# Whats the Real Deal with the Publious Enigma? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924 "2002-08-28T11:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BlahMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BlahMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlahMan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/1 "2002-08-28T11:31:00Z")
Yo, A very long time ago back in the Dark Ages there was a technology called ‘NewsGroups’. On one of these newsgroups (alt.fan.pinkfloyd I think) Someone named Publious showed up and claimed that all of Pink Floyd’s albums, especially ‘Division Bell’ fit together in some way. Publious appeared to be legit because during one of PFs concerts they had rows of lights that turned on and spelled things as well as making geometric shapes, and supposeably flashed ‘Publious’ and ‘Enigma’ several times during the concert. Ive seen the pic, but pics can be faked. Also there was supposably a PF album only released in England and only on MiniDisk that had that on the covers. This part of it really sounds like an Urban Legend. As quickly as Publious came, he disappeared. Some other ‘proof’: The songs in most of PF’s albums run together ie the end of one transitions into the begining of the next one. In ‘The Division Bell’ it does not, but if you listen carefully its very obvious that they do, but the songs are out of order on the disk, and if you rearange the order of the songs, the transitions are all there (for the most part at least…) The booklet that comes with the CD for TDB has very many weird things. Every other page (I think, I cant look at it, it was stolen ☹ ) has a picture instead of a page number that sometimes relates somehow to the page number, but sometimes has the wrong number. There are also very weird pictures on most of the pages which sometimes have something to do with the song listed on that page and others doesnt. The pictures for the tape are subtly different from the ones in the CD. If I remember correctly there also words and phrases that are out of place. I heard, but have not confirmed that the songs are loaded with hidden messages, etc. Finally, (once again if I remember correctly) the lyrics for the songs have some very obvious mistakes. The band denied everything about the Enigma, but they’ve also denied other very obvious hidden messages in other albums. Plus someone outside the band could have made the whole ‘riddle’. If I remember correctly and I really doubt I do (I have CRS disease really bad…) the band let their long time photographer do whatever he wanted with the art of that album. So whats the real deal with the Publious Enigma? A record co.s ploy to boost sales (that didnt need boosting). Roger Waters’ revenge on the band? A total Fraud? Or a Legit Riddle? (I dont think its possible that ALL their albums are linked like Publious said, but it is still possible that TDB links to all of them ie you must refer to the other albums from clues in TDB) The websites I used to go to that talked about all this are gone, or had their Domain Name changed. -Blah ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/2 "2002-08-28T12:05:47Z")
Call me cynical, but I am of the opinion that they wouldn’t go to all the trouble of constructing any kind of genuine complex puzzle when it’s just as easy to cultivate an obscure but convincing _illusion_ of one; there are probably all sorts of hidden bits and pieces in there, but I sincerely doubt that they form any kind of coherent whole (except by chance or the efforts of devoted fanatics). ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/3 "2002-08-29T01:09:26Z")
Paul is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/4 "2002-08-29T04:08:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\*Paul is dead. \*\* The funny thing is that it looks like Paul may well wind up being the last man standing. [sub]Ahkkkk! What am I saying!?!?!?![/sub] :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/5 "2002-08-29T06:06:09Z")
This has come up before, so you may like to read [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8451&highlight=publius+enigma). ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/6 "2002-08-29T07:33:49Z")
[Brief history of the Publius Enigma](http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/unt/unt_enigma/unt_enigma.html) ---
**Author:** ![BlahMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BlahMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlahMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/7 "2002-08-30T04:30:47Z")
TY for the links…sorry for reposting something thats already been delt with… -Blah ---
**Author:** ![BlahMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BlahMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlahMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-deal-with-the-publious-enigma/125924/8 "2002-08-30T05:13:21Z")
Yo, Well, I read through the messages of ‘Publious’ as listed on the website: [http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/unt/unt\_enigma/unt\_enigma.html](http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/unt/unt_enigma/unt_enigma.html) I would absolutly love the final soulition they list there, but I am VERY heistant in that aspect… The ‘publious’ posts are very inconsitent, literally and grammatically…what I mean is that most of the posts are not ‘literally’ consistent…They may seem similar, but if you look (‘read’) closley enough, they are very different…think of each post as someone talking…alot of the posts have a very distinct, different ‘dialect’ of the rest, ie a different ‘style’ of ‘talking’ (well…typing) My opinion about the P. Enigma: someone started a contriversy and ran with it…the only ‘enigma’ is in our own minds…‘Mass Hysteria’ added the rest…The Floyd prolly had some small-ish point they were trying to make with the album of TDB, but the contriversy grew soooooo much it blew away the truth… IMHO: ‘The Enigma’ is another case of ‘The Dark Side of the Rainbow’ Ie: Forced ‘Synchronicity’…(for the unenlightened out there, the ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ SEEMS to be VERY synchronus with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ movie…) Its too bad really, I wish my favorite band was as wonderfull as they seem to be… -The Disillusioned BLAH