During research on my found journal, I found an interesting, albeit indirect, connection between the Grateful Dead’s song Dire Wolf and the Zodiac killer who tormented the bay area in the late ’60s.

First some background on the Zodiac:

The first communique from the Zodiac was printed on August 2, 1969 after he sent three letters to three different San Francisco-area newspapers taking credit for two attacks on four teenagers. The first two victims were at a lover’s lane in Lake Herman the previous December. Both the male and female died from gunshot wounds at the scene.  The writer also took credit for another attack on two teens in July 1969 in Vallejo. The female died but the male managed to survive and gave a description of the slayer.  The letter-writer shared enough info in the letters to verify that he was indeed the killer in both scenarios.

Each of the three letters  included a different cypher. He demanded that each cypher be published on the front page of the respective newspaper or he would go on a killing spree and kill 12 more people. He also claimed that if the cyphers were cracked, together they would reveal his message.  The newspapers dutifully printed the cyphers and the CIA, FBI, military — every expert cryptologist was on the case — but none could break the code.

It actually was a high school teacher who finally broke it (misspellings corrected).

I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest, because man is the most dangerous animal of all. To kill something is the most thrilling experience. It is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl. The best part of it is that when I die, I will be reborn in paradise and all that I have killed will become my slaves. I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife.

Shortly thereafter another letter arrived at the SF Chronicle with his name:

This is the Zodiac speaking.

Zodiac took credit for a September attack at Lake Berryessa where he stabbed to death a female and left the male victim for dead (although he survived and told the police Zodiac had worn an elaborate disguise).

Zodiac continued to taunt the public with letters to the Chronicle always starting with This is the Zodiac speaking. He took credit for killing a cabbie in a densely populated and affluent area of San Francisco (he included part of the cabbie’s bloody shirt in the letter). He also threatened to kill school children as they got off school buses, leading the cops to follow the buses to school.

Needless to say the fear and panic in the San Francisco area was unparalleled. People were scared out of their wits.  Which leads us to Dire Wolf.

The song is about a murderer (metaphor dire wolf, an extinct prehistoric creature, also in GoT) who kills a person in the woods. It was released by the Grateful Dead shortly before the Zodiac came on the scene and I read so many online accounts of people listening to the song while at the same time driving through San Francisco late a night in 1969 and fearing for their lives.

In the timbers to Fennario, the wolves are running round,
The winter was so hard and cold, froze ten feet ‘neath the ground.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. Please, don’t murder me.

I sat down to my supper, ’twas a bottle of red whisky,
I said my prayers and went to bed, that’s the last they saw of me.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. Please, don’t murder me.

When I awoke, the Dire Wolf, six hundred pounds of sin,
Was grinning at my window, all I said was “Come on in”
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. Please, don’t murder me.

The Wolf came in, I got my cards, we sat down for a game.
I cut my deck to the Queen of Spades, but the cards were all the same.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. Please, don’t murder me.

In the backwash of Fennario, the black and bloody mire,
The Dire Wolf collects his dues, while the boys sing ’round the fire.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. Please, don’t murder me.
No, no, no don’t murder me. I beg of you,
Don’t murder me. Please, don’t murder me.

Enjoy!