A few days ago, M. E. Sprengelmeyer, a well-known American journalist, contacted me asking for help. Sprengelmeyer has had a distinguished career in journalism, as his Wikipedia page documents. While going through some old papers, he came across an encrypted message that he has been unable to decipher.
Below is an AI-generated transcription of the text:
YQSF
φ O = ? Ω Λ ⊥ · + V > Δ ⊃ ?
HMENLOLPOQMOYRFSRTIUEVNWD.
IXNYTZEARBECSDTEIFNG
THHIIJNKGLSMANROEPGOOIRNSG
OTNUIVNWTTXHYEZAOLOBD
BCADNEKFGCAHMIEJTKHEOGMAMMOE.
DPOQNROSTTBUELA+FWRXAYIZD,
IATBSCODNELFYGFHIIRTE.
IKSLTMHNIOSPLQE=VRESL
STEUVVENNXYYEZT?
A?MAABZCIDNEGFVGHHBIEJS
AKRLEMTNHOUPHFDQERRSITNUG
AVRWOXUYNZDATBHCE
BDUEIFLGDHIIINJGKSLONN
CNOOMPMQERRSCTUAVL WAXNYD
PZAALBM.CNDOETFSGUHRIE
JJOKSLTMWHOAPTQTROSUTCUH-
EVDUTXHYEZMAOBFCFDEEXFAGCHT-
LIYJBKULTMI'NMOSPUQRRE
ESITTUHVEWRXYYOZUARBS
OCRDMEYFPGRHIIVJAKCLY
HMANSOBPEQEERNSITNIVHADXEYD
BZIAGBTCIDMEE.FTGHHEISJE
CKWLENVAEOFJFOQRLSKTS
NUEVENDXSYQMAEBTCHDIENEG
LGIHKIEJTKHIMSNTOOPEQRSE
TTHUEIWQEXDAY?VWAIBTCH
CDHEAFTGGTHHIAJTKDLOMENSONPT
PQERASLTKUYVHWXRYTZAANBYCDNEE.
KFEGEHPIUJPKYLOMUNROPPAQCRE
WSITTUHVAWSXMYIZLAEBYCODUEKFNGOHW
Unfortunately, nothing is known about the background of this message. We do not know who wrote it, when it was created, or what it was supposed to conceal.
The message begins with YQSF. This could be a salutation, perhaps someone’s first name. It is followed by a line consisting entirely of symbols. Since each symbol appears only once and there are no apparent word breaks, this line is probably impossible to decipher without additional information. The remaining 31 lines use the ordinary Latin alphabet.
The letter frequencies are interesting. Using Christian Baumann’s Multi-Dec page, I generated the following table:
The distribution resembles normal English. This immediately suggests that we may be dealing with a transposition cipher. Several possibilities come to mind:
- The entire text has been written backwards, or each individual word has been reversed. This is obviously not the case.
- A turning grille may have been used. While possible, it seems rather unlikely, as this method would have been cumbersome for producing such a long handwritten text.
- A columnar transposition or even a double columnar transposition is another candidate. However, these methods also seem rather laborious for a handwritten note of this length.
One detail I find particularly striking is the repeated occurrence of the letter Q without a nearby U. This argues against a block transposition with relatively short blocks.
At this point, I have run out of ideas. Can any reader uncover more about this mysterious ciphertext?
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