Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Visual Arts / Books / Oh Good God The $10 art mystery continues
Posted by Wyatt Williams @wyatt_williams on Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 11:10 AM
Over a month ago, A&E editor Debbie Michaud received a mysterious package in the mail.
- Debbie Michaud
- Mail Call
Since then, similar clues have been showing up on The Georgia Voice, Reddit, on Jessica Handler's blog, and a wiki-style page devoted to cataloging all of the available information.
Debbie and I have been keeping a close eye on the comments piling up on her post while trying to make our own deductions. Commenters NJgirl and cleo seem to have identified a crucial part of the puzzle: the code "UFO RSNQHDR" from the back of the letter can be translated to "TEN STORIES." The packages all also come with a $10 bill. As commenter guesswork notes, "biltmore apts., tree house, and the hotel where rechatin balanced his chair are all 10 stories."
We decided to hit the pavement about a week ago to try to follow this clue down the rabbit hole. Taking a tip from commenter eavres, who noted, "As someone that's read Gone with the Wind more times than I care to admit... I think Scarlett found $10 in the wallet of the Yankee soldier that she killed. It definitely has something to do with GWTW, though," we decided to check out the Margaret Mitchell House for leads.
- COURTESY MARGARET MITCHELL HOUSE
Did you know that the Margaret Mitchell House also has ten apartments? Cue creepy music. We asked the very helpful folks working in the gift shop if they knew anything about this mystery and showed them a few of our clues, but they didn't know what to tell us. We paced about the grounds, looking for houses in the trees or any signs of UFOs or chair balancing, but couldn't find anything. I checked the mailbox for apartment 10 on our way out. Nothing there, either.
We stopped at the nearby Biltmore House next. We figured that the clue might be leading us to the tenth story of the historic apartment building, but there was a snag: the front door was locked. I lingered casually near the front door for awhile until a woman, while talking on her cell phone and leaving the building, looked over to me and asked, "Coming in?" Yes, exactly. We slipped inside the marble-clad building and headed straight to the elevators, like we knew what we were doing.
- TRENT ALDRIGE
- The hallway leading to the elevators in the Biltmore House
The elevator doors opened on the tenth floor to a single hallway with doors to apartments. Debbie felt a quick pang of fear and asked me "What if this is, lilke, some serial killer's plan to lure us to his apartment?" She had a point. We'd followed this clue without second-guessing the motivations and, now, here we were on the tenth floor of an apartment building looking for who-knows-what without any sort of plan.
We must have looked as confused as we felt, because that's when we heard, echoing from the hallway behind us, "Can I help you?" A woman approached us with some degree of suspicion in her tone (fair enough), wondering what we were doing in her apartment building's hallway. We bumbled through our explanation of the clues, showing her the mysterious package, and she quickly warmed to the idea.
She didn't know anything about it, but, she said, there was an artist who lived on the floor. Maybe she's involved, our hallway host suggested. She walked us over to the apartment, knocked on the door, and the artist quickly appeared. We gave the spiel again, about the package and all the clues, about the number ten and the Biltmore House. The artist was amused, giggling perhaps at our mid-afternoon sleuthing, but said she didn't know anything about it. Our hallway host gave us a quick tour of the utility closet (there weren't any clues there, either) and sent us packing.
The dead ends felt discouraging. We didn't know where to turn next. We sat in the shaded courtyard of the Biltmore House, going over the clues again and again. Debbie sensed that there could be a Gone with the Wind connection to the Loews Hotel, built on the same site that the film premiered in 1939. Maybe there was something on the tenth story? It seemed like a stretch, but we decided to head there, anyway.
- LOEWS
As we walked into the hotel's expansive lobby, looking around for any sort of clue, a man in a well-cut black suit approached us and said, "We've been waiting for you." Could it be? Really? Had we somehow stumbled into the answer, right here in a midtown hotel? And then he said, "Do you know how to cornhole? You can win a free drink if you toss the bean bag in the hole." Oh, well, it wasn't actually about the $10 art mystery, but we were happy to play the game anyway.
We tossed the bean bag a couple times and sat down with our free cocktails in the lobby. I stirred my Manhattan with a finger and tried to figure out what exactly we had been looking for. Did I expect the clues to lead to other clues? To a manuscript with ten stories? To more ten dollar bills? We sipped our drinks, looked out the window, and laughed at the day. Maybe this is what we had been looking for all along.
Comments (28)
Showing 1-28 of 28
The MM house was creepy - especially when we asked who lived in the 10th apartment back when folks actually lived there. The answer? No one. Just no one. So weird. Also, I still can't shake the view looking southwest (i think?) from the 10th story of the Loew's (remember "not low" so maybe Loew's?). From it, you could see the top of the MM house, the rest of it enveloped in trees (tree house? Horace Burgess?). The Biltmore towers above the MM house and then beyond that you see the Georgia Dome, which looks enough like the UFO on the letter to make me think it means something. But what?
We called the High Museum "(not low)" again, to see if they had any of Burgess' work there. No. The Atlanta History Center also has a deep connection with GWTW and a folk art exhibit - would there be anything on Burgess there? Nope. Or something that pertained to the Southern ladies quote (Vanity Fair did shoot its southern women authors story there: http://clatl.com/culturesurfing/archives/2… Nada.
Let's just say there are 50 clues out there w/ $10 each in them. That's $500. A decent amount of cash.
I'm. totally. stumped.
like
dislike
Gray - didn't you mention that you had turned in that essay while you were at SCAD? What professor was that for? Any chance s/he could be behind this?
Actually, the Loew's Grand Theater where GWTW premiered was located at the site of the Georgia-Pacific Building, not the Loews Hotel.
@puzzlechick: I'd argue that CL, the GA Voice, etc. are 'actual media' :)
@sandbagger: good idea, although after everything else we tried I'm skeptical that a stab in the dark at another apartment building would yield much of anything.
@Atlanta Historian: good point. Also I just googled Georgia Pacific's exact location and it's at the corner of Peachtree and Mitchell (as in Margaret Mitchell? I can't easily find who that street is named after). I think I might plot these points on a map and try and connect the dots and see if anything materializes.
@debbie m.: the "actual media's" blogs, for sure. i only meant to say none of the main outlets is picking up the story. if they did, more help might be available ... many envelopes/clues unaccounted for, assuming the numbers are sequential.
but maybe blogs *are* the main outlets now. starting to seem that way
The GP building where the Loews theater was originally is actually on Peachtree Street at Luckie Street. It's Near the GA State campus. Google Maps is taking you to the wrong 133 Peachtree Street. This corner is also home to the Margaret Mitchell Square with the Margaret Mitchell Library just a block away.
@Debbie - Mitchell street was not named after Margaret - it existed before she was born
two things
A] there are at least a couple of clues the creator didn't intend to give out, namely the postmark on the letters that were posted and the serial numbers on the bills. which post office [s?] did they post from? Are the bills sequentially numbered? The issuing bank could be a font of information, though you'd probably need a subpoena :( As a member of the press, you might have some leeway. To bad you didn't think of it when you were at the Mitchell house, the Fed is directly across the street (that would be 10th--hey, would streets correlate to "stories" of the city?)
B] speaking of location, you (and Google) get an F on downtown geography, as jamie b pointed out. Further, if this mystery hinges on historical info and anything to do with Mitchell, there is a tremendously important historical building directly across from both the GP bldg and One Margaret Mitchell Sq [aka the library]: the Ellis Hotel, formerly the Winecoff Hotel, site of one of the worst structure fires in American history. It is 15 stories, though, but the firefighters of the day could only reach the 7th floor, leaving the 10th SOL (not that 1-7 fared very well anyway.)
not sure if relevant, but something to ruminate on since this hotel was directly across from the Lowe's theatre.
LOL wait, a subpoena? what law was broken by giving people money?
also, whoever's doing this would be careful about where s/he mailed from. everybody knows about postmarks.
but it's a fascinating "project." i think all the running around looking at buildings downtown is useless. the first thread's posters did a lot of work suggesting very strongly that s/he is only trying to say "ten stories high." for whatever reason.
puzzlechick, I guess we're saying the same thing. I was pointing out that theoretically the bills could be traced (assuming the project's creator likely withdrew them from their account rather than accumulating $500 in tens some other more time-consuming way.) but no bank would ever disclose that info unless they had to--a dead end, practically speaking. you're right, though. without a crime being committed, there is no protocol for even requesting that info. I done goof'd.
however, maybe "everybody knows about postmarks," but if its so obvious, how come nobody at CL or on the wiki reported what they are? we don't know if the sender bothered to cover their tracks or not. I mean, may as well go ahead and rule it out, right?
I guess my larger point is that the project's creator is giving us clues, both intentional and unintentional. nobody had addressed the unintentional yet. My ideas weren't the greatest, but someone else might use the approach to better effect.
Hello!
I considered writing a private message to Debbie, but commenting as part of this thread, where I feel among friends, seems more appropriate.
And Wyatt, your report of the downtown trek – ending with a beanbag toss, free cocktails in a snazzy hotel, and laughter at the day – approaches the heart of why I launched the 10 Stories High project. (“Maybe this is what we had been looking for all along.” I should borrow that line.)
Thank you to everyone who has taken part so far.
It’s not over. My story needs an ending. Art projects never really finish, anyway. A painter completes a painting, but when are people done experiencing it? When does the artist stop learning from what’s been made?
Someone has “cracked the code” (to borrow another phrase, from Debbie’s first post) and sent me an email, which is the trigger for reactivating the Facebook pages: Narrative Urge and 10StoriesHigh. The pages began when the project did. If you’d like to see an early chronology of sorts, and read a few notes about the project’s impetus or rationale, please go there.
I hope to hear from more people who have been involved with the project, which is ongoing. Your reactions. How finding an envelope, or the possibility of finding one, affected your “story” in some small way. What your story was before $10 landed in your hands with a cryptic message and a fragment of some stranger’s narrative. Your sense of what it all means when such elements are juxtaposed.
I’d like to know.
So glad to hear from the creator of this great project. I was really worried that we'd never know anything.
Do you have a floating green head surrounded by mist? Is a Cairn terrier pulling back a curtain to reveal you? A lion fainting dead away?
Oh. My. G-d, indeed! S/he speaks!
Now, if we can only see who's floating away in that balloon basket...
(No extra points for the very obvious 1939 movie reference, which isn't GWTW but at one point shared a director.)
@Narrative Urge. Everyone I've shown the letter to loves your handwriting, or is it 10StoriesHigh--are you two different people (together?)...who cracked the code?
So the envelope, with an excerpt of one story found in another story, is the generator of a third story (mine).
Where does 10 come from? What do the numbers of the clues have to do with - or is it some Howard Finsterish numbering system of your work? Are there more than 55 of these envelopes floating around? I'd still like to fill out the wiki. Was Wyatt and Debbie's adventure your story or theirs....
@designopolis: First, thank you for making the Wiki page based on my project, 10 Stories High. Very comprehensive.
"So the envelope, with an excerpt of one story found in another story, is the generator of a third story (mine)." Yes! At least has an effect on your story. Shapes it in some way, however small. I'm interested in this, and in the particulars.
“Was Wyatt and Debbie's adventure your story or theirs?” As a result of the project, our stories are intertwined – “together,” the name I posted under previously.
You asked about the significance of the number 10. It derives from the $10 inside each envelope and from the plan to distribute 100 envelopes (10 x 10) if no one "cracked the code" before then.
Also, I like the small jokes inside the number 10, which represents completion. Stories never really complete, even though I said mine “needs an ending.” They only stop, some at more satisfying places than others. You've heard the phrase that often concludes meandering tales? “And then I found ten dollars!”
The “code cracker" is one of the people who has posted here; I replied to her email but had to deal with a spam-blocker questionnaire that may have denied the message.
More than 55 envelopes exist. I can’t say the exact number, since they’re still being made, dropped and delivered. On the Facebook page is a Note about “going on.” You can find other details about the project there, too.
Thank you again, and to everyone for being part of 10 Stories High as it continues.
On my way home from work yesterday I decided to swing by the Atlanta Book Exchange to do a little sleuthing. What I found was that they're closing in August. Apparently a kindle shop is opening up there.
I also left with a copy of Henry Miller: The Paris Years by Brassaï (which I felt would be a more interesting read than A Literate Passion) and had in my pocket Envelope 13--a gift for my wife who worked at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur.
Hello!
I am the "code-cracker"! I can hardly believe it! I thought that I had come late to the party and after sending the email, kinda got caught up in other things and forgot to check that box. Til this morning! WOW! I did something!! I was part of it!! I'm a character in the story now! That is so freaking cool.
I kept seeing the "site" in the clues and figured it had to be a web site. Then when it was, I figured someone else had to have figured it out already. I feel like one of those people who say "I never win anything!!" lol Too strange!
Anyway. Now I"m trying to figure out how to carry on the story. What comes next? How does it end?
And do I get the $10.00 ? :)
I decided to do a little research and I found that this one clue I found of the internet is from a blog called the writing portfolio of Gray Chapman. here it is. "Southern women have a natural relationship with the earth. It may have been bred during the Civil War, when genteel ladies suddenly found themselves in charge of entire vast farms in the absence of their husbands."
I hope it helps. The story seems to be about southern women and the time of when Gone With The Wind took place.
We're in Minneapolis now, along with Chicago.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/b…
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archi…
"Not Low" doesn't seem to be getting much play. could it also be part of the code that turns UFO into TEN? could the initials of the Narrative Urgers be MNS and KNV?
Latest in Fresh Loaf
-
Drawing dance at the Decatur Arts Festival
CORE, Beacon highlight dance offerings
-
Paul Luna isn't finished with PARKatlanta 1
Chef files another lawsuit claiming private parking-enforcement deal violates city's charter
-
That poor baby beluga died 4
Experts say beluga deaths are unavoidable, but deaths in captivity are
- More »
More by Author
-
5 things today: V/H/S, White Light Forest Choir
A horror movie anthology, locals reunite, and more
-
Nelson George speaks at Hammonds House
The longtime music journalist and cultural critic will be on hand tonight at the Hammonds House to discuss his recent novel
- More »
