Does anyone remember a case about a prisoner who was a very old man? He was the only prisoner in the prison... and he was found hanging- some thought it was suicide but it wasn't ruled suicide by the coroner. So the question is, since he was the only prisoner, if it wasn't suicide, then who in the heck did it? I could have sworn this was at Alcatraz. However, my friend visited there this weekend and said she saw a picture on the tour of the line of prisoners leaving Alcatraz. I guess it wouldn't make sense for them to send everyone out of the prison except one.... so who was it? Where was it? Thanks in advance.....

If I am not mistaken, I believe you are referring to the Rudolph Hess case.

If I am not mistaken, I believe you are referring to the Rudolph Hess case.

This would be Rudolph Hess.

Yep, definitely Rudolf Hess. The theory in this segment was that a double may have served the entire prison sentence instead of Hess and that he was silenced in case he had any thoughts about making a deathbed confession about this. Whether you believe this double theory at all, it certainly does seem weird for a 93-year old man to suddenly decide to hang himself after spending over 40 years in prison.

Does anyone remember a case about a prisoner who was a very old man? He was the only prisoner in the prison... and he was found hanging- some thought it was suicide but it wasn't ruled suicide by the coroner. So the question is, since he was the only prisoner, if it wasn't suicide, then who in the heck did it? I could have sworn this was at Alcatraz. However, my friend visited there this weekend and said she saw a picture on the tour of the line of prisoners leaving Alcatraz. I guess it wouldn't make sense for them to send everyone out of the prison except one.... so who was it? Where was it? Thanks in advance.....

It was Rudolf Hess, formerly Hitler's number 2 man. The prison was Spandau prison in Berlin, he had outlived the other Nazis imprisoned there, which is why he was the only one left.

Frankly, even if someone did murder him, I'm not going to shed a tear over a dead Nazi, even an old dead nazi.

Great case to watch if you need a nap.

Great case to watch if you need a nap.
I find this case interesting, but this comment made me chuckle. :lol:

This one isn't talked about so much. Does anyone think it was a body double? I wasn't convinced. I wasn't so sure that he committed suicide. Something seemed shady about the whole thing.

It absolutely was him. His wife and son visited him many times and had no doubt that he was in no uncertain terms Rudolph Hess.

This was my impression as well.


Believe it or not, old age in a prison might be hell. He did commit suicide.
What do you make of his severe fragility at the time? The investigator in the segment made a really good point that he was unable to reach over his head at the time and would have had a very difficult time hanging himself.

It's almost 2019 and I am still waiting on the sealed details of this case to be released. I'm guessing that is not going to happen or there is nothing to release...

I've watched this segment many times because it puts me to sleep, but it is also very interesting because it covers one of the biggest unknown's of WW2.

I don't buy into the fact that he was a double. But I do think it is possible that he was ordered to try and broker a peace treaty with Britain or at least put out the feelers. If it was on his own accord that he did this then I wonder why he wouldn't just tell everyone rather than remaining silent as if he was keeping a secret for multiple people? I also wonder about the ambiguity of his pre WW2 records and his capabilities as a pilot being overstated.

My best guess is he and Nazi leaders saw the writing on the wall and attempted to make a cease fire or treaty with Britain in order to retain occupation in continental Europe and it failed. I agree with the person in the segment who says that British records are sealed to protect members of parliament who wanted to explore peace with Nazi Occupied Europe. That would have been a black eye for Britain considering how bad Nazi's tormented Europe.

As far as suicide I do not find it odd nor do I find it strange if someone killed him. Considering what nazi's did to prisoners I would think he would have expected to suffer some type of backlash in prison.

If I'm not mistaken I believe Hess was the LAST prisoner there. I can see them pulling the plug on him just to shut the place down and save the money on all the guards etc.

If I'm not mistaken I believe Hess was the LAST prisoner there. I can see them pulling the plug on him just to shut the place down and save the money on all the guards etc.

I believe that is correct that he was the last prisoner. When I went on a WW2 tour in Belgium the tour guide mentioned a story about Hess complaining of abuse by one of the American guards (who spent time in Belgium). I wish I could remember the name of the guard...