Beale Ciphers
lThe Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertexts, one of which allegedly states
the location of a buried treasure of gold and silver estimated
to be worth over 20 million US dollars in. The other two ciphertexts allegedly describe the content of the
treasure, and list the names of the finders' next of kin.
lIt is claimed that Beale placed the ciphertexts in an iron box and left it with the Lynchburg innkeeper. Beale promised to mail
Morriss (the innkeeper) the keys, but they were
never received. (Perhaps Beale died before he
could do so) Morriss unsuccessfully attempted to solve the ciphers on his own but, decades later, passed
the box and contents (three letters and three
ciphertexts), and the story to one of his
friends.
lUsing a particular edition of the United
States Declaration of Independence as the key for a book
cipher, a friend successfully deciphered the second ciphertext, which gave descriptions
of the buried treasure.