In 1962, three men attempted to escape from Alcatraz prison by drilling through the walls of their cell and crawling through a utility corridor.
They were never seen again and are presumed to have drowned in the San Francisco Bay.
Here are ten fun facts about the Alcatraz Escape:
1. The prisoners used spoons and other utensils to drill through the walls of their cell.
2. It took them over two years to complete their escape route.
3. Their escape was discovered when guards found a note written by one of the prisoners detailing their plans. The men paddled out into San Francisco Bay, using a guitar as a paddle.
4. A search for the missing prisoners was conducted but they were never found. The three men who attempted to escape were John Anglin, Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris.
5. It is believed that they drowned while trying to swim across the San Francisco Bay to freedom.
6. The Anglin brothers were two of the most notorious criminals in America at the time. They had been convicted of armed robbery and bank robbery. Frank Morris was a career criminal who had been in and out of prisons since he was a teenager. He was considered a genius when it came to escaping from prison.
7. The escapees were never officially declared dead and their names remain on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
8. A movie based on the escape, titled “Escape from Alcatraz”, was released in 1979 starring Clint Eastwood.
9. In 2009, a book was published which claimed that the prisoners actually survived and made it to shore where they lived out the rest of their lives in hiding.
10. The case remains one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American history.
