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D.B. Cooper & CIA Secret Experiments & Roswell Conspiracy: Detailed Summary

Key Concepts

• Skyjacking: The hijacking of an aircraft.
• Ransom: Payment demanded for the release of a person or property.
• Parachute: A fabric device used to slow the descent of a person or object from a height.
• Cold War: A period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies.
• Mind Control: Techniques used to manipulate or control a person's thoughts, feelings, or behavior.
• Biological Warfare: The use of biological toxins or infectious agents with the intent to kill, harm, or incapacitate humans, animals, or plants as an act of war.
• Chemical Warfare: Warfare using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure or incapacitate an enemy.
• LSD: Lysergic acid diethylamide, a potent hallucinogenic drug.
• Manchurian Candidate: A hypothetical individual programmed to perform specific actions, often assassination, without conscious awareness.
• Hypnosis: A state of heightened suggestibility and relaxation.
• Ufology: The study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
• Extraterrestrial: Originating or existing outside the earth or its atmosphere.
• Cover-up: An attempt to conceal wrongdoing or a mistake.
• DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid, a molecule that carries genetic instructions.
• Serial Killer: A person who kills three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motives are largely based on psychological gratification.

D.B. Cooper Skyjacking

• The Crime: On Thanksgiving eve, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper skyjacked Northwest Orient Flight 305 from Portland to Seattle, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes.
• The Hijacker: Described as a slim man in his mid-40s, dressed as a typical businessman, wearing mirrored sunglasses. He ordered bourbon and soda and smoked Raleigh cigarettes.
• The Demands: $200,000 in unmarked $20 bills, four parachutes (two back, two front).
• The Exchange: Passengers released in Seattle after demands were met. The plane was refueled, and Cooper ordered it to fly to Mexico City at low altitude (10,000 feet), low speed (around 200 mph), with gear and flaps down.
• The Jump: Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, Cooper jumped from the rear stairs of the Boeing 727 with the ransom money and a parachute.
• The Unsolved Mystery: Cooper was never seen again. The case remains the only unsolved skyjacking in commercial aviation history.

The Investigation

• Initial Search: A massive manhunt in Ariel, Washington, near the presumed drop zone, yielded nothing.
• Richard McCoy: A similar skyjacking occurred months later, leading to Richard McCoy's arrest. However, witnesses did not identify him as D.B. Cooper.
• The Money Find: In 1980, $5,800 of the ransom money was found on the banks of the Columbia River by Brian Ingram. The serial numbers matched the prerecorded bills.
• The Money's Location: The money was found outside the initial search area and above an area dredged in 1974, suggesting it arrived at least three years after the hijacking.
• Kenneth Christiansen: In 2007, a private investigator named Skipp Porteous presented Kenneth Christiansen, a former Northwest Orient flight attendant, as a suspect. Christiansen knew the planes and schedules, had a grievance over pay cuts, and purchased a house in cash shortly after the hijacking.
• Pollen Analysis: Paleontologist Tom Kaye examined Cooper's tie and found pollen particles, indicating the tie was in a specific location during the spring, not November.
• Re-evaluation of Cooper's Skills: The FBI re-evaluated Cooper's actions, suggesting he may not have been an experienced parachutist. He brought no specialist clothing, carried extra weight due to the denomination of the ransom money, and chose an uncomfortable military parachute (NB-8).
• Recreation of the Jump: Professional skydiver Troy Hartman recreated Cooper's jump, highlighting the difficulty of the conditions (cold, wind, darkness).
• The Money's Journey: Tom Kaye theorized that the money landed in the Lewis River, detached from Cooper, and traveled to the Columbia River. He believes Cooper died in the water due to the cold and weight of the money.
• FBI Suspension: The FBI suspended the active investigation in 2016 after 45 years.
• New Evidence: In 2017, a piece of foam suspected to be from Cooper's parachute was found.

CIA Secret Experiments

• Frank Olson's Death: In 1953, Frank Olson, a biological weapons researcher for the Army and CIA, died after falling from a hotel window in New York.
• Mind Control Research: The CIA launched a multi-million dollar research program into mind control, exploring chemical substances (LSD) and electroshock.
• Dr. Sidney Gottlieb: Head of the CIA's Chemical Division, oversaw the mind control research.
• Fort Detrick: Army scientists at Fort Detrick worked with Gottlieb to develop biological weapons.
• Human Experimentation: The CIA conducted experiments on unwitting subjects, including prisoners, prostitutes, and minorities, using LSD.
• Project MKUltra: A covert CIA program focused on mind control research.
• Dr. Harris Isbell: Conducted LSD experiments on incarcerated heroin addicts in Lexington, Kentucky.
• Covert Testing: The CIA established safe houses in Manhattan and San Francisco, using prostitutes to lure in subjects and slip them LSD.
• "Terminal Experiments": The CIA conducted experiments that could lead to death or vast injury.
• Dr. Ewen Cameron: A psychiatrist in Montreal, received CIA funding to conduct brainwashing experiments using electroshock and "psychic driving."
• Robert Kennedy Assassination: Conspiracy theories suggest Sirhan Sirhan, Robert Kennedy's assassin, was a Manchurian Candidate hypnotized by the CIA.
• Rockefeller Commission Report: In 1975, The Washington Post reported on a civilian scientist who was unwittingly given LSD and jumped from a Manhattan hotel window.
• Church Committee: Congress launched an investigation into the CIA, chaired by Senator Frank Church.
• Exhumation of Frank Olson: In 1994, Eric Olson exhumed his father's body, revealing a bruise above the left eye, suggesting he was stunned before falling.
• Assassination Manual: The CIA published its first assassination manual in the same year Frank Olson died.

Roswell Conspiracy

• The Incident: In 1947, rancher Mac Brazel found debris in his field near Roswell, New Mexico.
• Initial Report: The US Army Air Corps issued a press release stating they had recovered a "flying disk."
• Retraction: The Army quickly retracted the statement, claiming the debris was from a weather balloon.
• Eyewitness Testimony: Major Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer who collected the debris, later claimed it was not from this planet.
• The Roswell Legend: The story evolved to include a crashed spaceship, alien bodies, and a government cover-up.
• Project Mogul: A top-secret mission to listen for Soviet atomic testing, used large rubber balloons with radar reflectors.
• Mogul Explanation: The debris found by Brazel may have been from a Project Mogul balloon. The "hieroglyphic" symbols may have been flowered patterns from kid's scotch tape.
• Witness Accounts: Many witnesses have come forward over the years, but their accounts are often inconsistent and unreliable.
• The Aztec Hoax: A similar story of a crashed UFO in Aztec, New Mexico, was later revealed to be a hoax.
• The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI): An organization devoted to searching space for any signal of extraterrestrial Intelligence.
• Project Blue Book: In 1948, the Pentagon responded with an investigation, known as project blue book, to gather military and civilian testimony.
• DNA Testing: In 2013, DNA testing of the evidence found at the scene of Mary Sullivan's murder indicated that Albert DeSalvo almost certainly murdered Mary Sullivan.

Conclusion

The D.B. Cooper case remains an enduring mystery, fueled by speculation and limited evidence. The CIA secret experiments reveal a dark chapter in American history, where the pursuit of mind control led to unethical and potentially deadly practices. The Roswell conspiracy continues to captivate the public imagination, despite scientific explanations and a lack of concrete evidence.