Before the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary opened in 1934, the US government called it "inescapable." In 1962, three inmates proved that theory false.
Alcatraz's Past
Triathletes travel from around the world every year to participate in the "Escape from Alcatraz" swim in the San Francisco Bay. Most people join this event just to prove their fitness, but some individuals take the plunge to see firsthand what it was like to escape from the world's most heavily guarded prison.
Nowadays...
Alcatraz isn't actually a functional prison facility anymore, partially because of the 1962 prison break that caused the Department of Defense to want to shut down the facility. Nobody knows exactly how the escape went down in the moment. But, it seems like the story of the inmate's experience likely didn't end with them drowning in the harbor...
How It All Began
In early 1962, rumors spread around the Alcatraz prison yard of three prisoner's plans to escape. Most of the inmates scoffed at the idea. They thought that the place was impenetrable because that's what the authorities told them, but these three individuals could see through the facade.
Frank Lee Morris
Frank Morris became friends with Clarence and John Anglin when he was serving a prison sentence in Atlanta. The three friends found themselves jailed near one another when they all eventually got moved to Alcatraz. Together, they devised a plan to escape...
Collecting Materials
The trio began collecting spoons from the mess hall. On their own, the aluminum spoons were flimsy and useless. But, when pressed and sharpened, the spoons became sturdy picks for chipping away at the concrete walls. The criminals' plan was tedious, but they were in no hurry.
Under the Cover of War
While they were in the midst of their escape plans, the trio learned about an event called the "Battle of Alcatraz" from a prisoner who was in there with them. This event happened because a group of prisoners attempted to overthrow the police on the island back in 1946. They were easily overpowered by authorities that got shipped in after the battle began, and every person who was involved either got executed or was given a life sentence. So, the trio knew that they needed to work as carefully as possible since their lives were on the line...
Taking the Risk
So, inciting a prison riot as cover for their escape came off the table as quickly as it was proposed. In fact, this information led the trio to assume that anything they do that could potentially get them caught probably was a death sentence. The group needed to disappear in silence. Nobody was to realize they left until after they had gone.
Digging the Hole
So, the trip continued to dig. They started by expanding the concrete ventilation ducts to fit a human-sized mass through it. For some reason, the guards allowed the prisoners to practice musical instruments at random parts of the day. They covered the sound of their excavation with the screech of an untuned accordion for hours every day...
Taking the time
The team used the time it took to dig their ventilation holes out to source materials for the rest of the escape. They collected supplies by offering incentives to prisoners in different wings for swiping the things that they needed. They even paid a prisoner to take dark, straight hair clippings from the barber.
Here's Where the Hair Went
The trio made paper mache molds of their heads. Each one was outfitted with some hair that was taken from the barbershop. The idea was that these fake heads would buy them a little time if the prison guards came looking for them and decided to turn around because they were "sleeping in their cells..."
Making the First Move
On June 11th, at 1:03 am, the convicts decided to move. They each crawled through their respective holes, up through the ventilation shaft and onto the roof of the prison. The reason we know this is because they made a loud noise when removing the ventilation grate that alerted the attention of some prisoners.
Keeping Their Heads in the Game
Fortunately for the escapees, the guards didn't hear the bang from the grate on the roof. In fact, they had just completed a patrol and had nothing to report. The paper mache heads kept the convicts' escape a secret until the next morning...
The Next Morning
The Alcatraz authorities were dumbstruck when they discovered that the prisoners were gone the next morning. They interrogated and tortured every prisoner that had any sort of relationship with the convicts until they got some information about their escape. The cops couldn't figure out how the trio actually managed to get off of the roof, but they got a tortured inmate to say that the trio had constructed a raft out of raincoats and they were headed towards the closest island to the penitentiary.
Surveying the Area
All that was reportedly found by the police that day was a singular home-made life vest, a makeshift paddle, and bits of plastic that were assumed to be part of the raincoat-raft. The cops called their search a victory, they assumed that nobody would have been able to survive a swim across the San Francisco Bay. They stated, with the utmost confidence, that the prisoners had died while trying to escape on the raft...
Declaring Themselves as Victors
The police who came to the island stated to the world that there was still no way to escape the island, despite not finding any evidence that the men actually died as they said. The cops weren't trying to find answers, they were trying to shift the blame off of them. This mishandling of information most likely resulted in the convicts' impunity if (or when) they made it to land.
The Letters
Clarence and John's family were sent postcards on every holiday and each individual family member's birthday every year. Mrs. Anglin got an anonymous bouquet in the mail every Mother's Day until she died. Some people think that these postcards were pranks, but most believe that they actually came from Clarence and John...
Sightings
To add to the postcard debacle, there was a famous "sighting" of Clarence and John in an anonymous photograph that was taken in Brazil. A former associate of Frank Lee Morris reported running into him in Maryland. While there is no way to prove that the men in this picture are John and Clarence Anglin, we don't think that it's impossible that they are them.
Taking the Bait
The FBI followed these leads until they dried up. They gave out aged figure drawings of the three men to every police force in America in hopes that they would turn up in some capacity. The case ran cold. At least, it was cold until some new developments were brought up in 2013...
The Letter
In 2013, a mysterious letter arrived at the Pentagon that was addressed to "The FBI." The letter was supposedly written by John Anglin, brother of Clarence, and one of the three escapees from Alcatraz. He said that he was the last member of the trio that was still living. He also disclosed that he needed help.
What Will They Do?
John Anglin stated in the letter that he was dying of cancer. He was unable to go to any medical facilities around him since he didn't have any real identification. He offered to exchange one more year of his life to the prison system if he was able to receive medical care...
This Raised Some Questions
The FBI was able to possibly link the letter to Anglin's handwriting from when he was in the prison system. However, since Anglin would have been extremely old, and so they could support their original decision of declaring the men dead, they said that the letter was not authentic. But, they were thoroughly unable to prove whether the letter was real or not...
All That's Left
Although the letter had the potential to be looked into, the FBI wrote it off as an elaborate ruse that was not worth their time. That letter is likely the last piece of evidence that's connected to the Alcatraz escapees that will ever feasibly surface. Was the letter real? Well, let's look at the facts...
What Could It Mean?
The San Francisco police had the letter in their possession for five years before releasing it to the public. They knew exactly what they were doing by hiding it away. They simply didn't want inquisitive people to find out about it within a reasonable timeframe...
Misusing Their Time
The US Marshals Service sent the letter into the FBI's laboratory for forensic handwriting analysis roughly two years after they received the letter. From what it seems, there's either something that the government is withholding or, they purposefully wanted to let the letter get old...
What's the Potential
The results came back "inconclusive," according to the FBI's forensic analysis team. Even though thousands of hobbyist investigators (some of which are linguistics experts) were able to find distinct similarities between John Anglin's handwriting on the letter compared to things he wrote while in prison. These findings, despite being more professional than what the US government was willing to disclose, got tossed out...
What Does the Letter Say?
In his letter, John Anglin explains that he and his brother, as well as Frank Lee Morris, all made it off the island safely. He said that they all lived into old age, but his brother Clarence died in 2008, and Morris died in 2005. Anglin tried to use the letter as an incentive for news agencies to get what he wanted...
The Plot Thickens
Anglin, or whoever wrote the letter and used his name as an alias, stated: "If you announce on TV that I will be promised to just go to jail for no more than a year and get medical attention I will write back to let you know exactly where I am." The authorities did not follow up on this...
Filling in the Blanks
"I am 83 years old and in bad shape. I have cancer." was the last line in the letter. According to the author, Anglin had been living in Seattle ever since he escaped. From there he moved to North Dakota for eight years. His letter was sent from an undisclosed location in Southern California...
What About Their Families?
The nephews of John and Clarence Anglin testified to CBS about the fact that their grandmother received bouquets of roses addressed to her from John and Clarence starting roughly seven years after the infamous escape. They did not believe that someone was playing a cruel trick on them. They are also not the only ones who believe that the letters came from the brothers...
The Family is Revolted
Despite their nephew's outspokenness, the FBI chose not to disclose any information about the letter until it was far too late. The family was disgusted that the letter was not given to them or anyone else who was willing to help. If it weren't for the FBI mishandling the information, John could have lived, and we could have learned exactly how the three men managed to escape.
Evidence Might Suggest Otherwise
Although there is a distinct counterculture that suggests that the men survived, there have been bits of evidence that suggest otherwise. Roughly one month after the men escaped, a Norwegian boat driver reported seeing a body about 17 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. The man did not know of the escapees, and the San Francisco police jumped on the case immediately...
But Alas
Unfortunately, the man filed the claim far too late after he supposedly saw the body, and the police were never able to locate what he was looking for. Strangely, his description of the floating figure matched what the Alcatraz prisoners wore perfectly. However, some researchers think that, based on their data, the men wouldn't have ended up close to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Using Science
Some scientists made some current charts that supposedly date back to when the men escaped. In theory, based on the way the current was moving the night the men escaped, they probably got swept further south. The police were not searching south, they were looking in a direct line from the jail to the city, that's probably where they went wrong...
Did You Want to Hear More Evidence?
Despite the boat captain's claims, it's safe to say that most conspiracy theorists assume that the men lived through the escape. For instance, one of the largest bits of evidence was a confession from Robert Anglin, the younger brother of John and Clarence. He stated on his death bed that they had been in contact after the escape...
The Anglin Family
Robert Anglin said that he was in regular contact with John and Clarence between the years of 1963 and 1987. after 1987, he said that the brothers were never heard from again. Robert kept this information secret until the day he died because he feared that the FBI would target his family to pay reparations for his brother's escape...
The Anglin Resistence
The Anglin family was regularly harassed by law enforcement, so much so that Robert feared that they were going to take him to Alcatraz to serve both of his brother's sentences. They threatened his mother and disclosed their personal information wherever they went. They received threats of violence through the mail, and on more than one occasion he saw people staking out their home...
Fearing the Worst
Robert and the rest of the Anglins feared for their safety, so they kept their mouths shut and their windows closed. They hoped that the FBI would eventually leave them alone, but they were wrong. They were followed until their last days on Earth, all because of an inherent relationship with a cold case that made the FBI and the police look inept...
How Fragile is the Police's Theory?
Although we're pretty critical of the dismissal that law enforcement gave the case, their theory isn't all wrong. The waters around Alcatraz are very, very cold, and rough. The current would have torn the makeshift boat apart. But, from what it seems, the men were prepared for that...
The Tools
Remember earlier when we mentioned that there were remnants of the boat found? Bits of plastic, a floating oar, and a home-made life vest. The escapees knew that the water was rough. They knew exactly what they were getting into. The fact that they even made life vests tells us that there is increased potential that they survived...
Don't Lose Hope
If you're team "prison escapee," then don't lose faith. This is one of those stories that will never truly be solved unless someone invents a time machine. But, if you're curious about those who built up the most respected theories about the escape, you can take a tour of the facility...
Go Check it Out!
Alcatraz shut down shortly after the trio escaped. But, a recent resurgence of true crime lore has piqued the interest of many "dark tourists" out there. The entire Alcatraz facility has been memorialized, and the cells contain stories about the individuals that stayed within them...
Even Al Capone
Alcatraz was actually impenetrable for the people who chose to stay. Al Capone was one of those individuals. The people that were wealthy enough to buy themselves pleasantries like radios, televisions, books, chairs, lamps, and better bedding actually might have enjoyed their time in the slammer...
The Legend Lives On
The largest exhibit on the island documents the escape of Frank Lee Morris, John, and Clarence Anglin. This exhibit has applied all of the theories that hobbyist investigators have put their fingers on over the years. Long story short, nobody knows for sure, but some people really think that they have a firm grasp on what happened...
So, What do You Think?
Do you think that the escapees survived the trip over the pond? Or, do you think they sank into their watery graves knowing that, at least, the Alcatraz walls were penetrable? Either way, this case will likely never be solved.