Final Solution to Montreal Location The location is Place Ville Marie Plaza By John Murray This is the image for October and the immigration reference is to the Netherlands. This image is linked to Verse 2 and a casque in Montreal, Canada. I am writing what I believe to be the complete solution to the Montreal treasure hunt as I feel I have solved this mystery which has been going on for the past 35 years. I still do not have the treasure casque and hope to dig it out in the coming days. However I am also faced with the possibility that it may never be found. I have recently discovered that the Place Ville Marie Plaza began extensive renovation on January 8 th 2018 and will be spending over $200 million dollars which will be demolishing and completely remodeling the plaza. I have contacted the Building owners and also spoke to one of the foreman s of the contractors hired for the renovations. They have assured me if something is there they will gladly hand it over. I also unfortunately discovered by the owners that another renovation occurred 30 years ago which would make it about 5 years after the Casque was supposedly buried. The Plaza is situated on a concrete slab which acts as the roof of the mall and underground parking lot. In 1962 the plaza was left as concrete as you will see below in some older black and white pictures. Later in the late 70`s early 80`s the plaza was turned into a green park with trees and flowers but for this transformation a tremendous amount of dirt had to be added on top of the already existing concrete which over time added too much stress and weight creating the possibility of a roof collapse on the mall and underground parking lot. The plaza was entirely retrofitted with a Styrofoam base beneath the dirt creating the same height overlay but needing much less dirt to finish the job and alleviating most of the weight. I am afraid the casque may have been destroyed at that time. We are not fully certain and I am hoping that the dates are wrong. Perhaps it was not touched and perhaps Byron Preiss hid the Casque after this renovation, either way the mystery will soon be revealed.
The left side of the white shirt collar may form the outline of southwestern Quebec, where the boundary drops south, turns eastwards for a while, and then makes a final, short drop to the south beside Montreal. The right side of the white shirt collar forms a very reasonable representation of the St. Lawrence River, as it flows northeast through Montreal.
The mouth appears to be the shape of the island of Montreal The Golden Square mile and the map outlining the area that it covers. The George Stephen house Candelabra lamppost is the only one of its kind in North America. Others have been found but only in Italy which confirms that the casque is located in Montreal and not in any other of the U.S locations.
The "legeater cat" that appears in a golden rectangle on the man's shirt. If we look at other casque locations already discovered in the U.S, Preiss always gave us a main location and from there went on to find a more secluded location to hide and bury the casque. I think his main location was Dorchester Square, Its located in the Golden square mile and if you look at the leg of the Legeater Cat which extends outside the Golden square you would end up in another square which at the time was called Dominion Square now it is called Place du Canada. This other square strangely is shaped like the leg of the animal which resembles a horse`s hoof. The George Stephen house Candelabra can also be a Reference to the Accomplishments of George Stephens who was The financial genius behind The creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It may have a connection to The spot where the casque was buried. Place Ville Marie was built Over a railroad track System which still operates Beneath the plaza today.
Within Dorchester Square we find several possibilities connecting with the Painting. The fingers in the painting are indicating a close resemblance to the legs of the horse on the Boar War Memorial Statue found in Dorchester square.
The nose on the painting is unusually large. I believe the nose and nostrils are representing the Mary Queen of the World Cathedral which is across the street from Dorchester Square. Interesting fact Preiss writes in the verse, Gnomes admire Fays delight Certainly the Cathedral has plenty of statues and angels to satisfy this part of the verse.
Place du Canada Square which is the second square just outside the Golden square mile and neighbouring to Dorchester square we find St. George Anglican Church. However I think Preiss had meant this clue to be a more specific indication to where to start digging. It appears like two granite walls and where both meet start digging which is why the small loop towards the bottom looks like a hole having been dug out.
Latitude / Longitude Hints Montreal is between the latitudes of 45 and 46 degrees north. It is between the longitudes of 73 and 74 degrees west. We can clearly see numbers in the hair line indication 73 & 45 for the GPS coordinates of Montreal.
Interesting note that if the wildcat from the Mount Stephen Club located in the Golden square is trying to convey the message of Dorchester Square and its hoof paw extended outside referring to Place du Canada square then it`s also possible that it is also referring to the Lion statue situated on the eastern side of Dorchester square. If it is the Lion, then note that it is facing south east almost towards The Place Ville Marie Plaza which is where the Royal Bank of Canada is located. Note the Logo of the Royal Bank of Canada a Golden Lion. (Another wildcat).
As I ventured east towards The Place Ville Marie Plaza, I walked up 5 steps to reach the plaza much like the painting depiction showing 5 steps.
The repeated use of a checkerboard pattern was tough to discover I too thought that they were a reference to the Grand Prix and St. Helene Island much like many others. The Logo of Place Ville Marie was the shape of the building which is built in a cross pattern. Then I remembered that The Place Ville Marie Logo back in the 80 s was a checkered pattern in reference to the building design. It has since been changed completely to a different design. (see to the right) The New Logo is completely changed and obviously made it very difficult to discover the older checkered logo pattern.
The square with the X appeared to contain two runes. The one on the left appeared to be wunjô. The one on the right appeared to be a reflected version of laguz. The runes gave me a headache and turned out to be a red herring as it had nothing to do with runes. Place Ville Marie has 5 buildings in its complex the main building is known as P1 which is known as 1 Place Ville Marie. The X design with a slightly wider line is the skylight on one of the squares in the plaza. If you look at the picture to the top right seen from inside the skylight looking up you will see that a line is wider due to the 3D effect from the pyramid shape skylight. The letters P,V, M & number 1 can be shown here to represent Place Ville Marie 1 Building.
Back in the days the skylights were non-existent and you can see the spiral staircase leading to the underground mall and parking lot. Today the staircase still exist and I believe the curls in the hair on both sides represents both spiral staircases. *This also shows how the plaza was once only a concrete base. Tons of dirt were added years later to plant trees and flowers. Unfortunately the added weight created a problem to the underground mall and parking lot. A Styrofoam base was retrofitted beneath the dirt some 5 years after the Casque was buried which I believe was destroyed at that time.
I have found the match to the beret on the painting with the background setting from Place Ville Marie Plaza. Looking North towards the Mount Royal which is University street you will see the South East side of the Mountain. This is the only location where this portion of the mountain can be seen. All other spots are blocked by buildings. The outline clearly matches the Beret s right side. The castle like bump on the right is the Royal Victoria Hospital. The rest is simply the outline of the mountain.
The hair strands appear as two sets of parallel lines like two sets of railroad tracks. The hair is positioned near the bottom of the beret disappearing beneath like the train tunnel beneath Mount Royal which still operates today and travels beneath Place Ville Marie Plaza.
The Opal jewel on the top of the Beret I believe represents the Beacon light of Place Ville Marie. The rotating rooftop beacon is a symbol of Place Ville Marie it belongs to the Royal Bank of Canada and can be seen for 50 kilometers in all directions.
The Flower I believe has a few hidden clues. If we compare the V shapes on the top left corner and right side of the painting you will see that they match up with the V shapes located on the fountain situated at Place Ville Marie Plaza. The circle from #6 on the flower is the water fountain, it is surrounded to the bottom by a square feature just like on the bottom of the flower petal. The double line outline is also a feature on the fountain. The Lamp post is a match with the center bubbles found in the flower.
The two sleeves with the same checkered pattern that we see on the painting I believe are the two buildings seen here as we look towards the mountain They have the same checkered pattern because they are part of the same complex thus had the same logo back in the 80 s. They are known as PVM2 & PVM 3. (Place Ville Marie 2 & Place Ville Marie 3). The left side has a smile and right side a frown. If you face the mountain and smile on your right side then the casque is buried next to the right hand side skylight
It took me a while to find this. It`s an aerial shot of the Place Ville Marie Plaza. The above image is either a reference to the indoor parking entrance or the circle of the fountain situated at the top of the plaza. By looking at the black shape on the painting the bottom right it shows a gold box which should be the area where the Casque is buried. The black shape beside the legeater cat is The Place Ville Marie Plaza outline as seen to the right on the aerial map.
If you superimpose the black shape on the plaza map outline you will see that Byron Preiss actually purposely shifted the bottom two black squares to the right, which otherwise should have covered the two bottom skylights but instead it leaves the contour of one skylight exposed. By looking at the black shape on the painting the bottom right it shows a gold box which should be the area where the casque is buried I believe this means Where the two Granite walls meet dig.
I believe this image confirms my theory if the outer square represents the Place Ville Marie Plaza, then the top right square would be the north eastern skylight. The bottom right square would be the south eastern skylight. One of the fingers is pointing directly at the west side of the skylight indicating the Casque location..
The final resting place of the Casque at the Place Ville Marie Plaza Buried near the south eastern skylight. As I have said it may no longer be there as renovations to the plaza took place some 30 years ago and new renovations are now ongoing. The owners and contractors have assured me that if it still there they will contact me.
I have created a quick summary of the various clues on the painting.
At the place where jewels abound Fifteen rows down to the ground In the middle of twenty-one From end to end As the sound of friends Fills the afternoon hours Here is a sovereign people At the place where the jewels are abound (note the word place) It was a clue as they are at Place Ville Marie Plaza. This still has me stumped I thought the Sun Life building reference was good and it may still but entering the plaza from Mansfield street there are 15 steps. The Building was also built over a railway system which still runs today beneath the building and which was originally 15 meters wide. It is also 12 steps from inside Place Ville Marie 1 to the Plaza and then 3 more steps down to the Plaza floor could this be the 15 rows down. Dorchester Square from end to end is 21,000 square meters. Both Dorchester square and Place Ville Marie Plaza are crowded parks especially during the afternoon hours so many friends would gather there daily. Place du Canada square use to be called Dominion Square which is another reference for Sovereign. It could refer to The 1980 Quebec referendum which was the first referendum in Quebec on whether Quebec should pursue a path toward Sovereignty. Who build palaces to shelter Their heads for a night! Gnomes admire Fays delight The namesakes meeting Near this site. The palaces could certainly refer to the many hotels which refer to royalty. Near Dorchester square we had back in the 80 s the Windsor Hotel, today we still have the Chateau Champlain and near the Place Ville Marie Plaza seen from the casque location is The Queen Elizabeth Hotel. The Gnomes and Fays are probably references to statues in and around the various squares not to mention the churches (Mary Queen of the World and the St. George Anglican Church. The namesakes? Well we had many back in the 80 s, Dorchester square and Dorchester Blvd, Windsor Hotel and Windsor street as well as Windsor Train Station, and finally Mary Queen of the world Cathedral is situated on place de la Cathédrale.
Place Ville Marie Plaza now & soon to be. As I said in my Introduction Place Ville Marie Plaza has presently begun major renovations that will completely change the outlook it once had. Was from 1980 s to 2017 Now 2018
Picture taken January 22 2018
Soon to be Summer 2018 If the Casque is not found during this dig then it has been lost forever. Possibly done during a previous retrofit to the plaza some 30 years ago just a few years after Byron Preiss hid the casque.