The Voynich manuscript

The Claim

Someone in medieval times wrote an entire book about alien plants and objects in a language no one can translate.

The Voynich manuscript is a large book with over 240 pages, which appears to be talking about illustrations of strange plants and objects, written in a language or writing system that no one has been able to translate, at all, even a single word.

The pages of the book are made from animal skin and have been carbon dated to be around the 15th century, in the early 1404 to 1438 range. There are 240 pages left in the book, but it does appear to have had some pages torn out, and some of the large illustrations are on fold-out pages.

The original writer is completely unknown, and no one seems to have a reasonable guess either, and since it was only “discovered” in 1912, no one will ever find out. The book is named the Voynich manuscript after the Polish book dealer who was the first person to bring it to light. His name was Wilfrid Voynich, and unfortunately, he brought it off a random person who just happened to walk in that day, making the line untraceable.

So far, no one has had any luck in solving the language or code or whatever it may be, and it has remained at the top of the unsolved list for cryptographers. Not even the professional Allied code breakers of the Second World War, secret services, and countless university professors have had any luck, prompting some to suggest it isn’t a language at all, and nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

The problem with that is the text seems to be consistent with a genuine code or language, and it’s a tremendous amount of effort to go through for a hoax. Simply buying the animal skin parchments and ink in the early 1400s would cost a huge amount, and faking such a large book for nothing seems very unlikely.

One of the most commonly suggested explanations is, of course, aliens. Normally, when mysteries like this pop up, there’s always someone who says aliens, no matter what it is, but this one makes that claim seem a little less bizarre.

The book shows many drawings of what appear to be plants, including text written in places as if to provide a description for them. The machines and objects depict what again appears to be unknown flying crafts and various unusual contraptions that didn’t exist in 1404.

A more rational explanation is that the book is simply a reference book divided into 6 main sections: herbal, astronomical, biological, cosmological, pharmaceutical, and recipes. The only thing is, if this is the case, then why does no one recognise any of the plants in the book? surely so many species of plants with no other records of them couldn’t have all died out since it was written, but then again, who knows?

If you want to have a go at trying to decode it yourself, see what you make of the picture below, and if you do solve it, you’re a damn genius.