Somewhere back on the old discussion board didn’t someone find a reference Manalli made to having back problems that caused him trouble when walking?

Or am I dreaming?

Your not dreaming, Pat. Manalli did complain of back problems. But going through 59 pages of Manalli stuff on the old board to find it is not something I want to do!!! I will look through the letters of his that I have and see if I can find it.

Your not dreaming, Pat. Manalli did complain of back problems. But going through 59 pages of Manalli stuff on the old board to find it is not something I want to do!!! I will look through the letters of his that I have and see if I can find it.

Thank you Seagull but iirc it was in a letter he wrote to someone. I just wanted confirmation from someone that I didn’t dream it. I can still see it in my mind.

I’m trying to exclude Manalli as a possible suspect. It seems Manalli likely had a noticeble problem with walking (gait). Thanks again!

The more I read about this guy, the more he becomes one of my favorite POIs

The more I read about this guy, the more he becomes one of my favorite POIs

me2, and there’s more on the way from Traveller1st, I suspect (I’d fill you in but why spoil the game? )

Ok,

Lets get this ball rolling. Again, apologies we cannot show these in their entirety. I will in due course create PDF binder files for these new letters as well but that will have to wait as we are sifting and organising the stuff first. well maybe second lol.

There’s a lot to read through (thanks morf btw for getting these). We, that’s Deb, morf and myself have already picked up on some possibly interesting things in these communications. What I am going to present briefly here is basically an appetizer and my own initial thought’s/speculations. Basically a visual summary of a few things that jumped out at me. These can be expanded on or dismissed. I just wanted to show that Fred hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to surprising with little things he says and the possible context of them regarding the Zodiac case.

These are in the order that I found them in according to the name of the scan file. Not how they appear chronologically in the letters. These are also from the first 50 letters only and they are snippets at best. So you can begin to imagine how much stuff we will all have the chance to examine.

‘Carbons’

Ok, I’ll keep that in mind I thought as I read it. Obviously I’m including it because of the ‘Confession’ letter. Not very exciting on it’s own but slot it into the bigger picture that’s been building throughout this stuff.

Then …. Well what can you say? It’s Freddie, never a dull moment.

‘The Exorcist’

Weird but then it gets weirder and he drops this one.

‘Clew’?

‘Tahoe’

I picked up on this because he mentions Tahoe and his familiarity with the area. (highlighted in green). The words underlined in red are where he was playing with words based on their phonetic soundings.

‘Survival’

Just highlighting this really to put the comment into context with it’s own letter. Won’t expand any further but I have some thought’s on it.

‘Poem’

This one I will post in it’s entirety as it will be open to many, interpretations, implications. Even down to it just being poetry.

So, like I said. This is a tiny glimpse, a snapshot. Just to get us rolling on this new Manalli chapter. There is much, MUCH, more to discuss.

Good stuff so far Trav. Thanks to Seagull for helping to get this project completed, and to Trav for doing the exams. I know some of these contents are of great interest regarding Seagull’s other project: http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/

I did a cursory glance of the old batch of letters the other day. What jumps out at me right away is the tone of the letters. Most of the have an underlying anger in them. I get the same feeling when I read the Zodiac letters.

Just checked how far Santa Rosa is from Vallejo: currently 53 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes (according to traffic conditions).

The Golden Gate Bridge is 50 miles from Santa Rosa and San Francisco proper is 70 miles.

I’m sure most of you already knew this but I didn’t. I’d bet it was even quicker back in the old days.

Just checked how far Santa Rosa is from Vallejo: currently 53 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes (according to traffic conditions).

The Golden Gate Bridge is 50 miles from Santa Rosa and San Francisco proper is 70 miles.

I’m sure most of you already knew this but I didn’t. I’d bet it was even quicker back in the old days.

Thats the thing that I have never found, is a link between Manalli & Vallejo.

I had started to write this into my own thread above but I realised I’m asking myself some interesting questions while I was typing and started feeling a little bit too much for the synopsis feel. That I didn’t want it getting buried. Started as a simple expansion on ‘why’ the Exorcist mention was interesting to me.

‘The Exorcist’

What I find interesting about this is the context. Manalli uses the Exorcist book as an example to derise others. I have always felt that was Zodiac’s intent in the opening lines of the Exorcist letter. Same subject used to similar effect. To explain, I’ve always felt that the reason Zodiac chose to refer to the film as a comedy was that it was the most hurtful thing to say. For something that no doubt touted as the scariest or greatest horror film of all time, even at the time lol, it would be the best insult to refer to it as because it is the polar opposite to what it was intended to be.

I feel that had he actually been using it to refer to himself ie That wasn’t horror, I am REAL horror he would have made it clearer. There is precedence for why I think that, the dripping pen card. He writes ‘do my Thing". This allusion is pretty clear, and it’s relevant in the context of the rest of the writing on that card, including the pre-printed wording of the card itself. I have to wonder if it’s just a coincidence that Zodiac himself uses technique again at the bottom of the Exorcist letter albeit a longer version where the allusion is "something nasty" instead of "my thing". Now why do that if the opening lines of the letter are also an allusion to himself?

Infact, why include it at all? Do we even know if he understood the purpose of the device? I think he did and that makes me wonder if he himself, after having already penned the opening lines of the Exorcist letter, wondered briefly about it’s allusion possibilities but thought, no as it already had a purpose and that would be too complicated, and maybe telling? I wonder then with that in mind did think back to the last one he’d used and then slip it in, in a different fashion when writing the ps.

Anywho, that was a lot of rambling. Wondered if the use of allusion in Zodiac writings is in anyway telling. Perhaps someone with a better understanding of the intricacies of such matters might like to consider that. Not just that it was used but also the context and content in which it was used.

I agree, both Zodiac & Manalli, had some negative feeling towards THE EXORCIST. Manalli, jealous maybe of the book? I am not a big book reader, but my Mom has read thousands of them, and she said that book was so scary, and well written, she was afraid to turn the page, but couldnt stop herself. Maybe Manalli called it a joke but was jealous? Than, (If Manalli was Z),the slap in the Face, it gets made into a hit film, and he cant even get a book published, that might stir up some bad feelings worth of mentioning in a Zodiac letter.

To my knowledge, Manalli & Donald Bujok are the only two suspects in the Z case to ever mention the Exorcist, or maybe Gaik and the Good Times did,I cant remember

The more I read about this guy, the more he becomes one of my favorite POIs

me2, and there’s more on the way from Traveller1st, I suspect (I’d fill you in but why spoil the game? )

Haha, I am patient! Thank you guys for posting all of this great info, and I apologize for my absence lately. Going through a custody battle, so I just haven’t had the time to be here

I agree, both Zodiac & Manalli, had some negative feeling towards THE EXORCIST. Manalli, jealous maybe of the book? I am not a big book reader, but my Mom has read thousands of them, and she said that book was so scary, and well written, she was afraid to turn the page, but couldnt stop herself. Maybe Manalli called it a joke but was jealous? Than, (If Manalli was Z),the slap in the Face, it gets made into a hit film, and he cant even get a book published, that might stir up some bad feelings worth of mentioning in a Zodiac letter.

To my knowledge, Manalli & Donald Bujok are the only two suspects in the Z case to ever mention the Exorcist, or maybe Gaik and the Good Times did,I cant remember

I just thought of one additional detail regarding this exorcist situation, when zodiac describes the movie he uses the word satirical/saterical. Manalli also used that word, and I think it’s a safe bet that word was not very common when Zodiac used it

Seagull is working on a solid timeline for Fred, where he was, and when he was there.

For example, Zodiac wrote a letter in March,1971, then nothing for almost 3 years. In 1971, I want to say by mid 71, Manalli appears to have left for Europe, possibly chasing after a French girl he fell for, which so far, looks to line up well with Zodiac’s activity,or lack thereof.

During the mid 70’s, maybe 74, Manalli is back in the SF bay area for a time, but then winds up back at his parents hime in ILL. That could explain lack of letters from Z after the 1974 ones. I will have to double check, but I think Manalli arrives back in the SF area in late 75, and he dies in the car crash in Aug,76.

So far, Manalli’s timeline appears to line up favorably with the letters from Z,and the absence of letters too, but maybe Seagull will have a more solid list.