key to a formula which i find weird. when looking at it, i feel like i understand what it says but when i try to read it everything just gets turned into gibberish. what I’m more interested in is what kind of formula is this, personally i want to find out it could be but while i see this like a formula part of me says that thanks to the way its structured these are instructions of sorts as to instructions to what i honestly don’t know but i really want to find out.
Compared to all other pages, written from left to right, Scan 7 is upside down 🙂
Peter: yes, that’s right – the point is that these images are exactly as given to me by the manuscript’s owner.
Here are some more random finds.
On page #3, on the left comment just above the box, there is what looks like a comma. This might be another character, or it might be a slip from the person encrypting it.
Also, on page 3, the top text box has a relatively long string of characters (SAToMGEEDI) repeated twice.
On page #7, flipped right side up, on the top right hand corner, there is a pencil marking with three characters, one scribbled out.
By the way, I am not the Peter who posted the comment above.
@nickpelling, I have three questions.
1. In which building in Avery Hill Park was the cipher found?
2. Is there a more complete transcription available, and if not, could one be made?
3. If it is a phonetic cipher as suggested by the comments, why hasn’t anyone compared the cipher’s letter distribution to any other language’s phonetic distribution?
i hope to help someone… no letters but numbers and proportion of…, if you search for words you loose your time. I can read this and translate it in a mathematical way if you prefer. Good work.
bien le bonjour je suis un jeune français de 16 ans qui découvre depuis peu la cryptanalyse. ça m’intéresse grandement mais j’avoue que je ne comprend pas tout si quelqu’un souhait m’éclairer se serai avec joie
this is weird lol,im trying to understand and im seeing this images and the translation for few hours but,i give up.
Image seven is backwards.
Willing to bet this is a judaic hermetic medieval book. Probably a personal one. The extra notes that don’t look original to the text format are probably revisions. Perhaps someone qaballah guide. The four that is extravagantly scripted could be an astrological symbol for jupiter. Representing the plantery qualities.
Tara McCue: I’m pretty sure image #7 is rotated 180 degrees rather than flipped, if that’s any help.
There are two different forms: z-shaped letters with angled corners and softer, 3-shaped letters with round corners.
Another observation about the alphabet: for example, there are simple square, square with dot, square with dot and horizontal bar and unique square with dot, bar and reverse T. The same about V-shaped letter: V, V dot, V dot and bar.
I suppose that dots, bars and T-shapes (both straight and upside-down) may serve as some kind of vowel or consonant modifiers (like -h), added to the letter.
Following the T-element as letter modifier theory, some other letters are looking suspicious: in your transcription it’s J and P (cursive r with bar upon and cursive r with upside-down T connected to its tail.)
Also, n_T and m_T (th and ph?)
Dot may be separate letter as well: it was used once with reverse-K shape.
R: interesting observations, well done! Have you considered the possibility that the T shapes might be accents?
I’ll have another look at the Blitz Ciphers over the weekend, it has been a while (too long) since I last went through them properly.
Nick: I might be wrong about accents. Maybe these symbols with Tees and Bars are independent characters (and nulls). But… The closest example is well-known Hebrew/Yuddish script with special dots, bars and Tees (sic!) to signify vowels.
I wish I had more time to compile a table with character frequencies: for the entire text and for each sheet separately. The same goes for bigrams and trigrams.
Hm, someone perhaps mentioned this before (read the comments but might have missed) but in page three there are these dots right? And every dot seems to be in middle of four (similar) symbols. However I think there is a mistake there, because every dot are not in middle of these symbols, I mean the first in row and last are misplaced (picture kind a continues over the edge, right to left [or left to right]. So those dots should be in every 4 square. Also first and last rows are connected, so it continues down to up (or opposite) in those (rather than right to left) Guess there is some meaning of these group of fours. Somehow I still think this is a hoax. Interesting anyway.
So first row (if we pick these group of fours):
-Five square symbols with dot and line above (makes me wonder meaning of those)
Second line is:
-Square with dot and line above, symbol that looks 2x, symbol with dot arc and line above, and so on. Guess you got the point (even if my English is bad). Also every line starts with symbol square dot and line above (why?).
Conclusion of this? Its like a game. Perhaps there is cipher hidden in this, but ….
Im very very interested also about origin of these papers. Also what kind of paper it really is. Most of symbols are very strictly done (too accurate). Like pressed . That makes me wonder the age of these papers. Still, there are definetly two or three writers in these papers, one has clearly made notes. Usually hoaxes don’t have that (unless very clever ones).
Kiegészítő a 2015 hozzászólásomhoz:
https://share.clip-studio.com/en-us/contents/63a53a78-a131-49cf-93fa-c8937ce97e35?at=1639987188
Megpróbálom a Vektor Proceszus nevű organikus grafikai találmányommal összevetni Blitc Cliphers rajzokat
The blitz cipher ( how old it really is)could be instrumental in the oak island
90FOOT stone
Dear Nick, I’m no cryptographer (I’ve only just discovered your writings, as it happens), but I’ve handled, viewed and studied somewhere between 10,000 – 100,000 calligraphic manuscripts, among my other adventures in the realms of book and lettering arts over two decades… These documents are indeed hoaxes and, from a palaeographer’s viewpoint, low quality (Dungeons & Dragons prop quality). Their creator/s most definitely never intended these to pass a cursory inspection from any dealer or specialist (including novice). These documents were created sometime 2000-2010. All that being said, it doesn’t change the fact I can’t read them (that’s if they do say something) and they sure are pretty!