THE MORGUE · TRUE TALES OF CIPHERS

Code Stories

Real ciphers that changed history, and the people they got killed.

TRUE CRIME · 1969

340 Letters, 51 Years

Z340 held out for 51 years because everyone solved the wrong puzzle. The letters had been moved before they were ever swapped.

FILED BY A. J. CARDEW · 7 MIN READ TRANSPOSITION

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TRUE CRIME · 1586

The Cipher That Killed Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots trusted a secret cipher with her life. The codebreaker who cracked it turned her own words into the evidence that sent her to the block in 1587.

7 MIN READ · SUBSTITUTION