The new week brings a further episode of the History Channel’s “The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer”, not for the first time promising much but delivering little (Donna Lass car directions, really?) – the best part [37:25] was the interview with Zodiac Historian Misty Johansen (who wasn’t playing to CARMEL’s script). Even though it also partially revealed Craig Bauer’s much-trailed-and-supposedly-earth-shattering decryption of the Z340, that already looks to be more than a bit of a bust (sorry Craig), which I’ll discuss properly once the season finale has aired.
video since removed from TagTele site
Things must be particularly bad when it takes someone on Reddit to nail it, but according to ‘chickendance638’:
if you made a drinking game where you drank when somebody said “game-changer” or “huge” then one could forget about the incredibly shitty tv show that’s just been viewed.
Though I’m pleased to say that the same commenter then proved sufficiently wise to the dangers of expressing even mild exasperated sarcasm on the Interweb by noting:
Gotta be careful, if it catches on I could be responsible for more deaths than Zodiac himself
Anyhoo, the Zodiac-Killer-associated cipher this week’s episode highlighted was a short ciphertext included in a letter sent to the Times Union in Albany, NY and postmarked August 1st 1973 (which Karga Seven’s handwriting expert duly affirmed was by the Zodiac Killer). So let’s do our collective codebreaking thing on the “Albany Cipher”…
The Albany Cipher
As always with everything Zodiac related, it’s important to say that the Albany Cipher had been discussed and debated by Zodiac researchers for many years before it appeared on the show. The clearest image we currently have to work with is…
…though this image of its cipher scanned from Lyndon Lafferty’s (2012) “The Zodiac Killer Cover-Up: The Silenced Badge” (p.427) may possibly be slightly clearer, but it’s hard to be sure because of the screening…
Incidentally, I emailed the Times Union’s archive people to see if they happen to have a photo of the letter in their files. They kindly replied that:
We do not have the letter and nobody here has any information on its whereabouts, the actual receipt of the letter and what happened to it.
Which is a shame, but it is what it is.
Cracking the Albany Cipher
As was made clear during Hunt Ep.4, the Albany Cipher was originally cracked by the FBI many years ago, though the version they released to the public had the very first part of the plaintext – presumably containing the non-victim’s name – heavily redacted. So far, this was a basically correct account, i.e. the programme makers didn’t yet again claim that the decryption was puked out by CARMEL.
What we have of the plaintext runs: xxxxxxxxxxxxALBANYMEDICALCENTRETHISONLYTHEBEGINNING. Even though it would normally be the case that having this many plaintext letters would force the rest of the ciphertext to be one of only a small number of possibilities, a number of things conspire to make this difficult here. For a start, a number of cipher letter shapes are very similar: moreover, the quality of the reproductions we have are not good enough to definitively tell them apart; while a third difficulty is that people’s names tend to be more variable and hard to pin down than ‘pure’ dictionary words. And so on.
From the letters we have, the cipher alphabet mapping looks something like this:
Using these, some of the letters in the name section seem quite solid: CONxxExxENLY. The closest single word (with a couple of ciphering slips) would be CONSEQUENTLY, but because that’s not a name, it doesn’t make sense in context. If you like Mexican food, you can also try to start it CON QUESA: but this also seems unlikely in context.
Which is why, back in 2013, Zodiac crypto-meister Dave Oranchak floated the idea that the name might possibly be CONNIExHENLY. (This is of course the same name that CARMEL supposedly suggested in 2017, *sigh*.)
But cryptologically, I’m not so sure that Dave was on the money here: given that there seems no obvious reason to think that the message contains homophones, we should surely not begin by accepting ‘N’ as the fourth plaintext letter, and, rather, should instead directly reject it. However, because most of the plaintext alphabet has already been allocated, the unique shape at position four must surely be an otherwise unused plaintext letter.
Moreover, there are patterns within the mapping layout: for example, I’ve marked up R/S/T with the same proxy cipher shape in the table because (frankly) I can’t tell them apart in the ciphertext, so they look to be part of the same shape family. Hence I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the same pattern was also used for adjacent letters Q or U. And finally, the closest visual match to the unknown fourth shape of the ciphertext is the shape used for Y: so I would be unsurprised if this letter stood in for an adjacent letter e.g. X or Z.
Put all this together: and if this is a name, my own best guess is that the first six letters are in fact “CONZUE” (short for “CONZUELA”). I’m sure Spaniards will be happy to tell me which part of Spain or South America “Conzuela” is typical of (or whatever).
Fans of Family Guy will (of course) know the name Consuela well:
Yes, it’s the famous “I clean toilet” sketch. 🙂
What would Consuela say about the Albany Cipher – does she think it was made by the Zodiac Killer? Only one possible answer: “No, no“. Well… either that, or “More Lemon Pledge“, you choose (and you pay). 😉
It’s things like this that keep conspiracy theories alive long after their sell-by date.
“Con quesa… This is only the beginning…” I think many people might have said that after eating Mexican food. 🙂
” CONNIE SHENLY “, or ” CONNIE S HENLY “. The person who sent this message on August, 1973 uses some different Cipher Characters than what the Zodiac Killer uses.
Too much emphasis on codes. Look at what is known. Is there a victim from the Albany Medical Center that may have been assaulted, but did not die on the the date in question. Some of the zodiac’s victims survived. There are lots of missing and unaccounted for people.
M. A. Chambers: plenty is known – for example, nobody at the Albany Medical Center was assaulted that day (and nobody died then either).
I do not believe that this was work of the Zodiac Killer. The cipher uses some characters that were never used by the Zodiac in previous coded messages. Was August 01, 1973 the day the message was received ? If so, perhaps the crime happened prior to that day or it was to happen after that time ?
You folks should have consulted the book, LORDS OF THE HARVEST: A TRUE CRIME INVESTIGATIVE MEMOIR by Forensics author, TA POWELL…it answers everything, including the reason why campgrounds are important, why the comic books and detective books fit into this serial killer(s) agenda–the significance of color coded connections, the cut out letters and words–who was capable of the pipe bomb drawings, the MK ULTRA connections, the cultist theme and the cabal that sponsored them. This book explains everything and names the killers who kept California and Boston on their heels!
Fascinating read with both direct and circumstantial evidence that supports credible and quantifiable suppositions. Two of the for POI’s in question in this author’s book are still alive– even though one of them was declared dead in 2010. Here’s the real solution to your Zodiac mystery, along with several other infamous serial killings and shows how they were all connected. Last weeks guest expert, Misty Johansen was spot on and would be amazed how her info dovetails with this author’s findings…AMAZING!!
She should really reach out to this author…the History Channel too. New info in this book just re-released in October 2017.
There is a Albany California…between San Francisco and Mt. Diablo…1 hour and 20 mins away from SF.
CK: that particular Albany doesn’t have an “Albany Medical Center” (as mentioned in the ciphertext), and it’s a long way from the Albany Times-Union (to whom the note with a ciphertext was addressed)…
Hey guys! Thanks for the kind words. I just purchased the book G. Bulloch mentioned. I look forward to reading it!
Great minds think alike: I found “CONSUELO” was a close fit 🙂
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?p=52756#p52756
I did find an article from April 20, 1973 announcing the marriage of F. Michael Consuelo and Barbara Jeanne Zonitch. The article says she was on the nursing staff at Albany Medical Center:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16470114/the_times_record/
The marriage was said to be Aug 17, 1973. Which raises some possible questions about timing such as: Would the cipher author have referred to her by her married name on Aug 1, 1973?
Here’s a photo of the future Barbara Consuelo:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16470376/the_times_record/
Dave: the timing is actually pretty good, and presumably she’s the Barbara Jeanne Consuelo age 68, Glens Falls, NY 12801 whose name is on the Internet? Have you thought of calling her up for a chat?
Presumably if the FBI redacted a name out, they must have had a pretty good attempt at decryption: and you’d have thought they’d have managed to rustle up a staff list from the Albany Medical Center. Although – oddly enough – the timing of the marriage might have been maximally bad for the FBI, in that Barbara Jeanne may have been on the staff list as “Zonitch” while using a staff badge that said “Consuelo”: so be aware when you call (and I sincerely hope you do call) that she may never have been asked about this whole thing before…
I was thinking that August is (also) a girl’s name, and that he might consider her to be his tenth victim (`Her August 10th`), but that’s unlikely, since the Zodiac already claimed to have been responsible for ten victims in a letter postmarked April 20, 1970, and increased his score-keeping to 12 and 13 in two other letters, dated to June 26 and July 24 of the same year.
Copycats do often refer to real people and places in their vicinity. A good example is the New Canaan Zodiac letter hoax, which mentioned two real people living in New Canaan. My guess is the Albany writer was a similar kind of copycat. Probably just some 12 year old kid sending out an anonymous letter for kicks.
I should add that the problem with this cipher is it just isn’t clear enough to discern the different characters. The two versions shown above tend to confuse the subtle differences between symbols and I find the Lafferty version close to useless. If we choose to be pedantic, the cipher uses similar symbols, which are very confusing to separate, like the “4” for instance, drawn in two different ways. So did the author intend for these to be two different symbols, or are they similar enough to be the same symbol?
I can get a few obscure solutions using various determinations for the symbols and running them in Jarl’s software (AZDecrypt), as homophonic and polyphonic substitutions. All solutions are only ever “partial” (probably because I am misinterpreting some of the symbols!). The “partials” seem to point to it having something to do with King Lear and the word willow. However in one variant I got “Leary has finally won” at the end, which is interesting considering Timothy Leary’s constant run-ins with the law were widely reported around that time. The same partial has the words “leased island” at the beginning, and we do know that Timothy Leary claimed he was influenced by a Huxley book called “Island”.
The King Lear “partial” is also interesting. It seems to be hinting at Shakespeare plays, by way of the “Lear” reference, and the “willow” in Shakespeare plays is associated with both Desdemona (the willow song) and Ophelia who drowns after falling out of a willow tree. So I think it may be possible that the cipher was relating to these Shakespeare plays. The willow reference was perhaps a homage (or parody) of the “tit willow” reference re The Mikado. Without a much cleaner version we can only continue to speculate.
This is not Zodiak’s letter. Its enough to compare the capital letters used to the ones from previous correspondence, e.g. letter M or B.
Look the zodiac said august 10th but he actually killed august 19th 1980 its a stretch but that might be him reinacting his fantasy of august 10th with the Harringtons but couldn’t really follow through because by the time 1980 rolled around he had done killed and robbed so much he didnt want to make to much noise.
August 10th is actually august 19th the zodiac killed on the 19th of 1980
He waited 7 yrs to kill her o and the zodiac is Deanglo how I know back in 1966 under that desk said tired of living in2illing to die, fast forward to the golden state killer asked for death penalty to be taken off the table in trade for life in prison, cause he is still tired of living unwilling to die also dates and time frames and mo match zodiac to golden state to Mr cruel
Listen to me when I say this you dont shoot some one in a cab downtown San Fran at 10 at night in 1969 cut strips out of the dead cabby paul stines shirt not panic and take your time cause you dont have this pre planned he knew the area he knew the presidio park was right there he knew these cops were stupid and he knew his surroundings, just like when he was the golden state killer calm assertive in control he’s Navy and he dont give a fook. Even got stopped by a cop and was calm the cop let him go that calm cool attitude you look the part they dont suspect shit.
Here’s an unofficial while interesting potential development to this “Albany” cipher mystery:
https://youtu.be/XokKW_DC2ZQ?t=06m15s
If that section start at 06m:15s doesn’t work then go to the beginning of the video: https://youtu.be/XokKW_DC2ZQ
Also, see the comments under this earlier video at the same Seawater YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/K_K4ahj2A7k
Scroll all the way down and click to open discussion on what is currently the penultimate comment/question by user ‘Play Time’: “What is Connie’s middle name?”
Quick follow up to my post above: I tested the links and they work, but these days YouTube is making a right bollix of trying to reach video comments. The last link is correct, but to reach the discussion, go to the Seawaters’ main YT channel first, then select that video (5:35): “2nd Big Lie About Incarceration.” O.K. thanks.
Rosemary LaBianca was murdered by the Manson Family in August 10, 1969, the same year Zodiac Killer struck. The Zodiac Killer is likely a Manson Family member. Hope this helps!
This Albany medical center that’s mentioned is the main hospital in Albany NY. it was the hospital I was born at in jan 1972 and the Times Union is the main newspaper for Albany and the capital district. and the last known victim BEFORE the Albany letter was a woman who was killed in California by the zodiac killer. before he took his 2-year pause. But the woman killed in ca. was from Albany and the apartment she lived in when she lived in Albany was within site of Albany med. The one thing that really freaks me out a bit is the fact that my mom was a nurse for many years at Albany Med. even when she was carrying me. and she was back working there in the summer of ’73 but she worked the 2nd shift that actually started at 3 pm not 4 like the Albany cipher. Tho my mom’s Boss and one of my mom’s life long friends was an RN whose name happened to be Connie.
I’m curious to know if that cipher maker could have slipped up and the name could be Connie Kelly, and further would like to know if there was a Connie working at the place or patient there at all during the time. I think. But, am not sure that Connie Seawater at one point moved to NY and suspect ALA was very familiar with her. One of the most used pictures of ALA actually comes from a photo with featuring Connie Seawater, ALA and Phyllis Seawater.