The cache is not at the published coordinates and there is no reason to go there
One of the few growth areas in Falkirk Town Centre's shops and services in recent years has been the string of tattoo parlours opening up. I guess a tattoo is one thing you can't buy over the internet, so these establishments haven't suffered at the hands of online retailers as much as other local businesses. It's ironic that it takes something as old as tattooing to withstand the internet competition onslaught during the digital age. Tattooing has been practiced across the globe since at least Neolithic times, as evidenced by mummified preserved skin, ancient art and the archaeological record. However, direct evidence for tattooing on mummified human skin extends only to the 4th Millenium BC. The oldest discovery of tattooed human skin to date is found on the body of 'Otzi The Iceman', dating to between 3370 and 3100 BC, his remains were found on the Austrian/Italian border.
The purpose of tattoos is varied - sometimes ornamental, sometimes ritual, sometimes cultural. In the case of Otzi The Iceman the tattoos were for medical purposes, Ötzi had over fifty lines and crosses tattooed onto his body – most of them on his spine, knee and ankle joints, with the locations of many of the markings being consistent with traditional Chinese acupuncture points. This cache explores the world of tattoos, it may even persuade you to get one if you don't have one already!
The cache is located at N 55° 58.ABC W 003° 47.DEF and you can figure out the missing coordinates from answering the following questions about tattoos. Where the answer is a letter of the alphabet, use the standard A=1, B=2, etc method to convert the answers into a number for the missing coordinates.
The following images hint to the tattoos of which X Factor star? First letter in the person’s first name = A.
British Sailors used to get tattoos of a certain creature to denote the accumulated length of their voyages. Number of letters in this creature’s name plus 1 = B.
Tattoos have been used to identify corpses where other means aren’t suitable. In one famous Australian case, a fisherman caught a shark, inside of which was a human limb which on closer examination appeared to actually have been severed by a knife. The limb bore a distinctive tattoo of two _____ and it was used to identify the body and convict his murderers. First letter of the tattoo image = C.
The mother of a notable 20th Century UK Prime Minister scandalously had a tattoo of snake. First digit of her birthday = D.
A famous blonde-haired, blue-eyed, all-American girl icon caused a storm in the late 90s because she acquired a butterfly tattoo. First letter of her name minus the fourth letter of her name = E.
Tattoos are often used as identifiers of membership and seniority in criminal gangs around the globe. Members of which infamous criminal organization have donated over 100 full-body tattooed ‘pelts’ of their deceased members to a museum so that their fame lives on after death. Add the second letter to the sixth letter, and the answer = F.
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The cache is within 1.5 miles of the published coordinates. Parking details are given in the checker.
7/1/2022 Update - Coordinates for final cache location updated for accuracy. Clues & Checker revised accordingly. If you have solved the puzzle then you will need to re-do answers to 'B' and 'C' to get the revised coords.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.