He wanted his code solved, didn’t he? He wanted people to see what he had to say. He quite possibly even helped by sending a code key in for his first cipher. So why would he make one that was so hard to solve? Maybe he did it accidentally?

He wanted his code solved, didn’t he? He wanted people to see what he had to say. He quite possibly even helped by sending a code key in for his first cipher. So why would he make one that was so hard to solve? Maybe he did it accidentally?

I guess so…it is shorter and has more symbols.

‘when they do crack it, they will have me’ (meant for the 408, however this was not the case..)

BTW, thanks for the feedback on that issue, also AK Wilks..for getting started one may want to try the word ‘CALLCENTER’ as a start with the last double LL (++)..I like this one because based on the LL there is a match with the two ‘C’s as well as the two ‘E’s..

QT

If you are right above,and the word ‘opener’ is correct,what is the word in front of it? CAN OPENER, HOME OPENER,GARAGE OPENER? Does not seem like too many word would make sense there. Or maybe he was saying ‘For OPENERS’?

What if Zodiac was under the influence of drugs or alcohol while constructing the cipher, and all the little mistakes please him?
In other words, it is not a perfectly constructed cipher, there are missives through out. You are left with trying to pick out
the words or phrases which make sense. Which lends credence to Graysmith’s solution. But there are definitely words coming
through…

I think that’s another reason it may be unsolved,BECAUSE of the spelling errors he very likely made within the cipher. A letter may not look like it fits due to a spelling error,and a person might move on.

If you are right above,and the word ‘opener’ is correct,what is the word in front of it? CAN OPENER, HOME OPENER,GARAGE OPENER? Does not seem like too many word would make sense there. Or maybe he was saying ‘For OPENERS’?

I havent read the thread, so I don´t know what I´m talking about, nevertheless I throw this one in if you are looking for an "opener" that might fit:

Eye opener

If you are right above,and the word ‘opener’ is correct,what is the word in front of it? CAN OPENER, HOME OPENER,GARAGE OPENER? Does not seem like too many word would make sense there. Or maybe he was saying ‘For OPENERS’?

I havent read the thread, so I don´t know what I´m talking about, nevertheless I throw this one in if you are looking for an "opener" that might fit:

Eye opener

Good one Foreigner

If the 9 symbol is a simple substitute for a letter of the alphabet, and assuming a spelling error is not involved, than the 9 symbol can NOT be the letters A,C,H,I,J,K,Q,U,V,W,X,or Y. I say this because the 9 symbol appears back to back, and the letters I listed above do not ever appear back to back(unless a word ends with one and the next word begins with one….witHHer,witHHim,for examples),but if they are included in the same word, they likely are not one of the above letters.

The letters below ARE ones you can use back to back with some examples.
gruBBy,buBBly,
muDDY,
sEE,sEEn,sEEk,
jiFFy,iFFy,
soGGy,saGGy,
siLLy,hiLLs,
yuMMy,ruMMy,muMMy,
fuNNy,suNNy,
sOOn,nOOn,tOOk,
sloPPy,hiPPie,
fuRRy,huRRy,
meSSy,siSSy,miSS,
shiTTY,wiTTy,

It may not mean anything,but smarter guys than me like Doranchak don’t believe the cipher is a simple substitution cipher anyhow, but if it somehow is, maybe that 9 symbol is one to focus on.

Same rule goes for the + symbol, which appears back to back multiple times. I would bet that both th 9 symbol,and + symbol are NOT A,C,H,I,J,K,Q,U,V,W,X,or Y. That’s half the alphabet we are eliminating, of course, that’s assuming its a simple substitution cipher which many believe it is not. I personally think Z wanted his message heard and seen. To make one that could not be solved, does not get his message out there,which is what he was all about.

I still find it interesting that for two straight days in a row after a specific suspect was questioned by police, Z mailed back to back letters which included this cipher. Something set Z off, and got him in a writing mood Z never wrote letters on back to back days before this or after this. If that suspect that was questioned turned out to be Z, it would not surprise me.

MORF – I think you analysis is pretty good. What is "99"? Well we can probably rule out "LL", as we have enough "L" ‘, or as glurk would say too many "L" ‘s!

So statistically we would look next at "TT" or "EE". Given the possible first symbol as an "S" would point us towards "EE" rather that "TT", also in the 408 9=E, so I think that is the best bet.

GLURK – "I don’t have the time (or patience) at the moment to go over everything point-by-point, so I’ll just make my counter-arguments for consideration.

Yes, Z did use the letter L quite a bit in his writings, and certainly in the 408. In fact, all of those LL’s in the 408 are a large part of what helped the Hardens to solve it as quickly as they did. They wrote about their process, in the Aug. 9 1969 "A ‘Murder Code’ Broken" article indicating the use of "kill" once, "killing" twice, and "thrilling" and "killed" once each. The cipher also used "all" twice, and "will" three times.

Now, did Z read that article? I’m going to bet he did. After reading how his 408 was broken so quickly, did he naïvely just keep on using L and LL in the 340?
I’m going to bet that he did not. "

AK WILKS: Well I disagree. Zodiac liked to use certain words. Was he going to replace "kill" with "murder", "killing" with "murdering", "thrilling" with "exciting", "people" with "persons", "shall", "will" and "all" with other words, just because he did not want to use "LL" or "L" words? I doubt it. IMO he does trick it up be using the + so often codebreakers might think it is an E, and then in the Graysmith-Kite-Wilks translations the + becomes part of many TRIPLE letter formations, like "LLL".

In fact what you outline on what the Harden’s did is IMO good reason to do as QT did and concentrate on the ++ as the one weakness that might be a first clue to solve part of the 340. So just as the Hardens used LL to solve the 408 maybe we can use LL to solve the 340.

GLURK: And also, QT’s premise is based on the possibility that the 340 is a homophonic cipher constructed in the same way as the 408. Speaking only for myself, I am absolutely convinced that it is not. I’m certain that something else is going on. Transposition, using a "route cipher," or something else. I don’t know.

AK WILKS: Yes most likely that something else is going on. Yet parts of the 340 do seem to solve as a conventional homophonic cipher like the 408, though it seems likely there may be a second stage needed for these parts and other parts do not solve at all. I am trying to solve the first stage of the 340 and see where that gets us.

GLURK: One of the first things we tried with ZkDecrypto was to lock the + symbol as L and let it try to solve the rest. You just don’t get anything readable, despite the fact that the program solves pretty much everything thrown at it, and there were many example ciphers made to try to ‘confuse’ it.

AK WILKS: I would suggest trying ZkDecrypto with the + as L, and the end of the 3rd line and start of the 4th as I have it. See what you get.

The first 9 lines seem perhaps solvable using these conventional methods, but from lines 10 to 20 more difficult, perhaps a very different encryption method was used.

You should be careful not to read too much into partial phrase and word matches.

Recently, I had zkdecrypto run on thousands of transpositions of the 340 cipher. Then I ran another program which scans the resulting plain text for any real words that occur next to each other. Here’s just a tiny sampling of a few of the results:

SITED RATHER SCHOOLS, ROM INTERNAL TOMORROW, REDUCE RECALLS THIS, HEAR DISTORTION CAME, RESTORE WISE SMILED, SITED RATHER SCHOOL, INSTANTLY SUN STALLS, THESIS TERENCE DATE, THREAT THREAT HELD, THAT EMPIRE ATONCE, MANNER STANCE OVER, LEADS CRIME ACTING, THREAT THROAT DEEP, LOCATED FATHERED THAT, THREAT THROAT SETS, LASS LOCATED FATHER, FOREST CHESS ABOUT, ANTS INTEND WHISTLE, SLEEVE LEASE CATCH, THAT ESTHER CITIES, MANNER RUSSIA STENT, HANDS THERE TIMES, HANDS EVERY THERE, ESTATE AND REASONS, HEART THERE COMES, HEART OTHER THERE, STONE THING THESE, TIMES INTENT HAVEN, STATION STANDS THE, RESTORE WISE SMILE, ONE STATION STANDS, SING MARCH MASTERS, THESE TORE PERSONS, ENDED THESE SHORT, RECOURSE LAD BUTTER, THEMES STRAINED BUT, TED RATHER SCHOOLS, CONSOLE SAME SHOUTS, RUSHED HERE STRAPS, RUSTIC THEY THATIS, MANNER RUSSIA STENTS, INSTANTLY SUN STALL, NORMA TIMES SOTHAT, EVEN THERE COVERS, RECRUIT TENT HEARD, TRIFLE THESE BEARS, SHALL HERS HARNESS, EVENT HERE COVERS, ESTATE ANDREA SONS, HAND BREAST THESE, TIMES INTENT HAVE, ANDSOON BURST HATTER, RESTRAIN WOMAN NEAL, SINCE HERS SHOWED, LAUGH TALL THEREIN, SWEDEN THEIR SELL, SOMETHING SEC ALLEN, EAR DISTORTION CAME, STOUT CONVENT HERE, MATTER HEARS TESSA, SHALL DOSES TRAIN, LATEST THIS HASTEN, HATED FORTH THERE, TRAINS WOULD SAND, SALLY REASON SEND, ESTATE AND REASON, THE ALTAR HANDSOME, AGAIN VERSES REAL, ADVERT HANTS EVERY, ASS LOCATED FATHER, TENDER BOOTS REAL, INDOOR WINGS THAT, SING MARCH MASTER, LASS LOCATED FATHERED, ONEWAY THE HOLDING, THESE TORE PERSON, THE RESTS MOREOVER, STATE AND REASONS, STORE WISE SMILED, SHALL DOSE STRAIN, HANS ITSELF OTHER, LESSING STOP COURT, VESTED LIES STORY, STANCE SILL LIVELY, INTENDS HEAR TELL, THING LIVERS THERE, PROTEST NOT COMES, ONE STATION STAND, THREAT THROAT SET, EDITED ANDOR THAN, EVE REACTOR THRONE, INTEND WHISTLE MACH, CONSOLE SAME SHOUT, THE STATED STREAM, TED RATHER SCHOOL, RIFLE THESE BEARS, HANTS EVERY THERE, SHARE PROTEST NOT, LATEST THIS HASTE, THE MARRIED HELLO, THEMES STRAINED BUTE, FLIES SALADS OVERT, HORDE TURNER FORTH, THI SCENT THOUSANDS, THIS CENT THOUSANDS, STANDS HEAR MOULD, VERY THERE ATALL, THERE COMES THAT, HANDS THERE TIME, INTEND WHISTLE MAC, HAND FOREST CHESS, COLD GAINING HAVE, AGREE MENTION OUR, LANCE THEIR WHOLE, EVENING THAT HEIR, YANTO FORMER HERE, THEM PLANS MATHERS, BLESS STRESS CARS, THIRD THEN FORMS, INTO FORCE WHOLE, HAT EMPIRE ATONCE, COURSE LAD BUTTER, ANT RESTRAIN WOMAN, SELLER REST HAVEN, HEART THERE COME, THERE STAND SEEN, STAND SEEN NIGHT, REST THESE ABOUT, PAPER TOLD THERE, HANDING ROME WERE, TIN HORSE TURNING, HOLDING BROW SOME, ACCENT SIT THATIS, HEAR DISTORTION CAM, HOLDINGS HERS ANTS, EVEN THERE COVER, REACHED PEAR COLON, HAVING HOST ALLEY, WHERE TURNING ORD, SALLY REASONS END, THREAT THROAT DEE, TASTE RIDE PIERRE, TATTERED REST HELL, FORMER HERE MORE, CALLED THEM SOME, READY THERE ASTO, EVENT HERE COVER, ALONG THEME THAN, THIS WHERE HELEN, THEM THESE FACES, STRAND RESTS THEM, RUSHED HERE STRAP, MARCH MASTERS NET, TRIFLE THESE BEAR, STATE ANDREA SONS, PASSION MID SEVEN, EVENING THA THEIR, TEA SWEDEN THEIRS, THERE TRACE INERT, POSTING SAT THERESE, HAND THEN TURNED, INSHORT STEED THEM, TONE THING THESE, REDUCE RECALLS THI, INORDER THESE PRES, STOP RIVER NEEDS, ALOT HEART HOMES, ENTER DROVE THEN, SOME THERE SOLVE, AGAIN STATE NEIL, CANNON HAVE MORSE, RICHARD THOSE EST, THERE STAN TOWARD, SERIES AREA SURE, WHEN TURNED ONTO, LIVE SAYS HOUSES, RUSS INTENDS HEART, THEM NEVER MOVES, WASHING SIT TEARS, PELLET HEART SUIT, HAS OTHER LEAPING, ENTERING TIME NOR, SPENT THAT LOVER, NEVER MOVES DOOR, INORDER THESE PREST, LENS OBSERVANT ASTO, INTERNAL TOMORROW SD, NOBLES THAT AISLE, FLIES SALADS OVER, STORE HISS TRUSTED, HILL LITTLE HAVE, TASTE FOUR ANDOR, ALONE NOTES WAVE, WORST THAT FLEET, STAINS WOULD SAND, SAND THERE MEANT, STRAND THEE PLATE, RECRUIT TENT HEAR, INTERNAL TOMORROW, RATHER SCHOOLS, SCENT THOUSANDS, STATION STANDS, LOCATED FATHER, STATIONS HANDS, THEMES STRAINED, REDUCE RECALLS, CATCHING SEVEN, DISTORTION CAME, HOLDINGS HORSE, HEAR DISTORTION, THERE PAINTERS, REACTOR THRONE, INTEND WHISTLE, SCENT THOUSAND, RESTRAIN WOMAN, THREAT THROATS, RATHER SCHOOL, BOTHERED FORTH, INCOME LATTER, THESIS TERENCE, THREAT THREAT, ALTAR HANDSOME, RICHARD THOSE, INORDER THESE, THREAT THROAT, MANNER RUSSIA, RESTS MOREOVER, WHERE TURNING, HORSE TURNING, DEALING ALONG, STATION STAND, EMPIRE ATONCE, MANNER STANCE, ANOTHER THEME, REDUCE RECALL, SHARE PROTEST, STORE SPECIES, STATED STREAM, MARRIED HELLO, AGREE MENTION, MARCH MASTERS, THERE PAINTER, ESTATE ANDREAS, THEMES STRAIN, LOCATED FATHERED, INTENDS HEART, ROMANCE TOTAL, SALLY REASONS, RECALLS THING, HANDING SHOWN, TOWARD IMPOSE, SWEDEN THEIRS, SHORES EITHER, DIVERSE RATIO, STEVENS OUTOF, HERS RESTRAINT, SANDSTONES EAST, LOUDER STARED, REACHED LANES, RECALL CHARTS, RATING CHANCE, PRESSED ASSET, RENDER HANDLE, STATIONS HAND, ESTHER CITIES, ENTERING TIME, DATE DAUGHTER, RIDER CONTENT, NITRATE STONE, ANTERIOR OTHER, CONTEST ASPIRE, SOTHAT EALING, STAND NOTICES, REACH IMPOSES, ANDSOON BURST, OTHER LEAPING, EVERSO PRAISE, COME SUCHTHAT, CLASS SEDATION, RECORDER THAT, ESTATE ANDREA, CLOSEST ELLIS, LINED CLAIMED, TIMES SOTHAT, THERE SHOULD, THEIR COMMON, SERIES AREAS, RATHER EVERY, ITSELF OTHER, HOUSE WITHIN, DANGER SANITY, HOLDING BROWS, HERE PAINTERS, FOREMOST DOWN, THREAT THREE, HORSES ABOUT, FIRST FORMAL, DINNER THERE, DECEIVE OFTEN, RECRUIT TENTH, SENT HOLDINGS, ARMS EPISODES, THESE CAUGHT, THERE SPORTS, REPORT UNITS, OTHER ENTIRE, FORGET THERE, COMES ANDREW, CAUSE FORMER, OVAL RETURNING, STAND NOTICE, MARCH MASTER, SIDELINE STATE, REARED RATHER, MIGHT CATTLE, HELPED TIMES, CROWD SOTHAT, LATELY AUSTEN, RATION STANDS, REPLIES TOAST, CONCEDE DONNA, SEVERE CLARET, STRIDES WASTE, CRIME ACTING, EATING ALONG, THERE STANDS, THERE COVERS, SWEDEN THEIR, STRAIN WOMAN, RETAIN THERE, NOTED RATHER, LETTER MORAL, THIS CONTENTED, FORESTERS ETHER, REACTOR THRONES, RIVERS WALLS, NATION ERROR, MOTION APART, TRAINS WOULD, TOWARD THESE, HOUSES WINGS, BREAST THESE, RESIDE AGREED, LINING LITTER, PELLET HEARTS, HOLDINGS HERS, HELPED SIMON, DISCOUNT ORAL, STARTS IDEAL, ORDERS ANDOR, TURNER SHALL, TIMES INTENT, RATHER SHOTS, HEROES THEIR, THERESE MINDS, SANDSTONE SEAS, WENT ATLEAST, THIS CONCERN, THEY COURSES, SOME SPECIAL, SCHOOLS BEEN, OUTSIDE MOST, ONLY STATION, MORE BROTHER, EVENING THAT, BEEN ALITTLE, ANOTHER THEM, STATE ANDREAS, HANDING BROWS, SEVERE CLARE, SCORES STAND, REACH IMPOSE, INSIDE ALARM, SALLY REASON, WERE TURNING, THEM STORIES, REPLIED THAT, HERE TURNING, ANOTHER WANT, ANDSOON HERE, TRIES THATIS, HEARD NOTING, STANDING THEE, INTENT SHATTER, SHORES HAILED, WANT REACHED, FINDING LESS, THIS CONTENT, FOUR OPERATE, EAR DISTORTION

There’s no way they are all right. It’s easy to fixate on something that looks interesting, because interesting phrases are easy to generate from the 340. But who knows? Some of them are irresistibly interesting, such as "DECEIVE OFTEN", and "LASS LOCATED FATHER". Who will be lucky enough to find the needle in the haystack?

Here’s another example, just from one specific attempt:

LINTOFANCERONCUSSRLIONLESYCHINON THAT PAY MCOH GONE WASS A GIORL ONDIHADNINCHORTETOHERORFULINRASOLEINEOPINREDHIONSDASHASNLTTHEDTRSTHREETTHRAYOFESSETHE TO DEMAND HER HINB FRREST THESE DOHNICTAVUT THETY SHOT A MOUSE WITH EDRE ABOUT A TRIM EWELSHOISCAUSESWINNTOASSCOMRRVOLLYNTRESSIONSE LENS OBSERVANT AS TO USE URCHAN DSECIDES I DAUGHTHTR ENUOENAOLIBHYAN CURSE TNESOMARSTHANTOHILI

There are numerous partial solutions like this that will fit into the cipher text but still leave lots of gibberish.

Dave,interesting words you found for sure, especially about the Lass stuff, etc. As you said, they cant all be correct, but can you ‘reverse engineer’ some of the more promising ones to see if any start to give promising results in the 340?

By the way, its worth noting the word KILL or even WILL for that matter did not turn up once in all those words you found. Seems odd. Of course, the word ‘shall’ pops up multiple times.

You should be careful not to read too much into partial phrase and word matches.

Recently, I had zkdecrypto run on thousands of transpositions of the 340 cipher. Then I ran another program which scans the resulting plain text for any real words that occur next to each other. Here’s just a tiny sampling of a few of the results:

SITED RATHER SCHOOLS, ROM INTERNAL TOMORROW, REDUCE RECALLS THIS, HEAR DISTORTION CAME, RESTORE WISE SMILED, SITED RATHER SCHOOL, INSTANTLY SUN STALLS, THESIS TERENCE DATE, THREAT THREAT HELD, THAT EMPIRE ATONCE, MANNER STANCE OVER, LEADS CRIME ACTING, THREAT THROAT DEEP, LOCATED FATHERED THAT, THREAT THROAT SETS, LASS LOCATED FATHER, FOREST CHESS ABOUT, ANTS INTEND WHISTLE, SLEEVE LEASE CATCH, THAT ESTHER CITIES, MANNER RUSSIA STENT, HANDS THERE TIMES, HANDS EVERY THERE, ESTATE AND REASONS, HEART THERE COMES, HEART OTHER THERE, STONE THING THESE, TIMES INTENT HAVEN, STATION STANDS THE, RESTORE WISE SMILE, ONE STATION STANDS, SING MARCH MASTERS, THESE TORE PERSONS, ENDED THESE SHORT, RECOURSE LAD BUTTER, THEMES STRAINED BUT, TED RATHER SCHOOLS, CONSOLE SAME SHOUTS, RUSHED HERE STRAPS, RUSTIC THEY THATIS, MANNER RUSSIA STENTS, INSTANTLY SUN STALL, NORMA TIMES SOTHAT, EVEN THERE COVERS, RECRUIT TENT HEARD, TRIFLE THESE BEARS, SHALL HERS HARNESS, EVENT HERE COVERS, ESTATE ANDREA SONS, HAND BREAST THESE, TIMES INTENT HAVE, ANDSOON BURST HATTER, RESTRAIN WOMAN NEAL, SINCE HERS SHOWED, LAUGH TALL THEREIN, SWEDEN THEIR SELL, SOMETHING SEC ALLEN, EAR DISTORTION CAME, STOUT CONVENT HERE, MATTER HEARS TESSA, SHALL DOSES TRAIN, LATEST THIS HASTEN, HATED FORTH THERE, TRAINS WOULD SAND, SALLY REASON SEND, ESTATE AND REASON, THE ALTAR HANDSOME, AGAIN VERSES REAL, ADVERT HANTS EVERY, ASS LOCATED FATHER, TENDER BOOTS REAL, INDOOR WINGS THAT, SING MARCH MASTER, LASS LOCATED FATHERED, ONEWAY THE HOLDING, THESE TORE PERSON, THE RESTS MOREOVER, STATE AND REASONS, STORE WISE SMILED, SHALL DOSE STRAIN, HANS ITSELF OTHER, LESSING STOP COURT, VESTED LIES STORY, STANCE SILL LIVELY, INTENDS HEAR TELL, THING LIVERS THERE, PROTEST NOT COMES, ONE STATION STAND, THREAT THROAT SET, EDITED ANDOR THAN, EVE REACTOR THRONE, INTEND WHISTLE MACH, CONSOLE SAME SHOUT, THE STATED STREAM, TED RATHER SCHOOL, RIFLE THESE BEARS, HANTS EVERY THERE, SHARE PROTEST NOT, LATEST THIS HASTE, THE MARRIED HELLO, THEMES STRAINED BUTE, FLIES SALADS OVERT, HORDE TURNER FORTH, THI SCENT THOUSANDS, THIS CENT THOUSANDS, STANDS HEAR MOULD, VERY THERE ATALL, THERE COMES THAT, HANDS THERE TIME, INTEND WHISTLE MAC, HAND FOREST CHESS, COLD GAINING HAVE, AGREE MENTION OUR, LANCE THEIR WHOLE, EVENING THAT HEIR, YANTO FORMER HERE, THEM PLANS MATHERS, BLESS STRESS CARS, THIRD THEN FORMS, INTO FORCE WHOLE, HAT EMPIRE ATONCE, COURSE LAD BUTTER, ANT RESTRAIN WOMAN, SELLER REST HAVEN, HEART THERE COME, THERE STAND SEEN, STAND SEEN NIGHT, REST THESE ABOUT, PAPER TOLD THERE, HANDING ROME WERE, TIN HORSE TURNING, HOLDING BROW SOME, ACCENT SIT THATIS, HEAR DISTORTION CAM, HOLDINGS HERS ANTS, EVEN THERE COVER, REACHED PEAR COLON, HAVING HOST ALLEY, WHERE TURNING ORD, SALLY REASONS END, THREAT THROAT DEE, TASTE RIDE PIERRE, TATTERED REST HELL, FORMER HERE MORE, CALLED THEM SOME, READY THERE ASTO, EVENT HERE COVER, ALONG THEME THAN, THIS WHERE HELEN, THEM THESE FACES, STRAND RESTS THEM, RUSHED HERE STRAP, MARCH MASTERS NET, TRIFLE THESE BEAR, STATE ANDREA SONS, PASSION MID SEVEN, EVENING THA THEIR, TEA SWEDEN THEIRS, THERE TRACE INERT, POSTING SAT THERESE, HAND THEN TURNED, INSHORT STEED THEM, TONE THING THESE, REDUCE RECALLS THI, INORDER THESE PRES, STOP RIVER NEEDS, ALOT HEART HOMES, ENTER DROVE THEN, SOME THERE SOLVE, AGAIN STATE NEIL, CANNON HAVE MORSE, RICHARD THOSE EST, THERE STAN TOWARD, SERIES AREA SURE, WHEN TURNED ONTO, LIVE SAYS HOUSES, RUSS INTENDS HEART, THEM NEVER MOVES, WASHING SIT TEARS, PELLET HEART SUIT, HAS OTHER LEAPING, ENTERING TIME NOR, SPENT THAT LOVER, NEVER MOVES DOOR, INORDER THESE PREST, LENS OBSERVANT ASTO, INTERNAL TOMORROW SD, NOBLES THAT AISLE, FLIES SALADS OVER, STORE HISS TRUSTED, HILL LITTLE HAVE, TASTE FOUR ANDOR, ALONE NOTES WAVE, WORST THAT FLEET, STAINS WOULD SAND, SAND THERE MEANT, STRAND THEE PLATE, RECRUIT TENT HEAR, INTERNAL TOMORROW, RATHER SCHOOLS, SCENT THOUSANDS, STATION STANDS, LOCATED FATHER, STATIONS HANDS, THEMES STRAINED, REDUCE RECALLS, CATCHING SEVEN, DISTORTION CAME, HOLDINGS HORSE, HEAR DISTORTION, THERE PAINTERS, REACTOR THRONE, INTEND WHISTLE, SCENT THOUSAND, RESTRAIN WOMAN, THREAT THROATS, RATHER SCHOOL, BOTHERED FORTH, INCOME LATTER, THESIS TERENCE, THREAT THREAT, ALTAR HANDSOME, RICHARD THOSE, INORDER THESE, THREAT THROAT, MANNER RUSSIA, RESTS MOREOVER, WHERE TURNING, HORSE TURNING, DEALING ALONG, STATION STAND, EMPIRE ATONCE, MANNER STANCE, ANOTHER THEME, REDUCE RECALL, SHARE PROTEST, STORE SPECIES, STATED STREAM, MARRIED HELLO, AGREE MENTION, MARCH MASTERS, THERE PAINTER, ESTATE ANDREAS, THEMES STRAIN, LOCATED FATHERED, INTENDS HEART, ROMANCE TOTAL, SALLY REASONS, RECALLS THING, HANDING SHOWN, TOWARD IMPOSE, SWEDEN THEIRS, SHORES EITHER, DIVERSE RATIO, STEVENS OUTOF, HERS RESTRAINT, SANDSTONES EAST, LOUDER STARED, REACHED LANES, RECALL CHARTS, RATING CHANCE, PRESSED ASSET, RENDER HANDLE, STATIONS HAND, ESTHER CITIES, ENTERING TIME, DATE DAUGHTER, RIDER CONTENT, NITRATE STONE, ANTERIOR OTHER, CONTEST ASPIRE, SOTHAT EALING, STAND NOTICES, REACH IMPOSES, ANDSOON BURST, OTHER LEAPING, EVERSO PRAISE, COME SUCHTHAT, CLASS SEDATION, RECORDER THAT, ESTATE ANDREA, CLOSEST ELLIS, LINED CLAIMED, TIMES SOTHAT, THERE SHOULD, THEIR COMMON, SERIES AREAS, RATHER EVERY, ITSELF OTHER, HOUSE WITHIN, DANGER SANITY, HOLDING BROWS, HERE PAINTERS, FOREMOST DOWN, THREAT THREE, HORSES ABOUT, FIRST FORMAL, DINNER THERE, DECEIVE OFTEN, RECRUIT TENTH, SENT HOLDINGS, ARMS EPISODES, THESE CAUGHT, THERE SPORTS, REPORT UNITS, OTHER ENTIRE, FORGET THERE, COMES ANDREW, CAUSE FORMER, OVAL RETURNING, STAND NOTICE, MARCH MASTER, SIDELINE STATE, REARED RATHER, MIGHT CATTLE, HELPED TIMES, CROWD SOTHAT, LATELY AUSTEN, RATION STANDS, REPLIES TOAST, CONCEDE DONNA, SEVERE CLARET, STRIDES WASTE, CRIME ACTING, EATING ALONG, THERE STANDS, THERE COVERS, SWEDEN THEIR, STRAIN WOMAN, RETAIN THERE, NOTED RATHER, LETTER MORAL, THIS CONTENTED, FORESTERS ETHER, REACTOR THRONES, RIVERS WALLS, NATION ERROR, MOTION APART, TRAINS WOULD, TOWARD THESE, HOUSES WINGS, BREAST THESE, RESIDE AGREED, LINING LITTER, PELLET HEARTS, HOLDINGS HERS, HELPED SIMON, DISCOUNT ORAL, STARTS IDEAL, ORDERS ANDOR, TURNER SHALL, TIMES INTENT, RATHER SHOTS, HEROES THEIR, THERESE MINDS, SANDSTONE SEAS, WENT ATLEAST, THIS CONCERN, THEY COURSES, SOME SPECIAL, SCHOOLS BEEN, OUTSIDE MOST, ONLY STATION, MORE BROTHER, EVENING THAT, BEEN ALITTLE, ANOTHER THEM, STATE ANDREAS, HANDING BROWS, SEVERE CLARE, SCORES STAND, REACH IMPOSE, INSIDE ALARM, SALLY REASON, WERE TURNING, THEM STORIES, REPLIED THAT, HERE TURNING, ANOTHER WANT, ANDSOON HERE, TRIES THATIS, HEARD NOTING, STANDING THEE, INTENT SHATTER, SHORES HAILED, WANT REACHED, FINDING LESS, THIS CONTENT, FOUR OPERATE, EAR DISTORTION

There’s no way they are all right. It’s easy to fixate on something that looks interesting, because interesting phrases are easy to generate from the 340. But who knows? Some of them are irresistibly interesting, such as "DECEIVE OFTEN", and "LASS LOCATED FATHER". Who will be lucky enough to find the needle in the haystack?

Here’s another example, just from one specific attempt:

LINTOFANCERONCUSSRLIONLESYCHINON THAT PAY MCOH GONE WASS A GIORL ONDIHADNINCHORTETOHERORFULINRASOLEINEOPINREDHIONSDASHASNLTTHEDTRSTHREETTHRAYOFESSETHE TO DEMAND HER HINB FRREST THESE DOHNICTAVUT THETY SHOT A MOUSE WITH EDRE ABOUT A TRIM EWELSHOISCAUSESWINNTOASSCOMRRVOLLYNTRESSIONSE LENS OBSERVANT AS TO USE URCHAN DSECIDES I DAUGHTHTR ENUOENAOLIBHYAN CURSE TNESOMARSTHANTOHILI

There are numerous partial solutions like this that will fit into the cipher text but still leave lots of gibberish.

I personally believe that Zodiac’s 340, if ever deciphered, will contain a complete, coherent message, like his solved cipher- not jibberish (of course spelling errors are likely). To that end, I looked at your list of words (instantly got a headache ),and determined, that most of them side by side would likely never be used in a coherent statement. Here are a list of side by side words from your list that you could expect to see side by side in a coherent real message:

SINCE HERS SHOWED
ANOTHER THEME
RATHER EVERY
FORGET THERE
TOWARD THESE
SOME SPECIAL
SCHOOLS BEEN
EVENING THAT
BEEN A LITTLE
INSIDE ALARM
WERE TURNING
THEM STORIES
FINDING LESS

Did I miss any? Now, can you tell us what lines,and at what spots in the 340 these words generated on?

Dave,interesting words you found for sure, especially about the Lass stuff, etc. As you said, they cant all be correct, but can you ‘reverse engineer’ some of the more promising ones to see if any start to give promising results in the 340?

Possibly. But I think it might be more fruitful to generate more test ciphers. For example, if we expect that Z340 has been transformed in some way, then we should make sure we can crack similarly transformed test ciphers before we unleash the process on Z340. That way we can confidently rule it out when it doesn’t work.

By the way, its worth noting the word KILL or even WILL for that matter did not turn up once in all those words you found. Seems odd. Of course, the word ‘shall’ pops up multiple times.

I only showed a tiny sample of results. There are thousands more. None of them match on KILL but here are raw plaintexts that matched on WILL:

http://zodiackillerciphers.com/results-will.txt

You’ll notice the filenames look like this:

0_125_nothing__snake__olson-15-false.txt

Those refer to successive operations done on the original 340 before feeding it into zkdecrypto. For example, "snake" means to read the first line from the left, then the second line from the right, then the third line to the left, etc. "Olson 15" means to split the cipher in two at line 15 and paste the 2nd half to the right of the first half.

I personally believe that Zodiac’s 340, if ever deciphered, will contain a complete, coherent message, like his solved cipher- not jibberish (of course spelling errors are likely). To that end, I looked at your list of words (instantly got a headache ),and determined, that most of them side by side would likely never be used in a coherent statement.

I’ve wanted to generate a "word pair" frequency dictionary, where you can look up a pair of words and get an idea of how commonly it occurs in the English language. Then I could just programmatically sort the word combinations by how common they are.

Google has a nice raw dataset generated from the book scanning they’ve done: http://storage.googleapis.com/books/ngrams/books/datasetsv2.html

The files are humongous though.

Here are a list of side by side words from your list that you could expect to see side by side in a coherent real message:

SINCE HERS SHOWED
ANOTHER THEME
RATHER EVERY
FORGET THERE
TOWARD THESE
SOME SPECIAL
SCHOOLS BEEN
EVENING THAT
BEEN A LITTLE
INSIDE ALARM
WERE TURNING
THEM STORIES
FINDING LESS

Did I miss any? Now, can you tell us what lines,and at what spots in the 340 these words generated on?

Some more background on how the transformations work:

The program takes the original 340, then applies three operations on it in sequence. For example, "SINCE HERS SHOWED" appears in the plaintext found for the cipher text generated from these operations:

olson(19, true)
olson(6, true)
olson(7, true)

The operator "olson(row, true)" splits the cipher into two blocks, then puts the top block to the right of the bottom block, then reads out a new cipher text from left to right, top to bottom (as per Dan Olsen’s suggestion). (if the operator has "false" instead of "true", the bottom block is placed to the right of the top block instead).

So, applying the three operations above gives this cipher text:

By:cM+UZGW()L#zHJ
p8R^FlO-*dCkF>2D(
-zlUV+^J+Op7<FBy-
>MDHNpkSzZO8A|K;+
Spp7^l8*V3pO++RK2
#5+Kq%;2UcXGV.zL|
U+R/5tE|DYBpbTMKO
HER>pl^VPk|1LTG2d
_9M+ztjd|5FP+&4k/
(G2Jfj#O+_NYz+@L9
2<clRJ|*5T4M.+&BF
Np+B(#O%DWY.<*Kf)
z69Sy#+N|5FBc(;8R
d<M+b+ZR2FBcyA64K
lGFN^f524b.cV4t++
yBX1*:49CE>VUZ5-+
|c.3zBK(Op^.fMqG2
RcT+L16C<+FlWB|)L
++)WCzWcPOSHT/()p
|FkdW<7tB_YOB*-Cc

Here’s a before-and-after view:

Then the experiment runs zkdecrypto against the transformed cipher, yielding this:

EGLAUSEPANDATHISI
NTHORFALLEDWROTED
LIFERSOISANYBREGL
OUESONWUIPATTHEIS
UNNYOFTLRINASSHET
HESERVITEADARRITH
ESHEENTHEMENTSUEA
STHONFORSWHATSATE
COUSINCEHERSSHOWE
DATIMCHASCOMISETO
TBAFHIHLESOURSHER
ONSEDHAVENMRBLEMA
INOUGHSOHEREADITH
EBUSTSPHTREAGTNOE
FAROOMETOTRARONSS
GEDALLOODTOREPELS
HARIIEEDANORMURAT
HASSTANDBSRFNEHAT
SSANDINASAUSSEDAN
HRWENBYNECMAELLDA

wherein these words can be found (each group ordered from common words to "junk" words):

SHOWED, COUSIN, HERONS, LIFERS, SHERON, REPELS

THESE, SINCE, WROTE, STAND, THEME, SUNNY, HAVEN, HESHE, SHEEN, HERON, REPEL, PANDA, BUSTS, ASSHE, DINAS, SEDAN, WHATS, ASCOM, SOURS, SHETH, LIFER

THIS, LIFE, THEM, WHAT, HAVE, HERE, MAIN, ROOM, EAST, SHOW, READ, FALL, SAND, HERS, HERO, OURS, OWED, NORM, HATS, TORE, HATS, SOUR, HOWE, BUST, HARI, STAN, NASA, INCE, CHAS, ROTE, THOR, DALL, FARO, ALLO, SHEE, ASST, DARR, VITE, SHER, COUS, USIN, THON, ENTS, ANDI, MENT, FORS, DINA

THE, AND, HIS, ALL, ANY, SHE, FOR, HER, HOW, HAS, OUR, SHE, HER, ALL, HAS, AND, USE, MEN, FAR, LED, SON, SUN, TEA, HON, SAT, INC, SET, NOR, BUS, MET, SAN, HAT, TIM, HAT, SAN, PAT, SUE, ATE, LES, PAN, SIN, TED, SIN, OWE, RON, DAN, RAT, DAN, INT, LOU, REG, SHA, THA, LOO, ORE, WHA, NEC, ROT, ASS, SCO, ASS, HEM, TAN, AVE, UGH, DAL, REP, SEP, WED, VEN, TSP, DIN, OFT, ADA, TSU, ERE, THI, ARI, ISA, TEC, ECO, TOR, SSE, REA, TOT

It took quite a bit of manual work to process the above, but here are the raw results for the other phrases you identified:

ANOTHER THEME: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
RATHER EVERY: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
FORGET THERE: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
TOWARD THESE: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
TOWARD THESE: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
SOME SPECIAL: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
SCHOOLS BEEN: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
EVENING THAT: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
BEEN A LITTLE: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
INSIDE ALARM: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
WERE TURNING: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
THEM STORIES: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext
FINDING LESS: Ciphertext | ZKD Plaintext

Thanks Dave will look these over