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.       

There is a significant number of people who believe the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard was not the Zodiac Killer, rather an impostor or fraud masquerading as the Bay Area murderer. Despite the overwhelming evidence this attack was by the hand of the Zodiac Killer, the ever grandiose theories of a copycat or 'newspaper driven' conspiracy keep filling the message boards. If you believe the Lake Berryessa murderer was an impostor, then it is reasonable to assume that you also believe the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card was the same impostor. The murderer of Cecelia Shepard wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle, finishing his message with the immortal words "by knife". This phrase was withheld from the newspapers and wasn't known by the time the 'Halloween' card was mailed. Since the author of the 'Halloween' card wrote the phrase "by knife" within his communication and selected imagery of a an eye peering from behind a tree with the additional phrase "peek-a-boo you are doomed", it seems rather logical that the author is referring to Lake Berryessa and his escapade of vanishing behind a tree, before reemerging in his masked costume. Unless of course, he just guessed the phrase "by knife" withheld from the newspapers, by simultaneously discovering a Tim Holt comic book with the exact phrase around a death wheel. This impostor is rather a lucky chap.

​This impostor would then discover the workings of the unbroken 340 cipher, writing "sorry no cipher" on the envelope inner of the 'Halloween' card, despite the fact (to our knowledge) that nobody at this juncture had noticed that the paradice and slaves configuration on the card was also present on the 340 cipher, bisecting it at its center both horizontally and vertically. Not only had this impostor accidentally stumbled across the withheld "by knife" in the Tim Holt comic book, but he had also told us the puzzle contained in the 340 cipher. By writing "sorry no cipher" in the same style as paradice and slaves, he was effectively linking the two and stating that the unbroken 340 character cipher contained the configuration paradice and slaves within its design. It was therefore no cipher.

This links the apparent impostor to the Lake Berryessa attack, the 'Halloween' card and the 340 cipher. It is rather amazing that the impostor not only found the hidden "by knife" on the car door by inadvertently thumbing through his comic book collection just prior to the 'Halloween' card, but he found it around a death wheel that he could conveniently transfer and place it around the paradice and slaves configuration on the card. Even more fortunate, was the real Zodiac Killer had apparently allowed the option of paradice and slaves within the design of the 340 cipher, placing the word "by" accidentally in all four quadrants to equally mimic the 'Halloween' card. It is rather more logical to conclude that the designer of the 'Halloween' card also designed the 340 cipher - and because of "by knife", was the perpetrator of the September 27th 1969 Lake Berryessa attack. If you believe the Lake Berryessa attack was an impostor and not Zodiac, then by extension you have to believe the designer of the 340 cipher was the same impostor. 

​If the impostor created the 340 cipher, then he mailed the 'Bus Bomb' letter also. The 'Bus Bomb' communication was mailed in tandem with the 340 cipher and contained the same victim count of 7 in the passage "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people". It also contained "Oct" in the same fashion as the writing on the 'Dripping Pen' card. Most people are in agreement that the 340 cipher/'Dripping Pen' card and 'Bus Bomb' letter were mailed by the same author. But if an impostor created the 340 cipher, he also sent the 'Bus Bomb' letter containing a piece of Paul Stine's blooded shirt from the October 11th 1969 taxicab murder. By extension therefore, the impostor must be responsible for the murder of Paul Stine and the October 13th 1969 letter. Furthermore, he must be responsible for the December 20th 1969 'Melvin Belli' letter, which also contained a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt. The bottom line being that, if you believe the Lake Berryessa attack to be an impostor, then you have to believe the Paul Stine murder wasn't Zodiac either, along with five other communications that include the October 13th 1969 mailing, the 340 cipher and 'Bus Bomb' letters, the 'Melvin Belli' letter and finally the 'Halloween' card. You cannot have one without the others. The logical conclusion is that the entirety were mailed by the Zodiac Killer, who was responsible for four attacks in the Bay Area. But no doubt, this will be far too boring a conclusion, in a case where facts seem to no longer matter anymore.

Whether the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates (18) in Riverside on October 30th 1966 has been widely debated. The young woman was found brutally stabbed on Halloween morning by groundskeeper Cleophus Martin. The Zodiac Killer would lay claim to this murder on March 13th 1971 when he stated in the 'Los Angeles' letter "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". This made it curious that the Zodiac Killer's previous communication was the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card and its obvious implications of a murder related to Halloween. Sandwiched between the 'Halloween' card and 'Los Angeles' communications was the November 16th 1970 Paul Avery article in the San Francisco Chronicle declaring there was 'New Evidence in the Zodiac Killings.'  This seemed rather convenient timing immediately after a card based around Halloween.

The Riverside and Zodiac connection was first proffered by Phil Sins, who Michael Morford was fortunate enough to interview in 2012. He stated "that as far as he can remember, he initially asked Avery to contact Riverside Police, and that he only got involved directly with Riverside Police Department after he made contact with Avery. He stated that he linked the two cases just by the overall similarity in the taunting letters. It also got his attention that Bates was killed on Halloween Eve and Zodiac sent a Halloween card. He told Avery to look into it, and get a writing expert as there were writing samples in Riverside. He says he has monitored the case since making the connection. He himself never had any suspects nor did he have any theories in particular". This peaked my interest regarding the design of the Halloween card, and whether the Zodiac Killer was finally incorporating Cheri Jo Bates into his running victim total (now 14), whether or not he was responsible for her murder or not. If Phil Sins drew a connection between the 'Halloween' card and Riverside, what else may he have observed?      

The pumpkin placed over the first skeleton has always been a curiosity - unless of course - the Zodiac Killer is effectively 'date stamping' this claimed fourteenth victim. He placed the number 14 on the hand of the skeleton and placed a pumpkin over the pelvic region, not only associating this victim with Halloween, but scoring the victim count of 14 onto the skeleton itself. Bearing in mind the murder of Cheri Jo Bates was four years prior, was this choice of imagery relevant?

David Faraday (17), Betty Lou Jensen (16) and Michael Mageau (19) were three teenage victims of the Zodiac Killer, despite the fact that Michael Mageau survived the attack at Blue Rock Springs. Cheri Jo Bates (18) was also a teenager. The Zodiac Killer wrote the number 14 on the hand of the first skeleton, so could easily have written this number again over the skull of the skeleton on the card inner (shown right). He could have written "fourteen", but deliberately chose to separate the "4" and "TEEN", indicating that these offerings were to be interpreted as two separate words. In the spoken word, this could mean FOUR TEEN or FOR TEEN. The Zodiac Killer placed twelve eyes onto the 'Halloween' card (one was already present at manufacture), suggesting that these held an important significance to the message the card was attempting to prompt from the reader. The simplest answer, when we consider the addition above the skeleton's head, is "look for teen". In totality, the Zodiac Killer is effectively saying "look for teen, who I have inscribed as my fourteenth victim, discovered on Halloween". The pumpkin attached to the skeleton should be the biggest clue in this regard. 

Phil Sins contacted Paul Avery regarding the taunting letters and the 'Halloween' card observation, so it is no surprise that the Paul Avery article surfaced on November 16th 1970 putting forth a possible connection between the Zodiac murders and the brutal stabbing of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside. But was the Zodiac Killer telling the truth when he stated "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity", and was the 'Halloween' card the prompt, subsequently interpreted by Phil Sins? 

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. 

The first section of this article is a refresher, before we incorporate the rarely mentioned 'American Greetings' card, postmarked December 1990. This card, devoid of any handwriting on the card inner, was the sister communication to the Halloween card, also beginning with "From your secret pal", but contained a photocopy or xerox of two keys that have mystified as to their meaning. We will attempt to combine this communication with the Halloween card and explain its relevance to the Zodiac Killer's unsolved 340 cipher. As always, this analysis must be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.
  
So firstly, I would like to press home the notion that the Zodiac Killer's 340 cipher was nothing more than a ruse, designed to stick two fingers up to the challenge laid down by Professor D.C.B. Marsh of the American Cryptogram Association (ACA) on October 22nd 1969, when he "invited Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name." The Zodiac Killer would eventually reveal the workings of the 340 cipher just over a year later when he mailed the rather cryptic Halloween card on October 27th 1970, revealing the trick, not treat, he had perpetrated on his challengers. The killer couldn't have been any more obvious when he actually wrote "sorry no cipher" on the envelope inner.

​In 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Dragon card, the Kathleen Johns letter, the Little List letter and the '13 Hole' postcard, none of which stated the glaringly obvious, that he hadn't sent a cipher with any of them. Why would he then apologize for not sending a cipher with the Halloween card when it was patently apparent upon opening the communication? Even if he had wanted to apologize, why didn't the Zodiac Killer just write "sorry no cipher"? The fact he wrote it twice in the form of two intersecting lines suggests this design was created for a purpose. The only other intersecting text on the entire card were the words "Paradice" and "Slaves", so was the author of the Halloween card telling us that something he had created wasn't a cipher, only the intersecting words of "Paradice" and "Slaves"? If we could find "Paradice" and "Slaves" intersecting each other in any previously unsolved cipher, structured in similar fashion to "sorry no cipher", then this should be a strong argument to the meaning behind the Halloween card. We need to find "Slaves" running horizontally, preferably at the center of the 340 cipher and bisect it with the word "Paradice" (hopefully beginning with the letter "P" somewhere at the top of the cipher along the 9th column). 

Fortunately, nine characters along the top row is the letter "P". Then we must travel downwards 17 characters in order to create two lines of equal length and find the "E" of "Paradice". This will now be represented by the character "<".  We now have two lines of 17 characters, bisected by a "+" sign (the center of the crosshairs). The 'wings' of the crosshairs are represented by two dashes, situated in columns 1 and 17. These represent the two "S" letters of "Slaves". This is all very convenient. 

​There are only two identical characters (the "+" sign) in the 9th column along the first 10 rows, and we know the letter "A" is center of the bisecting "Paradice" and "Slaves" on the Halloween card. It is then a simple task of placing the "R" of "Paradice" and "LV" of "Slaves" into position, to exactly mirror the Halloween card formation. It is then not difficult to find the word "By" in all four quadrants of the 340 cipher, again mirroring the Halloween card. See here for visual. 

The second clue may have also come from the envelope, when the Zodiac Killer underlined the 'LAV' of the misspelled Paul Avery on the address side. The three letters 'LAV' bisected the center point of the 340 cipher. What are the odds of "sorry no cipher" mimicking the "Paradice" and "Slaves" formation on the Halloween card, which then mimicked the 340 cipher, along with  the three alphabetical letters 'LAV' being integral to both. 

The Zodiac Killer knew that the first anniversary of his 340 cipher being unsolved was fast approaching, and this Halloween opportunity of revealing his trick to the world, albeit wrapped in another cryptic message, was simply too much to resist.

The words "Paradice" and "Slaves" were decoded in the 408 cipher and featured prominently in the Halloween card, so what are the chances they were an integral part in the design of the 340 cipher as well? So much so, they may have formed crosshairs, bisecting the cipher at its midpoint? If none of the above was an intentional creation by Zodiac and it all fell out by accident, then he is certainly one hell of a fortunate designer. 

In the words of Thomas Horan, the 340 cipher was certainly the "Great Zodiac Killer Hoax of 1969".

When the Zodiac Killer mailed his trinity of July 31st 1969 communications he withheld his identity or pseudonym, but beginning on August 4th 1969 with his 'Debut of Zodiac' letter through to his March 13th 1971 'Los Angeles' letter, every single letter the Zodiac Killer mailed began with "This is the Zodiac Speaking" (excluding cards). So why should the 340 cipher message be any different - which was effectively a letter within a card. 

We do not know if the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the mailing of the 'American Greetings' card, but for the purpose of this argument we will assume that he was. On the left is the photocopy of the two keys that arrived with the communication. The two keys must have had some meaning to the sender - but what? It is clear that the sender could have photographed the keys, drawn two keys or even pasted two 'newspaper keys' onto the card, but made the deliberate choice of photocopying two keys for a reason. The act of the photocopying, one would like to believe, was done to convey a message.

A negative photocopy inverts the colors of the document when creating a photocopy, resulting in letters that appear white on a black background instead of black on a white background. Negative photocopies of old or faded documents sometimes produce documents which have better focus and are easier to read and study. Wikipedia. ​To invert something is to put upside down or in the opposite position, order, or arrangement. Synonyms of invert, are to turn upside down, upturn, upend, turn around, turn about, turn inside out, turn back to front, reverse, flip (over) or transpose. Therefore, was the designer of the 'American Greetings' card hinting that we should "invert the key" or "flip the key". In other words, the key to the 340 cipher is to "invert" or "flip" it on its head in order to read it. The "sorry no cipher" arrangement on the Halloween card envelope was equated with "Paradice" and "Slaves", but could have been written with the 'vertical' "sorry no cipher" running downwards. Could this imply that "Paradice" was meant to be flipped on the 340 cipher, running from bottom to top?  

If we go to David Oranchak's excellent Zodiac Killer Ciphers website and employ his 340 cipher Webtoy using the 'flip vertically' function, the 20th and 1st rows are flipped, the 19th and 2nd rows are flipped, and so forth. In essence, the bottom line now becomes the top line. The "Zodiac" he gave us on the 20th line is now in the perfect position on the top line to open up this communication or cipher with the infamous words "This is the Zodiac Speaking", just like every other letter from August 1969 to March 1971. 

The correspondence before the Halloween card was the October 5th 1970  '13 Hole' postcard. It too contained a cross and flipped text, stating "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"

Wouldn't it be nice if "Fk" meant "Flipped key" as well, and the '13 Hole' postcard was the third member of the trinity of solutions to the Zodiac Killer's unbreakable 340 cipher.

The Zodiac Killer's primary focus was attention from the media, who themselves also benefited from the extensive reporting of his murderous campaign, letter writing and extortion, in a form of symbiotic relationship. The murderer would use this to full advantage during and after his confirmed attacks dried up, often claiming or insinuating his involvement in certain crimes. The August 1969 Debra Gaye Furlong and Kathie Ann Snoozy stabbings, along with the 1970 murders of Robert Michael Salem, Officer Richard Radetich and Donna Ann Lass come to mind. But the killer was also prepared to mention other crimes, such as the murder of San Francisco police officer Brian McDonnell on February 16th 1970: "I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station.  Even though I talked about killing school children with one. It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory.  But there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back." The Zodiac Killer wasn't averse to rubbing their "noze in their booboos" when adversity came their way.
The following is extremely speculative and probably way off base, but since it has never been suggested before (as far as I am aware), it is worth putting forward as a possible example of Zodiac piggybacking a crime unrelated to his murderous exploits. 

At approximately 8:10 pm on October 19th 1970 Lieutenant Shaw and Sergeant Noren entered the Sosquel area of Santa Cruz, California responding to a fire on a hill between Rodeo Gulch Road and San Jose Road. The horror of what ultimately lay at 999 North Rodeo Gulch Road was yet to be unearthed.

The bodies of Dr. Victor Ohta (45) and his wife, Virginia (43), along with their two sons, Victor Taggart (11) and Richard Derrick (12), and secretary, Mrs Dorothy Cadwallader (38) were found murdered in the swimming pool of the residence. They had been callously executed.

Dr. Ohta had been shot in the back and under the arm, while the others had been shot in the back of the neck. It was literally a bloodbath. The victims had been bound and blindfolded with scarves before being murdered. The Ohta residence was then set on fire. When the fire crews arrived at the isolated estate they were hampered by Dr. Victor Ohta's Rolls Royce and Mrs. Dorothy Cadwallader's Lincoln Continental blocking the entrance.

Later that day Dr. Ohta's green Oldsmobile station wagon was discovered burnt out on railway tracks near Felton, approximately 18 miles northwest of the crime scene. Although not definitively linked to the other five murders, Thomas DeCecco (19), a service station attendant was found bound and shot in the head near Saratoga only hours after the initial crime, possibly bringing the victim count to six.    

"KPIX News footage from October 20th 1970 with reporter Pat O'Brien featuring scenes from a house in Soquel, CA, in the aftermath of the mass murder of eye surgeon Dr. Victor Ohta, his wife Virginia, two sons Taggart and Derrick and secretary Dorothy Cadwallader. Includes aerial views of the Ohta home, the swimming pool in which their bodies were found." link.

A typewritten note was discovered under the windshield wipers of Dr. Ohta's Rolls Royce. It stated "Halloween...1970. Today World War III will begin as brought to you by the people of the free universe. I and my comrades from this day forth will fight until death for freedom, against anything or anyone who does not support natural life on this planet. Materialism must die or mankind will." Signed "Knight of Wands, Knight of Cups, Knight of Pentacles, Knight of Swords."

John Linley Frazier was arrested shortly after the murders and was sentenced to death on November 29, 1971. However, in 1972 the death penalty was abolished in California and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He committed suicide by hanging  on August 13th 2009.

One week after the Ohta murders and typewritten note stating "Halloween...1970", the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'Halloween' card on October 27th 1970, featuring two skeletons, with twelve eyes added to its design. One eye peered from the knothole of a tree, surrounded by the words "peek-a-boo you are doomed". Why did the killer add twelve eyes to this card?
​Dr. Victor Ohta was an eye surgeon (ophthalmologist), and six possible victims were reported in the newspapers (6 pairs of eyes). The skeletons on the card outer and inner also had the eyes highlighted in red, one in the form of a blindfold, in similar fashion to the victims thrown into the pool. 

Zodiac researcher Tom Voigt 'floated' this idea on his message board in 2012: "I received an interesting observation of the Halloween card via e-mail recently -- it suggested the skeletons were meant to depict a water scenario, with the top skeleton being a diver (my guess would be the pumpkin representing swim trunks?) and the bottom skeleton floating under water, I'm guessing then the many eyes possibly representing bubbles?" What if the water was from the swimming pool at 999 North Rodeo Gulch Road.

The 'Halloween' card would emphasize four methods of death: By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife, three of which would feature heavily in the Ohta murders.

Had the Zodiac Killer read the coverage of the brutal murders at Sosquel and beyond, and fearing that his relevance was dwindling in the newspapers, used the crime of John Linley Frazier to piggyback himself back into prominence? If this was the case, unfortunately for him, nobody understood the connection, and the meaning of the 'Halloween' card was lost in translation. As an explanation for the October 27th 1970 correspondence, this is probably wide of the mark. It does, however, give us a flavor of some of the radical views that permeated California in the 1960s and 1970s, and the beginning of the end for the Zodiac Killer.

It seemed rather fortunate that the 'Halloween' card mailed on October 27th 1970, if designed totally independently to the 340 cipher, that Paradice and Slaves could be found perfectly bisecting the 340 cipher, 17 by 17 characters. Not to mention the word "By" being found in all four quadrants. This is discussed in more detail in the article 'The Illusion of the 340 Cipher.'  
The 'Halloween' card was almost certainly highlighting the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, tied up with rope (plastic clothesline) and brutally stabbed sixteen times by the Zodiac Killer. The phrase "peek-a-boo you are doomed" referencing the children's game peekaboo, where 'hiding behind that tree' is sometimes added. This would also be the second time "by knife" would be used - linking the 'Halloween' card to the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia of Bryan Hartnell.
Since these two 'methods of death' (rope and knife) were instrumental to the attack on the young couple, we will focus on Paradice, Slaves, By Knife and By Rope. 
On the 'Halloween' card it is apparent that "By" is written vertically for "knife" rather than horizontally, as displayed by the other 'methods of death'. Could this be a sinister inference to a knife being driven downwards and the predominant focus of this card?   

If we color in the five characters underneath the 'Y' in the bottom left quadrant of the cipher, as is portrayed on the 'Halloween' card, it can be seen that the 'right facing V' would represent the 'E' of knife.
If we  color in the four characters underneath the 'B' in the bottom right quadrant of the cipher, as is portrayed on the 'Halloween' card, it can be seen that the 'right facing V' would represent the 'E' of rope.
To complete the word Paradice and Slaves a 'left facing V' had to be found in the last section of both words for parity. In this instance a 'left facing V' represented the letter 'E'.
When the Zodiac Killer introduced his 408 cipher in the July 31st letters, he stated "Here is part of a cipher" or "Here is a cyipher." When challenged to design another cipher by D.C.B. Marsh in the San Francisco Examiner on October 22nd 1969, the 340 cipher arrived just over two weeks later. The article was entitled 'Cipher Expert Dares Zodiac to Tell Name'. Bearing in mind that the 340 cipher began with "Her," could it have started with "Here is a cipher" or "Here's a cipher" (to marry with the 'P' of Paradice) in direct response to cryptographic expert D.C.B. Marsh.
There are 10 'left or right facing' V's in the entire 340 cipher. If the latter hypothesis was correct, then at least 50% of these would be represented by the letter E, in respect of Here, Paradice, Slaves, Rope and Knife.  

On December 30th 2013, Tahoe27 gave us the Wheel of Death from the Tim Holt comic book. It contained a Rota Fortunae style game in which Redmask would discover his fate based upon twelve methods of death.

​The Zodiac Killer appeared to be inspired by the comic, either before or after his canonical crimes began on December 20th 1968, writing the words "by knife" on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's 1956 white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. He may have hinted towards this comic when designing a crude code and drawing on the Fairfield letter, mailed on December 16th 1969. However, on October 27th 1970 the Halloween card contained a design depicting the four methods of death, all of which mirrored the cover of the Tim Holt comic book. In total, the twelve methods of death ran around a Zodiac styled wheel:

"In medieval and ancient philosophy the Wheel of Fortune, or Rota Fortunae, is a symbol of the capricious nature of Fate. The wheel belongs to the goddess Fortuna (Greek equivalent Tyche) who spins it at random, changing the positions of those on the wheel: some suffer great misfortune, others gain windfalls. Fortune appears on all paintings as a woman, sometimes blindfolded, "puppeteering" a wheel. The origin of the word is from the "wheel of fortune" - the zodiac, referring to the Celestial spheres of which the 8th holds the stars, and the 9th is where the signs of the zodiac are placed".

Nevertheless, the Zodiac Killer only chose four - death By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire. He also added a strange symbol to the card that has perplexed many an observer over the years - a symbol that has prompted many suggestions, including cattle branding, a depiction of Mount Diablo and a form of victim running total. The symbol may possibly be a joined Z and F, indicating that Zodiac is claiming fourteen victims, or maybe a joined Z, V and F symbolizing Zodiac Victims Fourteen. However, the four dots accompanying the symbol have always been difficult to explain with any degree of confidence. We have four methods of death chosen by Zodiac, therefore the possibility exists that the four dots are somehow related. What we may be looking for, could be Zodiac Victims Fourteen By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire. The Zodiac Killer in all likelihood drew inspiration for his 'methods of death'/Paradice and Slaves configuration from the Tim Holt comic book, so why should the strange symbol be any different.        

If we superimpose the strange symbol Zodiac designed over the four 'methods of death' on the wheel of the Tim Holt comic book, the four dots land squarely over the four prescribed methods of death. 

There is no definitive evidence to totally negate the idea that the 340 cipher contains a viable solution - with the mystery and allure of the Zodiac Killer code the driving force behind people wishing it were genuine. This, of course, exempts the 500+ people who have already solved the 340 cipher, in solutions now extending longer than the Bayeux Tapestry. Obviously, Zodiac researchers who specialize in the ciphers rather than the crimes themselves, have a vested interest in wishing the cipher to be a hidden message. This is the belief that keeps the dream alive. But did the Zodiac Killer really have the ability to create a more difficult cipher than the 408, with a reasonable expectation of a solution? Placing 29 unique characters into a 32 symbol cipher, and creating a 13 symbol code would suggest not.

The October 22nd 1969 Examiner newspaper article by Will Stevens laid down a challenge to the Zodiac Killer from the president of the American Cryptogram Association (ACA), Professor D.C.B. Marsh, to reveal his name. This may be the article that inspired the 340 cipher, and by association, the 'Halloween' card mailed approximately one year later. 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".

This contention is probably true - that the Zodiac Killer wouldn't reveal his name in any cipher (other than his pseudonym), and additionally, he likely used the fact "that any cipher created by man can be solved by man" as a springboard to create something extra special, other than a cipher. If we contend that the Zodiac Killer wrote his final letters in 1974, then is it likely that a killer touted as an attention seeker, could resist dropping us clues to the 340 cipher in his subsequent letters, spanning in excess of four years? Each and every one of his final three communications in late 1970 and early 1971 effectively told us he was crackproof. The upside down text on the October 5th 1970 'Pace' card stated "Fk I'm crackproof". The October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card proclaimed "sorry no cipher". The March 13th 1971 'Los Angeles' letter boasted "Like I have allways said, I am crack proof". But the Zodiac Killer hadn't always said he was crackproof- only in the two communications either side of the 'Halloween' card announcing "sorry no cipher". The suggestion he was crackproof, thereby not arising from his perceived ability to evade police, but from his smugness in knowing he created three ciphers he knew would never be solved. 

The Tim Holt comic find by Tahoe27 in 2013, and the recent assertion of a close alliance, not only with the 'Halloween' card, but the 340 cipher, has been covered here to reject the 340 cipher as containing a viable and coherent message.

In view of the "by knife" attribution on Bryan Hartnell's car door, it is arguable that the Zodiac Killer had the Tim Holt comic book or Rota Fortunae (Wheel of Death) in mind as he wrote on the car door. In other words, the concept predated the September 27th 1969 Lake Berryessa stabbings, rather than just the 'Halloween' card. The Lake Berryessa "by knife" attribution becoming the part inspiration for the complex puzzle of the 340 cipher. The "by knife" method of death (on the right) is clearly the only one falling within its quadrant, as opposed to the others, which are all connecting with the central column.

This method of death was certainly prioritized by the Zodiac Killer, having placed it on Bryan Hartnell's vehicle (despite the fact the crime was obviously committed with a knife). The feasible presence of "by knife" within the 340 cipher. The possibility of a crude 'Halloween' card design in the December 16th 1969 'Fairfield' letter featuring "death by knife", along with the "Bleeding Knife of Zodiac" drawing. And finally, the 'October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card design and comic book, both containing "by knife" and mirroring the 340 cipher and 'Fairfield' letter.

Below are the speculative beginnings, attempting to interweave the '13 Hole' postcard into the emerging design. 

This is the last time this subject will be tackled for the foreseeable future, unless something magical sticks its head above the parapet - but before that happens - there is just one more addition to the idea of an extremely close alliance between the 'Halloween' card and 340 cipher, and the suggestion that the 340 cipher is not a meaningful and coherent message by the Zodiac Killer. Just about every feature of the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card, including the envelope and stamp, can be shown to exist within the 340 cipher, making the December 2013 discovery by Tahoe27, of a Tim Holt comic book connection, all the more compelling. Her discovery may have opened the door to finally end the debate on the validity of the 340 masterpiece, and place the pseudonym 'Zodiac' front and center to the 'Death Wheel' featured on the comic book cover.

At what juncture the Zodiac first stumbled across his pseudonym is of little importance, however, it could be argued that when he found it, he would likely research the name 'Zodiac' and use elements of his research to incorporate into his future correspondence. If he had happened upon the Tim Holt 'Death Wheel' comic prior to November 8th 1969, then the light bulb may have switched on - and his design of a crackproof cipher began in earnest. And possibly, a 340 cipher designed in tandem with the Tim Holt comic and cipher three, which he mailed just over five months later on April 20th 1970. His opening line of "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is....", he may have already known the answer to when he manufactured the illusion of a 340 character message.        

The 'Halloween' card stamp contained 17 letters "In the beginning God" that slotted nicely onto the first line of the 340 cipher, with characters 15, 16 and 17 awkwardly similar - including the half-earth image present on the stamp. Paradice and Slaves can be shown as a distinct possibility, bisecting the 340 cipher horizontally and vertically, just like the 'Halloween' card arrangement. Seventeen characters horizontally and vertically in either direction to create the perfect crosshairs of Zodiac. The word "by" can be found in all four quadrants of the 340 cipher, mirroring the 'Halloween' card arrangement. At least seven, possibly eight characters on the 14th line of the 340 cipher can be formed into the design of the 'Halloween' card inner. Explanation here. "Sorry no cipher" written on the envelope inner and designed in similar fashion to the Paradice and Slaves arrangement on both the 'Halloween' card and 340 cipher, explicitly instructed us that no cipher existed on November 8th 1969.

One has to presume that all these fell here by accident (including the inference to Zodiac on the 20th line) - because to believe otherwise - would pour huge doubt on a Zodiac Killer who was able to simultaneously create a uniform message within the 340 cipher in conjunction with a 'bag of puzzles'. However, the Tim Holt 'Death Wheel' comic is not only interesting because it contains By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife found in the 'Halloween' card, or because of "Redmask" or "Lady Doom," but because of the origin of the 'Death Wheel' or 'Wheel of Fortune' itself. Had the Zodiac Killer read anything about the pseudonym 'Zodiac' when he first appropriated it, then he may have known the relevance of the 'Wheel of Fortune' or 'Rota Fortunae,'. thereby triggering the inspiration for the 340 cipher, and the eventual 'Halloween' card explanation or solution to his devilish trick and treat.          

We could just assume that when the Zodiac Killer spotted the Tim Holt 'Death Wheel' comic book, he liked the fact it represented some or all of his killing methods, and simply chose it because of its menacing touch. However, he may have chosen it because of the pseudonym he had grown so attached to - a pseudonym he would seemingly place at the foot of the 340 cipher.

The 'Wheel of Fortune' or 'Rota Fortunae' has a long and rich history, crossing many cultures and eras. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia: "In medieval and ancient philosophy the Wheel of Fortune, or Rota Fortunae, is a symbol of the capricious nature of Fate. The wheel belongs to the goddess Fortuna (Greek equivalent Tyche) who spins it at random, changing the positions of those on the wheel: some suffer great misfortune, others gain windfalls. Fortune appears on all paintings as a woman, sometimes blindfolded, "puppeteering" a wheel". The great windfall may be the promise of paradise, but the downside is the servile nature expected by the one who summoned you. But here is the interesting part - again taken from Wikipedia.
 
"The origin of the word is from the "wheel of fortune" - the zodiac, referring to the Celestial spheres of which the 8th holds the stars, and the 9th is where the signs of the zodiac are placed. The concept was first invented in Babylon and later developed by the ancient Greeks. The concept somewhat resembles the Bhavacakra, or Wheel of Becoming, depicted throughout Ancient Indian art and literature, except that the earliest conceptions in the Roman and Greek world involve not a two-dimensional wheel but a three-dimensional sphere, a metaphor for the world. It was widely used in the Ptolemaic perception of the universe as the zodiac being a wheel with its "signs" constantly turning throughout the year and having effect on the world's fate (or fortune)". link.

The zodiac is an area of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The paths of the Moon and visible planets are also within the belt of the zodiac. The Zodiac is divided into 12 signs beginning with Aries and Taurus. The Zodiac wheels have multiple cultural adaptations, shown here in a Wordpress blog: "These zodiac/time wheels are not common in Eastern Orthodox iconography, but they are found in one variation or another occasionally — usually, as here — in the form of wall paintings in churches. When seeing such a “Wheel of Time” — also called a Wheel of Life — one cannot help thinking of those Tibetan images that also represent a wheel of life as the “Wheel of Becoming” — in this case a wheel of rebirth:"

Here is one final extract from the book 'Deep Value': "Plutarch says that Servius knew "fortune is of great moment, or rather, she is everything in human affairs" because it was through good fortune that he had ascended from slave to king. In Roman mythology Fortuna was the goddess of fate, and the personification of chance. She turned the Rota Fortunae- the Wheel of Fortune- which dictated the destiny of man". Therefore, did Zodiac dictate the destiny of his victims -  By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife - and the very reason the 'Wheel of Death' portrayed on the Tim Holt comic was so very appealing.

The discovery by Tahoe27 linking the Tim Holt comic was fascinating in so many ways, yet it may not have been the inspiration behind the 'Halloween' card, but the inspiration behind the 340 cipher and its accompaniment - the '13 Symbol' cipher.
If the Zodiac Killer had done his research and discovered the 'Wheel of Fortune' or 'Rota Fortunae', and its connection to the word 'Zodiac', then the Tim Holt comic may have been a gift from heaven - an offering he just couldn't resist. 

Five weeks after the November 8th 1969 340 cipher, the December 16th 1969 'Fairfield' letter may have shown the early machinations of the Zodiac design, appearing in rudimentary code - the full explanation of which would have to wait until October 27th 1970.. The interconnectivity between the 'Halloween' card, Tim Holt 'Death Wheel' comic, the pseudonym 'Zodiac' and the 340 cipher is an intriguing and perplexing blend of mystery. One that came together by deliberate intent, or came together from the mind of somebody wishing it were true.

This is a continuation of the article 'The Illusion of the 340 Cipher,' attempting to show Zodiac's second code was nothing more than a collection of puzzles, interconnected to his other mailed correspondences.   
The 'Halloween' card mailed by Zodiac on October 27th 1970 predominantly featured within the 340 cipher, in that, Paradice and Slaves was able to be shown bisecting the cipher horizontally and vertically across its mid-section, along with 'by' being found in all four quadrants. The text of the stamp 'In the Beginning God' fitted nicely on the first line of the cipher, with the word 'God' aligning nicely with characters 15, 16 and 17. In addition, the half-earth image on the stamp mirrored exactly with character 16.
The idea that all these connections to the 'Halloween' card, '13 Symbol' cipher and 'Exorcist' letter could be forged within the 340 cipher by chance, was presented as so unlikely, they must have been created by design.
The darkened section of the 'Halloween' card inner reads like an instruction manual. The skeleton's finger of 4-TEEN directing us downwards 14 lines, to find the word 'BOO.'
The 14th line containing four shaded circles, three of which can be formed into the word BOO, complete with exclamation mark (I + black circle).
The next feature on the 'Halloween' card is the strange symbol.  
​  

The following two characters on the 14th line of the 340 cipher can easily be rearranged, by reversing the letter F and attaching its adjacent character, to mimic the strange symbol on the 'Halloween' card. 
​The next feature on both the 14th line and 'Halloween' card is the letter N and the letter Z. Rotating the N ninety degrees clockwise forms the completed sequence of BOO!, strange symbol and letter Z on the 340 cipher.
This is achieved using 8 characters on the 340 cipher, all in close proximity to each other. Just like 'In the Beginning God' and 'Paradice and Slaves,' is this another stroke of luck, or has this been deliberately fashioned by the Zodiac Killer as part of a game. 
It is further apparent that the word 'BOO' (in reverse) bisects the word 'Paradice' running vertically down the cipher, separating the letters I and C.
On the 'Halloween' card in this approximate area, the Zodiac Killer has mirrored the letter N, which may or may not hold some significance.
This could be a case of simply looking for patterns and finding them, but with so many having now been unearthed, is this compounding evidence to reliably dismiss the 340 cipher as harboring a coherent and uniform message, as demonstrated by the 408?
The Zodiac Killer may have dropped several clues in his later communications, resisting the temptation of giving us the final solution:
"But, then why spoil the game."    

This is a combination of previous articles (with a little extra) under one banner, attempting to dispel the idea that the 340 code is a genuine cipher, and all attempts at trying to reveal a continuous and coherent message will ultimately fail. By overwhelmingly consensus, the 340 cipher will soon be entering its 50th year unbroken, remaining impervious to all attempts at releasing its secrets, despite innumerable attempts by the best codebreakers and codebreaking machinery thrown at it. Either the Zodiac Killer created a cipher so stunningly impossible and misjudged the complexity of his cipher, or he didn't create one at all. The '13 Symbol' and '32 Symbol' codes were simply too short, with too many variables to be broken by conventional means. The '32 Symbol' cipher has 29 unique characters, meaning you can literally fill in the blanks however you choose. The '13 Symbol' cipher is simply too short to be called a cipher, and any solution proffered can be readily dismissed without a valid key. The Zodiac certainly wasn't stupid and must have known this - pouring huge doubt on whether he ever intended them to be solved in a conventional manner. Therefore, why should we treat the 340 cipher any differently. The whole thing just appeared to be one big game for the Zodiac Killer as we huffed and puffed long into the night trying to pry open his ultimate masterpiece.

Many observers have wondered whether the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'code key' to the Vallejo Police Department on August 10th 1969 under the guise of a "concerned citizen," unaware that it had already been solved by Donald Gene and Bettye June Harden, as well as the FBI in Washington. Unusual that he should then sit on the 340 cipher for many years to come, able to resist the temptation of revealing his subsequent ramblings. Keeping a secret for nearly 50 years would certainly take great restraint from a killer who bathed in the spotlight.

The 340 cipher may very well have been designed in the mind of the killer as early as August 4th 1969, or the moment his 408 cipher was cracked. The decrypted 408 read: "I like killing people because it is so much fun it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl the best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradice and 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". The answer to the 340 cipher probably already lay within the text of the 408 cipher - just designed in an altogether different format. The clue would later reveal itself in the design of the 'Halloween' card, mailed on October 27th 1970, where the killer placed "Paradice" and "Slaves" in a cross formation, and told us "sorry no cipher." This wouldn't be the only time the Zodiac Killer gave us clues, alluding to the fact we were chasing a solution to a cipher that didn't exist.        

One of the best finds in recent years was by Tahoe27, a regular contributor to the Zodiac Killer Site forum, who discovered a connection between a Tim Holt comic and the 'Halloween' card. Many features on the cover of the comic parallel the 'Halloween' card, including the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife, along with "Redmask" (the skeleton eyes) and "Lady Doom" (peek-a-boo you are doomed). However, I believe Tahoe27 is not convinced that the 'Halloween' card was authored by the Zodiac Killer. 
If the 'Halloween' card was authored by an impostor, who based the 'Halloween' card on the Tim Holt comic, then are we to believe he was extremely fortunate that a year earlier, the real Zodiac Killer just happened to create a 340 cipher containing the word "BY" in all four corners of the cipher, along with PARADICE and SLAVES being a possibility, running down and across the cipher on the midpoint vertically and horizontally, just like the configuration on the 'Halloween' card.

Admittedly, the words paradice and slaves have not been proven to exist in the 340 cipher, but the fact they are a distinct possibility by comparison to the 'Halloween' card appears another very fortunate stroke of luck- particularly if we believe the author of the 'Halloween' card wasn't the Zodiac Killer- and only considered the Tim Holt comic in his design of the 'Halloween' card. If the 'Halloween' card was crafted by the Zodiac Killer using only the Tim Holt comic, then the above still applies. The more likely conclusion we could draw from this, is that the 340 cipher was designed with the Tim Holt comic in mind, and the 'Halloween' card (one year later) was giving us a clue.  

​On the right, we can see how the four words "BY" fit into each quadrant of the 340 cipher just like the 'Halloween' card offering. What are the odds that in each quadrant of 80 characters we would find the letters B and Y together either horizontally or vertically every time. Not to mention the fortunate appearance of paradice and slaves bisecting the cipher perfectly. The killer may even have given us his signature in the bottom right corner, along with the running total, which was seven and counting on November 8th 1969.

If this wasn't the intended design of the 340 cipher, then either the Zodiac Killer or an impostor got extremely lucky, in just happening upon a Tim Holt comic that mirrored the 340 cipher unintentionally. But we may just be able to prove a definite link between these two communications and confidently state that both were designed by the Zodiac Killer, and with a fair degree of confidence, argue that the 340 cipher is not a cipher in the true sense of the word. The majority of the characters likely filler, but in this instance, far more than the 18 characters at the foot of the 408 cipher. The reason we may be able to contend the 340 cipher is not a continuous and uniform message like the 408 cipher (and not a cipher as we believe one to be), is because the Zodiac Killer lined us up for a fall and then admitted to it a year later.

On the 'Dripping Pen' card accompanying the 340 cipher, the killer stated
"This is the Zodiac speaking. I though you would nead a good laugh before you hear the bad news. You won't get the news for a while yet. Could you print this new cipher in your frunt page? I get aufully lonely when I am ignored, so lonely I could do my Thing". Was that bad news to come on October 27th 1970, when he mailed the 'Halloween' card. If we believe that the 'Halloween' card design is referring back to the 340 cipher, then the message concealed on the envelope inner of "sorry no cipher," is the Zodiac Killer finally admitting that the 340 cipher is not the real cipher we had thought. He is declaring that the 340 is "no cipher" - and is in fact, based upon the paradice and slaves configuration. This is why he crosses the phrase "sorry no cipher" to mimic the design of paradice and slaves, using 13 letters in both instances. The Zodiac Killer could easily have written "sorry no cipher" just the once, but deliberately fashioned it to form a link between the 'Halloween' card design and the 340 cipher.

After searching for solutions to the 340 cipher for nearly half a century, the Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer to its design after just one year, but it was overlooked. We have took the phrase "sorry no cipher" as an apology, that he wasn't giving us a cipher in the 'Halloween' card, when in actual fact, he was apologizing for stringing us along for the best part of a year, and offered us the real solution to the 340 cipher on October 27th 1970, contained within the 'Halloween' card. You could say it was a "trick" and "treat" befitting of Halloween.

​You will notice that the paradice and slaves configuration from the 'Halloween' card fits nicely into the 340 cipher.
The two dashes on the 10th line are represented by the letter S. 
The left-facing V on the 9th column and 10th line are represented by the letter E. 
​The two addition signs on the 9th column are represented by the letter A.
When the letter R of paradice is placed into its only conceivable position, along with the L and V from slaves, it is reminiscent of the 'Halloween' card. What are the chances that this could be achieved accidentally?  

The word paradice travels vertically 17 lines, exactly matching the 17 columns that slaves travels horizontally.The Zodiac Killer placed crosshairs beneath the 9th column, the midsection of the cipher (shown here). The intersection on the 'Halloween' card configuration forms RAD and LAV, exactly the same as the bisecting center point of the 340 cipher. The Zodiac Killer also underlined the LAV of Paul Averly on the Halloween card envelope, on which he also placed the intersecting "sorry no cipher" on the envelope inner. 

The 'Halloween' card stamp depicts the surface of the moon with a half-earth in the distance and the words "In the beginning God." This phrase fits perfectly on the 1st line (the beginning) of the 340 cipher, with the 15th, 16th and 17th characters uncannily similar to the word GOD (the O in half phase just like the image on the stamp). 

But this wouldn't be the only correspondence that suggested the 340 cipher was designed as a puzzle rather than a 408 style message, If the paradice and slaves connection does exist between the 340 cipher and 'Halloween' card, then it makes more sense that the design of paradice and slaves was created in the 340 cipher first, and the 'Halloween' card was to "clue us in". If not, then the observation is just happenstance. ​If the 340 cipher doesn't actually contain a message, it will never be broken, and paradoxically will remain unsolved despite no solution being possible.
 
The cipher has many other issues - in that, the Zodiac Killer may have had 'cipher three' formulated or drafted before he designed 'cipher two', to enable the interconnectivity between both. He had to think forwards to create backwards. If we assume the 340 cipher has a solution and therefore a key (no matter how complex), then one may assume the Zodiac created the key, then created the message, and then applied the message to the key so as to encrypt it. If this were the case, we must believe that the 'near Zodiac' that emerged on line 20 was by sheer chance. We would also have to believe, that had he crafted 'cipher three' completely independent of 'cipher two', with no intention of connecting both, then the following observations also happened completely by chance.

​Because the '13 Symbol' cipher was thirteen characters in total (half the alphabet) and began with an A and ended with an M, it was considered that by placing the first half of the alphabet alongside the '13 Symbol' cipher and numerically counting the difference between the columns, something may emerge - It did.

For example: C to N produces a difference of 11, whereas B and E produces a difference of 3. Non alphabetical symbols cannot produce a difference, so a zero is inserted. The resulting numbers produced have been color coded. The red section is before the first circled 8, the green section is after the last circled 8 and the blue section spans the first and last circled 8. Notice the perfect symmetry. The red and green numbers are identical read forwards or backwards, and the blue numbers again read identically in either direction, producing a mirror image.

An equally symmetrical pattern was created using the identical technique, when placing the correct spelling of Zodiac alongside the 'near Zodiac' on line 20 of the 340 cipher. Furthermore, the three 0's and three 8's created, can be combined and carried forward onto his '13 Symbol' cipher, which seemingly is what he did. It is also apparent on the '13 Symbol' cipher, that either side of the three circled 8's are the Zodiac crosshairs and an inverted Aries symbol, also present on either side of the 'near Zodiac' on the final line of the 340 cipher. So, the author has effectively carried eight symbols from one cipher to another.
The point being, that when the Zodiac Killer sat down at his desk and began to create a unique key for his 340 cipher, into which he was to place his message, it accidentally created the 'near Zodiac' on the 20th line, accidentally created the correlation between 'near Zodiac' and Zodiac to produce three circled 8's, accidentally created the symbols either side of 'near Zodiac,' that fully or in part, carried forward to the '13 Symbol' cipher in the correct position, and accidentally created symmetry in both instances. Or, the Zodiac crafted the '13 Symbol' cipher before or alongside the 340 cipher, which I would argue nobody believes. The Zodiac Killer may have began his 340 cipher key from the bottom first, deliberately allocating specific letters in his message to create the 'near Zodiac' characters and continuing from there. But, if the interconnectivity exists between the 340 cipher and '13 Symbol' cipher, he effectively began with 'cipher three' first and worked backwards, and worked forwards with the words ​paradice and slaves from the 408 cipher. 

​The Zodiac may have presented us with a fictitious negro male on August 4th 1969, who by inference, provided us with some valuable information about the Zodiac Killer driving his brown car by the payphone at Springs and Tuolumne. Was this a red herring of a clue, much like the correction on line 6 of the 340 cipher.

It can be clearly seen on the left, that the Zodiac Killer was conscientious enough to correct an alphabetical K to a reversed K on line 6, even though spelling correctly was never much of an issue with the Zodiac Killer. To validate that this was a genuine mistake, he made sure that the original K had not been fully obscured. This may give the impression it is easy to mix up your K's when implementing your encrypted text. Or maybe this is what he wanted us to believe. Who in their right mind would correct a fake cipher? Therefore it must be genuine. Did the Zodiac Killer implement this correction, conveniently leaving the blacked out character still visible (and just reversing it), to give us the impression that the 340 cipher is undeniably genuine? Was this move just another red herring, to again validate something that never was?

Alternatively, the final line of the 340 cipher may contain just a part message, yet incomplete, bearing in mind that many believe the '13 Symbol' cipher may contain some form of a name. The 340 cipher may end with: "the Zodiac is".... to be continued on the next cipher. The anticipation of the newspapers and readers alike, for the sequel to be released, would be a Zodiac dream. The Zodiac Killer may have been pushing us in the right direction on October 27th 1970, but his attempt at revealing the workings of the 340 cipher may have begun far earlier - on December 16th 1969 - just 38 days after his 'so called' masterpiece, in which he would be claiming a potential 38 more victims.

The December 16th 1969 'Fairfield' letter, mailed to the San Francisco Examiner, has been considered dubious Zodiac correspondence, however, it may have been Zodiac's first foray into revealing the mechanics of the 340 cipher, albeit using a rudimentary code as a tool. Clearly, the Zodiac must have known that offering just five different symbols in a code of nine is open to many different interpretations, and hence practically unsolvable. Therefore, one could suggest this wasn't his intention - he was simply teasing us with the mechanics of how the 340 cipher was designed, by using a rudimentary diagram based on the Tim Holt comic - and something he would expand upon nearly a year later. One can see how he uses the Zodiac symbol around the crosshairs in the December 16th 1969 'Fairfield' letter code, implying a uniformity of message, but aligns five symbols as an introduction to this design. This marries perfectly with 'Death By Gun', 'Death By Knife', 'Death By Fire' and 'Death By Rope.' Death is the introduction, following by the methods of death around the crosshairs. This is exactly what he offered us on October 27th 1970, when he placed the methods of death in the four quadrants of the bisecting Paradice and Slaves.  Here is a representation. 

Another Fairfield letter was mailed prior to this correspondence on December 7th 1969, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle. Was the Zodiac Killer highlighting pertinent sections of the 340 code in as little as one month after his November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card and cipher, negating the idea he could resist the temptation of giving us clues to its design. The final offering to the mechanics of the 340 cipher may have come with his final confirmed correspondence - that of the 'Exorcist' letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 29th 1974. ​         

The symbols at the foot of the 'Exorcist' letter were rearranged by Kevin Robert Brooks to reveal the words "To Kill". The message would then read "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing...To kill".

This threatening message was very similar to the trinity of communications that began the Zodiac's letter writing campaign on July 31st 1969, where he stated "I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity. If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend".
 
In both the 'Exorcist' letter and July 31st communications the author would threaten "to kill' - as he would in the decoded 408 cipher. This is not particularly unusual for a serial murderer, but linking the unarranged symbols on the 'Exorcist' letter to the 340 code may connect yet another communication to the design of the cipher.

Key features of the 'Halloween' card, '13 Symbol' cipher, Fairfield communications and 'Exorcist' letter can be found in the 340 cipher, suggesting the Zodiac Killer was constantly pushing us towards the design of the 340 puzzle. The following presentation will show a perceived correlation of the 'Exorcist' letter symbols to the only corrected section of the 340 cipher.

​​In the image on the left I have moved the two symbols on the extreme left of the 'Exorcist' letter to the right side as shown, without altering their position on the vertical axis. Then I have turned the extreme right symbol on the 'Exorcist' letter 90 degrees clockwise to form the new arrangement, shown in the bottom left image. This can now be compared to certain characters on the fifth, sixth, seventh line of the 340 cipher. The area in the proximity of the corrected sixth line. Five of the six characters on the 'Exorcist' letter now bear a noticeable similarity to this area of the 340 cipher.

Did the Zodiac Killer sit down to create a uniform and continuous message using a code key in the 340 cipher, just like the message contained within the 408 cipher? If so, then the above findings were all created accidentally and unintentionally by the killer.

He placed an intersecting symbol at the center of the 340 cipher (+ sign), with two dashes at the periphery of the center line, to create the illusion of intersecting crosshairs. Paradice and Slaves (uniformly of 17 characters) was created as a viable possibility bisecting the 340 cipher along the X and Y axis, along with "RAD" and "LAV" on the intersection of the cipher. The word "BY" (horizontally) was present in all four quadrants of the cipher. The 'near Zodiac' allied with the correct spelling of Zodiac on the 20th line produced the symmetry of three circled 8's. Using the identical technique and placing half the alphabet alongside the '13 Symbol' cipher, yet again, perfect symmetry was observed. The three circled 8's, along with the symbols either side, all carried forward from the second cipher to the third cipher, and the 'Exorcist' letter symbols aligned with the corrected sixth line of the 340 cipher. This of course all happened by chance and the Zodiac Killer knew nothing about it. 
 
This would indicate that the Zodiac Killer had deliberately placed Paradice and Slaves into the 340 cipher, to which he would give us a clue one year later. The machinations of the '13 Symbol' cipher were most likely constructed in the mind of the killer before November 8th 1969, as to create a continuity between the two ciphers. The idea therefore, that the author of all these communications could interweave these designs together and still create a rambling uniform message to co-exist alongside them within the 340 cipher, would probably be a step too far. The idea of a killer who sat down one evening to write a rambling 340 character message, to which he enciphered using a code key, who would then accidentally and inadvertently create so many by-products in his cipher without his knowledge, seems rather fortuitous. The Zodiac seemingly couldn't resist showing us the workings of his great masterpiece, and would eventually tell us that the 340 code was "no cipher", by giving us a portion of its true design in the 'Halloween' card on October 27th 1970. However, it's far more fun chasing a real cipher, that will long continue for another 50 years.      

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 (shown in red rectangle}.

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.

In 2013, Tahoe27 made an excellent discovery, almost certainly linking the Halloween card with a Tim Holt comic featuring the Wheel of Fortune or Rota Fortunae. The cover displayed the four methods of death used by the Zodiac Killer on his Halloween card configuration of Death By Gun, Death By Knife, Death By Fire and Death By Rope.

However, the discovery may be far greater than first considered, with the 1952 Tim Holt comic the source behind the design of the 340 cipher on November 8th 1969. The Halloween card was just the confirmation that the 340 was not a cipher at all, hence the crossed "sorry no cipher" addition on the inside of the envelope, linking the Paradice and Slaves configuration back to the November 8th 1969 offering. ​See 'Zodiac admitted 340 not a real cipher' [pt1].' The Zodiac Killer may have been pushing us in the right direction on October 27th 1970, but his attempt at revealing the workings of the 340 cipher may have begun as early as December 16th 1969 - when just 38 days after his 'so called' masterpiece, the Zodiac Killer was claiming a potential 38 more victims.

The December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter has been considered dubious Zodiac correspondence, however, it may have been Zodiac's first foray into revealing the mechanics of the 340 cipher, albeit using a rudimentary code as a tool. There are two key features of this correspondence which possibly links it to the Halloween card - and more importantly - to the Tim Holt comic. The second we will deal with later, but the first is the rather amateurish offering of a code consisting of only nine characters.

Clearly, the Zodiac must have known that offering just five different symbols in a code of nine is open to many different interpretations and therefore practically unsolvable. Therefore, one could suggest this wasn't his intention - he was simply teasing us with the mechanics of how the 340 cipher was designed by using a rudimentary diagram based on the Tim Holt comic - and something he would expand upon nearly a year later. One can see how he uses the four Zodiac crosshairs around the large crossed circle in the Fairfield letter codethereby implying a uniformity of message in these four quadrants, but aligns five symbols as an introduction to this design. This marries perfectly with Death By Gun, Death By Knife, Death By Fire and Death By Rope. Death is the introduction, followed by the methods of death around the large crossed circle. This is exactly what he offered us on October 27th 1970, when he placed the methods of death in the four quadrants of the bisecting Paradice and Slaves.  Here is a representation. 

The November 8th and 9th 1969 communications came as one package, and he certainly wasn't going to reveal the workings of the 340 cipher after just one day in the Bus Bomb letter, so the December 16th 1969 (or possibly December 7th 1969) Fairfield communication was effectively the Zodiac Killer's first communication after the 340 cipher. Can we again call it coincidence that, not only did the Fairfield offering give us a further code, but Death By Gun, Death By Knife, Death By Fire and Death By Rope would fall readily into its design, as would the Halloween card configuration of Paradice and Slaves so readily mirror the 340 cipher - possibly bringing these three communications in line with one another. The second interesting feature of the Fairfield letter is the wording the author uses: "This is the Zodiac speaking. I just want to tell you this state is in trouble. I will go for the Goverment life, so don't foreget me. I will kill more people than you cops can count, so look for more blood. You better print".    

The Halloween card has become synonymous with either a threat of a fourteenth victim or the claim of a fourteenth victim. However, the number four may hold more significance within its design. The eyes are obviously of great importance to the Zodiac Killer - after all, he added twelve to the card inner, along with 4-TEEN and the unusual symbol. He deliberately chose to separate fourteen, creating the number 4. He added four larger eyes outside of the tree, as well as placing four dots around the symbol. He also highlighted four eyes on the skeletons in red, on both the card outer and inner. 

The strange symbol (with the four dots) could be a joined Z, V and F - and being preceded by four eyes - could simply be interpreted as "look for Zodiac victim fourteen", or with respect to 4-TEEN, "look for number four-teen". Up to this point and beyond, none of Zodiac's confirmed or insinuated victims (Kathleen Johns, Cheri Jo Bates and Richard Radetich) lay undiscovered, so it is entirely possible that this card was referring to the disappearance of Donna Ann Lass 51 days earlier. The skeletons indicative of a body lain undiscovered for a measurable period of time. The coloring of the four skeleton eyes may be suggestive of blood or death - a formula used in the creation of the 13 Hole postcard on October 5th 1970, where the author added a pasted red crucifix to the card.

The Halloween card could be telling us to "look for Zodiac victim fourteen" or equally "look for blood," as did the Fairfield letter on December 16th 1969 when the author stated "I will kill more people than you cops can count, so look for more blood. You better print". This discovery by Tahoe27 on December 30th 2013 was certainly a great find, but it may just turn out to be the greatest find of them all. A discovery that may finally reveal the 340 offering to be masquerading as a fully fledged cipher, that has had us chasing our tails for nearly half a century. Albeit, undecipherable at the time, the answer was probably staring us in the face just 38 days after the November 8th 1969 communication - in a letter many thought was penned by a hoaxer.

ZODIAC ADMITTED 340 NOT A REAL CIPHER [PT1]
ZODIAC ADMITTED 340 NOT A REAL CIPHER [PT2]

Courtesy of Zodiac Killer Site forum. These envelopes have been cleaned up using editing tools. 

This is a continuation from the previous article 'Zodiac Admitted 340 Not a Real Cipher.'
You will notice that the paradice and slaves configuration from the Halloween card fits nicely into the 340 cipher.
The two dashes on the 10th line are represented by the letter S.
The left-facing V on the 9th column and 10th line are represented by the letter E.
​The two addition signs on the 9th column are represented by the letter A.
When the letter R of paradice is placed into its only conceivable position, along with the L and V from slaves, it is reminiscent of the Halloween card. What are the chances that this could be achieved accidentally?  

The word paradice travels vertically 17 lines, exactly matching the 17 columns that slaves travels horizontally. The Zodiac Killer placed crosshairs beneath the 9th column, the midsection of the cipher (shown here). The intersection on the Halloween card configuration forms RAD and LAV, exactly the same as the bisecting center point of the 340 cipher. The Zodiac Killer also underlined the LAV of Paul Averly on the Halloween card envelope, on which he also placed the intersecting "sorry no cipher" on the envelope inner. 

The Halloween card stamp depicts the surface of the moon with a half-earth in the distance and the words "In the beginning God". This phrase fits perfectly on the 1st line (the beginning) of the 340 cipher, with the 15th, 16th and 17th characters uncannily similar to the word GOD (the O in half phase just like the image on the stamp). 

ZODIAC ADMITTED 340 NOT A REAL CIPHER [PT3]
ZODIAC ADMITTED 340 NOT A REAL CIPHER [PT1]