Alcatraz’s mythology owes much to its legendary escape attempts. Over its 29 years of operation, 36 men tried to escape in 14 separate attempts. Most were captured or killed, yet three names still echo through history — Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers. In June 1962, these three inmates launched the most sophisticated escape in Alcatraz’s history. Using sharpened spoons, they chipped away at the damp concrete around their cell vents for months, hiding their progress with painted cardboard panels. They built a raft and life jackets from stolen raincoats, and crafted papier-mâché dummy heads with real hair to fool the guards during nighttime counts.
When guards discovered the empty cells on the morning of June 12, the men were gone — vanished into the cold Pacific. The FBI officially concluded they drowned, but no bodies were ever recovered. Over the decades, rumors surfaced that the Anglin brothers had survived and fled to South America. The U.S. Marshals Service still keeps the case open — the men would now be in their 90s. The mystery only strengthened Alcatraz’s legend as the “prison that no one could escape — yet maybe someone did.”
