ZODIAC CIPHERS
Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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THE ANSWER TO THE Z38 CODE?

11/7/2019

 
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.
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In the article Three Months After the Mount Diablo Code we showed how the Zodiac Killer gave us the answers to his three main unsolved ciphers in three consecutive communications spanning July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. Here we will do exactly the same thing regarding the December 7th 1969 Fairfield Letter (the companion to the December 16th 1969 letter). The December 7th 1969 letter showed traits of the 408 cipher, in which the author had simply dragged characters from above to provide filler for the remaining 18 unsolved characters. In the December 7th 1969 letter he had dragged groups of characters from the 340 cipher in similar fashion. 

Tahoe27 made an excellent discovery when she linked the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card to the Tim Holt comic book, showing the connection to the configuration displayed on the card in the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife. However, the Zodiac Killer had likely made this connection much earlier than October 27th 1970, when he designed the December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter (shown on the left}. In this communication he gave us a rudimentary design of the Halloween Card configuration preceded by the word "death", thereby satisfying the Tim Holt comic book of "Death By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife. Below I have shown the interconnectivity between the Halloween Card, 340 cipher and both Fairfield letters, demonstrating how the Tim Holt comic book played a part in the design of them all, with By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves the running theme.

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The December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter was essentially a very rudimentary precursor to the Halloween Card design of By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves. It was also very likely a clue to the December 7th 1969 code scribbled at the base of that letter, containing 38 characters. If this code followed the same way as all the others, in that the Zodiac Killer simply provided us with the answer to his codes in later communications, then what are the chances the solution depended on the wording in the Halloween Card, which mimicked the design of the second Fairfield Letter?
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The code on the December 7th 1969 Fairfield Letter
The December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter stated "Look for more blood", then provided us with the Halloween Card style design of large crosshairs surrounded by four smaller crosshairs in each quadrant, intended to signify By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves. But the Zodiac Killer inexplicably chose the over inflated promise of 38 more victims from San Francisco, San Jose, Vallejo, Napa, Fairfield, Sacramento and Oakland. Curiously, the exact same number as characters on the December 7th 1969 Fairfield Letter. These victims, likely to be murdered By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife. So, was there a correlation between the two letters using these words? You will notice that the code above hasn't been structured uniformly like the 408 and 340 ciphers, but instead arranged in a formation of 12 characters on line one, 7 characters on line two, 5 characters on line three, 6 characters on line four and 8 characters on line five.

This may suggest that the words are contained separately on each line, without running from one line to another. We would expect Slaves and Paradice to be grouped together - and the last two lines satisfy this character count of 6 and 8. We then have three lines remaining of 12, 7 and 5 characters. By Gun satisfies the 5 characters, By Knife satisfies the 7 characters, and By Fire, By Rope satisfies the 12 characters. This forms the basis of the completed 38 character code solution, mimicking the second Fairfield Letter design and the exact wording on the Halloween Card configuration. Furthermore, no word extends from one line to another, satisfying the non-uniformity displayed by the 38 character code. We now have By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves running through four communications - that of the Halloween Card, 340 cipher and both Fairfield letters. The Zodiac Killer yet again supplying us with the answer to one of his codes in subsequent communications.          
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art
11/7/2019 02:13:19 pm

Hi Richard,
These connections that you have made seem very compelling. One question for my clarification (pls don't take this as too critical, just trying to understand)... I see your explanation below re the 340 code substitutions and paradice/slaves...what is the basis for these substitutions, i.e. is there any independent rationale for those substitutions other than they explain the paradice/slaves solution?

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

Richard
11/7/2019 03:13:49 pm

I wouldn't mind if you were critical Art, always feel free to say what you want. I don't mind any questions or reservations regarding the articles. To answer your query - The very question you ask I have tried to calculate in terms of a percentage, but there are so many variables I would need the help of David Oranchak to calculate the probability of it happening accidentally. The position I have always argued, is that Zodiac mentioned Paradice and Slaves throughout his communications, so probably unsurprising that it may feature in his ciphers. All I can say, is if the Zodiac Killer created the Halloween Card configuration completely separate to his 340 cipher (in other words it wasn't related), what are the chances it could accidentally be created, even as a possibility. You have to have Paradice on the centre column and Slaves on the mid point horizontally creating 17 by 17. This alone can be questioned, but then you have to fluke the by's in the four quadrants also. By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife can be found in other quadrants as well as the one's portrayed, but the four together is still rather lucky if unintentional. The December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969 letters weren't published, so if these were hoaxed letters as some people claim, it's rather amazing the Zodiac Halloween Card should mimic it, even allowing an old fool like me to make a comparison, and the 5 lines of the Z38 just happening to have the correct amount of lines and characters in each line to be able to fit the wording on from the Halloween Card without breaching each line.

I think the odds of the all these things even being available to concoct such a theory is extremely slim. There are 20 rows and 17 columns on the 340 cipher, and none allow the possibility of creating Paradice and Slaves using a similar technique (the central row being the only one with the same character at each end for example}. The plus signs conveniently forming the A's over the centre point, allowing for the RAD element, and the + sign signifying the centre of the crosshairs. Then add in the two Fairfield Letters. What is another curious element that I never added to the article, is the blue rectangle in the picture above.

This lies beyond the Paradice and Slaves configuration, totalling 51 characters. This could still contain a message, or solutions to cards, letters and ciphers he had created in advance but not mailed. Just as a point of interest, the two ciphers he created after the 340, contained 38 and 13 characters, that equal 51.

There is no independent rationale, other than we conclude it all happened by sheer fluke. That is why I have attempted to show it over several communications rather than one. Just like the article I linked at the beginning of this article. If Zodiac happened upon a comic shortly before the Halloween Card and not months or years earlier, then the 340 was extremely fortuitous in design, as was the December 16th Fairfield Letter and the "by knife" attribution on the car door. That is the best I can offer Art, but I certainly don't mind anybody questioning the premise or downright disagreeing with my conclusions. I welcome any constructive critique and further questioning of what I have presented. However, attempting to put a value of possibility over the entirety of the presented material, is probably impossible to ascertain.

Richard
11/7/2019 03:26:09 pm

I will add, that the basis for all the "answers" I've presented on the ciphers, relies on the ciphers not having a key like the 408. And hence, why it necessitated the Zodiac giving us all the answers verbatim in his subsequent communications. I think the design and length of the ciphers was key, but certainly not the characters he chose (other than paradice and slaves in the 340 and making sure the double S, double A and double E were accommodated for).

art
11/7/2019 03:27:39 pm

Thank you, Richard. Very helpful. Even with no independent rationale, your solution is still more compelling than anything else I've seen. Very nice work! Have you (or anyone) tried to use those substitutions elsewhere in the 340 code to see if that could help to kickstart the solution to other 'messages' that might be in there? I just wonder if Z would just choose to use random symbols for half of the letters in the paradice/slaves wording, or there is more to it..

art
11/7/2019 03:32:00 pm

Ok, I think you just answered my second question, above:)

Richard
11/7/2019 03:47:13 pm

Using the paradice and slaves letters in the rest of the cipher produces nothing extra Art. The only reason I can speculate why he used random symbols, is because supplying paradice and slaves with all alphabetical characters would be too obvious and fail to disguise the puzzle.

Theresa Hartkopf
8/22/2020 12:02:01 am

Could “Fk” simply mean “Frank”? 13 letters could be Frank Hartkopf?


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    The Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer almost word-for-word when he wrote PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians. The code solution identified was Estimate: Four Radians and Five Inches To read more, click the image.
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