It is almost impossible to forge a solid connection to the Zodiac Killer from the Riverside communications, despite some interesting parallels, such as the trinity of letters mailed to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Riverside Police and Joseph Bates in 1967 (and the Confession letters), foreshadowing a similar methodology in the Bay Area of northern California, with communications to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner. Both sets of letters possibly containing the letter "Z" and giving us a common thread to "The Most Dangerous Game" and Count Zaroff of yesteryear.
The two Confession letters mailed in 1966 stated "I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game" and "I am stalking your girls now", and offered us a message reminiscent of the flawed character traits of Count Zaroff and Erich Kreiger (A Game of Death, 1945), who were insane, heartless, and psychopathic men with a thirst for stalking and hunting human beings. The question being, were the Confession and Bates letters a precursor to the arrival of Zodiac on July 31st 1969, who boasted that "it was more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". A "game" that was played in Riverside, Benicia and Vallejo - and would continue into the middle half of 1971, with the "Z" of Count Zaroff seemingly never far away.
The Zodiac Killer should have been unaware of the Bates letters in 1969 (and what some believe is a stylized "Z" signature), had he not been the author, so it may be noteworthy to point out the possibility of the 408 cipher being signed with the identity of "Z", present on the ring of Count Zaroff in "The Most Dangerous Game" (1932). The Zodiac Killer used the exact phrase uttered by Merian C. Cooper, the associate producer of the movie, when interviewed just prior to its release, by encoding the the words "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his 408 cipher. So would it really be that unusual if he also encoded the letter "Z", taken from the main protagonist and big game hunter, in a story of unbridled madness?
The two Confession letters mailed in 1966 stated "I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game" and "I am stalking your girls now", and offered us a message reminiscent of the flawed character traits of Count Zaroff and Erich Kreiger (A Game of Death, 1945), who were insane, heartless, and psychopathic men with a thirst for stalking and hunting human beings. The question being, were the Confession and Bates letters a precursor to the arrival of Zodiac on July 31st 1969, who boasted that "it was more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". A "game" that was played in Riverside, Benicia and Vallejo - and would continue into the middle half of 1971, with the "Z" of Count Zaroff seemingly never far away.
The Zodiac Killer should have been unaware of the Bates letters in 1969 (and what some believe is a stylized "Z" signature), had he not been the author, so it may be noteworthy to point out the possibility of the 408 cipher being signed with the identity of "Z", present on the ring of Count Zaroff in "The Most Dangerous Game" (1932). The Zodiac Killer used the exact phrase uttered by Merian C. Cooper, the associate producer of the movie, when interviewed just prior to its release, by encoding the the words "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his 408 cipher. So would it really be that unusual if he also encoded the letter "Z", taken from the main protagonist and big game hunter, in a story of unbridled madness?
COUNT ZAROFF WITH THE LETTER "Z" ON HIS RING
It is fairly clear that the Zodiac Killer made an error when taking his draft 408 message and separating it into three parts, missing out one complete row of seventeen characters when moving between his letters to the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle. The message on rows 17, 18 and 19 all began with the plaintext letter "E", so it is perfectly easy to comprehend how the Zodiac Killer accidentally skipped one row and left himself with 18 unwanted spaces rather than one. This is where I believe he intended to place his identity of "Z", synonymous with the villainous Russian aristocrat, Count Zaroff, who also enjoyed killing people for nothing more than entertainment.
On the left is the message he likely intended to encode, leaving us with "AFTERLIFEE" at the end of his cipher. The Zodiac Killer placed a dotted circle in the 391st position to give us the extra "E" in afterlife, so one could argue this was supposed to originally complete the 408 cipher and be the signature we had to work out. Only when the cipher key was understood, did it become apparent that the initial ciphertext character to represent the letter "E" in his cipher key was "Z". Whether this was the Zodiac's thinking is unclear, but the evidence is fairly compelling that he never intended to leave us a garbled message of 18 characters, that nobody has come close to explaining in over half a century. The massively interpretative quality of 18 jumbled letters should absolutely tell you that no definitive solution could ever be satisfactorily proven to be the correct answer - and as such - was never the intention of the Bay Area murderer, who was certainly no dummy. But the letter "Z" was, without doubt, an identity he would employ in later communications, with one additional key ingredient always present. This would show itself on October 27th 1970, when the Zodiac Killer selected his Halloween card with a specific message.
On the left is the message he likely intended to encode, leaving us with "AFTERLIFEE" at the end of his cipher. The Zodiac Killer placed a dotted circle in the 391st position to give us the extra "E" in afterlife, so one could argue this was supposed to originally complete the 408 cipher and be the signature we had to work out. Only when the cipher key was understood, did it become apparent that the initial ciphertext character to represent the letter "E" in his cipher key was "Z". Whether this was the Zodiac's thinking is unclear, but the evidence is fairly compelling that he never intended to leave us a garbled message of 18 characters, that nobody has come close to explaining in over half a century. The massively interpretative quality of 18 jumbled letters should absolutely tell you that no definitive solution could ever be satisfactorily proven to be the correct answer - and as such - was never the intention of the Bay Area murderer, who was certainly no dummy. But the letter "Z" was, without doubt, an identity he would employ in later communications, with one additional key ingredient always present. This would show itself on October 27th 1970, when the Zodiac Killer selected his Halloween card with a specific message.
The author of the typed Confession letters on November 29th 1966 claimed their insanity would "not stop the game" of murder, with the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969 bragging that killing people was "more fun than killing wild game in the forest", by taking his cues from "The Most Dangerous Game" (1932), where the letter "Z" both down south and up north, may have been the signature. Then came the Halloween card on October 27th 1970, in which the Zodiac Killer addressed Paul Avery and selected a card with the message "But, then why spoil our game", while visibly adding the letter "Z" to a communication for the first time, just 20 days prior to the Paul Avery article on November 16th 1970, informing us of the Bates letters from 1967 with a Z-like signature. Seven months later, another letter and cryptogram of 148 characters would be mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, carrying the message "man is the most prized game", taken straight from the playbook of General Zaroff and "The Most Dangerous Game". This letter was signed with a sun cross, the ciphertext character representing the letter "Z" in the cipher. The Zodiac Killer only utilized the word "game" in three communications, on July 31st 1969, October 27th 1970 and May of 1971, with the letter "Z" plausibly embedded in the coding of two, and clearly present in a third. If the Zodiac Killer authored the communications in Riverside, it's possible he added a fourth - and may very well have been correct when he stated his insanity would "not stop the game", as many investigators had the misfortune to find out.
Richard Connell book, The Most Dangerous Game (1924): "My dear fellow," said the general, "have I not told you I always mean what I say about hunting? This is really an inspiration. I drink to a foeman worthy of my steel--at last." The general raised his glass, but Rainsford sat staring at him. "You'll find this game worth playing," the general said enthusiastically." Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! And the stake is not without value, eh?"
Richard Connell book, The Most Dangerous Game (1924): "My dear fellow," said the general, "have I not told you I always mean what I say about hunting? This is really an inspiration. I drink to a foeman worthy of my steel--at last." The general raised his glass, but Rainsford sat staring at him. "You'll find this game worth playing," the general said enthusiastically." Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! And the stake is not without value, eh?"
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