The “Z32” cipher (i.e. the Zodiac Killer’s 32-character-long cipher, also known as the “map code” cipher, or the “Phillips roadmap cipher”) was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle on 26th Jun 1970. It was part of a letter that ended in this way:-
This cipher was accompanied by a section of a map: made by the Phillips 66 company, this was a roadmap of California that at that time was widely available at service stations. (There’s a huge version here.) The Zodiac Killer had placed his signature symbol on top of Mount Diablo, together with what seem to be instructions as to how to link the map with the contents of the cipher.
A follow-up note from the Zodiac Killer (on page 5 of the “little list” letter, postmarked 26th July 1970) added: “PS. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians &#inches along the radians“.
Cipher Facts
Only three shapes (the ‘C’-shape, the ‘O’-shape, and the hollow triangle shape) within the ciphertext appear twice: everything else appears exactly once. This seems to imply that we are looking at a homophonic cipher, the same cipher technique that the Zodiac Killer used in his Z408 cipher. As a result, it would be impossible to solve such a small homophonic ciphertext unambiguously without a large amount of extra information, or without knowing the cipher key.
Interestingly, because nearly all of the cipher shapes used in the (solved) Z408 cipher key reappear in this cipher, it seems possible that this might do the trick. Unfortunately, applying the Z408 homophonic cipher key to it yields nothing that makes any obvious sense:-
(C) I F E L N I O W H D A (Ω) N G O A
O E S N B X (shaded box) T (C) E T D I E I
Furthermore, solving this (slightly more language-like) cipher as if it were a newspaper cryptogram again seems to yield nonsense, e.g. “dsbelishourtwichthekingmadearses“.
Geography Facts
The Phillips 66 California roadmap scale for “San Francisco And Vicinity” is 1 inch to about 6.4 miles: so the plaintext should presumably contain both a number (for the direction) and a number in inches (i.e. to be multiplied by 6.4 to give a physical distance in miles along that direction).
The reference to magnetic north seems to imply that the bearing was calculated not from the map, but by eye from the peak of Mount Diablo. (Here’s a video panorama taken from the top platform area, and diagrammatic views facing North and facing South.)
People will always have different opinions on anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, but it seems most likely to me that at the top of Mount Diablo he turned his watch round (or rotated an external bezel) so that 12 o’clock faced magnetic North; and then read off the time (or bezel value) that would point to his bomb target of choice. Hence the plaintext part indicating ‘direction’ could easily be something like a time, though some people have concluded that it would be measured in radians.
In 1970, magnetic North for this area fell 15 degrees clockwise of true North: so for example San Francisco (at 256 degrees round from true North) would have been at about 241 degrees clockwise relative to magnetic North, i.e. extremely close to “eight o’clock”. Similarly, San Mateo sits 227 degrees from true North, i.e. 212 degrees from magnetic North, i.e. extremely close to “seven o’clock”.
Claimed Solutions
The most famous claimed solution to the Z32 cipher was by Gareth Penn, who was convinced that the word “radians” held the key, and that the locations of various killings (relative to Mt Diablo) were determined by some kind of mathematical or geometric scheme. However, it seems fairly unlikely that this was correct, and few now believe that the Zodiac Killer followed the precise scheme suggested by Penn.
Hi Nick:
First impression — I had never seen the “radians” note before, and I didn’t read it as “4” #inches, but as “+” or “&” #inches. The character is looks to me like a downstroke, stop, upstroke, curve around counterclockwise, cross. Unless it’s my imagination, there’s a telling bulge to the right of the downstroke where he went a little “wide-right” on the upstroke. Anyway, that’s how I make a plus sign. Aren’t most people’s 4’s made with downstroke, lift, back to top, down to left and then across?
I would guess he first wrote “concerns radians and inches along the radians” and then clarified (!) it by inserting the “#” with a caret underneath, i.e., “radians and (number of) inches along the radians.” That would suggest that the “inches” are to be measured along the circumference of some circle.
Of course, that also assumes that he knew what a radian is. Maybe you’re right that he didn’t know that. Maybe he meant “radius,” in which case the reference would be to some angle and a distance from the origin. On the other hand, he doesn’t know what a radian is but he gets polar coordinates?
I’m not familiar with the Zodiac history, so no idea if this reading of the note has been considered before.
Best,
Jim
Erm… Wikipedia agrees that it’s a plus sign, so that’s settled 😉
The implication of not having a “4” in the letter would be that the plaintext contains not only a time (direction) but also a distance.
But that information could be sent using just a few characters (very roughly, “40-5” would be enough to specify San Francisco).
So the ciphertext seems relatively long, considering the amount of information needed. The explanation for that could be that he didn’t encipher numerals, so everything is spelled out. If so, likely cribs might be “one” … “twelve”, “twenty” … “fifty”, “minutes”, “inches”. Maybe “hours” as well, although my first impulse would be just to use the minute hand on the map’s “clock” to specify the bearing, e.g. “thirty seven minutes four and one half inches.” Something like that.
I am posting a Zodiac Killer item. I believe that I have figured out the meaning of the final eighteen letters of the 408 SYMBOL CIPHER that was sent to three major newspapers on August 01,1969. The letters were; EBEORIETEMETHHPITI . It translates as; ENEOLCESEOESTTECSC or, ENE OL CE SE OUEST TEC SC . This is a civil service school that was started in 1945. The school is the ENA(ECOLE NATIONALE d’administration. It allows French Civil Servants to enter politics and law more easily. The student must complete a 2-part exam. The ENA has had 5,600 French Senior Officials and 2,600 Foreign Officials graduate from it. Many well known people have graduate from this school.
I believe that the Zodiac Killer may have been one of these graduates. If so, his identity may be obtained with some further research. This is a very interesting case. Let me know what you think. Thank you,
Rick A. Roberts
After giving some more thought to my posting about the 408 SYMBOL CIPHER, I had another idea about who the Zodiac Killer could be. He might be a disgruntled student or applicant of the school(ENA) who did not finish or get accepted to the elite school. Also, I read that many scientists as well as civil servants, and politicians attended the school.
When I looked at the ages of known victims, I find that they were from sixteen to twenty-nine years of age. I wonder if this has any correlation with the age of – let’s say high school to college or college grad plus. Maybe this is why the killer selected from this population?
If one could obtain a list of rejected applicants, or failed students, and or graduates from the ENA from the 1960’s to 1970’s perhaps the Zodiac Killer can be found out. Thank you,
Rick A. Roberts
I have been researching the identity of the Zodiac Killer. At the end of one paper he identifies himself. It states – ” MY NAME IS – “. This cipher has letters and symbols in it. There are thirteen of these. The circle symbol appears with the letter “B” inside of it. This makes a total of sixteen characters in all. When deciphered it reads; TENDONLONHONRNTH or, TEN DON LON HONRATH. The name DON HONRATH appears. Don Honrath was a musical composer. He composed a musical play for theatre on 27 December, 1935 titled, “LO AND BEHOLD”. I also found that he composed other musical arrangements until the late 1960’s. Was DON HONRATH the Zodiac Killer? Had he attended the ENA ? What do you think about this? Thank you,
Richard(Rick) A. Roberts
I have been looking at the Z 32 CIPHER – MAP CODE CIPHER- LOCATION OF BOMB. The following is my deciphering of it ; SIFKLNIRWHDS(END)ORTGOESNBXLTSETDIEI . This translates to ; IS IN FRONT LEFT CORNER NEAR WOODS END AND GO ACROSS SAND BOX LIGHTS SET I DIE .
I am going to try to figure out the mathematical location using radians and degree, minutes, and seconds on the Phillips 66 Map. Truly,
Richard(Rick) A. Roberts
I have deciphered two more Zodiac Killer messages. The first cipher uses circles(symbols). The first symbol is a filled in circle,next is circle with bottom filled in, third is a circle with left side filled in, fourth is circle with top filled in, fifth is circle with period in center of it, sixth is a circle with line across middle from one side to other side, seventh is circle with line vertically through middle of circle, eighth is circle with “B” in it, ninth is circle with cross centered in it. This message reads, “TADIEHNON= D”. Circle with “B”= ON . This message reads, “THE DAY I DIE ON”. The second part of cipher deciphers to “DEPENDS ALL EYES REST SEE CHANNEL KRNE(KRON TV)”.
The second cipher is; HEA><OO(circle with line vertically through center)(circle with line horizontally through center)OL<. This cipher reads; "TEWENNNNHNTN". The message is "TWO & FOUR IN HUNTINGTON". Was the claimed twenty-fourth victim of the Zodiac Killer in Huntington Beach, California?
Rick A. Roberts
I have made a typographical error. The first message reads, “TADIEHNOND”. I accidentally placed an “=” sign in between the last “N” and the last “D”. Thank you,
Rick A. Roberts
I believe that I have deciphered another short message that followed the two previous messages that I posted. The first character is the outline of a triangle, the second is “T”, third is “/”, fourth is a perpendicular symbol, fifth is “W”, sixth is “B”, and the last one is “I”. This message reads, “ISKREOT”, or “RISKETO” or finally, “RISKY TOO”.
Rick A. Roberts
Here is an additional four line Zodiac Killer Cipher that I have deciphered. The first line is, “L”, filled in circle, top horizontal filled in circle, “C”, “<", "+", "F", reverse "L", "W". This is, "TTISNESAE", and reads, "SETS IN EAST". The second line is, "C", circle with "+" centered in it, "W", reverse "C", "P", "O", "S", "H", "T". This is, "SDEVINATS", and reads, "FIVE IN SAINT SS". The third line is, "W", "<", triangle with period centered in it, perpendicular symbol, "B", outline of square, "Y", "O", "B", and reads, "ENAROYUNO", or "YOU ARE IN ONE". The fourth line is, "N", reverse "P", reverse "K", "S", circle with "+" centered in it, "Z", "O", filled in triangle, "A", or "NEIADENST". It reads, "END IN EAST". The message is, "SETS IN EAST FIVE IN SAINT SS YOU ARE IN ONE END IN EAST".
Rick A. Roberts
I think that “SAINT SS”, in the fourth line of the message in the previous cipher that I posted is “SAINT SAN SIMEON”, in California. Thank you,
Rick A. Roberts
I have been doing some calculations on the Zodiac Killer – Location OF BOMB Map and Letter. Using the drawing on the map, I have set out to calculate the number of radians and inches along the radius on the Phillips 66 Map.
First took the scale of 1 inch is congruent to 6.4 miles. The previous letter that I posted mentioned “FIVE IN SAINT SS”. I believe that the “FIVE IN” is five inches. This would be the length of arc, which would be 5 inch X 6.4 miles/inch = 32.0 miles. It is 57.9 miles to San Saint Simeon. Using Pythagorean Theorem A(squared) + B(squared) = C(squared) with a right triangle on the map superimposed over the compass/time symbol results in the following; A(squared) = 32.0(squared) + 57.9(squared). The result is A = 48.277759728901181 mi. . The angle of the right triangle is Sin X (Theta, Angle) = 32mi. /57.9mi., sin(Angle) = .55267702936. Arc Sin of ,55267702936 is 33.551 Degrees 0r 0.58557 Radians . Latitude of location of bomb is congruent to 33.551 degrees. Radians travelled along arc is congruent to 0.58557 Radians .
The Zodiac Killer also instructed to set compass to True North, which I believe I have done, since this would be Geometric Pole or 90 degrees.
In an earlier post, I posted the deciphered message that read; “YOU ARE IN ONE END IN EAST”. This would position you on East end of the Mount Diablo State Park with a heading of True North. Perhaps someone can use the latitude and radians results to locate the exact location of the bomb that the Zodiac Killer said that he had planted.
Rick A. Roberts
There is one thing that I forgot to add to my previous post. The Zodiac Killer wrote on the Map of the Bomb Location to set compass to Magnetic North and not True North. You have to allow eighteen degrees for declination of the angle. Magnetic north is the Magnetic Field of the Earth’s Pole. True North is 90 degrees or the Geometric Pole. I learned that these two are 590 feet apart from one another. This will effect calculations.
Rick A. Roberts
This is in regards to an unrelated cipher. I could not get it to post where I wanted to.
“WIVE”, posted a cipher under, “Very Difficult Cipher”. It was partially deciphered by “Kachnitara”, on October 26. 2013.
This partial deciphering read, “IN THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN WHERE WORLDS BREAK DOWN”. I have further deciphered it to, “IN THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE FENCES WHERE WORLDS BREAK DOWN”.
“WIFE” found a second cipher and posted it also. It read, “MARENYMYIALFGIOACLIUARNIISRF”. I believe that this message is; “IN ARE MY MAGICAL COINS IF YOUR EYES ARE IN FOCUS”.
The total message is; “IN THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE FENCES WHERE WORLDS BREAK DOWN IN ARE MAGICAL COINS IF YOUR EYES ARE IN FOCUS”. I hope that this helps “WIVE” in some manner.
Rick A. Roberts
HE IS COMING BACK EVERBODY HIDE
im so scared someone help coe to ava !!!
Rick A. Roberts
You are the biggest magician of all times for me.
Thank you for deciphering this text. I lost my hope and here you are.. Thank you so much.
Can you tell me how did you done that?
I almost forgot about that text…
Wive,
I hope that my finished decryption of your text was of help to you. I am curious as to whether you found anything buried between the fences. If there are corner posts, you might try looking around them first using a metal detector with a discriminator to find the coins.
When I looked at the text of the message that your Grandfather left you, I noticed some words that almost jumped out at me. “ARE”, and “MY”. “N”=”IN”. Some of the words are scrambled in the text also. “MAGICAL”, “IF”, “YOUR”, “IN”, “FOCUS”, “COINS”. “AR”=”ARE”, “II”=”EYES”.
I enjoy deciphering texts or codes very much. Thank you for your message to me, and have a great week!
Rick A. Roberts
This article says that solving the cipher as if it were a cryptogram yields “dsbelishourtwichthekingmadearses”. Can anyone tell me where this came from? Also you have to unscramble some of these. This one is “The king’s lies made our arses twitch. HBD.” (HBD = happy birthday) Note that “arses” is British slang. Also your last decipher is “If your eyes are in focus, my magical coins are in the boundaries between the fences where world’s break down.” Both are taunting messages. The latter refers to Charon’s Obol. These coins were to pay the ferryman who took souls to the land of the dead – cf. collecting slaves for the afterlife. Saint SS refers to the saint San Simon (see: Maximon) – he was the equivalent of the ferryman in ancient Mayan culture. The killer certainly knew his mythology.
Now Zodiac was known to use British colloquialisms before, but the British word “arses” stands out and could have deeper meaning. As well as the obvious meaning it’s also the name of an ancient Persian king, which in turn lends itself to a genus of monarch flycatchers (a type of bird). It could be a coincidence in that he mentions “kings” in the same sentence, but the birds connection is interesting. For example, birdwatching is also called twitching; and “twitch” is also a word in this sentence, albeit spelled incorrectly. In one of the Zodiac letters, he writes “Action guide, want Zodiac, watch, FLT. 555, BIRDS FLY SOUTH, hidden magic amulet.” Now “Bird” is slang for “plane”, as well as being British slang for “young woman” – Zodiac often used words with multiple meanings. Monarch Flycatcher could also be a reference to the book Catcher in the Rye in which the protagonist Holden Caulfield asks his cab driver where the ducks go in the winter, and the cab driver thinks he’s crazy – remember the Zodiac also killed a cab driver. Of course this is all sheer speculation. Please take it or leave it as you see fit!
The reason I mention birds is because the Zodiac does too – in one of his letters he incorrectly quotes the story of a dicky-bird who dies of heartbreak which features in The Mikado, “titwillo, titwillo, titwillo.” Now titwillow is slang for imbecile, and “not a dicky bird” literally means nothing at all – it is British Cockney rhyming slang for “not a word”. Its etymology comes from “dicky”, a pet name for Richard. Maybe Goldcatcher is right and Richard Gaikowski was indeed the Zodiac killer. Coincidentally Gaikowski was born on March 14th exactly one month after Valentine’s Day, the day before the sun transits Pisces, on the anniversary of The Mikado’s debut in London in 1885. He was also involuntarily committed to a Napa State Hospital in 1971 on or around this date. His face matches the sketches, a witness reported that his voice matched that of the Zodiac, but the most damning piece of evidence in my mind is that just before she died Darlene Ferrin told survivor Michael Mageau that the name of the man who had been stalking her and had just pulled up in the car beside them was called “Richard”. He mentions this in the documentary “This is the Zodiac speaking” which is currently on youtube.
I just realised I tied your unrelated cipher to the Zodiac case. This was a silly mistake! I don’t have the Zodiac ciphers in front of me so I’m taking these translations as given and formulating a theory from memory. Everything else I said should still open to debate. Cheers!
Years ago I ran the Vigene’re cipher on the Zodiac Letters and one letter produced a first name initial, a middle name initial and a last name. I’m just a novice at deciphering codes and was hoping others who are more advanced at this could use this cipher to confirm or deny my findings.
The hollow and full triangles are on the map also the full square and the X is on the map surely that is obvious
The Normal letters are the first letter of the place name so C is a place name then hollow triangle is a beach
MY NAME IS…..
AENz*K*M*tNAM
NAMAENz*K*M*t
NAMAENz*K*W*T
NAMEIMZ(ODIACK) *J*W*T
NAME I’M ZODIAC J W T (SOLVED)
Bomb Location (its been a few years)
SET RADIAN TO ZERO NORTH OF THIRD ROAD
SheaStewart Cipher of May, 2015. ” wyyoo kwsyr bavrz eowev ye ” = ” it too width pushy as I owe at a ”
Rick A. Roberts
C9JI#OK.AMF8?ORTGXFDVJ%HCELZPW9
(what i decoded, i’m not sure about the percent sign, but i have a theory that the OK. might be oklahma. cordents telling where but i can not figure out the exact stop.)
Try bringing up to scale the first letter’s zodiac symbol’s and superimposing it over the map’s zodiac symbols twice over. and all the double symbols. He said the answers there. I’d try if i had a way to check. Maybe check the history of any big explosions in the area or box office flops, musical flops, earthquakes and such and maybe those line up on the map with the street names and/ or historical buildings or names of songs or movies or sets used in those shows.. He could be a big producer eventually and maybe his first direction debut or production was that next year and he quit killing or went underground. . Doesn’t have to be movies though but something with that direction or producer leadership.
Gunnar: it’s true that the Zodiac Killer and “The Producers” both debuted in 1968, but I’m not sure if I can see any other obvious link between the two.
“Sprrrringtime, for…” 😉
Thanks for commenting and I meant after the last letters were mailed so it would of been in late ’71 or ’72 that he got promoted or something happened. For him in music idk if he was a producer or musician. But something in that realm.
Rick A. Roberts-
Have you ever tried to solve Ricky McCormick’s cipher? This is one of the most interesting to me.
Chris,
Yes, I do have some work that I did on Rick McCormick’s Cipher. I have never posted this work before, but I will post it later today, 10/5/2015. I am just recovering from heart surgery that I had in September. Thanks very much for your interest.
Chris,
I have found some of my work on Rick McCormick’s Cipher. On Page 1 & 2 . I deciphered the following; ” ACSM ” = A SCAM or SCAM . ” fiRST PRSEONDE 71 NCBE ” = FIRST RESP.(RESPOND) ON DE (DECEMBER) 71 IN C.B.E. . ” CDNSE PRSEONSE 74 N CBE ” = SECOND RESP.(RESPOND) ON SE (SEPTEMBER) 74 IN C.B.E. INC. . ” PRTSE PRSE ONREDE 75 NCBE) = PART RESPOND DE (DECEMBER) 75 IN C.B.E. . ” HMCRENMREFCBE ” = FRENCH MEMBER . ” 99, 84.5 ” = Dose Levels In Radiodiagnostic Practice ? ” XDRLX ” = Diagnostic Reference Levels . ” NSREONSE ” =NO REASON . ” 651 MTC SEHTLSENCUTCTRS NMRE ” = 651 MTC THE LENS CUTTER CENTERS . ” SAISTENARSE ” = ARSENIST ? I will post more as I get it untangled. Thanks.
Chris, Rick McCormick’s Cipher. On Page 1 & 2 . I deciphered the following; ” ACSM ” = A SCAM or SCAM . ” fiRST PRSEONDE 71 NCBE ” = FIRST RESP.(RESPOND) ON DE (DECEMBER) 71 IN C.B.E. . ” CDNSE PRSEONSE 74 N CBE ” = SECOND RESP.(RESPOND) ON SE (SEPTEMBER) 74 IN C.B.E. INC. . ” PRTSE PRSE ONREDE 75 NCBE) = PART RESPOND DE (DECEMBER) 75 IN C.B.E. . ” HMCRENMREFCBE ” = FRENCH MEMBER . ” 99, 84.5 ” = Dose Levels In Radiodiagnostic Practice ? ” XDRLX ” = Diagnostic Reference Levels . ” NSREONSE ” =NO REASON . ” 651 MTC SEHTLSENCUTCTRS NMRE ” = 651 MTC THE LENS CUTTER CENTERS . ” SAISTENARSE ” = ARSENIST ? I will post more as I get it untangled. Thanks.
Rick McCormick’s Cipher. On Page 1 & 2 . I deciphered the following; ” ACSM ” = A SCAM or SCAM . ” fiRST PRSEONDE 71 NCBE ” = FIRST RESP.(RESPOND) ON DE (DECEMBER) 71 IN C.B.E. . ” CDNSE PRSEONSE 74 N CBE ” = SECOND RESP.(RESPOND) ON SE (SEPTEMBER) 74 IN C.B.E. INC. . ” PRTSE PRSE ONREDE 75 NCBE) = PART RESPOND DE (DECEMBER) 75 IN C.B.E. . ” HMCRENMREFCBE ” = FRENCH MEMBER . ” 99, 84.5 ” = Dose Levels In Radiodiagnostic Practice ? ” XDRLX ” = Diagnostic Reference Levels . ” NSREONSE ” =NO REASON . ” 651 MTC SEHTLSENCUTCTRS NMRE ” = 651 MTC THE LENS CUTTER CENTERS . ” SAISTENARSE ” = ARSENIST ? I will post more as I get it untangled. Thanks.
Chris, Here is some of my effort on Rick McCormick’s Cipher. On Page 1 & 2 . I deciphered the following; ” ACSM ” = A SCAM or SCAM . ” fiRST PRSEONDE 71 NCBE ” = FIRST RESP.(RESPOND) ON DE (DECEMBER) 71 IN C.B.E. . ” CDNSE PRSEONSE 74 N CBE ” = SECOND RESP.(RESPOND) ON SE (SEPTEMBER) 74 IN C.B.E. INC. . ” PRTSE PRSE ONREDE 75 NCBE) = PART RESPOND DE (DECEMBER) 75 IN C.B.E. . ” HMCRENMREFCBE ” = FRENCH MEMBER . ” 99, 84.5 ” = Dose Levels In Radiodiagnostic Practice ? ” XDRLX ” = Diagnostic Reference Levels . ” NSREONSE ” =NO REASON . ” 651 MTC SEHTLSENCUTCTRS NMRE ” = 651 MTC THE LENS CUTTER CENTERS . ” SAISTENARSE ” = ARSENIST ? I will post more as I get it untangled. Thanks.
Chris, Here is some of my effort . On Page 1 & 2 . I deciphered the following; ” ACSM ” = A SCAM or SCAM . ” fiRST PRSEONDE 71 NCBE ” = FIRST RESP.(RESPOND) ON DE (DECEMBER) 71 IN C.B.E. . ” CDNSE PRSEONSE 74 N CBE ” = SECOND RESP.(RESPOND) ON SE (SEPTEMBER) 74 IN C.B.E. INC. . ” PRTSE PRSE ONREDE 75 NCBE) = PART RESPOND DE (DECEMBER) 75 IN C.B.E. . ” HMCRENMREFCBE ” = FRENCH MEMBER . ” 99, 84.5 ” = Dose Levels In Radiodiagnostic Practice ? ” XDRLX ” = Diagnostic Reference Levels . ” NSREONSE ” =NO REASON . ” 651 MTC SEHTLSENCUTCTRS NMRE ” = 651 MTC THE LENS CUTTER CENTERS . ” SAISTENARSE ” = ARSENIST ? I will post more as I get it untangled. Thanks.
Here are some more deciphered messages of the Zodiac Killer that I have worked on. LOCATION OF BOMB – Cipher reads, “TRIANGLE SHAPE”, “G”, “O”, “^”, “l”, “K”, “.I”, “+”. This deciphers to, “I, A, N, N, C,S,IN, E”, or “IS IN A CASE”. “>”, “U”, “Z”, “/”, “O with Period in center of it”, “O”.This deciphers to, “E, I, E, K, E, N”, or “KEYS IN”. “+”, “t”, “+”, “O with vertical line through it”, “9”. This deciphers to, “E, O, E, N, 9”, or “ENEONE” = “ANYONE”.
I know what the 32 cipher says
It talks of placing something on the map shown to a place north of the limited map shown (near Vallejo)
Then the Z killer emblem lined up with mag north will mark the spot
See my message of February 16, 2014 for the deciphered Z32 Cipher .
@ Nick and Rick:
The Zodiac Killer’s daughter went to New York City’s Medical Examiner/Morgue (about five years ago) to return her derelict father’s remains to the family’s burial plot in California. Because his daughter (and her mother) met with us (about twenty years ago) and we all exchanged our “horror-stories” of life with that lunatic, we all agreed that we would not put ourselves in danger by meeting ever again as long as he was alive.
Please, let the Zodiac Killer “R.I.P” (rest in peace).
bdid1dr,
Have you ever looked at Donna Lass, Sandy Betts on the internet ? Much of my work on the Zodiac Killer Ciphers are posted there. I have thought for some time now that there were four persons involved in the Zodiac Killer Enigma.
@ Rick : Only two — a radioman on the Ticonderoga during the battle of Tonkin Bay — who received an honorable/medical discharge. Previous to his enlistment, he and his buddy would ride their motorcycles to Lake Herman to do ‘wheelies’. The “Zodiac’s” first murder occurred at Lake Herman.
The police officer (Sergeant?) who was in charge of the murders investigation died before he was able to solve the crimes. His records/files of the unsolved mystery were sent to the California “State Police”. As far as I know — it is still an open/unsolved case.
Hey, here a shout from me to help us along, out of the woods or in to the quagmire:
With a little imagination one can see the words
CALIFORNIA MAP NORTH or something along those lines in the first line
and OF and INCHES the lower one. Anyone else fonds that credible? Or totally not?
My imagination doesnt stretch further than that but maybe one of you can follow up on it.
GL
The z32 obviously says “north” on last 5 letters on top row.
just had a first look at cypher …seEn a programme about it.
0=NORTH
3=EAST
6==SOUTH
9==WEST
NO LETTER NORTH THIRD LETTER==S FOR 3
SIXTH LETTER==S FOR 6 NINTH LETTER==W FOR 9
POSSIBLY DENOTE SSW==SOUTH SOUTH WEST
contact me please
stacy: errrm…. why?
Derustzelve, you are closer to the z32 solution than you think! The first line contains the latitude. The second line contains the longitude. My solution of the z32 takes the form of:
CALI latitude value NORTH
X longitude value WEST PWD
So the solution is simple longitude by latitude. It can be solved without deciphering. The only trick is to convert latitude and longitude characters to numbers. I have done so. My solution meets every single clue that Zodiac gives related to the Z32. I’d be more than happy to share the complete solution and likely location with anyone interested.
Mr Pelling,
For some reason part of the syntax of my solution didn’t post. The syntax should read:
CALI {delimiter} latitude value {delimiter} NORTH
X longitude value {delimiter} WEST {signature} postscript
The partially filled geometric shapes are delimiters that bound values and text. Another important point is that the last three characters are NOT fill. If they were fill then we would be trying to solve the Z34! PWD is significant. It has meaning.
David Cobb,
Check out my prior posting of FEB 16, 2014 about location of bomb (Z32) cipher. The ” MY NAME IS … ” Cipher reads, THEODORE OSETH or THEODORE ETOSH. Look at the three circles with an 8 inside of each of them. Each of these represents the letter, ” O “. Who was the man that had a car with a license plate ” 3 888 ” California ? This ties to each of the ” 8’s ” in the ” MY NAME IS … ” Cipher.
Rick,
I believe that those circles with an eight inside are actually circles with a Taurus symbol inside. If you look closely, the top of each eight is not closed. The Zodiac was quite clever.
Upon just fiddling with the map, I arrive at one elementary school, Santa Rita Elementary School as a plausible result of his “school of choice”. I spent time on Google Earth messing around. Cool site!
http://zodiacciphersdecoded.blogspot.com/?m=1
gives the solution to the 408 remainder , bomb , and celebrity ciphers from 1 code key
Please see my previous work that I have posted previously on 16FEB2014 as to “LOCATION OF BOMB”.
My solution is:
S A D M I S I X R R O M / S I N S
/ I N O L I C O S I C / Y I N
I got this by using my decryption of the 340 for this letter, seems he possibly used the same encryption. I used the x because the symbols are virtually the same – the mirrored J with point. See it by yourself. My attempt for the 340 is
I, Aron, lynch in San Francisco Bay. I go an extra risico. I go this run. My laysart. I’m on rage in man. I snit Amen to sky. Sin amoc is risc. Art is lync, is a do, is to fag a sinner rat. As I moan: There is art. I do poetry as new grace. If I sent: Come to SNF [San Francisco], no Santy! Alter a: Enjoy X-Mas. All my act may annex any or is my teachers right [rite]. In car I tabs. I discount car, men! I run no [on] as [Noas] new star of animism rigor.
Could be read otherwise, I are on lynch instead of I am killing; The blind letters form a zodiac sign.
Many interesting things, 4th line, my laysart or my slay art – in letter 14/74 he wrote:
Dear Mr. Editor,
Did you know that the initials SLAY (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell “sla,”
an old Norse word meaning “kill.”
a friend
This code says
COUPLED WITH THE MAP I NW DVC INCHES TWO.
Here is my bomb cipher solution.
Okay I seven ins South of Diablo Mt peak
Or it means nothing and is total rubbish designed to get resources on decoding it while Zodiac laughs.
It would appear that the character set used by the killer included the English alphabet,, the Greek alphabet, and characters borrowed from runes.
ITS A CLOCK!
anyone noticed that the symbol on the map has 0,3,6,9 rounded just like a clock?
now, you can also go with translating the 0 with 12 to represent 0:00 and 12:00
he wrote on the right side of the zodiac symbol which looks like a crossfire or in that case (rose des vent) so, he wrote -12 earlier in the letter to refer a score of 12-0 for him against the SFPD but what if this is it… on the (rose des vents) drawn on the map, its ( 3 ) so either add 12 or remove 12 from that number since the time is calculated in AM and PM 3am=15:00
it really looks like a clock to me…im no expert, not even a longtime Zodiac analyst but that just cant be unseen
The Zodiac Killer has always fascinated me, I have to ask – has anyone ever combined all of the codes together? It was thought that in the recently solved Cipher 304 that the Zodiac had made a mistake leading to the reason that the code remained nigh-unsolvable for the last half-century but what if it wasn’t a mistake?
What if under some combination of the ciphers the Zodiac had managed to create an elaborate code that could only be cracked by the combination of all of the ciphers in a certain order?
Again, I’m unsure if anyone has ever done something like this – I would expect that they have but I can’t find any records of it. Just an interesting thought nonetheless.
I did some reworking on my 16FEB14 deciphering of Z32 – LOCATION OF BOMB. I have came up with, ” SIFTLNIRWDS(OMEGA)NGOA “, & ” OESNBXLTSETDIEI “. ” IS IN FRONT LEFT NEAR WOODS END AND GO ACROSS SANDBOX LIGHTS SET I DIE “. The bomb had a photoelectric cell for detonation. Also, I believe that I found that were three or four playgrounds with sandboxes in the areas near MT. Diablo at State Parks.
All of the above attempts at solutions will fail to satisfy the cryptography experts. Why? Because they tell us more about people’s fanciful imaginations than their code-breaking skills. As with the two solved ciphers, this one will be no different. One thing we should have learned by now is that although he made a few mistakes, Zodiac ALWAYS conformed to the rules of basic code, straight from the old army handbooks. The answer will be in them somewhere but he may have used multiple encryption methods.
imightberelatedtozodiac
It says this in null cipher:
CDJ, I … AM … NORTG … OF … TEH … LAPD
All of the ciphers are solved. His last name is in the Z340 and missed. His full name was in Z408 and was missed by Hardens. Fixed both. That garbage ebormetththi word told you it was there. That word is from 15th century
Then i solved the “gibberish” Z32 says, Glasses Male Me – no name- 1 line
Z32 says Solar enkman Emperor of Japan. – 3 lines The only thing different that we found out is he installed solar panels during the killing years, He owns his own solar panel company now. We have his real name. You can try it yourself.
The way the two small ciphers were solved, take out special char, put rest in google translator hit enter. That is all there is to it. Those arent ciphers -they are translations.
Please see above I put out two ciphers and they must be removed per the FBI, the case is still open and I am not supposed to give out any clues because Zodiac reads about himself and this could blow the case. Must be done ASAP or I am in a lot of trouble. Thank you.
https://ciphermysteries.com/other-ciphers/zodiac-killer-ciphers/zodiac-killer-z32#comment-451328 This is the page where I stupidly put that information. FBI wants it off lest it hurts the case, Z reads about himself on internet and he might find we solved these and run or just kill me. Thanks.
You mean you really believed me? I wanted to find someone stupid enough to print my comments, I made that up to lead people off on purpose. I think its pretty funny Pelling published it.
Sharon Lindimore: tragically, you’re not even one of the ten worst commenters here. But thanks for trying, I’m sure you had fun.
I was not sure that this site was Tom Voights.or if you were a minion to him. He takes everything and turnes it around against you. Hes calling me names on facebook. He does that a lot – hide behind someone else. I apologize to you. And so many of the zodiac people are just plain mean for nothing. The Z crypto people gets their solved checked in 1 day, i wait for 2. YEARS However, I dont think anyone knows this. (now here is the worst information you can get. LE is talking about (seriously letting time run out on this case, (I am not kidding.) They know who and where is. How to get evidence, and they cannot with handwriting. MIP== 4 male 2 women. Suggestion of voice analyst, because that Belli tape has two places he reverts to his real language when he is upset. The musicians I know have an ear, they agree. I sent to SFPD Zodiac, Uscrypto, And SFFBI. (I guess you removed name. Thats really good because if i got wrong name and I Can be sued. One thing I am scared of, and the little girl grandchildren (8) The FBI after 15 months – have not checked anything I did. I think it has something to do with TV cryptos. David used to be in FBI. Another FBI Seageant (even though they name and address. Are not attempting to get DNA. I really have no clue but I wish they will tell us. Hes Dutch. Do not expect ciphers to be solved.
I did something dumb, dumb, dumb. I did get one word correct. I translated English to English. Try with identified language. It doesnt work Must be my meds and I didnt realize. Truth. Try it.
I did something dumb, dumb, dumb. I did get one word correct. I translated English to English. . Try it.
There is a double meaning on all misspellings, and abbreviations, themes on cards and themes on stamps. Misspellings are intentional. You have to know the second word that goes with misspellings. Hes into the number 13, it even was his twitter id. Look at the lyrics in Mikado. It tells where Donna Lass is as well. It also holds the lyrics for “I’ve got a little list.”
This is a possible solution for the Z32; “If only you would arrive by residence CELO. I am”
This solution was used by referencing Z340 & Z408; For example, the first hieroglyph of Z32 can be declared C. How did I get this? Well, Z340 says that C = C; So on either Z340 or Z408 it has no other letter that stands for C, so C=C. Then while Z340 says that the second hieroglyph says unshaded triangle = M but Z408 says unshaded triangle = I; so we have 2 choices; M or I. This is an example.
Because the solutions to Z340 & Z408 both have a first letter in common(i), you can simply start with I. The keyword is CELO(10050 Cielo Drive was the address of the Tate Murders), “I am” has nothing to do with the cipher.
Maybe it’ll help solve the Z13
Thanks,
Hassan
I found a new and interesting theory in:
Beyond the fog of time – Zodiac killer an alternative analysis …
It connects all the ciphers (EBEORI …- Z13 – Z32) and leads to people (!) never investigated …
Did you imagine that Z32 could be read both in one sense and the other? … and always indicates the same geographical area as San Francisco.
The clues collected and the explanations of the logical steps are also convincing.
I respect the author’s work very much, I warmly invite you to read that book.
It’s a really good job …
Hi Nick
I am happy to see that someone other me is open to thinking beyond the solution to the Z32 having anything to do with radians, and merely taking the 12th divisions marked on the Phillips map compass rose at face value. Like you, I find that the direction out from Diablo along ‘8’ to San Francisco has the most interest, particularly given that the Zodiac had only just upped his game to commit a kill in the city, and that all his taunts subsequently were squarely aimed at the SFPD.
As to your interpretation of ‘8’ being ‘8 o’clock’, I would offer an alternative to this however.
Given that we have a person identifying himself with ‘the zodiac’ and dividing a full 360 into 12th parts from zero, I would have to go with the divisional units being ‘SIGNS’. This is consistent with how the zodiac itself is divided, a ‘sign’ being an extension of the sexagesimal system (degrees, minutes, seconds) amounting to 30 degrees. (Compare archaic uses of ‘sign’ as an angular unit in this sense in the astronomical works of Tycho Brahe, Kepler, etc.)
‘EIGHTSIGNSPLUSFOURINCHES’ — “+ # inches” — would complete the majority of the Z32 nicely to hit central San Francisco, and what remains can then be readily interpreted if we carry the encoding for ‘SIGNS’ over into the Z13 and then compare what is left there.
So I’m not like a super smart math person or a cryptologist or anything like that, but when I saw this
dsbelishourtwichthekingmadearses
I was wondering, am I the only one who sees this?
dsbelis | hour | twich | the | king | made | arses
blissed | hour | witch | the | king| made | sears/rases
If this actually means anything, hell if I know.
HI Nick- I want to tell you something pretty funny. You know the WOW signal from outer space? Well if you take 6 and change to 6th letter of the alphabet, take 5, pick the 5th letter of the alphabet. Translate to CZECH to English, It says Fuck It. Ha, ha,ha,
Hi Nick, you may print. Zodiac’s cipher arent ‘ciphers’ Not a one. They all are offshoots of the Arabian language from countries suceeded from Russia. That 4 lines David did you can do in 10 min. All in less than a day. He didnt know how to cipher, he lived in Azbanjani for 10 years, my clue. How you solve. Do Davids first to get the hang of it. How he deciphered a translation is amazing. You take a word or phrase, put it in Google translator, The Zodiac words on left after detecting language, and English on right, hit enter, Now you have some form of arabic. squiggles. Take the squiggles, put on left , repeat process to English. Make sure you use a non image file. Thats the answer, ever cipher has been done this way.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/zodiac-killer-cipher-solved
interesting
Enigmaress: debunked
Z32 says Solar (enkman) Its a solar panel, emperor of japan That is the language Telgu
The delta signs in the cipher may talk about the possible changes in latitude and longitude?
Without knowing much about the case I went online and found more info about the ciphers. I looked up for the letters that were solved at that time and started writing down the symbols used for each letter and found what seems to be a pattern. But I was missing something, so I searched a little more and found the other letter Zodiac sent with a hint where he made a small change that seemed to me had the intention of visually leading people to what he wanted them to see. On the hint letter he changed the position of the annotation (first it was above the horizontal line, then below) placing it closer to the Road I understand is mentioned on the cipher. Also, I think that lightly rearranging the placement of some of the symbol lines a letter can be easily formed. On Z32 each symbol represents one letter except for the black triangle that was used for a word. It says:
“I AM BACK HERE UP NORTH OF ROAD BLACKHAWK”
Leading the police to look up along the north side of the Blackhawk Road. Also the numbers written on the map might indicate a more specific location.
I also have been looking into these ciphers , and I have so far cracked the z13 and the 340 (for real though , the 2020 was a understandable accident, and soon I’ll prove it. But first I’m going to solve the z32 since I’ve solved the other 2 in only a couple months. Might as well get them all done.
I have been trying to solve it for years now, and I must admit. It’s more difficult then you think, I started making cryptic codes when I was young kid so I kinda understand how the coed work, but it aren’t cryptic codes like you can read them. No. It are symbols with all a letter connected to them, they continue in order from the second symbol to the 6th version of the letter to avoid making it easy to creak. This is a technique I also used in my cryptic codes as a kid, and works pretty well. It works with a system, but once you understand it, it’s quite easy.
Also I doubt many of y’all actually encrypted some of his codes, and simply just had a assumption, what I do want to say that it most likely say Norfolk or North.
My guess: yif*Tai*wobi(n)*Nortyefnb*ttyegdiwi. (Using all translations of all cyper codes already translated.)
I tried this code in Chat GPT after watching the three part doc on Netflix. I thought to myself “has anyone tried that?” I mean it’s a fairly new thing so I guess I might as well try. I did a lot of digging with this code and Chat GPT came up with three plausible answer in my opinion. First is “Case Up at Y- Go Find the trail” the second being “Close Up Man at Y- Go Find the trail” and the last being “Container at Y- Go find the trail”. I believe the last one might be the one in finding “the bomb” but who knows. I don’t know California at all, and I’ve recently gotten into the zodiac. I know a lot about technology though especially Ai and video. Just thought I could help
lOGAN TAKE THATPART OF z13, sEE aenk< nuls nuls. sPELL TO aenk. TRANSLATE iT SAYS glasses, to more, what is? It says glasses , The next word IS ME We already turned them all in. All you have to do is this one tiny STEP will tell you immediately thosearentciphers.Just like US cryptos toldyou. THEY ARE TRANSLATIONS.
Hi everyone , I had a question for the people who work on these ciphers. I’ve recently become interested in this work. I think I could be good at it, but my knowledge level on cryptography is almost zero. Can anyone tell me how to learn cryptography? For example, a book or a specific source? I would be grateful.
Xerxes: what do you enjoy doing? Maths, historical research, crosswords, puzzles?
i enjoy math and crosswords
My solution, absent any cryptography:
1. Place a 360-degree compass around the peak of Mt Diablo.
2. Also place a circular shaped calendar around the peak of Mt Diablo. Just like the clock on your wall, a cycle begins at the 12 o-clock position.
3. Tilt the whole map 17 degrees to the right (i.e., east) such that the 0 indicating True North on the map is now set where Magnetic north would be. For lack of a better description, “depicting true north as if it were magnetic north.”
4. Draw a line from Diablo to the crime scenes included on the map.
5. Check the calendar, and observe that these lines intersect the specific months in which these crimes occurred.
6. Further observe that regarding October, this line intersects the exact day of the year on which Paul Stine was murdered. This is contextual confirmation that the killer was mapping out a year, as in how the earth orbits our sun. This is also in harmony with the diagram the killer provided in a letter on November 9th, 1969. It depicts a circle segmented into 12, and it has been shown that the X-marks coincide with the list of months that he claimed to kill people just 1 day prior.
7. Measure the distance from the peak of Diablo to each crime scene and call each measurement your Y coordinate. The time and date of the year makes for your X coordinate. It’s as simple as that. Now you have a linear equation.
8. Further observe that if you use the date of the October 27th Halloween Card (where the Zodiac famously wrote the words “PARADISE” and “SLAVES” intersecting each other) the angle projected off of Mt Diablo using the above-described model intersects the curiously named “Paradise Dr.”
9. Further observe that the linear equation described above allows you to predict and appropriate distance based on this angle. Without respect to year, that angle terminates just a hair’s breadth beyond Paradise Dr from Mt. Diablo.
10. Take to google maps and learn that the nearest school to this place is just past Paradise Dr from Mt Diablo by about 600 ft, that the road connecting to it is a school bus route to this very day, that the landscape matches the diagrams provided by the killer, and that there is a gigantic circled cross immediately next to the school in question which has been there since 1964.
Have some pictures:
The model: https://imgur.com/a/TMHUqHJ
A distance measurement: https://imgur.com/a/distance-direction-hdUSjSf
The landscape with the school visible in the upper right: https://imgur.com/a/comparison-clyxE3b
Confirmation this is still a school bus route: https://imgur.com/a/ejuwGZX
GPS coordinates from google: 37.90288676452778, -122.48164480890418
Before any critique that my method has thus far not addressed any question of radians, please be aware that this angle of ~57.29 was indeed found.
The separation in time from 6:30 PM on September 27th 1969m (when the killer stabbed the couple at Lake Berryessa) and the PM hours of July 31st (When the killer mailed his 3-part 408 cipher to three newspapers) works out to precisely one radian.
Picture proof: https://imgur.com/a/ZAJW7Dc
For over fifty years, the Z32 cipher and map puzzle has remained one of the Zodiac Killer’s unsolved taunts. In June 1970, he mailed a Phillips 66 road map with Mt. Diablo marked at the center, claiming the enclosed 32-symbol code would reveal the location of a bomb. A month later, he clarified: “The Mt. Diablo code concerns radians + # inches along the radians.”
Most solvers interpret this as a protractor puzzle: align the map to magnetic north, draw a radian-based angle from Mt. Diablo, and measure a distance in inches at map scale (6.4 miles per inch). The dominant theory is “4 radians + 5 inches,” which places the line through San Francisco, often connected to SFPD headquarters.
This write-up proposes an alternative: that the line instead points to the Phillips 66 refinery at Rodeo, California — a target that would have matched the Zodiac’s love of irony, spectacle, and theatrical threat.
⸻
The Math
• Mt. Diablo → Rodeo refinery
• Distance: ~21.8 miles = 3.4 inches at 6.4 mi/in scale.
• Bearing: ~299° true (~5.22 radians).
• With 1970 magnetic declination (~+17°), the bearing is ~316° ≈ 5.5 radians magnetic.
Thus, Rodeo corresponds cleanly to a radian measure (≈5.5) and a distance (≈3.4 inches) — exactly the structure Zodiac described.
⸻
Why Rodeo?
• Phillips 66 connection: Zodiac deliberately used a Phillips 66 map. Targeting a Phillips 66 refinery ties the map to a real-world landmark in a way that feels deliberately ironic.
• Flair for the dramatic: A refinery explosion would be catastrophic, visible across the Bay Area, and guaranteed front-page coverage — aligning with Zodiac’s obsession with spectacle and ego.
• Persona consistency: Just as he repeated “Paradice/Slaves,” drew crosshair diagrams, and used deliberate misspellings, choosing a target that symbolically mirrors his puzzle materials fits his performative style.
Leviathan, I’ve taken a few minutes to break down a couple problems I see with your hypothesis:
1. Neither a bearing of 299 degrees or 316 degrees passes through Rodeo on the Phillips 66 map. https://imgur.com/a/64P4Fhy 16.98 degrees), your resulting angle is < 298.15 degrees, meaning that the existing "miss" south of Rodeo is exacerbated a further 0.38 miles.
Im not sure what the formatting issue that happened was, but it truncated a few points off into what ended up looking like one.
Using this map, the angles you gave do not cut through Rodeo, nor do angles generated from scratch on the pretense of 5.5 radians. If (as you note) the choice of a phillips 66 map is so deliberate, the correctness of your hypothesis simultaneously hinges on an insistence that “its right specifically because it doesn’t actually work.” Not to mention, this particular map doesnt depicts true north correctly, nor does it provide a consistent unit of distance measurement. It is distorted by virtue of being a Mercator style projection of a 3D object onto a 2d surface.
It seems to me that he was fooling with us all:
“dsbelishourtwichthekingmadearses”
The devillish hour which the king made arses [of us all]
What might be helpful for you code breakers is to know Z13 and Z32 are not too short, those are solved a total of 3 times each making the correct number of characters 39 minimum. Z13 says glasses male me – you manipulate what Zodiac tells you to and you solve again, then you manipulate and solve again – thats the final. Z32 is the same way – it has 3 solutions, all “ciphers” have a layer of 2-6 solutions. The reason is why is Zodiac occupation. Hes a govt agent later in life and also domestic terrorist. Its in his background check.
Here: In the U.S. Navy, CTI (Cryptologic Technician – Interpretive) refers to the enlisted rating of linguists and cultural experts who translate and analyze foreign communications to provide critical intelligence for naval and national security operations, requiring intensive immersion training at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in languages like Mandarin, Arabic, or Russian. They serve as cultural experts, supporting missions globally across various naval platforms, ensuring accurate understanding of foreign intelligence. Govt has gotten involved. Its much more than what you think as a case. There is a third part to it all. If anything Z13 and Z32 were TOO LONG.
THe man died 3 years ago. We had Zodiac prior to his death, long enough for the confession to occur. Z13 says glasses male me Z32 said solar enkman emperor of japan. The word for you to open intentional misspellings is solar. He told you why he is stopping killing in the 5th line of z340 and line 5-20 had never been done. His name is in Z340 and z408 and one lady of doom. Every one of those has now been solved not as cryptology as some people tried for decades but rather cryptolinguistic analysis. Stop trying to decipher them, you will get no where, and there is no keys. They didnt tell the truth when they said “they are ciphers” Duh !! Each of those have 2-6 solutions each ! The most information – enough to solve the case was in Z340 but unfortunately only 4 lines of that were done, and they are NOT in sections. Also the last word in the 4 lines was a big clue, it is not the word death, it is the word abroad. This was written before he left to be an operative in the middle east.
Z18. =. LEARN TO READ THE MAP
Z32 =. IT HAS REACHED 33 DEGREES
Z13. =. I’VE SENT TO FBI
No manipulation of the code to get these results.
JUST ENTER THE CODE INTO THE DECODER.
HE WAS A CRYPTOGRAPHER WHO WORKED
FOR THE GOVT.
HE USED STEGANOGRAPHY IN ALL HIS LETTERS
WHICH REQUIRED MESSY WRITING AND
MISSPELLED WORDS.
EXAMPLES –
HIS VICTIM TOTALS WERE CLUES = STREET NUMBERS
TO THE ‘BOMB’.
LETTER THAT HAD 37 KILLS – IS NEAR THE SUNDIAL
HE WAS OBSESSED WITH THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
HIS Z32 ALSO DIRECTS YOU TO THE BOMB. WHICH
WAS AT 7 OCLOCK ON A COMPASS (THE SUN SIGN
(CIRCLE/DOT).
HE HAD A FASCINATION WITH NUMEROLOGY.
7 oCLOCK ON THE MAP
7 VICTIMS
7 SYMBOL ON Z32 CIPHER
IF YOU DRAW A LINE ON THE MAP FROM EACH
VICTIM LOCATION TO PRESIDIO HEIGHTS TO
THE SUN DIAL IT GIVES THE SHAPE OF A 7.
OH, THE ZODIAC M386 WATCH HAS THE 10 SYMBOLS FROM
THE Z32 ON IT.
(the ad even had a 7 as the date)
(The triangles are 6/9/12 o’clock)
(The squares are the date at 3 o’clock)
(The sun sign is in the middle of the watch)
(The omega sign holds the watch jewel)
(The Aries symbol is the KEY to adjust it)
(The crosshairs sign)
I really have too much info to write it all here.
Hello this is the Zodiac. t was fun. Mageau, I should have finished what I started. My days are numbered and so is this cypher that will not be solved. I bid goodbye as I prepare to join my slaves.
Hi everyone,
I recently have shared a 24 page whitepaper, and the accompanying Python code to solve Z32.
I took a computational approach, and tested 2 million alternative candidates.
The decoded coordinates ended up landing by Lake Herman Road, and there is an equilateral triangle anomaly that matches the first triangle in Z32 on the ground by the decoded coordinates.
Full paper: https://zenodo.org/records/18645227
Code: https://github.com/dstampher/zodiac-z32-cipher
I shared the paper with authorities for their review, and recommend a ground penetrating radar survey of the triangle anomaly as a way to prove or disprove my proposed solution. The code has been publicly available for around 2 months now.
Happy to discuss the whitepaper and constraint satisfaction/computational approach to Z32 with others. It seems many others were trying to solve this cipher manually.
I found a curiosity. Not claiming it’s the answer, but the coincidences are astounding.
Just 2 steps, no cribs, no anagrams, no forcing. You can easily reproduce the results yourself.
What if it was simple navigation instructions, like the games we played as kids,
“take 10 steps forward, 3 to the right, X marks the spot”.
A journey of 2 steps, each with a “direction and distance”
His later clue enforced the approach: “…concerns radians and inches …”.
Once again “direction and distance”
The map’s “clock face” calls out the North-South (0-6) and East-West (9-3) axes.
So what if he was just saying “go N 17, then E 15, then X marks the spot” ?
He insisted we use True North (declination of 17 degrees in 1970, ie 343 degrees)
There are 17 symbols in first line of the code.
From Diablo (‘devil’ in Spanish), go True North (343) for 17 inches (108.8 mi)
You land at Devils Elbow (apt choices of landmark)
15 symbols in 2nd line.
From Devils Elbow, go East (direct, no decl) for 15 inches (96 mi)
You land directly on the shores of Lake Spaulding
(Look up Donna Lass if that doesn’t mean anything to you)
If the target was indeed Lake Spaulding, the error is 0%
Considering he used a protractor and ruler, the precision is remarkable.
Can Z32 and the later Tahoe ‘Pines’ postcard can be read as foreshadowing or encoding that eventual Sierra disposal location?
Could be something. Could be nothing.
Apologies, I neglected to add links for my previous message:
Forum: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/zodiackillerfr/devil-elbow-spaulding-snow-zodiac-s-sierra-route-t11848.html
Article: https://medium.com/@grantdi/diablo-to-devil-a-z32-journey-514d1e01e04f
Zodiac Killer drove a 1960’s Chevrolet Corvair with license plate 3 888. The three 8’S corresponds to the three outlined circles with an “8” centered in each that is in the “MY NAME IS …” Zodiac Killer Cipher.
Potential Solution For ZODIAC KILLER Z13 CIPHER
CIPHER: A, E, Circle Outline with Cross, Circle Outline with 8, K,Circle Outline with 8, M, Circle Outline with 8, Perpendicular Sign, N,A,M
Raw Deciphered String: W E E (ZODIAC) O, L,K,O,L,H,L,R,E,W,H
Circle Outline with Cross = ZODIAC
O = O
8 = L
MESSAGE = ZODIAC HELL ON WHEELS WOR
W = E
O = O
R = H
E.O.H. = EDWARD OTTO HERNANDEZ
HERMAN HERNANDEZ
WILLIAM HERNANDEZ
GROUP OF ASSOCIATES = “HONCHO & THE BOYS”
HONCHO + A leader or manager ; person in charge.
HONCHO + THE BOYS(HERNANDEZ BROTHERS)
The ZODIAC KILLER is a group .
SUBJECT : Z340 ZODIAC KILLER DRIPPING PEN CARD
Initials D.E.S. on card.
D = T
E = E
S = A
THEODORE EDWARD ALLEN = “HONCHO”
ZODIAC KILLER = HONCHO & THE BOYS
This explains why descriptions given by witnesses or surviving victims at the time each had different descriptions of the killer and finger or palm prints did not match.
The three 8’s in the “MY NAME IS-” Cipher may correspond to the 3 888 License Plate of the suspect(“HONCHO”) who is the leader of the ZODIAC KILLER GROUP and his, “SLAVES”, or known as “HONCHO & THE BOYS”. Perhaps, research can be done to find out the vehicle’s owner.
Hi everyone,
I recently created this GIF image to illustrate the unconfirmed, proposed solution that I described in the paper that I shared not long ago. I thought it was pretty cool, so I thought I might add it here for those that are interested in the Z32 cipher.
I spent about an hour making it last night, so I did put some effort into creating it.
As I cannot attach images, I have uploaded for anyone interested, and would appreciate to hear what others think about it.
My Z32 GIF: https://ibb.co/VcXtXL5L
Also, to Nick:
Thank you providing this website to discuss this cipher with others.
There is one more important detail that has come to my awareness that I should have included in my previous comment.
During the process of seeking feedback, I signed up on some Zodiac cipher forums that had mostly gone dormant. I still shared my proposed solution, as there were a small amount of users that were still active.
I went back through the old posts on those forums, and found a proposed solution from a user with the name Oliv92.
I found in their post that 5 years ago, they had taken a very similar approach, by treating Z32 as a constraint satisfaction problem. They too, followed all of the Zodiac hints in their modeling.
However, they presented multiple possible solutions in their post, as they did not rank the survivors of their properly functioning constraint filter. Because they did not rank them, they did not present a unique solution. Instead, they picked a few favorites from the list, with a location that landed by Alcatraz as being their favorite candidate.
IN THREE AND THREE EIGHTHS RADIANS TEN was their second favorite, because it landed by Lake Herman Road.
I wanted to acknowledge Oliv92, as only a single user provided them with feedback on their method, which was very sound in retrospect. They were just missing the ranking algorithm, and people didn’t engage with them to help them refine their method further.
In my case I used proximity to known Zodiac activity as the ranking algorithm for the survivors of the constraint funnel,
I tried to reach out to them via Youtube to discuss this, and hope hear back from them. I wanted to give them some credit if this turns out to be true, because they were very close it seems.
After digging further into the now dormant Zodiac Killer Ciphers forums, I have found yet another user on there that proposed IN THREE AND THREE EIGHTHS RADIANS TEN as the solution to Z32, seven years ago.
However, this user, DMW, incorrectly projected the decoded coordinates onto the suspect Arthur Leigh Allans house. They also did not explain in their paper how they arrived out of this particular solution, given there are many alternatives.
No one mentioned that their projection was wrong (I have done so now), and it doesn’t seem their proposed solution was engaged with by others at the time.
A few updates/random thoughts regarding Z32 and my proposed solution:
– The first encrypted symbol used in Z408, his first cipher, was a hollow triangle. This is of all possible symbols, including his infamous branding symbol. Z32 also ends with a hollow triangle. On the ground near the decoded coordinates, is a triangle shaped landmark.
– I have ported the Python code to Javascript, and am building a browser based version of this solver, where people can run their own experiments. This will include an animated, interactive Leaflet map.
– I am creating animated videos using Google Earth Studio to provide a video based version of my solution, as most people are not interested in reading technical whitepapers that are 24 pages long.
– I had originally contacted various experts on the topic of historical ciphers in December 2025, when I only had my GitHub hosted codebase and a README as proof. I did not hear back from most them, but it has been seen, and responded to by two Computer Science professors, neither of which identified any critical errors in the code or methodology.
I will post an update here when the browser based version of this solver is complete, and I have the Youtube videos produced and ready for distribution.
-David
My prior works are being sent to the FBI CRRU FIELD OFFICE in SAN FRANCISCO. SO FAR, MY WORK OF MARCH 06, MARCH 11, & MARCH 12 looks like a pretty good proposed solution to the ZODIAC CIPHERS. I WOULD LIKE TO GET FEEDBACK FROM OTHERS ON THIS SITE. THANK YOU.
Hi Rick,
In my experience so far, receiving feedback is very difficult with this cipher. I have been at it for a few months now, but I did get a few responses. Hope you get some feedback, but I am quite attached to my own proposed solution.
It seems to me that many that I have contacted consider the cipher unsolvable and have been sent dozens of proposed solutions to Z32 that were subjectively selected over the years. Silence is difficult to gauge, but it is preferable to being informed that I have made a critical error in my code or methodology, or overlooked an alternative candidate that ranks higher, that I overlooked. Luckily, that has not happened. I am glad that a small handful of professional have engaged with it, with the critical feedback being that they haven’t pointed out anything critically wrong with the code/method/data, or found a better solution under the constraints.
The perception of impossibility due to the short length of Z32 has created a bit of a problem, if someone were to actually solve it, and physical evidence was to be recovered at the decoded coordinates, that is sufficient verification (for me) as to the validity of the proposed plaintext.
I would imagine this possibility had been considered in the past, since Zodiac was so explicit in his hints and writing about burying an object, but it was seen as highly unlikely to actually happen.
However, modern satellite imagery and using a computer instead of trying to do it manually does open the door to it actually happening. You just need more than the plaintext alone, that isn’t enough, but it might point in the right direction.
DAVID S.,
Thank you for your response. I believe that the ZODIAC KILLER was a group with the leader being the person who wrote the enciphered messages and cards that were sent out. His name comes to light in my works in the Z340 CIPHER (MY NAME IS-). Also, his name comes to light in the DRIPPING PEN CARD.
The initials D.E.S. appear on the card. By using D=T, E=E, S=A, and raw data becomes the deciphered message of T.E.A. or THEODORE EDWARD ALLEN. This the name for the leader “HONCHO” that I found in my previous works. The “BOYS”, or “SLAVES”, were used to do his bidding. This would explain why the descriptions of witnesses varied as the physical characteristics of each “SLAVE”, varied supporting my ZODIAC KILLER as a “GROUP”, theory. Different hair co;or, weights, ages, fingerprints, palm print(S), and DNA samples from the scenes..
The ZODIAC KILLER HALLOWEEN CARD “Z G F”, joined together letters appear on this card. Z & F meet L L, L = T, Z =E, F + S, . . . . =”FOR”. Message = “TEST FOR ED”.
My ZODIAC KILLER Z32 LOCATION OF BOMB work deciphers to ; “IS IN FRONT LEFT NEAR WOODS END AND GO ACROSS SANDBOX LIGHTS I DIE”. The bomb had a photoelectric cell for detonation. There were three or four playgrounds with sandboxes in the areas near MT. Diablo at time near the State Parks. This could have been PINE RIDGE TRAIL. I have many hours of work going back several years. No one has responded to my works in a critical manner either. I have other work where ED or EDDIE has appeared.
Hi Rick,
I think that it is good of you to try to contribute to the case. I can’t know or say if you are right or wrong about your theory. But I can understand why you think it might have been multiple people.
The Zodiac’s MO and victimology are erratic.
I personally believe he had Multiple Personality Disorder, now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. One giveaway is the fact that his handwriting shifted. This is a hallmark sign of DID. In his day job, he probably seemed like a regular, fairly quiet person. That is one distinct personality, with “The Zodiac” being another. The executioner at Lake Berryessa was yet another personality being expressed.
I will be reaching out to an expert on DID to see if they can confirm my suspicions. I’d imagine many of them haven’t looked at Zodiac’s writings and documented behavior in depth, from this perspective.
But for now, I am mostly focused on Z32.
DAVID S.,
Perhaps the “HONCHO” leader of the ZODIAC GROUP had DID. He very well could have, and he had his “SLAVES” do his bidding while he got enjoyment out of taunting the law enforcement, media, and the public. This would have fed his ego(S).
I have more work that I am posting here. This is the four lines preceding the “MY NAME IS-” CIPHER. FIRST LINE = GETTING LATE EDS SET”. SECOND LINE = EDDIES SKATING IN”. THIRD LINE = “EARLY UNLESS I GET NOS. FOURTH LINE + EIGHTEEN AT S ANISE ST”.
There was a bar( EDDIE”S COCKTAIL LOUNGE) and a SKATING RINK NEARBY.
THE Z340 ZODIAC KILLER CIPHER LINE 8 = “ONLY ANGEL ISNT NUDE”. LINE 12 = “INVESTIGATE LAST FIVE IN”. LINE 13 = ” LAKEWOOD DRIVE TEENS SLAIN GET GUN”.
“he got enjoyment out of taunting the law enforcement, media, and the public”.
I would say he did more than just taunt them. One of his “alters” (as they are known in DID) behaved as essentially a terrorist would.
That would be his Z32 specific threat against a school bus. This also highlights his extremely erratic victimology mentioned previously, it is all over the map.
The Zodiac persona was his “mastermind” alter ego that writes the ciphers, plans his Bay Area crime scene geometry from the very beginning (images in my paper), and acts as the public relations official for his trauma induced, fractured identity system.
The cipher writing likely brought some calming order in his chaotic brain.
He often in regressed in his writing to a child like state, misspelling simple words. DID is caused by severe trauma, often during the childhood, but war can do it as well. Given it was the Vietnam era and he was likely in the draft age, that is another possibility for causation, or a combination of both.
I don’t want to get too off base from Z32 however. I guess in closing regarding your theory about it being a group, I would say that if it were multiple people involved, the odds go up of one of them being caught over time, which hasn’t happened yet.
A single individual is harder to catch, especially since he likely left the Bay Area sometime after the Stine attack.
DAVID S.,
I too, believe that “HONCHO”, was a member of the military at one time. The term, “HELL ON WHEELS”, that I found in my work on the “MY NAME IS-” CIPHER was used on military unit patches. I found such a patch for sale on eBay. This would have a double meaning to the “HONCHO”, leader. I believe his “SLAVES”, were strategically positioned at coordinates on the map(PHILLIPS 66 MAP). EAch would carry out instructions given to them by the “HONCHO”. Not too long ago DONNA LASS’S SKULL WAS FOUND IN A DRAINAGE DITCH. It was positioned in the soil, and over the years worked its way up to the surface. The ZODIAC POSTCARD, “PEEKING THROUGH THE PINES”, THAT I HAVE DONE WORK ON AND POSTED, HAS THE EYES POSITIONED LOOKING THROUGH THE PINE TREES WITH HER EYES POSITIONED UPWARDS THROUGH THE PINE TREES. MY “GROUP” THEORY SEEMS VERY LIKELY, SINCE DESCRIPTIONS OF WITNESSES WHO WERE ATTACKED VARIED SO GREATLY. ALSO, PHYSICAL EVIDENCE WAS NOT ABLE TO BE MATCHED.
“I too, believe that “HONCHO”, was a member of the military at one time.”
His usage of encryption + polar coordinates in Z32 isn’t typical for a civilian. Bay Area is highly concentrated with Navy personnel. His disappearance from the area could be as simple as being relocated to another base, which is a common occurrence. Being sent down to south to San Diego is pretty common.
Targeting and navigation coordinates would be sent/received encrypted, since the enemy can intercept them in transit. Someone must decrypt them, and then they will be plotted on the map on the ship.
Back when he was active, this process would have occurred on a Dead Reckoning Table. I reckon he may have had some familiarity with this instrument.
A few more interesting (to me, atleast) thoughts regarding this cipher. I had mention this previously, but have refined it a bit further. These are verifiable facts rather than speculation:
The first encrypted symbol Zodiac used, in his first cipher, is a hollow triangle.
The last encrypted symbol Zodiac used, in his last cipher, is a hollow triangle.
He bookended his cipher career with the same symbol, which is what you see on the ground when you check the decoded coordinates that I shared. Some people are still telling me it is a simple watering hole for the cows, with no explanation of the shape, size, or orientation. The ciphertext symbol correspondence is typically glossed over, as is the inner equilateral region with side lengths of 3.3 miles that encloses the equilateral landmark on the ground.
The Haversine formula used in the code leverages spherical triangular geometry. The triggering mechanism in his design for his “Death Machine” uses triangulation involving light/shade and photo-electric switches.
He very clearly (to me, based on my findings) had some sort of obsession with triangles, although this hasn’t been acknowledged officially yet.
I HAVE JUST BEEN WORKING ON THE JULY 3!,1969 ZODIAC KILLER CIPHER LETTER TO THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER.
THE LAST TWO LETTERS OF CIPHER ARE; ” I M”. THIS DECIPHERS TO ” R H”. ROBERT HERNANDEZ. THIS GIVES MORE SUPPORT TO MY PREVIOUS WORKS. A HIDDEN NAME IN PLAIN SITE.
Wanted to add some more recent information regarding Z32. I will keep my comments entirely focused on the cipher rather than inserting my subjective beliefs about the Zodiac.
I was excited to learn that Jarl from the Z340 team is taking a look at the code and paper. It turns out posting to the dormant Zodiac cipher forums was a good idea.
Also, I wanted to mention the Z32 solution proposed by Alex Baber.
His proposed solution, “ESTIMATE FOUR RADIANS AND THREE INCHES” doesn’t include a whitepaper (that I have seen), or any code. It seems to be subjectively selected. It lands at a cemetary.
Here is the article detailing his proposed solution: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/crime-desk/article-15513233/zodiac-killer-black-dahlia-z32-cipher-california.html
This same person also proposed a solution to Z13 around the same time. They believe that the Zodiac is responsible for the Black Dahlia case, and are trying to fit these last two ciphers around that narrative.
If this were true, I believe the authorities would have made this link already.
This proposed solution is currently receiving significant attention. I do not believe this is the solution, because they did not test all of the alternatives, and they ignore the clock hours hint on Mt. Diablo.
I hope that a cemetery is not disturbed for a Netflix series selling a subjective Z32 solution to the public.
LOCATION OF BOMB-
“FIVE IN SAINT SIMEON”.
FIVE IN = 5in. = ARC LENGTH
5in. x 6.4mi. = 32mi.
57.9mi. TO SAN SAINT SIMEON
A(SQUARED) + B(SQUARED) = C(SQUARED)
SUPERIMPOSE RIGHT TRIANGLE OVER COMPASS/TIME SYMBOL
32.0(SQUARED) + 57.9(SQUARED) =
48.2777597228901181mi.
ANGLE = SinX(THETA ANGLE) =
32mi./57.9mi. Sin ANGLE = .55267702936
ARC Sin OF .55267702936 IS 33.551(DEGREES) OR .58557 RADIANS
LATTITUDE OF LOCATION OF BOMB = 33.551(DEGREES)
RADIANS TRAVELLED ALONG ARC = .58557 RADIANS
SET COMPASS TO TRUE NORTH(GEOMETRIC POLE OR 90(DEGREES)
“YOU ARE IN ONE END IN EAST”.
YOU WOULD BE IN EAST OF MT. DIABLO STATE PARK, WITH A HEADING OF TRUE NORTH.
LOCATION OF BOMB-
LAST LINE OF PREVIOUS POST SHOULD READ, “YOU WOULD BE IN EAST END OF MT. DIABLO STATE PARK, WITH A HEADING OF TRUE NORTH”.
Update on my proposed solution:
Was finally able to get in contact with Oliv92. They still prefer an alternative plaintext for Z32, but I am glad to have gotten into contact with this person. They matter because they posted IN THREE AND THREE EIGHTHS RADIANS TEN as a candidate five years ago, and our methods are pretty much identical. Model the problem exactly as the Zodiac described, reframed as a CSP.
I think if Oliv92 had checked the satellite imagery and saw the triangle by LHR, he likely would have realized all he needed to do was rank his candidates to arrive at a unique solution with what he had left. The logical choice would be proximity to Zodiac activity.
A request to the knowledgeable Cipher Mysteries readers as well:
If anyone is well versed in aerial photography and orthorectification, it would be of great value to obtain high resolution of the area described in my whitepaper for the years 1969 and 1970. I would do this process myself, but I have learned that it is complex and error prone to do correctly.
I do think there may be viable imagery available from USGS, but it will require some processing that isn’t easy to accomplish accurately.
This imagery may show that the triangle morphology appears in these years, which is very valuable information that I am currently missing. Any efforts will be appropriately credited and appreciated.
Wanted to add a comment about Nick’s excellent post on Z32. I had been talking about my proposed solution, but I wanted to mention this part:
“People will always have different opinions on anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, but it seems most likely to me that at the top of Mount Diablo he turned his watch round (or rotated an external bezel) so that 12 o’clock faced magnetic North; and then read off the time (or bezel value) that would point to his bomb target of choice. Hence the plaintext part indicating ‘direction’ could easily be something like a time, though some people have concluded that it would be measured in radians.”
I agree with this completely. My proposed solution suggests exactly this.
This article is the best analysis of the Z32 cipher that I was able to find on the internet, well done.
I should have added this in my previous comment, but I also wanted to highlight the Eye of Diablo. It is historical for aerial navigation. I believe it was built by the Standard Oil company.
Zodiac seemed to love this place. The name reminds me of the Eye of Sauron. In Lord of the Rings, we have Mt. Doom
As an aside, in my proposed solution, Zodiac misused the word “Radians”. Technically his cipher actually uses radials. This itself is an interesting term:
Radial:
of or arranged like rays or the radii of a circle; diverging in lines from a common center.
“In military aviation and navigation, a radial is a magnetic bearing line extending outward from a ground-based navigational aid, specifically a VOR (Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range) or TACAN station. Think of it as a spoke on a wheel, with 360 individual radials radiating 1° apart from the station, numbered from 001° to 360° clockwise from magnetic north.”
I believe he definitely was in the military. And my proposed solution might prove it. We will see.
RADIANS & # OF INCHES ALONG THE RADIANS.
Hi Rick,
This is definitely a very important explicit instruction the Zodiac gave regarding the cipher. Without it, I wouldn’t have a solution to propose.
It is also important to consider the clock hours that Zodiac drew on Mt. Diablo, and the similarity between “radians” and “radials”.
It seems to me, that he meant “radials”, but wrote “radians”. This actually aligns pretty well with what we already know about him. This might be the reason it took so long to solve, it is a bit of a curveball.
Additionally, the instruction he provided came later. Why did he provide this clue?
My hypothesis is that he wanted this cipher to be solved. Quite a bit of effort would go into the construction of the landmark I discovered by LHR. Without that extra hint, it would be impossible to solve. It was necessary. Whether he knew this or not, I cannot say.
If you construct a landmark such as that, you want people to see it. Such a thing would end up on the news, and he did love being on the news.
The grandiosity of it all is designed to make him seem more impressive than he really is.
David S.,
He may have meant “radials”. He was a person who enjoyed inserting “DOUBLE MEANINGS”, in his correspondence. He definitely immensely enjoyed notariety and public attention.
In my past work on “LOCATION OF BOMB”, I used an ARC of 5in., and ARC SIN of
33.551 Degrees, Radians travelled ALONG ARC are approximately 0.58557 RADIANS. Set COMPASS to TRUE NORTH, GEOMETRIC POLE OF 90 Degrees. You would be inEAST END OF MT. DIABLO STATE PARK.
Hi Rick,
Glad to see someone else that worked on this cipher. There aren’t that many of us.
I still think he meant radials, and I was thinking about the Wing Walker boots that we know Zodiac wore at one of his crime scenes. That is a fact verified by authorities.
Those are Air Force boots, so this fits in with the radials. I had thought Zodiac was Navy but now I am starting to wonder about Air Force.
Those Wing Walkers are also available at surplus stores. Something to consider. Also not sure if he would have been active during his crime spree, or drafted then discharged perhaps.
Then just worked some other job, but had the training and PTSD. Just a theory. The Z13 cipher ends with “NAM”. The doubled repeats in that cipher are the letters N, A, and M.
Hello,
I am working on version 3 of my paper/codebase, which should be the final version. No major changes from v2, just expanded.
For now I just wanted to share an image I made today with Google Earth Pro. It has the Zodiac scenes plotted on the map, the solution coordinates, and I overlaid radial lines in clock hour positions, rotated 17 degrees east. These radial lines seem to be the proper way to express the apparent intent. In version 2 I used clock hours due to the clue, but they are effectively the same thing, just visualized in a different way.
Image: https://ibb.co/YBmSzp0K
Am interested to hear others thoughts about it, if any. Thank you. I will share version 3 when it is done which I hope will be soon. One of the challenges is making good images that are informative and not cluttered.
After two months of waiting my paper was finally approved by SSRN. Their listed review time is 3 days, so it seems mine was met with extra scrutiny. That is a good thing, since it points to a location.
But it will be published in the Computer Methodology eJournal in 3 days, the Crime & Psychology eJournal, and the Forensic Science eJournal. But those last two are scheduled to be published months down the line.
Just wanted to share this update on the work as Cipher Mysteries is one of the few places where Z32 is still being discussed. The big news would be if the landmark is ever scanned with GPR and something is found. I don’t know if that will happen, only that it is possible and worth checking out for the authorities.
And I will mention this publicly, as I told Nick when he asked about my Haversine formula. I did use AI as a co-pilot in this work. I might add a small disclaimer to version 3 as I have no intention of hiding that. It was a level playing field, in that everyone had access to the same tools. This could have been solved without the co-pilot, it was a convenience to save time and accelerate my research.
Most people will ask AI to solve the cipher and just produce the answer. That isn’t the right way to use these tools in this context. It is better to generate reproducible code in your analysis, and then you will need to do your best to ensure accuracy. Sharing with other humans is a good way to do that.
Hello Mr. Nick Pelling,
FYI
Z18: https://youtu.be/mGWLXBghoF0
I was able to generate a name.
Z32: https://youtu.be/2zAJM85nCf8
It seems that the Z32 and Z18 Ciphers contain the same name.
Recall, that the Zodiac Killer used the word “bomb” in his correspondence.
“BOMB”
B=2 O=15 M=13 B=2
2+15++13+2=”32″…as in Z32 (Z=26) 2+6+3+2=”13″…as in Z13…as in “My name is…”
2+6+1+3=”12″(number referenced in the Zodiac Killer’s Diablo Map correspondence)
The Zodiac Killer was the “bomb” (metaphorically speaking).
Sincerely,
Peter O.
Hi everyone,
Last night I launched the website for my proposed solution: inthreeandthreeeighthsradiansten.com
Yes, I realize the domain is long and annoying to type. But it is the plaintext to Z32 so I bought it. There is SEO value if the location is verified to be correct.
Currently it is mostly just a placeholder meant to direct readers to my code and paper, but eventually (after version 3 of the paper is done), I will then port the code to Javascript and make this website pretty awesome (a web app with an interactive map). And I would like to translate the work into other languages like Spanish, French, and German.
I hope this website will one day be great, it is a work in progress but I just wanted to say that it is at least accessible.
There is an image at the top with the Zodiac’s crosshair from the Phillips 66 map rotated 17 degrees East. I had been trying to create the right visual to show others the Zodiac’s strange geometry and I think that is the best I have produced so far.
I am still working on version 3 of my paper which has actually been very hard to complete, but I think it will be worth the extra effort in the end.
Thank you for reading and have a nice day,
David
TO LINDA SMITH:
Wow Linda ! You have so much information correct – it is absolutely amazing ! What he was was a cryptolinguistic expert in the Navy. Yes – HE REALLY was into solar, that is the first two words in z32. Out of anyone on this thread, it is YOU who should be able to solve. Z340 and z408 holds his real identity. The identity doesnt go in a straight line. It is separate from the body of the text. Its randomly generated. It is plain english, none of the others are. What a great job !!!!
Hi anonymous,
I am interested in this cipher as well. I do think Zodiac was probably Navy. Air Force is an option as well due to the Wing Walkers.
I see that Linda Smith has proposed “Z32 =. IT HAS REACHED 33 DEGREES”
This doesn’t seem to be 32 characters.
My proposal is IN THREE AND THREE EIGHTHS RADIANS TEN. I tested two million alternative candidates. When projected from the Mount Diablo summit, we land by a 100 foot equilateral triangle landmark that points north by Lake Herman Road, the same road as the first Zodiac crime scene.
When you overlay the first triangle glyph in the ciphertext over the landmark, it is a very nice match.
The landmark lies almost exactly on the 10 o’ clock radial line relative to Mount Diablo, adjusted for 1970’s magnetic declination for the region, and appears as a soil disturbance in 1968 aerial photography of the decoded coordinates.
I have reported the findings to authorities and hope they will scan the landmark and maybe recover some evidence here, then perhaps we can say the cipher is solved once that occurs (if it does).
A follow up on my previous post:
I emailed as many experts as I could back in December. A small handful did get back to me, and I appreciated that they gave the codebase a look. I didn’t receive a ton of feedback, but some is surely better than none.
I had shared this on Hacker News, because it is full of skeptical people with the programming background to review the code. It received some upvotes but no comments unfortunately.
I still haven’t heard of anything critical wrong with it since I first shared. I have certainly heard some subjective debunks in my small trial runs of sharing it. And that is fine, but I find them implausible.
The number one debunk (so far), is that the triangle landmark is natural in origin. If so, mother nature has produced an incredibly rare landmark by Lake Herman Road. I am still glad to have found it.
There are others that believe the landmark is a watering hole, as we do see cows around it in some images, when it is filled with water. I am not an expert rancher, but I can’t understand the logic behind this design for a watering hole. I think the cows just happen to drink from it because it exists and collects water.
It all comes down to the origin of the landmark, for most people I have engaged with. Zodiac origin is the most plausible to me. His design is actually pretty intricate. His inner equilateral triangle region has a perimeter of 10.0 miles, and the 10 o’ clock radial cuts through it. It freaks me out a bit.
Only time will tell how this plays out, but it is currently stuck in an unresolved state. I still think they might find something there, and it does keep me up at night.
This is a bit like a public journal entry that others may respond to if they so please. I am grateful for the Cipher Mysteries site to provide that platform, and am happy to chat with others about this here. I am also grateful to my co-pilot Claude, who tirelessly generated analysis code at my direction without complaint. These are interesting times we live in.
I am just letting you know everyone of the ciphers have been solved correctly and turned in. This is the story. I did Z13, z32 z340 (in full this time not just 4 lines) z408 – for the name. It was there. Those did not turn out to be cryptology at all. They were all cryptololinguistics. There is someone that will do the presentation lined up – I have a disability and I cant. At the time they were done – a copywrite was taken by my friend in Europe as he actually did z340 identity. I did the text in that. I dont know how that will work !! To further confuse you – Tom Voight hacked my email, stole the answers and the true name of Zodiac – he backdated, and claims he solved them, but he did nothing but steal I have proof, he wrote all over some of the pages. What those are is each different. Zodiac was a CTI in the Navy stationed in the middle east – so what does that tell you those are ????!!!! NO one is allowed to tell the public till his identity is announced by Law enforcement. The crypto people are pretty desparate to get those answers. I mean – every single one you can solve in an hour or less, why someone didnt figure this out 55 years ago is beyond me.
This is what bothers me. You couldnt have solved until the inception of personal computers. Carmel is totally worthless BTW, it didnt solve ANYTHING. PC’s for the public use started coming into being around 88, every so called cipher could have been solved starting in 88 because the tool on the pC was now available. IF someone out of the thousands would have just tried another methodology – they would hit on the right answer. Zodiac could have served about 40 years in prison. The families would have their justice. (name in z340 and z408) as it was the puzzles were not solved till well after, he died. So he was never convicted not served any time. The families has lost their chance for justice. Only God can judge him now. That is all the truth
Hi anonymous,
I actually had a pretty negative experience about the person you mentioned in the first paragraph. They behaved very oddly with my solution when I shared it (didn’t engage with it, then randomly banned me for an off topic response to another user that was not mean in any way, and was responding them directly mentioning me).
They had around two months of knowing about it but said nothing and was mostly just talking about Black Dahlia instead. I still don’t know why they were ignoring the triangle I found by Lake Herman Road.
They also demanded I pay them 10 dollars almost immediately upon registering for their forums. I was sharing my work for free, and I don’t know why he kept messaging tell me to pay him 10 dollars why I was there.
It was actually the worst experience for me with my proposal, as I realized it was going to be more difficult to share this after that. I didn’t know who he was before solving this code, but now I do.
On your last paragraph, yeah a computer is required to solve Z32. It is the only way to test the millions of alternative candidates. This is probably one reason it took so long (if mine is check out/verified physically). Most were trying to solve it manually.
It seems that one month before this same person had written a blog post that speculated the “Death Machine” was buried in the city of Santa Rosa. I am not sure if that is why he didn’t engage with mine, because I am saying the burial site by Lake Herman Road, not Santa Rosa.
I am not sure if this is the part of why he didn’t engage with my work, as it did contradict his own. I don’t think he believes the Z32 is solvable, as he often talks about the shortness as the reason that it will never happen (we hear that a lot due to Wikipedia).
A few random thoughts as I have been exploring out of pure interest:
“the inner equilateral region (LHR-BRS-Centroid) unites the two most important Pythagorean ideas at once: 3 as the first complete geometric form, and 10 as the completed totality of number.
3 is the first number that feels fully formed. It has beginning, middle, end. Geometrically, it is the first number that produces a closed figure: a triangle. Two points give a line; three points give enclosure. So 3 is the number of actual form, completion at the first geometric level.
10 is the decad, the number of completion and totality.
So 10 is the completed unfolding of form. That is why the tetractys mattered so much: it is a triangular arrangement of ten points, and it is probably the single most famous Pythagorean symbol.”
The centroid also creates a circuit, connecting his last crime, Stine, back to the first crime, LHR.
Stine was killed on the 10th month (10/11) at 9:55PM.
I am beginning to wonder if the Zodiac may have been a Freemason. This geometric construction I have discovered has raised some serious questions.
I can’t prove he was a Mason, of course. However the tetractys previously is suggestive.
I am not quite sure why the experts never got back to me, but I still believe my proposed solution is correct, and the work continues as I approach 5 months. I still have much more to do, including finishing version 3 of my paper (fatigue and frustration set in. I want great images and this is super hard to do right imo).
I will add that there are additional findings I’ve made while waiting around that I am withholding (for now). I do hope to share the other things discovered in the past few months. I am actually compiling them for the authorities, so I will give it to them first.
I would have liked to share the other observations, but it has been difficult to receive feedback on what I already have given. I suppose if the landmark is ever checked out/verified, then the other things I found might be taken more seriously.
I do intend on presenting more verifiable information down the line. The shortness of this cipher may be the reason I haven’t heard much.
Hi David – I think you mean me. There is an answer. I dont know if I said this. The person you are talking of hacked my emails for the puzzles answers, he knows what they all say. Z32 – its way over 39 char. Z13 is 39 char really. What you do, is put into google trans – z13 is HIndii, z32 is Telugu – set your language and press enter. . He tells made up stuff so you will not guess the solutions. I also was kicked off site because I am a “loser” he said. But i did find Z. Z was also on tapatalk under his real name talking to you all about himself. This person didnt have a clue. I cannot believe they wanted to charge you. I believe you but its outrageous. You do not want to be there anyway. I am not in any groups, I just dont want negative influence to go thru during research, nor any biased remarks. Please try to solve using my method, it takes a whole 5 min. Oranchak is using it now and he also solved them all in full he said on Expedition X “someone” made a comment and then they discovered a new way to solve and solved them all in entirety. That “someone” is me. There is another way to test that is easy too. Take your suspect, and try to find his first name in random letters in Times, take your suspect middle name and try to find in random letters in Chron. If no middle name, you can rule out that suspect.
You dont have any ciphers. I am also an analyst, It took these skillsets to resolve them, they have no crypto. you cannot solve with AI or anagrams. He was in the Navy. You might want to look up “CTI Navy” His name is in z340 (last name) and z408 (full name) Its Z340 you need. Last 16 unsolved lines will tell you most everything. His name is very easy to find. There are several sources it is present in. There are no numbers in anything. Thats all I can think of. If you reply – try it here, I will check back and read it. I wish we could talk. No MM name is there. Hes an unknown troubled teen.
Hope you have a nice day as well !!
Please also be aware that if you ask a bot, they will say my methodology has been falsifying and is a conspiracy theory. Our fav person wrote that. It is true, as you will see if you solved according to what I wrote. He really wants it all kept secret. He pretends not to know the answers.
Hi anonymous,
I will say, you are one of the few people that have engaged with me. And for that, I thank you.
Regarding the Google translate method you describe, obviously I have my own proposed solution here. The landmark has me pretty convinced IN THREE AND THREE EIGHTHS RADIANS TEN is what we have been looking for, but I do respect others opinions.
The thing I like about my solution is there is a scientific way to know if there is something actually buried there as he said in the letter. I would say a hit on the radar would be the confirmation I’ve been hoping for.
Until then it seems up in the air. I am not even sure if that will actually happen as I’ve certainly faced resistance, but I will advocate for it in good faith (as I think there might possibly be evidence there). Even if there is uncertainty, it warrants the quick check in my opinion, at least to rule it out. Evidence recovery would be a double win because it also confirms my solution and moves the case forward at the same time.
This isn’t anything concrete, but circling back to the morphology of the landmark quickly. We have that inner circle. If they are to scan this landmark, that is probably where something is buried. And so the scan by authorities could be focused on the inner circle. In the driest conditions there is a circular bush that persists towards the middle, which tells me it is deeper in that area.
This triangle + inner circle is reminiscent of the “All Seeing Eye”. It is another symbol associated with Masonry, like the tetractys.
It is a bit eerie as I spotted this via satellite, which is kind of like an all seeing eye? Ironic how it was found, if this was the basis for the design we see.
There was another very odd event that has occurred since I solved this. People probably won’t believe this, as it is highly improbable, but it did happen.
I had been debating a rival Z32 solver, as they had an alternative method/solution and were the only one around to talk with. I projected their plaintext onto the map using Haversine and adjusting for the magnetic declination, and it landed just south of a certain island by the Bay Bridge.
I grew up in the Bay and I happened to live on this specific island. I was very surprised to see this occur, but it did. No clue what the odds of that happening are.
I didn’t know much about this case until I made my attempt at this cipher, but it is one of the strangest of all time I’ve found.
Just received this email which is pretty exciting, just sharing an excerpt. I assume they saw it on SSRN.
“We are delighted if you would consider submitting your manuscript for evaluation and potential publication in our journal International Journal of Forensic Sciences (IJFSC) ISSN: 2573-1734; IF: *7.010. If you would like to proceed, please send us your manuscript, and we would be happy to provide you with detailed submission guidelines and information about the review process.”
This is actually the first time someone has emailed me about this, rather than the other way around. Not a bad first one to get.
However I’d rather submit the version that I am still working on. It will be significantly better than version 2. I don’t want to rush it.
I looked into this International Journal of Forensic Sciences that emailed me about my paper. They do seem to have some legitimate experts around the world that are on the board. However, I’ve learned that they actually expect me to pay them a fee of hundreds of dollars for the honor to be reviewed and published in their journal.
Suddenly I am far less interested. While it was nice to receive that email, I didn’t realize I was going to have to pay hundreds of dollars to have experts review my work properly.
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