Catchup: | Prologue | Part 1 – Gravity Falls Cipher Hunt | Part 2 – Gravity Falls Cipher Hunt |
For a week, fans were stuck on the last clue of the Gravity Falls Cipher Hunt.
Until Alex Hirsch, tweeted out a clue –
Fans realized the urban legend arcade game referred to Polybius, a game from the 1980s. The arcade game was described as affecting people – causing them to forget things and have nightmares. According to legend, soon after the game’s release it disappeared. Others say the arcade game never existed and the Wikipedia page is … an interesting read.
The clue pointed fans in the direction of the Polybius square which fans had discussed in the Discord chat room before.
A Polybius square takes two numbers at a time and upon a 5×5 square grid, points to a specific letter. The 5×5 grid is filled with letters from the alphabet (A-Z) and an optional keyword.
Redditor RunningIsFunny assumed the last two letters of the location would be OR, representing the state of Oregon in the US and was able to use reverse decryption to find an answer – REEZABORD, OR. The only location in OR that sounded similar was a place called Reedsport.
Fans utilized Google Maps and discovered a section of Reedsport that lined up perfectly with an earlier map from the Cipher Hunt. Straight away fans headed to the location and discovered what they had been looking for during the past month – the Bill Cipher statue!
Near the Bill Cipher statue, fans discovered a buried treasure chest in the ground and some brave people even shook his hand. The chest contained numerous prizes including a copy of the Gravity Falls Journal 3, a black light, a Mayor of Gravity Falls sash along with fake and real currency. There was also a USB.
Inside the USB there were three items:
– A text file – labeled “Hi” with a link to a twitter account belonging to a person called Bradley. It was later realized this person had stumbled across the Bill Cipher statue before the Cipher Hunt had started then marked some currency left in the treasure chest and added this text file on the USB.
– An audio file from Grunkle Stan encouraging people to shake Bill’s hand and congratulates fans for finding the statue
– Another text file – labeled “MyExWifeStillMissesMe.ButHerAimIsGettinBetter” and inside was this text, RETURNBACKWARDSTOTHEPASTAGAINTHREE
The second text file contained the username and password to access the pilot episode of Gravity Falls.
Username: RETURNBACKWARDS
Password: TOTHEPASTAGAINTHREE
Pilot of Gravity Falls episode here – http://themysteryofgravityfalls.com/pilot/
The statue of Bill Cipher was found but that wasn’t the end of the adventure.
One day after the statue was found, there was a property dispute about the statue’s location. The Bill Cipher statue was then picked up by Reedsport police and put outside their station. It was then hidden in Bicentennial Park, a mile from the original Reedsport location. Along the way the statue’s hat was lost.
Alex Hirsch tweeted out a message then asking for help to drive the Bill Cipher statue to a new location, five hours away.
As of yesterday, the Bill Cipher statue currently resides at Confusion Hill, a tourist trap located in California. There’s a $5 USD entrance fee and the statue will also get a new hat next week.
As fans of Gravity Falls like to say, see you all next summer! (At Confusion Hill).
– Essa 🙂
Intervirals 