On a cold December night in 1968, twenty-year-old Barbara Jane Mackle went to sleep believing she was recovering from the flu.
She had no idea she was about to become the victim of one of the most shocking kidnappings in American history.
What followed would leave the nation horrified, trigger a massive FBI manhunt, and force a young woman to endure a nightmare few people could even imagine.
She would be buried alive.
And for the next 83 hours, the only thing standing between her and death was a small air tube no wider than a garden hose.
A Night That Changed Everything
Barbara Jane Mackle was the daughter of a wealthy Florida real estate developer.
In December 1968, she was attending college when illness forced her to temporarily leave campus.
Her mother checked into a motel in Decatur, Georgia, to care for her while she recovered from the flu.
The pair expected a quiet night.
Instead, shortly after midnight, there was a knock at the door.
Standing outside were two people claiming to be police officers.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then everything changed.
The strangers forced their way inside.
Barbara’s mother was overpowered and restrained.
Weak from illness and caught completely off guard, Barbara was unable to fight back.
Within minutes, she was taken from the room and driven into the darkness.
No one knew where she was going.
Not even Barbara.
The Coffin Beneath the Earth
Hours later, the kidnappers arrived at a remote wooded location.
What Barbara saw next was almost impossible to comprehend.
Waiting for her was a specially constructed fiberglass box.
It looked like a coffin.
The kidnappers forced her inside.
