Chowchilla school bus hijacking
The Chowchilla school bus hijacking, which occurred on July 15, 1976, involved the abduction of a bus carrying 26 children and their driver in rural California. After being taken hostage for over eleven hours, the group was transferred to a buried van at a rock quarry, where they remained confined for about sixteen hours. Their ordeal ended when they managed to dig themselves out and were found safe on July 17. The incident led to the capture of three suspects, who were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the crime.
This event significantly impacted the understanding of childhood trauma, challenging the prevailing belief that children were resilient to post-traumatic stress. Long-term studies of the victims revealed that many experienced severe emotional difficulties, including nightmares, anxiety, and a pessimistic outlook on life. The findings underscored the necessity for prompt psychological treatment for children who undergo traumatic experiences, contributing to advancements in trauma research and care. The Chowchilla bus hijacking remains a pivotal case in discussions around child safety and mental health support.
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Subject Terms
Chowchilla school bus hijacking
The Event Three wealthy young men abduct a school bus full of children
Date July 15, 1976-July 29, 1976
The bizarre kidnapping of a school bus carrying twenty-six children horrified and mystified Americans, but the public was inspired by the courage and resourcefulness exhibited by the bus driver and his young passengers.
On July 15, 1976, a busload of children on their way home from a swim outing outside rural Chowchilla in the Central Valley of California was abducted. The children, nineteen girls and seven boys between the ages of five and fourteen, and their fifty-five-year-old bus driver, Ed Ray, were driven around for eleven hours in two vans after their kidnappers hid the bus in a drainage ditch a few miles out of town. Ray and the children then were taken to an eight-by-sixteen-foot van, which the kidnappers had buried in a Livermore, California, rock quarry. After sixteen hours imprisoned in the van, Ray and the children managed to dig themselves out and were found in good condition and returned safely to Chowchilla early in the morning of July 17.
Police dug up the buried van from the quarry, which was located on the estate of Frederick Nickerson Woods. Upon learning that Woods’s son, Fred Newhall Woods IV, aged twenty-four, was missing, police began searching for him and for his friends—James Schoenfeld, also twenty-four, and his brother Richard, twenty-two, the sons of a wealthy podiatrist. The rough draft of a ransom note demanding five million dollars was found on the Woods estate. All three suspects either surrendered or were captured by July 29. On December 5, 1977, the men were found guilty of kidnapping with attempt to do bodily harm and sentenced to life in prison.
Impact
The Chowchilla bus hijacking made a lasting contribution to research in the area of childhood trauma. During the 1970’s, most psychiatrists believed that children were somehow immune from the effects of post-traumatic stress syndrome and that they recovered easily from disturbing events. Long-term studies done on the Chowchilla victims, however, proved that this is not true. The victims suffered from nightmares, pessimism about the future, anxiety, fears, dreams of death, and belief in omens. Because of these studies, specialists learned the importance of treating children who have suffered traumatic events promptly.
Bibliography
Baugh, Jack W. Why Have They Taken Our Children? Chowchilla, July 15, 1976. New York: Delacorte Press, 1978.
Terr, Lenore. Too Scared to Cry: Psychic Trauma in Childhood. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.