Kryptos / K2Buried out there.
Somewhere.
The second passage describes a hidden transmission and ends with a set of coordinates. One missing character changed its final words.
The inscription as carved, including question marks.
The corrected solution
Spacing and punctuation added; original spellings retained.
It was totally invisible. Hows that possible? They used the earths magnetic field X
The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location X Does Langley know about this? They should. Its buried out there somewhere X
Who knows the exact location? Only WW. This was his last message X
Thirty eight degrees fifty seven minutes six point five seconds north. Seventy seven degrees eight minutes forty four seconds west X Layer two
The board uses the inscription as carved. “Reveal solution” therefore ends in ID BY ROWS. The reading below uses Sanborn’s 2006 correction: an inserted S near the end of the ciphertext restores the missing X and yields LAYER TWO. UNDERGRUUND is preserved.
The correction, explicitly
As carved: …UPLGEWJLLAETG → …WESTIDBYROWS
Corrected: …UPLGESWJLLAETG → …WESTXLAYERTWO
The corrected stream has 370 letters, plus the three question marks. Neither the sculpture transcription nor the corrected ending is silently substituted for the other.
Archived 2006 correction announcement ↗How to decode it
Verified against the complete ciphertext, not just a recognizable opening phrase.
- Use the mixed alphabet
KRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ, numbered 0–25. - Repeat the keyword over the letters of the ciphertext. Question marks do not consume a key letter.
- Subtract each key-letter index from its ciphertext-letter index, modulo 26. Read the result in the same mixed alphabet.
Exact unspaced plaintext
ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPOSSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNETICFIELDXTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHEREDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANUNKNOWNLOCATIONXDOESLANGLEYKNOWABOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUTTHERESOMEWHEREXWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTLOCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMESSAGEXTHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSEVENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNORTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINUTESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTIDBYROWS
This is the as-carved version. Corrected stream:
ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPOSSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNETICFIELDXTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHEREDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANUNKNOWNLOCATIONXDOESLANGLEYKNOWABOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUTTHERESOMEWHEREXWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTLOCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMESSAGEXTHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSEVENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNORTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINUTESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTXLAYERTWO