For 25 years Lincoln has been more than 'home of the Unabomber'

Most years, April 3 passes unnoticed, but it's a significant date in Lincoln's history that brings a renewed interest in the community every five or ten years. This year is no exception.

Sunday marks 25 years since the FBI arrested Theodore J. Kaczynski at his cabin south of Lincoln for the Unabomber bombings that killed three people and injured 23 others.

Kaczynski had been responsible for a dozen bombings between 1978 and 1987, killing one man in 1985. He went silent for about six years but resumed his anti-technology terror campaign in June 1993. For three years, Kaczynski's bombs got progressively deadlier, killing two more people and injuring many others. His actions, the paranoia they create, and the fact that his identity had been an utter mystery to the FBI, earned the Unabomber recurring headlines in the national news.

In Lincoln, no one suspected that the crusty hermit with a taste for esoteric books - known to some kids as "the bicycle man" - was behind those headlines, or that his eventual arrest would thrust Lincoln into the national spotlight.

When the news broke that the FBI was in Lincoln to arrest the Unabomber, a large contingent of national media representatives were already in Montana. On March 26 the Freemen had started a standoff with the FBI outside of Jordan. By early April, the bloom was fading from that story and the Unabomber was a much larger and shinier story. The media descended on Lincoln in force at a time when the 24-hour news media was hitting its stride and as more people were gaining access to the "World Wide Web," ensuring that Kaczynski and Lincoln would be irreversibly connected.

"I don't know that it changed the town, but it always affects the town," said Krissi Hagen, whose late stepfather Dick Lundberg ran the Lincoln Stage in the '90's and would give Kaczynski rides to Helena.

"I think Lincoln is still the same town. It was one guy who kept to himself that no one knew," she said.

Kaczynski turns 80 next year. He has now spent as much time in prison than he did on his secluded property four miles from town, but fascination with "the Unabomber" and the life he led here remains. That fascination is largely an external one.

Milestone anniversaries of his arrest generally bring some level of media interest back to town as they look back at the arrest or explore how Lincoln is coming to grips with the Kaczynski legacy.

Ironically, the most notable legacy that Kaczynski's arrest had on Lincoln is that, by and large, the town decided it wouldn't become a legacy.

As early as April 8, 1996, the Great Falls Tribune reported that Lincolnites were using the recognition to help make sure Kaczynski didn't become the only thing the town was known for. Instead Lincoln turned its attention toward community development with an eye toward growth from Seven-Up Pete Joint Venture. (For better or worse, the proposed gold mine was scrapped a few years later in the wake of the states cyanide heap leach ban, having a greater practical impact on Lincoln than the arrest.)

The town never capitalized on the notoriety of being home to a serial killer. There are no Unabomber tours, no re-creation of his cabin to serve as a tourist trap, no one sells Unabomber t-shirts or gray hoody/ aviator shades combo sets here. From the outset businesses largely shunned the idea of celebrating a person who had perpetrated a long campaign of terror and murder.

There were some attempts to make money off the infamy, but they never really panned out in Lincoln. Then-Fire Chief Jay Verdi printed up some Unabomber- themed t-shirts to sell as a fundraiser, but few people ever wore them, and you'd be hard pressed to find one now.

"I think more than anything ... generally people weren't very happy about it and thought it was a black eye. Some people tried to capitalize on it." said Bill Quay, who had been acquainted with Kaczynski. "Most people thought that was pretty tacky. It was not the notoriety you'd want for your town."

Gary Moseman was the managing editor of the Great Falls Tribune in 1996. The week Kaczynski was captured he was in Lincoln with his family, taking a break at the cabin he now calls home. He said the building became the "Lincoln bureau" of the Trib for a while.

"It's an interesting thing. I think Lincoln was more embarrassed about it than it needed to be," he said.

He thought Lincoln should have capitalized on it more than they did, but he noticed people just weren't in favor of taking advantage of the notoriety; they were more interested in putting it behind them.

Twenty-five years on, despite the recent headway on community improvement and economic development projects related to tourism, it's a view that still persists in many ways.

"It's sad for someone that sick minded and the damage and the hurt he caused, to be that famous," Wheel Inn Owner Laurie Richard said. "We need to remember the good, like Paul Roos, Bob Didrikson, Bob Purdy, Art Glaze ...people who made a positive impact on Lincoln.

But legacy isn't always what you want, nor is it easy to escape.

Jesse Sallin, who had a passing acquaintance with Kaczynski from her time as the assistant librarian, doesn't think his arrest affected how Lincoln sees itself, but thinks it still affects how other people view Lincoln. "I don't get out that much - but every once in a while, you'll still get people who say, 'that's where Kaczynski lived', like it was the whole town and not just one person," she said.

Retired Lincoln science teacher George Pierce said the hoopla surrounding the arrest didn't really affect him or his students at the time, but he said the questions and assumptions about Lincoln got old after a while.

"For about three years people seemed to think we were all mountain men, hiding out in the woods," he said.

Emily Rundell, clerked at the Handi Mart in 1996 and got to know many of the FBI agents involved in the arrest, believes Kaczynski may have made Lincolnites more cautious in general. "We're more cautious talking to the media, we're cautious around strangers," she said. "I think our concern is that deadbeats think to move to Lincoln just because of Ted Kaczynski; that it's a good place to hide."

Rundell thinks the true reputation of Lincoln was overshadowed by questions surrounding Kaczynski, his arrest and how people didn't know what he was.

"I don't think we get the proper recognition we deserve. Lincoln is a very caring community. When someone needs help we're always there to help out."

In the last few years, Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild has largely overshadowed Kaczynski as the thing for which Lincoln is best known. Still, Moseman said Kaczynski is still top of mind for many of the park's visitors. He said people he would talk to still bring it up. "Not everybody, but it comes up frequently."

In 2018, filming got underway locally on 'Ted K', a movie about Kaczynski that focuses on his time in Lincoln during a few years before he was captured. The movie debuted in Berlin a month ago and has been picked up for distribution later this year or early next year. By filming on location, the filmmakers hope to provide a more accurate portrayal of Lincoln. Nevertheless, there is some trepidation that it may once again make Kaczynski central to Lincoln's story for many people.

If it does, it's not likely to cause a big stir. Lincoln has been busy building new legacies.

"I think you're always going to have people who think we're just known for the Unabomber," Hagen said. "Now we get more people coming up knowing us for good things: Sculpture in the Wild, or softball or basketball tournaments, the rodeo, or different events in town."