SERIAL KILLER Ted Kaczynski #truecrime

UNABOMBER

An infamous name has been back in the news again lately, but from the late 70s to the mid 90s, the nickname given to this creature by a law enforcement task force made headlines, striking fear into every American. This monster did not use knives, firearms, or ropes to commit his acts of evil. From a remote cabin in rural Montana he assembled explosives to mail to universities and airlines taking 3 lives and maiming many more. The motive was to call attention to the stripping of freedom and the fraying of society by technology and industry as outlined in a 35000 word essay sent to the media in 1995. As a teen he had been a math prodigy to the point he attended Harvard at 16 on a scholarship. The isolated teen was also the subject of a brutal psychological experiment led by the predecessor of the CIA which is believed to have played a pivotal part in his becoming the UNABOMBER

Ted Kaczynsky

Ted Kaczynsky was born to Wanda and Richard Kaczynsky on May 22 1942in Chicago Illinois. His working class parents were polish who had gotten married 3 years prior and his father Richard worked as a sausage maker. In 1949, Richard got a baby brother named David.

Ted had attended Sherman elementary school in the city of chicago, where his teachers said he was a normal healthy child and he would say himself how he had been social and even referred to himself as a leader among his peers. In 1952, the family moved to Evergreen park where neighbors described his parents as devoted and the boys as smart especially Ted.

After the 5th grade, Kaczynskis family had him tested and he was found to have an IQ of 167, which with his academic achievement resulted in him skipping the 6th grade. Ted did not have an easy transition and he was bullied by the older kids. This was the beginning of Teds descent.

Despite the social misery that he was put through, Kaczynski continued to excel academically and participate in various clubs, but his main focus and interest was math. With a handful of other kids, he would work to solve complex math problems, and the group became known as the briefcase boys. Sort of like a 1950s version of the trench coat mafia.

Kaczynski graduated from high school at age 15 and was accepted to Harvard with a scholarship. A year later at only 16 his family packed his bags and sent him off to the prestigious university. He was housed with other young students at 8 Prescott street in Cambridge which was referred to as the Eliot house where he would spend 3 years until he got his bachelors in Math in 1962 with a 3.12 grade point average.

Despite being socially isolated and barely old enough to drive, a Harvard psychologist named Henry Murray decided he was a prime candidate for an intense and brutal psychological experiment. Participants were told that they would debate their personal beliefs with other classmates. To this end, they were instructed to write essays detailing their beliefs and life goals.

Instead of a debate, the subjects were viciously attacked verbally and their written statements were used to make these sessions as personal and degrading as possible. While they were being psychologically torn apart, electrodes were hooked up to monitor their internal reaction and cameras recorded their physical reactions and outbursts of anger. The film of their reactions were played back to them repeatedly.

This bizarre and disgusting experiment lasted 3 years and Kaczynski himself was brought in to be degraded once a week. He would spent over 200 hours in these sessions and his lawyers would later state that they had pushed him over the edge into violence and hostility.

There are aspects of Henry Murray that lead to other questions in addition to criticism over the nature of the experiment. During world war 2, he had been a part of the Office of Strategic Sevices which was the predecessor to the CIA. This is also the organization that conducted the mind control experiment known as MK Ultra that was once considered a conspiracy, but records now prove was real.

Many suspect that the Harvard experiment was a part of this program. And Kaczynskis lawyers certainly believed it was a major factor in his later crimes, but the Unabomber himself said that while he resented Murray, the experience had little impact on his life and beliefs.

Once he had his bachelors degree in mathematics, Ted applied to at the University Of Michigan, the university of Chicago and UC Berkeley. All 3 accepted him, but Michigan offered him a considerable grant and a teaching position. He went on to get a masters degree in 1964 and his doctorate in 1967.

During his time in graduate school, Kaczynski focused on geometric function theory. Teachers and colleagues said he was exceptionally smart and dedicated. Though Ted would later say the school was too lenient with its grading. In 1966, he had a bit of an internal crisis.

For a brief period, he had a fixation on transitioning to be a female. He made an appointment with a psychiatrist, changed his mind in the waiting room. This was one of the first times he had violent thoughts towards others including the psychiatrist. Ted was shocked with how close he had come to a major life altering change based on sexual fantasies that he blamed on society.

After receiving his doctorate in 1967, Ted became a professor at UC Berkeley. Student reviews were less than positive about him. They said he lectured out of the textbook only and declined to answer any questions from his students.

His inability to connect with students stemmed from an intense shyness that was also reported by other members of the faculty. Perhaps due to this shyness, Kaczynski resigned from his teaching position on June 30 1969.

He would spend a couple years living at his parents house before building a small cabin near Lincoln Montana. The cabin had no running water or electricity and to support his new simple lifestyle, Ted worked odd jobs for people in town, but received most of his money from his family.

But even out in the wilds of Montana, he was not able to escape society and the encroachment of technology. When developers started construction near his plot, Kaczynski sabotaged their equipment and started multiple fires. He finally snapped entirely when one of his favorite places was taken over and his goals shifted from an autonomous lifestyle and towards getting revenge on society.

The bombing began on May 25 1978. From his remote cabin, Ted put together explosive packages to send to various people he thought played a pivotal role in the destruction of his lifestyle and the industrialization of the world. his first target was at a professor of materials engineering at Northwestern named Buckley Crist.

He left a package with the professors name written as the return address in the parking lot of the university, banking on someone to do him the favor of delivering the package. When it arrived in Crists office, he called campus police as he knew he had not wrapped the package.

Officer Terry Marker opened the package causing it to detonate. Luckily he recieved only minor wounds from the explosion. Just under a year later on May 9 1979, he left another package at Northwestern in a cigar box. When a graduate student named John Harris opened it, he also receiver only minor cuts and burns.

But after these initial attempts, Kaczynski seemed ready to go the next level. On November 15 1979 a package was placed on an American Airlines flight from Chicago to DC. While the fuse failed and did not detonate the explosives, it did create a lot of smoke and panic in the airplane leading to an emergency landing.

The package was found to contain more than enough material to destroy the plane had it exploded which drew the attention of federal authorities. The packages were found to include a variety of clues which would later be found to be attempts at misdirection such as initials and notes as well as bits of tree bark.

1979 was the year that a task force made up of agents from the FBI, ATF, and the US postal service was formed. They gave the monster the nickname that he would become known by as soon as it hit the media. They called the case, the UNABOMB case, named for the targets of Univeristies and airlines.

In 2006 the judge who had rejected Kaczynskis appeal ordered that his belongings be auctioned off, all except the instructions and materials for making explosives. The proceeds would go to his victims and the auction raised over $200,000. Kaczynski did not stop writing and exchanged letters with hundreds of people.

In 2010 he released another book, this one called Technological Slavery. Once again he railed against technology and he would release several more books and essays on the subject. In 2012 he replied to the reunion invitation for the his 1962 Harvard class. Though he obviously could not attend, he wanted to update his classmates. He put that his occupation was prisoner and for awards he listed his life sentences.

In December of 2021
Crime, Ted Kaczynski, Unabomber, true crime, documentary, manifesto