Pink Floyd: The Publius Engima Riddle from the group's 1994 Division Bell Album

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#pinkfloyd #davidgilmour #publiusenigma

I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

It wasn’t too long ago that people on the internet had built a community that revolved around an anonymous person who was posting cryptic messages on an online forum. They’d spend hours debating clues and predicting what what would happen in the future. No, I’m not talking about something you’ve probably seen in the news the past few years or watched on HBO.. I’m talking about something that dated back to 1994 and was used to promote Pink Floyd’s new album at the time Division Bell. That’s what were going to discuss in today’s video.
Pink Floyd would release their 14th album Division bell in March of 1994. It would be the second album from the group not to feature founding member Roger Waters. Several months after the album’s release in June of 1994 an anonymous online poster named Publius started posting cryptic messages on the website alt.music.pink-floyd hinting that the band’s new album contained a hidden message. The idea that the band would hide messages in their songs or albums seemed plausible. On 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon, the band had conversations hidden in the album and on 1979’s the Wall on the track Empty Spaces there is a backwards message with ex-member Roger Waters saying “You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the Funny Farm, Chalfont.” If you examine the booklet of Pink Floyd's 1987 album, "A Momentary Lapse of Reason," on minidisk on the sixth page, in the corner of a picture of a man on a cliff, you'll find the word "enigma" in small white capital letters. Eight pages later, in the corner of a picture of a man in a wheat field, you'll find the word "Publius."

Publius first message would read “You have heard the message Pink Floyd has delivered, but have you listened?” The anonymous poster recommended that members of the online community work together to solve the riddle going on to say “I will not solve the enigma for you. A unique prize has been secreted, Lyrics, artwork and music will take you there. Adding "there was a puzzle with "a central purpose and a designed solution. For those of you willing to think through this perplexing and intricate problem, a singular prize awaits."
Publius would post messages on and off for two years until the forum closed down. Throughout those two years Publius would drop more clues and offer words of encouragement as Pink Floyd fans would share their theories as to what the answer to the riddle was. There were of course those who questioned whether there even was a hidden message on the album or if the anonymous poster was even associated with the band or label. In one post Publius told fans to keep an eye on a Pink Floyd gig that was set to happen at Giants Stadium in New Jersey on July 18, 1994. It was during that performance as the band played the song “keep talking” that the words Enigma and Publius were shown on the jumbotron. That night the band also performed Dark Side of the Moon from start to finish, leading some on the forum to think that the anonymous poster was legit. In November of the same year during a pay-per-view concert, the word "enigma" appeared again, projected in large letters behind the band.

The Chicago Tribune and the New York Times would both cover the story and interview a technician from the University of Iowa named Mark Brown, who estimated that he had spent 40 hours a week working on the riddle.

The new york times published a piece in 1995 discussing the piece and interviewed the members of Pink Floyd. The times would claim they received a letter from a group of treasure hunters who called themselves the Publius Concern claiming and i quote "hundreds of people have begun exchanging ideas and looking further into the puzzle

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