unforum

[Brick]

Reverse-engineering the solution

[DPNJ12]

Just wanted to post this before the full solution gets posted. I went and walked around Floyd Bennett Field in the fall of 2010, I didn't have enough to get a final location out of it (and obviously never got enough to) but I was hoping that being there would help trigger something as I re watched the videos. What lead me there was the following:
1) the traced footprint - may sound far fetched, but look at the island just to the west of the old field. It's shaped like a footprint.
2) the snake and turtle in the marine park play structure.
3)the model airplane fields on and close to Floyd Bennett field
4) the community garden out there. I tried to walk through and look for a plot, but I was literally chased off by a couple of bikers (no bicycle riders)

Anyway, one clue that I thought would have been very clever, and I am a touch disappointing that it doesn't appear to have been used was that the treasure was buried 250 feet from the home plate of a baseball diamond. With the many baseball references and the fact that the 250 feet was written on a picture of their "home" i thought that might have been the key I had to find it that others may have been missing. I shared that with one other person early on when I thought this was going to be a sprint to the finish.

Stinks that the hunt ends on this note, but at least a a large group of people will be helped that this prize none of us will get (and hopefully we will get some answers)

[sickshot]

Without diving too deep into this yet, the first thing that pops into my mind is that North 40 could be referenced in episode 4 since "north section" in Japanese comes BEFORE clue 41 (so 40: North)

I'm sure we will see a lot of familiar handles return here.

[Badger]

From the corner of avenue U and Flatbush Ave, (by the vitamin shoppe) if you head 28 furlongs in the direction you haven't yet gone (on a bus toward rockaway), you'll just cross the Gil Hodges bridge. "Now you've gone too far" so go back one stop. You are at Floyd Bennett Field.

The wood slats used to repair the hole in the wall make the same pattern as the runways.

I also interpreted clue 40 and North section as North 40. We made 3 trips to Floyd Bennett but never went deep enough into the woods. Thought it might be 250 ft from the model airplane tower. Spring 2011.

Also tried from home plate at the baseball diamond, and in the public garden there. Finally quit after 3 trips

[Badger]

I emailed the Captain this morning:

At this point I'm guessing that starting from the ship meant starting from Cybill Shepherd (who played Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting), but spelled ELE not ILL. Cybele Shepherd was supposed to give you Cybele & Attis, since Attis was a shepherd. After Attis died she brought him back as a fir tree, so we were supposed to start from a fir tree? I don't think I ever would have gotten that.

The Captain (Vinny) replied:

You hit the nail on the head with Cybele and the tree. The idea was, you had to find this tree and walk 250 feet from it to the treasure. (250 captain's feet, which is approximately the size of a Crayola Crayon.)
-----------------------
D'oh. 250 Captain's feet! I should have gotten that (but didn't).

I think that my partner and I got with 100 feet of the treasure 18 months ago, but failed to notice that we had walked through the black gates of hell and failed to make the Cybele connection.

[Roliasiwik]

Target

[Badger]

One reason that I searched Floyd Bennett Field is that it is part of Gateway National Recreation Area. The redcoat clue in Ep 6 indicated that the final location was within a zone containing Britain's finest fortifications. The strongest British Fort of the Revolutionary War was Flagstaff Fort, now known as Fort Wadsworth. The drawing showing twin forts on opposite sides of the water (the Narrow) confirm this. At first I thought this meant the final location was on Staten Island, but the term odd "zone" made me think that they were trying hard to not say "area." So Gateway National Recreation Area fit nicely.

GNRA is a huge area, so that wasn't enough by itself. But when the clues took me down Flatbush ave to FBF, it seemed like a good fit. The fact that the pattern of wood slats on the wall (Look behind mulligan & Tom in Ep 7: "The ghost is right there!") matched the runway configurations at FBF. Also, FBF is considered to be a ghost airport.

FBF is absolutely huge and I never got very much on the ground at FBF to fit with Ep 7 & 8. There's a wood sculpture near the community garden that sort of looks like a set of stacked chairs (I'm standing right by the chairs). But the community garden is quite far from the North Forty Woods, so maybe these were the wrong chairs.

There are some black gates near the control tower, but the only ones that were at all impressive are also far from the North 40 woods. The only clue to North 40 that I had was the implied Clue 40 in which "North Section" is written on the wall behind him. This led me to the North 40 woods, but because it came before the 28 furlongs clue that got me to FBF, I eventually discounted this (after 3 visits to FBF including two to the North 40). Someone (CCL, I think) suggested that Tom's clue should be used later (in Ep 7). In hindsight, I think this was probably right.

Out in the far corner of the North Forty Woods and the end of a runway there is a model airplane area with a control tower. We thought that this might be the crows nest. I think that might be correct. We measured 250 from the tower opposite the direction of the flights into JFK. But obviously the tower was NOT the ship and it we should have measured 250 Crayons.

I'm still not sure how we were supposed to get from the Model Airplane tower to the Fir Tree. There is a path running from the far end of the parking lot of the model airplane section ("I got the bad end of that lot"). We tried that idea and walked much of that path, but didn't see any other clues (and never made the Fir Tree connection).

When we went, those woods were very dense. Lots of mosquitos and thorn bushes. I do recall a couple of small, overgrown paths running off the main trail in the direction opposite JFK. My guess is that one of those was by the fir tree and that if you followed it for 60 feet, you'd have seen the skull and crossbones.

[Brick]

[Roliasiwik]

Kiss Napolean

[Roliasiwik]

Gorilla

[Roliasiwik]

Captain's Flashbacks

[VelociraptorPancakes]

I think this entrance to the North 40 hiking trail could be the black helltype gates, where you make a turn to port to enter?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/defpo/2896858413/

Episode 7:
"Crothers: Did you hear that wail I just heard off the port bow?

Captain: Aye! How could I miss it. The ghostly wailin' of a spirik doin' his wailin' from his final restin' place.

Crothers: You'se not foolin' about is you Captain?

Captain: With all that talk of ghosks and ghosks talkin' from beyond black Hell-type gates"

[Badger]

Nice find, Pancakes!

There are several entrances to the North 40. I never saw the gates. If I had, I think that would have been enough to keep me from giving up on the North 40.

[Brick]

Whatever It Takes

[ccl28]

Both Episode 7 & 8 have Aubrey references that will take you from the black gates to the area where the treasure was buried. Not sure how they are used exactly, but that is what we were suppose to figure out. (A little birdie told me this.)

I haven't looked back through the forums, but I don't remember anyone even suggesting that the Aubrey references went into ep 8. And people suggested everything that you could imagine. That is why I say nobody came remotely close to the solution.