I’m sure there must be a post related to this question regarding the last few lines of the 408–but my eyes cross with trying to read and make sense of the code, substitutions etc. It seems to me the last line would be something like…before I meet up with them. Is there a thread that relates to this particular line? Thanks.

There have been many inconclusive attempts to construct anagrams from the last 18 letters. I think the best explanation is the "pull-down filler" hypothesis. Here’s a related thread: viewtopic.php?f=81&t=308

I’d link to glurk’s original thread on it from zodiackillerfacts.com, but his posts got accidentally deleted there.

Another thread: http://zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=2137

Very interesting on the overall patterns that break down. I thought the most obvious rationale would be to prevent the same word being written the same way twice, but it looks like not much of that. More like a little bit of poor planning (not enough choices for "I" and unrelated to pattern breakdown but M and Y as MY appears 4 times in the last third, and he only gave one symbol choice for each letter*), grew tired and confused himself, and perhaps wanting certain words to look a certain way- such as "PARADICE" and "AFTERLIFE".

I am a bit confused on his choice with S’s in regards to the word "SLAVES" that appears twice in the final third. He uses the same symbol for the first S (F) and the last S (square with dot), but did change up the vowels.

And I will point out the third "BECAUSE" in the cipher, changing his ordering of the letter usage allows "GYKE" to appear, if that is to be a clue to his identity.

*I am guessing he used a letter frequency table of some sort, showing M and Y are not used as often in the overall English language, and then didn’t realize he would be using MY so many times. However he should have used more choices for I, given his heavy use of it which created havoc in the final third of the cipher and must drastically play with his ordering. He should have used his letter frequency determine symbols used, but then again, thats giving logic to a madman.

-m

Very interesting on the overall patterns that break down. I thought the most obvious rationale would be to prevent the same word being written the same way twice, but it looks like not much of that. More like a little bit of poor planning (not enough choices for "I" and unrelated to pattern breakdown but M and Y as MY appears 4 times in the last third, and he only gave one symbol choice for each letter*), grew tired and confused himself, and perhaps wanting certain words to look a certain way- such as "PARADICE" and "AFTERLIFE".

I believe many patterns break down because of his transcription errors. If you correct them, the orderly sequences of symbols are restored. But still, the patterns tend to break down in part 3 for unknown reasons.

I am a bit confused on his choice with S’s in regards to the word "SLAVES" that appears twice in the final third. He uses the same symbol for the first S (F) and the last S (square with dot), but did change up the vowels.

Yes, there are other similar patterns that can be found in the 408. Here are some examples: http://zodiackillerciphers.com/wiki/ind … _length:_3

*I am guessing he used a letter frequency table of some sort, showing M and Y are not used as often in the overall English language, and then didn’t realize he would be using MY so many times. However he should have used more choices for I, given his heavy use of it which created havoc in the final third of the cipher and must drastically play with his ordering. He should have used his letter frequency determine symbols used, but then again, thats giving logic to a madman.

-m

It does seem he was off a bit.

The top 12 letters in english in approximate order by frequency are: ETAOIN SHRDLU. But his plaintext’s top 12 are EITLOA NSRMHG. You can see for instance that the L moved way up. If his encipherment method was based on something like ETAOIN SHRDLU then the intended flattening of symbol frequencies would be off a bit.