November Stories

Was he or wasn't he a guest at the Carlton Hotel? I don't know for sure, and the people who did know, or at least thought that they knew, are probably staying in the Grand Hotel in the Sky now. When I first went to work in the Carlton, one of the first stories that I was told by both guests and employees was that he had been. Let me take you back in time for a little history lesson.The date? November 24, 1971. The place? Somewhere in the skies between Portland and Seattle

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On November 24, 1971, Northwest Orient flight 306 taxied down the runway of Portland International Airport and took off in the rainy, darkened evening skies bound for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It was the night before Thanksgiving, and no doubt the passengers and crew were dreaming of grandparents, children, parents, friends, and turkey as they flew through the darkened rain-soaked skies. At least that is what most of them were dreaming about. The middle-aged man, dressed in a black raincoat, dark suit, and white shirt  sitting in seat18C must have had other dreams and thoughts on his mind.

I am quite confident that most of the passengers were sure that the plane would touch down on time, and that they would leave the plane in the usual manner where they would be hugged and kissed by waiting loved ones. The man in 18C probably was  also wondering  what he would see and encounter as he stepped off of the plane. There was one big difference between him and the other passengers on the 727 that night. This man had no intention of exiting the aircraft in the usual manner, He would not be welcomed by loving arms, and throngs of Holiday travelers at SEA-TAC Airport. Instead, he would be welcomed by freezing temperatures, cold black air, and probably death when he stepped off of the plane that night. His name? You probably know him as DB Cooper, or Dan Cooper, the name he used to board the plane that cold, November night.

If you are not familiar with the story of DB Cooper, I urge you to Google the name and read everything that you can about the man and the night that changed aviation history. It is a fascinating story, and there are many myths and legends about that famous night.Who was he? Did he survive the jump that night? What did he do with the money? Was the man who told his wife on his death bed that he was DB Cooper the real guy or was it the man who lived in Bonney Lake Washington who was the real DB Cooper? Maybe it was the man from Utah that a movie was made about. None of us know for sure, and only that only adds to the legend from November 24, 1971.

I went to work at the Carlton on December 17, 1971, only about three weeks after this famous nights. The people at the Carlton were still buzzing with what they perceived as truth that DB Cooper had been a guest at the Carlton Hotel just days before his famous night. According to the guests, the FBI had been all over the hotel looking for clues.

I don't know for sure that he was or had ever been a guest at the Carlton.We did not require picture Id's in those days to register. But, for some strange reason, I feel a special bond with DB Cooper because I feel that he had been in the Carlton, and I could feel his presence. Maybe it was just my imagination, or maybe it isn't. I do not know for sure any more than the FBI knows who he was or if he survived that historical night.

If he was a guest, then there was a room at the Carlton that knows for sure. There are walls that stared at him as he plotted his destiny. If only those walls could talk, for only they know for sure.

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