The U.S. Marshals Service has put some of the personal stuff of Theodore John “Ted” Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, up for auction. The online auction started Wed and will continue through June 2. The victims of Kaczynski’s almost 20 year-long mail bombing spree will receive the proceeds from the auction.
Purchasing personal stuff
On April 3, 1996, Kaczynski was captured in Montana in a cabin loaded with items. This stuff, about 60 lots of items, will be sold in the auction that is occurring. These items contain his trademark hooded sweatshirt and dark glasses. His driver’s licenses, deeds, checks, transcripts, letters and birth certificate will all be sold. All of his personal documents found will sell. Anything used by Kaczynski for instance bows and arrows, tools, books or clothing will be sold also along with photos. The Industrial Society and Its Future, or the Unabomber Manifesto, was written on a typewriter also for sale. There will even be 20,000 pages of the document sold, including hand-written and typed versions.
The catalog, photos and information of all the auction items are accessible at the GSA auction site.
Cause of Kaczynski’s recognition
Kaczynski was a mathematical prodigy after bring born in 1942 in Chicago, Ill. He was accepted to Harvard at age 16, and he received an undergraduate degree. Later he earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. It made Kaczynski frustrated when technology became important to society. It started to rely on technology. Kaczynski moved into a cabin in 1971. This one room cabin in Montana was intended to help him become a self-sufficient male. He got the name Unabomber, due to University and Airline bomber put together, because of his 16 homemade mail bombs he sent to many airlines, universities and other targets between 1978 and 1995. Because of his bombs, three people perished. Another 23 were injured. The subject of a nationwide FBI manhunt, Kaczynski was eventually turned in by his brother and his sister-in-law and captured in 1996. Now, at the age of 69, Kaczynski is serving a life sentence without chance of parole at the “supermax” pr! ison in Florence, Colo.
Using what he hates most
“We will use the technology that Kaczynski railed against in his various manifestos to sell artifacts of his life,” said United States Marshal Albert Nájera in a statement to the press.
What individuals will pay
Nobody knows how much value is really in these items. ”This is an unusual type of case,” says Lynzey Donohue who is a Marshals spokeswoman. “It’s really difficult to put a value on these items because of the intrinsic value they have based on his notoriety.”
Citations
NY Daily News
nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/05/18/2011-05-18_unabomber_ted_kaczynskis_belongings_hit_auction_block_sweatshirt_glasses_typewri.html
CNN
articles.cnn.com/2011-05-12/justice/us.unabomber.auction_1_auction-plan-unabomber-ted-kaczynski-auction-website?_s=PM:CRIME
The Sacramento Bee
sacbee.com/2011/05/13/3623703/unabomber-kaczynskis-personal.html
GSA Auctions
gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/
