Treasure Hunters
First Annual Hunt
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
October 14th, 2006
A Rassilon Review
by
Geoffrey G. Wynkoop
“Heroes take Journeys, confront Dragons
And Discover The Real Treasure
of their Inner True Selves…”
Carol Lynn Pearson – American Writer
Where does any Adventure begin? As in all things, at the beginning... For most of us, it can start with something as simple as a quiet conversation among friends, a newspaper article, an unexpected journey, or an ancient book, long forgotten, on a back library shelf. Adventure, is anything that encourages the imagination to take flight and believe once more in all the incredible inspiring possibilities of “What If…”
For myself and my fellow travelers, our journey began on Sunday June 18th, 2006 with the first airing of NBC Universal’s summer replacement series, “Treasure Hunters.” A reality based TV series that pitted ten teams from every walk of life against one another in a global hunt to crack codes, discover hidden locations and find Treasure Troves valued at over Three Million Dollars; one of the largest prizes ever to be offered on a national television series.
The show for me was intoxicating. From the very beginning, I found myself rooting for nearly every one of the teams. Each team bearing its own individual personality and identity. Teams like Team Ex-CIA, The Fogal Family, The Grad Students, The Brown Family, The Wild Hanlons, Young Professionals, Team Air Force, Team Miss USA, The Geniuses and The Southie Boys. Ten Teams in all, each to be eliminated week by week by the enigmatic overseer and host, Lair Macintosh, until only three teams remained. But in the end, of the remaining Teams, only one would be able to claim the ultimate prize of the Treasure itself.
The Contestants each episode raced across the length and breadth of the United States and Northern Europe, seeking history and mysterious artifacts, all cloaked beneath various puzzles, codes and ciphers.
The puzzles and problems within this series fired my imagination, as this series also allowed the people at home to play along via the internet with our own set of puzzles and clues, for a chance at $10,000 dollars, and to be a part of the season’s finale.
Week after week, I matched wits with the teams on the show, and with new found friends from NBC’s on-line forums; all sharing the same Passion. --- The Passion and the Need to be the first to unraveling the mystery. To Crack the Codes, Decipher the Clues and claim the right to be the one that discovered the Hidden and Final Location; even if we could never claim the Treasure for ourselves. It was simply a need to know if we were right…
When the series ended in the fall, it left many of my friends and myself hungering for more. We all secretly planned and hoped for a second season of the series from NBC; so that we might put in our applications and join in on the next season’s hunt, competing against all comers. But, in the meantime, this shared dream needed to be acted upon.
My fellow travelers in this adventure, and I, began talking and researching the possibility of holding a private hunt of our own to celebrate this series. And in doing so, we discovered RAVENCHASE ADVENTURES. An adventure company created in 2001 by John Czarda, whose sole purpose was to provide Adventure and the Spirit of the Chase, to anyone that has ever dreamed of being Indiana Jones, or Benjamin Gates in quest of hidden Treasure.
Hiring the company, Ravenchase Adventures rose to our challenge and agreed to put on an event for us in the Historic Town of Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. What follows below is an account of my adventures, and what our Treasure Hunters group encountered in Harpers Ferry.
Friday, October 13th, 2006
“Adventures Assemble”
After weeks of planning, my journey from Philadelphia was a pleasant four and a half hour ride by Amtrak Train to the Historic Town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The trip might have been shorter, but there was an hour and a half layover in Washington D.C. before continuing on with a connecting train for my final leg. Fortunately, I had tucked the latest paperback by Douglas Preston, “Tyrannosaur Canyon” into my bag and the time passed quickly for me, lost among its pages.
The coming event in West Virginia was the brain child of one of my favorite on-line friends, Whitney, A.K.A. “Trsrhuntr”, or “Treasure” for short. After weeks of planning, back and forth e-mails, forum meetings and cross referencing of everyone’s schedules, and available times off from work, a final date of Saturday October 14th was decided upon for the hunt, when all of the East Coast Teams that signed onboard for the hunt, could agree to all be there in force.
And, as a unique bonus to our hunt, we were to have the special pleasure of looking forward to meeting several of the cast members from the original television series, “Treasure Hunters.”
Hearing of our planned hunt, four of the cast members tentatively promised to make a showing and run the hunt along side of us, barring any unforeseen commitments. These people included Jacob, and Todd from “Team Ex-CIA,” and Melissa, Kaitlyn and Kristen, of “Team Miss USA.”
Personally, I was especially looking forward to meeting Melissa, as we had chatted privately on-line a number of times in the NBC Forum. --- Plus, Whitney knowing I was by myself, was already hinting strongly that I might like to run on their team during the hunt to help them out. The prospect of serving on a team with three former Miss USA Contestants, had me already planning one day of shaking off these mortal coils and dying a “Very” happy man.
The predicted weather reports for that weekend seemed to be in our favor; for the most part. Clear and sunny with predicted highs of about sixty-one degrees. A cool, crisp, fall day to look forward to. The autumn country side was already ablaze with a myriad of golden shades of color. But, in contrast, our predicted lows for the nights were to be in the lowers-thirties and bitterly cold.
Strangely, to me, this seemed very apropos, since it was during almost identical weather conditions that the series “Treasure Hunters” first began filming almost exactly one year before in September to make its summer June release on NBC Universal television.
As the light suddenly changed, I glanced up from the pages of my novel just as my train disappeared through a long tunnel in Maryland and after several minutes emerged on the far side of the mountain in the state of West Virginia, pulling smartly into the Train Station in Harpers Ferry at 5:16 PM; literally allowing me to step from the train into the Town proper itself.
For me it was not just passing through a mountain or from one State to the next, but a passageway through time itself. Most of the town of Harpers Ferry had been restored to appear exactly, as it might have been in 1859, when John Brown and his meager band of twenty-one followers invaded this tiny hamlet in an attempted to take over the United States Armory.
The armory, long gone, stood roughly where the modern day Train Tracks were laid down. The town almost as small as it was a century and a half ago, today supports a population of only three hundred and seven full time residents.
Looking out my window at the town, I will confess it had been my intention to wander around its streets and byways for an hour. There was still daylight, and I wanted to make an attempt to familiarize myself with the town, exploring it first hand, before calling on my friends to come and pick me up at the station. This was where the epicenter of our hunt was to be the following day.
Up to this point I had possessed only a few trifling maps and the internet web sites to guide me in all my preparations for the hunt. But, all my hopeful intentions were lost to me when, stepping down from the train, I found my friend, Whitney, was already waiting for me in the station’s parking lot ready to greet me and take me back to our campsite.
On a side note, it’s always interesting to meet people you have known intimately for months. People you have laughed with, schemed with, plotted with and joked with; all via instant messenger, web forums and e-mails. But, in all this time I had never spoken to directly on the phone with Whitney, nor met her in person. So, I think for both of us during this first meeting, there was a strange awkward moment of, “Is that really you???” before exchanging greetings.
To this day, I have also strangely wondered far in the back of my own mind; if there was yet another smaller agenda in Whitney’s plan to pick me up so immediately from the station. A devilish clever thought, which might have been lurking in the back of her own mind.; a thought, about how to quietly knobble my early chances in placing well in this the coming event.
For if all truths are to be known, there was one small tiny omission that Whitney had seemingly neglected to mention to me up to now, about the preparation of this hunt. In particular, her choice of West Virginia and the town of Harpers Ferry, as our hunt location.
The detail Whitney overlooked mentioning to me up to now was that she and her family lived only twenty minutes drive outside of Harpers Ferry and she knew this town like the back of her hand.
Putting my bags into the back seat, we climbed into Whitney’s latest personal toy, a brand new HUMVEE. An all terrain vehicle; capable of running up and down the sides of mountains, fording rivers, crushing unsuspecting opposition under wheel, and possessing a very nice, very practical, center console cup holder for your “Biggie Drink.”
Whitney, enormously pleased with her new toy, gunned the engine, threw it into reverse and we tore off out of the station’s parking lot, as if the whole of the Union Army was on our heels.
While the speedometer needle on the dash merrily spun around twice, and the “G” forces threw me back firmly into the passenger’s seat --- all before I could fasten my seat belt. --- Whitney, cheerfully chatted on and thoughtfully gave me the “Cook’s Tour” of Harpers Ferry, before we headed off for the Camp.
As several darkened shapes blurred past by my vision in quick secession; Whitney calmly pointed out, John Brown’s Fort, the High Street, the Mercantile, Stonebraker’s Bakery and the lovely Church on the hill. All these swiftly vanishing from view and into our rear view mirror, with Whitney cheerily adding, “Well, that’s it! …That the entire town. Aren’t you glad you came?”
I was dumbfounded. --- I was speechless. --- I was totally amazed, because up to now I hadn’t the slightest idea that, Whitney, a Realtor by profession, possessed any secret aspirations of also becoming a Naval Jet Pilot as well.
As we hurtled on down the main road at a leisurely Mach Three; I could only sit quietly in the passenger’s seat and pray to the Gods that be, that Whitney was not going to follow up her performance with a quick “Victory Roll” of the HUMVEE.
The KOA Kampgrounds, where we stayed, I will mention, while a clean and fun area to stay, does seem to have a few very unusual ideas when it came to the personal comfort of its guests.
First, when signing up, they tag everyone with a blue wristband identity tag as if you were just so much Texas Longhorn cattle; which for me, brought forth visions of the famous “Twilight Zone” episode, “TO SERVE MAN,” causing me wonder what exactly I was worth to an Alien race on the Hoof.
Next, were the signs and constant reminders everywhere within the KOA campgrounds, that you are not Camping, with a “C,” but you are “Kamping!” All “C’s” being removed everywhere in favor of “K’s. ”
The wooded site covered about fifty acres, dividing itself up into three main areas of Kabins, RV Kamp lots and Tent Kamping. I held a reservation for a private Kabin. And I suppose I should be very grateful that I even had a roof over my head, since I owe everything to, Gail, one of our on-line Treasure Hunters Group members.
Gail and her husband had booked a Kabin early on, but at the last moment bowed out of the hunt due to a family conflict, allowing me to take over their reservation. Gail kindly called the KOA in person to make sure the transfer to my name went smoothly. For mid-October, the KOA Kamp site was unexpectedly packed to the very rafters, with standing room only available. The reason why… I would discover much later.
My own little Kabin (since you could not even describe it as a Cabin) was, I believe in a prior life, a converted Tool Shed purchased from a mail-order SEARS Catalog; onto which someone had built a small porch and a door.
Spartan in nature, it contained only a rustic bunk bed, a large queen size bed, and did not even possess a chair to sit down in. Nor were there any bathroom, or shower. Those facilities were all public and about seventy-five yards away. I had to supply my own bedding, blanket and pillow, as these were not a service offered by the KOA.
My kabin number was also Lucky #13, which came complete with some bloody finger marks pre-etched, or perhaps clawed onto my door. The marks drawing comments from everyone that saw them.
Number #13 also turned out to be the one single Kabin, in the entire camp, completely devoid of Heat...( a very nice air conditioner, which work splendidly and efficiently, ) but no Heat.
Bare in mind this was October. --- Friday the 13th. ---- I was staying in Kabin #13.--- In a remote wooded Summer Camp. --- Miles from town. --- Dark and bitterly cold at night. --- All I needed to complete this intriguing tableau, was a tall ominous fellow with a par’ chant for Hockey Masks and oversized Machetes. --- Things were not seemingly boding well for our Hero-at-Large.
With the temperature dipping down in the thirties at night, naturally I "FROZE" all weekend long; having brought only two thin blankets and bedding with me. As I lay in my bed that night, and small icicles began to slowly form on the tip of my nose; I turned on my flashlight and carefully reexamined the blue “cattle” band on my wrist. I wanted to see if there were indications on it that mentioned I was perhaps already slated for the Frozen Meats Department in the Alien’s food larder.
My angel and savior that night was Whitney, who earlier kindly drove me to a large retail outlet store she knew of, and I bought myself some sweat pants and heavy socks to sleep in to survive the icy conditions of my Kabin.
Whitney, (bless her heart) was a real Gem and a Treasure all weekend long, acting as Hostess and Mom to us all during the hunt.
Saturday - October 14th,
Breakfast flambé …
The next morning, most of our group rising early, were starting to make an appearance and checking in at Whitney’s Kabin. A diverse crew of on-line friends, known only by a mixture of real names, and their online personas.
We had Britney (Dollylama’s daughter) and her best friend. Mike Sky, a dealer in wine and his wife, Bajki Fudala-Taylor. JFray and Lady Diane. Whitney and her daughter, Taylor. T_Hunter, a programmer, and his code cracking daughter, Victoria. J15Bell and her friend Sluggy. Flidais, (a.k.a. Brittany) and her best friend, Laura, both Middle School Science Teachers. And of course myself, Rassilon. Before our eleven o’clock start time came for the hunt, there were still several more people expected to arrive and check in.
Whitney, who had gotten up early that morning, and with my help stoking the fire, began her day by attempting to prepare breakfast for all of us over an open fire grill. A feat she had never attempted before, outside of a real kitchen.
This terrific idea, and ultimate showing of love and affection for us all, lasted only until two full rashers of bacon, and its resulting liquid fat, caught fire and leapt to life.
The resulting fire created a sheet of flames and smoke high enough to bring forth envisionments of The Great Fire of London in 1666, if not the somewhat smaller Chicago Fire of 1871, nearly burning down the front porch of her own deluxe Kabin and perhaps half of the KOA site along with it.
After the flames were brought under control, and Last Rites were solemnly pronounced over the bacon. A "Unanimous Vote" was taken by all concerned, with the one “Abstention” from Whitney herself; who sincerely wanted to give it another go.
--- Our stalwartly group elected to set forth on foot across the Kamp to the early morning Pancake and Sausage Breakfast that was offered as a service by the KOA Kampground.
We reasoned it was far safer for all of us just to “Pay” for our breakfast, rather than miss the hunt, and to have bare the heavier expense of renting a large school bus to take us all on mass for a visit to the Intensive Burns Center at the county’s local hospital. Reasoning, that Medical Insurers rarely give out group discounts.
At about 9:45 AM, after our group had returned from eating the KOA out of house and home. A silver Mercedes AMD55 convertible, possessing specialized licence plates reading, in abbreviated letters, “Treasure Hunter” rolled up in front of Whitney’s Kabin and parked itself quietly.
Alighting from the vehicle with style and grace, a tall dark hair man with slender build, rakish good looks and dark sunglasses like a movie star, strolled across the green grass and presented himself with a wistful smile.
As he did so, Whitney and nearly every other woman in the group went weak at the knees. --- J. Jacob Porter, from Team Ex-CIA had arrived on the scene, just as he had promised.
Todd from Team Ex-CIA was to have joined us as well, by a last minute illness, kept him home and in bed for the weekend; but sending us all his very best.
Now, I will give you that Jacob is tall, handsome, dashing and I would not fault any woman who might wish to run off with him. --- In fact if I possessed a girlfriend at the time and she suddenly told me she was leaving me for Jacob; I would not only understand, but perhaps even help her pack for her journey.
For myself, my preference towards women is unwavering. --- Three envisionments of Beauty in particular. --- But, for all my hopes and private dreams, there was to be no second vehicle to follow Jacob’s grand entrance.
No door would swing open, allowing me to witness the earthly embodiment of the Three Graces descending and alight themselves upon the earth, letting my own heart to sigh and beat on a fiery pace.
Team Miss USA, who was to join us that weekend, ran into strong scheduling conflicts at the last minute, and all sweetly and politely apologized for having to bow out; sending their regrets to all for not being able to join us on the hunt that weekend. --- I told you things were not boding well for our Hero-at-Large in lucky Kabin number #13.
Despite of my visible disappointment over the loss of Team Miss USA. And being personally hampered from birth with a total lack of all the usual social refinements and graces so easily instilled in others. I should like to believe I was tolerably well-mannered, gracious and polite to Jacob. --- This was of course, after Whitney stopped swooning in front of Jacob, long enough to allow me to be finally presented to him.
As we chatted about his experiences on the show, I presented Jacob with a small token of my own, to thank him for his showing up for our hunt. It was just a small souvenir I had found for him, and to pass along to his fellow teammates from Treasure Hunters.
The present I decided to give Jacob, was something that seemed decidedly fitting for a man who had once been contracted out to our Government’s CIA department. My souvenir I gave to him was three Secret Decoder Belt buckles, I discovered in my travels.
Jacob, admittedly, was tickled pink by them. But for me, in pure hindsight, which as everyone knows is forever 20-20 vision. I probably should have waited to present Jacob with the Decoders at the party "After" our Race was over.
I mention this simply because, during the hunt, Jacob, was able to put my little souvenir to good use, by immediately using the decoder to crack one of the clue scrolls we were given by Ravenchase Adventures. A true story …I promise you
Had Team Miss USA been able to make it to our gathering, it had been my intention to present them with gifts as well. In fact three very special Team T-Shirts for them to wear during the hunt.
During the Treasure Hunters series, the teams were sent to Paris, France in search of the all important Cryptex, and the Secret Society that guard the artifact for them.
One of their clues led them to the Eiffel Tower and eventually to Edouard de Laboulaye’s Lady, the Statue of Liberty, on the Ile de Cygnes near the Grenelle bridge. This is the same statue that was featured recently in the film “National Treasure II: Book of Secrets.”
At the foot of this statue the girls found a stone plaque that read:
“They Hid Beneath the Streets of Paris
Clean the Streets of Paris
To find your Path”
Unfortunately the girls took this clue a little too literally, and with the buckets and scrub brushes they found next to the statue, they began to wash every square inch of Paris they could lay their hands upon; thinking that their clue was somewhere underneath all the dirt and grime that lay beneath their feet.
Painfully, what the clue was actually referring to, was to an ancient street map of Paris they had found earlier in the hunt. All they had to do was to pull out the map and wash the tempera paint off of it. Their next clue lay just beneath the paint.
This one single misstep and the hours lost, took them from Second place to Last place within the hunt. And just as they finally figured the meaning of message out, their cell phone rang and they were told by Lair, that their team had been eliminated from the race. Leaving Melissa only to sadly lament, “This is not the outfit I wanted to be eliminated in!!!”
Playing on this final mental image of them in the series, as well as adding my own theme from the old west of, “The Girls that Cleaned up Paris!” I used my photo programs and cleverly produced a lasting image of the trio standing before the Statue of Liberty all holding Mops, Scrub brushes and Brooms with the motto above saying, “We’ll always have Paris!” The image I then had printed on Pink T-Shirts to present to them that day at the hunt.
Later, I would contact and send these presents off in care of Melissa and the girls, and I received several wonderful e-mails and letters from Team Miss USA, saying how much they loved them. Melissa especially telling me she likes to wear the shirt to conventions she’s sent to, as a reminded that Miss USA Contestants are not the delicate Pageant Princesses most people take them for.
In return for my thoughtfulness, the girls of Team Miss USA sent me an autographed photograph of all of them, which I have framed, and is now sitting near my desk, even as I write this. ---- When I look at it, my heart still sighs a bit and wonders about a race that might have been; had the girls been able to make it to Harpers Ferry that weekend.
The RAVEN Has Landed
CALL
1-804
915
XXXX
Mike and I nearly hugged each other, but in this moment of utter triumph for intuitive reasoning and clue solving, there were just one, or two minor problems.
First, for myself, sadly at the time, I was one of the last holdouts against modern technology; I did not personally own a cell phone.
Secondly, the last four digits of the phone number on the page, were blurred and unreadable. The only thing we could logically do was to call Josh Czarda at the number he had given us with our belt packs, and ask him what the last four digits were. Fortunately for the home team, Mike Sky, did at least own a cell phone, but he was also extremely reluctant to use it.
Mike, at that time, was not partnered with the Verizon® “Can you hear me now???” network. He was terribly worried about getting any signal in the cemetery, and suggested that we wait until we got back down inside the town for better reception and call from there.
Now, being a total neophyte to cell phone technology at the time; this idea of Mike’s sounded fairly good, until we walked down as far as Jefferson’s Rock. This is when looking down the Stone Steps again, every gray cell in my body screamed out and demanded that we stop. We were being monumentally stupid about the way we were going about this.
Logically, whatever secret the mysterious phone number had to impart to us; it had to relate to the Cemetery. If we walked down the Stone Steps and called from the center of town, we might have to walk all the way back up the steps… AGAIN! --- The mere thought of making this journey twice in one day was too great to consider. At my insistence, Mike tried his phone from Jefferson’s Rock.
While Mike dialed, I finally took a moment and looked out to see what Thomas Jefferson saw in 1783; when he visited this spot and later wrote in his Diary “This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic.”
The view down the gap, especially during this time of autumn’s ever changing leaves, was wonderful and especially beautiful. Not much had changed in two hundred years when Thomas Jefferson himself stood by this rock. This view admittedly, was well worth all the pain and suffering of coming up to see it.
Josh’s phone rang several times before he picked up and Josh chuckled when he heard of our dilemma. He first congratulated us for being the first to find the Raven’s Stones and figuring out what to do with them.
But, instead of giving us the missing numbers, he just told us the phone number was to an answering machine. The message the machine would have given us had we called was... “Now that you have found the Raven; seek and find the (…CENSORED…) for it guards and looks over your next clue.” Mike and I looked at each other, sighed, then mounted once more the final steps to the Cemetery. We did have to go back to the Raven’s nest.
Six minutes later we returned, but this time in triumph. In our hands was one of the missing sections of Clue Number #5. Now made useless by the words that Josh had given us at The Point, but Mike and I looked upon it, as if it was gold.
There is an indescribable feeling you get inside, when who know you have successfully cracked a multilayered Ravenchase Cipher. I can only describe it to you, as a feeling of being “Worthy of the Challenge.” --- And, as in all Quests, “only the worthy will succeed.” --- And that feeling, is a wonderful self-assuring experience for anyone to undergo.
With our hearts lighten now, the journey down the stone steps was much easier. Success and gravity are wonderful helpers to speed you on your way.
We picked up Mike’s wife Bajki, now rested and ready, by St. Peter’s Church. Pausing only for a few moments to listen to the sounds of the Ku Klux Klan rally below. Their rally being broadcasted loudly over speakers in the park below. They were loud, very narrow minded and spewing their twisted views out to a World, that no longer has a place for them.
It still amazes me that this group and subculture still exists in this day and age. Personally, I have no room in my own heart for hatred and bigotry, except perhaps to hate bigots.--- Which I believe is allowed. --- But, I do have room in my heart always for a bit of wit, humor and the secret wish for something discussed the night before to have actually happen.
I mention earlier that the KOA Campsite that weekend was solidly booked at a strange time of the year, the reason being of course because of all the various groups that showed up in Harpers Ferry that day.
Friday night, as Whitney, Brittany, Laura, T_Hunter and the all the rest with myself included, were all sitting around the camp’s fire pit, roasting hotdogs and getting royally snookered; we hatched a small but delightful plan of our own.
It was just the drinks talking of course, and we never did anything; but we all played with the idea of running around the camp that night and seeing if any of the KKK staying at the KOA, had left their Whites out to dry in the clothing line.
We laughed and toyed with the delightful idea of doing their laundry for them, and dyeing all their sheets a Lovely Bright Pink, before returning them to the clothes line.
As I stood up on the hill with Mike and his wife listening, I couldn’t help but crack a wicked smile, at the thought of what these speeches might have been like that day if all the KKK, had been forced to wear Pink that day.
As our team walked down and reached the town again, we decided it was time to go for the major clue that Josh had given us at The Point and head for the Maryland Heights. To get there we had to follow a part of the Appalachian Trail.
I know it sounds strange, but a part of the Appalachian Trail does in fact run directly through the center of Harpers Ferry and crosses the river by the railroad tracks. In the mid-eighties, to help hikers of the trail, a protected footbridge was installed next to the train tracks, spanning the Potomac River and connecting it the Maryland Heights. Our clue, as stated before, told us that we were “To Seek the Enlighten Cliffs and Unlock the Secrets of the Fires that burn no more…”
Crossing the bridge by the railroad tracks could only be done at a snail’s pace, due to the extent of crowds visiting the town that day. At the end of the walkway there was a spiral staircase down and again our team had to be patient and wait, as several people with bicycles blocked the stairs going down. But, at last our team made it to the other side, and we stood at the entrance of the Maryland Heights trail.
If there is any secret to understanding Ravenchase Adventures Clues, it is to try not to over-think the problem and overanalyze. Which is all too often, more easier said, than done. As Mike, Bajki and I followed the trail path westward along the base of the cliffs, I suddenly realized what part of the clue was telling us.
“Unlock the Secrets” was a play on words. Running along side of the Maryland Heights trail, was a part of the old Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that once carried river barges hundreds of miles, before they were replaced by modern train cars. We were walking along one of the original tow paths. I might have completely overlooked this clue, until I notice a marker, showing that we were passing by Lock 43. That’s when I saw the play on words; “Unlock”--- “Canal Lock.”
Searching along the length of Lock, we spotted something on the other side, a small open ruin of something that had once been a building. The possibilities were too good to ignore.
Mike and his wife wanted to follow the natural path around and see it brought us closer, or at least to a natural crossing, or foot bridge. I, on the other hand, was feeling far more adventurous, and I simply leapt into the lock itself; on the theory that the shortest distance between any two points still remains a straight line.
Scrambling up the other side, as gracefully as I could; admitting now that I am not the slender reed of my youth, and that my swan like grace, is now more to liken to that of a lame duck, I reached the roadway beyond.
Looking both ways, I crossed the road and push my way through the bushes and weeds to enter the old ruin. Once inside the second part of the riddle made sense to me, “the Secrets of the Fires that burn no more” This part of the message too was a double entendre as well, but within three minutes of searching, I found hidden beneath weeds and rocks, a small clue scroll. Clue Number #6 had now become ours.
Returning to Mike and Bajki, we slipped the blue ribbon off of the scroll I had found, and together we read the clue aloud. Poetic in nature, the clue was not so much a puzzle but rather a poetic description of Harpers Ferry and places found within it.
This was another, the arrow points the way clue, but this time, according to the clue, we were in search of twisted iron and a poem, rather than a gravestone. We needed to return to the center of Harpers Ferry as quickly as possible.
The journey back was almost just as long, but I did at least have an idea of where to begin. Our poem spoke of clocks and I recalled as we came down off of the Stone Steps we had past a clock store at the bottom of one of the streets.
Starting here, we began to follow the stepping stones of the poem. Many were simple, others more cryptic, but finally I spotted something that caught my eye and I called Mike and Bajki to my side to check it out.
The clue spoke of finding twisted Iron and a Poem. What I was looking at was the a ornate iron railing of a staircase leading down to a bookstore. I argued what better place to look for a poem, but in a bookstore. Mike and his wife were not totally convinced, but they allowed me the time to explore this idea.
Entering the store, I found it was one of my favorite kinds of bookstores with small tight areas, crowded to the gills with books of every age and description. I have a bookstore like this in my own neighborhood, and I love exploring among the stacks, for old forgotten literary treasures.
Stopping at the counter, I ask the Bookstore owner where his poetry section might be located in the store and he gladly pointed out the far corner to us. Here I was to discovered that I was partly wrong, but also mostly right about our clue and the store.
It was not the ornate iron railing outside of the store, the clue spoke of, but a forged iron chain hanging from the ceiling above the Poetry section. This was our twisted iron and hidden among the books, was a large ancient book of poems mentioned in our clue.
Opening up the ancient tomb of poetry, Mike’s wife laughed, as we all discovered that the book was hollow and inside was our next clue scroll. We gave the honor of opening it to Bajki to read aloud.
Clue #7 spoke of a group of men, naming them all, but saying singularly none would speak, but all together would point our way. Once there, we must seek out a President for he alone holds the secret of our journey’s end.
Three confused faces looked up from the page and looked blankly at each other. We had no idea what the clue meant, or who the men mentioned were.
Thankfully we had read the clue aloud, because it caught the ears of the owner behind the counter. Looking up from the book he was reading, the store’s owner smiled at us like an all knowing college professor puffing on his pipe and quietly said, he could tell us who the men were…. “If we were vaguely interested?"
He began by relating a lesser known piece of history about John Brown. One that not many people were familiar with. Beside the twenty-one men that rode with Brown that night in 1859; John Brown had been supported and secretly funded by a small group of men. Just up the street were two places named in honor of these men. One of them just might be what we were looking for.
Thanking the gentleman quickly, we vanished from the scene and were off on the hunt again. Halfway up the street, we saw the first business the bookstore owner mentioned to us, but it didn’t seem to lend itself very well to what the rest of the clue was telling us. So we went on to the second location and entered a souvenir shop. Once inside, all we knew for certain was that we were in search of a President. Our conundrum was, this was a gift shop, and it was covered and filled with Presidents everywhere.
There were postcards of Presidents, T-shirts of Presidents, photographs of Presidents, statues of Presidents, both large and small, and even a photograph of the President of the Wurlitzer Piano Company, which sat atop of a old antique coin operated piano in one of the corners. This was an active and very real retail store, and we did not want to break anything that we could not afford to pay for. As I moved about, I began to feel like a Bull in the proverbial China Shop. Breakage, was definitely not covered in our contract with Ravenchase Adventures.
Mike, Bajki and I search among the shelves carefully, and I even pulled out the black light again, in hopes something would illuminate and point the way. But nothing showed up. The answer finally came to me about six minutes later, when I glanced down and saw something on the wooden floor itself.
Bending down, I saw particles and bits of plaster on the floorboards. Rubbing them between my fingers, they crumbled easily and at the same moment it sparked a memory. A memory of Sherlock Homes.
Josh Czarda was being both cleaver and sneaky; borrowing from one of the most celebrated of all the Sherlock Homes stories, “The Six Napoleons.” Our clue had to be hidden inside of the one of the plaster statues of the Presidents; but which one? There were at least several dozen to chose from.
Lifting each one carefully, I inspected each statue methodically. Even as Mike stood by my elbow, and asked me to please be careful. Touching the bottom of one, I found a center point where the plaster was still wet and soft. Fingering it, the plaster broke away and a clay plug followed, dropping the rolled parchment out into the palm of my waiting hand.
Mike was still begging me not to break anything, when I lifted up my hand and presented him the small parchment scroll. Suddenly Mike didn’t seem quite so interested in how careful I was being. He just began to quietly smile at me, and so did his wife.
While I was meeting high approval at this moment from my teammates, I learned later that another team was not so appreciative of the inspired brilliance among its fellow teammates. Whitney and T_Hunter had joined forces that day and were running this race as a team with their individual daughters, Victoria and Taylor.
When their team arrived at the store they too were stumped by all the Presidents on display, until T_Hunter a.k.a. Steve, looked at the statues and recalled seeing ones similar to these mentioned on Ravenchase’s own website.
Grabbing one of the Thomas Jefferson Statues from the shelf, Steve raced out of the store with it, and told Whitney he was certain the next clue was hidden inside of the statue. Whitney was thrilled and instantly dreamed of keeping the statue as a small memento of their adventures here in Harpers Ferry.
These dreams of hers however were short lived, when Steve suddenly hurled the statue to the pavement and smashed it into a million pieces, crushing it all under foot. Whitney told me her jaw hit the pavement at almost the instant that the statue did. Their team had found their clue, but she was never so angry at Steve, then in this single moment, for destroying her trophy.
The scroll inside the statue gave all our teams our final destination; the finish line. It simply said: “Well done! End at the Quartermaster’s Tavern!”
WELL DONE! AND UNDONE!!!
Up to now, Team Rass-Sky had been doing rather well in our hunt. Clues were solved, intuitive leaps of logic were paying off; but there comes a moment in every hunt when all this vanishes and rampant stupidity and abject blundering become the final order of the day.
Back in the store, I had just unrolling the clue scroll in my hand and we knew where to go; The Quartermaster’s Tavern. But, in the back of my mind I was still concerned about T_Hunter’s Team’s ten minute lead ahead of everyone else. His daughter, Victoria, was holding those ten minutes in the form of the Gold Coin she had found. In all our searches thus far, my own team had failed to find even a hint of one of these hidden golden coins.
There was, in my mind, only one way to even out the odds, and that was to go for the extra bonus points that Josh Czarda offered us at The Point. We had to search out the answer to at least one more clue, if we were to balance the scales.
This was my first major blunder. Perhaps this being my first Ravenchase hunt, or perhaps I was still riding high on the crest of my own self-approval, but for whatever the reason, as Team Captain I was making a fatal error. And this was not be the only one.
My first blunder was not immediately going to the Tavern and checking in with Josh. I believe at the time, my fear was that he would hold us there, until the other teams checked-in. My second blunder came even before we even left the souvenir store.
I wasn’t sure what to do with the small statue in my hand. I didn’t want to be accused of trying to steal it, and I was not sure if Josh expected it back for reuse on another hunt. Taking the statue to the front counter I spoke to the manager. As I was openly offering the store manager the statue, the front door open behind me and in walked “Team Leesburg Seekers” with Jacob, Diana and Jfray.
I was caught red-handed, with the statue in my hand, giving Jacob’s team now a perfectly good idea of where to look for their next clue. It was time for my team to leave, and quickly.
Now, had we left for the Tavern and checked in immediately Team Rass-Sky just might have come in fourth in the race. But, the decision to stay out and search for clues was entirely my own blundering fault. Not Mike Sky, nor his lovely wife, Bajki, they simply placed their trust in me, and I let them down.
I knew that Josh had removed the actor in “Red” from our course, Virginius Island was still closed to us, so there was really only one clue left for our team uncover, and that was our History scroll, or Clue #2.
Harpers Ferry possesses several fine museums, and our sheet in turn lead us to one of these. The poem, again cryptic, was a verbal map of the museum and its exhibits, what we were instructed to find was a name, a flag and what ever lay between them, would point our way to our solution.
Again giving credit, where credit was due, it was Mike’s wife that solved this first half of the clue for us. While Mike and I were searching high and low among the exhibits, Bajki found the name we needed and pointed out the correct flag. What we found exactly between these two objects befuddled us all, until we realized it was not what lay between them; but what lay beyond them was what was important.
What we wanted was not even in the museum. It was hidden somewhere a street, or two away. What lay between our two objects was a museum window. It was something this window overlooked that we needed to find.
Racing out of the Museum and down around the corner, I was at least given hope for doing well in the race, as we ran into T_Hunter’s and Whitney’s Team. They and their children were scouring the outside of a building in search of anything that might looked like a clue to them.
If they were still out there, I thought to myself, then there were still points to be had. --- Unfortunately for my Team, I was to learn later that T_Hunter and Whitney had already check-in with Josh at the Tavern, and were now out looking for extra bonus points.
Around the next corner, I was struck by one building that we came upon. It was another smaller museum. Harpers Ferry, for being such a small town, was apparently an important axis point for American history.
As well as being famous for John Brown’s raid, and being apart of the Appalachian Trail, it was also one of the starting points for the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
In 1803 Meriwether Lewis visited Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and its arsenal to obtain on Presidential orders, the guns and hardware needed to meet the unique requirements of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
Lewis remained long enough in Harpers Ferry to designed and have built a collapsible iron boat frame to use on their expedition. I wondered briefly if Jacob from TV’s Team Ex-CIA had seen this exhibit, and I speculated on what his thoughts might have been on the subject. His own history so strangely linked to Lewis & Clark.
In the television series “Treasure Hunters” in an episode entitled, “Bend the Light” Jacob and his fellow teammates had to follow the path of Lewis & Clark, rowing twenty miles down the Missouri River, and then decipher a clue left for them in the secret code used by Lewis & Clark to communicate with President Jefferson. I wondered if Jacob saw this place, as shades of his own past catching up with him to haunt him.
Twenty minutes of chasing our tails, and over-thinking the clue; we finally figure out that the scroll was hidden beneath a flat rock at the base of one of the town’s historical markers.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be the other location Josh Czarda had mentioned at The Point, as being in direct line of sight of some of the Park Service Rangers. The nest was empty. We had found the location, but had nothing to show for it, or even to prove that we were ever there.
At the bottom half of the hour, Mike’s cell phone rang. Just by the tone of its ring, I knew bad news was about to be delivered. I found myself understanding how Team Miss USA felt in Paris, when Lair Macintosh called them to tell them they had been eliminated.
The news for our team, was much the same. Josh was calling us to find out where we were, as every other team had checked-in and were all now waiting for us at the Tavern.
As we trudged up the hill towards the Tavern, just knowing that our team was dead last, was a bitter pill to swallow. I finally understood now what Melissa of Team Miss USA meant, when she bemoaned, “This is not the outfit I wanted to be eliminated in!!!”
She was not complaining about the clothes she was wearing, she was upset that they were not going down in the hunt “Perfect.” --- It is one thing to be beaten by another better team in speed, or mental agility, but to lose because of a stupid mistake, was painful. They knew they were better than this, and did not want to be seen in this light.
As our Team stepped out onto the garden terrace of the Quartermaster Tavern, we were met with cheers and applauds, just for making it this far. This was not jeering, or a slight, it was simple appreciation for fellow travelers in this journey we call Ravenchase. And it has always been a unwavering and unyielding Ravenchase Tradition to salute the winners and the losers equally, and alike.
Another Tradition is, as the losers, we entitled to a special award; “Two Free Drinks” on the Ravenchase’s Tab to drown our sorrows and all our mistakes in.
Though I was greeted with love and warmth; it did little to abate my own feelings of utter failure. I was sullen. I was morose. In short, I possessed all the grace and charm of an old disgruntled Bear, with a sore paw and a case of Colic. Not much was going to help with my mood.
Later back at the camp, T_Hunter and Whitney joked endlessly about how bad I looked at that moment. They said they could see the dark clouds forming over my head from all the way across the restaurant, and the weather forecast was for Gale Storms and Rougher Seas ahead. --- God pity the poor sailor out on a night like this.
My mood and my ill temperament aside, if I have to say anything for the people of Ravenchase Adventures, they usually come through with a terrific choice in restaurants to end their hunts in. --- The food was good and, of course, the “Two” Free drinks, did much to soften and comfort my ill mood and helped pull the metaphorical thorn out of my paw. So much so, I was practically fit company to be around other human beings, by the time the final tally and the awards were announced.
The honor of first place was awarded to T_Hunter, Whitney Victoria and Taylor. Their Team coming in with an unbelievable thirty minute lead over the second place winners, Team Bert & Ernie, even though they walked through the Tavern door practically at the same moment. T_Hunter’s Team had won out over, Flidias and Laura’s team by sheer strength of bonus points.
Victoria, T_Hunter’s sharp eyed daughter had not just found one coin, but two gold coins before the hunt was over. Also, T_Hunter, himself had figured out clue #3 and located the young man in “Red,” before Josh had sent the young man home.
The young man in “Red” held the third section of Clue #5 and as T_Hunter had the scroll to prove it. And his was the only team to find it, and he was award another ten minute bonus, for a total of thirty minutes, with the gold coins included.
The third position fell fifteen minutes later went to J15Bell & Sluggy’s Team, closely followed later in fourth place by Team Leesburg Seekers with Jacob, Diane and Jim (Jfray).
But regretfully I have no idea who came in, fifth and six in the race. Whether it was The Brit’s lead by MayoGirl, or DollyLama’s daughter Brittany and her team, I can not say; but I can say with reasonable certainty, I know which team came in Dead Last.
For the prizes, Ravenchase maintains another unbreakable tradition, they always give out absolutely Fabulously “Tacky” Prizes. First Prize was the Golden Flying Pig Award, married along side with a small treasure chest filled with candy and chocolate, which Taylor and Victoria both share their new found wealth of goodies with everyone at the restaurant.
Team Bert & Ernie’s Prize for Second place was awarded, The Silver Art Deco Lady, a statue of a Grecian lady standing next to a bowled pedestal. Rather pretty I thought, the way the gown flowed off her naked shoulder. Brittany tells me Laura still uses it as a candy dish in her home, and as a reminder of their team’s glorious victory that day.
The Third Prize awarded to J15Bell and Sluggy, was The Bronze Urn award. Which from the back of the restaurant, looked to me like an old Funereally Urn. I found myself musing and hoping for the girls sake, that the urn was not still occupied. If it was, it would certainly make it a unique, if not an embarrassing award. But, the girls took ownership of the award with great pride, holding it aloft.
It is an interesting thing to note about the Ravenchase choice of prizes; they all being so Fabulously “Tacky,” few people are sad for long for losing them to another team.
Some I have encountered in my travels, have confessed to being rather relieved in “not” winning, just so they would not have to drag home some of the more unusual prizes and explain them to their friends and family. The greater joy is found in just running the race and being with like-minded friends.
But, as for the Bragging Rights of Winning; these are always something highly sought after in any race. It is something wonderful to hold in your heart. Solving, and winning a Ravenchase Hunt is, I assure you, an accomplishment to take pride in.
Our Party at the Quartermasters Tavern broke up about an hour later; or rather, it simply relocated itself back to the KOA Kamp. Our party did not simply end at the finish line, but continued on well pass the midnight hour. We had other things planned as well.
From our Treasure Hunters groups from across the country, came a flood of gift baskets which Whitney used as a special Silent Auction. One of the baskets held a special treasure in it; a real Cryptex made by the hands of Justin Nevins, who made the Cryptex Artifact boxes for the television series Treasure Hunters.
The winning bid for the Cryptex was won by Jfray. As part of the winning bid, only he and Whitney, who obtained the Cryptex for the auction, would know the five lettered word that will open it.
But if anyone would care to make a guess; I should mention that there are five locking rings, with twenty six letters on each, giving you nearly 12 million possible combinations (11,881,376) to open it. Good luck in that. --- Jim (Jfray) told me that he would personally enjoy watching anyone try to solve the puzzle and open it.
Our Guest, Ex-CIA Jacob, also put in a bid on one of the basket; choosing for himself a basket containing a very special bottle of a super-premium bourbon made only in the heart of Kentucky. Produced only in small allotments. it’s known as, Woodford’s Reserve.
He lost the Basket to a joint bid from Team Bert & Ernie and Whitney’s brother Matt. But, being of a generous nature, they shared the basket’s contents with Jacob and by midnight Jacob was feeling “Very” well and “Very” content with the world.
One of the highlights of the entire evenings festival, which was by nearly universal agreement, was the introduction of J15Bell’s Chili. There were legends were born that night about how good this chili was. And the recipe is a J15Bell’s personal guarded secret. Whitney’s brother Matt at the end of the night wanted to bring home buckets of this Chili when the party ended; it was that good.
Matt was also one of our heroes of the night, as he kept the huge fire pit stoked and burning against the cold frigid weather. But, Matt also did managed get a little over zealous with his resourcefulness in finding firewood.
At least a cord of wood disappeared into the fire pit that night, and when that was gone, Matt began sneaking around the KOA camp and several discarded wooden pallets also wound up in our fire pit. By morning all evidence of his misdeeds had vanished into smoke and ashes.
For myself, still feeling out of sorts from my loss, I took up an special invitation from Team Bert & Ernie, Brittany and Laura. They had invited me to go along with them on a special outing back to Harpers Ferry. It was to join them in taking the eight o’clock “Ghost Tour,” of Harpers Ferry. --- Being a great lover of both ghost tales and history, I found the invitation too great to resist.
Stopping off for a burger at the Harper’s Café, we joined an eager group of about forty people on the tour. The tour was hosted by Shirley Dougherty, the daughter of the original woman that started these tours many years before.
In spite of the cold that night, the tour was one of the highlights of my whole trip to Harpers Ferry. A secret passion of mine, has always been finding the forgotten and unusual pages of history. And aside for the ghostly tales of Screaming Jenny, and the Phantom Army, I was far more intrigued with the unwritten pages of history that were never taught to me when I was in school.
I was very impressed with the reason why St. Peter’s Church was the one church in all of Harpers Ferry to survive the Civil War. It was due to the brilliance of one man, Father Costello, who raised a British Flag over his beloved church. Both sides of the conflict, fearing an International Incident, if they were to fire upon a British Flag, decided to spared the church from bombardment, allowing it to stand to this day. During Prohibition, one of the ruins over in the Maryland Heights was a notorious Speakeasy. And in the Maryland Cliffs above, so may illegal stills were being operated that the Chicago Mobs made special arrangements for a Train Tankard Car to stop beneath the cliffs, and be filled from a small pipe line from the flats above. I will leave it to your own imaginations to guess how much Moonshine it would take to fill a Tankard Car, and still have some left over for local consumption.
Perhaps the most interesting piece of history was why John Brown’s Raid really failed that night in 1859. His men had made a successful raid on the Armory and seized the weapons, but there was an interesting fact I learned, which was never recorded in any of the history books I read as a student. There was no ammunition stored with the guns.
The entire town was famous for the manufacture of weapons, but it possessed very little stores of powder and shot. When the townspeople came to defended the armory; many were forced to shoot and kill the raiders with six inch spikes and nails loaded into their weapons.
For anyone planning a visit to Harpers Ferry, I highly recommend making the effort to take The Ghost Tour during your visit. It is well worth the effort. The history was fascinating, and I found myself wishing that I had taken the tour before our Ravenchase Hunt, as much of its history would have been invaluable to me during the hunt.
My evening ended back at the camp, and once more by the fire pit, roasting hotdogs and swapping war stories of the day’s events with my friends, enjoying a well deserved drink. I slept cold again that night, but very peacefully, in my little Kabin #13.
The following morning, Sunday the 15th, at 11:45 Am, I was on the train heading northward back to Philadelphia. I had lost this race, but I also discovered within myself that I was now also hopelessly hooked and addicted on this wonderful clue solving adventure, called Ravenchase.
There would be other Ravenchase Adventures in my future, this much I knew, as I looked out the window at Harpers Ferry and suddenly recalled a line from NBC’s Treasure Hunters series. One spoken by Tonny Brown of Team Brown before their own team’s elimination. I think Tonny best summed up all my present feelings when he said, in a philosophical moment:
The Hunt, is the Hunt
The Game, is the Game
And we go on as we always have…
I had lost this race, but I was not defeated. There would be other games and I would not stop, until I brought home the Gold...
Until the next Hunt, and we all meet again…
I Remain Very Sincerely and Philosophically Yours,
Geoffrey G. Wynkoop
A.K.A.
*** Post Script: In the spirit of Love and Fun, I apologize to my friend Whitney, who I endlessly enjoy poking fun at, and who is by the way, a very safe driver and a God sent to all our teams for putting this Hunt together for us all. --- We love you Whitney.
And I will also mention one last strange alliance from this hunt. In July 2008, Laura from Team Bert & Ernie, married Matt, Whitney’s Pyrotechnic brother. I only hope their Love for each other burns as brightly as the fires kindled that night.
Congratulations to you both. – G.G.W.
For Photos of Hapers Ferry and the Hunt just click on this Link
