10 years ago, an encrypted message was found in a Victorian dress purchased at a store. Many amateur detectives kept busy trying to decipher it, but a Canadian researcher finally succeeded.
Sara Rivers Cofield, an American archaeologist who collects period costumes, had her eye on a dress that she thought was from the 1880s and bought it for $100 in December 2013, she told CNN.
A little later, in a secret pocket hidden under the cover of the dress, she discovered two crumpled sheets of paper with a list of words that at first glance seemed quite random.
On the first the words Bismark, omit, leafage, buck and bank are engraved. On the second we find Calgary, Cuba, Unguard, Confute, Duck and Fagan.
Not knowing what to think, the archaeologist shared the news on a blog in February 2014, hoping someone would solve the mystery.
The antique dress from 1888 contains a coded message that baffles detectives. After almost a decade, the analyst finally solves the case. Sara Rivers Cofield found the dress in Maine, unaware of the secret it held. pic.twitter.com/mzDyHQSy7x
– Daily Dumpling (@dumplingnews) January 12, 2024
Several attempted to break it in a quest nicknamed the “cryptogram of the silk dress,” which, according to American media, gave rise to several conspiracy theories, including that the owner of the dress was a spy.
Ultimately, it is Wayne Chan, a researcher at the University of Manitoba, who will take on this challenge in 2018.
“I worked on it for a few months but made no progress. I put it aside and never looked at it again,” the man, who had looked through up to 170 code books, told CNN.
In early 2023, he had an epiphany while researching the Telegram era and discovered that they were actually abbreviated weather reports.
In the first sentence, “Bismark” means that the data was recorded at the Bismarck Station in North Dakota. “Omit” means the temperature was 56 degrees Fahrenheit and the barometric pressure was 0.08 inches of mercury. “Leafage” highlights a dew point of 32 degrees Fahrenheit observed at 10 p.m. “Buck” reports that there was no precipitation and “Bank” reports that the wind speed was 12 miles per hour and the sunset was clear.
According to old weather maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, these dates correspond to May 27, 1888.