It is one of America’s greatest mysteries: What happened to three men after they pulled off a daring prison break Alcatraz in 1962?
Only the worst criminals were sent to Alcatraz. And for 29 years, it was the most secure federal prison in the country – surrounded by the cold, rough waters of the Pacific.
In 1962, John and Clarence Anglin, together with Frank Morris, attempted to flee The Rock, which was located off the coast of San Francisco.
They spent more than a year planning their 1962 escape.
On June 12, 1962, guards on the morning shift found dummy heads made of plaster and human hair in the convicts’ beds, which “apparently fooled the night guards.”
Allen West was also a conspirator in the escape, but he couldn’t leave his cell in time after his ventilator grill wasn’t completely removed. He would later help authorities piece together how, exactly, the men escaped the offshore prison that was known for being inescapable.
The carefully-crafted plan began in December 1961 when the group gained possession of old saw blades, according to the FBI. Other crude tools helped the men remove the air vents in their cells, where they would hide their contraband. The three had previously shimmied through the vents into an unguarded section of the prison, which provided access to the roof. There, they created a makeshift workshop, where they surveyed the guards using an ad-hoc periscope.
The group had also made a 6×14 foot raft made of more than 50 raincoats and fashioned their own wooden oars.
Authorities believe that on the night of the escape, they returned to the roof before shimming down the smokestack of the prison’s bakery to the rear of the prison. They then scaled a fence and headed down to the beach before venturing into the rough, cold currents of the San Francisco Bay.
Within two days, investigators found “some paddle-like pieces of wood and bits of rubber inner tube” in the water and a makeshift life preserver washed up on Cronkhite Beach in Marin County. The men were never seen again.
The FBI never found any of the trio’s bodies and decided that they drowned in San Francisco Bay. It was originally assumed that no one had successfully fled the distant prison.
However, the finding was called into question after a letter was supposedly delivered in 2013 by John Anglin. The former inmate stated in the document that he was willing to return to prison in exchange for medical care. After receiving a letter claiming to have been written by one of the men, FBI officials restarted an investigation into three prisoners who escaped from Alcatraz.
The letter, according to the Metro, stated:
“Hello, my name is John Anglin. In June 1962, I escaped from Alcatraz with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. I’m 83 years old and in poor health. I’m a cancer patient. Yes, we all made it that night but barely!”
“Frank died in October of 2005. His grave can be found in Alexandria under a different name. In 2011, my brother passed away. If you declare on television that I will be promised to go to jail for no more than a year and receive medical attention, I will write back to let you know where I am. This is not a joke; it is for the true and honest truth.”
The Anglin brothers were imprisoned in Atlanta Penitentiary for bank robberies, where they were sentenced to 15-20 years in prison, but were transferred to Alcatraz following a failed escape attempt.
Watch the video report below for more details:
