The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript

Introduction

Among the most confounding mysteries in the world of ancient literature stands a single,
unassuming book. It’s neither thick nor gold-bound. Its pages are filled with plants,
diagrams, astrological symbols, and naked women bathing in green pools. Most bizarre of
all: it’s written in an entirely unknown language. This is the Voynich Manuscript, a 240-page
codex that has eluded decipherment for over 600 years.

Housed today in Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the Voynich
Manuscript has puzzled scholars, cryptographers, linguists, and even artificial intelligence.
Despite centuries of effort, no one knows what the book says, who wrote it, or why. This
essay explores the manuscript’s history, contents, attempted decipherments, and the
theories—both rational and wild—that attempt to explain it.

Discovery and Physical Description

The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish-American rare book dealer who
purchased it in 1912 from a Jesuit college in Italy. He instantly realized it was unlike anything
he’d ever seen—and not just because of the bizarre script. The vellum (calfskin parchment)
pages contained:

• Unknown botanical drawings—over 100 plant illustrations, none of which match

known species.

• Astronomical and astrological charts—depicting zodiac signs, moons, and complex

patterns.

• Biological imagery—including tubes, vessels, and groups of nude female figures

bathing or interacting with strange plumbing systems.

• Text written in a unique script—dubbed "Voynichese"—composed of around 20–30

unique characters, flowing left to right.

Carbon dating places the parchment to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and ink analysis
confirms it’s from the same period, though the author and origin remain unknown.

The Writing System: Real or Hoax?

Perhaps the most tantalizing feature is the writing. Voynichese is not similar to Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, Arabic, or any known script. Its structure is highly systematic, with repeating words,
letter clusters, and patterns—suggesting a real language, code, or cipher.

Some notable features:

 • Zipf’s law compliance: Like real languages, more frequent words are shorter and
occur more often.

• Consistent word length: Unlike most human languages, it has surprisingly uniform
word lengths.

• Word reuse: Words are often repeated multiple times in succession.

This has led to one of the manuscript’s biggest questions: is it a meaningful document, or
an elaborate hoax?

Attempts at Decipherment

Over the past century, countless people have tried to crack the Voynich code:

1. Cryptographers

During World War II, British and American codebreakers—including some from Bletchley
Park—tried and failed to decipher the manuscript. Later, the NSA examined it with modern
cryptographic techniques. Still no breakthrough.

2. Linguists

Some researchers suggested the text is an unknown natural language, possibly encoded
phonetically or using a constructed script. Others proposed it’s a lost or fabricated language.

3. AI and Machine Learning

In 2019, Canadian researchers used machine learning to compare the manuscript to known
languages. They speculated it might be encoded Hebrew. Google’s AI tried similar methods,
as did IBM researchers—but results remained inconclusive or speculative.

4. Hoax Theories

Skeptics argue it may be meaningless gibberish, possibly created by a medieval scribe to

impress or scam a wealthy patron. If true, it would be one of the most elaborate literary
hoaxes in history.

Major Theories About Its Purpose

Despite the undeciphered text, several theories have emerged about what the manuscript
might represent:

1. An Herbal or Medical Text

Many illustrations resemble herbal remedies, bathing rituals, and bodily functions. Some
believe it could be a guide to women’s health, perhaps encoded to hide sensitive
information in a conservative society.

2. Alchemy or Magic

Given its astrological symbols and mysterious charts, some suggest it’s an alchemical
manual, filled with symbols and recipes meant to be understood only by initiates.

3. Extraterrestrial or Lost Civilization

More speculative theories claim it was written by aliens, or survivors of a lost civilization like
Atlantis. These ideas lack scholarly support but remain popular online.

4. Glossolalia or Channeling

Some believe the manuscript was written in a trance or altered state—a phenomenon
known as glossolalia, or “speaking in tongues.” This theory ties into spiritualism or mystical
inspiration.

Who Wrote the Voynich Manuscript?

No author is listed, and there are no clear references to help identify one. Possible suspects
include:

• Roger Bacon – A 13th-century English philosopher and scientist. Some early scholars
(including Voynich himself) believed Bacon authored it, but carbon dating debunked
this.

• Leonardo da Vinci – Often cited in fringe theories, but the timeline doesn’t match.

• A Renaissance hoaxer – Possibly an alchemist or charlatan creating a "mystical" text

to gain patronage.

• Johannes Marcus Marci – A 17th-century Bohemian scientist who sent the

manuscript to the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher, hoping he could decipher it.

Despite extensive investigation, no solid evidence has tied the manuscript to a specific
author.

Impact on Popular Culture and Academia

The Voynich Manuscript has inspired:

• Books and movies, including novels like The Book of Blood and Shadow and
mentions in Indiana Jones fan theories.
 • Video games and escape rooms, which use Voynichese as a visual puzzle element.

• Art installations that replicate its pages or imagine what the text might mean.

• Academic debates in cryptography, linguistics, and information theory.

It has also become a test case in AI research, used to explore how machines learn structure
and meaning from unknown inputs.

Recent Developments and Controversies

In 2018, British historian Nicholas Gibbs claimed to have cracked the code, arguing that the
text was a form of abbreviated Latin used in medieval medical recipes. However, experts
swiftly debunked the claim, pointing out flawed methodology and cherry-picked
translations.

In 2020, the University of Bristol released (then retracted) a press statement asserting a
definitive solution, which also turned out to be premature. These incidents show how
desperate the academic world is for a breakthrough—and how easily wishful thinking can
cloud rigorous research.

Why the Mystery Endures

So why, after all this time, do we still care?

• Because it’s unsolved: Human minds crave patterns and hate mysteries. The Voynich
challenges both logic and intuition.

• Because it’s beautiful: The manuscript’s illustrations are delicate, dreamlike, and
oddly compelling.

• Because it represents lost knowledge: Even if it’s gibberish, the possibility that it
contains forgotten wisdom keeps us curious.

• Because it challenges what we think we know: If it’s a hoax, it’s a masterwork. If it’s
real, it opens a window into a forgotten world.

Conclusion

The Voynich Manuscript remains one of the world’s most beguiling literary puzzles. Is it a
lost medical treatise, an elaborate medieval prank, or a message in a forgotten tongue?
Despite the best minds and tools of modern science, we still don’t know.

But maybe that’s the point.

In a world increasingly explained and analyzed, the Voynich Manuscript stands as a rare
reminder: some mysteries are worth preserving—not because we’ll solve them, but
because they challenge us to keep looking, keep asking, and keep wondering.

Would you like illustrations or a breakdown of any specific theory in more depth? I can also
turn this into a podcast script or infographic summary.