Morbid - Episode 678: The Mad Bomber of New York (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

In the fall of 1940, an employ of the Consolidated Edison Company in Manhattan discovered a bomb in the company’s main offices, along with a note that read “Con Edison crooks – this is for you.” The bomb was discovered before it detonated and no one was harmed, but a year later the company received a second bomb, followed by a note to NYPD in which the bomber announced he would make no bombs for the duration of WWII, but would begin again as the war ended.As promised, a new series of bombings began across New York in the winter of 1951, beginning with an explosion at Grand Central Station. In the five years that followed, “The Mad Bomber,” as he would come to be known, would place explosives at some of New York’s most iconic locations including Radio City Music Hall, Penn Station, and the New York Public Library. The bombs were often followed by cryptic letters sent to the press, usually referencing the Consolidated Edison Company.Th Mad Bomber’s reign of terror finally came to an end with his capture in 1957, and neither the suspect nor his motives made much sense to the New Yorkers who’d lived in fear for five years.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAssociated Press. 1955. "The 'Mad Bomber' threatens Macy's." Buffalo News, May 5: 47.—. 1957. "'Bomber' sick but innocent, sisters say." Newsday, Janaury 22: 3.Baird, John, and Harry Schlegal. 1956. "Mad Bomber blast in B'klyn movie; 6 hurt." Daily News, December 3: 2.Berger, Meyer. 1957. "Bomber is booked; sent to Bellevue for mental tests." New York Times, January 23: 1.Demeusy, Gerald. 1981. "'Bomber' says life all broken dreams." Hartford Courant, November 16: 15.Greenburg, Michael M. 2011. The Mad Bomber of New York: The Extraordinary True Story of the Manhunt That Paralyzed a City. New York, NY: Union Square Press.Kaufman, Michael. 1973. "'Mad Bomber,' now 70, goes free." New York Times, December 13: 1.New York Times. 1957. "2d 'Bomber' note cites old injury." New York Times, January 16: 25.—. 1953. "A homemade bomb rips station locker." New York Times, May 7: 28.—. 1951. "Bomb blast in terminal: Homemade device explodes in Grand Central--no one is hurt." New York Times, March 30: 24.—. 1954. "Bomb in music hall injures 4 in crowd." New York Times, November 8: 1.—. 1951. "Bomb laid to prankster." New York Times, September 13: 33.—. 1957. "'Bomber' ordered to state hospital." New York Times, April 19: 44.—. 1957. "'Bomber' presses threat on utility." New York Times, January 11: 16.—. 1951. "Ex-Edison worker held in bomb case." New York Times, November 7: 32.—. 1966. "'Mad Bomber' to get hearing on sanity." New York Times, April 29: 17.—. 1957. "Metesky indicted on bomb charges." New York Times, January 31: 29.—. 1955. "Penn Station bomb blast is ignored by commuters." New York Times, Janaury 12: 11.—. 1951. "Police find bomb in Paramount Lounge; note spurs search for one at Penn Station." New York Times, October 23: 30.—. 1957. "Suspect is held as 'Mad Bomber'; he admits role." New York Times, January 22: 1.—. 1956. "The Mad Bomber." New York Times, December 30: B2.O'Kane, Lawrence. 1955. "Bomb left in Roxy; linked to 22 others." New York Times, August 12: 1.Parke, Richard. 1957. "Sisters shocked, loyal to brother." New York Times, January 23: 20.Sheridan, Mike. 1977. "Former Mad Bomber now a homebody." Hartford Courant, May 1: 22.Stay in the know - wondery.fm/morbid-wondery.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, weirdos, Elena here. If you're looking to kick back and relax with morbid, Wondery Plus is the way to go. It's like having a cozy seat in our haunted mansion, no ads, just you, and early access to new episodes. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You're listening to a Morbid Network Podcast. podcast. Redacted, Declassified Mysteries is a new podcast hosted by me, Luke Lamanna. Each week I dive into the hidden truths behind the world's most powerful institutions. From covert government experiments to bizarre assassination attempts, follow Redacted on

the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Alina. And this is Morbid. -♪ MUSIC PLAYING This is more bad. We had to run out of the, we literally just ran out of the house. We had to run out for a minute. And when we came back, Mikey had cleaned the entire studio and lit candles. And the vibe in here is just a million times better.

So right. It was like the greatest thing in the entire world. I feel so relaxed. No, I feel so much better. I'm ordering Panera as we speak. This vibe today is about to go crazy. It's immaculat. Immaculat. I'm also feeling very much in the Slasher Summer vibe. Me too, because I want to live in it. I think it's been so like gloomy and a little bit chilly, which is nice.

Oh yeah. And you've been wearing, like we've all been wearing comfy sweatshirts and jeggings. So we put our jegs in our jeggings and it just feels spooky. Yeah. And I keep getting, I mean, TikTok's always feeding me my vibes. The halfway to Halloween. The halfway to Halloween and like Slasher Summer kind of shit. I'm getting, I mean, TikTok's always feeding me my vibes. The halfway to Halloween. The halfway to Halloween and like slasher summer kind of shit. I'm getting a lot of that.

I think because you keep saying it in my presence. It's getting me in such a mood for it. Yeah. Like I need it. I'm craving it. And now I want to watch all the things, like the summer slasher things. I want to read all the summer slasher things. I want to read all the Summer Slasher things. I just watched a pretty good one actually

at your recommendation. For Scream. For Scream. We're going to be recording it today, so it'll be out in like a couple weeks. But it's called Hell of a Summer. It was really good. Yeah.

It's a 2025 one. I think there's a couple movies that are called Hell of a Summer. It's brand new. But it just came out in April. It was funny. I thought it was fun. It looked fun when I saw it. It's silly. That's why I haven't watched it yet.

But that's why I suggested it to you. Because when I saw it, I was like, that's got the vibes. It feels like it's like campy, literally. It is campy in every sense of the word. Campy, like fun, slasher, where you can laugh and also just kind of like bop along to it. I love those kind of things. Yeah, I suggest it definitely go to scream and listen to our episode to get our full opinion. Yeah, I'm excited to watch it.

Let's go girl. Um, but yeah, I don't trying to think if there's any more fun. If you're looking to preorder the butcher game and paperback because paperbacks are great. Who doesn't fucking love a paperback? You know what I mean? You can put that shit anywhere. You can put it in your back pocket. I love when you say that't fucking love a paperback? You know what I mean? You can put that shit anywhere. You can put it in your back pocket.

I love when you say that you can put a paperback anywhere. I don't know. It's just a crazy sentence. You can literally put it anywhere. But you're not wrong. It's easier sometimes to carry in like a bag or people love to shove a book in their back pocket. Do they?

Yeah, I've seen it a lot. Jess Mariano used to do it in Gilmore Girls. Big Jess move. I think that really laid lot. Jess Mariano used to do it and Gilmore Girls and Jess Moof. I think that really laid the groundwork for me that people do that. I think that imprinted on your soul. I don't think anyone else does that. I don't think I've ever seen anyone put a book in their back pocket. And actually, I feel like that would make you pretty angry.

Yeah, I wouldn't do it. I can't even dog ear a page without you dogging on me. Well, I'm also, I'm a hardcover girl. Oh, okay. So it's like this, this honestly, I have no business commenting on a paperback conversation. But you can comment on your own paperback. But I can give you a paperback. There you go.

That I wrote. So like, there you go. There you go, take it. And you should definitely preorder it and grab it. You can preorder it anywhere you want to, you feel in your soul that you want to buy a book. Whatever bookstore or book outlet feels right to you and feels lovely to you, do that.

I support it. Especially smaller indie bookstores. They're like little speeches. I love a small indie bookstore. And if you need like a list of them, you can go to thebutcheregame.com and there's like a little list of it'll bring you to different places. But yeah, go do that.

Because you really want to catch up on the story because who knows why? Who knows what's coming down the pike? Who knows why you might want to catch up on this story? I don't. I don't know anything. Who can be sure. Who knows? Question mark. I don't know. Maybe, maybe hang on to that information. Maybe. I don't know. But go catch up on it. And a paperback is a great way to do that. So let's go girls. Let's G-O-O-O-O-O. So today we, boop, boop, boop. So today we're going to be, we're going to do a Tupada here.

Tupada. And it's just because there's like a lot going on. This is a wild one. This is the Mad Bomber of New York. Okay. It did happen in the 1940s, but like just because it happened in the 1940s doesn't mean it's not an insane story. In fact, it might make it more insane. I think it does.

This is a very interesting one. Any New Yorkers, I wonder if you guys like know about this, have heard about it, maybe family members told you about it. Seems like New York was really put through it during this. So this started, it was in the fall of 1940 when an employee of the Consolidated Edison Company in Manhattan discovered a bomb in the company's main offices. Shit. Along with a note that said, Con Edison Crooks, this is for you.

Oh damn. The bomb was discovered before it detonated and no one was harmed. But a year later, the company received a second bomb followed by a note to the NYPD where the bomber announced that he was going to make no more bombs for the duration of World War II, but then he would begin again after the war ended. So this motherfucker is playing a long game. Oh yeah, playing. You don't call him the mad bomber for nothing. No. The mad bombers, it was literally a reign of terror on New York. It lasted for a long time. Remember, this is the fall of 1940. He was not, he ends

up being captured, luckily, so don't worry, New York. Good news. But he was captured in 1957. Oh wow. It was a lot. And when they finally got him, he, him as a person and his motives didn't make a lot of sense to New York. It's always interesting when that happens. Yeah. They lived in fear of what was going on here. So in the early afternoon of November 18th, 1940, the desk sergeant at the 20th squad of the NYPD received a call from a very anxious employee of, like we mentioned before, the Consolidated Edison Company, Con Ed, we'll call it. Oh no, not Con Ed. On West 64th Street.

According to the caller, one of the Con Ed employees was on a break when he noticed a little wooden toolbox just sitting unattended on a window ledge on the second floor. I'm glad he thought this was a little weird because if he had just ignored it, it would have been a big problem. Can you imagine finding a fucking bomb on your break? No. You're just on lunch. You're just on lunch.

And you're just trying to get away from everybody. Yeah, you're just trying to take a minute away from your fucking job. And then you have a bomb on your shoulders. And then you're like, now I have to report a bomb. That's a lot. I just wanted to have my egg salad sandwich. That sounds good. It does.

So when the man approached the toolbox, he saw that it contained a four and a half piece of iron pipe, which was capped in both ends, which like immediately not good. And when he looked closer at it, he found a small piece of paper wrapped around it. So this person unwrapped the paper. Damn, that's brave as fuck. Pretty brave and like ballsy. Don't do that. Yeah.

Don't do that. If ever you find a strange looking- Don't touch it, just report it. Wooden box. Yeah. And found on that piece of paper, he found that it was a note written in neat block print that read, Con Edison Crooks, this is for you.

A second line of text underneath it, it was written in a coarse gray substance apparently, and it read, there is no shortage of powder boys. And the note was simply signed FP. So was he saying powder boys or was he saying boys, there's no shortage of pow powder? I think powder boys. Powder boys.

I think he's calling these bombs, maybe, powder boys. Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. The implications of the note obviously sent the employee into a full panic and he carefully set the toolbox down on the windowsill, because remember this man is now holding this pipe bomb. Fuck. And he ran it, luckily it didn't detonate, and he ran to the phone and called the police. Later when the note was tested, it was discovered that the second line of text was written in

gunpowder. Oh. Which was the same substance that was packed into the pipe. Hate that. Powder boys. At the time though, the NYPD officers who responded to the call had no idea what they were actually dealing with here. Although bombings or threats of bombings had kind of increased across the city

throughout the first half of the 20th century, just with like advancement of people knowing how to make these things. Those matters were handled by the bomb and forgery squad. Obviously there's like a specialized thing. So it's like when you have a group that's specially trained to do this stuff, the regular patrol officers are like,

I don't really know what to do with this bomb. Yeah, call in the special guys. Yeah, so when they were called in, they had to report this explosive device to that specialized squad, and they had to wait hours for the bomb and forgery squad to arrive, which I'm like, I feel like that squad

should be a bit more prompt. That's the thing, that's how I feel. I feel like they should be maybe those like, you got to have one foot out the door at all times kind of squad. You're an emergency responder pretty much. I feel like timeliness is next to godliness in that scenario. When it comes to bombs, I'd say so. When it comes to bombs. You don't know when that's going to go off.

You don't. So like you want to get there before it does. Yeah. So waiting hours feels risky. Hours? Risky. I'd be pissed if it took them like 25 minutes. Hours?

Yeah. I'd be pissed that just the regular patrol officer showed up. I'd be like, I did say this is a bomb. When it's like, obviously you can evacuate and like, hopefully they did. Yeah. But then you also have a like, hopefully they did. Yeah. But then you also have a whole building on your hands. Exactly. And then that if that does explode and the building falls down, you got a whole mess

to clean up and people could get hurt. So many things could happen. Inspired by the hit, Wondery podcast Against the Odds comes the gripping guidebook, How to Survive Against the Odds, Tales and Tips for Animal Attacks and Natural Disasters. This might just be the most important book you'll ever read. Go inside life or death situations where everyday people survived nature's most extreme scenarios and learn how you can too. In these tales you'll hear about the grit willpower and know-how needed to endure shipwrecks, alligator attacks, earthquakes and more. You'll learn from experts including top doctors about what

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of this case on my podcast, Killer Psyche. I examined the twisted mindset behind McElroy's reign of terror, how he exploited fear, used charm as a weapon, and turned an entire town into his victims. Understanding what made him tick is exactly the kind of insight I bring on Killer Psyche, where I use my experience profiling criminals for the FBI to uncover what drives people like Ken McElroy to become predators. So if you're curious about the mind behind the mayhem, join me for an inside look at

the psychology of a man who got away with everything until he didn't. Follow Killer Psyche on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. So when they did finally arrive at the Con Ed building, the lead detective on the bomb squad confirmed that what they found was indeed a quote, infernal machine, which was a homemade explosive device, quote, maliciously designed to explode and destroy life or property. But it's still hadn't gone off yet. It's still hadn't gone off yet. It's still hadn't gone off. Now unlike more sophisticated devices that use electronic components, a bomb that you're

probably thinking in your head right now. Like the ticking bomb. With the wires and shit. The Infernal Machine, which is one of the scariest names for something. Great band name. I literally was just going to say, there has to be. I'm going to Google it. Infernal machine has to be a band name.

It is a very crude, very volatile explosive that could be triggered by a number of things. This is not an electronic explosive, so it's not like somebody's just waiting or they set it to go off at a certain point. It's like it gets triggered by random things. It's a band. I knew it had to be. Yeah, it's a band. Good on you for making that,

because that's a great band name. Yeah, absolutely. Also, the pipe bomb couldn't be deactivated in like a traditional sense, like a regular bomb, but instead it had to be just detonated in a controlled setting. Like they just had to explode the bomb in a controlled area. The fuck? Cause in like a regular bomb, there's a way to detonate it or to like deactivate it with

like electronically and shit. This one's just like a very crude fucking infernal machine. So where do you go? So I don't really know. I think they have to, they go to like clearings to do these things. So sometimes it still has to be done. Like they have to find places to do these things.

So they really have to go to like places obviously where there's absolutely no chance that somebody could be hurt by this. Damn. The squad knew that the bomb had already been handled by the employee who had reported it. So they knew it wasn't triggered by moving it from its position.

And after clearing the building, one of the squad members donned a suit of body armor and used a five foot grabbing pole. And he turned the device over looking for any kind of timing device or other potential triggers. That's so scary. Yeah, he didn't find anything and getting no result from poking at it and, you know, handling the device, they were fairly certain it was not triggered by movement and the pipe was retrieved, placed inside a bag.

The bag was made of woven steel cable because that's how they transport bombs. Yeah. And it was taken out to the containment truck and taken to a secluded area where it was inspected and ultimately submerged in motor oil. Why? Apparently, and this is very interesting, motor oil was believed to clog up any moving parts that might trigger the device.

Oh. Which I'm like, how did you guys figure that out? Yeah, that's interesting. What was the test that made that a thing? I mean, it is very thick, so I guess that makes sense. Viscous. It is. So once they were confident that a thing? I mean, it is very thick, so I guess that makes sense. Viscous. It is.

So once they were confident that the bomb was a dud, investigators transported it back to headquarters for analysis. Now inside the pipe, technicians found a large amount of gunpowder in several typical bomb components, including a flashlight bulb, a battery and a steel spring, as well as a cough drop. What? Which no one could explain why that cough drop was there. Used? Or unwrapped?

I don't know if that was... Wrapped or unwrapped? I don't know if they can tell if that was a used cough drop or not. But yeah. What? A cough drop. Why? No one knows to this day. That's bizarre. Despite having all the right parts and a cough drop. Why? No one knows to this day.

That's bizarre. Despite having all the right parts and a cough drop to boot, it was clear it was a little bit of something extra. It's a little dizzle spice. Maybe they wanted it to like smell good. Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea. But despite having all the right parts, it was clear to experts that the bomb had been

incorrectly assembled by a very amateur person and was never in danger of exploding at all. Well, that's good news. Yeah. But while there may have not been any imminent danger, the threat was very real, and investigators needed to identify the maker of the device before he improved on his technique. I was just going to say before he got better. Yeah, and struck again. Yeah. Because if they do it once, of course they could do it again.

Well, and especially if he knows it didn't go off. Yeah, now he's going to be pissed. Now in 1940, Consolidated Edison was one of the largest employers in Manhattan with thousands of employees, many of whom worked in the building where the bomb was found. Also, as the primary supplier of electricity for the whole region, the company served millions of customers. That's basically, it was clear that whoever left the bomb

had clearly a grudge with this company, but that fact alone didn't narrow the pool of suspects down at all. Because remember, we got thousands of employees and millions of customers. Yeah. Now further complicating the whole thing was the fact that Con Ed was a conglomerate of several smaller companies operating under like one umbrella, all operating in different

parts of the city. Okay. That means that even if police did want to take the time to comb through all their administrative records, it could have been literally years before they found anything that could help them, if they found anything at all. So because of that, the incident report was written up and filed and no one really gave it a thought. The bomb incident report.

Yeah, they were just like, well, that happened. Now in late September 1941, nearly a year after this first bomb was discovered at the Con Ed building, passerby's noticed something strange lying in the road a few blocks away from the Con Ed building at Four Irving Place. It was stuffed inside a red wool sock with a four inch length of pipe with both ends capped. Just as they'd done before, police officers called the bomb squad and the device was removed

and determined to be a dud. Damn, this guy sucks. Then it was taken back to headquarters for analysis. There was no note with this one. But to the members of the bomb squad, the device was immediately recognizable as being the work of whoever had left the bomb at Con Ed the previous year. Was there another cough drop? Inside, they found the same ingredients as the previous bomb, all assembled in the same way. And another cough drop? Inside they found the same ingredients as the previous bomb,

all assembled in the same way, and another cough drop. Called it cough drop. What? Cough drop number two. Does he ever say why? We're at a loss. God damn. Now given that the bomb was assembled the same exact way as the previous one, including the weird fucking cough drops. I was going to say random ingredients and all. Like that's the thing that's really nailing it. And then it was discovered around the corner of the Con Ed building. Investigators were like, yeah, this is the same guy.

Equally disturbing was the fact that a year had passed and the bomber still appeared intent on bombing the Con Ed building. That's commitment. Yeah. This time though, they theorized that he had been on his way to the building and was interrupted or maybe diverted and chose to drop the explosive in the street and abandoned his plan. Okay.

Within days of finding the explosive in the street, letters started arriving at the Con Ed headquarters as well as newspaper editorial desks, hotels and department stores around the city. The letters were pretty short, pretty vague, mostly alluding to, you know, quote, dastardly deeds and ghoulish acts that the power company had committed and demanding, quote, justice for wrongs perpetrated against the writer of the notes and others.

These notes were mostly hand printed in that same like very blocky handwriting. But that some were typewritten though, like there wasn't it wasn't consistent throughout. Okay. In the clauses were all separated by dashes, rather than commas or periods. Okay. All the notes were written on the same plain white paper. There was no identifying information about the sender other than the initials FP.

Huh huh. And many contained allusions to or outright threats of another bomb coming. A few months later on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbor Military Base in Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm sure we all know about that. This effectively drew the American military into World War II.

Not long after that attack on Pearl Harbor, the usual round of recipients of FP letters received a new note. Although the latest letter included the usual vague threats and claims of injustice, the sender also seemed to understand that with the entire country preoccupied with the nation's now forceful entry into a world war, there was very little chance that he was going to get the kind of attention that he was so craving here. So he was like, you know what, I'm going to let somebody else have their moment right now. He said, I will make no more bomb units

for the duration of the war. My patriotic feelings have made me decide this. Later, I will bring the con-ed to justice. They will pay for their dastardly deeds. Like that doesn't feel very patriotic. No, that feels pretty rough. It's killing your fellow man. To everyone's surprise though, he remained true to his word and there were no other bombs

or letters from FP in the years that followed. Interesting. The war raged on across Europe and the nation's attention was obviously, he was right, they were consumed by fighting. And New York forgot kind of all about FP and his grudge against, you know, the whole Con Ed building and employees and company as a whole. But FP, he was not giving up on this mission. He was lurking.

Yeah, and he did not have any intention of being forgotten. Just before 5 30 p.m. on the afternoon of March 29, 1951, the peak of rush hour at Grand Central Station, an explosive device detonated. Oh no. And a cigarette urn placed outside the entrance to the Grand Central Oyster Bar. It sent sand, cigarette butts, and other debris flying in all directions. Oh. Despite being placed on one of the lower levels by Track 27, there were no passerbys when

the bomb went off. Wow. And no one was hit. That's amazing. Inside this pipe bomb, he had packed nuts and bolts in there too. Oh wow. Which is what like some of these fuckers do, like the Boston bombing is one of the ones

that obviously very much sticks out to us. They put all this like fucking horrific shrapnel in it to get the most damage. To do extra damage, yeah. So since the bomb had already detonated all this like fucking horrific shrapnel in it to get the most damage. So since the bomb had already detonated by the time the police came to Grand Central Station, there was no need for the bomb squad. But investigators still had little evidence to work with and initially attributed the incident to boys or pranksters.

Y'all. I'm sorry. I know. A pipe bomb is not pranksters. Yeah, I was, I pipe bomb is not prankster. Yeah. I was, I don't know about all that. Yeah. The remains of the device were turned over to the bomb squad for analysis, but nearly

a decade had passed since the bombs were discovered at the Con Ed building at this point. And this time no one recognized the pipes and their various components because it had kind of gone out of everyone's minds. Even if someone had recalled the bomb discoveries back in 1941, it's unlikely they would have made, you know, the connection here because this latest bomb one, it went off. Right, the other two had not. So that's different from the other two.

It also contained no gunpowder, but instead contained just one 25 caliber round that was rigged to a mechanism that would discharge at a predetermined time and it would send the shrapnel out in all directions. So he has obviously upped his game. Right. It is remarkable that nobody was walking by.

Yes. Especially like you said, like peak traffic time at Grand Central Station. It's amazing. Right next to track 27. I can't believe nobody was hit. Veterans on the bomb squad, however, would likely have recognized one thing. A cough drop.

One cough drop contained in the pipe. Bitch, I just Googled it and I couldn't find anything about why he did that. Why? No one knows. Why? But by that time, it had been disintegrated with the rest of the internal components.

So they wouldn't have been able to see it anyways. Oh. Oh. Yeah. Hey, it's Mr. Ballin here, and I am so excited to tell you all about a podcast from Ballin Studios called Redacted, Declassified Mysteries, and it's hosted by the incredible Luke Lamanna. From covert government experiments to bizarre assassination attempts, Redacted dives deep into the astonishing true stories

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exclusively and ad free on Wondery Plus. But we know that it was there because we know it's the same guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the bomb at Grand Central failed to achieve much notice by the police or the press because they were kind of chucking it up to Like which I'm like what kind of fucking teens are running around New York And the second bomb that detonated after this one because there was another one didn't receive a lot of attention either It detonated inside a phone booth

in the basement of the New York Public Library. I would call that a big deal. Yeah, like the one at Grand Central Station, the second bomb caused no injuries, luckily, and barely registered with anyone, earning a few paragraphs pretty deep in the pages of the New York Times that day. But wouldn't everybody be like,

hey, it seems like why are the bombings like could be related. But still this time the bombings were different. They didn't cause much damage or harm to anyone. That was only because no one had been unfortunate enough to be around when they went off. If that's just work, it would cause massive damage. Had anyone been near either when they detonated, they would have. I don't think they would have survived. I really don't think they would have survived. I really don't. It would be very lethal. That meant that although the police didn't know it at the time,

FP had become, like we were just talking about, more skilled and sophisticated as a bomb maker in the decade since he had started doing this. Which makes sense. He's obviously been studying how to do this for years. Which like, why the fuck is he still doing this? And in August, FP struck again with another bomb at Grand Central Station. A little past 9pm on the night of August 27th, a bomb went off in a phone booth on the West Concourse.

Like the earlier bombs, this one caused some damage, but no injuries. Wow. This is remarkable. It is remarkable. This one caused some damage, but no injuries. Wow. I know. This is remarkable. It is remarkable. The Grand Central bomb was followed a few weeks later by another bomb. This one placed in a phone booth in the lobby of the Con Ed offices at Four Irving Place. If that doesn't raise some eyebrows.

Yeah. The bomb exploded and caused some damage to the lobby, but because it was detonated at 6 15 a.m., the only person in the building was a night watchman and he wasn't in the lobby when it went off. So it's missing like any person. It's like really remarkable. Because it's not like he's doing that on purpose. Like you were, the first one when he came back again

was high traffic time. He's putting them in phone booths. Like it's not like he's going out of his way to... Yeah, that's the thing. And then he's also putting shrapnel in them. So obviously he does want to hurt people. He wants to cause damage. And like you said, he's putting them in places where people would be.

They just happen to not be there. It's like really wild. So yeah, in fact, the damage had been so minimal and mostly confined to the phone booth. The night watchman didn't even bother to call the police right away and waited several hours before even reporting it. Okay, that's a bad plan because there could be more. Yeah, that's wild.

Where there's one bomb as we find out there's many. So the bombs all were pretty similar in their construction. So one investigator or a few investigators were believing that they probably were constructed and placed by the same individual. But because the bombs at Grand Central, the public library and Con Ed appeared to have been detonated at the time when they were like, because that's the thing. It's like he put them in places where people would be, but he detonates them at times where people will be there or not a lot of people will be there, like 6, 15 a.m.

But what about the high traffic one? That's the one, it's like that one, you know. That stands out. Yeah, that one stands out, but a few of the other ones, it almost looked like they were almost put to cause, because there's like conflicting ideas here, because it's like there's shrapnel in them, it looks like there's clearly a, they're wanting to hurt someone.

But then the times that a lot of them are placed or detonated, I should say, are interesting. Okay. You know? Yeah. Because it is crazy that they're not getting anyone. Right. Like they're not hurting anyone.

Right. Investigators assumed because of this that maybe it was like a prank and they were detonating it on purpose when people wouldn't be there to cause damage and like chaos, but not hurt anyone. Okay. So they were so convinced that the bombs were the work of an quote, adult prankster that they were reluctant to provide any details to the press saying it would just build up the ego of the nut who did it. Okay. I guess I sort of get that. I can kind of see where they're coming from.

And again, this is like the 1950s. So like, you know, yeah, a little different, regardless of what they told the press in private investigators on the bomb squad were at least somewhat concerned on the of the bombs. Like the investigators are kind of like, they're at odds a little bit of what this actually is. In each case, the bombs did get slightly larger and more sophisticated. So again, this is kind of showing or suggesting that like the bomber who is doing this is really learning as he goes. And he's like keeping up with his, you know, tutelage of trying to figure out how to do this better and better.

And he's getting better at it. And in the report on the second bomb at Grand Central Station, the technician wrote, quote, This is a well constructed mechanism. It shows considerable advance in technique as compared with the earlier bombs. Also because the bombs were clearly created in place by the same person, it was impossible for the bomb squad to ignore the reality that they were dealing with a serial bomber. And it was only a matter of time

before someone was going to get hurt. Regardless of whether that's the intention or not, it's gonna happen. It's just the way that this all works. A month later on October 22nd, the bomber struck again, this time in a bathroom at the Paramount Theater. Fortunately, the bomb was discovered before it was detonated.

Oh, that's good. And the bomb squad was able to disassemble it without much trouble. But that right there, there was intent to harm. Well, once you realize who he is, you're like, okay. Like the other devices, the bomb was constructed with a roughly four inch long pipe containing a 25 caliber shell with that mechanism,

small amount of gunpowder. At the time, roughly 3,500 patrons were in the theater, one floor above watching a show. Wow. So this would have caused massive casualties or at least massive damage. Yeah. And so like that one was like, oh shit.

So just as police were investigating the scene at the Paramount, the editor of the New York Herald Tribune received a letter by special delivery. Inside was a letter written in block lettering that said, bombs will continue until the consolidated Edison company is brought to justice for their dastardly acts against me. I have exhausted all other means. I intend with bombs to cause others to cry out for justice for me." But you're not telling anybody what happened. You're not telling anyone what happened. You're gonna hurt someone. So

no one's gonna speak for you. And now you want these people that you're trying to harm or inconvenience at the very least to cry out for you. That's what I mean. Your thinking is a little scattered. Motive isn't making a lot of sense. The note confirmed that FP had planted the bomb at the Paramount, but it also made reference to a second bomb in a telephone booth at Penn Station.

Oh shit. It said, if I don't get justice, I will continue, but with bigger bombs. Okay. Police spent hours searching Penn Station, but found no sign of a bomb anywhere on the premises and eventually abandoned the search in the early morning hours. While they may not have discovered a second bomb, the bomber had made their intentions and motivation pretty clear in the letter, which was published in the Herald Tribune the next day.

With the publication of the letter, the NYPD had to end that whole theory of like, maybe there's just pranksters and we don't want to feed their ego. Like they had to end that whole thing. The city clearly had a serial bomber on their hands and he was clear that he intended to continue this reign of terror until he got what he wanted, which no one really knows how to give him that.

Because nobody knows what happened. Like I want them held, I want justice for their dastardly deeds against me. Which were what? And you're like, cool, cool, cool. Can you tell us what those were so we can bring them to justice for it? Name them. Name them. Name them.

Name them. So the letter made clear, at least that the bomber had some connection to Con Ed. But again, who the fuck are you? Like it didn't help to identify the sender. If anything, police found themselves right back to where they were a decade earlier with a suspect list of millions of employees, former employees and customers. In the absence of facts, evidence, anything concrete that they could use, wild theories started to emerge, including the suggestion that the bomber was operating on a lunar calendar, which led the NYPD to increase manpower during the full moon.

They said, it's witches. They said, it's werewolves. They said, them witches be out here, them werewolves are who in Holland? They said, oh, that's just Jacob Black. Don't worry about that. They said, Bella, where you been, loca? They said, Bella, where the hell you been, loca? That is one of the most diabolical lines in literary history. Or is it the most genius? I said diabolical. I didn't say bad. I just said diabolical.

Also there's just quick little side because we are who we are. And that reminded me of it. If you're looking for a really funny TikTok to watch, let me bring it up. Have you told me about this? No, I haven't. I wanted to tell you about it. Wow, that's fake as fuck. You're telling the masses before you tell your sister. You should all follow this person because she is very, very funny.

And what she's doing is she does recreations of what it's like to be in the boardroom during the making of all the Twilight movies. That's iconic. Her name is Ellie Collins. Following right now. And it's her like thing on TikTok is E-L-L-I-E Collins, like C-O-L-L-I-N with four S's. She is so fucking funny and all the things

that they go through with those movies, you will just sit there and be like, what the fuck were we doing? I just followed her. I love it. I love it so much. So go check her out. She's really funny.

She also did a whole series of all of Taylor Swift's exes listening to her new songs as they came out. Oh, I think those have come up on my free page before. She did look familiar. She's real funny. Yeah. But yeah. So Bella, where the hell you been, Loka? Where the hell?

So well, they put more people on on the full moon, because you got to try everything, you know? You should just have more people on the full moon all the time. It'd just be crazy. People be wild on the full moon. We're a huge percent water. It's true. There you go.

We're a huge percent water. We're a huge percent water. It's like 86 or something. I don't know. It's pretty impressive. It's huge. It's pretty impressive how water we are, you know? We do be a lot of water.

Are we the ocean? I don't know. The tides for within. While they seemed willing to entertain any theory at this point, regardless of how serious it seemed, investigators in the NYPD and on the bomb squad knew the type of panic that a serial bomber was going to instill in the public. And they just wanted to stop him because now people are, it's gonna be hard for people to live their lives

normally here. Especially in New York City. And they didn't care what the method was, they just wanted to stop this guy. That's not great. In early November, police arrested 56 year old former Con Ed employee, Frederick Eberhart, in connection with a hoax bomb

that was sent to Con Ed a few weeks earlier. Based on his employee file, Frederick fit the profile of the man investigators were looking for. The district attorney told reporters he had been sending simulated bombs around the city the past few months. Rude. Yeah. During his arraignment on November 7th, the prosecution alleged that Frederick had sent

a package to Edwin Jennings, the head of personnel at Con Ed, which contained what Jennings believed was another pipe bomb. But when they inspected it, the pipe contained nothing more than white sugar. According to company records, Frederick was fired by Con Ed in 1948 for, quote, stealing material and was tried and ultimately acquitted. Following his acquittal, Frederick sued Con Ed for $75,000 in damages, alleging false arrest, and the case was still pending trial at the time. Despite him being a very strong suspect, his wife loudly protested his arrest

and was very against him being admitted to Bellevue for evaluation, saying, quote, this arrest is an outrage. He never sent those things. He couldn't hurt a fly. Oh. If the NYPD hoped Frederick's arrest would put an end to the bomb threats of the recent months, they were very disappointed very quickly.

So were they scapegoating him a bit? Just a few days after Frederick's arrest was announced in the papers, the bomb squad received an anonymous call reporting that bombs had been planted at the Capitol Theater on Broadway and a Roman Catholic church on East 28th Street. While the bomb squad found no bombs in either location, later that evening a pipe bomb was detonated at the IRT subway station in Union Square, sending shrapnel through a row of

metal lockers. Once again, no one was hurt. This is bizarre. Isn't it bizarre as fuck? I mean, it's incredible. Wonderfully bizarre that no one's getting hurt here, but like bizarre. Yeah, wild. And FP, he wasted no time claiming credit, sending a letter to the editor of the Herald

Tribune. He said, the Herald Tribune. He said, to Herald Tribune editors, have you noticed the bombs in your city? If you are worried, I am sorry. And also if anyone is injured, but it cannot be helped for justice will be served. I am not well. And for this, I will make the Con Edison sorry.

Yes, they will regret their dastardly deeds. I will bring them before the bar of justice. Public opinion will condemn them. For beware, I will place more units under theater seats in the near future." Oh. It was clear from the recent bombings that Frederick Eberhard was not the bomber. And on May 15th, 1952, a court dismissed the charges against him, which forced the NYPD to admit that there was still very much a serial bomber loose somewhere in the city.

So the bomber struck three times in 1952. Once in a phone booth at the Port Authority bus terminal and twice at the Lexington Theater. At the Lexington Theater, it was bombs left under random seats. It was in the second bombing at the Lexington on December 8th that someone was finally injured. A woman sitting in the same row where the bombs were placed during a showing of everything I have is yours was struck by flying shards of metal shrapnel and it caused several lacerations on her feet and legs. But she did live. But like what a horrible thing to happen.

You're just sitting in a movie theater. Yeah. During this period, the NYPD and the investigators on the bomb squad were releasing little, if any, information to the public about the bombings. So it's like, maybe they should have and maybe people wouldn't have gone to the movies. Exactly. So the details of the bombings between 1952 and 1954 are kind of limited. On March 10th, 1953, smack dab in the middle, a bomb was planted in one of the seat cushions in the 16,000 seat Radio City Music Hall.

Oh shit. Ever heard of it? Yeah, Paige and Hannah sold that shit out, bitch. Yeah, the same one. The spectators were about halfway through the movie when the bomb went off. Oh my. Causing panic and chaos among this very large crowd. At the request of the NYPD, the incident was minimized

by the press the following day, with several papers ignoring it altogether. Radio City Musical. The fuck? How do you ignore that? The Herald Tribune, who had received many of the bomber's letters, referred to the bomb as quote, the work of a psychopath.

While others used like very dismissive language to kind of minimize the danger. I would say that was pretty fucking dangerous. A few months later, when a bomb exploded in a luggage locker at Grand Central Station in early May, a police spokesperson was similarly dismissive, telling the press, quote, the culprit was a mental case in search of publicity.

It's like, yeah, but bombs keep going off in various locations. So maybe we should do something and find that person. It's like my friends, I'm not here debating what's happening in his noggin. Yeah, I'm here saying that, like, he's setting off bombs around the city. So, like, maybe just stop that. Right. Instead of just being like, oh, it's just a nut. It's just a cry cry. Yeah. He's a fucking brilliant nut. He was making scary, dangerous bombs that have hurt at least one person. Right. And it's shocking that they haven't hurt anybody else. The minimal

press coverage was an offense to the bomber too. And it's like, they should have thought of that. That this guy is looking for attention clearly. And I know that it's like, it's a hard line to walk. That's the thing. It's kind of like, you know, Zodiac and, you know, Jack the Ripper. It's like when they're looking for the attention, you don't want to give it to them.

But you also don't want to set it off anymore. So it's like, I can't say that I would know how to handle this, you know, as like an investigator and what to tell the press. And especially again, during this time period. Exactly. This is a very new type of mind they're dealing with. Exactly.

And so he started sending outraged letters to the editorial departments of the city's major papers. That's scary. And a letter to the editor and staff of New York Herald Tribune. Unless sloppy or no reporting is corrected about bombings, public will get information by way of Moscow. Get this into your heads. The Consolidated Edison Company will be brought to justice.

All of my physical, mental, and financial sufferings will be paid for in full. You know that bombs are getting bigger. So far, the hand of God has spared everyone from death or serious injury. Believe me, I know. In the press, now and then I am called a bad name. Just what name fits you people who denied me the purchase of space to tell my story? You who are too yellow to print the facts which concern the safety of so many? I am bewildered by your attitude. I can only respond with more and larger bombs. Every day that passes means a day closer to another bomb.

Yikes. He's scary. It's very scary. And upping the ante. And again, is not telling anyone what the fuck happened and how they can fix it. Yeah. And he's literally saying like the hand of God has spared people from not getting hurt. That wasn't my intention, right? Which like he was kind of alluding not to that before, but now he's literally saying like the hand of God has spared people from not getting hurt. That wasn't my intention, right?

Which like he was kind of alluding not to that before, but now he's just being like, oh, that's just happenstance. Which is scary. And it almost sounds like he like he went to them and tried to get a story about what happened at the con place out and they said no. Yeah, which is like strange. Because I'm like, what the fuck? How do we find out what happened to him?

We find out that. So we'll find, we'll, we'll find out more in part two. We're actually going to stop there because if there's going to be butt head after that, that a letter to the New York, a Tribune there, the Herald Tribune, it's another year that passes without any new bombs. Interesting. Yeah. And then it does return.

Oh, no. So we're going to talk about that in part two. Alright. Yeah. This is an interesting case. I've never heard anything about this one before. Yeah, this is a very, very interesting... It's strange.

And yeah, it's so strange. Yeah. And it's like, it almost seems like the plot of a movie instead of like a real thing that happened. But I really am curious if like any of you are from New York or like, you know, are like native New Yorkers who have like family that were around at this time. I'd be curious to hear if they'll tell you

like what it was like to be around. Because it's like, like my mom was like living in Boston with girlfriends when the Boston Strangler was tooting around. And's like, like my mom was like living in Boston with girlfriends when the Boston Strangler was tooting around and those stories like an apartment together like on his route and they had like things in place. I think we talked about it in the episode to deter him like 10 hands like aluminum cans on top of each other in front of the door so that if it opened it would fall over and alert them because their apartment door she said you could open with like a credit card.

Yeah, it was like that janky. It's crazy. So I'd be I'm curious to see if any of you can get any like cool stories out of family members. Let us know. Yeah. And if you want to write them in, we would love to share them. So just let us know if we have permission.

Yeah, definitely. Wow. I'm very interested to hear that too. Very interesting story. So with that being said, we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. But that's where that you don't write in your stories if you have them because now I'm so interested. Do little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a I'm sorry. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.