Ted Kaczynski: The Unabomber :: Biography Biographies Essays

Ted Kaczynski: The Unabomber Over the years, there have been many criminals who have eluded the authorities, but very few have been able to avoid them for as long as the infamous Unabomber did. For 17 years the Unabomer was able to reek his havoc without getting caught. In 1978, the Unabomber started sending his bombs. Only after 17 years of searching, was the Unabomber caught and charged for his crimes. Theodore (Ted) Kaczynski was arrested in April of 1996 after the investigators searched his tiny 10x12 foot cabin in the woods of Lincoln, Montana. Ted built the cabin in 1971 and lived there by himself, with his closest neighbor being 1/4 of a mile away. The cabin had no running water, no electricity, and no plumbing. Ted's family knew there was something wrong with him ever since he was a baby. His mother said that he had strange lapses as a child where he would go silent and still. As he got older the "shut-downs" (as they became known as by his family,) started to be accompanied with rage. He never fit in with anybody his own age. For instance, when Ted was 10 years old, his father tried taking him to a boyscout meeting but Ted would not have anything to do with the other children, so his father gave up. The only thing Ted liked doing was reading and playing his trombone. Ted proved to be very smart and at the young age of 15 years, was given a scholarship to study Greek tragedy for the summer at the University of Chicago. Ted went to Harvard and graduated with a degree in Mathematics, when he was 20 years old. Ted was then offered a tenured-track job at the University of California and taught there until his abrupt resignation in 1969. His family knew nothing of his resignation until he showed up at his parents house to move in. Ted stayed with his parents for two years and during that time he had many low paying jobs, the first being a gardener at the local mall. In 1971, Ted's parents woke up to find Ted gone and only a note thanking them for letting him stay with them. The note was so short and to the point that his father thought that it he was going to commit suicide. Ted's life was far from over.