Open Cases Project Suspended Indefinitely

In light of the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of associate researcher Ethan Grant, the Foundation is suspending the Open Cases project until further notice.

Open Cases Community Cracks Mystery Cipher

The Foundation's Open Cases project has seen its first major success with the deciphering of a mysterious document found among the books of the Scarpelli Family Library.

Director of Antiquities Shannon O'Donnell discovered the one-page document while processing a 1609 edition of Khunrath's Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae. The document, which is inscribed with symbols suggestive of enciphered text, was unfamiliar to Ms. O'Donnell and there was no match in the Foundation's archives. Interested in testing the new project, she decided to make an image of the document available to Research Director Christopher Patel's Open Cases project.

Within days of the image being posted on the Open Cases website members of an independent research group known as the "unCollective" had cracked the cipher and communicated the text of the document back to the Foundation. The deciphered text appears to describe an alchemical or magical process the origin of which remains unknown.

"This is exactly what we had hoped for with this project," commented Mr. Patel at a recent Whitechapel board meeting. "You simply cannot underestimate the insight that groups of smart, creative people working together can bring to the table."

Little is known about the "UnCollective", other than that it is made up primarily of members from the Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG) community. "Honestly, I had never even heard of an ARG prior to several months ago." Mr. Patel noted, "One of our external business partners who is familiar with that industry suggested that we invite some members of the ARG community to our 'Open Cases' site. He thought they might be interested in our concept, even though it is not the type of thing they usually work on. We did, and as you can see from the results the 'unCollective' brought some very unique skills to the equation. Frankly, I'm amazed by these people's abilities."

"Open Cases" Section to be Administered by Ethan Grant

Associate researcher Ethan Grant has been selected to administer the new "Open Cases" section of the Foundation's website. Mr. Grant has shown himself to be a capable and diligent researcher and the board feels he brings just the right mix of skills and interests to effectively manage "Open Cases".

"Open Cases" is the new Foundation project wherein certain leads, artifacts, reports, and rumors will be made available to the general public in the hope of tapping into the collective experience and insight of a mass collaboratory.

Shannon O'Donnell Appointed to Board of Hawthorne Group

We are very pleased to announce that the Foundation's chief archivist and director of antiquities, Ms. Shannon O'Donnell, has been appointed to the board of the prestigious Hawthorne Group. This is a one year appointment during which time Ms. O'Donnell will consult with Hawthorne on their recent acquisistion of the famed "Black Library" of the medieval Scarpelli family.

Ms. O'Donnell will continue full-time in her role as director of antiquities for the Foundation while working with the Hawthorne Group, but will delegate her chief archivist duties for the duration.

The Foundation Welcomes New Associate Researcher

Please join us in welcoming Mr. Ethan Grant as our newest associate researcher. Mr. Grant has recently earned an MA in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University (where he also earned a BA in Comparative Religion and Social Anthropology).

Mr. Grant will be based out of Nashville, TN (USA) and will cover research and investigative projects throughout eastern North America. His Foundation E-mail address is: ethan at whitechapelfoundation dot org

New Domain

We are pleased to announce the completion of the move from WhitechapelFoundation.com to WhitechapelFoundation.org. The '.org' domain makes much more sense in light of nature of our organization and it will be a great deal easier to maintian only one site for both internal and external business. A round of thanks to Calvin and his team for making the change so quickly and on such short notice.

The board is still deciding just how much of the old "News" to carry over from the old site. Since we are turning over several new leaves at the Foundation, and since most of the public information from the old site was rather 'administrative' (to put it mildly), we will likely leave most of the past where it belongs.

Now, we are looking forward to the soon-to-be-posted Open Cases section of the site. This will really be the start of the new direction we are heading with the Foundation. We are very much looking forward to working more closely, and in these exciting new ways, with the paranormal research community along wiht interested members of the general public.