The True Story Behind Netflix’s Unabomber and the Manhunt for Ted Kaczynski

Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, became one of the nation’s most notorious domestic terrorists after carrying out a lengthy nationwide bombing campaign. Over the course of nearly two decades, beginning in the late 1970s, Kaczynski sent homemade explosive devices, targeting universities, airlines, and others he deemed responsible for advancing technology.Long before the bombings, however, Kaczynski participated in a controversial experiment at Harvard University, during which he was subjected to intense psychological stress and verbal abuse. The new Netflix film Unabomber explores this chapter of his life, offering a fictionalized retelling of his journey from child math prodigy to cold-blooded killer.Here’s what you should know about the real Ted Kaczynski and his crimes as the Unabomber.What Happened to Ted Kaczynski at Harvard?Ted Kaczynski excelled academically from an early age, skipping two grades and gradating high school earlier than his peers. At age 16, he began studying mathematics at Harvard University in 1958. The following year, Kaczynski volunteered for a controversial experiment after seeing a solicitation on campus.Run by professor Henry Murray and his partner Christiana Morgan at the Harvard Psychological Clinic, the experiment aimed to measure how people respond to extreme stress and emotional pressure. Wired to electrodes, the young Kaczynski was subjected to verbally abusive interrogations, in which his personal ideals and beliefs were endlessly attacked and scrutinized. After three years, in the spring of 1962, the harsh experiment concluded—around the same time he graduated from Harvard.Decades later, Kaczynski described the experiment as an invasion of privacy and “the worst experience” of his life, though he downplayed its impact on his behavior and crimes.When Did Ted Kaczynski Become the Unabomber?After Harvard, he went on to earn a master’s degree and PhD in math at the University of Michigan before becoming the youngest at professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1967. Despite this achievement, Kaczynski only worked there for two years before he suddenly quit.In 1971, he built himself a cabin with no electricity or running water in a remote area near Lincoln, Montana. Living in isolation, Kaczynski adopted a survivalist lifestyle and developed his own anti-government and anti-technology philosophy, centered around the belief that industrialization and modern technology were destroying freedom and the environment.Seven years later, he moved back to Chicago to launch his bombing campaign, gathering supplies to make homemade explosive devices. He sent his first bomb to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, on May 25, 1978, injuring a security guard.Around this time, he began working at a factory managed by his brother, David. But after Kaczynski began harassing a female coworker who turned him down, David fired him and he returned to his cabin in Montana later that year.How Many People Did Ted Kaczynski’s Bombings Kill?Over the course of 17 years, Kaczynski mailed and hand-delivered 16 bombs to universities, airlines, and individuals he believed to be responsible for advancing modern technology. This nationwide bombing campaign killed three people and injured 23.The first fatality occurred on December 11, 1985, when Hugh Scrutton, a computer store owner in Sacramento, California, was killed by a device outside of his shop. Almost exactly nine years later, advertising executive Thomas Mosser was killed at his home in North Caldwell, New Jersey, on December 10, 1994. This tragedy was soon followed by the murder of Sacramento lobbyist Brent Murray on April 24, 1995.How Was Ted Kaczynski Caught?The FBI started a task force to look into Kaczynski’s attacks in 1979, establishing the case code name UNABOM, which stood for University and Airline Bombing. After facing many setbacks, including a lack of DNA evidence and a six-year period when Kaczynski stopped bombing, the task force relaunched in 1993.But it wasn’t until 1996 that Kaczynski was finally caught. In 1995, he sent out a 35,000-word essay about the problems with modern technology. Titled “Industrial Society and Its Future,” the manifesto was published in both The New York Times and The Washington Post that September.His brother David and sister-in-law, Linda Patrik, read the manifesto and immediately recognized Kaczynski’s unique writing style and ideas. After consulting with a lawyer and private detective to review old letters Kaczynski had sent him, David contacted the FBI in early 1996.Finally, on April 3, 1996, federal agents arrested Kaczynski at his Montana cabin, where they found bomb parts and journals that recounted his crimes in detail. Pleading guilt to avoid the death penalty, he was convicted first-degree murder and the transportation of bombs in January 1998. He sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.How Did Ted Kaczynski Die?In 2021, Kaczynski was diagnosed with rectal cancer and transferred from a Supermax prison to the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, where he reportedly exhibited signs of depression. Two years later, Kaczynski, 81, died by suicide in his cell on June 10, 2023.How to Watch Netflix’s Unabomber Unabomber explores Kaczysnki’s early life and crimes, focusing on his time at Harvard and eventual capture by the FBI. Actor Jacob Tremblay portrays a young Kaczynski, while Michael Laurence plays the 53-year-old terrorist during the time of his arrest.“Unabomber is a story about a young man who feels increasingly disenfranchised by society and decides to take up violence as a means of revenge,” director Janus Metz told Netflix’s Tudum. “We crosscut between two timelines, roughly speaking: the making of the Unabomber and the capture of the Unabomber.”The film begins streaming on Netflix September 25.