Zodiac Discussion Forum

Northkey · 2026-09-01T14:58:56Z

My Z32 candidate: AT SIX SIX INCHES FROM MOUNT DIABLO PIT I want to present this as a working hypothesis, not as a proven unique decryption of Z32. My candidate is: AT SIX SIX INCHES FROM MOUNT DIABLO PIT Without spaces: ATSIXSIXINCHESFROMMOUNTDIABLOPIT It is exactly 32 letters. Z32 contains only three repeated-symbol identities: 1 = 26 2 = 32 6 = 14 The candidate gives: 1/26 = A/A 2/32 = T/T 6/14 = S/S All three fit. What is interesting, however, is what happens if we do not insert PIT beforehand. I tested a deliberately restricted map grammar based on what Zodiac actually gave us: Mount Diablo as the origin, the dial positions 0 / 3 / 6 / 9, distances written ONE through TWELVE, and the form: AT [direction] [distance] INCHES FROM MOUNT DIABLO [destination] The destination word was left unknown. Within this defined model, SIX / SIX is the only direction/distance combination that can fill a 32-letter text while satisfying the Z32 constraints 1=26 and 6=14. The result before the destination is determined is: AT SIX SIX INCHES FROM MOUNT DIABLO ??? The known part occupies 29 positions. The Z32 constraint 2=32 then requires the final letter to be the same as position 2, namely T: AT SIX SIX INCHES FROM MOUNT DIABLO ??T This is an important distinction. We did not start with a gravel pit and then construct a 32-letter phrase that hit it. Within this map grammar, SIX / SIX / MOUNT DIABLO / ??T comes first. P and I in PIT are not cryptographically forced; if correct, they must come from the geography. This is also not a claim of global uniqueness. Z32 is too short and contains too little repetition to force a single plaintext without external information. The map operation Zodiac wrote on the Mount Diablo map: “0 is to be set to Mag. N.” In the Little List letter about a month later, he wrote: “P.S. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians.” This gives a natural angle-plus-distance operation. Set 0 to magnetic north. The first SIX is read as position 6 on the oriented dial. Six lies directly opposite zero: 6 o’clock = 180° from 0 = π radians This does not mean six radians. 6 radians ≈343.8°, which is a completely different direction. The second SIX belongs to: SIX INCHES and specifies the linear map distance along the ray defined by position 6. The Phillips 66 inset used by Zodiac has the printed scale: “ONE INCH EQUALS APPROX. 6.4 MILES” The nominal 1970 operation is therefore: 6 inches × 6.4 miles/inch = 38.4 miles I am therefore not using the Phillips 66 branding as the source of the words SIX/SIX. It is not necessary for the mechanism. The operative elements are the Z32 construction, the 0–3–6–9 dial, and the map’s printed scale. Source check: Search: "9-QQ-1219-S" Zodiac Search: "Original Untouched '69 Phillips 66 Map" The large original scan shows both the map code 9-QQ-1219-S and the printed 6.4-mile scale. As a modern cross-check — not as the 1970 method — we can compare Mount Diablo with the published locality reference for Near/Neary Quarry. The reference points give approximately: Distance: 38.380 miles Printed-scale equivalent: 5.997 inches Initial true bearing: 197.236° If dial position 6 is magnetic south, that bearing would correspond to a declination of approximately 17.236° E. That value must not be confused with the historical value. A historical calculation for Mount Diablo on June 26, 1970 gives approximately 16°53′ E = 16.9° E. The difference is only a few tenths of a degree. The quarry coordinate is also a locality reference with a stated accuracy of about 100 metres, not a survey-grade target point. I therefore do not use 38.380 versus 38.400 as a “32-metre precision” argument. The point is only that the nominal SIX-INCHES distance and direction are highly consistent with the historical quarry area. Source check for the coordinate/bearing/declination control: Mount Diablo summit reference (USGS topo source via TopoQuest): 37.881702 N, -121.914268 WNear Quarry (Neary Rock Quarry), Mindat locality 92281: 37.35000 N, -122.12083 W; stated MRDS location accuracy 100 mNOAA/NCEI Historic Magnetic Declination CalculatorOn the 32-Character Zodiac Cipher — Table 2 gives Mount Diablo, June 26, 1970 as 16°53′ E What is at the endpoint? When this operation is followed from Mount Diablo, we arrive in the Los Altos Hills area. A contemporary topographic map then gives us an independent geographic check. The USGS Cupertino, California 7.5-minute quadrangle, original 1961, version/photorevision 1968 and print 1969, existed before Z32 was mailed in June 1970. On the map, the area is...

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Last Post by shaqmeister 44 seconds ago

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shaqmeister

(@shaqmeister)

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A question: Can you account for how it is that, without explicit instruction, we are to be expected to use the (erroneous) printed scale on the Phillips 66 but not the (equally erroneous) printed True North?

“This isn’t right! It’s not even wrong!”—Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958)

Posted : October 11, 2026 7:14 pm

shaqmeister

(@shaqmeister)

Posts: 812

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Question: on having been given a paper map marked with north and a polar origin, along with a set of coordinates (bearing, range) as an angle and a distance in inches, what is the only rational and unequivocal inference we must make as to by what method we are to determine where the coordinates point?

Do we need to know the scale of the map to enable us to carry this task out correctly?

“This isn’t right! It’s not even wrong!”—Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958)

Posted : October 11, 2026 8:37 pm

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