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The Trail Went Cold

The Trail Went Cold – Episode 264 – The Alcatraz Escape (Part 1)

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

Tv & Film, True Crime

4.53.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2022

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

June 11, 1962. San Francisco, California. 35-year old Frank Morris, 32-year old John Anglin and his 31-year old brother, Clarence Anglin, attempt an elaborate escape from the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island. After sneaking out of their cells during the night, the three convicts enter the water in order to cross San Francisco Bay on a homemade inflatable raft, but an extensive manhunt fails to find them. While the authorities are inclined to believe the escapees drowned, certain pieces of evidence, including a photograph that was allegedly taken of the Anglin brothers in Brazil in 1975, suggest they might have survived. To commemorate “The Trail Went Cold” reaching its six-year anniversary, we are covering what is probably the most famous unsolved prison escape of all time, which has not received a definitive conclusion after nearly 60 years. This story will be released as a special two-part episode and this week, Part 1 will outline the basic facts and details of the Alcatraz escape. Special thanks to listener Vanessa Maez for narrating the opening of this episode. If you have any information about this case, please contact the U.S. Marshals Service’s San Francisco office at (415) 436-7677. Download June’s Journey FREE today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_1962_Alcatraz_escape_attempt https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/alcatraz-escape https://vault.fbi.gov/Alcatraz%20Escape http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/alcesc1.htm https://www.alcatrazhistory.com/alcesc2.htm https://www.alcatrazhistory.com/alcesc3.htm https://www.alcatrazhistory.com/alcesc4.htm https://unsolved.com/gallery/alcatraz-escape/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/460678737/ https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/us/anniversary-of-a-mystery-at-alcatraz.html https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna47782343 https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/06/19/alcatraz-escapees-sister-returns-to-robbery-scene/ https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/02/08/investigator-says-1962-alcatraz-escapees-likely-survived/ https://archive.today/20140320041409/http://www.11alive.com/news/article/219701/1/Rome-man-claims-he-had-role-in-escape-from-Alcatraz https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30349106 https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Does-this-photo-prove-the-most-famous-Alcatraz-6568415.php http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3278098/notorious-alcatraz-escapees-may-still-be-on-the-lam-1.3278107 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alcatraz-inmates-survived-infamous-1962-escape-letter-suggests/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/24/a-man-claims-three-alcatraz-prisoners-barely-survived-a-1962-escape-and-that-hes-one-of-them/ https://musebycl.io/digital-data/can-ai-solve-58-year-old-alcatraz-escape-mystery “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at  “Crimecon 2022: Vegas” at Paris & Bally’s in Las Vegas from April 29-May 1, 2022. To get a 10 % discount off a standard badge, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.com/. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel &  Spa in London on June 11-12, 2022. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo  code, “COLD22”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk. “The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on  GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True  Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

We would like to send out a special thanks to the fun and challenging June's Journey game.

0:04.8

Who doesn't love a good mystery? In the hidden object Murder Mystery Game June's Journey,

0:09.6

yell awake in your inner sleuth and step right into a thrilling adventure set in the heart of the

0:14.2

roaring twenties. Find your Inter Detective, download June's Journey free today on the Apple App Store

0:20.0

or Google Play. Thank you and enjoy the show. June 11, 1962 San Francisco, California. 35-year-old

0:31.1

Frank Morris, 32-year-old John Anglin, and his 31-year-old brother Clarence Anglin,

0:37.1

attempt an elaborate escape from the Alcatraz federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island.

0:42.9

After sneaking out of their cells during the night, the three convicts enter the water

0:47.6

in order to cross San Francisco Bay on a homemade inflatable raft and an extensive manhunt fails to

0:54.0

find them. While the authorities are inclined to believe the men drowned, certain pieces of evidence,

0:59.6

including alleged photographs of the England brothers in Brazil, suggest they might have survived

1:04.8

so the actual truth about what happened to the Alcatraz escapees remains up for debate.

1:09.7

After that, the trail went cold.

1:39.7

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special milestone for the trail went cold,

1:52.3

our six-year anniversary show. I'm your host Robin Warner, and to commemorate this special

1:57.6

occasion, I'm going to be covering one of my biggest passion cases. The 1962

2:02.8

disappearances of Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, aka the Alcatraz escape.

2:32.8

I'm going to be providing instructions at the end of this episode. Anyway, this will be a little

2:37.0

different from the norm for this podcast since I've never done an unsolved mystery involving a

2:41.9

prison escape before, but this might be the world's most famous prison break because the

2:46.4

escapees were never found, and it's never been conclusively established if they died during their

2:51.2

attempt or if they managed to get away clean and started a new life somewhere. As you probably know,

...

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