1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 An iconic fortress that may hide buried treasure. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,000 Could hardly see anything for all the smoke. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,000 A mighty volcano with a vengeful curse. 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,000 No one knew how to stop it. 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,000 And a national park with a bizarre secret. 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,000 They're moving while no one else is around. 7 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Sometimes the greatest secrets lie in plain sight. 8 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,000 These are monumental mysteries. 9 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,000 New York, New York. 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:46,000 For centuries, the Big Apple has extended a dramatic welcome to arrivals to the city by sea. 11 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:52,000 And one of the harbour's most striking monuments lies on a 27-acre island, 12 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 a mile off the tip of Lower Manhattan. 13 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:01,000 It's a formidable building built of red brick and limestone, four large towers. 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:10,000 This is Ellis Island Immigration Station, the former grand gateway for newcomers to New York City. 15 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,000 In its prime, it welcomed 5,000 immigrants a day. 16 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:21,000 But for Sam Von Trapp, whose singing family inspired the film The Sound of Music, 17 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,000 the island is a poignant reminder that their classic musical saga almost never got told. 18 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:34,000 It was a very difficult chapter in my family's efforts to emigrate to the United States. 19 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,000 So what is the true story of the world-famous Von Trapp family? 20 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Salzburg, Austria, 1938. 21 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:52,000 A talented family of singers has burst onto the music scene as one of the finest choral groups in Europe. 22 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,000 They are the Von Trapps. 23 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:05,000 But in the spring of 1938, when Nazi Germany occupies Austria, their lives take a frightening turn. 24 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:14,000 The head of the family, Baron Von Trapp, a former Austrian naval commander, refuses to go into service for Hitler's navy. 25 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,000 He declines to fly a swastika flag from his family home. 26 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,000 And then, he commits the ultimate act of defiance. 27 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:31,000 My family was invited to sing at Hitler's birthday party, which might have been an honor to many people, but my family just absolutely knew they couldn't do that. 28 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Having insulted the furor, the family is an easy target for Hitler's brutal secret police, the Gestapo. 29 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 The Nazi party was totally ruthless. 30 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:47,000 There's no question that if the family had been arrested, they would have been liquidated. 31 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Fearing for their lives, the family leaves Austria and embarks on a transcontinental singing tour. 32 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,000 And when war breaks out in Europe, returning home is no longer an option. 33 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 America seemed like the best refuge. 34 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:21,000 So, on October 7, 1939, after 10 days at sea, the Von Trapp family of 12 disembarks on a Brooklyn dock with a six-month work visa and an itinerary to perform concerts across America. 35 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Eldest son Rupert is first through immigration. 36 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Born outside of Austria, Rupert's Italian passport sees him through without incident. 37 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:42,000 But when the rest of the family approaches the immigration desk in the traditional attire of their Nazi-occupied homeland, suspicions are aroused. 38 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,000 And then, Maria Von Trapp makes a fatal slip-up. 39 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:53,000 My mother said to the immigration officer when she was asked how long do you plan on staying, 40 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,000 oh, officer, I'm so glad to be here. I never want to leave. 41 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,000 This is not a good thing to say when you have a visitor's visa. 42 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Fearing that the family may have Nazi sympathies and may not be planning to abide by the terms of their visas, the authorities immediately take them into custody. 43 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:22,000 The only one to make it through customs is Rupert, who reluctantly leaves his loved ones and finds his way to Manhattan. 44 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,000 But the rest of the Von Trapp family is taken to the detention facility at Ellis Island. 45 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:37,000 There were bars across the windows. They were allowed only a half hour to go outside each day. It was, for all accounts and purposes, a prison. 46 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:49,000 After several days, the Von Trapp family is called before a judge to determine their intentions and whether they harbor German sympathies. 47 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Basically, he didn't believe my family and they were put back in detention. And at that point, things really looked bad. 48 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Now the family faces imminent deportation. If turned away from America and sent home, the Von Trapp's fear they could be delivered into the hands of the Gestapo. 49 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:14,000 This was very scary. They were looking at the possibility of being sent back to Europe as it was really exploding into World War II. 50 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:23,000 Meanwhile, their eldest son Rupert, who thanks to his Italian passport is the only member of the Klan to have escaped confinement, 51 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:33,000 manages to track down the number of a prominent friend in Philadelphia. His name is Harry Drinker. 52 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:42,000 Harry Drinker was well connected and through his law firm he had relationships with politicians and various people of influence. 53 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:53,000 Drinker puts in a call to Washington and vouches for the good character of the family. The next morning, the Von Trapp's are released. 54 00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:02,000 I'm sure it was an enormous relief for my family when they were able to leave Ellis Island and see the Statue of Liberty from outside the barred windows. 55 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And the Von Trapp family gratefully embraces their new freedom in America. 56 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:16,000 As World War II intensifies, the Von Trapp's qualify as refugees and their visas are extended. 57 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:26,000 They continue to travel and sing and we're actually the most prolific performing artists for Columbia artists at that point giving over 90 concerts a year. 58 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:37,000 The family eventually settles in Vermont, surrounded by mountain landscapes reminiscent of their Austrian homeland and opens a ski resort, the Trapp Family Lodge. 59 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:48,000 In 1949, Maria publishes a book about the family's adventures, which is later turned into the Oscar-winning classic, The Sound of Music. 60 00:06:49,000 --> 00:07:02,000 But here in New York's harbor, Ellis Island stands as a reminder of a surprising chapter in the lives of these celebrated singers and the much loved movie that might have had a very different ending. 61 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:16,000 Covering an area of over 4,000 square miles, the island of Hawaii is bigger than all of the other islands in the archipelago combined. 62 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:27,000 It's the site of a dramatic geological wonder. A 330,000 acre expanse of lava fields and scalded desert. 63 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:36,000 You've got huge beds of urned looking rock covering the land and everything smells like sulfur. It's magical. 64 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:45,000 This is the Hawaii Volcano's national park, home to Manaloa, the largest volcano on the planet. 65 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:53,000 And nearly 80 years ago, one particular eruption sparked a chain of events that brought terror to the island. 66 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:55,000 No one knew how to stop it. 67 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:02,000 So what happened when a group of daring men tried to take on the mighty Manaloa? 68 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,000 The 1930s, Hilo, Hawaii. 69 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:16,000 The people of this bayside city have long lived at peace with the active Manaloa volcano located less than 50 miles away. 70 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Although it has erupted nearly a dozen times in the previous 50 years, the volcano's lava rarely threatens Hilo or its citizens. 71 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,000 Residents there are always aware of the volcano, but generally they felt safe. 72 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,000 But they have no idea of the danger they are about to confront. 73 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:48,000 November 21, 1935. This quiet, full day is suddenly disrupted when the ground begins to shake. 74 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:55,000 Residents look toward the volcano that looms over their town, which has begun to erupt. 75 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:06,000 But rather than flowing away from the city as it had numerous times before, residents realize the lava is headed straight towards them. 76 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,000 It was proceeding towards Hilo very fast. Millions of tons of molten rock. 77 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:23,000 The lava is flowing at a rate of one mile per day. If it doesn't stop in just two months, Hilo could be wiped off the map forever. 78 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:30,000 But one man has a plan that just might save the city from incineration. 79 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:43,000 A scientist named Thomas Jagger thinks that by bombing the side of the volcano from the air, a new path for the molten lava could be carved, one that would redirect it away from Hilo. 80 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,000 There's really no way of stopping this stuff. All you can do is try to get it to change direction. 81 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:57,000 So on December 27, the Army scrambles five planes to execute this unprecedented mission. 82 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:06,000 1935 was the first time aerial bombs had been used on a lava flow. They didn't know how the magma would react. It was a dangerous mission. 83 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:13,000 The pilots dropped their explosives on strategically mapped out points along the lava flow. 84 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,000 So will the pilots be able to save the city of Hilo? 85 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:35,000 December 1935, when the mighty Mauna Loa volcano erupts, massive lava flows threatened to wipe the Hawaiian city of Hilo off the map. 86 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:40,000 To prevent this disaster, an unprecedented emergency plan is put into action. 87 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 Bomb the flow from the air and redirect it away from Hilo. 88 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,000 It's a daring plan, but will it work? 89 00:10:53,000 --> 00:11:09,000 Over the course of a week, U.S. Army planes continuously bomb the volcano's lava channels, carving a new path for the fiery substance and gradually changing its course, thus sparing Hilo from what seemed like certain destruction. 90 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:16,000 And by January 2, 1936, the flow stops altogether. 91 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,000 The mission was a success. 92 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,000 The intrepid airmen are hailed as heroes. 93 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:30,000 But on January 24, 1936, terrible news rocks the island of Oahu. 94 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,000 Two military aircraft carrying a total of eight men have exploded in midair. 95 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Only two survived. 96 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,000 They managed to parachute out. 97 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Six other people were killed. 98 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:52,000 And the six dead airmen were identified as members of the historic and heroic Hilo bombing crew. 99 00:11:53,000 --> 00:12:08,000 When Army investigators interview the two surviving airmen to determine the cause of this tragedy, they conclude that the two planes must have collided before erupting into flames. 100 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:16,000 You have two airplanes, landing information, possibly near to others, blind spot, and sometimes airplanes just fly into each other. 101 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:21,000 And that impact is thought to have triggered the massive explosion. 102 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:27,000 The fuel tank can rupture and the fuel can get onto a hot exhaust pipe. Instant fireball. 103 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,000 The Army determines that the crash was ultimately the result of pilot error. 104 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:42,000 But over time, a very different and some say sinister theory starts to percolate among native Hawaiian islanders. 105 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:48,000 Was the crash payback for the bombing of Monaloa? 106 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,000 It was only a few weeks after they had been bombing the lava flow on the Big Island. 107 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,000 So, who was responsible? Pele? 108 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:05,000 It's said that all volcanic activity on the island is the work of the Hawaiian goddess Pele. 109 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:12,000 And anyone who violates her domain will incur her deadly wrath. 110 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:20,000 When you mess with the Aina, which is the Hawaiian word for land, you mess with Pele's children, which means she's going to mess with you. 111 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:27,000 And by bombing Monaloa, some think the six airmen had angered the vengeful goddess. 112 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:45,000 And though questions may still surround their untimely demise, to this day, the six pilots who perished are remembered for their courage as they dared to take on the mighty Monaloa in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. 113 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:52,000 A magnificent monument and a formidable force of nature. 114 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:58,000 San Jose, California is an epicenter of innovation. 115 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:06,000 But perhaps the most intriguing landmark in this Silicon Valley city is more than a century old. 116 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:16,000 Constructed over a span of almost four decades, this beautiful and bizarre home is a 160 room maze. 117 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:28,000 It is a sprawling Victorian mansion with 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, staircases that go nowhere, doors that don't open, windows that look out on other rooms. It's like no other house in America. 118 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,000 This is the Winchester Mystery House. 119 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:45,000 And as author Mitch Horowitz knows, the tale behind this extravagant structure is one of paranoia, terror, and voices from beyond the grave. 120 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,000 This labyrinth of rooms was often called the House that Fear Built. 121 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:56,000 So who built this mysterious estate? And why? 122 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:01,000 Connecticut, 1866. 123 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:10,000 Sarah Winchester is happily ensconced in Nutmeg State High Society, where she earns the nickname the Bell of New Haven. 124 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:16,000 Sarah was a New England Yankee, a petite refined woman who grew up in the best of New Haven society. 125 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Her husband, William Winchester, is heir to an extraordinary weapons manual. 126 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:33,000 The Winchester repeating rifle was heavily used on the frontier and it developed a reputation as the gun that won the West. 127 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:42,000 The profits of this successful business afford them every luxury and privilege, and it seems as if their lives are truly blessed. 128 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:51,000 On June 15th, 1866, the happy couple welcomes their first child into the world. 129 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:57,000 Sarah and William had a baby daughter named Annie. This was going to be one of the happiest times of their lives. 130 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:05,000 But their joy is short-lived. Soon after Annie's birth, the two receive crushing news. 131 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:14,000 Annie was born with a rare disease that prevented her from digesting food and her parents were forced to stand by and watch her slowly starve to death. 132 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:23,000 Little Annie's death at just five weeks old leaves Sarah and William inconsolable in their grief. 133 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:29,000 And then, in 1881, tragedy strikes again. 134 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:34,000 William Winchester contracts tuberculosis and dies of it within a year. 135 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Devastated by the loss of yet another loved one, it's said that the isolated widow turns to a psychic advisor. 136 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:53,000 Among Victorian women in America, it was common to consult spirit mediums after loss to try to understand what had happened or make contact with those who had departed. 137 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,000 But the psychic delivers a shocking revelation. 138 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:04,000 The medium tells her that she is being punished by those who had lost their lives to the Winchester rifle. 139 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,000 And there's another troubling message for Sarah from beyond the veil. 140 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:18,000 According to the story, the medium tells Sarah that the curse will continue to follow her and that she might be its next victim. 141 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:26,000 The widow is stunk. But the psychic soon reveals that there may be a way to escape her doom. 142 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,000 So what will it take for Sarah to evade her curse? 143 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,000 1881, Connecticut. 144 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:38,000 Socialite Sarah Winchester is distraught over the deaths of her daughter and husband. 145 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:48,000 When she seeks solace in a medium, she's told that vengeful spirits of those killed by guns bearing the Winchester family name have enacted their revenge. 146 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,000 And they're coming for her next. 147 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:59,000 Sarah is told by the psychic that in order to escape her fate, she will be forced to leave the world. 148 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,000 A great house must be constructed. 149 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:12,000 The medium tells Sarah that the only way to avoid the curse is to move out west and construct a vast house that is built according to the spirit's instructions. 150 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:23,000 The medium explains that as long as the house is never completed, Sarah will remain out of danger and may even be able to attain eternal life. 151 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:35,000 Taking the warning to heart, Sarah buys an unfinished farmhouse in San Jose, California and begins her mission to appease the vengeful ghosts. 152 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:46,000 It's said that every night Sarah calls on the spirits for architectural guidance and sketches out any directives that are passed her way. 153 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Then each morning, she hands the drawings over to a crew of workers who immediately tackle the day's set of instructions, no matter how baffling they may be. 154 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:10,000 They would construct whatever she drafted regardless of whether it made sense, this sometimes included stairways or corridors that seem to go nowhere, doors or windows that open to out of the way places. 155 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,000 It just turned the house into this sprawling mess. 156 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:23,000 This bizarre layout of the house served as a form of protection for Sarah. 157 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:37,000 According to local legend, Sarah would never sleep in the same bedroom twice and her confusing floor plans were designed to confound spirits who had a grudge against the Winchester family. 158 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:46,000 Over the course of nearly four decades, the modest farmhouse expands into a sprawling mansion containing roughly 160 rooms. 159 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:53,000 For decades after Sarah moved in, there was non-stop building on the house. Sometimes it went all day into the night. 160 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:04,000 Then in 1922, Sarah at the age of 83 is found in one of her many bedrooms, dead from heart failure. 161 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:11,000 If she had wanted to keep vengeful spirits at bay, she succeeded, but in the end, death did find Sarah Winchester. 162 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:18,000 After 38 years of round the clock construction, work on the house finally ceases. 163 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:31,000 In the end, the mansion reaches a sprawling 24,000 square feet, including 40 stairways, 6 kitchens and 13 bathrooms. 164 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:47,000 Today, Sarah's sad haunting story survives in the Winchester Mystery House, a powerful reminder of an eccentric heiress who was consumed by superstition, grief and fear. 165 00:20:51,000 --> 00:21:00,000 In Northern Arizona lies a 1.2 million acre geological wonder sculpted by the forces of nature over millions of years. 166 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,000 This is the Grand Canyon National Park. 167 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:19,000 But as boater and writer Brad Dimick knows, this majestic locale was once the setting of an ambitious journey that both fascinated and baffled the country for generations. 168 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:27,000 This is the story of mystery, romance, possible murder, and the most stunning of landscapes. 169 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:36,000 So how did the Grand Canyon become the setting for one of the most bewildering mysteries in the annals of adventure? 170 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000 It's the late 1920s. 171 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:50,000 Two newlyweds from Idaho, Glenn and Bessie Hyde, embark upon a rather unconventional type of honeymoon. 172 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,000 A boat trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. 173 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,000 A journey Glenn hopes will earn his wife a place in the history books. 174 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,000 Bessie would be the first woman to have gone down the Colorado. 175 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:17,000 On October 20th, 1928, the daring duo sets off in a large wooden boat, hand-built by Glenn himself. 176 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 They just get out of the middle of the river and take off. 177 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:36,000 After leaving from Green River, Utah, Glenn and Bessie Hyde plan to wind their way down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and end their 800-mile journey in Needles, California. 178 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,000 But the trip isn't easy. 179 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:47,000 Day after day, the couple battles raging currents that threaten to smash their homemade vessel to pieces. 180 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:59,000 By week three, when they reach the Grand Canyon, the two are exhausted and in desperate need of supplies. 181 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,000 So they stop near an Arizona town called Grand Canyon Village. 182 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:16,000 There they meet a local photographer named Emery Kolb, who is surprised to learn that they have been navigating the perilous waters without essential life-saving equipment. 183 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:24,000 He was shocked. On the Colorado River, everybody wore life jackets. You knew that you could have drowned out there. 184 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,000 Glenn hides. Oh, no, we're okay. We're good swimmers. 185 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Before Glenn and Bessie bid the photographer farewell, he snaps a picture of them. 186 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:49,000 And on November 17th, the Hydes resume their journey, hoping to finish the final 430 miles by December 9th. 187 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:56,000 Glenn had promised his father he would send him a telegram at the very latest on his 30th birthday. 188 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,000 But December 9th comes and goes with no word from the couple. 189 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:14,000 Glenn hides father, Rawlin, alerts the authorities and the press to the couple's disappearance and launches the greatest Grand Canyon manhunt to date. 190 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:21,000 Almost two weeks later, search crews spy something bombing near the river shore. 191 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:32,000 They finally spot the boat and it's apparently marooned with no one aboard. 192 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:40,000 To their surprise, it's still intact and loaded with supplies, suggesting that it hadn't capsized. 193 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:45,000 They find their hiking shoes, their gun, their money, their journals. 194 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:52,000 But no bodies are ever recovered from the river and the case goes cold. 195 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:59,000 As the years pass, the story of the vanishing honeymooners seems destined to be lost forever. 196 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:12,000 Then, in 1976, in Grand Canyon Village, Arizona, the half-century old case is reopened when a local man passes away. 197 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:20,000 As his relatives sort through his belongings, they make a disturbing finding inside his garage. 198 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,000 An old canoe containing human remains. 199 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:32,000 When the remains are examined, they suggest the unidentified individual met a very violent end. 200 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,000 They found the skeleton of a tall young man, a bullet hole in the cranium. 201 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:49,000 Digging deeper, investigators learn that the house's original owner was none other than Emery Cole, who may have been the last to see the hides alive. 202 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,000 And that's not all. 203 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:59,000 A belt buckle found near the skeleton appears to match the one worn by Glenn on his fateful journey. 204 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:04,000 Looked like the belt buckle in the last photo that Emery Cole took of them. 205 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Is this the body of Glenn Hyde? If so, did Cole have any connection to his death? 206 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:29,000 In 1928, two newlyweds, Glenn and Bessie Hyde, disappear while attempting a record-breaking journey down the Colorado River. Their bodies never found. 207 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:40,000 Then, almost 50 years later, in 1976, human remains are discovered at the house of one of the last people to ever see the couple alive. 208 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:47,000 A man named Emery Cole. So, will the mystery of their disappearance finally be solved? 209 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:58,000 Cole's descendants tell authorities that the well-known photographer merely found the skeleton and kept it as a rather odd and macabre collectible. 210 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:05,000 And when the remains are sent to the lab, the results confirm that it's not a match to the missing explorer. 211 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:11,000 The musculature was all wrong, facial construction was all wrong for it to be Glenn Hyde. 212 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,000 So, what really happened to Glenn and Bessie Hyde? 213 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:27,000 Some have a very simple explanation that Glenn's self-made wooden boat was not up to the challenge of navigating the treacherous Colorado and through its passengers overboard. 214 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:38,000 Those old wooden sweeps in really big white water are terribly violent. They were not wearing life jackets. I think the river got them. 215 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:53,000 Today, the case of Glenn and Bessie Hyde remains one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries of the American West. 216 00:27:54,000 --> 00:28:02,000 And the couple's strange disappearance is a haunting reminder of the Grand Canyon's devastating beauty and deadly power. 217 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,000 San Antonio, Texas. 218 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:17,000 Just a short distance away from the city's picturesque river walk stands the state's most famous landmark. 219 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:28,000 The building is a limestone rock building and it contains many intricate carvings over the windows and the doors. 220 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:38,000 And according to historian Rusty Busby, the adobe walls of this extraordinary monument contain a story of mystery and mayhem. 221 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:45,000 You would not imagine the horror and bloodshed that happened here 177 years ago. 222 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:52,000 This is the Alamo, a hallowed Texas ground and a site of mass martyrdom. 223 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:59,000 But some say that hidden somewhere in the walls of this legendary fortress is an astounding secret. 224 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:09,000 It's March 1836, the town of San Antonio in the Mexican territory of Texas. 225 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:18,000 The American settlers in this region are bristling under the authoritarian rule of Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Ana. 226 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:24,000 At the time, the people that lived here actually lived in a Mexican state. 227 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:34,000 The region's disgruntled people attempt to overthrow Santa Ana's tyrannical rule and establish a free republic of Texas. 228 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:43,000 At the vanguard of this Texas independence movement is a small band of militiamen led by Colonel Jim Bowie. 229 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:55,000 Now they are holed up in a garrison in the converted Spanish mission known as the Alamo, preparing to face an overwhelming foe, the merciless army of Santa Ana. 230 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:04,000 The defenders of the Alamo could look out over the walls and see Mexican troops arriving daily. 231 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:11,000 But Bowie and his 180 or so men are determined not to go down without a fight. 232 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:19,000 The Mexican troops kept coming and kept coming. Some say as many as 4,000 were on hand for the battle. 233 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,000 And on March 6th, the Mexican cannons roar and the climactic battle begins. 234 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:37,000 It did not take long for the Mexican troops to swarm the area inside of the Alamo and to violently kill all the occupants. 235 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:51,000 In the weeks following the massacre, the valiant last stand made by Bowie and his men becomes the stuff of myth and legend. 236 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:57,000 The words, remember the Alamo, are a rallying cry for Texas nationalists. 237 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:07,000 Later that year, Santa Ana's army is driven out of the territory and the independent Republic of Texas is established. 238 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:16,000 For generations, Texas school children have thought of the Alamo as a vital citadel in the cause of Texas independence. 239 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,000 But something doesn't add up. 240 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:30,000 Some historians believe that the Alamo was not a strategic position and they question why the troops would stay there and fight Santa Ana in that location. 241 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:41,000 In fact, Bowie and his men could have slipped away days earlier and joined up with the larger militias to the southeast in the town of Goliath. 242 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:51,000 Bowie actually did receive orders to blow up the Alamo, to take all the cannon at the Alamo and deliver them to Goliath. 243 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,000 Bowie however chose not to do that. 244 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:05,000 So what possible reason could there be for the defenders at the Alamo to make their stand here in the face of such overwhelming odds? 245 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,000 The extraordinary answer may rewrite the history books. 246 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:23,000 The Alamo 1836. Jim Bowie and his brave militiamen have given their lives for the cause of Texas independence. 247 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:33,000 Their heroic stand against overwhelming odds eventually inspires the people of the region to drive Santa Ana and his Mexican army back across the Rio Grande River. 248 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:41,000 But nearly 180 years later, some historians speculate there could be a surprising twist to this familiar tale. 249 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:53,000 Many have questioned why Jim Bowie and his men chose to defend the garrison at the Alamo when the fort had a limited strategic value. 250 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:06,000 Some believe that a clue might lie in the mysterious events of Jim Bowie's earlier life, five years before the Alamo when he was still a newcomer in the territory of Texas. 251 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:16,000 Bowie was actually a slave trader and a gambler and a dreamer. He started dreaming about land in this particular territory. 252 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:23,000 Bowie had heard rumors of incalculable riches in the hill country of central Texas. 253 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:29,000 And in 1831, he led an expedition to search for the lost treasure of the San Sabah mine. 254 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,000 Many believe that Bowie did indeed strike it rich. 255 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:45,000 Legend has it that Bowie recovered all or part of the lost San Sabah mine treasure and taken it back to the Alamo. 256 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:54,000 So did Bowie disobey his orders to abandon the Alamo because he was defending a vast trove of treasure? 257 00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:04,000 If this theory is right, some believe the riches which could be worth millions today could still be hidden somewhere inside the Alamo. 258 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:20,000 Hoping to solve the mystery, in 1995, a historian and treasure hunter named Frank Buschbacher manages to obtain a permit to conduct an archaeological survey inside the walls of the Alamo. 259 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:30,000 There were thousands of people that were interested. Politicians would show up at the site and a real hubbub was created about this particular event. 260 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:40,000 Using ground penetrating radar, the archaeologists identify numerous locations that seem to indicate a large quantity of buried metal. 261 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:46,000 But Buschbacher's permit limits him to just one 15 square foot area in which he can excavate. 262 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:54,000 They discover musket balls, chips of flint and shards of pottery. But no sign of treasure. 263 00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:02,000 On the last day of the dig, he took a back hole and dug down 15 feet, finding nothing. 264 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:07,000 But the intrepid treasure hunters are not ready to give up. 265 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:18,000 While it's difficult getting permits to excavate inside a protected historic national monument, they are still hopeful that the 1995 dig will not be the last. 266 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:29,000 Although the elusive San Saba treasure may never be found, there's no doubt that the Alamo will forever remain a shrine to Texas liberty. 267 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:34,000 An enduring symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds. 268 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:41,000 In Eastern California lies one of the world's most stunning and treacherous terrains. 269 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:46,000 A striking desert landscape famous for its streams. 270 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:54,000 This is the hottest, driest place in the Western Hemisphere with temperatures above 134 Fahrenheit. 271 00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:01,000 This is Death Valley, the largest national park in the world. 272 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:17,000 And as geologist Paula Messina can attest, of all the marvels here, the monuments most intriguing are, on first glance, nothing more than an assortment of boulders. 273 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:24,000 But these rocks are at the heart of a puzzle that has fascinated scientists for decades. 274 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,000 These rocks have not yielded their secrets and probably never will. 275 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:35,000 What is the real truth behind the enigmatic rocks known as the Sailing Stones? 276 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,000 1948, Death Valley, California. 277 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:51,000 Two geologists named Jim McAllister and Alan Agnew have been assigned by the US Geological Survey to map the bedrock in one of the valley's most remote locales. 278 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:59,000 A dry lake bed hundreds of miles from civilization called the Racetrack Playa. 279 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:07,000 As recently as a thousand years ago there was standing water in this place, but now it's just totally bone-drying. 280 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:14,000 The geologists observe over 150 boulders and rocks dotting the playa's surface. 281 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:20,000 And there's something about these rocks that strikes the two scientists as rather odd. 282 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:30,000 Adjacent to each one of the stones is a long groove in the desert floor, evidence that the stones are doing something extraordinary. 283 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:36,000 The bizarre thing about these rocks is that they appear to move. They're leaving trails. 284 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:45,000 Some of them were close to a half mile long. They thought, well, this is just really crazy. 285 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:54,000 There are no footprints or tracks in the dry earth, and no human or animal could be strong enough to move some of the larger boulders. 286 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:59,000 The rocks range in size to probably more than 700 pounds. 287 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:11,000 Believing they have stumbled upon a mystery as intriguing as Stonehenge, McAllister and Agnew dubbed this bewildering phenomenon the Sailing Stones. 288 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:18,000 Some scientists dismissed the Sailing Stones as some sort of elaborate prank. 289 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:23,000 But the playa's inaccessibility makes this idea highly unlikely. 290 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:33,000 The racetrack is so difficult to get to that if one wanted to instigate a prank there, he or she would have to be pretty darn serious. 291 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,000 It's not the kind of place that you would go to for an evening of fun. 292 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:48,000 Over the next few decades, people ponder this seemingly intractable puzzle, floating theories that range from the scientific to the paranormal. 293 00:38:50,000 --> 00:39:00,000 Then in 1968, two geologists named Bob Sharp and Dwight Carey set up an ambitious project to monitor the Sailing Stones, 294 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:06,000 marking their original positions and returning intermittently to measure their movements. 295 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:13,000 Sharp and Carey went back every year to see if the rocks that they had been monitoring had moved. 296 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:20,000 And in 1975, after seven years, they released their astonishing findings. 297 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:27,000 The evidence indicates that the rocks sometimes move at a speed of up to four miles an hour. 298 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:33,000 So what on earth is causing these rocks to glide across the desert? 299 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,000 It's 1975 in Death Valley, California. 300 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:48,000 Scientists are puzzled by a set of massive stones that seem to have mysteriously moved across the desert floor all by themselves. 301 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:55,000 And despite studying the rocks for the better part of a decade, they're no closer to understanding the phenomenon. 302 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,000 So what has caused this bizarre occurrence? 303 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:07,000 Since no one has ever witnessed the stones in motion, scientists can only theorize as to the cause. 304 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:14,000 Many hone in on Death Valley's extreme temperatures as a possible explanation. 305 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:22,000 While the National Park is known for scorching heat, winters bring occasional periods of overnight freezing. 306 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:31,000 Researchers hypothesize that ice sheets form on the pliab so that the rocks can sail across the pliab without too much of a forceful wind. 307 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:43,000 But some studies indicate that the rocks might actually move year-round, leaving this theory unable to account for times when desert temperatures are at their hottest. 308 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:52,000 So scientists conclude that the most plausible answer comes from the interaction of two of nature's most essential elements. 309 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,000 Wind and water. 310 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:06,000 Although the annual rainfall here is just three to four inches, researchers know that the racetrack playa occasionally experiences violent storms, 311 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:11,000 with sudden downpours and wind gusts that exceed 70 miles per hour. 312 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:17,000 You wouldn't need very much rain for the playa surface to become very slick. 313 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:27,000 And that slick, almost frictionless surface, combined with high winds, could provide the perfect conditions for the rocks to slide. 314 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,000 But these circumstances have never been witnessed by human eyes. 315 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,000 And because the park regulates the use of remote cameras, it may never be. 316 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:48,000 The racetrack is designated wilderness area within a national park, and permanent instrumentation can't be left there. 317 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:55,000 So it's very unlikely that we'll ever have remote instruments to capture the rocks in motion. 318 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:02,000 And so the enigmatic sailing stones may always remain shrouded in mystery, 319 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:10,000 with the secrets of their stealthy journey hidden within the forbidding landscape of Death Valley National Park. 320 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:27,000 From a volcanic curse to a mysterious mansion, buried treasure to sailing stones, I'm Don Wildman, and these are Monumental Mysteries.