alphabet murders

‘The Zodiac’ is fictional. He is a revision of Dr. Zodiac, a character from the 1938 film Charlie Chan at Treasure Island.

Like Dr. Zodiac, the Zodiac is interested in spirits and the afterlife. He also dabbles in Enochian magic  – real magic rather than Dr. Zodiac’s stage magic. In this sense, he draws inspiration from Aleister Crowley, the greatest ceremonial magician of the twentieth century. 

Moreover, like Crowley, he unites with a supernatural being to become a god. The Zodiac becomes Master Geryon, while Aleister Crowley becomes Master Therion. Each of the Zodiac’s three incarnations preserves its personality when he  become Master Geryon. Thus, Master Geryon is three persons in one god; the Father is Jack the Ripper, the Son is the union of the Zodiac and Poseidon, and the Holy Spirit is the Joker.

Both the Zodiac and Dr. Zodiac have a condition known as pseudologia fantastica, a mental disorder that involves chronic and compulsive lying. The condition is  also known as pathological lying or mythomania.

The Zodiac maintains that the films he sees describe actual events involving him. Thus, three episodes of the Batman television series become the template for his actions during the Zodiac Killings: The Zodiac Crimes, with a crime for each sign of the Zodiac; The Joker’s Wild, involving a jailbreak; and The Joker Goes to School, involving a fabulous invention, i. e. a slot machine or one-armed bandit that executes actual holdups.

Aleister Crowley saw himself as a prophet ushering in a new age, the Eon of Horus. The Zodiac saw his mission as saving the existing Eon by restoring Nietzsche’s master morality to a position of dominance. When Master Geryon informs Chronos and Rhea – the rulers of Elysium – of the proposal, they abdicate in favour of Master Geryon and his queen, Leucothea, also known as the ‘white goddess.’

Master Geryon transfers Elysium, the Greek paradise, to Erytheia (Red Island). The Zodiac’s victims, like Io, are transformed into steers and become Erytheia’s prized red herd. This new paradise is ruled by Master Geryon using master morality.

But are the Zodiac’s ideas sound or just the product of a diseased mind? If they are correct, the Zodiac will become a god in paradise, but if false, he will become Geryon, Dante’s arch deceiver in Hell (The Pit). 

To paraphrase a famous poem by that eminent raconteur, Sir Percy Blakeney:

They seek him here, they seek him there

Those Meanies seek him everywhere

Is he in heaven, or is he in hell?

That damned elusive ne’er-do-well.