Answer To 30-Year-Old Mystery Code Embedded In The Kryptos CIA Sculpture To Be Sold At Auction

In 1990, the artist Jim Sanborn created a mind-boggling sculpture that was erected on the grounds of the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The sculpture, called Kryptos, resembles an unfolding scroll attached to a piece of upright petrified wood. The surface of the sculpture has just over 1,700 characters carved into it, which contain four encrypted messages: a tease for avid sleuths across the world.

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Over the last 30 years, three of these messages have been decrypted, but one remains unsolved. And time is now running out to crack it before the answer is revealed – for a cost. As Sanborn prepares to celebrate his 80th birthday in November this year, he has announced his plans to auction the complete solution, which could sell for around $500,000.

A photo showing the Kryptos sculpture on site at the CIA headquarters. It looks like a large metal scrolling being unfolded from an upright piece of petrified wood (on the left). In front of it is a brown rock bench. The sunlight shines through portions of the letters carved into its surface, which projects them on the floor in its shadow. Behind the sculpture, a seating area is visible with some grasses and slim trees and there is a large building in the background.

The fourth code – known as K4 – has not been solved in over 30 years, and now its creator is seeking someone else to take responsibility for its mystery. What will they decide to do with it?

The decision, though likely controversial to detractors and ambitious cryptographers alike, appears to have been made after much personal deliberation. In an open letter, Sanborn explained that: “For 35 years I have followed my personal directive to maintain public access to the K4 section of Kryptos. This has required tremendous – and recently accelerating – effort to respond to literally tens of thousands of emails and letters (pre-internet) from potential codebreakers around the world.”

“Kryptos,” he explains, “is only one of dozens of my projects, but it has become a time-consuming distraction, and I can no longer do this.”

Over the years, the sculpture has attracted the attention and imagination of generations of people. It has been the subject of five National Public Radio stories and appeared in NOVA Science Now. It has been discussed and debated on TV shows, and part of its code appeared on the hardcover of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code – Brown even has a chapter dedicated to Sanborn in his other book, The Lost Symbol.

The sculpture has certainly inspired something in people’s minds, but as with so many popular mysteries, it has also generated less pleasant responses. In a recent conversation with the Washington Post, Sanborn explained how the codes have “destroyed marriages”, led frustrated codebreakers to turn up on Sanborn’s door unannounced, and even provoked death threats.

Given this pressure, which the artist has shouldered for over 30 years, it is no surprise that he has decided to part ways with this heavy burden.

“This decision has not been an easy one, and many in the Kryptos community will find it upsetting,” he explained in his open letter.

“I am very sorry for that. What I have learned over the years is that Kryptos and its codes have had a larger positive effect than I ever imagined, and in ways I never imagined. Its systems are taught in schools, its image is in many Algebra 2 textbooks, it’s the subject of several courses of study, and it has even been used as a therapeutic tool for brain injury and PTSD. These developments have given me great satisfaction. I will miss the experience, and I hope other uses may be found in the future.”

The decision to auction off the plain text of Kryptos’ fourth message – referred to as K4 – is ultimately a decision to entrust it to someone new, to pass stewardship on.

“I sincerely hope the new owner will choose to keep K4 a secret. If they don’t, then (CLUE) what’s the point? Power resides with a secret, not without it.”

Sanborn created the sculpture with the help of Edward Scheidt, the former chairman of the CIA’s Cryptographic Center. Scheidt taught Sanborn how code systems work while they met in secret. So far, the results have been fascinating and tantalizingly obscure.

The first message says, “Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion.” Here, the word “illusion” is deliberately misspelled.

The second message hints at something buried: “Does Langley know about this? They should: It’s buried out there somewhere. X who knows the exact location? only WW.” WW were the initials of William Webster, the then head of the CIA.

The third message represents an altered passage from Howard Carter’s description of the opening of King Tut’s tomb. It says, “Slowly, desparatly slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner.” This too contained deliberately misspelled words.

K4 will go on auction in November this year. The winner will not only get the secret, but they will also receive a signed letter from Scheidt, photographs, and other materials related to the project.

“My stewardship role for K4 is over,” Sanborn explains, “and I sincerely hope there will be a peaceful transfer of the code to its new owner. I have said before, even when K4 has been solved, its riddle will persist as K5.”