CO CO - Garfield Co., WhtMale Skeletal 789UMCO, 35-65, in tent, Sep'04

I wanted to note that our guy is well spoken and educated. I've seen in a few different sites that he's accused of misspelling "memorial" as "memo-real" but he actually writes "much real" and not mem-oreal. The next word is also understandably thought to be "cremation" but it's actually "ceremony".

My wife said "Ceremony doesn't have an "A" in it and this word does. That "A" is actually a part of an "m" and of course the "Y" on the end means it can't be cremation.

 

You beat me to it! As soon as I saw that the letters and possible dollar amount were written on each page, I immediately thought of legal documents which are often initialed on each page, just to show acknowledgement and consent.

I know nothing about this area, but how feasible would it be to look through contemporary census records for someone with initials ANY or ANG?

I just wanted to commend you for all your work on this letter. Looking at the side-by-side pictures, it was like the text was coming alive, making our John Doe that much more human. Not wanting "services or much real ceremony... if I don't get saved" along with what @ericavon read upthread about the "bronze star on the .wall. . would you call her.and have it sent.to you because I .would . . want it to be . where ever. . . my ashe s are going" is just so heartbreaking to read.

 

Another thought: what about using the 1999 White Pages of nearby towns in order to look for any man with the initials A. N. Y. or A. N. G.? I've been trying to look online, but whitepages.com seems to have only modern records. I don't know where to look for historical editions. According to Wikipedia, Meeker, CO had about 2,098 people in 1990, and 2,242 in 2000, and I can't imagine many of those listed would have those initials.

Ever since the claim above that his tattoo is of a sleepy cat, and that there's an area nearby called Sleepy Cat, I can't help but think that this man was an area loner. Not a total loner, of course, since he obviously knew at least one other person, Lib. But maybe he just lived in the community because it was near his favorite hiking spot, and he didn't really socialize so that's why no one matching his description has reported him missing.

I suppose he could've come from elsewhere. How much out-of-state or even out-of-country traffic does that area have? But the letter reads so informally, almost as if he expected its recipient could be easily traceable by anyone who found it. If I were in a foreign country in that situation, I'd probably start by writing my name and where I'm from.

Then again, he could also have been writing to a companion who perished while trying to get help for him. Ugh, it's like there are so many clues and yet no way of putting them together!

 

Does this look like “Brian” to anyone?

Not sure why the letters I added got so blended in.

 

Lately I've been leaning towards the idea that "AN G,Y, K" is the number 17. The A is actually a number 1 with a European crossed # 7 next to it. The part after that looks like it could be the only cursive writing on the pages such as 17 Nov and then a signature. Anybody else see that at all? Its important because putting the number before the month is the way a foreigner/European would put a date and of course the crossed 7 would be European.

 

I can see that - something like "17 Dec '9x". I'm American but started crossing my 7s and Zs when I got into more advanced mathematics and couldn't tell them apart from 1s and 2s. The date would definitely point away from an American though, like you said. Interesting!

 

According to this Wikipedia article:

"Official EU documents still tend to use DD.MM.YYYY...

The traditional all-numeric form of writing Gregorian dates in German is... day.month.year order, using a dot on the line (period or full stop) as the separator (e.g., “31.12.1991” or “15.4.74”). Years could be written with two or four digits; the century was sometimes seen being replaced by an apostrophe: “31.12.’91."

But in Australia:

"Australians typically write the date with the day leading, as in the United Kingdom and New Zealand:

• 19 April 2019
• 2019-04-19 or 19/04/2019"

In the sample, I don't see slashes or dots, but I think dots would fade more easily in the elements than a slash, so I can see it lean more towards the European/German method.

Even more so because of what comes after the "17." At first, I thought it was a hastily written "Nov" or even "Dec". However, it just doesn't look like space for three letters, but it is enough space for a month-number, as in the EU/German method. And what we used to think was a "Y" now looks like a "9" to me, so I think it fits.

I admit though that in the pic where you circled the bottom of each page, the middle figure does look like an "N". I just haven't seen anyone write the date like "17 N 9x".

As for "CARSON," I can sorta see that, and the letters definitely fit the space. But to me, it looks like a "J" follows the "A".

 

17 N Grand Canyon...? I know that makes no sense. It does look like a 17 to me. In certain lines of work, you write dates that way even in the US (dd Mon yy). For instance, today would be 19 Apr 19 or 19 Apr 2019, or even 19-Apr-19. I do this in my job, especially on documents - and on controlled documents it is required. MOO.

ETA: clarified way of writing dates

 

Okay, so there is a 17 North 9th Street in Cañon City, CO. Could it therefore read:

"17 N[orth] 9[th Street] CANYON $25,000"

("Canyon" could be misspelled to reflect the local pronunciation, based on Spanish.)
ETA: According to Wikipedia, the city is indeed pronounced "canyon."

Google Maps says that 17 North 9th Street, Cañon City, CO is about 6.5 hours from Sleepy Cat Peak.

 

Yes, that sounds good! I like that character being a 9 - definitely possible as it's an odd looking g otherwise.

 

Actually, looking at the pic from @papijoe2002 again, the possible "17" on the bottom left-hand side of the page looks exactly like the character(s) that papijoe thinks is an "A" in the middle, lighter section that's thought to say "as I thought." There's even a similar space followed by a similar smaller letter. Anyone else see that? Attaching the picture for reference. All MOO, of course.

 

Yeah I see that too... ugh, I feel like it could go either way: either "AN" or "17 N."

But I'm convinced the third character is a "9". The top part is too rounded to be a "Y", especially when compared to his Y in "MY", "MAY", or "JOURNEY" above. And the bottom looks too straight to be a lowercase "g". And besides, he doesn't even use lowercase letters anyway.

And now to top it off, the part that could read "$25,000" on the right, I'm seeing the last two characters as "RD", like the abbreviation for "road."

An address at the bottom of each page makes sense to me. What else might we write at the bottom of each page of what we know is a good-bye and last will and testament?

 

fwiw, i tried searching utah and colorado unclaimed property websites for common A names with last names that start with G or Y. Was hoping someone might have a lot of unclaimed funds with an N middle name. No luck with my attempt #longshot

 

Some documents (American military) often use that sequence in writing out the date on forms, and then someone mentioned something about a bronze star?

 

Trying to think about what might have been going through his mind concerning the state of decomp in which he might be found and how he might prove his identity. Possibilities: Drivers License "number" (my state uses a combination - 3 letters followed by 4 numbers), social security number, city or location of birth, bank account #, military rec #, address, license plate, airplane/glider identifying number....

 

I see it.

 

These are really good suggestions and exactly the kind of thinking we need!

I think address and vehicle license plates are more likely than State ID or License or SS#, since I doubt most people have their State or License IDs memorized, and US SS#s are all numbers. And maybe not bank account # in case some random person found it. Then again, he could've been desperate and wanted to cover his bases.

The city or location of birth makes sense to me, though. I found "ANGORA", a city in Colorado only 2 hours away from Sleepy Cat, right on Highway 64.

I also found a community called "ANGORA CANYON" in Boise, Idaho. It's 11 hours away by car, admittedly far. But the distance could account for why no one has reported this man missing in Colorado. The final leg of the drive also uses Highway 64.

ETA: The "9" could be a "G" since I notice he uses a lowercase "g" (sized as a capital letter, though) when he writes "gET" and "STINgY."

 

Wow you guys are doing great work here!

The bronze star thing is intriguing. Military connection? Vietnam vet?

 

It could be his military ID #. They didn't begin using the soc until after Vietnam.