Modern Mysteries

Did the Alcatraz escapees actually survive ?

By T.K. Randall
October 13, 2015

Image: Alcatraz Island
Credit: Meburian / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) Long thought to have been inescapable, the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay was once the scene of a daring escape plan that went on to spawn a mystery that has spanned five decades.

The men involved in the escape were bank robbers Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris who in 1962 succeeded in pulling off one of the most audacious escape plans ever conceived.

To escape their cells the men spent six months painstakingly digging a tunnel out of the concrete using sharpened spoons. To keep the guards off their backs on the night of their escape they fashioned dummy heads from soap, paper and hair to place in their beds.

Once they managed to reach the water's edge the men then put together an inflatable raft made from raincoats and set off in to the fast-flowing water in an effort to reach safety. All three of them however disappeared that night and their fate has remained a mystery ever since.Now however new evidence has emerged suggesting that at least two of the men had actually managed to make it to safety that night. Of particular interest is a new photograph which shows brothers John and Clarence Anglin in Brazil in 1975 - 13 years after their escape from Alcatraz.

The image was reportedly taken by Fred Brizzi, a friend of the Anglin family, before eventually making its way to Art Roderick, the US Marshall who investigated the case back in the 1960s.

A forensic analysis of the image suggested that it is "highly likely" to be the real deal.

"When you work these types of cases, there's a feeling you get when stuff starts to fall into place," said Roderick. "I'm getting this feeling now.”

Source: New York Post

Tags: Alcatraz, Escape