The intricate, spiral-locking technique famously used by Mary Queen of Scots to send her last letter has finally been revealed using X-ray scanners and virtual unfolding methods that preserve the seals. The new research techniques have uncovered centuries of stately secrets and exposed the murky history of communications security.
Napoleon’s portfolio (soon to be on display at SPYSCAPE HQ) was stuffed full of intelligence and foreign news each morning. Top-secret reports came from Napoleon's cabinet noir - a ‘black chamber’ within the French post office - who intercepted, read, and copied the mail before it reached its final destination. Intriguingly, the cabinet noir still leaves its mark on contemporary spying.
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The British Library houses many treasures including an authentic 18th-century Ethiopian manuscript that contains supernatural spells surprisingly similar to the magic taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. SPYSCAPE dug into the archives to discover more, uncovering seven of the world's most magical manuscripts.
Playing games is one way to truly understand the secrets of warriors and kings. The 4,600-year-old Royal Game of Ur combines strategy with messages from ancestral ghosts. Wari is a challenge of calculation, while Ludus Latrunculorum incorporates mercenaries. Roll the dice and discover the unusual board games through the centuries.
With the dawn of civilization, there was wine, women, song, and sometimes a maddening riddle to unravel. For thousands of years, people have tested one another’s critical thinking with puzzling challenges. Can you solve 11 of history’s oldest brain teasers?
Syria is home to museums filled with priceless objects and Byzantine-era mosaics but the treasures are held in war-ravaged cities, leaving them vulnerable to looters. Two unlikely US spymasters are hoping to solve that problem by saving Syria’s rich heritage using modern-day spy tradecraft.
