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Post by Admin Horan on Apr 26, 2015 17:39:18 GMT -6
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Jun 10, 2018 0:17:10 GMT -6
Hmmmmm. Dark spots, beams, pencil, victims, high hills, silhouettes, horizons...and Hal Snook worked with radar equipment. Ever since Professor Horan discovered that Hal Snook was connected to radar units in Japan, I'm beginning to wonder if these are clues found in a "bullshit" story about a flashlight taped to a pistol. A lot of these words in the letter are misspelled, and I think as Professor Horan suggests, there are clues to be found via misspelled words. BTW apparently "victim radar" is a thing. Also, some more information found in an era appropriate military manual. Note the references to flashlights and polar coordinates.
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Jun 11, 2018 11:32:43 GMT -6
Another thing I saw that interested me about the second letter and a newspaper article.
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Post by Admin Horan on Jun 12, 2018 8:35:33 GMT -6
Out-mother-f***ing-standing!
On the other hand, he actually, technically, spelled "pencel" correctly. It really is "pencel flashlight," not "pencil flashlight." A "pencel" is a small pennant--it's also one of those "wind direction and speed" flags you see around airports, shaped like a long, narrow funnel open at both ends. A pencel lure (fishing tackle) is about the size and shape of an anchovy. Snook owned a sporting goods store after the Korean War, before he joined the sheriff's office.
I DO think one intention behind the letters is to WARN Mageau (and probably others) to keep his mouth SHUT. And of course, later on, Mageau changes his story to fit the letters. Therefore, I think you're absolutely right about the "NO ADDRESS." (It's in my pile of notes/questions I hadn't found an answer to. Bravo!)
Hmmmmmmm...I wonder why, of all the "misspelled" words, he tried to correct "ADRESS?"
BTW, the reason (well, one important reason) "polar coordinates" are used in radar guidance systems is, that's how computers are programmed to calculate radar data and convert it to guidance data for missiles, antiaircraft fire, etc. The "firing solution" is the solution to a system of equations, and those equations are easier for those early computers to solve if they are expressed in polar coordinates, instead of Cartesian coordinates. In fact, even before "digital" computers, analog computers were used to automatically direct antiaircraft fire using radar by both the Nazis and Anglo-Americans, and those analog systems were designed according to polar coordinates.
He had no way of knowing that his entire letters would be published (and they weren't always published in full in those early days) so he must have intended at least SOME of these "clews" to be read "privately," prrrrroooobably by "someone" in law enforcement. Local? State? Federal? Is the position of the phrase "NO ADDRESS" in relation to the crosshair symbol a "clew?" Snook lived approximately 355 degrees (NNW) of Mageau. Hmmmmm....
Additionally, I think you've really nailed the weird "reminder" about the "electric gunsight" LATER. A flashlight is NOT an "electric gunsight." But as you have shown, that radar system IS, literally, an "electric gunsight." Besides, what the hell is "to prove I am the Zodiac, ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gunsight." I mean, I thought the PIECES OF BLOODY SHIRT were supposed to "prove I am the Zodiac." Was someone SUPPOSED to "know" (or figure out) who was writing these letters, but FAILED to come knocking on his door? See what I mean? I still say he was trying to get in contact with someone in LE without going through the normal channels.
Well done! Very well done!
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ekh
Junior Member
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Post by ekh on Jun 12, 2018 12:04:14 GMT -6
I think I have an answer to the quasi-misspelled " ADdRESS " This space between the " D " and " R " suspiciously left enough room (not too much, not too little) for a small correction to be added. I think this ABSOLUTELY was a threat towards Mike Mageau, and maybe even his family. No wonder he skipped town. OR maybe maybe maybe, it was warning that "someone" in law enforcement would have picked up on and to give word to Mike Mageau to skip town. As you suggest, there was no way for the letter writer to know FOR SURE which parts of the letter would be published, if any. Hmmmmmm. Going to think about this a little.
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Post by Admin Horan on Jun 12, 2018 13:11:58 GMT -6
Darlene starts with a "D"....what else starts with a D? "No[t] a dress?" Also, look very carefully at the N in "NO"--am I blind, or is there a lower-case i superimposed over the first stroke of the N? "i no ad[vertising] ress"  What the hell could a "ress" be? In relation to ads or classified ads? -ress usually indicates female "waitress" etc. What the hell is an ad-ress? "i no a dress" "i [k]NO[w] ADDRESS" and as you pointed out, Mageau was "no address" in the first article...As of August 4, he was still in the hospital. What other address could he be saying he "knows?" That second letter was [the only one] mailed exclusively to the Examiner, not the Chronicle. What was the Dear Editor of the Examiner supposed to "get" from " i NO ADdRESS" I wonder? That first article, with "Bechwood," was published in the JOINT Sunday Chronicle/Examiner. Abe Melinkoff did not edit that edition. Let me go back and review the reports of Donald Warren Porter's arrest (leaving Ott's house, which was under surveillance by Villareal that summer) and see if that report omits his address... Or, maybe he actually made a real mistake. Like the one in the 340... |
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Post by Admin Horan on Jun 13, 2018 10:34:23 GMT -6
Everyone called Darlene "Dee." A lot of people remarked how skinny she had become lately. Does that explain the ostentatiously skinny D wedged into "ADDRESS"? "I know Dee's address..."
In his report, Hoffman (and the first Chronicle article) noted the now-wrong address on Darlene's car registration, which had not been updated yet since she and Dean had just very recently moved into the new house on Tennessee.
Before the first two letters had been mailed, Porter had been arrested, and he certainly knew Dee's NEW address, because he gave her rides to work. Jim Phillips, her ex, did NOT know her new address yet.
Supposedly, Lynch never bothered even looking for Darlene's ex until the tip from the "psychic" in January. I don't believe that. So, rather than writing the Zodiac letters to "clear" Porter, I suggest they were written to deflect suspicion OFF Phillips, and ONTO Porter (and Nickolatos). Especially since Porter was obviously set up by Ott and Villareal. And it would be absolutely likely that Phillips knew Ott (and maybe Porter) well enough to provide them with THE P-38.
Porter was (is) like 6'7" or 6'8". He couldn't be the man Mike described. But as soon as VPD had to let him go (ballistics or no ballistics) suddenly these letters start flying in the door pointing to Nickolatos and Porter--and away from WHO? Phillips is/wass a dead ringer for the man Mike described. And people have told me that Snook was friends with Phillips. And Phillips's adoptive father was Snook's cousin Diamond Bell-Phillips.)
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Jun 13, 2018 12:15:40 GMT -6
Yeah, I think there is a reason for the tiny "D." When Zodiac made a mistake he would normally cross it out and start over or go over an error with thick strokes to correct it. I'm too lazy to go back over them at the moment to double check but I will update. I went ahead removed the tiny "d" just to see what it would have looked like without it. Maybe it is a clue and it was too obvious, so he corrected it or changed it to make it appear as a tiny typo. Or maybe he did it all on purpose and as you suggest is making a point of a tiny "D." Also a few more minor interesting things in the police report. I thought it was odd that the officer referred to a victim as a nickname and not a full legal name, or at least last name, numerous times without being a direct quote from a witness. Is that the normal ? Did the person writing the report mess up because they knew them personally ? And few handwritten D's in "Darlene" found in a page of one of the reports. Not sure if any of it means anything, but still wanted to share.
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Post by Justin Case on Jun 14, 2018 7:33:49 GMT -6
Darlene starts with a "D"....what else starts with a D? "No[t] a dress?" Also, look very carefully at the N in "NO"--am I blind, or is there a lower-case i superimposed over the first stroke of the N? "i no ad[vertising] ress" What the hell could a "ress" be? In relation to ads or classified ads? -ress usually indicates female "waitress" etc. What the hell is an ad-ress? "i no a dress" "i [k]NO[w] ADDRESS" and as you pointed out, Mageau was "no address" in the first article...As of August 4, he was still in the hospital. What other address could he be saying he "knows?" That second letter was [the only one] mailed exclusively to the Examiner, not the Chronicle. What was the Dear Editor of the Examiner supposed to "get" from " i NO ADdRESS" I wonder? That first article, with "Bechwood," was published in the JOINT Sunday Chronicle/Examiner. Abe Melinkoff did not edit that edition. Let me go back and review the reports of Donald Warren Porter's arrest (leaving Ott's house, which was under surveillance by Villareal that summer) and see if that report omits his address... Or, maybe he actually made a real mistake. Like the one in the 340... In reference to what a "ress" could be...just going to throw it out there... Radar Emission Simulating Set (RESS) |
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Post by Admin Horan on Jun 15, 2018 9:42:08 GMT -6
Jebus, Justin, feel free to go ahead and throw something else out there!
RESS is apparently used to test and calibrate both active and "passive" radar (systems designed to identify and track airplane and missile mounted onboard radar systems, as well as target systems designed to hone in on and destroy enemy radar installations.) The truck-mounted radar systems Snook maintained in Japan during the mid-1950s would have definitely been tested using exactly such a system. For example, you can't just blast your repair shop with point-blank x00 killowatt radar transmissions from your truck mounted radar rig just to test its receiver circuitry. And when onsite, you need a fixed RESS to calibrate your receiver circuitry, as well. And of course these truck mounted rigs would have been equipped to track active radar on MiGs flying over Korea, etc. And in that context, AD is a stupendously common acronym for "Air Defense." As a matter of fact, one veteran stationed in Japan at the time remembers a "Lt Snook" who apparently came out (from Tachikawa) once in a while to check on the equipment.
"I [k]no[w] Air Defense Radar Emission Simulation Set" Goody gumdrops for him ("Zodiac.") So, what, one wonders? What was "Dear Editor" supposed to make of that? Or, perhaps more likely, "he" knew that police, FBI, etc, were going to read every letter with a fine-toothed magnifying glass. What message is he sending? "In this cipher [NOT the decrypted "message;" the cipher itself] is my identity." Yup. Sure was. So, what the hell is "i no Air Defense Radar Emission Simulator Set" supposed to signify? To whom? "I'm not"? "I know"? Who cared?
You know what's funny? The DEW radar station on Mt Um was no doubt routinely calibrated by a RESS on--Dum-te-DUM-dum!--Mt Diablo. The old transmitter array is still there. That's not the funny part. The funny part is, the US Air Force began construction of those sites in 1957--precisely when our friend Hal got home from his service in the--Dum-te-DUM-dum--US Air Force.
Well done, Justin. Well flipping done, indeed!
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ekh
Junior Member
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Posts: 90
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Post by ekh on Jun 15, 2018 11:18:10 GMT -6
Nice find indeed! I wasn't even thinking there might be a connection to radar with "NO ADdRESS."
All this radar knowledge and lingo probably wasn't well known at all (still isn't), even among military veterans. Perhaps even only a few people in/from the military would even notice it. And from what I can tell, he's jumping up and down and waving his hands with all these reference clues trying to get someone's attention. So, I think this means he was reaching out to someone specific.
I wonder if there was another Korean War vet at the Examiner or police department, maybe even someone that was in his unit in Korea, he was trying to reach. And this person would have to realize who it was that had written the letter, and recognized it was a secret message, and to not go blabbing to everyone around him.
Hmmmmm, or maybe he was just testing to see how sharp everyone was by throwing out tons of clues and just sitting back and waiting to see what came down the pipe when the police reports came in.
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Post by Admin Horan on Jun 15, 2018 11:47:56 GMT -6
First and foremost, I think he was showing off how smart he was, to the extent of wanking his own crank for his own amusement. I think everything had two or three deliberate meanings, and he constantly pointed out that everything had two or three (meaningful) meanings. And one reason was show off how smart he was, compared to his peers.
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Post by golden on Mar 28, 2019 23:49:22 GMT -6
Hi, I've been on here I think just one time before this visit. I think any way.. I'm Kimberly. My Uncle(Dad?) took a radar class. I found it amongst his Merchant marine DD214 documents. I found alot of stuff among his military documents. I think you wanted me to do a show or something with you, a radio show maybe and i said No... I've found alot more stuff ... Can I post pictures and some other things i have on my POI..? You will find it very interesting. Vallejo police recently sent in 2 DNA Samples , well not recently, May of 2018. They sent in the Zodiac's DNA Sample and then my DNA Sample along side it for the second one. Have yet to hear back from them still. Have you guys heard anything about the results by chance. .? Mr. Horan, You are looking in to some murders with the last name Sharp. My Grand mother , she was a "Sharp". Stella Pearl Sharp. She went by Pearl. Died in 1968. Married B.K. Sturgill/Sturgell. I believe she was from Utah..? Mormon. Then went on to California, Washington state. The Sharps lived in Utah but some of them lived in California too. I'm just wondering if any relation to the Sharps you are investigating..? I bet they are related. You should email me and I'll show you what I got on everything... Take care~ kimbers1965@gmail.com
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Post by Admin Horan on Mar 29, 2019 17:17:20 GMT -6
Wowza! Thanks, golden! I'll email you this weekend :-)
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What the hell could a "ress" be? In relation to ads or classified ads? -ress usually indicates female "waitress" etc. What the hell is an ad-ress? "i no a dress" 
