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CAROL VORDERMAN: In the Blue
Ridge Mountains of Virginia,

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is this treasure hunter
about to claim his bounty?

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Does this ancient
slab of Viking writing

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mean America was
born in Minnesota?

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And could this coded book
reveal the elixir of life?

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00:00:38,190 --> 00:00:41,100
Mysteries from the files
of Arthur C. Clarke,

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author of "2001" and inventor
of the communication satellite--

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now in retreat in Sri Lanka,
he ponders the riddles

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of this and other worlds.

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ARTHUR C. CLARKE: Like
all old buildings,

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the Dutch house near my home
in Colombo hides many secrets

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amassed over three
centuries, since the days

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when the Dutch were the rulers
of this much colonized island.

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Within these walls,
the Dutch stored

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this piece of paper,
which must have

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been classified as top secret.

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It's a treaty they signed
with the local rulers.

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In the version the
Dutch made public,

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they agreed to destroy all
the forts in the island.

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But in this one, which
was for Dutch eyes only,

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there's no mention
of any such promise.

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And the Dutch, of course, held
onto the forts and to power.

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We've only to read both
versions of this treaty to find

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the truth of the matter.

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But all over the world, there
are writings, inscriptions,

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coded communications, mysterious
maps, and weird manuscripts

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which have fascinated,
obsessed, and usually

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frustrated the experts who have
tried to crack their secrets.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: In this fairy
tale castle deep in the forests

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of southern Germany,
Kirsten Seaver

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hopes to find the key to the
world's most controversial map.

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But across the Atlantic,
in Washington, DC,

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Dr. Bob McGhee contests her
solution to the mystery.

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They disagree over this
piece of parchment,

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known as the Vinland Map.

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It's claimed to be
the first documentary

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proof that the Vikings
discovered America.

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In the far west, this scrap of
land can only be North America.

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Its outline matches
the Newfoundland coat.

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But the map has been
dated to 1440, 50

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years before Columbus set sail.

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In the top left hand
corner, an inscription

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says that the map is based
on information passed

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down from Viking explorers.

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On Columbus Day 1965,
Yale University announced

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it had bought the map.

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An outcry ensued.

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From the first,
there were those who

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doubted the map's
authenticity and demanded

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to know its history.

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But this man, Lawrence Whitten,
who sold the map to Yale,

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would not explain
where it came from.

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Test proved the
parchment was medieval.

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But scientists disagree
about the age of the ink.

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Archaeologist Bob McGhee rests
his case on historical facts.

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He believes the map
may well be genuine.

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BOB MCGHEE: Well,
the Norse were quite

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expert at navigating
east-west across the Atlantic

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alone single lines of latitude.

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So the latitude
of locations would

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be the type of
information which we

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can see being very carefully
passed on to later generations

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of sailors.

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And this information would have
been available to European map

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makers of the time.

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And if we look at the latitudes
of the Vinland configuration

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on this map and compare
them with those of Europe,

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it's quite remarkable
how they do line up.

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If we look at the
southern tip of Vinland

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and go across to Europe, we come
to Brittany or the northern end

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of the Bay of Biscay here.

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And if we look at a
modern map across here,

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from the northern end of the
Bay of Biscay, and go west,

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we find that it matches almost
exactly the southern tip

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of Newfoundland.

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Now, the northern
tip of Newfoundland

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matches with about the
south coast of Ireland.

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And if we go back
to the Vinland map

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and look at this first big inlet
and measure across to Europe,

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we find that it matches with
the south coast of Ireland.

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So this configuration from Bay
of Biscay up to the south coast

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of Ireland correlates very
nicely with the island

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of Newfoundland.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: It's
known that the Vikings

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did reach North America.

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In the 1960s, archaeologists
found the remains

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of their settlement.

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To McGhee, the dates
are everything.

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Now, if a forger had drawn this
map back in the 1920s and 1930s

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and wanted the latitudes to
match up with what they thought

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at that time the Norse had
known, the island of Vinland

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would have been placed much
further south, because it was

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fairly commonly accepted
that Vinland would have been

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somewhere down Cape Cod, the
mid-Atlantic states, perhaps,

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whereas since that time,
all archaeological evidence

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and most scholarly evidence
now concludes that Vinland must

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have been the island
of Newfoundland

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or the Gulf of Saint Lawrence,
well north where it used to be

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thought to be, and exactly where
it is shown on the Vinland Map.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: McGhee's
theories are thought

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small [INAUDIBLE] in Bavaria.

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Kirsten Seaver is quite
sure that the map is a fake.

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KIRSTEN SEAVER: It would
be like the virgin birth.

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It has no tradition behind it.

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It has no reality around it.

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It would not-- it cannot be.

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CAROL VORDERMAN:
Seaver is convinced

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she knows who forged the Vinland
Map-- a Jesuit priest who

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died here at Wolfegg Castle.

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Only he fitted the
profile of the forger.

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KIRSTEN SEAVER: The person
had to be interested in maps.

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Secondly, he or she had
to be fluent in Latin.

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Thirdly, the person
had to know where

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all the bones of
contention lay buried when

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it came to the Vinland voyages.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: In the
1930s, Father Josef Fischer

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was a world expert on maps.

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He devoted his days
to teaching history,

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until the Nazis
closed his college.

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Taken under the wing of
Wolfegg's prince and princess,

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he spent his last years in
the bosom of their family.

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He left some vital clues.

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KIRSTEN SEAVER: Here
at Wolfegg Castle,

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they have many of Father
Fischer's letters.

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His handwriting is, of
course, of great interest

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if we want to pin the
Vinland Map on him.

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As you can see, it's very
impatient handwriting,

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with a very characteristic
D-- like that.

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It's full of strong
lateral strokes.

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The D that you see in this
lecture is so similar to the D

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that you see in this map
that, for starters, it

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is an interesting coincidence.

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You will also see that he writes
on paper with line guides.

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The more tidily written legends,
such as the one at Vinland,

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are written with a line guide
exactly two millimeters apart.

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That is not a medieval form.

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Father Fischer would
not have thought

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that it was wrong
to make such a map,

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because he was convinced that
such a map, in some form,

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had existed.

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I believe he decided
to fill in the gap.

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Essentially, he
made the map he'd

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been looking for all his life.

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ARTHUR C. CLARKE: I'd like to
see a solution to the mystery

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of the Vinland map.

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It's more important than simply
deciding whether university

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wasted good money on a fake.

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If it's genuine, the map would
banish myths and illusions

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of geographical history.

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It would not only show
how much of America

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the ancient Norse explored.

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It might also mean that
Christopher Columbus didn't

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come across the New
World by chance,

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but actually knew
where he was going.

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But perhaps there's
another answer

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to the mystery of how
far the ancient Norse

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explorers penetrated America.

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It's to be found in a
weird inscription which

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brings the tourists from
far and wide to a small town

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in Minnesota.

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CAROL VORDERMAN:
Alexandria cherishes

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its links with Scandinavia.

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It's where, in the 19th
century, many immigrants

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Swedes make their home.

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The town's museum boats
an extraordinary tourist

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attraction.

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This stone slab is
covered with runes,

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lettering of the ancient Norse.

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Translated, it says
that a party of Vikings

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were attacked by
Indians and forced

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to flee to their longboats.

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The date carved into
the stone is 1362.

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The people of Alexandria
have a proud boast.

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They believe the Vikings
visited their hometown

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and left their calling card.

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I will show you the
rune stone that was found

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near Kensington, Minnesota.

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It proves that the
Vikings were here.

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CAROL VORDERMAN:
The stone was found

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in 1898 by a Swedish
immigrant called Olaf Ohman.

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He said he found the slab
buried in the roots of a tree.

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The discovery brought
fame to the Ohman family.

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But some people doubted
the story of the find.

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They suggested it
was Ohman's own work.

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The Ohman farm, where
the rune stone was found,

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is preserved for
posterity by the town.

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Grandson, Lalard Kolberg, won't
hear a word against Olaf Ohman.

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00:10:39,550 --> 00:10:42,070
LALARD KOLBERG: My
grandfather was an honest man,

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and he was a hardworking man.

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00:10:44,170 --> 00:10:48,006
The Kensington rune stone
is a true Viking stone

201
00:10:48,006 --> 00:10:52,540
found by my grandfather
on the Ohman farm.

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00:10:52,540 --> 00:10:58,440
And it would be-- to add, my
great grandmother was a very

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religious person, so they
can't say that my grandfather

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00:11:01,660 --> 00:11:02,380
made that stone.

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00:11:02,380 --> 00:11:04,670
There's no way, because
he was not educated enough

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00:11:04,670 --> 00:11:07,980
for doing things like that.

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00:11:07,980 --> 00:11:12,787
CAROL VORDERMAN: Einar Bakke
remembers Ohman from childhood.

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00:11:12,787 --> 00:11:14,220
EINAR BAKKE: Well, he
was a real honest man

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00:11:14,220 --> 00:11:15,780
as far as I was concerned.

210
00:11:15,780 --> 00:11:19,130
He didn't listen for
practical jokes of any kind.

211
00:11:19,130 --> 00:11:22,280
And I'm sure he would not sit
and carve a rock like that.

212
00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:27,760
I'm positive it's genuine as
far as Ohman was concerned.

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00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:29,990
CAROL VORDERMAN: But in L'Anse
aux Meadows, Newfoundland,

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00:11:29,990 --> 00:11:32,280
where it's known
the Vikings landed,

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00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:37,320
Norse expert Birgitta Wallace
is skeptical of Ohman's claims.

216
00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,170
With the help of stonemason
Nathaniel [INAUDIBLE],

217
00:11:40,170 --> 00:11:42,635
she is conducting a runic test.

218
00:11:42,635 --> 00:11:47,970


219
00:11:47,970 --> 00:11:51,290
When I first saw the
Kensington rune stone,

220
00:11:51,290 --> 00:11:53,990
one thing that struck
me as very unusual

221
00:11:53,990 --> 00:11:57,100
was the very, very
long inscription.

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00:11:57,100 --> 00:12:00,490
Normally, a rune stone
only says, so and so

223
00:12:00,490 --> 00:12:03,015
erected this stone in
memory of so and so.

224
00:12:03,015 --> 00:12:05,400
But that's it.

225
00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,720
When I saw that the runes were
cut into a weathered surface,

226
00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:13,430
but the runes themselves
had not weathered,

227
00:12:13,430 --> 00:12:18,165
it suggested to me immediately
that they were quite recent.

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00:12:18,165 --> 00:12:20,640
Rune marks, as we know
them from Scandinavia,

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00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:25,830
were all done with a pick hammer
that makes a U-shaped, much

230
00:12:25,830 --> 00:12:28,520
more uneven cross section.

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00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:33,600
This was a very clear,
straight, V-shaped cut.

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00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,310
CAROL VORDERMAN: Birgitta
suspected the runes were

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00:12:35,310 --> 00:12:39,150
carved with a modern chisel.

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00:12:39,150 --> 00:12:40,740
So I went and got one.

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00:12:40,740 --> 00:12:45,410
And lo and behold, they
fit perfectly in size.

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00:12:45,410 --> 00:12:49,160
All the upright ones had been
made with a regular North

237
00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:53,650
American one inch chisel.

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00:12:53,650 --> 00:12:56,250
CAROL VORDERMAN: Birgitta's
research in Sweden uncovered

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00:12:56,250 --> 00:12:58,540
secrets from Ohman's past.

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00:12:58,540 --> 00:13:00,630
They strengthened
the case against him.

241
00:13:00,630 --> 00:13:04,940


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00:13:04,940 --> 00:13:07,220
BIRGITTA WALLACE: Olaf
Ohman has been portrayed

243
00:13:07,220 --> 00:13:10,730
as a simple and rather dumb
farmer who couldn't even

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00:13:10,730 --> 00:13:12,650
in his wildest
dreams have thought

245
00:13:12,650 --> 00:13:14,240
of something like a rune stone.

246
00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,230
But he was very
interested in history

247
00:13:17,230 --> 00:13:19,730
and read very deep
philosophical things.

248
00:13:19,730 --> 00:13:21,550
He wrote poetry.

249
00:13:21,550 --> 00:13:25,260
And a very little known
fact is that Olaf Ohman

250
00:13:25,260 --> 00:13:27,090
was not a farmer to begin with.

251
00:13:27,090 --> 00:13:30,290
He was a stonemason.

252
00:13:30,290 --> 00:13:33,860
I think that the
Kensington stone is proof

253
00:13:33,860 --> 00:13:36,920
not that the Vikings
went to Minnesota,

254
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,760
but that Minnesota
had a very large

255
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,170
Scandinavian immigrant
population in the 19th century.

256
00:13:43,170 --> 00:13:47,130


257
00:13:47,130 --> 00:13:48,980
ARTHUR C. CLARKE: When you
are dealing with runes,

258
00:13:48,980 --> 00:13:51,300
it's always wise to be wary.

259
00:13:51,300 --> 00:13:54,920
In 1953, Swedish
experts announced

260
00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:59,360
they'd found an inscription
dating back almost 1,000 years.

261
00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:01,510
But the translation
soon revealed

262
00:14:01,510 --> 00:14:03,300
a very different story.

263
00:14:03,300 --> 00:14:09,300
The message actually read,
"Joe Doakes went east 1953.

264
00:14:09,300 --> 00:14:16,910
He discovered
Europe, holy smoke."

265
00:14:16,910 --> 00:14:19,070
CAROL VORDERMAN: In the Blue
Ridge Mountains of Virginia,

266
00:14:19,070 --> 00:14:20,850
there may be gold.

267
00:14:20,850 --> 00:14:24,025
Coded clues left
in 1822 by a man

268
00:14:24,025 --> 00:14:27,465
called Thomas Beale have drawn
hundreds of treasure hunters

269
00:14:27,465 --> 00:14:30,610
to Bedford country.

270
00:14:30,610 --> 00:14:33,000
Albert Atwell
believes his detector

271
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,412
can fin precious metals
buried deep underground.

272
00:14:36,412 --> 00:14:38,570
ALBERT ATWELL: I came here
looking for the Beale treasure

273
00:14:38,570 --> 00:14:41,570
148 time in the last six years.

274
00:14:41,570 --> 00:14:44,760
And I've hunted all four
different directions.

275
00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:46,330
And I've tried to
break the codes, tried

276
00:14:46,330 --> 00:14:48,650
to locate the treasure by it.

277
00:14:48,650 --> 00:14:51,570
So maybe one day, we'll find it.

278
00:14:51,570 --> 00:14:54,960
I'm going to keep looking for
it in my spare time, practically

279
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,310
every weekend, or at
least five times a summer,

280
00:14:57,310 --> 00:14:59,940
because I still believe it's
here, and it's gonna be found.

281
00:14:59,940 --> 00:15:02,445


282
00:15:02,445 --> 00:15:06,220
CAROL VORDERMAN: Albert is
not the only treasure hunter.

283
00:15:06,220 --> 00:15:08,370
Sergeant Cooper of the
sheriff's department

284
00:15:08,370 --> 00:15:12,185
knows this only too well.

285
00:15:12,185 --> 00:15:14,037
DAVID COOPER: The Beale
treasure is a nuisance.

286
00:15:14,037 --> 00:15:18,490
And it's part of our job, you
know, just to more or less take

287
00:15:18,490 --> 00:15:19,540
care of the complaints.

288
00:15:19,540 --> 00:15:24,360
One man called in that
someone had dug six or seven

289
00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:26,020
holes on his property.

290
00:15:26,020 --> 00:15:30,651
There was another incident
where a man called that someone

291
00:15:30,651 --> 00:15:33,470
dug where his cattle was at.

292
00:15:33,470 --> 00:15:35,410
If the cows would
have fell in it,

293
00:15:35,410 --> 00:15:36,490
he would have lost some cows.

294
00:15:36,490 --> 00:15:40,830


295
00:15:40,830 --> 00:15:44,420
And then there was one incident
where they was digging up

296
00:15:44,420 --> 00:15:46,570
a cemetery at a local church.

297
00:15:46,570 --> 00:15:49,610
I arrested a man and a
woman, plus this small dog

298
00:15:49,610 --> 00:15:51,755
we had to put in the dog pound.

299
00:15:51,755 --> 00:15:54,870


300
00:15:54,870 --> 00:15:56,340
CAROL VORDERMAN:
In the early 1800s,

301
00:15:56,340 --> 00:15:58,100
Thomas Beale is
said to have found

302
00:15:58,100 --> 00:16:01,850
gold, silver, and precious
jewels on a trip out west.

303
00:16:01,850 --> 00:16:04,610
Three ciphers tell where
he hit the treasure

304
00:16:04,610 --> 00:16:06,940
in his native Virginia.

305
00:16:06,940 --> 00:16:10,240
The seemingly incomprehensible
lists of numbers

306
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,330
are thought to say
where it's buried--

307
00:16:12,330 --> 00:16:16,150
somewhere in these hills.

308
00:16:16,150 --> 00:16:19,090
Code breaking has become
a community hobby.

309
00:16:19,090 --> 00:16:23,537
Farmer Jimmy Luck thinks
he might have the answer.

310
00:16:23,537 --> 00:16:25,270
JIMMY LUCK: I've been working
with a Cheyenne Indian

311
00:16:25,270 --> 00:16:27,730
from Colorado for
a good many years.

312
00:16:27,730 --> 00:16:31,380
And he deciphered the code.

313
00:16:31,380 --> 00:16:34,820
And all the information we get
out of the code, we have found.

314
00:16:34,820 --> 00:16:36,530
And it has led us
to a certain spot

315
00:16:36,530 --> 00:16:39,560
to where we think the
treasure's buried.

316
00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:43,130
We are 90% sure--
maybe a little more--

317
00:16:43,130 --> 00:16:45,100
that we're in the right spot.

318
00:16:45,100 --> 00:16:47,170
CAROL VORDERMAN: All Jimmy
needs now is the landowner's

319
00:16:47,170 --> 00:16:49,260
permission to dig.

320
00:16:49,260 --> 00:16:52,260
It is really frustrating
to know where it is and not

321
00:16:52,260 --> 00:16:55,570
have your hands on it,
because after so many years

322
00:16:55,570 --> 00:16:58,260
you worked on it, tried
so hard to find it,

323
00:16:58,260 --> 00:16:59,870
and you think you've
come up with it,

324
00:16:59,870 --> 00:17:03,196
and then somebody just
cuts you off from it.

325
00:17:03,196 --> 00:17:04,829
We're gonna keep working
to the find the treasure

326
00:17:04,829 --> 00:17:06,500
as long as we're here.

327
00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:10,250
I think some day,
we'll be able to dig

328
00:17:10,250 --> 00:17:12,599
at the place we think
the treasure's buried at

329
00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:13,490
and come up with the gold.

330
00:17:13,490 --> 00:17:17,002


331
00:17:17,002 --> 00:17:18,335
CAROL VORDERMAN:
Beale's cryptic ciphers

332
00:17:18,335 --> 00:17:21,640
have been scrutinized by one
of the world's leading experts

333
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,099
and writers on code breaking.

334
00:17:24,099 --> 00:17:26,950
Dr. Stephen Matyas has
tried to put himself

335
00:17:26,950 --> 00:17:30,660
in the mind of Thomas Beale.

336
00:17:30,660 --> 00:17:35,680
He believes he knows how
the cipher was concocted.

337
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,630
STEPHEN MATYAS: The key that
I have come up with is a 10

338
00:17:39,630 --> 00:17:40,990
by 10 key.

339
00:17:40,990 --> 00:17:43,290
The alphabet in
this key consists

340
00:17:43,290 --> 00:17:47,080
of letters, some
syllables, some words

341
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:48,870
and common phrases
that would have

342
00:17:48,870 --> 00:17:51,670
appeared in Beale's messages.

343
00:17:51,670 --> 00:17:54,020
CAROL VORDERMAN: Matyas
admits that his key depends

344
00:17:54,020 --> 00:17:56,980
on intelligent guesswork,
his code breaking

345
00:17:56,980 --> 00:17:59,760
experience, and common sense.

346
00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:01,750
After much trial and
error, he believes

347
00:18:01,750 --> 00:18:04,260
he's on the right track.

348
00:18:04,260 --> 00:18:07,480
STEPHEN MATYAS: So for
example, the number 21 refers

349
00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:12,630
to the letter in the row number
two and column number one,

350
00:18:12,630 --> 00:18:16,180
which is the letter
T. Number 17 refers

351
00:18:16,180 --> 00:18:21,070
to the letter A that appears
in row one and column seven.

352
00:18:21,070 --> 00:18:24,610
And if you continue in this
manner and decipher each

353
00:18:24,610 --> 00:18:27,890
of the numbers, you get
a message that reads

354
00:18:27,890 --> 00:18:31,600
"Take the road to Fin Castle.

355
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:40,300
The vault is beneath a big round
stone with the initials TJB."

356
00:18:40,300 --> 00:18:42,530
CAROL VORDERMAN: But
Matyas's ingenious work

357
00:18:42,530 --> 00:18:44,070
may yet be in vain.

358
00:18:44,070 --> 00:18:47,980
The Beale ciphers
could be a hoax.

359
00:18:47,980 --> 00:18:53,020
If Beale ever existed, and
if the treasure ever existed,

360
00:18:53,020 --> 00:18:56,790
I feel confident that the
solution method that I am

361
00:18:56,790 --> 00:19:00,100
proposing will be
the method shown

362
00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:03,130
to lead to an actual
decipherment of paper

363
00:19:03,130 --> 00:19:07,950
number one and will be the basis
for leading to the treasure.

364
00:19:07,950 --> 00:19:20,860


365
00:19:20,860 --> 00:19:23,240
CAROL VORDERMAN: Some
can't afford to wait.

366
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:24,916
Albert has hired a backhoe.

367
00:19:24,916 --> 00:19:55,172


368
00:19:55,172 --> 00:19:59,000
ALBERT ATWELL: [INAUDIBLE] Beale
treasure could be right here.

369
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,010
More than likely, it is here.

370
00:20:01,010 --> 00:20:02,250
We have to dig and find out.

371
00:20:02,250 --> 00:20:07,250


372
00:20:07,250 --> 00:20:08,790
If I don't find it
here today, we'll

373
00:20:08,790 --> 00:20:12,050
go back to work on the codes
and buy better equipment

374
00:20:12,050 --> 00:20:13,400
and then hunt somewhere else.

375
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:15,790
I'm never going to give up
hunting for the treasure

376
00:20:15,790 --> 00:20:18,123
until somebody finds it or I do.

377
00:20:18,123 --> 00:20:27,800


378
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:29,390
CAROL VORDERMAN:
At Yale University,

379
00:20:29,390 --> 00:20:32,680
one buildings stands
out from all the rest.

380
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,870
The Beinecke Library
is a forbidding place.

381
00:20:35,870 --> 00:20:40,500
Susan Tsantiris knows it well.

382
00:20:40,500 --> 00:20:42,750
SUSAN TSANTIRIS: This library
does mean a lot to me.

383
00:20:42,750 --> 00:20:44,715
As a child, I came here
and saw all the books.

384
00:20:44,715 --> 00:20:48,550
Of course, you couldn't touch
anything or breathe in there.

385
00:20:48,550 --> 00:20:50,600
And then, as an
undergraduate student,

386
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,860
I spent hours and
hours of my life--

387
00:20:53,860 --> 00:20:57,380
I still remember every
one of them-- poring over

388
00:20:57,380 --> 00:20:59,720
a particular
manuscript was there

389
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,870
and trying to make
some sense of it.

390
00:21:03,870 --> 00:21:05,320
CAROL VORDERMAN: The
Voynich manuscript

391
00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,155
is an exquisite
book, first heard

392
00:21:07,155 --> 00:21:09,830
of in Prague in the 1600s.

393
00:21:09,830 --> 00:21:12,200
The writing seems
unintelligible.

394
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,910
But the weird illustrations
point relentlessly

395
00:21:14,910 --> 00:21:16,590
to a hidden meaning.

396
00:21:16,590 --> 00:21:20,130
Theories include a
medieval herbal guide,

397
00:21:20,130 --> 00:21:23,580
an astrological hand
book, or even elusive

398
00:21:23,580 --> 00:21:27,410
recipe for the elixir of life.

399
00:21:27,410 --> 00:21:31,460
Only one man has claimed
to be close to the answer.

400
00:21:31,460 --> 00:21:36,380
Robert Brumbaugh was a
classics professor at Yale.

401
00:21:36,380 --> 00:21:40,930
He died in 1992, but his
fascination with the Voynich

402
00:21:40,930 --> 00:21:43,590
lives on in his children,
Robert and Susan.

403
00:21:43,590 --> 00:21:48,460


404
00:21:48,460 --> 00:21:53,466
They find it hard to leave
their father's notes untouched.

405
00:21:53,466 --> 00:21:55,790
Well, the first thing that
hits you when you see it is it

406
00:21:55,790 --> 00:21:57,830
should be something that you
could just pick up and read

407
00:21:57,830 --> 00:21:59,850
with just a bit more effort.

408
00:21:59,850 --> 00:22:02,420
The illustrations are
beautiful and vivid.

409
00:22:02,420 --> 00:22:04,960
There's a combination
of scientific work.

410
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,840
And there's a humor to
it that's very rustic.

411
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,410
CAROL VORDERMAN: Together,
Susan and her father

412
00:22:12,410 --> 00:22:16,290
identified 14 distinct
characters in the Voynich.

413
00:22:16,290 --> 00:22:20,950
Some seemed close to our own
writing, others quite strange.

414
00:22:20,950 --> 00:22:23,340
Brumbaugh's inspiration
was to use numbers

415
00:22:23,340 --> 00:22:25,510
to translate the manuscript.

416
00:22:25,510 --> 00:22:29,760
With Robert, he began
to construct a key.

417
00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,890
ROBERT BRUMBAUGH: Father tried
several possible arrangements,

418
00:22:33,890 --> 00:22:39,330
came out with this one, which
turned out to work the best.

419
00:22:39,330 --> 00:22:43,620
Now, in this box, you see
that one number represents

420
00:22:43,620 --> 00:22:47,000
any one of these three letters.

421
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,790
CAROL VORDERMAN: Matching
numbers to the Voynich

422
00:22:48,790 --> 00:22:51,220
characters was much
more difficult.

423
00:22:51,220 --> 00:22:54,810
But the family had
a stroke of luck.

424
00:22:54,810 --> 00:22:58,740
One of the most important clues
helping to match the characters

425
00:22:58,740 --> 00:23:01,520
in the manuscript
with numerical values

426
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,020
is a set of marginal
notes on one

427
00:23:04,020 --> 00:23:08,140
of the folios of the
manuscript that appear

428
00:23:08,140 --> 00:23:11,660
to be arithmetic problems.

429
00:23:11,660 --> 00:23:13,480
CAROL VORDERMAN: The
discovery of these equations

430
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:15,060
was a watershed.

431
00:23:15,060 --> 00:23:18,820
Brumbaugh used them to help
confirm his suspicions.

432
00:23:18,820 --> 00:23:20,590
He thought he could
now understand

433
00:23:20,590 --> 00:23:23,050
some of the Voynich
characters to fill

434
00:23:23,050 --> 00:23:27,320
in his code breaking key.

435
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:29,580
He tested his ideas
on the lettering

436
00:23:29,580 --> 00:23:31,475
beside one of his
favorite pictures.

437
00:23:31,475 --> 00:23:35,020


438
00:23:35,020 --> 00:23:37,180
SUSAN BRUMBAUGH: If you take
the letters that in here--

439
00:23:37,180 --> 00:23:40,100
or the squiggles,
the scrawls-- they

440
00:23:40,100 --> 00:23:46,540
look like this--
pi, A, 2-- each one

441
00:23:46,540 --> 00:23:48,580
of those being a distinct form.

442
00:23:48,580 --> 00:23:54,240
If you then ascribe to them the
numerical values that appeared

443
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,440
on the chart that
my father developed,

444
00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:02,750
you have 7, 5, 7, 7, 5, 2.

445
00:24:02,750 --> 00:24:05,970
One of the possible readings of
it-- the only one-- is pepper.

446
00:24:05,970 --> 00:24:07,740
And interestingly
enough, this actually

447
00:24:07,740 --> 00:24:10,580
looks very much like a pepper.

448
00:24:10,580 --> 00:24:13,700
My father had a feeling that he
could read more and more of it.

449
00:24:13,700 --> 00:24:14,930
But it remained slow going.

450
00:24:14,930 --> 00:24:16,960
And he read bits and
pieces here and there.

451
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,290
He read labels.

452
00:24:18,290 --> 00:24:20,480
He read some of the star maps.

453
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,200
Then he began reading pages.

454
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,055
But as he went, some of
it was almost distressing

455
00:24:25,055 --> 00:24:28,060
in its ambiguity, because
toward the end of some pages,

456
00:24:28,060 --> 00:24:29,730
he thought that perhaps
the author lapsed

457
00:24:29,730 --> 00:24:31,680
into a kind of gibberish.

458
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,450
Does that mean that perhaps
the code needed adjusting

459
00:24:34,450 --> 00:24:36,910
or that the author
was performing

460
00:24:36,910 --> 00:24:39,640
a major hoax on the reader?

461
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,400
We've deciphered enough
to show that underneath

462
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:47,670
is a very heavily padded or
repetitive message which either

463
00:24:47,670 --> 00:24:52,400
conceals a second level
message, or perhaps

464
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:53,605
doesn't conceal anything.

465
00:24:53,605 --> 00:24:58,320


466
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,020
ARTHUR C. CLARKE: The
mysteries in this program

467
00:25:00,020 --> 00:25:03,130
show the extraordinary lengths
to which people will go

468
00:25:03,130 --> 00:25:05,300
when they want to keep secrets.

469
00:25:05,300 --> 00:25:08,140
And we've even more
secrets to keep today.

470
00:25:08,140 --> 00:25:11,740
As we change information by
computers, telephone lines,

471
00:25:11,740 --> 00:25:15,850
and satellites, the more
we need uncrackable codes

472
00:25:15,850 --> 00:25:18,430
to make sure that our
messages are read only

473
00:25:18,430 --> 00:25:20,430
by the people they're sent to.

474
00:25:20,430 --> 00:25:23,550
So these puzzles from
the past may one day

475
00:25:23,550 --> 00:25:27,960
help to guide us on the
information superhighway.

476
00:25:27,960 --> 00:26:00,467