Do Go On - 53 - Escape From Alcatraz

Episode Date: October 26, 2016

In 1962, four prisoners spend several months crafting an ingenious way to escape America's highest security and most fearsome prison. A story of dummies, digging and a home made boat. Will they make it off The Rock?Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. It's podcast. Hello and welcome to Do Go On a podcast that I am on. And I am Dave Warnocky and I am here with Matt Stewart and Jess Perkins. The trio is back.

Yeah, baby. After a one week hiatus, you thought we weren't coming back for you. But here we are for the 51th third episodes. How pessimistic do you think the audience is? They're gone. They're done. 51, 50 weeks in a row They did this show

But I reckon the 51st week They were out No I thought you were the maths guy You just said it's the 53rd episode But we started with No it's very complicated We're not quite up to a year

Because we started with three episodes In our launch Yeah look But next week is one year Celebrate good times Come on I've made a birthday cake Really

And then I ate it So I'll make another one I was like a week ahead I was like, well, it probably won't be good by the time we get to next. So I better eat this one and I'll make another one. Can I lick the bowl? Man, I love doing that. Fuck, I love doing that.

And the spoon. Can I lick the wooden spoon? It sucked so much as a kid if my brother was also home when mum was making a cake because then I have to share licking the bowl or looking the beaters. The beaders is the worst. No, beaders. No, I loved looking the beaders. I had a fear.

I'd have to get it off the beters with something else because I have a fear that the beters would wrap your tongue up. Of course you'd take you. You'd take them off, you idiot. Hey, you've just got it plugged into the wall. What? Finger on the trigger. Oh, this is like the knife and the toaster all over again.

By the way, I do not cook. Yeah, well, don't you? I cannot cook. Wow. Oh, man. Could have fooled us. Dave. Seriously, I cannot.

Dave, I think we're talking about baking. Very different. Very different. Come on, man. I'm very good at baking. You know what else is very different. Last week, Matt and I were very hyped up from coffee. This week, we have a different beverage.

bridge. Oh, water, to keep your voices going. Well, see if this, uh, if you recognise this noise. I close my eyes and I won't, I'll listen like everyone else. Oh, Mama. Fanta? Yeah, Fanta. Love Fanta.

Grown up Fanta. What would grown up Fanta be? Beer. Now, off air, you often ask, why are you the only one with the golden tonsils, Dave? And I say, it's because I refresh with a, bottle of purified water purified

tap water we're talking tap now I got this one from work they have one of those water with this water cooler in the office yeah congrats you work in an office there's a little more exciting on that can we are we allowed to talk about your job

well so yeah I got a job working in television behind the scenes ooh his fancy pants laida well I don't want to talk about too much just helping associatively produce a segment That's my title, associate producer.

Are you an associate producer? Yeah. That's... Okay. I did not know... That's on the contract. Your title was associate producer. That is so fucking cool.

Thank you. That is so cool. I don't know if you know, but associate means less than a top... It's like a social... Oh, hang on, Dave. Sorry, Mr. TV. Could you just patronise us anymore?

No, but associate professor is like the one below professor. Yeah, it's still a good. Good job. Oh no, I love it. I think in terms of job titles, Matt might trumpy though. Yeah. Matt? Board of directors.

Yeah, well, I'm a director. He's a director. I'm a director. I'm a director. He's a director. He's a director. Even an associate director. I'm currently director in both senses of the word.

Yeah. It's my favorite setup of a joke is both senses of the word. It's very funny always. Beers. Only, this isn't a joke. This is just true. Oh, that's. And just your

title? Is a customer care agent? Oh, you sound very caring in that tone. Is that what I think is customer care agent is what I am. Wait, when's this episode going out? If you're in Australia, I've directed a TV show that'll be on tonight if you're listening to the day it's come out. SBS 2.8pm.

So you are, you're a director in every fucking sense. That's beautiful. Yeah, he's an actual director. All two senses. Both. I love that. So, oh, do you want to tell us what the show is if you're in Australia and you will listen to this? Yes, maybe. It's called The Road Show.

It's a documentary about the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Road Show. Jess Perkins. I don't know if you heard of her. She features on episode four. Hello. So, Jess, you're not just a customary care agent. You're also star of The Road Show TV show. And the show itself.

Yeah. You're right. I am a star. You are better than us. No, because then I come back from the really fun, amazing gigs that I'm incredibly lucky to do. And then I go back to being a customer care agent. And which one would you prefer? Just to clarify.

Care agent. Of course, thank you. Because you get to care for people. What are you some sort of aid worker? Yeah, I'm an aid worker. Helping out in Syria. Yeah, I help people who are rude bastards. I mean, if you count Jackie Dax's AIDS, then you, yeah.

Yeah, I reckon she's an aid worker. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. And where can we see this show, Matt? What channel is it on? SBS 2. SBS 2.

So tonight, and for the next few weeks on Wednesdays, is it? Yeah. Very cool. I think the first episode would have been last week. And then, so there's tonight and two following weeks. The last one for the episode is just featured. Well, this is a dirty plug to start off the show. Don't.

Hey. Hey. You know, no, no, this isn't a plug. This is a live. update. Yeah, it's just what we're all up to. We're up to. Because you know what?

Like we obviously, we all have busy lives and we all do the podcast together. So sometimes we don't actually get to chat about each other. That's true. So it's nice to catch up with you guys. But we also know where the majority of our listeners come from and that is not Australia. They're mostly American. So sorry for filling you in on things that make very little sense or relevance to you. Just to confirm for the American's associate producer is one below a

A proper producer. I'm sure they get that. SPS 2 is a channel that... A great channel. Great channel. It stands for Super Best Show. That's right. Two.

And the sequel's always better. It actually sounds pretty... It sounds pretty impressive anywhere, right? It's a special broadcasting service. That's right. Actually, does that sound impressive? Does it sound really patron? Tweeting!

No, no. It's a special shows. It's a special show. Are you Americans excited by that? And a customer care agent is a piece of shit. You're correct. You're correct in that assumption, Americans. I tell you what Americans may be excited about.

And that is the topic of this week's show. Forget what we're here for. Where we don't just talk about ourselves. Hang, I just need a sip of my beer. Hang on just take a little. Matt, do you want to have a sip? If we're having a sip break? Hey, what's interesting is...

Jess has care in her job title. but she definitely does not. I do not. I will go on the record and say I do not. And yeah, that's funny. In the documentary, she did a bit about her old employer. Yeah, I did. And she said later, please don't put that in the documentary.

Yeah, I was like, I have to go back to that job. I probably shouldn't be bagging my employers. And I probably shouldn't be bringing that up on her. That's fine. Okay, great. So our American listeners may be interested. I believe most people would be interested in this. I think you were just trying to segue into your topic.

Honestly, it was trying to be smooth. It's not American themed, is it? Is it set in America? Is it about an American person? It is. Is it about a person? Dave, Dave, answer my questions, Dave. Guys, guys, guys, all these questions.

Dave will answer your question with a question. Let me answer your question. Now, to set up the topic, I will ask you a question. That's a little unorthodox. Okay. Okay. My question is, what is the most famous and fearsome prison of all time.

Is it the one that Casanova easily broke out of last week? I was honestly inspired by the last week's topics. Is it Asgaband? It is not Ascaband. That's probably the most, that's much more fearsome than this one. Oh, okay. Okay. The ones that come to mind, there's one in Melbourne here.

Old Melbourne jail. I was thinking of that blue stone one, that other blue stone. Pentridge. Pentridge. Pentridge prison? Where chopper used to... Chopper used to... Chop off ears.

My friend lives across the road from Pentridge. I believe so. It's now like a housing estate, isn't it? Yeah, we have a prison here in the sort of... In a mid-suburbs of Melbourne, and it was like a big prison. A notorious, brutal prison. And now it's like, you know, very gentrified.

So they knock down the prison and now people live inside the blue stone walls. Oh, is that what it is? I'm guessing that's not what it is. It is not Pentridge. It is not... So if I don't think of that one, then I think... think of what Sean Connery

made famous as The Rock. It is The Rock. Elketraz. Godspread. Oh man. Money Penny,

it's James. I'm sending you a faction. You know what? You know, this guy at my school, the guy from my school, Tom Skinner... Wait, we never make Matt

actually laugh and he laughed. I'll do my impression. Yeah. My friend Tom Skinner from school would always do, would do with Sean Connery. His go-to line was, yes, I would like some Worcestershire shorts on my chips. Wichester-sheet shorts on my chips.

Very good. It's very good. That seemed more relevant to the rock than Jess's work. I'm not bond in every film, Jess. Did I say it was relevant? No, I said it was a good impression. Shut up, Matt Stewart, you beautiful bearded bastard. You shut up. Sippy time. No, we are talking, as you said, about Alcatraz this week and credits the this is from the hat

from the hat yeah it was emailed in to our email do go one pod at gmr.com over the last couple of weeks this has come in so very very fresh into the hat so it was on the top layer sometimes that is an advantage I didn't uh got a shuffle I didn't Russell I didn't shuffle it didn't Russell but this was our Daniel Ryan so thank you Daniel Daniel Ryan he's he's a he contacts us a bit I think on the Twitters have we done his any topics of his before oh good question We may have. I feel like we could be wrong.

We might have. We might have. That could have been Ryan Daniel. Yes, that's something good. Ryan Daniel. Also a good guy. Great guy. Do you guys know much about Alcatraz?

I know very little. In fact, nothing. Well, you thought the film, I'm just going to say, the rock, that film you were talking about with Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage is one of my all-time favorite movies. Of course it is. It's one of my favorites. It is. It is.

It is. It is an absolute. Bell's Reven action movie. Well, one of my favorite movies is Shoreshank Redemption, which is also in a prison. Oh. So. Which I referenced last week. Get busy living.

I feel like. I feel like I'm well equipped. To handle this topic. With that and my short colliery impression. I'm probably, in fact, Dave, just, just piped out. I've got this. Yes. Yeah.

Gets busy living. I'll get busy dying. Is he German now? What was that? Fuck. Alcatraz. Federal Penitentiary was a maximum high security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, which is 2 kilometers or 1.25 miles off the coast of San Francisco, baby.

San Francisco. Have you visited it? I have been to Alcatraz Prison as a kid. I have been. No, I haven't. I've been in San Francisco, but it was... They're the kind of things where people are like, oh, that's where you've got to go. And I'm like, oh, I mean...

Why not? What do you not go? A ferry over there. Yeah, sure. Walking around an old building. Sure. The 49ers are playing or whatever their football team is. Let's go to a pub and watch it.

That's what I... Yeah, to Matt, I say, get busy living. Which is what I... Get busy drinking at a pub watching the 49ers probably beat a team. What I would say is the... It would be... It's get busy living, bracket. Go watch the 49ers at the pub and close bracket.

Or get busy dying of boredom on a tour of an old fucking prison. Who cares? Okay, well, it's a long phrase you've got there. It's not as catchy. I think it'll catch on. Well, I think if Morgan Freeman... I'm not sure that it will. Morgan Freeman said it.

Oh, okay. All right. Game changer. Yes. You're right. Matt, I'm sorry. Thank you. Well, I'm afraid it's not interesting to you, Matt,

but I still have 3,000 words to go on this report. Of course he does. But, hey, that's in death. I'm into listening to it. You don't want to see it? I mean, if I'm in a sunny city, I'm not just going to... of wander around and all I probably should have but it just sometimes I think those things just feel a bit like you know if you go to I don't want to just follow the tourists around I'm getting in

there and I'm enjoying the city with the locals with the locals yeah it's fucking sad when when I talk about look next time I'm going to go back there and do an adult trip when I'll go and see the boring shit like Dave a guy younger than me who was way more matured he was eight years old at the time it was been a more mature than me for a long time now. I think Dave was born mature. I thought you said born to be wild. No.

Oh God, no, I would definitely not say that about you. That is something I would never say, not even in a joking manner. Born to run? No. Born to die. Well, in a way we all are, so yeah. And by, in a way, I mean, we all are. Born to try?

Yes, you are Delta Goodrum. Born? No, you've very said to be wild. Born. Yes, we were born. Born, born to be your life. It opened in 1934. Ah, what a year.

That's going to seem like a weird edit. I haven't said that in at all. I just stopped singing. It opened in 1934. What a year. You haven't said that in a while and I've been missing it. Yeah, thank you. The main building of the prison was actually built in...

I think I normally say a good year. A good year, yeah, and I've been missing that. So opened in 1934. A good year. Thank you. The main building of the prison was built in. actually built in 1910 and it used to be a military prison. But when it opened as a penitentiary in the 1930s, it was modernised and given state-of-the-out features to make it America's strongest

prison. Do they open a prison? Do they have like a ribbon cutting? Is there an opening party? Well, they have to open it to close it. It's a very weird turn of events. They have a, it's a little bit different. They what they do is having a ribbon tying up ceremony. Ah, okay. Okay. They put it back together. It's the opposite. Oh, I got it. There are no scissors because... I got it. They're having a good son.

Given its high security and location of Alcatraz in cold waters and the strong currents of the San Francisco Bay, the prison operators believed Alcatraz to be escape-proof, which we talked about, escape-proof prisons on the last week's episode. The main purpose of Alcatraz, or The Rock, as it is commonly nicknamed, was to be... to house the baddest of the bad, like the most badass people,

the most violent, the most ruthless criminals, people that were involved in criminal organisations or gangs, or had attempted to successfully escape or tried to escape other prisons. Attempted to successfully escape. I'm attempting to unsuccessfully escape this prison.

We'll see how we go, but yeah, fingers crossed that I don't make it. Sucked in Dave, you dickhead. You just know he's going to edit that out. He does not like sound, dumb.

That's all right. Just an associate. During its run, Al Contraz, so pretty much what I was trying to say, it's either people that are really violent,

people that are in the mob or people that have tried to escape or have escaped from other prisons. They put them here. It was often referred to as a last resort prison. A resort?

Most of the prisoners were bank robbers, murderers, rapists or counterfeiters. Yeah, but they really liked the buffet and the louwows on Thursdays. And the banana lounge area. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was their favorite.

And the range of activities. Yeah, and the swim-up gambling tables. I love a swim-up bar. Yeah, a swim-up bar. It's common. Some of gambling tables less so. Yeah, that's quite luxurious. But because we have plastic money here, swim-up bars, not a problem.

Not a problem at all. Don't drop the money. Don't drop your banjos. No effort was made to rehabilitate the criminals inside. It was just to punish them and to get criminals away from the other places. Oh, that means your first problem. So you go there and there's like no hope for you. So there's no death penalty in California at this stage?

No, people were executed. So they were just like a step down from? Yeah. Not everyone was there for life, but most people were there for 25 plus years. That's interesting. They know they're going to send them out again, but like we don't want to rehabilitate them. Yeah, yeah. We're going to really fuck them up.

For 25 years, we'll forget about them and then we'll put them back on the ferry. That's pretty smart. I mean, that's state of the art back then, apparently. And what is state of the art in 1910? 1934. Notary 4. Similar. Wait, two of those four numbers were the same.

Well, it had. He's looking at his beard hair. This is State of the Heart. What bloody percentages. Oh, bloody hell. This is State of the Art. It had a three-story cell house included the main four blocks of the jail,

A, B, C, and D block. It had a warden's office, a visitation room, a library, and a barbershop. State of the Art. Do they have a barbershop? shop quartet in the barbershop. That was definitely paid for by the taxpayer. Second question.

Did they implement the Dewey Decimal System in their library? I believe that they invented the Dewey Decimal System. Fascinating. Really? Fascinating. That is absolutely untrue. Fascinating. So sorry. Oh, that's a bloody turn, isn't it?

Yeah, I get so excited. You know I get excited about the Dewey Decimal System. Just loves it. Oh, bloody love it. Now, security was state of the art, but these cells were very primitive. and lacked privacy. Primitive. They had monkeys in them.

Do you know what primitive means? Because it doesn't sound like you do. Primates. Primative. Oh, a primitive number can only be divided by one in itself, I believe. That is a very good question, Dave. And I don't know why you're talking about. You saw where I was coming from.

Totally. Primates are monkeys, right? Right? Right, Dave? I'd they? I love that you look at me, but yes. All right, so it's such a bloody joke. So why don't you bloody get on board?

Do you know what primitive means? Mr. Dave Waterkey, I'm an associate producer. Customer care can fuck off. I'm starting to understand why. I was about to answer back about customer care, and you just did it yourself. Why don't you hate your own title? I was going to be like, fuck off customer care,

and you were like, no, I'll do it myself. Yeah, I've got it. I'll see myself out. The cells were primitive, and had many monkeys. But it lacked privacy, both for prisoners and monkeys. Oh, no. All they had was a bed, sometimes a desk, a wash basin, and a toilet.

A toilet corner. There were... A banana corner. Or you can eat bananas. I'll be in my banana corner. I guess that's where, yeah, the banana lounges make more sense. Yeah. It's for the monkeys.

The bed had a few furnishings. All they got was... A blanket. That was it. What do you need? Well, probably a pillow sheet. I think you've been a bit fuzzy. I just, what I do when I forget a pillow is I just, you know, bunch up some of my clothes. Uh-huh. There we go.

You just get one of your several... When you forget a pillow? Yeah. When do you forget a pillow? Normally at like a music festival or something like that? You forget a pillow. Forget a pillow. Forget a pillow?

It does feel like a thing that you should remember. I would say it's an essential. Yeah. It's a first thing, Dave. packs. The prison cells typically measured nine feet by five feet and were only, and were seven feet high. So very claustrophobic.

Nine feet by five feet. So it's 2.7 metres by 1.5 meters. But like I'm five foot seven. Yeah. So lying. So you couldn't lie sideways. Oh yeah. You couldn't lie sideways.

But I can't lie sideways. As you often do in a room. Always. Always. Always. First thing I do. What do I do? The first thing, as soon as we get into the podcast studio, what do I do?

Just trying to measure the room with your head. I lie sideways. She lie sideways. It's my thing. And the room here never changes size. But I do it anyway. And she knows that it's not quite wide enough. She bangs her at every time.

Every time. She just wants to confirm that we haven't changed the dimensions. That's why I'm not very bright. She's really paranoid that we're in some sort of matrix scenario. It's looking for a glitch. It's shutter island. Speaking of creep. One of the reasons it was thought to be escape proof.

It was because of its ratio of prisoners to guard. So it could house 312 prisoners at a time, but they only usually had about 200. And there was usually a ratio of one guard to every two or three prisoners. Oh, wow. So they could watch them at all time. That's crazy. Which is more than any other jail in America at the time. At 24 hours a day, the prisoners were counted every 15 minutes.

What the fuck. So they were being watched all the time, even while they slept, so they would always keep a count. Oh, okay. Well, that's creepy. That is. That seems like way too many guards. Yeah. It's a lot.

Taxpayers' dollars too, am I right? Counting all those banjos. You're counting two or three every 15 minutes. It feels like that's the kind of number that you don't have to recount. Yeah, if you're in charge of three people, just watch them. One, two, three. Okay, thank God. One, two, three.

Oh, no. Hey, guys. When those two wandered off, I was wondering if that was going to affect the count. It did. Oh, no. I've lost one in three. Two out of three, ain't bad. The island was 1.25 miles off the mainland, as I said.

It was surrounded by cold and often unforgiving water. The tides were vicious and the currents often strong. And held a grudge. Oh yeah, they never forgot. Davy Jones Locker had it in for all of them. Unforgiving. It was rumoured that there was man-eating great white sharks in the waters. Nah.

But this was just a myth. Possibly made up by other people running the prison when they're launched it in the 30s to deter people from escaping. But most of the prisoners under the assumption that if you survive the cold water, you'd probably get eaten by shark. Sure. It was just to scare the shit out of people. It was also rumoured that all the guards in the watchtowers that were around the place

were expert marksmen and could take anyone out with like a sniper rifle. This was not true either, but also made up just to make people think twice about making a break for it. There were also bears in the water. It was bears. And AIDS. And... You get AIDS in the water in the 30s. That was very confusing.

Very confusing. So, like, you'll, once you'll know, just wait, you'll get it in the 60s or 70s, it'll really kick in. Or 80s? Or 90s, look, it's hard to know. It's well into the future. Well into the future. Look, I'm just saying decades at this point.

I can't be precise. I hope to be dead by then. Polio's in there, so don't get in the water. That would be my tactic. Marco. Now, despite all of these things deterring people from escaping, some did attempt to escape. over time. The most violent attempt is known as the Battle of Elkutrez,

where six prisoners... I wonder where they got that name from. Six prisoners took two of the guards hostage, and the only reason that they weren't successful was their escape was because one of the prisoners, when one of the prisoners broke into the gun cage, where... You've got to keep the guns safe.

Where there was supposed to be a key to the front door to let them all out. Sure. One of the guards on duty had broken protocol and possibly accidentally taken the key. with him. So the prisoners inside who, part of the

Battle of Alcatraz, couldn't get out because they didn't have a key. Foil in the plan. And the two guards died. Three of the prisoners were killed and two of them were later sent to the gas chamber.

Oh, no. What happened there? They checked into the Hotel California and they were not allowed to leave. Hotel California. I mean, that's kind of... It's fine, I guess.

Is that what Hotel California is? The gas chamber. Hmm. Is that what that song's about? It's whatever you want it to be about. Wow. It's about, yeah, is it about hell? It's whatever you want it to be about.

That's what I want it to be about. Hey, hell it is. Man, it's about hell. Did I ever tell you that? Oh, way. Before 1962 in the first 28 years of it being open, a total of 33 prisoners made 14 escape attempts. Two men trying twice.

23 were caught. Six were shot and killed during their escape. Two drowned, and the last two were listed as missing. presumed drowned. But the most notorious escape happened in the year 1962. What a year. What a year.

Thank you. That was different delivery. Enjoyed that. I tried to... What a year? Yeah, I tried to... A year. Yeah, so you're not as good at it.

Yeah, so that's why it's not your catchphrase. We all have our strengths. And that's certainly not yours. We all have weaknesses. Yours are mostly weaknesses. What? Are you talking about? I'm talking about the Escape from Alcatraz, 1962.

Ah, a good year. Fuck you. The Anglin brothers. Anglin. Ah, what? A good pair. We have Alfred Clarence. Oh, that is so good.

1931. Born. I got some friends who used Clarence. is, they're like their, um, sly way of saying, what a Clarence. What a Clarence. That's great. They say Clarence Hunt and it's been short down to Clarence or Clary.

Oh, look at the Clary's over here. I love that because I don't really like saying the C word. Yeah, so Clarence is a lot nicer. Check out these Clarence. Oh, I love that. But, you know, obviously what people don't know, probably the overseas listeners, It's not necessarily a mean word in Australia. It's just kind of another word for person.

It's become that. Sometimes. I feel fairly recently. Yeah, okay. I don't think that's always been. But it's still, it's not a good word. Yeah, it's a very, it's a very, I don't like that word.

Do you like Clarence? I love Clarence. Clarence is nice. I will definitely be calling people Clary's or Clarence. Clarence, it's nice, right? That's such a Clarence. Could you bleep out when I said the other. The other word, the word that goes like,

Can you bleep? Is that another beep? A bleep? If you could bleep that as well, please. We'll beep it. Up to you. I'll probably go with beep first time, bleep the second. Ah, interesting. Listeners will hear the subtle difference. Because I'm not here to offend.

So, 1962. Alfred. Alfred Clarence, Anglin, one of the... Born in 1931. 1931, and his older brother, John William. John William, great name. Clarence. No, John William, Anglin, born 1930.

Okay. So one year apart, they're born in 1331. So they are now 31 and 32 at the time of the 1962. That's right. They were born into a family of 13 children in Georgia. Too many children. Their parents were seasonal farm workers and in the early 1940s. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, okay, I'm going to do one of my dad's jokes, right?

So you say again, they have 13 kids. They were born into a family of 13 children in Georgia. Do they know what was bloody calls in it? Sex, dad. Sex is what creates children. Do they know what was causing it? Sex. Yeah, like as in they got so many kids.

Oh, do they know what's causing it? I'd love to do an episode where we call Bring Your Parents to the podcast or bring your parents to work day. That's a very fun idea. That is a fun idea. Do we all just choose one parent? I'd pick my dad. I'd probably bring Mum. No, Mom would be quiet.

Dad. Your dad sounds like a riot with that. what's causing it gear. I'm not sure. Both are good options. Okay. I feel like mom might get into it more. Sure.

Okay, there we go. Let's have to bring your parents to Pod Day. Unless we supplied that with some beers. Sure. I don't want to give it that reputation. Hey, uh... Sorry to interrupt you with my dad joke. Is one of 14.

No, really? Do they know what was causing it? That is good. That is very good. that is very, very good. Where do you come up with this? It's all about timing, delivery, and my personal appearance. I'm basically laughing as soon as I see you.

Mainly with that pompadour on your head. It grows every week. So, John and Alfred. So we've got Alfred Clarence, John William. Their parents were farm workers, and in the early 1940s they moved to Florida with the whole family. The Blurras, the brothers were. were very close in eight and reportedly inseparable as kids.

Aw, that's nice. Both had a talent for swimming. Oh. And boating. Oh. Let's keep that in the back of your mind. I don't know where that's going to become a handy way. And I don't know how this is going to go wrong.

I'm going to put it right in the back because I don't think that's going to come up again. I'm just going to shove it out of my head. Put it in the trash but don't hit empty trash. Dave, my brain is not a computer. It is not? It is not. It's a brain, David. I'm a human being. You're a human being. You're a Clarence. So sorry. I'm so sorry. I just wanted to practice. Was that right? Good. Good. The right context?

Very good. Oh, I'll bleep that. No, I won't. I won't. They began robbing banks and other establishment as a team in the early 1950s. Using their swimming and boating skills. Makes sense. Thank you. You can now delete. You can now delete. It's not coming back again. But they weren't as bad guys as you might think because they... Like Hitler.

They were definitely not as bad a people as Hitler. They weren't as bad guys as you might have think. Is that what you said? Think so. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. Like, as the episode goes on, I'm more and more understanding of why you're only an Assoot-El. No, no. You know, when you're trying to get someone shit about talking about it?

Yeah, it's really hard. Just back-to-back-to-back. It's like it up. Karma. I might have a quick break from the chat. I'll get through a few facts. Okay, great. Cure my riddly facts.

They weren't as bad as you might think of bank rubber. They mostly targeted places after hours, which for banks is all the hours, am I right? Those fuckers never open. I've actually written which for banks is all the hours, am I right? But then you ad-libbed those fuckers? Yeah, definitely. I'll take down people when I want to. God, you're such a badass.

Fuck yeah. They wanted to avoid... Bad ass or no ass. Not this again. Tiny tush. Guys, I've been eating weight gain all week and it's not helping. Hashtag tiny tush over here. Hashtag tiny tush over here.

Checks the time. Wishes he was dead. You gotta stop writing these bloody long. But should we also mention that it's 1125pm when we're recording this? Having a great time. On a Friday night. Friday night. Being associate producing all week.

This is what we do for you, people. Appreciate that as I have another sip of my beer and present four of this form. We work very hard. Well, I mean, Dave is working very hard right now. And we're doing everything we can to derail him. I'm supporting everyone financially, emotionally. But you're supporting physically.

Definitely physically. Definitely physically. Thank you very much. They wanted to avoid hurting people. So they weren't that bad. They weren't terrible dudes. They weren't that bad. Like Hitler was.

It reminds me of a young man. They claimed that they used a weapon only once during a bank heist. And it was a spoon. It was actually, it was less offensive. It was a toy gun. You'd probably do more damage with a spoon. Yeah, you could spoon someone.

It's blunt, it'll hurt more. That's not a knife, that's a spoon. Why are they got British accents? Because I was quoting old mate for, we did an episode of, we did an episode of, about him a while back and it was Alan Rickman. Oh, you, I mean, why are you asking the question? Because I had forgotten.

Okay, great. They used a toy gun, but they did not stop them being arrested in 1956 and they were given 15 to 20 year sentences. They served time in three prisons where after repeated escape attempts, they were sent to Alcatraz in 1960 and 1961, which I find insane because if they keep escaping together, why do you keep keeping the brothers together? Yeah, separate them. Separate them.

But now they're both at Alcatraz in the early 1960s. Maybe they're wearing one set of pyjamas. Just a big one. They're not twins. No, but they tell people they are. And they're conjoined twins, so you can't separate them. Maybe that, Dave. Did you read that in your little report?

I did not read that. Is that what they're doing? I can't confirm nor deny your fact. There we go. I can't confirm nor deny. I've got to take that. Go ahead with that, Perkins. So we've got the Anglin brothers.

then we have Frank Lee Morris. Frank Morris, got it. Born in 1926, five years older than the brothers. He was orphaned at age 11 and spent most of his formative years in foster homes. He was convicted of his first crime at age 13, and by his late teens had been arrested for crimes ranging from narcotics possession to armed robbery. Oh, wow, okay. So he's...

He's escalated. Yeah. He was a very smart man, Frank. Frankly Morris, when he took IQ tests in prison, it came back that his intelligence was in the top 2% of the general population and in the prison system probably much higher than everyone else around it. Wow. Wow. Actually, Dave, you're making some assumptions there about criminals. Probably was the word used.

Wow. Allegedly. Hey, I know it's controversial, but I think all criminals belong in prison. That is pretty controversial. All right, Dave. Frankly Morris, our genius extraordinaire, served time in Florida and Georgia, then escaped from the Louisiana State Penitentiary while serving 10 years for armed robbery. He was recaptured a year later while committing a burglary and then sent to Alcatraz in 1960.

Wow. So that is three people so far. Two of them attempted escapes. One has pulled off an escape. Yep. Our final member of our prison quartet was Alan West. That's a good name. Born in 1929, he was convicted of stealing a car in 1955,

and after an unsuccessful escape attempt in Florida, he was transferred to Alcatraz in 1957. So all he's done is to steal a car. But then because he tried to get out, they were like, oh, we'll put you in the worst prison possible. That seems excessive still. And he'd been there the longest of the four. But it's a, yeah, so four people all either tried to break out

or broken out of prisons before. Now, the master man of... Master man and mastermind. I'm a master man and a mastermind. Hmm. I agree to disagree. The mastermind on which one? Surely I'm one.

You figure it out. I'll take mind. No, man. No. The mastermind of the plan was Frank Morris, the smart guy. Oh, that makes sense. You did. That makes sense.

It does make sense. but it was Alan West who thought of the plan in the first place that he pitched the idea because one day whilst performing his job as a cleaner and maintenance man see in Alcatraz you could get a job if you behaved

so it was a privilege not a right so not everyone had jobs but he's been well behaved so he was given the job of pretty much just like a maintenance guy and he noticed a small narrow shaft above an air ventilator on top of the cellhouse that he looked through and saw it went all the way to the roof.

He observed that only a few bars cover the hole, and he thought it was big enough for a man to get through. So it only had these crossbars on it. He was like, if I can get the bars off, I can probably get to the roof. So it was impossible to cut the bars or to squeeze past them, but he actually saw that if he could cut the entire duct off, which had the bars on it, then he could easily get to the roof.

That was the plan. He also put two and two together, and there was a very rarely used utility closet, which is pretty much like a passageway that ran behind all of the cells in their block. It was just like a long hallway. He reasoned that this closet, which was more like a passageway,

like I said, filled with pipes, it would leave them to the top of the cellhouse. So he thought if he could get into this passageway behind his cell, he could climb the pipes to the top of the cell house, take this thing off and then climb to the roof, run away, get in the water,

and never be seen again. Dave, I fucking love your report. I'm so in on this. Are you in? Yeah Look at the hairs of my arms Fuck yeah Standing on end mate

I love I've got to confess I love a good prison escape I love reading about The things that they do Like when they in Maybe I'll do a report on one day In Second World War

You know colditz castle Have you ever seen No No It's like a German prison camp And then for weeks They secretly dug out This trench that went like

For 150 metres Underneath the ground And that they'd do stuff Like in the Shawshank Redemption Where they'd get dirt and they'd have to secretly hide it and they go, oh, it's so fucking cool! Wow.

That sounded sarcastic, but I meant it like, wow. I know, that's why I looked at you like, you absolute heartless Clarence. No, really, wow. So that's the plan, all right? So the Anglans, the brothers, inhabited adjacent cells, and near to them a few cells down, Western Morris were next door to each other. It is really weird that they put them in, like, cells across from each other? Yeah, they're close as well.

it's really weird. Oh no, so they're actually next door to each other. Oh. And these prisons didn't have doors. They're like, you can probably imagine,

I think you've probably seen footage of Alcatraz, I don't know if you have. They've got, they're open, they've just got bars at the front. Yep. So anyone, you can just come to the front of your cell

and so can the person next to you and you can just talk through the bars so they could just discuss this plan secretly, quietly, and then they'd meet up with the other two in like the lunch room and they'd talk about this plan. Yep.

and at the back of their cells they noticed this is the back wall that backs onto this utility passage they noticed a little vent underneath the sinks that was bringing fresh air in it's a bloody palace they got fresh air they got a sink

they're got bars it is a resort their cells have bars they've got their own bar they've got bars in their cells I didn't even pick that up that's multiple like 30 bars per cell swim up Yeah, is a swim-up bar?

Well, if you get enough water. They're good swimmers. They're good swimmers. Let's not forget. Take a few banjos. Get yourself a cocktail. He's making it rain. Making it rains.

It's great. It's really great when you mime on the podcast. Look, sometimes it's just for you and me, Jess. And I mention it every time. Oh, fuck off. What about me? Yeah. I enjoy your little mimes.

Your little mimes. Your little plays. Your little short films. Done in live theatre. So these vents, they're sort of, they concreted into the wall. It was the cider that using spoons and other metal objects that they could hide and smuggle back into their cells, they would slowly dig out the air vents around it so that they could slip through into the corridor behind their cells. The inmates alternated shifts with one working, one digging another one on lookout to make sure that when the guards do this count every 15 minutes,

they don't see them digging the shoot out of the back. they'd start work at 5.30pm and keep going until 9pm just before lights out. The last hour and a half before bed was especially good time to digger because that's when all the well-behaved prisoners were allowed to play their musical instruments. Oh, okay. So they would play like saxophones, trumpets, accordions and guitars and this would, of course, cover the sound of the digging. Nice. So that's when they'd really get in there.

What would they do? They'd really get in there. You'd get in there. You've got to dig a little bit and then you've got to get out of there. And you get back in there, take a break, you're back in, you say good night, lights out. And then you get a good night's sleep. Eight hours. You got to?

I insist. You reckon I do, that was more visual than... Dave's facial expressions are excellent. They are super funny. My face is beautiful. Okay. Oh, I didn't say that. I said it's expressive.

I didn't say it's good. It's fused. It's fucked. You got a fucked face with a tiny tush. It makes expressions, sure. But it is hard to look. Well, if you had a big enough magnifying glass, you would see the expressions by Tushmake,

which are something to behold. Something to behold. How do you see them? I don't want to know. Continue with your report. A mirror. A lot of mirrors. A lot of mirrors.

And a lot of clenching. And a lot of getting in there. Get now. Get back in there. Taking a break. It took the months of painstaking getting in there. But once they had dug through and made large enough holes that their bodies could get through, they covered up, this is so ingenious, they covered up the hole with cardboard.

So they got a big piece of cardboard, put the vent in the middle of the cardboard, then painted the cardboard the same as the cell. So if you walked past, it would just look like the wall. When did they get paint? And now, they would steal stuff, they were ingenious. It's a high security prison. They've got fucking paint supply. They've got craft.

Oh, I can tell you why. There's one guard looking after two or three at any time. And they're not even seeing them do this. They're out there out, you know. What the fuck are the guards doing? They've got craft anoons. It was Alan West, because he's the maintenance guy. One of his jobs was painting the prison.

Sure. So he had a heaps of extra paint. And now they can get in and out of their cells into this back corridor where no one can see them at night. Oh, it's amazing. We can take the vent out, put it back in. Imagine your heart, like getting out. Oh, that'd be a real bloody thrill.

So good. And because Alan West was working... I reckon you'd probably shit yourself. Quite literally. Me personally. Just anybody. I reckon the adrenaline and the stress would be so much. Fight or flight would kick in.

You would shoot your pants. Yeah, I'd fight that bent. That's the kind of thing that I reckon... Get in there. Get in there. Right, your little vent. I'm going to fight you. Then I'm going to get out.

Then I'm going to fight. Then I'm going to fight. Then I'm going to fight again. He just had a really... angry sip of his water there in character, I think. Yeah, that water's getting in me. I'm going to get it out of me. I'm going to get it back in.

I'm going to drink piss. Now, old mate Alan West, who's the janitor. He's doing the jobs like the painting. Wow, he's changed from maintenance man to janitor. The language that we use is very important. Sorry, uh, associate janitor. He was... Just to let you know, that is like one down from a janitor.

Oh, okay. Okay. So just imagine a janitor, but a lot shitter. Great. You got it? It's like, you know, it's kind of, this might help you understand. Yeah. Now I'm a friend of yours.

Uh-huh. Whereas Dave is an associate. Yeah, okay. Definitely. Because like, obviously I hold you much higher. Obviously. But Dave exists. It's harder to deny that he does exist.

He do. He do. He do. He do exist. How he do exist. Oh, he do it real good. He exists real good With his fucked face and his tiny tush

I work in television Yeah Yeah You've got the best job of all of us But I want to talk about Alan West You're going Talk about Alan West So I don't want to talk about my

Fucked face anymore Dave tells me He's the associate janitor Right And because he's doing jobs like painting He's able to ingeniously tell the prison staff That he needs to hang blankets in a room...

In a room at the top of the cell block in order to stop paint from dripping onto other areas of the prison. That's real smart. This is very clever because he turned a room that was open and covered in bars and anyone could see into a private room and now they have this whole giant room. To go and fuck.

To fuck and also hide supplies for the escape. The rest of the episode is just Dave graphically describing this guy's book. I'm going to get it in. Get it out. Back in. Have a rest. Finish off the job. Get a good eight hours.

Oh, fucking done. Behind the blankets. Blanket fort. West was able to hang up to 80 blankets to sort of cordon off this room. And no one ever checked on what he had up there. So they trusted him. The prison guards. They're like, oh yeah, that's just Westie.

What? Hanging up the blankets. Okay, also, the rooms are nine foot by five foot. Mm-hmm. And you put in 80 blankets. That's fucking tiny the point. No, so this is a different part of the cell block. So on top of their...

Fair enough. So it's not a prison. It's not a cell per se. It's just a room. It's just a big room that he's now made. And now they can access that room by the back of their cell. That's amazing. So I can go up there and they can do stuff.

Yeah, what kind of stuff? I think we know. Bit of In and Out. Love In and Out. That's a burger chain. Oh. You know that burger? Apparently it's really good.

Quiz No. You're just listing chains. Apparently that's the thing in America and they made fun of it on a TV show I was watching and then they were all over Iceland. There you go. I do not follow that sentence at all. I did.

Now one day in the prisons library one of the members happened upon an article in a popular Mechanicals magazine on how to construct a life jacket and a life raft in emergency situations. Wow. Which sounds like a terrible thing to leave in a prison that's surrounded by water.

But they found this article and they're like, great, we'll just do that. West started stealing and collecting raincoats from around the prison. The coats were waterproof and floated. Because the guards had no inventory, they were able to acquire and stash away in the room upstairs behind the blankets, up to 160 raincoats. So no one's even checking this room. No, no one's checking the room. Oh, my God.

Other prisoners knew about their escape attempt, and it was later estimated, afterwards when they interviewed people that up to half of the 160 prisoners knew of the escape and many helped them by smuggling them tools and raincoats. So because they're all badass criminals, no one's ratting on each other.

They're all like, oh, you want to get out? Cool. What? Yeah. There's no snitching because they're all like the baddest of the bad.

Yeah, I thought the bad's of the bad are all snitchy. But then you wouldn't want somebody else to get out and you still have to stay there. Isn't that, what's that saying? There's no something amongst, No honour among thieves.

But there's honour among murderers. Yeah, come on Matt. There's a difference between thieves and murderers. One of these guys are an attempted car thief? Yeah. West started to... Yeah, it's not that bad. West started to sew the raincoats together

and created life jackets for each member and also a raft that measured four by 16 feet. That's huge. So, like, 4.8 metres by... How are you going to get it out there? It's big. Morris...

the smart guy modified an accordion like instrument, the Constantina, which he would be used to rapidly inflate the raft. So he made like a pump, like a blow it up with when they get to the water. So it's not inflated, so it's all folded up. And then when they get to the water, they're going to inflate it.

That's the plan. John and Clarence, bro time. They, one of their job was to fabricate dummy heads that they could leave in their beds at night. So when the guards came around and counted them every 15 minutes, if they're out the back or in the escape attempt. They see the head in the bed and because it's dark, it lights out. It's enough for them to go, oh, someone's in the bed.

So they made, the heads were crude but pretty lifelike. They were constructed from homemade cement powder. A mixture that included innocuous materials that they could acquire, such as soap and toilet paper. So they just made, it's pretty much, it's paper mashet. It actually is. And then they, they directed, decorate it with flesh-tone paint from prison art kits.

Oh my God. From the Crafternoons. From the craft ofnoons. And they got human hair from the barbershop. Ew. Oh, okay. From the barbershop. Jess, don't look near.

You got human hair on your head. Get it off. Get it off. There's heaps of it. You got way more than me. Yeah. I'm sure you were instantly grossed out by human hair. No, I just thought it was weird.

They got human hair. And then it was like, from the barbershop. I was like, oh, they probably just picked it up from the barbershop. Where did you... Where did you think they got it from? I don't know. They got human hair from the toilet. Or just from like the shower floors, you know?

Oh, mate, you're done with a hair on the floor? Yeah, can I have that? Or just like they're just... You know, somebody was having a nap and they just... A couple of hairs off the soap each day. Yeah, I was thinking pubes. Very realistic. Now, I'm pretty sure the guard would walk around and go,

geez, Ellen West's head looking extra puby tonight. I'm a bit of a poke. Oh, no. I'd never notice how puby here is. It's cut, yeah. Wait, Alan. Pube, pub head. What was the cellar calling him?

They gave the heads that they made, the paper matchy things. Pet names like Oink and Oscar. Cool. What cool dudes. Nali. Hey, get busy living. I'll get busy dying. Oink.

Oink. Now we get to the actual escape night. West had fallen behind in digging out the vent. later grill at the rear of his cell because his primary role was to construct life preservers and a special wooden paddle for the raft. These tasks didn't require him to leave his cell like the others. So he wasn't that worried about the digging out bit. So the other guys had been digging out furiously and they had a big hole.

But he was like, oh, I'll get there. I'll get there. Sure. It had taken six months of secretive work, but on the night of June 11, 1962, Morris indicated that the top ventilator was loose enough, the thing that goes to the roof, and he felt that they were ready for the escape attempt. With their dummy heads in place on their pillows

and extra blankets bunched up to make it look like their bodies are in the bed. My heart is racing. Exactly. Yeah. Is it the beers you've had? Is that? Yeah, it could be. And the speed that I said.

That are you injected into my heart. And just the friendship. And the friendship. That's what I meant, the speed. It's an artificial, Little concoction I put together, I call. Love of Good Friendship. You put that together, did you?

I put it together. That's like my own version of homemade cement powder. You call it oink? I snored it straight up. Friendship. Fifty bucks a gram. Jeez, that's expensive. Friendship.

Hey. A good quality friendship right here. It's pure. It's pure. I know heaps about drugs, so that's good. Well, luckily we all know heaps about drugs. That's why we're getting a lingo down so good. We've done them all horse, heroin.

That's about it, really. And other, etc. If I was to fill out the form on drugs, I'd tick other. Fill out the form. My drugs form. My drugs form. Anything to declare? Yeah, bit your drugs.

What you got? Other. Over. Probably having a Overt over here. Yeah, you haven't got there here, have you ever. Yeah. Nah, you'll catch up. Don't worry about it.

Don't worry about. Don't worry about. Don't worry about. Got a bit of a horse, got a bit ova. Got a bit ova. Other. Ava go. Yeah.

All right. Got to go now. I got to go inject. Yeah. To my leg. And him a tiny butt. Yeah. I'm shelving it up.

Yeah. I'm shelving with a syringe. I'm not getting... One droplet. I'm not getting it. that back either. Whole syringe is going up. Going up the Japsie.

The Jaxie. Me, Jaxie. Yeah, right. Japsie? All right, I probably better go because I do, I like my privacy. I do.

I do like my privacy. But is that cool? Am I still right? What is that? I declared I've wrote it down. Customs. I wrote down in the form, got the other.

All right. What is happening? Got to go get a hit. All right. It is past midnight, I think. And Dave, When Dave makes it past midnight.

I love that you had just said, I am tingling, I'm so excited for this. At home, everyone's like, how are they going to make it? And then we start talking about injecting drugs into my tiny bottom for like five minutes. All right, the dummy heads are in place. Quietly, just after 9.30pm, lights out. The prisoners left their cell for the last time. But immediately, they encountered their first.

problem. Alan West was unable to slip through the hole in his cell wall. For fuck sake, Alan, you dumb piece of shit. This is why we should have invited Alan East because he would have... Alan is much more trustworthy. I hope they don't wait up for him. It's like bad luck, mate. Yeah, you snooze, you lose.

So is it weird, right, that I'm 100% barricing for these guys? To get out, even though they are criminals, essentially. No, I'm barricing for them too. West had used cement to sure up crumbling concrete around his vent opening. Is that what you call your butt? My vent opening? Yeah. Yes.

The concrete, the cement he'd put around it to make it more to look more like a wall, had hardened overnight, and it narrowed the hole and it fixed the grill into place. So he could no longer get through there. The others, Matt, were unwilling to wait. Ellen West, who was the original instigator of the plan, the one that had come up with it, was left behind. Well, your own fault, Alan. The brothers attempted to assist West in removing his ventilator grill

by kicking it from the other side of the cell in the utility corridor, but the efforts were unsuccessful. Nothing would budget. So eventually, after a few minutes, they were like, see ya. Bye. Yeah, I do feel a bit for Alan. I forgot he came up with the idea.

But still, it's like, mate, you know, this is probably one of the, the fundamental things of a breakout is being able to get out of the cell. The other three guys made their final 30 foot climb up the plumbing to the cell house roof. So there's all these pipes and they just climb them like a ladder. Wow. They got to the roof. Well, they took the grill off, pardon me, I should say. They climbed up there.

Then they're on the roof. Then they traversed 100 feet across the rooftop and carefully maneuvered down 50 feet of piping to the ground. near the entrance to the shower area. They cut through two eight-foot fences with tools that they'd improvise. And at the northeast shoreline near the power plant that was on the island, a blind spot in the prisoners' network

of search lights and gun tower so where they couldn't be seen, they inflated the raft with the Constantina device. Took them ages, but they got it going. When it was ready, the three men pushed the raft into the border at the edge of Alcatraz and climbed on.

Frank Morris... Sorry. when are they having their nap? They didn't have a nap like old mate Casanova. Well, this is very confusing. Because his nap got, that and Shorty got out easily. I'm starting to think they're not going to make. Well, they haven't made it yet, have they?

Yeah, because they had a nap. Didn't have a nap. Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin had just made it off the rock. Okay, well, let's stand corrected. Prisoners testified that they heard the men climbing the pipes and that they made a bit of noise, especially because one of them dropped a metal tool from the top

and it hit the ground in the utility clauses. In a dead quiet time. And it's like dead quiet. Oh my God. And prisoners later said, Must have been the rain. Yeah. It's not raining.

It's raining. Oh, again. Where are we? I don't know why we're doing these weird things. It's in San Francisco. Now, later that, so these prisoners testified that they heard that, and they said either the guards didn't hear it or they didn't care

because no alarm was raised that night or they heard it heard one noise and went that was weird no more noise ah that's probably all right a sea gulls also roosted on the rooftop and according to some

they made lots of noise when the men started crawling across the rooftop because all the seagulls started flying up into the air and like making again no guards reported seeing or hearing any movement so maybe dodgy I don't know eventually old mate Alan West made it to the rooftop, so he made it out of his cell. Oh, he got out.

He got to the roof. The other men were already gone, but they'd left him his life jacket. He stayed on the roof, smoking cigarettes until dawn, and then snuck back into his cell for the next morning. That's kind of fun, so he's got it, but he's got a way to get up whenever he wants and just smoke on the roof. Well, meanwhile, inside. Oh, no, he doesn't. Well, because the escape's about to be discovered, isn't it? because meanwhile inside the prison

the dummy heads the prisoners had left behind of their cells fooled any guards all night and nothing was noticed but it wasn't until the roll call the next morning when each man was supposed to stand at the end of their bed that it was noticed that three men weren't getting up so a guard stuck his hand through the bars

and tried to wake one of the men and then the head rolled onto the floor Oh Jesus, that would give you a bloody fright hey You have a bunch of pubs left in your hand from the head Ew. So the guard And then he was like... Not human hair.

Not human pubs. They're from the monkey pupes from the monkeys in the south. That's the human part that makes that gross. I'm happy to take some primate pub, but... Love a primate pub. That's strong. I feel strong, but... It's okay.

The guard immediately sounded the alarm, which triggered one of the biggest manhunts of the 20th century. When they sound the... alarm. What's that sound like? Bebop, Bebby-doo. And all the guys are like, oh no, shit.

The most menacing alarm we have. The beep-boppy-doo. That's a code red. The warden wakes up and goes, oh no, beepuppy-do. That's a code red all right. God, we've been training for this, boys. I didn't know this at the time,

but, um, so, at first First they start searching the prison. And the island itself had about 75 people living on it, including like guards that live there and their families. So there's like kids that live on the island. Oh, shit. So they're all like put into lockdown. Like, hey, don't open the door. Like search your basement.

Like we'll get people to search your bedroom. Not like you 15 year old girl. Send the kids down. Oh, no. So like, and that'd be scary. Yeah. So that would be terrifying. And there's all these caves, because it's on an island, there's all these caves and stuff around, so they have to go around, and they're on boats, and they're searching, and they can't find anything, so they have to radio to the FBI's brought in, and there's an air search, a sea search, land search involving military law enforcement agencies across all divisions, and over the next 10 days.

Boats, helicopters, and hundreds of people searched high and low for the men. on June 14 a few days later a coast guard boat picked up a paddle floating about 200 yards off the southern shore of Angel Island which is an island that's also out in San Francisco Bay on the same day in that same general location workers on another boat found a wallet wrapped in plastic containing names addresses and photos of the Anglans friends and relatives Oh no. Because they'd need that. Yeah, this is not saying. Ten days later... Should have had that now.

Shreds of raincoat material believed to be remnants of the raft were found on Angel Island Beach. The following day, a prison boat picked up a deflated life jacket made from the same material 50 yards off Elkutra's island. No human remains nor any physical evidence of the men's fate was ever found.

That's right. It's a mystery episode all along there's no finish to this it's another fucking did they did they survive you get to tell me

you get to tell me I'm going to give you reasons for why they did make it then reasons for why they didn't make it and we'll have a big discussion and we'll end and we'll conclusively debunk this like we've sold

to guys you said at the start that there were two or presumed dead but that was before No, that was earlier earlier. But those people were pretty likely presumed it. These guys, there's a big case that they did make it. So, reasons they did make it, if they had died, it's really strange that no bodies were ever found.

So most bodies in the San Francisco Bay eventually wash up in San Fran or on one of the other islands. But this didn't happen. So it's really unlikely. So that might happen to one body, but for all three to disappear if they did die. is very, very unlike. You never find any of them. Manating sharks. But they found bits of like life raft.

You found bits of life jacket. But if they made it, they obviously would have just ditched that. You're not going to carry that anymore. They would have just left that at the shoreline and then gone on. And there were some signs of the boat. But if the boat was made of hundreds of life jackets, more of it should have turned up, right? It may have simply vanished.

So some contend that perhaps they were picked up by a boat. Police records show that there was a boat in the end. area at the time that night. And around Alcatraz Island, there was like a no fly zone, but for boats, no sail zone. No boat zone. No boat zone. Sail probably makes more sense. No fly zone. But I quite like no boat zone.

That is a long way around, Dave. I know. I'm freestyling. This isn't nice. I'm just freestyle. I'm freestyling. Yeah, we can tell. But there was a boat that was a little bit closer than it should have been that night.

So possibly were they waiting? Were they waiting? And if they did do that, they probably would have collected the boat. the men would have gone on, thrown their life jackets overboard, and then gone on their merry way. They'd all studied Spanish prior to leaving, and there's been unconfirmed sightings over the next five decades of the trio all over South America.

A detailed map of Mexico was also found in one of their cells. So maybe... Mexico. They made it to South America. There was a sighting of the three men in Brazil by someone who used to know the two brothers and was in prison with them, and the FBI was so intrigued that they sent some.

someone to a bar that they were spotted in. But they didn't find it. They did not find them. Possibly they went to Brazil. The two brothers, the Anglans, mother got flowers sent to her every single mother's day until her death from an anonymous source.

Many claim that it was the boys. But they were also one of 13, so it could have been any of the other kids. 14. anonymously, it could have been. When their mother eventually did die, at her funeral there was a sight of, of quote, very unusual looking tall women

who were wearing long dresses and heavy makeup. Could this have been the brothers secretly paying their respects to their mum dressing as women to go undercover? Long bow. Christmas cards containing the Anglans handwriting and were allegedly received by family members for the three years after the escape

and they came out a few years ago the family with these things and gave them to the History Channel for a documentary and the handwriting was verified as the Anglins. But none of them contained a postmark stamp so they couldn't date it so it could have been older postcards. They couldn't precisely confirm that it was after they had disappeared.

But if you want to believe it, reasons they didn't make it. Yeah, I wish you started the other way around. Yeah. End on a positive day, you fucked it. You fucked it. It's a comedy. I mean, we're classed as a comedy podcast. Yeah.

And here you are, bringing it down. Bring it down. Bring it tragedy. Not a tragedy podcast, mate. There's no, there's no category for that on iTunes. Greek tragedy podcasts. Just really sad story. How old would they be now?

In their mid-80s? Okay. Because to me, it's like, the only thing that makes me think they didn't make it is surely on your deathbed or something you'd be, you'd want a, you'd want a, you'd, you'd want people to know. Like D.B. Cooper, surely you come out and be like, all right, I'm dying. It was me, mother F is. Woo.

Boom and I'm gone. That was the, him flatlining. Yeah, no, I got it. It was very good. Thank you, thank you. But no one was there to hear him say that. But he said it. The mystery is never sold.

The notice came back and was like, sorry, did you say something? I'll turn this off. Waste not what not. He did. Okay, reason they didn't make it If they did live, they would have had to have made an entire new life for themselves And it meant they went completely underground And they didn't contact their families apart from these postcards

Because they were all followed and interviewed For several months, possibly even years after the event Because the FBI was like, were you involved? Were you involved? Every 15 minutes Every 15 minutes. Two to three guards taken in turns. They also had to have stayed out of trouble

And never been arrested again anywhere in the world. Police experts say, Staying out of trouble, like this is rare, especially for three career criminals. Rare, but not impossible. Sure. Not impossible. The bay temperatures in the water surrounding the prison ranged from 50 to 54 degrees, Fahrenheit, which is about 10 degrees Celsius, so it's quite cold.

Very cold. It was determined that exposed it to the elements would have affected body functions after approximately 20 minutes. I would shout themselves. I can't control. I can't help me back. You get real cold, you shoot yourself. That's a thing. It's not a thing.

I don't think that's a thing. Well, I had you. I did it. I was never there. This is interesting. The showers at Alcatraz were always supplied with moderately hot water in order to hinder inmates from becoming acclimatized to freezing or cold water. Oh, that's quite clever.

But it's also great for people who don't want to escape. Yeah, you got a hot shower. 25 years of hot showers. Thank you very much. Yeah, I'll say that. That's really good. Although I have that at my house. I got hot water at my house,

so I could just have a shower and not be in prison. Okay, well, I'd take that as well. Do they have podcasting Shias in prison? Because we could get a lot done. Oh, we do, I think we do it like an episode of day. Easily, I reckon. No, we still got to write the reports. All right, every second, three a week.

One a week each. You just got one report every three days without a job getting in your way. Yeah. Then we have the package containing names, addresses and phone numbers as well as the photographs. I think that was a decoy. People argue that, hey, you wouldn't leave that behind if you lived, would you? And then other people counted that and say, but you would leave that if you wanted to think you had died. So people are with you, Jess.

So you can argue either way for that bit. I argue that. That's, yeah, it's smart. The Anglin family would soon suffer yet another tragedy, as well as their two brothers disappearing, possibly dying. A third brother, Alfred, was electrocuted whilst attempting to escape from Kilby Prison in Alabama. a couple years later in 1964. So the whole... It's the Anglin family.

A good year. Stop stealing my thing, Matt. Sorry, that's yours as well. You've got a cool job title. I've got my wacky catchphrases. Your cool job title pays better. It doesn't though. Anyway.

After the 1962 escape from Alcatraz, the prison was a subject of a heated investigation with a lot of people blaming guard incompetencies, mainly for letting them hang the blankets and build all that stuff for six months without saying or doing anything, in the most, in the toughest prison, the most secure prison in the whole of the country.

People were like, oh, you probably shouldn't. Investigators came in, immediately they went, what the fuck are those blankets doing there? And they took them down, and apparently behind there, it looked like a hardware shop

because they had got all these tools. They'd built all these things. They'd even built, they didn't get to use it much. They'd built... A gym. Yeah. It was amazing.

And a sauna. A spa. They built a spa. It was beautiful. They built like their own electric drill out of a vacuum cleaner engine that they'd taken out. But apparently they couldn't use it because it made too much noise. But they were ingenious. So the FBI came in there were like, what the hell's been going on in here?

Yeah, that doesn't not look good for the prison workers. And they're like, uh, did you not hear the sea girls? Uh, what about when they dropped a thing? Uh, I got a girl. Is that the phone? I'm going to go answer the phone. Hello? Mr. President?

I've got to go see ya. And then they jump into the water. Well, because of this investigation, people, the newspapers were full of, you know, failed prison because people were saying, well, you didn't find the bodies, so potentially these criminals are out there are going to turn up any time.

And the island had major structural problems because of salt water. and sea air started making stuff a road. It was the most expensive prison because they had that three prisoners to one guard type situation. It was closed less than a year later in 1963 by JFK, John F. Kennedy. It is now a tourist attraction,

attracting 1.5 million visitors annually, but not you, Matthew. That's heaps. Yeah, a lot of people. And in 1998, as an 8-year-old, I visited. Is that on the Wikipedia, article as well. That is.

In 1998. Come on, Jess. David James. Dave doesn't do Wikipedia reports. Good grief. I do not do that. But that is the end of the escape. What do you think?

They're alive. Oh, they lived. They may not be there. I reckon they're still alive and I reckon they'll let us know just just before they do. I hope they like podcasts. I hope they're like sentences. I hope they certainly can't form them. Hey, Jess, I tell you what, you know what they didn't like?

Life sentences. It's quite good. Thank you. That was great. It's a good joke. I didn't even bother to really turn it into a joke. But life sentences. Now, I reckon they live.

I have a question. You may not know. But like, so they have... What is 314? So they have like over 100 guards working there? Well, they had 162 prisoners at the time. And there were maybe three ratio. Sure.

So it's less than that. I thought there was more for some reason. So probably in the 50s. But do they... At all at times. Well, they obviously do shifts as well. But do they all live on the island? Like, how do they get to work is my question.

Oh, on fairies, I believe. Because I read this, the people that were... The kids that lived on the island, there were the sons and daughters of the war, they actually went to school in San Francisco, so they'd go there on the ferry. How long's the ferry? The city that never sleeps. There's a bit of a commute to work, eh?

It's a bit of a commute. Jeez, Louise, I spend 15 minutes on the tram and I get a bit antsy. That fresh air would do you good. On a tram? No fresh air on a tram, Dave. No, I'm talking about the ferry. Dave, he gets a lot of fresh air on his bloody golden horse and car. Yeah, bloody gets his Maserati driven to work every day,

These fancy associate producer, John. I meant that you would, if you on a ferry. I knew what you meant. Dave's number plates on his car are ass prod. What? Associate producer. Ass prod. And he's got a little ass.

Now I get it. We're all going mental. It's very light. And we've had beers. It's tomorrow. It's tomorrow. We're sorry, everybody. So, Matt, do you think they lived?

I would like to think they've lived. I reckon they lived. I think they would have lived. You can think whatever you'd like to think. I'm an optimist. I'd like to think that, but I just can't. Yeah, no, I'm always the optimist. I'm pretty sure I said DB Cooper definitely lived.

If we go back and check the records. Oh, I think DB lived. And I think these guys sit too. We all want a DB to live. He was the coolest. I think these guys lived too. Quina's connected to these guys. That's because he didn't, they didn't wear sunglasses.

Yeah. Sit down, drink a soda and whiskey. What about Alan? So I was going to end the podcast by saying that Alan West, the one that was left behind. The one who came up with it. The fourth beetle. Oh, Alan, what happened? I'm not sure about in the long run, but he did help a bit with the investigation without grasping out his friends.

So what happened was they noticed. Oh, Alan's also got, like they went into the passage to them and went, I'm like, hey, Alan's also got a passage, you know, he's also been digging back here, Alan. Oh, no, Alan. But because he helped them, he was not punished for the crime. Wow. So he helped the investigation a lot. Because he didn't get out properly.

That's interesting. I would have just thought back in the old days, they'd be like, you're all fucking. Yeah, I would have thought so. I would have thought he would have been. They must have cut him a deal because I think they were pretty fucking embarrassed that it had happened in the first place. I just would have thought they would have cut him. So whilst he was not charged for his role in the attempt because of his cooperation, he was transferred to another prison in Washington in 1963 when the prison closed down,

later to Atlanta. After serving his sentence, followed by two additional sentences in Georgia and Florida, he was released in 1967, only to be arrested again in Florida the following year on the charges of grand larceny. At Florida state prison, he fatally stabbed another prisoner. He was serving multiple sentences including life imprisonment on the murder conviction

when he died December 1978 at the age of 49 so a tragic life for Ellen West. I kind of backed him until he stabbed a dude. But guys, that is the story

of the 1962 Escape from Alcatraz. I'm so sorry to disappoint you all with another mystery episode but I do love them so. We love them but they're just frustrating. They're so unsatisfying.

Yeah, they've got to be... I like answers. We can still, like, there's got to be those ones out there where you can build the story in the same way. And give us a resolution, Dave. Yeah. Please, Dave. It's not me. We want our listeners to put those in.

Thank you to Daniel Ryan who email that in. But if you want to get into the hat like old Danny Ryan. Is he a San Franciscan? I'm not sure I couldn't tell from the email. The only San Franciscans I know are Metallica. Okay. And I don't think he's in Metallica. Okay.

I don't think Daniel Ryan was a member of Metallica, but tweet in if you are, and then tell your followers, because you have lots. Metallica or Daniel Ryan? Daniel Ryan, no, Metallica. I want him to go on the, not in your personal account, Dan. You get on the Metallica account, then tweet about this episode, please. We need it. We need it. That's very funny.

Yeah, but thanks guys. Of course you can get involved with the ideas. Do go on pot at gemal.com is the email that Daniel emailed. You can also tweet us at DoGoOnPod. We're on the gram now, Instagram. At DoGo on Pod for that. We're chucking up photos left, right and bloody centre. Oh, really?

I'll tweet up some photos of the Oink and Oscar, the masks. But they look hilarious. They look hilarious. We're on Facebook as well. We post up on all those things. It's always great. Guys, we'd love to hear from you. So if you want to jump on any of our platforms, that would be amazing.

Of course you can always review the show on iTunes. I'm going to say. Because supposedly, the more... more highly it's rated. Like if people give it five-star reviews, the more visible it is for people to find it. That means we get more listeners. It makes this party really bloody go off.

Bloody party central. Study the party. Guys, thank you. We're all yawning at the party. It's very late at the party. So at the end of this episode, I will say good night. The night.

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