Escape from Alcatraz - how they could do it?!

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Yes, I think, the most obvious answer is not.

But if anyone disagrees, it would be interesting to see, why.

Anyway, the biggest mystery is the following, I think:

How they could make it (the escape) in such a secrecy?!

At least the "Mythbusters" people thought, that even dropping a needle could have been heard from their positions!

All the best
Jukka

[evabaruk]

Alcatraz was a military prison beginning in the 1860's . As a Military Prison, documented are at least eighty (80) men had attempted to escape in twenty-nine (29) separate attempts; of those, sixty-two (62) were caught, one (1) may have drowned, and seventeen (17) were unknown.

As a Federal Penitentiary and from a total of 1,033 prisoners, thirty-four (34) men had attempted to escape in fourteen (14) separate attempts; of those, twenty-three (23) were caught, six (6) were shot and killed, and five (5) are missing and assumed by Prison Authorities to have drowned.

Haven't had a chance to look at this site in depth but it does have a brief synopsis of escape attempts.

http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/sfoeat01.htm

[Mike Covell]

I loved the Mythbusters episode were they took on this myth.

[Vila]

As I recall, the TV show Unsolved Mysteries also devoted an hour-long episode to the "Escape From Alcatraz" theme. The show was, as usual, split into different segments that were shown interwoven. There was an attempt to recreate the raft and paddles used in the escape, a champion swimmer attempting to cross from the islant to the nearest shore, and displays of the decoy heads the escapees used to fool the guards during the cell checks.

Only the swimmer actually made the crossing successfully, and he was suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion when he finally made it to shore. The reconstructed raft came unglued in the surf and the recreators were dumpped into the water before they'd had time to get more than a few hundred meters away from the island.

Their conclusion: Escape was possible, but very highly unlikely. Only an athelete who was in perfect condition stood the remotest chance of crossing the bay alive. The real prisoners on Alcatraz were not in any sort of physical condition to have had a chance.

Vila

[Red Zeppelin]

Their conclusion: Escape was possible, but very highly unlikely. Only an athelete who was in perfect condition stood the remotest chance of crossing the bay alive. The real prisoners on Alcatraz were not in any sort of physical condition to have had a chance.

Unless they gave up paddling and just drifted with the tide down towards the Golden Gate and then reached the shore where the bay narrows.

I have a sneaking feeling they made it. The raft and other bits were found but no bodies were.You would think even one body would have been found. There was an extensive search........but no bodies were found.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Red!

I've read this week, that a body was found in a prisoner's outfit later!

However, the body was so rotten, that it couldn't be identified...

All the best
Jukka

[Mayerling]

Hi Jukka,

I suspect that they did drown. It was a really involved and clever plan in getting materials, and getting access to the roof and then getting down to the side of the island, but once they were in that bay they had to hope that makeshift raft worked and that they could reach the shore. And experiments show it couldn't.

But I suspect "wish fulfillment" has made it a permenant subject for speculation. Although they were three criminals, we are aware that life on "the Rock" was quite harsh, and we sort of hope they had the luck to escape.

I'm more curious about an earlier attempt when a prisoner did apparently disappear after getting into the water - and a few years later one of the others got a postcard that seemed to be written by that prisoner!

Best wishes,

Jeff

[Ally]

While the mythbusters are entertaining, sometimes they are idiots. They went to alcatraz when it was empty. Not considering hundreds of prisoners around and making noise and causing a distraction...

I just was at Alcatraz not 5 days ago so this thread did definitely catch my eye. I was surprised by how close it was to the San Francisco shore. Now I am a Florida girl born and bred and could swim before I could walk, but I always thought the distance involved was much greater than it was...of course, it's freezing there, so that would have to be taken into consideration.

And nowhere on the documentaries does it tell you the most horrifying truth of all: Alcatraz smells like piss. Overwhelming, horrifying stench of pee. It'd be worth drowning to get away from that.

[sdreid]

There was one inmate for sure who did successfully complete the swim but he was captured on the opposite shore because he was too exhausted to flee at much faster than crawl speed.

[Red Zeppelin]

Hello Red!

I've read this week, that a body was found in a prisoner's outfit later!

However, the body was so rotten, that it couldn't be identified...

All the best
Jukka

Hi there,

I have never ever read or heard of any bodies being found in conjunction with the particular escape on the raft with Morris et al. That's why the mystery is still open, because nobody knows for sure what happened to them.

Are you sure the body you are talking about was not from a different escape attempt?

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Red!

Here's a link to the site:

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=806

I hope to see your view!

All the best
Jukka

[kensei]

No one seems to be mentioning the Clint Eastwood movie "Escape from Alcatraz." Can anyone comment on the accuracies and/or inaccuracies of that film, or parts that were complete fiction as always seems to happen in the movies?

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Kensei!

At least two things can be said;

1. So far there hasn't been mentioned about anyone's homosexual interest for Frank Morris.

2. The fourth guy wasn't "Charlie's Butt", but Allen West!

All the best
Jukka

[Red Zeppelin]

Hello Red!

Here's a link to the site:

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=806

I hope to see your view!

All the best
Jukka

Hi again,

Thanks. That's the first I have heard of that despite reading and watching quite a lot on the subject so I doubt if even the authorities placed too much importance on it or else more would have been made.

Your link says there is "no strong evidence either way" so I would suggest that the ties to the drowned body must be tenuous. Besides, wouldn't dental records have clinched the deal?

[Red Zeppelin]

No one seems to be mentioning the Clint Eastwood movie "Escape from Alcatraz." Can anyone comment on the accuracies and/or inaccuracies of that film, or parts that were complete fiction as always seems to happen in the movies?

Apparently the film portrayed Morris as too much of the mastermind behind the plan compared to the reality.