VeteranXV
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3 Alcatraz inmates survived 1962 escape, swam to land, letter suggests | Fox News
Quote:
A letter emerged Tuesday that was purportedly written by a former inmate at Alcatraz who — along with two others -- managed to escape the island prison only to vanish without a trace.
The running theory about the inmates' fate is that they died shortly after stepping foot into the cold waters that separated the prison and San Francisco. But their bodies were never found and their story remains a mystery.
Prison officials and federal agents insisted at the time of the escape that the inmates — brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris — perished.
CBS San Francisco reported that it obtained a letter allegedly written by John Anglin. The letter contains an admission of escape and an explanation of the inmates' fate.
“My name is John Anglin,” the letter reads. “I escape (sic) from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. I’m 83 years old and in bad shape. I have cancer. Yes we all made it that night but barely.”
The letter continued, “If you announce on TV that I will be promised to first 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. This is no joke.”
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The FBI says the area at the lower right is believed to be the way the inmates went to launch their raft. (FBI)
The letter was sent to the San Francisco Police Department’s Richmond station in 2013, the report said. The station said it obtained the letter from an unnamed source.
The FBI tested the letter in 2013 for fingerprints but reportedly said results were inconclusive.
The three prisoners were serving sentences for bank robbery when they executed their escape plan using stolen spoons, dummy heads and a raincoat raft. Their exploits were turned into the 1979 movie “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood as Morris.
U.S. Marshal Michael Dyke, who inherited the unsolved case in 2003, told The Associated Press in 2012 that he didn’t know whether any members of the trio were still alive. But he had seen enough evidence to make him wonder.
That evidence included credible reports that the Anglins’ mother, for several years, received flowers delivered without a card, and that the brothers attended her 1973 funeral disguised in women’s clothes despite a heavy FBI presence.
The report pointed out that today Morris would be 90 and John and Clarence, the brothers, would be 86 and 87.
The federal government closed Alcatraz as a prison in 1963, just a year after the men's escape.
John Cantwell, National Park Service ranger, told the station that the Federal Bureau of Prisons said they drowned “once they got off” the island and were swept out to the Pacific.
“End of story,” he said.
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Always been fascinated by this, but I remain skeptical they survived.
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Veteran++ Contributor
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If they did good on them because having been around Alcatraz can say that water is no joke.
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VeteranXX
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this would be a sweet story if true
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VeteranX
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They were criminals. I hope they drowned and dide miserable deaths
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VeteranXX
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I think sheer willpower alone would energize most men through the cold. Alcatraz is farther from shore than I realized but if they made it as far as getting out of the prison along with their raft, I'm pretty sure they could survive long enough to ride the strong current to land (assuming they were strong swimmers bc I'm sure they took on water in the makeshift raft).
I've always been captivated by this story as well even though they were criminals. Putting myself in their shoes, I think I could make it in a life or death situation.
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VeteranXV
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How cold was the water when they escaped?
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Veteran++ Contributor
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Prob hypothermic.
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VeteranXX
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i feel the swim being so suicidal is exaggerated... plenty of locals swim across the whole bay every so often... theres even english channel swim competitions.
and ya ya they pro swimmers... but im sure any prisoner who works out their whole life + motivation of freedom can do just as well.
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Veteran++
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No ****
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VeteranXV Contributor
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One of my fav films.
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VeteranXX Contributor
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I think that letter stinks of troll.
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VeteranXV
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Quote:
The Anglin brothers, John William (May 2, 1930 ***8211; disappeared June 11, 1962) and Clarence (May 11, 1931 ***8211; disappeared June 11, 1962) were born into a family of thirteen children in Donalsonville, Georgia. Their parents, George Robert Anglin and Rachael Van Miller Anglin, were seasonal farm workers; in the early 1940s, they moved the family to Ruskin, Florida, 20 miles south of Tampa, where the truck farms and tomato fields provided a more reliable source of income. Each June they would migrate north as far as Michigan to pick cherries. Clarence and John were reportedly inseparable as youngsters; they became skilled swimmers, and amazed their siblings by swimming in the frigid waters of Lake Michigan as ice still floated on its surface
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Love∞
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The first thing I would do after escaping Alcatraz would be to walk over to the Ghirardelli store. That chocolate is amazing.
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VeteranXV Contributor
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This is interesting...shows they had no preconceived fears of the cold water etc.
What about Sharks? Wasn't that one of the theories as well?
Escape from Alcatraz is one of my favorite movies.
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VeteranX
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The cold isn't even the biggest problem, it's the currents. They're strong as **** and they don't take you to land, they take you out to sea.
Those cucks are ****ing dead, sorry.
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VeteranXX
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Lol how would they not catch them at the mothers wedding
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VeteranXV Contributor
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What if they had a boat waiting for them? Maybe hiding behind Angel Island until the time was right etc?
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VeteranXX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SirBatesAlot
The cold isn't even the biggest problem, it's the currents. They're strong as **** and they don't take you to land, they take you out to sea.
Those cucks are ****ing dead, sorry.
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So you don't believe O'Reilly's "the TIDE goes in, the TIDE goes out, you can't explain that"?
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VeteranXV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KittyCat
Lol how would they not catch them at the mothers wedding
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yeah there's a near 0% chance that part is true
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