Vintage Vibes in Maine
Vintage Dress. So, picture this: Sara Rivers Cofield, a vintage costume collector and archaeologist, stumbles upon a Victorian dress in a Maine antique mall that’s straight out of the 1880s. The fitted bodice, puffy bustle, and lace cuffs scream bygone era vibes. Despite its age, this beauty is in tip-top shape – delicate embroidery, bronze silk, and metallic buttons intact.
Cashing In for a Mystery
Sara, being the savvy shopper, haggles the price down to $100 from $125. A bit more than her usual antique splurges, but it’s the holiday season, so why not? Little did she know, this dress was about to take her on a wild ride.
Unveiling the Enigma
Fast forward to December 2013, Sara finds a secret pocket under the bustle – jackpot! Inside, two crumpled sheets of paper with random words and places: Bismark, omit, leafage, buck, bank… Calgary, Cuba, unguard, confute, duck, Fagan. Weird, right? Plus, a tag with the handwritten name Bennett. Cue confusion.
The Blog Buzz
In February 2014, Sara spills the beans on her discovery, nicknaming it Bennett’s Bronze Bustle. She’s like, “What the…?” and throws it online, hoping for a decoding prodigy. Photos of the dress and the mysterious papers are all over the blog.
Internet Sleuths to the Rescue
Enter online sleuths, trying to crack the code – the “silk dress cryptogram.” Some suspect Bennett is a spy, weaving coded words for covert missions. Others throw in conspiracy theories about love notes or Civil War secrets. It’s a whole thing.
The Codebreaker Hero
In walks Wayne Chan, a Canadian researcher, in summer 2018. After looking at 170 code books with no luck, he shelves the mystery. But he’s not one to give up. Chan dives into the telegraph era, exploring weather codes from the 1800s. And boom! He cracks it.
The Big Reveal: It’s All About the Weather
Turns out, those cryptic words are a weather report, not a spy code. The 19th-century telegraphic weather code used by the Army Signal Corps was all about saving words and money. Each word represented weather deets like temperature, wind speed, and barometric pressure at a specific time and place.
What Those Words Really Mean
“Bismark Omit leafage buck bank”? It’s a legit weather report from Bismarck station in North Dakota. The codebook turns words into meteorological variables. For example, “Omit” means 56 degrees Fahrenheit and 0.08 inches of mercury barometric pressure. So, Bennett was basically sending a quick and cost-effective weather update.
The Date Unveiled
Wayne Chan’s digging reveals the exact date: May 27, 1888. Sara, shook by the revelation, is now thinking about how people back then had to decode weather updates, unlike our weather app luxury today.
Wrap It Up
While Bennett’s true identity and why she needed secret weather codes remain a mystery, Sara and Wayne are just glad they cracked the dress’s biggest secret. It’s like a trip back in time, uncovering a piece of history stitched into those Victorian threads. And that, my friends, is how a vintage dress turned into a time-traveling enigma!
