There's no sarcasm in my post, I assure you. All of the images are real, and this isn't a hoax. The whole endeavor could very well be a red herring for a much more straightforward solution, but there were real images in there, and they told a story.

I hope we find out what the final answer is soon, though. I'm steeling myself to find out that one of my images was close and that I turned down another path too soon. I really hope not, but I'm happy with what I did.