D.B. Cooper: The Greatest Highjacking, or the Greatest Hoax?
By Mike Moran of The Confessional Podcast:
The story of DB Cooper is almost too perfect to believe.
On a frigid Thanksgiving Eve in 1971, a soft-spoken, well-dressed man, with minimal words or action, convinced the FBI to hand him over a briefcase full of cash, and then slipped into the night never to be seen or heard from again.
The mysterious gentleman was mild-mannered and polite, middle-aged, and so smooth not one of the 36 passengers on Flight 305 from Portland to Seattle, had any clue they were being held hostage with a briefcase bomb until they were informed by police after the fact.
He talked exclusively to a single flight attendant, mostly through notes. She was to inform the pilot to contact the airport and collect $200,ooo in unmarked bills, as well as 4 parachutes, upon their arrival.
He calmly sipped bourbon and soda, and smoked cigarettes. The staff was shocked by how relaxed and polite he was.
Upon landing in Seattle, the goods were delivered, the plane was refueled, and the man allowed the unsuspecting passengers, who believed they were waiting for a minor technical problem, to exit. He paid his drink tab and even tried to tip the very flight attendant he was holding hostage. He also added meals for the hostages to his list of demands, so they would be more comfortable.
Now that he had what he wanted, Cooper had the plane head south, towards Reno flying slow and low. He eventually had the crew go to the cockpit while he strapped himself with 2 parachutes, and the money. He opened the rear staircase of the plane (yes, up until this incident you could do that), and disappeared into the darkness.
It seems like something out of a James Bond movie.
Whoever this suave gentleman was, he pulled off the only successful highjacking in American aviation history.
Things didn’t get any less mysterious once the post-hijacking investigation began. The FBI launched a massive manhunt and came up with…pretty much nothing.
The only solid evidence that’s ever been found, was about six grand of the cash discovered by an eight-year-old boy digging a fire pit along the Columbia River, near Portland Oregon, in 1980.
You see, even though the bills were “unmarked,” the FBI was able to photocopy them before the handing them over, recording each and every serial number. You can check and see if you have one of Cooper’s bills in your pocket right now: here.
Wether the hijacker survived the jump is a matter of debate, with skydiving experts weighing in on both sides. Some say a night jump in stormy weather by a man wearing a suit and tie, and who didn’t seem to know much about skydiving, would have ended disastrously. Especially since he didn’t appear to have an exact location picked out to land. So even if he successfully opened his chute, landing in an arbitrary spot would leave him cold, wet, likely injured, and alone in the woods without survival gear.
Others have claimed the jump, and subsequent nature hike, was doable if Cooper was as competent as his demeanor seemed to suggest.
Either way, neither a likely suspect, nor a body has ever been found.
There have been many fruitless theories as to Cooper’s identity, with sources ranging from death bed confessions, to famous criminals like mass-murderer, John List. But no one has been arrested.
In my personal opinion, not one of the proposed suspects seems likely at all. You can read more about D.B. Cooper suspects here.
Even if Cooper died in the flight, wouldn’t someone come forward with information about some shady uncle who went missing around that time? Or a mysterious co-worker who happened to not return to work, right after the incident?
Many searches through the stretch of Washington State he likely would have landed in have been conducted, and yet not a stitch of clothing, a soggy old parachute, or…human remains, have ever been found.
D.B. Cooper was like a phantom, both before and after his famous deed.
Of all the theories that have come up about who D.B. Cooper was, and what became of him, there is one that almost no one has taken seriously.
That there was no D.B. Cooper.
Could it be possible that this whole incident was a scam by the crew of Northwest Orient Flight 305?
Could they have orchestrated the entire thing themselves? Plotting together to get that briefcase full of cash? Either sneaking it off the plane after, or dropping it in location to retrieve it from?
I’ll admit it’s quite a stretch to suggest that D.B. Cooper was fabrication of a scheming airline crew…but with the actual story being so fantastical, it begs the question; would this alternative idea would be much less likely than the accepted account?
Isn’t it similarly fantastical that a man walked onto an airplane with a (likely) fake bomb, passed notes until he was handed cash and parachutes, and then skydived out of the plane never to be seen or heard from again?
Maybe I’m delving too far into conspiracy theory territory. Maybe it really did happen the way they said, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t be a little skeptical. It seems like the FBI never even considered this possibility at the time.
It’s true there is no physical evidence of the crew conspiring together, but there’s also isn’t any hard evidence that Cooper was there in the flesh. They tested everything they could for a link to a highjacker, but never looked into the flight crew. Maybe there is physical evidence no one thought to look for.
D.B. Cooper somehow left no fingerprints despite not wearing gloves. He did leave behind some cigarette butts and a tie, but the DNA on them has never been linked to anyone. Why not test the airline staff?
There is a ticket indicating that Cooper payed for and checked into the flight, but would it be that hard for airline staff to make this happen?
Again, there is only anecdotal evidence supporting this alternative theory, but let’s take a look at it none the less:
- No one saw Cooper jump. The pilot said he believed he lept out around 8:13 pm, because he felt a jolt, but with the rear stairs exposed to the stormy night, this could have been caused by wind. Five military jets were following discreetly, and not one saw anyone exit.
- The location of the marked bills found isn’t anywhere near where it should have landed had it been torn away from Cooper during his descent.
- Cooper ordered all the windows to be shut when landing, and refused to talk to any agents on the ground. He said this was to avoid sniper fire. No one on the ground saw him at all.
- The flight crew has been suspiciously reluctant to discuss the whole thing, with very few interviews conducted. None of them have spoken about it publicly in decades.
- There are almost no accounts of passengers witnessing the events. The only interview available online is that of William Mitchell who just recently went public with his account. Intentional or not, 4 decades is more than enough time to retroactively fabricate a memory.
- The reason parachuting experts can’t agree on wether or not he knew what he was doing, is because his knowledge seemed contradictory. He knew which parachutes he wanted (rejecting the first given to him), but didn’t notice his spare was a useless practice chute. He knew exactly what kind of plane would be best to jump from, and how it should fly, but had completely improper skydiving clothes on, and made a night jump in the worst possible weather conditions. Surely he would have considered these things. Could this be evidence of a fictional character?
We should always be skeptical of any alternative history proposal. But if I were to choose one theory of this nature to consider, it would likely be this one.
There are plenty of accounts of once historically accepted events, that were later exposed as hoaxes, especially in the internet age.
How long did we think Betsy Ross designed the American Flag?
Or that Columbus proved the Earth was round?
Or that a female Pope Joan was outed when she accidentally gave birth in public?
Or that the Pyramids were built by Jewish Slaves?
Many amazing stories, sensationalized in 20th Century media, like History’s Mysteries, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not, are being scrutinized as of late. People now question if Ray Sullivan really was struck by lightning 7 separate times throughout his life, or if Vensa Vulovic really survived a 10,000 foot free fall. Or that indifferent neighbors failed to try and help Kitty Genoveve, when she was attacked. Or that there ever was a Bermuda Triangle at all.
Could the Legend of D.B. Cooper also be re-written in time?
By Mike Moran of the Confessional Podcast.
