I've hit record. Boom! We're back at it. Second
time in a row. I don't know what I'm doing. Obviously,
professional podcaster here. Man, that's going
to be good. That's going to be fun to edit later.
That's totally fine. We are back, yeti or not,
here we come, investigating the weird and wild
side of Western Washington. That's it. We're
here. Thanks again for coming back. Please like
and subscribe or If you don't like then leave
a comment and tell us how much you hate it Yes,
and get the bell on and all the YouTube stuff
do all that exactly And so we're talking today
about DB Cooper Yes, yes, and the money he took
that's it. Just like you rock said look for answers,
but that ain't fun Get in a pit try to hang your
mom. I mean don't do that. That's bad I might
have to edit that so as we were talking about
before DB Cooper unique kind of to Western Washington
folklore a Lot of people have heard of it now
a whole lot of people know what it's all about
and that's why we're here today to to solve that
problem, okay, I know I've seen a Like a What
the hell do you even call it? You know like you
go to museum and it's set up with Like a museum
exhibit? Yes. Yes. Like an exhibit. I've seen
one. I don't remember where. Is it like the Ripley's
Believe It or Not thing? It could have been.
Do they have one? Maybe. Because I remember seeing
it and there's a guy like as you go through the
museum, you go walking through and then it's
got a guy hanging in the trees somewhere. Oh,
no. I remember first hearing about this. Remember
that show Unsolved Mysteries? Oh, yeah. That
was like one of my favorite shows. With that
old guy from Airplane? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I remember
as a kid watching that show and there was one
about D .B. Cooper and that's what I first learned
about as a kid. I know I've heard about it but
I don't remember a lot of things and when you
had mentioned D .B. Cooper I said oh that's where
we're from man but is that something we want
to go out and go look for or is that a dead end
thing or? Do we just talk about it? And we I
didn't remember to say anything about it. And
here we are, we're just gonna talk about it.
Yeah, yeah. And I think, like what like we're
saying before, where would you even start? And
that's kind of the whole point of the story.
I have the legend, I wouldn't know where to start,
because I'm locked in my mom's basement right
now. And I'm not allowed to leave. Obviously,
obviously, we are looking where we are in the
dungeon. Exactly dungeon. So Should we we're
ready to get into it. Let's get it cue up the
music spooky music Check All right, here we go.
All right on November 24th 1971 the day before
Thanksgiving a man walked into Portland International
Airport bought a one -way ticket in cash and
boarded Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305
a Boeing 727 headed to Seattle He looked completely
ordinary mid 40s, dark suit, white shirt, black
tie, sunglasses, carrying a briefcase and a paper
bag. Yeah, I know what you're thinking right
now. Sounds like a rancid song. Oh, I was going
to say this sounds like men in black stuff. We
were just talking about that. Yes. Well, it did.
It started talking about the outfit he's wearing.
And for some reason, it's like red shoe, black
hats up Cadillac. Yeah, that was going in my
head. But yes, we did also. Go look at that episode
because that's a good one. I spent some time
on that one. It's going to look a real step up
in production. I think so. I think y 'all like
it. All right. So paper bag. He gave his name
is Dan Cooper. No one could have guessed what
was going to come next. Shortly after takeoff
around 3 p .m. Cooper passed a note to a flight
attendant Florence Schaffner and it read I have
a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary.
Want you to sit next to me you were being hijacked
straight to the point Okay, we'll just take a
quick pause It just reminded me of something.
Okay, so He handed him a note said I have a bomb.
Mm -hmm are Is it the same thing as if they didn't
have one or does it matter? I think in that case.
It doesn't matter I think they're trying I saw
back in the days to I was a bank teller for for
a bank in Houston yeah, that's where I was Part
of the train they tell you like if someone gives
you a note across the if they're robbing the
bank And they you'll might get a note saying
hey I have a gun or I have a bomb or whatever
like just assume that they're telling the truth
and give them the money and let them Let them
go you know don't like Don't find out the hard
way well if they might be done with yeah, well.
Oh, no you don't Prove me wrong. Do you admit
you don't have it so like I imagine flight attendants
probably on the same Level especially on an airplane
that could be full of innocent people the guy
says he's got his bomb You probably have to just
assume roll of the truth and take it Yeah, assume
he's telling the truth and you might have a bomb.
So do he says yeah Well, I just there's been
examples of that happening recently where everyone's
talking about intent and all that Yeah, I would
just say you know what the road to hell is paved
with good intentions So your intentions don't
really matter but they do I don't know where
I'm going with it I don't even want to go down
the political path of yeah, we get cancelled
poopy Some things I don't know. I don't have
any more alliterations for that. We'll just go
back to the story Alright onward so she got the
letter says all that stuff ends with you were
being hijacked. She sat down He calmly opened
the briefcase to reveal red cylinders sticks
of what looked like dynamite Now it makes sense,
and it was all wired up to like a battery and
so it looks like a bomb smells like a bomb looks
like a bomb Might be a bomb. If it wasn't too
bad at this point, that's a bomb. And that's
all there was, and there was nothing else in
the briefcase. It was just this thing that looked
like a bomb. I kind of remember this from that
exhibit now, I think. Okay. His demands were
simple, but very precise. $200 ,000 in unmarked
$20 bills, which is about $1 .6 million today,
and four parachutes. The plane would refuel in
Seattle, then fly to Mexico City. No tricks or
the bomb goes off. The crew relayed the message
to the cockpit. Captain William Scott kept things
calm, circling over Puget Sound for nearly two
hours while authorities scrambled. The FBI artists
rendering show a non -descript man with slicked
back, dark hair, a narrow face, and that calm,
almost polite demeanor. He smoked Raleigh cigarettes,
drank bourbon, and even chatted with the crew
about the weather and the plane itself. He seemed
to know a surprising amount about the Boeing
727. In Seattle, the plane landed at 5 45 p .m.
Passengers released 60. I'm sorry, 36 of them
walked off unaware until later how close they'd
come to disaster. Just had a thought. OK, dangerous
thing there. So they're just sitting there chatting
and he's smoking away in the plane back in the
day. You could smoke in the plane, man. I that's
what I was thinking. It was like back then. They're
like, oh, it's. It's fine. Who cares? Yeah pregnant
ladies would smoke on a plane, dude. Well, what
year was this? 70 Okay, 70 something what I say
71, okay, cuz it okay. Yeah that that kind of
makes sense cuz it's gonna say about 80s is when
everything They flipped the pyramid upside down.
I'm not smoking is bad for us smoking. Not good.
So But just don't smoke it just shows you how
different the world is with everything. It's
true like Could this guy even get away with that
kind of thing now? Well, he probably he would
probably be like putting his in in there something
that's dead Oh, it'd be like I said saying he
smokes I don't I know I'm gonna I'm saying I'm
gonna blow you up. I'm gonna put Yeah, so, you
know, they don't want to get that second hand.
Hey if I tells you he's got a bomb like let him
get his fix and keep his steady hands man, like
if anyone needs a nicotine satisfaction is that
guy I guess that makes sense to me. So All right,
so authorities delivered the ransom when when
when they got to Seattle 10 ,000 $20 bills all
with recorded serial numbers stuffed into a canvas
bank bag They also brought four parachutes to
Maine and to reserve Cooper inspected everything
carefully He even cut up one parachute canopy
to make makeshift harness for the money bag smart
and methodical money bags. Yeah Then with just
the pilot co -pilot flight engineer and one flight
attendant left on the board Tina Oh, because
he was already prepared. So he wanted four parachutes,
though. Yes. Was that? I don't remember exactly,
because, you know, I'm saying, oh, I remember
things now. My memory is probably totally wrong.
But if I'm thinking about it myself. I might
throw some parachutes on somebody or just throw
them out so people are looking for other things
and not me in the parachute. Whatever it is,
this guy obviously had a plan he'd been working
on for a while. Apparently, when he got all that
together and said, land here, we're going to
go over here and confuse everything. All right,
so around 8 p .m. Somewhere over the dark, rainy
forests of southwestern Washington, something
incredible happened. The plane's tail suddenly
pitched up, a jolt the pilots felt and the airspeed
had been, the air stair had been deployed. Tina
Muklo from the cockpit saw Cooper tying the money
bag to his body. Then he was gone. He jumped
into the stormy night with $200 ,000 strapped
to him and one of those parachutes. The crew
felt the change in pressure. onto Reno as instructed
and landed safely around 11 p .m. Cooper vanished.
Nobody no parachute and no trace. The FBI launched
one of the biggest manhunts in its history code
named Norjak. Norjak. Yeah. OK. That's yeah.
All right. It was a different time back then.
I mean I think you could come up with something
better but nowadays they'd get laughed at. I'm
sure that'd be that'd be a funny one to hear
them say on the news. That's what I'm saying.
Yeah. What does that even mean. I don't know.
So they scoured the rugged wilderness around
Ariel, Washington, near the Washoogle and Lewis
rivers, helicopters, ground teams, even soldiers
from Fort Lewis, but they found nothing. But
then nine years later, on February 10th, 1980,
an eight year old boy named Brian Ingram was
digging on an antenna bar, which is a sandbar
along the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington.
So a good a good distance away. OK. So he went
from Portland to Seattle. Yeah. And then said
go to New Mexico? Uh -huh. But then I think he
said he was going to go to Reno. That's when
he jumped out somewhere in between. Yeah, okay.
Well, okay, they'd have to at least go south,
and it doesn't mean they're going to fly just
directly to, you know, it's not how a fly path
works, so however it makes sense. Yeah, that
says too far off it kind of makes sense Southwestern
Washington is when they felt the the tail the
air stair get deployed. Okay, so oh air Stair
like stairs so on that airplane On the back of
it. There's a staircase that can lower in the
very back like at the tail Okay, cuz you said
air stair and I'm like, yeah, and so air stair
Yeah, my brain just went air stair. No, no. Yeah,
it's an actual staircase built in the tail of
the airplane that lowers down and it can lower
like that in mid flight. Yeah. Okay. So that
kind of makes sense now that they're putting
it together where they hold on. So this might
make sense, right? Yeah. Okay. Where to leave
off he found three the little kid now on the
sandbar in the river there He found three bundles
of rotting $20 bills totaling five thousand eight
hundred dollars the serial numbers match the
ransom money perfectly How did the money get
there diet Tom's tiny which is tiny algae on
the bill suggested? They had been in the water
since springtime years after the jump theories
exploded did Cooper down Did Cooper drown in
the river did he bury it and die? or did he survive
and lose part of the cash? The FBI investigated
over 1 ,000 suspects, and some of them were big
names. Richard McCoy Jr., a skydiver who pulled
off an almost identical crime months later, but
he had an alibi and didn't match the descriptions.
Big names like, what was his name? Yeah, exactly.
When I first read this, I was like, maybe not
such big names. Big names like. Richard McCoy
Jr., you know, old R McCoy. Oh yeah, old Rich.
That is. So, okay, now we're getting into the
realm of the theories of what happened, because
my guess is they're not going to figure it out.
No. Okay. No. Okay. All right. Kenneth Christensen
was another suspect. He was a Northwest employee
and a former paratrooper. Close, but the physical
characteristics didn't match. And even wilder
ones like Robert Rackstraw, a Vietnam vet or
recent... Claims time to a family members and
hidden parachutes Whatever. Yeah, so I don't
know who any of those people were I but there's
a list if there were big names list of people
that were Really big time if we know any of these
people or if any of these people are listening
still alive Please drop us a comment. Let's know
tell me I'm wrong. Yeah, tell me I'm wrong Onward
new FBI files releases recently as 2025 show
hundreds of tips hoaxes and even suspects in
in a wheelchair. That's not us. Where we didn't
do this. Wasn't us. Yeah, and that wheelchair
one was probably quickly ruled out. Yeah. Particles
on Cooper's left behind tie titanium and rare
metals. All right. It just derails you for a
second when you're like, what are you? What?
Yeah. Particles on Cooper. They didn't find it.
Oh, okay. Reading was hard. Exactly. Stay in
school. That's it. Don't... Give it your best
shot. Exactly. That's all I'm saying. But DNA
from the tie, no matches, no fingerprints, no
hints, nothing like that. I wouldn't think so.
In 2016, the FBI officially suspended the active
investigation. Resources better spent elsewhere,
I guess. The case is cold, but not closed. Tips
still sometimes come in. So what really happened
to D .B. Cooper? And yes, that name came from
a reporter's mistake. A mix up with a man named
D .B. Cooper, who was questioned early on. The
real hijacker was Dan. That was Dan Cooper, not
D .B. Cooper. Yeah. OK, OK. So I was going to
say that. Maybe look for the guy with the right
name. Well, so they've been looking for the wrong
name the whole time because I was like, I don't
know. I wanted to say, like, I didn't say it.
What the hell is D .B.? Decibels? I don't know.
Decibel Cooper. But then they said Dan Cooper,
right? Dan Cooper, yeah. Where did the B come
from? Nobody knows. No idea. Exactly. So does
this go on to theorize of what happened? Yeah,
yeah. All right. So did he survive the jump?
It was freezing rain, 200 knot winds, no proper
gear over thick forest. And did he live out there
for days and days or whatever? I don't know.
Doubtful. Doubtful, I guess. Did he die on impact
or from exposure? His body and most of the money
were lost forever. Or is he out there somewhere,
chuckling at how he pulled it off? How was the
perfect crime? I don't know. The only unsolved
commercial airline hijacking in U .S. history
is this event. They solved them all. They did,
except for that Malaysian airline. But you know,
that was... That's not U .S. history. Exactly.
That's that's Malaysian. That's world history.
I don't even know where that plane came from.
One thing is certain. D .B. Cooper didn't just
steal money. He stole our imagination. A polite
and calculated man who outsmarted everyone, jumped
in the legend and disappeared. That sounds like
that wraps it up. All right. See you guys later.
Bye. Okay. Now that we got through a little bit
of the history of it What do you think Happened
I think I mean I really hope he got away with
it and I think he did because I think a guy so
a guy who Number one put all the thought into
that New obviously research what he's doing He
had the plane and the parachutes and he had the
whole plan and and all that I'm guessing he was
probably some sort of like military affiliation
or veteran possibly at the very least. And coming
from the time, like the military veterans from
that time rolling off of like, you know, either
World War Two or Korea or Vietnam. Those are
different dudes, man. Yeah, those are hardcore,
hardcore guys because soft times make soft men
and those guys knew a thing or two for sure.
And so anyone could have pulled it off. It'd
probably be someone like that. And, you know,
I would That's my guess. Okay. I would hope that
he pulled it off because nobody got hurt, right?
Yeah. Everybody landed. Everything kind of worked
out. He stole some money. That's wrong. That's
bad. Stealing is wrong. Stealing is not good.
Stealing bad. But as a fun story. But parachuting
is good? Parachuting is good. Smoking also not
good. Not on airplanes. That's bad. Just use
some zens or... You know, those coffee pouches,
I kind of wanted to try those coffee pouches,
but I just haven't. I would think it's a way
more fun story to think, okay, he's maybe, I
mean, at this point, he's probably passed on.
Yeah. But how fun is that to think he just got
away with everything and landed? But something
in my head goes, I don't, I don't know, unless
he's. And the amount too, $200 ,000. Why not
a million? Why not $500 ,000? True. Why $200
,000? Maybe that wouldn't fit in all the backpacks.
Or how much he knew he could carry or something
like that. Because obviously part of his plan,
I would imagine, was he knew he was going to
be in the woods hiking his way out at some point.
Yeah. Well, I mean, we'd have to look it up,
but he wanted all 20s. If you would have done
hundreds, it would have been five times as much.
Unless which it would have been an even million
dollars and it would take up the same space Why
why not maybe because 20s are more circulated
Well, that's my guess there's more that they
would like like fall into the circulation of
money Yeah, that not everybody's looking for
these hundreds. Mm -hmm You know, you might slip
past those 20s easier. So yeah, maybe he thought
all that out that much but then you know the
weather wasn't good you got to jump out in the
middle of nowhere i don't think the weather would
have been a factor for him maybe not but like
what if somebody's there to pick you up yeah
what if because in that area there's a bunch
of rivers and stuff in that area and like old
logging roads and all that stuff you know yeah
i mean there's plenty he very well could have
had someone waiting out there to come scoop him
up yeah Or not, because we don't know exactly
where he landed. We didn't find all the stuff.
Yeah. They only found just a little bit of money.
Yeah. And so some kid found some of the money.
Did it fly out when he was jumping out? I don't
know. Maybe. Well, they said it had only been
under water since like the springtime, and it
was like nine years after the fact. Oh, okay.
So they said it was like that much. Well, it
could be anything. Yeah. He could have fell off
of a hillside and tumbled down into a river,
and it got carried down. Yeah, maybe that was
some money that he handed off to his buddy for
picking him up out in the middle of nowhere.
Maybe he left it out there to be found to throw
people off his trail. That's what I would have
done. He went to four parachutes. What did he
do? He went off to the dead homies, man. When
you jump out and just... Throw them out there
and see what happens. You know, grab a handful.
Who knows? So maybe that maybe that bundle of
20s had to die packing it or something. I don't
maybe never know. I don't know. Did they even
do that stuff in the 70s? I think so. I know.
I don't know enough and we don't do enough research.
But that doesn't really matter, does it? But
I hope I hope he made it, man. I mean, yeah,
kind of as a victim was crime, really. I mean,
I don't want to. You know, stealing's bad. I
don't know if it's the exact wording, but yeah,
yeah, I get it. Like, it wasn't a violent crime.
Like you said, no one got hurt, except for maybe
him. Well, he might be dead, I don't know. But,
yeah, I hope he made it, man. I hope he got away
with it. I mean, that's our taxpayer money he
stole. What a good story. Well, who did he demand
the money from? Government the government. I
don't know. Was it the airline or was it just
anyone in general? I don't know. Well, how does
that even work? You call the cops and just give
me money money and then where do they get it?
I don't know. I guess I guess yeah, it might
be taxpayer dollars. I mean, I probably I don't
know. So I mean that kind of sucks. We already
get taxed enough as is maybe that's exactly he
was getting it sticking it back to the man because
Maybe yeah, he was just getting his comeuppance
and getting it back to him. Yeah, he's a screw
these guys and he was cashing out I don't know.
Maybe that was his big plan for retirement. Maybe
I don't know. Oh, man I feel like even back then
though a million bucks wouldn't go that far.
Well, it was 200 ,000 a million today Well, yeah,
it's a lot of money, but a million doesn't really
cover Okay a whole lot over a lifetime, you know,
there we go. There there's a whole conspiracy
in itself Okay, say that we decided to pull this
off. We couldn't totally do that. We couldn't.
We're too dumb. I'm way too overweight to be
jumping at airplanes. Exactly. And you know,
we're just too overweight. I'm too damn bald
and too damn old. Yeah. And we're sitting here
in a garage podcast and talking about things
that, you know, are far more fantastical than
anything we pulled off in our life. But if we
did, and I think I'd ask for more than a million
bucks. Yeah. Because you're going to get If you
get caught, you're screwed, man. You're going
away. You don't get nothing if you get caught.
Yeah. So and then what am I going to do with
a million dollars? The best thing I could do
would be invest it in something. Yeah. So it
can continue to pay me. But what am I going to
do? I can't even open up a McDonald's with that
or something. Maybe he because he wasn't. He
said, well, I don't know, because he said Mexico
City. He said, take me to Mexico City. But then
he jumped out over Washington. Maybe if he planned
to go to Mexico, the money would have gone a
lot further. Well, yeah, it would but I don't
think he would have like changed his mind changed
his plan mid -flight Oh, yeah. No, i'm gonna
do this instead. Maybe He was kind of like, uh
walter white and he only had so long to live
and he's just like, you know What I want a million
bucks in today's money i'm going to mexico I'm
just gonna go do all the cocaine and all the
tequila at all. Yeah now Start a couple cartels
now that that makes a little more sense to me
like hey if he was Terminally ill or something
just said, you know what? Okay, let's go. Let's
go. Oh Man, that sounds fun, too though. So Exactly,
that sounds like a great time Well, mr. DB Cooper
if you're out there still or you know who he
is or whatever man We'd love to talk to you about
it. Yeah, call us up. Let us know and get a hold
of Just find us on that social media stuff. It's
everywhere Right everywhere. Yeah. Well, you
know what that was probably good, right? Oh,
it sounds good Thanks y 'all