Unabomber

by Dave Shors

  During subsequent trips there would be time to document, map and make an itemized list for the FBI. More than likely, important evidence would be inside or around the structure and I felt responsible since it was on my turf.

  As Betty and I started our climb up the mountain we speculated about what Ted would think of us going through everything in his secret sanctuary.

  The summer after the arrest, prosecutors found a reference in Ted’s journals about a booby-trap out in the woods that was designed to kill someone. They asked him if he had really hidden a deadly bomb out there and if he had, where it might be located.

  Smugly, and with a sarcastic sneer on his face, he replied there was nothing. His arrogant look, however, said something different, like, “You’ll never find it and I don’t have to tell you anything, anyway.”

  It made me wonder if he still hoped someone would accidentally trigger the booby-trap so he could claim another victim. He probably wouldn’t have minded if that was me, my wife or one of our dogs.

  We’ll never know, but I do remember an unexplained incident in the early ‘90s that was a sign of the evil things that were happening around us.

  One afternoon Betty hurried into the house after a short hike and said, “I walked up to the first cabin and got an extremely uneasy feeling, the kind you get when you know someone is watching you.” She said the sense was overwhelming; even the dogs felt it and the hair on their backs stood straight up. She turned around and rushed home.

  She obviously wasn’t joking, but I couldn’t explain what had happened so I tried to play it down, attributing it to some passing feeling. Maybe that was the case. Or maybe Ted was watching her from an observation spot with his rifle sights leveled on her or one of the dogs.

  As we worked our way up the mountain, I said to Betty, “One thing I do know is that it’s been a little more than a year since Ted was arrested and there hasn’t been one theft, vandalism, or strange unexplained occurrence around here since then.”

  Even though this hike took place before I was able to read Ted’s own journals, where he defiantly took credit for most of those incidents, the suspicion of his guilt was already firmly rooted in my mind.

  When we finally reached the small shelf, Betty was amazed by the way the cabin blended in to the mountainside.

  We took off our packs and while she scanned the cabin and its interior I set up my camera to take pictures. The first picture was one of Betty and me by the cabin door. Then, after taking some more of the outside, I started to make a detailed list and map the location of any visible items for the FBI.

  My first list wouldn’t be complete because of the ice and since I was reluctant to move anything. It would take at least three more trips to finish the inventory. Even then, other items would be found after the FBI came.

  While numbering and describing the visible items in the secret cabin I thought back to an evening phone call from agent Dave Weber on April 23, just three days earlier.

  Dave had said Ted was acting as his own lawyer, ordering and then voraciously reading any law books he could find while planning his case. According to Dave, Ted’s public defenders Quin Denvir and Judy Clarke were going along with the plan and were working with him.

  I figured Ted probably had some trick in mind and would most likely discard these defense lawyers.

  As my thoughts returned to the task at hand, it seemed like such a bizarre situation, me making a list of clothing, tools, parts of devices, etc., that belonged to Ted the hermit mountain man while he was in jail diligently studying law books in order to save himself from the death penalty.

  I continued my list while Betty began a perimeter search, working away from the cabin in tight concentric circles, looking everywhere, especially in the juniper shrubs and other bushes.

  The outside search wouldn’t be completed on that trip. Many items, especially clothing, were found caught on bushes and tree butts later. Before the summer was over I would find nearly eighty items inside and around the cabin (see Inventory at end of chapter). Most were in plain sight, but some were intentionally concealed.

  That April day, I finished packing away my pencil and tablet and after taking a few more photographs, Betty and I headed back down the mountain.

  I was eager to call Dave Weber and share the news that the snow was melting and the secret cabin held many more intriguing objects than we had anticipated.

  The FBI team had been delayed and wouldn’t get back as early as planned. I made a trip—and more discoveries—alone on May 4. After talking to Dave Weber then, we decided it would be best if I returned and draped a large tarp over the cabin to protect it and the contents. Betty and I made this trip together on June 10, when we resumed perimeter searches and found many more items that had been packed off by rodents. Some were several hundred feet away and we wondered just how many things would never be found.

  This time, I made a video tape of all the evidence before we covered the cabin to await the FBI. When agents arrived, much of our time was spent searching other areas, and we found nothing new at the secret cabin.

  Every investigation at the secret cabin had been a juggling act between not disturbing important evidence and yet trying to preserve it.

  Boards, pieces of tarpaper, and plywood pieces were used in the cabin construction. The plywood piece with handwritten penciled notes about the application of the insect-repellent flowers of sulphur was found on June 4, 1998.

  The stove was full of charcoal and soot, and the aluminum stovepipe had been so hot at some point it had melted through in three places close to the ceiling and home-made roof jack.

  From the looks of the holes, Ted had come dangerously close to burning down his chalet.

  CHRIS WAITS’ INVENTORY OF ITEMS FROM THE SECRET CABIN

  Four-quart aluminum cooking kettle.

  Two-quart aluminum cooking kettle.

  Brown-gold mug with black-white floral design.

  White plastic rectangular pill box with sliding top.

  Green Bic-type lighter.

  Aluminum frying pan.

  Metal kettle bail with wooden handle.

  Utility wire bail type handle for kettle and frying pan.

  Light blue denim designer Levis with beige pocket trim.

  Dark blue denim designer Levis with orange stitching.

  Multiple pairs of yellow latex gloves open and used.

  Unopened packages of Skaggs Alpha Beta Store brand yellow latex gloves purchased in Salt Lake City, Utah.

  Plastic bag that contained Globe brand plastic utility drop cloth, 9-by-12-foot, from Seattle, Wash.

  G.I.-type survival knife in sheath with whetstone in a snap pouch on the front of the sheath.

  Five-inch-long thick aluminum pipe threaded on one end.

  Heavy blue-and-white fine braid nylon rope hanging on a nail inside on the wall.

  Coil of yellow nylon rope.

  Hand-built stove made from a five gallon oil can.

  Insulated stove board bent to fit the corner of the cabin, standing on edge to insulate the wall.

  Short piece of eight-inch stovepipe opened up to form a door for the stove and held in place with wire.

  Four-inch steel stovepipe crimped to fit into the large rear vent hole on the oil can stove.

  Four-inch aluminum vent pipe.

  Assorted tin cans, burned and with jagged open lids.

  Large (64 ounces) plastic Dr. Pepper soda pop jug used for water, with date 12/06/94 stamped on the top of the lid.

  One pair of about size 9 boots, Sorrel type (rubber bottom, leather upper) snow packs with felt liners.

  Assorted angle iron scraps.

  Assorted sheet metal scraps, some cut out.

  Pieces of six-inch steel stovepipe outside of the cabin piled with numerous other pieces of metal.

  Clear glass aspirin bottle with white snap lid.

  One rectangular curved piece of sheet metal with Phillips 66 label on it. (The piece looked like what was cut out of th
e stove when it was built.).

  Numerous pieces of olive drab rubberized nylon similar to the material used to build reinforced nylon rubber rafts.

  Coils of wire, baling or stove-type steel wire.

  Lengths of green nylon rope.

  Lengths of blue nylon rope.

  Small square glass bottle.

  Metal split ring (keychain type).

  One-inch threaded metal coupler.

  Compass top for survival knife (glass broken).

  Ten-pound potato sack from Stevensville, MT.

  Flat round metallic metal piece, thin with hole in the center and black paint around the hole; resembled a compact disc.

  Silver duct tape.

  Aluminum, flat metal utility handle for use with fry pan and cooking kettles.

  Small pieces of blue nylon tarp cut out into rectangles, possibly repair patches for roof tarp.

  White nylon rope coil.

  Fine-weave light-colored nylon rope tied to small tree and door frame for support.

  Blue-and-white marbled plastic handle that had been sawed from a hairbrush or mirror. Handle had heavy black paint splotch with a well defined fingerprint clearly visible (probably why it was sawed off). The handle was hidden under the bed in pine needles.

  Pieces of cardboard with printing on them, used as cabin wall insulation and covering.

  Deer skull from buck shot right below one antler, with the other antler sawed off.

  Numerous pieces of aluminum foil.

  Pieces of olive drab plastic rain poncho.

  Brightly colored striped longsleeve sweater.

  Lengths of green nylon cord.

  Metal clip, resembling small money clip.

  Long blade from a bow saw that was hidden between the inside cabin corner and the metal stove board behind the stove.

  Numerous pieces of bone.

  Small pile of used nails (removed from miner’s cabin).

  Small oval metal piece with narrow slit and hole cut into it.

  Small file, flat type.

  Tan polyester Henley shirt, stuck in bushes outside.

  Round green plastic holed base with a cone shape molded into the center. This piece resembles or even might be the insert for a Tupperware lettuce container, the part that holds the lettuce head in place.

  Lead sheets and scraps.

  Numerous zip-lock bags with bottoms chewed and contents missing, no doubt eaten or removed by animals.

  Empty bag for Skaggs Alpha Beta latex gloves, large, purchased in Salt Lake City, Utah.

  Rabbit skull with small caliber bullet hole through it.

  Metal flat washer.

  Bic-type lighter, another green one.

  Worm drive hose clamp.

  Galvanized roofing nails.

  Thin wooden boards from an old dynamite box.

  Large blue nylon tarp used to cover entire cabin roof and down the back side; still partially covered with pine boughs.

  Homemade candle holder, fashioned from a can or jar lid.

  Homemade roof jack for stovepipe, fashioned from sheet metal.

  Wood wedge for ax handle.

  Part of a cooked-cereal or cornmeal box with small metal pullout spout on the side.

  Pieces of pages from an American Heritage book or magazine.

  Chunk of hardwood, oak or hickory.

  Another pair of used yellow latex gloves down the mountain about 100 yards.

  Remains of a gray hooded sweatshirt lodged in a juniper shrub, heavily chewed and pulled there by animals.

  Small metal threaded ring.

  Many other small items, bits and pieces of cloth, wood, and metal too numerous to mention.

  Ted’s Bed and Breakfast

  About the time Ted Kaczynski turned thirty-three in the mid-1970s, a series of events in the Lincoln area had him churn in anger, nurturing his anti-technology philosophy.

  One such event occurred early in July 1975 when one of his neighbors fired up a small bulldozer and cleared away trees knocked down by a heavy snow. To Ted’s delight, the trees had blocked the road that ran past his home. But with the road’s reopening Ted was furious, and he wrote passionately about it in his journals.

  JULY 5, 1975 [KACZYNSKI JOURNAL]

  Well I have some events to record. After I got back from the hike…I was feeling pretty disappointed and discouraged. After a day or 2 I started to feel better—then that [expletive] [name] took his caterpillar up along the Road that goes past the cabin. That road was sufficiently closed off by [name] (when he put in our new roads) to prevent the passage of ordinary vehicles, but it was still accessible for trail bikes and snowmobiles. Then when we had that extra ordinary storm of wet snow that broke so many trees, that road was so closed off by fallen trees that it was hardly practical for trail bikes and snowmobiles. Then that [expletive] [name] cleared it all out with his cat, though it is still blocked for ordinary vehicles. Makes me want to kill that [expletive]. Anyhow, it got me all upset and very depressed—all the more because the [expletive] is cutting pests [sic, probably posts] up along [name] and that cuts down still further the places where I can walk in quiet and solitude….

  This was about the time Ted began to “feel that there was no place to escape civilization,” as he wrote in his journals, and started to lay plans to get away from the world around him by building his small, high-mountain secret cabin.

  JULY 24, 1975

  Today I hiked to a side-gulch of [name]. In a very secluded spot on a steep slope, I started building an 8 X 8 log cabin that I will be able to use year-round.

  I have already packed in the stove that I made. After testing the stove I found out that the door was too large and it leaked smoke. I fixed the problem by blocking off part of the door with some old sheet-metal that I scrounged. It seems to work fairly well now.

  I have been cutting trees for my cabin with my ax which I find works much better than cutting the logs with my bow saw. Using the ax was awkward at first but now I’m quite used to it.

  It was imperative to do some digging to level up the floor for my cabin and I am almost done with this part.

  I’m in a very good mood. Things are going well for me on this project.

  JULY 27, 1975

  My secret log cabin isn’t going as fast as I had expected but I’m almost finished with cutting and building the walls.

  JULY 28, 1975

  Today I finished building the walls and cutting and erecting the logs for the framework of the roof.

  JULY 29, 1975

  My work today was temporarily halted by a rain storm. I still managed to get the cabin covered over by piling the tops of the trees used for the cabin against it. I built a stove hearth inside and firmly fixed the stove I have built to it by placing rocks and soil around it which also helps protect the logs in the wall from the heat.

  I will have to leave tomorrow to replenish some of my supplies.

  AUG. 5, 6 AND 7, 1975

  On the fifth I returned to my little secret cabin I had been building.

  I finished with all of the frame logs today. I haven’t chinked the spaces between the logs yet but I will have time this winter to do that by placing small poles and boards between the spaces. I even began to do some of that today.

  I was very pleased at how fast I was able to build this secret cabin. It only took me about seven and a half days total time not counting the time I spent cutting wood for my fire.

  This last trip I worked more on the roof making it rain proof by covering it with a blue nylon tarp that I took from a place I had found it stored.

  Then I cut as much wood for my small stove that I could comfortably store in my small cabin. When I finished I masked the secret cabin with pine boughs and branches from the trees I had used to build the small cabin so that it was camouflaged and could hardly be noticed or seen from more than one hundred feet, or maybe even less.

  There isn’t a very big chance of my secret cabin being found because it is in a very secret place far away f
rom civilization.

  He built his remote structure so he could get away from noise and people, but he also used it and its secret location to plan and plot his acts of murder and revenge. He not only had a hideout between bombings where he changed in and out of his disguise clothing and where he stayed while his beard grew back—apparent from his late-February 1987 encounter with Betty at the old miner’s cabin and the disguise clothing found in the secret cabin—but he also had a refuge where he could sometimes build and test his bombs.

  His arrest and the events that followed it led to the discovery of this most private part of his life, which was just starting to unfold in the spring of 1997, a year after Ted’s arrest.

  When Betty and I arrived home late Saturday afternoon, April 26, after our hike to the cabin site, I was eager to call Dave Weber and tell him about everything I’d found.

  I had made the first detailed list of cabin contents, and taken two more rolls of pictures, and also drew a diagram to scale of the small hut’s interior and where some of the more important evidence was positioned.

  Dave had phoned the morning before to say he had just sent a two-foot-by-two-foot aerial photograph of the Stemple area taken from 32,000 feet, with approximately the same scale as topographical maps. He wanted me to mark important locations, including the site of the secret cabin, and return the aerial.

  There were still things I hadn’t been able to accomplish at the cabin site, such as checking out the scrap pile and the fire pit where Ted had burned and then buried his cans. Some items were still locked in the ice inside the structure, but I’d be returning soon.

  Dave and I were now phoning each other almost daily and he was just as excited to get back to Lincoln as I was eager for him to arrive.

  After the hard search the previous summer with few discoveries, his effort to find the cabin had become more like a quest. There wasn’t anything Dave would like more than to consummate his many hours of toil by standing next to Ted’s small log building. That desire was intensified by the fact Ted had taunted agents, calling the FBI a joke. They had a personal stake in the investigation: their pride and reputation.

  While waiting that weekend for the FBI aerial to arrive in the mail, I spent my time mapping some of Ted’s trails and campsites.