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A political giant who took on the model.

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This was one of the great political stunts of New York City's history.

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A mountain of sand that hides a Hollywood secret.

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There's a rumor that a lost relic from another time still survives buried under the sand.

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And a Victorian home with a haunting tale of possession.

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This was their daughter inside of another girl's body.

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Sometimes the greatest secrets lie in plain sight.

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These are monumental mysteries.

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On the New England coastline, surrounding the busiest port in Massachusetts,

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is one of America's oldest cities, Boston.

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With its rich revolutionary history, it has become known as the cradle of liberty.

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But one monument here epitomizes modern democracy in action.

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It has a beautiful brick front and is capped by a gold dome.

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And it is one of the earliest and most pristine examples of federal architecture in the nation.

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Built in 1798, this is the Massachusetts State House.

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It's home to both the governor's office and the legislative chambers.

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But as tour guide Mark Linehan can attest, this polished pillar of politics was once at the center of an unusual abduction.

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This majestic building found itself embroiled in a crisis that brought government to a standstill.

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What embarrassing stunt left the State House reeling and prompted an unprecedented manhunt?

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April 26, 1933, Boston.

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The day's legislative sessions are at an end when a reporter working the late shift in the State House press room answers an unexpected call.

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And on the other end, the voice tells him there's something missing from the State House and then abruptly hangs up.

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The startled journalist takes the bait and notifies security.

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And when the guard enters the House of Representatives chamber, he makes a shocking discovery.

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Something very important is indeed missing. The Sacred Cod.

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The Sacred Cod is a five-foot-long wood carving of a codfish that has hung in the House of Representatives since 1798 as an unofficial good luck charm.

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The Sacred Cod is representative of Boston's cod fishing industry, which is symbolic of our early prosperity and our success as a colony.

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With this emblem of civic pride missing, the State House is locked down and the police are summoned.

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The three questions police have right off the bat is who took it, why did they take it,

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but also how did they take it with no one noticing?

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Angling for a lead, detectives investigate the fishy situation, but can't seem to catch a break.

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Then, two days later, a Harvard campus policeman named Charles Aptid receives a mysterious phone call.

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The voice tells him that if he wants the Sacred Cod back, he's got to drive to a park about seven miles southwest of the center of town and to look for a car with no license plate.

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In hopes of netting the crafty cod nappers, Aptid takes the bait.

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He speeds off to the park, where he indeed spots a car with no license plate.

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But before he can even get out of his car to investigate, the car takes off and Charles Aptid immediately gives chase.

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Believing he has his suspects on the hook, the policeman tails the mysterious vehicle for 20 minutes.

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Charles Aptid is able to overtake them and force them to stop.

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As Aptid leaps from his car, he sees two men get out of the other vehicle.

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Their collars are upturned and their hats are pulled down and they throw the Sacred Cod into his arms.

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And before he can react, they jump back into their car and take off.

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Although the thieves get away, Aptid is able to return the Sacred Cod to the Massachusetts State House.

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But the question remains, who were the cod nappers? And why do they swipe the cherished symbol?

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A group of undergraduates thinks they know the answer.

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They believe the stunt might be the work of the famous college humor publication, The Harvard Lampoon.

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And when police investigate further, they discover that staff at the State House had seen two young men,

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roaming inside the building on the day of the theft.

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One of them is carrying this oversized flower box that had lilies sticking out of one end.

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Detectives theorize that these young men were in fact Lampoon writers,

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who broke into the chambers, clipped the wires of the Sacred Cod, and stowed their catch in the oversized flower box.

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Under questioning, however, the Lampoon writers are not forthcoming.

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The police threaten them with fines, with jail time, but no matter what they try, the students are tight lipped.

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And the police never end up having enough evidence in order to prosecute anybody for the crime of stealing the Sacred Cod.

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But while the young comedians never own up to the stunt, they go on to pull off many other notorious pranks,

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and eventually found the world-renowned National Lampoon.

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As for the Sacred Cod, it's rehung in its original spot, but with one distinction.

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They raise it about six inches, so now it's inaccessible except by a step ladder.

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To this day, the Sacred Cod has remained mercifully un molested at the Massachusetts State House.

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Suspended as a reminder of a fishy theft that helped spawn a comical legend.

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Toledo, Ohio is renowned for its contribution to the glass-making industry, earning it the title The Glass Capital of the World.

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But few are aware of the town's pioneering role in a very different arena.

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Baseball.

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And in the shadows of the local ballpark is a modest marker that commemorates one of the sport's greatest unsung heroes.

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The plaque is eight and a half feet tall, about three and a half feet wide, with a brown background and yellow writing.

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According to Professor Lisa Doris Alexander, this unassuming plaque celebrates a pioneer who is almost entirely absent from the history books.

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Many think this trailblazing athlete should be credited for an amazing first.

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So what is this forgotten hero's astonishing achievement?

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1883. Toledo, Ohio.

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It's almost two decades since the Civil War ended slavery in the United States.

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Although the government has enshrined racial equality in the eyes of the law, in truth, public attitude lags behind.

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Unfortunately, racial relations in the United States have started to slip backwards a bit.

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It is not an easy time for black people in the North or the South.

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And professional baseball is no exception to this social injustice.

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But there is one ambitious player who has his mind set on playing for the major leagues.

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Known for his excellent catching ability and powerful throwing arm, his name is Moses Fleetwood Walker.

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Walker was a highly intelligent man.

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He graduated from Overland College.

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Then he attended the University of Michigan where he played baseball.

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Despite the color of Walker's skin, he gets the attention of his local minor league team.

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The manager of the Toledo Blue Stockings signed Moses Fleetwood Walker to a contract,

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proving that he was more concerned with talent than race.

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However, once on the team, Walker faces racist taunts, even from his own teammates.

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There were some players that did not want to take signs from a black catcher.

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So as a catcher, you have no idea what pitch is coming towards you at any time.

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As if that's not enough, Walker is about to receive a curveball of the cruelest kind.

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August 1883.

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The Toledo Blue Stockings are scheduled to play an exhibition game against the Chicago White Stockings,

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whose manager is a man named Cap Anson.

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Cap Anson was known for being very intimidating, very loud, and a generally unpleasant person.

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When Anson arrives for the game, he takes one look at the Blue Stockings lineup and makes a shocking demand.

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Cap Anson became very agitated and swore that he would not let his team take the field if there was a black man on the roster.

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So will Cap Anson's bigotry and Walker's dream of playing in the major leagues?

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Ohio, 1883.

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The minor league baseball team, the Toledo Blue Stockings, is about to play the Chicago White Stockings.

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But Chicago's manager refuses to put his team on the field unless Toledo's African-American player, Moses Fleetwood Walker,

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is benched. So will Walker get to play ball?

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Tension mounts during Cap Anson's racist tirade.

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Walker was quite angry.

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But the Blue Stockings manager refuses to be publicly bullied by his prejudiced opponent.

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He decided that he was going to play Moses Fleetwood Walker and told Cap Anson that if his team did not take the field, then they could forfeit the day's receipts.

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With his takings at risk, Anson eventually gives in and allows the game to proceed as scheduled.

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You're playing and you're up.

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When Walker goes up to bat, he scores a run and plays an errorless game and his remarkable form continues throughout the season.

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Walker had an impressive year and partially due to that, the Toledo Blue Stockings won the pennant that year.

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The following season, the Toledo Blue Stockings joined the American Association, what we now call Major League Baseball.

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And on opening day, May 1st, 1884, Moses Fleetwood Walker proudly takes the field.

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At that moment, we believe that he becomes the first African-American Major League Baseball player.

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But after playing 42 games, Walker faces yet more prejudice.

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In 1883, African-Americans are subjected to a new set of statutes passed down by the Supreme Court, the Jim Crow Laws, which mandate racial segregation.

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Very quickly, the United States became a very segregated nation.

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And in 1887, the Major League adopts a so-called gentleman's agreement, banning black players.

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Walker never plays Major League Baseball again.

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White mainstream historians were not interested in Walker's career at that time, and Moses Fleetwood Walker's accomplishments fade into history.

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It's another 60 years before the gentleman's agreement is banned.

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And on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson plays in a professional baseball game.

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But instead of Walker, he is hailed as the first African-American Major League Baseball player.

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But now the baseball historians are starting to realize that honor goes to Moses Fleetwood Walker.

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Today, this plaque stands as a reminder of Toledo's forgotten hometown hero.

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A trailblazing and inspiring baseball player whose fiercest opponent was racism.

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New York City attracts over 50 million tourists a year and is home to some of the most iconic statues in the country.

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But tucked away in downtown Manhattan is a sculpture of a man that is often overlooked.

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The figure is only five foot two. He's gesticulating with his hands saying something and walking with real purpose.

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This is the statue of New York Mayor, Viarella LaGuardia, nicknamed the Little Flower.

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He was famous for tackling the city's problems with theatrical flair.

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And as Professor Douglas Muzio can attest, one of LaGuardia's greatest performances relied on an item more at home on the dinner plate than city hall.

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This man conceived and executed one of the great political stunts of New York City's history.

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How did LaGuardia enact one of New York's most bizarre pieces of legislation involving, of all things, a vegetable.

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1934, New York City is in the midst of the Great Depression.

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Virtually a quarter of all workers are unemployed and thousands wait in bread lines.

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To make matters worse, local government is riddled with corruption, fueled by a power hungry mafia.

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You have the politicians and the gangsters and real alliance here.

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New Yorkers are desperate for change and elect Viarella LaGuardia as their new mayor on the back of his promise to rid the city of the mafia.

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He's going to save the city from organized crime.

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He had a deep visceral hatred for them and what they did.

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The mob makes much of its income through various illegal activities, from bookmaking to bootlegging, and its insidious reach is growing.

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LaGuardia wants to send this loud message that the times they are a change in and I'm going to be the instrument of this change.

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And he recognizes that the way to hurt any business enterprise is through money.

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So on December 21, 1935, in sub-zero temperatures, the mayor calls an impromptu press conference from the back of a delivery truck

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and announces he's about to shut down the mob's latest racket.

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But it's not speakeasies or brothels.

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Instead, he proclaims a city-wide food emergency.

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And everybody's wondering, well, what's the food emergency?

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And he announces that he's banning the sale, display and distribution of miniature artichokes.

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What?

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So why is LaGuardia banning artichokes?

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And what does this harmless vegetable have to do with his war on organized crime?

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It's December 1935, New York City.

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Mayor Fiorel LaGuardia is on a mission to break the mafia's grip on the city's economy.

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But at a bizarre press conference, instead of attacking alcohol or prostitution,

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he outlaws the sale, possession and display of artichokes.

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Reporters are turning to one another. Why artichokes?

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And they're bewildered. What is he doing?

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What the citizens of the city of New York don't know is that by banning the artichoke,

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LaGuardia is trying to bankrupt one of the city's most notorious mobsters, Zero Teranova.

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He is boss of all bosses in Italian East Harlem and the Bronx,

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and he controls the sale, display and distribution of the artichoke.

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As a staple of Italian cuisine, the artichoke is a best seller among the immigrant community.

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Teranova and his gang are extorting millions of dollars from storekeepers and grocers

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who offer the favorite vegetable.

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The artichoke is his golden goose. It's his moneymaker.

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He's known as the artichoke king.

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The day after Christmas, LaGuardia's embargo on the artichoke goes into effect.

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He's attacking Teranova's cash flow, and he knows if he strangles that cash flow, Teranova's dead.

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With the ban in place, LaGuardia reorganizes the transport and distribution of artichokes,

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creating a system that bypasses the mobsters.

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Stripped of his monopoly on the obscure vegetable, Teranova's cash flow plummets.

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So Teranova's out of business. He's got no money, no power, he's finished.

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And he becomes destitute. He winds up on the streets. He becomes a vagrant.

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When LaGuardia lifts the ban, his coalition brings back the artichoke with great fanfare, and at much lower prices.

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All of a sudden the artichoke becomes a hot item. Once it was just Italians, they ate it.

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Now it becomes a cultural phenomenon. The sales of artichokes boom.

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In bringing down Teranova, LaGuardia has shown that he is ready to wage war on the rest of the mob.

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This was the signal to the other racketeers that this is the first guy, and you're next, and you're not as tough and I'm tougher than you are.

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By the end of his first term in 1937, LaGuardia succeeds in lowering crime by 20%, and over his next eight years in office,

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he continues to crusade against corruption, leaving a lasting legacy.

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He is not only the greatest New York City mayor, but I would argue the greatest American city mayor.

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And this statue of Fiora LaGuardia stands as a testament to a man whose actions, with the help of a vegetable, transformed New York City into the metropolis it is today.

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On the northeast border of Illinois, straddling the Iroquois River is the tiny city of Watzika.

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And on its rural outskirts is an architectural gem and the area's most unusual attraction.

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It's a brick Italian-y style home. It's about four stories. It's got the big arching windows.

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It really captures the time period of Watzika in the 1860s.

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This is the rough home.

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And as historian Troy Taylor knows, the chilling tale behind this Victorian abode is one of spirit's possession and the afterlife.

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There was a supernatural event that occurred in this house that really changed an entire town because of one little girl.

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So what phenomenon did this house witness and how did it call into question the very nature of life and death itself?

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July 1877, Watzika, Illinois.

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The members of the Venom family are worried. Their 13-year-old daughter, Laranze, is suffering from a bizarre and inexplicable sickness.

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Laranze would go into trances and seizures. She would contort, twist and convulse the body.

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And it just terrified and paralyzed the family.

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Laranze's doctors conduct a series of examinations, but none of them can explain her frightening condition.

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The young girl seems destined for the insane asylum.

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But in January 1878, Hope arrives in the form of Dr. E. W. Stevens, who agrees to make a final assessment of the ailing child.

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This was one last chance, someone who could see Laranze and perhaps figure out what was going on with her.

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Dr. Stevens begins by asking a series of simple questions.

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But he soon realizes Laranze isn't at all herself.

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She was very confused. She said that she was in a place she didn't recognize.

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She didn't recognize the Venoms. She began acting very strangely.

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Intrigued, Dr. Stevens continues his questioning.

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He asks her what her name is, expecting her to say Laranze Venom.

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Instead she answers, my name is Mary Roth.

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Dr. Stevens and the Venoms are stunned.

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Mary Roth was a young woman who had lived in Watsika. She had gone through the same kind of seizure.

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And she had been put away in the insane asylum. And she later died there.

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Laranze was only one year old at the time and would have no way of knowing the girl's tragic tale.

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It seemed that Laranze was possessed by the spirit of Mary Roth.

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The desperate girl is so distraught by her now unfamiliar surroundings that she begs the Venoms to take her to live with the Roths.

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Who she believes to be her real parents.

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In the days that followed Laranze or Mary, spent so much time crying and weeping the Venoms. Didn't know who she was anymore.

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Finally the Venoms contact the Roths and beg them to take Laranze into their home in hopes of snapping her out of her bizarre state.

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The Roths were just as confused as the Venoms were. But because their daughter Mary had gone through the same kind of thing and had died, they had great sympathy.

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But on her arrival at the Roths' home, Laranze does something astonishing.

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She saw Mary's piano and she sat down and began to play songs that Mary had loved when she was alive.

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This had to be very unnerving for the Roths.

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But what made it even stranger is that Laranze didn't know how to play the piano.

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Has Laranze really been possessed by the spirit of Mary Roth? Or is there another explanation for her astonishing behavior?

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It's 1878, Watzika, Illinois. 13 year old Laranze Venom seems to be possessed by the spirit of Mary Roth.

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A teenage girl who died over a decade earlier.

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In the hopes of helping Laranze recover her senses, the Roth family have taken her into their home.

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So what's the truth behind this bizarre possession?

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Over the course of the next four months, Laranze recognized the Roths' family members, cousins, neighbors, people that only Mary knew.

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They really truly come to believe that this really was their daughter inside of another girl's body.

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But then one morning, the girl tearfully approaches the Roths with some news.

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Mary explained that she was going to have to leave them and return to heaven.

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And it was time for Laranze to return to her own body and her own family.

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The Roths bid farewell to what they perceive as the spirit of their deceased daughter and returned Laranze back to her real family.

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Suddenly, Mary was simply gone. Laranze was herself again.

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The whole thing just seemed to be a very vague dream.

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She really didn't know where she'd been for the last four months.

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The Venoms are relieved to have their daughter back.

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But was Laranze really possessed by the spirit of Mary Roth?

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Some people claim the whole thing was a hoax, some sort of trick by the families to get rich.

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Such doubters point to the huge success of a book written by Laranze's physician, Dr. Stevens, entitled The What Seek a Wonder.

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But the skeptics are confounded by one final and stunning twist to the tale.

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When Laranze went back home to her real family, the seizures, the trances, all of it was gone.

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And she believed, as did the two families, that she'd been healed by the spirit of Mary Roth.

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Throughout the rest of her life, she never again suffered from any seizures or trances.

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The mystery of this miraculous healing is still unsolved.

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For many people, this case became a very convincing event that we really do live on after we die.

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And that in some cases, we can't come back.

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Today, the alleged possession of Laranze Venom by Mary Roth remains one of the most enduring supernatural mysteries in America.

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And the Roth family home stands as a haunting reminder of this quaint town's connection.

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With the other side.

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In southeast Louisiana, along the Mississippi River, lies the port city of New Orleans.

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Nicknamed the Big Easy, the city's French-influenced food and Spanish colonial architecture attracts millions of tourists each year.

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But tucked away in a 31-acre public space in the neighborhood of Tremay is an unusual sculpture that often goes unnoticed.

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The statue is made of bronze. It is about seven feet tall. There are three identical heads and four coordinates.

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It looks like several musicians, but actually it's one musician shown in the throes of playing.

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According to historian Michael White, this statue is a monument to a tragic musical hero.

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This figure descended from madness, but he also created one of the most important musical forms the world has ever known.

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What musical style did this man pioneer? And how is his breakthrough also linked to a mysterious inner demon?

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1895. New Orleans is a melting pot of French, Spanish, Italian and African-American immigrants who all share a common love. Music.

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There was music in the streets, there was music in social clubs, in picnics, parades, so music was the soul of the city.

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It was the glue that held people together.

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And one of the newest talents is an 18-year-old cornet player named Charles Buddy Bolden.

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Buddy Bolden was a dynamic dapper young man. He was well dressed, he was good looking, the ladies loved him, everybody loved him.

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Bolden and his band have modest success playing the day's popular melodies.

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Bolden was playing typical dance music, ragtime, marches, waltzes. Although Buddy was very popular, he was probably at first just an average musician.

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But while his early career is unspectacular, by 1900 something has changed.

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The crowd noticed that something strange was going on with Bolden. He seemed to be in a trance as if he were possessed. And then he started to improvise.

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Each time songs were played they were done differently.

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The crowd has never heard anything like it before, but they love it.

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He sends the audience into a frenzy. He made his music talk and sing and shout. Sort of like a conversation. And then all of a sudden he would come out of it just as if he had been transported somewhere else.

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Before long, audiences throughout New Orleans are mesmerized by Bolden's eccentric performances and innovative music.

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It was so exciting and so emotional, so free, so loose. It captured the entire range of human emotions in a way never heard before.

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But Buddy's sudden musical breakthrough is accompanied by a dark shift in his personality.

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At times he showed signs of paranoia. He was angry and violent.

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And the wilder his performances become, the more erratic his behavior is. Some even described it as demonic.

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In 1906, during a performance at the annual Labor Day Parade, Bolden loses control.

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As Buddy played in the parade, he laid down his cornet and went completely mad. He began foaming at the mouth, waving his hands erratically and talking crazy.

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What is the cause of Bolden's frightening breakdown? And could it be linked to his revolutionary new sound?

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It's 1906, New Orleans, Louisiana. 29-year-old cornet player Buddy Bolden has been thrilling audiences with a musical style they've never heard before. Improvisation.

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Yet as his popularity reaches new heights, his mental state deteriorates into psychosis.

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So what is the cause of Bolden's sudden breakdown? And could it be linked to his revolutionary new sound?

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Eventually he went completely mad. He was arrested and charged with insanity.

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Bolden is kicked out of the band and committed to the Louisiana State Asylum.

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At this point Buddy was having hallucinations. He talked to himself, he heard voices. He was frightened. He was erratic. He was angry.

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The doctor at the insane asylum diagnosed him with a form of dementia.

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In the meantime, however, the city's performers take up the unpredictable musical style that Bolden pioneered.

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This eventually became known as jazz. Had it not been for Buddy Bolden's improvisations, popular music probably would have remained just ragtime.

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But while jazz music takes the world by storm, Bolden remains in the Jackson insane asylum and never plays again.

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In 1931, at the age of 54, he dies a broken man.

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But was Bolden's shocking collapse into madness linked to a simultaneous musical transformation?

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Years later the medical community reclassifies Buddy's condition as schizophrenia.

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And in 2001, British psychiatrist Dr. Sean Spence presents a controversial theory.

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Dr. Sean Spence theorized that Bolden schizophrenia may have something to do with the creation of jazz itself.

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Dr. Spence explains that schizophrenia affects the area of the brain used for creativity and the onset of the disease usually occurs in young adulthood.

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The very time that Bolden developed his improvisational style.

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Dr. Spence's theory is pretty provocative to think that jazz America's beloved contribution to the arts could be the result of Buddy Bolden's mental illness.

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But whatever the root of Bolden's genius, his influence lives on in the jazz music that he pioneered.

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And in his hometown of New Orleans, this three-headed statue honors an emotionally torn yet musically brilliant Charles Buddy Bolden who helped create the revolutionary art form of jazz.

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With 38 million people calling it home, California is the nation's most populous state.

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But sandwiched between the mega cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco is a unique environment seemingly untouched by modern society.

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It's host to rare ecosystems and endangered animals, all kinds of plant life, and it's gained its recognition as a national natural landmark.

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This is the magnificent what Lupin de Pomodun's preserve.

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Peaking at 500 feet, these are the highest sand dunes in the western United States.

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And as museum president Brian Cooper can attest, this natural wonderland has become legendary not only for the height of these massive drifts, but also for the secrets that hide beneath them.

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There's a rumor that a lost relic from another time still survives buried under the sand.

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What strange, seemingly ancient wonder may rest below these fragile dunes.

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1923, Los Angeles, California.

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Hollywood is the world's leading producer of silent films, churning out over 800 movies each year.

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And at the forefront of this boom is one of Tinseltown's most acclaimed directors, Cecil B. DeMille.

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DeMille was a showman. Everything he touched turned to gold and he really ruled the roost as far as the directors of that time.

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But DeMille wants to expand his horizons, so he embarks on his biggest project to date, an unprecedented biblical odyssey called the Ten Commandments.

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$750,000 is going to go towards this production. It's one of the largest budget films of that time.

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But this epic story of Moses leading the Israelites to the Promised Land is set in the sweltering Egyptian desert.

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In Los Angeles, there isn't anything that's going to look like an Egyptian desert.

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But the dunes in Guadalupe gave DeMille the look that he needed.

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While DeMille has the perfect location, he still needs to create an Egyptian city.

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These are the days before CGI, you didn't computer generate anything. You built it from the ground up.

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So roughly 1500 workers spend six weeks building this city.

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It includes four 35 foot tall Ramesses statues and 21 sphinxes and a grand avenue leading up to the city's entrance.

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Over the two months of filming, 3,000 actors and 5,000 animals bring DeMille's epic vision to life.

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It is Paramount Pictures' most expensive movie to date.

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And when it's released, it also becomes its most profitable.

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But while the movie wows audiences throughout North America, the story of its elaborate set is just beginning.

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It was common in those days for sets to be reused by another production for a lower budget film.

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But any filmmakers hoping to make a quick buck off the back of DeMille's masterpiece set are soon disappointed.

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At that point, the set mysteriously vanished.

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So how did DeMille's massive Egyptian set simply disappear overnight?

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1923, Central California.

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Cecil B. DeMille has just finished shooting his blockbuster, The Ten Commandments, on a massive set built on the Guadalupe Nepomo Dunes.

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But when the movie opens to sold out theaters across America, the giant construction mysteriously vanishes.

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So what happened to DeMille's Egyptian city?

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For decades, the fate of the lost set remains a mystery.

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But then over the years, people begin searching around for clues.

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1982, Los Angeles.

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Film school graduate Peter Brosnan and a friend are discussing the mystery of the lost set when Brosnan's friend announces that he has the answer to the riddle.

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He buried it and he said, you know, what?

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Brosnan doesn't believe him and he wants proof.

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So his friend whips out DeMille's autobiography.

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Brosnan's friend points out a passage in DeMille's book stating that if archeologists dug beneath the sands of Guadalupe a thousand years later, DeMille hoped they wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the Egyptian civilization once expanded to the Pacific coast of North America.

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Enthralled by the text, Brosnan immediately makes the connection to DeMille's The Ten Commandments.

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Brosnan knows that if this set does in fact exist, it would be one of the last remaining sets from a 1920s film.

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For Brosnan, finding Hollywood's Egyptian palace would be a chance to save a rare and invaluable piece of movie history.

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So in June 1983, with hopes that DeMille's creation may exist somewhere at Guadalupe Napomo, Brosnan ventures out to the mass of dunes.

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He finds a local who agrees to show him the location where they think the film was shot.

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Brosnan searches the desert-like landscape for hours.

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And finally he sees sticking out of the sand what looks to be a piece of the set from 1923.

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He realizes at this time that the rumors are true, this lost set survives.

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But something doesn't make sense.

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How did DeMille's mammoth construction just disappear in 1923 and end up hidden under the dunes?

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Film historians conclude that DeMille's ego had everything to do with it.

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There were fears in DeMille's mind that another production would repurpose his set.

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He didn't want that to happen.

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He wanted the first time that people see this set on the big screen in his movie The Ten Commandments.

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So to protect the unique aura that surrounded the film, DeMille secretly ordered the crew to dynamite the Egyptian city and bury it under the very sands on which it stood.

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And in October 2012, with the help of archaeologists, Brosnan excavates the dunes and recovers several undamaged pieces of DeMille's wondrous set.

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Today, many of the treasured artifacts of the Ten Commandments still remain under a blanket of sand here at the Guadalupe Napomo dunes,

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forever preserving an epic reminder of Tinseltown's golden age of silent film.

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From a fishy theft to a possessed daughter, a buried city to a king of jazz.

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I'm Don Wildman and these are Monumental Mysteries.