Unabomber Part 1: The Biggest Manhunt in FBI History

In 1978, a brown-paper parcel was found between two cars at a Chicago university. It looked ordinary. The professor named as the sender had never seen it before. Then it exploded.

That first device began a 17-year bombing campaign that moved from university campuses to an airliner, computer shops and private homes. Sixteen bombs would kill three people and injure 23, while investigators struggled with devices deliberately built from common materials and a bomber capable of disappearing for years.

What the FBI did have was strange: scrap-built components, pieces of wood, the initials F.C., a witness sketch and, eventually, a bomber who decided to start writing. Part One follows the creation of the UNABOM investigation, the long silences between attacks, the deadly return in the 1990s and the extraordinary decision to publish Industrial Society and Its Future.

Then, after thousands of bad tips, one lead arrived that pointed towards a name already inside the investigation: Ted Kaczynski.

Topics Included

• The mysterious first package bomb found in Chicago in 1978
• How the university and airline attacks gave the UNABOM case its name
• The scrap-built bombs, pieces of wood and recurring F.C. signature
• The escalation from serious injuries to the first fatalities
• The 1987 eyewitness encounter and iconic hooded-man sketch
• The Unabomber’s six-year disappearance and sudden return
• Freedom Club and the demand to publish Industrial Society and Its Future
• The manifesto publication and the tip that pointed towards Ted Kaczynski

Resources and Further Reading

• Unabomber case history — FBI
• Inside the FBI: The Unabomber Case — FBI podcast and transcript
• The Unabomber Case 25 Years Later — FBI
• Unabomber Bomb Shrapnel — FBI artifact
• Unabomber Cabin — FBI artifact
• The Profile of a Loner — The Washington Post
• Unabomber's Elusive Trail — The Washington Post
• To Unabomb Victims, A Deeper Mystery — The Washington Post
• UNABOM Major Case 75 Task Force Report — digitised 1995 BATF, FBI and USPIS task-force report
• Project Unabom — Apple Original podcast

Host & Show Info

• Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
• Editor: Giordanno Bottezini
• Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland

Community & Calls to Action

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• Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
• Website: thecompendiumpodcast.com
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