DECODING THE 408 CIPHER TWICE

9/2/2020

Click image above for the 3rd instalment of Let's Crack Zodiac

Inspired by an idea floated by Dave Oranchak of Zodiac Killer Ciphers and the third instalment of his Let's Crack Zodiac series, we will take another look at the 408 cipher and the notion of a killer who simply skipped a line accidentally when transferring his 17 by 24 plaintext grid into three separate 17 by 8 ciphertext mailings. It was an easy error to make, bearing in mind that the letter E may have began three consecutive rows on the original plaintext 408 (rows 17, 18 and 19). The Zodiac Killer may have inadvertently missed out ELONEORSTRAYPEOPL while transferring from his 17 by 24 plaintext grid into the ciphertext mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. He accidentally enciphered the next row, which also began with the letter E, converting EIHAVEKILLEDWILLB into ciphertext (which unfortunately now began the enciphered message to the Chronicle). This created the appearance of a missing word (such as people) in "the best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and all the (people) I have killed will become my slaves".

The reason for believing that ELONEORSTRAYPEOPL are the missing 17 letters of plaintext, is based on his threats to the three newspapers, who he threatened with devastating consequences if they failed to publish his cipher by the afternoon of Friday, August 1st. The Zodiac Killer, when finishing his encryption, would now realise his mistake, but for whatever reason decided not to go back and correct the error. His original intention may very well have been to leave just one apparently meaningless plaintext letter E at the end of the 408 cipher (effectively creating a 407 character cipher). That is, until we run the decoding process for a second time.

Dave Oranchak showed us how the Zodiac Killer enciphered his letter E's as he traveled through the 408 cipher, by cycling through Z9W+ONE (O with dot). which all represented the letter E and created a repeating sequence (despite breaking down towards the end). This is shown at 32:47 on his Let's Crack Zodiac episode. If we apply a second decoding to the letter E remaining at the end of the 408 cipher, the letter E would now be replaced by the letter Z, which begins this repeating sequence. The 408 cipher would now be complete with a message and signature (or identity). The Zodiac Killer would be signing off his cipher with the letter Z, partially and fully evident in the April 30th 1967 Bates letters and October 27th 1970 Halloween card. Whether the letter E required a second decoding is unproven, but it's a tantalizing prospect regarding a killer who initially boasted "in this cipher is my idenity" - and a missing line that makes this all possible.

Let's Crack Zodiac (Part One) Let's Crack Zodiac (Part Two)

26 Comments

Shawn

9/2/2020 01:21:55 pm

Adding the line in the that place embellishes the meaning of the 408.
Maybe the line was Zodiac initial intention but dropped it in a rush to finish.

The last line Of code starts off with VEX which means
make (someone) feel annoyed, frustrated, or worried, especially with trivial matters or PUZZLED BAFFLED

That has certainly been the case for over 50 years

Richard

9/2/2020 01:45:16 pm

I think Dave Oranchak's idea that a line could accidentally have been omitted is the likeliest answer. If it wasn't the case, then the word "people" was missed out. Either way, I doubt very much Zodiac ever intended to leave 18 characters at the end, particularly with that prevalence of vowels. Once he realized he had cocked up, it really wouldn't have been that difficult to correct, but inexplicably chose not to. Possibly he was desperate to get them mailed.

Drew

9/2/2020 06:23:16 pm

Yes sir, I think this gobbledegook prompted by missing line business is exactly the answer. He definitely wanted his first cipher message revealed so the gibberish wasn't likely in his initial plan but three uniform pieces certainly was. I can believe that he originally took the time to compose a message of a precise length and then once he realized his omission he took measures to fill it in.

I think techniques he used such as intentional misspellings, offering disinformation, creating busy work for police suggests that he understood how leaving coding errors and filler at the end would just make it harder to solve, so its not hard for me to accept that he dropped a line crucial only in form and decided to keep going... it doesn't make the 'corrected' K in the 340 any more convincing... I had not worked out that the 408 e-cycle could have ended with Z character - that is very intriguing with regards to the origins of the Zodiac identity and of course the Z like signatures on the Bates letters and the Halloween card. If only the lazy bastard had gone back to fix his mistake I think I could be sold on the Riverside connection.

Here's a thought though, maybe it wasn't laziness or slyness. If this was his last sheet of this giant watermarked paper (as his next letter on different paper suggests) than he really did have a problem once he realized his mistake 2/3rds through the encoding. Anyways, thanks for writing this up Richard!

Richard

9/3/2020 01:44:53 am

The Zodiac Killer misspelled many words, but in the 408 decryption of "and all the I have killed will become my slaves" clearly shows something was omitted from the original. I cannot remember exactly how these three cipher messages were received in terms of paper size, but if the top line of encryption to the Chronicle was at the very top of the paper, then it makes it impossible to correct it by adding the missed line above. The 17 by 24 grid was obviously chosen to send his message in three uniform sections (with identity), therefore this seemingly random array of nonsense appears out of place with the rest of the cipher. He admitted he wasn't going to give us his name in the decoded 408, yet on August 4th he was introducing himself with the "Zodiac" pseudonym which began with "Z". We also have the tantalizing "near Zodiac" in his 340 cipher towards the end.

I'm not convinced of the Riverside connection, despite the fact that this actually helps the connection in some small way, as does the two Z's and Halloween card with respect to the Bates murder. But I do now believe trying to decode these 18 symbols is a waste of time, based on the obvious error when transitioning from cipher 2 to cipher 3. If he wrote the letters first and ciphers second, then the promise of his identity to the Chronicle (rows 17 to 24) was specific to that portion of cipher and adds credence to an unused character (or more) in that particular section. If the Riverside connection were true and those were "scruffy Z's on the Bates letters, then placing a third Z on his next communication in the Bay Area would have provided the link.

Shawn

9/2/2020 07:12:44 pm

Reborn in Paradice

It should be noted that both Arthur Leigh Allen and Paul Avery were both born in a place known as Paradise (Hawaii).

The Halloween card is sent to Paul Averly (AverLee) with Paradice referenced again on the card.

Arthur Leigh Allen has lots of interesting circumstantial evidence plus he was a Vallejo resident.

Detective Poyser favorite suspect.

Richard

9/3/2020 01:59:59 am

For my payphone argument Shawn, Arthur Leigh Allen would be the ideal candidate, but unfortunately I have never seen anything else that has convinced me he was the Zodiac Killer. Lots of small things suggest he is one of the better candidates, however, because I am convinced of the bloody print discovered prior to responding personnel (if you believe Pelissetti), I would have thought (despite being partial) it had enough detail to eliminate him. In subsequent years, it seems that the blooded print has been questioned as opposed to the belief of Allen's guilt. If you become convinced somebody is the Zodiac Killer, evidence such as this is your first port of call to scrub away by whatever means necessary. In terms of the underlined LAV, it could be deliberate with hidden meaning, but I wouldn't be surprised if it meant absolutely nothing and just a natural underlining of something we have all done once upon a time.

Rubislaw 32 link

9/3/2020 02:33:35 am

On December 15th 1971 , a man claiming to be '' David Bartholomew Copperhead '' sent correspondences to the Portland based newspaper , the Oregonian , and the FBI Offices in Portland .

Part of the layout of Mr.Copperhead's statement was , that Bill Grant was himself , and that Lee Allen was D B Cooper .

The letters , clearly designed to confuse , were constructed by someone who , was aware that Grant and Allen were considered , unofficially at least , to be the top two suspects in the case of the Zodiac Killer .

Jumping forward 31 years later , in work carried out and so far unretracted , at Quantico laboratories , Grant and Allen were cleared , as Zodiac Killer suspects , by DNA comparisons .

And yet , there seem to be plenty of followers of the Zodiac case , who continue to discuss the ins and outs of obtaining Zodiac DNA , going back to the fabricated information of a disgraced Vallejo detective .

Now ask yourselves - whose word would you believe ?

Dan Olson's or Terry Poysers ?

For Dan Olson's signature is on the laboratory work , carried out in 2002 , and still in the service of the FBI , now heading up their Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Unit .

As for Terry Poyser ? Suspended for his last year of service , with the provincial outfit , the Vallejo P.D. , and now retired where , he can no longer cause trouble , and create strife .

Following the case of the Zodiac Killer , can often seem like being a dog , chasing its tail , around and around .

Richard

9/3/2020 02:58:44 am

Mike Rodelli claims a full DNA profile was obtained from one 1974 letter (likely the Exorcist) and 1978 letter - and matched. Irrespective of a match, it's clear that cells were found on the Exorcist letter, which tends to corroborate the statement of Alan Keel via Mike Rodelli. To me, this suggests their lack of confidence in any letters subsequent to 1971 and hence the overriding focus on the July 31st letters mentioned by Detective Poyser. We have a potential 30+ Zodiac communications, so it is extremely likely we have Zodiac DNA on at least one. "Cells found" or "few cells" was written next to 9 communications on the DNA chart - and anybody expert in DNA analysis - should know only cells found underneath an envelope flap has any credibility. So, if cells have been found underneath 9 communications, yet nothing has transpired, then either these communications haven't been followed up on, or the DNA is useless.
But we have the potential Keel claims. Its now been three years since these letters were supposed to have been submitted. It doesn't take three years to either succeed or fail. The absence of any mention of these tests at all since late 2017, to me, is indicative of failure. Any sound and logical thinking brain knows a DNA test doesn't take 3 years. And neither does a genealogical search, as proved with Joseph James DeAngelo.

Rubislaw 32 link

9/3/2020 03:14:54 am

I would have to stop and think about it , Richard , but there seem to be so many potential sources of Zodiac DNA , beyond the obvious ones , like known letters .

It is simply inconceivable that the CA DOJ '' don't '' have a Zodiac profile , and obtained it a long time ago .

So many of these '' peripheral '' players in the investigative side of the case , so often seem to be mere '' chancers '' , simply desperate for a mention , as being of vital service to its investigation .

And naturally , those internet sleuths who , see the validity and indeed '' credulity '' of their adopted suspects , slipping away , are simply desperate to keep speaking up for the Poysers , Holts and Keels of the Zodiac world .

It's pathetic - and all too obviously so .

Rubislaw 32 link

9/3/2020 03:55:20 am

With Mr.Oranchak's suggestion , it's an interesting notion , but not overly persuaded .

If I am to interpret Drew's observations correctly , I do think that the Zodiac's intention was to send 3 equal sized portions of the '' Z408 '' cipher to the three largest newspapers in the Bay area .

It could really come down to , whether the Zodiac intended to say :

''....and all THAT I have killed...''

Or , something different , such as '' ...and all the lone and stray...''

If the Zodiac had said : ''...and all THAT I have killed...'' , then we might be examining a single and complete last line - possibly to solve , as an anagram .

But , '' and all that I have killed '' does sound a little strange , as if he was referring to animals and having spoiled inanimate objects , in addition to murdering people .

The '' 408 '' will always be worth a review , as Mr.Oranchak has given it .But , it just seems to come down to a judgement on the Zodiac's capacity for unforced errors , every time . And , since he was want to misspell deliberately , it can be difficult to pin him down , precisely .

Richard

9/3/2020 05:32:45 am

The concept floated by Dave and by my ELONEORSTRAYPEOPL line, is based on a Zodiac travelling from line to line and getting confused by an E starting each line, thereby accidentally missing one line and missing one chunk of 17 letters.

Richard

9/3/2020 06:29:16 am

I have contacted a crime reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle attempting to get access to the sister letter to the October 28th 1987 letter mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald. I am not holding out much hope, but if you don't try you will never succeed.

Shawn

9/3/2020 07:30:36 am

You might have an advantage over Americans. A person showing interest, who is an Englishman living in England, must be on to something.

Richard

9/3/2020 07:56:12 am

Well, if it gets us some answers Shawn that would be nice. Like I said, it's a long shot. In the next few weeks I am going to request a redacted version of the San Jose letter to discover the name of the widow mentioned on November 21st 1969. Getting them to release communications like the Monticello card and DMV seems almost impossible. There has to be some overarching reason why they withhold the Monticello card, but have no hesitation releasing the Pines card, especially when they have it listed under Zodiac correspondence.

Rubislaw 32 link

9/3/2020 08:30:07 am

Good to hear of your efforts to secure correspondence , Richard .

The only time I seem to make a difference is , when I contact the bereaved of victims . And , that is precisely what I will be doing next .

It annoys the hell out of departments of justice , but they leave one no option . They just hate to feel that anyone out there might have the nerve to actually humanise the state of affairs which , they clearly thrive on dehumanising , In essence , holding all the ace cards on information , at the ignorance of those who suffer the most .
Justice is just a job of work to them , with a healthy pension and golden handshake , at the end of their working stint . And with any considerations for the manner of how they perform a service to the public , long forgotten once they are into a working stride .

Bedside manner and public relations exercises are for the meek and weak , and believe that they need to acquire a psychopathic mind set , in order to give them an edge over a criminal . With taking on the criminal classes only worthwhile , when victory appears assured , and they can then bask in the further glory of their divine wisdom , over the mere mortal hoi polloi .

Shawn

9/3/2020 09:29:46 am

Rubislaw how you do make your name into a link?

Richard link

9/3/2020 09:53:31 am

You put the URL of the website into the comments box where it says website, or wherever you want it to go.

Richard

9/3/2020 09:54:08 am

Like above.

Rubislaw 32 link

9/3/2020 10:24:24 am

Uniform Resource Locator ( ? ) - not sure what that is all about .

Computer operating was a blank for me , for thirty years . I could program in a few computer languages , at one time . Then '' nothing '' for a long time . My hobby was the abstract infinity - a Victorian mathematician , if you will . I have found it of use , in the Zodiac ciphers . But , just to break them - I still hold no interest in cipher making , like the Zodiac .

The real trick ?

Study the history of his times .

Richard

9/3/2020 11:35:01 am

What site do you want to link Shawn.

Rubislaw 32 link

9/3/2020 09:49:32 am

Can you expand a little on the nature of your question , Shawn , and I will be happy to answer the best that I can .

Shawn

9/3/2020 07:00:03 pm

Richard answered the question above.

Rubislaw 32 link

9/6/2020 04:35:17 am

Looks likely that your site is read , by those with influence , Richard , given some '' comeuppance '' I received yesterday , and dated one day following my little speech on Departments of Justice , in this comments section .

Well...'' what the heck '' - some of us try to do the best that we can ; have nothing of consequence to hide , and will press on regardless .

The inference is that Departments of Justice are forever stalling for more time , having bitten off more than they can chew .

And , hopefully the message is loud and clear :

'' You should be working round the clock , until this case is resolved to the satisfaction of the bereaved of victims , and general public .''

Pettiness and bitchiness will not save them , if they fail .

Roger

9/8/2020 04:04:32 pm

Richard, this Oranchak discovery actually gives credence to an idea I have on the 340; that the Zodiac simply swapped around rows and columns in the 340 in order to make it un-crackable. This is a very basic method called transposition, and is a crude but very effective encryption technique. To prove this point, I once emailed a transposed homophonic cipher to some cryptographers who were unable to solve it. In fact, without knowing the exact order in which I had switched the rows and columns, it would be impossible to solve it, and even the greatest software available to organizations like the FBI will fail to scratch the surface. Perhaps in the future we will have software that can perform the literally billions/trillions of possible combinations and make sense of it, but not at present. I think in his crazy way this is what Zodiac was getting at by the 4 quadrant idea. He incorporated the idea of a clockface/compass into the idea of a spinning prize wheel. I think he was telling us that just as he intended to be both calculating and random as a killer, he had also randomly shifted the directions of things in the 340. Perhaps he really did use a spinning wheel to determine his transpositions, but my guess is he just wanted us to think about it in those terms. I also get the feeling that after he did the transposition, he fiddled with the cipher to create the illusion of that paradice/slaves motif with 4 "By" quadrants. Whether this additional tinkering rendered it unsolveable is anybody's guess. If he never write down his "key" to reverse engineer the transpositions, the 340 may, to all intents and purposes, be a cipher that he smashed for the sake of sheer randomness.

Roger

9/20/2020 04:55:32 pm

As a slightly related diversion, I am trying to find details of Arthur Covell's codes and ciphers. It occurs to me that the Zodiac of California may have used a similar technique the Zodiac from 1923, if he had access to the information. We know from old news articles that Covell also kept a "Zodiac murder book". I wonder why the details of this book and Covell's code have never been made public? Or have they? I can only find brief mentions like this one.

Fairbanks Daily News Miner Newspaper Archives
(October 16, 1923 SEATTLE)—Detective May said that Arthur Covell would first create a cipher code with astronomical signs corresponding to the letters of the alphabet, and would then rearrange them into what is known as “The Sphinx Code.” This second code would be rearranged into a third code, and before his messages could be deciphered it was necessary to possess three keys. After the master code was prepared, he designated various sheets with signs of the Zodiac, which acted as reference marks to sheets containing the details of the planned killings and house burnings.

According to other news reports of the day, Covell used "hieroglyphic" and astrological symbols. These are the kinds of symbols the 1969 Zodiac would use.

Was the later Zodiac emulating Covell, or at least inspired by him? Very little is ever made of this on the forums. I guess I expected to be able to Google Covell and Sphinx Code and find illustrations and a lot of detail about the cryptography. Instead I find absolutely nothing but a few mentions in old newspaper articles. Is there anything in the old FBI Archives? The three key process of encryption mentioned in the news article seems to suggest Covell used a kind of Caesar cipher.

Just_A_Thought

9/28/2020 08:45:23 pm

David Oranchak's idea is worth considering in a greater context. It makes me wonder if the 340 is similarly out of sequence. The scattering of connecting "pivot points" may provide the clue to this. See traveller1st, zodiackillersite.com, 2013.

http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=255

For more evidence of this possibility, also see:

http://zodiackillerciphers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Comparison_of_cipher_alphabets

I find the "K" crossed out and inserted with a backwards "K" is particularly interesting, because the same symbol on the 408 is represented by a cross "X". Was he literally telling us that this is "crossed out", so it is literally a cross, or "X". In other words this is yet another match with the 408!

I notice that treveller1st missed one matching symbol, and when you look closely there are other slightly more obscure matches on superimposition which are interesting too. "E" symbols seemingly fit with square symbols for example, dot points match, slashes correspond with lines or "Y" shapes, and "V" shapes with triangle symbols, etc.

Is it possible that the two ciphers are essentially the same cipher? The 340 might represent an older or later rendition of the 408. I think he tinkered with this thing for some time before ever sending it. Perhaps he tried to make it read a lot simpler over time by extracting some lines of code and this may be how he came to blunder the misplaced line at the end of the 408. Or, more to the point, was this deliberate because he wanted us to connect the same pattern and thus re-configure the lines in the 340 to make the two ciphers correspond?

My feeling is he tried to take the same piece of code to a higher level of encryption at some stage, but went to such an extreme that he made it uncrackable. He complicated the encryption process to such an extent, by adding many additional symbols, that he virtually rendered it meaningless. He then resorted to window dressing it to obscurely fit that "paradice/slaves" motif with the four "By" concepts, possibly from the Holt comic book.

With all of this in mind it should actually be possible to actually "solve" the 340 simply by basing it entirely on the 408 solution. So, could the solution be as mundane as this?

ILIKEKILLINGPEOPL
EBECAUSEITISSOMUC
HFUNITISMOREFUNTH
ANKILLINGWILDGAME
INTHEFORRESTBECAU
SEMANISTHEMOSTDAN
GEROUSANAMALOFALL
TOKILLSOMETHINGGI
VESMEAGREATTHRILL
EVENBETTERTHANGET
TINGYOURROCKSOFFW
ITHAGIRLTHEBESTPA
RTOFITISTHATWHENI
DIEIWILLBEREBORNI
NPARADICEANDALLTH
EIHAVEKILLEDWILLB
ECOMEMYSLAVESIWIL
LNOTGIVEYOUMYNAME
BECAUSEYOUWILLTRY
TOSLOWDOWNORSTOPM
concludes with Z symbol (and Z = E), so the last line reads "to slow down or stop me."

Was the 340 symbol already solved and solved long ago and the rest has been nothing more than a highly overworked encryption that has been reduced to a facade - mere "window dressing" designed to tease and obfuscate?

The two ciphers do seem like mirror reflections of one another, and I think the same basic meaning was probably intended. Zodiac was clearly running on empty i.e. he was running out of ideas. So he tried to mesh together a few ideas he still had up his sleeve relating to maps and compass directions, and he forced them to fit into his paradice/slaves/afterlife theme. It was all an illusion to make him seem really clever, when actually he was stuck on repeat. He had nothing left to offer but threats and taunts.

DECODING THE 408 CIPHER TWICE

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