Zodiac’s Z13: Anonymous Contributor Submits New Graphics Showing the Previously Reported GEORGE HODEL MD Fit

Birch Bay, Washington
November 1o, 2026

Can the thirteen symbols in Zodiac’s “My Name Is” cipher be made to read GEORGE HODEL MD?

Yes. A contributor who wishes to remain anonymous has provided a graphic showing how.

Does that prove it was Zodiac’s intended answer? No. But it deserves a look alongside the other connections presented in my books, Most Evil I and Most Evil II.

In my September 20, 2026 post, I reviewed the history. I had published both DRGEORGEHODEL and GEORGEHODELMD in Most Evil in 2009. Years later, James Valks and Dr. Luigi Warren examined possible ways those names might relate to the cipher.

Warren pointed out something that even this non-cipher expert could understand: the repeated letters in GEORGEHODELMD occur in the same numbers as the repeated symbols in Z13.

Here is what that means:

• One cipher symbol appears three times. The name has three E’s.
• Three other symbols appear twice each. The name has two G’s, two O’s, and two D’s.
• Four symbols appear once each. The remaining letters—R, H, L, and M—each appear once.

The counts match exactly: 3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1.

A New Way to Show the Fit

The new graphic puts the thirteen symbols into two rows, moves the columns into the order shown, and reads down each column. Each symbol is then replaced with a letter.

The result is GEORGE HODEL MD.

All thirteen symbols are used. None are thrown away. Every occurrence of the same symbol becomes the same letter, and different symbols stand for different letters.

The graphic therefore shows both the matching counts and a way to arrange the symbols to produce the name.

Two Other Examples—and a Fair Caution

A different arrangement produces DR GEORGE HODEL, also using all thirteen symbols. In this example, two different symbols stand for O.

Another example produces ALEX B BABER. This one removes the three circled symbols, treats them as fillers, and rearranges the remaining ten.

The contributor supplied these examples to show that methods like Alex Baber’s can produce different names. Getting a name to appear does not prove the cipher has been solved.

I agree.

My point is straightforward: GEORGEHODELMD fits the symbol counts, and this new graphic shows how it can be made to read in order.

We still do not know whether Zodiac intended that arrangement or those letter choices. I consider the fit worth examining alongside the other links to my father documented in Most Evil I and Most Evil II.

Graphics contributed anonymously and reproduced with his/her permission.