Bruno Borges, a Brazilian student who has mysteriously vanished from his home, left behind numerous encrypted notes. Now a Brazilian newspaper reports on new activities in this case.

It’s a situation I encounter once in while. A blog post I wrote some time ago suddenly becomes extremely popular, and the page views are skyrocketing. Sometimes the reason for this popularity is clear. For instance, whenever one of the two Zodiac Killer movies is shown on TV, my Zodiac articles receive many views. In other cases I don’t know what caused so many people to suddenly read an old article of mine.

 

The Bruno Borges case

This morning I encountered such a situation again. When I looked at the web statistics, I saw that thousands of people had called a blog article I had written two months ago. It is about Brazilian student Bruno Borges, who vanished from his home and left behind encrypted notes. The following picture of him is taken from Facebook.

Bruno-Borges

Bruno Borges, a 24 year old psychology student from Brazil, was working on some “alien project” when he mysteriously vanished in early April. He was known among his friends as an alien enthusiast. The student’s disappearance sparked worldwide interest – with some even believing he was abducted by aliens. A bizarre video of the inside of his bedroom was leaked online. Apparently, Borges had turned his room into a shrine to the extraterrestrial world. He removed all the furniture and put up an expensive statue of Giordano Bruno.

What makes Borges’ vanishing interesting for this blog is the fact that the walls in his room have been found covered with encrypted writing. In addition, Borges left behind 14 encrypted books.

The code Borges used for the major part of his notes is solved. It’s a simple substitution code (i. e., a monoalphabetic substitution cipher, also known as MASC). Check here for details.

However, there are a few text passages encrypted in a different code. To my knowledge they are still unsolved. Here’s the first part:

Borges-Cryptogram-4

Here’s the second part:

Bruno-Borges-Cryptogram-5

If a reader can break this encryption or if a solution is already available somewhere, please let me know.

 

News from Brazil

The vanishing of Bruno Borges happened more than two months ago. So, why is there so much interest in my Borges article from April today?

According to Google News, the Brazilian news portal Globo has published three articles about the Borges case in the last two weeks. Google News shows no other media coverage of this story for this time period. Unfortunately, these articles are written in Portuguese – a language I don’t understand. Using Google translate I tried to figure out what these articles are about. Here’s the result:

  • Article 1 (2017-06-02): A friend of Bruno Borges, who had been questioned by police before, was questioned again.
  • Article 2 (2017-06-07): Police tried to interrogate another friend of Bruno Borges, who was also heard before, but to no avail. The two friends might have stolen something from Borges and made false statements.
  • Article 3 (2017-06-11): This seems to be a summary of the first two articles.

Is there more new information about the Borges case? Why have so many people called up my old Borges post today? Was the Borges case mentioned on TV somewhere yesterday? If somebody knows more, please tell me.


Further reading: How Paolo Bonavoglia solved a 19th century encrypted book

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Kommentare (8)

  1. #1 Merit-Seto
    14. Juni 2017

    Vielleicht rätseln die Leute auf reddit gerade mal wieder oder haben einen Fortschritt gemacht? Bin damals auch über so eine reposter Seite drauf gestoßen.

  2. #2 merzmensch
    15. Juni 2017

    Ich bin in der FB Gruppe der Freunde von Bruno Borges und seiner Fans. Ich versuche rauszufinden, was es da neues gibt.

  3. #3 merzmensch
    15. Juni 2017

    OK, so I asked some people in the Forum about Bruno. He is alive and doing well, even if nobody knows his whereabout. Police found in his friend’s house some of Brunos belongings, and also a contract signed with a small group of friends, talking that they will share profit from his books. All these signs caused police to stop follow the case, not being suspected as kidnapping anymore. But many people aren’t amused, since the whole story seems to be a marketing stunt for his books.

    I love the story thought. It’s like a good novel by Umberto Eco.

  4. #4 merzmensch
    17. Juni 2017

    I’m member of Bruno forum at FB, and one member, who I’m in contact with, said, that Brunos father dropped a message that they will publish the first book by Bruno as ebook. And members of that forum will be the first to achive it. The book is in Portuguese though.

    In this first book Bruno writes about his ways to achieve as many knowledge as possible.

    Here is the whole message of Brunos father, original + translated with google translator.

    ======================
    Ola pessoal do grupo Bruno Borges, eu como pai quero participar a todos vcs que em breve estara nas bancas e em ebook o livro num I para todos . Estamos fazendo por conta própria por achar que é de grande importancia passar o conhecimento dele a todos por um preço mais acessível . Todos que fazem parte do grupo terão acesso em primeira mão . Acredito em menos de um mês teremos em ebook para todos vcs . Tenho certeza que irão entender todo seu projeto nesse primeiro livro, que como pai sou suspeito pra falar..
    Passo agora uma sinopse desse magnifico autor, analisado por nosso consultor Carlos.
    TEORIA DA ABSORÇÃO DE CONHECIMENTOS (TAC) (Bruno Borges)
    O Primeiro livro de Bruno Borges propõe uma metodologia capaz de potencializar a absorção e a criação de conhecimentos. O autor propõe uma série de práticas e mecanismos que podem levar o indivíduo a multiplicar seus conhecimentos.
    A Teoria da Absorção de Conhecimentos (TAC) parte de uma visão dialética clássica, porém, propõe uma metodologia completamente inovadora na forma de explicá-la.
    Dentro das práticas propostas por Bruno Borges está o isolamento, que, segundo o autor, pode potencializar a espiritualidade e os órgãos sensoriais para gerar “insights” produtores de novos conhecimentos.
    Bruno vem testando em si mesmo a sua teoria, demostrando na prática que, com a produção de 14 livros em um curto período de tempo, foi possível potencializar seu cérebro de uma forma não explicada pelos métodos de aprendizagem convencionais.
    Segundo Bruno, a obra é uma ação que gera a reação do isolamento, a paixão é uma emoção que gera a ação de criar, e unidas à fé, geram um estado de espírito capaz de transforma o ser humano e agigantar seu potencial criador

    =====Translation with google translator ============

    Hello people of the group Bruno Borges, I as a father I want to report to you all that soon will be on the stands and on the book in an ebook I for everyone. Are we doing on his own because he thinks is of great importance to pass his knowledge all for a more accessible price. All who are part of the group will have access first hand. I believe in less than a month we will be in ebook to you all. I’m sure you will understand all your project in this first book, which as a parent I’m suspect to talk..
    Step now a synopsis of this magnificent author analyzed by our consultant Carlos.

    Theory of absorption of knowledge (TAC) (Bruno Borges)

    The first book of Bruno Borges proposes a methodology capable of powering the absorption and creation of knowledge. The Author proposes a series of practices and mechanisms that can cause the individual to multiply their knowledge.
    The Theory of absorption of knowledge (TAC) part of a classical dialectic vision, however, offers a completely innovative methodology in way to explain it.
    Inside the practices proposed by Bruno Borges’s isolation, which according to the author, can encourage the spirituality and the sensory organs to generate insights ” producers of new knowledge.
    Bruno has been testing in yourself your theory, in practice, with the production of 14 books in a short period of time, it was possible to supercharge your brain in a way not explained by conventional methods of learning.
    According to Bruno, the work is an action that creates the reaction of isolation, passion is an emotion that creates the action of United and create, to faith, create a state of mind able to transform humans substance and its potential creator

    ======================
    The message can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/263107910816676/permalink/302280910232709/, but you have to be member in order to read it.

  5. #5 luna
    18. Juni 2017

    ist schon jemanden aufgefallenwie das erste bild angeordnet ist?
    fällt schnell auf das jeder buchstabe seinen platz hat. ich bezweifle das er zu faul war die bleistoftmakierungen zu entfernen.
    viel mehr glaube ich man braucht eine art schablone die man darüber legt.
    darauf verweisen auch die 2 schwarzen punkte die als anlegemakierung dienen könnten.
    könnte sein das es sich bei der schablone um den schlüssel handelt und das alphabet nur eine ablenkung ist.

  6. #6 luna
    18. Juni 2017

    und hier ist besagter defango, der behauptet er hätte sogar mit bruno telefoniert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfNwbAIbJ0M

  7. #7 fastgast
    bonn
    6. August 2017

    @ klausi is the second picture from bruno borges case? it seems familiar to me….

  8. #8 luna
    berlin
    26. August 2017

    bruno borges ist wieder da!
    am 11.08 tauchte er vor der wohnung seiner eltern auf und wurde von einer sicherheitskamera gefilmt.
    er gab einer portogisischen zeitung ein interview:
    https://g1.globo.com/ac/acre/noticia/bruno-borges-diz-que-arriscou-a-vida-e-integridade-para-despertar-sociedade-adoecida.ghtml

    aus dem bericht geht auch hervor das die polizei bei einem studienfreund verträge fand, die ihn an den verkäufen der bücher begünstigen.
    außerdem fand man bei dem studienfreund auch möbel aus seinem zimmer. bruno hatte also hilfe und das ganze war von vornherein als marketingstrategie geplant…