Can anyone decode this message?

[Kentucky Kache]

I offer this location for any readers interested in cryptology or who want to test their decoding ability.

During the 1870's, a cave was found in the Guadalupe Mountains of Eddy County, New Mexico. Inside were two human skeletons. Around the neck of one was a silver chain with a brass plate on which was engraved this cryptic message:

May 14 1852
FROM POINT MARKED
TO POINT S TO M
AT A COMPASS CROSSING
YOU WILL FIND THE
CONTENTS OF THIS MAP
B.B.J.
S S

There is no report that this mystery has ever been solved.

 

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[Jaxster]

I don't think that this is a map to burried treasure.

Let's pick it apart.

First off.? This plate is written like a letter - with a date and a signature.? Why would someone take the time to do this?? Think about it.? If I was carving a plate to remind me where I hid something, I wouldn't do it as a letter.?

My theory is that the dead guy with the necklace found a paper letter.? He might have thought that it was directions to a treasure.? He knew that the paper wouldn't last too long so he carved it into the plate.? He spent his life trying to decipher the code and look for the treasure.

Now back to the original paper letter.? ?BBJ said at the end of his note "you will find the contents of this map"? I believe that BBJ was using reference points to map out his land.? Maybe he was selling the land and wanted the new buyer to know the boundary lines.? I believe that he was trying to tell someone where the boundries to his land was. No treasure.? Just a Real Estate deal.? LOL

Maybe BBJ was in the military on the front lines and the letter was to his General back at the fort. He was trying to tell the General in code the area that the army was in or conquered or secured. The person receiving the letter would know what points BBJ was speaking of. "from point marked" might be the position of the General. "to points S and M" S&M might be names of moutain peaks or names of other camps/forts in the area. "At a compass crossing" I think compass crossing would be a mountain range. So, he may be saying we have secured the area between Sugarloaf mountain and Mashed Potato Hill (made up names) from where you are out to the mountain range in front of you.

Too bad the poor schmuck in the cave didn't figure this out before he devoted his life to "decoding" the letter.? See what money does to people?

 

[nevrdundetecting]

maybe the contents of the map is referring to the silver that the plate is made of, maybe a silver mine or cache of silver

 

[Colorado Bob]

Sure a lot of maybeeeeesss!!!!

 

[paul]

I am a nobody but i have a guess. first off it doesn't realy seem that cryptic. m and s probably stood for mountian and saltflat or basin. The compass probably wasn't a compass like i first thought ( the kind with needle pointing north) but more likely a mariners compass the kind you use to draw circles in 5th grade. any three points would give you a place of intersect just like triangulating radio signals. it looks like the men were heading south to the mountian range. the only clue that could help you further is actualy looking at the engravment . if it gave you a geographical clue to the third point my guess is it's talking about mt guadalupe itself the salt flat, south west of it and somwhere on the saltflatanother mark or marking will give away an erea that would have to also be encoded on a physical feature of the engravement. By the looks of a local map it may be possible to narrow down to a mile or two from mt gudaupe. well let me know if you think it was worth anything

 

[hoagiem]

if you find or get a good look at the brass plate flip it over and look at the map on the backside. should be relatively easy to decipher, or not. maybe somebody already has?

 

[Roadquest]

What ever it turns out to be, be sure to let us know. Clayton

 

[lookingaround]

hello, i am new to this forum and enjoy reading the finds and stories posted in this forum. i personally know of a place where my late father suspected of money or valuables he suspected are and is a good chance were hid 3-5 decades ago. but i will post later, but as far as these two guys found in the cave dead, maybe it was some sort of treasure there and he had already arrived at this cave based on his directions he had carved on the plate, but somebody else who they had given hints about it or somehow found out about it killed them and took whatever was in there, just a theory. Mike

 

[The-Hangman]

Such an engraving on a brass plate would commonly be associated with the Spainsh in NM centuries earlier, but it is disturbing because it is written in a letter (english) format, using civilian dates (May 14... vs. 14 May...) and 1852 dates to the American historic period. My guess is its a fake.

 

[Heavy Chevy]

Such an engraving on a brass plate would commonly be associated with the Spainsh in NM centuries earlier, but it is disturbing because it is written in a letter (english) format, using civilian dates (May 14... vs. 14 May...) and 1852 dates to the American historic period. My guess is its a fake.

So you are saying that anything relating to a treasure that was written in the"American historic period" would be a fake?

There were a lot of non-spanish speaking persons walking all over the west in 1852.

Just curious,
Mike in SC

 

[The-Hangman]

Hi Mike,
No I wouldn't go that far, it is however an odd combo to find mid-19th century Americans using a metal tablet to inscribe on. It was time consuming vs. other options that were commonly available. Although a simple explanation could be that there was simply no other material available at that moment. It is my gut feeling that if it is not a fake that it is unlikely connected to treasure. There are a number of elements here that are unknown making an "educated guess" impossible. I don't consider the message to be cryptic and suspect it wasn't intended to be a treasure map as such. But hey I've been wrong before... Who knows?

Hangman

 

[gmstreet]

I agree with Paul.

It's not the map it's the key to the map.

You would put the pointy end of the compass on the marked point, then trace a line from point S and then from point M. Where they intersect is the spot. You need the map. the S and M could be abbrev. for land marks around the area of the cave they were found in, or somewhere on the other side of the earth. I'd say the actual map has an S and M marked on it as well as the "point marked". If not S couldstand for spring, stream, etc.; and M could be mountain, mission, etc. I'd research some well known treasures and treasure maps to see if anything fits the bill, and bingo your riding the gravy train with biscuit wheels, or lying dead in a cave from exposure and starvation.

Greg

 

[xXx]

Seems to me that inscribing into a metalic plate in that era would have been a lot of work. I do think whatever it is describing is of great importance.
However, one really wouldn't know where the starting point (point marked) would be since the inscription was tied to someone's neck and may have traveled from who knows where to the point of death.
Hmmmm. That's a good one. I would definately follow up on that one.
xXx