Hints and Reveals

Amanda's Diner Menu

Hints

• There's nothing special about Amanda's menu. There is nothing special about Amanda's.

Bingo's Diner Menu

Hints

• The menu from Bingo's connects Hawthorn Farms to the diner. In the Town Council Meeting Minutes, however, it becomes clear that very few people want to do business with the Hawthorn Twins, which puts Bingo's in a place of exception.

Bingo's Diner Placemat

Hints

• There are two very important word puzzles on the placemat, written and submitted to Bingo's by "Darkscale". Who is Darkscale? The same person who made the crossword in the Jenkin's General circular and drew the violent scene of a family-unfriendly Blue Lizzy eating the face of an early settler.

Reveals

• The word search puzzles are more complicated than they first appear. Darkscale's crossword includes a clue to help a keep observer of details to SHIFT the letters into secret messages. The word search puzzles are actually shift ciphers.
• First, solve the word search by highlighting, circling, or scratching out each word bank according to the instructions on the placement. Ignore those letters from now on. Then, shift all the remaining letters in the word searches back up the alphabet a number of places equal to the number of the SHIFT clues in the crossword.

• The letters in the first word search should be shifted 14 places, corresponding with the second "SHIFT" that appears in the crossword clue. The letters in the second word search should be shifted 10 places, corresponding with the first "SHIFT" that appears in the crossword clue. The remaining letters now spell out hidden instructions.

• The first reads "PICK UP THE BODY AT TWO BY FOUR AM" and the second reads "PICK UP THE BODY AT SIX BY ONE PM".

• The SIX and TWO refer to locations around Sag Pond Lake. Photos in the gallery reveal markings on trees that are used by Darkscale and the twins for this purpose.

Blue Lizzy Art Print

Hints

• A grotesque sketch of a more realistic and violent Blue Lizzy, as envisioned by local artist, Darkscale. While this serves as a decorative piece of local art in the minds of Hawthorn Farmstead Realty, it reveals an underlying interest in the macabre by one of your fellow townsfolk.

Blue Lizzy Is Definitely Real Website

Reveals

• In the Town Council Meeting Minutes #107-13-C, Marshall Jenkin says to Dodd Plum "Backslash Private" in reference to something Dodd knows but remains a secret to the rest of the community. While they may appear to be a poorly planned insult, Marshall is actually referencing a hidden page to Dodd's website for his museum.
• Typing "/PRIVATE" onto the end of the site (www.bluelizzyisdefinitelyreal.com/private) directs the browser to Dodd's personal photo catalog of his more intimate Blue Lizzy reenactments.

Blue Lizzy Museum Brochure

Hints

• Contains information on some local history as well as the address for the museum website.

Box of Crayons

Hints

• Crayons from Bingo's Diner to aid in solving puzzles and doodling. For the kids.

Exterminator's Coupon

Hints

• Ray operates the "Pest-Assured" Extermination, and other than the pun in its name, there is nothing criminal about this business.

Hawthorn Farms Soap

Hints

• The soap comes from your neighbors at Hawthorn Farms. They don't sell their soap through Marshall Jenkin, much to Jenkin's chagrin, as evidenced in the Town Council Meeting Minutes.

Ingredients → "Exhale" (Blue Soap)

• Palm fruit oil
• Caustic soda liquid
• Coconut oil
• Water
• Castor oil
• Peppermint oil
• Sodium gluconate
• Vitamin E
• Blue #1

Ingredients → "Focus" (Green Soap)

• Palm fruit oil
• Caustic soda liquid
• Coconut oil
• Water
• Castor oil
• Sunflower oil
• Pine scotch
• Peppermint
• Sodium gluconate
• Vitamin E
• Ultramarine green

Ingredients → "Immunity" (Red Soap)

• Palm fruit oil
• Caustic soda liquid
• Coconut oil
• Water
• Castor oil
• Orange fragrance oil
• Sunflower oil
• Ultramarine pink
• Clove bud oil
• Clove fragrance oil
• Sodium gluconate
• Vitamin E
• Organic sweet orange oil
• Iron oxide red

Ingredients → "Tranquility" (Purple Soap)

• Palm fruit oil
• Caustic soda liquid
• Coconut oil
• Water
• Castor oil
• Sunflower oil
• Lavender oil
• Chamomile cybilla fragrance oil
• Ultramarine violet
• Sodium gluconate
• Vitamin E
• Dried lavender flowers
• Chamomile

Hawthorn Farmstead DVD

Hints

• Sheila McGlenn's orientation video briefly explains some of the history behind the formation of Hawthorn Junction, as well as introduces some of the characters: Sarah and Charles Hawthorn of Hawthorn Farms, who do not permit trespassing; Harold Plum, oldest busboy at Bingo's; the Jenkins, who run the delivery and general store; Paula, who operates the truck stop on the edge of town; Mayor Roscoe, the town's leader, whose door is always open; and Dodd Plum, who curates the museum.

Hawthorn Farmstead Keychain

Hints

• Courtesy of Hawthorn Farmstead Realty. Enjoy your new home!

Hawthorn Farmstead Welcome Letter

Hints

• From Sheila McGlenn, local realtor and the woman who sold you your new home. She reveals that she has a quarrel with the Hawthorns for not agreeing to sell a nice, square parcel of their land for development.

Holy Water's Fellowship Church Pamphlet

Hints

• The Holy Water's Fellowship Church sends its pamphlets out to every resident of Hawthorn Junction in the hopes of bringing all repentant sinners into their fold. Chuck Hawthorn, your neighbor, is clearly taken away by the reverend's sermons and holds an almost zealous dedication to the church.

Jenkin's General Mail Delivery Bag

Hints

• A simple canvas bag used by Marshall Jenkin's delivery boy to carry the mail to the residents of Hawthorn Junction. It's a thankless job, and it looks like the most recent person to do it got fed up and left the last of their route on your doorstep.

Jenkin's General Store Circular

Hints

• Marshall Jenkin's circular goes out to every resident in town. He publishes a crossword puzzle by Darkscale in his circular.

• Darkscale's crossword puzzle has two clues. 10 Across and 14 Down, that are actually directions on how many places to SHIFT the letters in Darkscale's other puzzles to uncover a hidden message.

Letter from Marla Frohman

Reveals

• A letter from Marla Frohman to Charli Jenkin, explaining her conclusion and rationale regarding the runaway Carson Jenkin. Marla relates Carson's story of what happened the night he ran away. Because Carson is the only person to have seen the "kill shed" and survived, his story sets up certain parameters for the geography of the missing victims.

  • The kill shed, and therefore the killer, must have easy access to the woods that surround the town.
  • The kill shed is not located in an area easily recognized by a resident.

Letter from Sarah Hawthorn

Hints

• A neighborly welcome to the neighborhood from Sarah Hawthorn, one of the twins who own the farm from which your development was constructed. It contains a friendly invitation to game night, as well as a curious final sentence, beginning with Go and ending with Stop. The words used, with the exception of go, stop, and a single or double blah, are either one- or three-syllable words. In Morse code, dots are one "unit" long, and dashes are three long. This information, combined with the fact that the Hawthorns have a history with Morse code (as referenced on the tourism website), can be used to deduce that the nonsensical sentence actually contains a hidden meaning.

Reveals

Solution

• By replacing one-syllable words with "dot" and three-syllable words with "dash", and using "blah" as a break between letters and a "blah blah" as a break between words, the message reads:

  • "STAY DELICIOUS"

• Perhaps the Hawthorn twins process more than pork.

Lizzy on Main Festival Map

Hints

• A map from the local tourism board. It was designed for the most recent Lizzy on Main festival, but it doubles as a way for Hawthorn Farmstead Realty to help you get acquainted with the geography of your new hometown. Certain residents' addresses are listed in the Town Council Meeting Minutes, and using clues from all documents, most of them can be accounted for.

Reveals

• For example, through Marla's notes, we learn that Reverend Al Davis lives next to the church. In the Town Council Meeting Minutes, he is listed at 2 Plum Dr. Harold is listed at 4 Plum Dr., so we know Harold's house is the gray one that backs up to the woods.

Lizzy on Main Poster

Hints

• Features the commercialized image of Blue Lizzy, approved by the Hawthorn Junction Tourism board for its mass consumer appeal.

Lizzy on Main Trucker Hat

Hints

• A leftover souvenir from the most recent Lizzy on Main festival, part of Jenkin's General overstock liquidation.

Marla Frohman's Interview Notes

Reveals

• Marla's notes from her interviews with various people of interest in her investigation into Carson Jenkin's whereabouts, typed up for a formal report to Charli. Through Marla's notes, we learn that:

  • Reverend Al Davis can easily access the woods, feels a desire to "save" others, and harbors a hatred of sin.
  • We learn that Harold Plum is nice and smiles at passersby, has a deep love for and wants to protect the town, and views Carson Jenkin as what's wrong with new times.
  • We learn that Dodd Plum dislikes the Jenkin family as a general rule, views himself as an outsider, and really gets into collecting reptiles.
  • We learn that Paula Molineaux dislikes Carson, is affectionate toward Charli, dislikes Jonathan Jenkin, keeps truck records, and owns the building with the bathroom in the photo.We learn that Marshall Jenkin is close to Mayor Cole Roscoe, is familiar with the woods around town, and blames Carson's rebellious nature on Charli.

Missing Persons Articles

Hints

Carson Jenkin Missing

• Carson is confirmed to be an 18-year-old who no one in town seems to care for. Dodd Plum seems particularly glad he's gone, though that seems to conflict with the feelings he expresses to Marla during her interview. His mother (here incorrectly referred to as "Charlie") and his father are both listed as looking for their son.

Firefighter

• The article about a missing firefighter relays the victim's friend's account of what happened. From her account, it is clear that Mayor Roscoe was not the person to abduct her unfortunate friend.

Missing Teacher

• Mayor Roscoe is certainly averse to allow the prying eyes of the outside world to look at Hawthorn Junction unfavorably. He also seems adamant that nothing sinister can possibly be going on under his watch.

Package to Mrs. Jenkin from Marla Frohman

Hints

• Catherine "Charli" Jenkin, by the looks of it, had requested an out-of-town private investigator to find her son, Carson. Due to a snafu involving the local mail carrier, Mrs. Jenkin never received the package.

Paula's Truck Stop Bathroom Photo

Reveals

• In the lower-right corner of the photo, there is a secret message written to "C" from "P" using a series of number pairs. As Charli and Paula are known to be close - as evidenced in the Town Council Meeting Minutes and Marla's interviews - and the bathroom in the photo comes from Paula's Truck Stop, it can be deduced that Paula is the one who wrote the note, and Charli is the intended recipient.
• Looking through the truck stop records, a keen eye would observe that the first set of numbers in each of the secret message's pairs corresponds to the last digits of the truck DOT numbers in the list. Using the second number in each pair to reference a character on the respective license plate yields a message.

Solution

• "C, ILL TREAT U RIGHT. -P"

  • This mirrors Paula's sentiments that she expressed to Marla about Charli, as well as a catchphrase when Paula is mentioned in Sheila McGlenn's DVD.

Paula's Truck Stop Coupon

Hints

• Paula's sits on the outer limit of Hawthorn Junction, just off the major interstate. This gives Paula an excellent vantage point to keep track of visitors coming and going to and from town.

Paula's Truck Stop Records

Hints

• A list of the trucks that have made recent stops at Paula's. The list includes each truck's DOT number, license plate information, and axle weights.

Visit Hawthorn Junction Website

Hints

• The local tourism board's website hosts various resources for both tourists and residents. One such resource of particular significance to solving what's been going on with the missing tourists is the recorded collection of Hawthorn Junction's Town Council Meeting Minutes.

Reveals

• Another item of particular interest resides in the photo gallery on the tourism website. One of the images is a scan of a thank you note from the staff of Bingo's diner to the tourism board for their award of "Best Restaurant" fourteen years in a row. All of the staff signed it. Looking closely at the handwriting on the note and the handwriting on the Darkscale illustration of Blue Lizzy reveals a stunning discovery; Harold and Darkscale have the same handwriting. Considering along with the following facts: that Harold understands the twins, when they ask for more bodies he said nothing, Darkscale supplies the puzzles to Bingo's where Harold works. All together these point to Harold being Darkscale.

Meeting #107-13-C

• The meeting centers around Sheila's desire to be able to develop the chunk of Hawthorn Farms that could make Hawthorn Farmstead a more evenly-shaped community, with extra homes. The Hawthorns are adamant about keeping that portion of land for themselves.

• Chuck says, "skeleton blah amazing sanity adventure blah dangerous antelope fun blah and blah holiday blah on the way to blah the blah new melody home blah blah why not memory set blah seventeen bellicose electric blah sad unity bell blah blah in blah the long hall withering blah hate blah sun afterlife rose."

• Solution

  • Decoded using the same Morse code method used to decode Sarah's welcome note, the message reads "TOGETHER FOREVER" as the twins make a stand for their land, but also reaffirm their commitment to each other.

Meeting #107-20-S

• Chuck says, "chattering blah bats grow old rose blah distilling fortitude sidewinder blah bat soap mint blah take blah blah feverish blah bits salivate decision blah basilisk strawberry tuxedo".

• Later, Sarah says, "brown buttery blah zip sassafras old tea blah too faltering stump it blah blah ghost triplicate blah a syllable find blah ears blah blah cremation Gemini celebrate blah whispering small one blah happiness here now".

• Solution

  • Decoded, Chuck says: "THOSE TWO." He is responding to the argument between Dodd Plum and Marshall Jenkin. Harold responds to this by saying he was "getting tired of it", and in this instance, he is responding to Chuck.
  • Decoded, Sarah says: "ALL ARE ODD."
  • To which Harold responds, "that's true". Harold has demonstrated that he understands the twins' coded language.

Meeting #107-30-S

• This meeting centers around the organization of the next Lizzy on Main festival. According to the minutes, each festival uses the same schedule, meaning that for years the festival has not changed one bit. It can be inferred that if everything stays the same, the timeframes for each character also remain the same.

• When Charli asks for help during the festival, most people are busy, and have excuses that can be corroborated with information that can be found in other documents (the festival schedule or church pamphlet, for example) except for Harold.

• Sarah says, "disaster blah on the good old blah will radical blah finally free blah wilderness with abiding blah hole for you blah blah map guess Genesis fit blah clarity enemy archery blah to another one blah blah diary for us and blah delicate underworld lottery blah gathering hail shot blah love coat blah get blah for all time".

• Chuck says, "six consummate elements blah for her old man blah with blah gracefully gun blah blah his procession blah did cantaloupe slip blah soon blah blah counterfeit boy blah sip blah desperate hot will abusing blah decibel".

• This meeting is a special meeting at the request of Charli Jenkin. She is distraught over her missing son, Carson. At this point, she does not know where her son is. In fact, she may never know, as she never received the report from Marla that accidentally fell into your hands.

• Harold seems very keen on protecting the town according to what he says in this meeting. This corroborates the sentiment that Marla picked up on in her interview.

• Sarah says, "on a hot day blah cry blah blah it blah was two net blah helical tall amplifies hit blah tin coverlet blah slow multiple baptizing hill blah not blah cottages vet why blah blah enchantment cut sole blah red angering blah ten assailants let blah birdcages with afterglow blah to the new blah battlefields up apertures for blah tick acreage blah show commitments for her blah hop".

• Chuck responds to his sister, "corrupter blah how blaspheming did blah tip for blah activate wed additive pin blah armoring fit dissemble blah abnegate old activates celebrate blah blah abduction skip shot blah and blah tap or top arisen blah sin for blah no achingly not yet".

• According to Mayor Roscoe, all abductions take place during the day.

• Solution

  • Decoded, Sarah says: "THANKS FOR BODIES".
  • Decoded, Chuck says: "WHEN ARE NEXT".

    • The twins are responding to the instructions left for them in the word search, to "pick up the bodies".

• Solution

  • Decoded, Sarah says: "HE ESCAPED DARKSCALE".
  • Decoded, Chuck says: "TRICKY DEVIL".

• The twins are talking about Carson. They know he was abducted by Darkscale and got away. This meant that Carson's story he told Marla was honest. While he wasn't sure of all the details, he was taken to a kill shed on the edge of the woods. This exchange between the twins, coupled with the conversation in Meeting #107-23-H clearly shows that the twins are working with Darkscale. If Darkscale is the one supplying the bodies for disposal, and the victims are alive when Darkscale gets them, then Darkscale must be the murderer.