ZODIAC CIPHERS
Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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THE CODE SOLUTIONS BY ZODIAC

9/22/2019

 
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PictureDonald Harden cracking the 408 cipher
The Zodiac Killer mailed us three parts of one cipher on July 31st 1969, to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald. In his communication to the Chronicle he stated "In this cipher is my idenity". Bearing in mind this is the only portion of cipher with unsolved characters, it could be argued that any identity the Zodiac was offering would be found at the signing off phase in this cipher. It didn't really matter, because only four days later he gave us his identity in the form of "This is the Zodiac Speaking". The Zodiac Killer clearly made a mistake when taking his draught message into his 408 cipher, accidentally omitting the word "people" from the final offering. If we therefore conclude his original identity to be left was actually six characters shorter, it would have reduced the 18 unsolved characters to 12. Using the first-person singular pronoun of "I", his identity at the base of the 408 cipher would read "I am the Zodiac", to become "I am the Zodiac Killer" upon realization of his mistake. The Bay Area murderer literally gave us the exact wording to his unsolved 18 characters through his introductions in the Examiner and Herald letters (both communications began with "I am the killer"). Once we knew the pseudonym or identity as Zodiac on August 4th 1969, the conversion to "I am the Zodiac Killer" was the next logical step. This would become a habit for the Zodiac Killer, who would ultimately give us the exact wording to solve his remaining three ciphers. Not only would he give us the solutions to the codes, but his practice of using 'filler' with no apparent correlation to the solution would continue.  

The Zodiac Killer was no master criminal in the style of Moriarty, but he was nobody's fool either. To make the false assumption he didn't understand ciphers or codes when creating his remaining three offerings to the San Francisco Chronicle, would be a misguided one. Even somebody with limited knowledge of coding, knows that giving us a 32 character code with 29 unique characters within its framework, is practically unsolvable without a key. You can literally fill in the blanks as you choose. Therefore, the only realistic solution to the two smaller codes can come in two forms: [1] The Zodiac Killer can give us a key to decrypt the code, or [2] He can simply give us the answer. The Zodiac Killer may well have chosen option two, and given us the entire solution to all his three unsolved codes in subsequent communications. In fact, the possibilty exists that he supplied us with all the answers in three consecutive communications from July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970 - in the Little List Letter (07/26/70), 13 Hole Postcard (10/05/70) and Halloween Card (10/27/70). The Zodiac Killer was likely giving us all the solutions before slipping back into anonymity. The newspaper article on November 16th 1970 by Paul Avery, linking Zodiac to the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, likely drew one final breath from the Zodiac Killer through 1971, before his race was run.    

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The "key" phrases for the four codes are *in this cipher is my identity", "the Mt. Diablo code concerns radians and inches",  "Fk, I'm crackproof" and "paradice and slaves". The 408 cipher we have examined, so we will now tackle the 32 symbol code.

The Little List Letter mailed on July 26th 1970, one month after the Mount Diablo code (06/26/70), told us the code "concerns radians and # inches along the radians". It was as simple as adding in two figures to complete the code (hence the hashtag symbol denoting a number). The Zodiac gave us the exact wording for the solution, detailed here in a previous article. As stated above, the 32 symbol code with 29 unique characters couldn't be solved without a key or the answer. The Mount Diablo map and crosshairs were the framework, onto which we "coupled" the code for the location of the bomb. The answer was likely "4 radians and 5 inches along the radian", thereby giving us the solution word for word. An alternative to this solution (where only the hashtag is replaced by the number 5), is "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians and 5 inches along the radians". The Zodiac didn't necessarily have to incorporate the number 4 because we already knew the radian value from the bold, black circle provided on the Little List Letter crosshairs.

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The next solutions may have been given to us in the 13 Hole Postcard - that may ultimately become the most important communication of them all. By combining the "red crucifix" decoder and 13 punch-holes in true "Dick Tracy" style, the Paradice and Slaves formation would be revealed, bisecting the 340 cipher superficially along its mid-section both horizontally and vertically. See the article 'The Dick Tracy 340 Cipher'.  The Zodiac Killer wrote Paradice and Slaves on the Halloween card in the identical formation it could be found on the face of the 340 cipher. Three clues within the space of three weeks.
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The Zodiac Killer also gave us the phrase "Fk, I'm crackproof" (upside down) on the 13 Hole Postcard. Apart from an expletive, the other viable option here, is the Zodiac Killer exclaiming that he is crackproof, preceded by his initials. The reason for this line of thinking, is the Zodiac Killer's wording before the 13 Symbol Cipher on April 20th 1970. The code is designed symmetrically and looks contrived, with three circled 8's fashioned at its center. The Zodiac Killer couldn't have supplied us with his name with any expectation it would be solved, because the code was simply too short and capable of providing us with thousands of solutions. However, he could provide us a solution to the code by giving us his initials. By doing it this way, he is in a roundabout way, giving us his name and a solution to the code that satisfies the introduction that preceded it: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Fk, I'm crackproof".

This solution not only fits into the 13 Symbol Cipher, but reads continuously if imagined in circular fashion. The Zodiac Killer gave us three 8's within a circle (the symbol of infinity, and regeneration and rebirth within Christianity), with the letters K and M positioned ideally in the code to fit "Fk, I'm crackproof" around. There are three elements to this phrase: Fk, I'm, and crackproof. When the entire phrase is slotted around the letters K and M, the number 8 begins each element of the phrase (as shown below).


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The Zodiac Killer had effectively given us the exact wording of "I am the Zodiac Killer", "Paradice and Slaves", "Fk I'm crackproof" and "Radians and (5) inches along the radians" - all of which can be inserted untouched into all four ciphers and provide us with solutions that don't require a key (The "paradice and slaves" solution would only be present on the "canvas" of the 340 cipher, so this would only be a superficial observation). The idea of a killer who constantly responded to the newspapers at every turn, somehow resisting the temptation to ever disclose the workings of his codes and ciphers is a difficult story to sell. If we are of the belief that the 32 and 13 character codes are simply too short and too variable to be solved, then without a key the Zodiac Killer likely supplied an alternative. In the case presented above, the "key" and "answer" could be described as exactly the same thing - and It was just a case of transferring the wording from one communication to another in at least three of the examples.

John Rose used Dave Oranchak's webtoy to create features of the Halloween Card in just an 81 character block around the center of the 340 cipher. Some have stated that the variability of the characters in this area of the cipher have allowed the freedom to manufacture such a result. While that may be the case, a larger pattern of Paradice and Slaves is replicated in a 17 X 17 formation along both same midsections, effectively mirroring the John Rose presentation. The fact that both are even achievable in the same cipher, is worthy of mention. The Bay Area braggart must have been itching to throw us a few clues to his unbroken codes and ciphers - so the notion that he didn't give us any before he disappeared into the twilight - is somehow difficult to swallow.   
Rubislaw 32 link
9/22/2019 04:02:01 pm

What hits me every time,is in the cipher text,of the ''408'',which looks like :

.....GYKETDY...

This must surely stand for '' Guy - Ted Kennedy '' [?]

In light of Senator Edward Kennedy standing accused of leaving Mary Jo Kopechne,to drown,just a few days before,this must surely be the solution.

Has anyone else,made plain,their opinions on this section of the cipher ?

Richard
9/22/2019 04:10:25 pm

Only the usual Richard Gaikowski link - but you already knew that Rubislaw. Mary Jo Kopechne was July 18/19, about 12 days prior to mailing.

Rubislaw 32 link
9/22/2019 04:15:47 pm

I apologize....my dryness got the better of me.

A good article,Richard,with which to drum up thoughts.

Roger
9/23/2019 06:09:32 am

It's funny how online myths tend to grow to the point where lots of people just accept them as fact. Dick Gaik never wrote his name as Gyke, never, not once... and none of his friends ever referred to him as Gyke. That was not even close to the pronunciation of his surname, which is why he had only ever shortened it to Gaik. You can find other words in that cipher too. For example, you could make the spurious claim that because you can read POSHT in there, that means TOSCHI must have been the author of the 340. It sounds similar and has the same number of letters as his name. "Similar" does not mean "the same".

Richard
9/23/2019 06:27:11 am

Very true and never bought the Gaikowski link anyway. Bearing in mind that Stine murder, not only Posh Toschi and his bow tie, but Welsh ancestry Zodiac Boyo underneath. Obviously only kidding.

Roger
9/23/2019 08:34:01 am

Something that is interesting is that if you place PARADICE SLAVES in the center as in the John Rose example, what is the first things that you notice? Beneath the "VES" we see a backwards "BY". And just a bit below the end of PARADICE we see the word "FIRE" spelt with a backwards "F". Make of this what you will, but it almost appears to me as though the Zodiac was alluding to some kind of mirrored relationship here with his Paradice/Slaves motif which he drew on the Halloween card.

JD
9/23/2019 09:54:57 pm

Richard, if I send you a comment, would you keep it from being posted?

I have something that will probably interest you, but for reasons that will be quite obvious, I need to make sure it doesn't get posted for the general public to see. It involves a name and I'm afraid people might get the wrong idea.

If you can't, no big deal. I'll keep it to myself.

Richard
9/23/2019 10:50:06 pm

Send it in comments in this article JD
https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/a-game-of-chess-the-71978-letter

The comments are moderated here, and I won't post it.

Richard
9/24/2019 03:38:06 am

That is the type of connection I was looking for when scouring the phone book for residences - a name or person that had some meaning or leverage. It is certainly a good foothold for starters. The first name you suggested is something I have covered twice before, but has the added benefit of fitting the location I think is relevant, and marrying the 13 symbols nicely. The surname is an excellent consideration and something I can see Zodiac applying, but I doubt Zodiac feared he gave too much away - it has taken 50 years so far, and to my knowledge hasn't been suggested until now. If the Zodiac's name doesn't have the initials FK, then the forename you have given would certainly be top of my list, particularly bearing in mind several of his communication. You have definitely got a good platform to possibly research further JD.

JD
9/24/2019 05:54:01 am

Thanks, Richard, for helping me send that and for the feedback. Very much appreciated!


Comments are closed.
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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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    The Zodiac Atlas: The Zodiac Killer Enigma by Randall Scott Clemons. Click image for details.
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    The Zodiac Killer Map: Part of the Zodiac Killer Enigma by Randall Scott Clemons. Click image for color version
    For black and white issue..
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