Episode 31 - The Unabomber Ciphers

by Kellia Love

My podcast “Kaczynski Ciphers: The Unabomber’s Unused Encryptions” is about the serial killer Dr. Theodore Kaczynski. It covers what he did before starting a life of crime, the reason for his crimes, the consequences of his actions, and ultimately, what led him to be caught and his criminal career coming to an abrupt halt. The podcast also covers how the FBI initially reacted to the ciphers that they found and how they went about the situation. For a good portion of the podcast, I explain how the two codes Kaczynski created worked, and also provided an example of how someone could encode something using his methods.

References

Kifner, John. (1992, April 6). On the Suspect’s Trail: Life in Montana. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/05/us/suspect-s-trail-life-montana-gardening-bicycling-reading-exotically.html

Kintz, Theresa. (2014, December 16). Interview with Ted Kaczynski. Retrieved from https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/theresa-kintz-interview-with-ted-kaczynski.html

Klaus, Schmeh. (2014, March 8). Klaus Schmeh’s Unabomber Cipher Page. Retrieved from https://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/klaus-schmehs-unabomber-cipher-page

Klaus, Schmeh. (2016, September 4). The Ciphers of the Unabomber. Retrieved from https://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/2016/09/04/the-ciphers-of-the-unabomber/?all=1

Knowles, William. (1997 December 26). Cryptographer Examines Kaczynski’s Journal.

Unabomber. (2016, May 18). Retrieved from www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/unabomber

Audio Sources

From https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?nv=1

• Magic
• Voyage
• Reminisce
• Something New

Image: Unabomber shack, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA