St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • A5

10.21.2018 Sunday 1 ST. LOuIS POST-dISPaTCH BEST BY ERIN HEFFERNAN St. Louis Post-dispatch ST. LOUIS Darren Boutette is an ordi- nary Canadian IT professional who last month got pulled into a quest more than 36 years in the it led him all the way to Forest Park. Boutette is one of hundreds who have become enamored with a mystery embed- ded in a 1982 fantasy book, Secret: A Treasure To promote the book, publisher Byron Preiss buried 12 ceramic encased in Plexiglas about feet deep in city parks throughout North America.

Each held a key that could be exchanged for a jewel worth about $1,000. Read- ers could find clues leading to the troves through a series of illustrations and cryp- tic verses in Boutette heard about the hunt through a TV special and was hooked. He spent hours puzzling out the clues, eventually creating a 22-page document explaining his theory that one of the long- hidden treasures is buried in a quiet corner of Forest Park. He wanted to claim the prize and called the St. Louis parks department to ask per- mission to dig only to find he was far from the first.

get at least a call a month from a different person about digging for the said Parks Commissioner Kim Haegele. been happening for Haegele said each caller was confident finally cracked one of rid- dles. They all say that somewhere in the 1,300 acres of Forest Park lies the key. course they all think in wildly different she said. The callers are all part of an unlikely cult following for To this day, two casques have been found: One was dug up a year after the book was published by three enterprising teenagers in Chicago.

The other was found by a lawyer in Cleveland in 2004. Deciphering elaborate clues re- quires knowledge of history, local land- marks and mathematics. Some have rented ground-penetrating radar, scoured historic records and exchanged more than 35,000 discussion posts on the web forum quest4treasure.co.uk. The hunt even has its own documen- tary, directed by James Renner. like a real life Vinci Renner said.

insanely compli- cated and hard to figure Park staffers across the country are well aware of Some cities banned the hunters after finding mysteri- ous holes. San Golden Gate Park created a special permit application for all the people asking to dig. Unfortunately for people such as Bou- tette, St. Louis quite so accommo- dating when it comes to its premier park. just not going to let people dig up Forest Haegele said.

Boutette was disappointed that all his research may go to waste, so he decided to email a Post-Dispatch reporter. confident I can narrow the search down to about a six-foot square of grass in the he wrote. be willing to share my research with you along with the exact location in confidence and sure you would agree that The email seemed far-fetched at first. Eventually, this reporter fell down the rab- bit hole that is told Boutette said. pulls you TWO CASQUES UNCOVERED book was part of a niche lit- erary genre known as treasure that began in 1979 with by Kit Williams, which promised a golden rabbit figurine to any reader who could find it from clues in the text.

Preiss published a few years later, and the first puzzle was solved within a year by Eric Gasiorowski, Rob Wrobel and David James in Chicago. The three were able to identify one of the illustrations as Chicago. One of the verses mentioned Con- gress, a street near Grant Park near where referring to a statue of Abraham Lincoln. The verse served like a map lead- ing them to the spot where they found the container after months of digging. Preiss sent them an emerald in the mail.

Then came 21 years of silence, until New Jersey lawyer Brian Zinn revisited his childhood fascination with In 2004, Zinn located a casque in Cleve- land from a verse that mentioned Socrates, Pindar and Apelles. With the added ben- efit of the internet, Zinn searched the names and found they were etched into a pylon at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. He traveled to the garden and, after four hours of digging, found the casque buried along a wall. He won a jewel. Preiss died in car crash the next year at age 52.

He never told anyone where he buried the 10 remaining casques, but his widow, Sandi Mendelson, says she will award jewels to those who solve his puz- zles. Boutette said he was willing to travel from Canada to St. Louis to try for the prize but not without the blessing. a natural he said. He now is willing to share his theory.

THE THEORY Like most prospective solutions for even the right ones there are connections that are immediately con- vincing while for others you need to tilt your head and squint a bit to make them fit. theory is no different. A couple of months ago, he began to study the a portrait of a man in a checkered hat reminiscent of a Rembrandt self-portrait. Boutette focused on that image first because many hunters believe it leads to Montreal making it the closest to where Boutette lives. An image of a hoof coming out of a mouth in the collar matches a lamp in the city.

But Boutette was not convinced. The symbol, known as the leg-eater, was origi- nally an Italian image and was probably in many other cities, he thought. Enter St. Louis. In true Canadian fash- ion, theory for the city begins with hockey.

He studied Image 9 and noticed what appeared to be a musical note in the collar, just like the symbol for the St. Louis Blues hockey team. The man also wears a checkered hat roughly the shape of the old Checkerdome where the Blues once played. Team sym- bols were included in the Chicago puzzle, so Boutette thought he might be on to something. The rest of theory is complex.

He matched the illustration with one of the verses he believes leads to the Korean War Memorial in Forest Park. stone door The air smells the verse reads. Boutette says this makes reference to the Vandeventer Place Gates, a stone wall that was once the en- trance to a grand St. Louis home placed in the park in the 1940s. The gates are near the Korean War Me- morial, which is today a large sundial.

When the casques were buried, however, the memorial was a large floral clock that would The clock was re- placed in the late The verse continues: far away High posts are three Education and Jus- tice Boutette believes references the nearby golf while is the tennis There are also lines directing the reader, which Boutette thinks refers to the nearby Jewel Box. The verse then refers to item of Boutette believes the reference to Twain is significant because the author was born in Missouri and guesses the clue might di- rect the hunter to the floral clock. Twain did write about a broken watch in a short essay, but he was so prolific that many theories have emerged about what an of his might be. In the end, Boutette believes the casque lies in a spot where an old flagpole once stood based on the ending of the verse: pole Giant step To the place The casque is PLACE THE CASQUE IS Close inspection of the area around the Korean War Memorial today shows no sign of the mysterious leg-eater symbol. No other clues emerged.

clear the landscape has changed since the unconventional book publisher buried his casques. Even if one is buried here, it may never be found. But the peaceful spot suddenly becomes imbued with possibility when you know about the theory. That may have been goal, according to the documentary filmmaker who has studied did this because he wanted kids to go out and see the places where they are Renner said. not about the buried treasure about the world around For some, also about the pride of the hunt.

did want the jewel. That been Boutette said. just glad my theory is getting out REAL-LIFE DA VINCI Canadian treasure hunter believes clues lead to spot in Forest Park COURTESY OF DARREN BOUTETTE Treasure hunter Darren Boutette and his daughter, Katie, 13, pose in September with a drawing from Secret: A Treasure which he believes leads to a buried treasure in St. Forest Park. WESURROUNDOUR CRITICAL PROBLEMS, AND WE FIGHT FORCHANGE.

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