Cracking the Shakespeare Code (also released as Seven Steps to Mercy) is a 2017 documentary film directed by Jorgen Friberg, with a 2018 DVD release through Synergetic Distribution. The film presents the claims of Norwegian organist Petter Amundsen, who argues that William Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623 contains a steganographic cipher encoding instructions to a treasure cache hidden by the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross. According to Amundsen's reading, the cipher's destination resolves to Oak Island in Nova Scotia.
The film is structured as a journey of inquiry following Amundsen and historian Dr. Robert Crumpton through the principal sites and texts of Amundsen's research. Featured commentators include Shakespeare scholar Sir Stanley Wells, Rosicrucian historian Tobias Churton, and Rick Lagina of The Curse of Oak Island. The Oak Island excavations conducted by Amundsen on the island in 2003, in which he was assisted by Dan Blankenship, are documented within the broader narrative.
The film is the principal documentary treatment of the Bacon-Shakespeare authorship line of Oak Island theory, in which the Money Pit is hypothesised to contain Francis Bacon manuscripts of the Shakespeare canon preserved in mercury. Amundsen has appeared on The Curse of Oak Island television series, and the film is part of the broader documentary record connecting his research to the modern search.
Reception of the film has been divided. Mainstream Shakespeare scholarship rejects the steganographic readings on which Amundsen's argument depends, and the film's claims connecting the Oak Island treasure to the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail draw skeptical reception. The film is included in this Research Archive as the canonical filmed treatment of Amundsen's theory rather than as an endorsement of its conclusions.
What this source documents
Petter Amundsen's claim to have decoded a steganographic cipher in Shakespeare's First Folio leading to Oak Island as the location of buried Bacon-Shakespeare manuscripts; Amundsen's 2003 excavations on Oak Island related to his Tree of Life theory; the assistance provided to Amundsen by Dan Blankenship during those excavations; commentary from Sir Stanley Wells, Tobias Churton, and Rick Lagina; the Bacon-Shakespeare authorship line of Oak Island theory; the connection between Amundsen's research and his appearances on The Curse of Oak Island television series.
Why it matters
The film is the principal documentary treatment of one of the major Oak Island theory lines, the Bacon-Shakespeare authorship hypothesis. For research questions involving the documentary record of Amundsen's work, the on-island excavations he conducted in 2003, or the broader connection between Renaissance steganographic theories and the Oak Island search, the film is the necessary visual reference. Its place in the Oak Island documentary record is independent of the question of whether the theory it presents is correct.
Pages and parts
This source is preserved as 3 linked pages.
