#title The Small Stirs Caused by Fake Unabomber Letters
#author Theo Slade
#date 2025
#lang en
#pubdate 2025-09-09T06:51:47
#topics original texts, archiving,

Wherever there are infamous people, there are always some people who find it amusing to test out how many people they can fool by passing off writing under their name.

For example, in 2011 one of Ted Kaczynski’s devoted followers confirmed with Ted that a text being circulated in his name was falsely attributed:

<quote>
I certainly did not write ‘Ted Kaczynski’s Statement to the Obama Presidency.’ As you’ve probably noticed, I don’t use the kind of exalted language that appears in that statement. Moreover, the communiqué uses terms such as ‘genocide’ and ‘capitalism’ which are ‘typical terms and expressions of the left’ (The Industrial Society and Its Future, paragraph 229). I don’t use the word ‘genocide’ almost ever, except to criticize the misuse of it, or to point out that it is a typical leftist expression. And I rarely use the word ‘capitalism’, except to explain that socialism is just as bad as capitalism. I have no idea who could have made that statement public on my behalf ...[1]
</quote>

[1] Excerpt from a letter dated 19-06-2011 from Ted Kaczynski to Último Reducto. <[[http://anarquismoprimitivista.blogspot.com/2009/01/unabomber-se-pronuncia-sobre-obama.html][anarquismoprimitivista.blogspot.com/2009/01/unabomber-se-pronuncia-sobre-obama.html]]>

In 2016, after Ted’s brother David Kaczynski published a book partly about him, someone sent a letter to *New Yorker* reporter Lawrence Wright, posing as Ted. Wright posted the fake letter to Twitter:

<quote>
I am ready to speak to someone from the media regarding my brother’s recent comments and to discuss how they are being used to torment me … I am asking you to write me back affirming that you understand that I am NOT mentally ill, as my brother, Dave, would have you believe.[2]
</quote>

[2] Lawrence Wright
tweet. <[[https://x.com/lawrence_wright/status/734507984739524608][x.com/lawrence_wright/status/734507984739524608]]>

Along with the image Wright wrote: “The Unabomber reached out. Thanks, Ted, you’re not nuts at all.”

Later following this up with: “After consideration I agree with my critics that my response to the Unabomber was unnecessarily snarky. His mental illness is sadly evident.”

At this point, it seems maybe David Kaczynski’s book publisher reached out to David by phone or email hoping to use this as an opportunity to promote the book. It’s unclear whether David ever saw the fake letter, but either way they got this quote from David discouraging the media from talking to Ted about his book:

<quote>
Engaging with my brother on this topic at this time will only cause more pain for him, for me, and for his victims. I love my brother and wish him no ill. I seek only peace and reconciliation.[3]
</quote>

[3] The Unabomber Responds to His Brother’s Book. <[[http://dukeupress.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/the-unabomber-responds-to-his-brothers-book][dukeupress.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/the-unabomber-responds-to-his-brothers-book]]>

This echoed earlier sentiments that David had written to his brother:

<quote>
Dear Ted,

I recently received a letter from someone named Alston Chase, who is writing some sort of a book. He included a copy of a note from you which gave me permission to speak with him about you. He mentioned that you and I “apparently disagree about some matters.” I can imagine that that is so. However, I wrote back to him saying that I didn’t want to get into a debate with you, least of all through an intermediary.

In the past, our various disagreements have ended up being very painful for me and, I sense, for you as well. Very little was ever resolved. However, I would like to have a relationship with you and am willing to look at issues that may stand in the way of such a relationship. In other words, I am willing to hear you out in full and to think seriously about any and all of your concerns with regard to me.

Most of all, I would like to come to Colorado to visit you. I don’t know that I have a great deal to say to you, except that I love you and would like to have a relationship with you despite everything. Perhaps something can be resolved or at least come unstuck through meeting face to face.

Please be well.[4]
</quote>

[4] Ted Kaczynski’s Correspondence with his Brother David, From Dave to Ted, Nov 23, 1998. <[[https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/ted-kaczynski-david-kaczynski-letters-to-from-david-kaczynski#toc172][thetedkarchive.com/library/ted-kaczynski-david-kaczynski-letters-to-from-david-kaczynski#toc172]]>

Finally, Ted entered the fray to clarify for certain that it was a fake letter:

<quote>
To: Journalists in general.

From: Ted Kaczyński.

Some jerk in Santa Barbara, California has been sending letters on my behalf to various journalists, requesting an interview and expressing what he says are my opinions.

I am not going to grant any interview and I do not necessarily share the opinions expressed in the letters of that wretch.

Competent journalists would look at the postmarks on the letters they receive. If a letter was postmarked in California I couldn’t have sent it, obviously. Furthermore, competent journalists would check the calligraphy of that asshole’s letters with that of the samples of my handwriting that are easily found on the Internet. However, many journalists are too stupid or too lazy to take such precautions, so they have been duped by the aforementioned cretin.

As PT Barnum said, “Every minute a fool is born.” And, it seems, many of them end up being journalists when they grow up.

Theodore John Kaczynski[5]
</quote>

[5] The Unabomber Claims Letters Written In His Name Are A Hoax. <[[https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/the-unabomber-claims-letters-in-his-name-are-a-hoax][buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/the-unabomber-claims-letters-in-his-name-are-a-hoax]]>

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