And The Mysteries of Kit Williams

An incomplete history of and tribute to one of modern literature's most fascinating enigmas

Meanwhile, Menagerie

A solution has been found for Dillon Waugh's Menagerie, which is a tribute hunt to the original Masquerade on its 25th anniversary. The source material is much shorter--just three images and three pages of story text--but Dillon has done a remarkable job of honoring Kit's original hunt with his own. Not only did he mimic Kit's style and create fresh riffs on some familiar images and constructs from Masquerade, but he even created and buried a second hare jewel, uncannily similar to the original, only in silver (of course--what better 25th anniversary gift than silver?). You can find the complete solution here, but I also encourage you to look around the rest of the threads and see how people got to the big ending. The solution is quite brilliant and very much in the spirit of the original.

This hit at a very busy time in my life so I was not able to actively participate in it. I'm probably going to regret not taking active part in this hunt more than anything else. On my deathbed, I'll say, "Dillon...start over?"

Oh, and I know this site needs a redesign. Hoping to get to that soon. --Dan

What's All This Then?

The golden hare, from the back of the original Masquerade slipcoverLike a lot of kids who grew up in the late 70's/early 80's, I was absolutely enthralled with a picture book called Masquerade. The book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams, could be read as a standard child's fable about the moon falling in love with the sun, but it was designed as a real-world treasure hunt: Follow the subtle clues dropped throughout the book, and you'd discover the location of a very real hand-made jewel, valued at the time at $5,000. My father brought the book home one day as a gift and I was hooked. I was sure I would be able to solve the riddle.

I couldn't, and neither could any of my friends--but it was extraordinary fun trying, and it was a great mental workout. To this day, the complexity of the riddle floors me. Kit Williams created another puzzle book, where the challenge was to discover the book's very title, before returning to his chosen career of painting.

There's a great paperback edition of Masquerade that gives the answer, but I was looking for even more detailed information--a complete breakdown of all the puzzles and the paintings' clues. When I went to look for information on the Kit's books online, I couldn't find much, so I made this site. I don't have all the answers--and I'm not going to offer all the answers I have in some cases, so as not to ruin the fun for newbies--but I will share most of what I know, plus I hope to find answers to some of my own questions. Check out the links below to see what's on the site.

Masquerade,
Page By Page
Untitled
(a.k.a. "The Bee Book")
About Kit Williams
& Photo Gallery
Frequently
Asked Questions
Links & Other
Treasure Hunts

This site was created on October 27, 1998 and redesigned December 28, 2000.
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