Tags
A Farewell to Arms, book cipher, Doug Dorst, Eric Husch, Ernest Hemingway, Jen Heyward, JJ Abrams, Pollard Arkansas, Pollard State University, PSU, V.M. Straka, VM Straka
This postcard, an insert on p192…
…shows the address blacked out with a marker. However, a few simple adjustments to the contrast and some magnification reveal the address that the postcard was sent to…
Here you can clearly see…
Pollard State University c/o Pronghorn Java Pollard, AR 72456 USA
Here is the zip code 72456 on Google Maps.
@anabrams fan just pointed out the following: Just a few minutes away is Piggot, AR. Highpoints include the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum & Education Center. It includes a barn studio and the home of Hemingway and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. Here is an interesting timeline.
In this barn studio, Hemingway wrote portions of A Farewell to Arms. In the book, both barns and butterflies serve as key symbols. VANESSA means butterfly. Something seems deliberate here regarding barns and butterflies. Jen writes I could let Vanessa to let us in – perhaps the keyword BUTTERFLY helps us solve a yet-to-be-discovered cipher? In addition, the footnote that appears below this marginalia mentions Chateau Hirondelle Des Granges – which translates to Castle of the Barn Swallow. Sometime later, someone burns down an actual barn associated with Jen. If I were Jen and Eric, and I wanted to utilize a book cipher like the one FXC uses on p184, this is the book I would use.
The fact that the postcards were sent “C/O Pronghorn Java” means that Vanessa, who worked there, was the recipient and guardian of the postcards – which corresponds to the marginalia at the bottom of p231. And since we know that FXC received an unwelcome visit from someone after Eric (based on Arturo’s letter), then we can infer that Vanessa was not trustworthy. She likely disclosed the postcard information to Moody and/or Ilsa, along with the fact that Eric and Jen would meet there in the private room in the back.
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Wifflebird said:
VBXRO on Eotvos Wheel.
J.j. Lehmann said:
Tried to substantiate this, but found that Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Education Center is actually in Piggott, Arkansas and its zip code is 72454 not 72456.
I’m not sure if this changes your conclusion, but I’m a stickler for the facts.
Brian Shipman said:
A stickler you should be! Especially with “S”…
You are correct. The museum is not in the same zip code exactly. But it is just minutes away from Pollard. So IMO the point isn’t what is bound within the zip code, but that Pollard State University is so close to a Hemingwaypoint…
I’ll adjust the blog to be more accurate. Good catch.
Yen said:
Is there faint hand writing in the sky? do you think the different values of stamps on the postcards mean anything?
card 1 april 12 $0 : pré franqueado
card 2 april 15 $2
card 3 april 18 $2,7
card 4 april 19 $1
card 5 april 20 $2
return april 23
or are they just regionally consistent?