D. B. Cooper in popular culture

A 1972 FBI composite drawing of D. B. Cooper

D. B. Cooper (aka Dan Cooper) is an alias of an aircraft hijacker who, on November 24, 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of US$200,000, parachuted from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest of the United States somewhere over the Cascade Mountains, possibly over Woodland, Washington.^[1] He was never seen again, and only $5,880 of the ransom has been found. The skyjacking continues to have an impact on popular culture, including references to or inspiration by Cooper in books, film, and music.^[2]

Books

Cover of Elwood Reid's D.B.: a novel

• James M. Cain's 1975 novel Rainbow's End is a fictional account of what might have happened to Cooper after he parachuted from the plane.
• J.D. Reed's 1980 novel Free Fall was used as a basis for the 1981 film The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper.
• Elwood Reid's 2004 novel D.B.: a novel^[3] is a fictionalized account of what supposedly happened to the real Cooper in the years following the hijacking, as a pair of FBI agents attempt to pick up his trail and arrest him. In one edition, the book jacket cover featured artwork derived from the FBI composite sketch of the real Cooper.
• The 1998 novel Sasquatch by Roland Smith features a character named Buckley Johnson, who eventually admits that he is D. B. Cooper to the novel's protagonist, a boy named Dylan Hickock. In this story, Johnson says he committed the hijacking to pay for cancer treatments for his son.
• Greg Cox's novel, The 4400: The Vesuvius Prophecy features Cooper as one of The 4400.
• The Skyjacker's Guide, or Please Hold This Bomb While I Go to the Bathroom, a humorous book inspired by the Cooper hijacking^[4]
• In Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", Red (the inmate played by Morgan Freeman in the later movie) jokingly theorised that one of the other convicts who had escaped from the prison had in fact turned out to be D.B. Cooper.
• Jake Aurelian's 2011 book, Dead Wrestlers, Broken Necks & The Women Who Screwed Me Over: A Main Event of Photography & Fiction includes a short story entitled, "Shaving Rasputin: The Life & Times of Beck Shabang" wherein time traveler Beck Shabang travels back to 1971 and boards Flight 305 so he can "hang out" during the hijacking.

Film, TV, and radio

The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper film poster

• A 1973 Television Movie "Deliver Us From Evil" starring George Kennedy and a very young Jan-Michael Vincent deals with a group of campers who encounter a hijacker who had parachuted out of a commercial airplane very similar to the D.B. Cooper case. However, the story is more related to how they begin to fight over the money on their way back to civilization.
• A 1973 episode of the detective series Barnaby Jones starring Buddy Ebsen concerned a mystery about unrecovered ransom money from an airliner hijacking similar to the D.B. Cooper case.
• A 1977 episode of Charlie's Angels (Season 2, Episode 6: Angel in Love) starring Kate Jackson (Sabrina) featured a love interest of Sabrina's who was "B.J. Smith", a hijacker inspired by D.B. Cooper.
• A 1979 episode of the series In Search Of... (TV series) focued on D.B Cooper
• A 1979 episode of Quincy M.E. featured the character of R.J. Collins who had used a phial of anthrax in his successful attempt at hijacking a plane.
• In 1981 an adventure movie titled The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper was released starring Treat Williams as Cooper and Robert Duvall as an insurance investigator pursuing him. Based on J.D. Reed's 1980 novel Free Fall, it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
• A 1982 episode of The Fall Guy (Season 1, Episode 17) starring Lee Majors featured a town terrorized by a mysterious quadriplegic named Gordon - a hijacker inspired by D.B. Cooper.
• In the 1990 television series Twin Peaks, the main character is named Dale Bartholomew Cooper, after D.B. Cooper.^[5]
• In 1994 an episode of Unsolved Mysteries called D.B Cooper focused on the skyjacker
• A 1995 episode of the television show Renegade titled "The Ballad of D.B Cooper" (Season 4, Episode 3) details how D.B. Cooper hijacks a plane, steals $200,000 and lands in a small town where he uses the money to reopen an old factory.
• The television series NewsRadio featured a story arc (Season 5, Episodes 6-8 "Jail", "The Lam", and "Clash of the Titans", first broadcast in 1998) in which station owner Jimmy James is believed to be Cooper. James was arrested after a green duffel bag believed to have been Cooper's was found. At the trial, Adam West confesses he is Cooper and that James had covered up for him.
• A March 2000 segment of the comedy talk radio program The Phil Hendrie Show featured an interview with a former commercial airline pilot, Art Griego, who claimed to be a good friend of D.B. Cooper. In a January 2008 segment, Phil Hendrie and his guest, Dr. Jim Sadler, postulated that presidential candidate Ron Paul is actually D.B. Cooper.
• Without a Paddle is a 2004 film about three men going on a camping trip. The movie stars Matthew Lillard, Seth Green and Dax Shepard. Following a friend's death, a group of three old friends go on an adventure, a search for the treasure of D. B. Cooper, which their dead buddy Billy planned for them years prior. They do find it, but half of it had been burned by Cooper himself to keep him warm.
• In 2004 a special feature length The FBI Files episode called Flight from Justice - The Real Story Of D.B Cooper focused on the possibility that Richard McCoy, Jr. was D.B Cooper.
• The television show Prison Break (2005-2009) featured a character who, after initially denying accusations, eventually admitted that he was D. B. Cooper. The character, played by Muse Watson, went by the name of Charles Westmoreland. According to the show, the amount of money he buried underneath a silo totaled approximately $5,000,000.
• In Journeyman, the main character Dan Vasser travels back in time in the episode "The Legend of Dylan McCleen" which aired on October 22, 2007. The episode is about an U.S. Army Ranger who stole money very much in the style of D.B. Cooper.
• In the 2008 video game Sam & Max, Dan B. Cooper is one of the famous missing persons found on Easter Island by way of the Bermuda Triangle.
• In the 2008 TV series Breaking Bad, attorney Saul Goodman jokes that he found D.B. Cooper when Walter White shows up in disguise.
• In 2009 a Documentary created by National Geographic Channel called The Skyjacker That Got Away focused on the skyjacker
• In 2009, the sixth season of Numb3rs, the tenth episode's central plot was a solution to the D.B. Cooper mystery, including the reasons for the hijacking plot and the final disposition of the money (alleged to be five times the reported amount by the episode) with Michael Hogan starring as the fictionalized Cooper.
• The 12 July 2010 episode "Treasure" (#2.13) of the television series Zeke and Luther contains a reference to a D.B. Cooper-type lost treasure.
• The January 6th, 2011 episode of Brad Meltzer's Decoded focused on D.B. Cooper.
• Cooper's parachute is mentioned in an episode of Warehouse 13 to be a "strange and wonderful" artifact contained in the Warehouse.

Music

• Within two weeks of the 1971 skyjacking, local Washington songstress Judy Sword produced a song, "D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?"^[6]
• In 1980, a California-based rock band called D.B. Cooper self-released their debut EP, Every Man A King. That same year, the group was signed to Warner Bros. Records and issued their debut album, Buy American. A second album, Dangerous Curves, followed in 1981.
• Oregon-native singer-songwriter Todd Snider wrote and performed a song about the famous mystery titled "D. B. Cooper." It appears on his CD, Happy to Be Here, released in 2000.
• Singer-songwriter Chuck Brodsky has a song titled "The Ballad of D. B. Cooper" on his 2006 CD, Tulips for Lunch.^[7]
• Roger McGuinn's self-titled 1973 solo album contains the song "Bag Full of Money" referring to Cooper's hijacking.
• Indie rockers Everything is Fine feature two songs about Cooper, "Vapor Trails and Light" and "D.B. Cooper" on their 2005 album Ghosts Are Knocking on Walls on Ohio-based Tract Records.^[8]
• Rock band Senses Fail's CD, Life Is Not a Waiting Room features a song called "DB Cooper".
• Ska/Punk band Victims of Circumstance's second album Roll the Dice features a track titled "The Final Flight of D.B. Copper" that details the hijacker's infamous crime.
• Alternative rock band Streetside Symphony recorded a song about the events called "D. B. Cooper" on their album The Curse.
• Cooper is mentioned in the song "Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock.
• Post-hardcore band End of a Year released a song titled "Dan Cooper" on their 2008 split 7" single with Shook Ones, released on Runner Up Records. The song's coda features the line "I want you to sit next to me," echoing Cooper's instructions to flight attendant Florence Schaffner.
• Cooper is also mentioned in the song "Hoe Cakes" by rapper MF DOOM.
• Australian deathcore band We Came From the Depths released a song titled "I Am D.B.Cooper" on their 2010 album Embracing The Abyss
• Irish rock band Kopek released a song titled "The Easy Way (D.B Cooper)" on their debut album White Collar Lies in 2010.

Other

• The Far Side for May 3, 1988, featured a comic with the caption "The untold ending of D. B. Cooper", where he is shown landing on a rottweiler farm.^[9]
• The Dilbert strip for January 17, 1991, featured Dogbert showing visitors around his museum where he claims an exhibit, feet protruding from a tree stump with an umbrella and a back pack nearby, are the remains of D. B. Cooper.[2]
• The community of Ariel in Cowlitz County, Washington, commemorates the incident with a celebration, held annually on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day, called "D. B. Cooper Days."^[10]
• The webcomic Milk for Dead Hamsters featured a strip on Aug 9, 2011 satirizing the FBI's failed attempt to capture D. B. Cooper.^[11]
• The webcomic Kevin and Kell features a character named Douglas Squirrel, an animal version of D. B. Cooper.
• Dining and entertainment establishments under the name D. B. Cooper operate in Madison Heights, Michigan,^[12] Kansas City, Missouri,^[13] and Houston, Texas;^[14] others in San Jose, California,^[15] and Nashua, New Hampshire^[16] have now closed.
• From 1992 to 1999, the World FreeFall Convention offered experienced skydivers the opportunity to jump from a cargo configuration Boeing 727. The aft airstairs were removed on the ground prior to jump operations. In most years, the jet carried up to 180 jumpers who exited in two passes over the Quincy, Illinois airport. Jumpers could also be issued a DB Cooper number and accompanying certificate. A McDonell-Douglas DC-9 is now used in Perris, California for jet jumps, and this aircraft was also used at later Conventions.

References

1. ^ LaBoe, Barbara (2008-01-01). "Search for D.B. Cooper 'reignited'". The Daily News. http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/01/01/area_news/doc4779dc0669a57149237568.txt. Retrieved 2008-01-03. 
2. ^ Neil Hickey, Plane robbing still unsolved, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Australia), January 4, 2008
3. ^ Reid, Elwood (2004). D.B.: a novel. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385497381. OCLC 52410839. http://books.google.com/books?id=qWm15OZqpMQC. 
4. ^ Slatta, Richard W. (2001). The Mythical West: An Encyclopedia of Legend, Lore and Popular Culture. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1576071519. OCLC 47018405. http://books.google.com/books?id=iczSBcAUC5oC. 
5. ^ Davis, Jeff; Al Eufrasio, Mark Moran (2008). Weird Washington. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. p. 65. ISBN 978-1402745454. OCLC 179788749. http://books.google.com/books?id=yxyulCHkLTwC. 
6. ^ Search for Skyjacked Bills Revives "D.B. Cooper" Song by Rolla J. Crick, Oregon Journal, December 13, 1973 per FBI D.B. Cooper Freedom of Information Act Index Part 7, p. 24
7. ^ Chuck Brodsky
8. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
9. ^ Index to the Holdings of the Michigan State University Libraries Comic Art Collection, "Parachutes"
10. ^ Jim Bates, Skulduggery by Parachute
11. ^ http://milkfordeadhamsters.com/comics/hunt-fo-db/
12. ^ http://www.dbcoopers.net/
13. ^ Scoot’s Complete Bar List | Living in the Scoot Utopia
14. ^ D.B. Cooper'S Mansion, Houston, Tx
15. ^ Metroactive Bars & Clubs | Liquid Lounge
16. ^ http://www.dineinnewengland.com/review/hooters_review.htm