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A pair of gravestones linked by a tale of passion and murder.

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The story was biblical in proportion.

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A giant statue that conceals an even bigger mystery.

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The photo went on to be literally world famous.

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And a town clock whose hands are frozen in time.

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This clock stood witness to one of the most devastating events in the history of Hilo Avenue.

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Sometimes the greatest secrets lie in plain sight.

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These are monumental mysteries.

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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With over 700 outdoor sculptures,

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the city of brotherly love has more public art than anywhere else in the country.

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And as journalist Michael Kassel can attest,

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at the bottom of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art,

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stands one of the city's most popular attractions.

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More tourists come to see this statue every year than any other monument in the city of Philadelphia.

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This eight foot tall bronze figure depicts a character from a classic film

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about an underdog who gets the opportunity of a lifetime.

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Rocky.

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But few know the origins of this fictional character.

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The statue represents so much,

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but there's actually a real story of a real man with an even more incredible story.

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What real life boxer helped inspire the epic movie series so many know and love today?

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1975.

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Bayonne, New Jersey.

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In this industrial city just 10 miles from Manhattan,

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36 year old Chuck Wepner is barely scraping by as a liquor store clerk.

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But night after night, he pursues his true passion, boxing.

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Chuck Wepner was what they call unboxing a hammonegger.

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He was a working class fighter.

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He had raw natural power.

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And while the six foot five inch fighter isn't professionally trained,

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what he lacks in technique he more than makes up for with physical strength.

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He was a very, very hard puncher and he's big.

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After more than 10 years on the circuit as a professional boxer,

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Wepner has earned a degree of local acclaim.

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In New Jersey he was very famous because he had won the New Jersey State title.

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But throughout the world, throughout the country, nobody knew who Chuck Wepner was.

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But in the winter of 1975, Wepner receives some life changing news

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that will cement his legacy forever.

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His mother called him up on the phone and said,

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Chuck, did you see the paper?

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He says that you're going to be fighting for the title.

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And incredibly, Wepner's next opponent is none other than the reigning world heavyweight champion

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and the most famous boxer of the day, Muhammad Ali.

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Having heard about Wepner's exploits on the New Jersey circuit,

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boxing promoter Don King has chosen Wepner as Ali's next challenger.

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The choice keeps up a time-honored tradition of generating publicity

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by mixing in a seemingly easy win before moving on to more serious contenders.

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No one thinks that the underdog stands a chance against the champ.

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The national press looked at Chuck as a joke. They made fun of him.

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March 24th, the big night arrives.

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At Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland, Chuck Wepner comes face-to-face with Muhammad Ali.

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The odds are stacked 30-to-1 in favor of the champ.

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The press ringside, they thought it was only a matter of time before Muhammad Ali was going to knock him out.

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But to everyone's surprise, after eight rounds, Wepner is still standing.

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Ali's dropping the kitchen sink on him, but he's not going anywhere.

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Then in round nine, the unthinkable happens.

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Wepner delivers a powerful punch that sends Ali to the met.

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Muhammad went down. He went down hard.

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Everybody was thinking for a second, maybe this guy, he was a 30-to-100 dog,

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could knock out the champion of the world.

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But Ali doesn't stay down for long.

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Ali, when he got up off the canvas, was extremely angry.

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From that point on, it was a bloodbath for Chuck Wepner.

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Ali turned it up all the way.

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But Ali's so-called easy opponent refuses to surrender.

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Is there a chance that Chuck Wepner could land one more punch like he did before and maybe be world champion?

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Finally, in round 15, with only nine seconds left before the bell,

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Ali lands a blow to Wepner's face that sends the challenger into the ropes.

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Ali is declared the victor, but Chuck Wepner, who went 15 rounds against the greatest fighter of all time, still emerges a hero.

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He became mythical. He became a legend.

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Wepner enjoys a brief moment in the spotlight and soon returns to New Jersey where his career began.

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But his story is destined to live on.

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Thanks to an up-and-coming Hollywood writer and actor named Sylvester Stallone.

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Stallone, who had watched the fight, uses Wepner's tale as inspiration to write, direct, and star in a 1976 film about an underdog who's plucked from obscurity to fight a champion.

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Rocky.

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It's for every underdog, for every underachiever that has that one great opportunity.

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The film goes on to win multiple awards and spawned five sequels.

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This statue of Rocky Balboa in his iconic pose was donated by the producers to the city of Philadelphia following the release of Rocky III.

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Today, the monument also serves as a reminder of the real-life hero who inspired a now classic film.

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The picturesque heights of Brooklyn, New York offer sweeping views of Manhattan's famous skyline.

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But this bustling borough of 2.5 million has a few landmarks of its own.

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And one of them is a verdant expanse of gravestones and memorials.

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It is 478 acres of gravesites of Civil War generals, sports heroes, actors, musicians, politicians.

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This is Greenwood Cemetery.

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Amidst these venerable structures are two gray granite tombstones that are inextricably linked for all eternity.

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One is etched with a weeping willow and the other bears a disturbing inscription.

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May God rest her troubled soul.

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For author and historian Benjamin Feldman, these headstones mark the graves of a couple who were embroiled in a scintillating tale of unbridled passion and murder.

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The story was biblical in proportion. It had every ingredient that any newspaper man could desire. Lust, betrayal, violence, greed.

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So what was this scandalous crime that gripped Victorian age America?

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January 31st, 1857, Manhattan.

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A young man working at a dental practice at 31 Bond Street arrives for work and notices that the keys to the operating room have been left in the lock.

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When he pushes the door open, he makes a startling discovery.

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There, lying in the perfect pool of gore was the cold corpse of Dr. Harvey Burdell, his torso riddled with stab wounds.

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Dr. Burdell, a wealthy and well-respected man, was the proprietor of the dental practice.

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Initially, the police theorized that the dentist was the victim of a robbery gone bad.

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But when nothing is found missing, the idea is dismissed.

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So who could have killed Dr. Harvey Burdell? And why?

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An examination of the doctor's body yields a solitary clue.

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After the coroner's physicians examined Burdell's corpse, they noticed that the stab wounds in his body had been made by someone who was left-handed.

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But with little else to go on, it seems as if the crime may remain unsolved.

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But then, a woman steps forward with an unusual claim.

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Her name is Emma Cunningham, and she is the manager of the building in which the dental practice is located.

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The rooms were hers to use and to rent out as she could see fit to make herself a little money.

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But Emma, it seems, was no ordinary employee.

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She pulled out a marriage certificate of Harvey Burdell and Emma Hemsdett Cunningham.

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Emma says she is Dr. Burdell's grieving widow and therefore the heir to his estate.

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But investigators sense that something's not quite right.

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After talking to residents of 31 Bond Street, police discover that Emma and Harvey's relationship had been fraught with tension.

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It was known that she and Harvey Burdell had been acrimonious.

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Everybody's instantly suspected Emma of having committed this murder.

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And when police discover that Emma is left-handed, just like the killer,

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they begin to suspect that she might have murdered the dentist in order to get her hands on his vast fortune.

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When Emma is arrested and charged with murder, she swears she is simply a grief-stricken widow who has been falsely accused.

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Emma screamed out, why would I have killed him? I was his wife.

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In May 1857, the sensational trial begins.

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And prosecutors open with an extraordinary piece of evidence that casts doubt on Emma's story.

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Burdell's acquaintances and relatives testified at the inquest that he was out of town in late October of 1856,

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the date of this marriage certificate. So he couldn't possibly have married Emma.

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Evidence was presented that Emma had gotten her boyfriend to get his hair dyed and put on false whiskers

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and show up claiming to be Harvey Burdell.

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Prosecutors allege that Emma faked her wedding to Dr. Burdell and then murdered him to lay claim to his estate.

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It seems that Emma is all but certain to hang for this devious plot.

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But what happens next defies all expectations.

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It's 1857 in New York.

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Emma Cunningham is on trial for the murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell, whom prosecutors allege she killed for his vast fortune.

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It seems she's destined to hang for the crime. But this Victorian era saga has a shocking twist.

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Emma's defense lawyer appeals to the all-male jury's chivalrous sensibilities.

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Her defense attorney reminded the 12 men sitting in the jury box that their responsibility as gentlemen was to give Emma Cunningham the benefit of the doubt.

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And even though the faked marriage certificate points to her guilt, Emma is acquitted on all charges.

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But the scandalous tale isn't over yet.

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Soon after the trial, a rumor spreads that Emma is pregnant.

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If she were carrying Burdell's unborn child and gave birth to such a babe, she would gain control of Harvey Burdell's estate.

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The only way she will be able to access Burdell's assets is to present an actual child to the court.

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But investigators believe Emma is faking her pregnancy. And as her supposed due date approaches, they hatch a daring plot to entrap her.

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Posing as underworld baby traffickers, detectives tell Emma that an unwanted child is available for purchase.

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Emma was tipped off to come downtown to pick up a newborn infant.

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Emma takes the bait and is caught red-handed and promptly arrested.

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She is convicted of fraud, sent to jail for a month, and so loses any hope of claiming the doctor's estate as her reputation is forever tainted.

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Thirty years later in 1887, Emma Cunningham dies at the age of 69 and is laid to rest in Brooklyn's Greenwood Cemetery.

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And in a final twist of fate, she is buried only a few hundred yards from Dr. Harvey Burdell.

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But their story lives on.

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Today, tour guides at the Greenwood Cemetery regale visitors with this sordid tale of lust, greed and murder in the Victorian era.

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San Diego is home to one-third of the US Navy's Pacific fleet.

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And here, next to the mammoth USS Midway aircraft carrier, visitors will find another towering landmark.

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It's 25 feet tall, it's painted in vivid colors, and it portrays a moment in American history that's well-known and well-chronical.

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Depicting a sailor and a woman dressed in white entwined in a fleeting embrace, this giant sculpture is titled Unconditional Surrender.

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And it mimics an iconic moment that captivated a nation.

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Everyone recognizes a statue, but few people know the true story behind what led up to that moment.

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How did this famous public display of affection lead to one of the most captivating mysteries of the 20th century?

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August 14th, 1945.

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At 7 p.m., United States President Harry S. Truman announces the news the nation had long hoped for.

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Japan has surrendered. World War II is finally at an end.

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People didn't know how to react except utter bash joy, relief that the war was over.

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Nowhere is the exuberance higher than in New York City's Times Square.

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And it's here that Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstadt captures a defining image in the victory celebrations.

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And out of the corner of his eye he saw a sailor barreling towards a nurse and as they started to embrace he aimed his camera at them and clicked four times.

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And when the photograph of this passionate pose is published, it becomes an instant icon.

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The photo went on to be literally world-famous.

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As the picture's status grows, so too does the public's curiosity.

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People began to wonder who these people were. Alfred Eisenstadt never got the people's name so there was no way to follow up.

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And even though they become an enduring symbol of VJ Day, the couple's identity remains a mystery for over three decades.

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But in 1979, a series of events is put in motion that will change the way this photo is seen forever.

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Alfred Eisenstadt received a letter and he couldn't believe what he read.

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Dear Mr. Eisenstadt, I can now come forward and say that I'm the nurse in your famous picture.

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Identifying herself as one Edith Shane, she says she had kept silent all these years for a very simple reason.

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Modesty.

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Proper women don't let themselves be kissed by sailors and I'm a very proper woman, but times have changed.

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And after Eisenstadt meets Edith in person, he's convinced that she is indeed the nurse in his photograph.

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But who was her impromptu paramour?

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Edith had no idea who the sailor in the picture was because people were kissing other people, no one stopped to exchange names.

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So in 1980, Life magazine launches a campaign to find the anonymous sailor, appealing to readers across the country for help.

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They were literally inundated.

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One of the most convincing claimants is Carl Muscarello, whose recollection of VJ Day is apparently impeccable.

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He remembered the events vividly and being very well spoken, very effervescent. It was easy to believe that he was the sailor.

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Edith agrees to meet with Carl and poses him a trick question, one that she had previously used to rule out other candidates.

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Edith Shane asked Carl Muscarello why he didn't call her after she gave him her phone number.

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Carl Muscarello didn't fall for that ruse and he said, you never gave me a phone number and that's why I didn't call you.

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This matches Edith's experience and it's enough for Life magazine to declare Carl to be the long lost kissing sailor.

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But a few years later, another gentleman steps forward and files a lawsuit against Life magazine, swearing that he is the man in the photo.

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His name is George Mendonza.

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So which of these two men, Muscarello or Mendonza, is the real kissing sailor?

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And what surprising twist will be revealed?

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In August 1945, as the nation celebrated the end of World War II,

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news photographer Alfred Eisenstadt took this iconic photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square,

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which years later is made into a towering statue in San Diego.

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For decades, the identity of this couple remained a mystery.

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But in 1979, a woman named Edith Shane claimed she was the nurse in the picture.

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But who was her paramour?

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The quest narrowed down to two men, Carl Muscarello and George Mendonza.

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So who was the real kissing sailor?

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In 2005, a team of experts using the latest in photo-analytic technology

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looked for matches between the young sailor and the now elderly men.

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Their results turned the story on its head.

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Every feature from his hairline to his nose to the shape of his ears

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all pointed very conclusively to George Mendonza being the sailor.

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One compelling piece of evidence is that an unusually shaped bump on George's left arm

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is an exact match to the one clearly depicted in the photograph.

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But the most conclusive proof comes from a very unlikely source, George's wife.

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One of the most compelling pieces of evidence we have is that one of the people in the photo

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seen over George's right shoulder is his wife, Rita.

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As it turns out, George was on a date with Rita

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when the two ran into Times Square to celebrate with everyone else.

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George Mendonza remembered incidents in the war where Navy nurses were tending to sick and dying sailors

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and he just wanted to embrace the first Navy nurse that he could find.

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And when George saw the young woman shining like a beacon in white,

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his emotions cut the best of it.

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But the story has one final surprise.

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Experts determine that the nurse is not Edith Shane.

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Analysis of the photograph shows that if the woman and the sailor were standing straight up,

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they'd be approximately the same height.

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But in reality, the 4'10' Shane would have been dwarfed by the 6'2' Mendonza.

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Edith Shane was much too short to be there.

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Edith had genuinely believed that she was the woman in the famous photograph

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and she may well have been kissed by a sailor in Times Square that day.

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It just wasn't the one in the picture.

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With the mystery opened anew, a woman who had long claimed to the nurse to friends and family steps forward.

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Her name? Greta Zimmer Friedman.

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And further analysis of the photo confirms she's a match.

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Her hairstyle was just the same as the one in the picture.

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Her body composition was the same.

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Correctly identified after over 60 years, George and Greta celebrate their newfound fame.

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And today, this towering statue named Unconditional Surrender

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stands in San Diego as a larger than life representation of an affectionate moment at the end of a war.

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Just north of the crowded city of Los Angeles is a quiet oasis of dense mountain woodlands.

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A 1,000 square mile stretch of pristine nature.

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It's an amazing place that you would not believe.

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Mountains, lakes, it's beautiful.

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This splendid swath of protected wilderness is the Angeles National Forest, home to the legendary Elizabeth Lake.

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The misty basin sits atop the notoriously unstable San Andreas Fault.

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But according to author Joshua Hawley, it's also feared for another more sinister reason.

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But what a lot of people don't realize, there's a deep dark secret in that location.

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It's rumored that a giant, otherworldly creature lived there.

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What is this frightful beast that some believe terrorized this peaceful forest?

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1883, Elizabeth Lake, California.

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Cattleman Don Chico Lopez settles in an abandoned asienda on the banks of this picturesque lake.

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He thinks he has found an ideal place to set up his ranch.

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But one day, a terrified ranch hand approaches Lopez in a panic.

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He claims to have heard beastly noises and summons Lopez down to the lake to investigate.

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As the story goes, the men notice something rustling in the weeds and are startled by a horrible screech.

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It's a loud shriek. Loud scream that nobody's ever heard before.

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And they see this huge massive creature rise up in the air with a wingspan that could block out the sun.

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But this isn't the first time such a sighting has been reported.

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Tales of a behemoth that lives in the lake.

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A ferocious beast said to be over 90 feet long with an 8-foot beak and strong sharp teeth have been passed down for centuries.

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It's a creature so terrifying that the settlers in the region have given its home a fittingly frightful nickname that signifies the spawn of Satan.

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Devil's Lake.

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A legend claims that there's a pet of the devil in the lake.

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Some say the devil himself chose this body of water as a home for his monstrous pet.

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And that at the deepest point of the lake, perhaps along the San Andreas Fault Line, there is a direct passage to the underworld.

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Alarmed, Lopez and his ranch hand flee the area and abandon the ranch for good.

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In the years that follow, the legend of the winged demon of Devil's Lake grows.

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The enormous monster continues to plague ranchers in the area and is speculated to feed on livestock, leaving carnage in its wake.

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Bounties are offered and hunting parties are dispatched.

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But the beast eludes all attempts to be killed or captured.

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What is this diabolical creature and will it ever be caught?

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Southern California, the 1880s.

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A giant flying feed has been spotted terrorizing local ranchers along the shores of Elizabeth Lake in what is now Angeles National Forest.

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What exactly is this demonic creature and will its reign of terror end?

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In 1890, a few years after it was last seen flying eastward, the beast rears its ugly head again in a remote desert hundreds of miles away.

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It's there, near Tombstone, Arizona, that two ranchers are said to have stumbled upon a horrific sight.

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They see this huge massive creature fly overhead.

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First thing they thought in their minds, let's kill it, you're cowboys.

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The armed ranchers claim to have chased the creature for several miles before finally drawing close enough to fire the fatal shot.

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The men move in to examine the monster they've just slain.

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They later describe it as a winged monster with an elongated tail and an immense pair of wings.

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They were so mystified by it, they kind of figured they had a carnival attraction on their hands.

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The beast is too heavy for the ranchers to move, so they clip a piece of the giant wing and rush back into town.

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Newspapers seize upon the story of the strange winged animal, dubbing it the Thunderbird.

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And soon everyone is demanding a glimpse of the beast.

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So supposedly these men went back to get the creature, but when they got there, it wasn't there.

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Without solid proof of its existence, the Thunderbird is relegated to the ranks of mythic creature.

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So were the sightings of the winged beast simply tall tails?

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Some believe the creature was actually some type of giant predatory bird.

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But even the largest species don't measure up to the Thunderbird's monstrous dimensions.

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According to another theory, the Thunderbird is actually the ancestor of an ancient animal, like a pterodactyl,

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which somehow escaped extinction during the age of dinosaurs.

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But since no skeletal remains have been found, this theory cannot be proven.

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And while countless faked or doctored photographs have surfaced that purport to depict the scale of this enormous beast, none have been authenticated.

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The US is filled with Thunderbird stories and there's more coming out all the time.

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For now, the legend of this beast lives on in the Angeles National Forest,

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which stands as a lasting reminder of the mysterious Thunderbird and its infamous reign of terror.

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Hawaii's Big Island is home to the largest volcano on Earth.

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Rising more than 13,000 feet above sea level is Montelone.

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But 30 miles away from this towering monolith in the coastal town of Hilo stands a far less conspicuous landmark.

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It's about 12 feet high. It's green metal and it's been weathered by the years.

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But there's something special about it and it's not there to tell time.

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This is the Hilo Town Clock.

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Once an active time period, the Hilo Town Clock is the first to be discovered.

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In the early days of the 19th century, the hands are now permanently frozen at 1.04 a.m.

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The exact time that this town's fate was sealed forever.

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This clock stood witness to one of the most tragic and devastating events in the history of Hilo.

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What catastrophic incident stopped the motion of this clock?

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May 22, 1960.

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Hilo, Hawaii is a growing commercial center thanks to the powerful sugar industry with cane fields stretching out for miles from town.

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But life in paradise is about to come to a terrifying halt.

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At 1.04 a.m., sleeping residents are awoken to a loud rumbling sound.

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And upon looking outside, they are greeted with a horrifying sight.

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They saw a 20-foot vertical front of this enormous wall of water that would ultimately rise to 35 feet.

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A giant tsunami is rapidly approaching, one that is so big and powerful that it will swallow Hilo whole.

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The next morning, the extent of the devastation that the tsunami has left in its wake becomes clear.

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Parking meters are bent parallel to the ground. Homes and buildings completely smashed.

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Whole city blocks level.

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At least 500 homes and businesses were destroyed.

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It did $50 million worth of damage. Most tragically, it killed 61 people.

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But for all of its catastrophic effects, the tsunami's arrival did not come as a complete surprise.

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In fact, alarms sounded a full four hours before the waves hit, alerting residents of the imminent danger.

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The sirens went off at 8 o'clock and they continued to sound at intervals after that.

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So there was ample time for people to evacuate.

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But most people chose to ignore the warnings.

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So why did the residents of Hilo not flee the impending disaster?

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It's May 1960.

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A devastating tsunami has struck the coastal city of Hilo, Hawaii, leaving 61 people dead in its wake.

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But hours before the waves actually hit, tsunami alarms sounded, warning residents to flee the area.

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So why didn't the town evacuate?

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The catalyst for the tsunami occurred almost 15 hours before it struck Hilo.

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When an earthquake off the coast of Chile, with a magnitude of 9.5 on the Richter scale,

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triggered a series of seismic sea waves through the Pacific Ocean that grew as they headed the 6000 miles towards Hawaii.

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At 8.30 p.m., coastal sirens in Hilo began to sound.

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That was still four hours, plenty of advance warning to evacuate in time.

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So why didn't people leave?

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The answer harkens back to a similar event that occurred in the mid 1940s.

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After an even deadlier tsunami swept through Hilo in 1946,

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an official alert system had been put in place by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

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But despite the many alarms in the years that followed,

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most of the resulting tsunamis were either minor or did not hit the area directly.

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There had been very little damage and no loss of life.

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So that when this warning came, people didn't really understand the magnitude of what was about to happen.

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So on May 22nd, 1960, with citizens lulled into a false sense of security,

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the majority opted to stay put as the sirens blared.

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One of those Hilo residents that chose not to evacuate was 23-year-old nurse Janet Fujimoto.

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Those who grew up in that area felt that, well, it's just another false alarm.

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We always had false alarms.

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By the time it became clear that the danger was all too real, it was too late to leave.

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Janet and her family only survived thanks to a miracle.

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As soon as the wave hit, it crashed and then our house started tilting.

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We were spinning around two or three times until we anchored on something.

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After the 1960 disaster, tsunami evacuations were made mandatory.

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And to commemorate the events of that tragic day,

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the Hilo town clock, which was recovered from the rubble, was erected once again.

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Its hands frozen at 1.04 am.

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The exact moment of the tsunami's impact.

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It was saved as a memorial so that no one will ever forget what happened there.

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And today, it stands as a stoic reminder to heed warnings in times of danger.

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On the banks of the mighty Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri,

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stands the nation's second largest river, the St. Louis River.

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It's the soaring symbol of westward expansion.

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It's 630 feet tall. It has about 900 tons of stainless steel.

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Known as the gateway to the west, this is the St. Louis Arch.

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And at the base of the arch is the captain's return statue

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that commemorates the two legendary explorers who led the most famous expedition in U.S. history.

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Maryweather Lewis and William Clark.

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Many are familiar with the story of Sacajawea,

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the Native American guide who ushered Lewis and Clark's crew through uncharted territory.

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But this is the tale of a very different, long forgotten heroine.

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If not for her actions, Lewis and Clark's mission would have been doomed.

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The expedition may have been stopped in their tracks right there,

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and that would have been the end of it. We never would have heard of them again.

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So who was this remarkable savior?

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And how did she rescue one of the greatest pioneering journeys in American history?

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Northeastern Montana, 1803.

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Army Captain Maryweather Lewis and Captain William Clark

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have staked their lives on an unprecedented expedition

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to become the first white explorers to make the cross-continental trek to the Pacific Ocean.

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After more than a year of arduous travel up the Missouri River,

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they come face to face with their biggest obstacle.

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All they could see were mountains, mountain on mountain on mountain,

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and range on range, and they were completely lost.

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To guide them through the treacherous terrain that is known today as the Rocky Mountains,

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they recruit a Shoshone Indian woman named Sakhajaya.

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Going through the Rocky Mountains presented real hardships for the Lewis and Clark Party.

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With snow blanketing their path through steep mountain passes, their horses weaken,

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and many fall through crevices to their death.

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Worst of all, the bitterly cold explorers run out of food and are on the brink of starvation.

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Things got very, very bad. They had nothing else left to eat, and there was just no hope.

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After trekking for more than a month, the weary explorers stumble upon a tribal encampment

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of startled Nez Perce Indians, who had never seen white people before.

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What happens next is a little-known but extraordinary story,

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passed down through generations to Nez Perce historian Otis Halfmoon.

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The Nez Perce really wanted to kill them because they had weapons,

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they had black powder, they had all these material things that they found so interesting.

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So who will save Lewis and Clark from this new and unexpected threat?

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September, 1805, the Pacific Northwest.

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16 months into their transcontinental quest, Lewis and Clark and their crew are starving on the verge of death.

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After an exhausting trek through the Rocky Mountains, they stumble upon an encampment of Nez Perce Indians,

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who contemplate killing the explorers for their weapons and supplies.

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With their lives hanging in the balance, what unlikely ally will intervene to save Lewis and Clark?

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The warriors, they really want to kill them because they had weapons, they had knives, they had metal.

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These things here could really make life a lot more easier.

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Such a cache of weapons would make the Nez Perce the richest and strongest tribe west of the Rockies.

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But at that moment, a very old Nez Perce woman, lying on her deathbed, steps up determined to speak her mind.

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Her name is Wat Kuiess.

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And as the Wrapped Tribe listens, she recounts an incredible story that will seal the fate of Lewis and Clark and their men.

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Years earlier, when she was a young girl, she was stolen and carried far away by an enemy tribe.

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She escaped and made an epic and dangerous journey home, walking hundreds of miles,

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and was only able to survive thanks to white settlers she met along the way, who fed her and supplied her with vital provisions.

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They treated her so good, and they cared for her.

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She missed home so much, and they worked to get her back home.

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When she finally arrived home, the Nez Perce changed her name to reflect her journey,

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calling her Wat Kuiess, or returned from a far away land.

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And Wat Kuiess now sees this as her opportunity to repay the kindness of the white man by saving Lewis and Clark and their men.

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She spoke to her own people, her own leadership about these people, do them no harm.

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On her word, the Chief and the Council decide to spare the lives of the explorers.

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Once it is clear that Lewis and Clark would be safe, according to legend, Wat Kuiess passes away.

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But the Nez Perce make good on their promise to help usher the party to safety,

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providing them with horses and drawing vital maps that allow Lewis and Clark to successfully navigate the final part of their journey

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to the west coast.

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On November 15, 1805, Lewis and Clark finally set their eyes on their destination, the Pacific Ocean.

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To commemorate America's historic expansion west, the St. Louis Arch is built in 1965,

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and some 40 years later, the Captain's Return Statue is dedicated to Lewis and Clark.

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But none of this would have been possible if not for an unsung hero.

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Without Wat Kuiess, that would have been the end of the expedition. Nobody would have heard of Lewis and Clark.

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But for all who come here to marvel at this national landmark, few realize that American history may have run a very different course.

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From an iconic kiss to a stopped clock, a bronze boxer to a demon from the deep.

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I'm Don Wildman and these are Monumental Mysteries.