John Jude Palencar Hints/Confirmations

## Introduction

John Jude Palencar (JJP) is the artist responsible for the paintings in The Secret. With the death of Byron Preiss, Palencar is one of the few remaining sources of reliable, ground-truth information about The Secret, specifically the paintings. Though he generally tries to avoid providing any sort of hints or help with The Secret, he has made a fair number of statements over the years in various media (TV Appearances, podcasts, as well as some private comments) that provide direct confirmation of certain things, or provide hints that may prove helpful in the future. This page is an attempt to compile everything directly confirmed or hinted at by Palencar over the years.

## Broad Hints and Interesting Statements

* When asked "are there any tricks required to interpret anything in the image like using mirrors, folding (like mad magazine), 3D glasses", Palencar responded "yes and that's all I'm going to say. I can't tell you if it's anthropomorphic (sic) distortion, or if it's color field shifting..."
* There was a general template for the puzzles, but only certain things were done within that template, and other things sprouted out from there
* Certain puzzles are more image heavy, others are more verse heavy
* There are a few things that people haven't picked up on yet
* "Sometimes it seems like you need to turn left instead of turning right"
* "You can't overthink it and you have to overthink it"
* "Byron's a really crafty guy"
* "Some of them got harder because they got more verse heavy and became lighter in the visuals"
* Palencar used models for the figures in the paintings
* Palencar believes the images online are good enough to see the clues
* Poor quality reprints may impair the ability to see certain clues
* The Paintings don't technically have names, but he has named some

## Boston

* The Large Circular Window in the Boston Painting represents the Porthole on USS Constitution
* Flags hanging from USS constitution are the symbols on the dress
* Bird + Bubble = Boston Pops
* Contour of the Piers in the Boston North End depicted in the Woman's hair
* Home Plate in the sleeve of the Woman
* Figure holding the gem is from a painting
* There are other things hidden that he won't go into
* The building on the treasure box was not a clue, the treasure boxes hadn't been designed yet
* The woman in the Boston painting looking like Christopher Columbus is a coincidence
* Palencar refers to the Boston Painting as "The Salem Witch"

## Cleveland

* L + Bell = Liberty Avenue (the road the Cleveland Cultural Gardens are on was Liberty Blvd, but renamed to MLK Drive)
* Terminal Tower Hidden upside down in the trees
* Helmet off Soldiers and Sailors Monument (no it's not?)
* Refers to the stone with the triangle as the "pyramid on the sphere", says he doesn't remember what it means
* The Cup in the Centaur's Hand was at either the Cleveland museum of art, or the Italian gardens (JJP thought it was the former)
* The stone thing is the "the Greek cultural garden thing" (needs clarification)
* There is an outline of Ohio and interstates with a key on the easy side of Cleveland
* The centaur was just a general hint for greece/greek
* The tail represents something, but JJP wouldn't say what it represents
* Palencar's brother was the model for the Centaur
* Palencar refers to the Cleveland painting as "The Cleveland Monument"

## Chicago

* Chicago contains Latitude/Longitude Coordinates - JJP says "I guess it does"
* The medallion hanging on the right side of the painting is "the decorative medallion from the elevator frieze at the Chicago Stock Exchange"
* The medallion hanging on the left side of the painting is "the bull symbol"

## Milwaukee

* Possible confirmation of the Lake Park Lion (or some other lion) likeness being correct for the Milwaukee painting

## Roanoke

* Palencar thinks of the Roanoke painting as "The Medieval Scarecrow"
* Palencar also thinks of the figure in the Roanoke painting as a "Jousting Target" that spins around
* Palencar also hints that you could think of it as a windmill that's "maybe pointing in a direction where something is"

## St Augustine

* The painting contains a face (is he talking about the shape of the hill?). He seemed to re-iterate this a few times, like he was trying to drive the point home.
* George said "no one knows what this is", JJP can't remember but "it's something" (what was he pointing to?)
* George said the painting resembles one by Dali, JJP offered up "Don Quixote"

## References

1. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1348
2. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=665
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=688
4. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=700
5. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=719
6. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1169
7. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1174
8. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1227
9. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1296
10. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1507
11. ↑ https://youtu.be/Vq4BqA9VNI8?t=600
12. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1551
13. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=550
14. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=564
15. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=571
16. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=595
17. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=605
18. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=645
19. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=654
20. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1117
21. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1304
22. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1543
23. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=957
24. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=997
25. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1003
26. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1009
27. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1017
28. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1039
29. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1066
30. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1102
31. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1106
32. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1312
33. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1543
34. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=853
35. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/41058728300/permalink/10159682777328301/
36. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/41058728300/permalink/10159682777328301/
37. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1329
38. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1543
39. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1574
40. ↑ https://youtu.be/taEKPdeFvzU?t=1574
41. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uei7r2Ua2TbhAhqHUNXLM?si=a79c4533e11144f2
42. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uei7r2Ua2TbhAhqHUNXLM?si=a79c4533e11144f2
43. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uei7r2Ua2TbhAhqHUNXLM?si=a79c4533e11144f2