Ted Gunderson

{{Infobox person

| name = Ted Gunderson

| image = Ted Gunderson in his FBI Office.jpg

| caption = Gunderson in his FBI office

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|11|07|mf=yes}}

| party = Constitution

| birth_place = Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2011|07|31|1928|11|07|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.

| known_for =

| education =

| employer = Federal Bureau of Investigation, private clients

| occupation = FBI Senior Special Agent In Charge, private investigator, speaker, author

| title = Senior Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles; Special Agent in Charge, Dallas, Memphis and Washington, D.C. offices, F.B.I.

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Theodore L. Gunderson (November 7, 1928 – July 31, 2011) was a Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge and head of the Los Angeles FBI,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8h406aDUeL4C |title=Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI |publisher=Turner Publishing Co. |year=1999 |pages=150–151 |isbn=9781563114731}} an American author, and a conspiracy theorist. Some of his FBI case work included the Death of Marilyn Monroe and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.{{Cite web|date=2011-08-19|title=Former Memphis FBI chief Gunderson dies|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-former-memphis-fbi-chief-gunderson-dies-2011aug19-story.html|access-date=2021-04-30|website=San Diego Union-Tribune|language=en-US}} He was the author of the best-selling book How to Locate Anyone Anywhere Without Leaving Home.{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/HowToLocateAnyone|title=How to Locate Anyone Anywhere Without Leaving Home|isbn=0-525-24746-7|last1=Gunderson|first1=Ted L.|last2=McGovern|first2=Roger|year=1989|publisher=Dutton }} In later life, he researched a number of topics, notably including satanic ritual abuse.{{Cite book|last=Gunderson|first=Ted L|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/893568977|title=Corruption: the Satanic drug cult network and missing children|date=1994|language=English|oclc=893568977}}

Early life and FBI

Ted Gunderson was born in Colorado Springs. He graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1950.

In December 1951, Gunderson joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J. Edgar Hoover. He served in the Mobile, Knoxville, New York City, and Albuquerque offices. He held posts as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge in New Haven and Philadelphia. In 1973, he became the head of the Memphis FBI office, and in 1975 became head of the Dallas FBI office.{{cite web |title=The Dallas Division, Office Locations and Special Agents in Charge |url=https://www.fbi.gov/dallas/the-dallas-division-office-locations-and-special-agents-in-charge-1914-2008/}} In 1977, Gunderson was appointed head of the Los Angeles FBI.{{cite web | author= Daniel Schorn |publisher=CBS News, 48 Hours |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-macdonald-time-for-truth/ |title=Jeffrey MacDonald: Time For Truth |date=November 6, 2005 |access-date=2010-06-07}} In 1979, he was one of a handful interviewed for the job of FBI director, which ultimately went to William H. Webster.January 2, 1983, The Dallas Morning News

Post-FBI

After retiring from the FBI, Gunderson set up a private investigation firm, Ted L. Gunderson and Associates, in Santa Monica. In 1980, he became a defense investigator for Green Beret doctor Jeffrey R. MacDonald, who had been convicted of the 1970 murders of his pregnant wife and two daughters. Gunderson obtained affidavits from Helena Stoeckley confessing to her involvement in the murders which she claimed had in actuality been perpetrated by a Satanic cult of which she was a member.{{cite web | author= |publisher=Associated Press International |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EFDE1139F934A25757C0A964948260&scp=1&sq=%22Helena+Stoeckley+%22&st=nyt |title=Around the Nation; Investigation Reopened In Doctor's Murder Case |date=1982-04-17 |access-date=2008-08-21}}

Stoeckley later took and passed a polygraph, with the military examiner concluding that Stoeckley truthfully believed that she was present at MacDonald's home during the murders. But because of her drug use during and after the murders, the examiner could not conclude if she was actually present at the scene of the murders.{{Cite web|title=Helena Stoeckley polygraph by Robert Brisentine {{!}} Jeffrey MacDonald Case|url=http://www.crimearchives.net/1979_macdonald/cid/1971-04-23_1971-04-24_poly_stoeckley.html|access-date=2021-08-18|website=www.crimearchives.net}} Some time afterwards, Stoeckley changed her story and denied ever having seen MacDonald, and was adamant she was not involved.The Murder Almanac, p. 112. {{ISBN|978-1897784044}}. Under oath, Stoeckley denied any culpability in murders, and any knowledge of who may have committed the acts.{{Cite book |last=McGinniss |first=Joe |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9111302 |title=Fatal Vision |date=1983 |publisher=G.P. Putnam Sons |isbn=978-0399128165 |location=New York |oclc=9111302}} On her deathbed at the age of 31, Stoeckley changed her story one final time and reiterated and reaffirmed that she was present during the murder of MacDonald's family and that MacDonald himself is innocent.{{Cite web|title=Jeffrey MacDonald's Wife Says He Is 'At Peace' As Judge Considers New Evidence|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/jeffrey-macdonalds-wife-peace-judge-considers-evidence/story?id=17262378|access-date=2021-08-18|website=ABC News|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Morris|first=Errol|author-link=Errol Morris|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/760974114|title=A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald|date=2012|publisher=Penguin Press|isbn=978-1594203435|location=New York|oclc=760974114}}

Gunderson became a leading figure on the far-right{{Cite news|last=SERRANO|first=RICHARD A.|date=11 December 1999|title=Keeping an Eye on Would-Be Y2K Terrorists - Los Angeles Times|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-11-mn-42795-story.html|access-date=2021-04-26}} and a leading anti-government conspiracy theorist.{{Cite news|date=29 August 1996|title=Anti-Government Rally Set for Washington|agency=Associated Press|url=https://oklahoman.com/article/2546811/anti-government-rally-set-for-washington|access-date=2021-04-26|via=The Oklahoman}}

Gunderson was involved in the McMartin preschool case, at the heart of the 1980s "satanic panic".{{Cite journal |last=Wyatt |first=W. Joseph |date=2002-05-01 |title=What was Under the McMartin Preschool? A Review and Behavioral Analysis of the "Tunnels" Find |journal=Behavior and Social Issues |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=29–39 |doi=10.5210/bsi.v12i1.77 |s2cid=143610786 |issn=2376-6786|doi-access=free }}{{Cite book |last=Beck |first=Richard |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/884814316 |title=We Believe the Children: a Moral Panic in the 1980s |date=2015 |isbn=978-1610392877 |edition=1 |location=New York |oclc=884814316}} He made numerous confident statements supporting the truth of the supposed abuse ring{{Cite book |last=De Young |first=Mary |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53900894 |title=The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic |date=2004 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0-7864-1830-3 |location=Jefferson, N.C. |oclc=53900894}} and became a "recognized spokesman on the dangers of satanic ritual cults".{{Cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38566093 |title=Moral panic : changing concepts of the child molester in modern America |date=1998 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0300073879 |location=New Haven, CT |oclc=38566093}}

In a 1995 conference in Dallas, Gunderson warned about the proliferation of purported secret occultist groups, and the danger posed by the New World Order, a conspiracy theory about an alleged shadow government that would be controlling the United States government. He also claimed that a "slave auction" in which children were sold by Saudi Arabian agents to men had been held in Las Vegas, that four thousand ritual human sacrifices are performed in New York City every year, and that the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was carried out by the U.S. government.{{cite web | author=Evan Harrington |publisher=Skeptical Inquirer |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/conspiracy_theories_and_paranoia_notes_from_a_mind-control_conference/ |title=Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia: Notes From a Mind-Control Conference |date=September 1996 |access-date=2012-04-29}}

Gunderson also claimed that in the United States, there is a secret widespread network of groups who kidnap children and infants and subject them to ritual abuse and subsequent human sacrifice.{{citation |chapter= Chapter 10: Satanism and Ritual Abuse |author= Philip Jenkins |title= The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements |editor= James R. Lewis |publisher= Oxford University Press |date= July 2008 |isbn= 978-0195369649 |doi= 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195369649.001.0001 |pages= 222, 241 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9780195369649 |url-access= subscription }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{citation |chapter= Satanism: myth and reality in a contemporary moral panic |author= Philip Jenkins and Daniel Maier-Katkin |title= Critical Readings: Moral Panics and the Media |editor= Chas Critcher |publisher= Open University Press |pages= 90–91, 93 |year= 2006 |isbn= 978-0335218073 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BWf4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT110}}

The Southern Poverty Law Center believed Gunderson "played a pivotal role in the anti-government 'patriot' movement".{{Cite web|date=8 May 2001|title=False Patriots|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2001/false-patriots|access-date=2021-04-26|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en}} Gunderson alleged the U.S. government was preparing for mass executions by setting up a thousand internment camps and purchasing 30,000 guillotines.{{Cite news |last=Ingram |first=Hunter |title=Fact check: Fake claim about US purchase of 30,000 guillotines has circulated for years |language=en-US |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/02/fact-check-claim-stating-us-bought-30-000-guillotines-fake/5658967002/ |access-date=2021-04-26}}{{Cite news |date=2009-08-29 |title=Secret camps and guillotines? Groups make 'birthers' look sane |language=en-US |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/08/29/secret-camps-and-guillotines-groups-make-birthers-look-sane/ |access-date=2021-04-26}}{{Cite web|last=Keller|first=Larry|date=30 August 2009|title=Evidence Grows of Far-Right Militia Resurgence|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2009/evidence-grows-far-right-militia-resurgence|access-date=2021-04-26|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en}} He was also an architect of conspiracy theories around the Oklahoma City bombing, promoting a narrative of an FBI coverup, and the idea that if McVeigh was one of the bombers then it was due to secret government mind control.{{Cite news|last=Witt|first=Howard|date=9 May 1995|title=AMID OKLAHOMA MYSTERIES, CONSPIRACY IDEAS WIN HEARING|language=en-US|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-05-09-9505090337-story.html|access-date=2021-04-26}}

Gunderson had an association with former music producer and conspiracy film maker Anthony J. Hilder. Hilder had interviewed him regarding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.9/11 Decoded: Journey to Polynesia by Jim Garrity · 2015 - [https://books.google.com/books?id=-i_LCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Ted+Gunderson%22Hilder&pg=PT41 THE WTC EXPERIMENTAL BOMB] He also appeared in Hilder's Reichstag '95 and Illuminazi 911 documentaries.Something in This Book Is True, Second Edition by Bob Frissell - [https://books.google.com/books?id=-SF5vxZ96y8C&dq=%22Ted+Gunderson%22Hilder&pg=PA75 Page 75 Notes][https://books.google.com/books?id=t0ghAQAAMAAJ The Free American!, vol. 10] (2003), [https://books.google.com/books?id=t0ghAQAAMAAJ pp. 3, 11, 19.] Published by Clayton R. Douglas. Digitized by the University of Wisconsin.

Gunderson did not believe that Sonny Bono died in a skiing accident. Instead, Gunderson alleged that top officials linked to an international drug and weapons ring feared the singer-turned-politician was about to expose their crimes, so they had Bono murdered on the ski slopes and staged the accident.{{Cite web|date=2008-04-03|title=Sonny Bono 'assassinated' by hitmen: former FBI agent|url=https://www.news.com.au/news/sonny-bono-assassinated/news-story/2982ca725305be3fe4fb85f049fb916c|access-date=2021-08-20|website=NewsComAu|language=en|archive-date=2021-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820133709/https://www.news.com.au/news/sonny-bono-assassinated/news-story/2982ca725305be3fe4fb85f049fb916c|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|date=9 April 2008|title=FBI agent claims Sonny Bono was murdered|language=en-GB|work=NME|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/nme-1352-1322477|access-date=2021-04-26}}

Death

On July 31, 2011 Gunderson's son reported that his father had died from bladder cancer.[http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/18527976/former-memphis-fbi-chief-dies Former Memphis FBI Chief Dies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624073947/http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/18527976/former-memphis-fbi-chief-dies |date=2013-06-24}}

Publications

[https://darkideas.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-Mystery-of-the-Carefully-Crafted-Hoax.pdf Foreword] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113033820/https://darkideas.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-Mystery-of-the-Carefully-Crafted-Hoax.pdf |date=2021-11-13 }} to [https://darkideas.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-Mystery-of-the-Carefully-Crafted-Hoax.pdf The Mystery of the Carefully Crafted Hoax.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113033820/https://darkideas.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-Mystery-of-the-Carefully-Crafted-Hoax.pdf |date=2021-11-13 }} Lincoln, Neb.: Nebraska Leadership Conference (1991). pp. iv-vii. {{OCLC|26868017}}.
[http://tedgunderson.info/index_htm_files/How%20to%20Locate%20Anyone%20Anywhere.pdf How to Locate Anyone Anywhere Without Leaving Home], with Roger McGovern. New York: Penguin Books (Jun. 1991). {{ISBN|978-0525484752}}.
New York: E.P. Dutton (1996).
[https://archive.org/download/TheGundersonReportOnTheOklahomaCityOklah/The%20Gunderson%20Report%20on%20the%20Oklahoma%20City%2C%20Oklah.pdf The Gunderson Report on the Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. April 19, 1995.] Las Vegas: Ted L. Gunderson and Associates (Jan. 11, 1996).

References

External links

[https://archive.org/details/FBIFileTedGunderson FBI file on Ted Gunderson]
[http://tedgunderson.info/ Memorial Ted Gunderson website by the Protestant Church of America]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BplUD6kQYuU Ted whistle-blowing on various cases]

Category:1928 births

Category:2011 deaths

Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation agents

Category:Law enforcement officials from Alabama

Category:Law enforcement officials from Connecticut

Category:Law enforcement officials from Dallas

Category:Law enforcement officials from Los Angeles County, California

Category:Law enforcement officials from New Mexico

Category:Law enforcement officials from New York City

Category:Law enforcement officials from Philadelphia

Category:Law enforcement officials from Tennessee

Category:American private investigators