Zodiackiller.com Message Board: Letters: Update at Rare Zodiac Letters

I've added just about every letter, envelope, cipher, map and poem I can find to the Rare Zodiac Letters page.
Click here to see the latest additions.

Class, what do we say to Tom?

"Thank you, Tom!"

--Jake
http://members.aol.com/Jakewark/index.html
"This is the Zodiac Speaking..."

Zowie...somebody oughta take his temperature...

"Thanks Tom"

Moocho grassyass, Tom. Jenn

Thanks, Tom!

Great job, Tom. Thanks. Classic

Generous as ever much thanks! Howard

Count me amongst the grateful. It's a definite plus, for immediate reference, to have these materials merely a click or two away. Thank you.

Tom this was uncharacteristically generous of you...LOl...just funnin' ya'. Seriously, a wonderful update.
The Big O
p.s. Gee, Ma, I can kiss a*s

Ok, enough with the cyber-stroking. Where are the Germans when you need them?

--Jake

Abusing Frenchmen.

Mainly I was looking for feedback on the letters.
Doesn't anyone have anything to add?
For example, I was shocked to see that Zodiac had written on the back of several envelopes.

What's interesting about the envelopes are the difference in handwriting style. The Chronicle envelope is neatly addressed when compared to the Examiner and Times-Herald, which have the more familiar "Zodiac scrawl." The Belli letter exhibits this neatness as well. There are similarities that link them all to one writer, but one wonders what accounts for this difference. An attempt at subterfuge? Drinking? Drugs? Or merely whim.
And the best source for DNA is obviously the Exorcist envelope with it's extra adhesions.

Tom: that is kind of strange that z wrote on the back of some of the envelopes. Maybe he quit doing that once he had confidence that his letters would be acknowledged? The printing is also interesting. Some are perfect and others are chickenscratch so to speak. As a side note I'd like to see a letter be delivered nowadays with that little info in the address!
Classic

The difference in handwriting, can that be chalked up to mental state. No I'm not suggesting that Z was a multiple personality disorder type, but rather a stress disorder that as the stress builds the handwriting deteriorated and as control returned, so did the handwriting. Or could it simply be that at times Z was inebriated or high and so did not write as neat?
John

I've often suspected that Z was in the process of ingesting alcohol and/or drugs when he penned his letters, the progressive effect of consumption combining with the excitement the writing of the letter provided him, and his penmanship steadily deteriorated through the course of the letter. In the case of the three envelopes sent the same day, my guess is that the one to the Chronicle was the first one he addressed, when he was relatively sober. I also noticed that the pen strokes on the envelope started out bold, then became quite thin. Different pen? Running out of ink? Writing against a vertical surface?

Even the Belli letter showed some deterioration part way through, though not to the point of the usual Z scrawl. And in the Red Phantom letter the handwriting tended to slip out of character on occasion. The envelope addressed to Belli was written with the same precision as his ciphers, as was the first part of the letter, which makes me think that he held Belli in some esteem, taking care in his writing as a gesture of respect. He still deliberately misspelled words in the letter, however, not willing to completely abandon his Z personna.

Following my own reasoning, it appears that Z was comparatively sober when he drew his ciphers. He undoubtedly had rough drafts as he constructed the ciphers, but the finished products that were mailed out bore no trace of impairment.

My own suspect preference notwithstanding, I'm inclined to think if Z's writing started one way, then eroded into a very characteristic style from the possible effects of intoxication, that any initial efforts at disguising handwriting would have given way to a more natural style. That's not to say that using one's off hand wouldn't have been one way of disguising handwriting, but the deliberation that Z needed to alter his natural style (even if he was using his foot!) evidently succumbed to the effects of intoxicants. Bottom line, I tend to think that Z's natural, relaxed style of writing, without pretense or subterfuge, whether he was using his right or left hand (or foot), would be very close to the Z scrawl.

Just killing two birds with one stone here.Graysmith did claim in his book ,if I remember correctly,that the envelopes containing the three parts to the first cipher carried 2,3 and 4 stamps respectively,supposedly indicating
the order in which the cipher was to be arranged.
While not necessarily, this could have suggested the order in which they were written.However on checking, two of the envelopes carried 2 stamps while the third carried 4!

Tom,
While I appreciate we could all do the calculations ourselves,I was wondering if it would be advantageous to post the exact deciphered message contained in the first cipher.
There has been confusion in the past especially with the symbols for A's and S's.The first time
the "triangle with the dot" appears is signifies an S,The first time the "Black triangle is used it signifies an A.However in subsequent translations these appear to alternate to suit what was assumed to be intended,rather than the exact spelling.I only suggest this so all can work from the same Hymn sheet and so avoid confusion.

I think that the letter writing, ciphers, all of it was/is a game for Z. The killing like an extreme sport (no offense to those involved in legit extreme sports) and altering the body with alcohol or chemicals would buffer his "rush". Not only that, it would be too easy to make stupid mistakes.

in graysmith's book, he mentions that the letters themselves were different sizes from each other....cut professionally at sizes up to 1/8 inch. why has this never been discussed anywhere else...is it a mistake on Graysmith's part?