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Writer's pictureNicola Graham

People Are Strange

Updated: Dec 18, 2020

So after the amazing news of the Zodiac's Z340 being solved I had been researching several lines of enquiry when the thought occurred to me to look at The Doors as I have read on several posts this past year on the Reddit Earons/Goldenstatekiller posts that Joseph James DeAngelo was a big fan of the well known 60's/70's group The Doors and that his favourite song was Riders on the Storm.

I'm a fan myself and have always loved the lyrics and music but never realized that Jim Morrison had started out writing and performing Poetry and that it was a large part of his life and work as well as giving him a Guru like status among his fans. I started reading some of the Poems by Jim and was taken aback at some of the language he used as I recognized certain aspects of the Zodiac Killer's character in them so began to dig a little deeper and was quite astounded to find the following post on Reddit.


"Why was Jim Morrison called the Lizard King" the post asks and talks about an Essay that had been done on the subject of Jim Morrisons poems and how they thought Jim had used Cryptography a lot in his writing possibly encoding secret messages within them. You can find it on the link here Why was Jim Morrison called the lizard king? : thedoors (reddit.com)


When I saw this post my jaw kinda dropped to be truthful as it's not something I was ever aware of but thought it too much of a coincidence not to write a post about it and look into it further. Code breakers will be better suited to answer the question of whether these kinds of codes have any bearing on Zodiac's ciphers or not but the use of Hidden Number Theory and the Cobain cipher by Jim Morrison is intriguing as well as the following poems I will put up here with links to the later music version on the Album An American Prayer. That Mr Mojo Risin was an anagram of Jim Morrison and that the song Soul Kitchen talks of speaking in secret alphabets it really does beg the question did the Zodiac like JJD have an admiration of Morrison's words.


Stoned Immaculate was a poem Jim had performed many years before recording it and would often perform it live around the bars in Los Angeles, also being published in a Doors Souvenir Book in 1968 later being put to music 7 years after his death in 1978. There is also an interesting fact about the poem which I will go into after reading the poem below or you can listen to it here (30) Jim Morrison - Stoned Immaculate - YouTube


Stoned Immaculate


I tell you this,

No eternal reward will forgive us now

For wasting the dawn.


Back in those days,

Everything was simpler and more confused.

One summer night, going to the pier,

I ran into two young girls.

The blonde was called Freedom,

The dark one, Enterprise.

We talked and they told me this story:


Now listen to this,

I'll tell you about Texas Radio and the Big Beat.

Soft driven slow and mad,

Like some new language.


Reaching your head

With the cold, sudden fury

Of a divine messenger.

Let me tell you about heartache

And the loss of god.

Wondering, wondering

In hopeless night.

Out here in the perimeter

There are no stars,

Out here we is stoned

Immaculate.


A fact about this poem I found interesting at the website songfacts.com tells us that the Texas Radio refers to the high power Mexican Radio Stations that blasted into Texas in the 1950's. These radio stations were not restricted by American regulations, whose call letters started with an X and could have 150,000 watts, I thought the X interesting as it's similar to the crosshair and though it worth mentioning.


Jim Morrison's Newborn Awakening is very reminiscent of Zodiac's idea of slaves in the afterlife and himself being reborn and of blood on the streets. The poem features the line "Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven," which is a reference to Morrison's onstage arrest in New Haven Arena on December 9, 1967. Also note the Phantastic L.A which must have been the way Morrison spelled it and with the use of blood the Red Phantom comes to mind. Listen here (30) Newborn Awakening - YouTube


Newborn Awakening


Blood in the streets In the town of New Haven Blood stains the roofs And the palm trees of Venice Blood in my love In the terrible summer Bloody red sun of Phantastic L.A Blood screams her brain As they chop off her fingers Blood will be born In the birth of a nation Blood is the rose of Mysterious union Blood on the rise It's following me

Indian, Indian What did you die for? Indian says nothing at all Gently they stir Gently rise The dead are new-born awakening With ravaged limbs And wet souls Gently they sigh In rapt funeral amazement Who called these dead to dance? Was it the young woman Learning to play the "Ghost Song" In her baby grand Was it the wilderness children? Was it the Ghost-God himself Stuttering, cheering Chatting blindly? I called you up to Annoint the earth I called you to announce Sadness falling like Burned skin I called you to wish you well To glory in self like a new monster And now I call on you to pray The next poem Power speaks for itself I think


Power


I can make the earth stop in its tracks.

I made the blue cars go away. I can make myself invisible or small.

I can become gigantic and reach the farthest things.

I can change the course of nature. I can place myself anywhere in space or time.

I can summon the dead. I can perceive events on other worlds, in my deepest inner mind, and in the minds of others.

I can.

I am.


This next poem I thought was rather telling and speaks to me of Zodiac as well as JJD


The Movie


The movie will begin in five moments.

The mindless voice announced

all those unseated will await the next show.

We filed slowly, languidly into the hall.

The auditorium was vast and silent as we seated and were darkened, the voice continued. The program for this evening is not new. You've seen this entertainment through and through. You've seen your birth your life and death you might recall all of the rest.

Did you have a good world when you died? Enough to base a movie on? I'm getting out of here. Where are you going? To the other side of morning.

Please don't chase the clouds, pagodas. Her cunt gripped him like a warm, friendly hand. It's alright, all your friends are here. When can I meet them? After you've eaten I'm not hungry. Uh, we meant beaten. Silver stream, silvery scream. Oooooh, impossible concentration.


The next poem we have is The Ghost Song, lyrics below or listen here (30) Jim Morrison & The Doors - The Ghost Song - YouTube


The Ghost Song


Awake.

Shake dreams from your hair

my pretty child, my sweet one.

Choose the day and choose the sign of your day

the day's divinity

First thing you see.

A vast radiant beach and cooled jeweled moon

Couples naked race down by its quiet side

And we laugh like soft, mad children

Smug in the wooly cotton brains of infancy

The music and voices are all around us.

Choose they croon the Ancient Ones

the time has come again

choose now, they croon

beneath the moon

beside an ancient lake

Enter again the sweet forest

Enter the hot dream

Come with us

everything is broken up and dances.

Indians scattered,

On dawn's highway bleeding

Ghosts crowd the young child’s

Fragile eggshell mind

We have assembled inside,

This ancient and insane theater

To propagate our lust for life,

And flee the swarming wisdom of the streets.

The barns have stormed

The windows kept,

And only one of all the rest

To dance and save us

From the divine mockery of words,

Music inflames temperament.

Ooh great creator of being

Grant us one more hour,

To perform our art

And perfect our lives.

We need great golden copulations,

When the true kings murderers

Are allowed to roam free,

A thousand magicians arise in the land

Where are the feast we are promised?

One more thing

Thank you oh lord

For the white blind light

Thank you oh lord

For the white blind light

A city rises from the sea

I had a splitting headache

From which the future's mad


The last poem I'll pop up here is A Feast of Friends which again has the same kind of haunting words, everyone will make their own interpretations of these poems which I think is what Jim preferred. Others to check out are Opening of the Trunk, The Hitchiker which turned into JJD's favourite Riders on the Storm, The American Night, The Fear & The Anatomy of Rock to name a few.


A Feast of Friends


Wow, I'm sick of doubt

Live in the light of certain south

Cruel bindings

The servants have the power

Dog-men and their mean women

Pulling poor blankets over our sailors


These mutants, blood-meal for the plant that's plowed


They are waiting to take us into the severed garden



Jim Morrison's words resonated with so many young people in the 60's and 70's which many did truly take to heart and would have followed him into the desert if he had chose to. Jim Morrison like many artists had his demons and you can sense the turmoil in his mind from his writing which i think is why in JJD's mind it would have resonated with him.


It's a fascinating insight nonetheless whether you think it has any bearing on Zodiac or not that is for you to decide but I for one think there is something there that requires further prodding, the possible use of anagrams and cryptography have definitely given it a new angle and if JJD knew about Jim's use of cryptography it may have given him the impetus to learn more. Morrison was ages with JJD and no doubt he may have even went to his poetry readings and doors sets around L.A whilst training for the Navy in San Diego. Even if Zodiac is not my suspect JJD I still think Morrisons words strike a chord in relation to some of Zodiac's letters which hopefully offer further insight.


I have since read the following Doors song Not to Touch the Earth released July 3rd 1968


Not to Touch the Earth


Not to touch the earth

Not to see the sun

Nothing left to do, but

Run, run, run

Let's run

Let's run

House upon the hill

Moon is lying still

Shadows of the trees

Witnessing the wild breeze

C'mon baby run with me

Let's run


Run with me

Run with me

Run with me

Let's run


The mansion is warm, at the top of the hill

Rich are the rooms and the comforts there

Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs

And you won't know a thing 'till you get inside


Dead president's corpse in the driver's car

The engine runs on glue and tar

Come on along, not goin' very far

To the East to meet the Czar


Run with me

Run with me

Run with me

Let's run

Whoa!


Somehow outlaws lived by the side of a lake

The minister's daughter's in love with the snake

Who lives in a well by the side of the road

Wake up, girl, we're almost home

Ya, c'mon!


We should see the gates by mornin'

We should be inside the evenin'

Sun, sun, sun

Burn, burn, burn

Soon, soon, soon

Moon, moon, moon

I will get you

Soon, soon, soon!

I am the Lizard king

I can do anything







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