The following article is an updated version of a previous post, expanded and covered in greater detail. It is not particularly a line of investigation that I subscribe to, but it attempts to compare the Zodiac Killer's Halloween Card mailed on October 27th 1970 with the Harper Lee novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird', published in 1960 and turned into a film in 1962 featuring Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall, Mary Badham and Phillip Alford. Set in the fictional town of Maycomb, the film explored the deep set racial undertones prevalent in American society, brought to the forefront, as lawyer Atticus Finch fought to defend a black man accused of rape in Alabama. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor.
Scout Finch played by Mary Badham The most reclusive character in the film was Arthur "Boo" Radley, who went by the shortened version Boo Radley. The first thing to be noticed on the Halloween Card envelope, is the misspelled name of the reporter Paul Avery to Paul Averly, which emphasizes the 'ley' part. Was this deliberate. On the inside of the card he places the word BOO in bold letters. Now we have "Boo" and "ley", and the "rad" is not far away, in actual fact it crosses the "LAV" of "SLAVES" on the Halloween Card paradice and slaves configuration, which incidentally was underlined on the reporter's name. The Zodiac Killer may not have given us a cipher but had he given us "Boo Radley". Sounds far-fetched. However we could drag up the authors name, this contains "Lee", and the name of the book. "To Kill a Mockingbird " can be formed in part, not only from the Exorcist Letter symbols, but Zodiac himself claimed "sla" meant "to kill" in the SLA Letter, although "val" is the root of Valhalla, meaning 'hall of the slain' and 'val' actually means 'to kill'. And "val" reversed is "lav" taking us back to the underlined section of the reporter's name. It makes perfect sense no. Surely it does.
Boo Radley was a much misunderstood character in the novel, feared by the local schoolchildren, with rumors abound. He was described by Jem (brother of Scout Finch) as "6 1/2 feet tall... dined on all the raw squirrels and cats he could catch... you could never wash the blood off... there was a large scar that ran across his face... his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time." In fact Boo Radley's house and chicken yard backed onto Maycomb School. Funny that, I remember Arthur Leigh Allen slaughtered chickens and squirrels and was never far from schools, but coincidence aside, we shall move on.
The children fear the Radley House, believing the trees are poisoned, but in one such tree a knot-hole exists, that forms a connection between Boo Radley and Scout and Jem. Periodically the reclusive Boo Radley places objects in the knot-hole for Scout and Jem to find, this was his outlet to the world. On different days they would find presents that included carved soap figures, a ball of twine, chewing gum, a broken pocket watch and an aluminium knife on a key chain and an Indian medal, many in pairs, one for each child. This was their 'Tree Treasure'. In fact 'Tree Treasure' was one of the tracks created for the musical score accompanying the film, composed by Elmer Bernstein. Two other tracks on the musical score were called 'Boo Who' and 'Peek-a-boo'. Strange that.
The Halloween Card had a knot-hole in the tree with the words peek-a-boo circled around it. Peek-a-boo is the act of concealing ones face behind the hands or other object, before suddenly appearing back into view and uttering the words peek-a-boo. It can be seen in Wikipedia that many variations involve trees, similar to the depiction on the Halloween Card, where 'Hiding behind that tree' is added. See here. That eye was certainly hiding in the Halloween Card tree, was it not. Didn't the Zodiac Killer hide behind a tree at Lake Berryessa and hide his face behind a mask, yes, he actually did both. When he eventually came into view his identity was concealed. When the Halloween Card was removed from the envelope, it goaded us "I feel it in my bones, you ache to know my name, and so I'll clue you in" and once opened it revealed the word "BOO". I know what your thinking "Boo Who." Well I had to squeeze it in.
The sister card to the Halloween Card, the Eureka Card was very similar in design, and once again from our 'secret pal', but this time it had a present from Zodiac, not an aluminium knife and pocket watch on a key chain, but something far better, a photocopy of a pair of keys on a key chain. Can you figure it out.
Boo Radley was a much misunderstood character in the novel, feared by the local schoolchildren, with rumors abound. He was described by Jem (brother of Scout Finch) as "6 1/2 feet tall... dined on all the raw squirrels and cats he could catch... you could never wash the blood off... there was a large scar that ran across his face... his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time." In fact Boo Radley's house and chicken yard backed onto Maycomb School. Funny that, I remember Arthur Leigh Allen slaughtered chickens and squirrels and was never far from schools, but coincidence aside, we shall move on.
The children fear the Radley House, believing the trees are poisoned, but in one such tree a knot-hole exists, that forms a connection between Boo Radley and Scout and Jem. Periodically the reclusive Boo Radley places objects in the knot-hole for Scout and Jem to find, this was his outlet to the world. On different days they would find presents that included carved soap figures, a ball of twine, chewing gum, a broken pocket watch and an aluminium knife on a key chain and an Indian medal, many in pairs, one for each child. This was their 'Tree Treasure'. In fact 'Tree Treasure' was one of the tracks created for the musical score accompanying the film, composed by Elmer Bernstein. Two other tracks on the musical score were called 'Boo Who' and 'Peek-a-boo'. Strange that.
The Halloween Card had a knot-hole in the tree with the words peek-a-boo circled around it. Peek-a-boo is the act of concealing ones face behind the hands or other object, before suddenly appearing back into view and uttering the words peek-a-boo. It can be seen in Wikipedia that many variations involve trees, similar to the depiction on the Halloween Card, where 'Hiding behind that tree' is added. See here. That eye was certainly hiding in the Halloween Card tree, was it not. Didn't the Zodiac Killer hide behind a tree at Lake Berryessa and hide his face behind a mask, yes, he actually did both. When he eventually came into view his identity was concealed. When the Halloween Card was removed from the envelope, it goaded us "I feel it in my bones, you ache to know my name, and so I'll clue you in" and once opened it revealed the word "BOO". I know what your thinking "Boo Who." Well I had to squeeze it in.
The sister card to the Halloween Card, the Eureka Card was very similar in design, and once again from our 'secret pal', but this time it had a present from Zodiac, not an aluminium knife and pocket watch on a key chain, but something far better, a photocopy of a pair of keys on a key chain. Can you figure it out.
In the novel Scout and Jem construct a snowman, made initially from mud, then layered with snow, a theme many believe is inferring the racist overtones of the story, although its interpretation is subjective. A snowman was depicted on the Eureka Card, with what appeared to be Groucho Marx imagery on the face. Jem and Scout built this snowman because of their dislike of a local resident down the street, but their father Atticus told the children to disguise it, because it so resembled the local resident they were poking fun at, so they placed Miss Maudie's hat on it. That resident they hated was called MR AVERY, now that is a coincidence, along with release date of the film December 25th 1962, in Los Angeles, California. The Eureka Card was mailed in December and depicted a Christmas scene. Facing the snowman was a cute rabbit. I hope Arthur Leigh Allen didn't slaughter rabbits as well as chickens and squirrels.
Incidentally Scout and Jem went to a Halloween celebration. In the book on Chapter 28, the schoolchildren are encouraged to dress up as the local agricultural products of Maycomb for the Halloween night pageant, rather than go trick or treating. Scout is dressed as a piece of ham, and on the way home after the pageant Jem and Scout are attacked by somebody and rescued by Boo Radley. As we all know Bob Ewell is later found dead under a tree, with a knife stuck in him. It is curious that the skeleton on the Halloween Card is also wearing agricultural produce. Is that a pumpkin I see. And that tree keeps coming up.
Was this card based on the Lake Berryessa attack or could the Zodiac have been peeking out, playing hide and seek in the Julius Khan Park in the Presidio. I feel something in my bones.
Anyway here ends the story, the only question left to ask is, have I now created a second piece of fiction.
By the way, is that a key in the opening sequence of the film; however I can only see one. Most of the gifts were supposed to be in pairs. Is it under the soap figure. I suppose I'll have to keep looking.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/332457/To-Kill-A-Mockingbird-Movie-Clip-Opening-Maycomb.html
Incidentally Scout and Jem went to a Halloween celebration. In the book on Chapter 28, the schoolchildren are encouraged to dress up as the local agricultural products of Maycomb for the Halloween night pageant, rather than go trick or treating. Scout is dressed as a piece of ham, and on the way home after the pageant Jem and Scout are attacked by somebody and rescued by Boo Radley. As we all know Bob Ewell is later found dead under a tree, with a knife stuck in him. It is curious that the skeleton on the Halloween Card is also wearing agricultural produce. Is that a pumpkin I see. And that tree keeps coming up.
Was this card based on the Lake Berryessa attack or could the Zodiac have been peeking out, playing hide and seek in the Julius Khan Park in the Presidio. I feel something in my bones.
Anyway here ends the story, the only question left to ask is, have I now created a second piece of fiction.
By the way, is that a key in the opening sequence of the film; however I can only see one. Most of the gifts were supposed to be in pairs. Is it under the soap figure. I suppose I'll have to keep looking.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/332457/To-Kill-A-Mockingbird-Movie-Clip-Opening-Maycomb.html
