So you’ve been enjoying the awesomeness that is Gravity Falls, but you’ve started to notice some things that are unusual, weird combinations of letters and/or numbers, odd whispers, flashes of strange images. What is going on? What are these hidden messages?

For background, series creator Alex Hirsch loves codes and ciphers and hidden messages. So when he got to create a show, with a strong mystery element, he hid several things in the show for eagle-eyed viewers. Some are just gags or jokes, while others provide hints or teases of things that are/will be revealed later in the series.

One of the first things people notice is that at the end of every single episode, at the end of the end credits, is a cryptogram. Most of them are seemingly random groups of letters, some of them are numbers. These start out easier and get progressively harder as the series goes on. In this post I will show you how to decode them for yourself, using spoiler tags to give more information if you are having difficulty. I won’t actually translate them for you, if you just want to know what they say you can find that information elsewhere.

The trick to deciding them is found in the theme song at the beginning of the episode. At the very end, if you listen carefully, you can hear an odd whispering sound. You won’t be able to quite understand it, because it’s actually recorded backwards. You’ll need to find a way to listen to it in reverse. The phrase changes throughout the series.

Starting with Season 1, Episode 1 “Tourist Trapped”, the message is >!Three letters back!<. What that means is we will be using a >!Ceasar -3!< Cipher. If you need help figuring out what that means, click here: >!With a “Ceasar Cipher”, you shift each letter of the code some number of letters forward or backward in the alphabet. So “Three letters back” means to use a Ceasar Cipher with a shift of -3. At the beginning and end of the alphabet you’ll wrap around. An encoded letter A will become X, B will become Y, C=Z, D=A, E=B, etc.!< This method of encoding messages is one of the most commonly used ones in the show, so if you’re unsure I’d generally try this first.

Starting on S01E07 “Double Dipper”, a new cipher is used. There is hint in the cryptogram for the previous episode, and the reversed whisper changes to >!Switch A with Z!<. This tells us we will now be using an >!Atbash!< Cipher. If you need further help figuring out what that means, click here: >!We will now simply flip the positions of all the letters in the alphabet, so A=Z, B=Y, etc.!<

Beginning with episode S01E14 “Bottomless Pit”, we have our third cipher. This one is a series of numbers instead of letters, and the whispered credits message is >!26 letters!<. The cipher is known as the >!A1Z26!< Cipher. It is decoded this way: >!Simply substitute the appropriate letter of the alphabet corresponding to the number. A is 1, B is 2, etc.!<

The last episode of Season 1, “Gideon Rises”, introduces us to a more complicated cipher. During the end credits we see various pages from the Journal. On one of them, “Possible Hiding Places”, we have a cipher that we decode using our current >!A1Z26!< Cipher. The result tells us to >!REVERSE THE CIPHERS!<. This is what we need to decode the cryptogram at the very end of the credits, along with some other ciphers in the future. If you need help figuring out what to do, click here: >!We will be using all three of the ciphers used so far, in reverse order. First we use A1Z26 to turn the numbers into letters, then we flip them around using Atbash, and then shift them three letters back using our Ceasar Cipher. This method is known as the “Combined” Cipher.!<

So that covers how to decode the cryptograms from Season 1. There is a separate cipher worked throughout the “Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained” shorts that I won’t go into here. Moving to Season 2, we will start having 2 different ciphers for each episode.

The first cipher we will discuss is the “easier” one. At the very end of the episode, after the credits, a journal-esque splash page will appear with a symbol representative of the episode surrounded by a numeric cipher. To decode this, we will use >!the Combined Cipher from “Gideon Rises” - A1Z26, followed by Atbash, followed by Ceasar -3!<.

The much more complicated cipher is the one at the end of the end credits, before the splash page. The backwards whisper at the end of the opening credits tells us how to solve this one: >!Key Vigenère!<. This means we need to use a >!Vigenère!< Cipher. The way to do this is: >!You will need a “keyword” or “keyphrase” to decrypt it. This is basically a very complicated cipher where every letter uses a unique Ceasar cipher based on the corresponding letter of the keyword, repeated as necessary. You can read online how to do this yourself, but I would highly recommend using an online resource that lets you enter the keyword and automatically translate it.!<

In order to decode this cipher, you will need an additional piece of information found in the episode: >!The keyword or phrase. Somewhere in each episode, hidden in the background, you will find a small key symbol with a word/phrase next to it, usually tangentially related to the episode. To see what this looks like, in “Scary-oke”, look carefully at the very beginning of the episode when we see Gideon in his jail cell. Written on the wall next to his head is the key and the word for that episode. Each episode has its own unique keyword hidden somewhere in it, so you’ll have to carefully look in the background and freeze frame to see the word.!<

There are a few other ciphers used when we see in the Journal pages in the show, and also in the physical copy of Journal 3 (and the other physical books as well). But hopefully this post will let you decode the “main” ciphers more or less on your own. Once you know what cipher(s) you are working with, some websites that will help you are:

dCode

The Mystery of Gravity Falls (WARNING: if you want to solve the ciphers yourself, stay on the main page and avoid clicking on the other tabs at the top)

Are there secret codes at the end of the theme song? My 7yrs has discovered this gem of a show (finally something I don’t mind watching with him) and is obsessed with discovering all of the secret codes hidden throughout the series. Too the point that he spent at least 20 minutes trying to pause the intro song just so he can see the cipher at the end. Any good “walkthroughs” or kid friendly YouTube videos that may help this obsession?

I don't know if you know this but,

Have you guys ever noticed the numbers at the end of the credits of the episodes. They are messages. Equate the numbers to corresponding letters, and you get the message!

Like 1 = A and 2 = B, and so on.

Like this at the end of bottomless pit, it says: "Next: "Footbot two: Grunkle's Grevenge""

https://preview.redd.it/3bu4xpklae9a1.png?width=897&format=png&auto=webp&s=e6159ee63b04cc6bf76fa842aa2a9aab5c2cbd05

Been watching gravity falls and found this code and I dechiphered it. Nothing important but fun. " Next up: 'footbot two grunkle's grevenge"

I've just finished deciphering the messages from the trailer and I've noticed I'm not the only insane enough person to do it, so I'd like to know your methods. I'm ESL, so it took me +2h to crack it, but what can I say, I get so absorbed by this kind of stuff. It was fun. Took me back to Gravity Falls times.

I did a lot of guessing. Letter L was the first one I got thanks to the FILL (double L) one (although I was thinking of KILL or WILL). I was getting stuck with the short messages, so I jumped to the long ones. I got E after googling what the most common letter is in english. Then I got the THE at the beginning, the SHALL SUFFER (double F), SHALL WITNESS (double S) and then OF, HE, WHO, BUT, etc. From there I brute forced the rest of the message.

It's a cool way to hype us the puzzle nerds. The Mark of the Hand looks like something very relevant to the plot. We'll see. Until then, you can share your decoding process here, like I did. I'm curious.

I’m newer to the game, so I’m sure someone has decoded these before, BUT GUYS WHAT DO THEY SAY? Is there some kind of key out there?