Ok, so I have compiled a set of brands for some of the more oddball characters Zodiac used in his ciphers. It is not comprehensive as I have not been able to get my hands on an earlier version of the brand books I am using, nor may they all be in brand books. I have always been of the mindset that the symbols are brands that were most likely in a personal, hand written brand book. This book was most likely made by someone in Zodiac’s personal life, such as a father/grandfather, etc…
Anywho….here are the brands:
And now the two that really did it for me.
Now I searched all over for this one because there are some with the "8" not touching the circle, which in the brand world is completely different from the "8" touching the circle as Z’s did….this was the only instance of it I could find.
And finally…..
Now we all know the one on the bottom as being Fred Harman’s brand, but the "bar" below never sat well with me since that would make it a completely different symbol. The one on top however is from another Ranch. This ranch also has a matching "K" brand associated with it the way Z drew it in his ciphers.
Now all of these alone would be quite odd to find in a single book to me since they are, for the most part, symbols only known to ranch branding. These were all in a 1938 Colorado Brand Book. The last symbol, from the Halloween card, was from the ranch of a man by the name of Bernard C. Killin. He also held a "K" brand at the same time. Killin is not my POI, but I think Z had some relation to Killin’s family, either by friendship, worked for them, or was somehow related to them. This would also give Z some kind of connection to Colorado.
As a side note, here is a bit about Killin:
Politically our subject has always unswervingly supported the principles of the Democratic party, and has frequently been called upon to serve in various official capacities. In 1873 he was elected sheriff of Douglas County, which at that time comprised Elbert and Douglas Counties, but when the division was made he resigned and was elected superintendent of schools in the former. He held that office for fourteen consecutive years, with the exception of 1884 and 1885, serving until 1892. Several times he has been elected justice of the peace, and was also appointed on the state board of stock inspectors by Governor Waite. Fraternally he is prominent, being the oldest and one of the best-informed Masons of Elbert County; he became a member of that order in February, following his twenty-first birthday, at Wauseen, Fulton County, Ohio, where he took three degrees. He has since taken the Scottish Rite, up to and including the thirty-second degree, being a member of Union Lodge No. 7, of Denver; Chapter No. 2, R. A. M.; Colorado Commandery K. T.; No. 1 El Jebel Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is also a charter member of the Odd Fellow Lodge at Elbert, of which he has filled a number of the chairs; and a charter member of the Yeoman order, at Elizabeth, of which he is foreman. Mrs. Killin is a charter member and secretary of Lodge No. 29, W. R. C., of Elbert County, and is a member of the S. O. O. B. Society No. 1, of Denver, an auxiliary of the Knights Templar. Our subject is of genial disposition, a pleasant companion, and has many friends in the various communities in which he has lived.
But then there is also an even closer match to another brand for the Halloween card symbol…and that is from a different rancher altogether as well.
Thoughts anyone? I am sure you can see how this is driving me a bit nuts because I don’t have more time to look into all of them yet the matching is really quite ironic and I am unable to let go of believing Z’s ciphers are based on livestock brands.
And part of my reasoning on all these symbols being brands is that only in the ciphers are his characters drawn out very carefully and in a pattern. This would have been a very tedious act for someone to do and would certainly have taken a lot of time and thought. I don’t think we will ever find the book that Z used in particular as I believe it was a personal book from someone in his family that had actually been to these ranches and had marked the symbols themselves.
What is also odd is that his ciphers are printed in the style of brand boards, which were usually posted in areas of town for others to see what brands were in the area.
Similar to this one from Texas:
Nice found!!!!
https://zodiacode1933.blogspot.com/
It’s an amazing find…imo it explains where Z had received his symbols from. The 8-in-a-circle is a quite unique symbol and so is the triangle with the spot inside of it. Very cool.
Could you please give some additional information about which books, editions, page etc. you had used to find those symbols? Thanks
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
Resized to fit. 
“I don’t know Chief, he’s very smart or very dumb.“
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=u … =1up;seq=5
It was/is available in Berkeley..
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
Really good find.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b309119;view=1up;seq=5
It was/is available in Berkeley..
QT
It is the 1938 edition. My figuring on Z using brands is that his personal book would have to include brands from a lot earlier…from the 1850’s up until the 1960’s. I have gone through Colorado, Utah, California, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Wyoming books.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b309119;view=1up;seq=5
It was/is available in Berkeley..
QT
It is the 1938 edition. My figuring on Z using brands is that his personal book would have to include brands from a lot earlier…from the 1850’s up until the 1960’s. I have gone through Colorado, Utah, California, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Wyoming books.
In California there is no halloween symbol as far as I know..even let the people from the official bureau check the editions around 1960-1965. And the link I sent was the 1962 edition of Colorado..
Where did you find the 8 and the halloween symbol, may I ask? Thx
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1435&p=15599&hilit=cattle#p15599
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b309119;view=1up;seq=5
It was/is available in Berkeley..
QT
It is the 1938 edition. My figuring on Z using brands is that his personal book would have to include brands from a lot earlier…from the 1850’s up until the 1960’s. I have gone through Colorado, Utah, California, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Wyoming books.
California there is none..I even let the people from the official bureau check it. And the link I sent was the 1962 edition of Colorado..
QT
All of the ones I posted are from Colorado. I have also found matches in Utah. There are a few from California I have found though none of the oddball symbols like the ones from Colorado.
I have not been able to find a few. UT I equate this to Z actually using a personal brand book built over many years. Naturally some of them will be in brand books, but some, from small ranches, may not be. Z either had a brand booked passed down or inherited is my guess. Someone in his life was involved in branding and ranches in some manner.
Oh…by the way…in case you have looked at my Kiowa thread, the Halloween symbol and the K are both from a ranch in Kiowa Colorado.
All of the ones I posted are from Colorado. I have also found matches in Utah. There are a few from California I have found though none of the oddball symbols like the ones from Colorado.
I have not been able to find a few. UT I equate this to Z actually using a personal brand book built over many years. Naturally some of them will be in brand books, but some, from small ranches, may not be. Z either had a brand booked passed down or inherited is my guess. Someone in his life was involved in branding and ranches in some manner.
So far I couldn’t find the halloween symbol in the Colorado brand book..(p. 591) and not in the Kiowa section either? Maybe I’m old and blind, so please help me to get over the highway 
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
All of the ones I posted are from Colorado. I have also found matches in Utah. There are a few from California I have found though none of the oddball symbols like the ones from Colorado.
I have not been able to find a few. UT I equate this to Z actually using a personal brand book built over many years. Naturally some of them will be in brand books, but some, from small ranches, may not be. Z either had a brand booked passed down or inherited is my guess. Someone in his life was involved in branding and ranches in some manner.
So far I couldn’t find the halloween symbol in the Colorado brand book..(p. 591) and not in the Kiowa section either? Maybe I’m old and blind, so please help me to get over the highway
It’s in the 1938 edition….and there are a LOT of pages. I have taught myself to read brands from my research so it makes it a bit easier to skip to where I think a symbol would be. I will post the exact page when I am on my PC again tomorrow. Fred Harman and this one are next to eachother…hence the numbers beside them.
In order to understand you have to know how brands are read…they are almost a dialect of their own. I think the reason his code worked so well is there is a way to read a brand unlike anything else and it makes for such a large pool of possible translations that it may be indecipherable.
Ok…one is on pg 339 of the 1938 Colorado book….that is the Otto one. will have to figure out where the other two are and let you know.
Honestly I have spent hours looking over these books and they all blend together at this point, but these symbols that I posted are all from available Colorado brand books. I delved deeper into the older books because once a ranch goes under or a symbol isn’t registered, it is deleted from the more recent books.
If I had to bet money on it I would hire a brand specialist to interpret any of the ciphers…though I don’t have the time or the money for it.
If anyone does, let me know. All I want is credit for my finds.
My goal is to connect all the ranches to a single POI I have. I believe he is connected through family history and movies being filmed on some of these ranches.
