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Orange1 0
QuoteI doubt if McCoy stole other people's coats. He was a master criminal. He was a skydiver, military pilot and had ALL the skills needed to pull of a NORJACK copycat crime. Instead of engaging in endless criminal behavior and getting arrested at least 26 times, McCoy lived an upstanding life. He planned and executed just one big heist. Had he kept his mouth shut he might have never been caught.
And if Cooper came from the same mold, an apparently upright and highly respectable citizen who just pulled off this one thing... it might also be why he has never been found.
I wonder how many people see identikits of people they know and just think "naaah... couldn't possibly be him"....
Am I right that people have been arrested for major crimes before with those closest to them simply not making any connection between the police sketches and the person they know?
Your comments made me think of something that I have been trying to express, but have been unable to verbalize. That “make the connection” issue is why I focus so much on the “mythical aspects” of NORJAK history.
For example:
There is a myth that Cooper wore a Homburg Hat. A lot of people not really close to the case, but with enough familiarity to buy into the myth (I have certainly talked to a lot of people in this category (including LEOs)) would “make the connection” or “not make the connection” based on the myth. So, if Sally sees the I-Dent-A-Kit sketch (or any other sketch) of Cooper and says to herself; “That looks just like my uncle Bob,” she may also say; “But, Uncle Bob never wore a hat, if fact, he hated hats… he didn’t own even one, single, hat.”
The converse is true also. If uncle Bob always wore a Homburg hat, Sally might say; “Uncle Bob doesn’t look much like the sketch, but the hat makes be suspicious.”
Since there are more myths out there than facts, you can see what it does to the likelihood someone would recognize a friend, neighbor, or relative as Cooper based on a sketch and what they (think they) know about NORJAK.
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georger 197
QuoteOrange1,
Your comments made me think of something that I have been trying to express, but have been unable to verbalize. That “make the connection” issue is why I focus so much on the “mythical aspects” of NORJAK history.
For example:
There is a myth that Cooper wore a Homburg Hat. A lot of people not really close to the case, but with enough familiarity to buy into the myth (I have certainly talked to a lot of people in this category (including LEOs)) would “make the connection” or “not make the connection” based on the myth. So, if Sally sees the I-Dent-A-Kit sketch (or any other sketch) of Cooper and says to herself; “That looks just like my uncle Bob,” she may also say; “But, Uncle Bob never wore a hat, if fact, he hated hats… he didn’t own even one, single, hat.”
The converse is true also. If uncle Bob always wore a Homburg hat, Sally might say; “Uncle Bob doesn’t look much like the sketch, but the hat makes be suspicious.”
Since there are more myths out there than facts, you can see what it does to the likelihood someone would recognize a friend, neighbor, or relative as Cooper based on a sketch and what they (think they) know about NORJAK.
I think you are talking about "stereotyping".
Had you taken a poll immediately after 11-24-71
most young people (college age) would have said
Cooper was a young guy, in spite of news coverage
and facts. People tend to catagorise things according
to what they can identify with personally or from
snipets they pick up quickly , in spite of news
coverage and facts ....
That is one way myths get started. People tend to
promulgate their own myth sets in order to bolster
their own identities.
Some people think psychology is a myth.
Some people think that physics is a myth.
Some people think that everything is a myth.
Orange1 0
QuoteI doubt if McCoy stole other people's coats. He was a master criminal. He was a skydiver, military pilot and had ALL the skills needed to pull of a NORJACK copycat crime. Instead of engaging in endless criminal behavior and getting arrested at least 26 times, McCoy lived an upstanding life. He planned and executed just one big heist. Had he kept his mouth shut he might have never been caught.
Another thought. If McCoy had indeed kept his mouth shut and never been caught... I wonder how many of us here would believe he & DB Cooper were in fact the same person...
377 21
QuoteQuoteI doubt if McCoy stole other people's coats. He was a master criminal. He was a skydiver, military pilot and had ALL the skills needed to pull of a NORJACK copycat crime. Instead of engaging in endless criminal behavior and getting arrested at least 26 times, McCoy lived an upstanding life. He planned and executed just one big heist. Had he kept his mouth shut he might have never been caught.
Another thought. If McCoy had indeed kept his mouth shut and never been caught... I wonder how many of us here would believe he & DB Cooper were in fact the same person...
I sure would be thinking that initially. An experienced civilian skydiver like McCoy probably would have picked the Pioneer sport rig which was available on the NORJACK plane.
377
Orange1 0
QuoteQuoteQuoteI doubt if McCoy stole other people's coats. He was a master criminal. He was a skydiver, military pilot and had ALL the skills needed to pull of a NORJACK copycat crime. Instead of engaging in endless criminal behavior and getting arrested at least 26 times, McCoy lived an upstanding life. He planned and executed just one big heist. Had he kept his mouth shut he might have never been caught.
Another thought. If McCoy had indeed kept his mouth shut and never been caught... I wonder how many of us here would believe he & DB Cooper were in fact the same person...
I sure would be thinking that initially. An experienced civilian skydiver like McCoy probably would have picked the Pioneer sport rig which was available on the NORJACK plane.
377
Ah, but we wouldn't have known who McCoy was so would have had no idea in fact what rig he had brought onboard with him? All we would have done... was speculated that it took DB so long to get the rigs the first time, he sure wasn't gonna make that mistake again!!
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The FBI (and Ckret in particular) is 100% certain that McCoy was not Cooper.
Could they have been tricked by lieing alibi witnesses? Probably not, but you gotta wonder sometimes.
McCoy's hijack was truly remarkble in its execution.
377
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