The Zodiac 340 Cipher Johnson Solution

• A copy of the Zodiac's 340 Cipher
  
  
• A copy of the Zodiac's Halloween Card 
  
  
• The use of Oranchak's excellent cipher "webtoy" - LINK
  
  

• Did you know the Zodiac Schooner yacht used in San Francisco by the Harbour Authorities was mad by / for the Johnson + Johnson family ? This may well have been the route of the Zodiac's chosen name all along, (rather than the Zodiac watch many believe it to be).
  
  
• Many have wondered about the link between The Mikado, (featured in some of his correspondence), and the Zodiac. Did you know the Mikado is a range made by the Johnson Bros. ceramics co.? (search for Johnson + ceramics + Mikado in Google, select images and view tons of the stuff ) ! 
  
  

• I even wonder whether the Zodiac's "Eureka" letter showing a snowman and a pair of keys, sent in 1990, was a reference of all things to "Ulrika Jonsson" and her co-presenter, "Richard Keys" on a show where she worked as a weather girl ! A bit left- field that one and you'll have to check it out for yourself as I haven't got time in this post to elaborate. Remember though if so, the Zodiac would have to have been watching either British or Swedish TV at the time ???
  
  

• Rubbers + Ohio leads us to the Johnson Rubber Co., (or the Johnson Bros. Rubber Company) - answer = Johnson
  
  
• Wiseman + Wiseman combine to give us "Wisemen".  Lyndon B. Johnson famously met with the "Wise Men" in 1967 / 8 to discuss the Vietnam war. What I'm less sure of is was this public knowledge in 1969, (when the 340 was created), or is this an indication of the Zodiac's links? Answer = Johnson
  
  
• John Stears - The answer could be "John", but the cipher is not resolving that way so far.
  
  

Calstock wrote:The Zodiac 340 "Johnson Solution"
Suggested resources to follow this solution:

• A copy of the Zodiac's 340 Cipher
  
  
• A copy of the Zodiac's Halloween Card 
  
  
• The use of Oranchak's excellent cipher "webtoy" - LINK
  
  

Where to start?

Firstly I will say straight away, this post will not provide a "complete" solution to the 340 cipher. It does however, (if I'm right), tell you exactly how the 340 is to be cracked and provides you with part of my solution so far derived from this approach. The parts I'm not providing at the time of writing are only elements that I am not yet settled on, along with quite a few clues I have noticed within the cipher that I don't have time to present in this first submission. I'm hoping that readers will find this solution convincing and begin the search for further clues and answers their selves. If they do, they will hopefully find the numerous items I'm yet to list, and it's my biggest hope that they help to find the definitive solution to this near 50 year old cipher puzzle.

Is this all my own work ? Unfortunately yes. I say that because I've been trying for several months to elicit help from various forums / members, to no avail. The aim was to work through this cipher and present the definitive version I referred to. Instead I'm forced to present the cipher solution at a stage where there may well be errors. Only when complete, will that be known and I'll hold my hands up to any mistakes I've made so far.

The cipher
Many familiar with the Zodiac case will know of the so called "340 Cipher" the Zodiac sent to local press in November 1969 & the subsequent "Halloween Card" letter he sent in October 1970. I think it's universally accepted the Halloweeen card represented a clue to how the 340 was to be solved. If you're in doubt, hopefully I can convince you that it certainly was sent for that reason, (or at least in part).

I think it's also fair to say that many people don't consider the 340 to be a straight forward substitution cipher, like the Zodiac sent in the form of his "408 Cipher" in July 1969. For one thing the Zodiac says himself, "Sorry no cipher" in the Halloween Card, but more importanly, I think the concensus is the cipher would have been cracked decades ago if it were a cipher of that nature.

The "Johnson Solution" I'm presenting will indeed show you that although the cipher is not set out in a format similar to the 408, it is indeed a substitution cipher, (although I'm no expert and others will have to confirm exactly what it should be called), and that its complexity lies within the multiple levels you need to progress through to reach the solution.

THE 340 CIPHER 





=The First Step - Study The Halloween Card

Set out in the image below are some of the clues I identified, clues that guided me to the solution I'm presenting.




The key elements here that we need at the start of the journey are Layout shown in the "Paradice / Slaves", which indicates the way in which the 340 needs to be divided and the prescence of the "nine eyes", which I took to be a key clue. The 340 is made up of 17 columns wide and 20 rows deep, I considered that if you formed a 9 x 9 box of cipher symbols, you would automatically end up with a 1 x symbol wide central column, representing the PARADICE column in the Halloween card. 

In further confirmation before we divide up the cipher grid, you will notice the presence of what can easily be considered number 9's in the cipher text. They may well be backward P's as well, but for my part I see them as a confirmation of the 9 x 9 boxes I've been describing. In fact you will notice in two instances, the symbols are used to spell out 9 x 9 !





Indeed, if you follow this approach, (with a bit of judgement as to how to set the 9 x 9 boxes vertically on the cipher grid), you will end up with the following layout:





What to do next?

Like many things I may be setting out within this post, I don't have time to explain each step in complete detail, but suffice to say my next approach was how to select parts of the divided up cipher for "decoding". An approach that first came to mind was to select cipher symbols indicated in rows and columns, following what seemed to me to be very obvious "pointers" in the form of the "V" symbols, (used horizontally and vertically within the 340 cipher). These seemed like contenders for directional arrows although they have one distinct prroblem - The Halloween Card seems to be strongly indicating a diagonal approach to our solution, (look back at it as I don't want to repeat the image).

Shown on the image below are the very obvious up / down & left / right V symbols in the upper left grid panel and the not so obvious diagonal equivalents in the form of L cipher symbols, shown in yellow in the right hand grid panel. It's my belief that it's the diagonal direction ponters that we need to use and although the other pointers may have a secondary purporse, i haven't found it yet.




Developing This Further

I wonder if some reader will see exactly where this is going by now ...... A WORDSEARCH !

If you work thorough the thirteen, ( YES thirteen!), diagonal directional pointers and select the text using the 9 x 9 boxes as limiters to the extent at which text should be selected, (which by the way is why the grid needed dividing up in the first place - as all lines of cipher symbols would end up being defined by their 340 grid / wall-wall dimensions), then you will end up with the following.....



You will notice that we have ended up with thirteeen wordsearch selections, twelve of which I've highlighted in red, the thirteenth I've highlighted in yellow as it's the only one that originates from outside a 9 x grid panel and one that I think may have a special significance.

So there you see the relevance of the thirteen eyes  in the Halloween Card - indicating the thirteen wordsearches. You may also note, (as shown in the image below), the word BOO ! in the Halloween Card forms part of one of our diagonal selections and finally, can you see how the "void space" formed within the 340 grid bears a strong resemblence to the pose of the skeleton on the card ? In fact I think that particular point is best noted without the scruffy red scribbles I've added to the image. 





How To Start Solving The Wordsearches ?

One absolutely crucial point you need to understand at this point is there is in my opinion, no "void space" or "fillers" within the 340 - every symbol has meaning and function. The wordsearch approach we're taking is simply a method provided to start to crack open the cipher and there will undoubtedly be many messages to find within the whole of the remaining grid.

I will start with something really easy !

I only wish it were so !

We're at one of those points where I said i can't explain every detail, but take it from me, either all or part of the 340 has a "spy theme" on its first level of decryption.



The "clues" attached to the diagonal wodsearch selection I've selected in the above image, are an indication of the word to be found. In fact this is the exact process to be applied to all following wordsearch puzzles in the 340 cipher.

The clues I've found for this particular word were Rub, Really, easy, fool and "book 9". These and many more, (possibly all), of the wordsearches relate to spy films and novels. in particular to Ian Fleming's James Bond series, (although I have found exceptions). It's interesting to note that one key clue the Halloween Card gave us was "4-Teen". This may well relate to a hidden fourteenth clue as I've mentioned, but there also happens to be exactly fourteen Bond novels ! The "book 9" clue I've found relates to the Novel book, "Thunderball".

If you look at the excerpt below, from the very first paragarph of the novel, (available here ) - all bond books are available free online by the way, you will notice the clues actually refer to a game of Rubber Bridge that Bond was playing, (badly)! So the answer I believe to our first clue is...

RUBBERS




NOTES:

Key notes to remember here are that like many novel / film productions, the novel is often very different from the film. Bond movies are no exception and you will find character changes, plot changes, almost to a point beyond recognition between the two. So if you're going to look for clues yourself, bear in mind the fact that you may well have to check both film and book to find the answer you're looking for.

Secondly, as we progress, I hope you will notice that the answers we find will fit the wordsearch spaces, but the cipher symbols won't correlate. Don't let that bother you at this point, because we're merely at stage one of the decoding and all our words are merely a clue to the next stage, (I told you this wasn't easy)!

The second wordsearch answer




In our second wordsearch selection, we find the clues Doctor, No & Cool. Firstly, the actor who played Dr No was Joseph Wiseman and it's my suggestion that "Wiseman" is the answer to the clues. I said there were exceptions to the spy / Bond theme to these searches and I belive one such departure is the Film Maker Frederick Wiseman. Looking for clues I could see the "FK"  symbols at the bottom of this particular worsearch and this lead me to our second Wiseman", (the reason for which will be apparent later).

You will notice on the image below, what I belive the clue "Cool" relates to - "The Cool World" documentary made by F. Wiseman. I do wonder by the way if the words, "Rumble", Fuzz" & "Junk" have any connection to this case !




So there we have our second answer - WISEMAN

And thirdly...




Our third clue in this cluster we'll tackle, gives us the clues, Great Britain, Special Effects, Cow & Book 9.  I also forgot to add Ox to that mix. This leads us to who did the special effects on Thinderball ? John Stears.

I presume you can all see the cow / ox... steer connection? .... or "Stears" in our case.



So there's our third answer - STEARS


Where Now ?

Well I have other answers / possible answers and a whole bunch of other clues & pointers, but this initial post is going to be too long if I go further on this track and I don't want to provide answers that end up being wrong. Therefore the next point I'm going to take you to is directly to stage 2 of this decoding procedure.....

If you think things have been tricky so far, they're going to get more difficult and you're going to need to take an even bigger leap of faith in what I am presenting to you as ...........

THE JOHNSON SOLUTION

It's my contention that the clues within the 340 cipher and some of the Zodiac's other correspondence lead us to one thing; the name "Johnson". What significance this has will be open to debate, but remember also of significance may be the forms, Jonsson, Johanson, John & Jon.

Before we start, what other clues do I refer to ?

• Did you know the Zodiac Schooner yacht used in San Francisco by the Harbour Authorities was mad by / for the Johnso + Johnson family ?
  
• Many have wondered about the link between The Mikado, (featured in some of his correspondence), and the Zodiac. Did you know the Mikado, (search for Johnson + ceramics + Mikado in Google, select images and view tons of the stuff ) ! 
  

• I even wonder whether the Zodiac's "Eureka" letter showing a snowman and a pair of keys, sent in 1990, was a reference of all things to "Ulrika Jonsson" and her co-presenter, "Richard Keys" on a show where she worked as a weather girl ! A bit left- field that one and you'll have to check it out for yourself as I haven't got time in this post to elaborate. Remember though if so, the Zodiac would have to have been watching either British or Swedish TV at the time ???
  

Johnson Step 1

Firstly I am highlighting the clues within the 340, linked to our three answers so far derived as Lyndon B. Johnson, Ohio, the "John" in John Stears and lastly, what I've long though to be a symbol for the Zodiac himself / their selves in the form of the back-toback J's. These appear in the 340 cipher in two forms; one with a "left eye" and one with a "right eye". I belive this could well indicate a son / father relevance to this case, a brother / brother relationship or some other combination. It could also end up being the duality of the Zodiac's own persona. It's interesting to note as well that this symbol appears, (in my belief), in a simplified form as an "Aries" symbol in the 408 cipher, "Bus Bomb" cipher and the "My name is " cipher.



I believe once combined, the initial "James Bond" clues, combined with the secondary clues I've just mentioned, lead us to the following results:

• Rubbers + Ohio leads us to the Johnson Rubber Co., (or the Johnson Bros. Rubber Company) - answer = Johnson
  
• Wiseman + Wiseman combine to give us "Wisemen".  Lyndon B. Johnson famously met with the "Wise Men" in 1967 / 8 to discuss the Vietnam war. What I'm less sure of is was this public knowledge in 1969, (when the 340 was created), or is this an indication of the Zodiac's links? Answer = Johnson
  
• John Stears - The answer could be "John", but the cipher is not resolving that way so far.
  

When you add the two "Johnson" answers to the 340 cipher, you end up with...





After filling in a few more cipher symbols, which I haven't got time to explain here, but are just furthering the process we've been through so far, you end up with....








Key Points

You will notice below I've annotated an image that highlights all kinds of points of interest. I could explain them all and many more but I think we have to say here ends the inital post of the 340 cipher Johnson Solution. Trust me, I'd rather be presenting to you the finsihed article, but I haven't had time to progress things that far and to be totally honest, after near 50 years, who know's if things can be resolved to a complete solution.

I do hope that for many this may be an insight into why the 340 has never been cracked, (I'm not sure that's exactly the case myself to be honest). It will hopefully give you "Non-cipher" people the inclination to have a go at furthering what's become more a wordsearch / crossword puzzle than a cipher.

Calstock wrote:Thanks Ophion, you know I've had a roller coaster ride with this case and I haven't handled things brilliantly. I started off like most people, thinking it was an interesting puzzle relating to a 50 yr. old murder case. I soon realised it's far more complex than that to say the least.

Interesting you say you've done LSD, I've never taken any drugs myself but I thought it's said that acid opens up your mind to how the world is connected, (or at least it seems to be when you're on a high). The way the 340 cipher works and it's message as always seemed to me to be one of how everything's connected. In this case through all the people named Johnson. Whether that be President Lyndon B. Johnson, the aviator Amy Johnson, the spitfire pilot Johnnie Johnson, George VI having the code name Mr. Johnson, etc, etc....

Combine that with the Zodiac's correspondence where he refers to "a kid" as "a cid" and "accident" as "accid.", I always thought there was a LSD theme running through is letters and ciphers.

Maybe you can enlighten us to whether you feel from what I've said the 340 seems like a project constructed whilst on LSD? I'm not sure either way if it matters, because I dare say half of California was on something or other in 1969!