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The Unabomber May Have Been The Product Of A Brutal Psychological Experiment
Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, is one of the most famous murder-hermits of all time, and that's saying a lot. He is generally perceived to be a violent, paranoid schizophrenic, and rightfully so. But there are parts of his story many don't know.
Kaczynski was messed up, sure, but he was also brilliant. He attended Harvard in 1958, when he was only 16. Impressive as that may sound, it may also very well have been the start of his spiral into madness. In 1959, a group of psychologists from Harvard's Department of Social Relations apparently decided that they hadn't quite filled their evil science quota. So they got a group of 22 students, young Ted among them, to enlist in a blatantly torturous psychological experiment.
Harvard University"Are you sure you want to do this, Ted?"
"What's the worst that could happen?"
First the test subjects were tasked with writing an essay that would reveal their personal beliefs -- the values and tenets they held most dear. Students were then supposed to debate their beliefs with a fellow undergraduate. But the "debate" consisted of being covered in electrodes, then sitting in a bright room facing a one-way mirror, while a law student who had been specifically prepped to verbally abuse the subjects tore their ideas and values apart. Then, after the participants had been ridiculed and humiliated to the verge of extreme anger, they were called back to watch the recordings of the procedures. They had their very world torn apart, then had to sit down and watch how stupid they really were on TV. It'd be like signing up for a charity run, then finding out you'd been pressed onto Jersey Shore.
The experiments were conducted between 1959 and 1962, and headed by Professor Henry A. Murray, who was already somewhat (in)famous for his work with the OSS and the CIA. They took place in a mansion/laboratory known as the Annex, because clearly, no one here was even remotely interested in pretending they weren't supervillains. Our first piece of evidence: The researchers gave all their subjects bizarre code names. Ted's was, ironically, "Lawful."
FBIThe other choice was "Babyface."