Morbid: Episode 500: Eastern Air Lines Flight 401

You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.

Audible is the home of storytelling.

You'll discover thousands of podcasts from popular favourites to exclusive new series,

guided wellness programs, theatrical performances, dev ad, comedy, and exclusive Audible originals

from top celebrities, renowned experts, and exciting new voices and audio.

The Audible app makes it easy to listen anytime, anywhere, while travelling, working out, walking,

doing chores, you decide.

Right now, I'm listening to the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

The woman who does the performance of the voice is so good.

It makes you feel like you're even more inside of the story.

It's so much fun.

I am loving Audible, and I think you will too.

New members can try Audible free for 30 days.

Visit Audible.com slash Morbid or text Morbid to 500-500.

That's Audible.com slash Morbid or text Morbid to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days.

Audible.com slash Morbid.

Wedding season is in full bloom, and if you've been wanting a straighter smile, look no further

than Byte.

Byte offers clear-teeth aligners that help you transform your smile from the comfort

of your home, or wherever you'll be this time of year.

Forget the endless trips to the dentist.

Byte's clear aligners are doctor-directed and delivered straight to your doorstep.

Just take an impression mold of your mouth, preview your 3D smile, and order your all-day

or at night aligners.

Byte also knows that wedding season is expensive enough as it is.

Our aligners cost thousands less than braces.

It's time to let your smile shine.

Get started on your smile journey by visiting Byte.com, and use Code Wondery at checkout

to get your at-home impression kit for only $14.95.

That's Byte.com Code Wondery to get over 80% off your impression kit.

Angie has made it easier than ever to connect with skilled professionals to get all your

home projects done well.

Just bring them your project online, or with the Angie app, and answer a few questions.

With Angie, you can book instantly at an upfront price, or request and compare quotes

from multiple pros, so you can find the best price for your project.

So the next time you have a home project, just Angie that, and start getting the most

out of your home.

Download the free Angie mobile app today, or visit Angie.com.

That's A-N-G-I dot com.

Hey weirdos, I'm Alina, I'm Ash, and this is Morbid.

It is.

It's Morbid.

In the afternoon.

We're having a really bad week, so we're trying it.

Just send good vibes our way, all right?

Yeah, just send good vibes this way.

We've got a lot of family stuff going on.

Indeed.

Can't take a break from anything, so.

We cannot do that, so we are here, we're here for you, and you are here for us.

Yeah.

That's all that matters.

That's all that matters, exactly.

And honestly, after you hear this story, you'll be like, wow, I could go through anything

because it's not as bad as this.

Yeah, it puts it into perspective.

Exactly.

I have a little bit of a different case today.

I'm going to be talking about Eastern Airlines Flight 401.

It was one of the most tragic plane crashes in the United States history.

Oh boy.

Still is, but it results in some interesting paranormal happening, so that's what we're

going to focus on in the end, I can't even talk, but before we get to that I am going

to go through what really happened before the paranormal started happening.

So I'm sorry, Alina.

I have to be here, but if you are scared of flying or anything like that, it's cool

if you want to just go boop-boop to the end and hear the paranormal stuff, I think.

If you have any kind of phobia that is flight-related or plane crash-related, if you have any phobia

really, I don't think you should be here, because we talk about the scariest, and this

is going to be a lot, but I think we should dive on into it.

Let's go.

I'm going to disassociate a little bit, but I'll be here, totally fine.

I found it interesting to kind of get into the mechanics of planes, and it weirdly made

me feel better about this because this was just kind of user error, and it's from like

the 70s.

It's a long time ago.

I think 51 years ago.

Things have gotten a lot better since then.

Exactly.

We can all feel better about that.

On December 29, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, it was scheduled to depart from JFK,

John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, New York, at about 9.20 p.m., and it was bound

for the Miami International Airport on what would be roughly a three-hour flight.

The aircraft, it was a Lockheed L-1011-01 TriStar.

It was a newly constructed medium-to-long-range passenger jet, and the airline had actually

just bought this aircraft about five months earlier.

Oh, so brand new.

Brand new.

Actually, this kind of plane was very state-of-the-art at the time, and Eastern Airlines was the

first airline to even buy one of these planes.

They purchased their first one in April of 1972, and the one bound for Florida that December

evening had passed every inspection that they'd done on it.

It was up to date with all of the federal aviation administration guidelines, everything.

By December 1972, this particular jet had accumulated 936 hours of flight time, had landed 502

times, and that was pretty standard for similar models.

So the captain scheduled for that evening was 55-year-old Robert Loft.

He'd been an employee for Eastern Air since 1940, so a while, and he'd been flying with

them since 1951 after doing all his training and everything.

And earlier that year, actually, he had passed the L-1011 simulation tests, and even in

the months leading up to this particular flight, he had great ratings from every instructor

he had.

They all sang his praises.

I wish this could make me feel better, but it's making me feel worse.

I know.

I know.

They said he had, quote, good knowledge of the aircraft and procedures, but one thing

that they did insist upon was that he get corrective lenses before piloting a mid-sized

aircraft.

Oh, okay.

They were very adamant that he get some glasses.

Okay.

So the additional flight crew for this particular flight included first officer Albert Stockstill,

aged 39, and second officer Donald Repo, age 59.

They both had a similar level of experience to Robert Loft.

They had also recently passed all the qualifying training and exams to pilot this L-1011.

The only thing worth pointing out, I suppose, is that Donald Repo's time with the L-1011

simulator, it was about a quarter of that of the other two airmen.

He had logged 53 hours with the simulation, so a bit less.

Now, in the 24 hours before flight 401's departure, every single member of the flight crew had

14 hours of rest since their last nine-hour shift per FAA regulations.

All 10 flight attendants had also received proper training, and they were fully qualified

and also in accordance with the FAA's regulations for their positions.

So everybody was qualified.

Yes.

Since all 163 passengers had taken their seats, Captain Loft was given clearance to depart,

and the plane took off for Miami just a little after 9.20 that night.

The flight was very uneventful.

Everything was going swimmingly until the flight crew began preparing for their descent

into the Miami International Airport.

So the first step in the process to land or get ready for landing was for Robert Loft

to move the landing gear handle down into the downward position, which would prepare

for the landing.

But when he did that, the green light, which would notify the crew that the wheels were

locked in their landing position, that light didn't come on, and that light has got to

come on for you to know that everything is locked and you won't have a very horrific

bad landing.

Yeah, because you need the wheels to be down.

And locked in place.

Yeah, they can't bounce back up.

Right.

And that light was supposed to be indicating.

So the light was burned out like it wasn't a working light?

It wasn't working at the moment.

Oh boy.

So he tried again, still no light.

So now he was concerned that something might actually, it didn't maybe occur to him at

this moment that it could be the light that had burned out.

Something said to him, maybe something's wrong with the landing gear, and that's why the

light isn't turning on.

Yeah, I mean, that would be my first thought is like, uh-oh, like something's wrong with

the actual landing gear.

Exactly.

That would be probably right if you were a pilot.

So he did radio the tower at Miami International at 11.34 p.m. to report the issue.

He told them, uh, tower, this is Eastern 401.

Looks like we're going to have to circle.

We don't have a light on our nose gear yet.

So the air traffic controllers from Miami airport responded a few seconds later, and

they just said, climb straight ahead to 2000 feet, and then they instructed them to begin

the descent again after that, thinking it would give them ample time to work out whatever

was holding up the release of this landing gear.

So one minute later, Loft radioed this tower again, said they were back in position above

the airport, but still were unable to get that green light on the nose gear.

Now luckily, the aircraft was not in any danger of running out of fuel, so Loft and his crew

were advised to just turn around and begin the descent pattern a third time once they

worked out the problem.

This is already a nightmare to me because I fucking hate landing.

Yes.

I just want to get there.

Once the descent begins, I'm like, just get me safely on the ground.

That's the thing.

And once you hear, especially, I'm sure if you have a fear of flying, once you hear

that you're ready to land, you're like, okay, good.

But then when you're about to land and you, and I actually watched something, I'll link

it.

It was like a little show about this.

I'll link it in the show notes.

And a man who was on board that night, he ended up surviving this crash and he said he could

tell something was wrong based on the fact that they kept going away because they saw

the lights of the airport when they were headed over the airport.

And that's usually like the relief.

And then they started moving away from the airport and he said it was like pitch black

and he was like, what the hell are we doing?

And he could just tell that something was off.

Feel for these people so much because I can feel that anxiety.

That's the thing.

So Loft acknowledged the transmission from the tower there.

And then he instructed first officer Albert Stock still who was still flying the plane

to turn on the autopilot and attempt to fix whatever was causing this problem with the

landing gear and the light.

Now at this time, and this was 1972, remind you, this kind of plane actually had the most

sophisticated autopilot in history.

This autopilot could have landed the plane on its own if necessary, like crazy.

So Stock still acknowledged and engaged the autopilot and then he turned his attention

to the light there that they were having issues with and he pulled the faceplate off

of the nose gear light assembly, light lens assembly, which is literally just the little

like green panel that when the light turns on, it glows green.

He took that face panel off there to see if he could like literally blow into the area,

unscrew the light bulb, re-screw it.

This is a simple light problem.

So as he did that, and then he starts reassembling the panel, but as he was doing so, the light

lens got jammed and he struggled to even get it back into place.

They are having a lot of trouble in focusing very much on this light.

So while that's going on, Loft then instructed second officer Donald Repo to go down into

the forward electronics bay, which on this particular plane is right below the flight

deck.

And it's also referred to as the hellhole.

The hellhole.

They literally call this place the hellhole.

My guys, don't call anything on a plane anything that's even remotely connotated as anything

negative.

Never.

Always make it like the bouncy house.

The ball pit from McDonald's that we all love.

The party bay.

Like just don't.

I just took a sip of coffee at like the worst time ever.

The party bay.

Go down into the party bay.

Go check that out.

Figure out what's going on.

Don't call it the hell pit or the hellhole.

What is the fuck?

Don't do that.

He wanted him to go to the hellhole to visually check the alignment of the nose gear in dices,

I believe, so you say that.

So basically they're trying to stay calm, trying to assess what this problem is.

He's going down into the hellhole to see if he can see the wheel lock in position.

I was wondering if they would be able to do that like visually.

You would if the lights were on.

They didn't realize that the lights were not even on actually to check this.

But as there's not like they have like cell phones with flashlights and stuff, you know,

1972.

Yeah.

This is a different situation.

And even then I think that would most likely just reflect back at you because it's so dark.

Yeah.

But as they're circling on autopilot, they still can't figure out why this light isn't illuminating.

They can't tell if their landing gear is engaged, which that's what Donald repo was going down to check,

but the lights hadn't been turned on to see that particular like vantage point thing, I guess.

Now at 1139 p.m., loft radioed the Miami tower crew once again to report that they were still trying to correct the problem.

And that after that was when he sent Donald repo back into the electronics bay to check everything for a second time.

I think that was once they realized that they hadn't turned the lights on for him to even check.

But two minutes later, repo popped his head through the hatch and told loft, I can't see it's pitch dark.

I throw the light.

I throw the little light.

I get nothing.

Wow.

And he's basically saying, I have no fucking idea, dude.

So from the tower at MIA, which is Miami International, the traffic controllers noticed that even though they had told the pilots to maintain an altitude of 2,000 feet,

the plane had started to descend in the last minute or two since they had last spoken.

At first it had just dropped a couple hundred feet, but then there was a second drop of about 900 feet.

Now this is terrifying.

So I'm sorry, Alina and everybody else.

But what flight 401 the crew didn't realize was that as they were all focused on the landing gear extension light and trying to fix this problem,

somehow the autopilot program had disengaged and the jet was free flying with nobody at the helm.

Well, it's official.

My favorite season of all fall is here.

And guys, if you're like me, you're settling back into busier routines.

You've got kids at school, spare time filled with like soccer practices and seasonal activities,

and your home might be sitting empty and vulnerable.

That is why I recommend SimplySafe Home Security and their revolutionary home monitoring innovation 24 seven live guard protection.

It's designed to help stop crime in real time.

So now if an intruder breaks into your home, SimplySafe professional monitoring agents can actually see, speak to and deter them through SimplySafe's new smart alarm wireless indoor camera.

I personally am obsessed with SimplySafe.

I mean, I love everything that is set up in my home, but I'm mostly in love with the app because say I'm like running to one of my nieces soccer games and I'm like, oh, crap.

Did I set the alarm?

I don't have to turn all the way around.

Be late to the soccer game.

No, I can open my app and lock my all my doors right from my home.

I can set the alarm system right from the app right there.

It's so easy 24 seven live guard protection is made possible by the new smart alarm wireless indoor camera available with a fast protect monitoring plan for a limited time.

Get 20% off your new system when you sign up for fast protect monitoring.

Visit SimplySafe.com slash morbid.

That's SimplySafe.com slash morbid.

There's no safe like SimplySafe.

With HelloFresh, you get farm fresh pre portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right here to a step.

Skip those trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun and affordable.

That's why it's America's number one meal kit.

And with so many in season ingredients, you are going to taste all the freshness that fall has to offer in every single bite of HelloFresh's chef crafted recipes.

Produce travels from the farm to your door for peak ripeness that you can actually taste.

Turn to HelloFresh Market for yummy add-ons too and enjoy the season's limited time fall flavors lineup.

Feast on desserts like the apple cider cake with caramel sauce.

My mouth is quite literally watering.

Or please a crowd with appetizers like the barbecue pulled pork nachos.

And guys, don't forget the mini pumpkin cheesecake, perfect for a little me time treat.

Personally, I am obsessed with HelloFresh and when they start releasing their fall flavors, I just could cry that it makes me so happy.

The other night, I had Southwest stuffed zucchini boats with pico de gallo.

It had this like avocado crema.

It was absolutely delicious.

The cleanup was so simple and it literally only took like probably less than 30 minutes to make and eat.

It was fantastic.

You guys are going to love HelloFresh.

Go to HelloFresh.com slash 50 Morbid and use code 50 Morbid for 50% off plus free shipping.

Again, that's HelloFresh.com slash 50 Morbid and use code 50 Morbid for 50% off plus free shipping.

HelloFresh is America's number one meal kit.

Oh boy.

Yeah.

So this is like user error.

Completely.

Completely.

And we'll get into actually everything that when the investigation was done contributed to the crash.

It's honestly, it's like, it's knowing that it's like a human error and not a thing with the plane.

Like a technical error.

That like everything looked great on the plane and then oops, it just broke.

It's like that's, that's for some reason scarier to me.

Yeah.

Because I feel like they must have learned something from this experience.

Yeah.

To use and you know what I mean?

Like human error.

Absolutely.

You learn from a mechanical error.

Sometimes it's like, hope that doesn't happen again.

You know, like it's just one of those things.

Right.

So I guess this is like something that at least I hope they took a lot from.

They did.

They took a lot from this.

We'll get into it.

But at the time when this happened, it was the most tragic plane crash in US history.

Oh, I just feel like I'm picturing all these people and I'm like, oh, it's a lot.

And when you, it's a lot.

So at 1141 PM, the tower radioed the flight crew and instructed them to course correct

because they were like, whoa, you're like, what's happening there?

Veered off.

Loft acknowledged and requested permission to get back into position for their descent,

but didn't still didn't realize that they had free fallen as much as they had.

About 20 seconds later, there was another transmission that came in from flight 401

where stocks still can be heard saying on the recording,

we did something to the altitude.

We're still at 2000, right?

Now a second or two later, Loft's voice can be heard on the recording shouting,

hey, what's happening before the transmission just cut out entirely?

Oh, I hate that.

So in the cabin, flight attendant Beverly Reposa thought that she heard an unusual sound

and it was the engines.

She looked over to her coworker, Stephanie Stannage, I believe is how you say it,

and told her those engines don't sound right.

And Stephanie replied, they sound fine.

But Beverly was like, no, they absolutely do not.

And just seconds before the plane tilted violently forward and began a rapid descent,

Beverly looked at Stephanie and said, no, they don't.

Oh boy.

Now just after that, flight 401 eventually crashed violently

into the densely forested swamps of the Florida Everglades.

Holy shit.

At 11.42 PM, just a second or two after the last transmission went out to Miami International.

The last transmission to the aircraft from the airport's tower actually went unanswered

and another plane ended up radioing the tower to say that they had just seen a great flash out west

and they weren't sure what it was, but they wanted to report it.

That flash was part of the plane exploding as it crashed.

So on the evening of December 29th, the temperature in Miami was a mild 72 degrees

with clear weather and unrestricted visibility.

It was a perfect night other than the fact that there was no moon that night.

So the crash occurred in near total darkness.

And the plane itself had crashed about 20 miles northeast of Miami International Airport

and about eight miles north of, I think it's Tamiami Trail.

It's a long stretch of highway that runs along the western edge of Florida.

Now the area where the plane was now was a flat marshland covered with soft mud

under about six to 12 inches of swamp water.

Oh my God.

Which had helped soften the impact of the plane that when it hit the ground,

but it should be said that it was not an easier landing because of this.

It was very much still a plane crash.

In fact, when the plane struck on the earth, the left outer wing hit first,

then the main engine and then the left portion of the landing gear

and that caused the plane, that area of the plane to disintegrate into pieces

and that destroyed almost every section of the passenger compartment.

Now on top of that, when the wing hit the muddy earth,

it sent the plane into a pinwheel motion

and that impact broke the plane into four sections,

which then scattered luggage and debris across an area of about 1600 feet long

and 300 feet wide.

So people and things were just scattered everywhere.

Later, when investigators surveyed the wreckage,

they found the right landing gear to be down and in a locked position

and then the right had been actually torn from the plane

and the landing gear lever in the cockpit was still in the gearward down position,

meaning that it had been engaged before the crash

and that's what told them like they were about to land.

So a search of the electronics bay found that the visual indicator site

and wheel wall service light assembly were both fully operational

and most disturbingly, the bulbs in the nose gear assembly,

which had been the initial source of the trouble for flight 401,

had simply burned out.

So that's it. It was just burned out light bulbs.

This entire crash came down to a $12 burned out light bulb.

Wow. Wild.

So now the passengers who did manage to survive

and there were quite a few that survived from this plane crash

because it's such a big plane.

It's actually called a jumbo jet.

While many people died, a lot survived

and now we're literally in a nightmare scenario.

Some were still strapped into their seats.

Others had been thrown from the row

and everybody, like I said, found themselves either sitting or lying

in a mix of muddy swamp water

that now had jet fuel leaking into it from the wreckage.

Oh my God.

Almost 22 tons of jet fuel had leaked into the swamp.

Holy shit.

Yeah. One passenger, Ron Infantino,

when he realized what was happening, he started to panic

and he called out to his new wife, Lily.

They had been married 20 days earlier

and she had been sitting beside him on the plane,

but now she was nowhere to be found.

Oh my God.

And he couldn't move because the crash caused him to break his arm,

his knee, and his chest was wounded.

And all he could do was sit there helpless

as he, quote, heard alligators and snakes splash around him

because remember, they're in the Florida Everglades.

And now there's all these people who are injured and deceased.

Yup.

And these alligators are like, it's feeding time.

Yeah.

Holy shit.

Because initially, obviously the sound of the crash probably sent them

kind of like going away, but now it's still...

But now there's smelling blood in the water,

they're seeing what's going, like,

this is a true nightmare scenario.

And truly.

Really, really sadly, Ron later found out that

his wife, Lily, had passed away during the crash

and was inconsolable for many reasons.

One being that they had switched seats at one point

before the crash, which I already knew and still,

that gave me chills all over my entire body.

Are you kidding me?

One of them had gone up to go to the bathroom

and when whoever came back, they switched seats.

How do you...

And it's like, how do you...

Like, you would never know.

Never in a million years.

No.

Of course you would hang onto that.

That's the thing.

It's absolutely terrible.

So in another part of the swamp, flight attendant Mercy Ruiz

regained consciousness and found herself shivering

and soaked with kerosene.

She was completely unable to move because she had fractured her pelvis.

Beverly Raposa, who knew they were going down,

she survived the crash and she was laying nearby

as Mercy looked over her to her and asked what happened.

And Beverly told her we crashed

and Mercy simply couldn't comprehend what she meant.

She said, no, we didn't crash.

It's a bad dream.

We're going to wake up.

I can understand that completely.

Can you imagine somebody telling you you're in a plane crash?

No.

Like you just survived a plane crash?

No.

How do you even...

Like your brain must be like, no.

Your brain is in full survival mode.

I was going to say it's in total survival.

It's just like, no, you didn't.

That didn't happen.

You're dreaming.

In fact, I think Ron was somebody that said

like when he woke up, he couldn't feel anything

and that's how he knew how bad it was.

I believe it was him or it may have been one of the other passengers,

but they were like, I woke up and I couldn't feel anything,

but I looked down and saw that I was bleeding.

So I knew it was bad.

Now, while Beverly Raposa did what she could

to make everybody around her comfortable

in the immediate aftermath of the crash,

the first of rescuers, Bud Markey, I believe it is,

and his friend actually arrived on scene.

He had been out that night on the swamp in his airboat.

He was actually teaching his friend how to hunt frogs

and he saw the bright flash of light when the plane hit

and actually ended up steering the boat

in the direction of the crash to see if he could help anybody.

All he had to guide him was the light of his headlamp

to guide him through the dark.

Holy shit.

And so he would travel a short distance

and then cut the engine to listen for sound.

Wow.

But he was so afraid to run over any bodies

that he would just like move a little bit at a time.

Now finally, when he cut the engine for the fourth or fifth time,

he and his friend could hear distant chaos.

He said first it was a faint moaning

and then he started to hear screams for help.

Oh.

Now the first thing he heard when they reached the crash site

was a man screaming, I can't hold my head up anymore.

Oh my god.

So Bud rushed over to where the voice was

and jumped into the muddy water to pull the man out

before he drowned because this man was literally lying in the water

just like trying to keep his head above.

Trying not to drown.

But he's exhausted.

Oh.

So as he scanned the scene around him,

all he could see in the light from his headlamp

was just twisted metal and bodies everywhere.

Oh my god.

And decades later he said,

I'm one person in the midst of all this.

I'm no doctor.

I didn't know what to do.

Well, I can't even fathom what would go through your mind.

But this guy, Bud, is a fucking hero.

He literally took all of that upon himself.

And then secondly, when he hopped into the swamp

because of the jet fuel,

his legs started burning instantly

and he still managed to wade through the water

and help whoever he could.

And he's in there with like alligators and shit.

Alligators, snakes.

Alligators, crocodiles.

I don't know the difference, but...

Everything.

Everything.

And jet fuel.

He said he ended up having to treat burns on his legs

for the next week.

Oh my god.

By then, though.

But for the wind.

Oh, and without him,

the Coast Guard,

it would have taken them even longer to get to where they were

because where the landing area was for them

was like far away from where the crash actually happened.

So without the use of his airboat,

they would have been sitting there trying to figure out

how to even get to the plane crash site.

Oh my god.

Now by then, the Coast Guard,

they had been alerted to the crash

and they dispatched helicopters to search for the wreck.

And actually,

they wouldn't have even been able to find them

because it was so dark.

The swamp had extinguished the fire

and again, because there was no moon that night

and then combined with the density of the forest,

it obscured the location where the plane had crashed.

Wow.

So Petty Officer John Schneck told reporters,

I couldn't even see the crash.

It was pitch dark.

But fortunately, Bud, a true fucking hero here,

recognized the sound of helicopters

and raised his headlamp toward the sky to get their attention.

Wow.

Started waving it around

and then ended up waving them

in the direction of a nearby levee

where they were able to land

and he ended up transporting them over to the crash site.

Bud.

Yeah.

Fuck.

What a hero.

He is a true hero in every sense of the word.

One of the main heroes in this story.

Now, while the first responders started making their way

around the scene of the accident,

flight attendants Beverly Raposa and Pat Georgia

gathered those survivors who could move

and the group began singing Christmas carols.

Oh my God.

Are you kidding me?

Just to keep everybody calm.

Oh.

Now, at first, the singing.

Oh my God.

That's so bleak.

That just fucked me up.

Because it's just a stark contrast of...

You put Christmas carols next to anything

dark and scary to me and it's...

I'm gone.

And a lot of these people were traveling for the holidays.

For Christmas or the holidays.

It had just been Christmas.

People were going to Miami after Christmas

to get warm and see family

and celebrate with family that they hadn't seen.

But they're just trying to do anything they can

to bring any kind of lightness to this.

And at first, the thing was the singing

was actually intended to help rescuers find their location.

That's a good idea too.

But then it ended up like you were just saying

becoming a means of keeping people calm.

Exactly.

Passenger Martin Seminero told reporters

after they'd been rescued, it was nice.

People controlled themselves very well.

I've seen movies about this sort of thing,

but it was nothing like this.

Oh wow.

Like they all just banded together.

And just sang Christmas carols.

Yeah.

So while ground crews worked to locate the survivors,

additional helicopters ended up flying overhead

to provide light while the crews worked.

Now, once a survivor was located

and capable of being moved,

they would put that person on Bud's airboat

and then take them to land

where they could then be transported to the nearest hospital.

One of the first survivors discovered

who was still sitting in the cockpit

was Captain Robert Loft.

Damn.

He was not in good condition though.

He had lacerations all over him.

And it was clear to one of the first responders,

Schneck, that he had broken ribs as well.

And Schneck looked at him and said,

like, hold on, there's more people coming.

But Captain Loft told him, I'm going to die.

Oh.

And unfortunately, he did pass away on the scene

not too long after.

Don Repo also survived the crash

and was taken to the hospital,

but he later passed in the hospital due to his injuries.

Oh God.

So rescuers were just watching in horror

as several locals descended upon the scene.

They had made their way to the site

and began looting the bodies of these people.

I'm sorry.

What?

Literally locals came out to this area.

Florida locals.

Florida men.

And started looting the bodies.

Schneck told reporters,

I saw them taking watches and things from dead people.

But what can you do?

We were there trying to help their survivors

and get them out of there.

So they couldn't even stop them

because they were like,

we have to just deal with the surviving members here.

Florida, you're not okay.

Florida.

You're not okay.

You're bleeding.

You're not okay.

People are horrid.

Holy shit.

I have never heard something like that.

Florida man established 1972.

Oh my God.

Isn't that a fucking plane crash?

On another level.

You show up at the scene

and start stealing things off of dead bodies.

What?

What?

Where do you?

Where does you?

What?

Who?

Did you just go to sleep that night after that?

I have no idea.

What the fuck?

Luckily, hopefully all the people who did that

are dead now.

I would imagine.

If you're not,

can't wait for that day, my friend.

What the fuck?

How low do you have to be

to rip something off of a dead body?

A plane crash victim.

Yeah.

Any dead body.

But a plane crash victim,

while other victims and survivors

are being carted away.

Unreal.

I'm just like,

my brain doesn't wrap around that.

That is shocking.

Unreal.

That's one of the most shocking aspects to the story.

Humans need to get it the fuck together.

And if we have them by now,

I unfortunately don't think we will.

Holy, what a species we are.

Yeah.

Fuck.

Yeah.

That is bleak.

That's unlike anything I've ever heard.

Shit.

So crews worked through the night to locate the living

and slowly move them out of the swamp.

They had been instructed by the FAA

to leave the dead and focus only on the living

for the time being.

But at first,

telling the living from the dead was difficult.

Yeah.

So the process was moving slowly.

Rowback active wear.

Guys, if you haven't heard of rowback,

it is time to check them out.

Rowback's quality is truly absolutely unmatched.

And the only way to describe this active wear

is best fit, best feel.

Rowback has the most comfortable performance polos

and hoodies for men.

But the good news is for the ladies,

they just released their brand new hoodies and joggers.

I got a couple of their hoodies.

First of all, they're super cute.

But second of all, they are super soft.

I am wearing nothing but rowback hoodies lately.

And again, they're super cute.

And I'm super comfortable.

But you don't understand, you guys,

when we say these are soft,

it still doesn't do them justice.

They are like butter.

They're that soft.

They're perfect for a relaxing Sunday,

a day on the move,

go out and run errands in them,

look super cute and feel super good.

The fit is just right

and you won't be able to take them off.

I know that I haven't.

Use the code MORBID on rowback.com

for a generous 20% off your first purchase

through the end of this week.

That's spelled R-H-O-B-A-C-K dot com.

And that's 20% off all hoodies,

joggers, polos, and more with code MORBID.

The perfect gear for the fall,

make sure to jump on rowback now.

Hey, weirdos.

We want to thank you

for keeping it weird with us,

traveling back in time with us,

and journeying through the strange

and very unusual with us.

I have a question.

What is it?

You love getting shit early?

I love getting shit early.

Well, good,

because Prime members can listen to new episodes

of MORBID one week early

and all episodes are ad-free on Amazon Music.

And it doesn't even stop there.

You can listen to all the MORBID podcast network shows,

including Colt Leader, That's Spooky,

Alone at Lunch,

and that was pretty scary,

early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

You know why you get all that early?

Why?

Because Prime members get access

to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts

included with Prime.

So download the Amazon Music app

and sign in with your Prime account

to listen to MORBID early and ad-free today.

Do it!

No, seriously, do it.

Do it!

Eventually, and very unfortunately,

the bodies of those who had passed away

began to sink under the water.

And those who were still living

were able to be identified and rescued

more easily once that started happening,

which is just horrific.

Really horrific.

By the next morning,

rescue workers had found all 77 survivors.

Wow.

77 people survived,

which is wild.

And in the days that followed,

a new crew was brought in

to find the bodies of those

who had not been so fortunate.

The process was really slow due to the environment.

Yeah, they're in a swamp.

In a literal swamp.

But by the afternoon of December 31st,

they had found the final body

buried in the thick mud of the swamp.

And they were able to find that body

and the hand was sticking out.

Oh, my God.

In total,

99 people were killed from the crash,

including two flight attendants,

Stephanie Stanek and Pat Gizels,

and three members of the flight crew

in the cockpit,

including Captain Robert Loft

and Second Officer Don Repo,

had passed away.

Wow.

Now, those who had survived

were still hospitalized,

sorry,

and then learned that they actually

may have gotten a life-threatening infection

from the very mud that had clogged

their wounds in the swamp and saved them.

Shut up.

Because the mud may have helped save their lives

by clogging their open wounds.

But then they got an infection from that.

From that same mud,

because that mud was found to have

an organism that can cause gas-gain-green,

which can literally kill a person

in 48 hours.

Holy shit.

So it turned out that eight of the survivors

who had had,

it turned out that eight of the survivors

had been infected with this,

one of whom was Ron Infantino

who had lost his wife, Lily.

Oh my god.

He was told that if doctors couldn't locate

a hyperbaric chamber for the gangrene

to be treated,

they would have to amputate his arm.

So this man got married 20 days prior

to this plane crash,

was feeling inconsolable from losing his wife,

switched seats with her,

was blaming himself and then was told,

we might have to amputate your arm.

It honestly doesn't get more bleak than that.

No.

Like that's really fucked up.

Now luckily they were able to find a chamber

for him at a Navy base in Panama City.

And once he was transported there,

he spent 40 hours in the chamber

where, and what happens when you have

this particular infection

is that they put you in a hyperbaric chamber

and they put pressurized oxygen into the chamber

and that's the only way to kill this bacteria.

My god.

But imagine surviving a plane crash,

having every, all of what I just mentioned,

happen and then have to be put into a chamber

that is somewhat reminiscent of a plane.

Yeah.

After crashing one days earlier.

Talk about traumatic.

I can't even.

Wow.

But luckily his arm was able to be saved.

Jeez.

Now just weeks after the crash,

the National Transportation Safety Board and TSB

began its investigation to determine the cause

of the crash, sorry.

And what, if any measures could be taken

to avoid anything similar happening,

like to avoid any similar catastrophes.

Now at the time, this was the first ever

quote unquote jumbo jet to crash

and the number of people who died,

it was actually the largest US civil aviation,

it was the largest amount of people

in US civil aviation history.

Wow.

So there was a lot of pressure on these investigators

to find out exactly what happened.

To think that it was a light bulb.

Yeah.

And yeah, yeah.

So based on the radio communications with the flight crew

and the moments leading up to the crash,

investigators knew that they were having a problem

with the landing gear.

So they reviewed the black box data,

but that indicated that the aircraft

was working properly.

Yeah.

There was nothing wrong with the landing gear.

What was the mechanical?

According to the report, the aircraft power plants,

airframes, electrical and pilot static instruments,

flight controls, anti-draulic and electrical systems

were not factors contributing to this incident.

Wow.

And that is directly from the NTSB.

Now having ruled out mechanical failure

and acts of God, investigators were left

with only one other cause, operator error.

Wow.

So during the investigation,

the NTSB reviewed the autopsies

and the medical histories of two members of the flight crew

who had died in the crash at this point.

Don Repo's autopsy and history turned up

really nothing significant,

but the post-mortem examination of Captain Loft

did show that there was actually a tumor

in his cranial cavity,

which the medical examiner noted, quote,

could have affected the captain's vision,

particularly where peripheral vision was concerned.

Oh.

Now that means he's looking at that light.

He's not seeing in his peripheral the autopilot.

Something happening with the autopilot thing.

Exactly.

And wasn't he the one that they insisted he wear glasses?

Exactly.

So it sounds like he was obviously having difficulty

with some parts of his vision.

Well, we're not so sure

because then it kind of gets tipped on its head.

So given the pathologist's findings,

the NTSB investigators, they did theorize

that Captain Loft's vision could be impaired

to the extent that he didn't notice the changes

to the ultimate readings explaining the accident.

So they were like, okay, this is it.

However, that theory was quickly dismissed

when interviews with friends, family, and coworkers

reported no noticeable symptoms of impaired vision

or difficulty performing his duties as a pilot before this.

And then even the pathologist acknowledged

that the type of tumor they had found

typically presented itself in a very slow onset,

giving the person ample time to adapt

and compensate for any changes.

So then they said it was unlikely to be the cause.

But then why did they need him to wear corrective lenses?

That's the thing.

He was obviously having some vision issues

if they were...

It was a necessity.

Exactly.

So I think it was in...

So maybe it wasn't that.

It was a contributing factor, but it wasn't the only reason.

That makes sense.

Yeah.

Because obviously there was something there.

Yeah, he had to wear it.

They forced him to wear the lenses.

Exactly.

So after months of investigation, the NTSB came to the conclusion

that the crash of Flight 401 was the result of a confluence

of highly unusual occurrences and errors

that could ultimately be chalked up

to lack of vigilance among the flight crew, sadly.

And the following were all taken into consideration,

and this is from the NTSB.

So one, the approach and landing routine

was interrupted by abnormal gear indication.

So that's the light.

Yeah.

The autopilot was engaged to reduce workload,

but positive delegation of aircraft control

was not accomplished.

So they didn't put someone to make sure

that that autopilot was sitting the right position.

Nobody was making sure everything was...

Because that's kind...

It popped into my head when you said

like they put it on autopilot and just went about...

Exactly.

Really paying attention to this other thing.

It's like, yeah, like...

Put it on autopilot.

Three of you should totally be figuring out

what the hell's happening.

But one of you has to have eyes on that.

So you should be sitting there going,

okay, everything is like keeping an eye on where you are,

what the plane's doing, what the altitude is doing,

what that autopilot is doing.

It makes sense to me, but I was like, I'm not a pilot,

so I'm not going to claim to know

what is supposed to be happening in that cockpit.

And here's the thing,

the plane can fly itself,

but the plane is not meant to fly itself.

Yeah, it's like that autopilot is very powerful.

It's there for that reason.

It's there to, like you said, it could land by itself.

But you have to be sitting there monitoring it.

Yeah, it's just like, it's really not.

And especially that's,

I don't think it's supposed to do that in a situation

where there's three people that aren't incapacitated.

Exactly.

They did find out after that there were certain issues

with the autopilot on these particular jets

because it was so new,

but they also found that pilots in previous flights

on this particular jet had relied too much

on the autopilot in a survey.

They also, again, going back to the NT SB,

kind of their conclusion on this, right?

The nose gear position light lens assembly was removed

and incorrectly reinstalled.

The captain divided his attention between attempts

to help the first officer and orders to the other crew members

to try other approaches to the problem.

And finally, the flight crew devoted approximately

four minutes to the distraction

with minimal regard for the other flight requirements.

Yeah.

So essentially far too much manpower and time

was put to this one tiny problem.

And not delegated around.

Not delegated around at all.

And again, I'm not, I don't claim to know anything

about flying a plane or being a pilot.

No way.

I can't imagine being a pilot.

To me, it's like one of the scariest

and most impressive fucking jobs you could have.

And it's like, so I don't know what you're supposed to be doing,

but it just logically, it makes sense to me

that if there's more than one person

and none of you are incapacitated at the moment

that you need to delegate that stuff to...

That's a thing.

Because there's...

Having eyes everywhere.

There were four people in this cockpit.

Oh, four even.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Now in more simple terms, essentially,

and I think we've made it pretty clear,

the flight crew was so preoccupied with the failure

of the nose gear indicator light

and didn't notice when, without realizing it,

one of them had most likely accidentally bumped

the autopilot control and turned the program off.

That's chilling.

Chilling.

That's really chilling.

Now, the second thing that investigators did want to look into,

because maybe it could be of help,

was the relatively high survival rate of the passengers.

Yeah.

The crash of Flight 401 was, and still is, like I said,

one of the worst air disasters to ever occur in the US,

and it did result in total loss of this particular aircraft,

but it was still surprising to investigators

that nearly half of the passengers lived.

Yeah.

And many of them suffered relatively minor injuries.

That's unbelievable.

Truly.

Now, investigators couldn't say with 100% certainty,

but they theorized that the larger section

of the mid fuselage, I believe is how you say it,

that's where most of the survivors were seated.

It managed to stay intact,

quote, until the velocity was considerably reduced,

or until these sections came to a stop.

Wow.

So people seated in that section sustained way fewer injuries

than those in other sections where the aircraft broke apart.

Oh, okay.

Investigators.

Was that in the middle of the plane, do you think?

Literally, like the direct middle.

Right.

Well, they always say you're safest where the wings are.

And I think that could be why.

Ah, interesting.

Now, investigators also believed

that the relatively new design of the seat,

which, quote, incorporated energy absorbers

into the support structure could also explain

the high number of survivors.

Interesting.

A lot, I think, went into it.

Yeah.

I also think because the plane had been descending

for so long.

Yeah, it wasn't as high.

It didn't fall from like 2,000 feet in the sky

abruptly into the ground.

It did fall abruptly.

It was dropping at a different rate.

Exactly.

Now, after the release of the NTSB's report on the investigation,

many survivors and family members of those who had not survived

did file lawsuits against Eastern Air.

I would have done the exact same thing.

They eventually paid out more than $50 million in damages.

That would be about $361 million today.

Oh, damn.

Okay.

Yeah.

So they paid a pretty penny.

Yeah.

Now, the tragedy of Flight 401 was almost immediately

incorporated into Florida's folklore.

But what is surprising is actually

that the supernatural phenomenon around this case

started happening even before the flight had taken off.

Ah.

According to local Florida writer, Greg Jenkins,

one of the flight attendants who was actually scheduled

to work on Flight 401 started having nightmares.

What she believed were psychic visions of the catastrophic

crash in early December.

Wow.

Now, during these nightmares, quote,

she heard sobbing and crying and echoing in her head.

And eventually her dreams became so strong and vivid

that she started telling her friends and her colleagues

about them.

She said that she was completely convinced, quote,

a Lockheed tri-star jet would be approaching the Miami

International Airport and crash killing everyone.

What?

Yes.

And as her dreams and visions went on,

they started including things like Christmas presents

and holiday wreaths.

Holy shit.

And that led her to believe that whatever was going to

happen, it was likely to happen soon.

That's horrifying.

So on December 29th, there was a last minute

change in crew schedules, and that resulted in several

flight attendants being put on this particular flight

at the last minute.

And three of them, including this particular woman

who had these premonitions about the accident,

ended up declining the shift.

Wow.

Because she had talked to them and they were so freaked out

about her dreams and visions.

Holy shit.

And the woman who had been having these nightmares,

she actually didn't work at all that night

because she was so scared.

I don't blame her.

The next day when she learned of the crash,

she said all the visions and the dreams made sense.

The Christmas presents, the holiday wreaths,

and the apparatus and she had seen,

quote, hands stretched outward then disappearing forever

with muffled screams.

That's literally how the last body was found,

a hand stretched upward.

My whole body is just gone.

Can you imagine?

Just holy shit.

According to author Greg Jenkins,

who wrote Florida's ghostly legends and haunted folklore,

the first report of an apparition associated with flight 401,

which were quite frequent afterwards,

the first one was from Easternair's own vice president.

He had boarded a flight to Miami just months after the crash

on the exact same kind of plane.

Now, some people actually said that this plane

that he was on was made from recycled parts of the plane

that had crashed, but Eastern Airlines was adamant

that they never recycled any parts for new aircrafts.

Okay.

It is highly debated in this story,

but it is simply alleged.

Okay.

Also, Eastern Airlines doesn't exist anymore, so whatever.

Same kind of plane and same route

that this guy was getting on.

No, thank you.

No.

But anyway, this man, vice president of Easternair,

boards the plane at JFK in New York,

and he takes his seat in the first class section of the plane,

and he noticed that he was sitting next to one of Eastern's pilots,

and he said this guy's, quote,

eyes were fixated on something outside the window.

So he ended up trying to make conversation with the man,

but he said this man was so focused on something outside the window.

And when he finally did look back,

the vice president first noticed, quote,

the sad pale face

before realizing he was staring at none other

than the late Captain Robert Loft.

Oh, fuck.

He said he, quote,

got the feeling one gets when discovering a dead body

or seeing a ghost.

And he said just seconds later,

this vision of Loft literally evaporated right before his eyes.

And it freaked him out so badly

that he actually hopped out of his seat

and alerted the flight attendant,

even went out to the ticket agency

to see who had been seated next to him on the flight.

And according to author John Fuller, quote,

a complete search of the plane and the area was made,

but there was no sign of the man who resembled Loft.

And there were no other Eastern employees on the flight that day.

Shut up.

Holy shit.

He's just looking out the window.

Like that's just like sadly looking out the window.

It looked like he was probably looking out the window

at them doing their like before takeoff routines,

making sure everybody was getting it right.

Because remember, same fucking flight.

Oh, my whole body is chilling.

Wild.

Prime big deal days are coming October 10th and 11th,

with two days of big savings exclusively for Prime members.

You'll feel like you just won the big game.

I'm here at Kevin's doorstep,

where he just executed a textbook package pickup.

Kevin, talk us through these deals you scored.

Well, the parents are touted.

I knew this coffee grinder deal would be a winner.

Yeah.

Thank you, Kevin.

I love you, mom.

Big deals on everything from home to electronics.

It's on Prime big deal days, October 10th and 11th.

Now, according to Fuller,

additional sightings of Loft followed soon after.

Most often on flights from JFK to Miami for obvious reasons.

But many of those who spotted the apparitions

were actually Eastern Airline employees themselves.

Several of whom had worked with Loft on multiple occasions,

and they were always were shocked to see his face

because they knew what had happened.

There were actually so many sightings

that allegedly Eastern Airlines warned their employees

not to speak about it.

Wow.

They started happening so frequently.

Holy shit.

Now, while Captain Loft was, like I said,

a frequently reported sighting on Eastern flights,

before long, there were other ghosts reported,

including that of Second Officer Donald Repo.

In one instance, a passenger traveling on Eastern Air Flight 318,

which was also an L-1011 aircraft,

they reported sitting next to an Eastern employee

on her flight to Miami.

And she said she noticed that this man sitting next to her

looked pale and sickly,

so she actually asked him if he was all right.

But the man did not respond to her

and just kept looking straight ahead

and still concerned the woman pushed the call button

to get the flight attendant.

She's like, something's wrong with this guy.

Like, I don't know.

Is he going to throw up or something?

Yeah.

By the time the flight attendant arrived,

the man next to her had simply disappeared.

No.

Gone.

No.

Can you imagine?

No, I can't.

Now later, when the plan landed,

because then this poor woman actually went through

with the flight.

Yeah, just like, what the fuck did I just see?

Like, what is that?

Like I said earlier, like almost a four hour flight.

I think you're just like, what?

Like what?

The flight attendant asked the woman if she wanted

to look over some recent photos of Eastern air employees,

because she's like, who did you see?

And the woman agreed.

And eventually they came across a group photo

of Eastern pilots.

And one of those pilots, the woman pointed to

and she said, that was the man sitting next to me.

That was absolutely him.

And the flight attendant and the woman were both stunned

when they turned the photo over and saw the inscription

which read, in memorial, flight 401, December 29th, 1972.

The man that she had pointed to was second officer,

Donald Repo.

Holy shit.

Sat next to her.

I have never gotten more chills in my life

than I've gotten during this story.

Like, holy shit.

This story is insane.

Wow.

Now, strangely in the years that passed,

and remember this previous thing happened on flight 318,

but it seems that flight 318 became a frequent host

for spirits with a connection to flight 401.

And one instance, a crew of Marriott caterers

loaded food into the gallery and left,

that's what they were doing.

And then they all left the plane abruptly

and refused to get back on board.

And the flight crew was like, what is going on?

And they quote, told them that they saw a flight engineer

standing in the galley who instantly disappeared

right before their eyes.

And that's like a group of people being like,

just a group of caterers.

And they're like, I'm not getting back on that plane.

Like, no.

No.

Then on another flight from New York to Miami,

while the aircraft was flying over the Everglades,

a male voice came over the PA and announced

that they'd be landing soon,

instructing everyone to fasten their safety belts.

Now later, one of the crew members said

they hadn't recognized the voice,

but it was discovered that none of the flight crew

had made that announcement.

Holy shit.

And remember, they were most likely flying over the Everglades

on the flight that crashed when they said

like safety belts on were about to land.

Yeah.

Now as time passed, there were more and more sightings,

most often of loft or repo,

but also unusual circumstances that eventually

led a lot of people to wonder

if flight 401 was like a jinxed number.

This became a source of serious speculation in 1980

when Eastern Air Flight 401 from New York to Miami

was hijacked.

Holy shit.

And it was flown to Cuba with 225 passengers on board.

Ooh.

For passenger Jerry Steinem,

the hijacking was especially troubling

because in 1972, he had traveled to New York

and he was scheduled to return to Miami

on board flight 401 that had crashed.

My God.

But about of a pneumonia kept him

from getting on the plane that day.

Holy shit.

Now eight years later,

here he was in New York again this time for a wedding

and he was planning to return on Air Florida,

but on the morning of the flight,

he overslept and had to take a different flight,

ended up on this particular Eastern Air Flight 401,

which was then hijacked.

Oh, fuck that.

So this guy wasn't even supposed to be on this flight

in the first place.

Yeah, I don't like that.

And had almost been on the plane that crashed.

Damn.

Which I would be like, I'm never flying again.

Yeah, that would be the end of me flying.

So reports of supernatural phenomena

related to flight 401, they were vague,

but they did happen quite frequently.

Most of the time it was people spotting

loft or repo in a crowd,

but in other cases,

one or the other of the pair

appeared to point out malfunctioning systems

or other problems to the flight crews

on these Eastern Air flights.

Oh, I love that.

Like they're like guardian angels.

Yeah.

And one of the last ever recorded stories,

Don Repo appeared to an Eastern airline pilot

and warned him to watch out for fire on his plane.

Oh.

A few days later,

there was a small fire in the cockpit of the plane.

Holy shit.

Similarly,

Repo again appeared to a different Eastern employee

and informed the navigator, quote,

there will never be another crash on a tri-star.

We will not let that happen

before disappearing.

I just got chills.

And according to Jenkins,

this was the last reported sighting of Donald Repo.

I'm covered.

The chills have gone up to my scalp.

Literally.

My scalp is has chills on it.

We will not let it happen.

Oh my God.

And it's like.

It's like operator error.

And it makes me so sad.

They feel like they have to make up for it.

Make up for it.

Oh my God.

I know.

Oh.

Oh.

So eventually,

the reports of ghostly visitors and psychic premonitions

had become so common,

that author and paranormal enthusiast,

John G. Fuller,

excuse me,

collected them in a book,

along with his experience investigating the phenomenon.

His book,

The Ghost Flight of 401,

was published just four years after the crash.

And he purports to tell, quote,

the supernatural aftermath,

more awful than the crash.

But not everybody was so enthusiastic

about his particular publication.

And those critics became even more vocal a few years later

when the book was adapted into a TV movie

of the same name,

starring Kim Basinger and Ernest Borgnein.

Huh.

They just weren't super happy about it.

It was just a TV film.

Yeah.

But in an effort to mitigate any negative press,

officials at Eastern Air tried to keep ahead of the story,

and they refuted any claims of paranormal experience

related to Flight 401.

They told reporters,

the ghost stories may have begun as a joke among employees,

but the airline has found the legend unshakable.

Now,

they never took any formal steps to shut down Fuller's book

or stop any rumors from spreading,

but they did consider doing so

when they said Fuller began reporting

that parts from the destroyed plane were recycled

and put into other Eastern aircrafts.

But he was not the only person to say this.

Yeah.

If you look into anything I read about this,

stated that like it was fact.

Yeah.

But they said absolutely not.

Alleged.

Alleged.

Now, the rumors obviously could have negatively affected

Eastern's business.

And like I said earlier,

they were adamant that they did not do this.

But I also don't really know how they could have

because a lot of the plane was destroyed.

I was gonna say, yeah.

There were certain things that did survive

and actually when the investigation took place,

people were so shocked

that they had been preserved so beautifully,

but who am I to say?

Who knows?

Who among us?

Who among us?

So now,

more than 50 years later,

a lot of the survivors from Flight 401 have sadly passed away.

And in 2022,

the remaining survivors actually fun-raised

and lobbied the state

until they received the approval to install a memorial

on Curtis Parkway in Miami Springs,

which lists the names of the dead.

And actually,

Beverly Raposa spearheaded the effort

to get the monument placed

and said,

I carry these folks in my heart every single day.

There has not been one day in the last 50 years

that they haven't been in my heart

and that I haven't wanted to make sure

that I keep my promise to them.

Like,

the fact that she was the one who knew this plane

was going down and then was like,

it is my duty to make sure that these people get remembered

and then follow through with it.

There's so many heroes in this story.

I know.

That's the thing.

Now,

you will probably be happy to hear that

Eastern Airlines did close their doors forever in 1991

because they did fail to keep up with new competitors

who were offering lower rates.

You know,

that's okay.

And hopefully that means now that Don Repo

and Captain Loft there can rest in peace

and not have to worry about...

It sounds like they did too.

Yeah.

Like they don't have to worry about making sure

that doesn't happen on those flights again.

Exactly.

Wow.

So that is the tragic and wildly paranormal story

of Eastern Airlines flight 401.

That was the chills I got during that.

Like,

that was harrowing.

That was tragic.

That was terrifying.

But then just to hear, like, it was all of those things,

but I love the highlights of just people coming together

and taking care of each other and such a tragedy.

That's the stuff you need to hear,

because then when you hear the bleakness of people

stealing things off of dead bodies,

like,

what is wrong with you?

You've got to hear a little bit of people coming together

to be good people,

because everybody remember,

like,

that was shocking to hear that part.

Yeah.

Those are the minority.

Oh, absolutely.

In general,

we all have to believe that humans are good.

Good.

And that the shitty ones just are the ones that shock you,

so they're the ones that get all the talk.

But for this one, forget about those people.

Forget about them.

Forget about them.

And think about the people who, you know,

bud there who went running into jet fuel swamp.

My guy.

Without a second thought.

My guy bud.

And all these kind of people.

And think about, you know, like, you know,

Captain Loft and Don Repo,

who were just trying to make up for the errors

that happened in that flight.

It's amazing.

It's so sad.

But fuck.

I know.

It's such a tragic story,

but it's also so beautiful in the end when you hear

that they were like,

we're never going to let this happen again.

Yeah.

But then also so tragic that their afterlife was spent

making sure that this did possibly spend.

Trying to stop it from happening again.

Exactly.

When it was really just a human error.

Like it's not like anybody did anything maliciously.

No.

It's not like they were bad at their job.

It's like, it was just human error.

And they had flown many, many flights.

Yeah.

Landed and took off safely millions of times.

And again, they're just human beings.

It was just a mistake of delegating.

So it's like, that's really it.

It's a wild story,

but we're going to get a little more haunted and,

I don't know about uplifting,

but we're going to get a little more haunted for spooky season

because it's Ophysial.

I think we're in spooky season.

Ophysial.

We've recorded these so far ahead of time that I never know,

but Mikey is nodding yes at me.

Yes.

There you go.

So keep listening for those.

We hope you keep listening.

We hope you keep it weird.

But not so weird that you take things off of dead bodies

when they die because,

well, that's really yucky,

but do keep it so weird that you take care of your fellow man

if you were to ever, God forbid,

have anything happen to you in a plane crash.

I love you so much.

Bye.

And there's a memorial, so go visit it.

Yes.

Leafs and flowers.

Thank you.

Hey, Prime members,

you can listen to Morbid early and ad free on Amazon Music.

Download the Amazon Music app today,

or you can listen ad free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts.

Before you go,

tell us about yourself by completing a short survey

at Wondery.com slash survey.

Hey, weirdos.

Before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming,

I wanted to let you know that Wondery's shocking true crime podcast

over my dead body is back for a fourth season

that will literally give you literal goosebumps.

The newest season covers the story of Mike Williams.

It was Mike's sixth wedding anniversary

when he set off on a hunting trip

into the gator infested swamps of North Florida.

He figured he'd be back in time

to take his wife Denise out to celebrate,

but he didn't come back.

Friends and loved ones feared he met his fate through bad luck

in a group of hungry alligators,

leaving his young family behind.

Except that's not what happened at all.

And after 17 years, a kidnapping,

and the uncovering of a secret love triangle,

the truth would finally be revealed.

Enjoy over my dead body, gun hunting,

on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to Over My Dead Body early and add free on Wondery Plus.

Get started with your free trial at Wondery.com slash plus.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.