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A gravestone at the heart of a macabre mystery.

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The people were convinced that she was a vampire.

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A glittering statue that hides unspeakable horrors.

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He designed this building for disposing of human bodies.

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And a playhouse that witnessed the most infamous murder in American history.

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He said, I'm really John Wilkes Booth, assassin, President Lincoln.

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Sometimes the greatest secrets lie in plain sight.

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These are monumental mysteries.

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In the thick woods of Exeter Road Island,

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a rural hamlet traversed by pristine streams and ancient stone walls

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lies the pure white facade of Chestnut Hill Baptist Church,

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where the faithful gather every Sunday as they have for nearly 180 years.

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But adjoining this historic house of God is a cemetery that's reputed to be unholy.

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Here, amongst the tombstones, stands one memorial that harbors a sinister secret.

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It's a very simple headstone about three feet high and a very simple inscription.

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As author Sarah L. Thompson knows,

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this tombstone marks the final resting place of a woman whose legacy arose from this very grave.

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She was at the center of an extraordinary and rather macabre chain of events

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that have captured the imaginations of people at the time in 400 years since.

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So who was this young woman?

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And what role did she play in an episode so blood-curdling that it haunts the town to this day?

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The early 1890s, Exeter Road Island.

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19-year-old Mercy Brown and her brother Edwin are living with their widowed father George

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in a lonely farmhouse in this quiet corner of New England.

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But in the winter of 1891, Mercy falls desperately ill.

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Mercy Brown became ill with tuberculosis and her illness took her very quickly.

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Racked by fever and coughing up blood, Mercy feels the life flowing out of her.

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She wasted away and was dead within a matter of months.

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Her body was taken to the cemetery and placed in the crypt there since it was too cold to dig a grave.

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But Mercy's death is only the latest in a series of hammer blows to befall her grief-stricken parent.

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Tuberculosis has laid waste to the Brown family.

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For George Brown, this must have been a tragedy.

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He watched his wife die, his older daughter, and then he watched his younger daughter die.

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But life for George Brown is about to get even worse.

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In February of the same year, his last remaining child, Edwin Brown, falls prey to the insidious disease.

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I think the whole town of Exeter was beginning to be a little desperate to explain why this one family was suffering like this.

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It must have seemed to them and to their community as if they were under a curse.

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And the desperate people of the village have their own ideas on how to rid the Brown family of the ill fortune that plagues them.

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They thought that what needed to be done was that someone needed to go to the graveyard where Edwin's sisters and his mother were buried and dig up those bodies.

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In fact, they believe that one of the deceased members of the Brown family is not dead at all, but is actually a vampire.

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They wouldn't have believed that a person was getting out of her grave, wandering around, biting people at night.

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That wasn't actually part of the tradition as it existed here in New England.

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Instead, they think that vampires keep their own hearts alive by draining blood out of their victims remotely without ever leaving their coffins.

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The people of Exeter simply believed that the heart was staying alive by drawing the life out of Edwin, and that the only way to stop this from happening would be to take the heart and burn it.

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Convinced that burning the heart is the only hope of vanquishing the vampire and saving his son, George Brown reluctantly consents to having the bodies of his wife and daughters exhumed.

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In March, three months after Mercy had died, four men from the town dug up the bodies of her mother and her older sister, Mary.

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They were examined. The process of decomposition seemed to be normal in their case.

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But when it comes to Mercy Brown, the villagers encountered something altogether different.

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When her coffin was opened, her body had been found to have turned over, to have turned face down.

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It is actually a piece of folklore that a body that moves or turns over in the grave is a sign of a vampire.

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But even more disturbing is the pristine condition of her corpse. The skin and features are remarkably intact.

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And these are not the only signs that Mercy Brown may indeed be undead.

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The doctor performed an autopsy on her and found blood in her heart.

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The people of Exeter were convinced by the presence of that blood that she was a vampire.

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The villagers then performed a bizarre and sinister ritual that they believed will vanquish the vampire and save the life of Edwin Brown.

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They take Mercy's heart and burn it.

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The ashes of the heart were taken from the site where they'd been burned.

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And they were actually given to Edwin to drink. This was supposed to cure him.

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Despite swallowing the dreadful concoction, Edwin Brown fails to recover his health and the young man dies a short time later.

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But the story doesn't end there.

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The bizarre case of Mercy Brown is widely reported in newspapers across the U.S. and even in Europe.

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There it is picked up by an Irish author named Bram Stoker.

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A year later, he publishes The Ultimate Tale of the Undead. Dracula.

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Among Bram Stoker's papers there's a clipping of a story about Mercy Brown and her exclamation.

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The character of Lucy in Dracula starts out as a healthy, fresh, young girl.

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And then she mysteriously starts to waste away. Just in fact, as Mercy did.

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And in the late 1800s, Mercy Brown isn't the only person in America to be accused of vampirism.

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With tuberculosis ravaging New England, reports document as many as 80 similar cases of exhumations.

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Today, a simpler explanation is offered for the strange state of Mercy's remains.

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Her body may have been jostled when it was taken in and out of the crypt, causing it to turn over in the coffin.

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And there is also a rational reason to account for the pristine condition of her body and the preserved blood found in her heart.

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Mercy's body had been kept in this crypt for three months. She had not been dead for very long and she'd been essentially frozen.

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Today in this quiet Rhode Island graveyard, the tombstone of Mercy Brown stands as a memorial to the suffering that one family endured.

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And the epic work of literature that her macabre tale inspired.

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New York City. With more national historic landmarks than any other U.S. metropolis, the Big Apple can rightfully boast a rich architectural heritage.

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But a select few of New York's icons stand apart from the rest. The Brooklyn Bridge. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Statue of Liberty. And Grants Tomb.

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This diverse set of landmarks all share the dubious honor of a bizarre connection, which has long fascinated museum curator Sarah Henry.

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It's intriguing that all of these monuments are linked together by one of the greatest scams in history.

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What part did these icons play in one of the country's most notorious swindles?

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1883. New York City is a boom town like no other. With a population of 1.3 million, every day hundreds more immigrants are pouring in.

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Among them is 22-year-old George C. Parker, a man looking for his own slice of the American dream, albeit illicitly.

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He was one of those small time but very prolific con guys who were out there on the make.

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One day, Parker is watching a crowd of people making their way across the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge, when an idea for a daring new swindle hits him.

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As the story goes, Parker approaches an unsuspecting immigrant and introduces himself as the owner of the bridge.

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Parker tells his mark that he is planning to install a toll gate to charge people a penny to cross the bridge and is looking for investors in the scheme, in effect, selling them a share of the bridge itself.

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And the very implausibility of selling something as large as the Brooklyn Bridge, you could imagine someone would think it would have to be true.

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Producing impressively forged deeds and supporting documents, Parker runs the same scam over and over again, selling shares of the bridge on average twice a week.

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But his scheming doesn't stop there.

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Over the next several decades, Parker runs similar scams on other notable landmarks, from the Statue of Liberty, to the old Madison Square Garden, and even the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Although authorities are on to him, they only manage to convict Parker on a few minor felonies like check forgery, due to a lack of evidence for his most outlandish crimes.

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Growing increasingly daring in 1928, Parker, now 58 years old, embarks on his most scandalous con yet, at the much revered Grant's Tomb.

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You have to remember how important a landmark this was in New York at the time. Grant was a real national hero.

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Impersonating the grandson of deceased President Ulysses S. Grant, Parker explains that he cannot afford the necessary repairs to the mausoleum and is forced to sell the monument.

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And it seems Parker's elaborate charade works. The wealthy marks are seduced by his charisma and agree to buy the mausoleum.

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So with more and more citizens falling victim to Parker's cons and the authorities unable to instare him, will this elusive schemer ever be caught?

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It's 1928. Con artist George Parker has made a career out of swindling New Yorkers, but his latest scam is also his most perverse.

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As the story goes, he pretends to be the grandson of dead President Ulysses S. Grant and tricks people into buying Grant's Tomb.

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So far, authorities have been unable to nab this notorious schemer, but Parker is about to make a surprising slip up.

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On December 17, George Parker is at a Brooklyn restaurant when he decides to run one of his more mundane swindles, cashing forged checks.

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It was a check in the amount of $150, which was a good sum of money in 1928, so it wasn't pocket change.

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But when the owner becomes suspicious and calls the police, Parker is arrested.

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While it's not the first time he's been caught for such an offense, this time it's different.

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A new statute named Bombs Law had been recently passed that condemns criminals found guilty of four offenses to a mandatory life sentence.

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It was a four strikes in your out kind of situation.

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So ironically, it's the smallest of slip ups that finally shuts down this reckless swindler for good.

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Convicted for life, Parker spends the remainder of his days at the notorious Sing Sing Prison, but his legacy lives on.

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You know, this great phrase from popular culture, like if you believe that, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn and I'll sell you, has entered the popular culture so firmly.

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Today, the iconic landmarks caught up in Parker's unbelievable schemes stand as reminders of perhaps the most notorious con artist New York City has ever seen.

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San Francisco Bay, California.

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This shallow estuary is almost entirely enclosed by terrain and is considered the world's largest landlocked harbor.

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And about a mile and a half offshore on the north side of the city stands an ominous landmark.

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We're on a 22-acre rock out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay surrounded by ice cold water and fast moving currents.

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This is Alcatraz.

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From its inception, the nation's first maximum security federal penitentiary staked its reputation on being inescapable.

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Indeed, over the three decades the rock was open, only a handful of brave souls dared even try to break out.

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Many people are familiar with the escape attempt of 1962 that Clint Eastwood made famous with his movie Escape from Alcatraz.

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But a lesser known escape attempt that happened early on was just as dangerous.

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So what happened during the greatest prison break you've never heard of?

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1935, Alcatraz Island.

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Two convicts arrive at the prison, both serving sentences tantamount to life.

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Their names Ralph Rowe and Theodore Cole.

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Ted Cole was in for kidnapping and Ralph Rowe was in for bank robbery.

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But these are no ordinary inmates.

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Rowe and Cole are notorious escape artists, having broken out of countless other penitentiaries.

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This was the last stop in the federal system. If you try to escape they'd send you to Alcatraz.

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In spite of the rock's formidable reputation, Rowe and Cole immediately begin probing the system for a sign of weakness.

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Within just a few months of their arrival, they formulate a plan.

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December 16, 1937.

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Alcatraz Island is shrouded in an almost impenetrable cloud of dense fog.

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You couldn't even see your hand in front of your face.

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At 1 p.m. guards conduct one of their 12 daily headcounts in one of the inmate work facilities.

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At that time, all prisoners are present and accounted for.

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But when the guards take roll call just 30 minutes later, they come up two men short.

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Missing are Ted Cole and Ralph Rowe.

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Panicked, guards make a thorough sweep of the island.

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The Alcatraz alarm was sounded and correctional officers scoured the island.

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The Coast Guard local police San Francisco was alerted that be on the lookout for two convicts missing from Alcatraz Island.

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But despite the exhaustive search, the men cannot be found.

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Somehow, these cunning convicts have done the impossible.

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Escaped from Alcatraz.

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So how do they do it?

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Investigators find their first clue in a window of the prison shop where Rowe and Cole were first discovered missing.

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They find the broken glass, the bent window frame and the bars spread.

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And it was obvious that this was their route to break out of the building.

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They conclude that the two convicts used a blade to chisel away at the bars on the window while the guards weren't looking.

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They disguised the cut marks of the bars by putting motor oil and shoe polish in the cracks.

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And these guys were just waiting for the right moment.

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And it's thought that when the heavy fog moved into Alcatraz Island on December 16, Rowe and Cole got just the opportunity they were looking for.

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After pushing open the bars, they had cut through in the window. They made a break for it.

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Once they were outside the building, they came across a gate. They broke the lock off the gate, knocked that through.

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Once through the gate, Rowe and Cole scrambled down a steep cliff where they faced their biggest obstacle yet.

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The treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay.

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The water's cold and it's fast-moving water. It can move like a river, 6-7 knots.

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And if you're in that wrong current, it can take you out to the Pacific Ocean.

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No one could endure these frigid temperatures for long.

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And after an exhaustive manhunt, authorities conclude that Rowe and Cole have most likely drowned.

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But not everyone is so sure.

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A piece of evidence is about to be revealed that will blow the case wide open.

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It's 1937. Alcatraz.

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Two inmates, Rowe and Cole, have done the unthinkable. They've escaped the world's most notorious jail.

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Now, prison officials claim that while the men may have gotten off the island, they could never have survived the icy waters of San Francisco Bay.

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But are the authorities right?

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In July, 1937, Rowe and Cole were killed in a car crash.

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The authorities right.

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In July, 1938, seven months after the two men made their bid for freedom, one of Rowe and Cole's fellow inmates at Alcatraz receives a letter.

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When he opens it, he finds a cryptic message that simply says, business was good in July.

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It may seem innocuous, but to this inmate, it has a very particular meaning.

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The inmate had been privy to Rowe and Cole's scheme.

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And before they escaped, the pair had promised they would send him this coded message if they had survived.

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And this isn't the only evidence to suggest that the two escapees made it.

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Three years later, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the two outlaws were spotted alive and well in South America.

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Whether or not they truly survived, we may never know. But one thing is certain.

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Rowe and Cole are the first guys to officially make it off of Alcatraz.

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You got to give it to them. They did break the system and get into that San Francisco Bay.

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And to this day, Alcatraz looms large as a reminder of the two cunning convicts who were the first to break out of the rock.

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Chicago, Illinois.

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The third largest city in the United States sits on the southwestern shores of majestic Lake Michigan.

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And near the lake on Chicago's south side, within a 500 acre oasis named Jackson Park, is a most imposing figure.

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In her right hand, she holds a globe with an eagle perched on top of it. In her left hand, she holds a long staff.

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Cast in bronze and covered in gold leaf, this is the statue of the Republic.

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Standing 24 feet high, this golden lady is a replica of a statue that towered over one of the biggest celebrations of the 19th century.

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But as filmmaker John Borowski can attest, all was not well at the joyous celebration that this spectacular sculpture memorializes.

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This figure is connected to one of the most bizarre murder stories in American history.

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What disturbing events transpired in the shadow of this statue.

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May 1893. An epic event is underway. The world's Columbian Exposition, better known as the Chicago World's Fair.

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1893 World's Fair was unparalleled at the time. You felt like you were in another world or another country.

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And reigning over it all is the spectacular statue of the Republic, commissioned and unveiled in honor of the Expo.

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The scope of the fair was so huge that it had over 20 million visitors when the entire population of America was just over 70 million.

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Every businessman in Chicago is looking to cash in on the throngs of visitors to the fair.

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And none more so than the owner of the building on 63rd and Wallace, who decides to transform his property into the World's Fair Hotel.

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It had over 71 rooms, three floors. It was so huge that the residents called it the castle.

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The owner of the building was Dr. H.H. Holmes, who was a very charming man and women loved him because of his charismatic personality.

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For the six months that the fair is open, Holmes entices scores of guests to his hotel, predominantly young single women from around the country.

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And to help manage his thriving business, Holmes enlists an assistant, Benjamin Pitzel.

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Benjamin Pitzel was Holmes' right-hand man. He was really his henchman.

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But after the fair ends in October of 1893, the hotel shuts down and Holmes mysteriously disappears, only to resurface under the strangest of circumstances.

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Fall 1894, Philadelphia.

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Police are summoned to a patent office where they make a shocking discovery.

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A grossly disfigured and charred dead body.

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The body is so badly burned that the only source of identification is an unusual flaw on the man's skin.

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Investigators discover that the man renting the patent office is Benjamin Pitzel, who has a distinctive wart on his neck.

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The police immediately suspect murder. And when they discover that Pitzel used to work for a man named Dr. H.H. Holmes, they track down the elusive businessman in Boston and bring him in for questioning.

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And even though Holmes strongly denies any connection to Pitzel's murder, his evasive answers lead them to suspect that he knows more than he is letting on.

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Hoping to find evidence that will link Holmes to Pitzel's murder, detectives descend on Holmes' now defunct business in Chicago, the World's Fair Hotel.

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But they have no idea what horrors await them inside Holmes' lair.

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It's 1895, Chicago.

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Police investigating the death of Benjamin Pitzel are led to an abandoned hotel, formally run by Pitzel's enigmatic boss, one H.H. Holmes.

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So what gruesome discoveries await them within?

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They find things like secret passageways, trap doors. They're shocked because these aren't things you would normally see in a hotel.

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There's even a walk-in vault that is connected to a gas pipe. And in the basement is a dissection table stained with what appears to be blood, a furnace that doubles as a crematorium, and most ghastly of all, human remains.

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They finally realize that Holmes basically designed this building for disposing of human bodies.

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The hotel was a killing ground for the depraved doctor, with the many female guests who stayed there during the World's Fair, falling helplessly into his grasp.

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In 1893, there was no telephone, there was no internet. So women would go to the World's Fair telling their relatives they're off to see the fair, and they would never return.

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In the end, it was months before they were actually listed or reported as missing.

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Police surmise that once Holmes had selected his victim, he would lock her inside an airtight chamber designed to look like a regular hotel room. Then, he would release legal gas that he controlled from his apartment.

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So he would gas visitors, steal their money and valuables, and sell their skeletons to medical schools or universities.

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After being sentenced to the death penalty for the murder of Benjamin Pitzel on May 7th, 1896, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes is hanged.

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In the end, Holmes confessed to a total of 27 murders, but some believe the count could be as high as 200.

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Holmes earns the distinction of being America's first documented serial killer. He was a sociopath who lured victims into his web of deceit and murdered them.

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And today, this statue, known as the Golden Lady, stands as a monument to the Chicago World's Fair, and a dark reminder of the heinous crimes committed in its shadow.

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Seattle, Washington. The largest city in the Pacific Northwest is known for its iconic space needle, rising more than 600 feet into the sky.

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But just on the horizon, 54 miles southeast of Seattle looms a landmark that reigns supreme.

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It towers in a singular spot with its beauty and its majesty.

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This is Mount Rainier, topped by two volcanic craters and an astonishing 26 glaciers. This celebrated mountain attracts visitors from all over the world.

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But as culture critic Robert Horton can attest, few people know about the bizarre encounter that took place over these snowy peaks a half century ago.

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It is a mystery that absolutely captivated the world, and it changed the way we think about the unknown.

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So what strange events unfolded in the skies above Mount Rainier?

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June 24, 1947. Mineral Washington. It's a clear summer day in the rugged northwest region of Washington state.

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At 3 p.m., private pilot Kenneth Arnold is flying at 9,200 feet near Mount Rainier.

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When he sees something odd, a series of bright flashes just north of the mountain.

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Kenneth Arnold wanted to make sure that it wasn't some kind of distortion or anything like that. He rolls down his window for a better look.

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And Arnold is astonished by what he sees next.

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A formation of nine shiny disks flying south towards Mount Adams at an incredible speed.

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When the objects tilt, they give off an almost blinding glare.

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After losing track of them, Arnold lands his plane and begins to wonder, what exactly did he see up there in the skies around the mountain?

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He was a very rational, sensible guy, and so he's trying to figure out what could it count for this.

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Back at the landing strip, he relates his experience to his fellow airmen, who are equally confounded.

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As word of the bizarre sighting spreads, Arnold is asked by a local newspaper to share his story.

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He tells them that I just saw something that was very, very hard to explain.

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And in particular, he used this turn of phrase. He talked about how they were moving as though if you took a saucer and skipped it across the top of the water, they had that kind of funny sort of movement.

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And from Arnold's description of the objects, the press coins the term flying saucer.

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There is something about that phrase that completely captivated the entire country, and from that moment became part of the public lexicon. They were flying saucers.

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Within weeks, the story takes on a life of its own, as a host of other strange sightings are reported.

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There was a United Airlines flight out of Boise that saw between five and nine flying objects.

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And in that case, there were more than one person that saw them. There was the pilot and also some of the flight staff.

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So what are these unidentified flying objects?

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It's summer, 1947. Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot flying over Mount Rainier, has spotted a series of disc-like objects in the sky.

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As more and more of these mysterious sightings occur, authorities begin to fear they may be harbingers of war.

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Is this the beginning of an aerial assault on the United States, or something altogether more threatening?

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With the Cold War brewing, many believe these objects are some kind of secret Russian weapon.

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The possibility that the Soviets might have spy planes overlooking the United States was always in people's minds.

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But there was something about the way the objects moved that makes Arnold doubt that the Soviets are involved.

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He estimates that the objects were traveling over 1200 miles per hour, making them three times faster than any aircraft known to man.

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So if the flying saucers weren't man-made, where did they come from?

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By process of illumination, you come to the point where nothing else could move like that, nothing else could move that fast, and nothing else could be shaped like that.

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It is probably something of extraterrestrial origin.

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As speculation runs rampant, the U.S. military launches an investigation.

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And on July 12, three weeks after Kenneth Arnold's sighting, officials hold a meeting with a pilot.

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They're trying to find absolutely rock solid explanation of what he might have seen up there.

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After hours of interrogation, they believe they have finally determined a plausible cause.

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They came to the conclusion that what he saw was probably a mirage.

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A mirage is an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions.

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In this case, the varying temperatures between Mount Rainier's deep valleys and high peaks could have caused light to distort in unusual ways.

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But what about the myriad of other strange sightings reported across the U.S.?

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Some believe that anxiety over the Cold War sparked a mass hysteria, causing people to mistake otherwise innocuous atmospheric phenomena for alien spacecraft.

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But whatever the cause of the incident, there is no doubt of its enduring impact on popular culture.

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There's actually no question that the Kenneth Arnold sighting was the dawn of the flying saucer age, and people have been seeing them or thinking they see them.

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And today, the millions of visitors to Mount Rainier can marvel at the beauty of this spectacular volcano.

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But can also be reminded of how a singular event in the skies above forever changed our perception of the unknown.

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Washington, D.C.

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The country that has been the most beautiful country in the world has been the most beautiful country in the world.

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Washington, D.C.

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The country's capital is packed with over 160 museums and memorials, each one marking a triumphant chapter in our proud nation's story.

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But near the center of town stands a stately brick building that witnessed one of America's most tragic events.

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It is an 1860s style building converted into a 2,400 seat theater.

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It became a place of infamy when one of our most beloved presidents was gunned down there.

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This is Ford's Theater.

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The event that took place here 150 years ago and its aftermath are seared into the national consciousness.

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But historian Nathaniel Orlowek believes the history books might have gotten it wrong.

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It's very important that history be accurate, that we know what really happened.

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So what's the real story behind the fate of the man who killed America's most beloved president?

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April, 1865.

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The civil war is over, but while much of the nation is celebrating, one man is bent on revenge.

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Stage actor and Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth blames President Abraham Lincoln for the demise of the Confederacy and is plotting his murder.

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And on April 14th, learning that Lincoln will be attending a show at Ford's Theater, Booth spies his chance.

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At 10.13 p.m. John Wilkes Booth creeps into the presidential box, puts a derringer to the back of the president's head and pulls the trigger.

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In the ensuing chaos, the famous actor manages to slip out the back door and flee the city.

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The gravely wounded president survives the night, but tragically dies the next morning.

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The story goes that 12 days after the murder, Union troops track Booth to a barn in Northern Virginia.

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The soldiers try to flush him out by setting the barn on fire.

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But when Booth refuses to surrender, they take aim and fatally shoot him in the neck.

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The body of America's most reviled citizen is buried in the Booth family plot in Baltimore.

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But while this version of events is generally accepted as being true, is it really what happened?

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Many people believe that the history books were wrong.

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So what did happen to the country's most notorious assassin?

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The story picks up 12 years after Lincoln's assassination in the small town of Granbury, Texas.

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One day in 1877, Finest Bates, a local attorney, is summoned to the bedside of his client, John St. Helen, who appears gravely ill.

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It's there he hears an extraordinary claim.

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He said to him, I want to confess who I really am.

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I'm really John Wilkes Booth, the assassin President Lincoln.

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It's 1877 in Granbury, Texas.

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A local attorney named Finest Bates has been called to the bedside of his client, John St. Helen, who is gravely ill.

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It's there that he hears an extraordinary claim.

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The sick man says that he is really John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln.

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But how could this possibly be true?

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The man tells an incredulous Bates what really happened that fateful night back in 1865.

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He claims that he managed to escape the barn and that the man who was shot down by Union troops was actually one of Booth's accomplices.

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Though dubious at first, Bates eventually comes to believe this incredible tale.

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Why would anybody want to claim that he was an assassin of a president?

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After making this extraordinary statement, the invalid makes an unexpected recovery and soon leaves town, leaving a stunned Bates to ponder the curious confession.

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And for 26 years it just was out of his mind.

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And then suddenly something happened to bring it very much back to the forefront.

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Over two decades later, in January 1903, Bates is contacted by officials in Enid, Oklahoma.

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A man named David E. George has passed away and papers he carried request that Bates be summoned upon his death.

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It says, contact Mr. Finest L. Bates. He knows who I really am.

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When the lawyer arrives, he immediately recognizes his former client. It's John St. Helen, the man who had claimed to be John Wilkes Booth all those years ago.

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Bates realized that he knew something that was an enormous key to history and he had an obligation to get the truth out.

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Bates publishes an account of the matter, including compelling evidence that John Wilkes Booth and St. Helen bore a striking resemblance to each other and even had identical physical scars.

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He spends the rest of his life advocating this shocking twist on history, but his claims fall largely on deaf ears.

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But could Bates actually be right? Did John Wilkes Booth really escape justice?

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Nearly a century later, with the advent of DNA testing, it may finally be possible to solve this mystery once and for all.

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And now we have the possibility of proving it one way or the other.

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But efforts to exhume Booth's body have met fierce resistance and without a viable DNA sample, the test cannot be performed.

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So the truth behind what really happened to John Wilkes Booth will have to wait.

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And until then, visitors to Ford's Theatre can behold the sight where a president was gunned down by a vengeful assassin and wonder was justice ever really served.

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From a teenage vampire to a conniving conman, a house of horrors to the first lying saucers.

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I'm Don Wildman and these are Monumental Mysteries.