Today we went to ALCATRAZ ISLAND!!! (in San Francisco) If you don’t know what Alcatraz island is read this: Alcatraz island is a small island off the bay of San Francisco. It is surrounded by freezing cold water.
When we arrived at the island we first got a guided tour up to the room where you start the self guided tour. We learned that in the start of a movie a truck was driven out of one of the buildings, but the director of that movie didn’t want their truck in the movie, so he cut it out!
He also told us a story of a man that had tried to escape by swimming. He told us how convict Floyd Wilson disappeared from the dock on July the 23 of 1956, with 25 ft of cord that he was planning to use to tie together pieces of driftwood to make a raft. He avoided guards for 12 whole hours! But then was found and caught holding on to the rock wall with some wood. He also told us another story, but I will tell you that when we get to that part of the story.
When we were in the prison, we started at the school house, we learned that most of the guard’s children/families lived in houses on Alcatraz! I mean, imagine living on an island with the worst of the worst criminals!
We got to listen to some of the criminal's answers on how they felt at Alcatraz, the one that I remember was this guy that said: “When I walked into Alcatraz it felt like my free will was being torn from me, it felt like I would never have the joy of doing whatever I want to do again”.
After that we went to the outdoor area, which was just an open space of concrete with very high walls with razor wire on the top. It smelt, no scrap that, it stank so much I thought I was going to puke up my insides if I inhaled one more breath. (it smelt so bad because it was coated, literally, COATED in bird poop, it was basically impossible not to step in it).
After that we went to see Alcatraz’s most famous breakout! This breakout involved three men, two of them were brothers. Their names were: Frank Morris, John Anglin (the first brother), and Clarence Anglin (the second brother). We walked to Frank’s, John's, and Clarence’s cells. First we saw a head in each of John's and Clarence's cell. Then we listened to theirs and Frank’s story… On June the 11 of 1962, Frank Morris, John Anglin, and brother, Clarence Anglin escaped from their cells through bigger ‘than normal’ air vents, they had enlarged these air vents by chipping away pieces of cement with homemade electric drills. They made dummy heads with plaster, hot glue, and cement pieces, and real hair (gross!), they placed these dummy heads and left them in their beds to deceive the guards when the guards did their nightly head check. They also made human like shapes with any items they could find.
When they had finished they climbed through the air vent into the utility corridor, which they then climbed up to get top of the corridor (the corridor goes up to the roof). When they got to the top of the utility corridor, they cut the bolts off a ventilation shaft. They then pulled themselves up and ran to the north end of the roof. They then climbed down a strong cast-iron pipe (which has been removed). They were never seen or heard from again.
After listening to their story we walked to the ‘Dungeon’ the prisoners called these cells because no light penetrated these cells, they were also sound proof. These were the solitary confinement cells, and even though they were supposed to have a light on, the prison guards would switch them off. If I was in one of these cells I would do what one of the prisoners did: “when I was in my cell I would flick a button up in the air and when I heard it chink on the ground I would get down and search for it”.
After that we went to the kitchen, which was known as the ‘most dangerous room in the prison’, it was called this because there would be over 200 prisoners armed with steel knives and forks! The guards had tear gas installed in case of an emergency but they were never used.
We also saw where the prisoners would get to see visitors if they had been good for long enough. It wasn't very big, just a small window. I pretended to visit daddy.
After that we went to the light house (the self guided tour had finished already) to see the view and look at the light house. The light house looked old and like it would collapse if someone turned it on.
Alcatraz was AMAZING!!! It was awesome that we got to go in the same place that the most dangerous criminals in the world were in!
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