MACK #73: Conspiracies, Unsolved Mysteries & Deep Dark Secrets #5
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Woooo! It’s time for another episode of Conspiracies, Unsolved Mysteries & Deep Dark Secrets. I love these episodes! I get to dive into some weird and crazy shit and Dave gets to make fun of all of it. Good times!
If you aren’t hip to these episodes, basically I have one story for each category and Dave gets to pick the order in which we discuss them.
This time he picked Conspiracy as our first topic.
Conspiracy
Adrenochrome! Have you heard of it? According to the more conspiracy minded folks out there —
“Adrenochrome is produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine) in mammals. The chemical concentrates in the body during times of extreme fear and terror.”
This particular drug was also mentioned in Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.”
People on twitter have a lot to say about Adrenochrome. Currently they theorize that there are quite a few Hollywood folks who are going without their fix, which is causing them to look and act peculiar.
Dave is not buying any of this at all, and you may not either. But I can confirm that it is for sale on the Deepest and Darkest of webs. Who’s buying it and for what reasons? Could it be that not everyone on this planet is human? And maybe some of them feed off of this shit? Think “Monsters, Inc.” Think “I Come In Peace.” Maybe there’s something to this after all.
Deep Dark Secret
Do you know what a fixer is? In Hollywood it’s a person who cleans up messes involving movie stars, studio execs, etc. They have one goal and that’s to make sure nothing tarnishes the reputation of those whom they work for. Eddie Mannix acted as MGM’s fixer during the studio’s golden age.
The list of tasteless, disgusting and criminal things he was willing to do for his bosses is legendary. Dave and I discuss these things in detail.
Although all of these stories are a matter of record, Dave has a hard time believing the one centered around Joan Crawford.
It seems as though Joan Crawford made a few lesbian “stag films” when she was first starting out, back before her name had been changed and she was still Lucille LeSueur. The movies in question were entitled “Velvet Lips” and “The Casting Couch.”
Mannix went to work and acquired every copy of both of these films, and rumor is there are some copies of both in an MGM vault somewhere. Who knows if they will ever see the light of day.
Out of all the things he “fixed” this one was pretty tame.
One of his more egregious acts has to do with covering up the rape of a young dancer, Patricia Douglas, at an MGM Studio event back in 1937. This story was investigated by David Stenn for Vanity Fair in 2003. He then went on to make a documentary about Patricia Douglas’ horrendous ordeal entitled “Girl 27.”
Unsolved Mystery
From Wikipedia —
“Dan Cooper is the pseudonym of an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the northwest United States, in the airspace between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 24, 1971.[1][2] The man purchased his airline ticket using the alias Dan Cooper but, because of a news miscommunication, became known in popular lore as D. B. Cooper. He extorted $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,260,000 in 2019) and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and protracted FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or identified. It remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history.”
All this being said, there are a few people out there who have claimed to be the real DB Cooper. In this segment we discuss two of the most popular contenders — Robert Rackstraw and Walter Reca. Each of these men have a documentary made about them, each claiming to present evidence that their subject is without a doubt the real DB Cooper.
In my opinion, Rackstraw looks pretty much exactly like the famous police sketch circulated by the FBI back in 1971.
The one hiccup is he was not in his 40s at the time, but! I think with sunglasses and a receding hairline it could be fairly easy to mistake him for someone a bit older. Other than the similarity in looks, his documentary highlights his career in the military and focuses a lot on the letters supposedly sent by DB after he escaped with the money. At least six letters were sent and a few of the letters had codes embedded into them. Once deciphered by an expert, it seems that in one of the letters DB confesses to being Robert Rackstraw. You can watch the History channel documentary featuring Rackstraw (and others) here, Part I and Part II.
Walter Reca is interesting because while he looks absolutely NOTHING like the police sketch he does have an interesting story and an eyewitness. His best friend has spent years doing research and cobbling together a timeline and evidence to prove Reca is the real deal. There is a book (DB Cooper and Me) and a documentary (DB Cooper: The Real Story) both available for sale on therealdbcooper.com.
Dave and I are pretty split on this. Assuming that one of these two gentlemen was indeed the real DB Cooper I’m firmly on #TeamRackstraw. Dave is convinced the story about the dump truck driving cowboy is irrefutable proof that Reca is our guy. (Don’t worry we go into that on the show).
It also could be that both of these guys were just con artists who enjoyed watching people spin their wheels on their account.
Give it a listen and decide for yourself!
Thanks so much for spending your time with us! You are greatly appreciated.
Stay safe, hunker down and be well, friends.
XOXO
Shecky
