18. D. B. Cooper became a part of American folklore
When D. B. Cooper (not his real name) jumped from a Boeing 727 carrying a briefcase containing $200,000 in November 1971, he vanished from sight and entered into legend. Despite some of the money being found in 1980, most of the money and the man who extorted it by hijacking an airliner have never been found. The FBI and local authorities held an intensive manhunt in the rough country where Cooper would have landed by parachute, but found no trace of the hijacker nor the equipment which he carried with him when he made his jump. The search operation was one of the most expensive of American history to that time, but it delivered little of value to the investigators. Other than a small amount of money found in 1980, none of the cash has ever turned up.
D. B. Cooper, which is a name created by the media to identify the hijacker, may or may not have survived the parachute jump and the harsh country in which he may have landed. From the day of the hijacking he became a folk hero, with many Americans expressing the hope that he got away with several crimes that November day. The fact that none of the money was ever found in circulation suggests otherwise, despite several individuals, or relatives of individuals, claiming to either be the hijacker or knowing who he was. The FBI finally suspended the investigation in 2016, citing the need to focus resources into more pressing issues. Whoever the man known as D.B. Cooper was, he vanished, as did the money he extorted, disappearing perhaps into plain sight but hidden from history.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Owain Glyndwr”. BBC Wales. Online
“King of the Pirates: The Swashbuckling Life of Henry Every”. E. T. Fox. 2008
“Signs of Cherokee Culture: Sequoyah’s Syllabary in Eastern Cherokee Life”. Margaret Bender. 2002
“Abandoned Ship: The Mary Celeste”. Jess Blumberg, Smithsonian Magazine. November 2007
“Louis Le Prince, who shot the world’s first film in Leeds”. Ian Youngs, BBC News. June 23, 2015
“Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company”. Roy Morris. 1995
“Amelia Earhart: Island bones ‘likely’ belonged to famed pilot”. BBC News. March 8, 2018
“Books: Tragedy in a hothouse”. Harold Grier McGurdy, TIME Magazine. June 3, 1966
“Lady be Good, Mystery Bomber of World War II”. Dennis McLendon. 1982
“Unmasking D. B. Cooper”. Geoffrey Gray, New York Magazine. October 21, 2007
