Bidding begins for belongings of Unabomber

Theodore Kaczynski in 1968 when he was an assistant professor at Berkeley. Image by Dr. George Mark Bergman, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Collectors bid up to $10,000 Wednesday for belonging of the so-called Unabomber, who waged a deadly 17-year parcel-bomb campaign in the United States, as a two-week online auction opened.

Theodore Kaczynski’s personal documents including driver’s licenses, birth certificates, checks, photos, typewriters, tools, clothing, watches and books are among 60 lots being sold in the auction, which runs until June 2. In addition more than 20,000 pages of written documents, including the original handwritten and typewritten versions of the “Unabomber Manifesto,” will be up for grabs online. Proceeds will go to his victims.

The manuscript version of the manifesto attracted the highest offers on the first day of the auction, reaching $10,100 by the end of the day, with eight bidders so far. Other top bids were $3,200 for his Smith Corona portable typewriter, $3,150 for a hoodie and glasses, and $2,525 for a typed version of the notorious criminal’s manifesto.

Far less was offered so far for a collection of newspaper clippings or copies of his academic records, both for $50, a manual for wilderness survival for $300 or his mental health records for $500.

Kaczynski, a reclusive former mathematics professor, was jailed for life in May 1998 after a campaign of parcel-bomb attacks in which three people were killed and 29 injured.

The auction of his belongings is being organized by GSA Auctions on behalf of the U.S. Marshals, after U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell of the Eastern District of California ordered the sale in August 2010.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Theodore Kaczynski in 1968 when he was an assistant professor at Berkeley. Image by Dr. George Mark Bergman, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.