About This Space

This blog is an archive of some posts originally made or reblogged at hollycrowned.tumblr.com. Most of these posts are a record of an international scavenger hunt called Cipherhunt, which took place in the summer of 2016. For more information about Cipherhunt, please visit the wiki page or simply keep reading this blog.

I have also kept relevant posts on this archive: posts about Cipherhunt made after the hunt ended, what happened to the prize, as well as summaries of related events. You’ll also find some interviews given by the creator of Gravity Falls, Alex Hirsch. If you recognize your own post has been transferred to this blog from my tumblr, and would rather not have it archived here, please message me through the contact page in the menu above.

If you were a follower of my original tumblr: thank you so much for your support. I hope the posts made about these events will be enjoyed years from now.

Much love,

Holly ∆

the thing about cipher hunt

you know……….here’s the thing about Cipher Hunt. I’ve written a little bit about this before, shortly after the hunt ended, but when I did I don’t think I fully understood what I was on about.

experiencing the hunt in real time, I got the notion that Cipher Hunt was more than just a fun game or a final mystery when fans found the clue leading to Piedmont Park (located right next to Piedmont Middle School). other clues after that left me with the same lingering notion. since I was focused on reporting, I didn’t have the time or energy during the hunt to parse that notion, but lightening struck again when I saw the contents of the treasure box: Cipher Hunt had been personal for Hirsch, in a way I, looking back, didn’t fully understand.

at the 2016 post-hunt NYCC panel, Alex told a story about his own realization that making Cipher Hunt was a way for him to grieve the death of his project. he mentions that grieving process again in One Crazy Summer. he also, in both the panel and the documentary, describes Cipher Hunt as an idea that he woke up with one day. an idea that just sort of came to him.

from One Crazy Summer:

“When I said I woke up that one morning with this idea in my head…sometimes when that happens there’s a deeper reason you’re doing something and you don’t entirely know. In my mind, the main reason I was doing it was, ‘this is a show about mystery, I want one final mystery.’ As I was there, digging the hole for Bill Cipher, I realized what was actually happening, which was—I was processing the death of the show in my own way. I was creating a funeral, and I was creating a headstone, and I was burying it, and I was leaving a final message on that headstone. It wasn’t obvious to me until midway through the process that everybody grieves in their own way, and throwing an insane international treasure hunt was the way I grieved for the end of Gravity Falls.”

looking back, I wonder if that grieving process didn’t end with that box being buried in the ground at the foot of that headstone. that statue was found, and that box was dug up, by a community of people who cared and were curious enough to follow the clues laid out for them. I wonder if the hunt itself—fans searching for the clues, and ultimately finding Bill—was just as much a part of Hirsch’s grieving process as hiding those clues and digging that grave.

fractal-fourcube:

8/2/18

If I remember correctly, around midnight tonight is the
second anniversary of a walk I took in the woods.

After reading @hollycrowned ‘s musings, I have my own
thoughts about what CipherHunt meant to me. At the end of the day, yeah, it was
a strange, cool fan thing Alex threw together, but… I think everyone who was
there know that it was also something more. The further it retreats into the
past, the clearer it becomes to me that I was profoundly affected.

So… some kind of cross between creative nonfiction and inane ramblings to follow, with a little candid talk about my own mental stuff. I don’t know. It just turned out to be a very, very weird, personal event in my life that I hang on to.

……………….

Two years ago, I was a pretty different person. I’d just
moved back to Oregon after about nine years away, and it was unexpectedly hard
to deal with the fact that I’d left this place where as I was born as a child,
and returned as a young adult. I was eighteen and grappling with that weird sense of upheaval and stasis you get after
graduating high school, and other things I carried with me from where I was before. Meanwhile, I was watching cartoons.

Gravity Falls ended a handful of months before I started
watching. I don’t have any crazy fandom stories from back when it was airing.
But I still really appreciated seeing Oregon the way little kid me remembered
it lovingly depicted in a fantastic story, at a time when I didn’t feel at home
anywhere. There were a few things that helped me feel more anchored, and that
little town west of weird was one of them. I wanted to live there. Still do.
And I remember the little thrill of mystery when I learned about the single
hint we had of statue’s existence, the mysterious image in the show credits,
the code in the last episode, rusty gates and secrets. I remember many people
doubted the statue was real, but somehow I never did, even when it started to
look like we’d never find him.

I didn’t have Tumblr yet, so I was mostly in the Reddit side
of the fandom when the Hunt started. Words can’t describe the initial rush when
that first clue went live: LET THE GAMES BEGIN. No one knew what was going on
either, but I don’t remember feeling confused, if that makes sense. I knew
immediately: something big was going down. And then I spent the next two weeks
glued to my phone, refreshing the Megathread over and over, feverishly cracking
codes, waiting for the next update. I go back there, sometimes, and reread our
collective descent into near insanity. And I’m really only half exaggerating—as
far as I am concerned, anyway. I was practically consumed. I didn’t sleep. I was hardly
able to. But I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so exhilarated. That
was the best part of it: we had no idea what was happening, but we all knew we
were taking part in something bigger than ourselves. Half the time I couldn’t
quite believe it. It felt like any moment, I should have been waking up from
some dream.

So I was there for the nun debacle (sorry Sister Mary!), the
post office storytime with Ariel and Jason, and Puzzle Hell. I watched streams,
listened to Stan’s voicemails, put forward theories, and mostly just reveled in
the event itself. I met one of my best friends through the Hunt. And when the
time came and we cracked the last code, I realized: I could go.

I was going to go meet Bill.

I was streaming, too. I never quite managed to save the
footage, but I don’t mind, given that it’s about 30-45 minutes of me
deliriously mumbling into my phone and tripping over things in the dark. I
remember there were a few other people there, all the way from Portland, and we
ran into that cute little family from Bend. They left us a sign that it took
forever to find. We got lost a lot.

Around midnight, we found him. As soon as I saw him, I broke
down into hysterical laughter.  I think I
was expecting something small, and for some reason, discovering otherwise felt
like a rug swept out from under me. At five feet tall, I stand eye level with
the brim of his hat. I had to catch my breath. I ended up
taking a 50 ruble note from the box. I regret not taking some of the plastic
coins or gems, but I’m still glad they went to other Hunters. And, of course, I
shook Bill’s hand.

I had to do it. There was no other choice, really. I knew I
was never going to have the chance again, and if I didn’t do it, what would
that mean? That I was scared?

I remember being weirdly struck by how long and thin they’d made his hand.
If it had been alive, it would have been able to wrap all the way around mine.
I was so caught up in two weeks of building suspense and so addled by lack of
sleep that in the moment, it was honestly a little scary. It really did almost feel
like any moment, his fingers might tighten and his eye might blink toward me,
and smile.

I’ll do anything, I said in my head, if
the way I feel right now lasts forever. I never want this to end.

And then I went home, and slept like the dead.

Bill’s a
cartoon triangle. It’s just a game. But… I like to think he
kept his promise.

There are certain times in your life where, down the road,
you realize that it was a turning point. The end of one chapter and the
beginning of another. I don’t know what happened in that clearing in the
forest, but something did. One of me went in, and a different me came back out.
I cannot express enough how grateful I am that I was able to be part of the
Hunt, especially at the time in my life when it happened. I was depressed and
lost and often afraid that I was an embarrassment, and that nothing was going
to get better. And I still am, but now I have how I felt to hang on to. I wasn’t
scared of being myself during that time, I didn’t care if I was weird. Everything was weird! I fit right
in!

It’s so hard to articulate how being in that forest was,
to me, but I remember this feeling like: “Life really can be magical after all.” I’m still holding out hope that someday,
I can return to who I was during the Hunt, when I was brave and unreservedly full of joy to be part of this unbelievable
adventure that I will never forget, as long as I live.

If all goes well, I’ll be visiting Bill again soon, in his
new home. I can’t wait. It’s a journey that’s long overdue.

gerbilfluff:

Alex Hirsch was *supremely* kind in giving this to me at the Dr. Comics Mr. Games Lost Legends signing this past Saturday, but upon thinking it over, I’d feel selfish if I didn’t pass that kindness along to anyone else it might help, too.

If you needed to hear this today, then this message is for you.

one crazy summer

so I watched One Crazy Summer. slight spoilers for the contents below.

I think a lot of things about it, and I’ll probably watch it at least one more time before I’ll be able to really work out how to say what I think, but right off the cuff…..it is wild to me that they included so much about Cipher Hunt. I’m so, so happy they did—I’m so glad they included it in the story of the making of the series.

two years ago today, we had just found the last clue. I had been at work all day, hunched over my laptop in the dark supply closet in between making the occasional milkshake or box of bonbons. exhausted but excited, I stranded myself at work for nearly an hour after closing, too focused on watching groups of fans descend on Enchanted Forest to pack up and leave. I couldn’t miss a moment.

by the time I got home, it was nearly dark. my brand new copy of Journal 3 was waiting for me, and I flipped through it in between checking twitter for any sign that the last clue had been solved. eventually, I fell asleep on one of the lumpy futons in our living room, clutching my Journal, phone nearby in case it dinged with a new tweet from Alex.

two years ago today, it was my birthday. I didn’t do anything special for it. I didn’t need to—my day had already been full of mysteries and puzzles, candy and soft ice cream, hot weather and marble countertops cold against my arms as I leaned against them and tried to feel what it was like to be in places that were hundreds of miles away from my hot Florida town. falling asleep on that lumpy futon, I felt like I was in another world.

it’s strange to look back on that time, to try to grasp the floating sense of peace and immersion I felt among the chaos of the hunt itself and the learning experience it was for me, personally. it’s strange now, to be able to pop a disc into a DVD player and hear Alex and the GF crew talk about that same event. I’ve got to do some more reflecting on my own experience, on the hunt itself, and on the documentary before I can say much else besides that it’s…strange.

but, a good strange. I liked it very much. thank you to everyone who suggested Cipher Hunt be put in the special features—and thank you to Shout Factory and Alex and the crew, too. ∆

Two years ago, I was not ever on the Internet. I’ve heard many cryptic things about the Cipher Hunt but never anything very substantial. I’d love to hear a bit about what it was and your experiences with it. It sounds great, and I am intrigued.

I’m glad you’re interested and I’m happy to help! Cipher Hunt was an international scavenger hunt/alternate reality game put on by Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls. after the credits of the Gravity Falls series finale, a moment of live footage plays:

the footage was of an apparently real statue Alex had hidden somewhere in the world. Cipher Hunt was about finding that statue (and the treasure buried at it’s feet)—but it was also about a community of passionate fans working together towards a common goal. it was a fun and strange thing, with the thrill you’d expect from a global ARG full of coded messages and riddles, but just as surreal—and haunted by a sense of sentimentality and nostalgia that bloomed at the end.

the hunt took two weeks, coordinated by fans online who then moved to the real world to retrieve Alex’s clues, which included a jar of fake eyeballs in a tourist trap gift shop accessed by giving a password to the cashier, a final clue so difficult it took an entire week and a hint from Alex for fans to solve, and, infamously, a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle. a great place to get the short, sweet, organized story of Cipher Hunt is the Gravity Falls wiki page, which has a wealth of links and sources—I highly recommend reading this article! and as well: Alex encouraged fans who searched for clues to Periscope their searches so that fans around the globe could, in a sense, participate as well. when you read over the wiki page, keep in mind that many of the searches for each clue were captured by live video feeds that fans could tune into, as if they were there searching, too.

as for my own role: after seeing that initial tweet and the first clue from Alex on twitter, I lurked in the hashtag prompted by Alex as fans began decoding text and solving riddles to get real-world locations. fans then went to those locations to find the next physical clue—all around the world. the first clue was found in Russia, then Japan, then the US, over the course of a few hours. totally entranced, I followed along on twitter and posted about the hunt on tumblr.

those posts slowly gained more notes, and I gained more followers. a few folks messaged me saying my blog was the only way they were able to keep up with the event. they thanked me for posting in a readable, organized way, so I kept up my reporting, providing accurate, to-the-minute updates on the progress of the hunt, as well as longer summaries of each day or important development. once the final clue was found and fans were tasked with deciphering it to finally locate the statue, I also took suggestions from tumblr users to a private discord chat where a group of focused fans worked to solve the last clue.

those posts are still up on my blog. you can see all of them or read just the summary posts. the statue was moved after it was found, so I wrote a post on where it went and how it got there, as well as a post on how to get to the statue for fans who might want to visit.

as for my experience…I was moved by the event itself, to say the least. the hunt was totally unaffiliated with Disney, Hirsch had included his own souvenirs from working on the show in the treasure box buried by the statue, and a few of the clue locations were places not just linked to the series, but were important to Hirsch as well—I think about all that a lot. the ephemerality of the event—the fact that you, anon, cannot experience Cipher Hunt for yourself, because it happened in the past and there’s no way to go back to it—is also something I still think about. a lot.

and of course I was touched that my posts about the hunt were helpful to fans. I still have messages in my inbox from folks saying they felt they had participated in the event themselves thanks to the work I did. I think about that most of all.

7/20/2018

two years ago today, I was still living in Florida and was a month out from starting my last semester of college. it was an intolerably hot July, warning of an even soupier August to come, but the little candy shop I worked at was kept blessedly cold. the marble countertops were cool against my forearms when I leaned against them, scrolling through social media, or eating soft-serve from the shop’s old machine, or simply daydreaming—anything to put off cleaning duties a bit longer.

two years ago today, work was slow, so I leaned against the cold counters and picked up my phone. I hadn’t used twitter much previously, but that summer I’d started using it to keep up with news on the impending election. when I refreshed my feed, I saw a new tweet by Alex Hirsch:

confused but amused and drawn by a mixed sense of intrigue and foreboding, I went to Hirsch’s profile to wait for the follow-up I knew was coming. No, I thought, refreshing the feed again. Probably not. But what for?

two years ago today, Cipher Hunt began. now, two years later, the world and my small life are much different, but the two weeks that followed that tweet are still dear to me—the hunt itself, and all the personal memories that formed around it: cold marble countertops, the smell of cocoa, soft ice cream. the weight of my phone in my hand. the rush of cold and hot air meeting as I left the candy shop in the evening, and hurrying on the walk home, determined not to miss a thing.

hollycrowned:

I’m chalking it up to a rough week, but while perusing all the replies on that tweet of Alex’s, I honestly got a little misty at seeing folks suggest a Cipher Hunt featurette for the box set special features. I would like that very much.

@eregyrn-falls yes! besides providing a summary, I hope it would be about Alex’s end of the project, his perspective on putting it together and on the reaction it got. or even a Q&A of him answering some questions about it! I would understand if it wouldn’t work out—too much of a peek behind the curtain, or just impractical—but. if it did happen, if it could, I would be very happy.

it’s such a strange thing. ephemeral is the perfect word; it describes the event itself and it describes the theme I think the event inadvertently conveys. I would love to have it documented too, but the idea of having it documented in this manner both fascinates and vexes me.

having authorized, mass-produced, hard-copy evidence that Cipher Hunt happened could make it…different. not worse, not at all, but when I consider Cipher Hunt as an art piece (and as part of the larger work of GF itself), I get the notion that having that featurette like that might change the piece itself. at the very least it could change how future audience members find out Cipher Hunt happened at all.

or it might not change it. it’d certainly be debatable. I think it could depend on what the featurette would contain….and I should say this is all very airy theorizing on my part, of course.

but! even speculating gets my hopes up a little. I’m content to wait until the special features are announced.