Viola Quest

Another piece of the map!

2009-11-30T04:03:00.000-08:00

Well I finally managed to solve the 'x marks the spot' riddle and have just received another map piece - as well as another diary page.

Now this is getting really, really wierd - I'm not sure what to make of it. Communicating with dinosaurs? Would these people really risk destroying the planet just so they could make money?

We're so close to finding the machine! Now I wonder where that last piece of the map is?

Another challenge

2009-11-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Some more exciting news! I got an email late last night from a woman called Carol Overtip who claims to be another descendent of the orginal SCWID members. She's been reading my blog and has a map piece - excellent! However she also says:

“I can see that you and your friends have a keen eye for puzzles. If you can solve this then you’re welcome to my map piece.”

Then there are just four photographs and the phrase ‘x marks the spot’ – help!

It just gets weirder and weirder...

2009-11-10T08:18:00.000-08:00

Had an exciting package today. It was from the owner of the History Mystery site who I emailed a few days ago - and it contained another map piece. Not just that but some strange plans and some more diary pages.

Now this is getting really weird - communication through time and space?!?

Getting somewhere...

2009-10-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Percy for his help - he found a web site that seems to offer some clues as to what SCWID is. The Manchester History Mysteries Site at http://www.historymysteries.net/ says that it was some sort of secret society during the industrial revolution and the strange machine was called the 'flaxobulator' - I wonder what it did, sounds like something to do with weaving maybe?

More exciting, the site owner says that he or she has another map piece - so it would be great to contact him or her - but the details are password-protected and there's some sort of puzzle to find the password.

Can anyone help?

Another piece of map - but where now?

2009-10-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got the time to go for a walk and get the code name – easy when you know where to look ;o)

I think we’re really getting somewhere now – I went back to Mr Fortescue with the code name and he handed a package over straight away. And, guess what – it contained another piece of the map!

That’s three pieces of the map we’ve got now. I wonder what we should do now? Any ideas?

Another piece of the puzzle

2009-10-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the other map piece I found - looks like we need another four to be able to find where the strange 'machine' is. I wonder what it is and what it does?

Any thoughts anyone?

Recap

2009-10-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

I've just had the few most hectic weeks starting Uni that I haven't really been able to spend as much time as I'd have liked on this mystery. But after a weekend back home I'm all re-enthused!

So where are we? I found a map piece and letter from one of my ancestors that mentioned a strange machine and an old secret society and also gave a clue to finding a second map piece, which was with some pages from an old diary and a strange set of instructions.

From the diary, it seems that the machine was dangerous in some way and has been hidden somewhere - I have to find all of the pieces of the map to find out where. There is a third piece of the map with a lawyer, but I need to give him a code word before he will hand it over - I think this is where the instructions come in. They look like a kind of treasure hunt through the MMU website. I'm sure I can crack this soon...

I've done some digging

2009-10-09T04:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! This is really exciting exciting - I did some investigation based on the diary pages and there's still a firm of solicitors in my home town called Fortescue & Fortescue - seems that it's still run by the descendents of the Fortescue in the diary. Spooky.

But this is the exciting bit - when I spoke to them they still had documents in the name of an Oliver Captor! Apparently this package has been in the firm for years and no one knows what it is but are under strict instructions only to give it to someone who can tell them a specific code word.

The man I spoke to did let slip that the code word is a building name - any ideas?

Viola

I got it!

2009-10-01T01:33:00.000-07:00

This is so exciting! I finally managed to crack the code in the letter and find the name of the play I needed - well done all of you who have got this far:o)

I went to the library in my Gran's house and, after much searching - and much dust - found a complete set of Shakespeare's plays, and there was the one I needed (I'm not going to tell you what it is in case anyone still wants to work it out for themselves).

I took down this old book that looked like it hadn't been opened for years - which it probably hadn't - and inside all middles of the pages had been removed to make a kind of box. It's amazing - you'd never find it if you didn't know where to look.

Inside the box there was another piece of the map - hurrah - what looks like some pages torn out of an old diary, and a typewritten set of instructions. I've made some copies of the map piece and left them at various MMU libraries if anyone wants to pick one up? Here's a photo of the diary pages and the instructions - hope someone can make more of them than me?

Viola

Getting there...

2009-09-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited that we have now nearly 40 people signed up - I'm loving that you're all helping me :o)

I'm sure that I'm very close to cracking the letter... I know that "this is not a clue" is not a clue (I guess!).

It's got to be something to do with the underlining on the letter - I've found another phrase, but it's not any English I recognise...?

Viola

Back on the case

2009-09-15T02:09:00.000-07:00

Well I'm now more or less settled in to Manchester - I have somewhere to stay and can find my way onto the main campus. It's a start anyay...

Can now spend a bit more time trying to work out what's going on here. Things I'm thinking so far:

1. I have one piece of what looks like a larger map. Where is it of? Why was it split into pieces? Can I even get all the other pieces? Where do I start?

2. I have a letter from some long dead relative that talks about a secret society and a machine. What was the society and what did it do? What was the machine and what was it for? Why was the machine hidden? Where is the machine now?

3. The letter says it contains some kind of clue to a play - but I'm lost...

Lots of questions. No answers yet.

Getting help!

2009-09-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week for me getting ready to go to Manchester, so I haven't had too much time to work on the letter.

In order to get people to help me and some of my friends have been putting posters and stickers up around the university. If you see one, please join us!

Thanks Percy!

2009-08-01T23:31:00.000-07:00

My friend, Percy Root, has very kindly set up a web site for me (and anyone I can persuade to help me - hint, hint) to keep track of what's going on and who's involved.

You can come and take part at http://www.violaquest.org/.

I'm still getting nowhere with the letter - any ideas, anyone?

The start of something bigger?

2009-07-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

Forgot to say in my last post, that with the letter I also found a piece of an old map - it's a bit crumbly and dirty but you can still read it.

From the grid in the corner it looks like it's one part of a bigger map. I've decided to copy this and distribute the pieces around the Uni - might be a good way of getting people to help me?

A strange letter from the past

2009-07-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

Last week I was round at my Gran's house and discovered this strange letter while nosing around in the attic looking for some books for Uni (click on the thumbnail below to see a full-size version).

Very bizarre! I wonder what the secret machine is? I’m certainly not clever enough to solve this on my own and wondered if there was anyone out there who could help me?

When I asked my Gran she said that my great, great grandfather (or it is great-great-great) was some high-flying industrialist and it was him that bought her house in the first place. Don’t know what the letter means about a library – there is one in Gran's house but it’s massive and there must be thousands of books – I can’t look in every one!!!

Can anyone help?

Viola

Hello World!

2009-07-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hi and welcome to my first ever blog post!

My name is Viola Procter and I'm a student in Manchester. I've started this blog because of a really strange thing that happened to me about a week ago that I've been puzzling over ever since.

I'm completely stuck so am using this blog as a way of getting people interested enough to help me. Please join in!

I'm not really sure what's going on - this might be something or nothing - but I'll tell you a bit more about what happened in my next post and fill you in on some of the details.