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The Musical Box Multi-Cache

Hidden : 1/28/2005
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

The co-ordinates above point to an interesting feature not far from the cache: this has nothing to do with it, however. There is parking near the co-ordinates you deduce from the story. There remains a short walk from there to the final cache. You can find the intermediate clue simply by using this cache page, then you'll have to go there and see what you find. The instructions below should make sense when you arrive, as long as you've studied them beforehand.

Before giving you the directions to find this cache, it’s worth telling you the story of the Musical Box. Back in the 1960’s, Paisley musician Hamish Limbhell owned a collection of hundreds of musical boxes. Hidden in a secret compartment of one of them was a very rare silver crown, one of only a hundred ever minted. To protect this valuable item from thieves, the box was just kept somewhere amongst the collection of other boxes, the idea being that a burglar would never have time to check enough of the boxes before being apprehended. The box had no distinguishing features, but Hamish could always remember where he put it, in amongst the others: should he forget, however, he only had to open boxes until he recognised the distinctive tune of the correct one – no others had this particular tune.

Eventually, Hamish became seriously ill: on his deathbed he suddenly called his son to him. “Find the musical treasure box, Phil”, he whispered, “it’s yours – you can tell which one it is because it plays this tune…” and he began whistling the tune, feebly. He only managed four notes

however, and collapsed, exhausted – this was the last sound to pass his lips before he died.

After the funeral, Phil was abroad on business, and forgot about the collection of musical boxes for a while. When he returned, the executors had auctioned off the whole lot to a number of buyers and it was impossible to check where they all went, so the silver crown was lost. He could still remember the four notes of the tune, however, as it began like a song he knew by local poet and songwriter Robert Tannahill. If he went past an antiques shop, Phil would always open the lid of any old musical boxes to try and recognise the music – but he never found the treasure box. It’s probably still tucked away in some quiet corner.


You should listen to the tune playing if you can – this should help if you’re in the Paisley area and decide to look for the box yourself. Best of luck!

Now, the instructions to find the cache.

The intermediate clue is at 55° 4x.xxx 4° xx.xxx.

From this, use the following.
1. Try here: inside six in seven are rules. Every decimal has errors. Run round in nine gyrations.

2. Think how I said it showed above ground. Every number underneath, in nine eights. Carefully lift under eleven: the fifth spoke south of east!.

AbcCdefgHhiijJKllmMmnopQRstTUVvwxxyyz
1637489370875481485982473498945720106

Final Cache: 55° 4x.xxx 4° xx.xxx

Please be extra careful to fully camouflage the box, as this area becomes very popular in summer and muggles will regularly pass within feet of the hiding place.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Gb svaq gur qvfp, mreb va ba zvqqyr P. Hfr gur qrpelcgvba xrl gb fbyir gur ynfg cneg bs gur chmmyr. Ybbx ybj abg uvtu naq lbh zvtug svaq lbhefrys orgjrra n ebpx naq n uneq cynpr!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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