Have a couple of thoughts regarding this letter but I’d first like to gauge opinion with a couple of questions…..

1. What was the purpose of this letter/what was Z trying to achieve?
2. Was he still Z?
3. Was he attempting to "slip" one passed LE or had he an expectation that the connection would be made?
4. Could he be confident either way? ie… that he could slip it by or that it would be recognised?

Thanks!

Purpose of this letter to me is clear, tongue in cheek humour. Sarcastically comical, knowing that many people will not get his intent and tone and probably react with "I can’t believe what I am reading! This Zodiac Killer person has only called for society to be more caring, understanding and empathetic toward those who are victims of homicide instead of Glorifying the true life murder rampage of Charlie Starkweather! And look what he himself is doing! Hypocrite!" Lol

He’s taking the piss. He knows that writing to call for more compassion and asking society to think of others before itself, saying he wishes to express his utter consternation at society and it’s selfish attitude is coming from the one man who himself does the exact opposite.

I think I can sort of get into Zodiac’s head as to why he wrote this and what he would have gained and felt from doing so because I have a very similar sense of humour and find things like that funny too. The more absolutely ridiculous and counter-intuitive something is, the funnier also. Like Mike Tyson announcing tomorrow 35 speaking engagements around the States Universities lecturing on how to live a rage free quiet life. Laughable lol.

Have a couple of thoughts regarding this letter but I’d first like to gauge opinion with a couple of questions…..

1. What was the purpose of this letter/what was Z trying to achieve?
2. Was he still Z?
3. Was he attempting to "slip" one passed LE or had he an expectation that the connection would be made?
4. Could he be confident either way? ie… that he could slip it by or that it would be recognised?

Thanks!

Purpose of this letter to me is clear, tongue in cheek humour. Sarcastically comical, knowing that many people will not get his intent and tone and probably react with "I can’t believe what I am reading! This Zodiac Killer person has only called for society to be more caring, understanding and empathetic toward those who are victims of homicide instead of Glorifying the true life murder rampage of Charlie Starkweather! And look what he himself is doing! Hypocrite!" Lol

He’s taking the piss. He knows that writing to call for more compassion and asking society to think of others before itself, saying he wishes to express his utter consternation at society and it’s selfish attitude is coming from the one man who himself does the exact opposite.

I think I can sort of get into Zodiac’s head as to why he wrote this and what he would have gained and felt from doing so because I have a very similar sense of humour and find things like that funny too. The more absolutely ridiculous and counter-intuitive something is, the funnier also. Like Mike Tyson announcing tomorrow 35 speaking engagements around the States Universities lecturing on how to live a rage free quiet life. Laughable lol.

In a way,I can agree, on the other hand, the letter didnt obviously overly look like zodiac, no warning that it was from zodiac, so I think it’s possible, that z, whomever he was, wrote letters to the papers,even when he was not Z, and this just happened to get spotted. I am willing to bet that there are letters to the editor out there some place,signed with zodiac’s real name-likely from before his time as zodiac,I think once he started writing as Zodiac, he would be too paranoid to use his real name.

Purpose of this letter to me is clear, tongue in cheek humour. Sarcastically comical, knowing that many people will not get his intent and tone and probably react with "I can’t believe what I am reading! This Zodiac Killer person has only called for society to be more caring, understanding and empathetic toward those who are victims of homicide instead of Glorifying the true life murder rampage of Charlie Starkweather! And look what he himself is doing! Hypocrite!" Lol

He’s taking the piss. He knows that writing to call for more compassion and asking society to think of others before itself, saying he wishes to express his utter consternation at society and it’s selfish attitude is coming from the one man who himself does the exact opposite.

I think I can sort of get into Zodiac’s head as to why he wrote this and what he would have gained and felt from doing so because I have a very similar sense of humour and find things like that funny too. The more absolutely ridiculous and counter-intuitive something is, the funnier also. Like Mike Tyson announcing tomorrow 35 speaking engagements around the States Universities lecturing on how to live a rage free quiet life. Laughable lol.

Hi WC,

If the Zodiac enjoyed ironic humor as much as you and I obviously do, it seems likely that he would also have had the mirror neurons to realize that jokes are funnier when other people are able to understand them.

G

P.S.: Hmmm, on a whim after writing the above, I went to search for articles about psychopaths and mirror neurons (not that I am 100% convinced that Z was a true psychopath in the clinical definition) and found one that claims some psychopaths have more mirror neurons than the regular population and are even more empathic that the average individual ( http://books.scientificamerican.com/fsg … ychopaths/). Curious. Not sure if that is true, but I certainly never heard that before.

Edit: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the … not-always

Well that may be true in a very small number of Psychopaths, but not many, and certainly not Zodiac! He appeared to have no empathy at all to commit the murders and then write letters taking extreme pleasure recalling doing his thing.

Sociopaths know the difference between right and wrong, they just don’t care. If you have a sociopathic person who also has a narcissistic personality then potentially you have a deadly combination because a Sociopath lacks empathy and therefor doesn’t care about others and sees them as objects, and the narcissist believes he is entitled to do what he pleases because he’s something special, above all the other ‘Average’ people around him. So if you believe society’s rules only apply to everyone else and not you because you have a self appointed entitlement to do as you wish, and when you do what you want and it causes someone else great pain, the Sociopath doesn’t understand because other people are not viewed as living people with emotions, they are objects to use, manipulate and discard whenever the entitled narcissist feels like it.

I have been tossing this idea around in my head for a while, and was going to try to trace the YMCA bus trip, but its nearly impossible now without an old map, roads have changes, etc.

My point being is the YMCA bus trip went through parts of the country called "Badlands," and Ross’s brother John was on the bus. It is also where it caught fire and broke down. They found nothing but nice, helpful people. And this was only a year or two before the "murder spree" in South Dakota happened. Their father was also regarded as somewhat of a hero for getting help to the group in such a desolate part.

JMHO, but this could have caused conflict (or inspiration) for Ross after hearing the many tales I am sure his brother and father brought back. Ross would have been old enough at that point to be paying attention to the news, and might have known of the killing spree (I assume it made national headlines?). The movie also could have angered him if it did provide inspiration, some paranoid fear they will figure him out, especially given the coincidences listed in this thread.

And by this time, I think we can assume Ross was medicated and under some form of care given the conservatorship.

Lastly, I might post this elsewhere, too- I have to wonder if he even remembers the killings, or may have seemed dreamlike to some extent. It is not uncommon in certain medical conditions for that to happen. And it is also possible, given Ross’s presumed history growing up, he had a true "split" personality. Rare, but he checks a lot of the boxes…

Like I said, just thoughts floating in my brain.

-M

Wasn’t Ross also on the bus? Or are you indicating that he was not on the trip, and only Jon and Ross’s father were there? I was under the impression that Ross was there as well.

According to the article, which can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=106&t=1441&p=38614&hilit=bus+trip#p38614

No, only Jon and his father were on the trip. Tim was not either. I am not sure why, you would think it would sound like fun.

-m

Thanks for that, I don’t think I read through the caption carefully the first time I saw that article.