E-Paper
Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, found dead in prison at the age of 81
Theodore John Kaczynski, widely known as the Unabomber, was found dead in his cell at the age of 81. His crimes caused widespread terror and panic in society.
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was found dead in his prison cell, as confirmed by federal officials.
Kaczynski, 81, was responsible for the death of three people and permanently injuring several others through a mass mailbombing spree. He confessed to committing 16 bombings from 1978 to 1995.
Ted Kaczynski was a math prodigy with an IQ of 167. He skipped two grades and got accepted into Harvard University at the age of 16. He retired in 1969 as a mathematics professor post which he adopted an ascetic lifestyle in a cabin deep in the mountains of Montana.
In his second year at Harvard, Kaczynski participated in a psychological study conducted by a Harvard psychologist, Henry Murray. The experiments were immensely abusive, humiliating, and deeply traumatising for the subjects. Over the course of three years, Kaczynski spent 200 hours participating in the study. Many suggested that this may have motivated his criminal activities although he himself said that it caused “no significant effect” on his life.
Unabomber constructed his bombs with primitive ‘scrap’ materials which made them untraceable. His targets were randomly chosen and he frequently left misleading clues for the authority. The FBI spent nearly two decades trying to catch the genius terrorist.
The big break came in 1995 when the Unabomber sent the FBI his 35,000-word manifesto Industrial Society and Its Future. The manifesto outlined his motives for the bombings and his views on the ills of society. He asked the FBI to publish it and said that he would “desist from terrorism” if they did so. The FBI eventually agreed to his demand in hopes that a reader would be able to identify it and aid the investigation. When David Kaczynski read the manifesto, he recognised his brother's writing style. He provided other write-ups of his brother to the FBI. A linguistic analysis confirmed that the writer of the manifesto was David's brother Ted Kaczynski.
The Unabomber was arrested on April 3, 1966, after evading capture for 20 years. He was sentenced to four life terms in prison without parole. In his cabin, the officials discovered a plethora of bomb components, one live bomb ready to be mailed, and over 40,000 handwritten journal pages that included detailed descriptions of his crimes and bomb-making experiments.
The Unabomber manifesto highlighted his beliefs about how the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath led to the destruction of humanity. He blamed technology for causing widespread psychological suffering and a destabilising effect on society. Furthermore, he accused Leftists of causing the majority of society's issues. However, he also criticised conservatives for preserving their traditional values yet supporting technological advancements.
Ted Kaczynski has fascinated many who still try to understand his psyche. Meanwhile, the Unabomber himself has been honest about who he was. “I certainly don’t claim to be an altruist or to be acting for the ‘good’ (whatever that is) of the human race,'” he wrote, “I act merely from a desire for revenge.”
