Post by hi224 on Dec 16, 2020 0:07:24 GMT
Here's a mystery that hasn't gotten much attention on this sub, and since the Zodiac killer cipher was recently solved, it seems like a good time to talk about another long unsolved cipher mystery.
The Dorabella cipher was penned by Edward Elgar, the same composer who wrote the music Pomp and Circumstance, heard at so many high school graduations. The message was sent to a young female friend of his named Dora Penny. She was unable to decode the message, and it lay ignored for decades, until she published it in her memoir.
The cipher itself has 87 characters. It uses its own "alphabet" comprised of little linked semicircles in groups of one, two, or three. Additionally, each symbol is oriented in one of eight different directions. Elgar's notes contain a key for exactly this sort of cipher, along with a few examples that are easily decoded, like the name of his dog. However, applying this key to Dora Penny's note yields only gibberish:
BLTACEIARWUNISNFNNELLHSYWYDUO
INIEYARQATNNTEDMINUNEHOMSYRRYUO
TOEHO’TSHGDOTNEHMOSALDOEADYA
There have been a few claims of people having interpreted the gibberish, or broken the code by other means, but the methods for solving tend to be rather convoluted, and the "decoded" messages so obtained are borderline incoherent. I'm of the opinion that none of these are the correct solution.
According to the Wikipedia article, there was another solution published in July of this year in a magazine called Musical Opinion. Unfortunately, Wikipedia's description of how it was decoded is itself incomprehensible, and only a small portion of the article is available online. I can't find any more information about this supposed solution. This leads me to believe it may not be any more credible than previous "solutions," otherwise, it would surely have been picked up in the news.
The Dorabella cipher was penned by Edward Elgar, the same composer who wrote the music Pomp and Circumstance, heard at so many high school graduations. The message was sent to a young female friend of his named Dora Penny. She was unable to decode the message, and it lay ignored for decades, until she published it in her memoir.
The cipher itself has 87 characters. It uses its own "alphabet" comprised of little linked semicircles in groups of one, two, or three. Additionally, each symbol is oriented in one of eight different directions. Elgar's notes contain a key for exactly this sort of cipher, along with a few examples that are easily decoded, like the name of his dog. However, applying this key to Dora Penny's note yields only gibberish:
BLTACEIARWUNISNFNNELLHSYWYDUO
INIEYARQATNNTEDMINUNEHOMSYRRYUO
TOEHO’TSHGDOTNEHMOSALDOEADYA
There have been a few claims of people having interpreted the gibberish, or broken the code by other means, but the methods for solving tend to be rather convoluted, and the "decoded" messages so obtained are borderline incoherent. I'm of the opinion that none of these are the correct solution.
According to the Wikipedia article, there was another solution published in July of this year in a magazine called Musical Opinion. Unfortunately, Wikipedia's description of how it was decoded is itself incomprehensible, and only a small portion of the article is available online. I can't find any more information about this supposed solution. This leads me to believe it may not be any more credible than previous "solutions," otherwise, it would surely have been picked up in the news.
