I have one of these photos from the Chronicle. I think it might even be this letter. I will check.
Either way…wow. Looks like some people there had to get quite familiar with it, even if they were tracing it.
Good eye trav!
Thanks T.
Yeesssss and no. Yes you would be quite familiar with the letter if you were tracing it but no more than anything else unless you were having to do it multiple times. This would be unlikely because you are working to deadlines and probably have a hundred different things to trace. So I don’t really see there being much opportunity to become familiar with any one thing in particular.
This is almost borne out in the differences. The fact that they are there suggests lack of practice. Yes it’s good a tracing but then that would have been part of the person’s job so you would expect some level of competency. However the differences in letter spacing, the shape of some characters and the ‘squaring off’ habit, is just that, the tracer’s own writing habit showing through. You can see it in things like h’s. He’s taking his time but as quickly as he can get away with lol. Classic artworking default. 
“I don’t know Chief, he’s very smart or very dumb.“
They couldnt have done it from memory, they had to have had the letter or something in front of them
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
They couldnt have done it from memory, they had to have had the letter or something in front of them
I agree.
That’s what I’m trying to think through, as to why not print a photo. Maybe they weren’t allowed to or decided not to? Public sensibilities? (there’s those words again smithy lol). It’s almost a form of censorship. Print his letter without actually printing it? Makes me think back my youth when the British Government (Maggie) decided that whilst Gerry Adams’ statements would be broadcast on TV they didn’t allow his actual voice to be used so every time he was on TV speaking his voice was overdubbed by an actor lol.
“I don’t know Chief, he’s very smart or very dumb.“
Could have been done that way so as to be able to weed out copy cats???
It’s just weird because some of it is spot on. The way it’s spaced and angled. Certain letter seemed to be exact copies. But if it was traced, it was a horrible trace. If it was copied by looks alone, from a photograph….someone was pretty darn skilled.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
Or maybe another copy of the letter was mailed by the Z but LE didn’t want to divulge this info to the public…
I’m wondering what sort of Zodiac evidence law enforcement still has, that has not been released to the public, and if it would help solve these murders
Was just browsing and I spotted this. Apologies if this has been picked up on. The ‘style’ of presentation ie the torn paper graphic surround I think I’ve seen before for printing/highlighting sections of Z’s letters. Prob borrowed the layout from the Chron.
Obviously not a realistic depiction of the actual shape of the letter. Then I spotted the weird, practically cursive ‘am’ in ‘I am’. Seems nothing is real, they have re-drawn the handwriting in the letter for the article as well. Example below, included Washington as well because of the squared off tail on the g. Bet they couldn’t get a hold of an original so they’ve redrawn it, again, prob from the Chron.
Turns out the Chron re-drew it first although the ‘I am’ might be slightly different in the one in this thread. Hard to be sure because of the quality. Either way neither of them are Zodiac’s handwriting.
Here is my photo I have from 1969. I attached a second photo just to show you how glossy it is. The backside is like paper.
front via my scanner – not sure why it came out so small. ??
back via scanner
photo of it
Maybe I will make a separate thread and show the actual letter and this side by side.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
I’m really interested by the last part of this, which looks like:
"Someone tried speeding … by feeding the cryptogram into …"
And I guess the remainder of the article is missing? I’m sure they mean feeding it into a computer. I’d certainly like to read the rest of that part.
-glurk
It continues on page 2 shown above.
BUMP,anymore on this??
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
Here is my photo I have from 1969. I attached a second photo just to show you how glossy it is. The backside is like paper.
front via my scanner – not sure why it came out so small. ??
back via scanner
photo of it
Maybe I will make a separate thread and show the actual letter and this side by side.
I quoted your images but replaced them with fixed links. I left the original post alone.
interesting this pops up. i was always intrigued by the little artefact on the M where it says "I AM" ….on some copy`s it looks like a Q, it looks out of place and looks like it is purposefully written. micro writing was well known in cipher circles. just an old observation re ignited.
the little artifact on the M looks like a q and looks quite deliberate
This is weird……probably been posted already….mentions a poison pen letter…
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3448041 … ews-ny-ny/
