In his own words
Forum user 4on4off had an interesting idea: Why not run the Gutenberg crib search program again, but against the Zodiac’s own writings instead of the massive collection of books in the Gutenberg collection?
I ran the search, and it found a few matches. Here are the files containing the results:
Results for the 408 cipher
Results for the 340 cipher
In each file, the matches resulting in the highest Zkdecrypto scores are displayed first. Here is a sample line from one of the files:
37, 237, +yBX1*:49CE>VUZ5-+|c.3zBK(Op^.fMqG2Rc, RSEENSIGNEDYOURSTRULEYHEPLUNGEDHIMSEL, 15, 1.8402534E-5, {0 17} {2 23} {20 29} {19 36} , 2952.125, 79.78716
And here’s an explanation of the data format:
- 37: Length of chunk
- 237: Position of chunk. Positions start at 0.
- +yBX1*:49CE>VUZ5-+|c.3zBK(Op^.fMqG2Rc: Transcription of cipher text chunk
- RSEENSIGNEDYOURSTRULEYHEPLUNGEDHIMSEL: Plain text chunk
- 15: Number of unique letters in the plain text
- 1.8402534E-5: Constraint difficulty. Lower values reflect higher difficulty (due to larger numbers of repeated symbols)
- {0 17} {2 23} {20 29} {19 36}: Positions of repeated symbols, grouped into pairs
- In the data for the 408, another value appears before the Zkdecrypto score, representing the proportion of characters in the solution that match the real known solution.
- 2952.125: Zkdecrypto score
- 79.78716: Zkdecrypto score divided by chunk length
What do you think? See anything interesting?
I think you’ll need a larger corpus of criminal communications to run the Gutenberg crib search program against. The FBI has the Communicated Threat Assessment Database. I think the Academy Group maintains a private one called CTARC. They’ve allowed some research to be published using their data before. You should send them an email and see if they’ll give you access.
I’ll have to investigate those. Thanks for the interesting suggestions!
Added spaces, removed numbers and unciphered text
ER ABOUT TWO MINUTES THE BATTERY MUST HAVE BEEN ABOUT DE
ES KILLINGS OF ANGER A FEW FAKE ACCIDENT SET C THE POLICE
E TARGETS I THINK I SHALL WIPE OUT A SCHOOL BUS SO
IS WHETHER THE DEATHMACHINE IS AT THE SIGHT OR W
TO DATE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT MORE EXCEPT THA
IS SEDAN DUN COMPROMISING KIND SUCH AS WACH MAC
WHETHER THE DEATHMACHINE IS AT THE SIGHT OR W
IS WHETHER THE DEATHMACHINE IS AT THE SIGH
SHINGTON ST MAPLE ST LAST NIGHT TO PROVE THIS
ED AND DEAD SHE IS NOT THE FIRST AND SHE
RS DAUGHTERS AND WIVES OFF THE STREETS AND
IBLE VERY EFECTIVE MY KILLING TOOL SHAVE BEE
R THE OTHER PARTS OF THIS CIPHER ARE BE
UTIVE GOT TO TELL YOU THE PACE ISNT
RADIANS INCHES ALONG THE RADIA
NEAT NIGHT UNTILL SUNNIGHT O RUN TIL
UNTILL SUNNIGHT O RUN TILL I KIL
THE CODE IF NOT TELL THEM TO CHE
E THEY WERE TO THE WEST THER
TOFA CIPHER THE OTHER PARTS OF T
KENED DUNGEN CELL WITH CROOKE
RRY NO CIPHER SORRY NO CIPHER
EACH EVENING ABOUT SEVE
E FRY NIGHT THAT WILL LAST THE
E FRY NIGHT THIS WILL LAST THE
AN NOT REACH OUT BE
NEED TO USE THE GUNS
340 CIPHER:
R SEEN SIGNED YOURS TRULEY HE PLUNGED HIMSEL
EET TO THE CAR THE GIRL WAS ON HER RIGHT SIDE FEET
EET TO THE CAR THE GIRL WAS ON HER RIGHT SIDE FE
THE CAR THE GIRL WAS ON HER RIGHT SIDE FEET
EN TOO CLEVER FOR THEM I LOOK LIKE THE DESC
EN TOO CLEVER FOR THEM I LOOK LIKE THE DESCR
CLEVER FOR THEM I LOOK LIKE THE DESC
CLEVER FOR THEM I LOOK LIKE THE DESCR
MISSED NONE OF THEM BE MISSED PS THE
EVER FOR THEM I LOOK LIKE THE DESCR
R IN TTHE PART I MARKED OUT ON PAGE OR I
ETTER HE WILL GET TIRED THEN LEAVE
EN TOO CLEVER FOR THEM I LOOK LIKE THE
ST MASS BRAND NAME OF AMMO SUPER XS
THE EXORCIST WAS THE BEST SATERICA
HOME WHEN WE WERE AWAY FROM THE LIBR
TY TO SEE SO DONT MAKE IT TO EASY FOR ME K
Y TO SEE SO DONT MAKE IT TO EASY FOR ME K
IS ALL READY MADE I WOULD HAVE SE
O SEE SO DONT MAKE IT TO EASY FOR ME K
WAS WIPEING THE CAB DOWN I WAS LEA
TY TO SEE SO DONT MAKE IT TO EASY FO
Y TO SEE SO DONT MAKE IT TO EASY FO
SELF SET THE BOMB UP PLEASE H
I OUT WHO PHRAISES WITH
TY TO SEE SO DONT MAKE IT TO EASY
HE NEW BOMB IS SETUP LIKE THIS S
TS BEFORE THE BAN WENT INTO EFE
THE KNEE I DID NOT LEAVE THE CENEO
EAD BY THEN I THEN OFFERED T
ONSTER NATION CONCERNING YO
E KNEE I DID NOT LEAVE THE CENEO
THE KNEE I DID NOT LEAVE THE CEN
E BEEN A LOT MORE EXCEPT THA
LL WEEKEND KILLING LONE PE