People are obsessed with serial killers nowadays. Whether it's a podcast or a series on Netflix or some other streaming service, it seems like folks can't get enough. I'll admit, I've watched a few of these and have certainly read my share of articles about people that for whatever reason, have decided that they need or want to kill.

So why are we so obsessed?

I don't have an answer for that, other than maybe we're fascinated with the whole back story and what happened leading up to it.  Then of course there is the whole "how they did it" factor.  Let's be honest, some of these folks are highly intelligent.  In fact, a few of them are well above the genius level when it comes to IQ.

Case in point, Ted Kaczynski.

Kaczynski, better known to the world as "The Unabomber" evaded authorities for 17 years.  With an IQ of 167, (according to many publications anything over 140 is considered genius level) Kaczynski has a Harvard education with a PhD from the University of Michigan and for a time taught at UC Berkely. Teaching didn't seem to work out for Kaczynski so after moving back home to Illinois, Ted decided he wanted to live the simple life and moved to Montana in 1971.

Kaczynski lived in a small one-room cabin that he built near Lincoln, Montana.  There he would create and execute his plan against the society that he despised. He would bring terror, baffle authorities, and make millions ask, "Who is the Unabomber?".

Kaczynski first started his reign of terror in 1975 around the area of Lincoln as a way to distract "future development".  However, in 1978 he would start what would become his "signature" of mailing to other locations.   His first destination? A professor at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Kaczynski would go on to kill 3 people and injure several others over an almost 20-year span.

As most know, Kaczynski was caught after his brother worked with authorities following Ted's famous "Manifesto". The 35,000-word document is titled "Industrial Society and Its Future" and written by an old typewriter gives the reader a look into the mind of Kaczynski and his issues with technology and an ever-changing world.

Photo by Rafaela Biazi on Unsplash
Photo by Rafaela Biazi on Unsplash
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"The Unabomber" as the world knew him then, was arrested on April 3rd, 1996 at his cabin near Lincoln. Ted Kaczynski would later plead guilty and be sentenced to 8 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole to be served at the Supermax Prison facility in Colorado.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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After his arrest and incarceration, we began to an idea of the person behind the famous sketch of a man wearing aviator sunglasses and wearing a hoodie. It's been reported that in the 1960s Kaczynski wanted gender transformation surgery after having fantasies of being a woman. According to reports, he set up an appointment with a psychiatrist to be evaluated for the procedure but later changed his mind.

It is believed that this incident was a key factor and motivator for his crime spree.

Kaczynski was recently in the headlines again, after CNN reported that he had been transferred to a facility in North Carolina due to health reasons.  Kaczynski is 79 years old.

Credit: CNN, Washington Post, Ranker

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