CURSE OF GOATMAN'S CYPHER
June 15, 2011 2:00 PM Subscribe
I intercepted someone's scavenger hunt and may have an anagram (or some other cypher) that needs solving.
I came across a notecard taped to a no-parking sign that said, "You've made it this far. Impressive. now go to Goatman's Bridge." Goatman's bridge is an old landmark around here (Denton, TX) that's supposed to be haunted. The notecard was not weather worn. It had been raining recently so the card couldn't have been there for much more than a day.
So, I went to the bridge and found, written fairly recently on the deck of the bridge in sort of a Terminal-type (image of part of it) font was this:
LA-HYPHY-J-RUHH-FEATHAZ-MAMBA-C-LOS-FINN
This could be some kids', you know, tags. La Hyphy, J-Ruhh, etc. but the way that it's written doesn't seem much like how some middle school taggers would write. Furthermore, it was written recently on a wooden deck exposed to the elements and won't last all that long. You can't see it in the pictures, but they seem to have taken care to match the color to the color that the metal of the bridge is painted. Again, perhaps not very random-tagger-like.
I also checked the area more thoroughly than seemed necessary given how the first one was hidden and didn't find another notecard or anything else clue-like. I went to the bridge two days after I found the notecard, which doesn't seem like enough time for them to figure out that their chain had been broken (The notecard was found relatively late at night indicating that maybe it would have taken multiple days to complete.).
The pseudo-words make it unlikely to be ROT-r, but I tried anyway, and it's not. I've never been good with anagrams, especially if they might not be perfect anagrams. This is about the extent of my cyphering abilities, and there's a real chance that this isn't even a cypher. Googling these "names" doesn't seem to return much. Any ideas?
I came across a notecard taped to a no-parking sign that said, "You've made it this far. Impressive. now go to Goatman's Bridge." Goatman's bridge is an old landmark around here (Denton, TX) that's supposed to be haunted. The notecard was not weather worn. It had been raining recently so the card couldn't have been there for much more than a day.
So, I went to the bridge and found, written fairly recently on the deck of the bridge in sort of a Terminal-type (image of part of it) font was this:
LA-HYPHY-J-RUHH-FEATHAZ-MAMBA-C-LOS-FINN
This could be some kids', you know, tags. La Hyphy, J-Ruhh, etc. but the way that it's written doesn't seem much like how some middle school taggers would write. Furthermore, it was written recently on a wooden deck exposed to the elements and won't last all that long. You can't see it in the pictures, but they seem to have taken care to match the color to the color that the metal of the bridge is painted. Again, perhaps not very random-tagger-like.
I also checked the area more thoroughly than seemed necessary given how the first one was hidden and didn't find another notecard or anything else clue-like. I went to the bridge two days after I found the notecard, which doesn't seem like enough time for them to figure out that their chain had been broken (The notecard was found relatively late at night indicating that maybe it would have taken multiple days to complete.).
The pseudo-words make it unlikely to be ROT-r, but I tried anyway, and it's not. I've never been good with anagrams, especially if they might not be perfect anagrams. This is about the extent of my cyphering abilities, and there's a real chance that this isn't even a cypher. Googling these "names" doesn't seem to return much. Any ideas?
Could be music references. "Hyphy" is a hip-hop term, "Ruhh" is a rock band from Mumbai, "Feathaz" could be read as "Feat. (featuring) HAZ" (HAZ is the stage name of Steve Hastings, an electronic musician), "Mamba" could be a number of things: a defunct pop group, a Wu Tang song, (or it might mean "Mambo" instead, "Los Finn" could be one of the Finn Brothers (Split Enz, Crowded House). Not sure what to do with the single J and C.
posted by amyms at 2:30 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by amyms at 2:30 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
I went to the bridge two days after I found the notecard, which doesn't seem like enough time for them to figure out that their chain had been broken
Or, they had already found it, and just hadn't taken the card you found with them. Maybe there were multiple competitors/teams, but only one copy of each clue, so they were required to leave the clue in place after finding it.
Maybe the clue at Goatman's Bridge was in the form of a person there who told them the next clue, which is why you didn't find it two days later.
Or Goatman's Bridge might have been the final destination, with the prize waiting there for the first team to arrive.
Or maybe the writing on the bridge is part of the hunt, but it also requires something else (other clues or instructions) they found earlier in the hunt to solve.
In any case, Decrypto doesn't come up with anything meaningful, so I doubt it's a simple substitution cipher. And any cipher more complex than simple substitution would probably be too difficult for a scavenger hunt (at least without the aforementioned additional clues or instructions), unless it were being done by professional cryptographers.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:32 PM on June 15, 2011
Or, they had already found it, and just hadn't taken the card you found with them. Maybe there were multiple competitors/teams, but only one copy of each clue, so they were required to leave the clue in place after finding it.
Maybe the clue at Goatman's Bridge was in the form of a person there who told them the next clue, which is why you didn't find it two days later.
Or Goatman's Bridge might have been the final destination, with the prize waiting there for the first team to arrive.
Or maybe the writing on the bridge is part of the hunt, but it also requires something else (other clues or instructions) they found earlier in the hunt to solve.
In any case, Decrypto doesn't come up with anything meaningful, so I doubt it's a simple substitution cipher. And any cipher more complex than simple substitution would probably be too difficult for a scavenger hunt (at least without the aforementioned additional clues or instructions), unless it were being done by professional cryptographers.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:32 PM on June 15, 2011
Mamba is a type of sailboat and Finn is an Argentine sailing club. Just a little bit of a stretch, there.
posted by desjardins at 2:49 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by desjardins at 2:49 PM on June 15, 2011
Response by poster: It might be worth noting that there's only one way to enter the bridge, and the message is situated in such a way that if you read it as you came upon it it'd be backwards, so that wouldn't be unreasonable. Running it backward through Decrypto with and without hyphens produces some semi-tantalizing strings. Seems stretchy, though.
posted by cmoj at 2:51 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by cmoj at 2:51 PM on June 15, 2011
i realize graffiti varies tremendously by region, but i've seen tags in this style through california very close to the words in your picture. i would be surprised if this block edged style were limited to around here, and if texas weren't acquainted with it. my guess would probably be that yeah, they're just tags. but i really hope someone will come in and make some sense of it!
posted by ilk at 3:09 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ilk at 3:09 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ruhh feathaz = Rukh (Roc) feathers?
posted by Gordafarin at 3:15 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by Gordafarin at 3:15 PM on June 15, 2011
It's possible it's a substitution cypher substituting vowels for other vowels (and counting Y as a vowel). In which case the first word would probably be "to." Does _o__o (MAMBA with A for O) correspond to a local place name where the first and third letter are the same? N and H would represent consonants that can be doubled at the ends of words. L and S are the most likely. (RUHH could be "hill" for instance.) But it's hard to think of an intelligible reading for FEATHAZ.
I think it's much more likely that it's an anagram, but the number of letters in the words is preserved. (Expecting somebody to solve a cypher on the fly, seems a bit much.) Go for the short words first.
The two letter word at the beginning has to be "in," "an," "at" or "to." The one letter words are probably "a" or the directions, N, E, S (there's no W). Could C-LOS-FINN correspond to N/E/S San something with four letters? N. San Juan, maybe? (Anything that works will eliminate a few letters.)
In any case it's probably directions, so knowing local place names would be essential to guessing it correctly.
posted by nangar at 3:23 PM on June 15, 2011
I think it's much more likely that it's an anagram, but the number of letters in the words is preserved. (Expecting somebody to solve a cypher on the fly, seems a bit much.) Go for the short words first.
The two letter word at the beginning has to be "in," "an," "at" or "to." The one letter words are probably "a" or the directions, N, E, S (there's no W). Could C-LOS-FINN correspond to N/E/S San something with four letters? N. San Juan, maybe? (Anything that works will eliminate a few letters.)
In any case it's probably directions, so knowing local place names would be essential to guessing it correctly.
posted by nangar at 3:23 PM on June 15, 2011
I also figured they were musical clues. Along with amyms's ideas above, "C-LOS" could certainly be read as Cee-Lo's.
posted by rokusan at 3:36 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by rokusan at 3:36 PM on June 15, 2011
Maybe you're supposed to read the syllables alternatingly. For example, LA FINN HYPHY LOS J C RUHH MAMBA FEATHAZ includes interesting things like "la fin" (french) or "laughing" for LA FINN, "remember" for "RUHH MAMBA", and uh... phyllos. Why not.
posted by segfault at 3:47 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by segfault at 3:47 PM on June 15, 2011
It's graffiti. It's a very common handstyle, a dumbed down version of cholo hand.
And why would they tape a notecard to a parking sign for one clue and vandalize a bridge for another?
posted by gally99 at 4:27 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
And why would they tape a notecard to a parking sign for one clue and vandalize a bridge for another?
posted by gally99 at 4:27 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: This is in Denton, Texas. A college/hipster town known for music. I did notice, searching that some of these are musical artists.
And why would they tape a notecard to a parking sign for one clue and vandalize a bridge for another?
Because the bridge is not only in the woods, but frequented by hikers, and kids looking for a place to smoke or whatever they do these days who would find a notecard placed anywhere one would find it. The notecard was taped to a sign in a place in a parking lot that few would have any reason to walk past. It's out of the way (and you can't park there.) I was only there because I realized I'd taken a wrong turn and went to cut trough an alley.
There's a lot of graffiti in the area and it's all obviously by kids. There's cholo hand around, but nothing matching this, really. And nothing else at all on the wood. It's just doesn't seem like a place someone who'd letter like that rather than some straight stereotypical style would go to write.
Though the chances seem slim that these people are such mad puzzlers that AskMe didn't quickly crack a clue that was presumably meant to be solved.
I'm gonna have to think about _o__o.
posted by cmoj at 5:35 PM on June 15, 2011
And why would they tape a notecard to a parking sign for one clue and vandalize a bridge for another?
Because the bridge is not only in the woods, but frequented by hikers, and kids looking for a place to smoke or whatever they do these days who would find a notecard placed anywhere one would find it. The notecard was taped to a sign in a place in a parking lot that few would have any reason to walk past. It's out of the way (and you can't park there.) I was only there because I realized I'd taken a wrong turn and went to cut trough an alley.
There's a lot of graffiti in the area and it's all obviously by kids. There's cholo hand around, but nothing matching this, really. And nothing else at all on the wood. It's just doesn't seem like a place someone who'd letter like that rather than some straight stereotypical style would go to write.
Though the chances seem slim that these people are such mad puzzlers that AskMe didn't quickly crack a clue that was presumably meant to be solved.
I'm gonna have to think about _o__o.
posted by cmoj at 5:35 PM on June 15, 2011
The Internet Anagram Server has about 48K results for those letters. Have Fun
posted by timsteil at 5:44 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by timsteil at 5:44 PM on June 15, 2011
In keeping with my music-related guess above, it looks like it could be a promo for a performer named MC Lars, or for a show in which he appears with other artists that fit into the cypher. Here's the evidence (in the order the words appear in the graffiti):
MC Lars has a single (and video) called "White Kids Aren't HYPHY."
I think the RUHH part might be an extension of "Ruh" (the phrase "Ruh-Ruh-Ruh-Rock" is common on Hyphy fan sites) or "Ruh Roh" (a la Scooby Doo, I'm guessing) which also shows up as a common interjection on Hyphy sites. There are two different people whose social networking sites reference the name "J-RUHH" but I'm not linking them because they don't seem to have any connection and I don't want to be responsible for them being stalked by Mefites lol. Maybe more of a longshot: On MC Lars' Facebook and Twitter, he says that "Test for Echo" by Rush is one of his favorite albums (maybe the RUHH in the graffiti is a misspelling of Rush?).
I still think the FEATHAZ part means FEAT. HAZ ("featuring Haz") because HaZ (Hassan el-Gendi) shows up as a performer on the same sites as MC Lars and others. (I was wrong earlier about HaZ being Steve Hastings. Totally different guy.)
Still not sure what to make of MAMBA. There are several possibilities (songs, bands, promoters) that fit within the musician/show theory.
I like rokusan's idea of C-LOS maybe meaning "Cee Lo's." In a similar vein, it turns out that "White Kids Aren't Hyphy" was inspired by a song called "I Wish" by former MTV VJ Skee Lo (sounds similar enough to be a distant "maybe").
On MC Lars' album "This Gigantic Robot Kills," one of his collaborators was Donal FINN.
Or, LOS-FINN might go together, referring to a location. There are several venues in Texas with "Finn" in the name that could host live music.
posted by amyms at 9:06 PM on June 15, 2011
MC Lars has a single (and video) called "White Kids Aren't HYPHY."
I think the RUHH part might be an extension of "Ruh" (the phrase "Ruh-Ruh-Ruh-Rock" is common on Hyphy fan sites) or "Ruh Roh" (a la Scooby Doo, I'm guessing) which also shows up as a common interjection on Hyphy sites. There are two different people whose social networking sites reference the name "J-RUHH" but I'm not linking them because they don't seem to have any connection and I don't want to be responsible for them being stalked by Mefites lol. Maybe more of a longshot: On MC Lars' Facebook and Twitter, he says that "Test for Echo" by Rush is one of his favorite albums (maybe the RUHH in the graffiti is a misspelling of Rush?).
I still think the FEATHAZ part means FEAT. HAZ ("featuring Haz") because HaZ (Hassan el-Gendi) shows up as a performer on the same sites as MC Lars and others. (I was wrong earlier about HaZ being Steve Hastings. Totally different guy.)
Still not sure what to make of MAMBA. There are several possibilities (songs, bands, promoters) that fit within the musician/show theory.
I like rokusan's idea of C-LOS maybe meaning "Cee Lo's." In a similar vein, it turns out that "White Kids Aren't Hyphy" was inspired by a song called "I Wish" by former MTV VJ Skee Lo (sounds similar enough to be a distant "maybe").
On MC Lars' album "This Gigantic Robot Kills," one of his collaborators was Donal FINN.
Or, LOS-FINN might go together, referring to a location. There are several venues in Texas with "Finn" in the name that could host live music.
posted by amyms at 9:06 PM on June 15, 2011
Or... It might have something to do with HyphyTek, maybe related to this blog post about the Playstation Vita:
Interact with the world. Wi-Fi and 3G* capabilities pinpoint the location of nearby opponents, send friends on treasure hunts, and keep the world updated on your rank.
posted by amyms at 4:56 AM on June 16, 2011
Interact with the world. Wi-Fi and 3G* capabilities pinpoint the location of nearby opponents, send friends on treasure hunts, and keep the world updated on your rank.
posted by amyms at 4:56 AM on June 16, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
I doubt that's actually correct though. I hope you're able to puzzle it out, but even if you can't it's a cool little find. I am going to be wondering about it all afternoon.
posted by missix at 2:28 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]