After ten years, cryptic notes hidden in a 19th-century silk dress have been decoded, revealing a surprising and intriguing story.
A fascinating discovery has been made in a 19th-century silk dress.
Hidden inside a secret pocket were cryptic notes that have puzzled people for over a decade.
Cryptic notes were found hidden in a 19th-century silk dress.
The dress, dating back to the 1880s, was found by Sara Rivers Cofield in an antique shop in Maine in 2013.
She stumbled upon these notes while examining the dress more closely, and what she found turned out to be quite surprising.
At first glance, the notes seemed like a collection of random words.
For example, one line included the words “Bismark, omit, leafage, buck, bank.”
Rivers Cofield posted about her find online, seeking help from others to decode the mysterious messages.
This led to a long journey of research and collaboration.
The initial speculations surrounding the cryptic notes
Initially, many believed the notes were written in a style similar to telegrams.
This was a reasonable assumption, given the era when the dress was made.
During the late 19th century, telegrams were a popular way to communicate.
However, the true meaning of the notes remained unclear for many years.
“The silk dress cryptogram, as it came to be known, was considered by expert and amateur cryptogram lovers the world over to be one of the top 50 unsolvable codes in the world,” NOAA said.
Expert finally decodes cryptic notes after ten years
A breakthrough came when Wayne Chan, a researcher from the University of Manitoba, became involved.
Chan has a hobby of solving codes and took an interest in cryptic messages.
He discovered that the words used in the notes closely resembled those found in weather reports sent by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
The notes contained weather observations.
Chan’s investigation revealed that the notes contained weather observations from various locations.
He found that each line in the messages referred to specific weather conditions, such as temperature, wind direction, and precipitation.
For instance, the line “Bismark, omit, leafage, buck, bank” actually referred to a weather report from Bismarck, North Dakota.
The details in the notes were specific. The word “omit” indicated the air temperature was 56°F, and “leafage” referred to the dew point at 32°F.
The notes also mentioned that the weather was clear, with no precipitation and a wind speed of 12 mph from the north.
The observations were taken on May 27, 1888, providing a snapshot of the weather on that day.
This connection to historical weather data adds a new layer of significance to the silk dress and its notes.
It showcases how people communicated vital information about the weather in the past.
The use of coded language in weather reporting was a common practice, especially during the time when telegraphy was becoming more widespread.
Despite this exciting discovery, the identity of the woman who wrote the notes remains unknown.
Chan even investigated a possible lead at a Signal Service office in Washington, D.C., but it did not yield any results.
This leaves the mystery of the dress’s original owner and her reasons for writing the notes unsolved.