The upscale neighborhood of Presidio Heights; in the north side of San Francisco - is a whole world unto itself. You can get anywhere in the city 30 minutes from here. Walking distance to Golden Gate Park with stunning views of the bay. Today, it’s known as one of the safest neighborhoods in Northern California.

In downtown San Francisco, the sounds of the sirens fill the neighborhoods. In the late 1960’s, the city was a beacon of peace, light, and freedom to love anyway you wanted.

What a time to live.

In 1967, RollingStone was created among the inspiration of music that dominated radio, and every corner of the city. As important as that was, the city served as ground zero for civil rights battles, anti war demonstrations and the rise of the black power movement.

The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 by brothers Charles and Michael De Young. And it’s a massive part of our next story. But we’ll talk about that later.

The 60’s weren’t all love and light though. One story made things really dark. A story that loomed over the country and the world like a storm that just wouldn't stop coming. A still unidentified man, relentlessly stalked the San Francisco bay area, striking abject terror into the hearts of it’s citizens for years to come. When all was said and done, our next subject claimed the lives of five victims and has been reportedly credited with up to 32 more, all the while, taunting newspapers, and the media with his crimes.

Sound familiar?

We’ve covered a lot of bad people on this show. Serial killers, hijackers, pirates, and assassins. But only one of them is known world wide by a symbol and single name that still fascinates and horrifies everyone that’s ever investigated him.

Welcome back to Vanished, and our multi part investigation into the man known only as Zodiac.

LINKS

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Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
Raven Rollins and Mandy McNeely appear courtesy of the Sirens Network
Sirens on Twitter
Sirens on Facebook
Sirens on Instagram
Sirens on TikTok
Michael Cole's Website for Zodiac Revisited
Kristi Hawthorne appears courtesy of the Oceanside Historical Society
Kristi Hawthorne's Blog

SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING

"60 Year Old Cold Case Remains Unsolved - The Murder of Ray Davis"
"How Mathematicians Cracked the Zodiac Killer’s Cipher"
Richard Grinell's Website Zodiac Ciphers