Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Modern Mysteries > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Modern Mysteries

French rock inscription mystery finally solved

By T.K. Randall
February 25, 2020 · Comment icon 1 comment

The inscription was found along the coast of France. Image Credit: CC BY 3.0 Moreau.henri
A village in France had been offering a reward to anyone who could decipher a strange 230-year-old message.
Situated on a remote beach near the village of Plougastel, the enigmatic inscription features a peculiar combination of reverse, upside-down and foreign lettering that nobody had been able to decipher.

One of the few readable sections of the writing includes two dates - 1786 and 1787 - suggesting that the message was written a few years before the French Revolution.

The text is also accompanied by the image of a ship with sails, as well as a sacred heart symbol.

Now at last, nine months after the village launched a contest to help decipher the writing, the mystery has been solved thanks to two separate entrants who independently came up with the answer.
The writing, it turns out, was in remembrance of a man named Serge who died while out rowing.

The words were inscribed in a mixture of Breton and Welsh by someone who was only semi-literate.

"He was the incarnation of courage and joie de vivre," the inscription reads. "Somewhere on the island he was struck and he is dead."

The two winners will each share a prize of around $2,200.

A (French) news report featuring close-up images of the inscription can be viewed below.



Source: BBC News | Comments (1)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by jowasmus 4 years ago
This is the best explanation I have EVER heard. It was hard to translate because "the words were inscribed in a mixture of Breton and Welsh by someone who was only semi-literate." I have to wonder how many other mysteries can be solved just by reason of the ancient people didn't have spellcheck.


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles