Many Zodiac researchers have looked into history (and around the world) for the inspiration and design of the Zodiac Killer's hood/costume at Lake Berryessa. Many suggestions have been put forward, ranging from Renaissance Fair's, police riot gear, Ned Kelly's outfit and executioner's costumes. However, it's equally possible that the costume he designed had no particular inspiration at all, other than what he read in recent newspaper articles.
Courtesy of Kevin Robert Brooks From my standpoint, the inspiration for the Lake Berryessa attack was conceived when his lack of front page coverage was compared to the brutal knife slayings of Kathie Snoozy & Debra Furlong in San Jose on August 3rd 1969. This obsession progressed into claiming their murders on November 8th 1969 and calling out their real killer, Karl Francis Werner, in 1971. However, this doesn't mean that other murders had no influence on his decision to switch to a bladed instrument on the shores of Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969.
As pointed out by Zodiac researchers Cragle and Druzer (among others), the recent Manson family murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowskion and Steven Parent on August 8th 1969, along with the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca on August 9th 1969, likely had a part-influence in the Zodiac Killer changing course in his style of attack. When we consider why the Zodiac Killer chose to wear a hood at Lake Berryessa, it's probably wise to examine the murders of all these nine victims when considering the choices made by the Zodiac Killer at Lake Berryessa. Therefore, it's important to review the newspaper coverage in the run up to the attack on September 27th 1969 because we know the Zodiac Killer was heavily influenced by what he read..
As pointed out by Zodiac researchers Cragle and Druzer (among others), the recent Manson family murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowskion and Steven Parent on August 8th 1969, along with the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca on August 9th 1969, likely had a part-influence in the Zodiac Killer changing course in his style of attack. When we consider why the Zodiac Killer chose to wear a hood at Lake Berryessa, it's probably wise to examine the murders of all these nine victims when considering the choices made by the Zodiac Killer at Lake Berryessa. Therefore, it's important to review the newspaper coverage in the run up to the attack on September 27th 1969 because we know the Zodiac Killer was heavily influenced by what he read..
The "Press Tribune" newspaper on August 11th 1969, along with many others, reported on the August 8/9th murders and described a black hood over the head of Jay Sebring and the parallels between these two crimes, with words written in blood, numerous stab wounds, and electrical cord around the neck of victims. The newspaper stated "In the Bel Air slayings, the word "pigs" was scrawled in blood on the front door of the Benedict Canyon home, and one of the five victims, hair stylist Jay Sebring, was found with a black hood over his head. LaBianca's wife, Rosemary, owner of a boutique in the Wilshire business district, was found in the master bedroom. Police said she had been stabbed numerous times with a bayonet-type weapon".
All the ingredients were present in these newspaper articles to shape the Zodiac Killer's Lake Berryessa attack, with the use of clothesline cord, the black hood, the bayonet-style weapon as described by Dr DE Petris at the autopsy of Cecilia Shepard, and the writing on the car door of Bryan Hartnell (to replace the front door). If the Sharon Tate & LaBianca murders part-influenced the shift from gun to knife in the Zodiac Killer slayings, why couldn't the reading of "a black hood over a head" have inspired him to create his theatrical costume at Lake Berryessa.
I am also confident that the Sharon Tate & LaBianca murders influenced the design of the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter (with the "Bleeding Knife of Zodiac" drawing), when the Zodiac Killer wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking. I just want to tell you this state is in trouble. I will go for the government life. So don't forget me. I will kill more people than you can count. So look for more blood.". (corrected for errors). The following article (edited for conciseness) was published in the Los Angeles Times on December 16th 1969, a matter of hours before the Fairfield letter was mailed with an afternoon postmark. Therefore, a strong possibility exists that this article, featuring the Zodiac Killer, could have influenced the language and tone of the Fairfield letter. The opening sentence of the Fairfield letter stated "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble", which can be seen to be synonymous with the newspaper article that headlines with "State Furnishes List of Murders Similar to 7 Slayings Here", as well as the opening paragraph of the article that reads "State officials have provided Los Angeles police with details of 30 unsolved murders", and the sub-headline of "All Murders Logged by State". We know that the Zodiac Killer kept himself informed of murders other than his own, so wouldn't have been averse to using those newspaper articles to style his own communications (and possibly his attacks}
All the ingredients were present in these newspaper articles to shape the Zodiac Killer's Lake Berryessa attack, with the use of clothesline cord, the black hood, the bayonet-style weapon as described by Dr DE Petris at the autopsy of Cecilia Shepard, and the writing on the car door of Bryan Hartnell (to replace the front door). If the Sharon Tate & LaBianca murders part-influenced the shift from gun to knife in the Zodiac Killer slayings, why couldn't the reading of "a black hood over a head" have inspired him to create his theatrical costume at Lake Berryessa.
I am also confident that the Sharon Tate & LaBianca murders influenced the design of the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter (with the "Bleeding Knife of Zodiac" drawing), when the Zodiac Killer wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking. I just want to tell you this state is in trouble. I will go for the government life. So don't forget me. I will kill more people than you can count. So look for more blood.". (corrected for errors). The following article (edited for conciseness) was published in the Los Angeles Times on December 16th 1969, a matter of hours before the Fairfield letter was mailed with an afternoon postmark. Therefore, a strong possibility exists that this article, featuring the Zodiac Killer, could have influenced the language and tone of the Fairfield letter. The opening sentence of the Fairfield letter stated "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble", which can be seen to be synonymous with the newspaper article that headlines with "State Furnishes List of Murders Similar to 7 Slayings Here", as well as the opening paragraph of the article that reads "State officials have provided Los Angeles police with details of 30 unsolved murders", and the sub-headline of "All Murders Logged by State". We know that the Zodiac Killer kept himself informed of murders other than his own, so wouldn't have been averse to using those newspaper articles to style his own communications (and possibly his attacks}
The Zodiac Killer would counter the list provided by state officials with a list of his own. At the foot of his Fairfield letter he would give us a list of locations and the number of police he promised to kill in each city (38 in total). This would develop in later communications, when the Zodiac Killer gave us a list of "society offenders" to be targeted from the plagiarized verses of The Mikado, a Savoy comic opera crafted by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan, released in London on March 14th 1885.
Susan Denise Atkins Government Official means any officer, employee or other individual acting in an official capacity for a Governmental Authority or agency or instrumentality thereof (including any state-owned or controlled enterprise). This may explain the Zodiac Killer's use of the phrase "government life" in his letter. It appeared that the Fairfield letter was specifically responding to this newspaper article - both of which corresponded to the date of December 16th. Susan Denise Atkins (21), one of six persons charged with the Tate-LaBiaca murders, provided information to police where they could find items of disposed bloody clothing related to the Cielo Drive attack, detailed in the article as "A station spokesman said the clothes, stained with what appeared to be blood and knotted in a bundle were turned over to police". I have highlighted these above in reference to the Zodiac Killer's statement of "look for more blood" in the Fairfield letter. The police were effectively dispatched to look for items of clothing stained with blood in the Tate-LaBianca slayings, to which the Zodiac Killer suggested there would be "more blood" in future for police to find.
If the Zodiac Killer was inspired to write on the door of Bryan Hartnell's 1956 white Karmann Ghia by reading newspaper articles about the Manson murders and the writing on the front door of the Benedict Canyon home, was he also influenced by the same thing, when (in all probability) he designed the "Channel 9" letter on May 2nd 1978 by using "1,2,3,4,5,6,7 -- All Good Children Go to Heaven" on the envelope, taken from the "Helter Skelter" door at the Spahn Ranch? It originated from a Beatles song (hence the Apple logo drawn on the envelope), but by describing Susan Atkins (a member of the Manson family) in the letter as the "Judas of the Manson Family", it isn't hard to envisage that the Zodiac Killer could have been inspired by the two doors from the Benedict Canyon home and Spahn Ranch in his writings on September 27th 1969 and May 2nd 1978.
If the Zodiac Killer was inspired to write on the door of Bryan Hartnell's 1956 white Karmann Ghia by reading newspaper articles about the Manson murders and the writing on the front door of the Benedict Canyon home, was he also influenced by the same thing, when (in all probability) he designed the "Channel 9" letter on May 2nd 1978 by using "1,2,3,4,5,6,7 -- All Good Children Go to Heaven" on the envelope, taken from the "Helter Skelter" door at the Spahn Ranch? It originated from a Beatles song (hence the Apple logo drawn on the envelope), but by describing Susan Atkins (a member of the Manson family) in the letter as the "Judas of the Manson Family", it isn't hard to envisage that the Zodiac Killer could have been inspired by the two doors from the Benedict Canyon home and Spahn Ranch in his writings on September 27th 1969 and May 2nd 1978.
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