 Dave Oranchak, author of the website Zodiac Killer Ciphers. Click image to enter.
The Dripping Pen card and 340 Cipher, comprising of 63 characters, were mailed by the Zodiac Killer to the San Francisco Chronicle on November 8th 1969. Despite countless attempts to decode the Zodiac cipher over the past 5 decades, nobody has so far been credited with an authentic decryption by authorities. However, being credited with an answer relies on a universal arbiter of any proposed solutions - and no such arbiter exists, other than recognised cryptographic experts, who can only determine the validity of a cryptographic solution.
Their scope doesn't extend to solutions that don't follow this path. The Zodiac Killer would make any such determination an irrelevance in 1970. On the inside of the Dripping Pen card (shown below) it read: This is the Zodiac speaking. I though you would nead a good laugh before you hear the bad news. You won't get the news for a while yet. PS could you print this new cipher in your frunt page? I get aufully lonely when I am ignored, so lonely I could do my Thing !!!!!! Des July Aug Sept Oct = 7  'Dripping Pen' card. Click to enlarge.
The 340 cipher was partially answered by the Zodiac Killer on October 27th 1970 when he mailed the Halloween card to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Halloween card configuration of By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife was found to mimic a Tim Holt comic book from 1952 and discovered by Tahoe27 in 2013. This was the clue to the decipherment of the 340 cipher, to which early clues were given by the Zodiac Killer in his December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969 Fairfield letters. The crossed "sorry no cipher" placed on the Halloween card envelope was the important clue required to finally prove that the 340 cipher was not designed in similar fashion to the 408 cipher, which was ultimately cracked by the Harden's on August 8th 1969. Paradice and Slaves can be found bisecting the 340 cipher both horizontally and vertically in a 17 X 17 formation, leaving just the bottom portion of the cipher unresolved.
The Zodiac Killer not only gave us the design of the 340 cipher in his own words, but also provided us with the answer to the Z32 and Z13 codes in exactly the same fashion. Three communications from July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970 gave us all the answers to his three main unsolved codes using only the words of Zodiac. He gave us the answer to the Mount Diablo code (32 symbol cipher} in the Little List letter on July 26th 1970 when he wrote Radians and 5 inches along the radians (all we had to do was add the number 5 where he placed the arrow and hashtag}. The 13 Hole postcard on October 5th 1970 gave us the answer to the 13 Symbol cipher word for word, in the form of Fk I'm crackproof. The Halloween card on October 27th 1970 gave us the answer to the 340 cipher word for word, in the form of Paradice and Slaves. A solution to the three main ciphers was never required, because all the answers were provided by the Bay Area murderer before the turn of 1971. The Tim Holt comic book was also pivotal to the rudimentary coding in both Fairfield letters. See The Codes Of Zodiac Never Required An External Solve. For those of us who do not believe there is a solution to the 340 cipher using code-breaking computers, we are at an enormous disadvantage. If you are unable to provide a solution or key, akin to the Harden's when they cracked the 408 cipher, how can you ever validate an alternative approach and solution to a "cipher" that doesn't have a conventional answer? Post hoc reasoning is the fallacy where we believe that because one event follows another, the first must have been a cause of the second. In some cases this is true, but other factors may be responsible. Often people will have a favorite suspect for the Zodiac murders and will look at a code or communication with certain expectations on what they want to find within it. Therefore, after many fails, it isn't too surprising that they eventually find what they are looking for using mathematical tricks, subjective reasoning, anagramming and a fair sprinkling of wordplay. The more versatile the communication (such as the 340 cipher and Halloween card), the more 'solutions' will be generated. This is why I wanted to take interpretation out of the argument as much as conceivably possible and present the solutions (although nothing needed solving) to the three unsolved codes, using only the words of the Zodiac Killer through three consecutive communications at the back end of his campaign. The notion of a killer keeping deathly silent on the solutions to his codes for up to 50 years, runs contrary to everything we know about the Bay Area murderer during his brief but deadly reign. That is why he didn't - providing us with all the answers to his codes before he wound down business. 
 340 cipher. Click to enlarge.
Points of interest in the cipher include a similarity to 'Zodiac' on the final line, the two dashes on each side of the 10th line, implying separation, along with two sets of three letter character groupings, firstly on the 5th and 13th lines, and secondly on the 9th and 13th lines. In fact, on the 13th line these three letters are meshed together. The Zodiac accompanies his cipher with a brief message "This is the Zodiac speaking. I though you would nead a good laugh before you hear the bad news. You won't get the news for a while yet. Could you print this new cipher in your frunt page? I get aufully lonely when I am ignored, so lonely I could do my Thing". This was followed by a running total of seven victims, detailed chronologically in months: "Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7". From the beginning of the Zodiac attacks in December (2), they were followed by further attacks in July (1), September (1) and October (1). However, this gives us five victims, possibly six if we we retrospectively include Cheri Josephine Bates, murdered alongside the Riverside City College library on October 30th 1966. However, her murder lay outside the Zodiac Killer umbrella. The August (2) murders he was referring to on the card are without question the double murder of Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong in San Jose on August 3rd 1969. This is detailed below. After the Zodiac's third attack at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, the killer did not send any correspondence bragging about the events that day, leaving some people to question this attack as a Zodiac crime. Other than his admission on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's white 1956 Karmann Ghia, the mention of September on the 'Dripping Pen' card was one of two references that may have been used by Zodiac in admitting his involvement in the Lake Berryessa attack. The author of the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter opened with the words "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt. I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area". The Zodiac Killer on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's white Karmann Ghia clearly attributes both of his first two attacks under the banner of Vallejo, despite the fact David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were murdered in Benicia. In fact, the Zodiac Killer never referenced Benicia in any of his communications, while he mentioned Vallejo several times. If the Zodiac Killer played no part in the Lake Berryessa attack, then his above introduction could have read "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt. I am the same man who did in the people in the Vallejo area". However, he chose to use the "north bay area" for the first time, which incorporates the Napa and Sanoma wine regions. 
Two young girls, Debra Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathy Ann Snoozy (15) were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose in what can only be described as a barrage of knife wounds. These murders were eventually found to be at the hand of Karl Francis Werner, who was also convicted of the Kathy Bilek murder.
On Sunday, April 11th 1971, Kathy Bilek (18) visited Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, having planned to read a paperback book (The Gabriel Hounds) and engage in a spot of bird watching in the seclusion of a remote, wooded portion of the park, near a small stream. Her body was found the next day by her father, Charles, while Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies searched nearby. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back, and 32 times in her chest and stomach. It is highly likely that the Zodiac Killer was claiming the double murder of Furlong and Snoozy in August and thereby taking his victim count to the seven he had added in the 'Dripping Pen' card. The horrific murders of these two young girls featured in a front page newspaper article by the San Francisco Chronicle on August 6th 1969, entitled The 'Frenzy' of San Jose Girls' Slayer. If the Zodiac Killer had read this article and noted the extensive coverage of these murders on the front page, then there is a very real possibility this may have influenced his decision to switch from gun to knife in his third attack. Here is an excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle article: 
The two young girls, found dead Sunday on a sun-parched San Jose hillside, appear to have been victims of a sexual psychopath, whose blood frenzy led him to "overkill."
Dr. John E. Hauser, Santa Clara county's chief medical examiner and coroner, said yesterday that the girls, Deborah Gay Furlong, 14, and Kathy Snoozy, 15, died in a "frenzied flurry of knife-wounds" inflicted so swiftly that neither gave any evidence of having struggled against the attack. Dr. Hauser, so shaken by the brutality of the crime he could scarcely find words, said the Snoozy youngster had 150 wounds on her back, 50 on the front and a "storm" of punctures on her neck. Deborah's body had about 100 wounds on her back and upper front and a dozen on her neck. Dr. Hauser said he was "puzzled" by many aspects of the brutal slaying. He said neither girl had been sexually molested; neither had suffered any wounds below her waist, neither gave evidence of having struggled to escape. Only the Snoozy girl, he said, had one small mark on her hand, suggesting she may have tried vainly to deflect the plunging knife. The coroner said both girls must have died very quickly and he is investigating the possibility they may have been drugged before the stabbing began. Blood and skin samples as well as stomach contents have been sent for further examination to area laboratories, he said. The results should be known in a few days. It is Dr. Hauser's opinion that the multiple puncture wounds were inflicted by one or two small knives, the largest wound the size of a pocket knife with a half-inch blade. "I've never seen a case with this many stab wounds," Dr. Hauser said. "You know, I've been in this profession a long time and sometimes I think I'm rather callous, but when I saw these girls, believe me it was terrifying. "The Nazi sex mutilations during World War II were nothing compared to what was done to these young girls. 
Incidentally, the wording on the Zodiac Dripping Pen card "and I can't do a thing with it" was not written by the Zodiac - it was part of the original card. One and a half months after the Dripping Pen card, the Zodiac Killer included another piece of the murdered taxicab driver's shirt, mailed with the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969. In this letter the Zodiac stated his fear of "losing control again and taking his ninth or possibly tenth victim". Number eight has never been identified, if there was ever one at all.
|
The 408 cipher was decoded fairly quickly by Donald Gene and Bettye June Harden, after three portions of cipher, forming one whole, were mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner just over three months prior to this latest offering.
Zodiac Killer Ciphers, authored by Dave Oranchak, employs various interactive tools so you can investigate the 340 cipher, as well as others. Dan Olson of the FBI Cryptanalyst Unit believes the 340 cipher is split into two halves, just below where the two dash symbols are situated on the 10th line. He is drawn towards the top three lines on the new formation containing 102 characters, regarding this area as most important. His analysis of the cipher can be viewed on Youtube here, starting at 8m 05s. I have reconstructed the cipher into the NEW 340 FORMATION, explained in the video.
Comparison with the Halloween card.
Karl Francis Werner (born 1950) is an American serial killer active in Santa Clara County in Northern California. He was convicted of the murder of three teenage girls during his period of activity from 1969-1971.
|
The one thing we can confidently state about the Zodiac Killer was his propensity to engage with the newspapers when prompted. This was demonstrated throughout his letter-writing campaign, but particularly evident when he responded to Jack E. Stiltz on August 4th 1969 and Chief of Police Martin Lee on November 9th 1969. This was clearly a tactic of the police to engage the Zodiac Killer in communication rather than murder and hopefully ascertain more knowledge of their nemesis through his wording. This was exemplified by Dr. D.C.B. Marsh on October 22nd 1969, when an article entitled Cipher Expert Dares Zodiac to Tell Name was presented to the Zodiac Killer through the San Francisco Examiner, explicitly aimed at prodding his ego. It was hoped that the murderer of five would take up the challenge rather than shy away from the dare or produce something meaningless in response.
Many people have stated that the 408 Cipher was not the hardest cryptogram to solve, despite the fact that many claiming it was an easy cipher could not have cracked it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. What the 408 Cipher told us, whether the Zodiac Killer just read a book or manual on cipher-solving, is that he had enough knowledge to comprehend that a code comprising of 13 characters was incapable of supplying a provable solution without a key. In other words, if you cannot prove the origin and voracity of the key, anything you produce will fail to meet a burden of proof. The composition and structure of the article below was likely designed to play on the narcissistic traits of the Zodiac Killer and encourage him, at least in part, to rise to the challenge. Responding to the dare in the San Francisco Examiner with absolutely nothing but 13 meaningless characters and no answer whatsoever, is a rather pointless exercise - and could be construed as a failure on Zodiac's part.
The newspaper article pressed the Zodiac Killer no less than four times, implying to do so would lead to his capture under the guise of dare, truth and honesty. I sincerely doubt anybody expected the Bay Area murderer to supply us his full name in the code, to which he would later supply the key or answer. Therefore, the question is, how could the Zodiac satisfy the challenge without giving us his forename and surname? The simple answer is, he could supply us his initials without any fear it would jeopardize his freedom. The important quote in the article is "Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture". Dr. D.C.B. Marsh must have known that a Zodiac Killer providing something 'in relation to his name', left the door open to the murderer supplying us his initials. Six months later, the Zodiac Killer opened his April 20th 1970 communication with "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is...."
The Zodiac Killer knew that a code of 13 was unsolvable, which is why he would eventually give us the answer in a later communication in 1970. The prompt was "Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture". The answer was "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". In other words, my initials are FK and you can't solve the last cipher I sent you because I'm crackproof - although I've held my end of the bargain by supplying something in relation to my name. The Zodiac Killer satisfies his ego and the challenge by Dr. D.C.B. Marsh and the San Francisco Examiner. The answer was supplied in the October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' Postcard - but would we recognise it when we saw it?
Many people have stated that the 408 Cipher was not the hardest cryptogram to solve, despite the fact that many claiming it was an easy cipher could not have cracked it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. What the 408 Cipher told us, whether the Zodiac Killer just read a book or manual on cipher-solving, is that he had enough knowledge to comprehend that a code comprising of 13 characters was incapable of supplying a provable solution without a key. In other words, if you cannot prove the origin and voracity of the key, anything you produce will fail to meet a burden of proof. The composition and structure of the article below was likely designed to play on the narcissistic traits of the Zodiac Killer and encourage him, at least in part, to rise to the challenge. Responding to the dare in the San Francisco Examiner with absolutely nothing but 13 meaningless characters and no answer whatsoever, is a rather pointless exercise - and could be construed as a failure on Zodiac's part.
The newspaper article pressed the Zodiac Killer no less than four times, implying to do so would lead to his capture under the guise of dare, truth and honesty. I sincerely doubt anybody expected the Bay Area murderer to supply us his full name in the code, to which he would later supply the key or answer. Therefore, the question is, how could the Zodiac satisfy the challenge without giving us his forename and surname? The simple answer is, he could supply us his initials without any fear it would jeopardize his freedom. The important quote in the article is "Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture". Dr. D.C.B. Marsh must have known that a Zodiac Killer providing something 'in relation to his name', left the door open to the murderer supplying us his initials. Six months later, the Zodiac Killer opened his April 20th 1970 communication with "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is...."
The Zodiac Killer knew that a code of 13 was unsolvable, which is why he would eventually give us the answer in a later communication in 1970. The prompt was "Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture". The answer was "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". In other words, my initials are FK and you can't solve the last cipher I sent you because I'm crackproof - although I've held my end of the bargain by supplying something in relation to my name. The Zodiac Killer satisfies his ego and the challenge by Dr. D.C.B. Marsh and the San Francisco Examiner. The answer was supplied in the October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' Postcard - but would we recognise it when we saw it?
The June 26th 1970 Mount Diablo code and map were no different, except this time the Zodiac Killer supplied us the exact answer to the 32 symbol cipher after only 30 days. The Phillips 66 map contained the Zodiac crosshairs as part of the puzzle, so it wasn't that surprising that the answer came embedded within two crosshairs on the July 26th 1970 'Little List' letter. The first crosshairs with the bold circle supplied the radians, and the second crosshairs with the hashtag and arrow supplied the inches. The only two components required to locate the supposed bomb location.
The end of the Little List Letter read "PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians". The Z32 was the easiest code to crack because the Zodiac Killer just gave us the answer above - the code concerned "Radians and inches along the radians". Why make it any more complicated than it has to be? A code of 29 unique symbols within a total of 32 characters is simply not solvable without a key - and there is insufficient wording on the 13 Hole Postcard, Halloween Card or Los Angeles Letter written in plain English to formulate any such key. The Z32 is even worse than giving us the English alphabet of 26 letters, replacing M with A, W with B and H with C and saying "now solve it". There is no transposition key present in the remaining three communications from October 5th 1970 to March 13th 1971, so if the Zodiac Killer was to be consistent in his inability to resist revealing his deeds, then the only realistic alternative is he gave us all the answers instead.
The end of the Little List Letter read "PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians". The Z32 was the easiest code to crack because the Zodiac Killer just gave us the answer above - the code concerned "Radians and inches along the radians". Why make it any more complicated than it has to be? A code of 29 unique symbols within a total of 32 characters is simply not solvable without a key - and there is insufficient wording on the 13 Hole Postcard, Halloween Card or Los Angeles Letter written in plain English to formulate any such key. The Z32 is even worse than giving us the English alphabet of 26 letters, replacing M with A, W with B and H with C and saying "now solve it". There is no transposition key present in the remaining three communications from October 5th 1970 to March 13th 1971, so if the Zodiac Killer was to be consistent in his inability to resist revealing his deeds, then the only realistic alternative is he gave us all the answers instead.
Not only did the Zodiac Killer give us the answer to the 32 character code on a separate line, he capitalized the first "Radians" to effectively tell us this was the beginning of the solution (he didn't capitalize the second "radians", so why the first). You need look no further than the Paul Stine police report to notice that the hashtag symbol is used in conjunction with a number. Why insert a hashtag - and an arrow pointing to the hashtag - if you are not suggesting something should be inserted here?
The symbol # is most commonly known as the number sign, The symbol is described as the "number" character in an 1853 treatise on bookkeeping, and its double meaning is described in a bookkeeping text from 1880. The instruction manual of the Blickensderfer model 5 typewriter (c. 1896) appears to refer to the symbol as the "number mark". Some early-20th-century U.S. sources refer to it as the "number sign", although this could also refer to the numero sign. A 1917 manual distinguishes between two uses of the sign: "number (written before a figure)"; and "pounds (written after a figure)". Mainstream use in the United States is as follows: when it prefixes a number, it is read as "number", as in "a #2 pencil" (indicating "a number-two pencil"). The one exception is with the # key on a phone, which is always referred to as the "pound key" or "pound". Thus instructions to dial an extension such as #77 are always read as "pound seven seven". Wikipedia.
The Zodiac Killer by use of an arrow pointer underneath the hashtag, was telling us to replace the hashtag with a number value. The Mount Diablo map scale was 6.4 miles to the inch, so it is probably unsurprising that the "Mt Diablo code would concern inches". In this instance, I have placed the number 5 into place, giving us the answer to the code of "Radians and 5 inches along the radians" (which is 32 letters in length). The reason for 5 inches is self explanatory, because 4 or 6 inches from Mount Diablo to San Francisco would fall into the sea on the east and west side. The San Francisco element will be covered shortly. The Zodiac Killer also gave us a second set of crosshairs (shown below).
The symbol # is most commonly known as the number sign, The symbol is described as the "number" character in an 1853 treatise on bookkeeping, and its double meaning is described in a bookkeeping text from 1880. The instruction manual of the Blickensderfer model 5 typewriter (c. 1896) appears to refer to the symbol as the "number mark". Some early-20th-century U.S. sources refer to it as the "number sign", although this could also refer to the numero sign. A 1917 manual distinguishes between two uses of the sign: "number (written before a figure)"; and "pounds (written after a figure)". Mainstream use in the United States is as follows: when it prefixes a number, it is read as "number", as in "a #2 pencil" (indicating "a number-two pencil"). The one exception is with the # key on a phone, which is always referred to as the "pound key" or "pound". Thus instructions to dial an extension such as #77 are always read as "pound seven seven". Wikipedia.
The Zodiac Killer by use of an arrow pointer underneath the hashtag, was telling us to replace the hashtag with a number value. The Mount Diablo map scale was 6.4 miles to the inch, so it is probably unsurprising that the "Mt Diablo code would concern inches". In this instance, I have placed the number 5 into place, giving us the answer to the code of "Radians and 5 inches along the radians" (which is 32 letters in length). The reason for 5 inches is self explanatory, because 4 or 6 inches from Mount Diablo to San Francisco would fall into the sea on the east and west side. The San Francisco element will be covered shortly. The Zodiac Killer also gave us a second set of crosshairs (shown below).
This was the first time the Zodiac Killer had ever placed an accentuated zero within his crosshairs alongside the acronym SFPD. This had to be the second clue to the location of the bomb. The hashtag and arrow signified the value of inches required, so this had to signify the radian value. By some massive stroke of luck (almost beyond belief), the bold, black accentuated circle fell over 246 degrees on a compass rose - which is 4 radians and magnetic north (17 degrees in 1970). Therefore, the target of his bomb must have been 4 radians and magnetic north, and 5 inches along the radians.
All Zodiac's bomb threats were focused towards the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Police Department, so placing this bomb location alongside the acronym SFPD should tell us that the threat was most likely focused toward a police station. By another massive stroke of luck, when we travel 4 radians and 5 inches from Mount Diablo, the target area for the bomb lies right by Ingleside Police Station. Allowing for a degree of flexibility of less than 1%, by the Zodiac Killer rounding off his radians and inches, along with the black circle diameter, no other San Francisco police station comes close. However, we need to find a location where a school bus would be traveling from north to south (with the sun to the east), that has an embankment on the right side (as displayed on the April 20th 1970 bomb diagram), with easy and covert access to that embankment, and within a few hundred feet from Ingleside Police Station. The Zodiac Killer certainly wouldn't have wanted to attract attention by parking on the road itself, but by accessing the incline from a secondary location - likely at the top of the embankment - he could achieve this task in relative anonymity. Fortunately for us, that location sits only 230 feet from Ingleside Police Station. The perfect location for the Zodiac Killer to target a school bus and thumb his nose at the San Francisco Police Department, with covert access to the top of the embankment via the car park of San Francisco City College.
The 32 character code wasn't the complete solution, because the Zodiac Killer explicitly stated "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". The code contained the inches by way of "Radians and 5 inches along the radians", to be coupled with the map which contained the 4 radians and Mag. N (246.2 degrees). A bomb set here would have had maximum impact, striking a school bus as Zodiac had promised, but more importantly, right under the noses of the San Francisco Police Department for acute embarrassment.
All Zodiac's bomb threats were focused towards the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Police Department, so placing this bomb location alongside the acronym SFPD should tell us that the threat was most likely focused toward a police station. By another massive stroke of luck, when we travel 4 radians and 5 inches from Mount Diablo, the target area for the bomb lies right by Ingleside Police Station. Allowing for a degree of flexibility of less than 1%, by the Zodiac Killer rounding off his radians and inches, along with the black circle diameter, no other San Francisco police station comes close. However, we need to find a location where a school bus would be traveling from north to south (with the sun to the east), that has an embankment on the right side (as displayed on the April 20th 1970 bomb diagram), with easy and covert access to that embankment, and within a few hundred feet from Ingleside Police Station. The Zodiac Killer certainly wouldn't have wanted to attract attention by parking on the road itself, but by accessing the incline from a secondary location - likely at the top of the embankment - he could achieve this task in relative anonymity. Fortunately for us, that location sits only 230 feet from Ingleside Police Station. The perfect location for the Zodiac Killer to target a school bus and thumb his nose at the San Francisco Police Department, with covert access to the top of the embankment via the car park of San Francisco City College.
The 32 character code wasn't the complete solution, because the Zodiac Killer explicitly stated "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". The code contained the inches by way of "Radians and 5 inches along the radians", to be coupled with the map which contained the 4 radians and Mag. N (246.2 degrees). A bomb set here would have had maximum impact, striking a school bus as Zodiac had promised, but more importantly, right under the noses of the San Francisco Police Department for acute embarrassment.
In addition to the Fk I'm crackproof clue, the 13 Hole Postcard was punched in the style of a 'Dick Tracy' code with a "red crucifix decoder". What are the chances that if we arrange the 13 holes into the shape of a cross and place them over the midsection of the 340 cipher both horizontally and vertically, they would reveal the wording "paradice" and "slaves"? Then, what are the chances that the Zodiac Killer would write "paradice" and "slaves" in his next communication in a cross formation on the card, accompanied by "sorry no cipher" in a cross formation on the inside of the Halloween Card envelope? - totaling three cross formations - but supposedly, all created for absolutely no reason whatsoever in just two communications. Isn't it more believable they were created for purpose. The Zodiac Killer could easily have written "sorry no cipher" just the once, but deliberately fashioned it this way to tell us that the 340 character cipher was not a cipher after all. It was simply a design of "paradice" and "slaves" as exhibited by the Halloween Card. Throw in a few bigrams, pivots and 'corrected sixth line', and hopefully it will look convincing.
All these clues from the back end of the Little List Letter to the Halloween Card giving us the literal answer to the Z340, Z32 and Z13 in "paradice" and "slaves", "Radians and 5 inches along the radians".and "Fk, I'm crackproof". The following observations will go into a little more detail on the Z13 code.
On January 29th 1970, the Yellow Cab Company put up a thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest of the Zodiac Killer. In addition, the Teamsters Union which represents the Yellow Cab Company were reported in the San Francisco Chronicle to be considering offering a further reward on February 8th 1970 in the case of Paul Stine and Charles Jarman (another taxicab murder victim). The April 20th 1970 letter gave us the code and was immediately followed by "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now". The October 5th 1970 postcard gave us the possible solution of "Fk, I'm crackproof" and was immediately followed by "What is the price tag now". These are the only two communications in which the Zodiac Killer asked the police the price of his capture. These two communications not only had a code and an answer that fitted the code, but both were followed by the exact same question. When the Zodiac Killer was designing his 13 Hole Postcard, it is very likely he had at his disposal a copy of his original April 20th 1970 letter, or the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper cutting below, to which he was now supplying the answer. This may have been the trigger that influenced him to repeat the phrase "how much money you have on my head now" into the very similar "What is the price tag now". The Zodiac Killer, in essence, had inadvertently bound both communications together through phraseology, as well as code and solution.
The Zodiac Killer introduction would now give us his name (albeit his initials) in absence of his full name. It would also read fluently as a sentence, as follows: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". Nobody realistically believed he was going to supply his full name, but this way he satisfies the promise in a restricted format. Two communications mailed nearly six months apart, with a solution that satisfies the code, as well as a satisfactory introduction to the code - and both followed by the same question.
The three 8's (representing Jesus Christ in gematria), along with the number 8 which symbolizes a new beginning, actually begins each element of the phrase Fk I'm crackproof. In addition, when we begin the phrase on the first 8, it fits perfectly around the existing K and M already present in the code and thereby creating a cyclical format, where the code ends and begins with the same letter. The Little List Letter provided the solution to the Button Letter and Mount Diablo code that preceded it. His next communication, the 13 Hole Postcard, provided the solution to the 13 Symbol Cipher before that, and finally the Halloween Card provided the solution to the 340 cipher. Three chronological solves to the three previous ciphers - and the only thing we had to add was the number "5", for which he inserted the hashtag and arrow. Why look for convoluted and excessively complicated solutions to these ciphers, when the Zodiac Killer gave us all the answers literally word for word.
On January 29th 1970, the Yellow Cab Company put up a thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest of the Zodiac Killer. In addition, the Teamsters Union which represents the Yellow Cab Company were reported in the San Francisco Chronicle to be considering offering a further reward on February 8th 1970 in the case of Paul Stine and Charles Jarman (another taxicab murder victim). The April 20th 1970 letter gave us the code and was immediately followed by "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now". The October 5th 1970 postcard gave us the possible solution of "Fk, I'm crackproof" and was immediately followed by "What is the price tag now". These are the only two communications in which the Zodiac Killer asked the police the price of his capture. These two communications not only had a code and an answer that fitted the code, but both were followed by the exact same question. When the Zodiac Killer was designing his 13 Hole Postcard, it is very likely he had at his disposal a copy of his original April 20th 1970 letter, or the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper cutting below, to which he was now supplying the answer. This may have been the trigger that influenced him to repeat the phrase "how much money you have on my head now" into the very similar "What is the price tag now". The Zodiac Killer, in essence, had inadvertently bound both communications together through phraseology, as well as code and solution.
The Zodiac Killer introduction would now give us his name (albeit his initials) in absence of his full name. It would also read fluently as a sentence, as follows: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". Nobody realistically believed he was going to supply his full name, but this way he satisfies the promise in a restricted format. Two communications mailed nearly six months apart, with a solution that satisfies the code, as well as a satisfactory introduction to the code - and both followed by the same question.
The three 8's (representing Jesus Christ in gematria), along with the number 8 which symbolizes a new beginning, actually begins each element of the phrase Fk I'm crackproof. In addition, when we begin the phrase on the first 8, it fits perfectly around the existing K and M already present in the code and thereby creating a cyclical format, where the code ends and begins with the same letter. The Little List Letter provided the solution to the Button Letter and Mount Diablo code that preceded it. His next communication, the 13 Hole Postcard, provided the solution to the 13 Symbol Cipher before that, and finally the Halloween Card provided the solution to the 340 cipher. Three chronological solves to the three previous ciphers - and the only thing we had to add was the number "5", for which he inserted the hashtag and arrow. Why look for convoluted and excessively complicated solutions to these ciphers, when the Zodiac Killer gave us all the answers literally word for word.
This isn't a case of dragging wording from the entire Zodiac collection of cards and letters, but using just the two crosshairs of the Little List Letter, followed by the 13 Hole Postcard and Halloween Card. The bold, black circle and "PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians" to answer the Z32. The 13 holes, red cross, "paradice" and "slaves", and "sorry no cipher" to answer the Z340. And finally, "Fk, I'm crackproof" to give us a shorthanded version of his name, while still retaining his anonymity. Three answers in just three months. The alternative is that the codes are genuine, the designs on the 13 Hole Postcard and Halloween Card are devoid of any purposeful meaning, and the big-headed, braggart called Zodiac, kept his lips 'butoned' for however many years afterwards.
The Zodiac Killer gave us the answers to his six unsolved ciphers by March 13th 1971 without ambiguity, but effectively gave us all the answers by October 27th 1970. The Zodiac gave us the answer to the Mount Diablo code (32 symbol Cipher} in the Little List Letter on July 26th 1970. In fact, he gave us the answer word for word, in the form of Radians and 5 inches along the radians (all we had to do was add the number 5 where he placed the arrow and hashtag}. The 13 Hole Postcard on October 5th 1970 gave us the answer to the 13 Symbol Cipher word for word, in the form of Fk I'm crackproof. The Halloween Card on October 27th 1970 gave us the answer to the 340 Cipher word for word, in the form of Paradice and Slaves. No mathematics was required and no manipulation was needed - all we had to do was use the three phrases that Zodiac provided us with in three consecutive communications, to answer the three previously unsolved ciphers. But that wasn't all. The Zodiac gave us the answer to both the Fairfield Letter codes of December 7th and 16th of 1969, again word for word using the Halloween Card. The 18 unsolved characters in the 408 cipher he again gave us the solution word for word, using the trinity of communications on July 31st 1969 and following letter on August 4th 1969, when he revealed his pseudonym to the world. However, there is even more.
The Zodiac Killer's 408 Cipher was effectively a written message that he enciphered into characters. When you take a look at the decoded message, it isn't structured and organized - because one line or row bleeds into the following. The Zodiac Killer didn't contain his words within the confines of one row. For example, when he opened the cipher with "I like killing people", the letter E is positioned at the beginning of the second row. This randomness is not displayed in the answers to his remaining six unsolved portions of code. The answer to the 18 unsolved characters, the 340 Cipher, the two Fairfield letters, the 13 Symbol Cipher and the 32 Symbol Cipher are all organized and deliberately structured, where every single solution and word is contained within each line - and do not leak from one row to another. Let us take a look at the 13 Symbol Cipher that exhibits symmetry within its design.
The Zodiac Killer's 408 Cipher was effectively a written message that he enciphered into characters. When you take a look at the decoded message, it isn't structured and organized - because one line or row bleeds into the following. The Zodiac Killer didn't contain his words within the confines of one row. For example, when he opened the cipher with "I like killing people", the letter E is positioned at the beginning of the second row. This randomness is not displayed in the answers to his remaining six unsolved portions of code. The answer to the 18 unsolved characters, the 340 Cipher, the two Fairfield letters, the 13 Symbol Cipher and the 32 Symbol Cipher are all organized and deliberately structured, where every single solution and word is contained within each line - and do not leak from one row to another. Let us take a look at the 13 Symbol Cipher that exhibits symmetry within its design.
When the Zodiac's solution or answer to the 13 Symbol Cipher was inserted into the code above, it showed an organized and structured pattern without a word bleeding from one end of the cipher to the other. The Zodiac Killer gave us the cyclical solution of Fk I'm crackproof on October 5th 1970, and followed this up with the line "This is the Zodiac speaking Like I have allways said, I am crack proof" on March 13th 1971. But in the Los Angeles Letter you will notice he separates "crackproof" to "crack proof", exactly how it is found in the 13 Symbol Cipher. It does not bleed from the end of the cipher to the start.
The first 8 begins FK. The second 8 begins IM. The third 8 begins CRACKPROOF. But CRACK and PROOF are separated, without either word being fragmented. The FK and IM also fit nicely around the existing K and M in the cipher. The cipher solution maintains an organized and symmetrical appearance. The introduction on the April 20th 1970 letter now read "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". He was leading us into the belief these were his initials.
The Paradice and Slaves configuration from the Halloween Card to the 340 Cipher also exhibited form, with Paradice exactly bisecting the columns of the 340 Cipher, and Slaves exactly bisecting the rows of the 340 Cipher in a 17 X 17 pattern. Each word contained within a row or column. The Halloween Card envelope providing us with "sorry no cipher" in a cross formation, not only telling us that the 340 wasn't a standard cipher, but the design of the 340 was to be found in a cross formation.
The 32 Symbol Cipher also adhered to a solution where no word bled from one row to another. The 32 Symbol Cipher contained two rows of 17 and 15 characters - obviously created this way for a purpose. When we discovered that the number 5 was to be inserted into the cipher using the arrow and hashtag, the answer of Radians and 5 inches along the radians again fell perfectly into the 32 Symbol Cipher with no word extending from one line to another. You will notice that when the Zodiac Killer provided us with the answer in the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter, he self-contained the answer on a separate line, with the first Radians beginning with a capital letter. This was the beginning of the code solution.
"PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians" was in fact Radians and 5 inches along the radians. When this is placed into the 32 Symbol Cipher, you will notice that once again it retains separation, with "inches" ending line one, and "along" beginning line two. Each word is contained within the line. This organization and structure flies in the face of the solved portion of the 408 Cipher and implies a deliberate and calculated design. But we need to take it even further.
The 32 Symbol Cipher also adhered to a solution where no word bled from one row to another. The 32 Symbol Cipher contained two rows of 17 and 15 characters - obviously created this way for a purpose. When we discovered that the number 5 was to be inserted into the cipher using the arrow and hashtag, the answer of Radians and 5 inches along the radians again fell perfectly into the 32 Symbol Cipher with no word extending from one line to another. You will notice that when the Zodiac Killer provided us with the answer in the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter, he self-contained the answer on a separate line, with the first Radians beginning with a capital letter. This was the beginning of the code solution.
"PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians" was in fact Radians and 5 inches along the radians. When this is placed into the 32 Symbol Cipher, you will notice that once again it retains separation, with "inches" ending line one, and "along" beginning line two. Each word is contained within the line. This organization and structure flies in the face of the solved portion of the 408 Cipher and implies a deliberate and calculated design. But we need to take it even further.
Explained in greater detail in the article The Answer to the Z38 Code, the structure of the Zodiac 38 character cipher was pointed out. The code below has been structured with different character counts on each line (unlike the 408 and 340 ciphers), but is instead arranged in a formation of 12 characters on line one, 7 characters on line two, 5 characters on line three, 6 characters on line four and 8 characters on line five. This may suggest that the words are contained separately on each line, without running from one line to another. We would expect Slaves and Paradice to be grouped together - and the last two lines satisfy this character count of 6 and 8. We then have three lines remaining of 12, 7 and 5 characters. By Gun satisfies the 5 characters, By Knife satisfies the 7 characters, and By Fire, By Rope satisfies the 12 characters. This forms the basis of the completed 38 character code solution, mimicking the second Fairfield Letter design and the exact wording on the Halloween Card configuration. Furthermore, no word extends from one line to another, exactly as displayed in the above codes.
For anybody believing that the two Fairfield letters mailed on December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969 were just a hoaxer, unrelated to Zodiac, then they have to explain, not only what purpose they served, but how the 38 character code manufactured by a lazy imbecile, incapable of even recreating a credible Zodiac Killer communication, just so happened to design five lines of 12, 7, 5, 6 and 8 characters, which could by sheer accident allow by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun, slaves and paradice to fall nicely onto each line. Ten words, self-contained on each line, which just happened to correlate with the October 27th 1970 Halloween card, ten months in the making. Not to mention, that by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun, slaves and paradice can be found in the "word search" 340 cipher just 29 days prior, in exactly the same design as the Halloween card.
Any doubts that the December 7th 1969 coding was a hint to the solution of the 340 cipher, should have been lessened by the inclusion of many repeating sequences of characters from the November 8th 1969 offering. The above configuration in the 340 cipher will probably be described as accidental by eminent codebreakers. However, if the December 7th 1969 author was just an ignorant charlaton, bereft of the solution to the 340 cipher, who just slapped a quick and meaningless 38 character code together, then it has to be purely by chance once again, that he managed to fortuitously create a code of 38 characters that mimicked the exact character count of by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun, slaves and paradice, present in two other cryptic communications mailed by the Zodiac Killer. Not only was this extremely lucky, but the clown impersonator of Zodiac, would for a futher time, just happen to create another cryptic addition on December 16th 1969 that mimicked the Zodiac designs in the 340 cipher and Halloween card.
Any doubts that the December 7th 1969 coding was a hint to the solution of the 340 cipher, should have been lessened by the inclusion of many repeating sequences of characters from the November 8th 1969 offering. The above configuration in the 340 cipher will probably be described as accidental by eminent codebreakers. However, if the December 7th 1969 author was just an ignorant charlaton, bereft of the solution to the 340 cipher, who just slapped a quick and meaningless 38 character code together, then it has to be purely by chance once again, that he managed to fortuitously create a code of 38 characters that mimicked the exact character count of by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun, slaves and paradice, present in two other cryptic communications mailed by the Zodiac Killer. Not only was this extremely lucky, but the clown impersonator of Zodiac, would for a futher time, just happen to create another cryptic addition on December 16th 1969 that mimicked the Zodiac designs in the 340 cipher and Halloween card.
The Zodiac Killer was rather quite polite on November 8th 1969, when he cordially requested "could you print this new cipher in your frunt page?" However, after 38 days his patience was running thin, aghast at the inability of code breakers to pry open his simplistic cipher. In fact, he was starting to get bloody pissed off with authorities, demanding "you better print" in his December 16th 1969 letter (see right). Underneath his demand was yet another clue to his 340 cipher, and a design that again mimicked the yet to be mailed Halloween card.
The Tim Holt comic book connection unearthed by Tahoe27 (displayed in the Halloween card), not only contained the four phrases of by gun, by knife, by rope and by fire in each quadrant, but they were preceded by the word "death" in the comic itself. Exactly as depicted in the configuration on the right.
There are five characters, followed by four crosshairs placed around a larger crossed circle. This hoaxer was certainly having a bit of luck, creating 38 characters to mimic the Halloween card words of paradice, slaves, by gun, by knife, by rope and by fire, but also mimicking the design - including each mode of murder by the possible 5-letter introduction of "death", found on the wheel of the Tim Holt comic book.
The luck doesn't end there mind. The author of the December 7th 1969 letter wrote the words "I just need help". The phrase "please help me" would appear thrice in the authenticated Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, despite the fact neither of the two Fairfield letters were ever published in the newspapers. Damn, this hoaxer is seemingly getting a lot of things correct, even thirteen days and ten months in advance.
So far (including the Tim Holt comic book unearthed by Tahoe27), every single solution or answer to the ciphers can be achieved using the exact words employed by Zodiac from three consecutive communications spanning July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. [1] Radians and 5 inches along the radians [2] Fk I'm crackproof [3] Paradise and Slaves, and [4] By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves. And none extend or bleed into another line, or from end to beginning in the 13 Symbol Cipher. That is five ciphers down with one to go.
So far (including the Tim Holt comic book unearthed by Tahoe27), every single solution or answer to the ciphers can be achieved using the exact words employed by Zodiac from three consecutive communications spanning July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. [1] Radians and 5 inches along the radians [2] Fk I'm crackproof [3] Paradise and Slaves, and [4] By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves. And none extend or bleed into another line, or from end to beginning in the 13 Symbol Cipher. That is five ciphers down with one to go.
The Zodiac Killer claimed that his 408 Cipher contained his identity or pseudonym. What was important to the Bay Area murderer was the structure exhibited by all the above codes. The characters he used were of no particular significance, because they weren't designed to be solved without future Zodiac input. This input came towards the end of his letter writing campaign, when he supplied us all the answers in just three consecutive communications. He was effectively wrapping up business. There was no way a man with such an inflated ego and inability to resist writing to the newspapers, could keep the secret to his ciphers for upwards of five decades. The answer to the 408 Cipher was given to us in just four days, contained in the trinity of July 31st 1969 letters and the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' Letter. He claimed his identity was in the 408 cipher - and we know his identity was "Zodiac" because he gave us his pseudonym. All we then had to do, was fit Zodiac around the declaration of who he was.
Initially, the Zodiac Killer had intended to leave 12 characters at the base of the 408 Cipher, but his accidental omission of the word "people" when he encoded his message, inadvertently left him with 18 unsolved characters. However, this was of no consequence - it was an easy adjustment. You will notice again, that the unsolved 18 characters are split into an ungainly 1 and 17 configuration. If we are to hold true to single words not bleeding from one line to another, then the single character must stand for I or A. We know that the Zodiac Killer was an egotist, beginning the 408 Cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun". He also began two of the July 31st letters with "I am the killer". So it wouldn't be any great leap of faith to believe that the isolated singular character on line 23 was "I". Coupling the "Zodiac" with "I am the killer" to produce "I am the Zodiac Killer" satisfies his declaration of identity and the 18 characters at the base of the 408 Cipher. We again have used only the words written by the Zodiac Killer - and no word extends from one line to another. The third of code containing his identity was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, which is why he began that introduction with "This is the murderer". He was reserving "I am the Zodiac Killer" for the base of the 408 Cipher.
We now have six unsolved portions of code answered, using only the words written by the Zodiac Killer in a total of four communications. Every single answer was organized and structured to remain within each row, line and column with no manipulation whatsoever. We can wait another 50 years for these codes to be "solved" - or believe they were all answered by October 27th 1970 from the pen of the Zodiac Killer.
Initially, the Zodiac Killer had intended to leave 12 characters at the base of the 408 Cipher, but his accidental omission of the word "people" when he encoded his message, inadvertently left him with 18 unsolved characters. However, this was of no consequence - it was an easy adjustment. You will notice again, that the unsolved 18 characters are split into an ungainly 1 and 17 configuration. If we are to hold true to single words not bleeding from one line to another, then the single character must stand for I or A. We know that the Zodiac Killer was an egotist, beginning the 408 Cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun". He also began two of the July 31st letters with "I am the killer". So it wouldn't be any great leap of faith to believe that the isolated singular character on line 23 was "I". Coupling the "Zodiac" with "I am the killer" to produce "I am the Zodiac Killer" satisfies his declaration of identity and the 18 characters at the base of the 408 Cipher. We again have used only the words written by the Zodiac Killer - and no word extends from one line to another. The third of code containing his identity was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, which is why he began that introduction with "This is the murderer". He was reserving "I am the Zodiac Killer" for the base of the 408 Cipher.
We now have six unsolved portions of code answered, using only the words written by the Zodiac Killer in a total of four communications. Every single answer was organized and structured to remain within each row, line and column with no manipulation whatsoever. We can wait another 50 years for these codes to be "solved" - or believe they were all answered by October 27th 1970 from the pen of the Zodiac Killer.
