This page presents some solution attempts, full or partial, of the three Beale ciphers.

    There are many claims of solutions where the decipherment method is not explained, and several books have been published with claimed solutions which are not available for open distribution on the internet. These are excluded.

    1.    Joe Crump's computer program

   Joe has written a neat program which generates "solutions" to the ciphers by fitting in words from an on-line dictionary while respecting the rule that a given code number is always the same letter. Here, for example, is one of his solutions for C1 using all four-letter words:

seek bars knee bets rain bend aged glob sobs spit cash ably toys wiry fame ante used bits pout zing ebbs peck rots slob cost drew ends spot week yeti tree elms adds seek that beds loft plop tuna trim ohio shoe idol step zoos anus reek cyst eats loft card that acts pops ebbs edgy aery navy easy card undo labs tens ammo coin plea ones ebbs axle trek lode vine drop fest ooze used zoom stab tote roof pout snot afar sect ohio rope soda cyst wads icon ears seek arms make into butt wets amen peso boar spar wavy shoe vase edgy herb thou easy zest boon need bass ruby rome ebbs this redo eden pout tact urea once pout seek boat eggs daft bare redo arts

   Many other such solutions are posted on his website: https://www.angelfire.com/extreme5/beale

    2.    Kenneth Bauman

    Ken proposes that C1, deciphered using the pamphlet version of the DOI, contains the phrase "ERE FEN DUE RED KNEE". He explains: "Ere is a variation of the word ear which means to plow. Fen is a low land or spot. Due means exactly. Red Knee is likely the name of a spot that is currently unknown to me. I am attempting to locate red knee." So the phrase means "Plow (or dig) the low land (marsh) exactly at red knee". More details on Ken's decipherment are available on Joe Crump's website, noted above.

    Ken explains further: "Red knee, in my estimation, is not a location in the ground, but a reference to the tale by Edgar Allan PoeThe Gold Bug.   The first sentence in the tale has the word tarantula in it.  Red knee is the Mexican Red Knee tarantula.  Hence, we're to dig or decipher at the tarantula!   I think Poe authored the letters and ciphers in the pamphlet. There is, I feel, a treasure hidden, but not in Virginia. It's in Philadelphia, in a mansion which Poe alludes to in his missive in The Gold Bug."

    Ken has written a book entitled "National (Beale) Treasure....At Red Knee" detailing his findings.

   3.    The Beale Cypher Association

   Toward the end of its activity, in its March 1992 newsletter,Download now (.pdf format 3.53Mb), BCA published three solutions. A solution to C1 starts out this way: "USE DOUAY NOTLE START O SV SET HINDU/AU TINE IN L NYE POG BASE N LIET TIENE AU E E E E RULO PASS...". Ron Vozar, a bible expert, believes the first three words might be: "USE DOUAY BIBLE", a reference to the Douay-Rheims Bible.

    4.    The Beale Deal by Thomas J. Davis

   T. J. Davis applies parapsychology and a unique program tool, The Proggy, to develop a very original and interesting partial solution. This paper is long and contains several tangential subjects but is easy to read. He proposes that The Beale Papers is a masonic allegory based on a common scholarly book of the era, Vathek, by William Beckford.

    http://www.theproggy.com/THE_BEALE_DEAL.pdf

    5.    Roy Dallas

    Roy Dallas of www.thebealekey.com took the unusual approach of treating the codes as a puzzle or a game, not a cipher. He has developed a solution yielding the latitude and longitude coordinates of the treasure location, and his work is well worth reading. He is convinced the source of the story is the lost Confederate government treasury. He and an associate have spent time on site, and are convinced their sensors indicate something about twelve feet underground. They have encountered challenges that inhibit further work at this time.

7.   Mark R. Stahley

The 183 rd letter is "A" or the first letter of the alphabet which corresponds to the letter "P" in the cipher. Subtracting the two letters gives "15" which is an odd number and therefore a null which I will symbolize with a "!" (all possible code numbers are even)

P N R B A B F D E F G H I I J K L M M N O –hppaw etc.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U

15- 12- 15- 2- 4- 4- 1- 4- 4- 4- 4- 4- 4- 5- 5- 5- 5- 5- 6- 6- 6-

! G ! O L L ! L L L L L L ! ! ! ! ! D D D

In a 26 x 26 alphabet square;

G intersect G = M M-A = 12

O intersect O = C C-A = 2

L intersect L = W W+4 = A

D intersect D = G G-A = 6

Also, if you take out GOLLLLLLLLDDD from the 26 letters, the remaining letters are;

O O A E E E E E H P P A W

Which will give E A POE, E A POE WHE

Comment

The author received a comment from someone at the Poe Society to the effect that he was trying too hard.