The Dick Tracy Magic Decoder was an integral part of American advertisements in the 1950s, encouraging children to eat their breakfast cereals while also capturing their interest in rudimentary code breaking. This was great for children, but likely a nightmare for parents, who were undoubtedly nagged into buying Post Sugar Crisp, Raisin Bran and Sugar Rice Krinkles to excess. The daily diet of codebreaking a fascination for many children growing up in mid twentieth century, post-war America. Fast forward to October 22nd 1969, when Dr DCB Marsh, president of The American Cryptogram Association, laid down a challenge to Zodiac. In the San Francisco Examiner article, Dr Marsh stated "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in a cipher to established cryptogram experts. "Zodiac" had not done this, Marsh suggested, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name, in cipher code, would lead to his capture. I invite 'Zodiac' to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code-however complicated." Therefore, wouldn't it be just like the Zodiac Killer to send the newspapers the most uncomplicated cipher code he could find, based on a code found in children's cereal boxes. I believe he may just have done exactly that.  

In the picture above, the writing states "This is your Red Decoder. Punch out white holes to decode answers to Red "Crimestopper" messages on the package. Green questions requires a Green Decoder from other Sugar Crisp, Post Raisin Bran, or Sugar Rice Krinkles packages".  

Where have we seen a possible "Red Decoder" and "Punched out white holes" in one of Zodiac's communications before.
The '13 Hole' Postcard was mailed by the Zodiac Killer on October 5th 1970, just shy of the one year anniversary of the 340 cipher. In the postcard the Zodiac Killer provided us with his "red crucifix decoder" and "13 punch-holes" in the fabric of the card. This was his very own Dick Tracy descoder. Seagull, a contributor to the Zodiac Killer Site forum, was on the right path when she stated "If I were to attempt to try something like this, to find a hidden message, I think I would start with using the shape of the crosshair symbol for the template. The problem would be to determine a size and whether or not to round the shape or square it off. Even if you managed to hit on the right size and shape, the message could still be coded. But my totally untrained cipher gut tells me that if the 340 can be solved it's might be something as seemingly simplistic as this". It may very well have been this simplistic, with everybody expecting the Zodiac Killer to make his second cipher much harder, after his first cipher was cracked with relative ease. The Zodiac Killer taking the shape of the "red crucifix decoder" as the template, to be coupled with the 13 punch-holes he added to the October 5th 1970 postcard  All we had to do was arrange the 13 punch-holes in the shape of a crucifix, so when it was placed over the 340 cipher, a message was revealed. The Zodiac Killer did add a second tier of messages in the 340 cipher, to which he revealed in the following Halloween Card on October 27th 1970. Nobody at the time understood the secret message in the '13 Hole' Postcard, which is why he added the second layer just 22 days later.    

The 13 punched holes in the postcard was the initial attempt by the Zodiac Killer to show us that the "crackproof" 340 cipher  was a Dick Tracy style code. Arranged on the template of the "red crucifix", a message would be revealed in the 340 cipher. If this first step was achieved successfully, then the message in the 340 cipher would be obvious. The "Dick Tracy Red Crucifix Decoder" with 13 punch-holes, if placed bisecting the 340 cipher both vertically and horizontally and arranged correctly, would reveal the wording "Paradice" and Slaves" on the 340 cipher. This is shown by the 13 white circles on the diagram below. Whether the red crucifix was intended to be reversed in sinister fashion (keeping the correct proportions relative to Paradice and Slaves on the 340), as hinted by the reversed writing on the '13 Hole' Postcard, is open to conjecture.

Unfortunately, nobody appeared to understand the simplicity of his message, so he added a second crucifix (or cross) just three weeks later, when he mailed the Halloween Card on October 27th 1970. Here, he added a second layer, by giving us the second part of the message in the 340 cipher. The Zodiac Killer placed the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife around the crucifix of Paradice and Slaves, and added the message "sorry no cipher" in the form of a third crucifix (or cross) to the envelope inner. The reason being, the 340 was "no cipher" - it was a simple Dick Tracy punched hole decoder style puzzle. The Halloween Card began with "From Your Secret Pal", so it's no surprise that it contained a secret message also. If you create the 37 punched holes in the style of a Dick Tracy Decoder (shown in the above right image) and place over the 340 cipher, the By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife wording is revealed - and derived from the Halloween Card. The respective 'method of death' remaining in each quadrant of the 340 cipher (9 by 10 and sharing the central column). 

The Zodiac Killer manufactured the Halloween Card to depict thirteen eyes, often suggested as the Eye of Horus. Funerary amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus. The symbol was intended to protect the pharaoh in the "afterlife" and to ward off evil. Ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bows of their vessels to ensure safe sea travel. This would certainly give us Paradice, Slaves and the Afterlife in one neat package.

Osiris, is the Egyptian god of fertility, alcohol, agriculture, the "afterlife", the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. This normally wouldn't be relevant, but for the Dick Tracy Decoder Ring (designed to conceal messages or items) and the Dick Tracy Radio Show sponsored by Quaker Oats, which featured the The Black Pearl of Osiris, given to Dick Tracy to hide in the Decoder Ring. This ring had a specific design on its face, split into four quadrants just like the Paradice and Slaves configuration on the Halloween Card. In the top left quadrant is a Zodiac-like design, bearing some similarity to the crosshairs of Zodiac, along with a moon design in the lower left quadrant. "The Dick Tracy Premium was offered in exchange for five box tops of Quaker Puffed Wheat or Rice and one wonders how many uneaten boxes were dismembered by eager kids before the offer expired". See here at the Dick Tracy Depot. 

The Dick Tracy Decoder and Dick Tracy Ring were both targeted at chidren from the 1930s onwards - and both may have had an influence on the cereal munching Zodiac in his childhood years - the rudimentary coding of which may have spawned the inspiration in his design of both the '13 Hole' Postcard and Halloween Card in the October of 1970. Many people believed the Zodiac Killer, shaken by the ease to which his first cipher was cracked, devilishly formulated a far more impenetrable cipher the second time round. Yet, it may be the case, that the inspiration for the Bay Area serial killer in his design of the 340 cipher, may have been inspired by nothing more complicated than the cereal boxes of children. 

For more on this topic: Zodiac Killer Site forum and ZodiacKiller.com discussion forum.

Question marks have always hung over the October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' or 'Pace' Postcard as to whether the author was the Zodiac Killer or a copycat. This article will hopefully go a long way to convince people that the communication was indeed mailed by the Bay Area murderer. The Zodiac Killer wrote the lengthy 'Little List' Letter on July 26th 1970, beginning the correspondence with his intentions for his slaves in paradise, followed by the torture methods he was going to apply, before finishing with the plagiarism of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, from the Act As Some Day it May Happen. The crucial thing to remember here, is that this communication was withheld from the newspapers and public alike, so by October 5th 1970 when this postcard was postmarked, the author (if not Zodiac} was totally unaware to the contents of the Little List Letter. The Zodiac Killer could have been reemphasizing his victim total of thirteen, or a copycat could have been suggesting thirteen victims for the first time, unaware that the Little List Letter had ever been mailed. Therefore, this is no help in determining whether the author of the '13 Hole' Postcard was the Zodiac Killer or not. We need to look at the wording on both communications back to back.

The first thing to notice on the '13 Hole' Postcard is the crucifix and number 13 in close alliance - extremely relevant when we consider the Zodiac Killer using the phrase "I shall (on top of everything else) torture all 13 of my slaves that I have waiting for me in Paradice" in the Little List Letter. The crucifix, a symbol of Christianity and the progression from life on earth to the paradise of heaven, is further cemented by the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card where the Zodiac Killer actually combines all three elements. However, if you are also a skeptic of the Halloween Card, then we need to focus entirely on finding a link between the '13 Hole' Postcard and the previously unpublished Little List Letter, both eventually released in tandem with one another on October 12th 1970 in a newspaper article by Paul Avery. Below I have separated the Little List Letter into its constituent parts - his promise of torture, his methods of torture and the search for victims.            

The Zodiac Killer refers to his victims in the plural and in the future tense, beginning his torture methods with "Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and sqwirm. Others shall have pine splinters driven under their nails + then burned. Others shall be placed in cages + fed salt beef untill they are gorged then I shall listen to their pleass for water and I shall laugh at them". He uses the word "some" to begin his rhetoric, then continues with his Little List of potential victims, sourced from As Some Day it May Happen, beginning with "As some day it may hapen that a victom must be found". Therefore, is it any great surprise that the Zodiac Killer having noted his lengthy communication was not published in the newspapers, would begin the '13 Hole' Postcard in the past tense, stating "The pace isn't any slower. In fact it's just one big thirteenth. 'Some of them fought it was horrible'".

The Zodiac Killer is effectively saying that he had now tortured his victims in paradice and "some of them had fought". He is telling Paul Avery and the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper he had made good on his promises. This strongly suggests that the author of the '13 Hole' Postcard knew the contents of the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter, thereby cementing the notion that the Zodiac Killer was the author of both communications. The alternative, is that a copycat just threw together a random postcard that not only continued the theme of the previous letter accidentally, but was adopted by the Zodiac Killer in the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card and the following March 13th 1971 letter, where the Zodiac Killer stated "This is the Zodiac speaking Like I have allways said, I am crack proof". The copycat scenario proliferated by many, a sensational subplot to discredit certain Zodiac communications and attacks, where no merit for such claims exist. 

The other notable element of the '13 Hole' Postcard is the Mon, Oct 5, 1970 attribution in the top right corner. The Zodiac Killer did recite the Gilbert & Sullivan Act As Some Day it May Happen. So was Monday, October 5th the day something happened - and the reason he added a specific date for the very first time?   

Unable to solve the 340 cipher and crack the message (in which I'm not alone), my only recourse is to try and prove that the 50-year-old cryptogram is unsolvable. I cannot do this on my own, so I need the Zodiac Killer to give me a hand and show me that it's not a valid cipher in his own words. The Zodiac Killer only gave us two visible 'crucifixes or crosses' (without the circle) in the cards and letters, throughout his entire correspondence with the newspapers. We can assume he did this for absolutely no reason whatsoever, or these two 'crucifixes or crosses' had a purpose. The two crosses were present in two consecutive cards - the '13 Hole' Postcard on October 5th 1970 and the Halloween Card on October 27th 1970. Both these cards also contained a hint that something was unsolvable. The '13 Hole' Postcard contained the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof", while the Zodiac Killer fashioned "sorry no cipher" in a cross formation on the envelope inner of the Halloween Card. If these statements are relevant to his ciphers, then we need to marry up the design of each card to his codes. Before we start, it must be noted that PARADICE and SLAVES in the cross formation is made up of 13 letters (the A pivotal to both words), but individually both words contain 14 letters - the total highlighted on each card. 

In the image below with respect to the '13 Hole' Postcard, you will notice that the Zodiac Killer has carefully positioned the cross beneath the number 13 - and we know Paradice and Slaves contains 13 letters in the cross formation. This is placed approximately in the center of the postcard with text either side. The 13 characters identified on the 340 cipher as Paradice and Slaves exactly mirroring this formation. Below the number 13 and cross on the postcard is the pseudonym Zodiac, accompanied by his crosshairs, almost mirroring the 340 cipher formation. The most notable feature on the 340 cipher is the corrected sixth line involving the letters F and K. Highlighted with a blue rectangle on the '13 Hole' Postcard we have "Fk I'm crackproof" written upside down. All we have to do now, is rotate the '13 Hole' Postcard 180 degrees clockwise to correct this text, so it can be read in the standard way. The corrected "Fk I'm crackproof" would now be present in the top right quadrant, just like the correctred FK in the 340 cipher.        

The Halloween Card also has the cross formation of Paradice and Slaves. This not only mirrors the "sorry no cipher" formation he provided on the envelope inner, but mirrors the 340 cipher formation also. In essence, the Zodiac Killer is telling us by extension that the 340 cryptogram is no cipher. Two consecutive communications, probably close to the anniversary he created the 340 cipher, and both designed to reveal the hidden crucifix or cross within the 340 cipher. Throw in the four By's in each quadrant and the pseudonym Zodiac from the '13 Hole' Postcard, along with "Fk I'm crackproof" and "sorry no cipher", and we have the Zodiac in his own words admitting the 340 character cryptogram has no solution. On the other hand, the Zodiac Killer is widely believed to be a liar - so maybe there's a message after all.

But just in case, let us stick "Fk I'm crackproof" into his third cipher and see if that's unsolvable as well.        

The Zodiac Killer again uses 13 characters/letters in his design, with the feature of three circled 8's. The circle and number 8 can be used to represent infinity or something of a cyclic nature. The cipher came with the handily placed K and M in the center of the code. All we have to do is place "Fk I'm crackproof" into place using these two letters (shown in blue), and in an unusual stroke of luck, the phrase is cyclic in nature. In addition, the three 8's (shown in green) just happen to begin each element of the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof" (Fk, I'm and crackproof). The Zodiac Killer may have twice told us his ciphers were unsolvable in the '13 Hole' Postcard and Halloween Card, but here he simply wouldn't shut up.

"This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is FK, I'm crackproof".

Professor D.C.B. Marsh, in the October 22nd 1969 San Francisco Examiner newspaper article by Will Stevens, laid down a challenge to the Zodiac Killer to reveal his name. The newspaper stated "Dr Marsh told the Examiner today: "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts. He knows, to quote Edgar Allen Poe, that any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Zodiac has not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald. Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture. I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name". It is highly unlikely the Zodiac Killer would have been suckered into providing a genuine cipher of any length knowing that 'any cipher created by man can be solved by man'. The 13 and 32 symbol ciphers mailed in 1970 proved this very fact - both effectively crackproof without a recognizable key. However, the Zodiac could certainly have sent us a rudimentary message within the 340 cipher utilizing the wording contained within his 408 cipher.

Paradice and slaves is a well-trodden theme in the Zodiac communications, and as I have stated before, the Halloween card mailed on October 27th 1970 (almost the anniversary of the D.C.B. Marsh challenge) actually admitted that the 340 cipher was "sorry no cipher". The Zodiac Killer had never apologized previously for not sending a cipher in his 'cipherless' communications, so why start now. Even if the "sorry no cipher" writing on the envelope inner was to inform us that in about two seconds we had no cipher, then just write "sorry no cipher" once. The fact it was fashioned into a cross formation that mimicked the paradice and slaves configuration on the card inner, seemed designed to suggest that this configuration would be found in a cipher that effectively had no solution. The sheer fact that this configuration can also be found in his 340 cipher, exactly bisecting the cipher vertically and horizontally (17 by 17), one would like to believe is a convincing argument to suggest that the Zodiac Killer was finally admitting the 340 cipher wasn't a cipher at all. Additionally, it did mimic the 408 cipher with its inclusion of the paradice and slaves reference. Although this may be interesting, it understandably isn't enough to convince certain quarters of the Zodiac community who are steadfast in their belief that the 340 cipher contains a cogent but elusive message. Regardless, one couldn't help thinking that this wasn't the only time the Zodiac admitted the 340 cipher was devoid of any meaningful solution. Fortunately, the answer came in the communication prior to the Halloween card.  

If I am correct, and the paradice and slaves (13 letters) configuration was intentional in the design of the 340 cipher, then this is a significant point of interest. Two other notable features stand out in the 340 cipher. Firstly, the corrected sixth line where the Zodiac Killer blacks out a forward K and replaces it with a backward K. Secondly, the distinct possibility that he placed his pseudonym on the final line of the 340 cipher. All these three features are present in the '13 Hole' postcard.

Despite the fact that Zodiac made many spelling errors in his design of the 408 cipher and his communications as a whole, he seemed conscientious enough to correct one character in his 340 cipher, that inevitably would have made no difference in it being deciphered, had it contained a genuine solution. The fact he spoiled an otherwise neat and tidy presentation appeared designed to convince us that it was a genuine cipher. After all, why would Zodiac correct a collection of gibberish, if not to convince us it wasn't. The correction seemed contrived in order to validate the authenticity of the cipher, to which he would allude to in the '13 Hole' postcard.        

Many have speculated on why the Zodiac Killer reversed the bottom section of text on the '13 Hole' postcard. He certainly didn't do this for absolutely no reason, as he didn't create the "sorry no cipher" configuration for no reason either. The Zodiac Killer pasted the lettering "Fk I'm crackproof" on the '13 Hole' postcard in a first attempt at showing us the 340 cipher had no solution. The definition of crack-proof is something that is unable to be cracked, or in the case of a cipher, unable to be decoded. He used this word in his April 20th 1970 letter, sarcastically stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you". He knew only too well that it hadn't been cracked, because it couldn't be cracked - and now was telling us it was crackproof by association to himself.

The Fk has been suggested as a shortened expletive or possibly a name - but what if we take it on face value, and the Fk actually means Fk and nothing more. It is like Ronseal and 'does exactly what it says on the tin'. The Zodiac Killer is essentially telling us that the corrected Fk on the 340 cipher was a ruse, because his cipher was crackproof. This is why the text on the '13 Hole' postcard is reversed, exactly the same as the reversed K on the 340 cipher. The K on the 340 cipher is not only reversed, but it is now much smaller than all the other characters on the 340 cipher, which is why the Zodiac Killer pastes "Fk I'm crackproof" rather than "FK I'm crackproof". ​ Crackproof, Fk and the reversal of text on the '13 Hole' postcard, coupled with the cross design of 13 (paradice and slaves), inevitably leads back to the 340 cipher. Either that, or he pasted "Fk I'm crackproof" upside down on the '13 Hole' postcard for no reason whatsoever.

What we effectively have, are two consecutive October 1970 communications stating ​"Fk I'm crackproof" and "sorry no cipher", both furnished with a cross design that mimics the appearance of paradice and slaves on the 340 cipher. It is my contention that the Zodiac Killer responded to the challenge of Professor D.C.B. Marsh, but he simply wasn't going to abide by the rules laid down by the cryptography expert, yet he stayed true to the paradice and slaves message in the 408 cipher, albeit in his own inimitable style. The paradice and slaves design in the 340 cipher (extending 17 rows down) still leaves the tantalizing prospect of three 'vacant' rows comprising of 51 unobstructed characters, that may harbor a second puzzle or message. With the Zodiac pseudonym almost appearing toward the end of the cipher, there may be a twist in the tail yet.       

In the last article 'The 340 Cipher-Trick or Treat?' we attempted to show how the Zodiac Killer used two xeroxed keys in the 1990 'American Greetings' card to intimate that the 340 cipher should be inverted or flipped, in order to begin the message with 'This is the Zodiac speaking'. The 'Halloween' card intersecting "sorry no cipher" key, was also used to show how Paradice and Slaves was pivotal to the design of the 340 cipher. But another cryptic communication arrived just 22 days before the 'Halloween' card, on October 5th 1970, entitled the '13 Hole' postcard. The Zodiac Killer could easily have drawn or photographed the keys in the 'American Greetings' card, but opted to xerox or photocopy them. The same could be said of "sorry no cipher", which he could easily have written once. This led to the notion that these two deliberate choices had a meaning or message. This brings us to the '13 Hole' postcard.

Just like the 'American Greetings' card, why does the Zodiac Killer punch 13 holes through the fabric of this card in a 10:3 configuration, rather than just fill in 13 circles like his ciphers? On the address side these holes can be found on the extreme left of the card, which then obviously switch position when the card is turned over. It can also be noted that the text at the bottom left of the card is also flipped over. It read ​"There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" The 'American Greetings' card, it was suggested, used two keys to infer the 340 cipher code should be flipped - the bottom row becoming the top row and vice versa - allowing one of only two prominent 'words' on the 340 to settle on the top row, to facilitate the opening message of 'This is the Zodiac speaking'. The second prominent word of 'Her' (that begins the cipher) would now be flipped to the bottom line of the 340. The '13 Hole' postcard gives us the first clue to suggest the likelihood of this being the case.

The Zodiac Killer punched 13 holes into the card with a hole punch, A keypunch is also a device for precisely punching holes into stiff paper cards at specific locations as determined by keys struck by a human operator. Or in computing, a mechanical device whose keys are pressed, individually or in combination, to punch holes in punched cards or paper tape that correspond to particular characters. Programs or wording can be encoded onto a punched card. Did the Zodiac Killer encode a message in a 10:3 configuration using these punched holes, that would not only take 'Her' to the bottom line of the 340 cipher, but use the identical wording on the envelope of the 'Halloween' card to achieve it?    

The message the Zodiac Killer may have wanted to convey, was that "sorry no cipher" hypothetically written on the address side of the '13 Hole' postcard, would not only separate the word 'Her', but it would effectively be inverted or flipped over to the other side when the postcard was turned. The flipped text containing "Fk I'm crackproof" testament to the fact we have a 'Flipped key', despite the boast of Zodiac claiming he was "crackproof" because of it  The 'Her' has now switched sides, thereby giving us our third key to the workings of the 340 cipher. The Zodiac Killer used two keys in the 'American Greetings' card to flip the 340 cipher, and a hole punch here to project the same message. He even added a red crucifix with the number 13 above, to highlight the connection to the 'big thirteen' letters of paradice and slaves on the 'Halloween' card he was soon to mail. Inversion was at the heart of these three communications, using keys in all instances - and all pointing to a 340 cipher that should be turned on its head. 

Here we will revisit an article published by the San Francisco Examiner on October 22nd 1969, in which Professor D.C.B. Marsh, president of the American Cryptogram Association laid down a challenge to Zodiac. The words he chose to use in this article may be the bedrock to much of the subsequent Zodiac communications, beginning with the 340 cipher, mailed only seventeen days after the San Francisco Examiner article. Here are the crucial extracts from that article.
'Dr Marsh told the Examiner today: "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts. He knows, to quote Edgar Allen Poe, that any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Zodiac has not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald. Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name-in cipher code-would lead to his capture. I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code, which will truly and honestly include his name." It is difficult to believe that Zodiac, an avid reader of the newspapers, could resist such a challenge, particularly as he had promised to reveal his identity in the 408 cipher two months earlier, but failed to do so.  

The key section to note in the challenge by Professor D.C.B. Marsh is: "I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code, which will truly and honestly include his name."
Seventeen days later, the Zodiac Killer duly obliged with the November 8th 1969 340 cipher. Could this cipher have included the killer's name, but not in the format envisaged by Professor D.C.B. Marsh?
In a previous article entitled 'Zodiac Admitted 340 Not a Real Cipher' we examined the idea that the 340 cipher was inextricably linked to the Zodiac's 'Halloween' card, mailed on October 27th 1970. One can notice that the word "By" is located in each of the four quadrants of the 340 cipher. The author of the cipher also placed the letters F and K adjacent to one another no less than seven times (situated in each quadrant). But of particular interest was the corrected section on the sixth line of the 340 cipher, where the author chose to scrub out a forward facing K and replace it with a backwards K, elevated above the blacked out section.
The Zodiac Killer was known for numerous spelling errors in his communications, so why was it seemingly imperative to correct this one mistake? Was this correction crucial to the interpretation of the cipher, or was he drawing our attention to the letters in this section of the cipher? Are the F and K characters the initials of the Zodiac Killer?
This observation carries little merit on its own, so to bolster any argument for the initials of the Zodiac Killer being present in the 340 cipher, we have to explore the rest of his communications, particularly from around the time of the 'Halloween' card, in which we suggested was his admission that the 340 was unfortunately "no cipher". 
Linking the 'Halloween' card and 340 cipher through a Tim Holt comic book and explaining to us that the solution was "sorry no cipher." left us with the possibility that the 340 cipher was just a collection of puzzles, in which may have contained his name. The Zodiac Killer "wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts", but he may have given us the abridged version.
We now enter the crucial phase of Zodiac communications, from the '13 Hole' postcard mailed on October 5th 1970, to the 'Exorcist' letter mailed on January 29th 1974. This critical period of four consecutive communications, is probably key to understanding the message the Zodiac Killer was trying to push. That the 340 was "sorry no cipher."      

In the '13 Hole' postcard the Zodiac Killer stated "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"
This section of pasted letters was placed upside down. The question one should be asking is 'what is the purpose behind this'. If its significance had no relevance to the actual postcard, did it have relevance to another communication.
The wording "FK I'm crackproof" could indicate that the killer thought he was immune from capture, however, it could also be a reference to his 340 cipher once again. The word "crackproof" is something that is unable to be cracked.
The 340 cipher would certainly be impervious to cracking, and certainly resistant to the attempts of The American Cryptogram Association had the killer devised a cipher not of conventional understanding, of which Professor D.C.B. Marsh was hoping when he laid down the challenge. The F and K text being flipped on the '13 Hole' postcard reminds one of the flipped K (next to F) on the only corrected portion of the 340 cipher. If FK were the Zodiac Killer's initials, then he certainly could be declaring that he was crackproof. 
​Professor D.C.B. Marsh stated  "He knows, to quote Edgar Allen Poe, that any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Zodiac has not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald. Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name-in cipher code-would lead to his capture." However, the Zodiac Killer could give his name in the form of initials without any fear of revealing his identity, and without risking his immediate capture. This may have manifested itself when he mailed his following cipher on April 20th 1970, when he opened with the gambit "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is...."  The code placed underneath was likely an immediate rebuttal to this question. 

All he is probably doing, is stating "My name is FK," and once again telling us he is crackproof, just like the '13 Hole' postcard, which would be mailed five and a half months later. The phrase "FK I'm crackproof" fits perfectly in circular formation within the '13 Symbol' cipher- which itself contains a series of circled 8's. Structured in this fashion, the F and K yet again align, as does the K and M in both the cipher and phrase. 
Continuing with our four consecutive communications from October 5th 1970 onward, we now have the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card promising to yet again reveal his name: "I feel it in my bones, You ache to know my name, And so I'll clue you in." Again we feel disappointed only to see the word "Boo" on the card inner- but we know the Zodiac Killer isn't going to make this a conventional and straightforward offering. He offers us the phrase "sorry no cipher," but can we find his name or initials within this communication. This is where it gets more difficult, nevertheless, we are aware that within the '13 Hole' postcard he reversed or flipped the text containing "FK I'm crackproof" and he flipped the K (next to the F) on the sixth line of the 340 cipher. So the obvious conclusion, is to look for flipped or reversed text within the 'Halloween' card.  

The only place that F and K exist within one word on the 'Halloween' card, is in the word "knife." either side of the reversed letter N.
If we flipped the reversed N back to its appropriate position, the F and K of "knife" would be reversed yet again.
Now let us turn our attention to the peculiar configuration at the foot of the card inner. It would be extremely satisfying for the 'Halloween' card to read "I feel it in my bones, You ache to know my name, And so I'll clue you in... FK,"- so that is what we will create, by manipulating this card to read whatever we want it to.
The strange symbol, reading it as true as possible, appears like a number 7, followed by four dots and the letter F.
7+4=11=K (followed by F).
Without further ado, we shall move on to the next confirmed Zodiac communication on March 13th 1971, in which the Zodiac stated "This is the Zodiac speaking. Like I have allways said, I am crack proof. If the Blue Meannies are evere going to catch me, they had best get off their fat asses + do something. Because the longer they fiddle + fart around, the more slaves I will collect for my after life. I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there. The reason I'm writing to the Times is this, They don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others."
You will notice that the Zodiac Killer refers to "crackproof" once again, parroting his October 5th 1970 communication five months earlier. However, he doesn't just state he is crackproof, he reminds us that he has always been telling us he is crackproof, and quite possibly we just haven't got the message.

Roll on the January 29th 1974 'Exorcist' letter, signed "yours truley," nearly three years later, giving us our final installment of FK contained within the array of symbols at the foot of the letter. 
On this occasion he mirrors the sixth line of the 340 cipher by elevating the K above the letter F, and to its left. In fact, five characters from the Exorcist letter can be found in and around the corrected sixth line of the 340 cipher, as shown here in a previous article. This was possibly the fourth consecutive communication inferring an FK link and the suggestion that the author was indeed "crackproof."  
Was this a persistent and deliberate attempt to be true to the challenge laid down by The American Cryptogram Association and Professor D.C.B Marsh, by inserting his name (albeit initials) into the 340 cipher and subsequent communications, or just a case that my mind is F@@Ked after six exhausting years of looking for patterns where none exist.

The following will again be a little bit of mathematical trickery regarding the 'Halloween', '13 Hole' and 'Pines' cards- placing the number 888 (Jesus) alongside each and every one.  From the 408 cipher split into three lines of 8, the 'near Zodiac' on the 20th line of the 340 forming 888, the three 8's on the '13 Symbol' cipher, coupled with the same code being used to find 444 in the final two ciphers, we will now move on to the final three cryptic cards in the Zodiac repertoire. To understand this presentation, it is important to read two previous articles 'The Bible Code of a Killer' and '340 Cipher-Embedded Symmetry'.  However, it must be stressed that this is not claiming a definitive solve to the Zodiac mystery and must be viewed with a health warning.

​In every correspondence mentioned above, it was claimed the Zodiac was attempting to place his name alongside the name of Jesus, the savior of souls for the afterlife: "All the (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." He wouldn't give us his name, but he may have given us Jesus. Here is the next cryptic correspondence with two unusual features, using the identical code employed to find 444 in both the final two canonical ciphers. The Zodiac again places his name alongside Jesus in the form of a messiah complex (also known as the Christ complex or savior complex).
Using the Zodiac code above, it was applied to the '13 Hole' postcard below, giving out the figures 43+120+347+36+342 = 888.
Jesus, the savior of souls, is now firmly alongside the Zodiac Killer once again. You will notice that the number 13 has been converted to one and three. This is done to transfer it into text form (to enter into the Zodiac code), exactly the same technique employed in the two previous ciphers, where the Omega, Taurus and Aries symbols were also converted into text form.
If we had left the figure 13 alone, that line would have totaled 360 (the degrees in a circle). Giving us 13 and 360 (13 punch holes). 

The next correspondence was the 'Halloween' card mailed on October 27th 1970. But this marked a deviation in the Zodiac's thinking. He was now likely trying to simplify things in an effort to push us towards Jesus- Hallelujah.
In the flap of the envelope he writes "sorry no cipher" twice, in the form of a multiplication sign. He could easily have written  "sorry no cipher" once, but evidently wanted to form the multiplication sign as an offering to our savior. If there was no cipher, then there is no code. The only 'cipher-like code' on the 'Halloween' card is the configuration of letters (not dissimilar to the "sorry no cipher" offering). The Zodiac intersected Paradice and Slaves, with four quadrants containing the words By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife. Was the word By a form of multiplication.
       

Using the path of least resistance we added up the letters in the 'cipher-like code', which totaled 37, and multiplied it by "sorry no cipher", placing it over the cross of Paradice and Slaves, as both formed a similar design. There are 24 letters in the four quadrants, giving us 37 X 24 = 888.
There were 37 letters in the 'cipher-like code' and we needed a number to multiply it by. In this case 24.
The next postcard was the 'Pines card' mailed on March 22nd 1971. If the Zodiac was simplifying matters, then this card would follow the identical technique displayed in the 'Halloween' card.
The 'Pines' card offered a set of 5 phrases.[1] 'Sierra Club'  [2] 'Sought Victim [3] 'Peek through the pines' [4] 'pass Lake Tahoe areas'  [5] 'around in the snow.'
The letters on this card would add up to exactly double the amount on the 'Halloween' card- exactly 74. 
We again needed a number to multiply it by. So let us take a punt on the figure 12 which the Zodiac supplied. 
​74 X 12 = 888 once again.  

But would the old Zodiac code resurface in one final offering on the 'Pines' card front- pushing us in both directions. 
The Zodiac drew our attention to Paul averly=chronicle.
Using the Zodiac code at the top of this page:
PAUL AVERLY = 3162 155522 = 32
CHRONICLE = 365215325 = 32
Thereby giving us PAUL AVERLY=CHRONICLE.

This completes the 888 and 444 sequence through seven cryptic Zodiac communications. But whether it is really there, or just a case of mathematical trickery and wordplay, is something only Zodiac knows.
Maybe the afterlife holds all the answers.

THE BIBLE CODE OF A KILLER

The Zodiac created four ciphers, of which only one has ever been solved and confirmed by overwhelming consensus. 
The third code is simply too short to achieve any meaningful decryption and the 'Button' letter '32 Symbol' code has only three repeating characters, making these two codes, without a key, effectively unbreakable. If we had the key however, then we would be back in business.
​It is perfectly reasonable after the solve by Donald Gene and Bettye June Harden in the August of 1969, to believe that all the remaining ciphers contain a message, after all, what would be the point of them other than a joke on Zodiac's part.
​It is my contention that the remaining three ciphers are all probably linked by religion, and Jesus Christ in particular.
The Zodiac chose a Celtic Cross style moniker, talked of "paradice" and the "afterlife," and placed crucifix style designs in his 'Halloween' and '13 Hole' postcards. You could say the Zodiac Code was the forerunner to the Da Vinci Code.
The key to the Zodiac Code is the previously discussed '13 Symbol' cipher, where the Zodiac splits the alphabet A through M to expose perfect symmetry in the third cipher. This is the template we shall use in the '13 Symbol' and '32 Symbol' ciphers, and in both instances arrive at exactly the same holy number. 
The Zodiac crosshairs can be noted in every cipher or code, so it is imperative we derive a mathematical figure for this moniker. But first we shall present the Zodiac Code that will be used on both ciphers.

The alphabet on the right has been split symmetrically into two halves. A through M was used in the Embedded Symmetry article, in which only the numbers 3, 1 and 5 were ever generated. The number 315 can be generated in several ways using the Zodiac Killer communications, but the simplest way is to take the Zodiac horoscope.
The Zodiac used what appeared to be an upside-down Aries symbol on the April 20th 1970  '13 Symbol' cipher. Many people also considered that the three circled 8's were in fact three circled Taurus symbols. But the reason the Zodiac Killer circled them, was possibly so they could be interpreted as both. Since we are dealing with the Zodiac horoscope, we will take the characters as one Aries and three Taurus symbols.

On the left is the Zodiac horoscope placed into the Zodiac Code (above).
This generates the figure 315 for the Zodiac crosshairs. 
Because we will be using Aries and Taurus in the '13 Symbol' cipher, I will explain how to arrive at the figures in brackets:
ARIES = A+R+I+E+S = 1+5+5+5+6 = 22.  
TAURUS = T+A+U+R+U+S = 7+1+6+5+6+6 =31.
ARIES =22, TAURUS = 31.

Before we move on it is important to mention the following again.
'In Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. This representation may be justified either through gematria, by counting the letter values of the Greek transliteration of Jesus' name, or as an opposing value to 666, the number of the beast. Wikipedia.
In English gematria the figure for Jesus is 444'.  
If the Zodiac was creating his own bible code and referencing the rebirth of Christ using the number 8 for infinity, one would hope to find the figure 444 in the '13 Symbol' cipher shown below.  
​
Let us proceed and place the numbers alongside the relevant characters (see below). 
Notice again how the alphabetical characters only produce the figures 3, 1 and 5, as does the figure 315 representing the Zodiac crosshairs. 
The total value of the '13 Symbol' cipher is 444, representing Jesus. 

​We shall now move on to the '32 Symbol' cipher mailed just two months after the previous cipher. It contained only three repeating characters, the letter C, the letter O and the clear triangle, making it impossible to solve without a recognized key.
This led me to believe that these two ciphers were only solvable by some form of mathematical key.
Below I have used the same technique, using the Zodiac Code, representing the letters of the '32 Symbol' cipher by numbers. The Zodiac crosshairs are again attributed the 315 value and the Aries symbol the figure 22 once more. This time however, we have an Omega symbol, so we have to attribute it a figure.
OMEGA = O+M+E+G+A = 2+1+5+7+1 = 16. The six geometric shapes in the '32 Symbol' cipher cannot be attributed a name, and therefore cannot be attributed a value. They have been marked with a red X. 
You can see below, that when the numerical values are added up we arrive at the figure 444 once again.
Zodiac representing the figure 888, and both the remaining ciphers totaling 888. Whether it be 444 or 888, the reference to Jesus or Jesus Christ through the bible code of the Zodiac Killer is certainly possible. 

​The '408' cipher was divided up into three parts and mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, Vallejo Times-Herald and San Francisco Examiner newspapers, but the final 18 characters of this cipher were unable to be decoded. Many speculated as to whether this was just filler to create three equal parts of 8 lines. Was this the rudimentary beginnings of 888, that he would carry through to his remaining ciphers and the name Zodiac itself? 

340 CIPHER- EMBEDDED SYMMETRY

This is a rehash of earlier articles concerning the 340 cipher and 13 Symbol cipher, regarding their symmetry and correlation to one another. If you are familiar with the 888 theory, then you need go no further.
The 340 cipher was the second cipher mailed on November 8th 1969- the 13 symbol cipher was the third cipher mailed on April 20th 1970, separated by just over five months. The Zodiac would refer to his 340 cipher at the beginning of the April 20th letter, stating: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is...."
This could be a simple clue leading into his new cipher, however, the author of the letter is highly unlikely to submit his real name. In addition, it is simply too short a code to be verifiable, and the Zodiac Killer must surely have known this if he had any rudimentary knowledge of code breaking. But with a clue or key affixed to the 13 symbol code, then we may have a chance.
Up to this point in time we only knew the murderer by the pseudonym Zodiac, so let us complete the introduction on the April 20th 1970 letter: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Zodiac."  This however sounds a little flawed, so it is imperative we replace Zodiac with an alternative, something possibly embedded within the name Zodiac itself. 

​The 340 cipher has been entered into every powerful computer known to man with no solution being found, leading many people to believe it has no solution at all, and is in effect total 'gibberish.'  I don't know about the entirety of the 340 cipher, but the final twentieth line of the cipher does contain perfect symmetry in six of the final eight characters. In addition eight of the final nine characters are effectively carried forward from the 340 cipher to the 13 Symbol cipher, linking cipher two and cipher three together. In the 13 Symbol cipher he did refer to "My name is..," so we will look for his pseudonym in the 340 cipher and take this as the clue. 
We already know that six symbols on the twentieth line of the 340 cipher look very similar to his pseudonym Zodiac, but was this unintentional or deliberate. To find this out we shall look at the symmetry of both ciphers.
The 13 symbol cipher from a character standpoint is extremely organized. It starts and ends with three alphabetical characters. The three circled 8's are symmetrically placed in positions 5, 7 and 9. The Zodiac symbol and 'upside down Aries' symbol are four in from either side. Either the Zodiac just happened upon this symmetry, or he designed it for purpose.
Bearing this symmetry in mind, we will look for a symmetrical answer in both the 340 cipher and 13 Symbol cipher, and in addition symmetry between the two.
The Zodiac Killer was undoubtedly an egotist, so it wouldn't be all that surprising if he used his own pseudonym in the clue, and embedded the answer within the name Zodiac. In the following examination I will be using the identical mathematical technique on both the 340 cipher and 13 Symbol cipher, to show perfect symmetry in both instances. It was this egotism that led me to believe the clue resided in the 'near' Zodiac on the twentieth line of the 340 cipher. So using a comparison technique, I placed the proper spelling of Zodiac under the 'near' Zodiac and simply counted the numerical alphabetical difference in the columns. But first let us take a look at the 13 Symbol cipher and note the bottom two lines in the diagram below.
Because of not only the existing symmetry within this cipher, but the fact it was thirteen characters in length, began with an A and ended with an M, along with Zodiac's penchant for word games, it seemed the obvious choice to place the first 13 letters of the alphabet under the cipher. 
A to A = 0, B to E = 3, C to N = 11, F to K = 5, H to M = 5, K to N = 3, A to L = 11. 
It is achieved by staying within the alphabet and counting the numerical distance between the letters. Obviously, when we do not have two alphabetical characters there can be no difference, so a zero is attributed. You could attribute an X, it actually makes no difference to the resulting symmetry.

​Highlighted in red and green the obvious symmetry can be observed. But how likely can this be created by accident. 
By taking the three circled 8's as H's, it can still be seen that only three natural numbers are ever produced - 3, 1 and 5. 
How do we know if this is the technique that Zodiac employed? If we apply this technique to the 'near' Zodiac on the twentieth line of the 340 cipher using the correct spelling of Zodiac and it again produces perfect symmetry, then we have possibly bolstered our case. If, in addition, it produces something significant that relates to the 13 Symbol cipher, does it then become even more compelling? The most obvious choice this time is to place Zodiac underneath the six symbols on the twentieth line, like so:

Using the identical technique we used in the 13 Symbol cipher, we shall again count the numerical difference in the columns.
Z to Z = 0, O to O = 0, D to triangle = 0, I to A = 8, A to I = 8, C to K = 8.
That is three 0's and three 8's, carried forward to the 13 Symbol cipher on April 20th 1970. But that is not all.
Either side of the 'near' Zodiac on the twentieth line of the 340 cipher we have the crosshairs and an 'inverted Aries' in part.  
Both of which are situated on the 13 Symbol cipher, either side of the circled 8's (shown in the red rectangular boxes above).
This means, that effectively eight characters out of the last nine were effectively carried forward from the 340 cipher to the 13 symbol cipher. It could be argued that the last eight characters of the 340 cipher were carried forward, the plus sign (+) at the end of the 340 cipher signifying their addition to the 13 Symbol cipher.
​Zodiac is now represented by the three circled 8's. 'In Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. This representation may be justified either through gematria, by counting the letter values of the Greek transliteration of Jesus' name, or as an opposing value to 666, the number of the beast.' Wikipedia. This may be important when we consider the Zodiac's tendency to speak of "paradise" and the "afterlife" in many of his communications, in particular his 408 cipher. He would also cross "paradice" and "slaves" in the form of a crucifix on the Halloween card, as well as pasting a red crucifix on the 13 Hole postcard.  
You can see in the above diagram that the letters K and M are embedded within the three 8's and therefore embedded in the name Zodiac. Were these his initials, and was he elevating himself to divine status? He certainly had the ego for it.

# There are some additional features of interest:
The 408 cipher was divided up into three sections of 8 lines and mailed to three different newspapers.
The final line of the 408 cipher contains an M and reversed K.
The final line of the 340 cipher contains an M and reversed K.
The 13 Symbol cipher contains the letter M and K.
The final character at the end of each of the three communications of the 408 cipher is either an M or reversed K.
The top line of the 32 Symbol cipher mailed on June 26th 1970 contains an M and reversed K.

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In many previous articles it was considered whether the Zodiac Killer murdered with religious motivation, from his references to paradise and the afterlife, to a numerical system buried deep within his cards and ciphers. The numbers 888 and 444 were integral to this hypothesis. In Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. In English numerology 444 represents Jesus, based upon a multiplication factor of 6.   

Numbers are attributed to the alphabet (see right). However, with this system everything is multiplied by six. A (6), B (12), C (18) etc
JESUS is therefore 60+30+114+126+114= 444. But things may not have been so straightforward with the Zodiac Killer.
Here is a quick recap of the story so far.
Peek Through the Pines. 
After the abduction and likely murder of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed two cards. The first was the '13 Hole' postcard on October 5th 1970- notable for the number 13, with a cross pasted underneath.
The second was the 'Halloween' card with the number 14 written as 4-TEEN, with a skeleton underneath, in the style of Jesus being crucified on the cross. In both instances, a number written at the top of the cross or crucified form. 
When Jesus was crucified, the letters INRI were affixed at the top of the cross above his head: 'Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum'' meaning ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.'' Bearing this in mind, we shall consider why the Zodiac Killer decided to write 4-TEEN instead of fourteen or 14. There surely must be a reason.
Switching back to '13 Hole' postcard, we will place CROSS (a symbol of Christianity) into the code above using the factor of 6 again: 
CROSS = 18+108+90+114+114 = 444, exactly the same as Jesus. Could this link our two cards together. 
JESUS and CROSS together equal 888, reminiscent of the numbers contained within the '13 Symbol' cipher, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 20th 1970.. 
One has to ask- why would the Zodiac Killer paste a cross on the '13 Hole' postcard in red, if not the suggestion of a bloodied crucifix. 

Was the murderer of five likening himself to Jesus Christ, the savior of souls for the afterlife. The thirteen eyes representing 13 souls he was allegedly claiming, looking at the crucified form of Jesus Christ or a potential fourteenth victim. This was after all a Halloween Card:
Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of All Hallows' Evening), also known as Allhalloween,  All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve, is a celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. Taken from Wikipedia.
​The problem we have with the 'Halloween' card, is that the Zodiac Killer has already given us one number- the number 4. This is not present in the system of coding above, based on a factor of 6. So, we will return to basics, where A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4 etc.
4-TEEN = 4- 20+5+5+14 = 4-44, to give us the figure 444 over the crucified form, or Jesus.
This now is in tandem with INRI representing Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, Prophesy! And the guards took him and beat him. - Mark 14:65

On October 13th 1969, two days after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, the Zodiac began taunting the police for their incompetence, stating "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover."
He would continue this theme of ridicule a month after the crime, when he mailed the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter stating "Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your booboos? If you cops think I'm going to take on a bus the way I stated I was, you deserve to have holes in your heads." But if that wasn't enough he would highlight how Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms effectively let him through their grasp as he walked along Jackson Street only minutes after the murder: "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again."  
Three months after the murder the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled 'Yellow Cab Sets Reward for Zodiac,' offering a reward for the Zodiac Killer's capture. It read "Yellow Cab Company yesterday posted a $1000 reward for the Zodiac Killer. Specifically the money is being offered for "information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible" for the deaths of Yellow Cab drivers Charles Jarman and Paul Stine. The Teamsters Union, which represents Yellow Cab's drivers, is also considering offering a reward in the two cases. The subject will be discussed and voted on at a meeting of drivers set for February 8."​  

This would not go unnoticed by the Bay Area killer, who responded on April 20th 1970 in the 'My Name is' cipher communication: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now.  I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station." 
The Zodiac Killer was clearly emboldened by his narrow escape along Jackson Street and from the park, likely believing he was untouchable. This was clearly demonstrated by his unashamed taunting of police in the 'Bus Bomb' letter: "The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them." 
Five and a half months after the April 20th letter the tone was pretty much the same, when the '13 Hole' pasted postcard was mailed on October 5th 1970 to the San Francisco Chronicle. He would again mention the reward on his head and further suggest to police that they "shall never catch me."
The postcard read "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" The suggestion here, is that the killer is taking a swipe at the San Francisco Police Department, having mailed the correspondence to the Chronicle newspaper. The wording on the postcard is particularly telling, and seemingly directed at somebody in particular in the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof," in which the the killer again, is apparently unable to refrain from his love of cryptic messages. If the killer however is addressing the San Francisco Police Department, it makes perfect sense that 'Fk' would in fact be somebody connected to the SFPD also. Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer's close call with Donald Fouke along Jackson Street, when the officer's patrol car approached him and subsequently let him on his way, it gives a new dimension to the phrase "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"
Alex Lewis (aka Welsh Chappie) came up with a plausible solution to this cryptic message which fits all the known criteria in the postcard: "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fouke knows I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" This simple solution may be the reason for the capitalized F and lower case k in the phrase. Coupled with the "price tag" in reference to the Yellow Cab Company reward of $1000, the '13 Hole' postcard mailed on the near anniversary of the Paul Stine murder, could possibly be seen in a whole new light.     

There is nevertheless a massive stumbling block. Apparently Officer Donald Fouke was never mentioned in the newspapers up to October 5th 1970 and the mailing of the '13 Hole' postcard, so how was the Zodiac Killer able to locate the name of the officer involved in the 'near miss' on Jackson Street, if the 'decryption' is correct. 
After the Blue Rock Springs Park shooting of Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin on July 4th 1969 the Zodiac Killer mailed the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, in which he stated "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." This negro male was never mentioned in the police report, and the newspapers were also apparently unaware of this vital eyewitness, as detailed in the Vallejo News Chronicle on Monday August 4th 1969: "The car's description was given to police by Mageau, not a phone call witness, as related in the letter. However, there could have been such a witness near the phone booth."  
If the Zodiac Killer was telling the truth about a negro male by the payphone, how was he privy to this eyewitness speaking to police, when clearly the newspapers were not. The killer also must have been fully aware of Michael Mageau's description of his vehicle, making this statement even more curious and unnecessary. In both cases, if correct, the impression taken would be of a Zodiac Killer who had inside information beyond what the newspapers had published. This could place the murderer of five much closer to the investigation than we care to imagine. However, if the above interpretations submitted are incorrect, then "Fouke knows" just about sums it up. 

A big thanks to Alex Lewis - https://welshchappie.wordpress.com/

The following will not propose a solution to the '13 Symbol' cipher because the limited characters in the code make that simply impossible without a key, and the author of the letter must surely have known that, even if he had limited cipher experience. A search for the solution however, could be an unnecessary quest, as the Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer just five and a half months later. The Zodiac Killer vowed to give us his name in his earlier 408 cipher, only to renege on the promise. The idea therefore, that he would reveal his name in the April 20th 1970 correspondence is equally unlikely. But he may have given us something, useless in of itself from a standpoint of incrimination, on account of its brevity, but something nonetheless. 
The October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' postcard has links to the '13 Symbol' cipher for obvious reasons, but the author of the postcard does paste some unusual text, notably "Fk, I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now ?"   
Is there a correlation to the '13 Symbol' cipher?  Immediately after "Fk, I'm crackproof" the author asks about the price tag on his head. Immediately after the '13 Symbol' code on the April 20th 1970 correspondence the author writes "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now."  So what is the likelihood "Fk, I'm crackproof" precedes this question also. It would make sense when the April 20th 1970 communication is read as a whole: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is FK, I'm crackproof." 
The phrase itself is 14 characters, so would be infinitely circular in configuration, beginning and ending with the letter F, like so. 

The letters K and M line up nicely in the code, nevertheless on its own it is pretty worthless.
Could the killer's initials be FK or KF, on account of the upside-down text on the '13 Hole' postcard, or could the killer simply want us to believe this is the case.
The FK in close proximity occurs seven times on the '340' cipher, but much more significantly, the eye is drawn to the 'mistake' on line six, where the author of the cipher elevates the letter K in reverse, next to the letter F. The author of the '13 Hole' postcard effectively rotates both letters through 180 degrees, again reversing the letter K. 
The 'Exorcist' letter mailed on January 29th 1974 looks somewhat similar to the sixth line of the '340' cipher, in that the strange symbolism at the foot of the letter appears to marry up. It contains what looks like a letter F, and to its elevated left is an upside-down K. But there is much more correlation, in that five of the characters on the 'Exorcist' letter bear a striking resemblance to five of the characters by the FK on the '340' cipher. http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/340-cipher-and-exorcist-link            

The elevated and reversed letter K, is positioned to the left of the letter F in both the '340' sixth line, and the 'Exorcist' letter symbolism. It is again reversed and positioned to the left of the letter F in "Fk, I'm crackproof" on the '13 Hole' postcard.
If the Zodiac Killer lived within a 10 minute walking radius of the Springs and Tuolumne payphone, then by examining land registry records in 1969 for males with FK or KF initials and cross checking their vital statistics, including photographs, would go a long way to deciding whether this is just another pattern, in a rich tapestry of Zodiac imaginings.

​http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-fictitious-negro-male    

There have remained questions over the authenticity of the '13 Hole' postcard mailed on October 5th 1970, particularly in light of the author claiming 13 victims for a second time. However this may be the very reason the postcard is genuine Zodiac material. The 'Little List' letter claiming 13 victims, mailed by the Zodiac on July 26th 1970, was withheld from publication and not released until the San Francisco Chronicle released an article on October 12th 1970. So the Zodiac Killer by October 5th 1970 was either under the impression the 'Little List' letter was being withheld or had gone astray, hence a further communication reiterating 13 victims. There is something more important about this postcard that has yet to be fully explained, the reasoning behind the 'Fk' abbreviation, believed by some to be an expletive, but the answer may be much closer to home, bearing hallmarks of the Cheri Jo Bates murder in Riverside four years earlier.    

The Zodiac Killer has been argued to be responsible for the abduction and possible murder of Donna Ann Lass from outside the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Casino on September 6th 1970. The 13 Hole Postcard was mailed twenty nine days later, so wouldn't it make more sense for this postcard to be somehow related, as the '13 Symbol' cipher correspondence mailed on April 20th 1970 should be related to the Kathleen Johns abduction on March 22nd 1970, in line with his earlier crimes and correspondence. 
In both instances a woman was seized against her will, and in both instances the following communication implied money. "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now," and "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"
The Zodiac sent three coded segments in three letters on July 31st 1969 to the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo-Times Herald, giving details of the first two crimes to police. The Zodiac Killer seemingly though still had a lot to prove to Police Chief Jack E Stiltz, who was less than satisfied that the letter writer and killer were one and the same. On Saturday August 2nd 1969 in the San Francisco Chronicle he requested the writer send a second letter "with more facts to prove it." Another Zodiac article featured the following day on Sunday August 3rd 1969 in the San Francisco Examiner. Jack E Stiltz was 'still not convinced the letters and codes were written by the actual killer.' The police chief 'urged the writer to send more letters, with more facts to prove his connections to the crimes.'
The Zodiac responded immediately, detailing the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attacks with greater clarity. He did exactly the same thing in the 'Bus Bomb' letter mailed on November 9th 1969, outlining his excursion into Presidio Park, when challenged by Chief of Police Martin Lee.
The question remained, was the '13 Hole' postcard a response to the disappearance of Donna Lass.
Shortly after her disappearance, somebody rang her landlord and the casino to report Donna Lass had been called out to attend a family emergency. This in all likelihood was used to buy time, knowing that police will question family and friends first, before spreading their net wider afield. It appears the perpetrator may have known Donna Lass or was somehow connected to her. So to avoid any incriminating searches, the phone call may have been implemented to afford some breathing space.
Additionally, it has become apparent she walked to work that evening from a previous residence, so her car was never parked outside the casino that night. If the perpetrator knew Donna Lass and the vehicle she drove, then a phone call to the casino, implying she had been called out of town for a family emergency and would be away from work for a period, would be negated if her Chevrolet Camaro convertible was spotted sitting idle in the car park of the casino for any extended period. This may suggest she was carefully tracked that evening and the crime planned in advance. Was the killer close enough to Donna Lass to know her family lived in Beresford, South Dakota and the phone call had a better chance of buying time under these circumstances. The perpetrator also appeared to be fully aware of her shift details, as she vanished moments after changing from her nurses uniform into regular clothes.
The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on the missing Donna Lass on September 26th 1970 entitled 'Nurse Vanishes...A Tahoe Mystery.'  It stated "As the absence lengthened hotel officials contacted the South Lake Tahoe Police, who checked her apartment and could find no clue to her whereabouts. Relatives in Sioux Falls flew here a week ago."
So I suppose Zodiac's paraphrasing of the Mikado on July 26th 1970 stating "none of them will be missed", partly rang true, in the sense it bought him valuable time. The idea the Zodiac knew Donna Lass, has its origin from the Letterman General Hospital, San Francisco, situated in the Presidio Park, the occupation she held prior to arriving in South Lake Tahoe just months earlier.          

The family after arriving in South Lake Tahoe would undoubtedly go through the usual appeals for information on the missing woman and although the family would eventually offer a reward for any information, this came in early 1971 in the form of a cryptic poster and a 500 dollar reward. They also hired a private detective in the weeks after she vanished. What exact media appeals ensued in the month of September after her disappearance and to what extent, can only be imagined, but it could be argued the Zodiac clearly got wind of it.  Nine days after the San Francisco Chronicle article, the '13 Hole' postcard landed on their doorstep.
​This takes us back to "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" Could the killer, aware of the family's appeals to the media have responded personally. The thought has crossed many peoples minds that Fk may be somebody's initials. Had a police officer been quoted or a newspaper reporter written an article about the Zodiac Killer, suggesting the net was closing, and this was his response, using the initials of the said person to reply. However, trawling every article on the Zodiac Killer has failed to throw up any possible name that fits with the initials, suggesting it may be wrong.
Gregory Haugevik, a Zodiac enthusiast, pointed out that the 'k' was not capitalized, pouring serious doubts on the idea, unless of course the author simply had no capital 'K' to hand when pasting the card. Or in some subtle way, the lower case 'k' he used was a clue to the identity of the person he was addressing.
The following may very well be incorrect, but this postcard was the first correspondence mailed by the Zodiac Killer after the disappearance of Donna Lass and as stated above, it was mailed only nine days after the San Francisco Chronicle article, so in the absence of any reporter or police officer, is it likely the killer could be addressing the family of Donna Lass, in his usual taunting manner. Donna Lass' father was James Lass and the maiden name of her mother was Frances Kukar, to become Frances Lass upon marriage.
"There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Frances Kukar, I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"   
If the Zodiac Killer was aware of the maiden name, it may suggest him to be closer, or have a lot more knowledge about the family than we dare to imagine, projecting a sinister overtone upon the card. On the other hand 'Fk' could simply mean F@@k.      

The Pines Card sent to the San Francisco Chronicle March 22nd 1971 has courted controversy on its validity as Zodiac correspondence, but it just may be the most important of them all. On first viewing it appears just a jumble of pasted words scattered randomly, but it is far from that, and along with the address side may hold the key to the entire story. It was possibly the Zodiac Killer's final attempt to push us in the right direction, to reveal the mind behind his murders and show us that religion, mathematics and coding were integral to virtually every letter, card and cipher he mailed to authorities.
Three correspondences, that of the 13 Hole Postcard mailed on October 5th 1970, the Halloween Card mailed on October 27th 1970 and the Pines Card mailed on March 22nd 1971 were as close as he would ever go to revealing the man behind the mask.
This article will cover old ground but expand slightly on the 'Hidden Message in the Pines' posting, but comes with a warning- if you are not a proponent of mathematics being used as a tool in unlocking the mystery of the Zodiac material, then it is wise that you progress no further. However, here, no mind bending techniques will be used. We will place the wording into the code and what falls out is the answer- nothing more.
The first thing to do is take everything back to basics- why did the Zodiac Killer choose the name Zodiac. When most people think of Zodiac the horoscopes come to mind- this is the simplest answer and this is maybe what our killer did. He used his own moniker of the crossed circle in all of his ciphers, so if he was to create a numeric answer to each card or cipher, he had to first apply a numeric value to his crosshairs. This was revealed in the Pines Card, but can be found in numerous other places.
The thought is, the Zodiac Killer developed his own key based around the 13 Symbol Cipher, although where it came from is not important. What is important though, is that it works in the 13 Symbol Cipher, the Button Letter 32 Symbol Cipher, the 13 Hole Postcard, the Halloween Card and the Pines Card, although the story may have began with the 340 Cipher.
So let's start with the Pines Card using the gematric code key the Zodiac chose.  

Notice in the Pines Card below we have placed the phrases into the code on the right to achieve a total of 315. This figure is also achieved by placing the entire Zodiac horoscope into the code. The 12 signs of the Zodiac are Aquarius (34), Capricorn (28), Sagittarius (56), Scorpio (26), Libra (15), Virgo (24), Leo (9), Cancer (18), Gemini (24), Taurus (31), Aries (22) and Pisces (28). These figures also add up to 315. But there was more. Placing the top row of the gematric code alongside the 13 Symbol Cipher, A through to M, and alphabetically   

counting the difference between each column, only the numbers 3,1 and 5 fall out. If we apply the gematric code directly to the letters A,E,N,K,M,N,A,M on the 13 Symbol Cipher, the figures 1,5,1,3,1,1,1 and 1 appear, again only the numbers 3,1 and 5. See below.
Lawrence Kane became a Zodiac suspect as he had worked at the same hotel as Donna Lass, missing, presumed murdered when she vanished after her nurses shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 6th 1970. Strangely KANE is present on the left side of the 13 Symbol Cipher and KANE in the gematric code again only produces the figures 3,1,1,5, ie: the numbers 315 in order.
It was considered that this paste up card may have been indicating a burial site for Donna Lass, in view of the punch hole the author placed in the top right corner.  

However, this would have been too easy and a search of the site proved negative. The Pines Card depicted an advertisement for the Forest Pines condominiums near Clair Tappaan Lodge, Norden, California, located on Sierra Club property. The Clair Tappaan Lodge is exactly 315 degrees on a compass, when the compass is centered over the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, where Donna Lass went missing- so all may not be lost.
The circular punch hole nevertheless, still suggested a location of where Donna Lass may be buried and the author of the Pines Card had flipped the phrase 'around in the snow' 180 degrees, into an upside down position to suggest this.
You will notice that the phrase 'around in the snow' totals 56 in the code, yet when flipped 180 degrees, it reads 95.
This is very interesting because as explained in the 'Hidden Message in the Pines' article, when you place the left corner of the card over Clair Tappaan Lodge, dependent on scale, the punch hole falls over US Highway 95.  
U.S. Route 95 (US 95) is a major U.S. highway traversing the US state of Nevada from north to south, directly through Las Vegas and providing connections to both Carson City (via US 50) and Reno (via Interstate 80). US 95 is cosigned with Interstate 80, for 95 miles between a junction in Churchill County and Winnemucca before heading north into Oregon at McDermitt. (Taken from Wikipedia). View on Google Maps.
Was this the hint of a possible burial site, somewhere close to US Route 95 in Nevada.

This is a direct and fast route away from South Lake Tahoe into relatively barren terrain, heading towards parts of the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest. View on Google Maps.
The Pines Card punch hole however, could equally fall near or over Pine Mountain situated within the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest. It would have depended on the dimensions of the map he used and the correct measurements of the Pines Card itself, if indeed this was its purpose at all.
The green region on the map on the left, just to the right of the number 95, contains Paradise Peak. We now have Pine Mountain and Paradise Peak, and a possible source for the phrase 'Peek through the Pines'- but of course this is still highly unlikely.
Is it possible the Zodiac Killer owned or rented a cabin within this region, its remoteness is the perfect hideout- who knows.
If the Zodiac Killer did reside within the region of San Francisco, Vallejo or Benicia areas, then the phrase 'pass lake tahoe areas' from his perspective makes perfect directional sense, to discover any burial site. Your passing of the Lake Tahoe area, on a straight line, heads directly towards the region of Pine 

Mountain and Paradise Peak, seen here on the right. In fact, straight through Clair Tappaan Lodge It would exactly bisect these two landmarks.
So let us go back to our number 315, that is now representative of the Zodiac crosshairs and apply it to the 13 Symbol Cipher, 32 Symbol Cipher and 13 Hole Postcard.
It was suggested through many previous posts that the Zodiac Killer saw himself as some form of savior, delivering his victims to Paradise. In other words he was placing himself alongside Jesus, however uncomfortable a thought this vision may appear. It is not unusual for serial killers to have a religious agenda when they commit murder, albeit not the religion most people have grown up to understand.  
In Christian numerology Jesus is represented by the figure 888 and in English gematria Jesus is represented by the figure 444- so it would be highly improbable that if we used the Zodiac code he created for himself, along with the figure 315, that represented the Zodiac crosshairs, both unsolved ciphers would equal 444, and applied to the 13 Hole Postcard would equal 888. But that is exactly what happens.
The alphabetical characters on any code are directly placed into the gematric code key to give them a value, any symbols are simply converted to text form to give them a value.   

Take a look at the 13 symbol Cipher on the left.
​It was often questioned whether or not the symbols were either three 8's to give us 888 or they were three Taurus symbols. It is entirely plausible the Zodiac Killer circled them so they could be interpreted as either. The three Taurus symbols for example, are applied into the code as follows. 
TAURUS = 7+1+6+5+6+6 =31. But there are three, so 3 X 31 = 93. The whole code totals 444 or JESUS.
This technique is then applied in exactly the same manner to the Button Letter 32 Symbol Cipher (seen below) This time we have an Omega symbol, so again the code is applied.
OMEGA = 2+1+5+7+1 = 16

We can attribute a value to symbols, but not geometric shapes- for example, on the Button Letter cipher we have a triangle, or blacked in triangle, or black triangle, or solid triangle, or dark triangle. The point being- that the six geometric shapes cannot be attributed a specific name, to attribute a value to. So the 6 geometric shapes are only omitted for this reason, but everything that can be attributed a numeric value, has been. When totaled up, this cipher also equals 444.

Two unsolved ciphers totaling 444. And we know 444+444=888. But can we take this any further.
The 13 Hole Postcard conforms to this gematric code also.
When the phrases on the card are applied into the code the sum total of the card equals 888. It can be noticed that it leaves the name Jesus squarely alongside the name Zodiac on the postcard, declaring he was indeed the savior of souls. As with the symbols, the number 1 and 3 has been converted to text to attain a gematric value. This is not done for convenience, it is following the same principle throughout (See below). 
He even placed a red crucifix on the card to point us in the right direction. Also take a careful look at the very measured third line with the number 13 conveniently sandwiched in between- but this time leave the number as 13. The third line would now add up to 217+13+130, which equals 360. There are 360 degrees in a circle and the Zodiac did indeed punch 13 holes into the fabric of this card.

The Halloween Card and Pines Card could possibly have had a strong connection. The Zodiac gave us patterns of words on both. On the Halloween Card he gave us a form of cipher or cryptic message, by placing the words PARADICE and SLAVES in the form of a cross or crucifix.
It was previously noted that it was comprised of 37 letters, with 24 letters in the four quadrants. The Pines Card was comprised of 74 letters, exactly double that of the Halloween Card configuration, but we were left with the number 12 on the Pines Card, which conversely was exactly half of 24. However: 37 X 24 and 74 X 12 both equaled 888 once again.
To view the Halloween Cipher in greater detail click here.
One more curiosity was the envelope or address side of the Halloween Card, in which he misspells Paul Avery to Paul Averly and underlines it. Why did he do this?
The idea that the Zodiac Killer designed his Halloween Card based on the Rota Fortunae or Wheel of Fortune, was inspired after reading a thread on the ZodiacKillerSite forum. The discovery was made by Tahoe27, when she noticed that a comic strip publication bore striking similarities to the October 27th 1970 offering from the northern California killer.
The Red Ryder comic strip was created by Stephen Slesinger and Fred Harman in 1938, and there was one particular publication entitled 'Tim Holt: The Death Wheel' that caught her attention.
The Death Wheel contained the four methods of death, the same as the Zodiac Killer had placed around his cross of Paradice and Slaves- By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire. Moreover, the word 'By' was styled in near identical fashion. The Death Wheel in its entirety, showing the 12 methods of death, places the four Zodiac methods of murder in exactly the same order as we travel around the wheel, and the use of the wording 'Lady Doom' reminds us of the wording around the knothole of the tree on the Halloween Card, where the Zodiac Killer places the phrase 'Peek-a-boo you are doomed'. Not only that, he designs it in a circular fashion.
Furthermore Fred Harman owned a ranch in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where a particular style of cattle branding would elevate this finding to the next level, when the branding itself was compared to the strange symbol the Zodiac Killer placed on the Halloween Card envelope and the foot of the card once opened. Apart from the four dots, it is strikingly similar.

But after all is said and done, can we verify that this gematric code has any basis in fact, or could it all be coincidence. The Zodiac Killer yet again gives us the misspelled name of Paul Avery on the address side of the Pines Card, exactly like he did on the Halloween Card. But this time he writes att.Paul averly = Chronicle- meaning attention. Paul Averly = Chronicle.
​ But what does he mean and what is he saying. It is a curious phrase, that is, until you place it in the gematric code once again. It now makes perfect sense, and is just another clue, in a long list of clues the Zodiac Killer was pushing in our direction. 

PAUL AVERLY = 3+1+6+2+1+5+5+5+2+2 = 32
CHRONICLE = 3+6+5+2+1+5+3+2+5 = 32
And 32 does indeed equal 32.
This is why the Pines Card was the most important card of all, it tried to point us towards the number 315, that was integral to all the unsolved ciphers- and the address side was the final stamp of approval.

Over the past few months it has been shown that the Zodiac Killer was basing his agenda on a twisted concept of religion, indeed, declaring himself as the redeemer and flying in the face of any morality when placing himself next to Jesus Christ in the pursuit of the afterlife and the savior of souls. This sounds like a ridiculous statement, until you examine the mathematical aptitude he employed in all of his ciphers and cards to reveal over and over again the name of Jesus in every one, without exception. As explained before through 18 articles he employed the use of two codes predominantly, the first was derived from the 13 Symbol Cipher and the fact that it split the alphabet, starting with the letter A and ending with the letter M, and this code, shown on the right is based on Genesis and the six days of creation. The second code was the standard English gematric code we are all familiar with, ie: A=1, B=2, C=3 etc.  

The number 888 has been shown to be a running theme right from his 408 Cipher, split into three parts of 8 lines, through to his first three crimes and first three murders. To bring you up to date on the concept of 888, you may also want to read http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-three-eights or negotiate the previous 18 article links placed at the foot of this page. But on this occasion we will be showing the reasoning behind the design of the 13 Hole Postcard, using the gematric code above and employing the identical technique used on decoding the Pines Card. SEE HERE.  

Plus it was always puzzling as to why the Zodiac Killer would add a small cross or crucifix under the number 13 on the card. Well 'THIRTEEN' (41) and 'CROSS' (22) = 63 once again. But finally and more crucially, and the entire reason behind this article in the first place;  when we convert the 13 into individual text form, in the identical fashion as we did in the 'Hidden Message in the Pines' article, we arrive at 'ONE THREE' = 215 76555 = 36.
All that is left to do is now add up the values of the whole card ie; 43+120+36+217+130+342 = 888 and our name of Jesus one more time. This may be the reason that he added the CROSS in the first place, it was key to the entire card.
You may be asking why the word 'Zodiac' on the card has not had the code applied to it, well that was his signature and as explained at the very beginning of this article, he was pronouncing himself as the redeemer and was flying in the face of any morality, when placing himself next to Jesus Christ in the pursuit of the afterlife and the savior of souls, and that is exactly what he did, placing 888 right next to his signature name. He was indeed claiming they were one and the same, however uncomfortable a thought that may be.

Saturday in the quiet town of Joplin, Montana, seemed like any other day back in 1957, but this was to turn out to be no ordinary day for the residents of Liberty County, when the lives of two men on a collision course were about to change forever, in which one was to emerge and possibly become the most notorious killer in American history.
Hichhiking his way from Roundup, Montana in search of employment in Shelby, Donald Lee Bujok entered the town of Havre, situated just over 50 miles east of Joplin. Here he made a decision that was to turn out to be life changing, when he stole a Ford Monarch car outside of Buttrey's Department Store at approximately 8.15 am on the morning of October 5th 1957.
Shortly afterwards, the owner of the car contacted the local deputy, who in turn relayed the facts to law enforcement in Chester, approximately one hour's drive west of Havre, that the suspect may possibly be heading in their direction - and indeed he was - approaching along Highway 2, towards Joplin.
Deputy Otto Fossen (65), a 30 year veteran of the Chester Sheriff's Department was sent to investigate, and located the stolen car just a short ten minute drive east of Chester in the small town of Joplin. The vehicle had a flat tire.
Deputy Otto Fossen questioned a manager at the Farmers Union Elevator to see if he had noted anything suspicious in the area, whereupon he noticed some activity in the area of Highway 2, Joplin Road, spotting a man being led away from a car. He was now to make a decision that would forever leave its mark in Joplin, but unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons.
He approached the suspect in his car, but things soon turned sour. A man determined to reach his destination that day and a deputy simply performing his duty, had lit the touchpaper that exploded into a powder keg of tragic consequences, as a scuffle ensued between the two men while entering the patrol car of Deputy Otto Fossen. Five shots shattered the tranquil Montana air. Moments later, a man exited the car and fell into the nearby ditch. Sadly it was Deputy Otto Fossen, fatally struck five times to the neck and chest and he died shortly after reaching hospital.      

The senseless slaying of Undersheriff Otto S Fossen on October 5th 1957, occurred exactly 13 years prior to the 13 Hole Postcard, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. In this correspondence, if we believe it to be genuine, the Zodiac Killer clearly makes the date evident in the top right corner, Mon, Oct 5 1970, as to signify its relevance, along with punching 13 holes through the face of the card.
Kevin Robert Brooks, an avid Zodiac researcher and author of the upcoming book 'Zodiac-The Montana Connection', has noted the significant emphasis the author places on the date, the number 13 and the punch-holes accentuated within its design.
The Zodiac Killer was telling us that this particular date was personal to him, being the anniversary of the shooting of Deputy Otto Fossen back in 1957, stating on the card 'Its just one big thirteenth', alongside the number 13 itself.
Donald Lee Bujok's version of events back in 1957 to people he knew, claimed self defense, in that Deputy Otto Fossen had pistol whipped him and he was acting to defend himself. On the 13 Hole Postcard, a conductor's punch was used to forge the holes in the card. Kevin Robert Brooks believes that Donald Lee Bujok, a former army veteran and railroad worker, used these punch-holes to mark each year since the tragic events of 1957 and the day Donald Lee Bujok, by all accounts, first ventured into the world of first degree murder.      

This article was written with express permission from Kevin Robert Brooks, author of the 'Zodiac The Montana Connection'.