On June 11, 1962, Frank Morris and the brothers John and Clarence Anglin, three inmates of the Alcatraz maximum security federal prison located on an island in San Francisco Bay, pulled off one of the "greatest" prison escapes in American history. After months of planning, they squeezed through air vents and made their way into the Pacific Ocean, where they boarded a raft they'd made of stolen raincoats. They were never seen again. Because their raft and paddles washed up ashore, many believe the men drowned in the icy waters. The Anglin family insists the brothers survived and have presented evidence to prove it. The FBI can't quite figure out what to believe.
Lauren Cohn, "13 Prisoners Who Escaped Are Still at Large," Reader's Digest, June 14, 2020
Lauren Cohn, "13 Prisoners Who Escaped Are Still at Large," Reader's Digest, June 14, 2020
Did the Anglins know alcatraz Escapees survived and kept it secret because they may of gotten in trouble for some reason?Marie Anglin Widner at Alcatraz show off picture of Anglins at her mother's Rachel Anglin funeral. Rachel Van Miller was born on 29 December 1901, in Decatur, Georgia.She died on 15 July 1973, in Ruskin, Hillsborough, Florida age71.Anglins have picture of clarence and John Anglin disguised as women at their mothers funeral 1973&Marie other anglins wear sunglasses during pix taken?. Robert Anglin Jr own up admits to anglin family that he had communication with Clarence-John Anglin for at least 25yrs.(1962+25=1987)Marie Anglin Widner has all this info in her photo albums and Her sons Dave and Ken admit that Clarence & John have been married in Brazil Argentina and claim that one bro John has 3 kids and Clarence 2 kids how does he know this? Fred Brizzi (infamous criminal)travels to Southamerica supposedly ran into John - Clarence Anglin at a bar inwhich John takes Brizzi to their Farm .Brizzi takes pix of the Farm &Ant Hill and small River or Pond?Pix in 1975?Were Anglins Brizzi business together?Infamous AntHill red clay dirt could it be ga /ala someplace in Usa?Frank Morris and Clarence Anglin spent time at Dozier School boys Mariana Fla?(near2egg rumors Anglins seen?)Widners want meet with _ at the Ruskin Ceme &Rachel -Geo Anglin buried is it possible that clarence/John are already there?Fred Brizzo had boat yacht and Airplanes he could move anglins around?Christmas cards sent Rachel later drop mailbox without being mailed so didn't know where came from &date came?infamous 2013Letter John Anglin claim Wash & Dakota & not Mexico & not S.America &Not 2Egg Fla&that because man 80s writing should been Wiggly so maybe someone else wrote it?So are the Widner take Story for all its worth benefit from it money & fame?
ReplyDeleteSeptember 1, 2026 will mark 100 years since the birth of Frank Lee Morris. The mystery of the June 1962 escape had always interested me as a kid, particularly when I first saw the 1979 film starring Clint Eastwood. I remember always hoping that the evidence supported the “myth” everyone wants to truly believe— Did Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers make it?
ReplyDeleteI was like most people. I wanted to believe, from a romantic point of view, that they made it. I don’t think there ever be any conclusive revelational break-throughs in the case, and looking back reasonably as a more mature adult, I think it’s safe to regard various second hand accounts such as unsigned postcards received by the Anglin brothers’ mother, or various “sightings” of Morris/Anglins, as well as other reports that I can’t help but shrug off as merely hearsay. I do believe, however, that there is at least enough substantial evidence to believe that Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin could very well have made it, and lived a free life for some time after the escape. I myself, like to believe they did.
I remember in the early 2010s, being quite naturally excited when the circumstantial evidence came to light which would appear to suggest that all three men survived: when documents suggested investigators did find a raft on Angel Island with footprints leading away; and, though it was always asserted that no cars were reported stolen, a 1955 blue Chevrolet was stolen after the escape by three men, who may have been Morris and the Anglins. Of course, it possible the raft identification was a mistake and that the carjacking was a coincidence but it’s quite telling. Looking back, I am more dubious when Relatives of the Anglin brothers presented further circumstantial evidence in the mid-2010s in support of a longstanding rumor that the Anglin brothers had fled to Brazil following the escape.
Of course, considering these two bits of circumstantial evidence (especially if one was to connect both), it’s possible to imagine that the three lived out a long and happy life. Though it’s hardly much of a life, being on the run, not seeing family again. Of course, if they drowned in the bay, they at least died free. In regards to the idea they survived and lived the rest of their lives on the run is more remarkable, leaving us with an even larger mystery of what they did later in life and what eventually happened to them. And honestly, I’m fine with both scenarios, because they leave more questions than answers and I’m fine with that, because than the mystery would end.
Author’s note: the following story was made with Ai. The author is not the biggest fan of the technology, but intended this story with the utmost respect. It is meant to reflect the mystery of the Alcatraz escape and is not intended to reflect the real life characteristics of Morris and the Anglins.
ReplyDelete“The world was an endless, unblemished sheet of white. No sky, no ground, no San Francisco bay—just an infinite, silent expanse.
Frank Morris stood in the center of the blank void. To his left and right stood John and Clarence Anglin. They did not speak. In this place, words were heavy and useless, so they simply watched each other, their minds humming with a strange, quiet static.
A profound confusion rippled through them, yet it was laced with a growing sense of amusement. They looked down at their hands, then out into the nothingness.
''Where are we?''
They began to reach backward into their memories, searching for an anchor. The last concrete thing they knew for certain—the final vivid image etched into their minds—was the biting, salt-sprayed air of June 11, 1962. They recalled the jagged rocks of Alcatraz slipping away beneath their feet. They remembered the frantic, rhythmic pumping of the concertina bellows, inflating a raft made of fifty stolen rubber raincoats. They remembered pushing off into the pitch-black, churning currents of the Bay.
And then, nothing.
''Did we make it? ''The question echoed silently between the three of them. '''Did we sink into the dark water, or did we reach the shore?'''
They searched the whiteness for a sign, an answer to why their memory cut to black right at the water's edge.
Suddenly, a flash of colour flickered in their collective consciousness. It was vibrant, slicing through the void: a blue 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. They could see the gleam of its chrome bumper and the specific sequence of its California license plate: '''''KPB076'''''.
The image sparked a wave of curiosity. Was this memory a lifeline? A hint of their survival? They ghosted over the thought of that car—stolen in Marin County just hours after they vanished from their cells. Had they been the ones to hotwire it? Had they sat in those vinyl seats, watching the headlights cut through the California fog, leaving the island far behind? Or was it just a phantom coincidence, a piece of folklore they were misremembering?
The harder they tried to grasp the memory of the car, the more the whiteness began to gently fade around them, dissolving like mist.
As the world around them thinned, the confusion evaporated, replaced by a deep, ironic amusement. They looked at one another, and their lips curled into synchronous grins.
''Does it really matter what happened to us?''
A sudden, sharp realization washed over Frank Morris. Time here was fluid, but a specific date crystalized in his mind: September 1, 2026. His '''100th birthday'''. He knew, with absolute certainty, that on this day, the active federal arrest warrants issued by the U.S. Marshals would finally expire.
Whether their bodies were lost to the bottom of the Bay, or whether they had grown old under assumed names in South America, the result was exactly the same. The system had been defeated. The prison had been beaten. The record was set in stone, irrevocable and flawless, untouched by either survival or death.
They had achieved the ultimate escape: they had escaped history itself.
As the last remnants of the white void dissolved into absolute nothingness, the three men began to vanish. They did not leave behind answers, or bodies, or regrets. They simply faded away, utterly content, wrapped forever in the beautiful, unbreakable mystery they had created.”