The following article is Part 3 of a six-part series on the Kryptos Plaintext discovery. The original free pdf document can be downloaded from https://stephenbishop.org/downloads.
MAPPING THE KNOWN PLAINTEXT
To start, there is a problem with the Earth’s magnetic field. None of the CIA NHB wall directions are aligned with Magnetic North. Neither the “step” walls nor the “riser” walls in the stair step analogy align with Magnetic North.
Magnetic North is ~15 degrees rotated from the NHB front wall line. So how could EAST NORTH EAST be “drawing” the building shape? If the EAST NORTH EAST plaintext refers to compass directions, then there would have to be a different compass with a different North direction.
But we have another compass, the NHB front entrance strata stone compass.
This compass has an etched stone needle which is *not* pointing to the Earth’s Magnetic North. Instead, the stone compass needle is pointing to the nearby magnetic Lodestone. Let’s call this Compass North. The Lodestone is virtually offsetting the stone compass needle in a direction which is very close to the perpendicular off the NHB front entrance wall.
In other words, if we accept that the unknown plaintext was constructed with respect to Compass North, then the building stair step “riser” direction *is* aligned with the Compass North/South line. And therefore, the plaintext EAST NORTH EAST could conceivably use Compass North and Compass East to draw the stair step pattern in a similar manner to an old Etch-A-Sketch. Right is East, Up is North, Right is East.
The NHB Front Entrance stone strata with the stone compass etching and real magnetic Lodestone are located within the Compass North circle diagram. The trees now obscure the three stone strata.
But there is a problem with this idea. The plaintext BERLINCLOCK is written forwards, which we would assume means the CIA NHB satellite image would have to be viewed from the NHB Front Entrance (facing Compass South as above). But if the satellite image is oriented in this manner, the EAST NORTH EAST on the left side of the plaintext does not agree with the building stair step pattern directions of that orientation’s left side of the building (or the right side of the building for that matter).
Test this for yourself: Look at the above picture and read off the directions of the building stair step patterns lines using Compass North, Compass East, Compass South, and Compass West directions only.
Try the directions from left to right, right to left, both sides outward from the center, both sides inward toward the center. Convince yourself that you can not achieve EAST NORTH EAST on the left side of the plaintext with the building oriented in this manner.
However, if the CIA NHB satellite image is rotated 180 degrees and viewed facing Compass North, then that orientation’s left side of the building stair step pattern *does* agree with the left side plaintext EAST NORTH EAST directions (Compass East, Compass North, Compass East).
But then the Berlin Clock shape in the center of the building is upside down compared to the plaintext BERLINCLOCK reading direction. For argument’s sake, let’s accept the Compass North building view orientation and I’ll come back to a possible explanation for the upside-down Berlin Clock discrepancy.
There is still the matter of the remaining plaintext, but to some level of satisfaction, the known plaintext of EASTNORTHEAST and BERLINCLOCK (even if technically rotated 180 degrees) do appear to map to the building shape.
