Several days after the arrival of the three letters, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, the 408 cipher was cracked on August 8th 1969 by schoolteacher Donald Gene Harden and Bettye June Harden (née Tischer) of Salinas, California. The Vallejo Police Department received a call at 6:35 pm on 8/8/69 from George Murphy at the San Francisco Chronicle, who informed them that Donald Harden of 54 Chestnut Street had broken the code and sent his worksheets (including the cipher key) to the Chronicle The worksheets were retrieved by police from the Chronicle later that day.
Donald Harden and his wife used homophonic substitution to identify the solution, after spending just over 20 hours on the cipher. Vallejo Detective Sergeant John Lynch was left partially disappointed that the decoded cipher turned out to be the killer's thoughts and ramblings, containing numerous spelling errors (either by design or otherwise), yet it failed to reveal his identity as the killer had promised. Some people believe the 18 unsolved characters at the foot of the cipher could harbor a second code, that may yet reveal a hidden message. However, it's very likely that the Zodiac Killer inadvertently dropped a line from his original draught message when transitioning from the San Francisco Examiner to San Francisco Chronicle, possibly omitting the phrase "lone or stray people" from his original message (shown above right). In other words, there was never an intention by the Zodiac Killer to leave 18 unexplained characters at the foot of the 408 cipher. This concept is featured in The Original 408 Cipher article. The 408 cipher was independently solved by the FBI in Washington, who corroborated the validity of Donald Gene and Bettye June Harden's solution. It has long been believed that the 1924 "The Most Dangerous Game" short story and/or 1932 RKO movie were the primary inspiration for the Zodiac Killer's three July 31st 1969 letters and his 408 cipher, beginning "I like killing people because it is so much fun - it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". Although "The Most Dangerous Game" had importance by being the predecessor that later movies borrowed from - with the film's associate producer, Merian C. Cooper, quoted as saying "man is the most dangerous animal of all" at the time of its release - I will present two more contemporary movies about "hunting" that probably had a bigger contribution in triggering and shaping the early Zodiac Killer correspondence. The Bay Area murderer was likely influenced by both the distant and recent past. The first movie called "Rampage" (1963), about hunting in the dense forest of Malaysia, had all the ingredients for the design of the Zodiac Killer's July 31st 1969 offerings. The movie, starring Robert Mitchum, Jack Hawkins and Elsa Martinelli, features Harry Stanton (played by Mitchum) who prefers to hunt wild game without killing the animals, leading to conflict with the character Otto Abbot (played by Hawkins).
FOR THE FULL STORY OF MERIAN C. COOPER Many Zodiac researchers believe the Zodiac Killer was influenced by the movies, so I wondered whether the Zodiac Killer borrowed the movie title "Rampage" when writing his threats to "kill a dozen people over the weekend", stating "If you do not print this cipher, I will go on a kill rampage Fry night. This will last the whole weekend, I will cruse around killing people who are alone at night untill Sun Night or untill I kill a dozen people".
This on its own seems pretty weak, until you consider the crosshairs over the movie title during the opening credits of the movie, and the wording on the movie poster (and original Warner Brothers press book cover). The Zodiac Killer used the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his decoded 408 cipher, while the movie poster (and press book cover) carried the wording "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all". One could argue that the Zodiac Killer used part of the word "woman" to create "man", and changed "the most dangerous game of all" to "the most dangerous animal of all". The movie poster and press book cover were also headlined by the words "The screen's mightiest excitements go on the rampage", with the Zodiac Killer threatening to "go on a kill rampage" in all three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. The movie poster of "go on the rampage" differing only slightly to the Zodiac Killer's wording, when he wrote "go on a kill rampage". Three words remained the same. Additionally, newspaper advertisements of the movie in 1963 carried the wording "Big, Bold, Bob Mitchum is on a Rampage", missing only the word "kill" that was added by the Zodiac The movie's opening credits, movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover contained "go on the rampage", "the most dangerous game of all" and the "crosshairs", which were all heavily used by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969 (click the images on the right to enlarge). The phrases "go on the rampage" and "the most dangerous game of all" were also featured in the newspapers throughout America in 1963. Here are three examples. The movie revolves around two hunters, an American (Robert Mitchum) and a German (Jack Hawkins) who aim to catch a rare breed of panther in Malaysia. The beautiful girlfriend (Elsa Martinelli) of Otto Abbot joins them on their hunt, which further heightens tensions between the two men when Harry Stanton becomes attracted to her. The Zodiac Killer added the encoded phrase in the 408 cipher: "to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience. It is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl". The "Rampage" movie contained a romantic triangle between the three main characters, which also featured Elsa Martinelli bathing naked in a rocky, mountain stream. Bearing in mind that the movie placed emphasis on the attraction of both men towards the woman (the girlfriend of Otto Abbot), it's no wonder the Zodiac Killer referenced that killing is better than "getting your rocks off with a girl" in his decoded cryptogram. See newspaper clipping. The movie "Rampage" was broadcast on US television on July 20th 1969 (Channel 2), 11 days before the July 31st 1969 letters were mailed by the Zodiac Killer - with the movie advertised in the San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Berkeley Gazette and Santa Cruz Sentinel, to name just a few. The Bay Area murderer wrote in his July 31st 1969 letters that "I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". According to the official Warner Brothers press book, Elsa Martinelli was "female enough to attract a dozen men". Was the word "dozen" in the Zodiac Killer's mind when fashioning his trinity of July letters, bearing in mind the other two aforementioned phrases which strongly mirrored the movie poster. "A dozen men" becoming "a dozen people". If so, we have a 1963 movie that is more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), "a dozen men" (a dozen people), and the "crosshairs", In total, it would mean that the Zodiac Killer took 10 words from three phrases (of 13 words in total). But this wasn't all. The 1963 Rampage movie was based upon a novel first published in 1961 by Alan Caillou, released as a 1963 paperback version with the following wording on the front cover: "A big novel of two white hunters who battle to possess a beautiful woman as they track the jungle for the most dangerous game of all". The rear cover of the 1962 hardbook version read "A killer leopard - and an even more dangerous woman. This is a leopard, Harry. He'll keep close to us just in case he can make a kill. It's the only other animal that kills for the fun of it", followed by "But the leopard - for the sheer enjoyment of killing, just for the pleasure of it. He kills because he likes it. There's only one other animal that does that, Harry. And that's man". The Zodiac Killer began his 408 cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". Many newspaper articles featured large advertisements for the Rampage movie, carrying headline statements such as "They lived, loved and fought by the code of the jungle" [1] and "His code was to snare everything" [2]. Therefore, it is quite ironical that the Zodiac Killer would place key phrases from the Rampage movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book within his code, detailing murder. It should be noted that the original Warner Brothers press book also contained the phrase "They lived and loved by the code of the jungle". Could this possibly have influenced the Zodiac Killer to encipher his message on July 31st 1969? To read the full story (with the second movie) click here The actual cipher itself (shown below) was split into three sections of 136 characters each and mailed to three newspapers on July 31st 1969. The newspapers were the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, all of which decided to publish. The codes were accompanied by details of the Lake Herman Road murders and Blue Rock Springs attack, that were specific to the killer and unknown to the public. The three letters also came with a warning "If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend".
However, some of law enforcement were still skeptical that the letter writer and murderer were one and the same, including Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz, who in two newspaper articles on August 2nd and 3rd asked the author of these letters to provide more details to corroborate his involvement in the murders. The Zodiac Killer duly obliged, when on August 4th 1969 the Debut of Zodiac letter arrived at the San Francisco Examiner declaring the now infamous words of "This is the Zodiac Speaking". View letter here. GREEN: CHARACTERS USED FROM COLUMNS ABOVE.
RED: CHARACTERS NOT USED FROM COLUMNS ABOVE. |
"I like killing people because it is so much fun - it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all - to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience - it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl - the best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and all the (lone or stray people) I have killed will become my slaves - I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife".
The possible missing wording in the 408 cipher plaintext. This concept is featured in The Original 408 Cipher article. Here are four articles examining an alternative to the "missing line" concept, outlined at the beginning of this page.
THE 18 UNSOLVED CHARACTERS [PT1]
THE 18 UNSOLVED CHARACTERS [PT2] THE 18 UNSOLVED CHARACTERS [PT3] THE 18 UNSOLVED CHARACTERS [PT4] On August 11th 1969, a letter was received by Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department under the title of a concerned citizen, containing a brief typewritten message and the key for the 408 cipher. The card read: Dear Sergeant Lynch, I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer. Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures. Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers and it could be mentiond by a slip of the tongue. With best wishes. concerned citizen. For a three part analysis of this correspondence, click here. |