SOLUTION TO THE ZODIAC 340 SYMBOL CODE - GENERAL ANALYSIS
What appears below is what I think is the correct first stage solution to the 340. I did not create this solution. It was based on the work of Robert Graysmith and appeared in the 1979 FBI file, and was then worked on by some posters at the old Zodiac Killer board - Kite, Claston, Ed, Sean, Obiwan and a few others. I do not know if all now think this is largely a correct solution, however, I feel it is a correct first stage solution. Kite and a few dozen other researchers also think this is the correct solution.
Many have noted points of similarity between the Zodiac and Jack the Ripper, and have wondered if the Zodiac was inspired by or copied some aspects of the earlier famed serial killer, who also wrote taunting letters to the police and left graffiti at a crime scene. Both Jack the Ripper and Zodiac demanded their words appear in the newspaper without changes or edits. Both spoke of removing "female parts".
Zodiac also used other similar words and phrases as Jack the Ripper - JTR spoke of his "funny little games", while Zodiac spoke of the "game"; both JTR and Zodiac taunted the police would "never catch" them; both signed a letter "Yours Truly"; JTR said in a letter he would have the "good ole times" again while Zodiac talked of the "good times" he had in Vallejo; and a man abducting a coed in Riverside in November 1966 spoke of the recent murder of Cheri Jo Bates and said it was safe for the coed to be with him as "I'm not Jack the Ripper".
Their was a famous Jack the Ripper letter addressed to the head of a local citizens watch group, Mr. Lusk. At the top of the letter, Jack the Ripper wrote it was "From Hell".
As Robert Graysmith, Zander Kite and myself look at the 340, we think that Zodiac started with a similar salutation to local SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen.
Just as Jack the Ripper told Lusk he is "From Hell", Zodiac tells Caen that he "Gives Them Hell Too".
(Zodiac does some word scrambles and anagrams to increase difficulty, sometimes creating alternate or hidden meanings. This opening line literally reads, perhaps alluding to the task of solving this code, that it is HERCEAN BIG. A task worthy of HERCULES, a difficult job, is called HERCULEAN, and here we have a shortened version HERCEAN, followed by BIG.)
Zodiac seems fixated on SEEING things, and hidden names and visions.
As you decode the 340 and translate that first line as HERC EANB (HERB CAEN) I GIVE THE HELL TOO, on the 4th line the words SEE A NAME start to appear, and on the amazing 8th line appears THESE FOOLSHALL SEE.
What is it that we "shall see"? Right before SEE A NAME on the 4th line, on the 3rd line we see SLEU(TH) THEO. THEO is Greek for God. Is Zodiac proclaiming himself God, or mocking God? Or is THEO a clue to his name?
Below is the first stage solution with some of the key sentences and vertical/diagonal words marked.
Not only does this proposed solution give clear words like I GIVE THEM HELL TOO, SEE A NAME and THESE FOOLSHALL SEE, I also discovered that key Zodiac words like LIST and BOMBS appear diagonally! To me that is absolute confirmation that this is the intended first stage solution of the 340. It is impossible that key words Zodiac used would appear by accident like that, together, correct spelling, no anagrams. We also see THEO, which is Greek for GOD, and on a vertical downward under the "M" in BOMBS we see DEO, which is Latin for GOD.
Nobody - not Graysmith or anyone at the Zodiac Killer board - ever noticed or found or claimed the words that I mark here. Like BOMBS and LIST appearing diagonally. Two key Zodiac words - what are the odds that happens by coincidence? Then there other words noticed by Kite and myself. Forms of restraints like BARS, LEASH, STALLS, TIES, BALL. And words that apply to restraints, like TAKE and LOSE.
I then think that parts of this first stage solution needs a Caesar Code analysis with the 0-3-6-9 shift values that Zodiac kept giving us as clues. But that is a seperate topic.
It is impossible these words all appear by mere chance. They cannot be fabrications or forces by Graysmith because he never noticed them. So either all these happen by chance - mathematically impossible - or they were placed there by Zodiac and this is a correct first stage solution.
And here is the same solution with additional words marked.
THE KEY SEQUENCE:
A close up on a series of amazing word finds in the 340 solution.
L....S....E....*....I....L....U.....E....H....S....T.....H....E....O....L....H....S
S....E....E....A....N..A...M....E....B....W....E.....O....L....L....R....K....E
S....E....I....L.....L....L....F....M....I.....A.....P.....I....L....L....S....G....A
E....M....R....N....P....A....O....D....E...M....A....G....P....C....E....T....T
O....A....L....S....T....B....N....E....U...*.....S.....H....B....L....L....E....I
..................S
............I
......L
So we have "LIST" leading to the "T" in "A L S T B", a probable anagram for "BLAST" (a word Zodiac used, something like 'when I have my BLAST'), with the "B" then forming a diagonal "BOMBS". Which leads us to "THEO", then "SEE A NAME". We have a vertical SEAT, a place a student can be confined to, thus a type of restraint. Also have a backwards "GAME".
The words BLAST, BOMBS, LIST and GAME are absolutely key words that Zodiac used repeatedly.
It is impossible that they would all appear by chance. They serve as validation that this is indeed the correct solution.
Robert Graysmith then tried to force a solution out of some parts of the solution that were not as clear, because he did not realize that some those parts require a seperate second stage analysis using a Caesar Code method with letter shifts of 0, 3, 6 and 9.
What appears below is what I think is the correct first stage solution to the 340. I did not create this solution. It was based on the work of Robert Graysmith and appeared in the 1979 FBI file, and was then worked on by some posters at the old Zodiac Killer board - Kite, Claston, Ed, Sean, Obiwan and a few others. I do not know if all now think this is largely a correct solution, however, I feel it is a correct first stage solution. Kite and a few dozen other researchers also think this is the correct solution.
Many have noted points of similarity between the Zodiac and Jack the Ripper, and have wondered if the Zodiac was inspired by or copied some aspects of the earlier famed serial killer, who also wrote taunting letters to the police and left graffiti at a crime scene. Both Jack the Ripper and Zodiac demanded their words appear in the newspaper without changes or edits. Both spoke of removing "female parts".
Zodiac also used other similar words and phrases as Jack the Ripper - JTR spoke of his "funny little games", while Zodiac spoke of the "game"; both JTR and Zodiac taunted the police would "never catch" them; both signed a letter "Yours Truly"; JTR said in a letter he would have the "good ole times" again while Zodiac talked of the "good times" he had in Vallejo; and a man abducting a coed in Riverside in November 1966 spoke of the recent murder of Cheri Jo Bates and said it was safe for the coed to be with him as "I'm not Jack the Ripper".
Their was a famous Jack the Ripper letter addressed to the head of a local citizens watch group, Mr. Lusk. At the top of the letter, Jack the Ripper wrote it was "From Hell".
As Robert Graysmith, Zander Kite and myself look at the 340, we think that Zodiac started with a similar salutation to local SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen.
Just as Jack the Ripper told Lusk he is "From Hell", Zodiac tells Caen that he "Gives Them Hell Too".
(Zodiac does some word scrambles and anagrams to increase difficulty, sometimes creating alternate or hidden meanings. This opening line literally reads, perhaps alluding to the task of solving this code, that it is HERCEAN BIG. A task worthy of HERCULES, a difficult job, is called HERCULEAN, and here we have a shortened version HERCEAN, followed by BIG.)
Zodiac seems fixated on SEEING things, and hidden names and visions.
As you decode the 340 and translate that first line as HERC EANB (HERB CAEN) I GIVE THE HELL TOO, on the 4th line the words SEE A NAME start to appear, and on the amazing 8th line appears THESE FOOLSHALL SEE.
What is it that we "shall see"? Right before SEE A NAME on the 4th line, on the 3rd line we see SLEU(TH) THEO. THEO is Greek for God. Is Zodiac proclaiming himself God, or mocking God? Or is THEO a clue to his name?
Below is the first stage solution with some of the key sentences and vertical/diagonal words marked.
Not only does this proposed solution give clear words like I GIVE THEM HELL TOO, SEE A NAME and THESE FOOLSHALL SEE, I also discovered that key Zodiac words like LIST and BOMBS appear diagonally! To me that is absolute confirmation that this is the intended first stage solution of the 340. It is impossible that key words Zodiac used would appear by accident like that, together, correct spelling, no anagrams. We also see THEO, which is Greek for GOD, and on a vertical downward under the "M" in BOMBS we see DEO, which is Latin for GOD.
Nobody - not Graysmith or anyone at the Zodiac Killer board - ever noticed or found or claimed the words that I mark here. Like BOMBS and LIST appearing diagonally. Two key Zodiac words - what are the odds that happens by coincidence? Then there other words noticed by Kite and myself. Forms of restraints like BARS, LEASH, STALLS, TIES, BALL. And words that apply to restraints, like TAKE and LOSE.
I then think that parts of this first stage solution needs a Caesar Code analysis with the 0-3-6-9 shift values that Zodiac kept giving us as clues. But that is a seperate topic.
It is impossible these words all appear by mere chance. They cannot be fabrications or forces by Graysmith because he never noticed them. So either all these happen by chance - mathematically impossible - or they were placed there by Zodiac and this is a correct first stage solution.
And here is the same solution with additional words marked.
THE KEY SEQUENCE:
A close up on a series of amazing word finds in the 340 solution.
L....S....E....*....I....L....U.....E....H....S....T.....H....E....O....L....H....S
S....E....E....A....N..A...M....E....B....W....E.....O....L....L....R....K....E
S....E....I....L.....L....L....F....M....I.....A.....P.....I....L....L....S....G....A
E....M....R....N....P....A....O....D....E...M....A....G....P....C....E....T....T
O....A....L....S....T....B....N....E....U...*.....S.....H....B....L....L....E....I
..................S
............I
......L
So we have "LIST" leading to the "T" in "A L S T B", a probable anagram for "BLAST" (a word Zodiac used, something like 'when I have my BLAST'), with the "B" then forming a diagonal "BOMBS". Which leads us to "THEO", then "SEE A NAME". We have a vertical SEAT, a place a student can be confined to, thus a type of restraint. Also have a backwards "GAME".
The words BLAST, BOMBS, LIST and GAME are absolutely key words that Zodiac used repeatedly.
It is impossible that they would all appear by chance. They serve as validation that this is indeed the correct solution.
Robert Graysmith then tried to force a solution out of some parts of the solution that were not as clear, because he did not realize that some those parts require a seperate second stage analysis using a Caesar Code method with letter shifts of 0, 3, 6 and 9.