Preliminary Report
on
Project MK-ZODIAC
"This is your
hunter speaking. You are now dead."
The Most Dangerous
Game
That The Zodiac Played
by Ricardo Eugirtni Gomez
MK-ZODIAC.com
Copyright � 2008-2018
"The Most
Dangerous Game"
In the 408-symbol
cipher, the message from the Zodiac began as follows:
"I like killing people because it is so much fun.
It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest
because man is the most dangerous animal of all."
As
explained in Robert Graysmith�s books "Zodiac" (1986) and "Zodiac
Unmasked" (2002), this particular wording caused investigators to
suspect that the Zodiac was influenced by the short story "The Most
Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell which was originally published in
1924.
To read the short
story, "The Most Dangerous Game", by Richard Connell, click here.
http://www.sau21.org/ha-archive/The%20Most%20Dangerous%20Game%20story1.pdf
In 1932, this short
story was adapted into the movie "The Most Dangerous Game".
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Most_Dangerous_Game_poster.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023238/
This movie was
directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack and starred Joel
McCrea, Fay Wray, and Leslie Banks.
This movie was
released on September 16, 1932.
Graysmith
and others theorized that the Zodiac may have been inspired by this
movie to use the costume and knife when the Zodiac attacked Bryan
Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa on September 27, 1969.
Graysmith thought
that the Zodiac may have watched this particular movie at the Avenue
Theater in San Francisco circa 1969.
http://www.zodiackiller.com/AvenueTheatre.html
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM85Q3_Avenue_Theater_San_Francisco_CA
http://books.google.com/books?id=8Wm6fvRvEqIC&lpg=PA194&ots=20LVYAxZxa&dq=avenue%20theater%20san%20francisco%20zodiac%20killer&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q&f=false
To watch the 1932
movie, "The Most Dangerous Game", click
here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw2v2N-RJVg
http://www.archive.org/details/TheMostDangerousGame
"The Most Dangerous
Game" was adapted into radio shows, also.
To listen to the
radio show versions of "The Most Dangerous Game", click here.
http://www.escape-suspense.com/2007/03/suspensethe_mos.html
http://www.escape-suspense.com/files/Escape.1947.10.01_Dangerous_Game.mp3
http://www.escape-suspense.com/files/Suspense.1943.09.23_The_Most_Dangerous_Game.mp3
There have also been
other movies, radio shows, television shows, and other genre based upon
"The Most Dangerous Game".
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HuntingTheMostDangerousGame
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_hunting
"A Game of Death"
For example, one
version of "The Most Dangerous Game" was the 1945 movie, "A Game of
Death".
http://www.impawards.com/1945/game_of_death.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038549/
http://www.afi.com/wise/films/game_of_death/god.html
This movie was
directed by Robert Wise and starred John Loder, Audrey Long, and Edgar
Barrier.
This movie was
released on November 23, 1945.
The Connection
between Arthur Leigh Allen and "The Most Dangerous Game"
There
is evidence that Arthur Leigh Allen, one of the known suspects in the
Zodiac case, had a connection with "The Most Dangerous Game".
On
July 15, 1971, when Richard Amos and Art Langstaff interviewed Donald
Cheney, Cheney explained that, during a conversation that happened when
Cheney and Allen were hunting, in the context of writing a story, Allen
talked about "hunting people" and Allen mentioned reading the short
story "The Most Dangerous Game".
Cheney
did not remember the exact date of the conversation. In the first
interview on July 15, 1971, Cheney claimed that this conversation had
happened sometime in January of 1968. Later, Cheney corrected himself
because Cheney had moved on January 1, 1969, so it was possible that
this conversation could have happened sometime before January 1, 1969.
(Cheney was sure that the conversation could not have happened after he
had moved.)
On December 30, 2000,
when Tom Voigt (who is the administrator of the website www.zodiackiller.com)
interviewed Cheney, Cheney no longer remembered the exact name of the
book or movie which Allen had mentioned during the conversation years
ago. Cheney thought that it was possible that it might have been a
television show.
http://www.zodiackiller.com/CheneyTranscript.txt
http://www.zodiackiller.com/MulanaxReport1.html
On August 4, 1971,
accompanied by Bill Armstrong, Jack Mulanax and Dave Toschi interviewed
Arthur Leigh Allen.
During this
interview, Allen specifically referred to the short story "The Most
Dangerous Game".
http://www.zodiackiller.com/MulanaxReport6.html
Allen
mentioned having conversations about the Zodiac with Ted Kidder and
Phil Tucker who both worked at the Greater Vallejo Recreation District
at that time (where Allen had been employed previously.)
Mulanax and Toschi
interviewed Kidder and Tucker on the same day (August 4, 1971) about
Allen.
Kidder did not
remember talking about the Zodiac with Allen.
Tucker confirmed that
he did have conversations with Allen about the Zodiac.
Tucker
provided the investigators with information about Allen; however, it
was not until years later (June 11, 1991) when Tucker told
investigators that Allen had mentioned "hunting people".
http://www.zodiackiller.com/MulanaxReport1.html
On August 4, 1971,
Mulanax and Toschi also interviewed Ronald, the brother of Allen, and
Karen, Ronald�s wife.
Later, Ronald
confirmed that Allen had mentioned something about "the most dangerous
game".
Another person who
was interviewed claimed that Allen said "I think of man as game".
On
March 6, 1990, Karen, the wife of Allen�s brother, told Graysmith that
Allen had conversations with her mother about the short story "The Most
Dangerous Game".
On
June 11, 1991, when George Bawart and Roy Conway interviewed Tucker
about Arthur Leigh Allen, Tucker said that, when Tucker and Allen had
gone scuba diving together, Allen suggested writing a story which would
be related to "hunting people".
Phil
Tucker thought that Allen had mentioned a book about hunting people
with a bow and arrow. Tucker could not remember the name of the book.
(Tucker did not think that Allen had mentioned either the short story
or the movie, "The Most Dangerous Game".)
Tucker
claimed that this conversation had happened before September of 1966.
(Tucker was sure that the conversation could not have happened after he
was married in September of 1966.)
Tucker had not
mentioned this conversation previously when Mulanax and Toschi had
interviewed Tucker in 1971.
Tucker said that he
did not know Donald Cheney.
In
the book "Zodiac Unmasked", Graysmith asserted that, when Tucker had
the conversation with Allen about "hunting people", Allen had referred
to the 1945 movie "A Game of Death". However, in the interview on June
11, 1991, Tucker did not remember the name of the book or movie which
Allen had mentioned.
In
1992, George Bawart wrote the report, "Circumstances Which Indicate
Arthur Leigh Allen, Is, in Fact, the Zodiac Killer", which was kept
secret at the time.
This 1992 report by
Bawart referred to the previous interviews with Cheney and Tucker.
Some
of the information in this 1992 report is not accurate because the
information was intended to be verified by other investigators.
http://www.zodiackiller.com/Bawart1.html
In
the 2009 book "Most Evil" by Steve Hodel (with Ralph Pezzullo), Hodel
examined how "The Most Dangerous Game" may have inspired the Zodiac,
particularly in relationship with the theory that George Hill Hodel was
the Zodiac.
"Seventh Victim"
One
of the other stories which was derived from "The Most Dangerous Game"
was a short story called "Seventh Victim" which was written by Robert
Sheckley in 1953.
This
story was set in the future and described an organized system of
legalized murder intended to satisfy the homicidal instincts of humans.
(This short story was
included in the Robert Sheckley�s book "Untouched by Human Hands".)
To read the short
story, "Seventh Victim", by Robert Sheckley, click here.
http://mydownloadhq.com/servers.asp?PID=7669c847-3658-4a4b-9902-6d01dde593fb&jstyle=1&lbd=1&ts=2/13/2011%208:27:42%20PM&q=%22Robert+Sheckley+-+Seventh+Victim.pdf%22+25008+-+Full+Download&cr=1
"Seventh Victim" was
adapted into a radio show.
To listen to the
radio show version of "Seventh Victim", click here.
http://ia301540.us.archive.org/1/items/XMinus1B/xminusone_570306_TheSeventhVictim.mp3
http://cdn2.libsyn.com/scififriday/scififriday109.mp3?nvb=20100925234500&nva=20100926235500&t=0f037d4d953ecbf23db43
To read the script of
the radio show version of "Seventh Victim", click here.
http://www.genericradio.com/show.php?id=VL1XL6N9K
"La Decima
Vittima" - "The 10th Victim"
In 1965, this short
story was adapted into an Italian movie called "La Decima Vittima".
The English title of
the movie is "The 10th Victim".
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/The_10th_Victim.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059095/
This movie was
directed by Elio Petri and starred Marcello Mastrolanni and Ursula
Andress.
This movie was
released on December 1, 1965.
To watch the trailer
and scenes from the 1965 movie "La Decima Vittima" - "The 10th Victim",
click here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiJ6oghRqKY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmK7Ni_8gs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-xML_bB6Og
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kobrYqV7nk
The rules of the Big
Hunt are explained in this movie clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgLI9MVt4Qs
Piero Piccioni
composed the soundtrack for the this movie.
http://www.dangerousminds.net/tag/Piero-Piccioni
To listen to the
soundtrack of the 1965 movie "La Decima Vittima" - "The 10th Victim", click here.
http://rapidshare.com/files/206511708/Vittima.rar
http://sleazy-listening.blogspot.com/2009/03/piero-piccioni-la-decima-vittima-1965.html
Robert Sheckley wrote
the novel based upon the movie which was a revised version of the
original short story from 1953.
The cover of the
novel included the crosshair symbol which the Zodiac would later use.
 
"The Hunt" Game
After
the movie "La Decima Vittima" - "The 10th Victim" was released in the
United States, a game became popular on college campuses in 1966.
The game was based
upon this movie.
The game was called
"The Hunt" and the rules were similar to the rules which were presented
in the movie.
The college students
playing the game would take turns in either the role of "Hunter" or
"Victim".
As in the movie, each
Hunter would devise elaborate methods to kill each Victim.
Someone in the role
of the "Director" would evaluate the method used to kill each Victim.
Each Hunter earned
one point for each successful "kill" and two points for each elaborate
"kill".
Each Hunter would
lose points if it happened that the Hunter was killed by other players.
Similar to the movie,
the winning player needed to achieve a total of ten points.
According
to an article in Time magazine, "Games: Homicide on the Campus", dated
May 13, 1966, the game was played by students and faculty at Oberlin
College, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of
Chicago, and other colleges.
It is possible that
the individual who later became known as the Zodiac read this
particular Time magazine article in 1966.
To read the Time
magazine article, "Games: Homicide on the Campus", click here.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,835511,00.html
This
article referred to an unnamed student who, as a Victim in the game,
received a message from another unnamed student sometime before May of
1966.
As a trick, the
message was supposedly from the Bursar�s Office at the University of
Chicago.
However,
at the end of the message, it was revealed that a Hunter had actually
sent the message and the message itself was the murder weapon because
the paper had been poisoned.
In this message, the
Hunter specifically wrote, "This is your hunter speaking. You are
now dead."
Later,
beginning in the message received by the San Francisco Examiner on
August 4, 1969, the Zodiac used the similar wording "This is the Zodiac
speaking."
http://www.zodiackiller.com/DOZ1HR.html
The Zodiac kept score
of victims similar to how the Hunters in the game would keep score of
their Victims.
Therefore, it is
possible that the individual who later became known as the Zodiac
played this particular game.
Project
MK-ZODIAC considers this evidence which indicates that the Zodiac could
have been either a student or a teacher at a college in 1966.
According
to an article in the Los Angeles Free Press, "Party Games for Twelve"
by Jerry Hopkins dated May 27, 1966, a variation of this game evidently
was played at parties in Southern California in 1966.
In
November of 1966, there was a message sent by an anonymous person who
some researchers have reason to think was the individual who later
became known as the Zodiac.
The message was
received after the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and was titled "THE
CONFESSION".
The message described
the method in which Cheri Jo Bates was murdered and included a specific
reference to a game.
"BUT THAT WILL NOT
STOP THE GAME."
http://www.zodiackiller.com/images/confessioncolor.gif
This is evidence that
the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates had decided to play the "The Hunt" game
in real life.
* * *
Additional Notes
It
happens that there was a suspect in the Zodiac case who was named
"Hunter". Harry V. Martin, the publisher of the Napa Sentinel, wrote
about this suspect (Robert E. Hunter).
http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/ozs/1093.html
* * *
The game is still
played and has evolved over the years since 1966 and is now known as
"Assassin".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin_(game)
If anyone reads this
report who played "The Hunt" game circa 1966, Project MK-ZODIAC would
like more information. Please email project@mk-zodiac.com.
* * *
Addendum
The "Murder" Game Played by Harpo Marx
According
to the 1961 book "Harpo Speaks!" by Harpo Marx (with Rowland Barber),
there was a similar parlor game called "Murder" which was played circa
1920.
This game was played
between cocktail time and dinner.
In this game, one of
the players would be chosen to play the secret role of the "Murderer"
who would choose a "Victim".
Privately, the
Murderer would say "You are Dead!" to the Victim.
The Victim was
required to pretend to be dead for the rest of the game.
When
the Victim was eventually discovered, another player who had been
chosen to act in the role of the "District Attorney" would be
challenged to find out who was the Murderer.
The District Attorney
would question the players to detect which one was the Murderer.
In the anecdote in
this book, Harpo Marx was chosen to be the Murderer.
In
a variation of the usual rules of this game, Harpo Marx wrote a note in
lipstick on toilet paper to kill the Victim (Alice Miller).
The note was
misspelled as "YOU ARE DED".
Because
it was known that Harpo Marx did not spell words correctly, the
District Attorney (Alek Woollcott) was able to figure out that Harpo
Marx was the Murderer.
http://books.google.com/books?id=XCR14V7uMbsC&lpg=PA1&dq=%22harpo%20speaks%22&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://forevermarxist.tripod.com/harpospeaks.htm
http://www.tv.com/harpo-marx/person/88977/trivia.html
Researchers
of the Zodiac case may ponder whether or not the individual who later
became known as the Zodiac read this book by Harpo Marx which was
published in 1961.
On
the Halloween card postmarked October 27, 1970, which was sent to Paul
Avery at the San Francisco Chronicle, the Zodiac wrote "YOU ARE
DOOMED!" which is reminiscent of the Murderer�s words in this game.
http://www.zodiackiller.com/HalloweenCard.html
Project
MK-ZODIAC considers it possible that the unnamed student at the
University of Chicago who wrote the message in 1966, "This is your
hunter speaking. You are now dead.", read this 1961 book by Harpo Marx.
This
specific anecdote could have been the inspiration for the unnamed
student to concoct the message which, as an embellishment to fit "The
Hunt" game, imagined that the paper had been poisoned as the method of
killing the Victim.
* * *
Addendum
The Murder of Valerie Percy
AK Wilks (who is a
moderator at the internet forum http://zodiackillersite.com)
has theorized that the murder of Valerie Percy at her home at
Kenilworth, Illinois, on September 18, 1966, may have been committed by
the individual who later became known as the Zodiac.
http://unazod.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=90
Project
MK-ZODIAC considers this another idea to explore in view of the fact
that "The Hunt" game was being played at the Illinois Institute of
Technology, the University of Chicago, and other colleges in 1966.
Keniworth
is north of Chicago and someone could have driven from either the
Illinois Institute of Technology or the University of Chicago to
Kenilworth in about an hour.
Percy,
who was 21 years old, was the daughter of Charles H. Percy, who was the
Republican nominee for Senator (who won the election later that year).
Percy was beaten and
stabbed in her bedroom while other family members were in the house.
The mother of Percy
heard the noise and went to check on her daughter.
The mother could not
see the face of the killer because he used a flashlight which obscured
her vision.
The killer escaped as
the mother screamed.
Kenilworth
Police Chief Robert M. Daley and Cook County Coroner Andrew Toman
conjectured that the murder had been planned in advance.
Perhaps Percy was
another victim in the game which was no longer solely a fantasy.
According
to an article in Time Magazine, "Beyond Grief", dated September 30,
1966, unidentified fingerprints were found at the crime scene where
Valerie Percy was killed.
Project MK-ZODIAC
would like to have these fingerprints compared with the fingerprints
from the Zodiac case.
To read the TIME
magazine article, "Beyond Grief", click here.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836428,00.html
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news&id=4563621
Prior to the murder
of Valerie Percy, on June 30, 1966, [first
name withheld] Bubes was attacked at her home at Evanston, Illinois.
Bubes was 19 years
old.
She was hit on the
head and she screamed. The intruder escaped.
She was able to
provide a description of the suspect.
After
the murder of Percy on September 18, 1966, the police circulated the
sketch of the suspect in the incident on June 30, 1966, who they
thought might have been the same person who killed Percy. (Evanston is
near Kenilworth.)
There
were other unsolved murders in the Midwest region circa 1966 which may
or may not be connected to the murder of Valerie Percy.
AK
Wilks has also examined the murders of Jerome "Jerry" Bricca, Linda
"Lynn" Jane Bricca, and Debbie Bricca who were stabbed to death at
their home at Cincinnati, Ohio, sometime between September 25 and
September 27 of 1966.
http://community.aetv.com/service/displayDiscussionThreads.kickAction?as=119137&w=267379&d=523756&d-1169404-p=1
Jerome "Jerry" Bricca
was a chemical engineer and Linda "Lynn" Jane Bricca was a flight
attendant.
Jerome "Jerry" Bricca
was 28 years old, Linda "Lynn" Jane Bricca was 24 years old, and Debbie
Bricca was 4 years old.
At
the time Hamilton County Police Lieutenant Herbert Vogel investigated
the possibility that the Bricca family had been killed by the same
person who killed Valerie Percy about a week before.
It has never been
confirmed whether or not Linda "Lynn" Jane Bricca had ever met Valerie
Percy.
http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/cincinnatihistory/Story.aspx?ID=1702452
* * *
Additional Notes
It
happens that one of the persons who has been named as a possible
suspect in the Zodiac case has a connection to one of the colleges
where "The Hunt" game was known to have been played. Theodore Kaczynski
attended a summer course at the University of Chicago in 1957.
http://www.cnn.com/fyi/school.tools/profiles/kaczynski/index.story.html
However,
the 1965 movie "La Decima Vittima" - "The 10th Victim" was the direct
inspiration for the 1966 version of the game which was known as "The
Hunt", so Theodore Kaczynski could not have played this game in 1957.
If
there is any other known suspect in the Zodiac case who may be
connected to "The Hunt" game, Project MK-ZODIAC would like more
information. Please email project@mk-zodiac.com.
* * *
Addendum
The Murder of Robert Warren Spike
Specifically
as concerns "The Hunt" game, there was an unsolved murder which has a
direct connection with the University of Chicago.
Robert
Warren Spike was bludgeoned to death at the United Christian Center at
Columbus, Ohio on October 17, 1966, the day after he had dedicated the
building.
Spike was 42 years
old.
Spike,
a civil rights and religious leader, was the Professor of Ministry and
Doctor of the Ministry Program at the Divinity School of the University
of Chicago.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Rev._Robert_W._Spike.jpg
On December 8, 1966,
a burglar was arrested for the murder of Spike.
This suspect had been
committed for mental illness at the Columbus State Hospital from
September 9, 1964, to May 26, 1966.
This suspect
confessed to robbing churches in Columbus.
While being
interrogated, this suspect also confessed to the murder of Spike.
Later, the suspect
recanted the confession and said that he was at Washington, D.C. when
Spike was murdered.
On October 4, 1967,
Prosecuor C. Howard Johnson announced that the murder charge would be
dismissed.
Previously, the
police discovered two unidentified fingerprints at the location of the
murder of Spike.
Project MK-ZODIAC
would like to have these fingerprints compared with fingerprints from
other murders.
There was another
murder that investigators thought might have been connected to the
murder of Spike.
Loren E. Bollinger
was murdered at Ohio State University on May 23, 1966.
Bollinger was 40
years old.
Bollinger was an
assistant professr in the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical
Engineering at Ohio State University.
Bollinger specialized
in research regarding rockets and nuclear devices
The Columbia Evening
Dispatch featured a column by Bollinger called "Man and Missiles".
Bollinger was shot in
the head at an office building where he was planning to work at
Columbus.
The police were able
to verify that Bollinger had been shot with a .25 caliber pistol made
outside of the United States.
The
ballistics tests indicated that the same weapon had been used in
separate incidents in 1965 to murder two other people, Chester Joseph
Scowden and Claude Quesenberry.
Scowden was 19 years
old and Quesenberry was 41 years old.
Scowden worked at a
gasoline station at Columbus and Quesenberry worked at a gasoline
station at West Jefferson (near Columbus).
Similar to how
Bollinger was murdered, both Scowden and Quesenberry had been shot in
the head.
The police thought
that robbery had been the motive for these murders.
Raymond Sigler was
shot by the same unknown person and survived.
Because Sigler was
shot in the back of his head (the same as the other victims), there was
no description of the assailant.
* * *
Additional Notes
Regarding
the unsolved murders in the Ohio area, there was someone who has been
considered as a possible suspect in the Zodiac case who was connected
to the Ohio area.
His
body was found at Eastlake, Ohio, on July 30, 2002. It was evident that
he had shot himself. The person used the name "Joseph Newton Chandler
III"; however, upon further investigation, it was discovered that his
true identity was unknown.
Steve Huff, Mike
Rodelli, Chris Yarbrough, and other researchers have explored various
theories regarding this person.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/454umoh.html
http://zodiackiller.21.forumer.com/a/joe-chandler_post1718.html
http://www.zodiackiller.com/discus/messages/27/829.html?1166881823
http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/this-is-the-dead-land-zodiacjoseph/
http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/the-hope-only-of-empty-men/
http://crimeshadows.com/jondoe.htm
The
2008 book, "The Serial Killer�s Apprentice and 12 Other True Stories of
Cleveland�s Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes" by James Renner includes a
chapter about this possible suspect.
http://jamesrenner.wordpress.com/tag/joseph-newton-chandler/
If
there is any other known suspect in the Zodiac case who may be
connected to the Ohio area, Project MK-ZODIAC would like more
information. Please email project@mk-zodiac.com.
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