J.C. Hutchins discovered an unusual envelope in his mail today … and inside was an item so mysterious and perplexing, he had to document its contents for you. It appears to be a “rabbit hole” — an intriguing gateway into a viral promotion or Alternate Reality Game.
J.C. has no idea who sent this envelope, and is stymied by its encrypted contents. Watch the video and examine the PDF in this post (found below; look for the “EBOOK PDF” icon) and see if YOU can decode its secrets. You can also find hi-res photos of the envelope’s contents on J.C.’s Flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/jchutchins/
Please spread the word about this mystery (J.C. recommends the “Share This” feature at the end of this post). And feel free to post your thoughts (or decryption progress) here in the comments. He may have been the “first to find” this rabbit hole … but when it comes to its secrets, J.C. doesn’t want to be the last to know!
UPDATE: Thanks to you amazing people, we’ve tracked down several other recipients of the letter, and determined that those letters are similar — but not identical — to the one J.C. received. Find out more here:
- http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2008/05/strange_mail.html
- http://cactuspix.blogspot.com/2008/05/something-weird.html
- And most intriguingly, here: http://chishio.jp/ (This may be a “master site,” showing the designs for four letters; we’ve only seen blog posts for three of them.)
Got to the head of the queue…she could hear me (she held up two fingers when I asked), but I couldn’t hear her. She hung up.
A friend was on Skype with me when I went on (possibly the reason I couldn’t hear her). He got on with her, told her that I had a question for her and asked how I should get in. She said, “That’s not my problem.”
Hmmm….wonder what the magic phrase is?
She just said that she has granted a couple of people access to the site…”they must have said something that you didn’t.”
So, it’s clearly not over. What’s the deal with the lady?
This is something going on in real time, it’s a shame moderation is limiting how we can communicate here.
the timer is back up. it will run down at 9′o’clock est tonight. we will see then
A post from the Charlaine Harris (she’s the author of the “Southern Vampire” books that True Blood the series is based on) message board led me here. I can’t read ancient languages, but I’ve read all of the books in the Southern Vampire series (except for the most recent one that just came out a few days ago). If there are any questions that the girl at revenantones.com asks that I might be able to help answer, let me know.
I don’t know if it’s useful or not, but here’s a link to the thread I followed at Charlaine Harris’ board. My post there contains links to casting notices that I found online for a True Blood “internet project” (probably what we’re all trying to figure out the clues for) and the casting notices could provide hints for what may play out at revenantones.com and any other show-related web sites like bloodcopy.com. Blood Copy is mentioned in the casting notices. I’ll check back here after the timer runs out tonight and let you know if I was able to get in.
I don’t know if it’s useful or not, but here’s a link to the thread I followed at Charlaine Harris’ board. My post there contains links to casting notices that I found online for a True Blood “internet project” (probably what we’re all trying to figure out the clues for) and the casting notices could provide hints for what may play out at revenantones.com and any other show-related web sites like bloodcopy.com. Blood Copy is mentioned in the casting notices. I’ll check back here after the timer runs out tonight and let you know if I was able to get in.
http://charlaineharris.master.com/texis/master/search/showmsg.html?id=48380e0110&Catid=457073b03#m48380e0110
Sorry for the duplicate post, but I’m a doofus and forgot the link in my second post.
Rhoswen, the gate keeper at RevenantOnes.com keeps asking why we think we’re worthy to have access to the site. Any ideas?
Also, you might want to join us at Unfiction:
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25684
Why you think you’re worthy to have access? I can’t remember any questions about worthiness being asked in the books. Maybe the answer is in the 4 coded messages, like a password. Or maybe you could get in if you say that you’ve got some TruBlood (that’s a synthetic blood that vampires can drink instead of real blood). I’ll go check out the discussion at unfiction.com – thanks.
because your the keymaster? you know like in ghostbusters?
I got one of these letters, too. The lettering in mine appears to be a form of cuneiform, possibly Hittite. My wife and I have been trying to decipher it, to no avail. Until we found this site and one other, we thought it was some sort of elaborate birthday greeting; the letter arrived on my b-day.
I am seeing “your” red-seal and text graphic and a link to chishio.jp as a sidebar on lifehacker now.
Sorry if someone already mentioned this.
Wow, I stop paying attention for a couple days, and suddenly there’s a website, but people still haven’t quite figured out what this is.
Of course, Neither have I.
I did check out bloodcopy.com where they’re showing a video split-screen of the woman doing the gatekeeping and a caller. It appears that she’s looking for something specific (Yes, probably in the encoded dead languages.) Has anyone attempted to actually translate these letter for letter? You know, use simple cryptography with the phonetics to match letter for letter?
Ok, I suppose I should try that myself. So, I’ll practice violin first, then apply gray-matter to the problem.
Let me know if someone solves it.
O.K. I have received the EXACT same letter as you have (the envelope and everything) and it freaked me out for a little bit. I am a Law Enforcement Officer and I am not in the entertainment business. Sooooooooo What do I have in common with you? I subscribe to Fangoria magazine and that’s it. Do you subscribe there?
how about put it under blacklight and see what comes up or different kinds of light to see is something is hidden?
the language it is written in is called Akkadian cuneiform. revenantones.com has the same exact “TB” logo in their address bar as well as on a “vial” of synthetic human blood. TB stands for “TruBlood” which, True Blood is the name of a new HBO series premiering in September of this year, which ironicly has a synthetic blood in it called True Blood which allows Vampires to bypass the feeding of humans. The series is to be based of some novels by Charlaine Harris.
The forums of the Revenant Ones seems to be passed off as a legit forum as some of the members have hundreds if not thousands of posts, however it can also be said that it is a mere publicity stunt to get people to watch the series, in either case i will be watching it, as well as keeping tabs on the events of “TB” for myself, as well as everyone of you here. I am about to open up a forum on my website dedicated to the keeping of ever one posted and up to date.
I hope this info helps people.
http://www.charlaineharris.com/trueblood_press.html
The source code of the .jp page points to an upcoming HBO series.
Agreed. The source on the Chishio.jp page has some big clues in it (found this before I read all the posts and am just confirming above post).
__________________________________________________
<!–
s.pageName=”HBO: True Blood: Pre-Premiere: Chishio”
s.server=”hbo.com”
s.channel=”"
s.pageType=”"
s.prop1=”HBO” // channel
s.prop2=”Original Series” // category
s.prop3=”True Blood” // show
s.prop4=”Chishio” // content
s.prop5=”" // subcontent
s.prop6=”" // season
s.prop7=”" // episode
s.prop8=”" // actor
s.prop9=”" // special
s.prop10=”"
s.prop11=”"
s.prop12=”"
s.prop13=”"
s.prop14=”"
s.prop15=”"
/* E-commerce Variables */
s.campaign=”"
s.state=”"
s.zip=”"
s.events=”"
s.products=”"
s.purchaseID=”"
s.eVar12=”"
s.eVar13=”"
s.eVar14=”"
s.hier1=”HBO|Original Series|True Blood|Pre-Premiere|Chishio”
s.hier2=”HBO Global|” + s.hier1;
Anyone notice the new tatoo that Angelina drew on Brad Pitts back? Arkkadian?
Sorry, but am i the only one who sees a series of noses in quite a number of the black symbols?
What does it say directly under U.S. Postage 59
Looks a lot like Gregg Shorthand to me…