Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Hunt for GOLD "Weapons of Mass Destruction" trophy

Frank Middleton | 23.10.2003 23:59 | Anti-militarism | Globalisation | Indymedia | London

College Student Creates Nationwide Treasure Hunt For $5000 Solid Gold "Weapons Of Mass Destruction" Trophy, A Bag Of Cash, And A Barrel Of Oil

College Student Creates Nationwide Treasure Hunt For $5000 Solid Gold "Weapons Of Mass Destruction" Trophy, A Bag Of Cash, And A Barrel Of Oil

For Immediate Release

NASHVILLE, Tenn./EWORLDWIRE/Oct. 23, 2003 --- Like many Americans, Shane Messer has spent the past year glued to the TV, trying to figure out whether or not those promised WMDs really exist.

Now, doubting whether actual weapons will ever be found, Messer is spending his college savings to have a $5000 piece of gold molded into the shape of a weapon, and hiding its whereabouts somewhere in the US, encrypting the clues in midst of nearly 3,000 public domain WMD documents downloaded from a dozen government agencies. The reason? To pay for college.

The Hunt for the Real WMD consists of a clue book, a CD, a "puzzle matrix," and a war map.

After the proper mix of ingenuity and frustration is added, a path leading to the solid gold "weapons" will open up and the lucky treasure hunter can claim his prize. If the prize goes unclaimed on Election Day 2004, it, along with the barrel of oil, will be sent to George Bush.

"UN resolutions, speeches, key figure bios, propaganda leaflets dropped on Iraq, photos, satellite images, and maps. It's all on the CD and comes from government sources that already provide this information to the public," Messer states. "It's amazing how much studying we had to do in order to find the clever but simple patterns needed to create this game."

The mystery has been engineered so that people in 65 major cities can play locally.

Messer states "devising a way for the US to play a game where only one prize exists was one the most difficult challenges. When working on a shoestring budget, creativity becomes necessary. Eventually we devised a solution that utilizes a lot of friends, and deploys numerous 'fake' prizes that can be exchanged for the real one. We also have friends in the UK that helped, so London, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Manchester can join in."

Luckily, solving the puzzle won't require a scientist's brain. It will take some time and clever thinking, but anyone should be able to solve it.

"We have been watching the largest treasure hunt in the world. Why not join in? Win or lose, you come out the other end with a better understanding of government & politics. That alone is worth the price."

The Hunt for the Real WMD can be purchased online for $39.99 from  http://www.findthoseweapons.com. 10% of profits go to a "bag of cash" that is also part of the prize. Another 10% will be given to Charity. The rest goes to Messer's college fund.

Frank Middleton

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech