In 1962, three men escaped from Alcatraz, but were eventually presumed dead, supposedly drowning in the waters of the San Francisco bay.
However, after running simulations of the escape, a team of Dutch scientists believe the men could have possibly survived their escape.
Alcatraz was notoriously a difficult prison to escape from. During its use as a federal penitentiary, from 1943 to 1963, there were only 14 escape attempts, most unsuccessful. However, in 1962, three inmates got away from the rocky island and were never seen again.
Two brothers, John and Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris used dummy heads made of plaster and real hair on their beds to fool the night guards. The men escaped through holes they bored in their cells, which led them to an empty utility room. From there, they climbed up to the prison's roof and climbed down the prison wall and over its fence. Experts believe they used a raft made of stolen inflated raincoats to paddle away.
These men were never seen or heard from again, presumed dead in the waters of San Francisco Bay. However, scientists now think, depending on when they escaped, that they very possibly paddled their way to shore and safety.
The scientists ran a simulation with such a raft leaving Alcatraz at 11:30 p.m. on June 11, 1962, one-and-a-half hours later than the escape attempt was presumably thought to have occurred. In this model, the prisoners survived, with debris later washing up on Angel Island, which is exactly what happened: the FBI discovered paddles and personal belongings there.
However, in another simulation, one ran at the original time believed for the escape, the prisoners did not survive, with strong currents carrying them out to sea. In this instance, though, no debris washed up.
This suggests that the escape happened later than initially thought and that the men possibly survived.
The original research mission behind this discovery, though, was more about building a model of the San Francisco Bay for studying sea-level rise there. However, the team realized they could also possibly solve the mystery of the missing Alcatraz inmates.
This isn't the first time someone has suggested that the men survived. The TV show, Mythbusters also investigated the case and stated the same.
"Of course, this doesn't prove this was what really happened, but the latest and best hydraulic modelling information indicates that it was certainly possible," says Rolf Hut, a researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
[Photo Credit: Wiki Commons]
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