DB Cooper: the last great American folk outlaw

[The ZAPINATOR]

Anyone remember DB Cooper?  He was before most of our times. 

The guy hijacked an airplane in 1971 with a bomb threat, and asked for $200,000 and four parachutes.  The plane landed, his demands were met, and he ordered the plane to take off again for Mexico.  Somewhere over the state of Washington, he jumped 10,000 feet into the snowy northwestern forest with the money.  He was never seen or heard from again.  They never found a body, the money was never recovered.

This man was the last great American folk outlaw.  And it's great that nobody still to this day knows who he was, if he got away, or what he did with the money (although it was unmarked bills, they made microfilm of the serial numbers before they gave him the cash).

Actually about $5,000 of his money was found buried in the sand along the Columbia river in 1980 by a boy making a fire pit.  The serial numbers matched up, but that was the last and only clue about what happened to DB Cooper and his money.

ZAP   

[strouse]

DB Cooper= Unabomber 

[lazybum]

Negative on the Unabomber
But I've always enjoyed this story.

[amarain]

One thing I thought was interesting from my international communications class was an article about American television shows abroad. A lot of cultures didn't like the imported shows because it couldn't understand, or didn't appreciate, the whole idea of identifying with the criminal, with the criminals being the 'good guys' and the police and such being the 'bad guys'.

That said, that's a great story.

[strouse]

One thing I thought was interesting from my international communications class was an article about American television shows abroad. A lot of cultures didn't like the imported shows because it couldn't understand, or didn't appreciate, the whole idea of identifying with the criminal, with the criminals being the 'good guys' and the police and such being the 'bad guys'.

That said, that's a great story.

True, we Americans love us some bad guys

Jesse James
Bonnie and Clyde
Batman
Billy the Kid
on and on and on....

[The ZAPINATOR]

One thing I thought was interesting from my international communications class was an article about American television shows abroad. A lot of cultures didn't like the imported shows because it couldn't understand, or didn't appreciate, the whole idea of identifying with the criminal, with the criminals being the 'good guys' and the police and such being the 'bad guys'.

That said, that's a great story.

Really?  In Romania, everyone loved Dallas, and J.R. Ewing as an extension of that.  I guess every culture's different in that regard, though.

I've half convinced myself that DB Cooper was a cross between Peter Pan and Robin Hood.  He never grew old after he did his stunt, like Peter Pan, and like Robin Hood he used all his money to help the poor.

I'm sure that doesn't resemble the truth in any regard, but he'd be a great subject for a tall tale.  I'd like to see him become a folk hero.

To that end, I wrote a ridiculous folk song about him yesterday evening after about 15 minutes of hard web research.  I don't have the lyrics at work with me or I'd share.

ZAP

[The ZAPINATOR]

True, we Americans love us some bad guys

Jesse James
Bonnie and Clyde
Batman
Billy the Kid
on and on and on....

Funny thing about that: both Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy were my distant relatives on my mom's side (her people were originally kind of outlawish... some still are).  Her family is from Oklahoma, which was Indian territory in those days.  Of course, some of them moved to California, like in Grapes of Wrath, during the Depression.

My dad's family is more boring.  Just Appalachian Scots-Irish immigrant types.  But at least on my mom's side I have the outlaws!

ZAP

[amarain]

Did anyone see the movie Stander? I really, really wanted to see it, but I missed it at the ATL film festival. I think it's out on video soon, though.

"Stander" is based on the true story of André Stander, a South African homicide/robbery police captain who became one of the most notorious bank robbers in the country. After participating in the brutal killing in a riot in the line of duty, Stander decided to defy the very system he was part of, and set off on an audacious crime spree; robbing banks during his lunch hour then returning to the scene of the crime to lead the investigation. Finally, caught by the same police force he worked with, he was jailed and, subsequently befriended Allan Heyl and Lee McCall. After a daring jailbreak, the 'Stander Gang' committed a large number of robberies, which grew increasingly bold over time. In the eyes of the public, their blatant disregard for authority made them South Africa's most popular anti-heroes. In reality, however, Stander and his gang were the most wanted men in the country.



Trailer is here:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/newmarket/stander.html

ZAP, I think the cultures it mentioned were specifically Muslim cultures in Middle Eastern countries. I'll have to go back and look it up though.

[The ZAPINATOR]

That sounds really cool.

There was this one time an off-duty police officer broke into a house, raped a woman, and robbed her.  The guy wasn't too bright, though, and had his name badge on at the time.  Needless to say, he was brought to justice.

I think that bit of Trivia was in one of the editions of the Book of Lists.

ZAP

[strouse]

True, we Americans love us some bad guys

Jesse James
Bonnie and Clyde
Batman
Billy the Kid
on and on and on....

Funny thing about that: both Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy were my distant relatives on my mom's side (her people were originally kind of outlawish... some still are).  Her family is from Oklahoma, which was Indian territory in those days.  Of course, some of them moved to California, like in Grapes of Wrath, during the Depression.

My dad's family is more boring.  Just Appalachian Scots-Irish immigrant types.  But at least on my mom's side I have the outlaws!

ZAP

That's Kick Ass!