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A spectacular skyscraper at the heart of a bitter rivalry.

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For months these two were jockeying over who's going to build the tallest building in the world.

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The treacherous terrain that drove a young artist to an unknown fate.

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The tracks seemed to just disappear.

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And a statue to a most unlikely political figure.

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He was held up as an example of Western democracy.

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Sometimes the greatest secrets lie in plain sight.

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These are monumental mysteries.

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New York City.

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With almost 600 buildings over 330 feet tall,

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Manhattan boasts more skyscrapers than any other city in the U.S.

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But one arctic giant with a spectacular gleaming terrace

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is the city's crown jewel.

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The skyscraper rises from the New York City skyline

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made out of white-colored brick and stainless steel.

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And then has a needle that rises from the top to bring it to over a thousand feet tall.

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It's really something spectacular.

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This is the Chrysler building.

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But as historian Seth Camel knows,

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at the heart of this majestic tower lies a bitter tale of envy,

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ambition, and deceit.

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The Chrysler building was part of a massive personal and professional rivalry

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that kept New York City captivated for a year.

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So what epic tale of dastardly deeds lies behind the construction of this iconic edifice?

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New York City, the mid-1920s.

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With limited space on the island of Manhattan and a booming population,

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the era of the skyscraper is born.

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You've got millions of people flooding into New York.

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We're growing ever and ever taller and skyward.

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Two of Gotham's most renowned architects are William Van Allen and H. Craig Severance.

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For nearly a decade, the two partners have run a top-tier firm

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designing prestigious buildings all over the city.

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But their success comes at a price.

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As the firm of Severance and Van Allen became more and more successful,

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it became more and more tense.

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Embroiled in a bitter feud over credit for the firm's accomplishments,

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the two dissolve their company and decide to start businesses of their own.

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But little do the two architects know.

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They will soon be pitted against each other in one of the most high-profile rivalries of all time.

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1928.

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With his new firm, Van Allen soon gets the commission of a lifetime

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when automobile mogul Walter P. Chrysler

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hires him to design a tower in Midtown Manhattan.

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Chrysler tells Van Allen he wants his skyscraper to be the tallest in the world,

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one that will eclipse the current record holder, the 792-foot Woolworth building.

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Walter Chrysler wants the tallest building in the world to have his name on it.

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He sees it as an icon for America and for his brand.

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This is just the prestigious opportunity Van Allen has been looking for.

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So he designs the Chrysler building to top off at an astounding 809 feet.

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But his one-time ally and now bitter rival, Craig Severance,

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is also working on a major new commission.

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Craig Severance is asked to build 40 Wall Street for the Bank of Manhattan,

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which is right in the heart financial core of New York.

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And when Severance reads news of his arch rival's massive undertaking,

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he decides to outbuild Van Allen and the Chrysler building.

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Severance draws up plans for an 840-foot building,

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over 30 feet taller than Van Allen's proposed structure.

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As construction begins on the two skyscrapers, the race for the skies is on.

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The rival refueled such a deep-seated bitterness.

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When Van Allen hears of Severance's plans, he redesigns the Chrysler building,

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this time to reach the staggering height of 925 feet.

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For months, these two are jockeying over who's going to build the tallest building in the world.

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By the fall of 1929, with the primary steelwork nearly complete on 40 Wall Street,

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it appears that the Chrysler building has won the race.

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At this point, 40 Wall Street's finished.

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And the building's done. They'd already started taking down the scaffolding.

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But Severance comes up with a clever way to outfox his rival.

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Craig Severance added a 50-foot flagpole to his building to make him 2 feet taller,

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which really was kind of sticking a needle in his former partner.

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The flagpole pushes 40 Wall Street to 927 feet,

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barely beating the Chrysler building's proposed height of 925 feet.

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And because the steel framework appears finished on the Chrysler building,

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a smug Severance assumes that Van Allen can't go any higher.

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Craig Severance feels he can justify we say, I am the tallest in the world.

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But the race for the skies is not over just yet.

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William Van Allen had one more trick up his sleeve.

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Little does Severance know Van Allen has been plotting for months.

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He has secretly designed another addition to the Chrysler building.

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A 185-foot spire.

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Van Allen has the structure brought into one of the upper floors in five separate pieces.

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There, the crew covertly assembles the 27-ton steel spire.

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And he slams Severance by rising this magnificent piece of superstructure

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to the top of the building that in a day topples Severance, topples 40 Wall Street,

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and says, I win.

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With the steel structure in place at 40 Wall Street, it's too late for Severance to go any higher.

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Standing at 1046 feet, the Chrysler building claims the title of the world's tallest building.

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But Van Allen's victory is destined to be short-lived.

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The Empire State Building, finished just a year later, is 1,454 feet tall.

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And today, the Chrysler building is the fourth tallest building in the city.

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A glittering icon in the skyline, where it will always serve as a reminder of the dogged and ambitious race to the heavens.

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Stanford University, California.

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This sprawling 8,000-acre campus, the nation's largest, boasts a stunning array of beautiful buildings dedicated to higher learning.

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And here, tucked away amidst a grove of trees, lies a monument which has long captivated archaeologist Laura Jones.

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With its beautiful columns and then these mysterious sphinxes that looks not unlike a Grecian temple hidden in the forest.

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This is the Stanford Mausoleum. This tomb holds the remains of the university's founding family, and most notably, the dynasty's matriarch, whose untimely death is shrouded in mystery.

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The circumstances are so surprising, you couldn't have made it up as a story.

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So what in the farthest tale of betrayal, deceit, and murder does the Mausoleum conceal?

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Hawaii, 1905.

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Jane Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University, is on vacation in Honolulu, where she is accompanied, as always, by her personal secretary, Bertha Burner.

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On the night of February 28, Mrs. Stanford complains of an upset stomach.

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At her request, Burner prepares a drink of bicarbonate of soda to settle her employer's stomach.

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But the drink has a very different effect.

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Stanford is suddenly seized by convulsions, and in the early hours of the morning is pronounced dead.

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Upon hearing of the death of the well-loved matriarch, the university's president, a man named David Starr Jordan, prepares to sail to Hawaii to investigate what has happened.

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He got on the steamship and came over to Hawaii and then telegraphed back to the university that Jane Stanford had died of heart failure.

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But David Starr Jordan's announcement isn't strictly true.

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When they did an autopsy of the body, they found a strychnine in her stomach and strychnine in the glass of medicine that she'd been taking before bed.

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Strychnine is a highly toxic chemical that is commonly used in rat poison.

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Even in small doses, it is fatal to humans.

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With this startling new evidence, the authorities reach a sinister conclusion.

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The coroner's jury ruled that she had been poisoned by a person who a person's unknown.

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So was Jane Stanford the founder of Stanford University really murdered? And if so, by whom?

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Honolulu, Hawaii, 1905.

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Jane Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University and one of America's most powerful women, has died under mysterious circumstances.

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The university's president, David Starr Jordan, claims that her death was a result of heart failure.

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But the autopsy tells a different story, that she was poisoned.

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So was Jane Stanford murdered? And if so, by whom?

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Suspicions turn first towards the person who prepared the medicine that Jane Stanford drank the night she died.

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Her personal secretary of 30 years, Bertha Burner.

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She certainly had access to all of Jane's trunks and medicine and to Jane's room.

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And Burner has not only the means, but also the motive, as she stood to inherit a large sum of money from her employer.

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The $15,000 that Bertha inherited was the largest bequest to any of the employees that Jane Stanford made.

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But as they question Burner, investigators make a shocking new discovery.

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Burner claims that someone tried to poison her employer just one month ago.

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In circumstances that were frighteningly similar to those surrounding Jane Stanford's death.

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One evening, in her mansion in San Francisco, Jane Stanford had gone to bed and she had mineral water next to her bed.

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And went to drink it and it tasted bitter.

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Leaving the water to be tainted, Stanford took immediate action.

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She put her finger down her throat and caused herself to vomit.

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Concerned that someone might be trying to poison her, Stanford had the water tested.

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The chemist came back with the analysis that the water had contained rat poison.

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But after interviewing Burner and hearing this revelation, investigators in Hawaii believe that she would not have been careless enough to try to poison her.

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She had been poisoned and poisoned her employer twice, especially considering what a devoted friend she was to Mrs. Stanford.

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And once detectives realized that many people could have had access to Stanford's medicine during her travels,

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they soon turned their attention to another suspect, the man who initially claimed that Stanford had died of heart failure.

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The university's president, David Starr Jordan.

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The researchers have speculated that Jane's death was convenient for David Starr Jordan.

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Some people think there was some friction between them on the issue of faculty hiring and faculty tenure decisions.

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But that's not all. It's revealed that before the autopsy was even completed, Jordan had paid a local doctor a significant sum of money to say that Stanford had died of natural causes.

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The doctor he hired asserts that Jane Stanford's heart had failed and then the university's official position was that Jane Stanford had died essentially of a heart attack.

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This perplexing discovery leads some to conclude that Jordan orchestrated the murder and then tried to cover it up.

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But with nothing more than circumstantial evidence, the investigators once again are at an impasse.

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I think it is much more likely that his motive for the cover-up was that he was trying to protect the university's reputation.

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So if neither David Starr Jordan nor Bertha Berner were the culprits, who did murder Jane Stanford?

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Who benefited from her death? Who might have had motive to do it? More than a century since Jane's death, we still have this controversy.

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And today, visitors to the Stanford family mausoleum can marvel at the strange tale of the founding matriarch's unnatural death.

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As impenetrable a mystery as the mighty marble walls and sphinxes of the mausoleum itself.

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Nestled amid the Bay Area's lush hills and scenic gorges is the quiet community of Sunol, California.

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The historic rail town was once a key stop for Southern Pacific trains.

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But Sunol's best kept secret is tucked away behind a clock in the village square.

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It's an unassuming sculpture that stands just two feet tall.

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Cast in bronze, this small dark figure is a tribute to one of Sunol's best loved residents.

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You're sitting just looking over the town of Sunol with his trademark handkerchief around his neck. A big fat head and a tail.

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This may look like your average mutt, but in fact this canine's incredible life story thrust this small town into the international spotlight.

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So who is this heroic hound? And how did he become an unexpected force in world politics?

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1981, Sunol, California. This unincorporated town has never had a mayor, but proud residents are seeking a public figure to represent their community.

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At a local bar, two friends are discussing the race when another patron, Ingest, throws out the name of an unlikely candidate. A dog named Bosco.

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He said, oh, heck, Bosco, but be both you guys.

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Bosco has something most politicians envy, name recognition. The one year old mixed breed is a fixture around town.

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Bosco would just hang out in front of the gas station and everybody around town knew and loved Bosco. He was a good dog.

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He was a good dog.

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As a joke, the canine candidate is entered into the race, but what happens next is as unprecedented as it is surprising.

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Bosco is elected the country's first ever dog mayor and begins presiding over events all over town.

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The number of dogs in the country is growing.

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Bosco is elected the country's first ever dog mayor and begins presiding over events all over town.

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The novelty of a four legged elected official makes the media sit and take notice.

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He was in the California papers and television shows.

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But little do Sunolians know that their leaders newfound fame will soon embroil him in a global humanitarian crisis.

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In 1981, the small town of Sunol, California, elects its first mayor, a dog named Bosco.

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The canine quickly becomes an endearing symbol of the community as well as a darling of the press.

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But Bosco's celebrity status is about to thrust him into the midst of a political firestorm on a global scale.

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April 1989.

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Like most of the world, the people of Sunol are transfixed by the events taking place nearly 6,000 miles away in China.

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There, approximately a million Chinese citizens, fed up with corruption and repression, gather to demand change and a democratic government.

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And the focal point of this movement is Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

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As tensions boil, a newspaper called The People's Daily, an arm of the Communist propaganda machine, learns of Bosco's story and his post as mayor.

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The outraged periodical makes Bosco the poster child of American democracy, declaring him to be proof of the folly of the West's dominant political system.

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The Chinese wrote one of their newspapers that the United States, we were so stupid that we were electing dogs as city officials.

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But the attempt to lampoon the West quickly backfires, causing the American media to lavish even more attention on the canine mayor.

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And then, as demonstrations spring up across the U.S., some of the anti-communist protesters have an unconventional plan to make their point.

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There was quite a few students that wanted Bosco to be a spokesman for him.

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The canine appears at a San Francisco rally, where the protesters celebrate the freedom this lovable dog represents.

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There probably are quite a few people in China that would just be very happy to have a dog for a mayor instead of what they've got.

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For many, the Tiananmen Square crisis ends in tragedy, leaving the iconic moments of the protests seared in the world's collective memory.

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And after Bosco's brief moment in the spotlight fades, the dog returns to a quiet life in Sunol, where he remains mayor until he peacefully passes away at age 15.

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To this day, no successor has been found.

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There's never been another mayor in Sunol. They realize they couldn't replace Bosco.

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In 2008, a bronze sculpture is installed in the center of town.

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A tribute to the first dog ever elected to office.

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Bosco is immortalized as the one and only mayor of Sunol.

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And today, his likeness continues to watch over the community that revered him as a symbol of freedom.

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And of course, man's best friend.

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Ten miles west of the New Jersey shore is the quaint town of Lakehurst.

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Home to an active military base that was once the country's first international airport.

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The century-old Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station.

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Behind the hangars, in the middle of a windswept field of asphalt and gravel,

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lies an odd concrete formation.

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It's 60 feet long, 10 feet wide. It looks like a coffin.

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It was here that an inferno fell from the sky.

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This is a memorial to the infamous Hindenburg disaster.

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A tragedy that looms large in the national consciousness to this day.

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Yet as author Lee Christek can't help but wonder,

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yet as author Lee Christek can attest,

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75 years after the airship came crashing down on this very spot,

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the cause remains a mystery.

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Was it a design flaw? Was it the weather? Was it a sabotage?

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What really brought down the mighty Hindenburg?

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The 1930s.

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The world is in the midst of a new era of transatlantic travel,

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powered by fleets of majestic airships called Zeppelins.

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These dirigibles are as elegant as any cruise ship, and nearly twice as fast.

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So the future belonged to the Zeppelin.

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They were the natural successors to the ocean liner.

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The most impressive of these wonders is the German airship LZ129, the Hindenburg.

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It's the largest object to ever soar through the sky.

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It's 804 feet long, 130 feet high, as high as a 13-story building.

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And the secret to its power is the lighter-than-air gas contained within its cavernous frame.

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It's filled with 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen to lift it.

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But it's not just the technical specs that are designed to impress.

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The Hindenburg is a sky-born showcase of unparalleled opulence.

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There were 70 passenger cabins, there was a restaurant,

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and there were two promenades and sets of windows.

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But for all its superlatives, this magnificent airliner will soon be mired in tragedy.

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May 6, 1937, 7 p.m.

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After being delayed by several hours by thunderstorms,

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the Hindenburg nears the end of a three-day journey from Frankfurt, Germany to Leikers, New Jersey.

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Among the 97 people on board are journalists, executives, and even a prized pet,

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a German shepherd belonging to a famous vaudeville comedian in Acrobat, Joseph Spa.

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But at 721, with the Hindenburg directly over Leikers Naval Air Station,

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something goes horribly wrong.

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Suddenly, someone noses flames on the back of the ship.

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Within seconds, the Zeppelin is engulfed in a terrifying fireball.

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The flames burn down to the side of the ship, the ship starts to sink.

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Passengers are having to make the choice of jumping out of the craft or dying in the flames.

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Some leap up to 200 feet in a desperate bid for survival, including Joseph Spa,

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whose athleticism helps him evade an almost certain death.

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He smashed the window and jumped out, hung from the side for a few moments, and then dropped the ground.

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But many are trapped in the giant inferno, and the horrifying spectacle of the Hindenburg nears the end.

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The entire event lasts just 37 seconds.

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When it's over, 36 people are dead.

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62 survive, but many are left with life-altering injuries.

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The entire event lasts just 37 seconds.

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When it's over, 36 people are dead.

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62 survive, but many are left with life-altering injuries.

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U.S. and German officials open an investigation, sifting through the wreckage for clues as to the disaster's cause.

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But they didn't find anything that immediately indicated what the problem was, so they're left with a mystery.

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But strangely, their inquiry lasts only 18 days, a haste that arouses suspicion on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Some people think that was too quick.

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Were the United States and Germany trying to sweep things on the rug to avoid an international incident?

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So was there a cover-up?

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And if so, what really brought down the Hindenburg?

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It's May 6, 1937.

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The Hindenburg airship has exploded and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people and shocking the world.

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While many believe this disaster was just a freak accident, some suspect more sinister forces at work.

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So what really brought down the Hindenburg?

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While the Hindenburg's vast stores of hydrogen enabled the massive ship to float on air, it is also an extremely volatile substance.

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They're setting on 7 million cubic feet of a highly explosive gas.

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One hypothesis is that lightning struck the zeppelin, causing the hydrogen to ignite.

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Yet countless derogables have been hit by lightning before without bringing them down.

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And there's another problem with this theory.

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The strongest evidence against the lightning theory is simply the no-but season.

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But even in the absence of lightning, some believe the Hindenburg may have picked up an electrical charge from the stormy skies, which could have sparked the explosion.

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But others speculate a more sinister explanation is to blame.

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Sabotage.

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In the years immediately preceding World War II, the giant zeppelin might have been an irresistible outlet for anti-German sentiment.

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If you wanted to strike at Nazi Germany, you would strike at the Hindenburg.

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But who would be bold enough to commit such an act?

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Several surviving crew members point to a possible culprit.

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The Acrobat, Joseph Spa.

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They claim that Spa made anti-Nazi jokes throughout the transatlantic journey.

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He also made several trips to see his dog, who was being held in the stern.

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He's the only passenger who has access to the rear of the ship by himself.

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He was also an acrobat, which may have allowed him to climb up into the sections where they believed the fire started.

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Some theorize that Spa could have planted an explosive device in the ship's stern.

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But in spite of these accusations, investigators never found bomb fragments in the wreckage.

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Nor any incriminating evidence to link Spa to such a plot.

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There were a lot of people who were anti-Nazi. That doesn't necessarily mean you were Sabotour though.

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And without conclusive evidence, the exact reason for the tragedy may never be known.

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But one thing is certain. The Hindenburg disaster brought the age of the zeppelin to an end.

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After this point, nobody's going to get on a potential bomb like this.

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They closed out the era of the airship.

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And today, this eerie outlying at the Naval Air Engineering Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey,

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remains a solemn tribute to the victims of a tragedy the world will never forget.

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Los Angeles, California.

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Renowned as the entertainment capital of the world, it's estimated that one in every six of the city's residents works in a creative industry.

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And at Tinseltown's heart lies a celebrated sidewalk, spanning one of the most popular boulevards on the planet.

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Millions of people from around the world come just to walk it. It features three foot by three foot squares, which feature a five point star.

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Talked among the world famous stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame is one that museum curator Jeffrey Richardson has a special interest in.

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He belongs to Hedy Lamar, the legendary actress of the 1930s and 40s, who famously starred in the Cecil B. DeMille epic, Samson and Delilah.

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But there was far more to this silver screen icon than most moviegoers ever knew.

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She was known as one of the most beautiful women in the world, but her greatest contribution was her intellect.

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What unusual accomplishment helped this Hollywood glamour queen change the course of history?

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Hollywood, California. European actress Hedy Lamar bursts onto American movie screens with a head turning role in the 1938 film Al Gears,

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and is subsequently cast in a string of movies as an exotic seductress.

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This is at a time when there were really great starlets of the golden age of Hollywood, but her beauty really put her at the forefront.

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But Lamar doesn't only want to be known for her appearance.

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The one thing most people did not recognize is that she was also extremely intelligent.

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As a child in Austria, she was enthralled by her father's explanations of how street cars and printing presses work,

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and developed a keen interest in mathematics, a passion she never outgrew, even with her increased fame.

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Over the years, she becomes a prolific tinkerer, developing dozens of small-time inventions, from a light-up dog collar to a bullion cube that could carbonate water.

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And although the starlet is at the peak of her movie career, Lamar also finds time to devote her intellect to combating the greatest threat to freedom the world has ever known.

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1940, World War II. German U-boats are attacking the Atlantic convoys.

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But when the U.S. Navy tries to sink them, the U-boats manage to jam the torpedo's guidance systems to evade a direct hit.

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And the ingenious Lamar is determined to come up with a solution.

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Hedy Lamar was trying to focus on ways that would allow torpedoes to hit their mark.

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Together with a fellow tinkerer named George Antheal, Lamar realizes that by transmitting radio signals along rapidly changing frequencies,

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radio-guided torpedoes would be far less susceptible to jamming by German forces.

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The two map out a design and get a patent for this secret communication system, all the while keeping the precise details and purpose out of the public eye.

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It was of such importance to national security that they couldn't even discuss the specifics of it.

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U.S. officials read over the designs, but are as skeptical of its value as they are of the movie icon's ability as an inventor.

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As a result of their limited background in scientific, technical matters, the Navy turns it down.

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Hedy Lamar is devastated, but little does she know that her invention will play a vital role in another potentially deadly conflict.

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It's 1940, Los Angeles.

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Movie star turned inventor Hedy Lamar has designed a top secret torpedo guidance system that she thinks will change the course of World War II.

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But the U.S. Navy rejects the idea, leaving the actress devastated.

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So can this movie icon convince the military that her invention actually works?

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In the early 1950s, Lamar's movie career goes into decline, and the actress, whose stunning beauty and screen presence once captivated directors and audiences alike, slowly fades from the public view.

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And with World War II long over, her patent languishes in the Navy archives.

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Then in 1959, as Cold War tensions mount, U.S. military officials find themselves in desperate need for a covert means of communication to outfox Russian intelligence.

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And sifting through naval archives, an engineer unearths an expired patent that he thinks just might work.

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Hedy Lamar's secret communication system.

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The United States Navy comes to recognize its really revolutionary ramifications.

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Using the latest transistors and electronics, the Navy updates Lamar's original design and employs the technology to communicate secretly between its warships.

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And in 1962, the system proves its worth.

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Not in torpedoes as they originally had envisioned, it really finds a practical use during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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The updated version of Lamar's original secret communication system cannot be cracked by enemy forces.

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And over the ensuing decade, the U.S. employs it in various military communications, allowing them to outmaneuver the Russians and keep the world safe from nuclear war.

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But Lamar's legacy doesn't stop there.

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Today, her breakthrough concept remains an integral part of everyday life.

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We see this invention in most notably Bluetooth technology.

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The same Bluetooth that you use on your phone is a direct result of what Hedy Lamar had proposed decades before.

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And here, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hedy Lamar's star still shines bright, commemorating a woman whose beauty and brains influenced not only the silver screen, but the course of history itself.

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In southeast Utah, near the small town of Escalante, are two million acres of breathtaking wilderness.

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This vast maze of red rock, canyon sprawls across one of the most remarkable landscapes in North America.

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This is the Grand Staircase Escalante, the largest and, according to some, most spectacular national monument in the United States.

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But few realize that this vast, mesmerizing terrain holds the secret to one of the most baffling disappearances of all time.

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And it's here that a young man vanished off the face of the earth, one of the great mysteries in the history of the American West.

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So what happened in the depths of this forbidding wilderness?

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1930, Oakland, California.

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While millions of Americans are in the grips of the Great Depression, 16-year-old artist Everett Roos determines to shape his own destiny.

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Inspired by landscape photographer Ansel Adams, Roos decides to explore the most remote regions of America, recording his experiences through his watercolor painting and his ever-present diary.

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His desire to see the most spectacular places of the West grew into an obsession.

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For four years, Everett treks through the West's most rugged landscapes.

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From Yosemite to the Grand Canyon.

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And by the winter of 1934, the vagabond arrives in stunning southern Utah.

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Before heading into the expanse of region, now known as the Grand Staircase Escalante, Everett writes to his family.

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He informs them that the next post office he expects to pick up mail from is 200 miles away in Marble Canyon, Arizona.

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The next morning, Everett sets off into the wilderness, equipped with two burrows to carry his gear.

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Almost three months go by when Everett's family receives an alarming item of mail.

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A packet of letters they had sent to Everett in Marble Canyon has been returned to them, marked as unclaimed.

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Immediately they have this sense that something is seriously wrong.

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Desperate to track Everett down, his family dispatches a search party from Escalante to follow in his footsteps.

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And on the outskirts of town, they get their first lead.

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The search party yielded a pretty spectacular clue, his two burrows.

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So this appeared to be Everett's camp.

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There were tracks all around the campsite, but the tracks seemed to just disappear.

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It seemed as if he had literally vanished.

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After exhaustive searches throughout the region, Everett Roos is finally presumed dead.

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His story could easily have been forgotten.

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Were it not for his family, who publishes a collection of their son's letters in 1940,

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and his evocative prose captivates the public in a way no one expected.

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He had done things that many people wished they had.

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He became an almost mythical figure in the American Southwest.

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As Everett's cult status grows, and based in part on his writings,

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some assert that the young man deliberately chose the wilds of Escalante as the place to take his own life.

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At the heart of the theories of his disappearance was he just chose such a dangerous location,

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because he didn't want to ever come back.

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But others wonder if Roos could have simply succumbed to the violence of the wild west.

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There were local Neridwells who prowled around the Escalante region.

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One of the theories was they killed him and then hid his body somewhere.

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With no concrete evidence, it appears the truth may never be known.

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But in May 2008, 75 years after his disappearance, a surprising new lead emerges.

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The FBI is called in to investigate a gravesite found near Bluff Utah.

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Are these the remains of Everett Roos?

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In the mid 1930s, 20 year old artist and wanderer Everett Roos disappears

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while trekking in the vast wilderness surrounding Escalante, Utah.

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For the next 75 years, people all around the world speculate on what might have happened to the young vagabond.

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Then in 2008, a new lead emerges that could solve the mystery once and for all.

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After the FBI investigates an anonymous gravesite, DNA tests on the remains are compared to samples procured from Everett's relatives.

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The circumstances seemed to conclusively show that this was the skeleton of Everett Roos.

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A very big mystery finally solved.

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But just two months later, those hopes are dashed.

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It turns out that due to a software glitch, the original DNA tests were wrong.

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The body was not that of Everett Roos.

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To this day, no one knows what became of the young vagabond.

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It's an enduring mystery. Everett Roos remains one of the most completely vanished people of the 20th century.

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Today, the grand staircase Escalante is now a national monument that will always serve as a reminder of the legendary young man who disappeared without a trace.

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From a race to the skies to an airborne disaster, a marble crypt to a Hollywood star.

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I'm Don Wildman and these are Monumental Mysteries.