Hello there horror fans, and once again welcome back to the scariest channel on YouTube.
It fills my soul with gladness that you can promptly join us - right here - for your daily
dose of horror.
Today though, we’re going to be doing things a little bit differently.
Over the past few months, we’ve happily traversed the endless, mind bending dimension
of horror fiction, planting our Top 5 Scary flags across the way, in an effort to analyse
and understand just exactly WHY fear holds such an important place in the hearts of humanity.
Today though - marks the beginning of a brand new journey into the hard-boiled, harrowing
history of True Crime, as we flip through the case files of some of the most heinous
mysteries in human memory.
An appropriate place to begin then, would be perhaps the most unexplainable and notorious
crimes of them all - the case of the Zodiac Killer.
Well, please - take a seat, because as per usual, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch
- as today we peel back the layers of both fact and fiction - and take a look at the
True Crime Mystery of The Zodiac Killer.
Roll the clip.
Picture this.
The day was December 20th, 1968 and a young couple, a pair of high school students by
the names of Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday were on their first date together.
Their plan was to head to a Christmas concert at Hogan High School, which they both attended
and remained a mere three blocks away from Betty Lou Jensen’s home, safe in the confines
of their Mom N’ Pop etiquette.
Instead though, as young lovers often do - they changed their plans, and David took the keys
of his mother’s Rambler so that the pair could visit a friend.
After eating at a local restaurant - the couple drove out to Lake Herman Road, just inside
the Benicia city limits of Solano County, California.
At around 10.15 PM - David Faraday parked his mother’s car in a secluded gravel turnout,
notorious to locals as a well used lovers lane.
This would be the last known time that the young couple were alive.
Shortly after 11 PM - Stella Borges, the owner of the nearby Borges Ranch - discovered the
bodies of both Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday - the pair had been shot, Faraday
in the head - and Jensen with five shots through her back as she attempted to flee.
The Solano County Sheriff’s Department took the helm in the investigation, but no viable
leads developed.
It would later mark the first known murders at the hands of the Zodiac Killer.
Sadly though, they would not be the last.
A little over six months later, just before midnight on the 4th of July 1969 - another
couple, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau drove into the Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo,
almost precisely four miles from the Lake Herman murder site - and proceeded to park
up in a similar fashion.
A little while later, a second car approached their vehicle and parked behind them.
Quickly, and without warning - the driver of the second vehicle approached the passenger
door of Ferrin’s car - clutching a flashlight attached to a 9 millimeter Luger - and fired
five shots at the couple after startling them with the flashlight.
Both victims were hit, and several bullets had passed through Mageau and into Darlene
Ferrin.
Later, she would tragically be pronounced dead on arrival at hospital - but incredibly,
Michael Mageau survived the brutal attack despite being shot in the face, neck and chest
multiple times.
This would be an incredibly important landmark in the Zodiac Killer case - as Mageau provided
a description of his attacker.
He described him as a white male between 26-30 years old, roughly 200 pounds, possibly more
- around 5’8 - with short, light brown curly hair - a description that would later be corroborated
by the few known witnesses to the Zodiac.
That brief scrap of information would quickly be overshadowed though, because a few minutes
later - at approximately 12:40 AM - the Vallejo Police Department received a phone call - the
first known correspondence with the Zodiac Killer.
Police Dispatcher Nancy Slover answered, as the caller, a man, said - ‘I want to report
a murder.
If you will go one-mile east on Columbus Parkway, you will find kids in a brown car.
They were shot with a nine-millimeter Luger.
I also killed those kids last year.
Goodbye.’
This would begin what is perhaps known as the most iconic modus operandi of the Zodiac
Killer - his startling and brazen correspondence with the Police and detective authorities.
The first of which occured on August 1st 1969 - when three separate letters were sent to
three of the most important Newspapers in California - the Vallejo Times Herald, the
San Francisco Chronicle - and the San Francisco Examiner.
Each letter - which were nearly identical in content - took credit for both of the shootings
at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs.
But perhaps the most interesting facet of this act was that one third of a 408-symbol
cryptogram was included in each letter, which when combined would produce a key to the puzzle.
The Zodiac Killer claimed that this cryptic clue contained his identity, and if it wasn’t
printed by all three newspapers, he would be forced to go on a rampage across the city.
Perhaps it was an elaborate game to him, and perhaps part of the mystery and mire that
surrounds the Zodiac Killer is down to the ambiguity and skewed intention of these cryptograms,
but nevertheless - on August 8th 1969 - a little over a week later, husband and wife
Donald and Bettye Harden of Salinas, California - cracked the code after seeing it in the
newspaper.
They discovered that the message read, ‘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 well as going on to describe his intention to collect slaves for
the afterlife.
Humorously enough, it didn’t reveal the killers name - as he had promised.
Despite this crypto revelation though - there were now, many more questions than answers.
Over a month later - perhaps the most iconic act of the Zodiac Killer’s murderous reign
occured - the Lake Berryessa attack.
On September 27th, 1969 - two students of Pacific Union College, Bryan Hartnell and
Cecelia Shepard - who were, identical to his previous victims, again a couple - and were
picnicking on a small island in the middle of Lake Berryessa, Napa County, California.
The pair were lounging in the sun, in the remote isolation of the lake - when they were
approached by a white male, wearing a black executioners type hood with a bib on his chest,
with the strange, white marking of a 3 by 3 cross-circle symbol on it.
This would be the first confirmed use of the infamous Zodiac symbol.
Initially, the couple believed that they were victims of a weird, bizarre robbery - and
after the Zodiac held them at gunpoint, he tied them up with precut lengths of plastic
clothesline.
Quickly and without warning though - the Zodiac drew a knife and stabbed the couple repeatedly.
Bryan Hartnell suffered six stab wounds, and Cecelia Shepard ten.
After the Zodiac Killer quickly fled the scene, he hiked 500 yards back up to the nearby Knoxville
Road where Bryan Hartnell’s car was parked - and then with a black-felt tip pen, drew
the familiar Zodiac symbol on the window - and beneath it wrote, ‘Vallejo/12-20-68/7-4-69/Sept
27th-69-6:30/by knife.’
Incredibly though, for the second time in history, a victim of the
Zodiac Killer miraculously escaped death.
Bryan Hartnell survived, after Cecelia Shepard tragically succumbed to her wounds after being
rushed to Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa County.
In similar fashion as before, the Napa County Sheriff’s department shortly received a
call from the Zodiac Killer.
At 7.40 pm - an operator answered the phone - when the perpetrator stated verbatim, that
he wished to report a murder - no, a double murder - that he himself had committed.
After Bryan Hartnell’s recovery from the heinous and violent act, on September 30th
1969, he took to KPIX Eyewitness News to try and make sense of
the ordeal.
The state of California was equal parts shocked and perplexed at the calculated crimes that
had unfolded.
Seemingly, a pathological killer had emerged from the unknown, who remained outside the
realms of conventional police work and the traditional, historical patterns of murderous
criminals.
Every twist and turn seemed to reveal another dead end, like a payphone hung off the line
- always a minute too late - or a handprint on a window, too misted and foggy to pick
up a print.
Sadly, it wouldn’t be the last time though, because a little over two weeks later - the
Zodiac Killer’s modus operandi shifted once more.
This time, in a stark departure from his previous murderous methods - in his successful attempt
to stay one step ahead of the law, and the unsuspecting public that he preyed upon.
Although, unfortunately for us - that case is left for the next part of True Crime.
There we have it horror fans - our first toe dip in the endless ocean that makes up the
mystery of the Zodiac Killer.
Thank you for sticking around all the way until the end, and bearing witness to the
first part in what will hopefully be a lengthy series.
In the next video, we’ll be taking a look at the latter end of the strange and perplexing
Zodiac timeline - as well as the string of theories that only add to the continued mystery.
Make sure to comment down below, and let us know your thoughts on where we should take
True Crime - whether you love it, whether you hate it - and whether you just want more!
I’ll be reading out some of your best comments in the next part of this series.
If you were a fan of this video, make sure to hit that thumbs up button - as well as
that subscribe bell, and I’ll be seeing you in the next one.
As per usual, I’ve been your horror host Jack Finch, you’ve been watching Top 5 Scary
Videos - and until next time, you take it easy.