Masquerade - Pre-internet weaponised autism.

[Ginger Piglet]

Today I learnt about an art book from 1976 by one Kit Williams called Masquerade. Aside from having really nice artwork in it, it also contained a puzzle which would lead the reader to literal buried treasure.

Stuart Ashen did a very informative video on the whole saga here:

It should be noted that it took 6 years before it was discovered and only then arguably by cheating because the bloke who won it effectively coerced the answers out of Williams's ex and then flipped the profits into a scam and at the same time lucked out by noticing the activities of a group of physics teachers who had almost solved it for real.

And this got me wondering. If something like Masquerade was released today, would the weaponised autism of the internets solve it in just a few days, like they did with HWNDU and Shia LaBoeuf's flags?

 

[escapegoat]

I was expecting vampires.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

I was expecting vampires.

That's a different masquerade.

Oh, I'm not frightening you, am I duckling?

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I thought this was about the masquerade, as in paper faces on parade where you hide your face so the world will never find you.

But this sounds like an interesting treasure hunt, I just don't have the time at the moment to watch that video. Though to answer your question, yeah, a modern-day treasure hunt wouldn't even last a week thanks to the Internet. I do imagine 4chan jumping on it to find the treasure first in which case they replace it with something else (if it was real gold) for some other poor bastard to find and be trolled with. It'd make for some quick shits and giggles, at the very least.