Can You Solve These Cryptic Mystery Messages That Were Discovered In A University Library?

Ever fancied yourself a bit of a Sherlock? Someone's been leaving hidden messages in code in a library for amateur sleuths to stumble onto - and there's $100 for you if you solve them!

More than a dozen notes containing what seem like secret messages have been found hidden in the pages of library books.

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The first was found in January 2013.

The messages are all printed on normal computer paper, and are a series of strange characters that're a bit like wingdings.

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There are about 50 different characters, which probably makes a straightforward symbol-for-letter substitution unlikely.

Each message has a picture of a household object beside it, like this box.

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And inside each envelope there's a small bauble like a gem, a feather or a leaf which matches the colour of some of the symbols in the message.

The messages were all found inside books in the politics/economics section in Weldon Library

And the back of each message contains a reference to this empty blog page

Mike Moffatt, an assistant professor at the university, has been puzzling over the messages for weeks

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And keeping everyone up to date on his blog where he wrote, "This puzzle is really bothering me – I will pay $100 to anyone that can solve it"

People now think it might be an 'art thing'

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But Moffatt would still like the creator to come forward, saying "That is certainly a strong possibility. I'm not sure why that should disappoint at all! I find the idea that these are a form of art really interesting. That still doesn't solve the mystery, though. Who put them there? When were they put there? What was the artist thinking? How did they create the font? I have all kinds of questions, so if it is art, I'd be delighted if the artist stepped forward."

Although people have been gathering from across the internet to try and solve it.

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Approaches to solving it currently include everything from egyptian hieroglyphics, linking it to a YouTube user with the same name as the blog URL, and various mathematical ciphers.

Time to get solving - the game is on!

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