December 11, 2020
Los Angeles, California
Huge Kudos to the civilian team of code-breakers that have cracked the Zodiac 340 cryptogram. Truly, an international accomplishment.
David Oranchank, VA, USA Sam Blake, Australia Jarl Van Eykcke, Belgium
Zodiac 340 Cipher mailed 1969
The solution to the 340 cipher, according to Oranchak’s team:
I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH
Many had thought (hoped) that Zodiac would reveal his actual identity in this code, but as we see, that was not to be.
SFPD detectives working with sociologists back in 1969 determined the concept of “collecting slaves for paradise” originated in Negroes, Occidental in the Southern Philippines.
I included the fact that my father, George Hodel and his wife Hortensia Starke Hodel owned a large Sugar Plantation in Negroes, Occidental in the 1960s forward. (Actually, my stepmother and her family owned the plantation for many decades preceding the Sixties, and had become quite wealthy and she was elected a Congresswoman representing that region in Manila. While stationed in the Navy in Subic Bay, I visited the plantation with my father and Hortensia and spent a few days of R&R. (Rest and Relaxation.) No question that George Hodel would have been well aware of this island lore of “collecting slaves for paradise.”
The cracking of the code while itself was an amazing accomplishment adds little to what we already knew, just more ramblings by Zodiac and his “collecting slaves.”
Here is an excellent YouTube video produced by David Orachank explaining the team’s work and “how they did it.”
Today’s article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
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