Unofficial Lost ARG 1

After a wild ride over the last few days, with puzzle after puzzle, misinformation, and downright confusion we know that this not an official Lost ARG. However we do know that things will continue, this blog will not be following the game as it unfolds, but the lostarg.wordPress.com Site has renamed itself and will be following the action as it unfolds.

The UNOFFICIAL LostArg : Are you a candidate ?

If there are any more sites out there that are following the game let us know and we can post a link here.

Elliott Graves Confesses 2

Epithet Alpha was posted an update, which takes us to Elliott Graves' "Who is Simeon Hobbes blog". This has been updated with the text below which once and for all ends all doubt about this game :

META Update: And yes, in response to the recent news that this ARG is unofficial, I will confirm it. I do this with great reluctance because “TINAG” is one of the most important rules of the genre, and a Puppetmaster never likes coming out from behind the curtain, even when his legitimacy is called into question. But I felt the need to address it in light of the recent controversy and hijack attempts, because I don’t like the word “hoax.”

Playing an unofficial ARG inspired by an official property may be considered a waste of time to those only hoping for the real deal, so to them, I apologize and say farewell. But the truth is that I never envisioned this to be a hoax or a waste of time, at least in the sense that I planned quite a bit out ahead of time and did it because of a genuine love for the ARG medium and the epic story that is LOST. I didn’t do this for the laughs.

So on that note, “WISH?” will be continuing. Whether it continues with 20 people or 200 people in light of this recent news doesn’t matter to me, as we’re going to help Elliott find his brother regardless. But in order to distance ourselves the controversy, and leave the way open for a possible official ARG revelation at Comic-Con, please refrain from using the #lostarg hashtag on Twitter. #simeonhobbes will do, in order to prevent any confusion.

So there you go. Hopefully this post put an end to a lot of the confusion.

This time the word is that it is Officially Fake 5

A post at the DarkUFO Blog site states that Dark has spoken to the ABC Media Relations people and they have told him that it is nothing to do with them.

So the question remains who are the people running this ? Why are they still posting updates and is this even Lost related ?

To underline the second question there is another update from SimeonHobbes that has been posted on Twitter :-

"@elliottgraves / @epithetalpha / http://tinyurl.com/qgpkyg / http://tinyurl.com/ovmafz : these are the only things I fear, Jacob."

This debunked ARG is still going ! 8

Despite what Jenny Balloon has said, there are still clues being posted on the various accounts that have been used so far. As this is certainly more diverting than staring at a blank TV screen waiting for Lost to come back I'll keep posting updates when possible.

A new update on the SimeonHobbes.webs.com website has appeared. It has a Hebrew title and a new web site link to a shared text file. This file is again password protected.

Gary has posted this in the comments that a machine based trnaslation of the Hebrew is

"Following formula is hidden in white letters like 4 statues, only one of which is often useful to be aware of color over the dark"


We also have the Twitter user TheEntrusted posting these two tweets that seem related :

"Stay true to your enlightened Path along the Thread. Remember the true face of Henry Gale."

"547275737420696e204a61636f6220616e64207965207368616c6c2062652072657761726465642e2053746179207472756520746f20796f757220506174682e"

Update Gary has let us know that is is a Hexadecimal code and translates to -"Trust in Jacob and ye shall be rewarded. Stay true to your Path."

After these two updates there are several along the lines of :

"Blessed is @Shethecatsma, for she is a true follower of Jacob."

Possibly decoding the coded message and then sending a message to TheEntrusted will elicit this result ?


Update Elliott Graves has just added some more Twitter updates to say he does not know who JennyBalloon is and that several other "characters" in the events so far are unimportant, also a list of websites that are not relevant. The watch list on the Who is Simeon Hobbes ? blog is relevant according to Elliott - Epithet Alpha’s Twitter, Elliotts Twitter, Simeon Hobbes’ Twitter, WISH? YouTube

Final updates ? 14

Although the game appears to be up there have been a few more updates, possibly timed to automatically appear.
The FleurDeNoir Twitter page has changed it's look along with another (final ?) post from FleurDeNoir which is another Base64 coded message

SXQgaXMgdGltZSB0byBnbyBub3csIElhY29idXMuIE91ciBUcnVzdCBoYXMgYmVlbiBMb3N0OiAv d2F0Y2g/dj1TeGg2djI4WUJqOA==

This decodes to :

"It is time to go now, Iacobus. Our Trust has been Lost: /watch?v=Sxh6v28YBj8"


The last part is a reference to this You Tube video. The title of the video is prtcl02 which appeared a lot in some of the Twitter posts yesterday.

UPDATE The video has some Morse Code in it which according to Steff posting on LostPedia translates to :

.–. .-.. .. . … [PLIES]
.- –… ..— –… ..— –… [A72727]

The symbol on the updated twitter page appears to be one of the Swan Countdown clock symbols.


The password to the video on the www.simeonhobbes.webs.com site is AEGOCERUS, this allows you to download a video with a phonetic alphabet sequence of letters where each group is said twice.

LGJ MLU KYJ TIT GOD YVE ZZFA BQIR KJEB HIGN DOYC


Also the title to the second link on the simeonhobbes.webs.com site (UXphZnhCcU5TODg=) is actually a Mime encoded value that translates to a YouTube video entitled Simeon Hobbes : New Hope. This video has a slowed down morse code message that translates to 27.

Thanks to Ihavebeenfound for informing us that the updates are still happening.

The game is up 11

Is the ARG now over ?

After an avalanch of updates yesterday, this Twitter account has supposedly exposed the truth. One of the updates is :

"esau solon takes a physics class with me. simionhobbes is my brother. We come from nyu. sorry guys. I'm done. please pass this along."



Also this update on the Wordpress ARG site about the 27Project.ORG website :

"This is Mark Dawber. I’m looking into what’s happening with the site. It’s one that my brother and I setup a few years back, and hasn’t been touched for some time.

I’m waiting for Fasthosts who host it to reset the admin password so we can remove the page that has replaced the gallery. Sorry if that’s not the mystical answer you’re looking for. I’m thinking more “raiders of the lostarg”? "

Update - 21/05/2009 Since claiming that the 27Project site was hacked Mark has now issued this statement :-

“In the spirit of “coming clean” I would now like to retract my previous post and state that I posted the links, hidden base64 codes and images on the 27project.org pages.

The reason I’m owning up is that it appears now that @elliottgraves has gone to great lengths to prepare a good story and provide entertainment for many people. I would be pissed off if I couldn’t tell my story without hijack.

Having said that, I’ve got lots of new 27 content to put on the site.”

So after a fun couple of days it seems to be all over, to all those that said it was fake, congratulations, to all those that participated with the clues, thanks, and for all others with a passing interest please check back soon just in case there is some more fun to be had while we wait for Lost to return.

FleurDeNoir Blueprint update 4

The Blueprint in the background of the FleurDeNoir Twitter page has been updated.

The Wolves are Among Us 2

Many updates have appeared since the last post, there seem to be so many I'm sure that some will have been missed, so let us know in the comments or via email if there is anything else that you think is relevant.

A new web site has appeared www.simeonhobbes.webs.com (see picture above) which has the same Eye of Horus symbol that the Twitter post has. There are a couple of links on the site and some images in the background.

The title of the first link appears to be a word in Hebrew, a possible translation of which is Goat Horns

http://www.2shared.com/file/5859769/aa25bb0/27277222727.html

This takes the user to a file sharing site to download a video file, but the file is password protected.

The title of the second link is another coded string.

http://www.hotels.co.uk/13/hotels/1000000/10000/6600/6559/hcom_6559_40_b.jpg

This link is for a picture of a bar with the number 27 on the sign.

-------------------

Mrs Elizabeth Penrose (mrsmarkham, if you want) has a YouTube account with a video (v=..., in her Twitter). It shows the EdmundLoom' background image with white flashes showing numbers at the corner:

XXVII (top left)
XIII (bottom left)
I (top right)
O (bottom right; showed together with the classic Ouroboros, one of the most meaningful symbols of Hermetism and Time-as-Circle philosophies).

The complete sequence is: 27 13 1 0, or:
XXVII XIII I O

Maybe it's just coincidence, but if you count the symbols in Roman: 3 X, 1 V, 6 I = 316!

----------------------

Regarding the Blueprint on the FleurDeNoir website MadAriad has said that the reverse text inside the blueprint says "can't show the whole map the wholves are among us", "Jacob directed the ship" and "ille qui nos omnes serrabit" and "27 recruited and informed my task is almost complete" and " I think therefore I am"

More recent updates from Fleur De Noir are

aWFjb2J1cyB3aWxsIHNlZWsgdGhlIGVubGlnaHRlbmVkIG9uZXMu which is a Base 64 encryption of "iacobus will seek the enlightened ones."

dGhpcyBtYXAgd2lsbCBzaG93IHRoZW0gYW5zd2VycyBidXQgcXVlc3Rpb25zIHdpbGwgcmVtYWlu LiBtdXN0IGkgc2hvdyBpdCB0byB0aGVtLCBpYWNvYnVzPw==

"this map will show them answers but questions will remain. must i show it to them, iacobus?"


----------------------

Some more updates from TheCruxAnsata :

A new Twitter post

i TRUST hIS OMENS to HavE Been BegOtten of lieS. SEIL SEVARG TTOILLE

The first and last phrases are anagrams :

TRUST SIMEON HOBBES
ELLIOTT GRAVES LIES

Also some new Morse Code which translates to

Genesis 27:41, which reads, "By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve; but when you became restive, you shall throw off his yoke from you neck". This is Isaac's blessing to Jacob's brother Esau.

Many thanks to Simone and MadAriad for a lot of this information.

FleurDeNoir Blueprint 7

Another Twitter user that appears to be linked all of this is FleurDeNoir, an image has been loading in the background of the twitter page for some time, at the moment it is supposed to be 88% loaded.

It has some English words, some Latin ones and some symbols that seem to match the symbols found on the pieces of paper translated earlier today on Elliott Graves blog post.

This user has also posted the phrase "The Empire never ended" which is a quote from the Phillip K Dick book Vallis which has been used in Lost.

Edmund Loom 3

Yet another Twitter user has started posting and seems to be of interest. This user has just started following Elliott Graves, and is posting using substitution cyphers.

For example vwvm aw lmin ia bpwam bpib eqtt vwb pmiz @aqumwvpwjjma

translates to

NONE SO DEAF AS THOSE THAT WILL NOT HEAR @SIMEONHOBBES

I've managed to do it. This marks the beginning of the end. 3

A Twitter update from TheCruxAnsata, who was one of the users that Elliott Graves had previously denounced, points to a video on YouTube entitled Osiris27. This seems to have something to do with the Valenzeti Equation.

There is also some morse code on the site which translates to -

Click here to see the morse code translation.

TOMORROW MORE LIES WILL BE EXPOSED

O Brother, Where Art Thou? On Kashyyyk? 3

A new post from Elliott Graves has been twittered.

It is from Thomas Levi at Widmore Labs, to Elliotts Brother who is working for Widmore Construction (based in building 27). It talks about locations for experiments.

There is also mention of a pamphlet that will explain things, but no details on where this pamphlet is.

There appears to be a link to Star Wars as the blog mentions Wookie Day 06 and the title of the post has the word Kashyyyk, which is also known as Wookiee Planet C, Edean, G5-623 in the Star Wars Universe.

27Project.org Update 12

The updates are coming thick and fast, the 27project.org website has been updated again.

In the Galleries section where the "follow" link was earlier today a picture has appeared. When you look at the name of the image file there appears to be a code.

Click here to see the file name and translation

http://www.27project.org/Galleries/SmFjb2IgV3Jlc3RsaW5nIHdpdGggR29k.jpg

This is a Base 64 code which translates to : "Jacob Wrestling with God"

That line is part of the Bible verse Genesis 32:25

Update - Another picture has been posted on the 27Project website, not sure what it is at the moment.









Update - Another change to the numbers "84.5.11", and now another change to a link to a Google maps page, for a place called Jacobs Chair. (Thanks to JD for the heads up)


Final update on this is that the page is now back to the "follow" link which points back to the Elliott Graves twitter account.

Widmore Industries Websites 2

I posted a comment over on the Wordpress ARG blog using a psyeudonym of fredelliott (A character in the British soap Coronation Street) about four new websites that were registered recently :





WidmoreIndustries.co.uk
Widmorecorporation.co.uk
paikheavyindustries.com
thehansofoundation.org.uk

Elliott Graves apparently read this and posted this tweet :

"I may not trust Widmore completely, but I think they'd have a better website than that."

This doesn't give us any clue as to whether these sites are in game or not so it is just speculation for now, as with this whole game :-)

Update to Elliotts Blog Post 4

Elliott Graves has updated his earlier post to thank the people that helped him translate the letter. He has spotted the extra and missing letters in the text and has said that this is an anagram and explained what the rearranged letters mean.

It is quite a stretch to see this code word from the details supplied, but it obviously means something to Elliott.

Click here to see the code word.

"....When you take all the letters that shouldn’t be there (or should) — those being th-t-i-a-e — and rearrange them, you get I. Theta. I. Theta was a classified project my brother was working on for Widmore Construction....."

Household Artifacts and Other Musings 15

A new blog post from Elliott Graves, he apparently works on the Ajira ticket desk !

He has found some bits of paper with a coded message and convieniently enough some information that may be a key to the code. However the key seems to be faulty so he needs help in interpreting it.

I have left a message on the blog post to say we can help, so get those brains working.



Update dedioste has commented to say that the code looks like a reverse alphabet code, however there are still some more letters that appear to be wrong. The key below lists the coded glyphs with the reverse alphabet equivalent.


Update 2 - Using the reverse key above The translation of the passage seems to be -

Click here to see the translation.

NATHANIAL, fatheher meant a great deal to us and we are honored you wish to follow in his footsteps. When Adomis told me what you could do, I knew you were a perfect candidate.

However the road ahead is long. You maybe a good person in my eyes but Jacob is much harder to please. Initiation into our ----- order is an old and sacred process and not the easiest thing to endure.

Your first goal is to find the Phoenix. He will ask you to recite Apollo’s creed and if you answer correctly he will give you a test. Thas ----- test is painful and deeply personal, so be prepared. This is where most peopl fail.

Everything from then on will have to remain a secret. I wish you luck and hope to count you among our number soon.”

Follow the 27PROJECT.ORG 4

The 27Project.org website has been updated. If you click on the 100 Photographs gallery link, instead of the previous gallery page a blank page with a single link "follow" in the top left corner is displayed.

If you link to this page from the home page of 27project then this follow link takes you to a wikipedia page about King James II however if you go to another one of the pages and link to the 100 Photographs gallery the follow link takes you to a blog site called Toasty Doodle .This appears to be a post about a drawing of a candle, no obious references to Lost or this PARG (Potential ARG).

The Fates 1

In the background of the Simeon Hobbes Twitter account there is a picture which is a painting called The Fates by Goya.

You can read about it at a blog site about Masterpiece paintings. The details of the painting are interesting - "In classical mythology, the fates are three goddesses that control the thread of life. They are the personifications of destiny (or fate)."

Also marielevenstar has let us know that there is a new Twitter account for Elliott Graves. In the most recent post he says "@simeonhobbes and (the departed) @epithetalpha are the only ones I think have anything to do with my brother's disappearance."

Who is Simeon Hobbes ? 11

A new wordpress blog has started up entitled "Who is Simeon Hobbes ?"

It is by a person called Elliott Graves who details members of his family that go missing and the only link seems to be with Simeon Hobbes. Hobbes seems to have been around for about 100 years.

A lot of use of the number 27 in the post as that is the age that male members of his family disappear. Elliott is going to turn 27 in a couple of months and he wants to find his brother.

The post also mentions his father working for Widmore Industries.

Thanks to marielevenstar for mentioning this in the comments.

"And with this fire I purify" 9

Another YouTube video has been found with the title "And with this fire I purify", in it the words "sedm" and "dva" are repeated, and these are Czech words for Seven and Two.

There is a website out there called www.27project.org that epithetalpha has also tweeted about "This site means a lot to me: http://www.27project.org/" but it has no obvious links to Lost or these new "clues" that have been appearing.

Another possible link to investigate around EpithetAlpha and one of Simeon Hobbes' latest tweets - "May the light of Jacob be with you all this day, as we celebrate musical Aegocerus." - A search on Aegocerus shows that it is an epithet of Pan, who is a character from Greek mythology.



The whole thing is increasingly being labelled as a fan based project with no official connections to Lost, but it does seem well worked out anyway.

New ARG ? 26

Information about a potential new ARG has been appearing around the internet over the last few days, all started by a Twitter account of a user called Simeon Hobbes posting some interesting messages.

Shortly after this a YouTube video was published called 'Who is Simeon Hobbes' in the YouTube channel used for The Lost Experience. The video consists of a star scape and some audio, and in the audio there is some Morse Code. The translation of which is :-

"I AM THE BENNU BIRD, THE HEART-SOUL OF RA, THE GUIDE OF THE GODS TO THE TUAT."

A tweet from Simeon said 'Follow the Pheonix' which led to another twitter user 'epithetalpha'. Simeon Hobbes then responded with the tweet 'Phoeonix Found'.

Maven from The Lost Community sent a message - "And With This Fire I Purify" - to Epithetalpha and received this reply :-

"Are you a candidate? Await further instructions May 18."


None of this has been confirmed as official by any source related to Lost and this may only be the stirings of someone wiaitng for Lost to return next year, however if it is then the timing of all of this is immaculate to coincide with the Lost finale. It also quite neatly fits in with a lot of the egyptian themes increasingly used by Lost this year.

More information if it becomes available.



Thanks to Maven for posting information in The Lost Community about this.

Also the translation of the Morse Code came from the LostPedia blog.