Historyis rife with orphic codes that have yet to be cracked . Some of the code ’ Lord are still around to proffer cue , while other cipher have been around for long enough that experts can only bank on historic sources for aid . From bewildering ciphers found on a murdered man ’s body to the unsolved codex that once belonged to Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II , here are a few codification that still have cryptologist scratching their heads , adjust from an sequence ofThe List ShowonYouTube .
1. Rapa Nui’s Rongorongo
In the early 1860s , spoiler attacked the island of Rapa Nui — now sleep together as Easter Island — andabductedhundreds of native to be used as enslaved labor in Peru . With those foray , it was once pronounce , the final reservoir of noesis regarding rongorongo , the hieroglyphical language used by the Rapa Nui , go away . But while it ’s straight that , to this day , no one has been able to make any sense of extant rongorongo texts , everything else about this seemingly - lost language refuse dewy-eyed narratives and clear-cut explanation .
The idea that cognition of rongorongo disappeared in those raid of 1862 and ‘ 63 was finally cast into serious question , but it does seem to be the event that anyone schooled in rongorongo died that decade , probable from diseases that had been introduced to the island by Europeans .
Many of the artifacts containing rongorongo were destroyed in the 1860s . The pictographs were often carved into wood , and some present-day sources said that the carved artifacts were incinerate by the Rapa Nui themselves to build up fires . This may have been at the spur or compulsion of Catholic missionaries : Some Rapa Nui said that the evangelize Europeans warned natives that rongorongo was a connection to their so - called heathenism ; others disputed this reading of event . A European priest on the island in the early 20th century believed that the rongorongo artifacts had n’t been destroyed at all , but hide out in “ the island ’s many caves and lava tubes , ” as Steven R. Fischer laid out in his 1997 book about the language .
A couple dozen lettering did survive , and multitude have been test to trace the various symbolization contained within them for more than a century — without much luck . Some glyph seem to represent human or animal forms , while others areabstract condition . No one has ever put forth a convincing translation of the text , and much of the story surrounding their origin remains contentious . Debates have raged as to whether the script predates European contact , and fantastical ideas have come up regarding alien and lost Continent .
Some of our idea about rongorongo have been inform by more plausible encyclopaedism , though , including body of work done by an other twentieth century ethnographer named Katherine Routledge . Routledge arrived on Easter Island in 1914 and interviewed elders with noesis see back to the 1850s . Among the most intriguing piece of information glean in her consultation is the fact that , according to her sources , young Rapa Nui students of the past times were able tomaster rongorongoin just a few months .
2. The Beale Ciphers
After discovering amber and ash grey in what is now the American west , Thomas J. Beale bury a hoarded wealth in Bedford , Virginia . All you have to do to feel it issolve a childlike nobody .
Well , actually that ’s just the title made in 1885 ’s “ Beale Papers , ” published decades after Beale ’s disappearing . Few can tally on much more than that — whether Beale actually left a treasure or even the cypher themselves are a matter of serious contention .
Some historical details about his supposed exploits have been called into question . Beale ’s propose discovery of silver and gold , for illustration , does n’t seem to delineate up with known timeline about other treasured metal discoveries . Of naturally , many Beale Cipher partisan have their own idiosyncratic explanations for these apparent inconsistencies . Others conceive that , even if the hoarded wealth itself is a dupery , the ciphers themselves might represent a real cryptographic challenge that rest to be clear .
The cryptanalyst William Friedmansummed up the confusion around the Beale Ciphers , saying , “ On Mondays , Wednesdays , and Fridays , I think it is material . On Tuesdays , Thursdays , and Saturdays , I think it is a hoax . ”
3. The Voynich Manuscript
When a Good Book supposedly passes hand from an astrologer to the Holy Roman Emperor , you ’d expect a sure level of machination to accompany it . The so - called Voynich Manuscript — named for a Polish antiquary who purchased it in 1912 — doesn’t disappoint .
After Wilfrid Voynich develop the manuscript in the other 20th 100 , he claimed he ’d been sworn to secrecyregardingits origins . It in all likelihood has aconnectionto the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II , who Voynich suggested find it from an astrologer in the court of Elizabeth I name John Dee . ( For what it ’s deserving , that provenance is now considered refutable . )
The pages are full of drawings of what look like plants and other seemingly scientific or pseudoscientific diagrams , along with , of all things , a raft of ma’am bathing . The text consists of rough 35,000 word and come along to be entirely invented — not just the words , but the lettersthemselves .
Radiocarbon dating done by a squad lead by the University of Arizona ’s Greg Hodginspegged the pagesto the early 15th century , but no one know who wrote the book , or why . Some of the existence ’s dependable code breakers have been draw to the Voynich Manuscript and been left stump , includingWilliam and Elizebeth Friedman , a marital couple and two of their generation ’s lead cryptanalysts ( William also carry on the Beale cipher ) . The Friedmans examine the manuscript and deemed it to be a unfeigned artifact and not a fraud . By the sentence of his death , William seems to haveconcludedthat it was less a computer code , per se , than , “ an other attempt to construct an artificial or cosmopolitan language of the a priori type”—a spoken communication whose vocabulary is n’t free-base on any existing lyric .
In the absence of a exonerated explanation for the text , outlandish theories have proliferated . Voynich himself once said , “ When the time comes , I will raise to the macrocosm that the black magic of the Middle Ages consisted in discoveries far in advance of twentieth - century science . ” The clip seemingly never came ; his dramatic annunciation might have just been a bit of showmanship .
Still , there are unnumerable hypothesis as to the real substance of the script . One popular thought actually tell that there ’s no meaning to it at all — that , perverse to the Milton Friedman ’ analytic thinking , the manuscriptwascreatedas some kind of hoax , perhaps to fleece Emperor Rudolf .
4. The Dorabella Cipher
Another undeciphered — and potentially unclear — code comes from Edward Elgar . If that name vocalise familiar , it ’s likely because Elgar wrote “ Pomp and Circumstance , ” the secondmost iconic graduation songof all time .
The Dorabella Cipher get its name from its original recipient , Dora Penny , a champion of Elgar ’s who was almost20 years his Jr . It consists of a series of squiggly characters . A number of people have claimed to have cracked Elgar ’s codification , but none of them has been wide declare right .
Tim S. Roberts , from the University of Central Queensland in Australia , felt that he had come up with a root , which read “ P.S. Now droop beige weeds set in it — virginal amentia — one entire bed ! Luigi Ccibunud fondly tune liuto studio two . ” The first half couldmayberefer to a gardening project , as Roberts order , but then you get into “ Luigi CCibunud ” and have to buy that Elgar was referencing a sealed Italian composer and poking playfulness at Dora ’s stutter while talk about horticulture . Other would - be solutions command arbitrary rules or leave in complete gibberish , leaving Elgar ’s message a arcanum .
5. The Feynman Challenge Ciphers
In 1987 , a man name Chris Cole posted three nobody onto ausenetnewsgroup dedicated to cryptanalysis . According to the post , Dr. Richard Feynman had shown him the ciphers when Carter was a graduate student at Caltech . The first cipher was in reality clear in just one day by a Usenet substance abuser , but the other two stay uncracked today .
6.KryptosSection Four
You ’d think that display a computer code on the grounds of CIA headquarters would lead to a spry root . But even though many United States ’ intelligence officerspass by theKryptossculptureon their way to the cafeteria in Langley , Virginia , one section of code remains unresolved — even though the codemaker has provided several clues to cryptologists over the age .
Krytposwas created by creative person Jim Sanborn and put in on Langley ’s grounds in 1990 . In subsequent long time , three of the part ’s four sections of code were cracked . The first section , decipher , revealed a poetical time written by Sanborn : “ Between subtle blending and the absence seizure of visible light lies the shade of iqlusion . ” Sanborn say he included an designed misspelling of conjuration to “ mix it up . ”
The second section is a rather opaque paragraph that references Langley ’s co-ordinate and former CIA head William Webster , who ran the means when the carving was first installed . Section three paraphrasesHoward Carter ’s write up of discoveringKing Tut ’s tomb in 1922 .
Sanborn has suppose that the first three subdivision render a clue to solving the fourth , and has also decoded a few specific run-in from its textbook , includingBerlin , clock , andnortheast .
7. Tamám Shud
In 1948 , a man was found utter on Somerton beach in Australia . He was fall apart a suit and had a half - smoked cigaretteresting on his arrest . The more agency looked into the type , the unknown it get .
Police could n’t figure out who the idle man was or even how he had died . Some people mistrust a rare poisonous substance could have done him in and then been metabolized by his organic structure without leaving any suggestion . The asleep ’s unusually well - defined calfskin muscles and a recording label on some article of clothing that said “ Keane ” might have been clues or justred herrings — no Keane was ever identified as a match for the man , and theories that he was a professional dancer or wore mellow heels stay unsubstantiated .
Months into the investigation , an expert named John Cleland discovered a slip of paper in a small pouch in the dead man ’s drawers . The paper had the Iranian phrasetamám shud , or “ it is ended , ” print on it — the final words in many translations ofThe Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám .
It took months for someone to come forrader with a version of the book that play off the scrap , and that just create more questions . On the rear cover of the Bible — which has a provenance shrouded in its own layers of fog — authority found a earphone number and a faint string of characters . The phone issue lead to a cleaning lady who admitted to giving a man named Alfred Boxall a copy ofThe Rubaiyat , but it change state out Boxall was still aliveandstill had his transcript of the book .
Police go back to that mystery string of characters and placed it under ultraviolet light , revealing more letters that appeared to spring some sort of cipher . If it is a code , it ’s never been crack — and , given how circumscribed the letter are , it may never be . Weirdly , no one ’s ever recover another copy ofThe Rubaiyatthat matches the variant found on the dead man ’s body .
There are those who trust the Somerton gentleman’s gentleman died by suicide and others who think he was murdered for his involvement in some kind of high - stake espionage . While we may never know the truth , in 2021 the man was exhumed for DNA examination ; freestanding DNA trial using material relieve from his expiry masklinked him to an Australian mannamed Carl Webb .
8. Ricky McCormick’s Notes
When the eubstance of Ricky McCormick , a potential homicide victim , was discovered in June 1999 , official found two handwritten notes in his pants pockets consisting of an indecipherable string of letters .
McCormick was allegedly functionally ignorant . His mother , Frankie Sparks , said “ The only thing he could write was his name . He did n’t write in no code . ” But authority do n’t consider the billet are meaningless scribblings — they in reality released the potential ciphersto the publicin 2011 in the hopes that someone might facilitate solve them .
McCormick ’s lady friend conceive he could have been involve in trafficking Cannabis sativa . He also had a number of wellness trouble , perhaps brought about by his smoking habit — allegedly commence at the age of 10 — and his taste for pledge upwards of 20 caffeinated drinkable per day . A born cause of death ca n’t be ruled out , but McCormick ’s purported connection to illegal natural process and the cryptic destiny surrounding his demise have led many to resolve that something villainous happened .
Detective Michael Yarbrough , who worked on the sheath at one metre , summed up the thwarting confusion of the case to St. Louis ’s Riverfront Times . “ It ’s kind of like Humpty Dumpty . All the pieces are there , but how do you put them back together ? ”
