Alcatraz
About Alcatraz
Alcatraz Island is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate Strait. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison. In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. The strong tidal currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape nearly impossible, giving the prison one of the most notorious reputations of its kind in American history. The prison closed on March 21, 1963, leaving the island a major tourist attraction today with nearly 1.4 million people visiting the island annually.
On the show — 32 mentions total
The word alcatraz means gannet in Spanish, but when the island was named in 1775, it actually meant pelicans. The Spanish word for pelicans, alcatraz, actually came from the Arabic word for sea eagle. Basically the bird man of Alcatraz is correct.
from No Such Thing As The iSausage, 2020-06-22 at 00:12:41 · read transcript
Other times Alcatraz came up
There's a theory that one of the reasons he was moved from Atlanta prison to Alcatraz, where he was famously sent, is actually that he was being bullied in the Atlanta prison because he was very weak, and he was starting to lose his faculties because of the syphilis, and his cellmate had to protect him because, you know, everyone else was bullying him, and so he was accused of special treatment because this cellmate was protecting him, so he was shifted. Yeah, by the time he got to Alcatraz, he was having problems.
326: No Such Thing As An Infortunate Occurrence, 2020-06-19 · listen
We're all put away for life sentences. They would have been able to get out of those scouts. They've been trained. This one, this badge is for escaping Alcatraz. Just a quick thing on flags and protesting. Have you guys heard of the Danish protest pig? No. This is a pig that was basically bred in protest of the fact that during the Prussian rule in Denmark, there was bits of Denmark that were told they were not allowed to raise their flags.
312: No Such Thing As Quentin Tarantino's Bambi, 2020-03-13 · listen
My boyfriend Whitey. We say murder. He's more of a prankster, really. He was found guilty of 17 pranks. It's basically a prison of people who had experience of escaping from other prisons. In fact, I think the most famous escape, probably, was of Frank Morris and John and Clarence. Anglin and they inspired the film escape from Alcatraz, the 1979 film, and they got out in 1962.
No Such Thing As Suckling's Column, 2020-01-10 · listen
It seems like there must be just a current that switches on once a day. Yeah. That just pretty much helps. Some of the people who are in Alcatraz. Basil Banghart, he was known as the owl because he had big eyes. Ellsworth Raymond Johnson was known as bumpy because he had a bump on the back of his head. Joseph Bowers was known as Dutch because he was born. on in Austria.
No Such Thing As Suckling's Column, 2020-01-10 · listen
More places from this episode
No Such Thing As The iSausage put 7 places on the map.
- Glacier Bay National Park · United States
- University of St. Andrews · United Kingdom
- Pleasure Island · United States
- Quaker Oats · United States
- University of Alberta · Canada
Coordinates: 37.8267, -122.4230