Stowaway or perhaps cargo handler
 

AA flight to NYC from Buenos Aires returns after pax report banging on the floor.
https://viewfromthewing.com/emergenc...om-cargo-hold/

Interesting that they had armed police enter the cargo hold with a fully load aircraft. Thank God there was no accidental discharge. Also no mention if it was a stowaway or baggage handler

Stowaway tries to alert crew to their presence in mid-flight ...

Perhaps not.

Considering the date of occurrence: were the noises coming from inside a coffin?

Aviation Herald quotes AA as saying no person was found.

https://avherald.com/h?article=51fb1600&opt=0

AA post on X:

Unsecured load perhaps, which could have been a lot worse?

Quite possibly ..certainly remember one instance of “something” clunking in the aft hold of a 74 which turned to be an improperly secured baggage bin (ULD).

Perhaps they should have called a priest rather than police?

I remember reading about an incident perhaps 40 years ago where the crew did an air-turnback due to a banging noise coming from below the flight deck (A300 IIRC).
Turns out there was a gorilla being transported in the forward cargo bay, and the tranquilizer had worn off...

Like trading places ?
https://www.google.com/search?q=trad...iU7Ee-RmY,st:0

WAY back in the day I knew a guy who was in the cargo hold of a 737 cooling off on a hot day after unloading the bags. He nodded off and woke up halfway to Tampa. He might have snuck out if the rampers at TPA had mercy on him, but the big dummy banged on the ceiling and scared the passengers. There is no way out of there, he was stuck until landing, banging or no banging. He was fired on the spot and had to find his own way home when they landed.
* this was considered funny, but it might not have been if there had been dry-ice cargo in there.