When "The Most Dangerous Game" movie was released in 1932, its associate producer, Merian C. Cooper, reflected on the evil of the human condition and stated "man is the most dangerous animal of all". This would be the wording used by the Zodiac Killer in his decrypted 408 cipher, solved by Donald and Bettye June Harden on August 8th 1969. Thirteen years after "The Most Dangerous Game" was released, "A Game of Death" starring John Loder and Audrey Long opened in US cinemas on November 23rd 1945. A poor remake of the original, the only real difference was that the evil Russian, Count Zaroff, had turned into the insane German, Erich Kreiger.

​This later movie featured on television throughout California from November 5th 1966 to November 8th 1966 - so if the Zodiac Killer was present in Riverside (or California) during this period, and was responsible for any of the communications down south - could this movie have had any influence on the phrases chosen in the Confession letters? Did the flawed character traits of Count Zaroff and Erich Kreiger, who were insane, heartless, and psychopathic men with a thirst to hunt human beings, form the basis of the wording "I am insane. But that will not stop the game" in the Confession letters on November 29th 1966? That "game" being "a game of death", in which the insanity of Erich Kreiger and the Confession letter author created no barrier to the murderous game and ambitions of either.. "A Game of Death" in 1966 turning into a "Most Dangerous Game" in the Bay Area, two to three years later. The murders in southern and northern California cloaked under the banner of the Richard Connell short story of 1924. 

The film Rampage (1963) borrowed elements of "The Most Dangerous Game", including "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all", while using "Big, Bold, Bob Mitchum is on a Rampage" in its promotional advertisements, along with "They lived, loved and fought by the code of the jungle" and "His code was to snare everything". Bearing in mind the choice of words used by the Zodiac Killer in his code and letters on July 31st 1969, coupled with the crosshairs he adopted, which featured in the opening sequence of the "Rampage" movie, this production had many interesting parallels and appeared on US television screens in California just 11 days prior to Zodiac's opening communications. "A Game of Death" was showing in California three weeks before the typed Confession letters arrived at the Riverside Homicide Detail and Riverside Press Enterprise in 1966.

The Riverside Desktop Poem, Confession letters and "Bates Had to Die" letters had a consistency of language that permeated all three, shown in this article (and the image below). Another point of interest, is that all three communications ended in similar fashion. The Riverside Desktop Poem finished with "Just wait till next time", the two Confession letters finished with "Beware....I am stalking your girls now", and the Bates' letters finished with "there will be more". All three, by implication, promising death in the near future. These Riverside communications had a consistency of menace and language, but they were all fashioned in markedly contrasting ways. One was written on a desktop in blue ballpoint pen (for the most part) in lower case handwriting. Both Confession letters were typed (with the envelopes in capital letters), and the Bates' letters were written in, what can only described as scrawl (with no consistency). One could argue that if all of these communications were authored by one person, then they had deliberately manufactured them with such difference of design, so as to disguise this fact to the reader. If deception was their intention, I would argue that they failed miserably because of the similarity of language that flowed from one to the other.  

"The Most Dangerous Game" heavily focused on a tense stalking sequence in the second half of the movie as Rainsford and Eve attempted to outwit Count Zaroff as he tracked them while wielding his prized Tatar war bow. The 1945 film mimics the original for the most part. Therefore, is it a coincidence that after the Confession letter stated "I am insane. But that will not stop the game", it concluded with "I am stalking your girls now". It appeared that the "game" was stalking women as prey. This stalking would seemingly continue on July 31st 1969, when the Zodiac Killer began with "I like killing people because it is so much fun - it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". Was the game employed by the Zodiac Killer, at least in a literary sense, continuing after 32 months? Was the Zodiac Killer operating in Riverside in 1966 (at least with his communications), or was he simply incorporating the story of Riverside into his current campaign of terror in the Bay Area of northern California?  
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ADDITIONAL READING: RETHINKING "THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME" 

It is far too simplistic to make the jump from the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" from the 408 cipher to "The Most Dangerous Game" short story by Richard Connell (1924) and/or the film version by RKO Radio Pictures (1932). The phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" stands alone in its own right as an utterance by Merian C. Cooper, a filmmaker, actor and producer, recognized as an authority on jungle life. The overwhelming majority of his films gracing our screens were produced in the first half of the 20th century, including King Kong (1933), in which he was both director and producer during its making throughout 1932. This project ran alongside the release of "The Most Dangerous Game" (1932), to which he was the associate producer.

Upon release of "The Most Dangerous Game" he declared that "man is the most dangerous animal of all", because the movie featured a madman who switched from hunting animals to hunting humans on a remote island. This was the origin phrase used by the Zodiac Killer when he mailed the first part of the 408 cryptogram to the Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. Therefore, the loose translation from "The Most Dangerous Game" to "The Most Dangerous Animal" was in fact correct, because of the below quotation by Merian C. Cooper about the movie in the newspapers. It stated "Merian C. Cooper, a recognized authority on jungle life declares man is the most dangerous animal of all".

A young Zodiac fascinated by movies would have had ample opportunities to watch adventure films such as Rango, The Most Dangerous Game and King Kong during his formative years. However, this word-for-word mimicking of "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his 408 cipher - one would have thought - likely came from something more contemporary which reminded him of its origins.

Recently it was shown that the 1963 movie "Rampage" had all those ingredients, including the phrases "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all" (man is the most dangerous animal of all), "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "a dozen men" (a dozen people) and the crosshairs over the movie title during the opening credits of the movie. The book "Rampage" by Alan Caillou, the movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover, along with the newspapers, contained numerous references to these phrases. It was also ironic that the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" would be placed by the Zodiac Killer within a code, when statewide, the "Rampage" movie would be advertised in the newspapers under the wording "They lived, loved and fought by the code of the jungle" [1] and "His code was to snare everything" [2].. The movie "Rampage" was broadcast on US television on July 20th 1969 (Channel 2), 11 days before the July 31st 1969 letters were mailed by the Zodiac Killer - with the movie advertised in the San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Berkeley Gazette and Santa Cruz Sentinel, to name just a few. To read the full story click here.

The original phraseology of "man is the most dangerous animal of all" was born from the movie "The Most Dangerous Game" through Merian C. Cooper in 1932, but the additional phrases mentioned above (including the crosshairs and code) used by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969, may have been inspired by the more contemporary movie "Rampage" (1963). It seems that both may have played a role in the theatrics of the Zodiac Killer.  

One of the long-standing questions in the Zodiac community is whether a solid link can be forged between the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates and/or the associated communications in 1966 and 1967, with the crimes or letters of the Zodiac Killer, beginning on December 20th 1968. On April 30th 1967, somebody mailed three letters to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Riverside Police Department and Joseph Bates stating "She had to die. There will be more" and "Bates had to die. There will be more".

​This approach would be somewhat mimicked by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969 (without the 1967 Bates letters currently published), who mailed three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald with his hidden cryptographic message of "the best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and all the I have killed will become my slaves". One individual had already used the phrase "to die" in the Riverside Desktop Poem, Confession letters and Bates letters (six times), so looking at the transition from "she had to die" to "when I die" from Riverside to the Bay Area, it is certainly worth looking into further. Especially when you consider the fact that the Zodiac Killer never used the word "die" in any of his subsequent communications.    

Also noteworthy, but not compelling, was the continuation in the religious overtones of "The Confession" letter and "She went to the slaughter like a lamb. She did not put up a struggle", to the message of the Zodiac Killer in the 408 cryptogram, in which he enciphered the wording "paradice", "reborn" and "afterlife" with respect to his death (when I die). The saying, "Like sheep to the slaughter", was used in respect to the notion of Jewish people being led passively to their deaths during the Holocaust. In other words, the suggestion that they offered no resistance or struggle - to be articulated by "The Confession" letter author when they typed "She (Bates) did not put up a struggle". and "She went very willingly". Cheri Jo Bates, it was claimed, was being marched passively to her death.       

Just a few months before the November 29th 1966 "Confession" letter, Jean-François Steiner released a highly controversial book entitled Treblinka: The Revolt of an Extermination Camp, claiming that the Jews were led "like sheep to the slaughter" - and in doing so - caused worldwide consternation in the newspapers. Although Steiner was not the originator of the phrase, it nevertheless was contemporary to 1966 to anybody who was well-versed in literature or recent newspaper coverage. If the author of the 1966 Riverside Desktop Poem can borrow headlines from The Press and Daily Enterprise on April 17th 1965 entitled "Clean-cut Youth Sought In Stabbing", then they can do the same in the case of the Jean Francois Steiner story. Changing "sheep to the slaughter" into "slaughter like a lamb".

In Isaiah 53, a chapter in the Hebrew Bible tells of a virtuous servant who is murdered but does not protest: "Like a sheep being led to the slaughter or a lamb that is silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth". The Confession letter author typed "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat. She went very willingly". There appears a mix of religiosity with contemporary news in the Confession letter, but it still isn't compelling. 

A link to Alfred Hitchcock and the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 has been suggested by Zodiac researchers, who highlighted the 1961 episode of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, entitled Museum Piece. Aired on April 4th 1961, it featured an individual who used a light attached to his .22 caliber rifle in the commission of a murder, just as the Zodiac Killer had claimed in his follow up to the July 31st 1969 letters. The father of the convicted killer appealed to the district attorney about his son's innocence, which was rejected. The district attorney is then murdered - to which the father latterly reminisced “I remember the excitement of the manhunt. The most dangerous game”. Three years earlier, on April 13th 1958, Alfred Hitchcock Presents released an episode entitled "Lamb to the Slaughter", which was not that dissimilar to the phrase "to the slaughter like a lamb" used in the Confession letter. These observations ultimately fail to cement a link between Riverside and the Zodiac Killer, but the definitive answers we seek may still be found one day. 

Not convinced that a previous observation of the Adventures in Paradise television series played a role in the Zodiac Killer's choice of words in the 408 cryptogram, I began looking for more contemporary offerings from a religious aspect, in respect to the phrase "reborn in paradise". Bearing in mind that the Zodiac Killer, in two letters, paraphrased three acts from The Mikado, a comic opera set in Japan, and used Japanese style symbolism at the foot of the Exorcist letter, it had to be a possibility that "reborn in paradise" was a product of Japanese history.

If the Zodiac Killer had a leaning towards Japanese culture, was he aware of the annual Obon festival, which is observed from the 13th to the 15th day of the 7th month. However, because of differences in the solar and lunar calendar, the 7th month is either July or August. Obon is therefore celebrated at different times in different regions, on and between these dates. This can be seen in the July 26th 1969 Stockton and Evening Record newspaper shown below, where the Buddhist holiday, born from the legend of a suffering mother "reborn into paradise", was held on August 2nd and 3rd - beginning the day after the Zodiac Killer's 408 cipher carrying the phrase "reborn in paradise" arrived at three newspapers. The Zodiac Killer's 408 cipher was mailed between July 15th and August 15th 1969, with its conception likely earlier. 

If the Zodiac Killer's life and/or thought processes were shaped by Japanese influences, then he would have had an interest in any newspaper or television coverage pertaining to this subject. It was previously shown how the Zodiac Killer's letters mailed on January 29th 1974, April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 were heavily influenced by the Golden Globe and Academy Award ceremonies, so could the Bay Area murderer have been triggered by any recent event he had read or watched on television, that kept the phrase "reborn in paradise" in the forefront of his mind? Could he have created the 408 cipher shortly after the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 and added the accompanying text after his second attack on July 4th/5th 1969? On October 17th 1968, Yasunari Kawabata became the first Japanese writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, before giving a Nobel lecture on December 12th 1968 entitled "Japan, the Beautiful and Myself". In part of his speech he stated "If Buddhism is divided generally into the sects that believe in salvation by faith and those that believe in salvation by one's own efforts, then of course there must be such violent utterances in Zen, which insists upon salvation by one's own efforts. On the other side, the side of salvation by faith, Shinran, the founder of the Shin sect, once said: "The good shall be reborn in paradise, and how much more shall it be so with the bad". This view of things has something in common with Ikkyu's world of the Buddha and world of the devil".

Alan Samuel Lyle-Smythe MBE, M.C. (November 9th 1914 – October 1st 2006), who wrote his books under the pseudonym Alan Caillou, was an English-born author, actor, screenwriter, soldier, policeman and professional hunter. Recently I showed how the Rampage (1963) movie starring Robert Mitchum, Jack Hawkins and Elsa Martinelli was the primary influence behind the Zodiac Killer's July 31st 1969 letters and 408 cryptogram, not The Most Dangerous Game movie and short story, that has been put forward as the main driver for many decades.

The Rampage movie was based upon a 1961 novel by Alan Caillou, which carried on its front cover the following text: "A big novel of two white hunters who battle to possess a beautiful woman as they track the jungle for the most dangerous game of all". Converted by the Zodiac Killer into "the most dangerous animal of all". The Rampage movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover expanded the wording on the front of the Rampage book to "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all", which shaped the complete phrase used by the Zodiac Killer, when he enciphered "man is the most dangerous animal of all". The movie poster and Warner Brothers press book cover were also headlined by the words "The screen's mightiest excitements go on the rampage", with the Zodiac Killer threatening to "go on a kill rampage" in all three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. The movie poster of "go on the rampage" differing only slightly to the Zodiac Killer's wording, when he wrote "go on a kill rampage". The opening credits of the Rampage movie also contained crosshairs embedded within its title. The feature article entitled "Rethinking The Most Dangerous Game" has many more connections between the July 31st letters and the Rampage book and movie, including the wording on another Zodiac letter (and cryptogram) in 1971.  

The one thing I couldn't connect between the book, movie and July 31st 1969 letters, was the Zodiac Killer's choice of the words "in paradise" in his 408 cryptogram (albeit misspelled). But if I was correct, the answer would be found in either the book, the movie, or Alan Caillou himself - sometime during this period. The Rampage book was released in several versions of paperback and hardback between January 1961 and 1963, during which time, Alan Caillou was starring in an extremely popular TV series created by James A. Michener (USA) that ran for 91 episodes between 1959 and 1962. The TV series was called Adventures in Paradise, described on the Internet Movie Database as the adventures of the Tiki III and crew as they sailed from island to island through the South Pacific, carrying cargo and the odd passenger from one drama to another. Alan Caillou starred in Incident in Suva (December 26th 1960) and Errand of Mercy (May 25th 1961). Alan Caillou played the characters "Bates" and "Inspector Black" in the series.  

Therefore, we have a 1963 movie that is more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), and the "crosshairs" in the movie title. ​The Warner Brothers press book also carried the phrase "a dozen men" (a dozen people), and "they lived and loved by the code", which the Zodiac Killer enquired about on August 4th 1969, when he stated "are the police having a good time with the code". We now have the author of Rampage starring in Adventures in Paradise at the same time. James A. Michener also created the movie Return to Paradise in 1953, starring Gary Cooper.

It has long been believed that the 1924 "The Most Dangerous Game" short story and/or 1932 RKO movie were the inspiration for the Zodiac Killer's three July 31st 1969 letters and his 408 cipher, beginning "I like killing people because it is so much fun - it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". Although the "Most Dangerous Game" had some influence by being the predecessor that later movies borrowed from, I will present two more contemporary movies about "hunting" that probably had a bigger contribution in shaping the early Zodiac Killer correspondence. The first movie called "Rampage" (1963), about hunting in the dense forest of Malaysia, had all the ingredients for the design of the Zodiac Killer's July 31st 1969 offerings. The movie, starring Robert Mitchum, Jack Hawkins and Elsa Martinelli, features Harry Stanton (played by Mitchum) who prefers to hunt wild game without killing the animals, leading to conflict with the character Otto Abbot (played by Hawkins). 

Many Zodiac researchers believe the Zodiac Killer was influenced by the movies, so I wondered whether the Zodiac Killer borrowed the movie title "Rampage" when writing his threats to "kill a dozen people over the weekend", stating "If you do not print this cipher, I will go on a kill rampage Fry night. This will last the whole weekend, I will cruse around killing people who are alone at night untill Sun Night or untill I kill a dozen people". 

​This on its own seems pretty weak, until you consider the crosshairs over the movie title during the opening credits of the movie, and the wording on the movie poster (and original Warner Brothers press book cover). The Zodiac Killer used the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his decoded 408 cipher, while the movie poster (and press book cover) carried the wording "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all". One could argue that the Zodiac Killer used part of the word "woman" to create "man", and changed "the most dangerous game of all" to "the most dangerous animal of all". The movie poster and press book cover were also headlined by the words "The screen's mightiest excitements go on the rampage", with the Zodiac Killer threatening to "go on a kill rampage" in all three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. The movie poster of "go on the rampage" differing only slightly to the Zodiac Killer's wording, when he wrote "go on a kill rampage". Three words remained the same. 

Additionally, newspaper advertisements of the movie in 1963 carried the wording "Big, Bold, Bob Mitchum is on a Rampage", missing only the word "kill" that was added by the Zodiac  The movie's opening credits, movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover contained "go on the rampage", "the most dangerous game of all" and the "crosshairs", which were all heavily used by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969. The phrases "go on the rampage" and "the most dangerous game of all" were also featured in the newspapers throughout America in 1963. Here are three examples. 

​The movie revolves around two hunters, an American (Robert Mitchum) and a German (Jack Hawkins) who aim to catch a rare breed of panther in Malaysia. The beautiful girlfriend (Elsa Martinelli) of Otto Abbot joins them on their hunt, which further heightens tensions between the two men when Harry Stanton becomes attracted to her. The Zodiac Killer added the encoded phrase in the 408 cipher: "to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience. It is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl". The "Rampage" movie contained a romantic triangle between the three main characters, which also featured Elsa Martinelli bathing naked in a rocky, mountain stream. Bearing in mind that the movie placed emphasis on the attraction of both men towards the woman (the girlfriend of Otto Abbot), it's no wonder the Zodiac Killer referenced that killing is better than "getting your rocks off with a girl" in his decoded cryptogram.    

​The movie "Rampage" was broadcast on US television on July 20th 1969 (Channel 2), 11 days before the July 31st 1969 letters were mailed by the Zodiac Killer - with the movie advertised in the San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Berkeley Gazette and Santa Cruz Sentinel, to name just a few.   

The Bay Area murderer wrote in his July 31st 1969 letters that "I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". According to the official Warner Brothers press book, Elsa Martinelli was "female enough to attract a dozen men". Was the word "dozen" in the Zodiac Killer's mind when fashioning his trinity of July letters, bearing in mind the other two aforementioned phrases which strongly mirrored the movie poster? "A dozen men" becoming "a dozen people". If so, we have a 1963 movie that is more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), "a dozen men" (a dozen people), and the "crosshairs", In total, it would mean that the Zodiac Killer took 10 words from three phrases (of 13 words in total). But this wasn't all.

The 1963 Rampage movie was based upon a novel first published in 1961 by Alan Caillou, released as a 1963 paperback version with the following wording on the front cover: "A big novel of two white hunters who battle to possess a beautiful woman as they track the jungle for the most dangerous game of all" (see large image above). The rear cover of the 1962 hardbook version read "A killer leopard - and an even more dangerous woman. This is a leopard, Harry. He'll keep close to us just in case he can make a kill. It's the only other animal that kills for the fun of it",  followed by "But the leopard - for the sheer enjoyment of killing, just for the pleasure of it. He kills because he likes it. There's only one other animal that does that, Harry. And that's man". The Zodiac Killer began his 408 cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". 

Many newspaper articles featured large advertisements for the Rampage movie, carrying headline statements such as "They lived, loved and fought by the code of the jungle" [1] and "His code was to snare everything" [2]. Therefore, it is quite ironical that the Zodiac Killer would place key phrases from the Rampage movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book within his code, detailing murder. It should be noted that the original Warner Brothers press book also contained the phrase "They lived and loved by the code of the jungle". Could this possibly have influenced the Zodiac Killer to encipher his message on July 31st 1969? ​

​The Zodiac Killer would start "hunting" people on December 20th 1968 when he murdered David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in Benicia - and mentioned this attack in his July 31st 1969 letters, stating "man is the most dangerous animal of all". Two weeks prior to these letters arriving at the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, the movie "The 10th Victim" (1965) was playing at the Northside Theatre in Berkeley on July 15th 1969. This movie had appeared many times on US television screens throughout 1969. "The 10th Victim" was based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim", which was an updated version of the "Most Dangerous Game". The story centered on "The Big Hunt", in which contestants from around the world act as "hunters" and "victims" in two-person battles to the death as a means of avoiding mass warfare. 

​This movie may have featured in the Zodiac Killer's sequel communication on December 20th 1969, the first anniversary of the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, which began his "Big Hunt". The movie "The 10th Victim" was released into US cinemas on December 20th 1965. The only time the Zodiac Killer wrote a victim count in tandem with the word victim (victom) was when he mailed the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, stating he was in danger of losing control and claiming his "tenth victim". We have a movie based on "The Most Dangerous Game" released on December 20th 1965 about hunting victims, followed by the Benicia murders on December 20th 1968, followed by the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, threatening a ninth and "tenth victim". 

This movie co-starred Ursula Andress, who played Caroline Meredith, a huntress who had just killed her ninth victim and was looking for a tenth. See here for confirmation. The Zodiac Killer made a point of mentioning his ninth and tenth victim in his letter to Melvin Belli.. The co-star of Ursula Andress was Italian actress Elsa Martinelli, who also starred in the movie "Rampage" (1963), two years earlier.

​"The 10th Victim" and "The Big Hunt" spoke of "control", just like the Melvin Belli letter. Early in the movie, the "announcer" laid out the benefits of "The Big Hunt" over the tannoy system, stating "If you would do away with the terrible wars of the masses, become a member of the Big Hunt. Make your murders legal. Only the Big Hunt can give the world a feeling of true security. An enemy a day keeps the doctor away. Why have birth control when you can have death control. Live dangerously, but within the law. If you are suicidal, the Big Hunt has a special place for you". The Zodiac Killer pleaded "The one thing I ask of you is this, please help me. I cannot reach out for help because of this thing in me wont let me. I am finding it extreamly difficult to hold it in check. I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer".

Just like the "Rampage" movie, "The 10th Victim" had the crosshairs present within the movie title, as shown in the original 1965 poster.on the right.  

Therefore, we have two movies in 1963 and 1965 about hunting, both more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), "a dozen men" (a dozen people), "the movie phrase in the code", the "crosshairs" in both movie titles, "The 10th Victim" (tenth victim), "The Big Hunt and control" and the date of December 20th running through 1965, 1968 and 1969. So was "The Most Dangerous Game" the primary inspiration for the July 31st 1969 letters? 

Here is another brief summary of the Rampage movie: "A British big game trophy hunter, Otto Abbot, is offered a job by a West German zoo to capture a pair of Malay tigers and a rare leopard-tiger hybrid known as "the Enchantress". He recruits one of the world's top trappers for the job, American Harry Stanton. Abbot intends to bring along his longtime young mistress, Anna, an Italian waif whom he has kept as a ward since she was 14". During the movie, passion for Anna (Elsa Martinelli) heightens between the two game hunters, which becomes more deadly as the movie nears its end. Hence the wording on the movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover, stating "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all". Otto
Abbot realizes he's in danger of losing his "most prized" trophy, as Anna becomes the key "prize" for both game hunters in the Rampage movie (see below). The Zodiac Killer would mail another cryptogram of 148 characters around May 1971, which carried the phrase "man is the most prized game" in the accompanying letter. Therefore, we have two communications containing the phrases "man is the most dangerous animal of all" (in the 408 cipher) and "man is the most prized game" (with the 148 cipher), both of which have relevance to the film. The Bay Area murderer would also mimic the crosshairs from the opening sequence of the Rampage movie at the foot of the 1971 letter, dispensing with the overhanging lines. See here.   

The following is from the introduction page of Alan Caillou's Rampage book, describing how Anna was "as much the prize" as the wild game they were pursuing. The Zodiac Killer, having targeted both male and female victims, would claim in 1971 that "man is the most prized game", just like Elsa Martinelli was portrayed in the movie.

FURTHER READING: THE AUTHOR OF RAMPAGE IN PARADISE  

When the newspaper articles about the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were tailing off by March 1969, what inspired the Zodiac Killer to start using cryptograms within his opening letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969? As we've seen with many other letters mailed by the Zodiac Killer, his primary inspiration for the design of his communications comes from recent newspaper articles. As reported in the "Hartford Courant" newspaper on March 2nd 1969 (and others), Joseph Verner Reed released a book called "Fun With Cryptograms" in 1968 and "Fun With Codes" in January 1969, ranging from easy to extremely difficult challenges. 

Joseph Verner Reed "was a hustling theatrical entrepreneur in New York, a land developer in Florida, a diplomat in Paris, a newspaper reporter, art collector, author and loving compiler of word games and cryptograms". Quote from the New York Times. His cryptograms featured in newspapers around the USA on a regular basis over many years and throughout 1969. His love of cryptograms and word games, ever present, and often under the banner of puzzles in the newspapers, reminds one of the "concerned citizen" card mailed on August 10th 1969 to Sergeant John Lynch, which stated "Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures". However, that is the least interesting thing about Joseph Verner Reed and a possible Zodiac connection. 

Did the Zodiac Killer employ a play on words when he wrote "I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity [sic]" in his message to the San Francisco Chronicle, or when he began his 408 cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun", and finally wrote "By the way, are the police having a good time with the code" in his "Debut of Zodiac" letter on August 4th 1969. His use of the word "fun" and the phrase "good time with the code", not dissimilar to Joseph Verner Reed's book entitled "Fun With Codes". The Zodiac Killer altering "fun with codes" into the singular "good time with the code". ​But the crucial part is where the Zodiac Killer offers us his identity within the cryptogram (name being part of identity)..I wondered what inspired the Zodiac Killer to claim he embedded his name within the cryptogram, despite later admitting in the decoded 408 that his promise was an empty one, by stating "I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife". Joseph Verner Reed would place his name within the cryptograms he designed (his forename and middle initial), as can be seen in the numerous examples from 1969 shown below. Joseph Verner Reed's book was advertised in the newspapers in 1969, we have the similarity of "fun" and "good time" with codes, and we have the promise and deliverance of a name within a cryptogram by the Zodiac Killer and Joseph Verner Reed respectively. 

For many Zodiac Killer researchers the murderer of five appeared to have a fascination with dates, which included the Melvin Belli letter (12/20/69) mailed on the first anniversary of the Lake Herman Road murders, the Pines card (3/22/71) mailed on the first anniversary of the Kathleen Johns abduction, and the mailing of the Los Angeles letter (3/13/71) which coincided with the release date of the Vanishing Point movie, that also referenced "blue meanies". The January trailer of the movie featured a radio host from KOW, who stated "And there goes the Challenger being chased by the Blue, Blue Meanies on wheels. They want to get him and put him away, but there'll have to catch him first". The author of the Los Angeles letter stated "If the Blue Meannies are evere going to catch me, they had best get off their fat asses + do something". 

​These are just three examples. But for now, we will examine the long-held belief that the Zodiac Killer was referencing the "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell (first published on January 19th 1924) when he encoded the wording "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". The Richard Connell short story was later adapted for screenplay, most notably in the 1932 RKO Pictures version starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks. While "The Most Dangerous Game" may be the inspiration for the Zodiac Killer's choice of words in the 408 cipher, did another more recent movie inspire him to find "The Most Dangerous Game". 

The Zodiac Killer's July 31st 1969 letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald opened up with the wording "I am the killer of the 2 teen-agers last Christmass at Lake Herman" and "This is the murderer of the 2 teenagers last Christmass at Lake Herman". It was the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 (with the Zodiac claiming a "pencil flashlight" attachment to his gun) that most resembled a killer hunting game, as referenced in the 408 cipher. This was the crime that began the canonical Zodiac murders.    

Throughout 1969 a movie called "The 10th Victim" was regularly featured on American television. It was "a 1965 science fiction film directed and co-written by Elio Petri, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress, Elsa Martinelli, and Salvo Randone,. based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim". Taking place in the year 2079 in the aftermath of World War III, the film's focus is on a government-endorsed program known as "The Big Hunt", whereby contestants from around the world act as "hunters" and "victims" in two-person battles to the death as a means of avoiding mass warfare. The "Seventh Victim" was about a future society that has eliminated major warfare by allowing members of society who are inclined to violence to join The Big Hunt, a human hunting game. This eliminates the approximately one quarter of the population that would otherwise be a danger. The story follows an experienced hunter who is excited to receive his latest mission, but is faced with the concern that something is seriously wrong with the assignment. Robert Sheckley's inspiration for "Seventh Victim" was the earlier short story, The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell". Oddly, seven victims was the first total claimed by the Zodiac Killer on November 8th 1969. "The 10th Victim" would be shown at the Northside Theatre in Berkeley on July 15th 1969, just over two weeks prior to the "The Most Dangerous Animal" reference in the 408 cipher. 

The 408 cipher and its perceived reference to "The Most Dangerous Game" was accompanied by the beginning of the Zodiac murders on December 20th 1968. "The 10th Victim", based on "The Most Dangerous Game", was released into US cinemas on December 20th 1965. The Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 implied that the Zodiac Killer was going to lose control and claim his 10th victim. The only time the Zodiac Killer wrote a victim count in tandem with the word victim (victom) was when he mailed the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969. His next communication on April 20th 1970 would confirm "ten people to date". Irrespective of this movie date matching the Lake Herman Road murders and Melvin Belli letter, did the Zodiac Killer become influenced by "The Most Dangerous Game" through "The 10th Victim", which was contemporary to television and theater in 1968 and 1969? The movie first appeared on Bay Area television on November 5th 1968, the month before the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in Benicia. Below are two advertisements for the movie in the Contra Costa Times and San Francisco Examiner.

RAMPAGE (1963)- THE MOVIE BEHIND THE 408 CIPHER & JULY 31ST LETTERS

At a time when finding Zodiac Killer DNA and solving this case is heavily debated and in question, one of the most important things to explore are the vast number of communications sent by the killer, with a view to unearthing something within them that points towards his identity and/or home location (anchor point) when committing the murders. No doubt the Zodiac Killer used caution in this regard when composing his communications, but no matter how careful and attentive you are in preventing the accidental leakage of vital information to law enforcement through your wording, mistakes and oversight can often happen. When a murderer is questioned about a missing person, they will often stray into the territory of referring to that missing person in the past tense, because they are knowledgeable to the fact they have killed them. The study of language in interviews and written form can often reveal vital information about a criminal which they have subconsciously revealed, but were incapable of preventing because of their lived experience.

​This may have been the case in the very first letters authored by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969 and August 4th 1969, both of which, possibly revealed the home location of the killer (or his anchor point when perpetrating the crimes). You will notice in his July 31st 1969 letters when addressing the San Francisco Chronicle or San Francisco Examiner first, the Zodiac Killer refers to posting letters to these newspapers in the past tense of "have". In other words, suggesting the significant time that has elapsed, and the distance he has traveled before returning home. When first addressing the Vallejo Times-Herald in his July 31st 1969 letters he uses the present tense of "are", because (possibly) he doesn't associate any great time and distance to the Vallejo Times-Herald offices, as they are within his close proximity. They are in his "here and now". If you left your house in Vallejo and mailed three letters into a San Francisco mailbox, before returning home - you would write "Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle" (associating distance to these two newspaper offices). If you live in Vallejo and are addressing the Vallejo Times-Herald first in two instances, you would write "Here is a cipher or that is part of one. The other 2 parts are being mailed to the Vallejo Times + S.F. Chronicle" or "Here is part of a cipher the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner". The Zodiac Killer uses the word "are" in both instances he immediately addresses the Vallejo Times-Herald offices (because he doesn't associate distance to this newspaper office). He uses the present tense of "are" to associate something in his lived "mental map" or "here and now". Of course, this isn't conclusive evidence he lived in Vallejo for his first two crimes, but it may point to a subconscious use of language that he failed to keep in check. There is similar language used at the beginning of his next communication on August 4th 1969.              

The following reasoning may seem innocuous and insignificant, but it's just another example of how language could point us in the direction of a Vallejo killer. When the Zodiac Killer opened up in his August 4th 1969 mailing, he wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking. In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material". What he didn't write is this:"This is the Zodiac speaking. In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material". The Zodiac Killer used the present perfect tense of "have had" rather than the past tense of "had". The present perfect tense, in this example, suggests that the Zodiac Killer has had good times in Vallejo but they are not complete. The word "had" implies a distinct separation from the past to the present, whereas "have had" implies a distinct connection from the past to the present. The "good times I have had in Vallejo" being congruent with somebody still living in this location. Although tenuous, this subtle use of language is important to analyse in conjunction with the previous example highlighted  The third example will focus on the anomaly of a phone call made to the Vallejo Police Department 40 minutes after the Blue Rock Springs attack, from a payphone located just 10 minutes from the crime scene. 

It has been widely noted that a killer living in San Francisco, Napa, Oakland, or any distant home location, could easily have made this phone call at 12:40 am from any payphone in the Bay Area, rather than place a phone call in close proximity to the police station he was delivering his message - and seemingly hanging around for an unnecessary 30 minutes, thereby risking detection. This has opened up the notion of a killer who lived in close proximity to the Springs & Tuolumne payphone, who secured his vehicle, removed any incriminating evidence and walked to the payphone from a nearby residence. This is where further language analysis could point us to a Vallejo resident, or otherwise. It depends on what merit you apply to the above arguments, in conjunction to the ones I'm about to present. ​      

The Zodiac Killer went on to write "I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car", and "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". In the second statement the Zodiac Killer felt the necessity to highlight both him and his car. The phone apparently rang when he hung up the phone, so why didn't the Zodiac Killer just state "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me".

When he left the Blue Rock Springs parking lot he made the point of driving away slowly so as not to draw attention to his car, yet by the payphone he is making sure that investigators draw the conclusion that the eyewitness saw both him and his vehicle, despite apparently positioned at the payphone independent of his car. It could be concluded that his car was still running, and it would have been obvious to the eyewitness that he and his vehicle were in tandem (and so provided this information), but it certainly wasn't necessary to provide investigators with corroboratory evidence that his car was brown as reported in the newspapers, by stating "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by". Unless of course, his vehicle wasn't brown, The biggest red flag to his vehicle being present in the vicinity of the payphone, is the description given by the Zodiac Killer about the eyewitness.

The Zodiac Killer only went into detail regarding his murder victims when it benefited his case of proof, such as the description of clothing worn by Darlene Ferrin, or the movement of the living victims and bodies in relation to the crime scene. So why didn't the Zodiac Killer just write "The man who told police that my car was brown, noticed me + my car when he was walking by". What relevance does his race, clothing or age have to do with anything? The descriptive nature of "negro", "40-45" and "shabbily dressed" brings this eyewitness to life and makes him more believable to the reader of the letter. The Zodiac Killer, by describing this man in detail, may have been attempting to corroborate that his vehicle was present by the payphone, and was brown in color. The Zodiac Killer had previously supplied extra details to the police when it helped his cause, so the unnecessary inclusion of this man's description in the letter, could again, be viewed as beneficial to him. If the Zodiac Killer wanted to deflect away from a home location nearby, he had to create a vehicle that can take him anywhere, and supply an eyewitness to corroborate this fact. Not just any eyewitness, but a believable middle-aged, black man, with questionable clothing.   

These observations regarding the language used by the Zodiac Killer are not proof he resided in Vallejo or near the payphone, but they should provide the impetus to examine later communications mailed by the killer, who may have unwittingly left more offerings to further bolster the case argued here. Or maybe dispel it entirely.   

When the Zodiac Killer mailed the second Fairfield letter on December 16th 1969 he included a very short code of five characters, accompanied by his Zodiac crosshairs, with four smaller crosshairs in each quadrant. It has been noted by many Zodiac researchers that this configuration resembled the Halloween card design he mailed approximately ten months later, which contained the bisecting "paradice" and "slaves", with the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife in each quadrant. The rudimentary design of the Fairfield letter with four small crosshairs could be representative of these four weapons. I used this premise to place the word "By" immediately preceding the larger crosshairs, above ciphertext characters 4 & 5 (see below).

The last time the Zodiac Killer demanded we print his cipher in the newspaper, he wrote to the San Francisco Examiner and threatened "I want you to print this cipher on the frunt page by Fry afternoon Aug 1-69. If you do not print this cipher, I will go on a kill rampage Fry night". To the San Francisco Chronicle he wrote "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". To the Vallejo Times-Herald he wrote "I want you to print this cipher on your frunt page by Fry Afternoon Aug 1-69, If you do not do this I will go on a kill ram page Fry night that will last the whole week end". Every single time the Zodiac Killer demanded the newspaper print his cipher, he followed it up by using "Fry" to represent Friday (six times in total). Therefore, when he demanded his five character code be printed in the newspaper by stating "you better print", it could be reasoned that this sentence be completed to "you better print Fry". This satisfies the repeating ciphertext character at positions 3 & 5.  

Despite the vast majority of the 408 cipher being deciphered on August 8th 1969, we still had the small matter of 18 unsolved or unexplained characters at the foot of the cryptogram that were thought may have contained the name of the Zodiac Killer. Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department pondered this conundrum in a newspaper article on August 12th 1969 entitled "A Name in Murder Cipher", in which "Robert Emmet the hippie" was suggested as one possible solution to the mystery. Sergeant John Lynch stated that he was "pursuing the possibility that the name might be a nom de plume - or not the cipher sender's name at all". Later in the article it mentioned that the cipher was turned over to Navy cryptographers before it was solved, and suggested that the Zodiac Killer send another letter explaining the final 18 characters of the 408 cipher. 

A letter mailed on October 7th 1969 signed by a "good citizen" was addressed to Sergeant John Lynch, giving him some advice. It read "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX". It is fairly evident that "code letters" was a reference to the three cryptograms mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner, postmarked July 31st 1969 - and the author of this letter was giving Sergeant John Lynch a name, who could maybe assist him by way of his knowledge of other people in codebreaking. In other words, it is possible that "Jerry" could assist Sergeant John Lynch because of his connection to law enforcement or Navy cryptography (or was holding a more advantageous position in attempting to solve the final 18 characters). If the "Jerry" mentioned in the correspondence was a real person, it could be argued that the sender believed "Jerry" could be of benefit to Sergeant John Lynch with the remaining unsolved portion of the 408 cipher. Therefore, I needed to find somebody called "Jerry", possibly with links to the Navy (and cryptography), who had a surname of seven letters, thereby explaining the XXXXXXX placed at the end of this correspondence. How Beach Street factors into the equation, I cannot ascertain. Unless Jerry is somehow linked to that address through a friend or acquaintance.   

Jerry Johnson was a Naval Intelligence Agent stationed at the Mare Island Naval Base in Vallejo, who worked on the Zodiac case with former California Highway Patrol officer, Lyndon Lafferty, who went on to release the book "The Zodiac Killer Cover-Up: The Silenced Badge" with the assistance of Jerry Johnson. He appeared in a photograph alongside long-time Zodiac contributor Sandy Betts and other Zodiac researchers, when they gathered at Lake Herman Road for a reunion in 2016. The Vallejo Times-Herald article stated that "Orinda resident, Johnson said he was a federal agent stationed on Mare Island in the late 1960s, and it was then that the late Lyndon Lafferty, a retired California Highway Patrol officer, came to him about an encounter with a man he believed was the Zodiac Killer".

It was later claimed that Lafferty's suspect, William Grant, once sought help from Dr. Edward C. Adams, a psychiatrist living in Orinda, California, and the potential recipient of a Zodiac Killer communication on October 17th 1970 with the pasted newspaper text of "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next. you taught me to mean it.  ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. Zodiac".  

It is important to identify "Jerry" because the author of the October 7th 1969 communication was almost certainly the author of the "concerned citizen" card mailed on August 10th 1969, two months earlier. Both communications had a similar signature of "good citizen" and "concerned citizen", both were addressed to Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department, both referenced the 408 cipher (by way of "code letters" and the sending of a cipher key), and both used the word "name" in the correspondence twice. This is despite neither being published in the newspapers. The mischievous and cryptic nature of the "good citizen" letter may suggest that the "concerned citizen" author - if one and the same - was playing games with investigators all along. Something we know the Zodiac Killer enjoyed doing throughout his letter-writing campaign.

OFFERING A SOLUTION TO 18 ON 10/7/1969   

Despite some interesting avenues having been pursued in the search for "Jerry" in the "Good Citizen" letter mailed on October 7th 1969, it is clear that the cryptic nature of the language adopted in this communication has made it difficult to interpret its meaning. Both the August 10th 1969 "Concened Citizen" card and October 7th 1969 "Good Citizen" letter were addressed to Sgt John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department, both utilized the word "citizen" in the signature, both used the word "name" twice in the message, with the "Good Citizen" author referring to the "code letters", which can only be reasonably assumed to be the letters mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner on July 31st 1969 (and the 408 cipher).  A footnote from Sergeant John Lynch concerning the "Good Citizen" letter stated that the writer has a strong feeling of ESP. While having these feelings, the writer writes with a pencil. "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''. 

The last major article featuring Sgt John Lynch and the 408 cipher, entitled "A Name in Murder Cipher", suggested the name "Robert Emmet the hippie" as one possibility, despite it being too long to accommodate the 18 unsolved characters at the foot of the 408 cipher. At the end of the August 12th 1969 article, Sgt John Lynch stated "We aren't sure Robert Emmet is who we are looking for. Maybe he'll send another letter and let us know". This request from Sgt John Lynch was specifically about the 18 seemingly nonsensical characters remaining at the base of the "murder cipher" and the search for a name. Therefore, the response of the "Good Citizen", stating "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX", was likely a response to this conundrum. Sgt John Lynch was searching for a name in the 408 cipher, to which the "Good Citizen" replied: "I get the name Jerry" or "his name is XXXXXXX". The October 7th 1969 letter mentioning Beach Street (at the north-eastern edge of Presidio Park), just four days before the Paul Stine murder, is so cryptic in nature, it could be construed as unhelpful and possibly malevolent or mischievous in nature. There is a high degree of probability that the same author was responsible for the "Concerned Citizen" card and "Good Citizen" letter, bearing in mind the August 10th 1969 communication was not in the public domain by October 7th 1969. The two communications both offering answers to the 408 cipher, in addition to the aforementioned similarities. To believe these were authored by separate individuals would require a high degree of mental gymnastics.  

If we have the Zodiac Killer as the author for both of these communications - and consider the message in the 408 cipher and "Concerned Citizen" card declaring "I will not give you my name" and "please forgive the absence of my name" - then the offering of "I get the name Jerry" or "his name is XXXXXXX" as a possible solution to these 18 unsolved characters, would shed doubt on the credibility of, not only the "Good Citizen" author, but the "Concerned Citizen" as being genuinely concerned. If the author of both communications was the same person, we have two conflicting messages. If it's Zodiac, then he is likely playing a game. An individual who helpfully provides a valid key to the 408 cipher on August 10th 1969, while subsequently offering an array of unhelpful cryptic nonsense just two months later, appears to invalidate the original communication as a concerned citizen.

​Does the name "Jerry" or the grouping of seven X's in the "Good Citizen" letter have any bearing on the 18 unexplained characters at the foot of the 408 cipher, or is it just another wild goose chase? One would like to think that the reference to "Jerry" or "XXXXXXX" had some meaning to its author and had some benefit to Sgt John Lynch, rather than complete nonsense that achieves nothing for the sender. The fact that the "Good Citizen" letter (if Zodiac) appears totally unhelpful and arguably bereft of a reasonable aid to solution, could suggest the 18 unsolved characters have no meaning to be found (in complete contradiction to the code key supplied on August 10th 1969 which did aid a solution). Whatever the case, it is with little doubt that the author of these two communications are one and the same - whether that author is Zodiac or not.

On October 22nd 1969, the San Francisco Examiner newspaper published an article by Will Stevens, which laid down a challenge from Professor D.C.B. Marsh of the American Cryptogram Association (ACA) to the Zodiac Killer, attempting to coax him into revealing 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 Allan 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 has been proposed that Dr. Marsh was invoking the name of Edgar Allan Poe to guide the Zodiac Killer down the path of creating a code featured in one of Poe's essays or journals. Just over two weeks later, on November 8th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed the recently solved 340 cipher. The scytale method of decryption, that can be used to reveal the message in Zodiac's 340 cipher, was featured in the opening section of Edgar Allan Poe's essay  A Few Words on Secret Writing. The final section of the revealed message in the 340 cipher almost mirrored one of Poe's poems, The final line of the 340 cipher was probably intended to read: "I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS DEATH. LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE". "To One in Paradise" was written by Edgar Allan Poe. This poem was first published as part of the short story titled "The Visionary" (later retitled as "The Assignation"). The poem was also published under the names "To lanthe in Heaven" and "To One Beloved". The title "To One in Paradise" was used in the February 25, 1843 Saturday Musuem. This poem was written after the death of Poe's wife. He writes that she was his life and he lived for her and now he looks forward to the future where they will be together again in death.​ In the Zodiac Killer's 408 cipher, part of the message read: "the best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and all the I have killed will become my slaves". The question has always been - what was the inspiration for some of the language he adopted? 

On of the overarching themes in the Zodiac correspondence was his plagiarized acts from The Mikado, a two-part comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan which opened to the paying public on March 14th 1885, and was hugely successful, running for 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre in London. The Mikado is the most internationally successful Savoy opera and has been especially popular with amateur and school productions. The work has been translated into numerous languages and is one of the most frequently played musical theatre pieces in history. Setting the opera in Japan, an exotic locale far away from Britain, allowed Gilbert to satirise British politics and institutions more freely by disguising them as Japanese.

​The Zodiac would feature three acts from The Mikado in his July 26th 1970 and January 29th 1974 letters - leading many to believe the Zodiac Killer had an avid interest in the theatre, or quite possibly worked there. His Japanese style characters at the foot of the 1974 Exorcist letter could suggest an affinity to Japanese history or culture. 

Taken from Palladiummag.com: "The world of medieval Japan was one of division. The Emperor was, in practice, a distant memory; the shoguns had lost all control over their vassals. Even shrines and temples, once united in strengthening the state through prayer and ritual, now competed for believers and alms. Japan was divided against itself and circumstances forced its inhabitants to form new bonds to survive. Among the new alliances which this age produced were the Ikkō-ikki, a network of autonomous religious collectives that led major uprisings and controlled significant parts of Japanese society for nearly a century. Their final defeat at the hands of Japan’s warrior class set the stage both for a centralized Japanese state and the social hierarchy behind it. Nobunaga, head of the powerful Oda clan, conquered the capital city of Kyoto in 1568. In the years that followed, he made clear his intention to destroy the Honganji sect. The Patriarch Kennyo took him at his word and summoned all Ikkō-ikki from across the country to defend the faith with their lives. Despite graver circumstances than those faced by his predecessor Shonyo, Kennyo did not go as far as implying that those who fought for the Amida Buddha would be guaranteed rebirth in the Pure Land. Nevertheless, he threatened expulsion from the sect for those who failed to respond to the call and he did not crack down on those who raised the Ikkō-ikki’s now-famous banner of war: “Advance and be reborn in Paradise, retreat and fall immediately into Hell.”

​Bearing in mind the numerous plagiaristic references to The Mikado in his letters, along with the plausible connection between the afterlife poem To One in Paradise from Edgar Allan Poe and the wording chosen in the 340 cipher, was the Zodiac Killer influenced by the Japanese Ikkō-ikki’s banner of war “Advance and be reborn in Paradise" and an affinity for the country's culture and belief system, that ultimately manifested in part of his 408 cipher? Not so much a paradise lost, but a paradise found.​

The following is an amalgamation of previous articles: 

​Six months after the Zodiac Killer's Albany, New York letter and code, another letter would arrive at the San Francisco Chronicle on January 30th 1974. Postmarked the day before (January 29th), this letter was a curious blend of The Exorcist movie (1973) and the comedic opera The Mikado (1885), two productions separated by 88 years.

The Zodiac Killer plagiarized The Mikado twice in the July 26th 1970 letter, but this appeared to have some purpose in relation to his hunting activities - that the Zodiac Killer had created a list of potential victims, who he would then kill and ultimately torture in paradise. This seemed at odds with his use of The Mikado in 1974. Any suggestion that the Zodiac Killer was contemplating suicide at this juncture because of his choice of Tit-Willow, appeared to be dashed in the following paragraph when he stated "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing". The notion that the Zodiac Killer had reached a watershed moment and was about to ditch the pseudonym he had coveted for so many years, would also be premature, when he mailed the 1978, 1986 and 1987 letters, all containing his infamous introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking".

​The 1978 and 1987 letters had one thing in common with the 1974 letter, in that they all carried the wording "yours truly" or "yours truley", followed by a colon. This wording is commonly used before a signature, with the colon used to separate two independent clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first. In the 1978 and 1987 letters the Zodiac Killer follows "yours truly" with "guess", whereas, he inserts the plagiarized verse from Tit-Willow where his signature should be placed in the 1974 Exorcist letter. The primary conclusion to draw from this, is the Zodiac Killer was yet again asking us to "guess" his name through the verse of Tit-Willow. 

He may have been bluffing, but giving us his first name in such cryptic fashion could never be realistically used as evidence against him, because any conclusions drawn from this verse through subjective interpretation, would never have any standing in a court of law. There are five things in relation to The Exorcist movie and the Tit-Willow verse that point to one name. There is also another that points backwards to the April 20th 1970 letter, when the Zodiac Killer teased us with his name by stating "My name is", followed by a thirteen character code. The Exorcist book was written by William Blatty in 1971, which told the story of a twelve-year-old girl possessed by a powerful demon, that was later adapted by director William Friedkin in the film version released on December 26th 1973. The Tit-Willow verse from The Mikado was created by William Schwenck Gilbert, which contained multiple examples of "Will" and "Bill" within words such as "Willo" and "Billowy" (Will and Bill being short for William). This verse followed The Exorcist introduction and the promise of a signature by use of "yours truley". If we look at the next paragraph in the Tit-Willow verse from the complete version, it reads "Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow". Very reminiscent of the "My name is" letter, but in this instance "My name Isn't". 

Now let us take a look at the final paragraph of the Exorcist letter where he wrote "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing". This mirrors his very first communications on July 31st 1969 when he wrote "I want you to print this cipher on your frunt page by Fry Afternoon Aug 1-69, If you do not do this I will go on a kill ram page Fry night that will last the whole week end. I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people". On July 31st 1969 and January 29th 1974, he concluded both correspondences with the threat "to kill" more people if his letters were not published in the newspapers. In his decoded 408 cipher, he wrote "To kill something gives me the most thrilling experence". To the best of my knowledge, this is the only time the Zodiac Killer used the word "something" prior to January 29th 1974 - and used it in reference "to kill something". So, when we look at the final paragraph of the Exorcist letter where he wrote the words "I will do something nasty", it is apparent that "to kill something" was his likely threat. The Zodiac Killer then finished the letter with another puzzle (likely decoded by Kevin Robert Brooks). 

When determining whether the "concerned citizen" card mailed to Sergeant John Lynch on August 10th 1969 was written by a helpful member of the public or the Zodiac Killer, we need look no further than the "good citizen" letter mailed on October 7th 1969. Despite the fact the "concerned citizen" card was not in the public domain in 1969, the "good citizen" author would also adopt the word "citizen" in their signature, address the communication to Sergeant John Lynch once again, and refer to the July 31st 1969 cryptogram by mentioning "code letters", just as the "concerned citizen" author was addressing the "code letters" by supplying us with a key to the 408 cryptogram. These are compelling reasons to believe that both communications were composed by the same author. The question being; is the wording in the "good citizen" letter that of a helpful citizen or a mischievous individual playing games with the police. The "good citizen" letter read "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX".  

The "good citizen" letter was postmarked October 7th 1969 and mentioned 56 Beach Street, which is the old block numbering from the original planning maps, which comes out as 1654/1656 on the street numbering. The address at 1654/56 Beach St, San Francisco, California is a condominium home that measures 2,141 sq ft, and was built in 1938. Irrespective of the exact numbering, Beach Street is just 240 meters from the Presidio of San Francisco, where eyewitnesses saw a white male, about 40 years of age, weighing 170lbs, sporting a blond crewcut and wearing glasses, running into Julius Kahn playground shortly after the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. Of all the places in northern California or the Bay Area the author could select, the composer of the "good citizen" letter was not only referring to Zodiac's code letters, but managed to choose the location of Beach Street, bordering the Presidio in which the Zodiac Killer possibly escaped into just four days later. Possibly coincidence, but noteworthy nonetheless. The "good citizen" author may have been referring to Beach Street in San Francisco just a matter of days before the Zodiac Killer first struck in the big city, before mailing a letter on October 13th 1969, again detailing a destination in the form of a street name - this time "Washington St and Maple St".   

This letter, likely referring to San Francisco, may hold some significance when we consider the statement of Jim Dunbar on October 22nd 1969, when somebody pretending to be the Zodiac Killer rang into the KGO-TV Jim Dunbar Show. He asked the caller "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?" It can be understood why the hoaxer, Eric Weill, would ring into the Jim Dunbar Show, because he got wind that the Jim Dunbar Show was possibly entertaining a call from the Zodiac Killer that morning. Therefore, it isn't unreasonable to conclude he used opportunism to hijack the limelight. But why would Eric Weill claim to be the Zodiac Killer and ring into the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks" earlier, when the Zodiac Killer had never comitted an attack in San Francisco at this juncture?

The Zodiac Killer wanting a TV audience in San Francisco on October 22nd 1969 after his murder of Paul Stine in San Francisco eleven days earlier, can be argued. It is also possible that the Zodiac Killer may have rang into the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks" earlier (between October 1st and October 8th), requesting a slot on the show to announce his intentions of bringing terror to the heart of San Francisco. A phone call placed to the Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco on October 8th 1969 would coincide with the "good citizen" letter on October 7th 1969, also possibly involving a location in San Francisco - and both would predate the murder of Paul Stine in San Francisco by just a matter of days. A murder, in which the Zodiac Killer was spotted entering the Presidio grounds, which Beach Street borders. If we are to determine whether the "concerned citizen" card on August 10th 1969 was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, we have to factor in the letter on October 7th 1969 and the phone call to the Jim Dunbar Show around the same time - and the significance they may, or may not hold.