And That's Why We Drink - E111 A Ghost Tour by Em and a Mother of Pearl Pie Tin

Episode Date: March 17, 2019

We’re currently sweating and hiding from gators in Florida, so this week we’re coming to you LIVE in our beanies from Portland, Oregon, home of our first standing ovation! (Trust me, we didn’t believe it either.) Listen up as Em covers the dark and twisted history of the infamous Shanghai Tunnels. Meanwhile, Christine covers a story she’s been waiting to tell since episode one… the mystery of skyjacker DB Cooper! We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week. Check out our tour schedule at andthatswhywedrink.com/live! Try Instacart today and get $10 off your first order! Go to instacart.com or download the mobile app and enter promo code DRINK at checkout!  Get $80 off your first month of Hello Fresh by going to hellofresh.com/drink80 and enter code DRINK80 Get 15% off your first Thirdlove purchase when you go to third love.com/drink Get a free stock when you sign up with Robinhood! Go to drink.robinhood.com

Hello from really humid Florida. Hello! I'm so sweaty, help. We are currently traveling in Florida and for that very reason we are going to provide you today the beautiful sounds of the Pacific Northwest. You're going to be hearing our Portland show, yay! Which, by the way, was one of our favorite shows. It was very loud and it might shock you too that people thought we were really funny in Portland. We're really only posting it as proof in case anyone says, you're lying, because we want other people to hear it, too. But you're a great audience. I mean, you're all a great audience, but we had an awesome time in Portland.

Yes, and we hope you like it. The stories are super fun. Yeah, I think these are two of our coolest topics so far. Yeah, we're cool. Yeah, we're just really cool of our best, our coolest topics so far. Yeah, we're cool. Yeah. We're just really cool. That's all we're trying to say. Why don't you get it after several, several episodes?

We are hip and with it. It only took a hundred and however many. I don't even want to guess. We're hip and with it. All right. Thanks, guys. We'll come back at you next week with a recorded episode. But for now, we hope you enjoy our Portland show.

And we hope we get to see you at some of our upcoming live shows um go to and that's where we drink.com slash live we're going to midwest and some other places soon so hopefully we'll see you yay bye so let's crack into the city food sorry i feel like a kid that's about to give a presentation that he has no idea about. We just flew in from Los Angeles. And boy, are my orange tires. Fun fact, he was a long time. English is my first language. Is Tamara home?

What? Sassy with me. Sassy the clown. The clown is shy. Oh, sweet. Finish your drink. And that's why we dream! Eva, Eva, write that down. Write that down.

Wow. That was the best. What the fuck? You're crying? Oh, you're hot. Okay, I get it. That's fine. Holy shit.

That's the loudest we've ever heard in our entire lives. No. No, that's the loudest. Yeah. No, you beat Texas, so that's saying something. Holy crap. Did you guys like that little...

That weird intro? That weird intro we just did? You're the first people to ever hear it. Yeah. And maybe the last, we'll see. We were like, let's see what happens so thank you guys for being our guinea pigs oh my god this is so cool i love portland i've never been here before no me either yeah but i've had a blast it's so i do know that i'm not cool enough to be here i think

so you guys are way cooler than me. Everyone in Portland looks so cool. Everyone looks so stylish. You can pull off a beanie. Everyone can pull off a beanie. I don't know how it happens. I tried wearing a beanie all day yesterday to fit in, and it didn't work. No. Everyone knows.

I have two friends from high school that live here, too, so I've been hanging out with them. And they were both like, why the fuck are you wearing a beanie? And I was like... We're trying. I was like, don't ruin my shot here. But I've had so much beer in the last 24 hours, I think. So much beer. So many donuts.

So much pizza. Oh, I've had pizza three times now. Yeah, it's amazing. You guys have good pizza. I also, I treated myself to a date to myself. Aw. And I took myself out to, it's called, it was an ice cream place that was called like 50 Licks or something. Aw.

That was very good. And then I went blacklight mini golfing. That was awesome. Wow. It was awesome. Wow. It was bananas. I went, I did the opposite, and I went to Powell's bookstore and bought some books. So you were having a rager, and I was like, oh, this is interesting. In hushed tones, but it was good.

Christine's aesthetic is also barcades which you guys have really thrown down with in Portland. Blaze and Eva and I played pinball until the wee hours of the morning. Yes. Anyway.

But I guess what we're trying to say is thank you so much for your awesome city and letting us come here. So I'm hoping that you guys know my story.

I think you just might. Okay. Do I know it? You need to watch your mouth, whoever said that. What did they say? They said the name of my story before I cut the Shanghai Tunnels. What is that? Oh, okay.

I was going to do that, too, so that's awkward. Glad I didn't. I really thought, too. Because I talked about it last night. I was like, oh, yeah, I was going to cover that, and I just see Em go pale and I was like I was like who dodged a bullet we have yet to uh report on the same story by accident gonna happen someday one day I'm gonna be like this is my story and Christine's gonna go oh shit I don't have any notes now I'm the one who's screwed so you're you'll be, yes, it is the Shanghai Tunnels.

I've heard you know about it. That's why, because yesterday I was like, oh, there's this cool ghost tour of the Shanghai Tunnels, and you didn't respond, and I was like, what an asshole. I get it. You see, I was like, don't you want to go? You're like, that's very expensive. I was like, I guess.

Okay, fine. I'm busy actually researching that exact thing right now. Yeah, I get it now. This is my own ghost tour. Well, welcome to my version of the tour. I've been on it for like two years, so it's fine. I'm used to it. We all have in a way.

I'm used to it by now. The Shanghai Tunnels. It is the most popular and the most haunted attraction in Portland. Aw. It is one of the most consistently active locations on the Pacific Northwest. Okay. So it's pretty much like one of the top places that it's guaranteed that you're going to find something or feel something. Well, I wish we'd gone on that ghost tour last night.

That would have, I really... I should have said yes. Sorry. I needed some me time at a Blacklight mini golf course. It's okay. I was reading a book. Right. So, there are... I'm just going to...

In case someone doesn't happen to live here and wants to go on this tour, or if you live here and want to go on the tour, I just assume all your parents have dragged you there since you were children. That's only you as a parent. That's not most people as parents. Let's find the most haunted place and bring our infant and then make them go every year. So there are two different tours. One is by the

Cascade Historical Society and one by the Portland Walking Tours. So, alright. Cool. Someone likes that one a whole lot more. So the tunnels, in case I have to describe a tunnel to you, are catacombs under the streets of Portland, Oregon, going from the north end to the south end, ending at the riverfront.

In the 19th century, the tunnels were built because Portland businesses were originally carrying freight through the muddy streets, and they were like, fuck that. So, they decided to dig tunnels under the town, starting at the water, and that way they could bring supplies up without actually disturbing the roads anymore, and it was super efficient. And the tunnels are connected to this day to a lot of the basements of many businesses in the area. That's cool. So some of the tunnels have been preserved and are accessible on the tours.

Two of them are the tunnels next to or underneath Hobo's Restaurant. And Old Town Pizza. That's where we went. That's where we went last night. We went there, by the way. Because Blaze was like, oh, there's this haunted pizza place, so I guess before you find it,

I'll just take you there. And then Eva was like, yeah, Em and I found this haunted pizza place. And I was like, well, we were bound to end up there. Eva and I went to the front desk and asked for a brochure of stuff going on in Portland to see,

and the first thing was haunted pizzeria. And I was like, well, Eva, guess we know what we're doing. No wonder Blaze got on a plane this morning and went back to LA. Right. He was like, I'm out. So while these tunnels were originally used for hauling imports, they became used for much more sinister activities. Oh, good.

Which, by the way, very quickly get really dark and not funny, so I hope you had fun laughing. Stop laughing. Because that's over now. We're not having fun anymore. As Portland's population grew, a lot of people with not-so-great agendas moved into the area, and the tunnels began being used by people sneaking in

and using them as gang territory. Yeah. Uh-oh. Sure. Don't say anything. Sure. It should be really nice. You never know.

Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. All right. They would use the tunnel as gambling and opium dens underneath the saloons on the main level. So at the same time, the gold rush was happening at its peak, and businesses were losing their cheap labor during this time. So they wanted free labor if possible. They wanted to try to get as many people working for them that they could, while people didn't really want to be working for anyone.

So sea captains found that difficult. They were like, how are we going to keep a shipping business running where no one wants to work for us? And they're like, I know, we'll just kidnap people to do this. Oh, the age-old solution to hiring problems. It's before zip recruiters. Right. They had no other option.

Hashtag ad? Hashtag? Should I say the promo code? Use our promo code. Something drink. So, sea captains started making deals with crimps. With what? That's why I said it slowly.

So, crimps were thugs and gang members in the area. They had a lot of power over the town eventually i think at one point i read that they start they were able to take over uh nearly 20 of the surrounding cities of portland what they like just took over the whole area uh-oh so uh-oh yes uh-oh i mean so a lot of crimps also started working in the bars as bartenders because the buildings were owned by their gang leaders okay so uh as the the saloons were above and basically this was the whole plan that the sea captains had with crimps to be able to get free labor slash slaves um they would tell the crimps that they were going to be in the bar that night that they worked at

they were going to try to talk to uh i said two a lot there they were i didn't say anything sorry i heard it in my head and my like medication hasn't totally kicked in so i like i'm getting paranoid it's fine it's fine's fine. It's fine. Stop encouraging that. You'll know it kicked in when I go, oh, no. So, yeah. So at the saloons above the tunnels, the captains would meet men in the bar. And these men were people who were usually passing through. They were kind of nobodies that anyone would realize would go missing.

They were very,'re very transient workers. And so the bar, basically the sea captain, once he approved of a guy that he wanted to make work, he, trying to avoid the word slave, I really, it's weird. So, not funny. I mean, that sounds like what it is, though, right? Yeah, I know, I know, i know i know i just i'm uncomfortable reading this really dark thing because we're welcome to my fucking world dude

right you're right so he would decide on an able-bodied man that could probably bode well working on a ship and so he gave he would give a signal to the bartender by touching the guy on the shoulder and that was the bartender's way of being like okay that's the guy that we're going to clear downstairs so once he selected a guy he would then leave uh he would sometimes offer a drink or a meal or something like that and the bartender would make sure that that food and or drink was drugged oh no so uh they would drug the man's food or drink and then they would bring him to the back of the bar once he wasn't himself.

And in the back of the bar, they had a system that basically was a trap door of sorts. Oh God. They would have him standing on the trap door and then he would just fall right down to the tunnel, and two men would be waiting for him. Two other Kremps would have already been in position to grab him when he fell down the tunnel,

and they would drag him into a holding cell. What the fuck? They would also make sure to take his shoes, and they would pour shattered glass around his holding cell, so if he did wake up and try to escape, he couldn't. No, that's evil. Apparently, on one of these tours, you actually, they still have a very well-preserved box of a lot of the men's shoes. Oh, what the fuck?

Yeah. There's that gasp we all wanted. Hey, they did it, too. I right in unison so uh the guy would then be held down there without food or water for days and then they would feed him a big meal which was also drugged oh god um but they would they would deprive him of food so that way when they gave him food he would absolutely eat all of it and then they would drug him so that he would sleep easy and it would make him easier to move towards when they were dragging him under the tunnels to the harbor so that they could sell him off to captains at $50 a person. What the fuck? And $50 then, depending on the year, because this is from the 1850s to the 1940s is how long this happened.

Almost 100 years ago. Holy shit. So depending on the time, $50 was either was somewhere between a thousand and $1,500. Oh my God. Um, when they would wake up from being drugged, they would usually have already been chained to a dungeon in a ship that's already out at sea on the way to China. Oh, my God. Hence the phrase Shanghai. So. Oh, I get it.

That'll do it. I didn't get it until now. I get it now. Thanks. Good. I'm teaching. I'm an educator. Put that on your LinkedIn.

So Shanghai-ing became a massive problem, and Portland actually became the Shanghai capital of the world. So congratulations. Don't cheer for that. But I did have a beer. I think I had a beer called that. Now it's a little darker. I was like, oh, that's cute.

No, it was not cute. Well, it gets worse. So great. On average, and keep in mind, this was not cute. Well, it gets worse. So, great. On average, and keep in mind, this was like a 90 year thing. On average, 1,500 to 3,000 people

were Shanghai'd every year. Oh, shit. What the fuck? You're not perfect, Portland. Yeah. Yeah. How cool are you now you now yeah with your beanies

I fucking got you show off so then prohibition began and team wine yeah this is not the place for that so when the prohibition began they had bars team wine. Yeah, this is not the place for that.

So when the prohibition began, they had bars, they had the bars and the saloons upstairs on the main floor, main floor, main level, main floor, floor of the world. Yes.

You have it. You're good. They had their, they started sneaking alcohol down to the tunnels and basically the entire tunnel system became one big speakeasy. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, yeah. We still remember the last part, though, so don't. But because now everyone was in the tunnels,

it actually made luring men away from everyone even easier because they didn't need to drag them into the back and have a trap door set up. They could just get you... They're already there. Yeah, exactly. Oh, fuck. So, yeah.

That's terrible. So this whole time that men... Oh, this is where it gets really fucked up now. Sorry. Now it gets fucked up? It's just like an extra layer to the onion that we're all going to really hate. Okay, I'm going to be really quiet.

The whole time that the men were being trafficked into labor, women were also being heavily sex trafficked. Okay. And with the tunnels having so much gang activity, this stemmed from prostitution being a high demand, and women were also being drugged, thrown down the trap door, and sold into sex work. If they accidentally decided to drug a pregnant woman, they would kill her on the spot.

Oh my God. Because she was not useful. Oh my God, Em. What the fuck? I know. I didn't, I did write this, but I didn't write this. I was like, thank God I didn't cover this story. Jeez.

Many captives, men and women, died in these cells because they're being put in these holding cells until they can get sold off. So they were malnutrition. They had malnutrition and they were also being overdosed on drugs so they would stay sedated. So a lot of people died that way. Holy shit. Also in the tunnels, many gangs would get into fights with their rival groups in the tunnels. So one

particular event, in the tunnel underneath the corner of Stark Avenue and Birdside Street. Alright. You guys know your streets. Okay. A fight broke out in the tunnels underneath that corner where a rival gang

showed up uh where they weren't supposed to they brought tommy guns and axes oh and they posed as portland police oh and then they started chasing everyone oh no to kill them oh no and this happened in the middle of essentially a bar so there were a bunch of innocent patrons there and so they got caught in the mix and they got really scared so they were trying to flee the area but they got confused in the tunnels

and so they ended up in a dead end and everyone died. Oh my god. What the fuck? Look, this is why you guys shouldn't have to go to this tour company. I'm right here telling you all the good stuff. Yeah, I don't know. Sorry to everyone who's already been on this tour, by the way.

And I'm just telling you things you don't. Sorry to all the tour guides in the audience. Yikes. So, yeah, so they ran to a dead end and they were all murdered by the rival gang. In the early 1900s, there was one woman who was sex trafficked named, it's spelled like Nina, but I'm told it's Nina. Okay, I did, I got it. You did, good job.

I did it, all right. I'm just basking in your love that I know how to say a name. I think we're all, we're all looking for something to be happy about, so I think we clung on to that. Yeah, they're like, Nina, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you're not going to feel that way in a second.

Oh, nice try. So apparently by the amount of people who told me her name's Nina in the audience, you know what's going to happen. She was approached by, there's one, hang on a sec. This was- Do you want me to pause it? That's what I usually say. Yeah, elevator music. So she, in one story I saw, I don't know if this is like the, a regular theme throughout her story, but one aspect that I did see is that she had just given birth to a daughter. And so she was more sensitive to

the fact that her child could also be brought into sex trafficking. So she was approached by missionaries. This was in the early 1900s and they told her we can help you get out just please comply with us and tell us everything you know and we'll take you to the police. So she told them everything thinking you know maybe I can prevent my daughter from getting into this and uh the next day she was found drugged and thrown down an elevator shaft of the merchant hotel where she worked oh my god um yeah so what the fuck um this is usually i mean okay just keep. Just keep going, I guess. We're getting to the ghost soon.

It's too late now. Hang on. So the reason that she might have been, they don't really know who the killer was, but they think it could either have been a client who wasn't pleased, or it could be her, I don't know the right word. This is the wrong time to figure this out. I'm not going to say one goddamn thing. The person who claimed her. I don't know what the right word this is the wrong time to figure this out i'm not gonna say one goddamn thing the person who claimed her i don't know what the right word for that is right okay

pimp is that still what we say okay i didn't say i i a sea of people said it first so i'm like a hundredth in line right now so I'm like a hundredth in line right now. So, oh yeah. So they think that it could have been her P word. Or it could have been the other P word, the police. Because... I was like, the other one? Because apparently this entire time since the 1850s,

the police, politicians, and local businesses all knew that this shit was happening. Oh, great. And they gave their blessing for it to continue. Shocker. Everyone is very shocked. Apparently they all knew about it and would turn a blind eye, and so they think that

when they, when she went to tell the police, the police then found her pimp and then, like, told him, hey, by the way, she's coming to us about this. Like, oh, someone came to us and it was her. Yeah, the exact opposite of what should have happened, I think. So they don't know who killed her, but those are all potential options. All potential P words. Potential P words, yeah.

Got it. And so in 1902, even more deaths happened when 100 men were all Shanghai'd onto the same ship. And they were chained together on a ship called the Jennifer Jo. And that, okay. Hang on. There's Jennifer Jo, right? And she's here tonight. Woohoo! hang on there's jennifer joe right and she's here tonight so uh the jennifer joe sank and since a hundred of them were all chained together they all died together what the fuck but it's thought that all 100 of them haunt the tunnels because that's the last place they

remember being beforehand so oh my god um there are so the human trafficking in the tunnels ended by world war ii so 1941 seems to be the consensus of when this all finally ended right and the tunnels were officially padlocked to keep intruders out and they stayed empty for a while until the cascade historical society which is one of the companies that does the tours found i don't know if they found them or discovered them or decided to open them up and restore them. And after that, began offering tours. So that is the history of the Shanghai Tunnels. So that was a lot. That was a lot, man. A lot of information to soak in. A lot of darkness.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So let's move on to the A lot of information to soak in. A lot of darkness. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's move on to the part that we all came here for. Please. So I didn't put these in order. So we're going to wing it. It wouldn't be authentic if you did put them in order. Welcome to a school book report by M. Schultz.

Where as I read it, I go, oh shit. No way. So we're going to learn together. All right. So one of the buildings involved with the tunnels was the Merchant Hotel, which was where Nina fell down the elevator shaft. Right. Fell. Was murdered. Yes. Sorry. Fell. Was murdered.

Yes. Sorry. Sorry. You should be sorry. God damn it, Em. So apparently the merchant hotel now is Old Town Pizza, where we were. Oh, no. Yeah.

I was there yesterday. We were there. We were. Yesterday. We were there. We were. I only had good things to say, but apparently other people like mine might not. So this is the building where she was killed down the elevator shaft, you know. So apparently we should have, had I known and, like, really prepared my notes in advance,

I would have checked this with you. But apparently, by the elevator shaft, the original elevator shaft, which apparently has since then been turned into a booth, which I think is the one we were sitting at. Oh, yeah. I think so. Remember there was a lot of shit etched into those walls? We found a weird spot in the side that was in a little alcove. I think Eva actually said, oh, this part looks the most haunted let's sit there there was a lot of weird stuff on those

walls so apparently honestly in portland i feel like every bar has like weird shit all over your wall right this is not surprising i've seen a lot of weird stuff over the last 24 hours i liked everything i saw though oh yeah not not complaining. It was all very nice. Yeah. So, apparently, in one of the bricks in the wall, her name is etched in there after her. Oh, my God. Okay. So, we should have looked for that.

We saw someone named Evan etched into the brick. We saw someone named Eva, and then someone else etched an N in there. And we got really excited at first, and we were like, oh, fucking Evan just had to ruin it for our picture. So, um, people see, so in the tunnels, people see apparitions of a lady in a black dress floating down the room. Um, isn't that funny? Oh my God. He really got into that one. I love it. I knew it was going to get you. I didn't know where.

That's the one. So apparently she likes to stand on the balcony. Now you're supposed to laugh. Oh, wow. Okay. She likes to stand on the balcony and stare at you, which is just way creepy. Yeah. Also, people can usually smell her perfume.

And then right after they smell her perfume, they see her shadow hiding behind people they came there with. That's a firm pass is what that is. Oh, is that why I saw that weird shadow behind you the whole time you were eating your pizza? I think so, yeah. I think so. It wasn't just like me growing because of all the pizza I ate. Yeah, it could have been that. It could have been that. So chairs, heavy furniture, and kitchen items all move on their own. People hear footsteps walking toward them, and employees have heard and seen her walking toward them, and then turning and walking down to the basement where the tunnels used to be. Uh-oh. Or still are, you know.

So in the tunnels, people have felt cold, wet hands grab them. Sick. Just the worst. Just the worst. And they've also seen dark, shadowy figures with laser red eyes. Okay. shadowy figures with laser red eyes. Okay.

One spirit apparently likes to scare people by moving glasses around in the actual bar itself. And so they've found the glasses stacked together in weird ways. I don't like that. It's very poltergeisty. Very poltergeisty. And apparently this thing also likes to trip them. So.

He's also a dick. Yeah. That's just rude. So remember where the bar patrons, they got scared and ran to the dead end and died? Yeah, I remember. We won't forget that. Yep. So apparently right where they died, people see a crowd of glowing humanoid shapes floating

around as if they still can't figure out how to get out. Oh, God. That's so dark. Very sad. People have felt them. Oh, this is like fucked up, but I thought it was interesting at least. That sounds exactly like this tagline for our podcast. Welcome to our podcast, yeah.

Welcome to our podcast. Yeah. So, uh, can all of you go to the rest of our shows forever? Cause that's wow. You guys are our new groupies. So welcome.

We're going to talk about this like for the rest of the night. You guys are probably one of the best crowds you're hyping us up i love it usually after our shows usually after our shows christina and i meet in one of our hotel rooms and like either or none of us are wearing pants we're just like never wearing and then guess what happens thanks for saying that but like i'm never wearing pants it's usually like we're like ready to go to bed and i'll like knock on the door on your door We're just like, never wearing pants. And then guess what happens? Thanks for saying that, but like, I'm never wearing pants. It's usually like we're like ready to go to bed and I'll like knock on the door, on your door to like say something really quick.

And then it turns into like a three hour conversation. And then it's like, hmm, I haven't been wearing pants this whole time. Awkward. But usually during those conversations, we talk about like, oh, how do you think the audience went? How do you think the show went? And tonight we're both going to be like, this was fucking awesome. Can't wait. Can't wait to take off my pants.

Yeah. And then we'll rip off our pants. So speaking of wish guys, yesterday I was in Canada and I definitely speaking of pants not being on so uh I was in Canada and I I'm sure someone here might have seen my Instagram picture where I was not wearing the most uh usual clothing and then someone also commented, by the way, being like, wow, those are some great gifts you got. And I was like, no,

I bought all of those. I promptly responded, do you really think Em didn't buy those on Amazon before we left for fucking Canada? Yeah, I bought those when I was in America, by the way, before I got to Canada. And I had a whole thing set up and I was like, this is go time. So the fact that we're here the day after Canada and we're like,

holy shit, this is incredible, is saying something, by the way. I was just in Canada and this is go time. So the fact that we're here the day after Canada and we're like, holy shit, this is incredible, is saying something, by the way. Like, I was just in Canada and this is fucking awesome. What the fuck? All right. We're done pandering. You should probably keep talking now. Oh, whoops. Sorry.

I feel like they're going to get mad. We're devolving. We're devolving. We're devolving. Okay. Eva, just take all that out, please. Eva, edit that out. Yeah.

So, uh, where were we? I don't know, but somewhere fucked up, I think. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I was going to say, this is fucked up, but it's interesting. Oh, right, right, right, right, right. So, the people who... And then we went to pants.

Yeah, I get it. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go on. So, by the way, the thing I was going to say about the pants... Oh, God. Okay. What's the thing I was going to say about the pants. Oh, God. Okay. What's the thing?

We didn't even go there. The thing that I was going to say is that one of the things that I wore on stage in front of several hundred people was an adult onesie of Canadian leaves and everywhere in the leaves it says A. But it had a butt flap. It had a butt flap. Where in big letters it said A. And that was what I meant when I said pants. I just wanted everyone to know what happened.

Em's just going to talk about this for the rest of their life. Sorry. It's fine. We're almost done. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. So. Oh, my.

Well. It's the ghost of Lushtang McDonald's. Oh, thank you. I'm not going to open it now because if it's anthrax, like, the show won't. But thank you. I'm not going to open it now because if it's anthrax, the show won't. But thank you very much. We will make Eva open it. If there's peanut butter in there, we'll make Gio open it.

So, basically, let's get back to death. So, the people who ran into the tunnel and ended up dying apparently they uh also some of them had actually found a way out up into the the main floor where there was the saloon right and apparently that residual haunting is also there so sometimes when people see a mass of glowing humanoid things in the tunnel right at the same time upstairs in the bar uh there will also be glowing wispy misty looking things yeah but they will hit people in the shoulder to like fly past you and have knocked chairs over and people will feel like a whole person ran into them so god cool but also when you think that they're trying to escape that's terrifying yeah so moving on uh

you can hear people talking in the walls fun um sorry what you can hear people what talking in the walls oh i thought you said to the walls i was like well i'm sure i've done that before okay i get it i get it can hear them talking in the walls you can hear cries and moans and you can hear those sounds getting louder and louder as it gets closer to the part of the wall that you've been listening to. So you'll hear from far away on the other side of the wall. And then eventually it's like talking at you on the other side of the wall. Yeah, I don't love that. There is an apparition of a nine-year-old.

Okay. That people have seen because apparently kids were hired to clean the holding cells. No. What the fuck? After the men were sold off. So, people also hear

disembodied screaming and murmuring. There's a woman that people can hear singing a lullaby. Oh. Yeah. And then also,

people feel clothes on them being tugged. In some of the bars above the tunnels, items will fly across the room at you, and hands will grab your neck. Uh-oh. Fun. Uh-oh. Also, on the properties that are now hotels above the tunnels, so, like, if they're now currently hotels, people say that they have experienced people thumping under their bed.

Uh-uh. Like, as if lying underneath the bed. Knocking on the headboard. They have seen spirits standing in storage closets. They will have experienced, like, they all of a sudden can't breathe anymore, like something's preventing them from breathing. Oh my God, what the fuck? And guests have reportedly put salt around their bed

to protect themselves at night, which is not a bad idea. Probably smart. In the tunnels, people also have seen apparitions of the actual Shanghaiers themselves. Uh-oh. And they have had bricks thrown at

them oh god especially the staff members and when you're in the room with all of the shoes because originally when they were restoring the tunnels all the shoes hadn't actually been exhumed and so over time as they've been clearing this out they've been finding shoes in the floors oh god and so in oh in the rooms where they found shoes if you're an employee um the someone something will throw bricks at you so god uh there are 13 sets of chimes wind chimes that they have put throughout the tunnels to pick up any motion so if something runs by the the ch will move. Okay, that's the creepiest possible noise that could happen. Right. Also because it sounds so beautiful usually so it's like really haunting. Apparently there's no airflow in the tunnels so when they do swing

like crazy and no one's there it's a scary sight, a scary sound. So before I leave I couldn't not bring up Bagel Bites, right? I mean, I guess. So, first of all, I want to say, I recommend the shit out of this episode. It was very good. Oh, for God's. Sorry. Sorry.

I really liked it. All right. Explain yourself. gods. Sorry. Sorry. I really liked it. All right. So, uh, first of all, the spirit box was very active on the show where you ask questions and then act another voice actually comes out on the other end of the machine and you can hear a response. Um, so he asked Nina, can you come talk to us? And the spirit box and a female voice said, where are you? Oh, then the spirit box and a female voice said where are you oh then the spirit box also picked up a woman saying he's mine oh and he fell so they didn't know where those came from but they did pick that up um they also saw a woman standing next to them next to the old uh holding

cell for the women who were being held captive. So they saw a woman standing there. At one point, one of them shouted out, What do you want to do to me? And the spirit box, at first, was a man's voice saying, Alone. Uh-oh. And a woman said, Can't believe you. Uh-oh. I don't know what that means.

I'm just reporting the news. believe you. I don't know what that means. I'm just reporting the news. So, but this is when like more intelligent responses started showing up because when Zach sat down on the bed where the women used to be held, he said, what, he said, oh, he didn't even say anything. He just sat down on the bed. And then a female voice said two different different things that came out in my opinion actually clear as day um a female voice said what should i do oh and let's get naked like if this weren't a fucked up story hyster hysterical. Especially because it's Zach Bagans. Yeah. But I thought those were both very interesting.

Yes. Oh, and then this was also really good. They ended up asking, what were you doing when you were Shanghai'd? And a male voice said, in the spirit box, I was wasted. And then said, I was beaten. Oh, that was funny for a second. And so then they said, who beat you? And also clear as day, you can hear the same male voice say, it was someone.

So like, they didn't know, but the fact that that was an answer that came out in live time was pretty cool. So then they used essentially a motion detection device where they had like an invisible line where if any shadow or anything moved through it, there would be a little alarm that went off. So they used that while they were walking around different rooms. And at one point, one of them said, I'd be pretty pissed, too, if I got Shanghai'd and dropped down here and made a slave. And when he said that, a bunch of doors in the room next to them rattled on their own oh yuck um then they began to feel dizzy when they were trying to actually open one of the holding cells and then they heard heavy boot steps walking in the room next to them and then the holding cell door that they were trying to open opened by itself

and the moat at the same time that the door opened by itself, the motion detector went off in the other room while the camera pointed at the motion detector caught a white mist floating in the air. Okay. While near the holding cell door, it also begins creaking again and another white mist orb passes by. And another white mist orb passes by. And finally, on the thermal imaging system that they had, a humanoid figure walks past the doorway, but the heat signatures show that it's an extremely cold figure. And it walks right towards Aaron when he starts getting really, really lightheaded.

Poor Aaron. Poor Aaron. I feel like that should be a hashtag at this point. Poor Aaron. But anyway, that is the story of the Shanghai Tunnels. Yay! That was creepy as hell. I'm glad I didn't cover it.

Me too, for a lot of reasons. I do want to say, I don't know what Christine's story is, but I do want to say i don't know what christine's story is but i do want to say i'm oh lord sorry i'm i'm very excited to hear it because for the last half an hour she would not shut up and she's been like you would you're gonna love this story it's gonna be so you're gonna love this story so no pressure christine but i'm fucking stoked when m says the last half hour they mean the last, like, 48 hours. Oh, when we were, oh, right, yeah.

Yes. I, honest to God, like, at, like, 2 a.m. was texting Em, like, still trying to figure out how many of these notes I can keep because it's so, this is, okay, let me just tell you. This is the longest, no, I'm not organized. That's the problem. This is the longest and, like, most intense notes session I've ever done for any live show or episode. Honestly. Honest to God. I don't think I've ever spent

this much time on any notes for any fucking episode we've ever done. She tried really hard. Sorry in advance. I have not slept much. But this is the story. I don't know if Em knows it. I don't know if you know it. I hope so because I'm weirdly obsessed with it. And since we started the podcast, I've wanted to cover it. So I figured this is the time. This is the story. I don't know if Em knows it. I don't know if you know it. I hope so because I'm weirdly obsessed with it. And since we started the podcast, I've wanted to cover it.

So I figured this is the time. This is the story of D.B. Cooper. Oh, shit. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. That's awesome. Don't mean to upset you. So you do know the story.

What? You do know the story. No. I just poured water all over myself. Oh. As you were saying it, I was like, oh, boy act cool i gotta act cool and two seconds ago i was like why did they give us towels now i'm like okay okay anyway db cooper i don't i know i am very excited about this but i don't know who he is but i've heard his name before okay good then i'm gonna tell you all right going to know. Hi, let's jump in because

there's a lot. Okay. And if it doesn't make sense, will you please tell me so that they're not like, what the hell? Yeah, I'll go. That's your secret code to me that it doesn't make any sense. Okay. So we are going back to the day before Thanksgiving, November 24th, 1971. A middle-aged man, yeah, I loved that day. It was really good. A middle-aged man carrying a black briefcase shows up at the Portland International Airport and approaches a flight counter of Northwest Orient Airlines. He uses cash to buy a one-way ticket on flight 305, which is a 30-minute trip north to Seattle,

and he identifies himself as Dan Cooper. He was later described as being in his mid-40s, between 5'10 and 6' tall. He wore a black raincoat, loafers, a dark suit, a neatly pressed white collared shirt, a black clip-on tie, and a mother-of-pearl pie... Nope, not pie tin, tie pin. A pie tin would have been more exciting. Love it. Eva, get rid of that, please. Okay. A mother of pearl tie pin.

I like it. Okay. I feel like kind of deranged. Like I'm like Charlie and it's always sunny with my like pin board. And I'm like, follow me, follow me, follow me. It's going to be crazy and I'm sorry in advance. A couple days ago, what's happening to Christine happened to me where I had like the longest notes I'd ever done. Yeah.

And I didn't know. I felt exactly like that. So I get it. It's crazed. I feel insane. We love you. Yeah. Thank you. I's crazed. It's crazed. I feel insane. We love you. Yeah, thank you.

I love you, too. Thanks, guys. Okay, so Dan Cooper, self-professed Dan Cooper, boards a plane. It's a Boeing 727, and he sits in his seat, which is 18C. Definitely not Group 1, like we're used to. Definitely not Group 1. Uh, he lit a cigarette and he ordered a bourbon and soda. You know, you could smoke on the plane back then. Oh yeah. Cool. I don't know. Uh, the, uh, guys. Okay. The plane was approximately one thirds full when it left

Portland on schedule at 2 50 PM. So they're in the air. Everything's going as planned. He's drinking his bourbon and soda. When he hands a flight attendant, her name is Florence Schaffner, and he hands her a little folded-up note. Now, she's used to being, like, a flight attendant in the 70s. And she's like, you know, these businessmen, they're always hitting on me. Like, it's just normal, you know, these guys being kind of little creepers. So, you know. You know. Oh, it's just normal, you know, these guys being kind of little creepers. So, you know,

you know. Oh, I know. So, she takes the note and, like, puts it in her pocket and moves on. Now, a few minutes later, he calls her back, and he's like, no, no, no, come here. And she comes over. He leans in, and he whispers, miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb. Oh! I like when I make M gasps. It's very exciting. Oh. Yeah. So Florence opens the note and reads it right there. It's printed in neat, all capital letters with a felt-tip pen.

It explains that Cooper has a bomb in his suitcase. He asks her to please sit down next to him. And she does, because she doesn't want to startle any of the other passengers. He opens his briefcase long enough for her to see eight red cylinders stacked and attached to wires and a large cylindrical battery. After closing the briefcase, he states his demands, which is $200,000 in $20 bills, which today, I did the math in advance, is $1.2 million. So a lot of moolah. In advance? You didn't just do that on the spot? Yeah.

I'm really good at math. Oh, good. You're an inflation calculator. I have an inflation calculator in my brain. And this is the 70s, you said? Yes. Okay. Got it.

71. 71. This is the 70s, you said? Yes. Okay, got it. 71. So he demands $200,000 in $20 bills, four parachutes, and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival. So the reason they think he asked for two chutes is actually really interesting. He was implying that he would take a hostage with him.

So he'd have a parachute and a reserve parachute. with him so he'd have a parachute and a reserve parachute and then because he asked for two additional chutes the FBI would think oh he's going to take a hostage with him so we can't fuck with the parachutes because if he takes like an innocent bystander and jumps out of the plane with them

and they fuck with the parachute then they're liable so he asked for four parachutes and then he takes the note back from Florence and says like, I need that back. And she gives it to him. It's like, I need that for someone else now. So that's my only copy. I don't know how to write it again. But actually then later they were like, that shows that he was also really well thought. It was well thought out because he didn't want to leave a

handwriting sample of his own name and his handwriting. So he, um, so he took that back and then he told Florence to go tell the pilots about his great plan. So Florence goes up to the cockpit, um, and tells the pilots like, Hey, there's this guy, he's gonna, you know, take over this airplane and we need to give him a lot of money. So when she returns, Cooper is still in his seat. He's going to take over this airplane, and we need to give him a lot of money. So when she returns, Cooper is still in his seat. He's wearing dark sunglasses now. So that's all that's changed. And there are drawings of this guy, one without sunglasses and one with.

So I don't know. He's trying out a couple things. He's trying it out. Yeah, trying on his new Ray-Bans. So the pilot pilot his name is william scott he contacts uh seattle tacoma airport or as i like to call it c-tech because i'm very hip you're so with it wow hip i i was gonna i forgot my beanie but i am very hip okay so he contacts c-techTac and air traffic control. And they then contact local authorities.

And then they contact the FBI. So the 36 other passengers on the flight were told that the flight was delayed because of a minor technical difficulty. So everyone kind of was like, they don't know what's going on. But then some guy later was interviewed. And he's like, no, I knew something was fucking going on because everyone was acting so fucking weird. And this guy was in his sunglasses and the flight attendant was like sitting with him and he was opening his briefcase. Like they kind of knew what was going on, but they were trying to remain cool. Um, so the airline's president, his name was Donald Nyrop. Um, he authorized payment of the ransom and ordered

all employees to cooperate fully with the hijacker's demands. The plane circled Puget Sound, or as Em likes to call it, Pungent Sound. That happened, and I'm never going to let it die. I'm so glad everyone here cheered because everyone in Seattle booed. Em said, oh, the pungent sound. And I was like, oh, no. I was like, look, it's not my fault, Seattle. Y'all got some weird-ass names. Oh, boy.

So, anyway, the plane is circling Pungent Sound for approximately two hours because they're waiting for police and FBI to, like, rally the troops, get the money, get the ransom money, etc. And so the flight attendant, Florence, describes Cooper as calm, polite, and well-spoken, not at all consistent with the stereotypes of skyjackers at the time.

But apparently this was an extremely common thing. This happened all the fucking time. And by the way, I forgot to mention up top, but I got a lot of this information from a really great podcast that I love called stuff you should know. And they're so good. And like,

weirdly enough, they did this story live at the Neptune theater in Seattle, which is where we were a few days ago. So it's just very weird, uh, coincidence, but yeah, so they,

they did a really great job telling this story. So, thanks to them for the info. But yeah, so they talked about how this was basically like

called the golden age of skyjacking is literally what it was called. Like, yikes. Academically speaking. The fact that there's a golden age.

Yes. That's not okay. Yeah. So, this happened all the time uh apparently within the three years before uh db cooper's skyjacking there were 100 commercial airline hijackings within three years so wow it was also called air piracy and it was just like very chill and very common whoa i don't know i don't know man that's plain old bad don't you dare don't you dare don't stop stop it stop

i'm done are you done Stop. I'm done. Are you done? Oh, all right. So another flight attendant, her name was Tina Mucklau, and she described Cooper as thoughtful and calm the whole time. He ordered a second bourbon and water. He paid his drink tab and attempted to give Schaffner the change, and she was like, no, I don't want it, and walked away. He even requested meals for the flight crew

during the stop in Seattle. So kind. Yeah, what a guy. So meanwhile, FBI agents collect the ransom money from several Seattle area banks, and they note the serial numbers. Police get the parachutes, but in their hurry, they accidentally give him two regular chutes, one military ch banks, and they note the serial numbers. Police get the parachutes, but in their hurry, they accidentally give him two regular chutes, one military chute, and one dummy chute, which is basically like they're sewn shut. The main parachute is sewn shut for training purposes. So like at a skydiving facility,

they'll have one that's sewn shut so they can open up the pilot chute, but not like open the entire parachute, basically. So they sew it shut, but they can open up the pilot chute, but not like open the entire parachute, basically. So they sew it shut, but they put a big X on it to be like, don't use this when you're jumping out of a plane. And I guess they accidentally grabbed it. You dummy. Yeah.

You dummy chute. No? Okay. So they, it doesn't have to land. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Stop. So, right. So, they accidentally give him a dummy shoot.

And yada, yada. So, he gets his four shoots. And that's all. Yeah. At 539 p.m., the aircraft lands at SeaTac. You know, that one. That I know the cool hip name. Cooper instructs the pilots to have each window shade pulled down because he says he doesn't want any snipers to see him, which is actually smart because they did have snipers stationed outside. Right. So he had all the window shades closed. Then he sends poor Tina Mucklau off the plane to go grab the money and the parachutes and then bring them back onto the plane to go grab the money and the parachutes and then bring

them back onto the plane and give them to him. So at this point, like she could have just run away and been like, sure, like hidden, but she got the money in the, in the parachutes. And then she went back on the plane because she knew that if she didn't, then he wouldn't let the hostages go like the 36 passengers. So this, she's great. So she's our hero, basically. So she comes back on. Go, Tina. Go, Tina. So she gets back on the plane with the money. So then he lets the 36 passengers off. So, but before she gets on the plane, the FAA had hired this this or they have this like psychologist this chief psychologist and he's there and he gives her a quick assessment of the situation and he says before you get on the plane I want to give you kind of like an analysis um so I want you to let the pilots know that this

guy what I think is going to happen is he's going to take you guys all up there he's going to probably take you as the hostage and jump out of the plane with you, Tina. And then, that's why he asked for four parachutes. And then he is going to blow up the plane. So anyway, go tell the pilots. And so she climbs back on the plane to let the 36 passengers off, and she gets stuck

on this plane. So, yeah. Does Tina have, like, a medal? She should. She's like, hmm, that's a lot of information to retain. I'll do it. Eva, can you find out how to get a metal made, please? Okay. Thank you.

Um, right. So she gets back on the plane and it was like, okay, I think this is terrible, but this is what's happening. Um, so once Cooper determines that he's gotten everything he's needed, he tells the pilots to please take off. And everyone on the, so Tina's back on the plane. All the other flight attendants have been let off. It's just her. And so he shared his plan with the crew. He basically said the plane would head toward Mexico City at the slowest possible airspeed, which is 115 miles per hour, at a max of 10,000 feet in altitude,

so it would be easier for him to jump out at a slower and lower pace because the cabin also wouldn't be pressurized at that height. And also he asked them to lower the wings 15 degrees, which, weirdly enough, that was the only type of plane that actually did that. So the fact that he kind of knew that that interesting was a like possibility is a little bit telling um he also said he needed the rear exit door open and the stairs you know the stairs that they like walk you out on oh yeah on the runway so he needed the stairs extended while they flew and law enforcement was like no we're not gonna let you fly with the stairs it's too dangerous and so which i'm like he's about to blow up a plane but whatever he's like what's danger anymore

they're like we won't we'll let you do everything else here have tina but don't put the stairs down spare tina but not the stairs you can right oh yeah so finally they compromised and they said okay, you can go up and you can let the stairs down when you're in the air. And he's like, okay, that's fine. I'll do that. Whatever. No comment. So then the pilots were basically like, we can't go all the way to Mexico City because it's a small plane and we don't have the fuel for it. And they're like, well, what do you think about Reno, Nevada? And he's like, I'm going to jump out. Like, I don't care where you're going.

Right, right. So they're like, okay, I guess we'll fly to Nevada. So, oh boy. So, right. So he gets, so the plan is now to fly to Reno. The plane is finally refueled. It's about 7.40 p.m. And they take off. They have only about five people on board. Only about five people. No, they have exactly five people on board. Got it. Give or take, you know.

These notes were so long that I put a lot of abbreviations. So I have a lot of, like, squiggle, like, approximately. And so I put, like, approximately 7.40 p.m. So that's why I got a little thrown. But they had exactly five people on board. It was the pilot, whose name is Scott, the flight attendant, flight attendant Mucklo, co-pilot Radizak, flight engineer H.E. Anderson, and then Dan Cooper. So everyone is in the cockpit except Cooper and Tina.

And he asked her to sit with him. Pilots of Friends just lock the cockpit except Cooper and Tina. And he asked her to sit with him. Pilots of Friends just locked the cockpit. And she's back with him. You got it, Tina. You're good. You're good, Tina. It's fine. You're so brave. Oh my god. We don't want to ruin this. You've got it. We don't want to get in your way. It's fine.

He apparently offers her a stack of the money at this point because he has this big bag of money well thank god it's like you deserve it after everything I'm putting you through apparently she turns to him and she goes no tipping allowed

which I'm like that is a bad bitch but also like this sounds like Which I'm like... That is a bad bitch. Which I'm like... But also, like, this sounds like a weird 70s movie. Like, it sounds like a movie. It does sound like a script. No tipping allowed. It's like she's like, while I'm here, what witty thing am I going to say when the time comes?

Right. And then he said that, and she was like, this is my moment. She's still, like, being flirty. It's just wild. Okay. So apparently this happens and she like wouldn't take the money, which I'm like, well, I guess she did think she was about to die. So whatever. Yeah. Like what's it for? What are you going to do? But so the FBI immediately sends fighter aircraft to shadow the plane. But apparently the aircraft were either too fast or too slow because they didn't really think ahead of, like, oh, this plane is going

at a certain speed, and so they sent these fighter jets that were, like, too fast, so they passed the plane. Can you imagine like, looking out the window behind you and being like, oh, they're gonna save us and then just go, whew! Wait! Wait! I'm still here!

And then the other ones were helicopters that, like obviously too slow because they're fucking a helicopter. So it's like, so that didn't really work. So the FBI is like sending fighter jets, I guess, to follow the plane. They send five aircraft in total. But there are a couple problems on board the planes at least as far as cooper is concerned so they had given him the money all the money he asked for but instead of like a rucksack like a backpack they had given it to him in a bank bag which are like those old school like sacks that you have to hoist over your back and so he has to jump out of the plane with it so he's trying to

figure out how the hell to do this he decides he's going to sacrifice one of these parachutes like cut it up and use the strings to like tie the money to himself. Oh, wow. So, unfortunately, for whatever reason, he picks, out of the four parachutes, he picks like the best, most worthwhile parachute, cuts it up and ties the money to himself.

Then he takes the military parachute as his backup chute. Oh, no, he takes the military parachute as his main chute and then as a backup chute, he picks the dummy the dummy shoot so the one with the big x on it so i guess it could have been worse he was so close so close so then he has tina he asked tina to please walk with him to the back of the plane where the stairs are and the like emergency exit spot so he has her walk to the back of the plane and says I need you to open the stairs and they're up you know up in the sky you know as you are on a plane

usually how they work yes you know we've been on them so she asks you're not wrong so at this point she's really nervous fucking obviously she's about to jump be like pulled out of a plane basically by this guy at least as far as this like psychologist told her um so he's

at the back she's at the back of plane with him and she says hey can i at least have one of those ropes you're using to tie myself to the plane just like while i open the door so i don't fall out and apparently this like got him so frazzled that he said quote never mind no honestly it's fucking fine I'll do it I'll fucking do it it's no yeah it's it's not that I thought you could do it to begin with I'll just fucking do it now It's not that I thought you could do it to begin with. I'll just fucking do it now. I can... No, by all means, keep fucking going.

It's fine. Right, so he basically is like, I mean, I fucking guess if you're going to be difficult about it, just get away from me. So he says, never mind. He sends her back to the cockpit and is like, just go fucking lock yourself in the cockpit with the rest of them and she's like okay honestly out of my face honestly i can't fucking do it i can't do it right now and literally seconds later she's fucking gone

because obviously she's like cool she's like you don't need to tell me twice. She is back in the cockpit with the pilots. And hold on. I lost my place. God damn it. Right. I feel like DB Cooper right now. I'm going to send you to the back. God damn it. Okay. So she goes back to be with the pilots and locks the door. And he's like, fine, you know what, forget it. You don't need to come. Just go sit in the cockpit. She goes. Approximately 8 p.m., a warning light flashes in the cockpit indicating that the door to the stairs had been opened. And they at this point are like obviously freaking out up there thinking he is going to leave this bomb and it's going to explode. And so they decide to do a fun thing called call back on the intercom to ask if he needs anything before he goes.

Talk about customer service on that flight, though. Anything else we can get you before our descent? No? And he wasn't even in group one. He was in 18C. But they were really trying to make so they call back and they're like hey before you go like is there anything else we can give you we have some like cheddar some stale cheddar like a snack mix I don't know um and apparently all he said

he like responded on the little thingy the inner intercom, and he just says, no. And so at this point, they're like, well, we're fucked. Like, he's going to blow us up. I don't know. And then at approximately 8.13 p.m., the aircraft's tail section sustained a sudden upward movement indicating Cooper had jumped off the back of the plane. The pilots were like, hey, Tina, why don't you go check? This girl must be given the biggest eye roll. She's like, hey, Tina, why don't you go check? This girl must be given the biggest eye roll. She's like, how much more do I have to do before someone else pitches in around here? She's just picturing that medal we're going to give her.

She's like, if I make it out of this, I better get a fucking award. She better get a fucking medal. We're going to give her one. Don't worry. Don't worry. So she goes back, and she doesn't see him um and at this point as far as anyone knows dan cooper was never seen again dun dun dun what i know so at approximately 10 15 with the stairs still down uh scott and ratazak land the plane in reno fbi agents state troopers sheriff's deputies and Ratizak land the plane in Reno. FBI agents, state troopers,

sheriff's deputies, and Reno police surround the plane as it hadn't yet been determined that Cooper was no longer aboard. So obviously, like I mentioned, none of the five aircraft were able to figure out how to follow the plane in an actually helpful manner.

So none of them had seen him jump. So at this point, they still weren't sure whether he had jumped or whether he was still on the plane. But an armed search quickly confirmed his absence. They found left on the plane two remaining parachutes, eight cigarette butts, and his black clip-on tie. Ew, but not the pie tin. God, that was stupid. That was the first bullet I read, too. All right. The FBI launched what would become one of the longest and most exhaustive investigations in FBI history, known as NORJAC, Northwest Hijacking.

Approximately 1,000 troops searched the suspected jump zone on foot and in helicopters. They used the same plane. So, like, they flew that exact same plane out of the ocean, then lowered the stairs and used weights to attempt to determine where he jumped based on time. A super secret spy plane, which is what Wikipedia called it, so don't at me about it. They said it was the super secret spy plane. I don't know how else to say it. They said it better than I could. So the super secret spy plane was sent to photograph the entire flight path,

but no trace of Dan Cooper was ever discovered. FBI interviewed everyone in the area with the last name of Cooper, which good luck, good luck, good luck. It's at this point that a reporter mishears police and reports that police are searching for D.B. Cooper instead of Dan Cooper. And that's how the name D.B. Cooper kind of got propagated. And he was known as D.B. Cooper ever since. But he never called himself that. It was always Dan Cooper.

But FBI actually left it that way. So they didn't change it. They didn't publicly announce that it was actually Dan Cooper, because they thought if they got a lead on someone named Dan Cooper, it would be more legitimate. If that makes any sort of sense. Yes. Okay, so another weird thing is that in the 1950s, which was 20 years before, there was a very niche Belgian comic book about a Canadian jet pilot who jumped out of planes named Dan Cooper. And so they were like, well, it seems like that's probably where this guy got his name. Sounds legit. Yeah. And it was, well, it was a Canadian comic and Dan Cooper, a guy who jumps out of airplanes.

It seems a weird coincidence if it was a coincidence. So at this point, police basically state openly that they believe D.B. Cooper died during the jump, and it would be seven years until any real clue turned up. So in 1978, some hunters in Oregon stumbled upon a plastic instruction placard in the woods, and the placard contained instructions on how to lower a Boeing 727 staircase. So that's weird. But it happened to have fallen on the projected flight path. So they were like, well, it could have just fallen out of the plane as he was jumping or whatever.

So apparently it didn't lead to any big clues. But it did lead to a renewed interest in the case. The next big clue turned up in 1980, which was nine years after the skyjacking. An eight year old boy named Brian Ingram was camping with his family and he was making a fire pit and digging a hole when he discovered a bag containing $5,880. Yeah. What the fuck?

And he was like, jackpot! That's why I was digging this hole. I knew I'd find the treasure. Actually, he was like, dad! And then his dad was like, jackpot! Actually, his dad was like, no, son, don't touch that. Let's

call the police. And I was like, well, you could have a lot. Not me as a dad. No. Finders keepers. No. Oh,

hell yeah. They could have had a lot more fun. They could have a lot more fun with that. But apparently dad calls the police. Womp womp. Um, but because of that, they let them keep $3,000 as a reward. Okay.

And they gave it to eight-year-old Brian. Which I'm like, that's actually pretty great. And then he went jackpot. Because, yes. Because then it's like, oh, okay, we're not going to get in legal trouble from the FBI over this, but also we get to keep three grants. So it's like the perfect solution. And little Brian, in 2008, so that was...

11. No. 1980 to 2008. Wait, where were you going? 38 years. No, 28 years? You were thinking past, I was thinking future. It's 11 years from now.

Yeah, no, 28, not from now. From now. Eva, edit that out. 28 years after the fire pit incident. Okay. Brian sold $3, on ebay for thirty seven thousand dollars so what a happy ending what a happy ending to that jackpot oh he must have loved camping after that yeah i feel like oh man he's just a lucky guy, that guy. What a story, though.

Anyway, so he had a great time. But so I included this story, well, because it's very interesting, but also because the clue, the crazy clue about this. Nope. Let me say that over again. Eva, delete that part. Okay. The crazy thing about this clue is that the money showed up somewhere completely different than where the projected flight path was. So it was kind of like, well, how on earth would it have gotten there in the middle of the woods if someone hadn't taken it there? So basically, well, hold on. Yep. Okay. I got it.

uh well hold on yep okay shh I got it basically it showed up 20 miles south of aerial Washington where they thought that the landing had happened which was and in a completely different river so they had no clue as to how it got there but it did kind of add to the mystery and again bring up like a renewed interest in the case and make people think like maybe this guy actually did survive. So anyway, let's talk about the suspects, the possible suspects. Okay. Yeah. You're not excited? Oh, no. I'm just eager. Silently, stoically eager. I'm like, carry on. Stoically eager. Okay. Love it. All right right so who are the suspects is what i wrote um it was established it's been established nope it's been estimated that over uh see this is what i do i i abbreviated everything to try and fit the notes and i can't read it's been s'd yeah

established i don't know nope it's It's been estimated that over 1,000 suspects have been interviewed by the FBI. Oh, wow. FBI analyzed his behavior as part of trying to narrow it down. Obviously, it didn't work that well, but the way that they analyzed it was, first off, he chose a military chute as

his main parachute, which is interesting because apparently military chutes can't be steered like civilian parachutes can be. Got it. And so that was interesting because either he knew well enough how to use a military chute that couldn't be steered, or he didn't know what he was doing, and he picked the military chute not knowing it couldn't be steered. Either he was really smart or not. Exactly. That seems to be the pattern in this entire story. So just so you know. So it could mean he's former military or it could mean he just didn't know what he was doing.

He also had picked the dummy chute, like I said, as his backup chute. And like pretty much most people who had experienced parachuting, if they see a giant X on a parachute, no better than to pick that as their backup chute. But it is still commonly believed that he was ex-military, possibly an ex-paratrooper, mostly because he knew so much about the plane. He could also have been an airline employee, they thought, maybe a pilot, because he knew

so much about how the wings worked and how the staircase worked and things that even the law enforcement didn't know at the time. Right. tina's alter ego um so uh no you messed me up hold on i got all worked up about tina i'm just thinking about tina belcher on a plane now i'm always thinking about Tina Boucher just singing about butts so he was also

alright, I got it so they thought he could be possibly a pilot or worked for the airline at some point they also realized he was pretty smart in that he wrote his name so he had taken the letter back from Florence, but he also, when he signed in for the ticket, he wrote Dan Cooper, but he wrote it in block letters to kind of avoid like having his handwriting looked at. He'd also taken the note back. So they were like, he clearly thought ahead enough to know what could have captured him. So one of the first suspects, his name was Richard McCoy.

So February 1972, which was four months after the Cooper heist, Richard McCoy hijacked the exact same type of plane, asked for $500,000 in cash, and then parachuted successfully out over Utah. So people thought maybe it was the same guy because it was only four months later and he did literally the exact same crime. He was a Green Beret in Vietnam. He looked a little bit like the sketch of Cooper and so they thought maybe it is the same guy. But this guy eventually gets caught. He goes to prison,

after which he apparently made a fake gun out of dental plaster, hijacked a truck and escaped prison. So he's MacGyver. He what? He's MacGyver. A little bit. Although then he's killed in a shootout. So it didn't work very well. Uh, but so after all this happens, his fine, his family finally was like, well, actually like he was home on that day at Thanksgiving. So they were like, well, I guess we should have asked you first before we spent years tracking this guy down. And they were like, no, like he was home and they had proof of it. So after all that, it was not him. Um, that another suspect was named Kenny Christensen. Um, his brother Lyle outed him as a suspect and then weirdly enough hired a private investigator to go find screenwriter Nora Ephron.

Because he wanted her to make a movie about his brother. And she wouldn't respond to any of his letters. So he hired a PI to go find her. And she still didn't make a movie about his brother. So it didn't work very well. So despite that weirdness, there were, the FBI did look into it, even though it took them years to actually take him seriously. There were a couple similarities. So he looked pretty, he looked similar to the sketch. He was a former paratrooper.

He worked for the airline. He smoked cigarettes, which I was like, it's the 70s, so that's not, whatever. Yeah, it would be weirder if he didn't. Yeah, it would be. He smoked cigarettes, which I was like, it's the 70s, so that's not whatever. Yeah, it would be weirder if he didn't. Yeah, it would be. He smoked cigarettes, drank bourbon. He lived in the area where the skyjacking took place, and when they showed Florence Schaffner, the flight attendant, a photo, she said, I think you may be onto something. It's believed he tried to make a deathbed confession. He told his brother Lyle, there is something you should know but I cannot tell you and then the brother was like okay and that was it that's so mean when it's like I know a secret bye and so yeah but I feel like if I said that to you it's because I want you to

exactly it's but you know what she shut that shit down. She was like, okay, bye. No, it was Lyle. His brother Lyle was like, no, thank you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I don't know who you're talking about. You know.

Probably talking about me. Just made someone up. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Whatever, Em. It is. So,

anyway, his brother was like, cool, that's nice that you have a secret. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the afterlife. Guess I'll find out then. End of conversation. People are still pissed about it, by the way. I went a little deep dive into these forums where people go a little crazy on the internet and people are still pissed at this guy Lyle

for not harassing his brother into telling him his... Like you had one job. So who knows? But anyway, so the next suspect came up in 2011. His name is L.D. Cooper. He lived in the area. And his niece actually was the one who called the FBI. She says she remembers Thanksgiving 1971

at her grandma's house in Sisters, Oregon. Okay, okay, okay. Sure, great. Cool. Yeah, you're onto something, baby. She was eight years old. She said her two uncles were planning something very mischievous involving the use of expensive walkie-talkies. So the FBI was like, I don't know why you're calling us, but okay. And then she said the next day, Flight 305 was hijacked. And though the uncles had said they were turkey hunting, LDE came home in a bloody shirt. And this seems very like, I mean, it is very circumstantial. But the odd thing was that he was one of the only people on earth who was a fan of that weird Belgian comic book with Dan Cooper. And actually had it, like, pinned onto his pin board.

So it was like, oh, this is all very circumstantial. What? Like, that's a very niche comic. Yeah. So it was just a little bit odd. So he's obviously on the list as well. Also, his brother was an engineer for Boeing, the other uncle. And he didn't have any experience skydiving, which is why people were kind of like, that seems unlikely.

But the FBI also eliminated him as a suspect via DNA. So apparently it was not him after all. Now, this is a really interesting suspect that I didn't expect to find. So apparently it was not him after all. Now this is a really interesting suspect that I didn't expect to find. So her name is Barbara Dayton. She is a pilot and a University of Washington librarian who was born Robert Dayton in 1926. She served in the U.S. Merchant Marine and then the Army during World War IIi and she aspired to be a pilot but was denied a commercial pilot's license she had undergone gender reassignment surgery in 1969 and two years later claimed she was db cooper having disguised herself as a man in order to get back at the faa for not letting her become a pilot so she was kind of saying this was like my

way of getting back at them for not letting me, you know, become a pilot. Way interesting. And so they took, they were like, okay, that's an interesting lead, obviously. But she recanted her entire story after learning she could still be charged and in prison for the hijacking. She was like, never mind, never mind. And then the FBI released a statement being like, it's not, it's not her.

Got it. But it was like a very interesting kind of like twist. Yeah. Case that people would have been a neat game changer. It would have been, it really would have been. Um, so the,

so to this day, the DB Cooper heist remains the only unsolved airline hijacking in commercial aviation history. Um, yay. Uh, it's the reason we walk through metal detectors at the airport. It's the reason airlines can search our bag. And on a Boeing 727, the staircase now has a white paddle on the outside

that holds a stair closed, and you can't open it mid-flight because you have to do it from the outside. And that paddle is called the Cooper Vane. So it's a fun little twist. outside and that paddle is called the cooper vein so wow twist so yeah you cannot open that from the inside anymore which is why when i think when they very cool somebody from the outside has to open it because they don't allow it to be open from inside very cool so kind of an interesting update um so db cooper himself has developed quite a cult following and is still widely referenced in pop culture. Restaurants and bowling alleys in the Pacific Northwest hold regular Cooper-themed promotions, sell tourist souvenirs.

There's a Cooper Day celebration, uh, held at the Ariel General Store and Tavern each November since 1974. All right. Uh, there are several aspects, though, that people still kind of debate about the case. There are several aspects that people still kind of debate about the case. So people wonder, people debate on these forums that I go on now, kind of obsessively. People debate, did Cooper die in the jump? And experienced guys never say he would have died if it was his first jump ever. Like there's no way he would have made it.

But if he was an expert, then it would have been very easy for him. There was also one experienced parachutist who believed that anyone who had six or seven practice jumps probably could have pulled it off. So even if he wasn't necessarily like an experienced parachutist, he could have probably tried it a few times and then been able to do it. The cold weather may or may not have killed him in the woods. That's also debated. People say like it was like this crazy rainstorm. It was very cold. And people debate whether or not that would have killed him.

But no body or parachute was ever found either. So that's kind of the opposite of that argument. And then people also argue whether Cooper was from the area or whether he was a foreigner. He, weirdly enough, when they were up in the air and he was sitting next to Florence and they were chatting and he showed a foreigner, he, weirdly enough, when they were up in the air and he was sitting next to Florence, and they were chatting, and he showed her his briefcase, he apparently looked out the window at one point and said, oh, there's Tacoma.

And so they were like, well, that seems a little specific, if you weren't from the area. Right. So that kind of leans toward he's local, but also people say he would be an idiot. That's a quote not for me. He would be an idiot to hijack an airplane where he could possibly be recognized,

which also leans toward not local. So the FBI didn't come to any real solution, and they closed the D.B. Cooper case in 2016. The Bureau said it won't reopen the cold case unless someone comes up with relevant physical evidence such as the parachute itself or the ransom money. And believe it or not, there was actually a new break in the case in 2018. So very recent. Yeah, pretty wild. I was kind of bummed because the two podcasts I listened to about this were like done in 2017. And I was like, well, now I have to go like digging by myself to find this information.

But so, right, in 2018. Oh, but so actually there was the only other like suspect, quote unquote, up until that point was actually Don Draper from Mad Men. Because people literally, I mean, it was like a a very like Blaze said it the second I said D.B. Cooper he goes oh yeah like Don Draper and I was like what apparently weird I watched Mad Men but apparently it was like a really long-running fan theory that he that Don Draper in the finale would become D.B. Cooper and like oh cool yeah and that and that was kind of his backstory. Because he was kind of mysterious about his name, and he was on these airplanes and had a bit of money,

but nobody kind of knew where he came from. So there was a theory that he, well, okay, point being, it wasn't. So I don't even know why I'm telling that. But that was the only possible quote-unquote suspect that anyone had had in like decades so in 2018 there was a new break filmmaker and author thomas colbert led an independent investigation into the case for seven years as part of a documentary he released on the history channel he believes the real cooper is a 74 year old vietnam vet named robert rackstraw

alleging that rackstraw actually outed himself in a secret code hidden in a series of letters that were sent to national newspapers in the months after the hijacking. Rackstraw is a former special forces paratrooper, explosives expert and pilot with about 22 different aliases and he was once a

person of interest in the case but then was eliminated even though a lot of people in the FBI were like upset when the FBI said we're no longer considering him a suspect right and a lot of agents still said no we still think he's a prime suspect but the FBI still took him off of the list um that was a little bit controversial um Colbert and his 40-person team, many of whom were actually our former FBI agents, believe the FBI conducted a cover-up protecting Rackstraw because he was involved in classified units during the war and may have worked for the CIA. So they think that the FBI knew it was him

and then deliberately like, you know, talked it away. Right. And like changed the case to be like, no, he fell or he landed in this part of Washington, not this away. Right. And like changed the case to be like, no, he fell it here. He landed in this part of Washington, not this part of Washington. I love that. It's pretty wild. It's pretty fascinating. Um, in 2016, Colbert actually sued for the Cooper case file under the freedom of information act. And he got ahold of the letters. Uh, the letters had actually been sent by DB Cooper after the skyjacking, the mysterious, anonymous D.B. Cooper, to several newspapers, I think like Los Angeles Times, New York Times, like a bunch of big newspapers in the U.S.

And Colbert's team searched them for clues, and lo and behold, they held a secret message in the form of a code. And the guy who cracked the code, his name is Rick Sherwood. He is a former member of the Army Security Agency that decoded signals during the Vietnam War and was actually Rackstraw's superior in three different units during the war. Oh. Bananas. So he's looking at these letters and he's going, oh, like I know this guy.

Because they would communicate that way. So he said, I know this guy's like method for coding letters. And so he's reading these letters and he's saying, I know his writing style. I know how he does this. I recognize the word patterns he's using. And so he's able to crack these freaking codes. Oh, wow. Yeah.

And so he hones it on two sentences specifically. The first sentence in the letter says, I want out of the system and saw a way through good old unk. And the sentence was decoded to, I want out of the system and saw a way by skyjacking a jet plane. And then the second sentence after that in a letter says, and please tell the lackey cops, DB Cooper is not my real name. And that was decoded to, I am first lieutenant Robert Rackstraw DB Cooper is not my real name oh I just got chills like that is way cool and so they were like well I don't know why anyone like there it is there it is right so Rackstraw did deny being DB Cooper uh and his lawyer calls this quote the stupidest thing he's ever heard. However, in numerous past interviews, Rackstraw has been

coy and conflicting, refusing to confirm or deny whether he's Cooper. In one interview, when asked if he was the hijacker, he smiled and said, could have been. I can't commit myself on something like that. That sounds like it could, but I don't know. So, Rackstraw is still alive. He's now 74 years old. He's retired. He resides in Coronado, California, where Colbert said he has a yacht called Poverty Sucks. He stole my yacht. Eva, write that down.

Okay. Eva, write that down. The FBI has not reopened the case, and it's unclear if they will, because remember they closed it and said, unless there's physical evidence, we're not going to reopen it. Many people haven't totally bought into Colbert's theory, but as far as Colbert himself is concerned, the case is closed. He told Rolling Stone in an interview,

we now have him saying, I am Cooper. Rackstraw is a narcissistic sociopath who never thought he would be caught. He was trying to prove that he was smarter than anyone else, but he couldn't fight 1,500 years of brain power on our team. We beat him. I didn't expect it, but it's the icing on the cake. And that, my friends, is the story of D.B. Cooper.

on the cake. And that, my friends, is the story of D.B. Cooper. Oh my god. Thank you guys. Just for reference, my notes are usually two pages and like this is just the most insane thing I am very sorry I feel like I just like screamed a ton of information at you but thank you for bearing with me I appreciate it oh my god thanks guys Thanks, guys. I do real quick have a little horror scope about D.B. Cooper. Just before I forget. Before I forget. Okay.

So I don't, obviously we don't for sure know who D.B. Cooper is. And there's a lot of possible suspects. But I just decided to go with with what's his name again? Don Draper? Yeah. Robert Rackstraw. That's his name. I went with Robert Rackstraw's birthday because I was like, well, it's possible. So he's a Scorpio. I thought that would be fun. Yeah.

He did it. He did it. For those of you who have been dragged here today by a family member, a significant other, and really just want to go home, first, I'm sorry. Second, this is the part, just to clarify, where I give unwanted astrological advice to people who can't use it anyway. So get ready for that. You're welcome. Right. use it anyway, so get ready for that. You're welcome. Right, so Rackstraws of Scorpio. And this is the lovely horoscope I found yesterday for Scorpios. So if you're a Scorpio, also listen. Also get out, but also listen. Okay. You may find your ego is keeping you in the limelight this week, Scorpio. You are capable of pulling off massive missions.

But don't feel the need to tell everyone you meet about them. Why not step away from the drama? Have you considered taking a mini vacation? And that is the finale of the story of TV Cooper oh sorry I know that was long that was way long and I'm sorry thank you guys holy shit holy shit thanks guys thank you guys

so so much for having us oh this is the best oh my gosh oh wow a standing O a standing O wow you're the first people to ever stand up what the hell wow sit down oh my Oh my gosh. Oh, wow. A standing O. A standing O.

You're the first people to ever stand up. What the hell? Wow. Sit down. Oh my. Oh God. Oh my God. What the fuck? I'm scared.

What the fuck is going on? Wow. What the fuck? going on wow i wish i had my phone to videotape that because i'm pretty sure i'm gonna think i was lucid dreaming just now holy shit all right we get it you're the best we get it portland god damn it! What the fuck, Portland? You really brought the game. Our first standing ovation ever. That was really quite something. Thanks to everyone who was there, everyone else who has come to our other live shows or is planning to. We love seeing you guys.

At this point in the show, we usually do a kind of a live presentation of something, but we're not going to put it here. For one thing, it's pretty visual. And for another, we like to keep it just for our live show audiences. It's something a little bit special. So if you guys want to see it, we would love to have you check out and that's why we drink.com slash live. And hopefully we'll see you guys soon. We love you all. We'll see you next week. Big hugs kisses and that's why we drink no thank you so much thank you thank you thank you We'll see you next time.