“I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate ciphers, but I confess that this is entirely new to me.”

Sherlock Holmes

The Adventure of the Dancing Men

 Dear surfer:

            I write to convey details, heretofore unpublished, of a narrative secretly written during my lifetime but not given to the public until many years after my death.  This narrative has become legendary in three diverse fields, cryptography, buried treasure and historical literature.  Included in the story are the oldest unsolved ciphers and one of the most sought after buried treasures in the history of the United States. 

           The author of this famous manuscript is not currently known, as the story was published anonymously in 1885.  For over one hundred and sixteen years, despite the best efforts of literary historians, treasure hunters and cryptographers, the author’s identity, along with the solution to the ciphers and the location of a buried treasure, have remained a mystery.  

           In the appended monograph I provide clues to the identity of the author of this most famous narrative.  These details are submitted in the hope that I, the creator of this mystery story that has captured the attention of the world’s great investigators for over a century, will finally receive the credit for which I am entitled.  For I, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote this classic treasure hoax before I died in 1849.  I arranged, to the last detail, the circumstances upon which the story would be published and I have relished for all these years the strength of the unbroken ciphers I created so long ago.

           The time has come to reveal my authorship of these papers, for I grow weary of the futile efforts of modern man.  Unlike the Egyptians, who were content to wait 5,000 years until Champollian deciphered their hieroglyphics, I am impatient for the recognition I never received during my time on Earth.  For I have left a gift to you, Future Man, a treasure more valuable than gold, silver or jewels.   I have deposited, not in the ground beneath the Appalachian Mountains, but in the literature of my soul, a treasure, a story.  A gift buried in one of my writings by using a cipher as the spade and beautiful words as my earth.

           I submit these clues freely; you may publish this monograph without risking any claim of copyright by me.  But woe to the publisher who fails to give me credit.  I will haunt you mercilessly.      

           I present to you evidence that I, Edgar Allan Poe, am the author of The Beale Papers.  This evidence is offered in the hope that some good man, building upon these clues, might unlock the ciphers and discover the literary treasure that I have left to posterity.  It is needless to say that I shall wait with much anxiety the development of the mystery. 

Ever yours,

 Edgar Allan Poe