15. The Attempted Escape
On June 12, 1962, Frank Morris, along with the Anglin brothers, successfully escaped Alcatraz prison. However, we do not know if they survived the escape, as the waters of San Francisco Bay are particularly dangerous, especially in the wee hours of the morning. In the time since there have not been any confirmed sightings of any of them. The FBI concluded its investigation by claiming that they had drowned. However, the official story was inconclusive at best and based on circumstantial evidence. No bodies were ever recovered, and for over five decades, people speculated over what actually happened on that fateful night.
In 2013, the Richmond police station in San Francisco received a cryptic letter that said, “My name is John Anglin. I escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris.” It went on to say that they did escape successfully, though they barely survived. The letter was not disclosed to the public until five years later in January 2018; the secrecy surrounding the message, along with the lack of conclusive, forensic verification of who sent it, has spawned further speculation about whether the trio’s escape was successful. Many people believed that they had done the impossible by escaping from the Rock.