Episode 113: The Volcano Was In On It (D.B. Cooper)

In this week's episode, Shawna brings the tale of one of the biggest mysteries to ever come out of the Pacific Northwest- The story of D.B. Cooper. Tune in to learn the details behind one brazen man's plans to hijack a plane, ask for and receive a ransom, and then parachute to safety without ever being caught.

Credits:
Wikipedia.com
FBI.gov

Music By:
Brokeforfree.com
Matt Edon

Edited By:
Michael

Website:
https://anxiousandafraidthepod.com/

Support the show by purchasing our merch!
https://www.teepublic.com/stores/anxious-and-afraid-the-pod?ref_id=13121
Have an episode topic suggestion? Email us! [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Beverage fired. You're gonna be so thirsty. Okay, actually we
need you funny. She will give you more work because
that's actually unacceptable, over dumb whatever. He loves his freaking podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hello, guys, welcome, Welcome.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
I'm Mabbie and I'm Sean and this is Anxious and
Afraid the podcast. Yes with Michael who is here?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (00:50):
At present? Are we doing roll call?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Now?

Speaker 3 (00:52):
We should, We're all present. You should be happy because
you have an easy name for Roca. Probably never got
messed up, but there was like twenty seven Michaels. Oh
that's true.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
It's always Michael, and your your first the first letter
of your last name, always Michael B Michael w shout
out Michael.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
They know who they are. Anyway, place, We're back.

Speaker 5 (01:22):
And you're back listening because you love this.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
You return even though our release schedule these days is
a roller coaster. But yeah, we're still making content here. Apologies.
Life is just crazy with with everything and kids with
toddlers in life. Yeah, it's a lot, it is. We
still work full time and m hm, try and hang out,
try to do a play dates, try and clean, try

(01:47):
and do laundry, never ending laundry but no one wants
to hear about our laundry. SHAWNA. Yes, what made you
anxious or afraid within the last month A lot.

Speaker 5 (02:00):
I mean I've been the one, unfortunately, prolonging and procrastinating
this recording, unfortunately because my body has not agreed with
me and gotten sick. I've had migraines, and you know
your family got sick.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
Yeah, having a toddler makes you sick a little bit
more often, I.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Think for sure. I mean we're not sticking together. I mean,
once they start.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
School, we're screwed sick all the time. Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
We had a fun weekend being sick together, me and
my little girl. So that's what I've been dealing with.
So that's my excuse.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
I mean, it's not like we can record if you're sick,
So that makes sense.

Speaker 5 (02:42):
Sure, thanks for being so nice and understanding about it.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, I feel like the first week we were going
to record, I don't remember what happened, but like for
my thing that made me, it's just sort of afraid. That
was the week that I threw my back out.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
So that's right, And we didn't want you to like
sit for a long period of time because yeah, your
your body is also brak on you. Yeah, this is thirty,
in your thirties, mid approaching mid thirties. Yeah, and then
the next weekend you got really sick.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
So it's just been a lot of stuff going on.
But yeah, I threw my back out. I've done it before.
But this has now been a month and it's still
not better, and I'm a little I'm not sure. I'm scared.

Speaker 5 (03:22):
This is the new normal, like or like at least
it takes this long now for things to recover instead
of you know.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Never take tuple weeks. Yeah, usually like a week and
I'm back. I'm great. But and it's not like I mean,
at first it was really really bad, like Michael had
to help me get out of chairs, like it was
really bad. But now it's just like it's kind of
evened out to like a I don't know, it's bad,
but it's like I can still you all.

Speaker 5 (03:47):
Say scare me because you're so good at hiding You're
a cat, you're so good at hiding your pain, and
I'm just like, I forget and I'm just like you're
just acting normal and funny and you're actually in terrible pain.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
I don't like to feel like a burden or like
a whiner. So just like it's fine.

Speaker 5 (04:04):
But it's a little extreme when your best friend freaks.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
That's how good you're acting it. I'm blaming you. I
think it's probably because I've had like chronic pain for
so long, and people who have chronic pain will probably
relate to this. You just kind of like you deal.
You just deal. Just like if I was to act
like I was in pain all the time, I would
be so on fun. No one would want to hang
out with me. I wouldn't want to hang out with me.

(04:29):
So you just you just go and it's fine. I
think I'm really I have a doctor's appointment this week,
so I'm really hoping that they will help me out.
We'll see, yeah, but uh yeah, that's what's going on
with me. It's also a.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
Virgo season actually like currently in it, and so like
I'm kind of nervous to have my birthday, like our birthday, Michael.
Our birthdays are coming up, I know, and we're old.
Michael's birthday is sneaking up on me. I'm just like
it happens fast, it really does. Yeah, and his I
don't think I told you, but his one of his
good friends just had to baby.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
So that's another Virgo into the fold. So yes, congrats Andrew,
who doesn't listen to this podcast, but if he did,
he would be he has a virgalay by this shout out,
yeah Virgo, So yeah, new Virgo in the world. Yeah,
Virgo season. I'm excited we're gonna have. It'll be fun.

Speaker 5 (05:20):
I mean, I always look forward to it, but I'm
also just like, wow, birthdays are just like, you know,
the numbers are getting up there.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Everyone I know has birthdays in a very specific time frame,
like it's either in June, like April May June, or
it's September. Because I have you, I have Michael, I
have my sister Hannah, all in September, all in September.
It's true. So y'all trying to make me stress out. Sorry, No,

(05:48):
it's fine, it'll be good. What else? Oh, we do
have a correction? Yeah, real quick. So I don't think
anyone probably heard it, because does anyone really listen to
the end all the way? If you credits or one
of the real ones, and you listen all the way
to the end, we do our credits or whatever, gold
stars to you.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Sometimes I put stuff down there at the end, so
it might be worth your time to listen all the
way through.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
That's true. Sometimes Michael puts a little start clip at
the end, but we usually like will tell our sources
like that we got all the information from our episode
and also credit who did our music. Which it's been
Matt Edwards for a very long time, but he really
recently got married. Congrats. Matt changed his name, he did,

(06:32):
so he's actually Matt Eden now. Congratulations, And I said
Matt Edwards last week, so we are now going to
switch that to be correct.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, legal and all that.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Legals on your marriage. They did a fun thing like
they did something I hadn't heard people do before, where
instead of taking one or the other's last name or
keeping your last name, they like combined their last names.
And yeah, that's cool that it was new. So went
from Edwards to Eden because I don't remember her last name,
but it's very cool like it. Yeah, congrats to them

(07:02):
nearly wed. All these people getting married having babies.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
Man, life is just strucking along. I know all of
all of us live.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
In it, living it, doing it. Do we have any
other shout outs? I feel like I'm missing something. I
think I think we'll save it for the end. You
do have a shout out at the end, so stick around. True,
I just feel like I'm missing one besides that one. Anyway,
I'll figure it out.

Speaker 5 (07:25):
Well.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
You can interrupt me in anytime if you want.

Speaker 5 (07:28):
Okay, just in the middle of your store, if you
have a random thought, if you need.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Yeah, okay, do you have anything else? I think that
was it. Now you have to do a thing.

Speaker 5 (07:41):
Yeah, this is where I'm nervous.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Nervous. Yeah, here's my episode.

Speaker 5 (07:45):
I did an episode. Uh, this is episode one thirteen. Hey,
I remember that this time, so look at me. Go yeah, yes,
And I do recall that my last episode was kind
of like such a bum er. It was quite and
it was quite difficult for me to do, and this

(08:06):
one was for me too, however it was. It's so
I switched on the fun mode. I think this is
gonna be a fun episode. This is a fun story
that we have.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Okay, so I'm not gonna feel sad and depressed about
the state of the world. Yeah, okay, i'd say so,
I'm in for it. Cool, So I'm switching things up
that way. I also, I had this on my list
for a long time. But for some reason, I had
in my brain Abby's gonna do this episode, and I
was just like, I'm not gonna do it because it
just seems like her vibe and I gave you a
long time, but I also never did it, so I

(08:39):
guess so I just left it on my list and
I just thought now it was time to do it.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
So if this was on your list, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Oh, I don't care. I'm excited whatever it is. I
because my next episode that I'm already working on is
not anything you would pick.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
So it's fine, Okay, great, cool. So I wonder how
fast you're going to recognize this because this is also
with like our like releasing being so wonky. I also
think it's kind of like important. I'm trying to do
like bigger stories, more recognizable big stories, so this one's
kind of like a doozy.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's a big one. Oh okay, but I'm.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
Doing like the cliff Notes version. Okay, anyways, I'll stop
talking and procrastinating the start anyways. Okay, So it's November
twenty fourth, Okay, we're just going to do it. Nineteen
seventy one. It's the eve before Thanksgiving. Okay, a well
dressed man approaches.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
I know what it is, the.

Speaker 5 (09:33):
Northwest Orient Airlines counter at Portland International Airport.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Oh my god, all you had to say was a
well dressed man. I don't know why I got it.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
I think I got it because.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
Everyone should get it. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:47):
Yeah, he buys a one way ticket on flight three
oh five outbound for Seattle, Washington. Unbeknownst to everyone on
board that flight, that man would become the most infam
us hijacker in US and FBI history. This is the
mysterious story of D. B.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Cooper. Yes, bitch, Oh my god, you know what's really funny.
I don't think this is on my list really yeah,
I think I've just like I don't know why. It
is a great story. I'm really glad you're doing it.
Thank you. Oh my god, this could be fun. I
know it's a fun one. And it's like our area.
It's like our rest. We get to claim dB Cooper.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
We get to claim dB Cooper for sure.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, so yeah, here we are. Okay, okay, this is
like one of the best biggest mysteries like of our time, really,
like yeah, the last century. Yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
So the name on the ticket was actually made out
to Dan Cooper. So this was later mistaken in like
one of the articles and the journalists got it mixed
up with another name and used dB Cooper instead of Dan,
and that was the cooler name. So dB Cooper stuck
because Dan is too basic.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
You know, so he's not really dB Cooper like he
could right.

Speaker 5 (11:05):
Oh okay, it was like on his ticket was Dan Cooper,
which is very probably.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Not his name.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, who knows if that's also even his your own name,
who knows?

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
According to eyewitnesses, Cooper was a slender, white male in
his mid forties, had short, dark hair and brown eyes.
He was wearing a black business suit, a white button
up shirt, a thin black tie, and brown dress shoes.
He also carried a dark briefcase slick so I mean, yeah,

(11:36):
this is the seventies, so I mean nice clothes.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah, everyone he still has hat stuff to fly.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
Yeah, it's also like think about it, right before Thanksgiving,
busy airport, Like everyone's at the airport flying for holidays.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
I don't know why I didn't remember that it was
right before Thanksgiving, but yeah, that's a crazy time with theater.

Speaker 5 (11:53):
It's a crazy detail. Yeah that I forget too, but
also the se like everyone was kind of dressed nice
but also like, I don't know, I love the image
of dB Cooper because he's like double O seven. He's
like slick, he's like hot, you know, like, yeah, he's
hijacking in a suit.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Why why does that rock our socks? It just does
just does very cool. An always see like a pictured
with the sunglasses, so you're just like, yes, cool dude.

Speaker 5 (12:22):
He's super slick. Swag, he has all the swag. Yeah, yep, okay,
where was I? Cooper made it to his seat. It
was eighteen e It was the very back row, and
he ended up ordering a Bourbon.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
And seven up. Okay, because you know, swag bourbon seven up.
I would not guess that those would go well together,
but okay, yeah, I guess that was his drink of choice. Interesting.

Speaker 5 (12:50):
Shortly after takeoff, it was around three PM, Cooper decides
to unravel his plan and he hands off a note
to the flight attendant, assuming it was a only man's number,
you know, because apparently that happened a lot.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Oh I bet they got that all.

Speaker 5 (13:04):
The time, I know, especially the like flight attendants had
to be.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Like cute, yeah, like the pana. Then yeah, hot, everyone
was hot, and it was a requirement of the job
to be hot. Yeah, everyone was hot.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
Okay, So she just like slipped it in her pocket
without looking at it. She's like, okay, oh she didn't
even read it. No, She's like, thank you, look at
a later. But then he's like no, no, no, no,
He's like he grabs her attention, and he quietly says, miss,
you better look at that note. I have a bomb, apparently,
he just said.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
She's like, well, fuck the note. You just told me.
What's up. She's like, oh, wait a second, I wish
it was a number. Okay.

Speaker 5 (13:46):
So yeah, it was written neatly in felt tip pen
all in caps, which is the correct way to write.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
In block letters. Your thing we get stuck on like
a plane, hijacker would yeah, oh okay, correct. Oh yeah
that's interesting. So you guys want me to write my
lists like a plane hijacker? Oh okay. Is that how
we're turning this or a bank robber?

Speaker 4 (14:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (14:10):
Okay, anyways, Oh sorry, one more thing.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
That his drink he said was a Bourbon and seven.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
I think sea it's like a seven and seven? Is
that what that is? That makes sense as someone who
knows nothing about drinking. I didn't know that, but fun fat.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
I probably wouldn't like it myself. No, it's as gross,
but I'll take the seven out.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
So okay, so this note read, miss, I have a
bomb in my briefcase. I want you to sit by me.
So she reads it, and then she like, she keeps
her cool as professional as she is, and she sits
down by him.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (14:47):
He opens the briefcase and he shows her what looks
to be a legit bomb. It is two rows of
four red dynamite sticks with wires that look to be
hooked up to you a battery. And then he asked
her to write down his list of demands.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Okay, Okay, that makes sense. I'm like, what is the
point of asking her to sit next to him without
telling anyone else that he's a bomb? Okay?

Speaker 6 (15:13):
Check this out?

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, look what I got? Okay.

Speaker 5 (15:18):
So he demanded two hundred thousand dollars of quote negotiable
American currency placed in a knapsack and in today's money.
Do you want to guess or he said it was
how much?

Speaker 3 (15:33):
Twenty?

Speaker 5 (15:34):
It was two hundred thousand dollars two.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Hundred thousand dollars in today's money. I'm gonna guess what,
like five hundred thousand.

Speaker 5 (15:46):
No, one point five million. I know that's a that's
a lot.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Okay, inflation relation is here one point five million? Yeah, okay,
today's money, that's a okay, that's a good chunk of change. Yes,
how times have changed. Yes.

Speaker 5 (16:04):
Also they I point out like the negotiable American currency
because that seems weird for an American to say, But
who knows if that's also a wave to throw people
off him. But that's also noted like is he foreign
because he's asking for money that way, negotiable currency, American currency,

(16:24):
American currency, that is a weird one. Or maybe he's
just really like he likes using smart words.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think like they give
him like I don't know that much in like another
or I don't know, but check, I don't know in
a check he's a check. I want to a check. Yeah,
I don't know. That's a weird way to ask for it.
But yeah, you're probably right there. He's probably trying to
throw them off. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
So yeah, it's one of those things that people question,
like what the why did he ask.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
If I ask for it like that? Yeah? I mean, well,
I guess he could have put on an accent, but like,
wouldn't she when the flight attendant have heard if he
had an accent? Right? I mentioned he doesn't have an accent. Okay, okay,
four later I mentioned it later? Okay.

Speaker 5 (17:06):
He also asked for four parachutes. He wanted two front
chutes and two back shoots. People also question if this
is a genius move on this part on his part
for this, because this would make people assume that he
would be taking like hostages or somebody else would also
be flying off the plane or whatever. But it's like

(17:30):
his way of also not having the parachutes manipulated because
obviously if he asked for one, why wouldn't they, like,
you know.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Poke a hole in it? So is that a genius move?
Who knows?

Speaker 5 (17:41):
But yeah, he did ask for four parachutes.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Okay, good thinking ahead.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
Sure, Then he had more demands. When they had officially
landed in Seattle, fuel trucks were to meet with the
airplane to refuel, and he stated that he would let
all the passengers off the aircraft once, only only once
he had the money in his hands, okay. The president
of Northwest Orient Airlines ordered all of his employees to

(18:09):
follow Cooper's demands okay, and he was also able to
authorize the payment for the ransom money he was asking for.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
Oh the airline fronted the money.

Speaker 5 (18:18):
Or he conducted the like getting it okay.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
I wonder who provides the money? I'll tell you, oh okay.
And like those situations, you're like, it's like with like
kidnap like whetages, it's like the person's family usually that
has to come up with the money. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
Yeah. It's also this is how they there was hijackings
during this time, unfortunately, and that's kind of how they
handled it was to just like always listen to the
hijacker and give him what he wanted because they wanted
to save everyone obviously.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (18:52):
So I mean that was kind of I guess the
norm to like, okay, just listen to this guy, okay
until it's over. So that happened. So this there's all
of this back and forth communication during this first flight
with Cooper the attendance, because he's not talking to the
pilots directly, okay. The pilots are talking to air traffic

(19:14):
control who's also in communication with local police and FBI.
So this flight would normally be like a thirty maybe
forty minute flight and it turned into a two and
a half hour flight.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Wait, they were in the air for two and a
half hours.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
Just like, yes, where were they going because they were, Yes,
they were circling and during like all of the negotiating
because yeah, because they had Yeah, they didn't want to
land also bomb.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, so you know, did they tell the passengers at
all or they were all clueless? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (19:45):
Right, yes, okay, so the plane hold on. So the
plane finally landed at five forty six pm at Seattle
International Airport. So yeah, I'd also I forget the detail
that this happened like this first initial part of it
happened in broad daylight. Yeah, like yeah, it's winter, but
it's still daylight. It's now just getting dark the once

(20:08):
they land in Seattle.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
So this whole plan is so brazen, Like, yes, it
is very brazen. It's so wild. Okay.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
So the two hundred thousand dollars was collected from Seattle
First National Bank and they brought it to him in
a bag.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
All in twenties.

Speaker 5 (20:23):
Oh okay, And I don't know if that was just
like a tactic on their part to like have it
be more money to weigh more, because why wouldn't they
give it all in hundreds?

Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yeah, because he didn't specify in the note, Like.

Speaker 5 (20:35):
I don't think so, okay, but I guess that that's
just a fun detail that all of the money was
all in twenty dollar bills. So the bag of money
actually weighed a total of nineteen pounds wow, okay, nearly
twenty pounds oh twenty cash.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Pretty. I mean it's not super heavy, but dang's lot.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
If he's planning to flat to jump out of the plane, yeah,
it's that's extra way. So I wonder if that I
don't know if that was attacked on their part, but
fun facts.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Oh.

Speaker 5 (21:05):
I also made sure to take photographs of every single
bill and noted all of the serial numbers that were
listed on the bills. Okay, so they had record of
the exact money that he had.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (21:18):
Cooper kept his promise and all the passengers were released
once they are Once he was handed over the money,
all the passengers at the time had no clue what
was happening.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
Okay, so they had no idea. Wow.

Speaker 5 (21:31):
The pilots just kept telling them over the intercom that
they had to keep circling around due to minor mechanical difficulties.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
I mean, that's pretty believable. Like, if you're a passenger,
that kind of stuff happens all the time.

Speaker 5 (21:43):
Sure, I would I want to I want to question
the pilots.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
I would totally believe that. I'd be so gold.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
I would just be like, yeah, people were bored and
bummed that, Like it was supposed to be thirty minute
ride and now it's two and a half hours.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Yeah, that would be Oh that would be a bummer.
That's a bummer to be a quick flight, right, miss
my other flight.

Speaker 5 (22:01):
Yeah, so that's what they kept telling them. So that's crazy.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
I mean, I guess that's probably the right thing to do.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
Yeah, not to alarm anybody.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
Panic everyone stuck on a plane.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
Right, and I only I don't think it was like
a full full flight. It was like maybe like thirty
forty ish people, I think, But still, yeah, those.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Are just regular people. Oh my god. Uh Okay.

Speaker 5 (22:24):
Once everyone was off the plane, the only people left
to stay with Cooper were the two pilots, the engineer,
and one of the flight attendants. Then Cooper laid out
a new flight plan. Cooper wanted to head to Mexico City, apparently,
and it was agreed upon that they would have to
make another refueling stop at Reno International Airport, right, And

(22:48):
this was because it was demand demanded by Cooper that
the plane be flown at a minimum air speed without
stalling it so as slow as possible, which is about
one hundred knots or one hundred and fifteen miles an hour.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Okay, So he's got like plane knowledge. That's interesting.

Speaker 5 (23:09):
He also says that they have to keep the maximum
altitude at ten thousand feet or three thousand meters, okay,
because for jumping, that's yep, that's what it's leading to.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
Yeah, okay, because you wouldn't want to go too fast,
and he wouldn't want to be too high.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
But obviously like he knew the math.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Maddis of that or did he because he wants to
go that slow, but he didn't calculate that they would
have to refuel or did he? Or they are telling
him like, oh, that's not gonna w Yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
I think he yeah, I think he agreed that Reno
was fine because yeah, it would take more fuel to drive,
to drive, but to pilot the plane so slowly.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Right, yeah, okay, Wow, that's the amount of planning that goes. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
I want to know how long he thought about this plan.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
It had to have been a while.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
It was definitely calculated and just to get the balls
to do it, like balls.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (24:04):
So it's now at this point when they're all ready
to get back in the air. It's seven forty pm. Okay,
and I figure we'll take a break at this point.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
Okay, Okay, welcome back.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
Thanks.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
Okay, So I left off right when they get back
into the air again, Okay, So it's seven forty pm,
it is officially dark. So shortly after takeoff, Cooper wanted
the flight attendant to help him lower the very back staircase,
but she expressed that she was too scared of being

(24:47):
sucked out of the plane. I would be too, so
Cooper was actually nice and then ordered her to go
stay in the cockpit then, and that he would do
it himself.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
Okay, it's also November. It's fucking cold.

Speaker 5 (25:02):
Ten thousand feet up in the air going one hundred
miles an hour. I mean it's cold anyway up that
like that high up, but dead of winter.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
I mean, oh, I guess he wants never mind, I'm
gonna stop talking, but yeah, it's gonna be cold.

Speaker 5 (25:17):
It's cold, and he and it's true, like I already
described what he's wearing. I mean it's not really suited
to be suited pun too.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
And he doesn't change right, Like, no, that's what he
wears going out.

Speaker 5 (25:31):
Yeah, it's a suit and his coat and his dress shoes.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Like that is such a weird decision. What a weird decision.

Speaker 5 (25:38):
If yeah, if it was so planned out, some parts
of it feel like it wasn't, you know, yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Like why wouldn't you either bring clothes to change into
that would be suitable for jumping out of a plane,
especially if it's suitable.

Speaker 5 (25:56):
Yeah, especially if it's like, yeah, they're in Washington and
there's like tons of forests and like you think endgame.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah, something that you're not going to break an ankle
when you land. Mm hmm. Interesting choice, yes, Okay, So
he decides she can be in the cockpit safely and
he's going to lower the stairs himself. This is the
very backside.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
It's kind of like where your picture like the private
parts of the plane would be that the stairs come
out there.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Okay, okay, okay.

Speaker 5 (26:31):
So for before closing parts of the play, I know,
I mean, come on, it's where it is, the undercarriage,
it's where it's private pits, wuppy Okay. So before closing
herself inside the cockpit, she saw him put on the parachutes,

(26:52):
just like he knew exactly how to put him on.
He didn't struggle. So familiar with the parachutes, because if
you didn't know how to put one on, you would not.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Know how to put one on. Yeah, and then die, yes,
because I mean, yeah, he's got to have some kind
of training with parachutes. You in order to just be
so comfortable to jump by yourself, you'd have to get
I mean, do it several times, are recertified, or like
you at least done it before. Yeah. Interesting.

Speaker 5 (27:20):
He did cut open one of the like a third
parachute in order to stash the money in a better
place than strap it onto himself. Better, So he transferred
the money out of the bag into the other bag.
And she is the last official person to ever see
dB Cooper.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Wow. Also, I can't help but think about that movie
without a Paddle.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
I know, I remember that seeing that in the theaters.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
Oh my God, we're old.

Speaker 5 (27:50):
But I remember also that like little side note of
dB Cooper in that movie.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
Yeah, there's a whole dB. I mean, that's like the
center plot.

Speaker 5 (27:58):
I guess it is the center plot line, isn't it.
It's been a while since I've seen that, and we like.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
Find him and the end, but like all the movie,
all the money is still in that in the Parachute,
I think, right, movie, that's right. I love that movie.
That was a great movie. When it came out, it
was if you rewatch it, it doesn't really age. We age. Well,
it's it's that comedy that was so funny during that time,
and then you rewatch it now you're like.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
Ooh, I don't know on some of these jokes, some jokes.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Some of them are still funny though. Did I rewatched
it recently and I was like, really.

Speaker 5 (28:30):
It was also I mean, obviously Deepakooper is referenced in
Tons of Stuff. It was also in Loki. When I
was watching that show, it also played like it was
a clip of him as dB Cooper, and I'm like,
I love this answer, Like of course it's Loki.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
And the suits. It all fits. Yeah, he looked apart delicious. Yeah, okay, Yeah,
it's in a lot of pop culture for sure, tons
of references.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
Yeah, it's it's a big thing. Yeah, wild Okay. So
it's around eight pm and that's when a light in
the cockpit started flashing, indicating that the backstairs were deployed.
The pilot then used the intercom to ask Cooper if
he needed any assistance, and he simply replied with a
stern no. That was the last thing they ever heard

(29:16):
him say.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Wow, that's a polite offer. I know they need help.
Can get the fuck off this plane, right.

Speaker 5 (29:25):
So it was a few minutes later, and it was
approximately eight thirteen PM, and that's when the crew felt
the tail of the plane pitch upward, as if he
jumped off the stairs.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
Oh, they could feel it. They could feel it. Weird.

Speaker 5 (29:39):
So the pilot did note that at that moment, they
were flying somewhere right over the north of Portland.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Okay, okay, that's I was trying to think, like, wait,
he wants to go to Mexico, but he doesn't go
that far, I know. I mean, yeah, maybe it's rus
like to get.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
Them to yeah, sure, refuel and reno.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Yeah yeah, yeah's why he don't care. He's like, I'll
be out anyways, whatever you want. Yeah, okay, hmm, interesting, okam.

Speaker 5 (30:07):
So again, something I never think about in this story.
The crew still had to fly for over two hours
to reach Reno International Airport.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
Why did they still go to Reno?

Speaker 5 (30:17):
Well, they're still in the air like that. I think
that's the closest airport.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
I don't know that.

Speaker 5 (30:23):
I think as like to take their most precaution, they
still flew at the lowest altitude and the slowest speed.
They weren't one hundred percent sure if he was still
on the plane, so they weren't gonna risk it, so
they just did the plan.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Oh okay, they didn't come out, go out and check
that he was gone.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
Right they I even read that, like they even checked that.
Once they were reaching Reno International Airport. They used the
intercom to be like, hey, if you could put the
stairs back up, that'd be like nice, so we can land.
But then there was no reply. So then they had
to actually, I'll mention here, okay in a second. So yeah,
not knowing for sure if he was still on the
plane or not. Luckily, they did land safely with no problem,

(31:05):
even with the backstairs still deployed, which is wild.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
So they didn't even go out and fix it.

Speaker 5 (31:09):
Okay, no, like the flight attendant was too scared, like
to be sucked out because I mean it was their
ears were popping, everything was flying, like the cabin was
wild because the stairs were open and they were flying
for two hours.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
Oh just ask Alaska Airlines.

Speaker 5 (31:26):
Excuse me, but yeah, oh god.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Okay, that's so interesting, Like because they didn't know if
he had the bomb with him still, is that like
the whole thing?

Speaker 5 (31:36):
Also, yeah, they weren't sure about that either, okay, so
again yeah, not taking any Yeah, so that's what they did,
which is just wild. What a long day for these
poor pilots, like right before Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
So stressful. Oh man, drink.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
Yeah, so okay. So there were even three fighter jets
that were ordered to fly behind the plane while it
was flying to Reno, and neither of them saw Cooper
jump out of the plane, nor did they detect any
deployed parachute on any of their radar.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Weird, really weird, really weird. Yeah, I'm just trying to think,
like why if they were behind him, why they wouldn't
have detected That's so strange.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
I think they were also like to try and keep
out of sight of Cooper, like they didn't want Cooper
to know that they were following them.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
True, maybe the range didn't go that far. It was
also really dark.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
It's also cloud cover, you know, cloudy, Like I'm sure
the point of view isn't the best.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
Yeah, true, So, but that's.

Speaker 5 (32:44):
This is why this story goes nowhere, unfortunately, Like everyone
knows that.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Nothing has such a good mystery. It's wild. Okay.

Speaker 5 (32:53):
So once it was deemed safe on the ground that
there was no Cooper and there was no bomb left
on the plane, they started interviewing the eyewitnesses immediately in
order to develop the most accurate detailed description of what
Cooper looked like. They all described him in the same
way that he was roughly maybe five ten, slender but

(33:15):
athletic build, around one hundred and eighty pounds, mid forties, short,
brown hair, slicked back, brown eyes, with olive skin tone
but no accent. There was no distinguishing features on him also,
so I mean he also kind of also looked like
every dude, like every white guy.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I feel like at the sketches, it's just like the
most generic. It's very generic.

Speaker 5 (33:38):
Yeah, like, especially at that time, just anyone could have
dressed that way too.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah. Wait, did he have sunglasses or is that just
like a yes, I don't think fellow effect that I'm having.

Speaker 5 (33:51):
Oh no, there's a composite sketch with him wearing sunglasses.
I'm not one hundred percent sure if he did.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
He must have been worried.

Speaker 5 (33:59):
He must have because he has to be swagger and sly,
and he probably put them on before he.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
Interesting did something cool, like when I think of his drawing,
because there isn't a bugshot, it's always with sunglasses on.

Speaker 5 (34:10):
There is one with sunglasses. You are right, I will
post it, all right. I was like, ye, della effects,
you're right, Okay, Just nowhere that I like was reading
mentioned the sunglasses durings.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
I don't know. Okay, he had to have them.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
He had to have them, and I bet he looked
good in them.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
He probably looked fucking cool as shit. Okay.

Speaker 5 (34:34):
The flight attendant also mentioned that Cooper seemed to be
very familiar with the local area of Washington, since he
pointed out that that he could see Dacoma while they
were flying over.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
It at some point.

Speaker 5 (34:46):
Oh okay, so odd details, also describing him as not
nervous at all because he's too cool. So cool but
actually rather nice and not nasty. I think another reason
why everyone loves like because he didn't really hurt anyone. Yeah,
he didn't hurt anybody. Nobody died, nobody was I mean

(35:07):
they're obviously probably traumatized. Sure, sure of course, but like
he didn't like physically injure anyone. No, he wasn't like
rough with he's the anti hero. Yeah, he becomes an
anti hero and.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Kind of roots for him, like, oh, I hope he
got away with yeah, like nobody finds it. Yeah, like
who did he hurt?

Speaker 5 (35:26):
Like yeah, right, Yeah, that's the that's the vibe currently
for sure.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
Oh okay.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
At some point, the flight attendant also asked him why
did you choose Northwest Orient Airlines? Like do you have
a grudge against us? And apparently he laughed and shrugged
and he was like he said, apparently this is what
he said. It's not because I have a grudge against
your airlines.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
I just have a grudge. Oh, just have a grudge.

Speaker 5 (35:59):
Hm.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Intriguing, I know, I'm guess.

Speaker 5 (36:05):
The FBI also started running flight tests. They recreated the
same flight over and over involving the same variables like
the altitude and speed that occurred during Cooper's flight.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
The second flight where he jumped.

Speaker 5 (36:21):
Yes, okay, correct, thank you for specifying. Yes, this was
how they tried to pinpoint the drop zone area. They
conducted like a huge search obviously, but nothing was found,
and then they also waited to search again in the
springtime when things were thought out whatever, also still nothing.

(36:44):
FBI even released all the serial numbers to the big
financial institutions, casinos, and race tracks just in case the
ransom money were to ever get used in those areas. Sure,
obviously nothing has come from that either. It's just crazy,
so crazy, because you you would think that if he

(37:05):
did spend survive, he would have spent the money. But
maybe then he knew that they were that they had that,
so he was like, you know what, I'd just rather
be the coolest mystery of all time, never spent this money.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Which it's like, what was the point, right, other than
just like being the biggest active defiance and like the
biggest active defiances right, Yeah, being like known as like
the coolest hijacker ever. But yeah, you'd think, well, he
got the money, so obviously he wants it. I don't know,
it's weird. It's very weird. Yeah, or like even if
he even if he traded it, like then, you'd think

(37:41):
that the person who who received it would have spent it.
It's just sure like it would somehow pop out, yeah,
into the world, somehow, somehow, especially even after all this time,
you'd think somebody would get their hands on it. I
mean now it would be very obvious and out of place.
The money would looks so wildly different from our money today.
But yeah, that's weird.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
So evidence picked up from the plane were sixty six
total fingerprints Cooper's back or black I'm sorry, Cooper's black
clip on tie so unfortunately it's a clip on tie
points deducted not as hot Cooper, and it has also

(38:22):
had a tie clip, a pearl tie clip to it.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (38:24):
They also found two hairs, one from his head one
from his arm, along with eight filter tip cigarette butts
that were in the arm rest ash tray because you
know you smoked on the planes.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Then yeah, yeah, yeah, okay wild I know, let's just
start tiny fires all over a plane, super smart. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
They also found the two unused parachutes.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (38:50):
The hair from his arm was deemed unusable, but they
saved the one headhair on the on a piece of
slide to hopefully save it for future testing. Sure, however,
you know how this goes. Later, when they wanted to
test it, they tried to look for it and it
was nowhere.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
To be found.

Speaker 5 (39:08):
Really, and so I just got lost they have that Yep,
no no hair.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Okay. I would have been a fine if they were like,
it's just too old and damnaged, we can't use it.
But losing it makes me so bad.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
Yeah, and you're gonna be even more mad. Then the
FBI tested the UH tested four fingerprints on all of
the eight cigarette butts, but when there were none found
on them. First actually kind of worse in a way,
they decided to send it back to the Las Vegas Police.

(39:46):
I don't know why, because it's your FBIS and you keep,
you're the FBI keep, you keep all that shit.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Yeah, if it's a federal case, why would you send
it to the police.

Speaker 5 (39:56):
Literally put his mouth on those cigarette butts like that
could be like literally the smoking gun.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
But so what happened was it at the police the
day lose it.

Speaker 5 (40:06):
They're blaming it on the Vegas police because then they
wanted to test them out again, and the Vegas police
cann't find it, and it's currently nowhere to be found.
None of the eight cigarette butts are currently anywhere to
be found. Happening because that could literally have solved it. That,
Oh my god, this literally could have been solved.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
This literally could have been solved. Kind of a little
infuriating that they just lost it. Like it's not just
like a regular case. This is the biggest case of
all time. My god. Oh that is infuriating. Oh mad
about that.

Speaker 5 (40:41):
They found out that the clip on tie is a
discontinued tie that was purchased from J. C.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Penny.

Speaker 5 (40:47):
Okay, they the FBI also tried to create a partial
DNA profile from the tie, but then later on the
FBI also concluded that there was no way they could
definitively link any DNA to Cooper himself. Don't ask me,
I'm just the messenger.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Because maybe other people touched it, or there was too
many DNA profiles maybe, I think so.

Speaker 5 (41:12):
Yeah, It's also like, also, we lost it, so.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
So sorry. It's also disappeared mysteriously.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
Right, And I think, just like being on a plane,
there's so many people that go on planes per day
on that same plane. I think that's also the issue
with the fingerprints is that it could have been like
literally anyone's fingerprints.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
Did you already talk about his drink that he ordered, like,
because there was nothing on that. I don't think. I
don't think it was saved. I don't know. I didn't
read anything through that way.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
That was before it leylanded, damn it, and also before
I forget. I don't think I noted it. But I
also read that he also took back any notes that
he wrote or the attendance wrote before he jumped. I
think he asked for it back.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
He didn't want to.

Speaker 5 (41:58):
So that's why we don't have the notes I believe
is that he also took that back and obviously handwriting.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
He didn't want his handwriting discovered.

Speaker 5 (42:05):
Yeah, so we don't have those.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
Because like back then, you're probably not thinking about obviously
you wouldn't be thinking about DNA because it wasn't a
thing yet, So he's probably thinking about the handwriting, but
still taking precaution to not get caught. Yeah, but I
mean his fingerprints would be everywhere you would think like.

Speaker 5 (42:21):
Yeah, Also, you're also acting like you don't care because
your cigarettes and drinking and I don't know.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
Yeah, it's such a public way to get that much money,
like on a public plane in plain sight, unintended. I
thought of that one. I don't care your face. He
looked so protty here, so I was like, that's double

(42:48):
took a pause to really appreciate it. Good job me. Okay,
sorry anyway, Sorry I'm rambling, but it's such a fun
case to speculate on it is, yes, okay too, Okay.

Speaker 5 (43:04):
Then this is I think also the craziest part of
the story because this makes so many more questions.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
The craziest thing.

Speaker 5 (43:12):
Happened then was that some of the ransom money was
actually found.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Right, Okay, that's right.

Speaker 5 (43:20):
On February tenth, nineteen eighty, so, nine years after the hijack, Yes,
an eight year old boy awesome had the best day
of his life core memory. He was vacationing with his
family on the Columbia River.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
Who was on a vacation too, Wow, best vak Everright.

Speaker 5 (43:43):
They were at a beachfront called the Tina Bar, and
he noticed three bundles of cash floating in the river
and he snatched.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
Them up floating in the river.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
Okay, This happened to be found nine meters or fourteen
kilometers south of Vancouver, Washington, and twenty meters or thirty
two kilometers southwest of the aerial dam. The estimated drop
zone area was first deemed to be between the aerial
dam and the town of Battleground, Washington. So I guess

(44:15):
this is also kind of puzzling to investigators, like it
seems kind of gets slightly off course where they thought
he would have dropped.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (44:26):
What's even weirder too, is that later it was deemed
that the drop zone area was actually incorrect, and that
it was probably further east than what they are previously thought,
and that it was that he maybe dropped over the
I'm probably gonna pronounce this wrong. I'm sorry, Washington, but.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Washa goal wash Washugle.

Speaker 5 (44:45):
Yeah, that area is where they think he dropped over.
The three bundles of cash were still wrapped up in
rubber bands. They were intact, but highly disintegrated from the
ELM wins. It was a total of five eight hundred bucks,
all in twenties.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
But it's like priceless, like finding that Oh oh wait,
but does it just get seized by the government like
what a bummer? Like, can you at least like.

Speaker 5 (45:15):
For the most part, yeah, just give me the value,
because now you're just taking something from me that I found.
I did also read that the boy that found it,
they did let him keep some of the bills. I
think they gave him a stash of bills just to keep,
and then I think he also ended up selling some
on eBay for money, like yeah, thousands of dollars and rightfully,

(45:40):
so like do.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
It, I would keep one and sell the others frame
one moldy twenty dollars bill get rich on rest get
rich on the rest of it. I think.

Speaker 5 (45:49):
I think that's what happened. And also cool of the
FBI to do.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
That, for that is so cool. I wouldn't have guessed
that they would do that.

Speaker 5 (45:56):
That's actually really rad I'm pretty sure that's what happened. Okay,
So yeah, the FBI did confirm that this was indeed,
in fact part of Cooper's ransom money. It was even
in the same order as it was given to him.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Okay, So it's weird because it seems like it wasn't touched.

Speaker 5 (46:16):
But then also why was the two hundred missing out
of the bundle, Because that seems like it had to
been deliberately taken out.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
Oh wait, what did you say?

Speaker 1 (46:24):
So?

Speaker 3 (46:25):
Oh, it was all in a bundle, but it was
short two hundred.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
Three that's two four six, yes, teller days.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Oh, I see what you're saying. Okay, two numbers.

Speaker 5 (46:34):
Abby ten twenties are are missing, but the rest of
it is still in order, right, wrapped up in a
rubber band.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
So is it, say, which was it like taken off
the top of the stack or something.

Speaker 5 (46:48):
I don't know. I think that's what's puzzling about it,
is it seems like that was deliberately taken out, but
it was also in the same order.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Why right, So if it was an order, then they
would know which ones were missing, like if it was
taken off the top not. That's just interesting because like,
if it's taken off the top, I assume like, oh,
maybe he he took those deliberately. Yeah, other than the
or they fell out.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
The condition of the bills suggests.

Speaker 5 (47:11):
Yeah for a while. Yeah, it's also a mystery.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
I hate love these so much. Yep, okay, oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
This small portion of the money is the only physical
evidence that was ever found outside of the aircraft. Literally
all we've ever found of D B.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
Cooper, so crazy.

Speaker 5 (47:36):
In two thousand and nine, a group of citizen this
is hard to say, sorry, citizen sleuth citizens. They started
or they already had a group called the Cooper Research Team,
and they were able to somehow get access. Don't ask me,
but they got access to the clip on tie and
their mission was to study it with the newest tech

(47:57):
at the time, and so they reviewed it under an
electron microscope and they found particles of also, forgive me,
this is chemical science, titanium, bismuth, stronium sulfide, and aluminum
sure chemicals. Chemicals, y'all, there were chemicals compounds. These are

(48:21):
metals and rare earth particles that are typically found in
fields of aeronautical engineering, a chemical plant or a metal
fabrication facility.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
So it had to have been the first one, right,
He has to have flown before or like have knowledge
of aircrafts.

Speaker 5 (48:42):
So one of the big theories, which I think is
really compelling, is that DBI Cooper could have been a
possible Boeing employee.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
With Chello Boeingwing. You're in hot water again. Yeah, they've
been up to no good for so they need to
get their act together. You just let D B. Cooper
out like that was you guys. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (49:06):
Also with all of his knowledge of like the plane,
like the actual like seven twenty seven craft that he
was on, and that the the and the whole the
variables that you know, he was educated on that, So
it's very possible he was like an employee, a Boeing employee.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
He said it was an eraw what what did you
what was the name of.

Speaker 5 (49:28):
It again, aeronautical engineering, which would be making planes plane
in layman's terms. Yes, wow, okay, I think that's kind
of that's pretty compelling. It's compelling to me. Yeah, yes, okay.
Investigators also speculate that one of the reasons why they
were never able to find any further physical evidence was

(49:51):
because it could have been all destroyed in the nineteen
eighty Mount Saint Helens eruption Fuck and No Way, which
you covered in episode eighty three.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Yeah I did. That's honestly was still one of my
favorite episodes I've done. I great episode.

Speaker 5 (50:06):
I just have chills thinking about it.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
Fascinated by Mount Saint Helen.

Speaker 5 (50:09):
But also that makes sense because it destroyed everything, So
what if it just destroyed if D B. Cooper was
out there dead or all the money, Like, it makes
sense that that's why you're not seeing it anywhere.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
But they dashed it and then it all just got
blown away by the by the eruption and then like
maybe somehow some of it made it out and got
into the river or something. And true.

Speaker 5 (50:32):
Also, yeah, the money, the money is what the money
found keeps making me angry and confused because I'm like,
what the hell because it's you can't take away the
fact that it's actual, it's from his actual ransom money.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
Yeah, so what the hell? Man, Like, what the heck happened?
I know, I want to talk so many theories, but
I'm trying.

Speaker 5 (50:52):
I'm also going to make the money a little bit
even more confusing. In a second, I have a couple
more bullets for you. Okay, okay crazy. In twenty sixteen,
FBI announced that they were officially suspending their investigation on
dB Cooper suspending.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
Okay, they had been open that whole time, Yes, wow,
they open or they wanted to put their resources on
other cases at this point.

Speaker 5 (51:20):
But if obviously, if there's any new evidence that happens
to pop up, they're going to be interested in that
of course, but yeah, they officially ended their forty five
year search.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
It's okay, dB, you can come out now, we're done
with crazy.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (51:36):
Also, if if dB Cooper happened to get away and
survive and live his best life, he would be in
his nineties right now, if he's still check it along. Uh,
just wild in his nineties wow, which I don't even
if he did survive, I don't think he'd live to
his nineties. But it's just wild to think about all

(51:59):
the possibilities. Yeah, in twenty twenty.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
So this is where it gets.

Speaker 5 (52:04):
I hate the money analysis was performed on the ransom money.
I think you pronounce it diatoms or it's a type
of algae. Okay, diatoms, diatoms, thank you, Michael. Okay, So
that diatoms.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
Michael's voice is so raspy just now, is like Batman's. Okay.

Speaker 5 (52:32):
So, yes, some of those were found on the ransom money,
but only diatoms that were bloomed in the springtime. So
this makes it where it means that the money was
not submerged or buried dry at the time of the hijacking,
since that was in winter, right in November. So it

(52:55):
makes you think did somebody place it there?

Speaker 3 (53:00):
I don't know, but it makes it way more confusing, Yeah,
because like what, so this happened. So the hijacking happened
in what year? And Mount Saint Helens happened in what year?
Do we know?

Speaker 5 (53:09):
Like, oh, yeah, so the hijacking happened in nineteen seventy
one and Mount Saint Helens was nineteen eighty it was
so they found the ransom money like a few months
before the eruption happened.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
I believe, Oh, they found it before the eruption.

Speaker 5 (53:21):
I'm pretty sure the eruption was what more like in
July or something.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
Then why would they think the eruption had anything to
do with.

Speaker 5 (53:28):
Because the eruption happened and could have destroyed Deebie Cooper's
body or any and more of the money. That's like
it Oh, like it was around that drop zone. I
was thinking that the eruption happened and then they found
the money. No, I think they found out in the
money like a few months before the eruption, and that's
why also, like you, they haven't been able to find
anything else. Volcano exactly, conspiracy fucking FBI and volcano.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
dB Cooper made Mount Saint Helens. We upted. Okay, we
we get it.

Speaker 6 (53:59):
That's where that too.

Speaker 4 (53:59):
H hundred dollars.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
You paid off the mountain.

Speaker 5 (54:07):
Okay, So I have a couple of fun facts. But obviously,
like the the FBI, I think dB Cooper didn't really
survive d jump. But also they recognized that there was
a lot of like copycat hijack kings after this fact
or after Cooper and a lot of them did survive
their jumps, and they weren't you know, parachute you know, experts, right,

(54:31):
so then they were like, well, maybe he did survive,
but I mean like literally, you don't no, Like what
do you think? Like I know it was somebody else involved,
Like did he survive? And then he meets somebody in
a car and be like let's get away, Like what.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
Happened to him? I know what happened? Happened? They solve
it right now because I feel like it would have
had to have been such a guestimate if he's jumping
at night and he's not the one flying the plane,
Like could he have predicted in the like when he
was planning all of this exactly where to jump to

(55:06):
land in a specific area right where is he guessing right?

Speaker 5 (55:11):
They also don't know like how long he was free
falling for, Like that also, can.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
I guess right before he changed? Right? And it was
also noted.

Speaker 5 (55:20):
That the shoots that he was wearing weren't steerable, so
even so he couldn't steer where they where he was going.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
He kind of don't wear the wind blows. Yeah, Oh
that's also interesting. It feels like he died, Like I
don't want that to be the answer, but just the
fact that the money never turned up makes me think
that he died. Yeah, and and like maybe he didn't.

(55:48):
Maybe he stashed the money. Maybe he landed, got injured
from the landfall because he's wearing like fucking dress shoes,
and or he landed in water, like did he They
thought maybe he landed near a dam. Maybe he drowned. No,
they would have found the body if you. Yeah, that's
the thing.

Speaker 5 (56:07):
There's no body, there's no parachute, there's no any of
things that were on him, no clothing, no nothing.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
Okay, So back to my original gifts, he got injured
in the fall, I feel like he would have stashed
everything somewhere and then maybe tried to go get help
and like died on the way or or something, because
why wouldn't you have gone back to get your money
and then maybe something happened to where some of the
money ended up in the water.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
There's also so many deathbed confessions unfortunately, like people have
are like, you know, are on board to get there
five minutes of fame. And there's been like a dozens
of or at least a handful I don't know, but
of deathbed confessions, some of them really compelling, I think.
But yeah, a lot of people have confessed to be

(56:54):
dB Cooper, but then for some reason or another it's
proven that they're not, and it's like, what the heck.

Speaker 3 (57:01):
What a weird thing to do right before you die.
I think I'll do that. I'm gonna confess to something
really wild on my deathbed and then you guys are
just gonna have to spend time to figure out if
I was lying or not. What a final like fuck
you to the world, just be like, hey, I was
dB Cooper.

Speaker 5 (57:15):
By the way, by you never found me out of
here later, I know, I kind of want I want
my soul wants the one of like the deathbed confessions
to be true, Like that's what I wish happens just
because it's I love a deathbed confession. I love a
deathbed confession, and how like that would be the coolest one,
Like I.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
Was, I was dB Cooper, I got away with it.
I'm the coolest man.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Cool.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
It just doesn't seem like his style here, I know, right,
that's also true, so he probably died. I just feel
like he must have died, which is really unfortunate.

Speaker 5 (57:48):
But either way, but he's now a legend for all
of time, for all of time, and he's in everything
in his head and every he's in everything. Okay, quick
fun facts so I can wrap this episode up. Okay, okay,
so quick fun fact. There's a popular French written Belgian
comic book series whose fictional hero was a test pilot

(58:08):
named Dan Cooper and he would go on heroic adventures.
One that had like even a cover of him on
on the comic book parachuting out of a plane. Oh
it was like and this was before you know, the
Cooper hijacking. So another theory is like did they did
he take this as his inspiration? Like did he see
this if he was out in the army, Like.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
Yeah, wait where did you say the comic was from.

Speaker 5 (58:32):
It was written in French, but it was a Belgian
comic book, so yeah, it wasn't popular in the US
at all.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Yeah, that's weird.

Speaker 5 (58:39):
So he it would have had if he was inspired
by it at all. Maybe it was because he was
in the army at some point. Maybe he was a parachutist. Yeah,
that was one of my guesses the military. He had
some sort air force.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
It's I think it's a reasonable guest to say that
he was in the military because like maybe you would
have that training. Yeah, if you were in the air force,
you'd probably have knowledge of planes.

Speaker 5 (59:00):
But yeah, and parachute. I feel like that would kind
of explain knowing how to handle a parachute.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Yeah, and he had a grudge. How many people in
the military, Gudjudge gets the government a lot? Yeah, yeah, Yeah,
isn't that is that nom Yeah, See, like if he
was in Vietnam, like Dame, you'd have a big grudge,
I would feel like, But I don't know how that

(59:26):
would be connected to French or.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
It's just it's just kind of like to top it off,
there's like a random comic book that is like this
very scenario that played out.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
It's weird influence is there. Oh that's just sad. Be
an interesting angle. Yeah, let's say that's what happened.

Speaker 5 (59:46):
There's also an annual convention known as Cooper khn O
Fun and it's held in Seattle every November. That would
be kind of fun. And yeah, dB Cooper is considered
to be the only unsolved hijacking and av ation history
and the end. Yeah, that's all I have. But I
can't go through like suspects. That was a whole another

(01:00:07):
can of worms. Watch the documentaries that I'll list in
my credits.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
But that million documentaries.

Speaker 5 (01:00:13):
Yeah, there's so much information on this too. But that
freaking happened and this dude freaking happens.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Yay, we're doing that one. That's such a good fun story.
Thank you. It is a fun one. No one gets hurt.
It's a fun story. You don't have to feel bad.

Speaker 5 (01:00:29):
I need I need a whole I needed one eighty
from my last episode.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
So yeah, this was the right choice. It was a
really good choice. I love the story.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
D B.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
Cooper. This makes me want to go watch all the documentaries.

Speaker 5 (01:00:41):
Yeah, there's two. They're really good. I was I was like,
oh is it that guy? It has to be that
guy and then they're like, oh, no, sad that guy right,
you know. And there's even one that was like technically
went through transgender surgery as a suspect.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
So what if D. B. Cooper was a woman? That's
also I.

Speaker 5 (01:01:00):
Could believe that because women are badass, badass and smart,
and that would be the like the crazy that would
be the craziest turn of events. That would be like
nobody's really twist. Yeah, there's no, Yeah, lots of suspects.
I think there was like over eight thousand that they question.
There was a lot of copycats. Yeah, I'm sorry I

(01:01:20):
didn't go into that part of it, but man.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
I mean the thing with like thinking it was a
former Boeing employee, like that stuff is like checkable, like
you could look at former employees like if you have
access to the information. I feel like that wouldn't.

Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
But it's also Boeing, so like they don't keep records
of their taps to.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
But they would have of employees, I would, you.

Speaker 5 (01:01:43):
Would think, honestly. Yeah, but it's the seventies too, I
don't know, different world, like literally different.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
It was so different. And if it was a military person,
they would be on record, but there's so many people
in the military, So how do you narrow that down?
I don't know, man, that's a wild mystery. What do
you think, Michael Volcano exactly, that's right.

Speaker 4 (01:02:07):
I forgot and and he's definitely dead.

Speaker 5 (01:02:12):
Okay, well definitely, yeah, we can say safely. Safely he's
probably dead at this point, very most likely.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
Dead and didn't spend any of his money apparently if
he did live.

Speaker 5 (01:02:32):
But it's also it's so funny. Yeah, he is the
anti hero. Like I feel like this is the one
mystery people kind of don't want solved because it's too
fun Like there's too many possibilities. His lower is too
like Cooper con.

Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
Like, yeah, he's on all of the cryptid T shirts
and stuff, like he's always in there. Everyone's rooting for
him to just be like, hope he I mean, even
if he did die, I guess he still kind of
got away with it, Like, you know, he's still won.
He did Like either way, he got away with it. Wow,
we have successfully got two hundred thousand dollars.

Speaker 5 (01:03:05):
And jumped out of a plane while looking probably really hot,
really fucking cool.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
Wild the balls, you're right? Okay, the ball Okay, oh,
I'm glad you did that. I love a mystery. It
was like that. The Alcatraz was reminded me of that
Alcatraz episode that you did. Oh thank you. That's another
fun mystery.

Speaker 5 (01:03:24):
Yes, okay, what do we gotta do that city of
the week, let's shout out the week, the city week. Sorry,

(01:03:45):
and this week it's Bristol, England.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
Good Motherland. How are you doing? Thank you for listening,
Thank you, thank you for supporting us colonists. Appreciate you.
Thanks for listening. Keep it coming. We love it. I
love when like places international that are international. Our topless
child freaks me out in the best way. Yeah, so cool.

(01:04:11):
Mm hmmm. Oh shout outs. And I just remember the
one I forgot that I was gonna do. Oh you did?
Okay what well? Actually too because we did get a review.
I don't remember the name on it, but I think
they were a local person. So thanks for listening and
leaving a review. We love it. Please leave a review
if you haven't and you like what you hear. The
other one was you got that email from B, so

(01:04:31):
thank you B. That's right, that's right. Yeah. And then
the last one, we have a new listener named Kylie, Kylie,
what's up? I think they are probably in the very
early episode, so who knows when they're going to hear this,
But here's your shout out, true it's coming to you. Yeah, surprise, surprise.
And they also gave us on Facebook. We're talking about

(01:04:55):
a story they had a men in experience, which is
I've always wanted to do a men in Black episode.
It's really intimidating to me, though, but I see that
I really want to because it's so fucking weird. Yeah,
and there's I think it's intimidating because of the volume

(01:05:16):
of information and stories out there, right, So like, where
do you start? Where do you include? Yeah, yeah, it's
a lot. But I remember the book I read for
a Mothman has a bunch of Men in Black encounters
and it's cool, like the eeriest oh stuff. And I
just yeah, I needed to just get my shit together
and do an episode someday. But okay, let me. So
I asked if I could read this, and I said, yes, okay,

(01:05:38):
please do.

Speaker 6 (01:05:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:05:39):
I haven't had a chance to see this, so I'm
very excited to hear this.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
Okay. So we were on a family vacation out in
BF South Dakota. We stopped at a little diner or
store for snacks and whatnot. As we were getting ready
to leave, I noticed a black car pull in that
had all blacked out windows. All four doors opened at
the same time, and four men stepped out at the

(01:06:02):
same time, all war black shoes, pants, trench coats, and
hats that resembled that shape of highway patrol men. They
crossed their or they closed their doors at the same
time and walked by twos into the building. So very organized. Yeah, yeah,
sinc I remember this because it was so bizarre and

(01:06:23):
out of place from b F Dusty. It's not natural.
And also in the middle of nowhere to see that, yeah,
it's eerie. We see if they said anything else, oh,
and she said, of course you can share. I never
saw their faces. I may recall sunglasses of some kind.
But it was also mechanical the way they moved interesting. Wow,

(01:06:45):
that's crazy. It would be really weird to see that
in the middle of nowhere and all doors open at
the same exact time and they march in two by
two like ooh, yeah, that gives me chills. That's weird.
Sums up the mechanical movement too, is something that I
think is common and like, really and Black stories are
like weird jerky movements, like unnatural movements.

Speaker 5 (01:07:05):
Are they aliens aliens themselves?

Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
Is that the movie? One of the wild theories about
Men in Black is like are they aliens? Are they
government officials who specifically take care of alien stuff?

Speaker 5 (01:07:15):
But like or the aliens kind of like, actually, let's
human for a second, and that's another mistake and make
them just shut up. That's the other theories that I
never even thought about, that that they're parading around as
human but they're not human, which is why they don't
act superhuman, but they look enough like human to.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
Give me I'm very upset. I have read Men and
Black stories and they're so creepy. That's so funny.

Speaker 5 (01:07:41):
You should do one because I don't get into reading
about that, Like I don't like all the UFO stuff,
but true, yeah, but I just.

Speaker 3 (01:07:49):
Haven't deep dive into that area.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
I think the theory that they're aliens parading is government
officials is my favorite one because I think there's also
stories where like people of call to try and check
up on these people. No, we don't have any record
of who you're talking about whoa, that's freaking pretending they
don't know. Everyone is literally in on it.

Speaker 5 (01:08:12):
Watch You're back, They're all together, volcanoes.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
Mount Saint Helen's was so in on it. She's such
a bit. Okay, okay, wow, what a story. Yeah, so
thank you for that. That's that. Thanks Kylie. I love
that kind of stuff. If anyone else has that's juicy juicy,
always share. We love it and we'll probably read it
all the show and then he can feel really cool.
I don't think I have anything else. Nah. Now let's go. Nah,

(01:08:41):
we got stuff to do. You guys have stuff to
do for sure, So I'm gonna say good up, good night.
All right.

Speaker 5 (01:08:53):
My credits are FBI dot gov, Wikipedia dot com, DBI
Cooper Where Are You? On Netflix? And the Mystery of
dB Cooper on HBO. The music is by Brooke for
Free and Matt Eden, and we're edited by Michael.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
All Right, you guys, do you know the trill? All right?
Anxious and Afraid the Pod is our handle for both
our Facebook page and the group, along with our Instagram
and Gmail.

Speaker 5 (01:09:24):
We're also on Twitter at AA Thepod.

Speaker 3 (01:09:27):
You can support us at Patreon dot com, Forward slash
Anxious and Afraid. You get some cool perks AD free episodes,
you get to release a day early, you get a stick,
or you get to share out it. We also have some.

Speaker 5 (01:09:37):
Cute fun merch if you're interested in that. I always
recommend buying a size up in men's and you can
find all of that listed in our episode notes and
our website which is really cute and that's Anxious and
Afraid dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:09:50):
Check it out. You can also support us for free
by leaving a rate review and these Subscribe and tell
your friends.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
The Bad Time Weight Peg, the Tenty Days, The.

Speaker 6 (01:10:10):
Weight the Twenty Days, the

Speaker 1 (01:10:15):
Tea t