The Zodiac Killer Enigma, Cracking the Zodiac Killer Code: The Death Machine Letter Scale

The Death Machine Letter Scale

The Zodiac Killer Enigma

Here is the Death Machine letter sent by the Zodiac killer. It is a 6-page letter and has a schematic of a bomb. In this article. we are going to scale the letter and determine the size of the pages.

Here is the Death Machine letter.

Back of page six.

We highlighted the fold lines in these examples. we then put them side by side for comparison which you will see shortly. We also use these to help determine the scale.

In these examples, we have the scale for pages 1 and 6 from the two examples above. So, those two are confirmed. We then scaled the remaining pages 2 - 5 by lining up the fold marks on the pages from where they were folded.

We highlighted the fold lines on the pages and matched them to each other. We then copied the scale from one page to the next. We have recorded the entire process.

Then we highlighted the fold lines on page 5 and matched them to page 6.

Seeing that the fold lines of the pages match, we then copied the scale marker from page 6 onto page number 5.

That gives us confirmation. We then repeat for the remaining pages and this is how the whole process is going to go.

Now, we will highlight the fold lines on page 4 and match them to page 5.

Then copy the scale marker from page 5 to page 4.

Highlight the fold lines on page 3 and match them to page 4.

Then copy the scale marker from page 4 to page 3.

Now highlight the fold lines on page 2 and match them to page 3.

Then copy the scale marker from page 3 to page 2.

Page 1 was already scaled, which helped to begin this entire process.

Now we will try to measure these before we make our final examples. You can give a little room either way for human error if you want to. Just as long as we pretty well know the scale of the pages is all that matters (at least for our experiments).

The measure between the center fold lines is either right on the mark or about 3 1/2 inches. All the pages meet that measurement, so this gives us confirmation. This is the hardest of all the letters to scale because they're so many pages and they were all cut to different sizes. We have an article about the kind of paper that Zodiac used to write his letters and codes. They also have a weird "zodiac" connection. Which is odd, because there are many different "Zodiac connections besides just his self given name. Which lead some to believe that the name "Zodiac" was some kind of a clue or hint to his puzzle.

Here are some final scaled examples with a simple one inch proof of scale.

Here are some more scaled examples. We measured these a few different ways and checked them and then rechecked them. It turns out the very first scale examples we made a while back using a different method was right on the money, except for page 5. It was a little off, but not by much. We also measured the pages along with the scales to see if everything matched up. It was all right on the mark. Still, we encourage anyone to test this themselves also.

One last set of examples that are clean with two different scale markers.

The Zodiac Killer Death Machine Bus Bomb Letter with proof of scale.

Here are some side by sides.

This will give you a good idea on how different the page sizes in the actual letter are. we feel it is important to make this clear. The question is why? We know he cut the paper and that the paper was a special kind of paper. Maybe he was cropping off some kind of identifying marks for some reason?

We made some inquiries into this and this is what we were told.

Apparently, he cut only along the length of the paper, not its width. Originally I thought that this could be so that the pages would fit in a small envelope but having measured the envelopes, I find that this is not the case, i.e., the envelopes were wide enough. Another interesting thing is that he changed the envelopes a lot; you and I might have a box of envelopes at home and simply pull one each time we need one, but the Zodiac apparently got a different envelope for many letters. I have no idea why he would do that.

That is good useful information. Many thank to Charlie at http://crack-proof.com/zodiac-killer/. He sent me a link with some information on this. I have been reading it . Here is a link.

http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/poison_pen_pal___the_zodiac_ki.html

Thanks to Richard Grinnell of www.zodiacciphers.com I have found some more information on the irregular size of the letters. I have confirmed that Zodiac did trim pieces from the paper he wrote the letters on. It is a brand, Eaton Marked Paper. From what I understand he used this on all of his letters except for the letter he sent in reply to the police after he sent the 408 cipher and they requested he send another letter to prove it was indeed the real Mcoy.

It is a very interesting article and I wish they would release more info on this. I am very interested in it. Here is a link to this article. I would recommend reading it.

http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/the_zodiac_killer__a_profile_i.html

The article states that the letters are 7.25 x 10.5 inches. The 340 cipher is 7.25 x 10.5 inches. It also states the kind of paper and that the paper has been trimmed. So, the size could vary from page to page a little. So we are going to check just to be sure because we want to be as exact as we can be. We will try these measurements again and check them against the known scale markers. If need be, we will make corrections as necessary. We are going to measure these a few different ways a few more times before we make any final decisions.

So, let's try this whole experiment again and go through the same process as the one shown above using this new piece of information. After this second scaling experiment, we will compare the two. This is more a less just a double-check of the original scaling experiment.

Let's start with page one. We are going for 10.5 x 7.25 inches