San Francisco Chronicle, 1969 The April 20th 1970 letter with the phrase "My name is", along with its accompanying 13 character code, was very likely prompted by Professor Donald C. B. Marsh, who told the San Francisco Examiner on October 22nd 1969: "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".
There is good reason to believe that the inspiration for both the Z340 and Z13 codes came from an essay by Edgar Allan Poe called "A Few Words on Secret Writing", Whatever the case, you can solve the 340 cipher using the scytale (or skytale) method of cryptography. Although Dave Oranchak doesn't believe the Zodiac Killer used the scytale method of encryption in the creation of the 340 cipher, this decryption tool does actually decode the message in the 340 cipher. The immediate cipher mailed by the Zodiac Killer after the challenge by Professor Donald C. B. Marsh was the 340 cipher postmarked November 8th 1969, so is it possible the Zodiac Killer used Marsh to create his cipher? If so, the clue to solving the 340 cipher would have been ever present at the American Cryptogram Association.
There is good reason to believe that the inspiration for both the Z340 and Z13 codes came from an essay by Edgar Allan Poe called "A Few Words on Secret Writing", Whatever the case, you can solve the 340 cipher using the scytale (or skytale) method of cryptography. Although Dave Oranchak doesn't believe the Zodiac Killer used the scytale method of encryption in the creation of the 340 cipher, this decryption tool does actually decode the message in the 340 cipher. The immediate cipher mailed by the Zodiac Killer after the challenge by Professor Donald C. B. Marsh was the 340 cipher postmarked November 8th 1969, so is it possible the Zodiac Killer used Marsh to create his cipher? If so, the clue to solving the 340 cipher would have been ever present at the American Cryptogram Association.
Helen Fouché Gaines (October 12, 1888 – April 2, 1940) was a member of the American Cryptogram Association and editor of the book Cryptanalysis (originally Elementary Cryptanalysis) first published in 1939. The book described the principal cryptographic systems of the 19th century and cracking methods including elementary contact analysis (cryptanalysis). The original black and white logo of the American Cryptogram Association appeared on the cover of "Elementary Cryptanalysis: A Study of Ciphers and Their Solution" by Helen Fouché Gaines. The logo featured a scytale cipher. So, did the Zodiac Killer design and mail a cipher that could be solved using the scytale method of decryption, inspired by the American Cryptogram Association logo, from right under the nose of Professor Donald C. B. Marsh, the very man who challenged Zodiac seventeen days earlier. Below is the original and modernized version of the logo. The first cipher discussed in Edgar Allan Poe's "A Few Words on Secret Writing" was the scytale cipher (scytala), present on the American Cryptogram Association logo, with both featuring in the San Francisco Examiner challenge by D. C. B. Marsh on October 22nd 1969.
The address of the American Cryptogram Association was 818 14th Street, Golden, Colorado. Here is a "Union Cipher Disk", with the address numbers of the American Cryptogram Association and the 888 present within the 13-Symbol cipher. A cipher disk is an enciphering and deciphering tool developed in 1470 by the Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti. He constructed a device, (eponymously called the Alberti cipher disk) consisting of two concentric circular plates mounted one on top of the other. The larger plate is called the "stationary" and the smaller one the "moveable" since the smaller one could move on top of the "stationary". This type of encryption features in Poe's "A Few Words on Secret Writing". In fact, the first three enciphering techniques described in "A Few Words on Secret Writing" are somewhat connected to the Z13 and Z340. [1] Scytale Cipher [2] Splitting the alphabet A to M, N to Z, into two parts of thirteen characters [3] Cipher wheel/disk. Here is a working cipher wheel using the alphabet.
MY NAME IS ARTHUR GORDON PYM - TAKEN FROM POE'S ONLY COMPLETE NOVEL
TO ONE IN PARADISE - A POEM BY EDGAR ALLAN POE (PRESENT IN THE 340 CIPHER)
MY NAME IS ARTHUR GORDON PYM - TAKEN FROM POE'S ONLY COMPLETE NOVEL
TO ONE IN PARADISE - A POEM BY EDGAR ALLAN POE (PRESENT IN THE 340 CIPHER)
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