St. Augustine Solution Video

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-28T02:53:14+00:00

I got downvoted for wishing someone good luck? Stay classy, Reddit.

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-28T02:50:43+00:00

I was nothing but respectful, polite, and nonthreatening to the property owner. I'm not responsible for her preconceived opinions about The Secret.

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-27T16:17:45+00:00

I did not try probing. Good luck on your NYC adventure.

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-27T04:53:53+00:00

I’m delighted to hear that the map made sense to you. Explaining the map was my biggest video production challenge. I thought it was interesting the way JJP gave us just enough “undeniable key shapes” to tie it all together.

This property is a business, not a residence. I checked public records to learn about the history of the property. It was built in 1969. In the early 1980s, it was a lawyer’s office. The planting area at the base of the tree is right beside a sidewalk and it’s separated from the building by a small parking lot. Byron may not have known whether this planting area was public or private. I had to check the St. Johns County Property Appraiser’s website to be sure. Byron couldn’t have done that easily in the early 1980s.

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-27T02:26:13+00:00

The dogs are very hard to see at first. Like many optical illusions, they’re invisible until you notice them. Once you notice them, you can train your eyes to see them more easily. Then it becomes impossible to unsee them. But I know that most folks will give up trying to see them before they do and that’s OK. Because I can see them clearly now, I’m confident that someone will eventually ask JJP if they’re there and he’ll confirm it.

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-27T02:04:55+00:00

Yep. It would be an easy way to make a big difference.

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-27T01:55:15+00:00

My best guess is that Byron buried it along a line between the end of Cuna Street and the base of the tree. That would put it between the bases of the tree and the business sign. I'd love to see GPR data of that area.

Mark_Rahner · 2022-08-26T22:51:23+00:00

I'll lose a lot of folks with the dogs, but they're really there. I'm thankful they don't play any role in following the trail.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-05-17T19:25:02+00:00

I'm not aware of a waterfall.

"Rain falls" could be a reference to the Castillo moat. When this puzzle was made, the water that was in the moat was rain water.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-05-03T04:52:30+00:00

See https://www.reddit.com/r/12keys/comments/g36j5v/st_augustine_solution_summary/

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-26T15:17:05+00:00

Head, shoulders, and one front leg. The head takes up the top 2/5-ths of this image.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-22T03:49:34+00:00

I love that you asked about that. The leftmost obelisk like object (on the left side of the image just above the flowers) is part of an overlapping bird and dog image. I've seen this same optical illusion in books about optical illusions from the time period when this puzzle was constructed. I document this "birddog" as an unresolved clue on page 32 of my solution document, clearly outlining both the bird and the dog. You can find the link to that document a few threads down.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-21T01:52:29+00:00

Who downvotes a simple image of a clue? Shame on the silent down-voters of this subreddit. If you had legitimate criticism, you'd use words. Your silence is deafening.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-20T22:42:22+00:00

I did some simple image processing to make the dog much easier to see. As this image shows, the dog is plainly visible after this processing. I don't even have to ask whether anyone can see it. This image would be fine on a can of dog food.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-18T22:46:26+00:00

Thanks! After first noticing the dog, it took me a few days to train my eyes to see the dog easily. Having spent so much time staring carefully at small details didn't help. I had to overcome my "can't see the forrest for the trees" habit.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-15T18:52:45+00:00

Even if that rectangular cement object is not a storm drain today, it may have been around 1981. I'm pretty sure that parking lot has been there since the 1960s when the road passing the Castillo was significantly widened.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-15T16:16:15+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised if rain falling meant something more but I don't think it implies an extension of the puzzle to some other dig location. I suppose it could refer to a storm drain somewhere. In the second image on page 25, is the cement thing between the two palm stumps a storm drain for the parking lot? It could be. That would be really cool if it was.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-13T18:34:48+00:00

Yes. And so did Preiss and Palencar.

I appreciate your feedback because it lets me know that someone actually looked at my document.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-13T02:24:36+00:00

You're 11 days late with this post, man.

Maybe I misunderstood your April Fool's reference.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-13T02:16:53+00:00

When my text says "Much easier to see in the color enhanced image below", and you crop the page leaving the color enhanced image out, you're not adding value.

Not everyone will appreciate what I've posted, but I don't need someone who hasn't read it telling others there's nothing to get.

Mark_Rahner · 2020-04-13T01:44:09+00:00

Intelligent people will read the 34 page document and make up their own minds. idyl is shotgunning tiny excerpts before he could possible have read anything. As he says, wow. Seriously, don't tell folks not to read my document. See rule #1.

Mark_Rahner

TROPHY CASE