(Indian Run Park, Jim Sanborn)
“…as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold – everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment – an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by – I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, ‘Can you see anything?’ it was all I could do to get out the words, ‘Yes, wonderful things.”
― Howard Carter, Tomb of Tutankhamen
A paraphrased extract from Howard Carter’s diary (November 26th, 1922) was used as the plain text for Part 3 of artist Jim Sanborn‘s encrypted Kryptos sculpture at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
It took CIA analyst, David Stein seven years worth of lunch breaks to decode three-fourths of the sculpture using only “a pencil and paper, some common sense, and a lot of perseverance.”
Today, the fourth and final segment of sculpture has yet to be solved. There is even an active yahoo group consisting of 2,000+ members that have been attempting to decipher Part 4 since 2003.
Learn more about Kryptos here.
Man, I love a good mystery in the morning. ♥
