John Anglin, who escaped from Alcatraz 50 years ago, sent a letter to the FBI and asked for help

In the entire history of Alcatraz prison, 36 prisoners have tried to escape, but previously it was believed that none succeeded in this case. But it seems that there was one lucky case after all. The FBI received a letter from a man who introduced himself as John Anglin, one of the three fugitives who escaped in 1962 and were considered missing.

In 1962 , the brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris made an escape for which they had been preparing for several months: they built homemade drills, punched holes into the ventilation duct, and on the day of the escape they climbed through the ventilation to the roof, went down the drain pipe to the water, inflated a pre-prepared raft and sailed away from the shore. On this, the traces of the trinity are lost. Nothing was heard about the further fate of the Anglins and Morris, and they were considered missing.

The case of the fugitives was handled by the FBI, later it was transferred to the US Marshals Service. Until 2013, the FBI was skeptical about rumors that the criminals had managed to survive, until it received a letter signed by John Anglin.

"If you announce on television that you promise to send me to prison for no more than a year, and provide me with medical care, I will reveal my whereabouts. This is not a joke."

The letter also states that Frank Morris died in October 2005, buried in Alexandria, but a different name is written on the tombstone. And Clarence Anglin died in 2011.

The fugitives' case was reopened, the FBI checked the letter for fingerprints, DNA samples and handwriting, but the results were not convincing. Five years after receiving the letter, it was made public, and John Anglin was put on the wanted list. However, most likely, the old man has already died. Law enforcement agencies are still skeptical that the trio managed to escape and live incognito for more than 50 years. Although a number of circumstantial evidence indicated that the escape of the criminals was successful.In 2014, Dutch researchers recreated the weather conditions that were in the Strait on the night of the escape. It turned out that between 11 p.m. and midnight, conditions were favorable, and the trio could reach the other shore. But if the criminals did not meet this time, they died.

Relatives of John and Clarence claim that the brothers managed to survive the escape and they even contacted the family. In 2015, the Englins' nephews Ken and David Wilder announced that their uncles were still alive and in Brazil. They claimed that John and Clarence's mother had been receiving Christmas cards signed by their sons for three years.

If it is proved that the author of the letter to the FBI is indeed John Anglin, then the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris will be the only criminals who managed to make a successful escape from Alcatraz.