The Dancing Men - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle LbNA #56761 (ARCHIVED)
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Add Location| Owner: | Marley's Ghost  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Dec 20, 2010 |
| Location: | |
| City: | East Haddam |
| County: | Middlesex |
| State: | Connecticut |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | E.V.A. |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Mar 11, 2016 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFFFFFFFFaFFFFr |
| Last edited: | Dec 20, 2010 |
The Dancing Men Letterbox
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a Sherlock Holmes story called The Adventure of the Dancing Men which was first published around 1905 and appeared in a magazine. The title is intriguing, ‘dancing men’ sound out of place in the Victorian England of Sherlock Holmes. The case turns out to involve a man whose beloved wife, Elsie, receives anonymous notes containing simple childish drawings of stick figure men drawn in various positions that make them appear to be a line of ‘dancing men’. The sketches are found on a paper left in their yard as well as on a wall, a door and a windowsill of their house. When Elsie sees these drawings she reacts in terror which she cannot hide from her husband. She is an American with a secret past which she left behind to begin a new life in England with her husband. Elsie refuses to tell her husband the significance of the drawings and why she is so afraid of them. Her husband is concerned for her safety so he consults Sherlock Holmes. Holmes determines that the drawings are actually a cryptographic code, a basic substitution cipher, which he is soon able to break although not in time to prevent tragedy. Holmes deduces that Elsie understands the code and is terrified by the translated messages.
Holmes learns that Elsie’s past includes connections with a gang of criminals in Chicago and one criminal in particular named Abe who had intended on marrying Elsie. Abe found Elsie in her new life in England and he turns out to be her tormentor, he has tracked her down with the intention of bringing her back to Chicago with him. At one point the husband finds a ‘dancing men’ message scrawled on a panel of the door of their home, soon after a shorter message appeared on an adjacent door panel; Holmes translated the first cipher to read ‘Come Elsie’ and determined that the short cipher on the adjacent panel was a reply left by Elsie. Her cipher is depicted on the stamp which is hidden in this letterbox.
This story is included in the Sherlock Holmes film series starring Jeremy Brett as the famous detective and David Burke as Dr. Watson. The story is a quick read and is available online, it can be found by Google search. The code can also be found easily online and one site is set up to translate any message to ‘dancing men’ code: http://www.geocachingtoolbox.com/index.php?lang=en&page=dancingMen
William Gillette was an actor who portrayed Sherlock Holmes on stage for many years beginning around 1899. His portrayal supposedly had the favorable approval of Doyle and Gillette was popular with theatergoers in the US and Britain. Gillette designed and built a home on a hill overlooking the Connecticut River; it was completed in 1919 for a reported total cost of one million dollars. The state of Connecticut now owns and maintains the castle and its grounds as Gillette Castle State Park. The park has trails and picnicking areas that are free; visitors may tour the castle for a small fee. It’s really a nice place to visit and a great place for a Sherlock Holmes letterbox. The castle is closed in winter but the grounds are still open during the day.
Clues to the Dancing Men letterbox:
In Gillette Castle State Park:
23,15,15,4 2,18,9,4,7,5 14,5,24,20 20,15 6,9,6,20,5,5,14 13,16,8 15,14,5 23,1,25 18,15,1,4. 5,14,4 15,6 2,18,9,4,7,5 23,9,20,8 19,9,7,14 20,8,1,20 19,1,25,19 19,5,22,5,14 18 18 19. 21,14,4,5,18,19,9,4,5 2,18,9,4,7,5 2,5,20,23,5,5,14 6,9,18,19,20 20,23,15 19,21,16,16,15,18,20 2,15,1,18,4,19.
2,5,8,9,14,4 1 18,15,3,11.
There is no stamp pad in the box so be sure to bring your own.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a Sherlock Holmes story called The Adventure of the Dancing Men which was first published around 1905 and appeared in a magazine. The title is intriguing, ‘dancing men’ sound out of place in the Victorian England of Sherlock Holmes. The case turns out to involve a man whose beloved wife, Elsie, receives anonymous notes containing simple childish drawings of stick figure men drawn in various positions that make them appear to be a line of ‘dancing men’. The sketches are found on a paper left in their yard as well as on a wall, a door and a windowsill of their house. When Elsie sees these drawings she reacts in terror which she cannot hide from her husband. She is an American with a secret past which she left behind to begin a new life in England with her husband. Elsie refuses to tell her husband the significance of the drawings and why she is so afraid of them. Her husband is concerned for her safety so he consults Sherlock Holmes. Holmes determines that the drawings are actually a cryptographic code, a basic substitution cipher, which he is soon able to break although not in time to prevent tragedy. Holmes deduces that Elsie understands the code and is terrified by the translated messages.
Holmes learns that Elsie’s past includes connections with a gang of criminals in Chicago and one criminal in particular named Abe who had intended on marrying Elsie. Abe found Elsie in her new life in England and he turns out to be her tormentor, he has tracked her down with the intention of bringing her back to Chicago with him. At one point the husband finds a ‘dancing men’ message scrawled on a panel of the door of their home, soon after a shorter message appeared on an adjacent door panel; Holmes translated the first cipher to read ‘Come Elsie’ and determined that the short cipher on the adjacent panel was a reply left by Elsie. Her cipher is depicted on the stamp which is hidden in this letterbox.
This story is included in the Sherlock Holmes film series starring Jeremy Brett as the famous detective and David Burke as Dr. Watson. The story is a quick read and is available online, it can be found by Google search. The code can also be found easily online and one site is set up to translate any message to ‘dancing men’ code: http://www.geocachingtoolbox.com/index.php?lang=en&page=dancingMen
William Gillette was an actor who portrayed Sherlock Holmes on stage for many years beginning around 1899. His portrayal supposedly had the favorable approval of Doyle and Gillette was popular with theatergoers in the US and Britain. Gillette designed and built a home on a hill overlooking the Connecticut River; it was completed in 1919 for a reported total cost of one million dollars. The state of Connecticut now owns and maintains the castle and its grounds as Gillette Castle State Park. The park has trails and picnicking areas that are free; visitors may tour the castle for a small fee. It’s really a nice place to visit and a great place for a Sherlock Holmes letterbox. The castle is closed in winter but the grounds are still open during the day.
Clues to the Dancing Men letterbox:
In Gillette Castle State Park:
23,15,15,4 2,18,9,4,7,5 14,5,24,20 20,15 6,9,6,20,5,5,14 13,16,8 15,14,5 23,1,25 18,15,1,4. 5,14,4 15,6 2,18,9,4,7,5 23,9,20,8 19,9,7,14 20,8,1,20 19,1,25,19 19,5,22,5,14 18 18 19. 21,14,4,5,18,19,9,4,5 2,18,9,4,7,5 2,5,20,23,5,5,14 6,9,18,19,20 20,23,15 19,21,16,16,15,18,20 2,15,1,18,4,19.
2,5,8,9,14,4 1 18,15,3,11.
There is no stamp pad in the box so be sure to bring your own.