32 years ago tonight:

[SOteric]

D.B. Cooper and a metric buttload of money jumped out of a plane.

On November 24, 1971, Dan Cooper boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines flight from Portland to Seattle, demanded and received a $200,000 ransom, and on the return flight he parachuted into the forest and has never been seen again. The disappearance of Dan "D.B." Cooper is one of the great unsolved mysteries of the 20th century.


So, what's your theory?

I have no supporting evidence, but I think he probably made it out of the forest and lived out a life of well-financed obscurity.

[JohnKleeb]

1. Ive heard about this before

:shrug: I dont know

[WilliamPitt]

2. They caught another guy

who fit the description and had the same MO, who was robbing another plane. He died in prison.

[SOteric]

4. U.S. News doesn't think so... and the case was never closed.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/cooper.htm

They make an interesting case that he wound up as an antique salesman in Florida.

[Booberdawg]

3. I honestly couldn't guess, but did see the movie

It's more fun to think he got away though

[SOteric]

5. I agree, it's somehow more intriguing if he got away.

'spose we shouldn't make heros out of hijackers, though. M.A.T.C.O.M. excepted.

[Zomby Woof]

7. LOL

I always thought of us as 'anti-heroes' or just 'assholes'! :D

[Zomby Woof]

6. he had to have died

He was wearing a regular suit - no winter jacket - with penny loafers, and it was freezing like hell and dark when he jumped out. His remains are likely scattered over the southern WA Cascades, and I bet Mt. St. Helens obliterated much of the evidence of his strewn whereabouts.

But that's just my un-romantic perspective.

(Btw, the "D.B." was a mistake by the FBI - but you have "Dan", which is right)

[NaMeaHou]

8. Whose money was stolen?

taxpayers?

Not a hero, I wouldn't think, but then, I'm not the adventurous type these days.

[bahrbearian]

10. Good Question?

I think the airline had to pony up the $200,000.

[bahrbearian]

9. I watched as his plane sat on the Tarmac at Sea-Tac

and listened to the news reporting the high-jacking..Then the plane took off.. I think he drowned in the Columbia, near where they found some of the money..

[flamingyouth]

11. And it happened in my state

I actually vaguely remember it; I was almost 3 at the time. It was big news in Seattle.

I have no theory, but the story is very weird, I admit!

[populistmom]

12. I've never heard this story before

But $200,000? Unless it was well-invested, it's probably gone by now, but it would be an interesting story to find out the end to.

[GOPisEvil]

13. They found some of the money on a river bank, didn't they?

I think he lived in obscurity, but not so wealthy.

[Armstead]

14. His real name was George W. Bush

I'm not sure where he ended up though. I heard he lived a life of crime.

(I was living in Seattle a few years after Mr. Cooper, er Bush, made his jump. I remember all the urban legends at the time.)

[SOteric]

16. *snicker*

Dumbya Bush Cooper.

[Rowdyboy]

15. Just under $6000 was recovered in 1980...

in a sandbar. Most likely he died as soon as he exited the plane. Not a good plan at that height and that temperature.

[Jack Rabbit]

17. My theory? The wolves got what was left of him

Well, I am to understand that he jumped from the plane in a freezing rain and he wasn't wearing any proper gear. I'm not an expert on this, so I'll go along with whoever said the first thing that happened is that his shoes were blown off and that he probably never got a chance to open his parachute.

If there's any weight to that, he and the money were splattered all over the Pacific Northwest.

[Rowdyboy]

18. That's roughly what I was led to believe

from watching the Discovery Channel. Who knows?