What If You Got Away With It? – D.B. Cooper
Today, we tell three tales of people who did unlikely, illegal, and incredible things – and were never caught. We discuss D.B. Cooper, The Max Headroom Incident, and of the only successful Las Vegas casino robberies in history. Ryan is geeked about Air Pirates, Spencer dreams of TV phreaking, and we wonder together about the rare few who actually got away with it.
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D.B. Cooper
D.B. Cooper is the only successful air pirate in U.S. aviation history. In 1971, an unidentified man hijacked a Boeing 727. He requested, and received $200,000 in ransom money before parachuting out the back of the plane. No one saw him ever again. In 1980, a fisherman near the Columbia River found some of the marked bills. However, this did not lead to any new evidence. The FBI officially closed the case in 2016, citing a lack of evidence.
The Max Headroom Incident
On November 22, 1987, many TVs across Chicago experienced an odd interruption. An unknown man wearing a Max Headroom mask appeared on the screen during an episode of Dr. Who. For about 90 seconds the man, whose voice was heavily distorted, made random statements, whistled TV theme songs, and mooned the camera. At one point, another person appears on screen and swats the man’s behind with a flyswatter. It is one of the only successful, and largest, television hijackings ever. Earlier that same night, WGN briefly ran the same transmission. Authorities have never caught the person, or people, responsible.
The Max Headroom Pirating Incident
National Geographic documentary on D.B. Cooper
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