The article on the Rosicrucians reminded me of a question I have had for some time.
My son likes secret codes. I found a book on them and a very popular secret is the Rosicrucian and the “modified” Rosicrucian. (The code on the cover is an example of the “modified” Rosicrucian.)
Does anyone know the connection between this code/kid’s game and the Rosicrucians?
I can find several spots on the web relating the pigpen cipher to the Freemasons, but I don’t know how authentic the connection is.
I always thought that code was invented during the American Civil War, but now I can’t think of where I heard so.
RR
Sorry, I haven’t got to much time right now to launch the investigation… did you just search for pigpen cipher…? had you heard of it referred to that way before…?
I’ll get a chance this weekend to do some digging and some links would help… I’ll take them with a grain of salt.
tr… mrmr…mm…mmtr…bltm.!
Offhand, I think what I searched for was <tic-tac-toe cipher>, but I’ve certainly seen it called the “pigpen cipher” before.
In Simon Singh’s excellent The Code Book, he attributes the Pigpen Cipher to the Freemasons, and says it dates to the 1700s.
Unfortunately I can’t find where he provides any reference, but his book is generally so good (or at least it seems so to me), that I was convinced. 
YMMV of course.
If he’s saying that it was invented by the Freemasons in the 1700s (as opposed to merely being used by them), then he’s wrong - it had been published by Agrippa as early as 1533.
You’re correct, I didn’t read carefully enough.
Singh only says “…the pigpen cipher was used by Freemasons in the 1700s to keep their records private…” (emphasis mine). So my citing that in a discussion about where the cipher originated was kind of silly. Sorry about that!
But it is a great book, so any chance to expose it to the public has to be of some use. 