Zodiackillersite.com

The biggest occupation for patients at California state institutions was tailoring. They had many shops with many sewing machines. They train these people to do something for when they left the hospital and had to earn a living. So it makes sense then that an insane person such as Zodiac would be quite adept at sewing and tailoring. He most likely learned about how to do it at the mental institution.

Holmes201 wrote:The biggest occupation for patients at California state institutions was tailoring. They had many shops with many sewing machines. They train these people to do something for when they left the hospital and had to earn a living. So it makes sense then that an insane person such as Zodiac would be quite adept at sewing and tailoring. He most likely learned about how to do it at the mental institution.

Also. someone working in the canvas shop aboard a boat doing fabricating.

Richard Grinell wrote:Curious Cat never said it was ironed on, he just touted it as an idea.

Bryan Hartnell stated that the assailant wore a black hooded mask made of a cloth material, covering his entire head and shoulders, reaching down to the waist. On the front of the four cornered mask at the chest area was a white circle (3 x 3 inches in diameter) and a symmetrical cross. He would further elaborate on the design of the crosshairs, as well as later in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, stating "It looked like it was made with a machine or with some degree of care- it wasn't just scrawled on with white paint. It was proportional."

Thanks Richard.

In my opinion this could be a valuable clue as to who Zodiac was. Hartnell by all accounts, though few they are, seems to be indicating the hood was very well made. I suppose it's possible he found a black bag, cut eyeholes in it and ironed on a patch, but I think even that would require some skill. He must have had it devised so it would stay where he wanted, not blind him and would turn with his head.

I'd like to know if the symbol was done by "needlework", if so, that would indicate a very high degree of sewing skill.

Either way, it took some knowledge and skill in my opinion. It's something he could have learned at home though, not necessarily taught in a school or worked at professionally. My own mother is quite the seamstress, having done it all her life, professionally for years and still as a hobby. I have tried at times to get her to show me how to sew, but I'm hopeless, I would do well to sew a button on a shirt and that is a relatively simple procedure. However, if I had been so inclined, I could have been very handy with a needle and thread.

CuriousCat wrote:
In my opinion this could be a valuable clue as to who Zodiac was.

I agree. Anyone could pull on a ski mask, but Zodiac seems to have put great effort into creating this elaborate outfit. I think if we learn more about how and what materials he could have possibly used, it could provide some insight.

CuriousCat wrote:I'd like to know if the symbol was done by "needlework", if so, that would indicate a very high degree of sewing skill.

Me too. Creating a perfect circle with needlework is very difficult and requires great skill and training.

Do you guys think he used it only once?

Claypooles wrote:Do you guys think he used it only once?

There's no way to know for sure, but I think that was the only time, yes.. He didn't use it in the Blue Rock Springs attack or the Stine murder. It's unknown if he used it at Lake Herman, but I don't think so. The time frame was too short, and I think if David had seen a strange guy putting on a weird hood in the middle of the night out there, he would have booked it.

I wonder if he kept it, or if he disposed of it somehow. Can you imagine someone rummaging through their uncle's attack and finding a bloodstained Zodiac hood at the bottom of a cardboard box from the 70's?

Don't forget the big suspect who was making movies with his friends and got in trouble because they made it so realistic somebody called the police on them. If a man like that was in the nuthouse and got involved with those sewing machines in the tailor shops he could've very easily made a costume. I've always been under the impression that he was filming the whole episode at Lake Berryessa.

The Lake Berryessa attack has the feel of the stage act. People put on costumes when acting. This man didn't just have a disguise on he had a costume on that disguised him. That is a big difference. This man had on a costume. Was he acting out a movie role in a sick B film? That's always been my thought and I have posted such over the years. And we know the man in the costume was a big man. That's what the highway patrolman said in one of the news interviews after the Berryessa attack. They knew it was a big guy who did these murders back in 1968. That is exactly what Brian Hartnell told police when they first spoke with him. The zodiac was a big man.

Holmes201 wrote:The Lake Berryessa attack has the feel of the stage act. People put on costumes when acting. This man didn't just have a disguise on he had a costume on that disguised him. That is a big difference. This man had on a costume. Was he acting out a movie role in a sick B film? That's always been my thought and I have posted such over the years. And we know the man in the costume was a big man. That's what the highway patrolman said in one of the news interviews after the Berryessa attack. They knew it was a big guy who did these murders back in 1968. That is exactly what Brian Hartnell told police when they first spoke with him. The zodiac was a big man.

It was 1969. And Hartnell admitted he was poor at judging height.

Typically judgments take conscious thought to develop. After such a traumatic episode shortly his subconscious recorded the height correctly and he threw that out without any forethought. Because he was in shock Hartnell gave a raw description that lie in his subconscious thought. In his first inclination when asked by investigators he said that the culprit was a big man. I would go by the first thing he said. Afterwards things can get blurry with such violent affairs.