Pigpen cipher

It differentiates itself from other simple monoalphabetic substitution ciphers solely by its use of symbols rather than letters, the use of which fails to assist in curbing cryptanalysis.

[7][8] Thompson writes that, “there is evidence that suggests that the Knights Templar utilized a pig-pen cipher” during the Christian Crusades.

[13] On the 7th July 1730, a French Pirate named Olivier Levasseur threw out a scrap of paper written in the pigpen cipher, allegedly containing the whereabouts of his treasure which was never found but is speculated to be located in Seychelles.

[15] They began using it in the early 18th century to keep their records of history and rites private, and for correspondence between lodge leaders.

One of the earliest stones in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City, which opened in 1697, contains a cipher of this type which deciphers to "Remember death" (cf.

[14] Using the Pigpen cipher key shown in the example above, the message "X marks the spot " is rendered in ciphertext as The core elements of this system are the grid and dots.

Another variation of this last one is called the Newark Cipher, which instead of dots uses one to three short lines which may be projecting in any length or orientation.

So ABC would be in the top left pen, followed by DEF and GHI on the first line, then groups of JKL MNO PQR on the second, and STU VWX YZ on the third.

[1][14] More difficult systems use a non-standard form of the alphabet, such as writing it backwards in the grid, up and down in the columns,[4] or a completely randomized set of letters.

The need for a unique code came from Hendricks wishing to distance Club Penguin related materials from anything regarding Freemason or New World Order conspiracy theories.