The Tombstone Puzzle

Yesterday my husband, son, and I took a road trip to seek out interesting places in our area. We have found it is easy to take local attractions for granted when they are so close, and often think “we’ll get there one day”, but that day rarely comes.  It was time to correct that for some select places of interest.

Castle Kilbride

The first stop was Castle Kilbride, a heritage site located in the small town of Baden, Ontario. We had driven past signs for it countless times over the last 16 years but had never been there. It proved to be more of a large opulent house than a castle, but it was interesting to see.

The Puzzling Tombstone

Our next stop was a small cemetery north of Wellesley, Ontario, which was purported to contain a tombstone with an inscription that was in itself a puzzle. Readers had to decipher the puzzle in order to understand what was written upon the tombstone. Being a lover of puzzles, we spent time sitting in the cemetery in front of the infamous gravestone, and proceeded to decipher the message. It took some time, but we did figure most of it out. What fun!

Take a look at the photo below, and see if you can decipher it’s message. No cheating!

So… Did you solve it?

What techniques did you use to get started?

What methods did you apply as you deciphered the message?

Did you use any heuristics, oracles, design, or testing techniques to help you solve this puzzle?

Consider how this exercise can help you in your day job, whether you are a tester, a programmer, or general agilist.

Please share your insights and thoughts!

To finish my story…

The last stops on our road trip were searching for Pioneer Tower in south Kitchener, Ontario, and Sheave Tower in Blair, Ontario. Unfortunately we did not have exact locations, and were unable to locate them.

After returning home, we did some searches online and discovered we drove right past the access points for them. They turned into an adventure for today, instead.

PS. You can see the solution to the tombstone puzzle, and the history of the origins of the tombstone at the link provided here. Please do not post this information on this blog. If you are trying to solve the puzzle, do not look at this page until you have finished. Tombstone Puzzle, Rushes Cemetery, Woolwich Township