American Shrapnel Ch. 1: The Blob Man

The American South is rocked by an explosion at the 1996 Olympics. One woman is killed, while several others are hurt. The real bomber eludes police as they mistakenly target Richard Jewell, a security guard, only to detonate once again. And once more. One fuzzy picture of the assailant is created from thousands of images and videos; the FBI dubbed him Blob Man.

After a fourth bomb kills in Birmingham, a student notices a man acting suspiciously, which leads to a break at last.

This episode, which is based on interviews and recently opened archive data found by the Birmingham Public Library, follows that student on his audacious pursuit across Birmingham’s Southside in his own words.

Meet the people who were hurt by the shrapnel and tossed around by the blast’s hurricane power. Witnesses, experts, federal agents, police officers, and, for the first time, the hero himself were among them.

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Alabama Media Group’s eight-part series is called American Shrapnel. The largest pipe bomb the FBI had ever seen is where it all began. The biggest manhunt in American history ends in a garbage. This is the tale of the emergence of American anger and Eric Rudolph. accessible on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and other podcasting platforms.