I always thought the way "sorry no cipher" crosses with itself as very Z like.

I think it’s obvious to most that there is a missed opportunity in that arrangement to use the "no" as the center of the x, but he has two "no’s" instead. But the fact that is is clearly intended to be an x contradicts the idea this was an afterthought. If it was cruciform (horizontal and vertical) I would think differently.

Anyway, I don’t ascribe great meaning to it other than it loosely jives with his seemingly scattered (in)ability to spell, little word games, puns, etc. Just a generally agitated and scattered mind. I think it’s not a hoax.

I disagree that the "paradice / slaves" thing is in 340. I think that’s a huge stretch.

After many years of looking into this I’m still unclear as to why anyone thinks there is a direct reference to 340 in this. Why? because it says sorry no cipher? or because of the block arrangement of by knife, rope etc? Sure that is vaguely cipher-esque, but there’s nothing in it that is a direct reference to 340.

After many years of looking into this I’m still unclear as to why anyone thinks there is a direct reference to 340 in this. Why? because it says sorry no cipher? or because of the block arrangement of by knife, rope etc? Sure that is vaguely cipher-esque, but there’s nothing in it that is a direct reference to 340.

A long time ago, Jos Kirps noticed parts of "PARADICE / SLAVES", and 4 occurrences of "BY", appearing in Z340. Here’s his original page about it (now defunct but preserved by wayback machine):

http://www.kirps.com/web/main/resources/various/zodiac340 /”> https://web.archive.org/web/20090408042 … zodiac340/

After many years of looking into this I’m still unclear as to why anyone thinks there is a direct reference to 340 in this. Why? because it says sorry no cipher? or because of the block arrangement of by knife, rope etc? Sure that is vaguely cipher-esque, but there’s nothing in it that is a direct reference to 340.

A long time ago, Jos Kirps noticed parts of "PARADICE / SLAVES", and 4 occurrences of "BY", appearing in Z340. Here’s his original page about it (now defunct but preserved by wayback machine):

http://www.kirps.com/web/main/resources/various/zodiac340 /”> https://web.archive.org/web/20090408042 … zodiac340/

Occam’s razor dictates that this is the solution and the rest of the cipher is junk.

Hi everyone, yes I’m aware of the partial paradice and slaves and the 4 "by’s" but there are so many other things that can be spotted when you loosen the rules to that degree, so I feel like it can’t be that useful ultimately…
That’s just my opinion.

It’s not just the comparison between the 340 and Halloween card, it’s both Fairfield letters and the clues in the 13 Hole postcard that point to the design of paradice and slaves in the 340. I don’t really know what more the Zodiac could have done, other than actually tell us the 340 was no cipher. Oh, sorry he did – on the Halloween card envelope that mimicked the paradice and slaves configuration, that mimicked the crucifix on the 13 Hole postcard, that mimicked the cruciform pattern in the 340 cipher, that mimicked the design in the December 16th Fairfield letter – and finally – By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, paradice and slaves (38 characters) that mimicked the cipher count of 38 in the December 7th Fairfield letter, which By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, paradice and slaves could be fitted perfectly on every row. All just a coincidence of course.

Hi Richard, just want to say I really enjoy your website and especially your youtube videos and hope there are many more to come.

In terms of this thread, I think I have to respectfully disagree – I think the idea that paradice / slaves is a reliable way to look at 340 doesn’t fit for me.

For example – if you say you see paradice / slaves in 340, then what is the meaning of the odd spacing between the letters of those words in that configuration?

I can’t accept they are random nulls, because then we can really start seeing all kinds of word games. It just opens up way too much for me.

To me it just doesn’t seem clear enough to be considered a reliable jumping off point. Maybe I’m wrong – but I don’t see it.

It’s not so much that I can see paradice and slaves Fisherman’s Friend, it can actually be generated with the letter S being represented by the two dashes and the "left sidewards V" represented by the E. The two + signs are also conveniently arranged in the correct position to create to "ARA" of paradice, which then forms "RAD" through the centre of the cipher vertically, just like the Halloween card. Also, the P is positioned as the trigger, top centre of the 340 cipher. The arrangement of paradice and slaves exactly bisects the cipher horizontally and vertically, and is exactly 17 by 17. The four by’s can be found in each quadrant.

The 13 Hole postcard, cryptic by nature, mimics the Dick Tracy punchholes and red decoder. The Zodiac had already written 13 on the card, but decided to spend the time in adding 13 punchholes into the fabric of the card, as well as specifically choosing to add a crucifix of red paper, rather than just drawing it. This to me is suggestive of meaning and something designed for purpose. He punched out 13 holes, wrote it’s one big thirteenth, added a number 13 and pasted a red crucifix. All this effort for apparently no reason. The thirteen holes deliberately arranged over Zodiac’s Dick Tracy red decoder in cruciform, then placed over the 340 cipher would reveal the cryptic paradice and slaves in its design. The Zodiac got no takers between October 5th and October 27th 1970, so decided to vomit the answer in its entirety in the Halloween card, accompanied by the further clue of "sorry no cipher" in a crude cross formation on the Halloween envelope, telling us he was sorry, but the 340 wasn’t a cipher, but paradice and slaves.

This wasn’t the first time Zodiac gave us clues to the makeup of the 340 cipher, as exhibited by both Fairfield letters. The first carrying the Z38 code of By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, paradice and slaves. The second displaying the rudimentary design of the Halloween card, preceded by the 5 letter code of "death", which preceded By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife on the Tim Holt comic. In other words, the 340 cipher was inspired by the Tim Holt comic, and why Zodiac wrote "by knife" on the car door. In essence, his crosshairs were front and centre of everything. This isn’t just about the Halloween card and 340 cipher Fisherman’s Friend, it is about the same message running through five communications, with paradice and slaves the centrepiece – literally. It is my firm belief that the 340 is nothing more than a picture of a cross, emblazoned with paradice and slaves in the true Christian style of an afterlife, with his masterpiece cipher autographed on the final line, but again disguised in less than convincing style.

We all have differing views. This is just another. Cheers FF.

Richard I haven’t decided it is a hoax I just don’t think it’s a definite zodiac card. "By Knife" could easily have been a fluke.

Are you saying the Z340 cipher was never intended to be a cipher and just has the By Knife, By Gun etc clues? I’m having a which look at it now and I can see a BY in every quadrant.

If you don’t think it’s a genuine Zodiac communication, can you explain why you think this way?

i think the happy medium is the possibility that letters from 1970 may include clues to the 340. if the 340 has a solution then i think he wanted it solved eventually, even if to just disappoint us with a pointless message. it makes sense with what we know of his personality that he’d give small clues because that’s the part of the game that makes him feel superior. as i’ve said before, i don’t envision a clue from him being a complicated ten step process, but rather something simple and linear even if not directly stated.

340 is sent in november 1969. in apr 1970 he sends the "my name is" letter with the 13 character cipher. all of the symbols are in the 340 except the "eight ball". in june 1970 he sends the bus bomb letter with the 32 character cipher that’s supposed to tell us where the bomb is set. it has 30 unique symbols, and all except the "omega" are in the 340.

i was looking at vic ciphers the other day and, when they were used, the encryption method often started with the name of a song. maybe "my name is" cipher is a clue to some key word he used to encrypt the 340. i found several places where the letters in the two columns of the 32 character cipher occur in that order in the 340 (probably just random chance, but something along those lines makes sense to me).

i disagree with the idea that the 340 isn’t a cipher and only contains the "by -device-" and paradice/slaves. the halloween card (sent in october 1970, almost a year after the 340) proves that he was still thinking about the 340 a year after sending it. so maybe "14" is a clue to a row or column or a period 14 clue.

im going to continue to bang this gong until i’m sent to the loony bin. i think there is a possibility he left clues in his 1970 letters and mailings to help decipher the 340. i think those clues will be hard to find but will be simple and make complete sense once it’s solved.

I ran a test to calculate the odds of having "By", BY", "yB" or "YB" appear just once in every quadrant from random shuffles (q1: 9 by 10, q2: 8 by 10, q3: 9 by 10, q4: 8 by 10). Only horizontal appearances just like in the Z340.

The odds are roughly 1 in 10,000.

What are the odds that knife, rope, fire and gun could be spelled in all the correct quadrants as displayed in the Halloween card (on top of finding four by’s). Of course, to create 4 equal quadrants, you have to include the central column, thus making the quadrants 90 characters by 4.

I think there is a subtlety to this analysis.

The question should instead be more generalized, like this:
"What are the odds that words significant to the Zodiac case could be spelled in regions that line up with some Zodiac-related letter or card?"

For example, testing just for specific words does not give us a sense of how often someone could interpret random ciphertext as significant for resembling other words and phrases.

I’m not sure I’m explaining this well.
Let me think of a physical example:
I randomly throw a pile of scrabble tiles next to a tree at a park.
They randomly form something that kind of looks like the word "TREE".
I leave it there. Someone else walks by and sees that it seems to say "TREE" and concludes that whoever put the tiles there must have spelled tree on purpose.
Later, I come back and pick up the tiles and throw them down again.
Someone else comes by and sees that the tiles seem to say "GRASS" and concludes that since the tiles are on the grass, it must have been intentional.
So, we can’t test the significance of the appearance of the word "TREE" by ignoring the possibility that other words like "GRASS" can turn up from a random process (me throwing tiles).

When Jarlve tested for "BY", he only looked for a specific case: the word BY appears in multiple quadrants.
But what is lacking from the test is: What other words COULD have appeared that Zodiac researchers might have found significant?
Producing that list is challenging since it’s subjective.
But it increases the probability that significant words appear purely at random.

That’s part of what makes these things difficult to evaluate. It’s hard to make good tests. But it’s all fascinating to me, and I like that you and others are digging into these things!

ha ha l lowe

I can concede Dave that Paradice and Slaves isn’t written fully in a crucifix formation in the 340, because had this been done it would have been pretty easy to discover and negates the idea of a puzzle. But we can accept it can be formed. My question would be, not only how likely would it be that the possibility was created accidentally, but how likely it was created accidentally, thereby dividing the cipher horizontally and vertically. Then you can add the likelihood of the four by’s, followed by the Halloween card author designing a cruciform paradice and slaves without any knowledge that these two words were bisecting the 340 cipher. Then chucking in the two cryptic Fairfield letters, that again would have been designed like this accidentally with no purpose.

If we use the tree or grass analogy, there becomes a tipping point. We can say that paradice and slaves could be a random occurrence undesigned from Halloween card to 340, but when the parallels can be shown over five communications over nearly a year (all of which were codes or cryptic references), at what point do we switch from random chance to orchestrated design. If the scrabble tiles are discovered 5 times and keep producing results, at some point we have to contend they weren’t thrown anymore.

We will accept the 340 cipher being solved using a cryptographic technique, if the steps on encryption can be demonstrated, but I equally feel that no amount of corrobarative evidence bereft of a cryptographic technique, will ever satisfy somebody looking for a cryptographic answer. The deck is stacked in favour of a solution that only relies on some form of cryptographic technique – anything that falls outside this remit, will just be passed off as chance, coincidence, or fluke. The golf ball landing on the same piece of grass 100 times in a row, just another stroke of luck and more coincidence. The only realistic conclusion being, anything outside the field of cryptography is doomed to failure.