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The article from Paul Avery about "The Exorcist", and the reply from our friend? Bloomin' marvellous. Very well played you guys.

Thank you Smithy! The interaction between Zodiac, his letters, the Chronicle and Paul Avery is quite telling when looked at as a whole, in chronological order.

smithy wrote:The article from Paul Avery about "The Exorcist", and the reply from our friend? Bloomin' marvellous. Very well played you guys.

Agreed, smithy, on both points. It's honestly hard to tell who is playing whom here. Avery writes about Zodiac beginning his "exclusive correspondence with the Chronicle" almost as if he is a valued guest columnist who every once in awhile writes in and predictably has his correspondence become a front-page news story.

Zodiac responds to articles written by Avery about himself like there is some kind of personal relationship and engages Avery by mailing a personal letter and involving him in the entire Zodiodrama. I honestly think Z's efforts to involve notable San Francisco "celebrities" like Avery, Belli, possibly Herb Caen and Count Marco is a bit of a stroke of genius on his part. If you want notoriety, address or threaten the folks, particularly those in the media, who can get your message across.

I really wonder if this was calculated rather than just "getting sore at something Avery wrote about him".

entropy wrote:

smithy wrote:The article from Paul Avery about "The Exorcist", and the reply from our friend? Bloomin' marvellous. Very well played you guys.

Agreed, smithy, on both points. It's honestly hard to tell who is playing whom here. Avery writes about Zodiac beginning his "exclusive correspondence with the Chronicle" almost as if he is a valued guest columnist who every once in awhile writes in and predictably has his correspondence become a front-page news story.

Zodiac responds to articles written by Avery about himself like there is some kind of personal relationship and engages Avery by mailing a personal letter and involving him in the entire Zodiodrama. I honestly think Z's efforts to involve notable San Francisco "celebrities" like Avery, Belli, possibly Herb Caen and Count Marco is a bit of a stroke of genius on his part. If you want notoriety, address or threaten the folks, particularly those in the media, who can get your message across.

I really wonder if this was calculated rather than just "getting sore at something Avery wrote about him".

I think it was (calculated) but also, as you pick up on, possibly even compulsive. In MK & Dr. VN's "This is the Zodiac Speaking" it is suggested that Zodiac was almost being pal-y pal-y in his approach to the newspapers, like he was dressing a confident rather than just being a murderer bragging about his crimes and taunting the police. This was like human interaction to him albeit on a very twisted level. I agree with that and have felt it myself, as you guys are and have and are hypothesizing on.

The thought of dragging in celebrities is good. It's almost like we see today when celebrities themselves feel the need to re-invent themselves so that the public remain interested.

Fer shure!
A bit like an ad campaign - an unfolding marketing strategy - escalating.