# Have bomb threats ever had, you know, and actual bomb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787 "2013-06-12T05:20:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/1 "2013-06-12T05:20:41Z")
It’s seems like the thing to do these days is call in a bomb threat to some institution. Everybody dutifully files out of the building until it’s been determined (how?) that there is no bomb. Has there _ever_ been a bomb? Has evacuating the premises ever saved any lives? ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/2 "2013-06-12T05:28:54Z")
Olympic Park Bomber (presumably) “warned” ahead of time. [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists\_spies/terrorists/eric\_rudolph/1.html](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/terrorists/eric_rudolph/1.html) Not sure he was actually trying to save people or not. He may have been trying to balance not killing people with having his bomb actually go off, but I don’t know. Killed two people (one by heart attack). ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/3 "2013-06-12T05:41:25Z")
FWIW - he claims he was trying to save non government people… > **[Eric Rudolph Atlanta Court Statement](http://www.armyofgod.com/EricRudolphAtlantaCourtStatement.html)** > > Eric Rudolph Atlanta Court Statement re: The Centennial Park bombing. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/4 "2013-06-12T05:42:21Z")
If a “bomb threat” has an actual bomb, it is not a bomb threat anymore. It is a bomb warning. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/5 "2013-06-12T05:44:57Z")
ISTR that the IRA usually called the locations they were bombing. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/6 "2013-06-12T06:01:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > ISTR that the IRA usually called the locations they were bombing. As did the Irgun. Notably, there was a great deal of dispute between the Irgun and the British government on the timing of warnings preceding the 1946 [bombing of the King David Hotel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing#Warnings), which killed 91 people. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/7 "2013-06-12T06:04:48Z")
[Harvey’s Resort Hotel bombing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey%27s_Resort_Hotel_bombing), Stateline, Nevada, August 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/8 "2013-06-12T14:34:47Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > [Harvey’s Resort Hotel bombing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey%27s_Resort_Hotel_bombing), Stateline, Nevada, August 1980. Wow. Just looking at that Wikipedia article and [the FBI page cited as one of its sources](http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/august/harvey_082609), what an interesting story. The bomb was built by a millionaire ex-Nazi Luftwaffe pilot gambling addict to extort $3 million dollars from a casino. It was one of the largest, and remains the most complex, home-made bombs ever studied, containing eight triggering mechanisms, three timers, and considered impossible even for its creator to fully disarm. What a strange story, it’s like a movie (or maybe it’s more correct to say, “movies have borrowed parts of this story.”) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/9 "2013-06-12T15:09:35Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > ISTR that the IRA usually called the locations they were bombing. Famously, [the 1996 bombing of Manchester.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing) Police received a one-hour warning, giving time to evaucate folks. It also gave time for news organizations to get [cameras in place.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFpvfz8Ls4Y) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/10 "2013-06-12T15:48:50Z")
Two law enforcement people were killed in 2008 and one severely injured when investigating a bomb threat near Portland, OR. They found a box they thought was a fake, and it exploded when one was trying to open it. > **[Bomb explodes at Woodburn bank, killing a police officer and OSP bomb...](https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2008/12/bomb_explodes_outside_bank_in.html)** > > Woodburn's chief critically injured; investigators have begun to identify suspects ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/11 "2013-06-13T00:34:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > ISTR that the IRA usually called the locations they were bombing. The IRA generally contacted local police and occasionally media, rather than the locations themselves. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/12 "2013-06-13T01:45:25Z")
Warnings were phoned in before the [King David Hotel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing)bombing, and ignored. The [Mad Bomber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Metesky#Profile)gave warning of his attacks. The [Weather Underground](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground#June_1970_NYC_Police_bombing)gave a 6 minute warning before one of their bombs went off at a police station. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-bomb-threats-ever-had-you-know-and-actual-bomb/660787/13 "2013-06-13T02:02:20Z")
The student radicals who committed the [University of Wisconsin bombing in 1970](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hall_bombing) [called the police](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/21/AR2010092106588.html)shortly before the bomb went off, but a researcher in the building was killed anyway. I was interested to see that one of the four bombers is still at large.