The world’s most brilliant minds are yet to solve these mysterious codes.
The whole history of encryption lies in the fact that codes, even the most secretive ones, were broken by someone or the other. Many ciphers and secret codes are broken by highly trained professionals, and sometimes even amateurs have established this feat in the comfort of these homes. But the mysterious world of these codes and ciphers have intrigued us from time immemorial. What does a secret code lead to, some secret treasure, an unsolved crime? The temptation of solving a puzzle is enthralling. But there are still many codes that are still unsolved. Even the most brilliant of minds could not figure them out. Which ones are they? Let’s find out.
The Voynich Manuscript.
One of the most mysterious manuscripts that has made emperors, cryptologists, pull out their hair in agony from the last 400 years. The manuscript is made of about 240 vellum pages whose author’s details are unknown; we even are not sure about the language of the manuscript. The only inkling of context we have is from the bright, vibrant illustrations in it. There are various unknown charts that seem astrological or even astronomical, which makes experts believe that perhaps the manuscript is a scientific, alchemical or even a text about magic. The radiocarbon dating of the pages tells us that it was written somewhere in the 14th century. Nobody has been able to crack this code making many cryptographers believe that it might be a hoax.
The Beale ciphers.
This one has an exciting story behind it. In the year 1820, a treasure hunter by the name of Thomas Jefferson Beale met an innkeeper named Robert Morris. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except after two years of that meeting, Beale returned and left a box in Morris’s care. When Beale didn’t return even after 23 years, Morris decided to open the mysterious box and saw three puzzling messages that would lead to a vault with treasure worth 43 million dollars (in today’s money). It seemed he was unable to crack the codes as he passed the box and codes to a friend after his death. Now this unknown friend managed to crack one of the codes after toiling for 20 years. He eventually made a pamphlet out of all his notes and published it. The codes still remain unsolved to this day.
So, if you want to channel your inner Sherlock Holmes, buckle up! These unsolved codes are waiting for you.
