![]() ![]() That fall, Wanda Kaczynski received a permission slip in the mail. Wikimedia Commons David (left) and Ted Kaczynski in 1967. He made few, if any, friends and spent most of his time in his room or the library when not in class. Although the gesture was intended to be a nurturing one, in practice it only encouraged Kaczynski’s introverted nature. He started his freshman year at age 16.īut this opportunity would turn out to be a terrible mistake.ĭuring his first year, Ted Kaczynski was quarantined in special housing set aside for the youngest and least mature freshmen. When Kaczynski was 15, he graduated early from high school and with his parents’ encouragement applied to and was accepted at Harvard. For her, education had been a gateway to a better life and she believed the same would hold true for both her sons. Kaczynski’s mother, Wanda, had grown up in a poor immigrant family in Southern Ohio. He also had an IQ of 167, placing him just above Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. He was quiet, sensitive, and shy with others, but he loved animals and being outdoors. ![]() He played the trombone and collected coins. He had two loving parents and a younger brother, David, who idolized him. Kaczynski Family Photo Young Ted (left) and brother David Kaczynski with family members.īorn in Chicago in 1942, Ted Kaczynski had, for the most part, a fairly normal middle-class suburban childhood. In his initial report from the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit, profiler John Douglas suggested that the terrorist was a white male in his late 20s or early 30s and an “asocial obsessive-compulsive loner of above-average intelligence.” He posited that - since the earliest bombings were at Northwestern University - he was probably from Chicago and had connections to academia.ĭouglas’s report proved to be remarkably prophetic, matching Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski Jr. But what investigators would not realize until much later was how close their first discarded guess had come to the truth. A popular theory was that they were a disgruntled former airline employee looking to get back at the big shots. The FBI believed they were looking for a blue-collar mechanic or someone good with their hands. In almost every device, the letters “FC” were welded or carved into one of its surfaces. When one early bomb failed to completely explode, they had found some twigs and leaves inside the device. The only commonalities between the targets seemed to be a tenuous connection to technology or the destruction of the environment. Fortunately, apart from Murray, only two others were killed. Many were maimed and lost fingers, limbs, and eyes. They were academics, lobbyists, airline executives, and computer store owners. The victims were seemingly random, with attacks in Chicago, California, and New Jersey. Sometimes when sending the bombs, the Unabomber would go so far as to send packages with insufficient postage so that they would be returned to the “sender” written on the box, who was his actual target. Any commercial wires used were opened first to modify them by removing strands which rendered them untraceable. Other times, he apparently treated pieces with acid. The Unabomber meticulously filed away all fingerprints from the bomb parts. ![]() the Unabomber’s, bombs from an exhibit at the Newseum. Wikimedia Commons Reproduction of one of Ted Kaczynski, a.k.a. The news media dubbed them the “Unabomber.” Each device became more powerful, more concealable, and more deadly than the last.īecause the terrorist sent bombs to universities and an airline, the FBI referred to the case as UNABOM, an acronym for University and Airline Bomber. That one didn’t kill anyone, but as the years went by the bomber learned. Another, disguised as a wooden board with protruding nails, appeared in front of a computer store.Īmong the earliest and most complicated devices was a package fitted with a barometer for a trigger that would blow up an airplane once it hit cruising altitude. One resembled a cigar box and was left in a Northwestern University common area. In most cases, the explosives were made from gun powder, match heads, and other readily available items. Many of the devices were made of, or with, wood. Creative Commons An ad for FBI’s UNABOM tip line.īetween 19, the Unabomber terrorized the mail with homemade bombs that killed three people and injured 23 more.Įach device the Unabomber sent out was uniquely constructed. ![]()
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