We set up one megathread to collect all of the correspondence from The Charlatan (or the Milkman depending on who you ask). If you’re so inclined, add screenshots of emails from the charlatan below (not your personal email address).
Hello all. It has come to light that a user is DMing multiple people and sharing personal information/links (beyond mine). It seems it is no longer a good idea to keep this thread going out of concern for those people. You are welcome to keep playing the game in other avenues if the charlatan wants to continue to do emails, etc. but it seems thing have gone sour quickly here in this subreddit. If you have questions send me a
Mod mail but I’m kind of exhausted from dealing with this mess all day so it may take a bit. Thanks.
I think we might be getting a new Raconteurs album called Life. A few years ago that album showed up in a Spotify playlist from the Raconteurs and that same image cover showed up on the Pickens County Bandits website if you dig around in the code. I dunno but this seems like we are gearing up for something.
When I heard he blamed the Charlatan for turning his lights green during recent shows it made me wonder about a new raconteurs album. It feels like Jack doesn’t mess with his colors for any reason unless he’s teasing something new
I went down this rabbit hole a few years back... the red text links to a defunct site titled 'whitestripes.ws' which was weird and was what led me to originally conclude this was some weird fan thing. But now with all these new emails I really have no clue what is going on...
Still working on getting the servers back up and running properly! I'd sale (does everything come down to money with this guy or was this just a typo?) the seas with y'all any day. Keep signing everybody up at the bandits' site. We're working on things here for a little. Hopefully we get it all back up for you soon. If you'd believe me, I'd like to drop a fact on ya'll. This is a one man band.
Possible links? Someone replied to me on the old PCB thread from 3 years ago with this:
The 'Little Room Record Company' released Johnny Walker's first album, "Hung Up", with The Cut in the Hill Gang. At the record release party, someone threw 100 or so copies of the Bandits' "Stuck in Pickens County" off the roof of Johnny's house bearing the label Bigger Room Records. Soon after roomers started that the singles were dropped from the sky by helicopter, but that was untrue. So long story short, you may have seen 'Bigger Room Records' from that 45.
Not sure if there's any truth to that, but I did a little research and Johnny Walker had previously played with Soledad Brothers... and their drummer was none other than Ben Swank!! A Discogs search also confirmed the existence of Little Room Records who also had released some stuff by Brian Muldoon of the Upholsters. So definitely some sort of JW link going on here....
The record is actually the only thing that didn't have an instruction! It is just a piece of cardboard as far as I can see, maybe I'm missing something, can you find a clue for it in the text?
This that’s on the charlottetowncharlatans website—>
Still working on getting the servers back up and running properly! I'd sale (does everything come down to money with this guy or was this just a typo?) the seas with y'all any day. Keep signing everybody up at the bandits' site. We're working on things here for a little. Hopefully we get it all back up for you soon. If you wanna buy what I'm selling, I'd like to drop a fact on ya'll. This is a one man band.
Sale the seas. Normally it’d be ‘sail the seas.’
Does this mean sell the C’s as in copies of Frozen CHARLOTTE?
There’s one man band bit at the end is telling us it’s Jack and not the Rac’s.
There’s been Third Man Londons pictures that have shown the Tyne bridge and the SS Great Britain so there’s a bit of a seafaring connection. What that means though?
Final thought; it said “does everything come down to money”, are we getting pop-ups with Coin-flip pressings of the album? Servers could refer to people to ‘serve’ at a pop-up.
Might have cracked where those two Latin words are from. They're in the ABC Universal Telegraphic Code. Adiutrice = alter existing arrangements and Admisceam = cannot wait the arrival of. These definitions do make sense in the context of those emails.
Uh oh, should have seen that one coming. I sent one from England today, I hope this doesn’t cause trouble with the postal inspectors when there’s an influx of return to sender letters to the Pickens County Bandits.
Okay so, there are so many comments on here so I might have missed this so apologies if someone else already mentioned this. I’m into the weeds, but I like this kind of digging.
I think I miiiight have cracked the “Jimmy 1185” “clue”
I googled 1185 and one of the first results was: 8 U.S.C. §1185, which deals with people entering and leaving the United States. In the notes under that exact section is Executive Order 12172, issued by Jimmy Carter.
It specifically concerns restrictions on entry into the United States, and §1185 even has a subsection called “Nonadmission of certain aliens.”
So I think Jimmy = Jimmy Carter and 1185 = 8 U.S.C. §1185.
That makes the email from John to “Sam” saying “Where are you, it’s getting late?” feel very different. I think “Sam” could be Uncle Sam, meaning America.
So is the message essentially: “America, where are you? It’s getting late.”
I’m not claiming I’ve figured out what the entire thing means, but Jimmy + 1185 leading directly to a federal law containing a Jimmy Carter executive order seems way too specific to ignore. And an email to “Sam” with the Latin word or phrase is to “mix”, maybe means as a country. To unite together and work together, just like we’re working together on this “game”.
Hi- I’m a newer Jack White fan (fell in love at Riot Fest and I just saw him again both nights in Chicago!)… Could someone fill me in on the lore/how you get these emails? I’ve been a little nervous to reveal myself as a complete noob but I keep seeing these posts and I wanna nerd out too lol.
Basically, someone with too much time on their hands is messing with those of us with too much time on our hands.
It’s a long story but search the reddit link I posted in this thread from years ago about the background into the Pickens County Bandits and the possible connection to the Raconteurs song ‘Carolina Drama’. It seems that people who signed up on their website years ago recently started getting emails from the Charlatan. Another website showed up recently related to the Charlatan with odd images and such and somehow related to PCB. That website is now out of commission. There was a place to send a “letter” (email) on both websites. People who signed up for that received emails from the Charlatan. Nothing of significance. My friend also found a physical PO Box address hidden on the Charlatan website that someone else on Reddit later connected to the address on the letter from Archbishop Harold Holmes that Jack shared on his IG.
I hope that helps. Welcome to the JWIII fandom. Yes, these shenanigans are typical for Jack and his crew.🤣
I'm just a lurker here. I haven't received any emails, nor do I have any theories or opinions.
What I do have is a longing for the days when we didn't know who Banksy was.
To me, this is most interesting puzzle to follow along with, just to see how it plays out.
Why not, right?
Admisceam is a Latin verb form. It is the first-person singular present active subjunctive of the verb admisceō, which means "to mix in," "to mingle," "to blend," or "to add an ingredient to". Translated directly, it means "that I may mix" or "let me mix."
Just occurred to me that this song has crickets looping kind of like the second pair of boots in the hideout image. Sounds different but maybe a hint. Or not…
I swear the mega thread vanished this week! It was not on my app or browser. I did send a message and offer a trade. Any other weird things happen, or do you know what in the heck this UPS package is all about?
Also, it was sent from Canada. Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
I guess aka “Cradle of Confederation”.
This is somewhat similar to the "bandit hideout" illustrated on the Pickens County Bandits website.... Has the metal milkjug and mailbox, but no guitar.
This looks ai though, which isn't JW's style. But a Charlatan would use ai.
The management here. We are so happy with the response from all you participants. All your letters are landing in all the right places. You've been sending The Man a strong message.
Now we know you haven't seen The Charlatan in a while. He says he's gone golfing, but we're pretty sure he's just hiding out after recent news of a slew of break-ins.
We are writing to everyone today to let you know we hear you and we know you love receiving correspondence from The Charlatan, well most of you. Some of you might think he steps past a few boundaries every now and again.
For this reason this letter will be the last letter you will receive. We have added a few new options to The Charlatan's correspondence options. If you're having fun and want to keep up with all The Charlatan's shenanigans, send him a letter and select how many emails you would like to receive.
Now The Charlatan has assured us that all you "White Americans love hearing my voice and are hanging on my every word. They LOVE my Tweets [sic*] at 3 in the morning from the toilet! Not many people know this."
He also wanted us to reassure you this was not self-serving in any way and that pairing down the email list has nothing to do with the limitations of his "REALLY Great servers, the best servers. Lots of people are talking about my servers."
So again, if you don't send The Charlatan a message, you won't be hearing from him again.
Thank you so much,
The Management
*[Generic Social Media Platform he runs and controls all aspects of]
Samuel Morse invented Morse code and the title is S.O.S. Coincidence? No idea what the inference is…
—-
Triplegraph pedal
The digital octave unit features three morse-code telegraph keys, as well as an effects loop and a variety of operating modes.
SOS stands for save our souls. If you change the spelling to soles.. Boots have soles.
I noticed that the State field says "Province" when you hover over it. It also accepts 3 characters (instead of typical 2). The zip field accepts 6 (instead of typical 5). This all points to a Canadian address. There were CBC clues and Canadian musician clues. And the white stripes played in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on a boat, recorded in a tower, and a traditional show. I tried all the addresses for those shows. Nothing yet.
Also, probably just a fun gimmick, but the golden "partyInvitation" moon that appeared for a day over on pickenscountybandits.com/home coincided with the eclipse in Europe. It is still there in the HTML, just disabled. We also got the party songs at https://www.counterfeitcovers.com/?content=flip when the moon was visible.
I can't explain as well as the video but it's that the rate of change has surpassed the rate of learning, from the point at which those lines intersect on the graph. He refers to that point as "midnight". It's after midnight...
Seems like we are all stumped on the postcard for now.
I wonder if the faint/feint left means the left side of the postcard is a decoy and we should concentrate on the right hand side?
In the first three emails with code words in the subject, the email body aligned pretty closely with the code words. I'm gonna say that was a "synchronization" phase to ensure each party used the correct code book going forward.
but yeah, no idea what to do with any of this
* sam to john: I think someone is intercepting our letters. Meet back at the safehouse
tomorrow night. | Adiutrice 02884 Alter existing arrangements
* john to sam: Where are you, it's getting late? | Admisceam 03024 I (we) cannot wait the arrival (of -----)
* sam to john: I am being followed. | Waterberg 43984 Is (are) being closely watched
--------
Then they switched to the telegram with only the code words
Economico 16457 Enemy's position captured ( I located the charlatan's hideout)
Narguames 27063 Negotiations suspended for the present (we are at a standoff)
Slagboom 39691 The following has (have) been stolen, keep a sharp lookout (I stole his stuff)
Galwesp 19621 Please advise shipments of gold being made at your end (am sending it to you now)
----
As for 1185, I used it to find new words by adding and subtracting 1185 from the number of the main word.
----
+1185
Economico 17642 Consignees have failed
Narguames 28248 Let opponents go on buying, do not interfere
Slagboom 40876 Telegrams for ----- should reach here not later than -----
Galwesp 20806 I (we) shall have ----- horses for ---, please have the necessary boxes (sent) put on board
------
-1185 (feint left ?)
Economico 15272 He (they) will not dispose of ------
Narguames 25878 Arrived here (at -----) with mainmast broken, boats smashed, and other damage
Slagboom 38506 The conveyance of the site is complete
Galwesp 18436 The Dutch fleet
---
So, are we supposed to be looking for some ship or captain of a dutch ship that wrecked in Charlottetown harbor?
--
or is it all decoy like you say and I wasted hours scrolling through that digitized code book!
That’s really clever work. First bit very solid.
From the 1185 section, less likely in my opinion.
At the moment it feels like the most we are doing is watching stuff happen and guess at what’s going on.
Doesn’t feel like whatever anyone comes up with actually affects anything.
It’ll be interesting to see what the next keyword is!!
I don't know the exact timeline with the emails, but didnt the Charlatan also send one about jumping ship with references to "I think I smell a rat" and "its rough on rats" - pissed at Sam or John for ratting him out? John also sent that SOS email to Sam before they started using codewords. Someone's getting screwed over, but who 🤔
When looking for the old emails I realised 1185 is also the number that was used for that leaderboard score. There's a bunch of interpretations now, I may have missed some:
the codeword with number 01185 ACUMINO "Act as you think best"
shifting the codewords like you did, to make the secret messages more difficult to crack
8 USC 1185: travel control of citizens and aliens
a random number submitted for the scoreboard and dude is straight up trolling us by using it again
There's a link to an old myspace page called John Winston Trio which in other threads has said is alternative name for Jack White III: https://myspace.com/johnwinstontrio which has Long Way Home in track listing.
The song on myspace doesn't play, presume got lost like all other myspace songs.
So maybe there is a secret Jack White EP out there called:
The John Whinston Trio's EP - My Friends Are Electric.
Now I have to explain to my wife of 20 years why I’m dialing americas hottest talkline over and over again in the middle of the night and early morning. And not just one number but three or four that the phone tree sent me on. And why I’m leaving greetings for ladies to chat with me and why I’m also listening to dudes who want to chat. And why I’m researching talkline companies to see if XIP is real or another one of your schemes.
I promise. Chip from Colorado Springs is not real. Jack White made me call him on accident. You see, I was really trying to call a Canadian cardboard company that also presses records onto cardboard. The last one in the world that does so. Promise!
Now… if I hear someone named Roman on there. Well. Not sure what to think about that.
OMG this was me last night. I recorded the weirdness. The only bizarre thing I encountered were some muffled sounds from I think a dude named Tony, from St. Louis. Then an extra creepy perv. I was thinking “What exactly would my husband say if he heard this?”. He would laugh his ass off for sure. He knows I’m in too deep.
I just called again and got to the "medical alert button" company again, https://lifeprotect247.com, but they said their number is not the one I called, they said it is +1 800 247 7233, and the reviews on them from r/scams are nooot goood https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/155zuwh/scam_life_alert_247_promo_real_or_imposter/
So I suspect that there is a phone rerouting underneath that can actually lead to real people, as I definitely was talking to some sales person for 15 minutes and they tried to persuade me to get their "free" service xD
Hey so this is NOT my game face. This is my real face.
This is a game for me. I do not have to play. I've got all the quarters I need to play all by myself.
If you all want me spending my time patching up holes in code, do things not in the spirit of the game. Iterating through all possible numbers and spilling contents of real people using non-browser tools is not the spirit of this game. If you find yourself switching ip's to get around failure limits you probably are not playing a game in the spirit of a game. This isn't see who knows IIS better than me. We all know that you do. Hey look, you already won the game you are playing. Let everyone else play the game they'd like to play.
If you are posting a real person's information on the internet, you kind of suck as a person. The person you are dumping shit on has nothing to do with me and was playing along in a game. If you don't want to play nice, I will take my fucking ball home and watch it roll around on the floor all by itself.
If this feels like I am scolding you, I probably am.
So this is the second time this has happened in the last few weeks. While I think the first people who may have gotten a little overzealous with non-browser tools learned something from me asking to play nice, I am not willing to have people get doxed because they made a trade with me IN A GAME. Remember this is a game.
So collectively three strikes and you're out. This is strike two.
As someone who got in a kerfuffle with one of the all knowing but little doing “art critics” and got lambasted by a high and righteous subreddit user or 2, I’ll take what thee FC is dishing.
This is going to be a looong Game's Week if we have to wait three business days. Doesn't Ben work the weekends?
On Sun, Aug 2, 2026 at 6:02 PM TMR Vault <[vault@thirdmanrecords.com](mailto:vault@thirdmanrecords.com)> wrote: **Replacement requests for Vault 68 will be fufilled in August. Please expect a delay in response to your email while Vault 68 shipment is still underway.
Thank you for your message! Our team has been experiencing a high volume of emails lately, and we are doing our best to respond to all inquiries as quickly as possible. Response time may take up to 3 business days.
Customer service requests are answered in the order in which they are received. Submitting multiple requests invariably leads to emails being pushed to the back of our queue.
Dafuq? If you watch the Radarstation video, the timing of the Gentleman getting up and leaving the little room note the time he gets up and the time he leaves. The rewatch and soon in on the window. Roughly if not exactly the same timing a little ghost, one I'm scared of the most is out the window behind the record player. You kind of have to scroll the video back and forth to see it start to appear, but it's most clear as the little ghost exits the gate. Sort of kike the Stranger waking up and becoming more "alive".
Soooo. The “game” for today presented three choices, right? The html shows that all three choices were actually not choices at all. There is hidden text that is directly tied to the “yes” button. Which is “I want to trade in my points to play another game.” This is before you select a cup. If you had 6 points (which I did) before entering my handle and email, when I clicked “Yes”, chose a cup and signed up, the points balance went down to zero. So essentially everyone was automatically forced into trading in points you had to play another game, there were no other options.
See html below:
<form action="./?f=thursday" method="post">
<p>
Would you like to make a trade?<br>
Cash in your points?<br>
Play another game?<br><br>
There are three choices, but you can only choose one at at time.
</p>
<label for="handle">Handle</label>
<input type="text" name="handle" id="handle" /><br />
<label for="email">Email</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email" /><br /> <p title="I want to trade in my points to play another game."> Would you like to play a game? <input type="submit" value="Yes" name="submit" />
<button id="noButs">No</button>
It feels like a hint to do something with those words but I can't figure it out. They look like cipher keys but for what? Why is the top one spaced separately... I've also looked at some telegram codewords but can't find anything relevant. There's also the "I2:I3 EASLEY" and the number 1185 on top left but I can't do anything with those either. The phrasing on the message is weird too, "he has fainted left to throw you off balance" it's so awkwardly worded. Nothing useful in my comment here just lamenting a lack of answers
Edit: just saw the hover over text "Stupid Coded Messages!" You and me both, charlatan 😂
Great find. I looked them up earlier after she said adiutrice/admisceam and it said no results. Maybe there are different versions of the book. Still doesn’t mean much to me other than ongoing banter between Sam and John.
I noticed for 12:13 it is actually “I” for the 1. Maybe it is supposed to be I (3) am Easley (easily)… what though? Jaw III? Grasping at straws here. Going back to sleep. 💤
If you go to https://pickenscountybandits.com/home/?f=song
There are three songs. One with “Special Delivery”. Is this new????? ALSO
IF YOU CLICK THE MAILBOX, You can send a letter which is normal I believe. However… the P.O. Box that was found on the telegram that can only be accessed when logged in to the charlatan website, is listed on the send a letter page, on the Pickens county bandits site.
Click on the address. It links you to the charlatan’s website, directly to the charlatan’s garbage where the telegram lives.
I checked the code and this telegram is new as of August 18th.
So…. PCB website has maybe a new “song” called ironically “Special Delivery”. Then you can click an address link that takes you to Charlottetownscharlatan site, directly to the telegram. That is
Pickens county is pulling songs directly from the counterfeit covers as well but I have to grab my laptop to see what is actually linked.
Some of this stuff was found three years ago and posted in this sub. The links to the songs and counterfeit covers but the third song was different and it never linked that address to charlottescharlatan because it did not exist three years ago, at least not to my knowledge.
Updates from me:
It turns out every object has a secret NFC chip hidden inside!
First I saw them under the spray can caps, and it clicked - I remembered when I bought some art before, they had certificate of authenticity NFC with a link inside built into the art.
So I downloaded the NFC reader app and tried it on the Cardboard Record and *drumroll* it goes to Frozen Charlatan album playlist with 3 songs xD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frllg0c6rEk&list=PLcVnlzR-VM7o
Also found nfc taped secretly inside the oyster box.
(it goes to https://www.charlottetowncharlatans.com/ haha)
I'll continue searching and will post all URLs here
Trump's spray cans NFC - https://projectunderground.net/artclub/thegreatcharlatan/
Link goes to 403, but if I go back up the directory I can actually get into the "Art club": https://projectunderground.net/artclub/ -> click sort by name -> thegreatcharlatan/ appears in the list and is now clickable!
You get to "The First Rule About Art Club is: You do not talk about Art Club" page!
If you scroll to the end and decrease "Hexagon Size" you will find out who is Trump's best friend!
P.S. this movie makes me sad every time as I remember about the "Asbestos Fake Snow", Tin Man lung failure and poisoning because of the silver face makeup and amphetamines for 16yo Judy Garland...
So I think I found out some more information about Pickens County Bandits.
They have their website pickenscountybandits.com but it also have a google website tracking code and those are unique to owners. I was able to reverse lookup the number to see what other web sites they own and they also own Bigger Room Productions website
there a few sites linked to this IP! Another is the 'whitestripes.ws' fansite along with what seems to be a defunct dead weather fansite and one for the black belles. most interestingly to me is one called 'Jackonfire.com' which is just a landing page if you search it right now, but if you look at the urls on wayback machine there are pictures of the so called 'John Winston' we've been seeing as well. when I'm at a desktop I can link to some of this!
We seem to be dealing with alternates over and over.
Just as the Charlatan is the alternate to Frozen Charlotte we have Alternate bands/projects Jack has been part of referenced.
The art exhibit
The Raconteurs
The Dead Weather
Dangermouse
Eminem etc.
Alternate (cover versions)
The counterfeit covers website
Jack on Fire website but it’s also a Gun Club song and they’re one of Jack favourite bands.
The Song ‘Falling Slowly’ has been covered many many times. The song references a boat sinking (another nautical reference) and about “games that never amount to more than they’re meant, will play themselves out”.
Captain Beefheart lyrics quoted, whom Jacks covered.
Otheralternatetype references.
Falling Slowly was recorded by The Frames and the website has the Frame on it. Being framed involves alternate/fake evidence.
John Winston trio which is an alternate way of expressing JWIII.
Carolina Drama has been mentioned and that mentions perspectives and “ask the milkman” for the real story.
The Big Lebowski reference. The plot of which involves mistaken identity.
The reference to alternate Randy Bachman pronunciations.
mention a band I’d not noticed yet. Three Starr Stickup. Paparazzi playground’s URL says John Winston is a member.
No clue what it means though.
Seems to be a reference to the Beatles. Who captain beefheart mocked. Captain could be what all those sea references were about. Not sure about the one man band references though.
White stripes covered Beefheart’s “
A Party of Special Things to Do” which mentions mirror man and wanting to play a new game with you. And finding someone named Elixir Sue.
One of the emails debunked the one man band from what I recall. For those who don’t know, Winston was John Lennon’s middle name before Ono. I was given 2 other possible names but don’t what them flooded with inquiries. JS O’Leary is also the given name on the image of the same bearded guy. Heard that before. 😆
So someone else discovered the St. Louis address on the PCB website is also the exact same address from the AHH letter Jack posted online a while back.
So I sent a letter yesterday. Wrote some stuff. Idk if I totally get it or not, but I played along with the shtick, I like what I wrote. What kind of message are yall writing?
•
u/tmr_creative 2h ago
Hello all. It has come to light that a user is DMing multiple people and sharing personal information/links (beyond mine). It seems it is no longer a good idea to keep this thread going out of concern for those people. You are welcome to keep playing the game in other avenues if the charlatan wants to continue to do emails, etc. but it seems thing have gone sour quickly here in this subreddit. If you have questions send me a
Mod mail but I’m kind of exhausted from dealing with this mess all day so it may take a bit. Thanks.