Well it certainly seems like he put some effort into the costume. Which says to me it was more than a simple disguise, a balaclava could have achieved that.

I think he wanted to first scare the life out of them with the aid of a ‘spooky’ costume. Although that didn’t really seem to happen, at least with Brian.

Well it certainly seems like he put some effort into the costume. Which says to me it was more than a simple disguise, a balaclava could have achieved that.

I think he wanted to first scare the life out of them with the aid of a ‘spooky’ costume. Although that didn’t really seem to happen, at least with Brian.

Yep…agreed in my previous posts, early on.

I think the main thing to take from the hood is, it took sewing skill and privacy to make.

I think Zodiac wore the hood at Lake Berryessa because it was his first attack after he began sending his letters. He had created a persona and a uniform of sorts to go with it. Being just an ordinary murderer wasn’t enough. Now he was "The Zodiac". And it allowed him to interact with his victims, as he perhaps couldn’t have without the mask.

The Lake Berryessa attack is strange because it is such a shift in terms of the amount of time he spent on the scene, the lack of a quick way out, and the conversation with the victims. If not for the rage shown in the attack on the female victim the event would have little in common with the first two murders. In fact, were it not for that and the phone call afterward I would almost think it was a different killer than the murderer in the first two events. Were that the case perhaps he wore a hood because he wasn’t the same person who committed the first crimes and this person didn’t have the nerve to face his victims without the hood.

A final thought about the mask. In the artists conception you often see the four corners of the hood are square, the top flat. It almost appears he has put fabric around a very old welder’s mask.

The Lake Berryessa attack is strange because it is such a shift in terms of the amount of time he spent on the scene, the lack of a quick way out, and the conversation with the victims.

If you consider the Domingo/Edwards murders as being committed by Zodiac, and I do, then the LB attack doesn’t seem like such an outlier.

A final thought about the mask. In the artists conception you often see the four corners of the hood are square, the top flat. It almost appears he has put fabric around a very old welder’s mask.

Looks like a paper sack to me. Whatever it was made of, it had something inside to stiffen it and hold it in shape, and hold it tight to his head.

Lots of great theories on this thread as to why Zodiac wore the "Hood." Most Zodiac sketches at other kill sites suggest he had a crew cut. But at the lake, Zodiac looked different. The three girls at the lake described someone watching about 6 foot 2, but the sketch shows longer, darker hair parted on the side.

If it was Zodiac the three girls saw earlier in the day observing them, I tend to think he wore a wig to the lake. I seem to recall that Hartnell recalled Zodiac had darker brown hair that hung down a bit over his forehead that he observed through the eye hole of the executioner’s hood.

Zodiac knew the lake was his first daytime kill. And he knew that Mike Mageau survived his last nighttime kill and gave a description of Zodiac.

So my take is that the Zodiac was turned on by the risks involved in a daytime kill, but was also apprehensive about killing in broad daylight and took extra precautions to disguise his appearance.

He wore a wig with longer darker hair with side part to conceal his lighter color crew cut. This would disguise him when he wasn’t using the hood.

Then when he found his victims and got close, he planned to use the hood to hide himself during the close-quarters killing. That way, in case anyone survived, they wouldn’t know what he looks like.

Then we turn to the question of: Why would the Zodiac put his cross hair symbol on the Executioner’s hood for his victims to see if the hood is a disguise — especially when Zodiac was trying to put Brian and Cecilia at ease so he could tie them up for stabbing? Zodiac said: "All I want is your money" trying to lull them into a false sense of ease. But with the symbol on his hood, Zodiac would have known his victims might recognize that symbol from press reports and freak out. And at that point Zodiac would have to shoot them instead of stab them. And shooting would create more noise.

I therefore have to conclude that Zodiac weighed that possibility and chose to put his symbol on the hood anyway. He decided if his victims were gullible and didn’t understand the symbol on the hood, he would stab them by knife. If they recognized his symbol and tried to run, he would shoot them. He figured the area was remote and sparsely populated enough that he could fire the gun if needed.

My key point with this theory is that Zodiac put the crosshair symbol on his hood as a sadistic "clue" that he was providing to his soon-to-be victims. And since Zodiac thinks man is "the most dangerous animal," he found the potential for his victims to realize what the symbol meant very exciting and thrilling.

One interesting thing is that Hartnell recalls that the Zodiac’s hands were shaking.

BRYAN: Your hands are shaking? Are you nervous?
ASSAILANT: Yes, I guess so. (laughs in a very relaxed manner)

I’ve pondered the hand shaking quite a bit. I think it reveals that Zodiac was nervous about the risks of the day time kill but also drew great satisfaction from it. But the nervousness tends to reinforce the theory that he was going to lengths to disguise himself — first with a wig and second with the hood.

One interesting thing is that Hartnell recalls that the Zodiac’s hands were shaking.

BRYAN: Your hands are shaking? Are you nervous?
ASSAILANT: Yes, I guess so. (laughs in a very relaxed manner)

I’ve pondered the hand shaking quite a bit. I think it reveals that Zodiac was nervous about the risks of the day time kill but also drew great satisfaction from it.

That is a curious thing, about the shaking, and laughing. Might have well just been nerves, but there might be more to it. It might have been some sort of psychotic reaction to the thrill of killing. Hartnell said Zodiac went into somewhat of a "frenzy" when he was stabbing Cecelia. She resisted much more than Bryan though, so he had to try harder. Might have brought back memories of Cheri Jo Bates if she is indeed a Zodiac victim.

But the nervousness tends to reinforce the theory that he was going to lengths to disguise himself — first with a wig and second with the hood.

Agreed, but the hood was more than just to hide his identity. It has a ritualistic vibe about it. It meant something, else he would have just worn a ski mask.

I don’t know why the Hood was worn, unless it was just an idea he was trying out. The Hood is never used or seen again. Maybe it was to hard to work in, hot, or blocked his vision, when he was ready to kill he would have to whip it out and get it on and then off. I think it would be cumbersome. Did he really wear sunglasses on the outside of the Hood like the drawing. Could have been a copy cat that didn’t match the description of the Zodiac and wanted to keep it that way.

If the scene was filmed, this must have happened from some distance.

In my opinion Z wore the hood because he knew Cecilia (most likely her).

The problem I see with both of those suppositions is that Cecilia got a good long look at him as he approached, She first saw him several hundred yards away according to the detective who spoke to her. Seems she would have seen if he had a camera, I’m assuming it would have been on a tripod that required him to set it up. Seems she would have recognized him if she did know him, he wasn’t that far away when he stepped behind the tree to put the mask on.

I’ve always been amazed at how relatively calm both Bryan and Cecilia were. I mean, if this was heading towards me, I’d loose my **** and he’d have to shoot me in the back as I was running away. This image has always been nightmare fuel to me.

In this picture the mask looks a lot like a paper grocery bag with sunglasses used to hold it in place. If I saw someone approaching from a distance with a mask on I would run away.

As to why he wore it, it was important to him. If he just wanted to hide his face, a ski mask would have worked. I agree with many others it made him look, at least to himself, like the super villain he wanted to be.

I’m also not convinced that LB was the only time he wore it. We know he didn’t with Stein of course, or with the Ferrin/Mageau shooting, but I’m pretty well convinced he killed more than we or the police know. Seems something he put too much time and effort in for a one time use.

If the scene was filmed, this must have happened from some distance.

In my opinion Z wore the hood because he knew Cecilia (most likely her).

The problem I see with both of those suppositions is that Cecilia got a good long look at him as he approached, She first saw him several hundred yards away according to the detective who spoke to her. Seems she would have seen if he had a camera, I’m assuming it would have been on a tripod that required him to set it up. Seems she would have recognized him if she did know him, he wasn’t that far away when he stepped behind the tree to put the mask on.

I’ve always been amazed at how relatively calm both Bryan and Cecilia were. I mean, if this was heading towards me, I’d loose my **** and he’d have to shoot me in the back as I was running away. This image has always been nightmare fuel to me.

In this picture the mask looks a lot like a paper grocery bag with sunglasses used to hold it in place. If I saw someone approaching from a distance with a mask on I would run away.

As to why he wore it, it was important to him. If he just wanted to hide his face, a ski mask would have worked. I agree with many others it made him look, at least to himself, like the super villain he wanted to be.

I’m also not convinced that LB was the only time he wore it. We know he didn’t with Stein of course, or with the Ferrin/Mageau shooting, but I’m pretty well convinced he killed more than we or the police know. Seems something he put too much time and effort in for a one time use.

The part I have bolded is something I have wondered: it seems a lot of trouble to go to for one attack. Unless, as said, it was just too much work to use the thing. I also read that Greysmith drew the pic of the hooded Zodiac at LB, and I wondered if (1) he got royalties every time it is used in a TV doc, (2) if he drew it with assistance from Hartnell, and (3) if (2) is true, then it is interesting that he is wearing shoes in the pic.

This image is from the book Images of America Napa County Police. It was compiled and written by Todd Shulman who heads the Napa Police Historical Society as well as being a Napa PD investigator.

As the caption states, Hartnell worked with an artist who created the drawing. I think that this drawing is the one you should base Zodiac’s costume on rather than the drawing by Robert Graysmith. It’s very doubtful that Hartnell had any input into Graysmith’s version.

This image is from the book Images of America Napa County Police. It was compiled and written by Todd Shulman who heads the Napa Police Historical Society as well as being a Napa PD investigator.

As the caption states, Hartnell worked with an artist who created the drawing. I think that this drawing is the one you should base Zodiac’s costume on rather than the drawing by Robert Graysmith. It’s very doubtful that Hartnell had any input into Graysmith’s version.

Graysmith states his version was based on Hartnell’s hospital interview details, with which he likely saw your cleaned up posted sketch, made from one done along with those details. The SFPD officer who had done the infamous composites for Toschi, also did the LB sketch. Graysmith simply put him in scene, with his illustrator’s flair for character.

To answer the question on the ‘hood,’ it fits that Zodiac would consider himself playing the part of an ‘executioner’ and even one such as Koko, from The Mikado. Executioners have worn hoods such as Zodiac fashioned for himself, through the ages.

Well Z was a sneaky litlle S**t head, i believe he wanted to be rememberd by the "Hood", i believe a lot of kids/youths wear it at Halloween.

Have also wondered about the hood, why only one crime scene and never again, and why not a ski mask. The branding sounds interesting. Like he’s starting out as a serial killer, wants and craves that fame in the news and terror felt in the SF Bay Area. Did he sew it himself? And no one has found anything like it in an attic or safety deposit box? I would go home and burn it in the fireplace or a burn pit. Or did he save it, touch it, caress it, as a momento from the kill?

Some people try to read some strange motive into this, like the hidden camera rumor. But I don’t think there’s anything about it that is hard to understand. The costume serves a simple purpose, the same purpose as a ski mask, just in case someone see’s him, or someone survives, it makes him a little harder to identify. It makes perfect sense to don it just before attacking, I mean if you were robbing a bank you wouldn’t put the ski mask on at home, walk out to your car and drive the car to the bank in the ski mask. Every time you stopped at a set of lights people would be calling the cops. You put it on just before going in.

As for why he made a full on costume – panache. The man had a sense of the theatrical, we know that from the letters. We also know that serial killers like to fantasise and that human beings like to dress up, even if hardly anyone’s going to see. He could well of hoped that he may be spied from afar, but ensuring this by parading in it up and down the beach wouldn’t have been an option, the myth would have to grow organically and rely on chance.

As for why only once, I don’t think we can really glean anything from speculating on that, although it is fun to. It seems the costume was sufficiently cumbersome that it may not have been appealing as a regular outfit.