How Internet Sleuths Unraveled a Family's 20-Year-Old Mystery
Image: Janna Holm
Janna Holm posted two images — the front and back of an index card, each side covered in long strings of letters — to the site Ask MetaFilter on Monday. Holm explained that her grandmother Dorothy Holm, while dying of brain cancer in 1994, left the cards to her grandchildren as puzzles. Holm was about 11 years old when her grandmother passed away.
"She declined rapidly; she lost a lot of her memory," Holm told Mashable. "She seemed really confused, but she left these cool codes that I thought I would decipher."
Holm and her family spent months trying to solve the puzzles to no avail; they eventually stopped trying. That was until Holm's father happened across one of the cards several days ago.
Grandma's Mystery
Dorothy Holm was born in Minnesota in 1927. She married in 1949 and had four children, three of whom still live in Minnesota (one died as a toddler). Janna Holm remembered spending plenty of time at her grandmother's house, where Dorothy would babysit her four grandchildren — Janna, her brother and their two cousins."The collection of coloring books that she had was better than anyone else's," Holm recalled. "And she made sure there were brand new crayons there when we showed up."
Holm said she doesn't remember much about her grandmother, as she was quite young at the time of her death. From her memory, Dorothy Holm was "always just a sweet, gentle, caring woman." On Ask MetaFilter, Holm wrote that her grandmother was "non-communicative her last two weeks," during which time she produced about 20 index cards scrawled with letters, like the one above.
When one of the cards reemerged, Holm decided to give it another try.When one of the cards reemerged, Holm decided to give it another try.
"I love solving little puzzles and decided I'd see what I could do this time around," she said. Holm said she has followed Ask MetaFilter for the past couple years, and has been impressed by the ability of the site's users to solve puzzles and problems. The site requires a $5 signup fee.
"I thought, 'It doesn't hurt to put it on there so I might as well give it a try,'" Holm said.
Cracking the Code, Amen
Within 15 minutes of posting the index card, Holm got her first answer.While the code-breakers remain fixated on the front of the index card, it was the the back that tipped them off to the nature of the puzzle. A user quickly postulated that the code might have a religious meaning, and minutes later, posted again with the observation that the letters were a long acronym for the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father who art in heaven ... For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen."
That all happened in 13 minutes.
Image: Janna Holm
Several of the forum's users even posted a note thanking "JannaK" for letting the forum help solve the family's mystery.
"Many of us enjoy solving mysteries for their own sake, but it's a real honour to help you decipher something so lovely as your grandmother's final good wishes for you and your family," the user "embrangled" wrote.
As of Monday evening, Holm posted the following partially-deciphered summary, using suggestions from the other forum users.
Please dear God NHBOBVPNSNHANAOENCNANHPNCPND,"I think at this point, it's basically a personal prayer of [my grandma's] ... so I don't know if anyone is going to be able to truly decode the whole thing," Holm told Mashable during a phone call on Tuesday. "
NUOCPNNPNAPNMSMDKBMLPOWP, NAP.
NEENTGBTMLSHHSSSTMALHFFTMOFPANSTP,
NIOOIPNTPNROANTRSANTOTTAPOD,
PLUADONNOANPBOOLL,
Please keep us all safe and sound in mind and body, praise and glory Amen.
Please MOMTAVMAJAMMSSSLLABAPMUTTCTCCATFGSHHILANRNPHTAOLP.
Please see that we are all happy and safe in our lives and in our work,
Please see that we ALOJTHTPATP,
Please see that we AGAOKWOCWAS and please see that we ADVGWAIIRARBOSAO,
Please see that we AHPPAAETWW,
Please see that we AHTPMAESTCWE.
Please see that all of us COOTIOWH all my prayers and please see that the pain does not hurt anymore,
Please see that we are all happy and safe, praise and glory Amen,
Please see that we are all in excellent health and please see that WARIEH.
Please see that TPAIDNBTVJEO any of us, praise and glory Amen.
Please see that TOUWWTLWATOUWSLWDSWGOBS,
Please see that we are HSAHVASASBTATWARHSFAOT,
Please see that we all HBPITNR see that none of the rest of us have to TBPM.
Please see that VCADAFLAFESJMPLGBGBMBA the rest of us RSSASFOHP.
Please see that WAGAVWWOA, praise and glory Amen.
Please see that EIFFAWAU.
Thank you Almighty God for PFG.
Thank you Almighty God for listening to my prayers and answering them.
Thank you Almighty God for everything, Amen.
Thank you Almighty God for everything, Amen Amen Amen
It's nice to just have an idea of what it isIt's nice to just have an idea of what it is and what, in general terms, an idea of what she was thinking about in her last couple weeks."
Holm, who now lives in Baltimore, Md., and works at Johns Hopkins University, said her grandmother "hated being in the spotlight, so she would totally hate all of this." Holm seemed grateful, however, to revive her grandmother's mystery and memory with the help of so many engaged strangers.
"This has kind of taken on a life of its own," Holm added. "I'm just as curious to see where it goes as anyone else is."
To see how this mystery began to unravel and submit suggestions of your own, check out the full forum thread at Ask MetaFilter.
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