- For thousands of years,
individuals have been writing down information
to be passed on to others,
either to share knowledge or wisdom.
But some of that knowledge is so secretive
that it was written in a puzzling code
that as of today, nobody has been able to decipher.
(digital beeping)
Here are the 10 most cryptic texts nobody can crack.
Number 10 is the Tamam Shud.
On December first, 1948, a man's body was found
on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia.
Dubbed the Somerton Man, there was no identification
and no clues as to how he died.
An examination showed enlarged organs
and blood in his stomach,
but no signs of trauma or foreign substances.
What made this case memorable was a slip of paper
in the man's pocket which had Tamam Shud written on it.
Tamam Shud is Persian for finished or ended,
and the paper was traced back
to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,
a book that was discovered in a car close
to where the Somerton Man had allegedly been before he died.
In the last few pages, five coded lines
were written in pencil, a cipher which is still unsolved.
What does the code say?
Who is the Somerton Man and why did he die?
To this day, nobody knows.
Number nine is the D'agapeyeff Cipher.
In 1939 after authoring a book on cartography,
Russian-born English author Alexander D'agapeyeff
decided to write a book on cryptography,
even though he wasn't a cryptographer.
As humble as he was about his lack of experience,
he successfully created a cipher
that had even experts scratching their heads
for over 77 years.
That cipher was on the last page of his book,
Codes and Ciphers, on which he invited the reader
to test their skill by solving it.
But nobody could, and D'agapeyeff eventually
removed it from future printings,
claiming that he himself forgot the solution.
As of today, the coded message stands as a challenge
to many, and while some claim it is simply unsolvable
and that he removed it due to seeing his own error,
those who take the amateur cryptographer at his word
believe that there is still an answer out there.
Number eight is Kryptos.
On the grounds of the CIA's headquarters
in Langley, Virginia, is a giant sculpture
by American artist Jim Sanborn simply called Kryptos.
Dedicated on November 3rd, 1990,
the copper artwork, which is named after
the ancient Greek word for hidden,
has baffled experts and amateur code breakers
for nearly 27 years.
It contains four encrypted messages made from 1,735 letters,
all of which are from the Latin alphabet.
Sanborn, who went through cryptography training
with a CIA code expert, has publicly given out
two clues to the puzzle.
As of today, three of the codes have bee broken.
However, the fourth still stumps everyone
who has tried to crack it.
According to Sanborn, the key to solving the last one
is contained within the first three puzzles,
which means that this famous cipher may not
be considered unsolved forever.
Number seven is the Chinese Gold Bar Cryptogram.
In 1933, seven gold bars were minted
in relation to a business deal between
the United States and General Wang Gia Li,
a military leader in Shanghai, China.
They weigh 1.8 kilograms and if melted down,
would be worth about $80,000 today.
However, that's not the most interesting thing about them.
Each bar is engraved with different symbols and images,
including English, Chinese, and Latin characters,
in addition to several strange designs
that have yet to be identified.
What these images mean is unknown,
though allegedly the Chinese writing refers to
a transaction of over $300 million.
It's been claimed that the bars were deposited
by General Wang into the United States bank
shortly after being minted, but that fact has been disputed.
It is widely believed that if the ciphers on the gold bars
are decoded, that dispute could be put to rest,
but people still wonder, was this simply
a monetary transaction or something more?
Number six is the Shugborough Inscription.
Between 1748 and 1763, on the grounds of Shugborough Hall
in Staffordshire, England the shepherds monument
was created by Flemish sculptor Peter Scheemakers.
The piece features a mirror image of Nicolas Poussin
painting the shepherds of Arcadia.
However, it also features one of the world's
most famous unsolved cipher texts.
Carved into the monument directly underneath the image
and between the letters D and M are the letters
O U O S V A V V, a series of characters
nobody's been able to explain to this day.
One theory suggests that the letters refer
to the location of the holy grail or some other treasure,
while others look at it as simply a practical joke
to keep people guessing.
A large number of experts have studied the code,
but none have ever been able to come up
with a solid explanation.
Number five is the Phaistos Disc.
The Phaistos Disc was discovered in the Minoan Palace
of Phaistos on the island of Crete, Greece
by Italian archeologist Luigi Pernier on July 3rd, 1908.
The disc is 15 centimeters in diameter
and is made of fired clay, but what makes this artifact
truly unique are the seals that have been
stamped on both sides of it.
The 241 symbols spiral clockwise towards the center,
and there are 45 different designs in total,
including humanoid figures, plants, animals, and tools.
Experts still can't determine why the symbols
are arranged the way they are
or what they're actually saying.
Though it's obvious how the disc was likely made,
where it was made has been strongly debated.
This question, along with what the symbols represent
and what the disc was actually used for,
make it one of archeology's most famous mysteries.
Between December 1968 and October 1969,
the Zodiac had the people of northern California
staying home or traveling only in groups,
terrified of becoming the next victim.
He had five confirmed kills,
but claimed he had taken 37 lives.
He enjoyed taunting the authorities and press,
sending them at least four cryptograms
that he claimed would reveal his next victim's
and his own identity.
One of the coded messages was 408 characters long
and was solved in a matter of days,
revealing Zodiac believed his victims
would be his slaves in the afterlife.
However, another cipher, this one 340 characters long,
has never been solved, though it's been
released to the public.
You yourself can literally solve the Zodiac's
coded message right now and potentially help
identify who this was.
Why is this relevant?
Because it's believed that
the Zodiac is still out there.
Number three is Rongorongo.
Initially discovered by Eugene Eyraud,
a lay friar of the Roman catholic church
on January 2nd, 1864, the Rongorongo writing
is a set of symbols etched into 26 wooden tablets.
The etchings were found on Rapa Nui,
better known as Easter Island, a remote volcanic island
located in the south Pacific Ocean
that's world-famous for being home to nearly 400 Moai,
giant carved human statues with oversized heads
created between 500 and 800 years ago.
The etchings have never been decoded
and some believe that they may not be writing at all,
but simply pieces of art.
Regardless, they are considered one of the biggest
unsolved linguistic mysteries on Earth.
The hope is that with the deciphering
of the Rongorongo writing, the mystery surrounding
the fall of the Easter Island civilization
will finally be solved.
Number two is Linear A.
Discovered by archeologist Sir Arthur Evans,
Linear A was a writing system used between
2500 and 1450 BC, aka ancient Greece.
It was popular in palace and religious writings
within the Minoan civilization, and although it evolved
into Linear B, which has been almost totally decoded,
the initial style is still largely a mystery.
Deciphering Liner A has proven to be
incredibly difficult, even though it seemingly shares
symbols with its more evolved version.
It has hundreds of signs relating to syllabic,
ideographic, and semantic values,
so many that it's hard to determine
if the words are formed left to right or right to left.
The complexity of Linear A makes the Micenean civilization's
decision to switch to Linear B appear totally rational,
as even the best minds of today cannot crack it.
And number one is the D-Day Pigeon Cypher.
On June 6th, 1944, D-Day in World War II,
a pigeon carrying a coded message landed on a rooftop
in Bletchingley, England and somehow died,
its message seemingly lost.
That is, until David Martin tore out the chimney
in his home and found the bird's remains.
The coded message was still intact,
but the encryption was very complex.
Addressed only to X02, from W Stot SJT,
the code was written as 27 groups of five letters
and had been sent from France,
which at the time was occupied by the
Experts believe the code likely lays out
German movements within the city,
but there's no way to know without breaking the cipher.
Though hundreds of people wrote to the GC HQ
with their solutions, all were carefully examined
but none were found to be correct.
This incredible piece of history has still not been solved.
So, those were the 10 most cryptic texts
nobody can crack, and if you enjoyed this,
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