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A picturesque park that hides a macabre history.

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Very shocking surprise was about to be loosed on the people of Denver.

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An iconic landmark that witnessed a daredevil flight to freedom.

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The Canadians harbor fugitive slaves. They welcomed them.

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And the statue of a musical maestro whose death is shrouded in mystery.

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Mozart all too early left the world.

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Sometimes the greatest secrets lie in plain sight.

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These are monumental mysteries.

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With its rolling cow pastures and tobacco fields,

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Hopkinsville, Kentucky is home to the Civil War era Riverside Cemetery,

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honoring hundreds of Confederate dead.

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But one of the simplest stones here marks the burial spot

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of an infamous and controversial native son.

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It's the final resting place of one of the most astonishing people who ever lived.

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This is the gravestone of a man who is said to possess extraordinary

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supernatural powers of insight and perception.

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His name was Edgar Cayce.

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Otherwise known as the sleeping prophet.

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Edgar Cayce is to the world of psychic phenomena what Babe Ruth is to baseball.

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Who was Edgar Cayce and what miraculous feats is he said to have achieved?

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1900, Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

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23 year old Edgar Cayce, the youngest son in a poor farming family,

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has just started a new job as an insurance salesman.

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But only a few weeks into the job, Cayce falls ill with laryngitis,

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leaving him barely able to speak above a whisper.

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And this was so severe that he ultimately could only communicate with a pad and paper.

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When doctors fail to cure him, the mute young man is forced to quit his job.

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For nearly a year, Edgar's voice does not return.

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Until one day, following a friend's advice, he seeks out a trained hypnotist named Al Lane.

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Lane has Cayce rest on the couch until he falls under hypnosis.

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And then something extraordinary happens.

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His voice suddenly returned.

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It was literally amazing.

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But what is even more amazing is what Cayce says while hypnotized.

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He claims that the loss of his voice is due to a partial paralysis in his throat.

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He then says that he has cured himself completely by deliberately increasing the circulation of blood to the affected area.

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When Cayce comes out of the trance and Lane informs him what happened, both men are stunned.

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As news of his miraculous recovery spreads, people start to wonder.

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If Cayce could diagnose and cure his own condition while in a trance, could he also diagnose and cure others?

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And it seems he can.

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Time and time again, Cayce is brought before the sick and ailing and puts himself into a trance.

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He would close his eyes, put himself into a really meditative state, and then he would go into trance.

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And you could tell because the eyelids would flutter.

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He would then pronounce his diagnosis and suggest treatment.

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In this way, it is said he cured ailments from stomach disorders to kidney disease.

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Although not everyone is convinced of Cayce's powers.

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Physicians were very upset. They believed that Edgar Cayce was his big fraud.

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Then one day in February 1909, Cayce is put to the ultimate test when he is summoned to a home where a child's life is hanging in the balance.

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Little Tommy House was suffering an epileptic condition such that the child could not rest, could not nurse, and it was clear the child was dying.

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Once Cayce arrives, he puts himself under hypnosis and makes an astonishing pronouncement.

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Edgar Cayce in trance recommended that the child be given a high dose of belladonna, which is a form of deadly nightshade.

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It was tantamount to poisoning the child. It was tantamount to murder.

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The family doctors present at the scene are shocked.

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Up until this point in Cayce's readings, nothing he has said could potentially cause serious harm to someone.

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Now something he has said could potentially kill a little child.

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Tommy's family faces a terrible decision. If they do nothing, their child will surely die.

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The mother is so steadfast and believes, she says, do it.

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Almost immediately Tommy's seizures stop and he falls into a deep and restful sleep and he ultimately goes on to make a full recovery.

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It was a miracle.

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It seems that Edgar Cayce has saved Tommy's life and the so-called sleeping prophet is catapulted to the national stage.

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People who had exhausted standard medical treatments were suddenly beating a path to Edgar Cayce's door for these trance readings.

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Over the course of his career as a clairvoyant healer, he attends to thousands of patients including such luminaries as President Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison and even Marilyn Monroe.

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But were his powers real?

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In 1938, pharmaceutical companies finally discover a reason why Cayce's unorthodox treatment for Tommy House worked.

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The active ingredient of Belladonna is found to be a muscle relaxant named atropine, which is used today in small doses to treat stomach spasms and other ailments.

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Some say that Edgar Cayce's farming background gave him a working knowledge of herbal plants that he then put to good use.

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Others contend that he was a quack and a fraud and just plain lucky.

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But many believe in Edgar Cayce's powers and have come to regard him as one of the most important American psychics of the 20th century.

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Today he is known as the father of holistic health and perhaps the engine behind the New Age movement.

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And in Edgar Cayce's hometown of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, this unassuming grave site stands as a testament to a humble man who seemed to open a door to the unknown.

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Located across the East River from Manhattan is Brooklyn.

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And in a quiet corner of this bustling metropolis is a 585 acre oasis named Prospect Park, where one can find a most distinguished landmark.

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It's a bronze statue and it depicts a very dapper gentleman. He's wearing a ruffled shirt and a high collar.

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The man immortalized in this nearly 5 foot high bust was one of the most renowned musical figures of all time.

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But his illustrious career was cut grievously short.

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His death at a very young age has been shrouded by mystery.

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How did this prodigy's untimely demise become an enigma that endures to this day?

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It's 1791 in Vienna, Austria.

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A musical genius is at the height of success as one of the world's most celebrated composers.

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His name is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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A child prodigy who began composing at the young age of five.

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By the time he's in his mid-30s, the prolific pianist has composed over 600 classical pieces.

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He had just premiered the Magic Flute, one of his most enduring operas.

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But that December, Mozart is suddenly struck down by a debilitating ailment.

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He was suffering terribly and the cause of this illness was not known.

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Nobody could figure it out despite attempts at various treatments.

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Although he is gravely ill, Mozart is nevertheless obsessed with completing his latest masterwork.

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It wasn't just any type of piece but it was a requiem, which is to say the musical setting of the Mass for the Dead.

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Then at 1 a.m. on December 5th, the renowned composer takes his final breath, dying at only 35 years old.

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Mozart, one of the greatest composers in the history of mankind, had finally and all too early left the world.

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The most likely cause of death is presumed to be miliary fever, an acute infectious condition that was common at the time.

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And it seems the case is closed.

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But seven years later, Mozart's widow Constanza makes a stunning revelation.

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Speaking to biographers, she claims that her husband was poisoned

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and that her husband's killer was none other than the person who commissioned his final requiem mass,

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a man described by her as an enigmatic stranger dressed in gray.

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And according to Constanza, Mozart was convinced that this so-called man in gray was secretly poisoning him

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and had tricked him into writing a funeral requiem for himself.

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It seems like an outlandish claim.

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And skeptics believe that the sick Mozart might have been hallucinating.

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It seems plausible that he would have been imagining things as one does when one has a very high fever.

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But Constanza insists the story is true.

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So who would want to murder Mozart?

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The question would remain unanswered until some 35 years after Mozart's death

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when a rumor surfaces that a man has stepped forward with an extraordinary claim

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that he poisoned Mozart.

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Even more shocking, he, like Mozart, was also one of the foremost composers of his day.

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His name is Antonio Salieri.

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Salieri was an Italian composer primarily of opera who had attained quite a high standing in court circles in Austria.

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But some say that competition between the two had fueled a growing animosity.

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There was certainly a rivalry. Salieri, obviously, respected Mozart, recognized his genius.

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At the same time, he had a strange dislike of Mozart.

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So was Salieri the mysterious man in grey? And did he murder Mozart?

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It's the 1820s, Vienna, Austria.

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Some 35 years after the mysterious death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

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a rumor surfaces that a fellow composer named Antonio Salieri claims to have murdered the musical genius by dosing him with poison.

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So is there any truth to Salieri's stunning confession?

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The idea that Salieri poisoned Mozart is given further credence

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when in 1831 Russian writer Alexander Pushkin publishes a play that uses the story as its plot.

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Since then, it's been part of the fabric of the Mozart legend.

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But this version of events is now considered to be nothing more than a myth.

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At the time that Salieri is said to have made the claim, he was locked up in an insane asylum.

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He did succumb apparently to madness and was institutionalized.

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Most modern day historians dismiss Salieri's supposed confession as nothing more than the mere ravings of a madman.

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And that's not the only aspect of the tale surrounding Mozart's death that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

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It's also revealed that Mozart's wife Constanza actually made up the story of the man in grey being her husband's assassin in order to imbue his legacy with an air of mystery.

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The man in grey was no mysterious stranger, but rather a messenger sent by an Austrian aristocrat named Count Franz von Wolzek,

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who wanted a requiem composed for his recently deceased wife.

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So if Salieri didn't kill him and the man in grey was just an innocent messenger,

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who or what really killed Mozart?

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In 2009, medical researchers at the University of Amsterdam conduct a new investigation

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comparing Mozart's symptoms to various death registries of the era.

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And they conclude that what took down the musical giant was something far more mundane than poison.

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They came to believe that it was actually a fairly work-a-day illness that killed Mozart.

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It was likely strep throat.

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At the time of Mozart's death, a strep epidemic was sweeping through Vienna.

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And in the 18th century, without penicillin or antibiotics, the disease often proved fatal.

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It was a very serious illness that if left untreated leads to further complications, and that's what we believe happened in Mozart's case.

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But although strep infection is now deemed the likely cause of Mozart's death,

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the world will never know for sure.

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It's one of the great enduring mysteries of Mozart is that we will never know absolutely without a doubt why he died.

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And today, this statue in Brooklyn's Prospect Park stands as a tribute to one of the greatest composers of all time

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and a reminder of a towering life cut tragically short.

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On the high plains of central Colorado, the city of Denver rests on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains.

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And at the geographical heart of this mile-high metropolis are 80 acres of gracefully landscaped parkland.

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Right in the middle of the city, we have a spot with beautiful trees, manicured lawns and walkways,

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all atopped by a beautiful neoclassical pavilion.

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This is Cheeseman Park.

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It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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But according to tour guide Kevin Ferris, this stunning urban monument hides a chilling secret.

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As folks are making their way across the lawns, they probably don't realize that just beneath their feet is an insidious nightmare

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waiting to be revealed.

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So what ghoulish events took place here?

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And how did these bucolic gardens inspire one of the most terrifying horror movies ever made?

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Denver, Colorado. The early 1890s.

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Once a rugged outpost, this high-altitude city is now flush with gold rush wealth.

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And local authorities are intent on transforming this frontier town into the Paris of the West.

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We had left our dusty cow town image behind. The city was growing by leaps and bounds and we had a lot of money.

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But there's a problem. Denver's campaign to beautify itself is hindered by a massive eyesore not far from the center of town.

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The 35-year-old Mount Prospect Cemetery has fallen badly into disrepair.

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So civic leaders have an ingenious idea to create a magnificent new park at the site of the blighted graveyard.

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But first they must move the thousands of burial plots from Mount Prospect Cemetery to other graveyards on the outskirts of the city.

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To take on this grisly task, the city approaches a reputable mortician named E.P. McGovern.

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Who better than a mortician to move the dead? He knew how to handle bodies in a respectful way.

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McGovern agrees to take on the job, but at a price. He demands a hefty fee for every coffin he relocates, which the city fathers agree to pay.

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Mr. McGovern and his crew set to work. Unfortunately, a very shocking surprise was about to be loosed on the people of Denver.

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Just five days into the job, a jaw-dropping story hits the news.

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On March 19, the Denver Republican ran a truly scandalous headline. The work of ghouls, a shocking expose of what was going on there in the park.

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So what dark secret surrounds McGovern's work in the Mount Prospect Cemetery?

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It's 1893 in the city of Denver.

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Municipal planners are determined to build a glorious park on a neglected graveyard known as Mount Prospect Cemetery.

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Before construction can even begin, the contents of thousands of graves have to be transported to the outskirts of the city.

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But the man hired to oversee this operation is about to give the citizens of Denver the shock of their lives.

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As the mortician, E.P. McGovern and his crew set about their work, a disturbing report appears in the local newspaper.

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Before transporting bodies, McGovern is dismembering them.

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But he is spreading those bodies between multiple boxes. Your skull in this box, your ribs in this box, your pelvis in this box.

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And that's not all. Rather than using full-sized coffins to transport the bodies, McGovern is using child-sized ones.

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Everyone assumes that Mr. McGovern will put one body in one box, but he sees an opportunity for profit here.

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It seems that McGovern, aware that city officials will pay him by the coffin, has devised a nefarious plan.

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By using child-sized coffins, he hopes to increase the number of coffins used and therefore maximize his profit.

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When these despicable acts are exposed in the local newspaper, the public is outraged and the city quickly relieves McGovern of his duties.

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So the city was left with a bunch of bodies and no one left there to remove them.

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The tombstones are taken away and those remains which had already been excavated are buried elsewhere.

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But for several years, the Mount Prospect site remains in a state of disarray.

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And it seems the people of Denver will never see the magnificent park they have been promised.

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But finally, in 1904, the city's new mayor revives the Dormant Project and decides to simply leave the thousands of remaining bodies where they lie and build the park on top of the graveyard.

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Three years later, Cheeseman Park is open to the public and topped off with an immaculate neoclassical pavilion.

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But over the last century, reports of creepy and unnatural occurrences have become eerily commonplace here.

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Folks report seeing ghost-like figures moving through the cemetery and then they see them vanish.

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By the 1980s, the paranormal events in Cheeseman Park are so notorious that Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg turns the bone-chilling story into a screenplay.

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It served as part of the inspiration for the famous horror movie The Hedgehog.

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Just as in Cheeseman Park, in the blockbuster horror film, a hellstorm of supernatural havoc is unleashed when construction over a cemetery awakens angry spirits.

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And today, to the unknowing visitor, the verdant acres of Cheeseman Park may look like a huge pile of trash.

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But they are also a reminder of the ghastly disturbance that transpired here.

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And that still haunts the citizens of Denver.

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Located along Central Florida's Indian River Lagoon is the quiet city of Tidewood.

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The proud home of the U.S. Space Walk of Fame, which commemorates the historic missions of America's space program.

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It's here that visitors will find a monument to one of NASA's most perilous missions.

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The American Space Program is the home of the United States Space Walk of Fame.

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This monument is a 12-foot by 12-foot granite slab.

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And on top of that is a stainless steel zodiac sign.

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According to historian Amy Shearer-Titel, this shrine memorializes a thrilling event that has been lost in the annals of history.

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It was really incredible. And somehow we never talk about it.

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So what story of heroism and near disaster, in spite of the fact that the story of the story of the great hero, Amy Shearer-Titel,

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has inspired this granite and steel structure?

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March 1966, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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Nearly five years have passed since President Kennedy famously promised to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

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To help achieve that goal, NASA launches a program focused on developing specific space travel techniques.

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It is named for the twins of Greek mythology and zodiac fame.

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Gemini.

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It was called the Gemini Program because it was the first two-man spacecraft.

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Gemini 8's mission calls for a manned capsule to rendezvous and dock with an unmanned target vehicle, while in orbit about 185 miles over the Earth.

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And this was really important for the lunar mission because they were going to have to launch off the moon surface, come up and rendezvous and dock with their buddy in orbit.

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And it falls to the crew of Gemini 8 to test this tricky maneuver for the first time.

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On March 16th at 10.41 a.m., command pilot Neil Armstrong and co-pilot David Scott take off from Cape Canaveral.

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Following a smooth lift off, the two-man crew maneuvers closer to the target vehicle that had been launched earlier that morning.

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Okay, we've got a visual on the agenda.

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And six hours into the mission, Armstrong successfully guides the spacecraft in for docking.

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Neil Armstrong, a very cool commanding pilot.

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Doc's this thing and his comment is...

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He's really a smoothie.

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And then Dave Scott was a little bit more jubilant and said,

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I wish you guys could have the thrill we have up here.

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It was a big deal.

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But then something goes awry.

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Neil Armstrong noticed that they were starting to roll.

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In fact, both Gemini 8 and the connected target vehicle are spinning out of control.

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Well, I think I've heard this problem here.

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We're saying this is what we're talking about in over here.

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So Armstrong disconnects from the target vehicle.

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For a second the roll looked like it was going to stop.

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And then it started again.

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Sir, roll and out as we can't start the search for anything else.

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He says he did the roll and he can't stop it.

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With the Gemini 8 now revolving even faster, the astronauts are in danger of losing consciousness.

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It's starting to get really, really bad.

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They were seconds away from blacking out.

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They're getting pretty close to dying.

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So how will the astronauts regain control over their spacecraft?

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But when the Gemini 8 begins to spin out of control, the astronauts find themselves in serious trouble.

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So how will these heroic men make it home alive?

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As Armstrong and Scott fight to regain control of the ship, another complication arises.

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They realize that they're down to 13% fuel in the Gemini's control system.

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Okay, we're down to 1700 pounds.

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Without enough fuel to return to Earth, the spacecraft would be stuck in orbit indefinitely.

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With time running out, it was a question of whether or not they'd be able to get the spacecraft under control and make it back alive.

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Armstrong must act fast and attempt re-entry.

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But with the spacecraft spinning out of control, this is no easy feat.

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So Armstrong realizes that the only option they have is to use their re-entry system.

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The problem is that they were having a hard time focusing their eyes, but Neil Armstrong knew that cockpit so well.

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He didn't even have to try to look at where the switch was to engage that system.

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He just reached up and flipped the switch.

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Gemini 8 successfully re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.

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And 11 hours after launch, it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.

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The two astronauts are safely recovered from the capsule, and NASA officials breathe a collective sigh of relief.

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I think there was a sense of awe that Neil Armstrong was able to pilot his way out of that kind of situation.

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And that was really good flying.

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But there was also this big mystery of what happened.

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After a thorough investigation, NASA engineers conclude that during the docking, one of the Gemini 8's thrusters malfunctioned and remained stuck in an open and on position.

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The Gemini spacecraft moved in orbit with thrusters, so with one of those open, you have this unrelenting push in one direction.

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This caused Gemini 8 to both spin out of control and run low on fuel.

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So to prevent this problem from jeopardizing future missions, NASA tweaks the spacecraft's design so that each thruster can be shut off independently.

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In 1997, this Gemini monument is erected at the U.S. Space Walk of Fame in Titusville.

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And today, it stands as a tribute to the astronauts whose heroic first steps took man even closer to the final frontier.

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Straddling the border between Northwestern New York and Ontario, Canada is one of the world's most awe-inspiring natural wonders.

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There are literally millions of gallons of water cascading down every single day.

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It's 160 feet from the top to the bottom.

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This is Niagara Falls.

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America's oldest state park attracts more than 22 million tourists per year.

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But its legacy goes far beyond its breathtaking beauty.

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Many people know about Niagara Falls, but not very many people know that it stood as a gateway to freedom.

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What role did the Falls play in a desperate and harrowing escape?

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1853.

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Slavery is still the pervasive way of life across the American South.

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And many slaves dream of escaping to the free Northern States and even into Canada.

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The Canadians harbor fugitive slaves. They welcome them.

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Just across the border from Canada, Niagara Falls is an important stop on the secret network of abolitionists who help usher slaves to freedom.

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The Underground Railroad.

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People who were seeking escape from slavery found Niagara Falls to be a good place to quickly get out of the country.

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And one such slave who arrives in Niagara Falls hoping to cross the border is a woman known only as Martha, whose tale has become cemented in abolitionist history.

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All of the descriptions of Martha are of a stunning, young, beautiful woman.

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As the legend goes, Martha had escaped from her Southern master and made her way to an unlikely place, the luxurious Cataract House Hotel.

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The Cataract House Hotel served as a secret base of operations for conductors on the Underground Railroad, who help shuttle fugitive slaves across the treacherous Niagara River.

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These men, and in some cases women, were waders by day and freedom fighters by night.

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One of these freedom fighters is a man named John Morrison, who is believed to have taken on the responsibility of escorting Martha to Canada.

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John leads Martha to a dock downstream from the base of the Falls, where he plans to row the fugitive across the river.

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But escape won't be easy.

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They've been followed by a bounty hunter, who's in search of the reward that Southern owners offer for the safe return of their human property.

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Martha knew in an instant that this person was going to try to bring her back into slavery.

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So will Martha and her rescuer make it to freedom?

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It's 1853, Niagara Falls.

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A man named John Morrison attempts to usher a fugitive slave named Martha across the Niagara River to a new life in Canada.

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But they soon find themselves being pursued by a bounty hunter.

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So will they survive this bold and perilous bid for freedom?

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John and Martha make a break for a small boat at the river's edge and push off just as the bounty hunter closes in.

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But the most dangerous part of their journey has only just begun.

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Although the Canadian shore is just a mile away, the three sets of falls that pour into the Niagara Gorge churn up the river, creating a ferocious current that could sweep John and Martha to their deaths.

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The risks are enormous. The boat could capsize. Both of them could very easily be drowned.

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But fortunately, the boat makes it across the river to Canada on the other side.

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But they've made it and Martha is now free.

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But Morrison is not out of the woods.

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His heroism is in flagrant violation of an 1850 law that applies even in the free north.

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The Fugitive Slave Act.

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The Fugitive Slave Act criminalized attempts to help people escape slavery.

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He had just committed what amounts to a federal crime. He could have been arrested upon his arrival back in the United States.

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But curiously, no one is waiting to arrest Morrison when he crosses the Niagara River back to the U.S.

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And he is able to quietly go back to work.

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For whatever reason, he was not prosecuted.

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So why was Morrison able to resume his life at the Cataract House Hotel after being exposed as an agent of the Underground Railroad?

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Some believe the answer lies with the powerful businessman and owner of the hotel, Mr. Parkhurst Whitney,

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who is rumored to have been a secret abolitionist himself and may have called off the authorities.

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There can be no doubt that Parkhurst Whitney knew exactly what was going on.

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He did what he could to help people who were helping people escape slavery.

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And between 1820 and 1860, tens of thousands of slaves escaped to liberty in Canada.

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Niagara Falls stands as an international monument to the idea of freedom for human beings.

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It's a symbol of power, of courage and freedom.

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Today, many are unaware of the valiant struggle against oppression that took place amidst this majestic natural wonder.

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Sprawling 1,200 square miles across the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range

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is one of the most pristine natural landscapes in the United States.

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The park is one of the most iconic national parks not only in the United States but throughout the world.

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This is Yosemite National Park.

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Within this 740,000 acre expanse, famous sites like El Capitan, Mirror Lake and Vernal Falls are preserved for future generations to enjoy.

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But just 150 years ago, this magnificent valley was in danger of being completely annihilated.

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Streams would have been polluted, trees would have been cut down, it would have been catastrophic to the natural environment.

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What once threatened this ancient paradise?

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And how did an unsung hero save Yosemite and pave the way for America's national park system?

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1854. It's the height of the California Gold Rush and thousands of pioneers are heading west in hopes of striking it rich.

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Among them is a 40-year-old Missouri cabinet maker named Galen Clark.

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Like so many people, he came up to the area and basically sought his fortune.

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Clark begins mining for gold east of Sacramento but finds the work to be fraught with danger.

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They were using things like arsenic and lead and putting these dangerous chemicals in the rivers.

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And it created a whole host of health problems for him.

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The toxins ravage Clark's lungs and bring on a grave pulmonary disorder.

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His prognosis is grim.

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As a last resort, the miner's doctor advises him to get some fresh mountain air.

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So in 1857, Clark relocates to the Yosemite Valley.

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And while there, he makes a full recovery.

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Galen Clark came up to the area and he just felt better.

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As his health improves, Galen takes in his breathtaking new surroundings.

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And the most spectacular of all is a grove of 500 massive sequoia trees standing like giants in the forest.

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He looked at these trees hundreds of feet high, 30, 40 feet in diameter and thought it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

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But Galen Clark will soon learn that the future of these natural wonders is in dire straits.

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Miners were coming to the area. People started logging, cutting trees down.

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It's not long before the lakes, rivers and wildlife in the region begin to show signs of poisoning from the mercury, arsenic and other toxins in the runoff from mining operations.

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This beautiful area was on the brink of being destroyed forever.

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So how will one lone woodsman save these uncharted wilds before it's too late?

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It's the early 1860s in Yosemite Valley.

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Pioneer environmentalist Galen Clark is in a race against time to save his beloved wilderness home from destruction.

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At the hands of developers seeking to exploit its mineral riches.

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So what extraordinary means will this man use to save this majestic wilderness?

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One day in 1861, a man arrives in Yosemite who will forever change not only Galen Clark's life, but the future of the entire region.

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His name is Carlton Watkins.

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Carlton Watkins was hired by the Loos Merposas Mining Company to take photographs to see if the area was suitable for mining.

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Galen is soon hired as Watkins' guide.

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And even though it means working for the very forces seeking to exploit the land for profit, he hopes to expose the photographer to more than just the area's commercial potential.

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His goal in addition to satisfying his job requirements was to show him the wonder of both Yosemite Valley and the Meroposa Grove.

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Clark takes Watkins on treks to some of the most remote parts of Yosemite Valley, rewarding him with spectacular views.

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Carlton Watkins was just instantly mesmerized.

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And instead of solely documenting what mining resources the land has to offer, Watkins also photographs stunning vistas and panoramas.

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And eventually he comes to share Galen Clark's conviction.

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The two of them said to each other, hey, this is an area that should be preserved.

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To raise awareness of the little known Yosemite Valley, the two hold an exhibition of Watkins' photos in a New York City gallery in December 1862.

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And the public is amazed.

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The scale of Carlton Watkins' photographs conveyed the beauty and grandeur of the area.

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The pictures are reproduced in periodicals across the country, sowing the seeds of a budding environmental movement.

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And Watkins and Clark successfully lobby Washington to have the photographs shown to President Abraham Lincoln, who takes decisive action to save this wilderness.

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By signing an unprecedented landmark bill on June 30th, 1864, the Yosemite Grant.

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The Yosemite Grant was the first time in the history of the world that a piece of land was set aside purely for preservation.

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This act not only keeps the mining and logging companies at bay, but paves the way for America's national park system established in 1916, of which Yosemite becomes part.

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Galen Clark and Carlton Watkins are visionaries and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their dedication and passion in preserving Yosemite National Park.

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To this day, visitors to Yosemite National Park will find Galen Clark's gravesite lying among the giant sequoia trees that the enterprising outdoorsman devoted his life to protecting.

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From a spinning spacecraft to a sleeping psychic, a haunted graveyard to a waterfall of freedom.

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I'm Don Wildman and these are Monumental Mysteries.