How to Read a Baconian Cipher
- 1). Skim the text for clues to cipher. If there is a message in Baconian cipher, the text contains two types of characters interspersed throughout the message. For instance, some letters might be italicized, printed in a different typeface or capitalized. A message which used capital letters as part of a Baconian cipher might read "DEar sTeVE, I HoPe yOu aRe HaPpy."
- 2). Sort the letters of the text into five-letter groups, ignoring punctuation and word gaps. The above message would therefore read "DEars / TeVEI / HoPey / OuaRe / HaPpy."
- 3). Assign the two types of letters the values "A" and "B." The actual letters used in the message are unimportant. The important whether the letters are capitalized or not. Experiment to know which is A and B. However, no standard convention exists, only a rule which should be known to both the sender and recipient. Assuming that capital letters are "A" in the above text and lowercase letters are "B," the message would now read "AABBB / ABAAA / ABABB / ABBAB / ABABB."
- 4). Compare this text to a copy of the Baconian alphabet. A standard Baconian cipher alphabet contains only 24 letters, with I and J being the same character, as well as U and V. Each letter is identified by a five-letter string, with "A" being AAAAA, "B" being AAAAB, and so on, all the way down to "Z," which is BABBB. Comparing the Baconian alphabet to the text above, for example, you would see that AABBB is "H," ABAAA is "I," ABABB is "M," and ABBAB is "O." The sequence ABABB recurs twice, giving the message HIMOM or "Hi, Mom."
- 5). Translate the text into sentences. Because the Baconian cipher does not contain spaces or punctuation, use the best judgment to provide these.
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