From Your Secret Pal

Blog Post #9

The front of the Halloween Card has an image of a One-Eyed Skeleton with the number 14 handwritten on its palm; the fourteenth letter of the alphabet is N, and a Backwards N is also handwritten on the front of the card in the word “KNiFE [sic].” (Moreover, the Halloween Card has a total of fourteen eye images as explained in Blog Post #3.)

The Backwards N in KNiFE thematically connects the Halloween Card with the Letter to Joseph Bates, which has its own Backwards N—the R-N Dual Letter (as underlined in the following image). . . . Cutting to the chase, R from the R-N Dual Letter seems to be what the HANDwritten 14 on the Halloween Card ultimately represents. Let’s call the interpretation 14 = R not N.

Then coupled with how the Strikethrough Skeleton on the back of the Halloween Card seems to represent Sullivan (as explained in Blog Post #3), 14 = R not N would result in “R. Sullivan” as the Secret Pal Solution. But there’s more to it.

On the back of the Halloween Card, “4-TEEN [sic]” is handwritten above the Strikethrough Skeleton’s head. The “TEEN” in 4-TEEN works as a reference to the all-caps typesetting used in THE CONFESSION, while the “4” in 4-TEEN represents the four names in “Ross Mercer Stephen Sullivan” after thematically connecting with two other visual elements there on the back of the card: the Quadruple Dots and its Four Eyes Under Boo.

Because eye the sensory organ is a homophone for I the pronoun, the Four Eyes Under Boo symbolize “I am four (names).” And the Quadruple Dots represent the four periods that go after the letters in the initials for Ross Mercer Stephen Sullivan: R. M. S. S.

Both on and slightly off topic, the Halloween Card’s Triple Signature (as underlined in the following image) likely represents the E-S-Z Triple Letter from the Letter to Joseph Bates (described in Blog Post #4).

The first part of the Halloween Card’s Triple Signature (as underlined with red in the previous image) is an M-F Dual Letter. M is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, while F is the sixth; 13 + 6 = 19, and the nineteenth letter of the alphabet is S—therefore, the Halloween Card’s M-F Dual Letter can represent the S from the E-S-Z Triple Letter in the Letter to Joseph Bates. By the same logic, the M-F Dual Letter can simultaneously represent S in the Secret Pal Solution.

The second part of the Halloween Card’s Triple Signature is a Print Z Initial. It can unelaborately represent the Z from the E-S-Z Triple Letter. . . . However, the Print Z Initial doesn’t seem to be a direct part of the Secret Pal Solution.

And the third part of the Halloween Card’s Triple Signature is the cross-and-circle insignia. It can represent the E in the E-S-Z Triple Letter because the three words “cross-and-circle” begin with a C, an A, and another C; the numeric position of C, minus the numeric position of A, plus the numeric position of another C equals five (that is, 3 – 1 + 3 = 5), and the fifth letter of the alphabet is E. . . . However, the cross-and-circle insignia doesn’t seem to be a direct part of the Secret Pal Solution.

Circling back around, the 4-TEEN appears high above and on the same plane as the M-F Dual Letter, which is surrounded by the Quadruple Dots. And as they are thematically connected, the 4 in 4-TEEN and the Quadruple Dots can represent each other—resulting in 4-TEEN and the M-F signature as being representations of one another. . . . Cutting to the chase, the TEEN in 4-TEEN points out how 13 is the age at which a child becomes a teenager because the thirteenth letter of the alphabet is M from the M-F Dual Letter. In other words, TEEN = M.

And so, finally—with the 14 = R not N solution, the TEEN = M solution, the M-F Dual Letter = S solution, and the Strikethrough Skeleton = Sullivan solution (described in Blog Post #3), the (overall) Secret Pal Solution is “R. M. S. (the initials for Ross Mercer Stephen) Sullivan.”

But let’s consider an alternative solution: “Mr. Ross Sullivan.” Only an extra R, an extra S, and an O would be required.

The Extra R could be found in 4-TEEN (because 14 = R not N).

S can be duplicated by the TEEN above the M-F Dual Letter. In other words, TEEN could reiterate how the M-F Dual Letter represents S, which is the nineteenth letter of the alphabet. The result would be TEEN = Both M and S.

And an O can be found in how the Zodiac Killer cut out and added an image of a pumpkin atop the One-Eyed Skeleton (on the front of the card); a pumpkin is round like an O.

Or without the Extra R and the Duplicated S, the Pumpkin O could change the Secret Pal Solution to “R. M. S. O’Sullivan.”

In fact, with its one eye and the Pumpkin O atop it, the One-Eyed Skeleton makes its own full statement: “I am O Skeleton,” which represents “I am O’Sullivan” and directly relates to the My Name Is cipher’s RossOSullivan solution.