There is no source document (yet found) that identifies Liechti as the teacher/professor that was said to have translated the symbols on Oak Island's mysterious 90 Foot Stone, but after his death in 1925 the idea that it he who had deciphered those symbols seems to have taken root in the minds of most writers and researchers. Perhaps it was because of his position as a professor of modern languages at Dalhousie University, that people thought he would be the person capable of making sense of strange "writing", or perhaps it was because his personal timeline fit so well with the timeline of the stone. As we can see in the timeline above, Liechti began work as a modern languages tutor at Dalhousie University in 1864. He resided in Halifax during this time. The 90 Foot Stone is thought to have been removed from the fireplace in John Smith's farmhouse on Oak Island as the then current operations were wrapping up sometime in 1865 or 66. This puts the stone on display in Halifax at the same time as Liechti would have been living and working there. In 1877 he takes on a 2nd job in the Halifax High School, thereby becoming a school teacher. Seven years later, he gives up his high school job when he becomes a full professor at Dalhousie University. During the years he was at the High School there is evidence he knew the PitBlado family. A John Pitblado was one of his students, and a James Pitblado was a fellow director for the Ladies College. If you recall, a John PitBlado was said to have pocketed something that came up to the surface while drilling on Oak Island, left the island, and tried, unsuccessfully, to gain the right to hunt treasure on the island himself. He was soon after killed in an accident. Were these individuals relatives of that John Pitblado? This may be something worth pursuing. Let's for the sake of argument, allow that Professor James Liechti, the man who certainly was in the right place at the right time, did decipher the stone while it was on display at the bookbindery. It would then be reasonable to say that Liechti had a copy of the symbols/cipher that were on the 90 Foot Stone. If this were true, then perhaps a copy survived. No such copy has ever surfaced though, or has it? Rev. A. T. Kempton produced a copy of the 90 Foot Stone Cipher in 1949. You might be wondering if a copy of the cipher could have made it from Professor Liechti to Kempton. If such a connection could be made, then the Kempton Cipher that everyone is familiar with today, takes on more legitimacy. Let's take a look at how Kempton said he obtained his copy of the cipher. Kempton writes that he asked a minister he knew to find him someone who could write him a good account of the Oak Island mystery. The minister found a teacher in the Mahone Bay area who wrote him an such an account, which also included the cipher as we know it. In his letter, he states that he received this story and cipher in 1909. Who do we know that was a retired school teacher in the Mahone Bay, Lunenburg County area in 1909, who should also be expected to have a copy of the cipher? If you check the Liechti timeline above, you will see that Professor James Liechti retired from Dalhousie University in 1906, and he and his family moved back to Lunenburg County to live, the home of his wife. So Liechti was living in the Mahone Bay area in 1909. The Liechti timeline also shows us that Professor Liechti died in 1925, seemingly fitting the Kempton scenario in which the teacher had died by the time Kempton tried to follow up on the story (sometime before 1949). Could Professor Liechti be the school teacher (he taught both at Dalhousie University and Halifax High School) who deciphered the 90 Foot Stone? Could he also be the teacher from the Mahone Bay area in 1909 who provided the Oak Island Story and a copy of the cipher to Rev. Kempton? Liechti's personal timeline certainly provides evidence in support of an affirmative answer to all of those questions. Of course, it is only circumstantial at best, as most Oak Island evidence seems to be. On the other hand, if Professor Liechti was indeed both the teacher who deciphered the symbols on the 90 Foot Stone, and the teacher who sent the cipher to Kempton, then the Kempton Cipher gains a little more legitimacy in this whole mystery as it suggests a direct connection between the stone and the Kempton Cipher. It could just be the only known surviving copy of the symbols said to have been on the 90 Foot Stone. That possibility warrants further research, because the skeptic in me says it is equally possible that Liechti created the cipher himself for commercial interests back in the days when his salary was half of what the full professors at Dalhousie University were being paid. There is no proof of him having faked the cipher though, but we are researching this in a non-bias manner and must consider all the possibilities. Goodnight from The Blockhouse!
16 Comments
Lily Schuller
4/17/2016 04:14:48 pm
Notice the B and U have the same symbol ....
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Lily Schuller
4/17/2016 04:39:57 pm
FORTY FEET xELOW TWO MILLION
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Lily Schuller
4/17/2016 05:16:32 pm
'Y' 'S' and 'A' cannot be confirmed as there is only one of each, and what is there an extra symbol at the beginning of Forty
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Peter Geuzen
4/17/2016 07:29:34 pm
Lily, They have sketched it a bit off of what it in theory should really look like. The B should be more of a religious cross shape with the horizontal bar biased towards the top. The U is a symmetrical cross, or plus sign. In addition, the first rendering of the cipher did not have the extra symbol at the beginning. This appeared in a later interpretation. I'm sure the guys here can explain it better. Here's a schematic which I think is the earliest rendering that made it to print:
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Lily Schuller
4/17/2016 07:36:07 pm
Yes, this is much clearer, thanks !!!
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Peter Geuzen
4/17/2016 07:43:10 pm
Who is the "...very bright Irish teacher..."??? The way it reads, this may have actually been another person who figured out the cipher, not Liechti (!?), unless Lietchti was specifically teaching a non English version of Irish (Celtic?) and the specific sentence is just awkward grammar.
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Doug Crowell
4/18/2016 03:49:35 am
Hi Peter. There are, of course, no certainties in this article. Just a look at the "lay of the land" at the time. We have Kempton writing to Blair forty years after first receiving the cipher from an unnamed teacher, and in this letter Kempton states that the "other" unnamed teacher who earlier deciphered that symbols was a "bright Irish teacher". How accurate was Kempton's memory at this point? Did he mistake the surname Liechti as being Irish, in the vein of Leahey or Leahy? Or was Liechti wrongly credited with the deciphering in those early days? As I stated, no proof positive of that has ever been found. Circumstantial evidence is all we have to ponder on currently. It is interesting that Liechti fits the scenario so well though. The search continues. Cheers!
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4/18/2016 06:12:17 am
Very nice report, Doug. We have corresponded on these matters already. It is very gratifying to me to see how well your research into Liechti and Kempton complements and corroborates what I've found independently. There are a few points that I would like to mention:
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Doug Crowell
4/18/2016 06:30:12 am
Thanks Terry. When we talked last year, it was very encouraging to find that our independent research into Liechti and Kempton was in agreement for the most part. It was for the very reason that you highlight, that Kempton was recalling events from 40+ years ago in his letter to Blair that I wanted to expand the envelope of thought on the parameters that this letter imposed. Faulty recollection could be in play here (on Kempton's part or even on the part of the school teacher), or perhaps this "Irish School Teacher" statement should force us to look to someone other then Liechti as the original person to solve the cipher. I know you have your own ideas on who some of these people may have been, and look forward to learning where your research is leading you. Cheers!
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4/18/2016 06:20:30 am
It is also worth adding that Kempton's idea that it was an "Irish" school teacher who (supposedly) decoded the inscription comes directly from the manuscript that he received from the "school teacher" in Mahone Bay, which states: "an old Irish School Master made this out of it." FORTY FEET BELOW TWO MILLION POUNDS ARE BURIED
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4/18/2016 06:31:25 am
The same manuscript implies, but does not state, that this "old Irish School Master" resided in Halifax at the time that he (supposedly) decoded the inscription.
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4/18/2016 06:41:55 am
Thanks for your additional remarks, Doug. From what I have studied on these matters so far, I feel confident that (a) Kempton's own statements are trustworthy, to the extent of the accuracy his ability to recall the events, (b) the manuscript written by the Mahone Bay "school teacher" is trustworthy, but only to the extent that his sources were accurate. In the manuscript, the sources are claimed to be "reliable" and to consist of "old records, and old people". It is possible that some of the "old people" who the author of the manuscript believed were "reliable" gave the Mahone Bay "school teacher" inaccurate or outright false information, on the pretense of being "reliable". That possibility is the weakest link in this whole chain of evidence.
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Doug Crowell
4/18/2016 06:49:26 am
That is what I would emphasize as well Terry. If we consider the Oak Island Story that was included with the cipher, then we see many variances between the story that the school teacher who wrote the story for Kempton, and the more accepted versions of events. For instance, in the story that accompanied the cipher, treasure was taken out of the Money Pit in the early digs, and those that didn't run off with that treasure, stayed and dug deeper, hoping for more. The old adage, "take it with a grain of salt" applies in this type of research. We are still trying to track down Kempton's missing papers. If we can find those, then we might be able to better identify some of these "suspects".
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Chrystie
11/16/2016 03:39:45 pm
Hi, not an expert, but I have followed this a bit. I was raised by a treasure-addict. This "translation" or whatever you call it sounds very enticing, and Rev. Kempton may very well have believed in the accuracy of his translation, but if this cipher dates from the same period as the North African on featured on the first episode of season 4 of the Curse of Oak Island, it would date to somewhere around the 1300s, yes? If so, the language, IF it is English related, would be Middle English and those words would not be used... Middle English is very different from Modern English. I think this theory has been held to for too long
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Chrystie
11/16/2016 03:40:44 pm
Hi, not an expert, but I have followed this a bit, and I was raised by a treasure-addict. This "translation" or whatever you call it sounds very enticing, and Rev. Kempton may very well have believed in the accuracy of his translation, but if this cipher dates from the same period as the North African one featured on the first episode of season 4 of the Curse of Oak Island, it would date to somewhere around the 1300s, yes? If so, the language, IF it is English related, would be Middle English and those words would not be used... Middle English is very different from Modern English. I think this theory has been held to for too long.
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Chrystie
11/16/2016 03:43:25 pm
Sorry, the page told me there was an error posting my comment and it shows twice. 😬
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From The Blockhouse
is published by Blockhouse Investigations and oakislandcompendium.ca in Nova Scotia, Canada Editors and Chief Correspondents Kelly W. Hancock, CD Doug Crowell Writers Jonathan Guy Contributing Writers John Wonnacott, P. Eng. Les MacPhie,P.Eng. Researchers Linda Rafuse Tammy Sloan Trevor McFetridge Consultants Alessandra Nadudvari Shawna Goodall Webmaster Jonathan Guy All material and images published herein, unless otherwise credited, are copyright of Blockhouse Investigations and oakislandcompendium.ca and may be reproduced by permission only. Views expressed in these blog posts are our own. The views of those that comment are their own. Archives
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