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Pigpen Cipher
The Pigpen Cipher is another example of a substitution cipher, but rather than replacing each letter with another letter, the letters are replaced by symbols. The cipher has an interesting history: although its true origins are unknown, it has been used by many groups. Most notoriously, it was the cipher of choice for use by the Freemasons, a secret society in the 18th Century. In fact, they used it so much, that it is often referred to as the Freemasons Cipher. However, it was not exclusively used by them, with Union prisoners in Confederate camps using it to communicate in the American Civil War.
Encryption The encryption process is fairly straightforward, replacing each occurence of a letter with the designated symbol. The symbols are assigned to the letters using the key shown below, where the letter shown is replaced by the part of the image in which it is located.
Decryption The decryption process is just the reverse of the encryption process. Using the same key (the grid above), you locate the image depicted in the ciphertext, and replace it with the letter given by that part of the grid.
Discussion The Pigpen Cipher was used by the Freemasons in many aspects of their lives, and one of the most common still seen today is on gravestones. Below is an image of a gravestone which clearly contains the use of the Pigpen Cipher. There are many possible variation of the Pigpen Cipher (even in the example above, the symbol for "s" is not standard). The most common variants include changing the order from grid, grid, X, X to grid, X, grid, X (as shown below) or even placing the letters alternately into the grids (as used in the game "Assassin's Creed II").
