60-401: " The Most Dangerous Game ", also published as " The Hounds of Zaroff ", is a short story by Richard Connell , first published in Collier's on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter from New York City who falls from a yacht and swims to what seems to be an abandoned and isolated island in the Caribbean , where he is hunted by
120-428: A trapping pit and plants sharpened stakes at its bottom; one of Zaroff's dogs falls in and is killed. The next morning, he sacrifices his knife to build a trap that kills Ivan when he stumbles into it, then dives off a cliff and into the sea to escape Zaroff and his approaching dogs. Disappointed at Rainsford's apparent suicide, Zaroff returns home and settles in for the night. His relaxation is disturbed by two thoughts:
180-561: A Russian aristocrat. The story is inspired by the big-game hunting safaris in Africa and South America that were particularly fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s. The story has been adapted numerous times , most notably as the 1932 RKO Pictures film The Most Dangerous Game , starring Joel McCrea , Leslie Banks and Fay Wray , and for a 1943 episode of the CBS Radio series Suspense , starring Orson Welles . It has been called
240-492: A brown car. They were shot with a 9-millimeter Luger . I also killed those kids last year. Goodbye." Serial killers will commonly pause to reflect on their actions. Authors Michael Kelleher and David Van Nuys speculated that the seven months between the attacks on Lake Herman Road and at Blue Rock Springs was a "cooling off period" for the Zodiac. Many have speculated that Darlene Ferrin knew her killer. Kelleher and Nuys credit
300-521: A conversation on KGO-TV 's A.M. San Francisco . Investigators concluded Weill was not the Zodiac. He called the Oakland Police Department and demanded to speak to Belli or F. Lee Bailey on TV. During the show, Weill told Belli he would not reveal his identity for fear of being executed. He arranged a rendezvous with Belli on Mission Street in Daly City and did not show. On November 8,
360-440: A heavyset man looking at them from a distance before he hurried off. Around 2:50 p.m., three women noticed a strange man as they stopped on their way to Lake Berryessa. After they had arrived to sunbathe , they noticed the man again. Since they had potentially seen the Zodiac without his hood, the women worked with Napa Valley Register photographer Robert McKenzie to create a composite sketch using an Identi-Kit . Police showed
420-503: A large face and curly light brown hair. The killer wore dark clothes and no glasses. These details were not enough to develop a suspect. Moments after 12:40 a.m., the Vallejo Police Department (VPD) received a phone call from a payphone two blocks from headquarters. The man on the other end of the line said: "I want to report a double murder. If you go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park you will find kids in
480-447: A lone male cab driver. Two of these victims survived. The Zodiac coined his name in a series of taunting messages that he mailed to regional newspapers, in which he threatened killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. He also said that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife . He included four cryptograms or ciphers in his correspondence. Two were solved in 1969 and 2020, and two remain unsolved. In 1974,
540-412: A passing motorist noticed the couple parked on a gravel runoff near the gate to a water pumping station. They were spotted again at 11 p.m. Between 11:05–10 p.m., Faraday and Jensen were attacked. Police determined that their assailant parked his vehicle about ten feet alongside the passenger side of Faraday's car. He fired several shots at Faraday's car as he walked around to the driver's side. None of
600-436: A police artist make a composite sketch of the man they saw at Stine's cab. The two patrol officers who questioned the witness near the scene realized it may have been the Zodiac. They also helped develop a sketch of the suspect. SFPD detectives Bill Armstrong and Dave Toschi were assigned to the case. Toschi ended up working on the case by himself and filled eight filing cabinets with potential suspects. In 1976 he told
660-409: A program made by Van Eycke called AZdecrypt, the team ran 650,000 possible solutions for the cipher until the program came up with the best possible encryption key . In the decrypted message, the Zodiac denied being the "Sam" who spoke on A.M. San Francisco and explained he was not afraid of the gas chamber "because it will send me to paradice all the sooner." The team submitted their findings to
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#1732880489146720-681: A psychiatrist at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville to analyze the Zodiac's message. The doctor concluded the writer felt omnipotent based on his fantasy about collecting spiritual slaves. The analysis described the Zodiac as "someone you would expect to be brooding and isolated ". The psychiatrist speculated the killer's praise of murder over sex could be "an expression of inadequacy". At 4:00 p.m. on September 27, 1969, Pacific Union College students Bryan Hartnell (20) and Cecelia Shepard (22) were picnicking at Lake Berryessa on
780-528: A small island connected by a sand spit to Twin Oak Ridge. Sometime later, Shepard noticed a man watching them. When he emerged from behind a tree, he put on a black executioner 's hood with clip-on sunglasses. He wore a bib with a white 3x3" [REDACTED] symbol on it. He brandished a gun, which Hartnell believed was a .45 . The Zodiac said he escaped from jail after killing a guard and needed their car and money to travel to Mexico. Before tying up Shepard,
840-466: A small-caliber pistol for himself. Any captives who can elude Zaroff, Ivan, and a pack of hunting dogs for three days are set free; to date, though, Zaroff has never lost a hunt. Captives are offered a choice between being hunted or turned over to Ivan, who once served as official knouter for the Great White Czar . Rainsford denounces the hunt as barbarism, but Zaroff replies by claiming that " life
900-536: A wet palm print from the phone but were never able to match it to any suspect. The last confirmed Zodiac murder took place two weeks after the Lake Berryessa attacks. Around 9:40 p.m. on October 11 in downtown San Francisco , the Zodiac hailed a cab which was driven by a doctoral student named Paul Stine. The killer gave a destination in Presidio Heights . When the taxi arrived at Washington and Maple streets,
960-422: Is for the strong ." Zaroff is enthused to have another world-class hunter as a companion and, at lunch, the next day, offers to take Rainsford along with him on his next hunt. When Rainsford staunchly refuses and demands to leave the island, Zaroff decides to hunt him instead. Rainsford reluctantly accepts the challenge and receives his equipment from Ivan. During his head start, Rainsford lays an intricate trail in
1020-623: Is mentioned a number of times in the 2007 film Zodiac , a fictionalized depiction of the Zodiac Killer. Clive Cussler wrote a book entitled Dragon in which he mentions Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" and has a few long chapters where his Japanese manhunter emulates the story. It takes place on a small, isolated island and is strongly reminiscent of the Connell story. i wrote this books Richard Connell Richard Edward Connell Jr. (October 17, 1893 – November 22, 1949)
1080-452: The [REDACTED] symbol on Hartnell's car door with a black felt-tip pen and wrote beneath it: Vallejo 12-20-68 7-4-69 Sept 27–69–6:30 by knife After hearing the victims' screams, a fisherman and his son sought help. Hartnell untied Shepard's ropes with his teeth, and she freed him. Two park rangers arrived and tended to the stricken couple until the ambulance arrived. Napa County deputies Dave Collins and Ray Land responded to
1140-594: The Associated Press that Zodiac's letters were an "ego game". He believed the killer lived in the San Francisco Bay Area , "He's a weekend killer. Why can't he get away Monday through Thursday? Does his job keep him close to home? I would speculate he maybe has a menial job, is well thought of and blends into the crowd...I think he's quite intelligent and better educated than someone who misspells words as frequently as he does in his letters." After working on
1200-511: The Presidio army base. They pulled alongside the man and asked if he had seen anything suspicious. The man confirmed he had seen someone waving a gun and heading east. The officers hurried away. The Zodiac later claimed he was the witness that spoke to the two officers. When police arrived at the scene, Stine was declared dead. SFPD canvassed the area, including the Presidio. The Zodiac had probably fled
1260-537: The San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969. The case has been described as "arguably the most famous unsolved murder case in American history," and has become both a fixture of popular culture and a focus for efforts by amateur detectives. The Zodiac's known attacks took place in Benicia , Vallejo , unincorporated Napa County , and the city of San Francisco proper. He attacked three young couples and
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#17328804891461320-687: The "most popular short story ever written in English." Upon its publication, it won the O. Henry Award . "The Most Dangerous Game" is one of many works that entered the public domain in the United States in 2020. Big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford and his friend Whitney are traveling by ship to the Amazon rainforest for a jaguar hunt. After a discussion about the nearby Ship-Trap Island, which has an evil reputation among sailors, Whitney goes to bed while Rainsford stays on deck to smoke his pipe. Hearing gunshots in
1380-538: The Z408 cipher. On August 5th, it was cracked by Donald and Bettye Harden, a couple in Salinas . Neither was a cryptologist. Bettye deployed a crib by correctly guessing the word "kill" would appear in the message. The message was rife with misspellings and referred to Richard Connell 's 1924 short story " The Most Dangerous Game ". The Zodiac explained killing was a way of collecting slaves for his afterlife . The full text of
1440-750: The Zodiac Killer in California . Five victims were killed during these attacks, and two survived: From 1969 to 1974, the Zodiac mailed heavily misspelled letters and ciphers to law enforcement and media outlets. Some letters began, "This is the Zodiac speaking" and were signed with a symbol resembling the crosshairs of a gunsight : [REDACTED] . Four of the mailings had a cryptogram enclosed. Two have been solved, in 1969 and 2020. The letters were postmarked in San Francisco and Pleasanton . The Zodiac's confirmed correspondence with date, recipient, and incipit : The first murders retroactively attributed to
1500-555: The Zodiac case for seven years, Toschi started writing anonymous letters praising his own investigative work to Chronicle columnist Armistead Maupin . Two years later in 1978, Toschi was removed from the case and demoted to pawn shop detail. He expressed regret for the hoax. That same year, Maupin also received a purported Zodiac letter. SFPD investigated whether Toschi wrote it as well and concluded he did not. On October 22, 1969, mental patient Eric Weill duped attorney Melvin Belli into
1560-514: The Zodiac claimed 37 victims in his last confirmed letter. This tally included victims in Southern California such as Cheri Jo Bates , who was murdered in Riverside in 1966. Despite many theories about the Zodiac's identity, the only suspect authorities ever named was Arthur Leigh Allen , a former elementary school teacher and convicted sex offender who died in 1992. The unusual nature of
1620-413: The Zodiac made Shepard bind Hartnell with precut lengths of plastic clothesline. He tightened Hartnell's bonds because Shepard's knots were too loose. Hartnell still believed they were being robbed when the Zodiac drew a knife and stabbed them. Hartnell suffered six wounds and Shepard ten. The Zodiac hiked 500 yards to Knoxville Road, leaving several footprints for investigators to study. The killer drew
1680-745: The Zodiac mailed a card with a 340-character cryptogram ( Z340 ) to the San Francisco Chronicle . He asked for his code to printed on the front page. It remained unsolved for 51 years. One cryptologist ranked Zodiac's unsolved ciphers second only to the Voynich manuscript . Zodiac ciphers were crowdsourced through a variety of websites, which led to gradual breakthroughs. Z340 was deciphered by an international team of private citizens on December 5, 2020. The cryptology group included American software engineer David Oranchak, Australian mathematician Sam Blake and Belgian programmer Jarl Van Eycke. Using
1740-492: The Zodiac was tending to the cab, the kids called the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). They described the criminal as a "husky" white man in a "dark or black jacket". The dispatcher mistakenly alerted SFPD that the suspect was Black . Just two minutes after the call to SFPD, two nearby patrol officers responded to the radio dispatch. They encountered a white man in dark clothes walking north towards
1800-480: The Zodiac were the shootings of high school students Betty Lou Jensen (16) and David Arthur Faraday (17) on December 20, 1968. Faraday was a student at Vallejo High School , while Jensen was a student Hogan High School. At 8:30 p.m. Faraday picked up Jensen, and the couple visited one of Jensen's friends. Sometime after 9 p.m., they drove to the outskirts of Vallejo and parked at a lover's lane on Lake Herman Road, just inside Benicia city limits. Between 10:15–30 p.m.,
1860-521: The Zodiac. In a 2011 episode of America's Most Wanted , police stated they believe the photo was taken in San Francisco in either 1966 or 1967. See: Zodiac Letters On August 1, 1969, the Vallejo Times , San Francisco Chronicle , and San Francisco Examiner all received letters written by someone taking credit for the attacks in Vallejo. The three letters were nearly identical and began, "I am
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1920-503: The area in a car by then. Police assumed the murder was a result of the robbery. However, the Zodiac mailed a bloody piece of Paul Stine's shirt to the San Francisco Chronicle on October 13. He enclosed it in a letter where he boasted about the murder and claimed to have clandestinely watched the SFPD search for him. The Zodiac also threatened to shoot a tire on a school bus and kill children as they exited. The teenage witnesses helped
1980-426: The car. One bullet hit Mageau in the right arm, and the other hit Ferrin in the neck. Mageau tried to leave the car, but his door handle was missing or removed. The assailant returned to his car, opened the door, and did something Mageau could not see. As Mageau struggled to exit the vehicle, the stranger shot him and Ferrin two more times each. The killer hurried into his car and drove off. A golf course caretaker heard
2040-518: The case led to international interest that has been sustained throughout the years. The San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive" in 2004 but re-opened it prior to 2007. The case also remains open in the California Department of Justice , Federal Bureau of Investigation , the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa and Solano counties. Investigators agree on four confirmed attacks by
2100-539: The city staff of The New York American and as a copy writer for J. Walter Thompson . Connell served in France with the US Army during World War I . While in the army, he was the editor of his camp's newspaper. After the war, he turned to writing short stories, and eventually wrote over 300. Zodiac Killer The Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who murdered five known victims in
2160-461: The codes be printed on each newspaper's front page. If they were not, he threatened to "cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend." The Chronicle published its third of the cryptogram inside the August 2nd edition. In the accompanying article, Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz said, "We're not satisfied that
2220-495: The crime scene to a car wash in downtown Napa . He used a payphone to call the Napa County Sheriff's Department at 7:40 p.m. He told the dispatcher he wished to "report a murder – no, a double murder" and confessed to the crime. He did not hang up the phone. KVON radio reporter Pat Stanley found the phone off the hook a few minutes later. The payphone was located a few blocks from the sheriff's office. Detectives lifted
2280-556: The decoded Z408 cipher reads: "I like killing people because it is so much fun it is more fun than killing wild game in the forrest because man is the most dangeroue anamal of all to kill something gives me the most thrilling experence it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl the best part of it is thae when I die I will be reborn in paradice and all the I have killed will become my slaves I will not give you my name because you will try to sloi down or atop my collectiog of slaves for my afterlife ebeorietemethhpiti" VPD asked
2340-414: The difficulty of replacing Ivan and the fact that Rainsford has escaped him. Zaroff locks himself in his bedroom and turns on the lights, only to find Rainsford waiting for him, having swum around the island to evade the dogs and sneak into the chateau. Zaroff offers congratulations for defeating him, but Rainsford prepares to fight him, saying that the hunt is not yet over. A delighted Zaroff responds that
2400-401: The direction of Lake Herman Road. Shortly before midnight, she turned her car into an empty parking lot at Blue Rock Springs Park. This was another lover's lane, located just two miles from Lake Herman Road. Ferrin either parked or stalled 70 feet from the lot entrance. Another vehicle parked about 80 feet to their left. The driver turned his headlights off and sat motionless. Mageau asked who
2460-488: The distance, he rushes to the rail for a better look and accidentally falls overboard. Rainsford swims to Ship-Trap and finds an opulent chateau inhabited by two Cossacks : the owner, General Zaroff, and his gigantic deaf-mute servant, Ivan. Zaroff, another big-game hunter, knows of Rainsford from his published account of hunting snow leopards in Tibet . Over dinner, he explains that although he has been hunting animals since he
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2520-401: The driver was. Ferrin told him not to worry. The stranger abruptly tore away from the parked couple. Five minutes later, the stranger returned, parked a few feet next to Mageau's side of the car and got out. He shone a flashlight into Ferrin's car as he approached. Assuming he was a police officer, the couple rolled down Mageau's window. Without speaking, the stranger fired a 9mm pistol into
2580-466: The forest and then climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to toy with him, standing under the tree and smoking a cigarette before abruptly departing. After the failed attempt at eluding Zaroff, Rainsford builds a deadfall trap consisting of a dead tree balanced against a living one. The trap injures Zaroff's shoulder, forcing him to return home for treatment, but he calls out his respect for Rainsford's ingenuity as he leaves. Rainsford next digs
2640-578: The golf course caretaker. Regarding the Lake Herman Road attack, he revealed that he had taped a flashlight to his gun in order to aim easily in the dark. The August 4th letter also referred investigators back to the Z408 cipher. The killer wrote, "when they do crack it they will have me". The decoded message did not reveal the Zodiac's identity. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to decrypt
2700-437: The image to other potential witnesses. The suspect was described as being roughly 6' tall and weighing 200 pounds, which matched the descriptions by Shepard and Hartnell. Graysmith also drew a sketch of the Zodiac's costume after Hartnell described it to him. Napa County detective Ken Narlow was assigned to the case from the outset and worked on solving the crime until his retirement in 1987. The Zodiac drove 27 miles from
2760-487: The killer asked to be driven another block. At Washington and Cherry around 9:55 p.m., the Zodiac shot Stine in the head with a handgun and took his wallet and car keys. Three teenagers witnessed the crime from a house directly across the street from Stine's cab. The Zodiac's face was clearly visible by streetlight. The teenagers watched as the Zodiac wiped down the vehicle and rifled through Stine's clothes. He left behind two partial fingerprints from his right hand. While
2820-409: The killer of the 2 teenagers last Christmass at Lake Herman & the girl last 4th of July ." The three letters were rife with misspellings and presented the first definitive link between the two separate attacks in Vallejo. Enclosed in all three letters was a different cryptogram . They combined to form a 408-symbol cipher ( Z408 ). The writer claimed, "In this cipher is my idenity." He demanded
2880-626: The letter was written by the murderer". He requested the killer send more facts to prove his identity. On August 4, the Examiner received a letter with the salutation, "Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking." This letter marked the debut of the Zodiac persona. It was the first time the killer called himself by this nickname. In this second letter to the media, the killer wrote at much greater length. He happily obliged Chief Stiltz's request for more information about both murders. He provided minute details about how he shot Michael Mageau. He described
2940-524: The loser will be fed to his dogs, while the winner will sleep in his bed. Sometime later, Rainsford appreciates the comfort of the bed. There is a possible reference to "The Most Dangerous Game" in letters that the Zodiac Killer wrote to newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area in his three-part cipher: "Man is the most dangerous animal of all to kill", though he may have come up with the idea independently. The 1932 film version of The Most Dangerous Game
3000-533: The movie Meet John Doe (1941), directed by Frank Capra and based on his 1922 short story "A Reputation". Connell was born on October 17, 1893, in Poughkeepsie, New York , the son of Richard E. Connell and Mary Miller Connell. He began his writing career for The Poughkeepsie Journal , and attended Georgetown College for a year before going to Harvard University . While at Harvard, Connell edited The Lampoon and The Crimson . He subsequently worked on
3060-412: The mystery driver, nor would they assume he was a police officer, if they had not stopped at the spot by choice. Ferrin did know Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday. She lived less than two blocks from Jensen and attended Hogan High School. She was also familiar with Lake Herman Road's status as a lover's lane. There is a picture of Ferrin and an unknown man who closely resembles a composite sketch of
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#17328804891463120-440: The origin of the theory to Robert Graysmith 's 1986 book Zodiac . He argued extensively for a connection based on interviews with Ferrin's friends. A definitive connection has not been proven. Mageau gave conflicting accounts on whether Ferrin knew her killer. At the hospital, he stated he did not know the murderer. At another point, he said the assailant's name was "Richard". Ferrin's sister claimed one of Darlene's boyfriends
3180-475: The report of the attack. Shepard was conscious and gave a detailed description of their attacker. She and Hartnell were taken to a hospital in Napa . Shepard lapsed into a coma during transport; she never regained consciousness and died two days later. Hartnell survived to recount his tale to the press. Earlier that day, a suspicious man had been seen around Lake Berryessa by several people. A dentist and his son saw
3240-421: The shots around 12:10 a.m. The perpetrator left no clues that could be traced back to him. Three teenagers drove into the parking lot, saw the wounded couple, and got help. Police arrived at 12:20 a.m. Twenty minutes later, Ferrin was pronounced dead at the hospital. Mageau survived and described the attacker as a heavyset white man, around 5'8" tall. He estimated the assailant's weight as 195–200 pounds, with
3300-430: The shots hit Faraday and Jensen. The couple scrambled to get out through the passenger door. Jensen succeeded. As Faraday was exiting, the killer shot him in the head with a .22-caliber rifle. The assailant chased Jensen as she fled, firing six shots at her back. Only one missed. Police theorized the whole attack took two to three minutes. At 11:10 p.m., a motorist spotted the couple's bodies and alerted police. Jensen
3360-461: Was a boy, he has decided that killing big game has become boring for him. After escaping the Russian Revolution , he purchased Ship-Trap, built a home for himself, and rigged the island with lights to lure passing ships into the jagged rocks that surrounded it. He takes the survivors captive and hunts them for sport, giving them food, clothing, a knife, and a three-hour head start, and using only
3420-478: Was an American author and journalist. He is most notable for his short story " The Most Dangerous Game " (1924). Connell was one of the most popular American short story writers of his time. His stories were published in The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's magazines. He had equal success as a journalist and screenwriter, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1942 ( Best Original Story ) for
3480-438: Was dead. Faraday was still breathing. He died at the hospital. There were no witnesses and no usable tire or foot prints. The only motive the police could deduce was a "madman" wanting to kill. Despite an intense investigation in the following months, no viable suspects emerged. The murders were extensively covered by the media. Darlene Ferrin (22) and Michael Mageau (19) were shot shortly after midnight on July 4, 1969. Ferrin
3540-535: Was named Richard. Linda also reported receiving annual phone calls on the Fourth of July from someone who identified himself as the Zodiac. In the Zodiac's later correspondence, he only ever refers to Ferrin as "girl". In Graysmith's telling, Ferrin and Mageau were chased. They only stopped when their car hit a log and stalled. The detective on the scene noticed that the car was still on and in low gear. Kelleher and Nuys suggest that Ferrin would not tell Mageau to ignore
3600-418: Was popular in Vallejo due to her job at a local restaurant, where she met Mageau. On July 4, they went on a date despite the fact that Ferrin was married. After 11:30 p.m., Ferrin received a phone call at her house. She arrived at Mageau's house around 11:50 p.m. Immediately after leaving Mageau's house, the couple noticed they were being followed by a man in a light-colored car. Ferrin drove out of Vallejo in
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