Facts & Evidence - Ted Kaczynski As The Zodiac

[capricorn]

Wilks, I just located my calendar from 1990 and see that the flight was on September 1. I am almost positive it was a Continental Airline flight.

My thought was that if it was Ted, he may have been on his way to visit his parents over the holiday which marks the end of summer. At any rate, the man I remember looked just like this one of Ted so it is probably just that that "look" was very common then and lots of people resembled Ted just as we've seen how many poi's resemble each other and the sketches of Zodiac.

It is interesting that recently in southern California at least, that look and style of beard seems to be back "in" again.

[Daxide]

I see some basic similarities in the nose, eyes, white hairs in the beard on the chin, general sort of weathered look of the skin. What do people think?

At times Ted did have a beard as developed as the one in the sketch.

Also, is anyone good at photoshop who could do a side by side comparison photo?

I am sorry but I don't see any striking similarities. I suggest you focus your energies on the Zodiac-TK case, which has much stronger evidence. I also found your Judge Vance-TK connection pretty suggestive but I would drop this Webster case, as I don't even see the connection to Zodiac, and I don't think it's ever been made?

[AK Wilks]

NEW UPDATE:

Found in the Kaczynski cabin, it is a BLACK hood with rectangular eye slits.



Compare it to the Zodiac black hood:

ITA that Ted is the most likely out of all publicly named poi's to date.

It is also very suspicious that Ted and his brother do not wish to co-operate with DNA testing. Would not sane people wish to be cleared of being the Zodiac?

Ted clearly does not want to be thought of as insane and I'll assume he wouldn't want to be thought of as "asinine" lol although he does seem to have a sense of humor of sorts from what I've read.

This hood is very suspicious but an innocent explanation for it just came to me after reading this. Wasn't Ted killing rabbits for food? He was living in the woods and living a very primative lifestyle. Also, the weather in Illinois is very harsh with lots of insects in the summer and very cold snowy conditions in the winter.

I'm thinking perhaps he had this mask and wore it when he was hunting animals for food and/or when he was preparing them for consumption and also to protect himself from bug bites such as mosquitos and frostbite.

It's true that Ted did a lot of hunting in Montana in the winter. But I can't see this homemade hood being of any use to him for hunting in the winter. First of all, for camouflage purposes a winter hood should be all white, not this darkish color. Second, this appears to be a canvas hood, thin layer, does not provide any warmth at all.

Third, for hunting in winter to provide warmth for the face, he would simply buy a conventional ski mask that covers the whole face and it's built for warmth.

Other hunters and outdoors people have agreed with my assessment. What do other people think? It also would be useless for any of the known Unabomber crimes, which consisted of mailing packages and occasionally planting bombs on a campus or at a business. Wearing ta hood like this would not protect you, it would just make you stand out like a sore thumb!

This home made HOOD was found in Ted Kaczynski's cabin:



LINDA:

This does give you a few chills thinking how much this home-made hood reminds of you of another... Wonder what Ted used this for... It looks quite old to me. Stitching around the eyes is interesting. Hand stitches maybe? How about the lining...wonder what that's made of.

LUKE 68:

What the hell would a distance killer like the Unabomber, need a hood like that for? It's not like he would have used it to hunt his favourite snowshoe rabbits.

Linda and Luke, I agree! I can think of NO USE for this hood for Ted as the Unabomber or as a hunter. Makes no sense.

Azazel, it does look flat on top!

And yes the iconic sketch image of Ted in glasses and sweatshirt hoodie conjures up images of the Zodiac at Lake Berryessa, with his dark glasses and hood, doesn't it?

The existence of the hood found in Kaczynski's cabin shows that Ted, like Zodiac, wanted and could make a decent hood.

So both Zodiac and Kaczynski designed and made hoods.

NOW...

I am going to engage in a little speculation here, just exploration and asking a question.

Looking at the pictures of Zodiac in costume, it appears the hood has a box shape, like there might be a welding mask type structure. It also appears the hood is connected to the dickey that comes over the chest. So that it is one unit. It also appears in the police drawing that the hood has RECTANGULAR EYE SLITS.

Is it POSSIBLE that he may have wanted to wear a partial face mask hood UNDERNEATH the bulky hood-dickey structure? Perhaps in case it got knocked off during a struggle, so his face would still be partially covered? Or was this a prototype hood created first, with the perfected hood being disposed of after the crime?

Because it does look like the rectangular eye slits on the Kaczynski hood line up quite well with the rectangular eye slits on the Zodiac hood.

And they are both flat on top.

This item is being sold to the public. If there is even a 1% chance this could be something Zodiac wore, I wish it could be tested for DNA. With the bloody scene at Lake Berryessa, when Zodiac removed his hood with his hands, tiny microscopic specks of blood from the victims could have got on the hood.







Also, consider this welding mask found in Ted's cabin could provide the odd structure for the Zodiac hood. Others have speculated that Zodiac may have had a welding mask underneath the hood. Its odd that Ted had a welding mask, but no welding equipment, and no electricity anyway!

[capricorn]

Sorry if this has been addressed before but I do not understand why this is/being sold to the public? Where is this hood now? Is it possible to get it tested for DNA?
Has anyone asked Ted about this as well as the other items found in his cabin? If not, why not? Is Ted able/willing to have visitors? Wouldn't it be interesting to visit Ted and ask him about this and other things?

After thinking about what possible use this hood had, the only thing that now comes to mind is for peeking Tom purposes.

[Tahoe27]

I would question how Bryan would have been able to see his hair, had Ted been wearing that underneath. Creepy still...

[capricorn]

I just read that Ted's cabin is on display at a museum so why not test whatever items are in it for DNA?

Wilks, would it be possible for you to go visit Ted? It would be so very interesting and productive IMO. You have a very nice style and think Ted would appreciate it!

[AK Wilks]

I just read that Ted's cabin is on display at a museum so why not test whatever items are in it for DNA?

Wilks, would it be possible for you to go visit Ted? It would be so very interesting and productive IMO. You have a very nice style and think Ted would appreciate it!

The black hood and canvas hood were sold at auction, as were most of Ted's belongings. I wrote to the FBI stating these items should be retained and tested for DNA and their other possible evidentiary value, but to no avail.

Thanks for the compliment. but you have to understand, Ted K hates me, Doug Oswell and anybody who thinks he could be Zodiac.Right now, Ted is a hero to some in the radical environmentalist and primitivist anarchist movements. He gets published in their journals and receives fan mail from their members. They think of him as a political and social guerrilla fighter against the high tech corporations wrecking the environment and changing the way of life for the worst. Ted K does not want to be associated with the crimes of the Zodiac Killer, who is commonly thought to be a psychopathic serial killer who shot and stabbed teens in lover lanes.

So, no I have not written to Ted, and don't plan to. Doug Oswell, who wrote an excellent book about the similarities between Zodiac and the Unabomber, did write Ted a letter, and got no response. See below for the results.


Many years back Doug Oswell wrote the following letter to Ted Kaczynski asking for proof of an alibi for Zodiac murder and mailing dates. He never got an answer. Also, an attorney for Ted told a writer that they could not provide an alibi for any of these dates - not that they would not, but that they could not.

The first Unabomber crime was in 1978, yet in the early seventies Ted recorded that he had already engaged in "violent rebellion" against society. In late August - early September 1966 Ted recorded the "breakthrough" moment in his life, when he decided to "REALLY kill everyone I hated".(Emphasis in original). The people he hated included "bigshots", scientists, big businessmen, police - but also "college students" promiscuous women who are "pigs, animals" and most Z like of all "couples having sex".

Had Ted supplied an alibi for any of the key Z dates, that would end speculation about him being Z.

This is the letter:

Mr. Kaczynski:

My name is Douglas Oswell. For the past five years I have been researching the similarities between the Unabomber and a world-renowned criminal styled “Zodiac,” who became a pop-culture icon in the late 1960s through a series of sensational murders and correspondences with the press.

At this juncture I have uncovered no evidence that would forge a definite link between the activities of the Unabomber and those of Zodiac. Authorities at both the state and federal level have written off the likelihood of any such connection. Nevertheless it is undeniable (even by the detractors of a connection) that many similarities exist.

I have been advised that it would be unfair to suggest such a connection without offering you the opportunity to defend the reputation of the Unabomber and the philosophy for which he stood. To that end I would like to present you with a list of dates and ask that you provide accounts of your whereabouts for as many of those dates as possible. A valid alibi for even a single date, backed by documentary evidence, would be sufficient to prove conclusively that there is no linkage whatsoever between the sordid crimes of Zodiac and the more principled (albeit terrible) activities of the Unabomber.

Here is the list of dates in question: December 20, 1968; July 4, 1969 (Proceeds to list the dates for all confirmed Zodiac crimes and mailings)


Alibis for the following dates, while helpful, would not be conclusive in discounting a connection: June 3 - 6, 1963; October 30, 1966 (Proceeds to list most of the dates for possible but unconfirmed Zodiac crimes and mailings).

Please bear in mind that any alibi should be backed either by documentary evidence or the word of a reliable individual. In the latter case I would appreciate receiving from you a letter or letters of introduction that will establish my credibility to any such person.

It is only fair to state that I do not consider your brother, David Kaczynski, to be a reliable individual for the purpose of establishing an alibi. In 1990, based on conversations with your brother, a friend of his wrote a heretofore unpublished novel about “a Berkeley professor’s war with technology.” Within that novel the fictional "Berkeley professor" committed (knife) murders to promote his worldview, thus anticipating the actual truth long before the Unabomber entered the public imagination.

Whatever the case, I will publish your response in such a way that it may be freely accessed by any interested person.

There is an advantage to you in this. The entire world is aware that you have risked your life to disprove the notion that the Unabomber’s actions were not philosophically motivated, but simply the result of a deviant or warped psychology. I must frankly tell you that the postulated linkage between Zodiac and the Unabomber has grown and persisted in the past five years. Indeed, it shows signs of strengthening in the years to come. I fear that if this theory is not thoroughly refuted, posterity will know the Unabomber not for his principled stand against technology, but for his similarity to a sick and sordid criminal who murdered minor children to assuage his sexual frustrations and shore up a foundering ego. The Zodiac Killer is widely known as “America’s Jack the Ripper.” The Unabomber is fast becoming the “favorite suspect" in a mystery that, because it remains unsolved, will endure for many years to come. You alone can divest him of that distinction.

I thank you for your attention to this matter and encourage you to respond. Enclosed is a small amount of money ($5.00) to defray the cost of postage and stationery.

Sincerely,
Douglas E. Oswell
-------------------------------------
Doug told me he never got a reply to this letter.

If TK was NOT the Zodiac, it would be so easy for him to blow this whole idea out of the water, by producing a timecard, a paycheck, class attendance sheet, a letter in postmarked envelope he sent to family or others while out state (and Ted was always a voluminous and constant letter writer - David said it was his most comfortable and frequent way of communicating), a photograph, a witness who could attest to him being out of state for any one of these dates

Doug told me another writer got a response from Ted's attorney that NO ALIBI for the above dates could be produced. Not that they decided they would not produce an alibi for any of these dates, but that they could not produce an alibi for any of these dates.

AK WILKS: This still cracks me up!

Apparently Ted Kaczynski is the just about the only person left in the world besides Robert Graysmith who thinks Allen was the Zodiac.

Ted does not actually deny being Zodiac, nor does he produce any alibi evidence that he could not be Zodiac. Instead he relies on the fact that according to him "law enforcement authorities concluded I had no connection with the Zodiac case."

Yep that's Ted, always a big believer in how smart and effective law enforcement authorities are! This from the man who said the "FBI isn't going to catch [me] anytime soon. The FBI is a joke."



You can see Doug Oswell's response when I told him what Ted said about him, calling him a "kook". I showed Doug the letter and said this:

AK Wilks:
Doug Oswell is the one who wrote that letter to Ted - Ted calls him "kook". Ha ha, sensitive much, Ted?

Congrats, Doug, you made it to Ted's hate list. You are in the company of some very good thinkers, like Dr. Gerlernter, Nobel Prize winning DNA scientist Kary Mullis and several dozen other top thinkers, professors and scientists.

Ted doesn't really "DENY" being Zodiac, though it is implied by the "kook" label for Doug.

Ted also never "DENIED" being the Tylenol Murderer, he just said he never "possessed potassium cyanide".

Ted appears to be saying that Allen was the Zodiac. That is his defense, rather than provide an alibi!

Doug Oswell:

AK, that's hilarious! At the very least it shows that he got my letter. Now why, if he's so concerned about being accused of the Zodiac crimes, didn't he alibi himself? Heaven knows there are plenty of documents, or people who could corroborate an alibi. And where does he get the "kook" appellation from? My letter was stated very rationally and did not accused him of being the Zodiac. As the letter (dated 2001) states:

"There is an advantage to you in this. The entire world is aware that you have risked your life to disprove the notion that the Unabomber’s actions were not philosophically motivated, but simply the result of a deviant or warped psychology. I must frankly tell you that the postulated linkage between Zodiac and the Unabomber has grown and persisted in the past five years. Indeed, it shows signs of strengthening in the years to come. I fear that if this theory is not thoroughly refuted, posterity will know the Unabomber not for his principled stand against technology, but for his similarity to a sick and sordid criminal who murdered minor children to assuage his sexual frustrations and shore up a foundering ego. The Zodiac Killer is widely known as “America’s Jack the Ripper.” The Unabomber is fast becoming the “favorite suspect" in a mystery that, because it remains unsolved, will endure for many years to come. You alone can divest him of that distinction."


Now that's really kooky, isn't it? In fact, Kaczynski's words in this letter display the same offhanded, casual tone with which he dismisses the Tylenol case. It's the same tone with which he dismissed the very credible (in my opinion) allegations made by Chris Wait's that he tortured Wait's dogs to death. The trouble is, it's not very like Kaczynski, the rationalist who has an advanced line of argumentation for everything he wishes to contest. Kaczynski, the mathematician, for whom hard, real-world proofs are everything. If he had an alibi, why didn't he offer it? Especially when, as I made it clear to him in my letter of 2001, the world would come to associate him with something that he professed he would rather die than have attributed to him, namely, the appellation of a "sicko?"

[AK Wilks]

NEW UPDATE:

Found in the Kaczynski cabin, and despite my letters at the time to the FBI that this should be retained, and checked for DNA, it was sold at auction. This is a BLACK hood with rectangular eye slits.

Compare it to the hood Zodiac wore at Lake Berryessa, as sketched by Robert Graysmith, based on interviews with Bryan Hartnell:

[AK Wilks]

At the Stine shooting in San Francisco, Zodiac was reported to be wearing glasses, IIRC described as black regular glasses. Ted K did not need to wear glasses to see, but a neighbor states that he did regularly wear glasses to protect his eyes from the elements.

Neighbors Dave Waits and Chris Shor write in their book that:

" Ted had several pairs of glasses; all protective in nature, needed to keep wind, rain, dust, sleet or snow - depending on the season - out of his eyes. Sometimes when riding his bike he wore a full, dark, rimmed pair that looked like reading glasses, or corrective lenses, but he didn't need glasses to see."

Of course Ted also wore sunglasses as the Unabomber, as a disguise method, to cover his eyes, part of his face and break up the face, as well as for protection against the elements.

So he could have very well been wearing glasses, if he was the Zodiac, the night that Paul Stine was killed, both as a method of disguise and a way to protect the eyes from the elements.

Whoever Zodiac was, I think it's unlikely that he needed prescription glasses to see. Mageau reports that Zodiac was not wearing any glasses.

See Unabomber: The Secret Life of Ted Kaczynski, page 42.



This is the San Francisco Zodiac sketch (1969) and a picture of Ted Kaczynski at UC Berkeley (1968), with glasses added on.

[margie]

I am sure this has been asked before .... but since I can't find it I thought that I would ask it again. Has Bryan Hartnell ever been shown this picture to see if these clothes could be a match for what Z was wearing the day of their attack?

On the huge Ross Sullivan thread there are pictures of what the Z jacket may have looked like from the descriptions that we have available.

Ted looks to be wearing a very similar jacket. This wouldn't be anything of value IMO since many people probably had a jacket like this. (Although now that I am thinking about that statement - I think that it has been mentioned several times that the clothes Z wore actually seemed a bit out of style for the time) ...

The reason that I find this picture so "important" is because I would think that Ted didn't have much of a wardrobe...yet he had a very similar Z jacket among his clothing.

Just a thought. It would be interesting to hear what Hartnell would say about this jacket that Ted is wearing.