The Really Dead Letter Office Mystery Cache
The Really Dead Letter Office
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The cache IS NOT at the listed coordinates. If you go there in summer you will get very wet.
I’ve always wondered where some of the terms or phrases we use came from. The term ‘dead letter office’ has been used to describe where mail went when it couldn’t be delivered by the Post Office for one reason or another. In 1992 they adopted a more politically correct term (Mail Recovery Center) to describe the undeliverable mail office and you can find more about it at this site. Visit Link
I did some searching and this is what I found on the history of the term ‘dead letter’.
“In Victorian times there was a fad for "dead letters". Usually this meant that schoolgirls exchanged letters and made pacts that they were to be opened at a certain time, or sometimes the letters were only traded with a friend for the purposes of safekeeping - they were really letters the authors wrote to themselves and meant to open in a few years' time. And yes, sometimes people left their loved ones letters meant to be opened in the event of their death. I can't find a link, but I've found references to it in a number of popular Victorian novels. I suppose in a world where travel was difficult and communication limited to letters and actual meetings, and mortality high, it made more sense than it does now - otherwise you might not be able to say good-bye.”
What got me thinking about ‘dead letters’ was a strange web site. While Googling around a few years ago I ran across an unusual internet service called ‘MyLastEmail.Com’, described here. Link 1 or Link 2 or Link 3.
The site said: “MyLastEmail.com is a unique service whereby you can record your last words, your last message or last wishes to be conveyed to any one you nominate after your death in order to leave your departing messages for your love ones. Your final message will be delivered to the one you wish. After departing, message from the grave can be a great relief to the ones you leave behind.”
So apparently dead letters were alive and well (so to speak) on the internet. Sounded kind of macabre to me and I’m sure all the messages left weren’t positive ones but some were just one last chance to get a dig in for someone you couldn’t stand when you were alive. I’m not too sure why anyone would want to use this service but to each their own, I guess. Since I first found that site in 2003, the link has died and I can’t even find the obit on line. Perhaps others found this service a little too dark as well. I also wonder what happened to all the money they reportedly collected.
NOTICE As many of you have probably guessed by now, none of the above explanation is incorrect but it has absolutely nothing to do with solving the puzzle, and you shouldn’t waste any more time trying to get meaning from it. The meaningful (and useful) cache name came from the title of a related thread in an online forum and I thought it was appropriate, or at least half appropriate.
You don’t have to do any Google searches or click around the listing page for hidden codes or photos. Everything you need, including some really key information needed to solve the second half of the puzzle below, is in plain sight on this listing page. To make it a little easier, the answer you get will be the entire numerical coordinate string for N & W, including degrees, minutes, and decimal minutes so a geochecker isn’t necessary. All it will take is a few simple (not to be confused with obvious) steps to get the solution. To get parking/trailhead coordinates, subtract .049 from north and add .094 to west. As always, do not give any hints to the solution in your logs, no matter how obscure, or they will be deleted. Good luck!
1024061310212417062016230013
The log is in a pill bottle placed in a clear 4"X4" plastic container with a red cover.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
- Svefg unys, tebhc ahzoref nobir yvxr Abnu.
- ahzoref = yrggre cbfvgvba va gvgyr.
-1fg unys nafjre vf va Gur Ernyyl Qrnq Yrggre Bssvpr
-Abg nyy yrggref ner qrnq
- Frpbaq unys, abj yrggref gb ahzoref hfvat qrpelcg xrl
- Frpbaq unys: Qb qrnq yrggref ebg???
Pnpur ybpngvba: Cynprq haqre gur ybt ng gur onfr bs gur byq zhygv gehax gerr pbirerq ol n fznyy ybt.