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- Alcatraz 1962
- Episode 9
Alcatraz 1962: Spoons. Dummies. Open Water.Episode 91:43
The Raft Made from Prison Raincoats
Once the dummy faces are exposed, investigators reconstruct a rooftop flight leading to a homemade raft and the open Bay.
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Transcript
Three inmates built fake human heads from cardboard and human hair.
June 12th, 1962, guards found faces in Morris and the Anglins' bunks. The real occupants of all three cells were gone.
The escape plan had enlarged rear-cell vents with homemade drills. False wall segments concealed the work from the cellblock.
June 12th, 1962, guards identified missing prisoners. They were Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin.
Behind the cells, a utility corridor had locked steel doors at both ends.
The three men climbed utility pipes to reach the cellblock's top. They bent iron bars blocking an air vent to reach the roof.
After reaching the roof, escapees climbed down a northern drainpipe. They presumably left near the powerhouse and quartermaster building.
Prison-issued raincoats became a raft and crude life vests. Clothing became equipment in the darkness.
Searchers recovered two life vests, one in the Bay, one outside Golden Gate.
They also recovered oars, but not the men who used them.
Allen West helped plan the escape, staying in his cell when guards discovered it.
The Anglin brothers' letters and photos were found wrapped against the water.
Someone planned for personal memories to survive the crossing.
2013 letter's author claimed to be John Anglin.
Later hydraulic modeling found a no-paddling window for the raft to reach land.
Researchers found 11:30 p.m. best to launch toward Horseshoe Bay.
But the simulations did not prove anyone survived.
Where it leaves off
Several weeks after the escape, an unidentified body in clothing resembling a prison uniform was found up the coast.
Sources
- Collections - Alcatraz Island (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
- Alcatraz Escape FBI Filespaperlessarchives.comsecondary
- BOP: Alcatrazbop.govsecondary
- A Letter from an Alcatraz Inmate May Give Insight to 1962 Escape | News | Secrets of the Dead | PBSpbs.orgsecondary
- Letter Allegedly Written By 1962 Alcatraz Island Escapee Surfaces - CBS San Franciscocbsnews.comsecondary
- Did three convicts survive their escape from Alcatraz? Modern modeling adds to a decades-old mysteryearthmagazine.orgsecondary
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