The following article is an updated version of a previous post, expanded and covered in greater detail. It is not particularly a line of investigation that I subscribe to, but it attempts to compare the Zodiac Killer's Halloween Card mailed on October 27th 1970 with the Harper Lee novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird', published in 1960 and turned into a film in 1962 featuring Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall, Mary Badham and Phillip Alford. Set in the fictional town of Maycomb, the film explored the deep set racial undertones prevalent in American society, brought to the forefront, as lawyer Atticus Finch fought to defend a black man accused of rape in Alabama. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor. 

The most reclusive character in the film was Arthur "Boo" Radley, who went by the shortened version Boo Radley. The first thing to be noticed on the Halloween Card envelope is the misspelled name of the reporter Paul Avery to Paul Averly- which emphasizes the 'ley' section. On the inside of the card he places the word BOO in bold letters. Now we have two parts of our puzzle, "Boo" and "ley". To complete the name Boo Radley requires us to search for "Rad", which is not far away. It crosses the "LAV" of "SLAVES" on the Halloween Card paradice and slaves configuration - which rather fortunately was underlined on the envelope  containing the reporter's name. The Zodiac Killer may not have given us a cipher but had he given us "Boo Radley". 
 
Boo Radley was a much misunderstood character in the novel, feared and rumored upon by the local schoolchildren. He was described by Jem (brother of Scout Finch) as "6 1/2 feet tall... dined on all the raw squirrels and cats he could catch... you could never wash the blood off... there was a large scar that ran across his face... his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time".  In fact, Boo Radley's house and chicken yard backed onto Maycomb School. Funny that - I remember Arthur Leigh Allen slaughtered chickens and squirrels and was never far from schools - but coincidence aside - we shall move on.

The children feared the Radley House and garden, believing the trees were poisoned, however, in one such tree a knot-hole existed, that would ultimately bridge a friendship between Boo Radley, Scout and Jem. Periodically the reclusive Boo Radley would  place objects in the knot-hole for Scout and Jem to find. This was his outlet to the world. On various days the two children would find presents he had left - which included carved soap figures, a ball of twine, chewing gum, a broken pocket watch, an Indian medal, and an aluminium knife on a key chain - many deposited in pairs, one for each child. This was their 'Tree Treasure'. In fact, 'Tree Treasure' was one of the tracks created for the musical score accompanying the film, composed by Elmer Bernstein. Two other tracks on the musical score were titled  'Boo Who' and 'Peek-a-boo.'. What a coincidence. 

The Halloween Card had a knot-hole in the tree with the words "peek-a-boo" circled around it.. Peek-a-boo is the act of concealing ones face behind the hands or other object, before suddenly appearing back into view and uttering the words peek-a-boo. It can be seen in Wikipedia that many variations involve trees, similar to the depiction on the Halloween Card, where 'Hiding behind that tree' is added. See here. That eye was certainly hiding in the Halloween Card tree - was it not. Didn't the Zodiac Killer hide behind a tree at Lake Berryessa and hide his face behind a mask?. When he eventually came into view his identity was concealed. When the Halloween Card was removed from the envelope, it goaded us  with the introduction "I feel it in my bones, you ache to know my name, and so I'll clue you in" - and once opened it revealed the word "BOO". I know what your thinking "Boo Who."  Well, I had to squeeze it in.

The Eureka Card, mailed in the December of 1990 was the sister card to the Halloween Card, and was very similar in design. It too began with a message from our 'secret pal', yet this time it had a present from Zodiac - not an aluminium knife and pocket watch on a key chain - but a photocopy of a pair of keys on a key chain. 

In the novel Scout and Jem made a snowman, constructed with mud, then layered with snow - a theme many believe was suggestive to the racist overtones of the story. A snowman is depicted on the Eureka Card, with what appeas to be Groucho Marx imagery on the face. Jem and Scout built this snowman because of their dislike of a local resident down the street, but their father Atticus intervened and told the children to disguise it because it so resembled the local resident they were poking fun at. To placate their father, they placed Miss Maudie's hat on it. The resident they so disliked was called MR AVERY - now that is a coincidence, along with December 25th 1962 release date of the film in Los Angeles, California. The Eureka Card was mailed sometime in December and depicted a Christmas scene. Facing the snowman was a cute rabbit. I hope Arthur Leigh Allen didn't slaughter rabbits as well as chickens and squirrels. 

Incidentally, Scout and Jem went to a Halloween celebration. In the book on Chapter 28, the schoolchildren are encouraged to dress up in the local agricultural produce of Maycomb for the Halloween night pageant rather than go trick or treating. Scout is dressed as a piece of ham. While traveling home after the pageant, Jem and Scout are attacked by somebody and rescued by Boo Radley. As we all now know, Bob Ewell is later found dead under a tree with a knife stuck in him. It is curious that the skeleton on the Halloween Card is also wearing agricultural produce. Is that a pumpkin I see? And that tree keeps reappearing. 

Was this card based on the Lake Berryessa attack, or could the Zodiac have been peeking out, playing hide and seek in the Julius Khan playground in the Presidio. I feel something in my bones. Anyway, here ends the story. The only question left to ask is, have I now created a second piece of fiction?

Here we will be running over some old ground, but concentrating primarily on the 13 Symbol cipher mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 20th 1970, showing how its symmetry, its connection to the 340 Cipher, Button letter code, 13 Hole postcard, Halloween card and Pines card can be intertwined within its design. The Zodiac Killer may have been heavily influenced by mathematics and religion, developing his own code key- and this can be shown throughout the 13 Symbol cipher, that was intrinsically born out of symmetry and the religious leanings of the Zodiac Killer.

His key was developed by splitting of the alphabet, A through to M and N through to Z. We can see that the 13 Symbol cipher begins with an A and ends with an M. So, what we will do first, is place the alphabet alongside the 13 Symbol cipher and see if we can find any organization or patterns that exist using simple mathematics.

The Zodiac Killer began his series of crimes with the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968, followed by the Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969, killing Darlene Ferrin and seriously injuring Michael Mageau. The killer confirmed these murders with details provided in three letters he sent to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. His next attack would be in the remote region of Lake Berryessa on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, but despite no detailed reference to this crime in any of his subsequent correspondence, he wasted no time laying claim to the lakeside attack, writing on Bryan Hartnell's car door within minutes of the crime. His final confirmed murder was that of Paul Stine at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, only fourteen days after the Lake Berryessa attack.

One cannot help thinking his focus had turned quickly after his third attack, straight into the planning phase of the Presidio Heights murder, after all, his dramatic costume driven attack and the recollection of surviving witness Bryan Hartnell, had given him all the publicity he could have wished for. Again, after the Presidio Heights murder he wasted no time in contacting the newspapers, writing to the San Francisco Chronicle only two days later. In other words, his first letter immediately after three of the crimes, laid claim to each one of them, with the exception of Lake Berryessa. However, he still laid claim to it, in the form of written communication on the car door. Therefore, although questioned as a Zodiac crime, it made perfect sense to analyze his immediate correspondence after the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns and see if this cryptic letter in any way suggested a link to it.

This letter contained the 13-Symbol cipher, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 20th 1970, just one month after the Kathleen Johns incident on March 22nd 1970.  

Technically, a full moon is really only full for an instant in time. As we approach a full moon it is said to be waxing and as it diminishes it is said to be waning. A Waxing Gibbous denotes 95% illumination approaching a full moon and a Waning Gibbous denotes 95% illumination as we leave the full moon, thereby everything in between can be regarded as varying degrees of a full moon. 

Therefore, in the calendar above there is one full moon phase in Aries, before the Zodiac sign of Taurus takes over on April 20th, 21st and 22nd. This may explain the 3 to 1 configuration present on the 13-Symbol cipher. We now have seven dates of relevance, March 22nd 1970, April 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd, July 24th 1970 (Johns letter) and March 22nd 1971 (Pines card), but whether any significance can be attributed, remains questionable.

It has often been speculated upon, that four of the symbols in this cipher may be interpreted as three circled Taurus symbols (shown in red) and one inverted Aries symbol (shown in blue). But how could these four symbols in any way connect to the Kathleen Johns abduction. The following observation will not claim a solution, just a line of thought to be considered for discussion.

In this letter the Zodiac Killer claimed to have "killed ten people to date". Had he murdered Kathleen Johns and her infant daughter, Jennifer, this total would have read 12.
Kathleen Johns was abducted on March 22nd 1970 and on the following anniversary of this crime, March 22nd 1971, the Pines card was received at the San Francisco Chronicle, claiming to have 'Sought victim 12'.

There are four crucial dates at play here. March 22nd, detailed twice above, April 20th 1970 (the mailing date of the 13-Symbol cipher} and July 24th 1970 (the date of the correspondence the Zodiac Killer mailed, claiming responsibility for the abduction of Kathleen Johns). Bearing in mind the Zodiac horoscope signs, possibly present on the 13-Symbol cipher, were the dates on the Zodiac calendar in any way relevant to these events.

Firstly, April 20th (the 13-Symbol cipher date) is the beginning of Taurus on the Zodiac calendar. The abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 is one day after the beginning of Aries on the Zodiac calendar. The Kathleen Johns letter on July 24th 1970 is one day after the beginning of Leo on the Zodiac calendar. Three horoscope dates, all within one day of the Zodiac Killer timeline. Four, if you include the Pines Card anniversary.
      
The 13-Symbol cipher was sent in the April of 1970 to the San Francisco Chronicle, so let us look at at the Moon phases and lunar calendar of San Francisco from the relevant time period. But before we do, it is important to note that the Zodiac Killer circled his three Taurus symbols, and the symbol for a full moon is a white circle. 

It has often been theorized that the 340 cipher may have inspired the design of later communications, but equally, as time went by the Zodiac Killer dismayed that nobody was able to crack his masterpiece, may have dropped clues or keys in his subsequent cards and letters, particularly the latter ones as he became more desperate to push people in the right direction. An interesting article on Jos Kirps's Popular Science and Technology Blog, indicated some extremely close connections, that suggested the Halloween card mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on October 27th 1970 may have been the Zodiac Killer's biggest clue to date.

He observed that on the Halloween card the Zodiac Killer had added the phrases By Fire, By Gun, By Knife and By Rope in four quadrants around the intersecting Paradice and Slaves, which may bear some relation to the unsolved 340 cipher. The word "By" was also present in the four quadrants of the 340 cipher, all running horizontally. If that was not curious enough, he noticed the possibility that the word Paradice ran down the center of the 340 cipher, and the word Slaves  across its midsection, on the 10th row. In the following section we shall use this as our starting point and attempt to find some more connections to the Halloween card.

We shall add the words  Fire, Knife and Rope underneath the words "By" on the 340 cipher (By Gun runs upwards to remain in its respective quadrant). On the Halloween card the Zodiac Killer placed Fire, Gun and Rope next to the letter B of "By". But the word Knife is placed next to the letter Y of "By" (as it runs vertically). In the diagram below Fire, Gun, Knife and Rope have been colored in.

If you take a look at the word Knife and Rope, the letter E on both would fall over a > symbol on the 340 cipher. The letter E in the word Slaves would fall over a < symbol. The E in the vertical word Paradice would fall over a < symbol as well.

Therefore out of the five E's on the Halloween card, four would fall over a directional symbol, either < or > (Fire would not). If we transposed this E onto the fourth symbol on the top row of the 340 cipher, the word Here is formed.
This would now connect five directional symbols to the letter E. In the above examples, three E's are represented by > symbol and two E's are represented by < symbol. But it would be nice to have five the same.

The Halloween card has many interesting features, but in terms of focusing in on individual alphabetical letters, the Zodiac Killer does two things. He mirrors the letter N in By Knife and underlines LAV in Paul Averly on the envelope. If we then produce a mirror image of all the symbols on the 17th line of the 340 cipher (to correct the reversed N in Knife), the < (E) of Paradice becomes >. If we take a mirror image of all the characters on the 10th line of the 340 cipher, including Slaves (LAV), the < (E) of Slaves becomes >. Therefore all five E's would now be represented by the symbol >.

"I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track". Taunting words dragged from the 'Dear Boss' letter, presumably sent by Jack the Ripper and mailed on September 27th 1888, exactly 81 years prior to the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. In this letter he taunted the police by stating "The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good Luck. Yours truly. Jack the Ripper".

Bearing in mind the wording on the Ripper letter, the 'next job' the Zodiac Killer undertook after the Lake Berryessa attack, was the murder of Paul Stine in the wealthy district of Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. Despite the callousness of the crime, the Zodiac Killer did refrain from the unthinkable, despite removing several items from the crime scene and tearing off a section of Paul Stine's shirt and sending it to authorities. Two days after the murder, this letter, not dissimilar to the 'Dear Boss' letter, arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle on October 13th 1969. It said "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover". He then backed this up in similar fashion one month later with the 'Bus Bomb' letter on November 9th 1969, stating "I gave the cops som bussy work to do to keep them happy. I enjoy needling the blue pigs. Hey blue pig I was in the park -- you were useing fire trucks to mask the sound of your cruzeing prowl cars".

Then, nine years later, another letter mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald on October 28th 1987 arrived with wording all too familiar. It again emphasized that the Zodiac Killer was "still here", almost reminding us of the fact he had never gone away. In many people's eyes this letter was deemed a poor imitation, crafted from the inspiration of previous correspondence. Nevertheless, this letter also signed off with the words 'yours truly' once again, in extremely similar fashion to the 1978 letter. See here. In the 1978 letter the author stated  "I am waiting for a good movie about me" and in the 1987 letter the author stated "Cars make nice weapons. The pigs can catch me if they can find me out there. Just like in the movie The Car". The Zodiac Killer, if we take these two letters as genuine, appeared to be reminding the American public that he was definitely far from dead, as some press speculation had considered - due mainly to the Zodiac Killer's lack of correspondence subsequent to the 'Exorcist' letter in early 1974. But now he was back..... in fact he had never gone away.

Yours Truly-Jack the Ripper was a short story by Robert Bloch, published in Weird Tales in July 1943 and was made for television on 11th April 1961, directed by Ray Milland and starring Boris Karloff, John Williams and Beverly Powers. See here.
In the story Sir Guy (John Williams) attempts to convince the police that Jack the Ripper is far from dead - in fact, he is very much alive and still claiming victims - this time in New York. (see Albany Letter). In one line he says "Now none of these Ripper murders received the notoriety of those in London, many went almost unnoticed, but they did occur" and went on to elaborate "I've studied everything about them, especially the dates and the pattern made by those dates, I've studied their rhythm, the solar and lunar rhythm". See here. The police thought these new murders were a copycat, attempting to replicate the murders of Jack the Ripper, and poured scorn on the idea he was still around. Could the Zodiac Killer have read the book or viewed this television episode and deliberately signed off these later letters with the phrase 'yours truly' to again ridicule the police and authorities, who thought that he was dead also.       

The Button letter was mailed on June 26th 1970 containing a footnote that stated "The map coupled with this code will tell you where the bomb is set. You have until next fall to dig it up". No bomb or any other relevant location was subsequently discovered. The Zodiac Killer's November 8th 1969 340 cipher remained "crackproof", the April 20th 1970 '13 Symbol' cipher was simply too short for any meaningful decryption, and by late July of 1970, this new '32 symbol' code and 'Phillips 66 Road Map' mailed on June 26th 1970 failed to provide little relief for an audience on the wane.

THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

The 340 cipher, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on November 8th 1969, has remained unsolved for just over 44 years, with many attempts relying on the notoriously unreliable use of anagrams to arrive at a solution, that is often subjective. The following section is not a solution, but a possible direction the Zodiac Killer may have taken when constructing the first two lines of the 340 cipher.

Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism have been suggested as possible Zodiac influences, with both employing variations of a cipher within their secret society, dating back as far as the 18th century. The Pigpen Cipher is commonly known as the Freemasons Cipher and uses geometric simple substitution to replace letters with symbols. The 340 cipher is constructed using 63 symbols, and could quite possibly have been formulated using a combination or variant of the Pigpen Cipher, alongside any other technique the Zodiac Killer decided to choose. The reasoning behind this way of thinking, is the Zodiac Killer's extensive use of directional arrows, such as the normal, sideward and upside down V's - as well as the forward and backwards L's throughout the 340 cipher, in a seemingly natural progression from the 408 cipher.

To find out what is written on the first line of the cipher, it is a question of trial and error until something exhibits a small glimmer of promise. As well as finding the key, or one of the keys to unlock the mind of this serial killer. So let's start with something we do know. He opened up the 408 cipher with the words "I like killing people because it is so much fun", and his July 31st 1969 San Francisco Chronicle letter with "I am the murderer of the 2 teenagers last Christmas". But a change was about to occur, when he sent the Debut of Zodiac letter on August 4th 1969, in that he had now adopted the Zodiac persona, opening his correspondence with the line "This is the Zodiac speaking". This was to become his opening phrase in virtually every confirmed letter thereafter, culminating with the Los Angeles Times letter on March 13th 1971. So let us adopt this known trait and apply it to the opening section of the 340 cipher, using the first word THIS as the key. This may shine some light on a possible solution, albeit, still a theory in its infancy. 
 

The first four symbols marry up with the symbols on the right, but the fifth symbol does not. Unless of course, after a set number of symbols in the 340 cipher, the key is rotated. In this particular example, the upper key would have to be rotated 90 degrees, or the bottom key 45 degrees to correct matters. This is a simplified example using the Zodiac's trademark phrase and the first word of that phrase, to produce an example of how a Pigpen Cipher may work. Of course it can be made as simple or as complex as the designer wishes. The next question would be how are the other symbols arranged within the Pigpen design, if indeed this is the answer at all?

Lawrence Kane is one of several high profile suspects linked to the atrocities that befell the Northern regions of California during the late 1960s, a period that saw a new breed of serial killer emerge from the shadows. Alex Lewis, an avid Zodiac enthusiast, also known by his pseudonym Welsh Chappie, is of the conviction that Larry Kane is the man most likely behind the mask of evil, due to several observations relating to Larry Kane's timeline during the Zodiac murders. Alex has compiled an extensive range of information on his website pertaining to this subject, and pretty much covers all you need to know about Larry Kane. http://welshchappie.wordpress.com. He has also formulated an interesting theory that links the solved 408 Cipher, the My Name is...Cipher, Larry Kane's year of birth and his residency in Round Hill Village, Zephyr Cove, South Lake Tahoe.
The following post is entirely the work of Alex Lewis, submitted to me, outlining the details of his connection between the aforementioned Zodiac letters.

Each of the three parts had eight lines of encrypted cipher. This was no random number of lines per section of cipher. Three lines of eight total twenty-four lines in total for the entire message (3 x 8 = 24). Then, in Zodiac's My Name Is line of cipher, he once again seems to want to point to three eights, or twenty-four, being relevant because this time he leaves no room for it to be overlooked by placing three circles within the line of cipher, each of which contain the number eight.

What relevance, if any, could this seemingly random number have? Well, 408 is his house number. And finally, the first 4 letters in the 'My Name Is Cipher' line are AENK. We don't need to be anagram experts to work out that this is a clear anagram of the name 'KANE'. We all know Lawrence Kane is one of the suspects in the Zodiac case, but what many won't be aware of is how 24 and 408 are extremely specific to him and here is why.
 
Lawrence Kane was born in the year 1924. Kane's main residence was in South Lake Tahoe, in Zephyr Cove's Round Hill Village and his address was: 408 Mcfaul Way, Round Hill Village, Zephyr Cove, NV. So, combining the 408 cipher with the My Name Is Cipher, it is possible to conclude that his name is Kane, as he blatantly tells is in Stating 'My Name Is....AENK'. He was born in 1924, as he twice makes reference to, once in the 408 and then in the My Name Is Cipher. And finally, his address is, just like the number of symbols in the first Cipher, 408 McFaul Way.

THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

The 340 cipher has confounded all attempts at decryption during the preceding 44 years. Five months after the November 8th Dripping Pen card and 340 character cipher, on April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed the My Name is Cipher, stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is....." 
 
Based on his wording in the cracked 408 cipher: "I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife", it may be possible he signed off the 340 cipher with a phrase something like "I will not tell you who the Zodiac is", bearing in mind the positioning and appearance of the symbols on the last line.

We know that he placed what appeared to be three circled 8's on the 13 Symbol cipher, but why did he circle them? Was it to highlight the fact they had increased significance? In a previous article we highlighted the symmetry contained within the 13 Symbol cipher.  https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-symmetry-of-the-13-symbol-cipher

On the right we have lined up the alphabet over the top of the cipher. Now calculate numerically the difference in each column. ie: C to N produces a difference of 11, whereas B to 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. Is this a coincidence or is it by design?

So can we generate the same symmetry from the only apparent reference to the name ZODIAC on the final line of the 340 cipher, to provide us with that seamless link.
We will use the identical technique featured above, by alphabetically counting the numerical difference between the letters in the cipher and the key chosen. In this case, the key is the killer's pseudonym ZODIAC, because it is without doubt the most significant marker he placed on the 340 cipher - and it is difficult to believe he placed the 'near Zodiac'on the final line by sheer accident during the construction of the cipher. 

If we then count alphabetically, the numerical difference between the columns, ZOD produces no difference between the columns. ie: 000. The IAC element produces the numerical difference 888. The Zodiac Killer possibly took the 000 and 888, and incorporated these elements, in the form of three circled 8's into his following 13 Symbol cipher on April 20th 1970. Even the crossed circle and inverted Aries were carried forward. But is this proof of a link?

888 is a unique number, explained here in Wikipedia. In Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. This representation may be justified either through gematria, by counting the letter values of the Greek transliteration of Jesus' name, or as an opposing value to 666, the number of the beast. In Chinese numerology, 888 has a different meaning, triple fortune, a strengthening of the meaning of the digit 8. For this reason, addresses and phone numbers containing the digit sequence 888 are considered particularly lucky, and may command a premium because of it. 

To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, was a hugely successful book published on July 11th 1960 and later adapted into a motion picture starring Gregory Peck two years later, portraying racial injustice and the innocence of youth from the backdrop of the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. This next section is not inferring the Zodiac drew any inspiration from this novel, however, it will outline some unusual coincidences between this work of fiction and two greeting cards mailed by the Zodiac, notably the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card and the December 1990 'Eureka' or 'American Greetings' card.

​Kevin Robert Brooks noticed that the Asian characters at the foot of the 'Exorcist' letter could be rearranged to spell the words, 'To Kill'. These are obviously the first two words of this novel, but the 'Exorcist' letter also contained an extract from The Mikado about a bird, taken from Act II On a tree by a river- a little tom-tit in this case. 

To Kill a Mockingbird was widely used as an educational tool in many schools, in which one of the central characters was "Boo" Radley, a reclusive resident of Maycomb, who generated a constant source of suspicion and mystery from the local townsfolk, despite his later acts of disguised benevolence. Note BOO on the 'Halloween' card. He went by the name Boo Radley, but curiously his first name was Arthur. 

The alphabetical letters LAV letters are present together in the horizontal word SLAVES on the back of the card and underlined in the name Paul Averly on the envelope, but note the three letters at the intersection of the crossed PARADICE and SLAVES running vertically - they spell RAD,
The incorrect spelling of Paul Avery to Averly points towards LEY, to complete the character BOO RADLEY.

In the novel, a local resident by the name of Stephanie Crawford reported she was woken up one night and saw Boo Radley "looking straight through the window at her..... said his head was like a skull lookin' at her". On the tree around the knothole there are the words PEEK A BOO YOU ARE DOOMED.

The musical score to the original motion picture was composed by Elmer Bernstein. Three of the soundtracks are Creepy Caper/Peek-a-Boo, Boo Who and Tree Treasure. In the book, Tree Treasure was a hiding place in the knothole of a tree, where several items were found including a broken pocket watch, an aluminium knife and a ball of twine. These were placed there by Boo Radley for two local kids, Scout and Jem, to discover. The knothole in the tree represented Boo Radley's outlet to the world, and soon the children were to realize that Boo Radley was far from the monster he had been depicted. All the items he placed at intervals in the knothole came in pairs, except the twine - there were two packets of chewing gum, two polished coins, two miniatures of children, and the most interesting of all, was a knife and pocket watch, both on the same chain. Presumably two items, so Jem and Scout could have one each. The 'Eureka' card or 'American Greetings' card, mailed by the Zodiac Killer in 1990, was very similar to the 'Halloween' card in its design, both beginning with the phrase "From your secret pal". The 'Eureka' card included a photocopy, of not one, but a pair of keys on a chain. But who was the "secret pal" - the Zodiac Killer or Boo Radley?

​Incidentally, Scout and Jem build a snowman in the the Harper Lee novel, made initially from mud, but then layered with snow- a theme many believe is reflective of the racial overtones contained within the story. A snowman was depicted on the 'Eureka' card, with what appeared to be Groucho Marx imagery on the face. Jem and Scout created this snowman because of their dislike of a local resident down the street, much to the annoyance of their father Atticus Finch, who told the children to disguise it because it so resembled the local resident they were poking fun at. Their solution was to place Miss Maudie Atkinson's hat on it (she lived across the street from Atticus Finch and his family). The resident they so disliked was called MR AVERY- now that is a coincidence- along with release date of the film: December 25th 1962, in Los Angeles, California. Happy Holidays.

The Zodiac Killer was a complex character with an inflated ego, who taunted his audience with the distinct possibility that he may one day reveal his name, hidden somewhere within the numerous communications he mailed to the newspapers. He dared to reveal all in the 408 cipher, but failed to deliver on that promise, he flattered to deceive in the Halloween card, when he chose a card with the words "You ache to know my name" and again in the 'My Name is Cipher', to yet again leave us disappointed....or did he? Every genuine cipher can be decoded, if only you can get into the mind of its designer - in this instance, into the mind of a killer.

It is well chronicled that the Zodiac Killer was an attention addict - and it may well be the case, that the ruthless killer who stalked the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s gave us a small glimpse of what was about to come, in the symmetry he encoded within this cipher. In a previous article on this site, it was proposed that the Zodiac Killer selected his attacks based upon the 13 Moon Calendar,  but here we will attempt to decode the 'My Name is Cipher' using simple mathematics and show that the cipher is number specific and a perfect mirror image in its design.
 
The  'My Name is Cipher' has 13 characters (half the alphabet), supposedly running from left to right. The code begins with the letter A and ends with the letter M, so we shall place the first half of the alphabet alongside the code. Then where possible, simply count the nearest difference numerically between the letters in each column of two. But take the circled 8 symbol as the letter H (being the 8th letter of the alphabet), to arrive at this numerical derivative. Note the organized pattern (see below).     

The gaps in the number solution are unknown for now, so I will represent them with a red x.
Many people believe this cipher may possibly reveal the killer's name, so let's use the second column to complete his name in the original code, as shown below by the highlighted green box.

Now one last thing. Take the 8 derived figures (including the X) from left to right, to get  0, 3, 1, 1, X, 3, 5, 1.  Then, in the form of a mirror image, take the 8 derived figures (including the X) from right to left, to get  3, 0, 1, 1, 3, X, 1, 5. Then arrange them as below, one on top of the other. Notice the mirrored pattern evolve, from three simple steps, without any great manipulation required.

As has been noted by many before, the three circled 8's could in fact be three Taurus symbols, or they could have been designed in such a fashion to have been interpreted as both, with the tenth symbol an inverted Aries sign. The symbol for the moon is a circle. Here are the moon phases of San Francisco for April 1970 - after all, this letter was mailed on April 20th 1970 to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. Before we start, it is important to highlight that a full moon is really only full for an instant in time. As we approach a full moon it is said to be waxing and as it diminishes it is said to be waning. A Waxing Gibbous denotes 95% illumination approaching a full moon and a Waning Gibbous denotes 95% illumination as we leave the full moon. Everything in between (above 95%) can be regarded as varying degrees of a full moon. 

As can be seen on the moon calendar, the full moon phase on this occasion lasts four days from April 19th to April 22nd, paralleling the four unusual, but as yet undetermined symbols on the cipher. As noted above, they could possibly be three Taurus signs enclosed in a circle (the moon), - and one Aries sign. In astrology the Zodiac sign of Aries on average runs from March 21st to April 19th, with the Taurus sign taking over on April 20th (the date this letter was mailed) until May 20th. Although, these dates can marginally change over the years and determining your sign near a cusp, can require a little extra help. So effectively we have one full moon phase in Aries, on April 19th, and three full moon phases in Taurus, on April 20th, 21st and 22nd, hence the Zodiac's use of 4 symbols in a 1:3 configuration.

The last two potential Zodiac attacks prior to this mailing were the Kathleen Johns abduction on March 22nd 1970 and the double murder of John Franklin Hood and Sandra Garcia om February 21st 1970. Both fell on a full moon. Check the calendar for confirmation. 

Astrology and the Zodiac Killer has been widely discussed regarding the Bay Area murders and the communications he mailed to the newspapers. Here we will concentrate on the 13 moon calendar, based upon a cycle of 4 weeks, forming a 28 day cycle (it takes 28 days for the moon to orbit the earth) over 13 moon phases, amounting to 364 days - the 365th day referred to as 'the day out of time,' and serves as a public holiday in some countries. But what has this got to do with the Zodiac Killer? It is believed by some that the Zodiac Killer committed his crimes on a full or new moon, but this was not the case. For example, the Blue Rock Springs Park attack on July 4th or 5th 1969 (as it occurred close to midnight) were neither a full moon or a new moon - only a waning gibbous moon. However, something does correlate with all four confirmed Zodiac attacks, in that they all occurred on DALI days. In other words, the 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd day of each moon cycle. Therefore, the first day of each week of the 28 day cycle, represented by the Dali crosshairs symbol. Visit here for calendar and explanation. Leave this new window open on the calendar, to enter the relevant dates. There are 7 symbols of Dali, Seli, Gamma, Kali, Alpha, Limi and Silio representing each day of one week.

If we now place the Zodiac crimes into place, beginning with the Lake Herman Road murders on December 20th 1968, which is 12/20, this falls on the first day of the week on the Dali line in position 8 of the Rythmic Moon. The Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969, which is 7/4, falls on the first day of the week on the Dali line in position 8 of the Cosmic Moon. The Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, which is 9/27, falls on the first day of the week on the Dali line in position 8 of the Electric Moon (remember the three circled 8's of the 'My name is' letter). Finally, the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, which is 10/11, and falls for the fourth time on the first day of a week on the Dali line in position 22 of the Electric Moon. For confirmation of the above, visit Spacestation Plaza and enter in all four complete dates, including the year, under where it says 13 Moon Natural Time Calendar. It can be seen that all the four confirmed Zodiac attacks occur at the beginning of the week on the 13 moon calendar, which if my mathematics are correct, produces odds of 2401 to 1. 

Continuing this observation, to rule in or out any of the other touted Zodiac crimes, suggests that the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns, and the Cheri Jo Bates, Betsy Aardsma and Domingos/Edwards murders would all be ruled out on this basis. However, the Donna Ann Lass disappearance on September 6th 1970 and the Hood/Garcia murders would still remain a possibility. ​The disappearance and eventual murder of Judith Hakari on March 7th 1970, and the Sleeping Bag Murders sometime on the night of July 4th 1970. both fall on the first day of the week in the 13 moon calendar and would also be ruled in

In total, this would make 11 murders (8 attacks), that all fall on the first day of the 13 moon calendar week, represented by the Dali symbol. If we expand the search field to other potential Zodiac victims (detailed below), one can see the correlation of the data, with all the victims from December 20th 1968 to November 15th 1970 (just a 2-year period) being murdered on the first day of the 13 moon calendar, and all on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, possibly when the killer had finished his working week.  This is either a highly credible argument or one hell of a statistical coincidence. 

THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

The following will examine a link between the 'corrected' sixth line of the 340 cipher and the Exorcist letter symbols. The Dripping Pen card and 340 cipher were mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on November 8th 1969, with the Exorcist letter, widely considered to be the final Zodiac correspondence, mailed just over four years later on January 29th 1974 to the same newspaper. Is it possible a link could have been generated by the killer over such a period of time.