Cipher Mysteries

Over the last 2500 years or so there have been any number of cipher messages that have gone lost, or which have had their keys lost, or for which the entire system used to encipher them has been forgotten. Sometimes this happens deliberately, and sometimes by accident. Sometimes the messages are fairly innocuous, and sometimes their solution could lead to vast treasures or change the course of nations. For some of these unsolved messages, cryptanalysts over the years have spent decades or entire careers looking in vain for a solution. Some of these messages have been judged to be hoaxes, for others we’re not so sure. In this chapter we’ll take a look at four famous cipher messages for which we have no solution—yet.