Advertisement
The next puzzle wasn't solved until 2004, when an attorney named Brian Zinn tracked down a casque in Cleveland from a verse that mentioned Socrates, Pindar, and Apelles (all three names are etched into a pylon at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens). After four hours of digging holes, he found the casque buried next to a wall marking the perimeter of the gardens.To date, the Cleveland casque is the last known resolved puzzle. "Byron Preiss, according to family and friends, figured all of them would be found upon publication. I don't think he realized how difficult the poems were," said James Renner, an author and filmmaker who's working on a documentary about the book."We didn't really care who found the treasure, we just wanted to solve the puzzle." — Brian Zinn
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Despite the many obstacles blocking the expedition and recovery of the remaining ten casques, few of the searchers seem ready to give up."Believe me, there are so many times where I've thrown this thing down and I said, 'I'm never going to do this,'" Pivonka told VICE. "And then a couple weeks later, a team member says, 'Oh, hey, we found this.' And you're right back in it.""I think part of the fun of it, at least from Byron Preiss's point of view, is he knows that people would have to sneak around to dig up these things, sort of like an Indiana Jones–type of thing," Zinn said. "Unfortunately, we live in a different world today. I don't know if I can make a case as to why we should be allowed to dig because I don't know if that case really exists."As for the gems, which were believed to be confiscated in bankruptcy proceeding after Preiss's death, Preiss's widow Sandi Mendelson told VICE they're safely in her possession and will be available to the first people to recover the remaining casques."If somebody would find something, yes," said Mendelson. "I haven't done anything with them, so they're still around."Follow Zach Brooke on Twitter."Out of all the things I've done, nothing in the last ten years has got me as excited or as involved personally as this." — John 'Michaels' Pivonka