4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
During a 17-year bombing campaign, an elusive terrorist known as the Unabomber killed three and injured 23 Americans.
In 1995, he contacted The New York Times and The Washington Post promising to stop his terror attacks if they published his 35,000-word manifesto. The document explained his aim: to dismantle modern industrial society.
On the advice of the FBI and the Attorney General, the newspapers published the manifesto, which led to the Unabomber’s downfall.
Dr Kathleen Puckett was an FBI agent who uncovered his identity. She speaks to Ben Henderson.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
(Photo: Theodore 'Ted' Kaczynski in custody. Credit: Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
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0:00.0 | The Traitors is back, and so is that mysterious cloaked figure with the familiar fringe. |
0:06.6 | Yeah, it's me. |
0:07.8 | And when you've watched Claudia in the castle, join me, Ed Gamble, for the official visualised companion podcast. |
0:13.6 | And remember, I'll be listening. |
0:15.8 | Okay? |
0:16.6 | No, seriously, I love it. |
0:18.4 | What a faithful. |
0:19.7 | We'll unpack betrayals and spill scandalous secrets with celeb guests, traitors' legends, |
0:25.0 | and murdered and banished players. |
0:27.0 | The Traitors Uncloaked. |
0:28.3 | Watch on EyePlayer, listen for more on BBC Sounds. |
0:35.7 | Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Ben Henderson. |
0:45.6 | Since 1978, three people have been killed and dozens of others injured by mail bombs or booby-trapped packages attributed to the Unabomber. |
0:54.8 | I think he's like a messenger. |
0:56.6 | But over 17 years, he's left a trail of violence across America. |
1:01.3 | The Unabomber is everywhere. He's everybody. He is us. |
1:05.3 | Today, you'll hear the inside story of how the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation tracked down the unabomber. |
1:14.1 | He was the most careful bomber anybody had ever seen. In fact... |
1:18.5 | This is Dr. Kathleen Puckett. She's a specialist in behavioral analysis with experience interviewing spies. |
1:25.6 | The FBI's Unabom Task Force recruited her in 1994 to build a profile of their target, |
1:32.1 | but she had very little to go on. |
1:34.7 | He picked up in a men's bathroom at the University of Utah a red hair on the floor |
... |
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