A Spy In The Hoosier Land Mystery Cache
A Spy In The Hoosier Land
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This is a virtual, role-playing, mystery, multi-cache. Rated 3 for terrain because you will be traveling all over the city and out into the countryside.
During the fall of 1942 and on into the spring and summer of 1943, unknown to all but a few, a German Spy was operating in the southern Indiana city of Evansville. The details of this story are told in the excellent book “Invitation To Valhalla” by Mike Whicker.
This is the third in a triology of virtual caches that are also role-playing caches. You are to imagine yourself to be FBI agent Charles (or maybe Charlene, depending on your gender) Pulaski. It is May, 1943. The FBI has intercepted some coded communication coming from the southern Indiana area. The message reads: HPGPW U CDWAF. You think it is a Caesar Code. It may be a person’s name with the second word being the middle initial, but without the key it is almost impossible to decode. Your superiors suspect that a German spy may be operating in the Evansville, Indiana area. Why Evansville? Evansville happens to be the location of a government shipyard that is busy producing a ship, called an LST, that will play a very important role in the war effort. Good luck.
Upon arriving in Evansville you get a room at the Sonntag Hotel. (Above are your starting coordinates. You begin at what once was the Sonntag Hotel. Today it is a school.) Shortly after settling in you begin your investigation by interviewing employees at the shipyard. A few days later you receive a phone call at your hotel from a mysterious stranger. He tells you about a dangerous female German spy operating in the area. Her mission is to steal secrets from the local shipyard that is producing the LST’s. He wants to help you stop her. He won’t say why. He arranges a meeting at the McCurdy Hotel. You agree to meet him there for lunch. He promises to give you information about the spy and maybe even help you decode the secret message. (Next to the Sonntag is a park. Go to the park and turn around at look at the outside wall of the hotel that faces the park. Not counting any windows on the ground level, how many windows are in this outside wall of the Sonntag Hotel? Answer=A0.) You leave the Sonntag to go to your meeting at the McCurdy. (Now go to N 37 58.13A and W 087 34.4AA.)
You should now be standing outside the McCurdy Hotel. You have just finished your meeting with the mysterious stranger. When you showed him the coded message he told you that it is probably the alias she is using while in Evansville. He also tells you that she is living in an apartment above a local restaurant. He gives you her address. He also tells you that the key to the code can be found outside. On the outside wall of the hotel, next to the entrance is a plaque. Look at the last word on the plaque. The key to decoding the message is: First Name A=1st letter; Middle Initial A=2nd letter; and Last Name A=last letter. (How many letters are there in the second to last word on the plaque? Answer=B. Bonus Question #1: What is the name that the German Spy is using? Include first name, middle initial, and last name.) After decoding the message and briefly reporting back in to your superiors you go to the address given you by the stranger in hope of capturing the spy. (Now go to N 37 58.B93 and W 087 33.B40.)
You are now standing outside of one of Evansville more famous restaurants. You ask for the person you are seeking. The owners tell you that she just moved out. However a man came by soon after and left a note. The note reads: “You are too late. She moved out. Meet me at the location below for more information. Signed, Your Friend.” (Bonus Question #2: What is the name of the restaurant?) Now go to the location he gave you. ( Go to: N 37 58.1B7 and W 087 34.550.)
You are now standing at a spot over-looking the Ohio River. The stranger tells you of a special meeting he arranged with the spy. He gives you the time and location for the meeting. It may be your last chance to catch her. (As you look down the river you can see the shipyards, at least you could in 1943.) You notice that one building down river from the shipyard has more than one smokestack. How many smokestacks does it have? Answer=C. See below for hint. Also, how many total LST’s were produced at this shipyard? Answer=16D. E=D-C) It is now time to go to the meeting. You get in your car and drive to this remote location. BEFORE YOU GO, SEE UPDATE BELOW. (Now go to N 37 54.BE1 and W 087 37.DB9.)
You now find yourself outside a well known, remote, local tavern. You await the arrival of your mysterious friend and the spy you seek. Will you be successful in capturing her this time? (Bonus question #3: What is the name of this tavern? Bonus Question #4: What are the business hours on Sunday? By the way, if you go inside, I recommend the fried chicken. It is among the best in the area.)
UPDATE: This tavern has recently closed. This is too bad. It was a key location in the book. To "find" this cache, for now, you do not need to go to the tavern nor answer the questions related to this tavern. If tavern reopens I will update this description.
Email me the correct answers to all 4 (now 2) bonus questions and you will have successfully captured the German spy and will have earned permission to log this cache as “found.” You will also get a special letter of thanks from the FBI. One wrong answer might lead to disastrous results in the war effort. Good luck.So what really happened? Did the spy get captured? Who was she really? And who was the mysterious stranger that wanted to sabotage her mission? To get the answers to these and other questions you must read the book “Invitation To Valhalla.” You won’t regret it.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx ng gur cyndhrf.
Treasures
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