...In Translation

For Lost Experience clues detailed in-depth, see The Lost Experience clues

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 6th 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:

• Mission Statement
• Executive Bios
• Active Projects
• Joop's Corner
• Newsletter
• Television Ad

• The first easter egg encountered at launch occurs when the participant is contacted again by Persephone when signing up for the Newsletter.
• Once Persephone has contacted the participant, the can access Joop's webmaze which provides two letters. (original letter & reply)

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 release includes an Easter Egg. 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]

• The persephone.thehansofoundation.org site now displays a short message (115 116 97 110 100 98 121), which when translated to ASCII reads "standby".

17 May, 2006

• Parts FIVE [6]and SIX [7] 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/
• Moving the mouse a certain way on the site reveals this image, bearing the code "DI 9FFTR 731", the same code found on the food items in The Swan. A link can be found on the number "108", which brings users to a screen resembling an Unix shell terminal. The screen resembles a log-in procedure, ending with the prompt "Are you one of the good ones (Y,N)?" however, it doesn't seem to accept a response. It redirects you to a list of user directories.
• The hmcintyr and pthompso directories are available, and contain information about a canceled Jeep contract. There is binary code in Peter Thompson's mail which translates to "the mouth piece", the password for the log in box on Hugh McIntyre's page on the Hanso Foundation website. In addition, there is an old jeep advertisement in Hugh McIntyre's box, where zooming in on the image of a buddha one can also find the phrase "The Mouth Piece". There is also a link to a short TV advertisement for a model of jeep known as the CJ7. At the end of footage is what appears to be the octagonal image logo for the different research stations on the island, however the text around the image is blurred and the centre of the image is indistinct. The video footage is currently hosted at YouTube.com
• The ahanso directory returns you to www.thehansofoundation.org
• The title of the Compass site is "Permissum Vestri Complector Rector Vos", which is simply the latin translation of the website's address.

• On the Executive Bios Page, using the password "the mouth piece" gives you a new message from Persephone, exposing an affair Hugh McIntyre had in London.