Just noticed something interesting about the Unabomber segment

[justins5256]

I was just looking at the chronology of the bombings here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski

Notice that Kaczynski was fairly consistent in planting or mailing bombs almost yearly between 1978 and 1987 (with a gap between 1982 and 1985, and a gap between 1985 and 1987), but after 1987, he didn't plant any more bombs until 1993.

Now, what I'd be curious to know is why he stopped during this time. Could publicity about the case (possibly including the UM special) have caused Kaczynski to dial back is campaign a bit? Granted, he probably couldn't have watched the special as he was living in his cabin at that point without electricity. Regardless, I'd be curious to know what made him stop. In retrospect, it was probably because he almost got caught in that February 87 bombing.

[LethalMatthew1996]

Wasn't the composite sketch of him made in 1987?

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by LethalMatthew1996

Wasn't the composite sketch of him made in 1987?

Yes, that is what I meant when I said he came close to being caught. He was sighted for the first time.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Yes, that is what I meant when I said he came close to being caught. He was sighted for the first time.

I've always thought it was a combo of him being spotted for the first time and the fact that two years prior he had his first casualty from one of his attacks.

[LethalMatthew1996]

Is there a second Unabomber segment? The only one I know is the one where some experts say that Ted Kaczynski in all likelyhood was the Zodiac killer.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by LethalMatthew1996

Is there a second Unabomber segment? The only one I know is the one where some experts say that Ted Kaczynski in all likelyhood was the Zodiac killer.

In 1987, UM did a story about the entire Unabomber case up until that point. It was so early in the game that I'm guessing the "Unabomber" moniker hadn't even been suggested yet, as he was not referred to as such in the segment.

Unfortunately, this was one of the Karl Malden hosted segments, so it was never syndicated on Lifetime. To my knowledge, it wasn't repackaged with Farina either.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by justins5256

In 1987, UM did a story about the entire Unabomber case up until that point. It was so early in the game that I'm guessing the "Unabomber" moniker hadn't even been suggested yet, as he was not referred to as such in the segment.

Unfortunately, this was one of the Karl Malden hosted segments, so it was never syndicated on Lifetime. To my knowledge, it wasn't repackaged with Farina either.

Didn't they do a portion of the "Diabolical Minds" special featuring the Unabomber, though? And that they used certain portions from the original segment in that one. I know for certain I've seen parts of the unabomber footage with Stack as the narrator.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Didn't they do a portion of the "Diabolical Minds" special featuring the Unabomber, though? And that they used certain portions from the original segment in that one. I know for certain I've seen parts of the unabomber footage with Stack as the narrator.

I haven't thought about this in probably 20 years, but I'm pretty sure there were updates about the apprehension of Kaczynski and possibly even some updates about the various attacks just prior to his arrest. Stack would have narrated these and they DID use footage from the '87 special. I remember being confused at the time because I had never seen the PSS and had no idea that UM had ever even profiled the Unabomber in the past.