In the Little List letter, Zodiac uses the term as one of his potential torture methods:
"Others shall have pine splinters driven under their nails and then burned".
Has anyone done any research on the term "Pine Splinters"? I did a search on this forum and googled "Zodiac Pine Splinter" and the only thing I found was the actual "Little List" letter itself. I couldn’t find any discussions on why he chose this term.
I misunderstood the line when I first read it. I thought he meant drive splinters under the finger nails and then burn the victim. It may have been obvious to everyone else, but after looking up the term pine splinters, I realized he meant drive the splinters under the nails and then burn the "pine splinters".
So it got me to thinking about (a) who uses the term pine splinters? and (b) how did he decide on this particular method of torture.
I have never lived on the West Coast, so I’m not familiar with local vernacular. Was "pine splinter" ever a common term?
I grew up in the South East and we used the term "fat lighter" when referring to this type kindling wood.
Burning a pine splinter under the finger nails does not appear to be a very common type of torture, so where did he read about it? I doubt he came up with it on his own.
I found several accounts of early Indians Tribes using lighted splinters for torture. The most frequent reference was about the torture of John Lawson by the Tuscarora Indians in 1711.
There is also an account of the Iroquois using a similar method to torture and kill Maria and Christina Manheim (twin daughters of Fredric Manheim) in 1779. The murder of these girls was extremely horrific. I didn’t even want to copy the actual description of the events to this forum. But I assume it would be something the Zodiac would like. Anyone interested in further reading about this event can google Held Captive by Indians: Selected Narratives 1642-1836 by Richard VanDerBeets pp 203 – 205.
I also found a few references of using a "pine splinter" like a candle. Lighting one end and using for light then extinguishing it.
Another specific use of the term "pine splinter" was in some chemistry textbooks published primarily from the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s. I only found one reference in modern text books using the exact term "pine splinter".
Maybe there’s nothing to it, but it just seems like such an odd and specific description of a torture method. Have other phrases and vernacular the Zodiac used been identified that should be specific to a certain geographic region or a specific time in history?
Any thoughts??
Ben
EDIT- After I posted this, I realized it should probably be in the letters sub-forum.
Mods – Please move this post if should be in a different area. I’m not sure how to do that.
Maybe there’s nothing to it, but it just seems like such an odd and specific description of a torture method. Have other phrases and vernacular the Zodiac used been identified that should be specific to a certain geographic region or a specific time in history?
Any thoughts??
Ben
Hello Ben. Looking for "regionalisms" is something I’ve spent quite a bit of time doing. Like yourself I’ve seen things that might originate from a regional dialect. The problem I found with it is, if it’s not from my region, I don’t recognize it.
Still, this is all an area of interesting investigation in my opinion and potentially valuable. We had a bit of a conversation about this awhile back here..
Hmm. That particular phrase never struck me that way. I read it the way that first he would use the splinters, then burn the victims (not the splinters in their nails).
All it made me think is that it would be a pretty good torture method. I don’t know about others but in my experience getting a splinter under one’s nail is pretty unpleasant! It used to happen to me often as a child.
It also made me think that Zodiac might be someone who has regularly gotten splinters under his own nails nails, such as a woodworker or a construction man, thus such method would easily come up to his mind.
These tortures were all part of the comic book world of the 40’s and 50’s, which Tahoe revealed, in a way with ‘by knife, by rope’ etc. Violent comics were banned in the United States for a time, they were still read and traded and a subject if family stress and drama of the era….I would consider that any Zodiac language, in addition to it being quite foreign in a British persuasion, comes from the world of comic book villains.
"Pine splinters" is an old phrase. People historically used shards of fresh pine, called "pine splinters" to light fires and carry fire since the sap allows them to burn so well. There are stories of Native Americans using them for various means of torture, the same as tying people over anthills. Wouldn’t doubt Zodiac was familiar with these from old western movies or "dime" novels, even comic books.
I want to say that in reading about one of the "My father was the Zodiac!" books that the FBI traced a phrase, I think someone here told me "Fart and fall down," to Texas-ish.
I want to say that in reading about one of the "My father was the Zodiac!" books that the FBI traced a phrase, I think someone here told me "Fart and fall down," to Texas-ish.
The phrase Zodiac used was "fiddle and fart around". Someone said it’s from the Lubbock Texas area. Well, I was born and raised in East Texas, about as far from Lubbock as California is. It’s a common saying here but the correct usage is "fiddle farting around". I’ve never know of it being a Texas thing, just a rural thing.
It’s interesting though, sort of like how he spells motorcycles as "motorcicles". It’s like he’s spelling it phonetically the way some rural lingo calls them motorcycles, with cycle pronounced "sickle".
Seems to me that there were a lot of "pines" things in Zodiac’s correspondence:
The Pines Card: Peek through the pines.
A Christmas card: pine tree?
Torture with pine needles.
Have I missed any?
Was "pines" some kind of clue? He lived on Pine Street, for example. He lived in a pine forest?
Just thinking about pines……..
Feather 
I think he just watched a lot of movies and was maybe also well read. Both of which he took inspiration from for his Zodiac character.
It seems another regionalism might be the reference to the head of the California DMV–if there was such a letter–as the Chairman.
I believe in California the DMV head has typically been called the Director or the Commissioner, but that Chairman is the official title in some other states, such as Texas.
It seems another regionalism might be the reference to the head of the California DMV–if there was such a letter–as the Chairman.
I believe in California the DMV head has typically been called the Director or the Commissioner, but that Chairman is the official title in some other states, such as Texas.
We don’t have a "DMV" in Texas, the Department of Public Safety, or DPS handles it. They have a "Director", but no chairman.
You sure about that?
You sure about that?
Yep, born in Texas and lived here my entire 56 years. That is some new creation (2009) that generally handles rules and regulations involving vehicle sales and commercial vehicles. Only been around a few years. I guarantee very few Texans even know about it. You get your vehicle registered at your county tax assesor’s office and all drivers licenses are obtained and renewed through the DPS office. This newly created DMV is not something the general public has any interaction with and besides, it wasn’t around when Zodiac was doing his thing.
Probably worth finding out what states used ‘Chairman’ back in the mid ’70s.
Of course, and if there even was a DMV letter, the guy could easily have thrown in Chairman to jerk chains.
Mike Rodelli’s excellent book points out several instances of his suspect exhibiting British influence.
