ZODIAC CIPHERS
RICHARD GRINELL, COVENTRY, ENGLAND
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ZODIAC- THE LORD HIGH EXECUTIONER

4/18/2018

 
PictureCecelia Shepard
The Zodiac Killer quoted a portion from one of the three stanzas of The Mikado's Tit-Willow, when he mailed the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974. This may possibly have been the third correspondence, including the Halloween card, where The Mikado was referenced. The Zodiac Killer began with the Little List letter on July 26th 1970, in which he paraphrased As Some Day It May Happen featuring Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner. In this letter he was effectively outlining his search for future victims by paralleling his agenda throughout the state of California with The Mikado. If we break down the Exorcist letter into its constituent parts, it becomes apparent the correspondence is a further threat towards the citizens of California rather than a declaration of his impending suicide.

If we take a look at the October 27th 1970 Halloween card and compare it to his confirmed attacks, only one stands out. On September 27th 1969, Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were relaxing by the shores of Lake Berryessa when a man spotted by Cecelia ducked behind a tree to don an executioner's mask and waistline bib. This theatrical entrance in the form of 
Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner has long been suggested as an influence on the Zodiac's actions and writings. Here is an extract from the San Francisco Chronicle on October 12th 1970, just 15 days prior to the mailing of the Halloween card: "It was immediately apparent that Zodiac had plagiarized several stanzas from an aria in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta 'The Mikado'. It is the entrance aria of Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. A quiet search of onetime Ko-Ko's has turned up none that could be Zodiac. Obvious differences in physical description and handwriting comparisons have cleared all Ko-Ko's tracked down since the arrival of the July 27 letters".

The Halloween card depicted an eye peering from the knothole of a tree, accompanied by the words "peek-a-boo you are doomed", possibly implying the impending threat of the Zodiac Killer hiding behind the tree at Lake Berryessa and his ultimate arrival bedecked in an executioner's outfit. If you look up the definition of peek-a-boo in Wikipedia, it quotes
Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) as a form of play primarily played with an infant. To play, one player hides their face, pops back into the view of the other, and says Peekaboo!, sometimes followed by I see you!  There are many variations: for example, where trees are involved, "Hiding behind that tree!" is sometimes added.

However, Peek-A-Boo was also a character in another version of The Mikado at around the same time as the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
In 1888, Jack the Ripper terrorized the Whitechapel district of London. In the same year of somewhat less significance Ed J. Smith wrote a stage parody called The Capitalist; or, The City of Fort Worth. Designed to encourage capital investment in Fort Worth, Texas, and underwritten by local banks and railroad lines, the two act piece features characters named Yankee-Doo, Kokonut, By-Gum and Peek-A-Boo. Here is an image depicting this reference.     

PictureThe Halloween card
Peep-bo is the English version of peek-a-boo, and has a curious, albeit likely unintentional connection to the Lake Berryessa murder of Cecelia Shepard, in the nursery rhyme Little Bo-Peep.

​"The earliest record of this rhyme is in a manuscript of around 1805, which contains only the first verse. There are references to a children's game called "bo-peep", from the 16th century, including one in Shakespeare's King Lear (Act I Scene iv), for which "bo-peep" is thought to refer to the children's game of peek-a-boo, but no evidence that the rhyme existed earlier than the 18th century. The additional verses are first recorded in the earliest printed version in a version of Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus in 1810. Wikipedia.

Peep-bo was one of the three little maids from The Mikado: "Three little maids from school are we, pert as a school-girl well can be, filled to the brim with girlish glee, three little maids from school". Three young girls from Pacific Union College would feature in the Zodiac story of Lake Berryessa that day, when describing a suspicious individual roaming the hillside bordering the lake - later providing a sketch of the individual. Little Bo-Peep was a shepherdess, so its significance to the name of Cecelia Shepard could not be ignored, although likely accidental. "She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye, and over the hillocks went rambling, and tried what she could, as a shepherdess should, to tack each again to its lambkin".

The Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 and the subsequent Confession letter held an odd precursor to the events of Lake Berryessa, when it stated "Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb", along with the widely referenced "She squirmed and shook as I choked her, and her lips twitched" connection to the Little List letter.  

PictureClick to enlarge
​The Zodiac Killer, after mailing his response to the unearthed Riverside connection, would then go into hibernation from March 13th 1971 until the arrival of the Exorcist letter nearly three years later on January 29th 1974, leading many to believe the Zodiac Killer was likely incarcerated during this period. 

"Taken from the county jail
By a set of curious chances;
Liberated then on bail,
On my own recognizances;
Wafted by a favouring gale
As one sometimes is in trances,
To a height that few can scale." 
Behold the Lord High Executioner Youtube

The Mikado/Act I/Part V

The Lord High Executioner was to return, ridiculin the 1973 film, The Exorcist, yet curiously comparing it to Gilbert and Sullivan's satirical operatic comedy, The Mikado, calling it "the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen".  He then signed his name using the verse of Tit-Willow by Ko-Ko: "He plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicides grave, titwillo, titwillo, titwillo". The whole letter appeared to be announcing the return of the Lord High Executioner after nearly three years. Here is the Exorcist letter broken down into its constituent parts to reveal its likely meaning.

"I saw and think "The Exorcist" was the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen, even better than The Mikado. Signed, yours truley: The Lord High Executioner. If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing- To Kill". Kevin Robert Brooks came up with possibly the best interpretation of the Japanese/Asian symbols at the foot of the letter, befitting of Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner. The "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction was apparent by its absence, as well as the Zodiac crosshairs - but the Lord High Executioner was alive and well, and still making threats.  

Picture
Shawn
4/18/2018 05:44:34 am

I think the 1974 letter raises too many questions.

It appears he is no longer the Zodiac. No Zodiac name or cross hairs representing the sign of the Zodiac.

Concentrating on the August 1969 letters through March 1971 letter (about 17) gives the most information of who he was and his mindset. When he was still the Zodiac. IMO

You ever wonder why the Aug 4th?, 1969 PROOF letter was sent to the Examiner (a much lower afternoon circulation paper by 1969) VS the High Circulation morning Chronicle paper?

Richard
4/18/2018 06:46:46 am

The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle on August 3rd opened with the lines "A self-accused killer failed to keep a threat of mass murder here, but there was no slackening of tension or mystery caused by the warning. The police department telephone system was clogged at times by anxious callers asking if the "cipher killer" had been caught."
I believe Shawn he replied to this particular newspaper because not only did it ask for "more facts to prove" he was the killer, the same as the Chronicle did the day before, but because the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle referenced him as the "cipher killer", and his response introducing his pseudonym Zodiac on August 4th was a direct result of this naming of him, which he probably thought was not adequate.
The Sunday paper despite having both names of Examiner and Chronicle, the Examiner were primarily responsible for the news sections, hence his reply to them. Here is a section from Wikipedia explaining this:
"For 35 years starting in 1965, the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner operated under a Joint Operating Agreement whereby the Chronicle published a morning paper and the Examiner published in the afternoon. The Examiner published the Sunday paper's news sections and glossy magazine, and the Chronicle contributed the features. Circulation was approximately 100,000 on weekdays and 500,000 on Sundays."

anonymous cipher
6/7/2019 06:56:00 am

NEVER TRUST AN EXPERT. THEY GET YOU KILLED. If after so long, they cannot decipher it .The experts destroy earth. If people stopped listening to experts , they would be so much better off. So long and they cannot solve it. I AM Laughing for name is SELF EVIDENT. BRAVO.. The zodiac walked right past them . :-) The letter does not say ____ any of their ciphers. Years later and they can't solve it.HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA.

Richard
4/18/2018 07:11:47 am

I was looking for alternatives for the Asian style symbols at the foot of the Exorcist letter, in particular something Japanese or something related to the Mikado, Ko-Ko, or something similar. If found something interesting, but not compelling, based on the Japanese Katakana stylized language. The extreme right symbol (the two lines) look exactly like the Katakana "ha" (which got me thinking of ha ha) something the Zodiac had previously used on the Fairfield letter.
Here is the image https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha_(kana)
Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana#Writing_system
Then I saw the Hiragana image that looked like the Bates letters symbols at the foot of two correspondences, and another that looked like one in the 340.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_(kana)
But cannot take it any further, so probably a dead end, like so many.

Drew
4/18/2018 10:00:37 am

I've long admired Brook's elegant "to Kill" solution, but I equally believe in the relevance of your interpretation of a (line 6 of the) 340 reference. It seems improbable or impressively clever that he composed a stylized 'to kill' on separate paper, cut it up and composed the pieces in a fashion that evokes the 340 (to a trained eye anyway), then reproduced the results on the letter for a double meaning that the public or police for that matter were unlikely to ever understand. However neither interpretation seems like a coincidence. Do you believe this is the elaborate method he employed or do you currently favour Brooks' idea?

I have another probable dead-end to ponder. I wouldn't even bring it up but this article seems a decent place for it. My brother said he read somewhere (I would guess Dave Peterson or Harry Martin) that Cecilia Shepard loved the Mikado. It was such an incredibly popular play that I have largely discounted this as connection as coincidence. Lake Berryessa was supposedly a spontaneously chosen destination for Hartnell and Shepard that day and there is good evidence to suggest that Zodiac did not follow them as he was already there. Further Shepard saw her attacker without the hood and didn't say she recognized him. I have also discounted the relevance of Shepard's Riverside roots, but throughout the Zodiac case it seems we have to discard dozens of coincidences. At any rate I just thought I would put that out there.

Tahoe I think has come to the conclusion that Zodiac likely learned the Mikado not line-for-line as one involved in a production would but rather from the Groucho record album. I haven't done the research necessary to weigh in on that, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you have! Would you concur with the Groucho version assessment Richard?

Richard
4/18/2018 11:16:21 am

Yes, I agree with the Groucho assessment, or more specifically that Zodiac heard the Little List on audio and translated it as he heard it, rather than read it. One example is where Zodiac stated "All children who are up in dates and implore you with im platt." If you listen to the Bell Telephone Hour (1960) with Groucho Marx, this is what it sounds like if you don't have the words in front of you: The real words are "All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat." But Zodiac does specifically use the Groucho Marx version, when he states "And uncompromising kind such as wachmacallit, thingmebob, and like wise, well - - nevermind, and tut tut tut tut, and whashisname," whereas the Wikipedia version is "What d'ye call him — Thing'em-bob, and likewise — Never-mind,
And 'St— 'st— 'st— and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who."
https://youtu.be/I9pUgl2Y1M4?t=7m58s

Its easy to see how you can interpret any song differently when only hearing audio-we do it all the time with modern music today, simply guessing at words we're not sure of.

In terms of the Exorcist letter, I actually prefer Kevin Brooks' idea, and think it's probably correct. I have found a way of finishing the Exorcist letter with Killing rather than To Kill, but there is no way to dot both I's, only put a full stop at the end. And considering Zodiac liked to dot his I's, I dismissed it. Kevin Brooks solution is by far the best I have seen.
I haven't heard the Cecelia Shepard liking of The Mikado, but I'll have a look.

shawn
4/19/2018 05:02:51 am

1960 could have an important year to Zodiac.

As you reference the "Bell Telephone Hour" Grouch Marx version of the Mikado was televised in 1960 and Zodiac take on that version in his letters.

Also in 1960 "Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs" had their biggest hit "Stay" which went to number 1 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

The shortest song ever to hit number 1 on the U.S. Billboard charts at 1:36.

Many have speculated that Zodiac got his name from the Ford Zodiac car.

From Wiki on "Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs"...

"Williams finished high school and while on the road with the band, their station wagon broke down in Bluefield, West Virginia). The band came across a British-built Ford car known as the Zodiac (a 'luxury' version of the Ford Zephyr built in Britain, Australia and New Zealand) and changed their name"

Richard
4/19/2018 05:25:49 am

Nice find Shawn- and remember the emblem for the Ford Zephyr, featured here on Zodiac Killer Site forum.
http://zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3578

Shawn
4/19/2018 12:51:06 pm

You probably already wrote an article on this.

The Backwards like K and F like letters reminds me of FK I'm Crackproof. (which would be a good explanation of this bizarre coding)

Both F and K (forward and backwards) are code in the 408.

Carl Karas link
4/18/2018 11:07:51 am

Drew, as I recall Cecelia saw Z from quite a distance. Even this testimony is highly doubtful as it was supposedly taken after her stabbing. Some of the quotes Richard identifies above hint that Z knew Shepard from '66 on. The connection is a compelling reason for the disguise. Makes even more sense if music student Shepard really did love the Mikado. Richard, the phrase 'like a lamb to the the slaughter' appears in the Bible a couple times, though it's a pretty common expression. But it might fit with your exploration of Christian Gematria

Richard
4/18/2018 11:35:41 am

I may be of a select few who believe the religious angle Carl. Yes, in Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter," Although a fairly common term, the religious influences do seem there, notably Christmass. There was a Riverside Fox Theater "During World War II, the building served as a makeshift dormitory after the soldiers from the nearby military bases filled the city's available sleeping spaces. Manager Roy Hunt allowed the soldiers to sleep on the thick carpets of the lobby and auditorium. In 1942, the Fox Theater converted its stage and surrounding dressing rooms into a 536-person secondary theater named the "Lido," which served as a "second-run" film house for headline pictures. Alterations and additions to the original design included the small secondary theater in the former stage house, alterations to the proscenium and various new sound absorption finishes in the auditorium." Certainly somewhere Zodiac or a native of Riverside could have frequented.
In regards to Zodiac knowing Cecelia Shepard, it is possible, but have yet to find any evidence supporting it. Same for Darlene Ferrin. He, in theory, could have known any or none of the victims. If we discovered he did, then I doubt this case would have dragged on for half a century.

Richard
4/18/2018 11:48:54 am

Here is a useful link https://rcc.academicworks.com/opportunities/5543

Richard
4/18/2018 11:52:06 am

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/zodiackillerfr/bates-shepard-riverside-music-connection-t6278-s10.html#p100183

shawn
4/19/2018 12:43:42 pm

Here is a link to a Zodiac Car with the Cross Hair emblem.

https://i.imgur.com/oBjPVxX.jpg

Drew
4/18/2018 12:12:33 pm

Thanks Richard and Carl for your insights! I think because Zodiac put so much effort into the costume and the many-paged Little List letter that the reference must have strongly resonated with him on some level but perhaps only aesthetically. While it is tempting to use the Mikado to place him in the community of the San Francisco theatre district, which I think is reasonable conjecture, if he was tied to the Mikado as a star of the stage or even the costume department I doubt he would have provided the clue. As sure as he knew they would read into both the Oct11 69 pickup and drop-off locations in San Francisco I believed he hoped he could waste more of their time searching for bespectacled basement-dwelling ex-Kokos. "Aent Oko moy nam?" is a no doubt projected idea I can't seem to get out of my head! Considering the methods we are pretty sure he employed to send authorities adrift chasing school buses, combing roadways for bombs, and generally exhausting police resources, I think it is most likely that he had in mind that the Mikado would just make an effective and cruelly humorous red herring for investigators. Anyways thanks for the good read!

Judith
4/18/2018 08:31:05 pm

What an ass he was. I never thought about the Japanese angle before, but my suspect Peter Plante worked for Japanese people at a nursery in El Sobrante called Adachi's. He worked there when he was in high school and they loved him very much. Also he would quote that strange line about The Exorcist being a satirical comedy many times over the years. Having seen The Exorcist, I thought it was a pretty bizarre thing to say. My feeling is the Exorcist letter is genuine Zodiac. Tit Willow.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/18/2018 11:23:06 pm

This letter always comes across as ''sobering'',for some reason.

The tone of it is menacing,but Zodiac doesn't really seem to hold anger.

A lack of formal introduction,is quite noticeable.

Richard,do you think that there any grounds for believing,that this letter may be the last page of a longer letter ?

Richard
4/19/2018 01:03:48 am

I know why you are suggesting this a possibility Rubislaw, because he is effectively signing his name using the Tit Willow verse almost immediately, other than the brief introduction. But I doubt highly any other pages existed- his subsequent letters such as SLA, Red Phantom and Badlands were equally bereft of substance just like the Exorcist letter. But the use of "signed yours truley" followed by a verse from the High Executioner, suggests to me, we are supposed to transpose this verse to the name. And an executioner is certainly capable of killing, as was Zodiac. The absence of crosshairs and Zodiac introduction is telling from here on in, that is, if we believe the four letters in 1974 are from Zodiac. I certainly don't believe this letter has anything to do with suicide.
I found something on Riverside yesterday, it's a bit weak, but I'll mention it anyway despite the scoffing hordes. The author of the Riverside Desktop Poem was certainly inclined to write poetically, which got me thinking whether a student studying English literature or poetry of some kind was inspired to write on the desktop while in class, fantasizing about another student. Your poetry style would certainly be influenced by poetry you read, or the wording you use. The title of the poem 'Sick of living/Unwilling to die' doesn't suggest to me suicide, moreover someone who cannot get what they want (a girl or attention) but are unwilling to die so to seek retribution. The following was an English poet who constantly struggled with life at the turn of the 1900s. His name was Edward Thomas, who wrote Ash Grove. This is the last line of four stanzas "
"The song of the Ash Grove soft as love uncrossed,
And then in a crowd or in distance it were lost,
But the moment unveiled something unwilling to die
And I had what most I desired, without search or desert or cost."
This is a quote he made " In 1901,“very tired of London” he made a half-hearted attempt at suicide, the first of several. “I did not want to die, though I disliked living,” he wrote. His wife, who later shamelessly mythologised their marriage, told a friend that “poverty, anxiety, and discouragements [made him] bitter, hard and impatient, quick to violent anger, and subject to long fits of depression”.

“I did not want to die, though I disliked living” reminded me of Sick of living/Unwilling to die. If the person who wrote the Desktop poem was studying poetry or literature at Riverside, then either deliberately or subconsciously one would be influenced by something they read recently (certainly if they were relatively young).
This another poem he wrote called 'After you speak' in the same fashion of wording of the Desktop Poem. Very brief wording style.
After you speak
And what you meant
Is plain,
My eyes
Meet yours that mean,
With your cheeks and hair,
Something more wise,
More dark,
And far different.
Even so the lark
Loves dust
And nestles in it
The minute
Before he must
Soar in lone flight
So far,
Like a black star
He seems -
A mote
Of singing dust
Afloat
Above,
The dreams
And sheds no light.
I know your lust
Is love.

Richard
4/19/2018 01:29:09 am

This is a course offered in the Fall in the 1966/67 yearbook:
"Discovering Modern Poetry is the study of contemporary poetry in modern society; the role of the poet as interpreter and voice of the social dilemmas and crises of the contemporary world."

Rubislaw 32 link
4/19/2018 02:52:25 am

Some interesting thoughts from you,Richard,and particularly on the actual motive for expressing oneself,through poetry.

Yes,we must believe L.E.,I suppose....that that one page,is all they received [?].I just wonder if,perhaps,Zodiac may have written a longer letter....then elected to only send the final page,of his own volition.

The suicide reference is certainly interesting,for consideration.Traditionally,and in English common law,suicide was ''murder''...albeit of oneself.''Suicides'' were buried at crossroads,so that God would know where to find them,and then decide if they were deserving of heaven or hell.

One wonders if,with that letter,undecided thoughts were going on in Zodiac's mind.That,perhaps,he felt that he was at a ''crossroads'',in his life.

Richard
4/19/2018 05:16:52 am

He was certainly undecided in many things, or conflicted should I say.
I noticed his use of the word teenagers in his first three letters on July 31st 1969. He never hyphenated the word, but for the Vallejo Times-Herald where he ran out of space at the end of the line. In essence he didn't hyphenate the word, as we don't in the UK. But I noticed all the newspapers from the Chronicle and the like, always hyphenated teen-agers like so, which I believe was more prevalent in the US prior to the early 70s. Maybe somebody from the US could enlighten me on this. Zodiac could easily have been American, but rooted with a British origin, either by his parents or the poetry, literature or theatrical influences he had.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/19/2018 07:03:00 am

Yes,suicide as a metaphor....Zodiac was far too belligerent,to contemplate topping himself.However much he felt like ''drownding''.

From what I have just checked on,''the teens'' as period of development,goes back to the 17th Century.

In the US,July 1936,with the publication of a report on the ''Teen Age''.The expression ''teenagers'',then spread rapidly.

In the UK,February 1957,when Bill Haley and the Comets toured Britain,and referred to their fans as ''teenagers''.The expression ''Adolescents'',was still being used,up till that point.

Yes,It seems that ''teen-agers'' was the normal spelling,until circa '70's,when ''teenagers'' appears to have become universal spelling.

Personally,I find too much in Zodiac's letters,to have not been,at least ''culturally'' American.But an American Anglophile,nevertheless.

Most of my family,both near and far,have dual British and American nationality.

Not that it necessarily makes me an expert,on such matters [!].

Drew
4/19/2018 09:03:42 am

I haven't considered the British influence in a while and this hyphen issue has interesting connotations. Newspapers in Canada use hyphens for teen-ager as well but I don't think most common folk do. On the surface I think the writing of teenager sans hyphen could be indicative of either a non-professional author or a very skilled writer thoroughly committed to the character portrayed. The issue of writing skill is particularly relevant for me because I have long considered that someone in the newspaper business may be Zodiac.

I am fairly conscious of proper writing rules but I don't always bother to employ them and because I don't write for publication my lazy tendencies carry little consequence. Occasionally I do copy-edit materials for print though, or write to someone I haven't met, and that's about the only time I care to check myself on such matters. I think Zodiac was trying to give the impression of a less educated fool than he was but while the spelling mistakes throughout his letters seem unconvincing as honest errors the hyphenation or lack thereof could be more telling. I certainly assume he was American, though not necessarily a native to California, but there was certainly a British influence. Whether or not the Britishisms were merely a stylistic choice for the persona we shall have to continue to ponder.

I have always admired British actors who do American accents. Largely I find they are better than Americans playing English but both accents are difficult to pull off in moments of high emotionality (they often blow it when they shout). Zodiac was of course described as a slow measured monotone speaker with a hard to place drawl. I suppose he may have had British roots and lost his accent after moving to America as a teen-ager, like Jonathan Nolan (younger brother of famed film director Christopher) for example. Richard, have you found that even non-thespian Englishmen are able to do convincing American accents perhaps because of the relentlessness of American media or is that just a misconception of mine? My guess is the latter!

Richard
4/19/2018 09:25:01 am

I haven't got any friends who can master the American accent, I know I'm hopeless-I end up sounding drunk. I don't even notice the accent of American's in film etc, it just sounds normal to me. When I watch some action films with the British guy playing the baddie, it is often the British accent that sounds foreign, often because it is played by somebody being or putting on a Cockney London accent.
There are many broad accents in Britain that sound completely alien to me, more so than American, as I'm used to that more. When I listen to Mike Morford on a podcast he sounds normal, but when I listen to myself I don't recognize it as me- it sounds totally different to what I think I sound like when I'm hearing myself speak in the moment. But obviously, there are parts of America where the accent totally stands out to me, as it probably does to other Americans.
Only about a year ago did I realize the lead.actor in The Walking Dead was British.

Drew
4/19/2018 09:37:25 am

That's funny, Canadians on television sound bizarre to me! I watched many seasons of the Walking Dead without knowing that guy was English either, and the British leads in The Wire really threw me for a loop as well!

Richard
4/19/2018 09:43:22 am

The Zodiac stated "my killing tools have been boughten through the mail order outfits before the ban went into efect."
Until yesterday I thought "boughten" was not a word, but it is. How stupid does the Zodiac think I am!

Judith
4/19/2018 07:09:25 am

Notice on the desktop poem o's with a dot in the center. I believe that is carried out in other zodiac writings, certainly one of the characteristics that would cause Sherwood Memorial to claim that whoever wrote the desktop poem also wrote the Zodiac letters. Based on the references from literature it would appear that the Zodiac Killer had some higher education. I also have comparisons of Peter doing the same thing writing those o's with dots in the center. With regards to depression, it was profound. There were times when he would roll up in a fetal position on the bed for hours or days on end. He did in fact kill himself in the long run with alcohol. He died at the age of 52 from cirrhosis of the liver, it was horrifying to watch.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/19/2018 07:40:04 am

That's the first time anyone has mentioned the dot in the O's,Judith.I had always noticed one of the O's,anyway.

It did seem to me,as if it was a tiny blemish in the wood...but I am certainly going to have another look.

Terrible to hear about your Peter.He sounds as if he was very haunted,inside [?].

I have tended to accept that alcoholism is primarily,a sickness of denial.It just can't be that simple [?].

Richard
4/19/2018 08:45:33 am

It can represent the Sun.
http://www.zodiologists.com/riverside_desktop_poem_comments_conclusions.html

Rubislaw 32 link
4/19/2018 09:04:41 am

....or indeed ''gold'',as both denoted as an Alchemy symbol.

Another trek through Zodiac's correspondences,this evening,to find alphabetic letters,that have been doctored,to appear as symbols.

Judith
4/19/2018 11:23:26 am

I have a comparison on my thread on zodiackiller.com. I believe it is his hand which creates the effect not as a symbol. I also show E's finished off with a Z. See the Bates letters.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/20/2018 05:07:36 am

By the by.....

I note that Walter Leroy Moody Jnr was executed,yesterday evening,in Atlanta.

''Roy'' Moody had been convicted if a series of mail bombings,including one that killed Judge Robert Vance Snr.

Regular Zodiac contributor,AKWilks,had been attempting to collect information,that pointed to actual guilt of Ted Kacznski.

Moody,did succeed in a stay of execution,for just two hours,before the State of Alabama elected to administer a lethal injection.

Moody showed no remorse,nor admission of guilt,to the end.

Judith
4/20/2018 07:11:45 am

And therein lies the problem with the death penalty. What if the government kills the wrong guy?

Richard
4/20/2018 07:30:27 am

When an innocent person is executed people say "yes, but it's a very small percentage, the majority of the time they get it right." In other words, when it's not your family member it's only a statistic. If it then happens to them, funnily enough, they don't use the statistic argument anymore. Human beings are inherently inward looking- they know innocent people are occasionally executed, but it's no big deal until it hits nearer home.

BB
4/20/2018 04:16:25 pm

Exactly true Judith - the death penalty is not only hypocritical because this is supposedly a Christian nation and Jesus was supposed to be the most innocent person yet he was executed. Also, DNA has got a lot of innocent people off of death row. Not to forget that the statistics prove it to be racist. Put it all together innocent people are being executed. It should be abolished. This is no longer a democracy. This and gun control are just a few things that a minority are getting their way on. So much for rule by majority. He who has the gold makes the rules.

Tom
4/20/2018 06:40:47 pm

Didn’t know this was a progressive left-wing website.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/20/2018 08:05:24 am

I see that Moody had been fighting this death sentence,for about twenty years.At 83 years old,he becomes the oldest person to be executed,in the modern era of capital punishment.

His additional sentences were 7 life terms,plus 400 years.

It can be established that he was bomb making,since 1972.

Ironically perhaps,Judge Vance was an opponent of the death penalty.

Thoughts of the Zodiac [?].

If he is still alive,and convicted,in the next two years,he would be mid-seventies,at youngest.

Could ''The Green Room'',at San Quentin,still await the Zodiac Killer ?

Richard
4/20/2018 03:24:51 pm

I reckon Zodiac likely has already spent time there between 71 and 73, and may already be there now. How many killers have been discovered for certain crimes and are already in prison. It's likely the Zodiac is in prison or in the ground. But I reserve the right to be wrong Rubislaw.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/20/2018 03:59:01 pm

You may well be right,Richard.

Like ''Hunt the thimble'',he was there,in front of our noses,all along.

The authorities just couldn't see him.

BB
4/20/2018 04:31:41 pm

The Manson Family, led by Charles Manson gained national notoriety after the murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others on August 9, 1969 - Dali day
Yet, Manson was never executed, nobody seems to be hurt by letting him off. And, he was supposedly the most evil guy of all time - except for the guy whose birthday's today.
Hitler 4/20 - he had his own symbol the swastika or Gamma - meaning life.
Days of the week for José Argüelles Such as Gamma and Dali were ad-vented to replace the latin and german named gods for the named days of the week. He seems to be wanting to change what he saw as profane into the sacred.
But, no need to go by the 1992 New age calendar. There are many other 13 month calendars that were used in the past. Which one did the Zodiac use?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_reform

BB
4/22/2018 11:00:48 am

Tupac Amaru Shakur born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996, also killed on a Dali day

BB
4/22/2018 04:46:53 pm

Paul David Wellstone (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until he was killed in a plane crash in Eveleth, Minnesota, in 2002. A member of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, Wellstone was a leader of the progressive wing of the national Democratic Party.

Paul opposed Bush and Cheney he died on Death day, Dooms day, Dali day

The Senator Wellstone Assassination - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vbf49kzWFw

BB
4/22/2018 05:22:08 pm

On February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were killed.

D-day (False Flag)

BB
4/23/2018 06:38:09 pm

Fake news-to-fan-the-flames-of-hate-and-spread-fear.
Seems to be the method to their madness.
To divide Americans.

Why we are so divided?
Trump vs. Woody Guthrie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sbCW9lbaqs

BB
4/25/2018 02:18:21 pm

The calendar Jose Arguelles seems to have taken his from was devised by Auguste Comte in 1849. It was based on a 364-day year which included the one or two "blank" days that Abbé Mastrofini, an Italian Roman Catholic priest, had devised 15 years before. Each of the 13 months had exactly 28 days and four weeks. It does not seem there was a name for the signature day (Dali day) for the Zodiac to schedule his crimes. But, this seems to be the calendar the Zodiac may have used. The Arguelles calendar did not exist until 1992. The name of the Mastrofini/Comte calendar is The Positivist Calendar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivist_calendar

Corey Hagler
5/27/2018 01:08:47 pm

Does anyone think the reason the Zodiac was in South Lake Tahoe because he was a horse gambler? Is there any reference to gambling on horses in any of his correspondence?


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