Strange Disappearances That Haunt Us

The strangest part here is that there is no footage of him leaving the barlow. So he goes in and then that's it. He just never left. Get ready for a campfire story. I'm Edwin, I'm Michelle, and we'll share spooky stories with playful banter that'll keep you up at night. So throw some wood on the fire and put a wiener on a stick. We're telling you a campfire story tonight. All right, here, we are hiking into the woods. We got to get that energy back up and get back to what we really like is just telling each other's stories by the campfire. That's right. Disappearances. Did you watch Mad Men? I tried? It was too boring. You've seen an episode? Yeah. When I'm telling the story, I'm kind of imagining Don Draper, the lead in that show. You're getting on a plane. There's leg room, the cabin is full of cigarette smoke. It's nineteen seventy one. A mysterious man in a dark suit goes up to the counter and buys himself a ticket to Seattle from Portland, leaving at two point fifty pm that day, the day before Thanksgiving. There's no security check and no pat downs. And no metal detectors. He is carrying a briefcase. This mysterious man boards the plane and places his briefcase in his lap. Shortly after takeoff, the man slips the flight attendant, Florence Schaffner a folded note. She assumes he's hitting on her and it's his phone number, so she slips it into her bag without looking at it. The next time she walks by his seat, the man leans forward and whispers, miss you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb. He then quietly opens the briefcase and show Florence eight red cylinders attached to wires and a cylindrical battery. On his note, he listed his demands two hundred thousand dollars, which is around one million in today's money, four manually operated civilian parachutes, and an aircraft fuel truck standing by in Seattle for use. Upon their arrival, Florence immediately went to the cockpit and told the captain, William A. Scott's the situation. He calmly notified the thirty five other passengers on the plane that they would be delayed in flight due to a minor mechanical difficulty, So the plane circled around the airport in Puget Sound for two hours as emergency responders notified and gathered all of the ransom demands, including ten thousand unmarked twenty dollar bills. During this time, the man commented on the layout of the land below. Witnesses claim that he was calm, well spoken, polite, even going so far as to request meals for the flight crew ahead of their arrival in Seattle. The plane finally lands at the Seattle Tacoma Airport. And honestly, what still surprises me about this story is that he received all of his ransom demands. Isn't that nuts? I feel like people don't get their ransom demands anymore. Is that like? Am I like making that up in my brain? Or now? It's like they negotiate with you enough, so like they play this mental game where like, yeah, you don't. Win, you won't never you never win. But anyway, this guy wins, so he gets his ransom demands, he gets his money and his parachutes, and he's satisfied. So he releases all the passengers and the flight attendants off the plane. But then once the plane is refueled, they took off again and the remaining crew are told to head for the Reno Tahoe Airport. It's raining. Around eight pm, the captain and the remaining crew noticed a sudden change in the air pressure on the plane, indicating that a door had been opened. As the plane was flying over a heavily wooded area of southern Washington, the Washugo Valley, there was a sudden movement against the airplane's tail section. The man had jumped from the plane wearing a parachute with his stolen money, and he parachuted straight into our hearts. Because the mysterious man was never seen again, this mysterious man became known as D. B. Cooper, which is a slight variation of the alias he used to buy the plane ticket, Dan Cooper aka Don Draper. Wow. Wait, so they never found him, like they never chased They never chased them nothing. They chased him. He was actually on the most FBI most wanted list to like I think twenty sixteen when they just suspended the case. At this point, who's alive? They already spent all the money, but like. This disappearance and crime have never been so. Wow, imagine pulling that off. Evidence suggested that he did not survive the fall, but nobody was ever found, and investigators quickly did composite sketches, eyewitness reports, physical evidence. Following the hijacking all that jazz aerial searches countless leads with no luck. There was no trace of him. But then on February tenth, nineteen eighty, an eight year old boy named Brian Ingram discovered three packs of the ransom cash totaling about fifty eight hundred dollars, as he dug in a sandy river bank on the Columbia River at a beachfront known as Tina Bar. Police analyzed this later and confirmed that ten bills were missing from the packs of heavily deteriorated ransom cash, and that the money had been buried in the river bank several months after the hijacking, and no additional bills from Cooper's ransom have ever been discovered. So they were buried. So someone found some of his cash that was buried in a river bank and. They never found a parachute, never found nothing, like. It's just I think he made it to the ground. That's the thing is that we'll never really know if he did or didn't, you know, Like, isn't that fascinating. I mean there are theories, of course, do you want to hear the theories? Yeah, let's do it. Common theories. If he died jumping, you know, he would have jumped in a remote area. Honestly, it's not that remote. It's kind of your Mount Saint Helens. So if he jumped in the park, yes, obviously that's kind of remote. But if he jumped it was nighttime, it was rainy, he could have landed in a river and then just been swept right out to see. And also that would make sense that the money was found in a river bank. Okay, okay, the money was also never spent. And besides the kid finding that money in the river bank, it's never turned up in circulation because they were least the serial numbers of the bills, so everyone had that information. This inspired six copycat hijackings in nineteen seventy two, of course, and so every single one of those guys who jumped out of a commercial plane with a parachute lived. So the FBI decided they need to reevaluate this whole theory that he had just died and like jumped into a river. I mean, it could have just given him a faulty parachute, and that would have been that, Like. Apparently they did give it, since they give him four, I guess they did give him a faulty one. But then he like emptied two and put the money in them, like so they were backpacks, and then he jumped out with another one. So they searched the woods that he allegedly jumped in for years and no discoveries of the parachute, nothing like that. There's been no discoveries of him, and some investigators speculate because in nineteen eighty the eruption abount Saint Helen's was in that area, it could have also obliterated any remaining physical clues. So if he's dead, no one's ever gonna. Find anything, you know, or find the money. Or find the money because it's under tons of lava. Wow. I don't think that could happen today. No, I don't think it would work today, just in the way. This must have been a different type of plane too, at a lower altitude. I'm just assuming that's I just don't think if you'd jumped out of a plane today, like a modern plane, you'd live. But here's some theories. If he lived, he executed his plan on Thanksgiving Eve, ensuring four days to complete the operation. There are no missing persons reports that match his profile, so he had a clip on his tie that they found on the plane. There was one hundred percent pure titanium traces found, and only someone with the aerospace industry would be exposed to such rare materials, and pure titanium was used for the Boeing supersonic program that was active at the time. And plus he knew how to parachute, so that tells you like he's into that kind of thing. Yeah, hmmm hmmm. Also because some of the money turned up. What's strange about the money being found is that in that location is too far off the flight path to have gotten there without human intervention. It's also suspiciously suggestive that it appears along the edge of a river, suggesting he must have drowned. It feels like the money was planted to throw the FBI off his trail. This is the single most telling bit of evidence that seems to show that he survived. He wants to fake his own death, but the r there it'll be found eventually. People speculate he was an experienced jumper because when he was on the plane. He was remarking that like they were over Tacoma, like he recognized stuff on the ground from the sky. Yeah, And he was very calm and used technology terms that suggested he'd been around aircraft, like he told the flight crew to fly dirty, which means wheels down. And then another theory is that he was Canadian or had strong cultural ties a knowledge of Canada, because he used the name Dan Cooper as his alias, which is a French comic book hero that was published in Canada. And so people are like, ohh, he just simply returned to Canada or laundered the money up there. And you know, there's been suspects throughout time, right, Like, there's so many suspects. I didn't even want to like list them because they all seem like, Oh, my strange uncle that just died as dB Cooper. There's also another theory that I found really funny, that the flight crew made the whole thing up to get the money. Wow, Okay, I like that theory. Hell yeah, I kind of did too. For some reason. It feels right to me where I was just like, oh yeah. And then like there's another theory that he never even got off the plane. Which kind of feels like the same type of thing where it's like everybody's in cahoots, which I kind of like. Did anybody on the ground ever hear him, like his demands direct? See That's what I don't know. You can see why this has become like a legend that people, yeah, constantly revisit. So at this point, I don't think we'll ever know what really happened, and who wants to know because that would ruin the story. But all the evidence is open to the public if you guys want to go investigate that. Citizen investigators are always all about this, but the crime remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history. In two thousand and six, there was a story on Dateline NBC this story We're going to look at Brian Schaffer. He's a medical student from Ohio State University. It's two thousand and five and Brian's mom gets diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, she dies in March of two thousand and six. Gorse. The entire family is sad devastated, and Brian is having a particularly tough time with it. At one point he even asks his. Girlfriend, like, do you want to run away? He's just kind of getting these weird ideas right. They actually had a trip planned out a gift from Brian's mom actually before she passed away to Florida for spring break. During this break, Brian has dinner with his dad, and you know how it's with parents, sometimes you end up talking about things like money and tough topics. This one happened to be about the life insurance that the mother had. That same night, Like, Brian goes and meets up with his friend Clint. They go bar hopping. One of his other friends meets up with both of them, is this. Woman named it Meredith. They go from barbi Bar they end up at this place called Ugly Tuna Saluna in Ohio, which was the last place that Brian was ever seen. In the bar scene. You know how it is sometimes you go out with friends and people drift away. They come back, they meet others, they come back, they bring someone else. At one point, around two am, they realized that Brian isn't with him anymore. They look all around the bar, They go upstairs, downstairs, nothing's there. They go to the bathroom. Nothing. Brian just isn't there. So they thought that maybe he just walked home because the apartment wasn't that far six blocks or something like that. So it was the following Monday they had the trip that was scheduled. And Brian didn't show up. Now you're probably wondering, right, like, why did anybody sound the alarm? Like he's been missing. He had gone through something similar before where he kind of went away, didn't talk to anybody, so they thought that this is what he was doing. Plus it was April first, April Foles. The family didn't think it was that big of a concern, and he was an adult. The concern obviously grew. At the airport, They're like, h isn't he here? So they filed a report. They do all the things, they get it signed to a detective, and thankfully Columbus. Ohio has a ton on cameras. They look an alleys, shelters, dumpsters. Hospitals, Brian is it anywhere? The last footage when they go through everything, the last thing they see of him was at two am. He was outside of the Ugly Tuna Saluna. He was talking to two women who were these two women maybe he knew them, maybe they were just friends. I mean they're just like, oh, do you have a light, you know, that's how you meet a lot of people. The strangest part here is that there is no footage of him leaving the barlock. So he goes in and then that's it. He just never left. This is part of the theories that are out there. First one, some say that he wandered off into a construction site that was just outside of the back door, the one that wasn't monitored by a security camera. But they say that he stumbled out, maybe he was drunk and he hurt himself, but the search was cadaver dogs and nothing was found. How they say that if he managed to escape the construction site, he got robbed, murder, abducted, or killed himself. The other one is the jump cut. Now, there was a part of the video and the security footage of the exit where it just gets skipped like it's a certain time and then all of a sudden, it's. Like could be the camera was off. It could be like a bunch of things where like the recording stops and then you're like, oh, the recording. Stops, so you like press it again and starts recording. But there was an employee, a guard that was there the whole night and said that nobody used the exits like by the construction site. But it's like during that cut, could he have exited the other way? Right? The other theory I think is a little interesting. It's a fight with Clint as friend. So it's like some people had mentioned it, but when he was questioned a Clint was questioned about it, he decided to get a lawyer. At first, he was like helping out. He's like, yeah, this happened, has happened. But then they started really pressuring him and he was like, no, I want a lawyer. He refused to take a light detector test. He just didn't want to talk. He was just like, Nope, you're gonna have to go through my lawyer, which is something that is within his rights, Like he doesn't have to Like this is kind of a rule here. I wouldn't talk either. I wouldn't say anything unless I get a lawyer. Media can't fire story cares, the police are not your friends. Get a lawyer immediately. Don't answer any questions, whether it's a crime involved. Ever ever ever, get a lawyer. The other theory a new life. Maybe he just decided to leave no trace and start fresh. Bring that up to his girlfriend. He said he wanted to leave, and he said to break up. So maybe it's just there's logic, like he might have had his reason again his mom had just died. But then again, if your mom had just died, why are you out bar hopping? Eh? I know a lot of people have done that. People just deal with grief in different ways, especially if you're an alcoholic. Dang. Yeah, No for me, I would be like, I don't feel like doing anything, Like it's. Hard to get me out of the house. Right. Maybe also, this is a theory. What if you told Clint about like, oh, yeah, I want to leave and I want to disappear. I want to start a new life, but don't tell anybody. Yeah, And maybe Clint was like, Okay, well let's do this. You know, maybe he's been on the whole thing. There are also some clues though, like when they actually when it disappeared, they kept calling his phone. For a few months, they kept calling his phone and it wouldn't ring. It would just go straight to voicemail until one night it rang three times. Investigators got involved and they pinged. They were able to find where the phone pinged. By the way, this is when like the cell towers recognized like where you are kind of anyway, it turned out to be that the phone was in a place called Hilliard, fourty miles away from where he disappeared. Since then, there's no more like, there's no news, like he's just gone. The tragedy, though, still continued. Two years after that, two thousand and eight, in September, there's a windstorm and a tree fell on Brian's dad, Randy. It just killed him. Dang. And for the funeral they had this online guest book and that's where they found this message that said Dad, I love you, Love Brian, and in parentheses it said US Virgin Islands. Huh. But they looked it up and it turns out the post was written from a computer in Franklin County, which I don't know how far that is from where this happened. But that was the end of it. They're like, was this some cruel joke? Yeah? Was it Brian? Maybe? Oh? No, Fan corner and fan Corner, Oh, we have an update from Petrulli Drop. They have great chemistry, they're funny, they cover topics well. Also, I haven't heard any fake or forced laughter. I don't know what those reviews are about it was an early review. I remember that some people were commenting on yours truly speaking style. Anyway, Petully Drop updated this comment update, loving the new format. Hope y'all keep it up. Skull Fairy, Elf, Unicorn and ghost emoji. We did get a couple of new comments on some of the older episodes. Oh, for example, this one on the real origins of black Cat superstitions. There's one from Ben Duffy that says, bird guy here, I'm forever worried about how my parrot Boyo will meet his inevitable demise. He turned five yesterday. Birds always have a terrible end. I don't know. Why, and should live for another twenty five years. We shall see. Oh that is so sad. I don't know why. I just because they always die in a weird way. I don't know why that is with birds. It's like you'll dive bomb into boiling water or something like that. Like you'll be like, what the. Fuck You're twenty five more years of Boyo. Yeah. Casey Stockdale says, Hello, Edwin and Michelle. My name is Casey, and I just wanted to say how much I love your podcast. You guys are so funny and I always listen and wait for new podcasts. Edwin, I have listened to all of your other podcasts start to finish, Michelle, I am going to listen to your podcast next. Thank you guys for being so amazing and always making me laugh. Wow, so sweet do you think you? Yeah? I love it when people are sweet. On the Would you visit a ghost Town episode? Oh? Yoda is saying, I want to go to Chernobyl. All right, make sure you had your kids already. Cuz you know, bring me a key chain. Yeah, well, do you want a key chain from Chernobyl Vibe? That's your choice. You do what you want to do and tell us all about it. Thanks all all for your comments and for following and leading reviews where you can. Definitely give us five stars. We're working on our algorithm correction and. We're still trying to beat that kid that left us two stars. So please that little cutie Patuti who left us two stars for some reason. We're not really mad, we just need some belts. I don't know, I'm mad. Should we put out the I guess so? I mean it never goes out, So bye, guys. Let's see yeah. Campfire Story is hosted by Michelle Newman. And Edwin Kovarubias. This podcast was. Edited and sound designed by Sarah Worhez Wendel, a VW Sound Make sure you follow us wherever you get your pod