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in: Spoilers, The Lost Experience

The Lost Experience timeline

Revision as of 13:01, 26 May 2006 by LOSTonthisdarnisland (talk | contribs) (→‎24 May 2006)
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For Lost Experience clues detailed in-depth, see The Lost Experience clues
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A timeline of events that chronicle the Lost Experience alternate reality game. The purpose of the timeline is to show the sequence in which elements of game are revealed to the audience participants. Please note that "in-game" dates are not listed.

April 2006

24 April 2006

New York Times article announces the Lost Experience game as a "a multimedia treasure hunt that makes use of e-mail messages, phone calls, commercials, billboards and fake Web sites that are made to seem real." The Lost Experience is created by the show's actual writers and will progress the storyline.

May 2006

3 May 2006

(event took place on May 2nd in UK, May 4th in Australia)

  • The game launched coinciding the regional airing of Lost with a 15-second commercial that announced, "Since the dawn of time, man has been curious, imagining all that is possible. The Hanso Foundation: reaching out to a better tomorrow. Discover the experience for yourself." A toll-free number was displayed for viewers to call.
  • The phone number ultimately leads the audience participant to thehansofoundation.org and the password 'breaking strain' is provided by an inside informant named, Persephone.
  • At launch, the Hanso Foundation website was broken into the following areas:

4 May 2006

Part 1, 2, and 3 of Gary Troup's September 16, 2004 interview with Laird Granger promoting his book Bad Twin are found on the Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon websites. Part 3 references Alvar Hanso and the Hanso Foundation as possible subjects in his non-fiction book, The Valenzetti Equation.

5 May 2006

A press release is issued by Hugh McIntyre. The press release also included an Easter Egg. The egg tells us "Log in at THF.org May 1 This is safe for now".

7 May 2006

The message in the press release appears to get updated by Persephone in a clue consisting of a string of numbers on the Persephone's webpage. Converting this from decimal numbers into ascii characters and rearranging them indicates the event will happen May 8, not May 1 or May 6, and gaves a textual string that could be interpreted:

  • SIGN IN WITH HANSO PR CLUE 8 not 1 and 6
  • LOGIN HUNCH WAS PRISTINE 8 not 1 and 6
  • WHO IS RUNNING THIS PLACE 8 not 1 and 6
  • The last anagram is a phrase that Persephone has used on several occasions.

8 May 2006

As indicated by the press release, a new message is revealed by Persephone in the Executive Bio about Alvar Hanso. The October 28, 2003 below his picture is hyperlinked. Clicking the link reveals the May 8 message from Persephone.

9 May 2006

  • A newspaper ad appeared in several American newpapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and the New York Times (et al.), placed by The Hanso Foundation. Claiming to be from Hugh McIntyre, the ad is entitled 'Don't Believe "Bad Twin"', and states that "The truth about the Hanso Foundation is available at www.TheHansoFoundation.org and not on the pages of Gary Troup's "Bad Twin"."
  • Persephone provides another clue in the Thomas Mittlewerk bio. A new website (http://www.sublymonal.com/) provides the code ('heir apparent') for a floating box in Mittlewerk's bio. Entering the code starts another flash sequence that ends with Persephone revealing that Caltech has no record of Mittlewerk in their Alumni database. There also appears to be crossed-out writings in red and blue that state Gary Troup knows too much and needs to be silenced.

10 May 2006

  • The document revelaed in yesterday's Persephone clue has changed. Both crossed out writings are now red, and the text is no longer readable through the boxes.
  • A Note from the Publisher was placed on hyperionbooks.com and Gary Troup's websites stating:
'We have received many calls and e-mails asking about the recent advertising campaign done by the Hanso Foundation about our recent publication of BAD TWIN. While we can't respond to you individually on this matter, please know that this issue is of great concern to us, and we are investigating what actions we should or shouldn't take in relation to this complaint. Meanwhile, thank you for your attention and consideration.' [1] [2] [3]

12 May 2006

  • A new press release is issued on thehansofoundation.org website about BAD TWIN. The release states the book includes misinformation about the Foundation and to remember the atruistic work they are doing. A link provides a newspaper.gif of the ad publication from May 10.
  • Exploration of the parent directory for the newspaper.gif file provides a letter from Hugh McIntyre to Robert Miller, President of Hyperion Books. The letter demands that Hyperion cease selling BAD TWIN. Legal action is suggested as a possible recourse.
  • Hugh McIntyre begins responding to emails sent to him at hugh.mcintyre@thehansofoundation.org with what appear to be legitimate emails written by a person rather than automated. It's suggested that your best chances for getting a reply are to write the letter "in-game" about something the real Hugh would answer. Questions about Bad Twin, Joop, and interview requests for one of the executives seem to get the most responses. Long, complicated emails that are clearly trying to get a major explanation seem to be ignored. Emails sent from gmail and hotmail accounts also appear to have lower response rates. It has been speculated that the next major clue will be revealed by Hugh through email and that the correct question has not been asked yet. Presumably, this question would be about something learned in the book, Bad Twin.

16 May 2006

  • Hidden in the HTML. source code of the thehansofoundation.org website, is an embedded clue to another website djdan.am. The DJ Dan site sppears to the website for a radio station DJ that specializes in conspiracy theories. As you drill into the site, it appears this month's topic is Alvar Hanso. The 5/16 podcast [4] talks about Alvar at length. Dan calls Hanso a "Weapons Dealer" turned "Mad Scientist". According to an "inside Hanso Foundation source" of Dan's, Alvar is currently cryogentically frozen in a lab outside Phoenix.
  • Part four of the interview with Gary Troup was posted at Amazon.com [5]

17 May 2006

  • Parts FIVE and SIX of the interview with Gary Troup are discovered. Five is found at Powells books and Six was posted at garytroup.net website.
  • The picture for Hugh McIntyre in the Executive Bios portion of the Hanso Foundation website has been changed to a ?
  • A login box for access to Press Releases is also found in the actual bio.
  • On the Electromagnetic Reseach Initiative page on thehansofoundation.org, the date of the Aurora Borealis picture has changed to October 62, 9291 and the upper left corner of the picture displays coordinates of your cursor.
  • Most importantly, however, is the new hidden link on this page. Click on the very center of the graph (corresponding to the coordinates 629,291) to the right of the Aurora Borealis picture takes you to a new website: http://www.letyourcompassguideyou.com/

18 May 2006

A new clue can be found on the Persephone.thehansofoundation.org [Page] that reads:

  • 106 103 157 162 235 45 122 202 39 122 26 39 162 218 222 151 42 39 142 87 168 186
    • In base64, this translates to amedoustesonehonotrelyonjleoug==
      • The "g==" is a coding error that should be an "s"
        • This can be confirmed by entering amedoustesonehonotrelyonjleous into the base64 box of the translator and noting upon decoding that the numbers in the DEC/CHAR box match those posted by Persephone.
    • This message is an anagram of "a mouse does not rely on just one hole"
      • On the blast door map, the same phrase was written in Latin (Mus uni non fidit antro) to the right of ?, left of CV4.

19 May 2006

Peter Thompson's picture has flashing letters behind it.

  • The letters spell out "survivor guilt"
  • If you enter it into the hidden text box below his picture, you get another message from persephone regarding his past activities

21 May 2006

22 May 2006

24 May 2006

25 May 2006

  • A half-page ad was published in the American daily "USA Today" about Bad Twin. Titled "The book the Hanso Foundation doesn't want you to read", Robert S. Miller of Hyperion Books defends Gary Troup's allegations against The Hanso Foundation.
  • sublymonal.com [6] has been updated to mostly advertisement now. The 9 May clue has been removed, and there are two new clues for the game. "Sublymonal" Codes 108 and Persephone reveal a bit of background, and hidden in the source code was another message from Persephone ("<!--Look on the plane. Namaste. P-->")
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