The New York Solution

Shore Road Park, Brooklyn, NY.

Image 12                                                The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

Verse 10

1)       In the shadow

2)       Of the grey giant

3)       Find the arm that

4)       Extends over the slender path

5)       In summer

6)       You’ll often hear a whirring sound

7)       Cars abound

8)       Although the sign

9)       Nearby

10)   Speaks of Indies native

11)   The natives still speak

12)   Of him of Hard word in 3 Vols.

13)   Take twice as many east steps as the hour

14)   Or more

15)   From the middle of one branch

16)   Of the v

17)   Look down

18)   And see simple roots

19)   In rhapsodic man’s soil

20)   Or gaze north

21)   Toward the isle of B.

The first clue in the verse combines lines 1 and 2:

1)       In the shadow

2)       Of the grey giant

The “grey giant” is a proverbial reference to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which is painted grey.  The treasure is nearby, in its proverbial shadow, which points to the south end of Brooklyn, where Byron grew up.

Notice the similarities between Image 12 and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.  Its long narrow arch shape resembles that of the bridge’s towers. They both also have water at their base and share the same greyish color of the bridge.

The next clue is arguably the most essential clue in any of Byron’s puzzles.  Many people see the New York puzzle as being the most difficult, and it is, unless you recognize this pivotal piece.  Figure this clue out, and the entire puzzle quickly emerges.

Most people read this clue as a combination of lines 3 and 4:

3)       Find the arm that

4)       Extends over the slender path

But the actual clue combines lines 3, 4, and 5:

3)       Find the arm that

4)       Extends over the slender path

5)       In summer

For many, this may seem like a distinction without a difference.  But the significance of adding those two simple words cannot be over stated.  “In summer” is a reference to the ‘Boys of Summer’; it is the only thing in this puzzle that reveals it to be about baseball.  Without this clue the reader has virtually no chance of recognizing that “the arm that Extends over the slender path” is that of the pitcher (see photo below), and the puzzle becomes almost impossible to solve.

Even with this clue, the reader must still be somewhat familiar with baseball.  While it used to be fairly common for ballfields to have a slender dirt path between home plate and the pitcher’s mound, Detroit is the last major league team to maintain such a path, for a look of nostalgia.  It is yet another example of Byron asking the reader to reach back in history to solve a clue.

The reason almost no one catches this reference to the boys of summer and baseball has to do with the next line, "You'll often hear a whirring sound".  If Byron was good at anything, he was a master at creating clues that could be used in multiple ways.  “In summer” could be used with the two lines above it, or with the one line below it.  And because it seemed to add nothing to the lines above it, almost everyone naturally attached it to the line that followed:

5)       In summer

6)       You’ll often hear a whirring sound

The popular interpretation being that it refers to the tourist helicopters that can be heard flying around New York Bay in the summer.  But for the astute puzzler, this presents an incongruity.  Byron’s clues either brought you closer to the treasure, or they led you to some historical site that he felt was worth experiencing.  Because those whirring helicopters can be heard from Staten Island to Central Park, they do neither.  Yes, he could have been talking about some other “whirring sound”.  But because “In summer” is such a critical piece of this puzzle, Byron likely added line 6 for no better reason than to camouflage line 5's critical meaning, a ploy that worked to perfection.  The fact that “In summer” is on a line by itself definitely adds credence to this supposition.

Pitcher’s Arm Extending Over the Slender Path in Summer

In the image below, notice that the domed area behind the lady has nine sections. They represent the nine positions in baseball.  The three largest sections represent the outfield positions.  They have a textured interior and a curved boundary because the outfielders play on grass against a curved homerun wall.  The six smaller sections all have solid interiors because they represent the infield positions, which are played on dirt.  Notice the one smaller section behind the bird’s wing; it has a solid interior and a small curved boundary.  The catcher plays on dirt with a small curved backstop.

Nine baseball positions shown in painting

It goes without saying that each of Byron’s puzzles is unique.  But there is much more to them than most people realize.  Entirely unrecognized and unappreciated in this puzzle is the fact that it is linked to another (kind of sister) puzzle.  Because he loved baseball, and the game’s greatest rivalry is the Red Sox and Yankees, Byron intertwined the Boston and New York puzzles.  He buried the Boston treasure under home plate and the New York treasure under the pitching rubber, and then crafted clues in each puzzle that connected it to the other.

The very first clue in the Boston puzzle speaks of Thucydides and Xenophon, referencing an 18th-century letter that compares them to Boston and New York.  The puzzle was solved without anyone understanding or realizing the New York connection.

Here in the New York puzzle the connection is more specific.  It speaks of “the slender path” that connects home plate to the pitcher’s mound.  Not only does it connect where these two treasures were buried, it eloquently symbolizes the link between these two storied teams.

When Josh Gates interviewed Byron’s daughters on an episode of Expedition Unknown, Blaire recalled that when they were little Byron had said “where would daddy bury a treasure?”  I believe he was hinting at his love for baseball, a passion the girls were likely already aware of.

7)       Cars abound

This clue speaks to the area near the treasure.  The picture below shows the Frank Schnurr Ballfield, which is located in Shore Road Park in south Brooklyn, not far from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.  Notice that just a few feet west of the ballfield is Shore Parkway, a six-lane highway where “Cars abound.”

This is why there are breaking waves at the bottom of the painting.  Waves break along the shore, a word that is well represented in the area of the treasure.  Frank Schnurr ballfield is in Shore Road Park, which is bounded on the west by Shore Parkway and on the east by Shore Road.

8)       Although the sign

9)       Nearby

10)   Speaks of Indies native

This clue refers to the Fort Hamilton High School sign that is right across the street from the park.  The school was named after Alexander Hamilton who was born in the British West Indies.

Picture of Shore Road Park in south Brooklyn

11)   The natives still speak

12)   Of him of Hard word in 3 Vols.

This clue pays tribute to a fellow Brooklyn author, Henry Miller.  “The natives” refers to the fact that Henry Miller was native to Brooklyn.  “of Hard word” refers to the fact that his work was banned in the United States until 1961 for obscenity.  “in 3 Vols.” refers to the trilogy he wrote about his life in Brooklyn, The Rosy Crucifixion.  The H in “Hard” is capitalized as a hint to the first letter in his name.  It coincides with the hint Byron gave in the Japanese version of the book, where he said that to arrive at this person, you should do a word play and start with chicken (i.e., chicken = hen, hen is the first part of Henry).

13)   Take twice as many east steps as the hour

14)   Or more

15)   From the middle of one branch

16)   Of the v

When Byron used the terms “paces” or “steps”, he equated them to the commonly recognized distance of 2.5 feet (30 inches), not so that anyone would measure it, but rather to establish an approximate distance to a particular object, which in turn would define the exact location of the treasure.  In this case that object was the pitching rubber in Frank Schnurr Ballfield.

In the above picture, Shore Road Park shows a V-shaped walking path that splits around the Frank Schnurr Ballfield.  It also shows the pitching rubber approximately 55’ east of the middle of one branch of that path.  The hour of the clock in the painting is 11. 11 X 2 = 22 steps, X 2.5’ = 55’, an exact match.

17)   Look down

18)   And see simple roots

19)   In rhapsodic man’s soil

If you look down from this location (atop the pitcher’s mound where the treasure is buried) you are looking at soil, where George Gershwin, the man who wrote Rhapsody in Blue, grew up.  Byron, Henry Miller, and George Gershwin were all authors who grew up in Brooklyn.

20)   Or gaze north

21)   Toward the isle of B.

Liberty Island, which features the Statue of Liberty, was once called Bedloe’s Island, hence “the isle of B”.  It is due north of the pitcher’s mound in the Frank Schnurr Ballfield.  In fact, this may be one of the most telling clues as to the treasure's location because there is very little else south of this island.

Aerial View of New York Puzzle Landmarks

Additional clues in the painting:

·        The bird’s head just above the lady is almost an exact match for the stone sculptures atop the Ferry Building on Ellis Island. 

·        The bulb-shaped spires just to the left of the lady can be found atop the National Museum of Immigration on Ellis Island. 

 ·        To the far left is what appears to be a door with no handle.  The shape around it represents the boat basin on Ellis Island.

What’s more, while home plate appeared in plain sight on the lady’s sleeve in the Boston painting, the pitching rubber can be clearly seen here as that door with no handle.

·        Mr. Palencar, the illustrator who created the paintings for THE SECRET, described how he represented a baseball diamond with the lady’s hair in the Boston painting. Arguably, an even better such diamond can be seen here in the New York painting, in the lady’s outstretched arms and draping sleeves, complete with a knot in her belt where the pitcher’s mound would be.

 ·        The clock face just to the right of the lady’s head indicates 11:00.  It represents the 11th month, November, the birthstone of which is topaz and the birth flower of which is Chrysanthemum.  The lady is holding a Chrysanthemum in her right hand and there is a topaz below her dress.

·        The lady’s face and part in her hair are a great match for the Statue of Liberty. 

 ·        Byron’s daughters also quoted him as saying that you can see all of the clues from where the treasure is buried.  The aerial photo above left shows how everything is visible from the pitcher’s mound on the Frank Schnurr Ballfield.

In short, absolutely every clue in this puzzle, whether from the verse, the painting, or Byron’s daughters, points to the treasure being buried under the pitching rubber in the Frank Schnurr Ballfield.

Current Status of the New York Treasure

The New York casque is still exactly where Byron buried it.  The complication with this casque is that the ballfield is now used for both Little League Baseball and softball, which means that the pitching rubber may no longer be in the same location as when Byron was there.  Satellite photos show that it has moved several times over the years.  The three best ways of dealing with this are:

1. Measure the proper Little League distance from home plate to the pitching rubber.

2. Use GPR along the centerline of the pitching mound.

3. Dig a shallow trench down the center of the pitcher’s mound.