So classically, steganography is the art of hiding something in plain sight. Gary Phillips had made a point about the text in K4 that made me wonder. Is it possible that the ciphertext of K4 can be found in the other parts of Kryptos?
Nothing to do but try it. I printed off my grids of the ciphertext panels, the plaintext of those panels and the vigenere tableau. The idea was to work from left to right and find the K4 text in order. Perhaps the orientation of the letters would reveal something or I could cut them out and layer it as a grille over one of the other sections.
Trying to find the K4 text in the enciphered Copperplate, I made it as far as OBKRUOXOGHULB before I ran out of text. I chose not to start back at the beginning because I thought that would be stretching the concept a little too much. To be sure the idea worked, I decided that if it didn’t fit the first time around then it just didn’t work. I used this standard for the other sections.
Trying to find the K4 text in the plaintext of the Copperplate, I made it as far as OBKRUOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWF. No luck.
Trying to find the K4 text in the Vigenere tableau was better but only as far as OBKRUOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNY.
Out of curiosity I tried to find the Morse code in K4, a reversal of the method. I was stumped however and after looking at the letter frequency it becomes easily apparent that with it’s PT frequencies, the Morse code text could never fit into a depressed frequency ciphertext like K4. For example, there are 14 I’s in the Morse code message and only 4 I’s in the K4 text.
A simple idea to use and reverse engineer but unfortunately, not a successful one.
Now this is a stretch, but hear me out — I’ve been toying with this idea for a number of years.
When I was a kid, I used to write lovely little notes to my parents. Sometimes I would hide a secret message within my notes, and ask them to solve my riddle. The technique involved my writing the secret message first and then building a second message around it. The second message would contain clues that implied there was something more to the letter, and if they could do a little word sleuthing, would realize my message contained instructions on how to read the secret passage. It involved counting off every x characters in the letter to read the new one. Sometimes I would substitute “you” for “u” or “see” for “c.”
The reason I mention this is because the biggest giveaway in my notes was how the final text was worded. It was always awkward sounding, because I had to force the outer message — it was constrained — limited to my inner message. I would spend hours adjusting the inner and outer messages until it was done. When other kids were out playing baseball, I was writing steganographic messages for my mom and dad to discover. I was probably six years old when my dad presented me with a little puzzle — he said there was a barrel, and upon looking inside he replied: OICURMT. My dad would ask, “What was in the barrel?” After several minutes, I’d reply, “Nothing.”
From the first day I ever read K2, I was reminded of those childhood ciphers I’d invent. I am well aware that I have always projected my own experience onto interpreting the Kryptos Sculpture, and so I’ve always been willing to abandon an idea in time if nothing came of it (temporary abandonment is the only antidote to k4 syndrome). K2, to me, has always sounded forced. I know the official story is that k2 was written to sound like a Morse Code transmission. I’ve been a little skeptical, to say the least.
We know there is steganography. I’ve described a particular kind of steganography that I had never heard before.
We know palimpsest is going to play a role. My childhood inventions were a kind of palimpsest. If another message is embedded somehow, it would be virtually invisible. It would be decorated with passage debris, and the subtle shading of meaning in my outer messages would make it difficult for my parents to know that another message existed. I had to help them by shedding a little light on the subject. In that absence of that light, there was the illusion that I wrote somewhat uninteresting notes for no reason at all.
K1, a qlu. K2, a palimpsest. k3, decoding instructions. k4, the combination.
I think I know how to solve this puzzle, because I’ve figured out most of the combination.
Well don’t give up! I like the descriptions of sceptism and limits as an “antidote for K4″. When folks aren’t merely repeating the same news stories over and over, you can occasionally find a site that describes some outlandish scheme that they cannot believe would be bogus. I have to force myself to set conditions that a solution of a certain type would have to meet before I would continue attempting to make it work. So far, nothing I’ve tried has inspired me to continue it as is. I hope you’ve gotten enough results to feel good about pursuing your method because it would be awesome to know the guy that solved Kryptos, even if it wasn’t me, perhaps especially since I’m accustomed to my non-famous lifestyle.
I wouldn’t mind being famous for solving Kryptos
The person who solves this will be hated by many. More power to you.
Gary,i have got to tell you that your childhood experience may be Sanborn’s only hope
artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up