The paradoxical nature of the Voynich is part of its allure. It’s so easy to think it’s “just a hoax”, but then you start looking into it and more and more the hoax theory starts to feel unlikely. Then you start to think “maybe it is a language”, but the more you look into that the less sense it makes as a language with all the strange patterns and rules and behaviors that are so unlike known languages.

It’s a very compelling mystery, it doesn’t surprise me that it has consumed so many people and destroyed quite a few careers.