One-Time Pod

by Sharjeel Khan

In this episode, we talk about one of the most cryptic 17th century Masonic manuscripts, the Copiale, it’s mechanics in terms of how it was encrypted, it’s history and it’s importance as a podcast. Tune in to find out the truth behind this mysterious cipher and how it was finally cracked in 2011.

Sources and more information:

Copiale Cipher – Wikipedia

They Cracked This 250-Year-Old Code, and Found a Secret Society Inside – Wired

The Copiale Cipher: An Early German Masonic Ritual Unveiled – The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

USC Scientist Cracks Mysterious “Copiale Cipher” – YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eam0Tk-1FyI

Music:

www.orangefreesounds.com/ — background music

by Safwaan Khan

In this episode of One-Time Pod, we take a humorous approach to telling the story Sir George Scovell, who is most famous for his role in breaking The Army of Portugal Code and the Great Paris Cipher. He actually joins us a special guest in this episode. Obviously, it is not the real Sir George but a fictional representation of him.

Our team tried to portray Sir George as someone came across as somewhat boastful of his achievements. While this may not have been true in reality, we felt that this would add to the humor of the episode and also, it would show how proud he was that he, an outsider to the elite upper classes, could work his way up the rankings of the army. Furthermore, we believe that the way his negative attitude towards the French highlights a common thought that the rest of Europe usually holds about the French too.

In addition to George Scovell, we used an omniscient narrator, who through her outbursts, not only breaks up the monotony of Sir George Scovell’s rambling but also adds to the humor of the episode.

We decided to use a minimal amount of sound effects in this episode (by minimal, we mean one. Did you spot it?) but instead, we chose to use a variation of voices to keep you entertained.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Cryptocast. If you would like more information on Sir George Scovell and cryptography during the Napoleonic Wars, please see the list of sources used for this episode below.

Sources:

Voices:

Presenter: Aakifah K Khan

Music and Sound Effect:

This show was written and produced by Safwaan Khan.

by Junhao Cai

This podcast tells the story of the Dorabella Cipher, a well-known unsolved cipher in the history of cryptography, and its creator, the English composer Edward Elgar. Focusing on its origin, cryptographic nature and cryptanalysts’ attempts to decipher it, the episode explores all the aspects of the cipher. Also, the famous composer is briefly introduced, and the cipher’s connections to the Enigma Variations, one of his musical works, are discussed.

For more information:

Read the well-written article on this site to know other decipherments:

Sources:

Kahn, D. (1967). The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing. New York, NY: The

Roberts, T. S. (2014). Solving the Dorabella Cipher [PDF document]. Retrieved from:

Macnamara, M. (2013). The Artist of the Unbreakable Code [Web log]. Retrieved from:

Sams, E. (1970). Elgar’s Cipher Letter to Dorabella. The Musical Times, Vol. 111. Retrieved from: www.jstor.org/stable/956733

Pelling, N. (2012). Dorabella Cipher [Web log]. Retrieved from:

Kile, J. (2012, June 14). The Dorabella Cipher and a Possible Method for Deciphering [Web log]. Retrieved from:

Bauer, C. P. (2017). Unsolved!: The History and Mystery of the World’s Greatest Ciphers from Ancient Egypt to Online Secret Societies. Retrieved from:

Audio Sources:

Time Traveler – Beautiful Melodies for Fantastic stories (Music). Retrieved from:

Mystical Background – Mysterious and Melodic Music (Music). Retrieved from:

Mystic Dream Piano Melody (Music). Retrieved from:

Green Fields – Free Instrumental Music (Music). Retrieved from:

Windswept – Synth Guitar and Soft Strings (Music). Retrieved from:

Hemo – Electronic Music Loop (Music). Retrieved from:

Edward Elgar – Salut d’Amour Op.12 (Music). Retrieved from:

Edward Elgar – Enigma Variations (Music). Retrieved from:

by Kelsey Brown

The Zodiac killer is one of the most infamous serial killers of all time and has remained a mystery that will always intrigue public interest. The image of the 1960s, a time of hippies, love and social expansion, was tainted as he began to lurk in the night and violently murder more and more people. But even with extensive witness descriptions and multiple suspects, he was never caught and has never even been identified. The Zodiac keep himself anonymous and has kept society questioning what exactly happened in those fateful years for the last 57 years by simply using the most intriguing skill in history: cryptography. The Zodiac killer menaced and taunted the police and press through a series of letters, in plaintext and ciphertext, that he claimed contained is long sought after identity. In this podcast, the host, Kelsey Brown, a freshman at Vanderbilt University, delves into the story of the Zodiac killer, starting at the beginning of his killing career and proceeding to explain the mechanics and decipherment of the Zodiac Cipher and ending with how this cultural phenomenon has remained prevalent even today.

Sources:

Analysis of the Zodiac Killer’s Three Part Cipher:

FBI Records: The Vault: The Zodiac Killer:

Corey Starliper, Massachusetts Man, Claims He Cracked Zodiac Killer’s Code. The Huffington Post by Ben Muessig

Zodiac Killer:The Encyclopedia of American Crime: Carl Sifakis:

Zodiac Killer Biography:

Audio:

Time Traveler Beautiful Melodies For Fantastic Stories

Audio From The Zodiac Killer – ABC Primetime Investigation:

Audio From This is the Zodiac Speaking:

Welcome to One-Time Pod!

One-Time Pod explores the history of cryptography through episodes produced by students in Derek Bruff’s first-year writing seminar at Vanderbilt University. Each episode considers a different code or cipher, how it works, and why it’s interesting.

For more on Dr. Bruff’s first-year seminar on cryptography, visit the course homepage: derekbruff.org/blogs/fywscrypto/.

Intro music: “To Be Decided,” Mystery Mammal, CC-BY