Ross Sullivan: Timeline of primary sources

[morf13]

Wow, great stuff Eric! Good work

[JeffP]

I finally received copies of Ross Sullivan’s Selective Service records from the National Archives. Unfortunately, there is not much that is new. His registration card records him as: eyes “blue,” hair “blonde,” complexion “fair,” height 6’2’’, weight 260, and having a “scar on left upper arm.” It states that he is a student at Glendale College and living with his father at the E. Harvard address. Ross registered, per the law, at age 18.

Ross Sullivan is on line 19 of the Classification History (SSS Form 102) I received. It lists him as “available for military service” (1-A) and “registrant qualified for service only in time of war or national emergency” (1-Y). It states that his physical examination records were destroyed on November 20, 1970. The result of his exam was “rej.” I believe this is an abbreviation for “rejected” but I have not yet been able to confirm this. I also do not know what the remarks mean (“yx – p??”). I think I will call the archive and ask about these codes.

I will also compile a better reproduction of the relevant parts of the records I received. Please let me know if you want a copy of the full records (the entire page on which Ross is line 19). I can email it.

Front and Back.jpg

Header and Lines.jpg

I want to make note of his weight. He's listed as 6'2 and 260 lbs. Now he's younger here, about 18, but this is roughly around the period we have photos for him. At 260 lbs we know Ross doesn't look overly fat from his high school photos. I bet at 300 lbs, as he was listed later on, he wouldn't look so fat either.

[Paul_Averly]

It's interesting that Ross went to high school, lived and worked in Glendale. In 1959 he was at Glendale College.
Why in about 3-4 years did Ross end up at RCC? Riverside is pretty far from Glendale. And Glendale has a college Ross was enrolled in.

Was Ross at Glendale College, then moved to Riverside with TIm?
When did Ross end up at Patton State Hospital?

[morf13]

It's interesting that Ross went to high school, lived and worked in Glendale. In 1959 he was at Glendale College.
Why in about 3-4 years did Ross end up at RCC? Riverside is pretty far from Glendale. And Glendale has a college Ross was enrolled in.

Was Ross at Glendale College, then moved to Riverside with TIm?
When did Ross end up at Patton State Hospital?

All parts of the mystery. We know when Allan S lost track of Ross or last saw him

[morf13]

Somebody emailed me, and stated that RCC has, in their catalogue, a copy of the John Laffin book published in 1964, 'Codes & Ciphers'. This is one of the books that many thought Zodiac used for his cipher interests. I'd be curious to hear from some of the cipher fans here if this book would have likely helped somebody like Ross to create the ciphers. Also, I should point out, I can't verify this book is in their catalogue or if it's been there since 1966,but if so, this is pretty interesting

[Seagull]

doranchak bought the book Codes and Ciphers by John Laffin and started a thread about it here-

viewtopic.php?f=81&t=2915

[Mr lowe]

Somebody emailed me, and stated that RCC has, in their catalogue, a copy of the John Laffin book published in 1964, 'Codes & Ciphers'. This is one of the books that many thought Zodiac used for his cipher interests. I'd be curious to hear from some of the cipher fans here if this book would have likely helped somebody like Ross to create the ciphers. Also, I should point out, I can't verify this book is in their catalogue or if it's been there since 1966,but if so, this is pretty interesting

Yes real interesting. back in the 60s/70s a little pocket with a card was in some of the books and your name was put on it and given to the librarian when you borrowed it and every few weeks they would chase you up to return it. pipe dreams

[morf13]

Somebody emailed me, and stated that RCC has, in their catalogue, a copy of the John Laffin book published in 1964, 'Codes & Ciphers'. This is one of the books that many thought Zodiac used for his cipher interests. I'd be curious to hear from some of the cipher fans here if this book would have likely helped somebody like Ross to create the ciphers. Also, I should point out, I can't verify this book is in their catalogue or if it's been there since 1966,but if so, this is pretty interesting

Yes real interesting. back in the 60s/70s a little pocket with a card was in some of the books and your name was put on it and given to the librarian when you borrowed it and every few weeks they would chase you up to return it. pipe dreams

Yes,I remember those from when I was a kid. Would love to see the names of people that checked that book out at RCC

[Tahoe27]

Not that it wouldn't be available at RCC, but it shows it as a juvenile (7th grade/12+) textbook. Seems Zodiac could have referenced many books...a cipher is a cipher, no matter who writes about it. Interesting, none-the-less.

[Paul_Averly]

That book could have been used to create the 408. The 408 is very basic and many books on ciphers would cover how to do it.
We don't know how the 340 was encoded, so we can't say where he got the information to create it. If the 340 is solved, that might point to how Z came up with the information.

As far as how all that relates to Ross. Ross seemed to be into books, and could be the type of person to read about the process in a library and use it. Ross was also involved with YMCA outdoor type stuff, and he could have picked up cipher knowledge with that.

Didn't we also figure out his old YMCA boss H Prune, have a HAM radio lic? He might also have used coded messages and trained Ross.