KRYPTOS
EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
YQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD
VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGESWJLLAETG
ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW?OBKR
UOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYP
VTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR
NOTES: S was left out of the sculpture by mistake, L was unintentionally added to the sculpture, DYAHR are
slightly offset, KRYPTOSABC Vigenere table used for deciphering the upper left panel. ?OBKR unsolved K4
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD
AKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYP
BRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPT
CYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTO
DPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOS
ETOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSA
FOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSAB
GSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABC
HABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCD
IBCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDE
JCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEF
KDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFG
LEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGH
MFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHI
NGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJL
OHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJL
PIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLM
QJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMN
RLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQ
SMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQU
TNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUV
UQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVW
VUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWX
WVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ
XWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZK
YXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKR
ZZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRY
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD
K0 (Morse Sculpture)

Loadstone, outlined in orange

Compass, outlined in yellow
Morse on copper plate, outlined in red

Nearby and relating to Kryptos is a geologic feature composed

of stone slabs, like the pages of a book, has a copper ore
bookmark inserted. An assortment of words, written in
simplistic code (Morse), have been written on this bookmark,
representing the hiddenness of a message as if it were a
fossil frozen in time. The idea is to show how the CIA has built
itself on top of this site that has contained layers of secrets over
time, like a temple built on top of a previous temple before that,
and so on.

Morse Letters Words E's Removed Palindrome

. . ...- .. .-. - ..- .- .-.. .-.. -.-- . EEVIRTUALLYE VIRTUALLY VIRTUALLY L
. . . . . . .. -. ...- .. ... .. -... .-.. . EEEEEEINVISIBLE INVISIBLE INVISIBL S
. . ... .... .- -.. --- .-- . . EESHADOWEE SHADOW SHADOW
..-. --- .-. -.-. . ... . . . . . FORCESEEEEE FORCES FORCS
.-.. ..- -.-. .. -.. . . LUCIDEE LUCID LUCID E or M
-- . -- --- .-. -.-- . MEMORYE MEMORY MMORY
.-. --.- RQ RQ RQ O
... --- ... SOS SOS SOS
. -.. .. --. . - .- .-.. . . . EDIGETALEEE DIGETAL DIGTAL P and A
.. -. - . .-. .--. .-. . - .- - .. - INTERPRETATI- INTERPRETATI[ON] INTRPRETATI[ON]
- .. ... -.-- --- ..- .-. TISYOUR TISYOUR TISYOUR T
.--. --- ... .. - .. --- -. . POSITIONE POSITION POSITION

NOTES: 1) Lots of E's, 32 of them, though only 26 are superfluous and one of the remaining six being part of
the words themselves is a misspell (DIGETAL should be DIGITAL), I've looked at two versions of the words, with
and without E's, 2) the compass needle is composed of a long line intersected by a short line, like a clock's
hands at right angles, the longer line looks to be pointing directly at the Morse letter T in POSITION with the
short line pointing directly to the the P in INTERPRETATI-, which is why I'm proposing that both are subtle cases
of 3-letter sequence palindromes -ITI- and -RPR- as it is with the word SOS. Perhaps the Morse P and T hint:
what word begins with P and ends with T? An interesting fact, the word palindrome is next to the word
palimpsest in the dictionary. Palimpsest, we already know, is the keyword needed to solve K1.

K1

EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
YQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD

K1, 63 letters, uses two keyword (Quagmire III) encryption. The Vigenere table simplifies the decryption process
since it supplies the first keyword KRYPTOS. The next part is to find the alphabets for each letter of the second
keyword, PALIMPSEST. The first few letters of the cipher text would then be deciphered as follows:
EMU... find the row which begins with P (PALIMPSEST), find the letter E, then move up the column to it's
corresponding letter in the starting alphabet to find that E-->B. Next, find the letter M in the row which begins
with A (PALIMPSEST) to find that M-->E. Next, lookup U in row L (PALIMPSEST) to find U-->T and you'll soon
decipher the full message:

BETWEENSUBTLESHADINGANDTHEABSENCEOFLIGHTLIESTHENUANCEOFIQLUSION

Since we know the keyword ABSCISSA is needed to decode the next section, I'm trying to determine if the 27 th,
28th, and 29th letters (-ABS-) are somehow indicated as the basis for a keyword lookup in a dictionary. Also, the
Q (57th letter) needs to be explained, since clearly the word ILLUSION is being misspelled. Sanborn has said
that the positions of these misspellings is an important part of the puzzle. From Elonka's FAQ,

Q: Why are words misspelled in Parts 1 and 2? Is that a mistake?

No. Sanborn has said that those two errors -- iqlusion and undergruund -- are deliberate, but he
didn't say exactly why. He did say that it wasn't what they were that was so important, as their
orientation or positioning.

ILLUSION is the 13th and final word in the message and it's 8 letters long. The Q is positioned to take the place
of it's second letter. It might be a simple numeric idea to compose the 2 and 8. I suggest this because the 28 th
letter of the message points to the center of the -ABS- sequence. The exact center of the 63 letter message is
the 32nd letter, the C in ABSENCE. Remember the Morse code having exactly 26 superfluous E's? Perhaps
that's a hint to ignore the first 26 letters of K1, ...ABS?

ABSCISSA
BETWEENSUBTLESHADINGANDTHEABS-----
ENCEOFLIGHTLIESTHENUANCEOFIQLUSION

K2

VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGESWJLLAETG

Decipher K2 the same way as K1, using the KRYPTOS tableau and keyword ABSCISSA:

IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE? THEY USED THE EARTHS MAGNETIC
FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED UNDERGRUUND TO AN
UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS? THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT
THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION? ONLY WW THIS WAS HIS LAST
MESSAGE X THIRTY EIGHT DEGREES FIFTY SEVEN MINUTES SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS
NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES FORTY FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO

So what's special about the location of the misspelled UNDERGRUUND? I can offer two ideas. The K2 code block
is 372 letters long (373 after adding the missing X). There are 3 ?-marks and 5 X's that don't exactly contribute
to the words portion of the message, in effect consider ignoring all spaces, breaks, or punctuation. We then
have 365 letters, which might lead us to take the final words of the message as in instruction to layer K2 with a
calendar, which consists of 365 days. Following the expectation that we can extract something useful for
decoding K3, I thought the appropriate month/day could represent the numbers needed to perform the two
transpositions. There are lot of possibilities when it comes to solving K3, so I'm not fully confident in my
conclusion, but I've found that if you start with May, then the U in undergruund will land on August 24 th. Using the
numbers 8 and 24 will solve K3. Sanborn effectively shows evidence of this by showing us a 42 x 8 chart of the
K3 plain text, rotated, transposed to a 14 x 24 chart and rotated again. 8 and 24 are basically abscissas or
column numbers. When I think back on a reason for 3 ?-marks and 5 X's, I thought perhaps ??? = MAY, and
XXXXX = fifth month. If so, we might need to consider that the ?-mark in K4 is a placeholder for an unknown
letter.

K3

ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW

Apply U position on calendar: 8 / 24

Step 1: format as 8 columns Step 2: rotate 90-degrees counter-clockwise

ENDYAHRO OOIAULMPNNITNEASHYABEALSUMTITABITDIHDFCITW
HNLSRHEO REBIYLSTHLPMENHLNETTHMRATRRNSOEHISRERGEESH
CPTEOIBI HHIAESOEISLWEENOETCFHAEOEANDMRFDSOOLAMEFSO
DYSHNAIA ARONRLNNTEBETTTFWYNIMTEFUOTDTEWDHALMHHHPLD
CHTNREYU YSEHNLSMAPEAICETIOEEAAYETTRETIETIEDLDOUINV
LDSLLSLL DLTSTSHXGRLCDHRETIERPNGEOOESHPICEOYKTEERHT
NOHSNOSM NNPYHDOWNAEANADODEHCSEETIEEBAWRECGRRGNFMER
RWXMNETP EHCDCLNRRRNIWRUEEAQYRWTBFAAIAEGALEDTAPMDMT
RNGATIHN
RARPESLN
NELEBLPI Step 3: format as 24 columns
IACAEWMT
OOIAULMPNNITNEASHYABEALS
WNDITEEN
UMTITABITDIHDFCITWREBIYL
RAHCTENE
STHLPMENHLNETTHMRATRRNSO
UDRETNHA
EHISRERGEESHHHIAESOEISLW
EOETFOLS
EENOETCFHAEOEANDMRFDSOOL
EDTIWENH
AMEFSOARONRLNNTEBETTTFWY
AEIOYTEY
NIMTEFUOTDTEWDHALMHHHPLD
QHEENCTA
YSEHNLSMAPEAICETIOEEAAYE
YCREIFTB
TTRETIETIEDLDOUINVDLTSTS
RSPAMHHE
HXGRLCDHRETIERPNGEOOESHP
WENATAMA
ICEOYKTEERHTNNPYHDOWNAEA
TEGYEERL
NADODEHCSEETIEEBAWRECGRR
BTEEFOAS
GNFMEREHCDCLNRRRNIWRUEEA
FIOTUETU
QYRWTBFAAIAEGALEDTAPMDMT
AEOTOARM
AEERTNRT
IBSEDDNI Step 4: rotate 90-degrees counter-clockwise
AAHTTMST
EWPIEROA SLOWLYDESPARAT
GRIEWFEB LYSLOWLYTHEREM
AECTDDHI AINSOFPASSAGED
LCEIHSIT EBRISTHATENCUM
EGOEAOSD BEREDTHELOWERP
DRYDLORI ARTOFTHEDOORWA
TRKLMLEH YWASREMOVEDWIT
AGTDHARD HTREMBLINGHAND
PNEOHMGF SIMADEATINYBRE
MFEUHEEC ACHINTHEUPPERL
DMRIPFEI EFTHANDCORNERA
MEHNLSST NDTHENWIDENING
TRTVDOHW THEHOLEALITTLE
IINSERTEDTHECA
NDLEANDPEEREDI
NTHEHOTAIRESCA
PINGFROMTHECHA
MBERCAUSEDTHEF
LAMETOFLICKERB
UTPRESENTLYDET
AILSOFTHEROOMW
ITHINEMERGEDFR
OMTHEMISTXCANY
OUSEEANYTHINGQ

The original Howard Carter journal text:

"Slowly, desperately slowly it seemed to us as we watched, the remains of passage debris that
encumbered the lower part of the doorway were removed, until at last we had the whole door
clear before us. The decisive moment had arrived. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach
in the upper left hand corner. Darkness and blank space, as far as an iron testing-rod could
reach, showed that whatever lay beyond was empty, and not filled like the passage we had just
cleared. Candle tests were applied as a precaution against possible foul gases, and then,
widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in, Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn
[Lord Carnarvon's daughter] and Callender [an assistant] standing anxiously beside me to hear
the verdict. At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the
candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the
room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold - everywhere the
glint of gold. For the moment - an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by - I was
struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any
longer, inquired anxiously, 'Can you see anything?' it was all I could do to get out the words,
'Yes, wonderful things.' Then widening the hole a little further, so that we both could see, we
inserted an electric torch."

Compare differences:

SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF PASSAGE DEBRIS THAT

DESPERATELY
ENCUMBERED THE LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED WITH
WERE
TREMBLING HANDS I MADE A TINY BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND

CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I INSERTED THE

CANDLE AND PEERED IN THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER

CAUSED THE FLAME TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE ROOM

CAUSING
 WITHIN EMERGED FROM THE MIST X CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q
PALINDROME STUDY

Rule 1: ABA or AABAA = B

Rule 2: CC = C
Rule 3: DDD = D
Rule 4: ABAA or AABA = disregard (not a simple palindrome)
Rule 5: ABACA = disregard (not a simple palindrome)

K1
EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
YQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD

BETWEENSUBTLESHADINGANDTHEABSENCEOFLIGHTLIESTHENUANCEOFIQLUSION

K2
VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGESWJLLAETG

IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE? THEY USED THE EARTHS MAGNETIC
FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED UNDERGRUUND TO AN
UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS? THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT
THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION? ONLY WW THIS WAS HIS LAST
MESSAGE X THIRTY EIGHT DEGREES FIFTY SEVEN MINUTES SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS
NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES FORTY FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO

K3
ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW

SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF PASSAGE DEBRIS THAT ENCUMBERED THE
LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED WITH TREMBLING HANDS I MADE A TINY
BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I
INSERTED THE CANDLE AND PEERED IN THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER
CAUSED THE FLAME TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE ROOM WITHIN EMERGED
FROM THE MIST X CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q

K1 CT: TBL K1 PT: E

K2 CT: EKGKMVGXERHDUQTGOHFMZRFEFBL K2 PT: OLSSERTGUKTTRREWSEIVSVVE
K3 CT: BISANLICENOEHWEETEDATDDMES K3 PT: RRSDROHPIETISOME
K4
BERLINCLOCK
OBKRUOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSOTWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYPVTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJC
DIGKUHUAUEKCAR

CT/PT/CT/PT/CT/PT pattern:
TBLEEKGKMVGXERHDUQTGOHFMZRFEFBLOLSSERTGUKTTRREWSEIVSVVEBISANLICENOEHWEETEDATDDMESRR
SDROHPIETISOME

CT/CT/CT/PT/PT/PT pattern:
TBLEKGKMVGXERHDUQTGOHFMZRFEFBLBISANLICENOEHWEETEDATDDMESEOLSSERTGUKTTRREWSEIVSVVERR
SDROHPIETISOME