Episode

The Zodiac Killer Wasn't Real

Podcast: The Michael Shermer Show
Published: Jun 13, 2026
Duration seconds: 5954
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Summary

The Zodiac Killer has been treated for decades as America's ultimate unsolved true crime mystery: one mysterious killer, taunting letters, cryptic ciphers, a strange costume, and a trail of victims across Northern California. Eddie McNamara thinks that story is wrong. The victims were real, the crimes were real, but the single mastermind may have been a media-made myth. Eddie McNamara is the author of Zodiactually: The Real Story of a Fake Serial Killer , Toss Your Own Salad: The Meatless Cookbook , Brooklyn Hardcore , and Two Fare Zone . He's a former cop, 9/11 first responder, trained chef, and a columnist for Penthouse magazine.