From 1991 onwards, John Walsh (the well-known host of “America’s Most Wanted”) received a string of letters and cryptograms signed “SCORPION”: these are more usually known as “The Scorpion Ciphers”. However, only two of the ciphertexts and a few pages of text have so far been made public.
The first Scorpion Cipher is known as “S1”, and is laid out in a 10×7 grid: 53 of its 70 symbols are unique.
The fifth Scorpion Cipher is known as “S5”, and is laid out in a 12×15 grid: 155 of its 180 symbols are unique.
The Scorpion text released so far is available on The Cipher Foundation’s Scorpion Ciphers page. For anyone planning (reasonably enough) to use the text of those letters as an example of what to expect in the cleartext, the instance and group statistics are close to what you would expect from normal English:
Letter frequencies
e : 212 11.1%
o : 173 9.1%
t : 151 7.9%
i : 146 7.7%
n : 136 7.1%
a : 132 6.9%
r : 127 6.7%
s : 109 5.7%
l : 84 4.4%
h : 69 3.6%
d : 67 3.5%
c : 66 3.5%
y : 65 3.4%
u : 63 3.3%
m : 57 3.0%
f : 50 2.6%
p : 35 1.8%
w : 33 1.7%
g : 31 1.6%
v : 24 1.3%
b : 23 1.2%
k : 8 0.4%
x : 6 0.3%
j : 1 0.1%
z : 0 0.0%
q : 0 0.0%
2 letter sequences
37 an in th
32 er on
30 ou
28 at
24 or
23 yo nd
22 ve to co
20 se re
19 he nt te et ea is
18 ar ed ra
17 ti ng es
16 ll ly fo ha st
15 ur wi si en it de
14 me nc
13 ro ul le om rs
11 ot al ef ta be ec ho
10 no ri hi ca io ee
9 ry my il el di ow ce
8 ic ne of na sa ys fi od im
7 as lo ci ei sc ni ns tr tt ge us
3 letter sequences
22 you
19 and
14 for
13 ing
12 our the
9 her ati thi
8 nce ion
7 tha ate ver ter
6 ful hat eth ont ean rat ent wit ith
eco con ode com his wil ill
5 sin inc hav ath ere tin not ime sco ica use tio est cod int ran eve ers one ave ove nto ons een
4 letter sequences
8 your
6 this ther eand will with that
5 athe ince tion atio sinc rath have
4 icat eful ours fory ryou oryo form code ihav onsi arat ting tter youw nfor
5 letter sequences
5 ation since ather rathe
4 oryou foryo ihave
6 letter sequences
5 rather
4 foryou
Dear all, For those of you who are “news junkies” you will have heard of the Yazidis in connection with the overrunning of the northern part of Iraq by jihadis. The Yazidis must have the most ecumenical religion ever used by man. It incorporates elements of Sufi-ism (pretty ecumenical in itself; “everywhere I turn I see God” symbolized by the “whirling dances” ; the Shia,form of Islam, Zoroastrianism, early Christianity and some ancient mesopotamian religions. Well ISIL has singled them out as super heretical and they will need all the help from their religious beliefs that they can hope for.
What kind of language did they have? One would guess Arabic but nope. It uses some Western (i.e. Latin) alphabet glyphs (e.g. “o”, ‘x” a side-ways “t” ) and some geometrical forms like little flags, the bisected “u”, the triangle with a horizontal line atop it, those right angle “L’s” that could frame a square, a square, a triangle, parentheses mark, etc. In short a lot of symbols shared by S5, Is this just a weird coincidence or is part of the Scorpion cipher based on the Yazidi alphabet? The parts that have dots or are are blanked out might be math operators.or position indicators: Just a thought. Cheers, Tom
I’ve been looking at S1, the First Scorpion Cipher. So far I have come up with the following; bgel(Beegle?) provided them with new(s?) stories but what if I ask JW(John Walsh?) do I wa(want a?) xry(x-ray?) w(with?) bones ages jee WKON. Was WKON the television station that John Walsh was on?
I am looking at S1, and think Mr. Spande may be on to something. In particular, if people reading the cipher start from the lower right hand corner — the symbol looking like a capital “I”, and remember that in Latin, “I” is “J”, and read from right to left, there are just enough symbols for “JOHNEWALSH” (HSLAWENHOJ). This means the “W” is rotated, and there are only 2 “E”s — and the symbol used for “E” is actually a simple glyph for the “eye” of a hook&eye in a sewing kit. (They usually sit right above a zipper on the back of a woman’s dress.). After that, you go up, then left-to-right, then down, then right to left — a fancy inward-moving snail spiral. Ultimately, more and less of the glyphs may repeat than first thought.
Anyway, this may be theory waiting to be slain by fact, but thanks to giving me the spiral idea from here.
Is it just me or does it look like part of the letter is missing right before: intricate and difficult to recopy onto these cards?
Michael Koebnick: the FBI released only a small number of pages of text, and only a few of the ciphertexts. I transcribed everything I could find for code-breakers to use as a resource, but more would be better. 🙂
I’ve been working on S5 and here is what I have . ” D US LOOK LYK GIVEN ME URE WORD BECAUSE THAT WOULD NOT SHOW THEM MORE DONT STATE JON WALSH EDIT IT ON TN DECEMBER SO IT IS VERY COLD BUT EVEN I HHAVE SLOWWED DOWN OUR LIFE VOICE DOES WRITE IN SOMETHIN GOD DOSO LATE THAY CAUSED OLDETH SO THIS EASIER ON “. I believe that the message is ; ” DOES LOOK LIKE GIVEN ME YOUR WORD BECAUSE THAT WOULD NOT SHOW THEM MORE . DON’T STATE JON WALSH EDIT IT ON 10 DECEMBER SO IT IS VERY COLD BUT EVEN I HAVE SLOWED DOWN . OUR LIFE VOICE DOES WRITE IN SOMETHING GOD DOES SO LATE . THEY CAUSED OLD DEATH SO THIS IS EASIER ON ” .
To rick a. roberts would i be able to ask you a few questions about the s5 cipher and how you came to you conclusions.
Keke,
Thanks for your interest in my work . I’ll try to answer any questions that you have .
would i be able to contact you by email?
Hi Rick A.Roberts
Nice work i would like to know too in fact is there some links to the Zodiac you think!!
@Rick A. Roberts is this tell you something or nah!
When ? the letter after not sure
(N or A) or both*
SASAESIH(?)LOD(?)RD(?)M(N or A)D
So it could be:
SASAESIHODDND
or
SASAESIHLODRDMNAD
Or sometime like that
This is the letter from ted all the word that are underlign first letter
I don’t think this links to the Zodiac. This is just a bored technologist using symbols drawn from an emoji dictionary which first started being published in the year the first letter was sent.
I don’t think he’s troubling anyone anymore — or at least it would not be the same person. This first sample smacks of Lone Wolf, thank God.
I have been studying this case for a year now and i somehow think it links to the zodiac as well especially after the interview strip i gained access to. John Walsh himself stated that prior to scorpion’s letters he was contacted by the Zodiac
The Scorpion Killer seems to use a more complex cipher than the Zodiac Killer does. However, the cipher of the Zodiac Killer seems to have more possibilities as to the deciphering of them and their possible outcomes in the form of a message. Also, the Scorpion Killer uses some symbols that have a two letter meaning to them. I wish that I could look at some of the other Scorpion Text Pages that were not released. I think that the two persons may have known one another.
Well if the Zodiac continued to practice and do cyphers from the late 60’s and 70’s up into the 90’s that is a lot of practice time so I would imagine if he kept at it they would get lot more complex and complicated over time. Anyone find it odd that the killer in Dirty harry was named Scorpio and was based off of the zodiac and then we get the scorpion ? just hit me could be coincidence wish there was more info and all the material was released and what John received from the zodiac etc.
The zodiac cross hair logo is clear in both of these as well.
Mr. E. : Fortunatly for Dirty Harry Callahan, his depraved killer adversary Scorpio was an ultra egotistical psychopath who could not realise his own limitations and infalability that led to his ultimate downfall. On the other hand, our own special pal Zodiac did, so chose to get out of Dodge when it suited him, and kill some time in a place where he wasn’t likely to be so well known; like Boise Idaho for instance.
I wonder if and or when the FBI will release some more of the Scorpion Ciphers ?Using my work from previously posted messages, I believe that I could decipher the unreleased Scorpion Ciphers.
See my 09FEB16 deciphering of S5. I have solved this cipher of the Scorpion killer. I wish that the FBI would post more of the Scorpion’s coded letters so that I could decipher them also.
How did you solve it Rick?
In S5, there are some symbols that repeat, and it seems many of these symbols repeat 16 digits apart; the first symbol is repeated in 16 digits going from left to right and down to the second line from left to right again and so on. This happens again and again. I think the number 16 is the prominent theme of the cypher, as well as multiples of 16 like 32, 48, 64, 80, and 96 as well as divisibles of 16 like 8 and 4.
I wonder, was this sent to John Walsh on the 16th anniversary of Adam’s kidnapping and death? In 1997? Does anyone know? I see the greeting card print states, “Remember me?” Creepy.
Are there any younger people on this site who listen to today’s music? Does anybody find it odd that Aubrey Graham or Drake released his album “Scorpion” where he talks about turning from 6 to 23. Gives me the creeps.
Possible solution found using AZDecrypt! Excuse the “French”!
D JUST THING A F###### THIS PROBABLY WOULD BE FOR EVERY THANKS FOR MAN EX P
I consider this a simple form of garbled message (i.e. “switcheroo”) =
“For a ex PD man, this would be just thanks for probably every F###### thing.”
Perhaps the author of the cipher had merely wanted to taunt a former police department man with yet another riddle that he knew would take forever to solve?
Cheers
Ian
Possible solution found using AZDecrypt! Excuse the “French”!
D JUST THING A F###### THIS PROBABLY WOULD BE FOR EVERY THANKS FOR MAN EX P
I consider this a simple form of garbled message (i.e. “switcheroo”) =
“For a ex PD man, this would be just thanks for probably every F###### thing.”
Perhaps the author of the cipher had merely wanted to taunt a former police department man with yet another riddle that he knew would take forever to solve?
Cheers
Ian
Have you considered that it could read “Sharon Huddle is mad” or something along those lines?
1991 is the year Joseph James DeAngelo became separated from his wife, I believe. His wife was Sharon Huddle.
Sharon Huddle is mad, is how I read it.
1991 is the year Joseph James DeAngelo became separated from his wife, I believe. His wife was Sharon Huddle.
Has anyone solved any of these yet
Can s5 be linked with vigenere cipher
Yes Freddy – I solved both S1 (Z70) and S5 ( Z180) in 2018, and available to view at zodiackillermystery.freeforums.net in the thread ”Scorpion’s Ciphers – The Zodiac, 1991 and beyond” at the ciphers section of the site.
The solutions are 100% homophonic – with no transpositions.
The Crown Office UK, The CA DOJ and FBI have them, on the basis of a ”thank you” and not much more. So, you be the judge – and no pilfering thank you.
In my opinion, Scorpion was undoubtedly The Zodiac. The solutions’ content suggest that the Zodiac was spending short breaks in New York City, between his travels. More probably jetting in to Newark International Airport, then a short train ride into The Big Apple.
Two spelling errors in S1 (S70) :
”Late Cofee” instead of correct Latte Coffee.
And S5 (Z180) :
”Cofee” instead of correct Coffee.
S5 (Z180) shows the Zodiac’s skills as a wordsmith at its best, with much concealed messaging, and warped humour.
The Zodiac’s sign off line as a cipher-maker (circa 1997) ? :
” New York Pee Coffee forces a cold enema review.”.
I know who wrote the scorpion letters…
Law enforcement is beyond stupid for not catching the person that wrote the letters. Also, yes the Scorpion Letters are written by the Zodiac Killer … duh !!!
I know who it is. He was being 100% honest about his identity. He even gave his date of birth….. Lisa and J**** are interesting . Some Sheriffs are either beyond stupid or corrupt..
AC electricity is interesting.
DC – direct current is interesting.
Oh and forgot to mention…
Geraldo was mentioned that the Zodiac Killings were cult/ satanic related and law enforcement was involved.
LOL. If he only knew how F—ing correct he was ….
Law enforcement is either involved with the Zodiac Killer or they are beyond STUPID!!!!
Plenty of creepy transients with flowers in their hair and murder on their minds making passing through to San Francisco environs like Haight Ashury in Zodiac’s day. Take brothers Lee and Preston Shakelford for example; local lads who had moved east to evade the law in their late teens and travelled far & wide during the early sixties. Must have been others just like them who operated as a team or went it alone to suit their blood lust.