Fred Manalli

Some interesting Finds to kick around Trav. Personally, although the timing of the personal AD 2 days after Manalli died is incredible,I dont want to go too far off looking for clues about it because you never know where of when it will end. As far as a 'Tarbox',here are some possible things:

Tarbox, Massachusetts is a fictional town that serves as the setting for the 1968 novel Couples and several short stories by American author John Updike. It is based on Ipswich, Massachusetts, the small coastal town where Updike lived from 1957 to 1974.
It's interesting partly as a period piece, but it also shows (along with a few of the stories in "Tarbox Tales") John Updike discovering what, in my opinion, is still his most interesting and most enduring subject.”

Maybe Manalli was a fan of this guy?

John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009)[1] was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic.Updike's most famous work is his Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom series (the novels Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and the novella "Rabbit Remembered"), which chronicles Rabbit's life over the course of several decades, from young adulthood to his death. Both Rabbit Is Rich (1981) and Rabbit At Rest (1990) received the Pulitzer Prize. Updike is one of only three authors (the others were Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner) to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once. He published more than twenty novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, art criticism, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems appeared in The New Yorker, starting in 1954. He also wrote regularly for The New York Review of Books.Later, Updike and his family relocated to Ipswich, Massachusetts. Many commentators, including a columnist in the local Ipswich Chronicle, asserted that the fictional town of Tarbox in Couples was based on Ipswich. Updike denied the suggestion in a letter to the paper.[13] Impressions of Updike's day-to-day life in Ipswich during the 1960s and 1970s are included in a letter to the same paper published soon after Updike's death and written by a friend and contemporary.[14] In Ipswich, Updike wrote Rabbit, Run (1960), on a Guggenheim Fellowship, and The Centaur (1963), two of his most acclaimed and famous works; the latter won the National Book Award.

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Comments welcome on this one. Does anyone know what a tarbox is? There are many references to it being a name. The only other reference I can find for it, which makes sense, is from John Updike's novel "Couples" which is centred in the fictional town of Tarbox.

No idea. Does it actually say 'tarbox' looks like the 't' was missed originally? Maybe it's a misspelling of hatbox? What is written in the very next paragraph, maybe there's a clue?

EDIT: I found this reference: n. A box containing tar, carried by shepherds for anointing sores on sheep.

Perhaps it can also mean any small box that holds some sort of lotion or cream in more modern times?

Yeah, it's definitely tarbox. Looks worse here than on the PDF. Good find on the other references.

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Maybe Manalli was a fan of this guy?

Or Jealous of him lol. I would say it's a fair chance he read his stuff. And Faulkner's stuff as well as we know he did. That's why I found the KKK stuff interesting because an account of that would have contained killings, hoods, death by fire, gun, knife and rope. Fire and rope being the most prominent. Slaves and not to mention Forrest. It always bugged me that one and I wondered was it really a spelling mistake. Who knows.

There's maybe also something in what was written on the HC envelope, or rather how it was written. The KKK was long associated with the burning cross symbol but that wasn't originally it was represented, as the upright cross. It was originally the St Stephen cross from the Scottish flag, basically and x. The same configuration of the "sorry no cipher" message.

Probably total coincidence but there are some interesting parallels in Updike's 'Couples'. Not saying that Manalli read this, just found them when looking for 'tarbox'.

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The "couples" of the title are ten married pairs living in Tarbox, Massachusetts, whose lives are governed by a "calendrical wheel" of parties and ... It "fucks up our party," as the resident games- master, Freddy Thorne, puts it (294).

By the way, Freddy is a dentist (as per Boniface in the text by Manalli):

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Over the whole group hovers the satanic, death-worshiping Freddy Thorne. He is a dentist by trade

Of course, his name is Freddy too!

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"What Freddy Thorne sees in me..." She deflected the compliment. "He thinks we're a circle. A magic circle of heads to keep the night out.

EDIT: I haven't read Manalli's book (Blakenia Sextet) so this is more of a question to Trav:

Can you see parallel's between 'Couples' (about 10 philandering couples in a fake town called Tarbox) and Blakentia (i.e. is this the name of a fake town in the novel) Sextet (does this refer to a number of characters in the book?)

In secret societies The Brotherhood primarily refers to the Order of the Free Masons. The Skull and Bones society, a collegiate society was also called the Brotherhood, as well as the KKK, and apparently the name for the revolutionary group in Orwell's 1984. All of these groups have symbols which use crosses and other geometric shapes, but don' t really look like the Zodiac symbol, which most resembles a Celtic cross, outside of astrology. The symbol is used by many white power and racist groups, as other members have noticed. In particular the Minutemen.

http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/racist_celtic_cross.asp

Was Manelli connected to any racist organization? I couldn't find any specific symbols for any Bocce ball clubs, but you can find ones that use a stylized ball design that sorta looks Zodiac-ish. The game is popular amongst Italian-Americans, who generally happen to be Catholic. I bring that up because of the mention of the Knights Of Columbus, a Catholic group. Other groups like the Masons and the Klan are anti-Catholic. The use of the Celtic cross doesn't seem to have any specific catholic or protestant connotation among white power groups, as far as I know, but I think most of them in America are Protestant.

Was FM Catholic?

Luke68 wrote:

EDIT: I haven't read Manalli's book (Blakenia Sextet) so this is more of a question to Trav:

Can you see parallel's between 'Couples' (about 10 philandering couples in a fake town called Tarbox) and Blakentia (i.e. is this the name of a fake town in the novel) Sextet (does this refer to a number of characters in the book?)

I can yes, especially the Dentist bit. Possible influence at least, it's hard to parallel ... ok I'm going to abbreviate it from now on to the rather apt BS (hehehe)... it's hard to parallel BS because it's slightly unusual. It's less like reading a short story and more like reading someone's account of a dream they had.

As for the 'Sextet' bit, no, it actually refers to the number of stories that make up the BS, or rather 'made' up as there should have been size but only five were published. No idea what or where the sixth one was.

duckking2001 wrote:

Was FM Catholic?

No idea. Morf?, Seagull?

I don't recall anything in his letters that indicate what he was. For some reason I'm thinking Catholic but that may be because of the Italianish name. His general lack of immediate family though might suggest otherwise.

Idont know if Manalli was catholic or not. With an italian last name,if I had to guess,I would say yes. I will see if I have any addl details in any of the obits for him

[quote="Luke68"]

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Comments welcome on this one. Does anyone know what a tarbox is? There are many references to it being a name. The only other reference I can find for it, which makes sense, is from John Updike's novel "Couples" which is centred in the fictional town of Tarbox.

Concerning Tarbox as a name connected to the Zodiac case:

"In 2009, a lawyer named Robert Tarbox (who, in 1975, had his law license suspended in California for failure to pay some clients) said that in 1972 a merchant marine walked into his office and confessed to him that he was the Zodiac Killer. The seemingly lucid seaman (whose name Tarbox would not reveal due to confidentiality) described his crimes briefly but persuasively enough to convince Tarbox. The man claimed he was trying to stop himself from his "opportunistic" murder spree but never returned to see Tarbox again. Tarbox took out a full-page ad in the Vallejo Times-Herald in which he cleared the name of Arthur Leigh Allen as a killer, his only reason for revealing the story 30 years after the fact."

But! this incident took place in 1972, 6 years AFTER FM wrote that "Blakenia Sextet" book.

I know this Robert Tarbox probably had nothing to do with the tarbox reference in FM's "Blakenia Sextet" book, just wanted to mention it.

Lot's of stuff to address this morning regarding recent posts.

First I would say yes, Manalli was Catholic. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Santa Rosa. It is a Catholic cemetery.

http://www.catholiccemeteries-dsr.org/Cemetery_Santa_Rosa.html

Coincidentally, the first two SRHM victims, Maureen Sterling and Yvonne Weber are also buried in that same cemetery.

TF, I too made the connection between Manalli's writing of "tarbox" in his Blalentia Sextet story and the attorney Tarbox. Manalli wrote the word about three or four times so there is no denying that it is the word he meant. If we were to imagine that Manalli is the Zodiac and the story that Robert Tarbox told is true then it would seem to fit quite nicely. The trouble I have with considering that scenario is Manalli tended to think of himself as an intellectual not a worker and I doubt that Manalli would know much about being a merchant marine. Another obstacle would be the merchant marine Z-card that was shown to Tarbox. It could have been a forged or stolen document but Manalli did not strike me as the type to have the street smarts to come up with something like that. He really seemed oblivious to the world around him, as if he did not consider things outside of the world in his own head where he was the next literary genius waiting for recognition.

Trav, the title story in Manalli's thesis Blakentia Sextet is made up in six parts, I think that is where the Sextet come in to play. I believe the thesis itself is complete and there is no missing sixth story.

Manalli's letters seem to indicate that he has grandmother issues. The Blakentia Sextet story has a matron type character, Seraphina, who I would guess is fashioned after his grandmother. Seraphina is gunned down by machinegun fire in the story. I thought that part was rather telling. I have not read the entire thesis yet, just the first two stories but it does seem to me that Manalli is writing from the heart, fictionalizing his own life experiences.

Theforeigner wrote:

But! this incident took place in 1972, 6 years AFTER FM wrote that "Blakenia Sextet" book.

I know this Robert Tarbox probably had nothing to do with the tarbox reference in FM's "Blakenia Sextet" book, just wanted to mention it.

I was thinking of that too TF first time I read the word but I didn't think it would be anything to do with and it's good to have the date discrepancy confirmed.

traveller1st wrote:

Theforeigner wrote:

But! this incident took place in 1972, 6 years AFTER FM wrote that "Blakenia Sextet" book.

I know this Robert Tarbox probably had nothing to do with the tarbox reference in FM's "Blakenia Sextet" book, just wanted to mention it.

I was thinking of that too TF first time I read the word but I didn't think it would be anything to do with and it's good to have the date discrepancy confirmed.

I too thought of Tarbox the attorney,but dismissed it because Manalli wasnt a merchant marine.

Seagull wrote:

Trav, the title story in Manalli's thesis Blakentia Sextet is made up in six parts, I think that is where the Sextet come in to play. I believe the thesis itself is complete and there is no missing sixth story.

Manalli's letters seem to indicate that he has grandmother issues. The Blakentia Sextet story has a matron type character, Seraphina, who I would guess is fashioned after his grandmother. Seraphina is gunned down by machinegun fire in the story. I thought that part was rather telling. I have not read the entire thesis yet, just the first two stories but it does seem to me that Manalli is writing from the heart, fictionalizing his own life experiences.

Yup, got that on the missing sixth story. I rem him saying that in his letters. Also took note of the Seraphina incident and was thinking since he does seem to fictionalize his experiences and the mention of his Grandmother stuff, how that and other things might be reflected in his writing.

The story "The Survivor" is rather interesting. Can't wait to hear interpretations of that one. I went back to the PDF there to check the name and landed on this bit.

Hmmm, notice anything interesting about the design on bocce balls?

Okay, I am super busy at work and its 100 degrees here,so I might have missed something. What is the signifcance of the Bocce Balls? I see the design pattern looks like the crosshair symbol. Dont tell me, Manalli played Bocce Ball

Very interesting Trav. Was there any Bocce clues in Zodiac's writings,besides the crosshair symbol?

not that I can think of, off the top of my head.

I was searching online for any unsolved murders that may have occured at the right times in the many places that Manalli was known to be going by the information in his letters to Curley and found a strange story about a Lovers Lane murder that was committed outside of Rockford Illinois in 1948.

At the time this double murder was committed Manalli would have been 12 years old so there is no chance he could have done the murders. One of the victims was from Rockford though and it was front page news in the local newspaper. Could these murders have made an impression on Manalli?

The strange part of the murders was revealed some 60 years after the crime. A man named Mike Arians who started looking into the unsolved case 14 years ago was able with the help of the surviving brother of the female victim, Mary Jane Reed, was able to exhume her body for forensic testing. It was discovered that the skull was not that of Mary Jane Reed but that of someone with an Asian heritage. Naturally, I thought of Jeannette Kamahele who has never been located.

It would be very doubtful that Manalli could have pulled this off but not impossible. I do not know if after decades one could tell the difference between a 40 year old skull and one that is 60 years old. Manalli has surprised me regarding his stories and letters, Morf, Trav and others have brought out so many parallels with Zodiac that I just did not see so I'm just throwing this out there for consideration.

Here's a link to the first story I read on the 1948 double murder. There are many more stories about Arians's quest for answers if you google.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-18/news/ct-met-oregon-murders-20110718_1_reed-and-skridla-mary-jane-reed-skridla-s-buick

This is a link to the Mary Jane Reed Foundation with many links within. There are vintage newspaper articles in one of the links.

http://www.maryjanereed.com/

morf13 wrote:

its 100 degrees here

You in Maryland by any chance?

Luke68 wrote:

morf13 wrote:

its 100 degrees here

You in Maryland by any chance?

NJ

Seagull wrote:

I was searching online for any unsolved murders that may have occured at the right times in the many places that Manalli was known to be going by the information in his letters to Curley and found a strange story about a Lovers Lane murder that was committed outside of Rockford Illinois in 1948.

At the time this double murder was committed Manalli would have been 12 years old so there is no chance he could have done the murders. One of the victims was from Rockford though and it was front page news in the local newspaper. Could these murders have made an impression on Manalli?

The strange part of the murders was revealed some 60 years after the crime. A man named Mike Arians who started looking into the unsolved case 14 years ago was able with the help of the surviving brother of the female victim, Mary Jane Reed, was able to exhume her body for forensic testing. It was discovered that the skull was not that of Mary Jane Reed but that of someone with an Asian heritage. Naturally, I thought of Jeannette Kamahele who has never been located.

It would be very doubtful that Manalli could have pulled this off but not impossible. I do not know if after decades one could tell the difference between a 40 year old skull and one that is 60 years old. Manalli has surprised me regarding his stories and letters, Morf, Trav and others have brought out so many parallels with Zodiac that I just did not see so I'm just throwing this out there for consideration.

Here's a link to the first story I read on the 1948 double murder. There are many more stories about Arians's quest for answers if you google.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-18/news/ct-met-oregon-murders-20110718_1_reed-and-skridla-mary-jane-reed-skridla-s-buick

This is a link to the Mary Jane Reed Foundation with many links within. There are vintage newspaper articles in one of the links.

http://www.maryjanereed.com/

Thanks Deb, very interesting..I will have to re-read this closer later tonight. So you are saying that when they exhumed one of the lovers lanes victims,one of the skulls was not the victim's,but was instead an asian skull?

Yes, the skull in Mary Jane's casket was not hers but that of someone with Asian heritage. It's a real off the wall idea perhaps inspired by Manalli's downright weird sense of literary genius! LOL

Luke68 wrote:

morf13 wrote:

its 100 degrees here

You in Maryland by any chance?

I am. And yes, it sucks here too.

For those of you on the West Coast, the Eastern heat and humidity combination make it downright miserable on the East Coast.

I have no idea about skulls, but maybe dental records are a way of determining age. A pathologist could answer that question. After all, they have determined age in skeletons and dating them back hundreds of years.