Cryptic Ciphers, Treasure, Duels: The Life of Thomas Jefferson Beale
Thomas Jefferson Beale. It’s the name you likely have not heard, but the name behind a story you’ve seen a version of on the big screen. A 200-year-old mystery in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia begins with TJ Beale. He is credited as the author of the Beale Papers (also known as Beale Ciphers). They are the “treasure map” to the Beale Treasure worth an estimated $65 million. Consisting of three ciphers explaining what the treasure is, where it is and who is entitled to it the ciphers have never been fully decoded. The cipher explaining what the treasure consists of was decoded using the Declaration of Independence n the late 1800s. Does that sound familiar? The movie National Treasure is said to be loosely based on the story. Now it is time to tell the real story of Thomas Jefferson Beale.
