Beginning with Jack the Ripper, the famous 19th century killer maniac, the civilized world periodically encounters terrible manifestations of human sadistic inclinations. Psychotherapists have not yet come to a consensus on what is the cause or impetus for the commission of murders. One of the bloodiest and ruthless maniacs of the 20th century is Ted Kachinsky, a US citizen.
Background
In 1996, in all the countries of the world, a special name was heard - Unabomber. It was the pseudonym of an unknown terrorist sending home-made bombs under the guise of packages. From 1978 to 1995, a total of 16 explosive devices were dispatched , and as a result of explosions of various capacities, 3 people died and 24 were injured.
The search went on for more than 20 years, the FBI spent a lot of money on identifying the maniac, while the real criminal was always at their fingertips. During the investigation, the press still unknown to the public maniac Ted Kaczynski was nicknamed Unabober. A distinctive feature of the criminal's actions are letters and manifestos of anarchist content. In particular, Kaczynski rebelled against the reduction of individual freedom and globalization. His work “Industrial Society and Its Future” became a kind of manifesto of the ideological successors of the half-crazy mathematician.
Biography
Theodor Kaczynski was born into a prosperous family of emigrants from Poland. In his early childhood there were no particularly remarkable moments, except perhaps for his long stay in the hospital in connection with the appearance of urticaria on the body. After several months away from home, parents began to notice changes in the behavior of the baby. He avoided people, avoided children, his mother even took him to classes for autistic children.
Even in elementary school, Ted Kachinsky was noted as an outstanding student with good inclinations. He skipped several classes and at 16 he entered Harvard University. At this time, all his thoughts are occupied by mathematics.
Start of problems
Subsequently, the identity of Kaczynski was studied by hundreds of psychologists, they were looking for a reason or reason for the beginning of such a deviation in the personality of a smart young man. Ted Kaczynski, whose biography was studied by dozens of investigators and psychologists, confirmed that a cruel experiment in which he unwittingly participated played a significant role in the development of psychological deviations.
One of the university’s doctors did a stress susceptibility study. Several students were given the task of writing an essay on the subject of personal philosophy. In fact, the young people were put into a closed room and in every possible way influenced their psyche: they turned on the bright light, put double-sided mirrors and deliberately humiliated students. Perhaps this cruel experiment really affected the psyche of young Kachinsky.
Work and life in Montana
After graduating from Harvard, Ted enters the University of Michigan, where he continues to actively pursue research activities. His teachers and other students were amazed at the level of intelligence of Ted Kachinsky, he was predicted a great fate as a genius of mathematics. He defended his dissertation and taught students for several years, but, apparently, radical ideas were already forming in his mind, because soon more and more complaints from students began to come to the young teacher. Kachinsky moves to his parents' residence in Illinois.
Kachinsky practically did not have independent earnings; he was provided with material help by a wealthy family, from whom he was increasingly moving away. Back in 1969, he built a hut on his own lands, where there was no electricity and water. Kachinsky tried to do everything on his own, learned to navigate in the natural environment, survive in the forest, get food and live only on his own.
How revenge was born
So the future terrorist lived for several years, did not conflict with neighbors, only rebelled against the buildings around his land. He consciously wanted to lead a half-wild and natural lifestyle, and all kinds of construction work in the district pretty annoyed the brilliant mathematician.
According to him, the last straw that overflowed his patience was the destruction of his favorite resting place - a small plateau with a stream. This event pushed him to a new thought about revenge on the system and all the people involved in civilization. In the head of Theodore Kaczynski, a global plan was born for the complete destruction of the industrial world, in which he saw all the evils of being. Later, scientists in his manifesto and notes will discover all the stages in the formation of such a thought. Kaczynski wanted to bring chaos to the world, “increase tension in the world” and thereby undermine the foundations of capitalism.
First bomb
A person with technical and mathematical education did not cost anything to develop and build a compact explosive device that would fit in a regular package. The first such bomb was sent by Ted Kaczynski in 1978 to one of the professors at Northwestern University. The parcel was opened by a policeman who received minor injuries to his hands as a result of the explosion.
The bomb was made of a metal tube and had many errors in its device. The ends of the tube were not tightly closed, resulting in a minimal explosion force. In addition, the charge was ignited with the help of matches and many of them simply did not work.
Subsequent assassination attempts
A year later, the detonator sent another bomb to the same university, and here no one was seriously injured. A few months later, the FBI got down to business after one of the similar bombs nearly exploded on board the aircraft. According to experts, only pure chance allowed to avoid a tragedy: the time of the explosion was set incorrectly. And in the event of detonation, the plane would surely have been destroyed.
FBI investigation
From the very beginning, the special services took the wrong course of investigation. Even before the analysis of evidence by psychologists, an approximate portrait of a maniac was compiled. Experts described the fuse as a smart person, with high intelligence, associated with educational institutions, possibly with a scientific degree. But after the analysts examined the bomb in the package from the plane, another idea was put forward - about the participation in the crime of an aircraft mechanic or a person in contact with this field of activity.
Kaczynski’s victims were mostly professors, scientists who, according to the fuse, were involved in the society that he hated. In the end, the investigation will conclude that Ted Kachinsky was involved in all crimes. All bombs differed in the method of manufacture, but contained only the initials, in addition, Kachinsky’s fingerprints were found on them, so that his involvement was fully proved.
Terrorist condition
What did Unabober want? He sent letters before and after the terrorist attack and all with one demand: to publish his book “Industrial Society and Its Future”, consisting of 35,000 words. The terrorist promised that as soon as his book was released, the killings would end. The authorities argued for a long time about the need to comply with the conditions and, finally, issued a manifesto in the form of a brochure in well-known periodicals.
The main idea of ​​the book is an uprising against the development of technology and modern industrial civilization, supposedly the only way humanity will be able to gain freedom and the meaning of life. The book was published with the message that perhaps someone will recognize the spelling style of the killer. Everything written was different from the standards of English writing, it contained unusual turns and punctuation.
Search for the terrorist
For the first time, Unabomber and Ted Kaczynski are one and the same person, his brother David suspected. He found and compared his brother's earlier articles and came to the conclusion that they contained the same ideas. But David was afraid to act actively, he hired a private detective and began to monitor Ted. Gradually, his suspicion grew, and the family was forced to transfer the available information to the FBI. There, they conducted several studies of Kaczynski’s early publications and Unabober’s letters and concluded that they were written by the same person.
In 1996, the FBI received a sanction to search the secluded home of professor of mathematics Ted Kaczynski. When they arrived at the hut, the police found an untidy, unwashed and unshaven man, as well as a finished bomb with a manifesto.
Trial
During the investigation, David Kachinsky tried in every possible way to hide from the public his involvement in the arrest of his brother, but the press found out about this and the news was discussed for more than a month. It is known that David received $ 1 million for information about Unabober distributed to the victims of his brother.
At first, Ted Kaczynski’s defense insisted on declaring him insane, as confirmation of the fact that he was aware of his actions promised him the death penalty. But Kaczynski himself did not agree with this formulation, although the forensic psychiatrist concluded that Ted had paranoid schizophrenia. Subsequently, other professors of psychiatry visited the criminal more than once and completely denied the diagnosis of the forensic doctor, saying that all this was rigged.
The verdict Ted Kaczynski heard in August 2006, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The death penalty was not given to him only because he confessed in all cases. Later, Kaczynski will try to withdraw his application for recognition, but the court has already decided.
Serving a sentence
A former terrorist is serving a life sentence without the right to parole. Under US law, such a crime is being served in solitary confinement, but Ted has not lost his mind yet. He has hundreds of correspondents with whom he corresponded on various topics.
Interestingly, all of Kachinsky’s property, including his books, letters and other legacy, was sold for decent money. All funds went to charity. The notorious Anders Breivik, who killed dozens of people in Norway in 2011, supplemented his manifest with long excerpts from Kaczynski's work.