It was on this day, November 14, 1971, that the still-unsolved “DB Cooper” hijacking happened in the Pacific Northwest. It took place in the period before current airplane security existed and during the myriad of “Take me to Cuba” and similar hijackings took place. To this day, no one knows who Dan Cooper (the actual name he used) was, whether he survived his parachute escape somewhere in the area around Mount St. Helens, and what happened to most of the $200,000 he took as ransom.
The Wikipedia article on him and the event is one of the better reads you’ll find on the site, detailing the event and the numerous suspects identified in the 50 years since the hijacking.
Many have speculated that he died after parachuting from the plane at night and during a rainstorm in business dress into the remote area, but Boeing 727 jets had been used for CIA drops in that era, and an experienced, or lucky, skydiver could have successfully made the jump, according to some. No sign of his parachutes (one was a reserve chute that has been disabled and was only for demonstration) was ever found. Three packets of the money (matching serial numbers saved by the FBI) were found in 1980 on the banks of the Columbia river, but the fact that several bills were missing and that they might have somehow washed ashore together only deepened the mystery.
If “Cooper” had died, one would think someone would have later reported him missing, which helped fuel the many conspiracy theories that he did survive and returned to normal life after the holidays weekend. Purveyors of these theories have tried to pedal books, films and such over these now 50 years and theories, no doubt, will continue to surface. Just as an unrelated example, just this week the New York Times printed a new report on where Jimmy Hoffa was buried after his 1975 disappearance.
One thing is certain, as long as such mysteries remain unsolved, someone is apt to try to make money off them.
