What you now know, at times steeper than the plot of the series "Escape from prison." Do not believe me? And how do you like that some of these stories became the basis of several scenarios for Hollywood blockbusters?
1. Gasr Prison, Tehran, Iran
It is one of the oldest prisons in Tehran. Now she no longer has prisoners. And on December 28, 1978, the Iranian government arrested Paul Chiaapparone and Bill Gaylord, heads of Texas Electronic Data Systems Corp., which for some time worked abroad. Their escape became the basis of the plot of the book "On the Eagle's Wings" by author Ken Follett. Returning to these two guys, it is worth noting that they were arrested on suspicion of corruption. As a result, peace negotiations did not bring any result. Then colleagues and friends of prisoners organized a rescue action. The retired American Colonel Arthur Simiz and 14 military men decided to release their compatriots. True, they saved not only these two, but also 11,000 prisoners. This happened in February 1979. And the Islamic revolution contributed to this. The prisoners managed to escape at the very moment when the revolutionaries stormed the prison.
2. State exemplary school, Pretoria, South Africa
This escape completely changed the fate of a well-known historical personality. Here in 1899, this man celebrated his 25th birthday and 25 days later he was under arrest - he fled. At first he managed to jump unnoticed through the fence. Then he went to the nearby railway line, where he climbed the freight train. At dawn he jumped down and was not far from the village. Tortured by hunger and thirst, the young man knocked at the door of the first house that fell in. There he was sheltered by the English landlord, the manager of the mine. By the way, he hid the fugitive for three days in his mine. When a reward was awarded for the head of the former convict, he helped him on a train to cross the border secretly to Mozambique. And do you know who this fugitive was? Young Winston Churchill.
3. Yakutsk, Siberia
In 1939, Polish Army officer Slawomir Ravich, along with some of his colleagues, was exiled to the Gulag. After several months of staying in the camp, the guys decided to flee. The conspirators decided to wait for some snowy night, to make a tunnel under the fence with barbed wire, run across the strip where the patrol with the dogs went, and cross the deep ditch. On April 10, 1940, the prisoners escaped from the camp and not somewhere, but in the Himalayas, and from there to India. As a result, they crossed Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, the Himalayas and, eventually, found themselves in British India. The journey was long. In total, Ravich and his companions overcame more than 6 thousand km.
4. Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia
In 1864, during the Civil War, Colonel Thomas Rose and 1,000 northerners were captured. This man not only masterfully escaped from prison with the help of a pocket knife and wood waste, a breakthrough tunnel is 15 m long, but also returned to this prison a second time. You know what for? To release the rest of the prisoners. This time he decided to give freedom to another 15 prisoners. In general, this secret loophole was used by 93 officers, which prompted a member of the Confederation of Richmond to call a large-scale escape "an extraordinary scam."
5. Alcatraz, San Francisco, California
June 11, 1962 Frank Morris, along with the brothers Clarence made the most sophisticated escape in the history of this famous prison. With a metal spoon they scraped out pieces of concrete, paving the way to the service tunnel. The prisoners climbed through this hole and disappeared on a previously prepared raft made of rubber raincoats. It is interesting that the fate of these fugitives is still unknown: either they managed to swim to the shore, or they died of hunger and cold. The funny thing is that even 50 years after this event they are still in search.