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A national landmark with a hidden secret.

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No one was practicing what they've reached.

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A desperate fight to survive.

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His thought was, I need to amputate my names.

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And an explosive invention that stunned the city.

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The schooner explodes in this massive fireball.

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Sometimes the greatest secrets lie in plain sight.

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These are the mysteries of the monument.

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London, England.

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Along the banks of the River Thames, in the shadow of London Bridge,

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is the epicenter of the country's banking industry.

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Covering just one square mile,

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the financial district features glittering modern architecture.

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But at its heart is a neoclassical column

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that commemorates a fiery chapter in the city's history.

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The top has a beautiful copper drum with flames burning out of it.

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And the 202 feet, it is the largest freestanding column in the world.

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You can actually climb the 331 steps to get a fantastic view of London from the top.

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This elegant pillar pays tribute to a catastrophe

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that laid waste to these streets more than 300 years ago.

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This story is about a race against time, an invisible killer,

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and a disaster that became a blessing in disguise.

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1664, London.

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King Charles II sits on the English throne.

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After 30 years of political turmoil,

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he is determined to bring peace and prosperity to his troubled nation.

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Charles II had been on the throne a very, very short time.

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He was building the country back up again after a very, very difficult civil war.

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But the King's mission is about to be dealt a devastating setback.

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On Christmas Eve, a local coroner is called to a house where a young woman has died.

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There he makes a chilling discovery.

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They saw the telltale signs of the red blotches on the body.

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To the coroner, the grisly sores can mean only one thing.

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The woman died from the plague.

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People could recognize the disease because you would have these ugly red mounds on your neck,

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the armpits, the groin, and death usually followed within a week.

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The plague, also known as the Black Death, has no cure, and it can wipe out entire villages.

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Everybody in England is absolutely terrified that it could land on their doorstep.

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King Charles must act swiftly.

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If the Black Death is allowed to spread, thousands will die.

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In hopes of containing the disease, he orders that all infected citizens be quarantined.

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Anyone who has the signs of the plague are locked in their house for 40 days.

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A red cross is put on the door and there's a guard outside to stop anybody escaping.

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But it's all for naught.

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Despite these drastic measures, within weeks, hundreds of Londoners fall prey to the disease.

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So the King gropes for another strategy to stem the tide.

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Attack the presumed source of the plague.

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There is a rumor that the disease has been spread by domestic animals.

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When this idea sets in, they decide the only way to stop the plague is to kill the cats and dogs.

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A royal command is sent forth to kill all the dogs and cats in the city.

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But despite the slaughter, the disease spreads quicker than ever.

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And the death rate rockets to over 7,000 a week.

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King Charles is at a loss.

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People are fleeing London as quickly as they can.

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All that's left in London are the citizens who are dying.

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Then, on September 2, 1666, just when Charles thinks his problems can't get any worse, disaster strikes again.

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The King is told a fire has started in the Royal Bakery.

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Fires are very common, but this one, he's told, has got out of hand.

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London streets are lined with tightly packed houses made of wood.

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The perfect tender for the flames.

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Charles is absolutely distraught.

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He cannot believe that he's gone through another disaster.

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London seems to be cursed.

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To stop the fire from spreading, Charles orders that buildings in the path of the flames be torn down.

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King Charles realises the only way to move faster than the fire is to use gunpowder to blow up houses to create the firebreak.

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And the dedicated King plunges into the fray to help save his city.

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The King is there himself, actually helping to pull these buildings down.

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The fire fighting continues for three days before the flames finally die down.

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But the city lies in ruins.

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London's Great Fire has destroyed 13,000 homes, but the disaster has a silver lining.

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After the fire, people soon realise that the plague seems to have disappeared.

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Londoners cautiously begin the process of rebuilding.

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But the question remains, why did the plague vanish so suddenly?

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After centuries of study, scientists believe they finally solved the mystery.

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It was found that the plague was something so common it was basically ignored.

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Rats.

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The rats were carriers of the bacteria that caused what is known today as bubonic plague.

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And it seems the very precautions King Charles took to save his people may actually have helped spread the disease.

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When King Charles ordered the cats and dogs to be killed, he was stopping one of the largest deterrents for the ratpop.

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And that's why the plague moved faster through the city.

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With their natural predators removed, the ratpopulation skyrocketed and with it the number of plague cases soared.

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But it is believed as the fire consumed everything in its path, it destroyed the rats and the dreaded plague they carried.

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Undoubtedly the Great Fire of London was a dreadful, dreadful disaster.

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But ironically it actually saved London.

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It's cleansing by fire.

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King Charles appoints commissioners to plan the rebuilding of the city.

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And out of the ashes of the Great Fire of London, a modern metropolis arises.

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Today this monument to the Great Fire of London endures as a tribute to the rebirth of a city and a reminder of the darkness it left behind.

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Washington DC. Once a small boarding house community for congressmen.

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The neighborhood of Capitol Hill has become the city's most densely populated residential enclave.

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But overshadowing the quaint brick townhouses is the area's centerpiece and namesake.

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This monument is made of white sandstone and marble and covers more than 1.5 million square feet.

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Story majestically over its columns is an 8.9 million pound cast iron dome.

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This is one of America's cherished landmarks.

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This is the US Capitol building, the quintessential symbol of American democracy.

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But as historian Garrett Peck can attest, these walls once bore witness to a shocking tale of double dealing and hypocrisy.

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No one was practicing what they reached.

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1920, Washington DC. Just a year after American soldiers returned from World War I, many former servicemen are facing a battle on the home front.

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Unemployment. Among them is 28-year-old veteran George Cassidy.

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George Cassidy came back from the war and couldn't get his old job working on the railroad and needed to find a job.

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Desperate to find work, Cassidy turns to a politically connected friend for help.

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But what his friend proposes is not what the ex-soldier had expected.

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He says, would you be willing to bootleg?

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Following the newly enacted prohibition laws, the illegal sale of alcohol has become highly profitable.

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Especially for a bootleger with contacts in high places.

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And Cassidy's friend has some very special customers in mind.

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His friend said, you're not going to be supplying liquor to ordinary citizens, but rather to members of Congress.

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Cassidy eagerly accepts the position.

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Two days later, he dons his best suit and an emerald green fedora to meet his very first customers.

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These congressmen were ostensibly dry Southern congressmen. They had voted for the prohibition amendment, but under the table they were still drinking.

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The politicians are impressed with the impeccably dressed bootleger and the quality of his hooch.

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And it is the top notch.

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George Cassidy was a very gregarious kind of person. He had tremendous interpersonal skills.

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Before long, Cassidy is so popular, he is able to set up shop inside the house office building.

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And in short order, he is selling liquor to almost 80% of the house and the Senate.

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All the congressmen love this guy.

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Everyone in the law enforcement community, of course, really knows who George Cassidy is.

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But because of who his customers were, he had a lot of political protection.

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And because of his colorful headgear, Cassidy soon acquires a distinctive nickname.

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It became known then as the man on the green hat.

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For nearly a decade, business booms for the bootleger.

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But all that is about to change.

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In February of 1930, Cassidy is getting ready to deliver bottles of gin to the Senate when he is suddenly arrested.

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By order of the White House.

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We have reason to believe you've been selling alcohol to congressmen. Can you please open this case?

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I can explain all this.

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It's me.

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This is a pen of mistake.

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As it turns out, President Herbert Hoover is cracking down on illegal alcohol sales.

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And he's starting at the very top.

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President Hoover wants to make an example of someone, and George Cassidy is right in this line of sights.

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Cassidy is swiftly convicted of possessing and transporting liquor and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

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But that's not the last the public will hear of him.

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Furious about taking the fall while his customers in Congress get off scot-free, Cassidy is plotting his revenge.

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It's 1930 in Washington, D.C.

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A man named George Cassidy has just been arrested for running a bootlegging enterprise out of the U.S. Capitol building.

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But Cassidy claims that the nation's top politicians had been aware of his illicit booze business for nearly a decade, and many of them were his customers.

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So how will the bootleger get his revenge?

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After his sentencing, Cassidy is determined to lift the lid on his days as Congress' chief bootleger.

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So he takes his story to the press.

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He senses this is such a great opportunity, not to expose Congress, but really to spill the beans on prohibition itself.

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In a series of front-page articles in The Washington Post, Cassidy delivers a stunning exposé of his rum-running career on Capitol Hill.

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What he was saying was, if I'm a hypocrite for selling alcohol, then you're also a hypocrite for buying it from me.

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The sensational reports leave Cassidy's congressional clients humiliated and disgraced.

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With the midterm elections just a few weeks away, the timing of the stories couldn't be worse.

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The great response that the public has is to have a wholesale change in Congress.

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And one of the first things the new legislators do after they are elected is call for an end to prohibition.

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Millions of Americans also believe the decade-long social experiment has failed.

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And three years after Cassidy's arrest, the national ban on alcohol is finally repealed.

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Cassidy becomes one of the lynchpins that helps undermine prohibition.

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As for Cassidy himself, after serving his time, he goes straight and finds work in a shoe factory.

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But the story of the man in the green hat remains embedded in Washington folklore.

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And this magnificent monument in the center of our nation's capital looms as a symbol of democratic wisdom and inebriated hypocrisy.

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25 miles east of Lake Tahoe is Nevada's oldest settlement, Genoa.

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Founded as a trading post in 1851, this western town features Nevada's oldest thirst parlor and Wally's hot springs, which catered to the area's earliest settlers.

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And on the outskirts is a bronze effigy of its most famous resident.

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The monument is eight feet tall. It is the statue of a man. He's wearing a floppy hat and he's holding a balancing pole.

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According to historian Sue Knight, the figure depicted here was a forgotten trailblazer of the American frontier.

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This is a story of a man who quite literally transformed the region.

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Who was this man? And what popular winter pastime did he introduce to the American West?

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December 1856, Carson Valley, Nevada. The slopes of the surrounding Sierras are covered with snow, making it almost impossible for residents to travel in or out of the region.

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During the winter months, the Carson Valley was cut off from the rest of the world.

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To get through the long hard winter, settlers depend on goods that are trekked over the mountains from California.

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Among those who make this difficult journey is trader James Sisson.

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One day, while bringing supplies to Carson Valley, the frontiersman is blindsided by a winter storm.

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As he was trudging through the snow, a blizzard came down upon him.

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Desperate for shelter, Sisson takes refuge in an abandoned trapper's cabin.

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And just in time too, he can barely make it inside.

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There, the shivering traveler finds matches and starts a small fire. Only to realize he has another problem.

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Sisson could not remove his boots. They were frozen to his feet.

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Sisson attempts to thaw out his boots near the fire. But when he takes them off, his stomach turns.

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He was suffering from severe frostbite. He could not move his feet, let alone stand on them.

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If untreated, Sisson knows his frostbitten feet will develop gangrene. But he can't walk on them to seek help.

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The only hope is that by some miracle, some traveler out in the storm might see the light of the cabin.

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For an amazing 12 days, he survives only on a sack of raw flour and melted snow.

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Imagine the feeling, thinking that help would never come.

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As every day passed, it must have gone through his mind. I can't be here much longer. I'm going to die.

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After nearly two weeks stranded alone, with his feet hideously infected, Sisson makes a grim decision.

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He became quite desperate. His thought was, I need to amputate my legs.

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He had a small axe, part of his hunting equipment.

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He hopes this drastic act will buy him time, in case help finally arrives.

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He might not survive the crude surgery, but if he does nothing, the gangrene will do him in.

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Sisson gathers what courage he has left and raises the axe.

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When he hears a pounding on the door.

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Appearing in the cabin door was this looming figure, with a floppy hat and what appeared to be two planks of wood.

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He was cradling in his arms.

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The rescuer builds Sisson a fire and then tells the injured man he will go fetch assistance.

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There was no way that he could take this man out of the mountains on his own.

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But Sisson can't believe this man will get anywhere through all the deep snow.

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How could he possibly bring help in time?

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It's 1856 in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

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Snowed in for 12 days in a deserted cabin, Frontiersman James Sisson has severe frostbite in both his feet.

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A mysterious stranger has just arrived out of nowhere and offers to go for assistance.

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But with all this snow, how can the rescuer fetch aid and return in time?

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With his condition rapidly deteriorating, to Sisson the situation seems hopeless.

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James Sisson probably thought, okay he's going to get help.

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I'm probably going to be here a few more days. I wonder if I'm going to make it.

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But incredibly, just a few hours later, the stranger returns, bringing with him a sled and other rescuers

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who take the injured man to the nearby town of Genoa, Nevada.

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There a local doctor amputates the trader's rotting feet and saves his life.

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But who was the stranger who found Sisson and how did he affect the rescue so quickly?

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Sisson was told by his friends that his rescuer was the legendary Snow Shoe Thompson.

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John Snow Shoe Thompson is a 28 year old Norwegian immigrant.

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After settling in the region, he had responded to an urgent appeal from the US Postal Service.

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Someone was needed to carry the mail and supplies over the Sierra Nevada during the winter months to the Carson Valley.

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But there was a problem. During the winter, almost no one could get through the snowed-in valleys of the Sierra Nevadas.

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So Thompson showed postal supervisors something they'd never before seen. His skis.

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Thompson was from a little place in Norway, so he grew up probably spending as much time on skis as he did walking.

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At the time, skis were unknown in the American West.

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But with them, Thompson secured the job and became a local legend for doing what few others could.

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He made regular mail deliveries across the high Sierras.

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Now after rescuing James Sisson with the help of his skis, Thompson is lauded as a hero.

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The rescue of James Sisson made him an icon.

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And his life-saving contraptions are adopted throughout the region.

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But skis soon become more than just a way of traveling through the backcountry, when locals eventually take up skiing as a sport.

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We like to think that Snowshoe Thompson was a pioneer of skiing in the West.

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And in 2001, this statue was dedicated in Genoa, Nevada to recognize the heroic efforts of Snowshoe Thompson,

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who braved the elements to deliver the mail and save a man's life.

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New Orleans.

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This low-lying metropolis has over 170 miles of canals, more than all of the channels in Venice, Italy.

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And along the banks of Abayu is a structure that was built to protect the Gulf Coast City.

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It's made of brick. Some of the walls are five feet high, some of the walls are two feet high.

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But so faded, it's gray. And you can see several different sections, that hinge that it used to be, a very large building.

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These are the ruins of the old Spanish fort.

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And according to tour guide Mark Linahan, this one-time garrison was the setting for a mysterious military experiment.

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Nobody had ever seen anything like this before. They were convinced it would usher in a new era of warfare.

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What explosive event occurred on the shores?

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1876. New Orleans.

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In the wake of a civil war, local Navy officials are eager to rebuild America's fleet.

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And there's one man who says he has an invention that's just what the Navy needs.

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His name? James C. Wingard.

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James C. Wingard is one of these jacks of all trades, and is a rather mysterious figure.

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He works as an inventor, he works as a medium, he works as a riverboat pilot.

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Wingard claims to have designed a powerful weapon that will restore New Orleans maritime dominance.

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He calls this intriguing creation, the Nameless Force.

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The name itself is mysterious, so that's generating a lot of buzz.

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But what's more important is that Wingard is promising a brand new weapon that will change the future of naval warfare.

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No other country has this type of weaponry.

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But Wingard's invention is still being developed.

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To attract potential investors, he announces he will demonstrate a prototype on the lake in front of the old Spanish fort.

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The city is a buzz with excitement. People cannot wait to see this futuristic weapon in action.

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On June 8th, a group of Navy officials and members of New Orleans Elite gather at the Spanish Fort to witness Wingard's high-tech firearm in action.

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Standing beside his concealed creation, the enigmatic inventor is keen to explain the groundbreaking science behind it.

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Wingard claims that he is able to harness electricity into this nameless force, and with that, he can obliterate any ship within five miles.

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His assertion wows the crowd.

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Electricity at this point in time is still fairly new. You know that it exists, but you don't know what it's capable of.

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Gearing up for his demonstration, Wingard aims his weapon at a schooner in the distance.

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In just a moment, that schooner will entirely vanish.

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Then he activates his device.

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The schooner explodes in this massive fireball.

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The crowd goes wild.

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The demonstration is a complete success.

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The next day, newspapers are filled with praise for Wingard's weapon.

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The Navy is very excited that there's a new toy for them to potentially put on their own ships.

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What's the secret behind this mysterious invention?

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It's the 1870s in New Orleans. When inventor James Wingard comes forward with a mysterious new weapon, he calls the Nameless Force.

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The U.S. Navy is convinced it will change the course of warfare, but is his explosive invention too good to be true?

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Claiming he needs more funding to develop his weapon, Wingard arranges a second demonstration for potential investors in Boston.

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A weapon with untold naval capabilities.

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The investors were willing to commit their money to it, but they also want to make sure that they're putting their money into something that is reliable and works.

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As before, Wingard stations a ship about a mile away in the water.

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But before he can fire the weapon, something bizarre happens.

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Suddenly there's an explosion about halfway between the shore and the ship.

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Turning to Wingard in disbelief, the crowd demands answers.

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What have you done?

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Here's a massive explosion that happens before he fired the weapon and is in the wrong place.

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Wingard has turned white as a sheet and he offers no explanation as to what has just happened.

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Wingard makes a hasty exit, leaving spectators stunned.

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But the city's shock and confusion only escalates when something even more troubling washes ashore.

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They find two very mangled bodies. It looks like something went horribly wrong.

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Over the next few days, police launch an investigation into the bodies and the explosion.

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Under pressure to provide answers, Wingard finally makes a startling confession.

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He admits that the whole thing has been an elaborate hoax. The two bodies were actually his co-conspirators.

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He explains that his partners had packed a rowboat with dynamite and were supposed to row out and load it onto the target ship.

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Then the two co-conspirators would row away. There would be a fuse running back underwater to Wingard.

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Wingard would merely set off the dynamite and the ship would explode.

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Yet on this occasion, Wingard's collaborators had made a fatal mistake.

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They mishandled the explosives they were working with.

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And they exploded prematurely before they had reached their target and made their escape.

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After making his confession, the exposed swindler skips town and is never heard from again.

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And today, the old Spanish fort, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places,

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endures as a testament to the city's storied maritime past and an incredible invention that was too good to be true.

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Brooklyn, New York was an independent city until 1898.

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Today, it is home to over two and a half million residents, making it the most populous of New York's five boroughs.

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And at its western edge is the magnificent Williamsburg Bridge.

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Proudly commanding the approach to this crossing is a monument to a legendary leader without whom the United States might never have existed.

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It is 31 feet high, made out of bronze and sits on a granite base.

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It shows a man in the middle of wintertime sitting violently upon a horse.

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This is a statue of America's first commander-in-chief, George Washington.

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The founding father is portrayed as cold and weary during the most brutal campaign of the Revolutionary War.

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But as historian Bruce Chadwick can attest, Washington might never have become president had it not been for one unlikely hero.

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This is a little-known story about a common criminal who has saved the future president and the future of our country.

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May 1776, New York. The Revolutionary War is in full swing.

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General George Washington and his forces are preparing to defend New York against an invasion by the British Army.

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But one New Yorker is more concerned about his own neck than the imminent battle.

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Prisoner Isaac Ketchum is cooling his heels in the city jail, awaiting sentencing on charges of conspiring to counterfeit paper money.

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He was very apprehensive because counterfeiting was a capital offense at that time. He could be hanged.

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As a widower and father of six, Ketchum is desperate to save his skin, and he's about to get his chance.

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One day, he overhears other prisoners whispering about a secret plot of some kind.

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Prisons around New York City were full of loyals and tories, people who were a real danger to the American cause.

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Eavesdropping, Ketchum realizes the inmates he is spying on are Americans loyal to the British monarchy, and they're discussing a plan to sabotage General Washington himself.

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Ketchum realizes their treacherous plot could be his ticket out of prison.

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He quietly slips a letter to his jailers, addressed to the provincial Congress, the Revolutionary Government of Colonial New York.

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It's a veiled letter that suggests he knows something very important.

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The secretive tone of Ketchum's letter peaks the interest of the Congress, and he's called in for questioning by the congressional speaker himself.

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The speaker was intrigued by what Ketchum had to say because with possible British invasion, this was important.

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Ketchum tells the speaker about the secret plans against General Washington.

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They're very serious. They seem very serious and intent on making it happen.

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The speaker finds the prisoner's tale plausible, but he needs to know the details of the scheme and the names of the plotters.

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He sends Ketchum back to jail, but this time as a spy.

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What better person than a criminal than a scoundrel to act as a stool pigeon, spy?

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Ketchum knows that if discovered, he will be killed by the very men he's spying on.

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Nevertheless, with the promise of freedom in the offing, he agrees.

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What Ketchum uncovers is a plot so insidious it could undermine the Revolution in all hopes for American liberty.

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It's 1776 in New York City. Prisoner Isaac Ketchum has overheard his fellow inmates discussing a secret plan against General George Washington.

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When he writes a letter to revolutionary leaders, warning them of the rumors, they immediately enlist him as a patriot spy.

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So can Ketchum stop this treacherous plot?

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Back in jail, Isaac Ketchum is assigned a new cellmate, a private in Washington's army named Thomas Hickey.

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Hickey is a member of George Washington's security guard. These are the guys who protect the general 24 hours a day.

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Hickey is in prison for forgery, but he's about to confess to an even more grievous crime.

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All prisoners in jail talk. Thomas Hickey talks too much.

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Hickey reveals that although he had once been a member of Washington's guard, he is now part of a group that is secretly scheming with the British against Washington.

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To keep Hickey talking, Ketchum pretends he's on the same side.

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Hickey tells Ketchum of a plot that he's involved in to kidnap George Washington and crush the Revolution.

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The British would like to sail him back to London and they were going to hang up to show the whole world here's what happens to somebody who leads a rebellion against the Crown.

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After hearing this astonishing plan, Ketchum swiftly reports back to the provincial Congress.

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And on June 26th, Thomas Hickey is arrested. Under interrogation, he spills the names of his accomplices.

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They are all rounded up. The next day, Hickey is found guilty of mutiny, sedition and treachery and is sentenced to death by hanging.

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He becomes the first person in American history to be executed for treason.

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The hanging of Hickey was the perfect example to all the people of America, not to threaten the Commander-in-Chief.

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As for Ketchum, just as he had hoped, he is finally reunited with his family.

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Ketchum was pardoned and released quietly two months later. Nothing was ever heard from him again.

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And this commanding statue in Brooklyn, New York, stands here today as a reminder of one scoundrel who committed a crime and saved a president.

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With three active volcanoes, 2,600 square miles of tropical rainforest and over 400 beaches, it's no surprise nearly 8 million tourists a year flock to Hawaii.

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But on the southern tip of Oahu, is a tranquil oasis often overlooked.

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It's a long, white sand beach, it has a fringe reef, and while it might have all the natural beauty that Hawaii has to offer, this location is entirely man-made.

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This is Magic Island. But as Mariner Nalehu Anthony knows, this picture-perfect shore once witnessed a treacherous voyage that left 15 lives hanging in the balance.

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The voyage was seen as something that was just on the edge of impossible.

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Hawaii, 1976.

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43-year-old Maverick anthropologist Ben Finney is on a mission.

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He intends to solve the greatest Hawaiian mystery of all time. How exactly this isolated island chain was first populated.

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Ben Finney is an interesting guy. He's really obsessed with these anthropological debates about how Hawaii happened to get populated.

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For decades, anthropologists have believed that Hawaii was settled by ancient Polynesian fishermen, who happened upon these far-flung islands by accident.

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Anthropologists thought that there was this one Polynesian canoe that was blown off course and they happened to land in Hawaii.

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The root of this theory lies in the belief that the ancient Polynesians didn't have the know-how required to navigate across the vast Pacific Ocean.

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People thought at the time that Polynesians didn't possess the skill set to build a canoe and sail it purposefully up into the wind for several thousand miles.

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But Finney disagrees. To prove his theory, he is building a replica of an ancient Polynesian sailing canoe.

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It's a very difficult task to try to build a voyage canoe that would mirror what would have been seen many thousands of years ago.

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But he was just obsessed with this idea of figuring it out.

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Teaming up with native Hawaiian historians, sailors and boat builders, Finney constructs a wind-powered vessel that replicates an ancient Polynesian craft in every way.

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It was a 62-foot double-haul canoe that I had two masks and could carry crew of about 13 individuals. The attention to detail was phenomenal.

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The vessel is dubbed Hokalea, meaning Star of Gladness in Hawaiian.

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The Hokalea will make a round-trip voyage of some 5,000 miles to Tahiti and back.

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Finney and his team will navigate by the stars to demonstrate how the ancients did it without maps, compasses or GPS.

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The idea was to use what clues you have in your natural realm, tell us your body's moving, the moon, the sun, waves, wind and other clues that you could use to find land.

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May 1, 1976, Maui. To much celebration, the Hokalea starts its historic journey to Tahiti.

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With the aid of strong winds, the sleep craft makes excellent time on what is expected to be a 20-day crossing.

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But the good times soon take a dark turn. After 20 days at sea, Finney and his men still see no land on the horizon.

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The crew started to think there's no way they're going to find land.

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The hard work, cramped quarters and empty ocean, hundreds of miles from nowhere, drive the crew to frustration and anger.

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Where's the land?

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As tensions mount, Finney fears his daring experiment could end in failure.

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It's 1976. A group of mariners has set sail from Maui aboard the Hokalea, a traditional Polynesian-style canoe.

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In an attempt to show how ancient Polynesians may have journeyed to Hawaii, they're traveling some 5,000 miles to Tahiti and back using only the stars to navigate.

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But after sailing for 20 days, there is still no land in sight. So will the canoe complete its epic voyage?

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Some of the sailors thought there's no way they're going to find land.

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The desperate crew push on for another two weeks.

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And finally, after 13 days of sailing, the crew is ready to sail.

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The desperate crew push on for another two weeks.

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And finally, after 34 days at sea, they spot a speck on the horizon.

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On June 3rd, history is made. The Hokalea reaches Tahiti.

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The arrival was spectacular. 17,000 people showed up to celebrate.

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A pared-down crew charts the journey home.

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And on July 26th, after making the return trip in just 22 days, they are greeted by a crowd of thousands at Magic Island.

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When they came back home, they received as heroes, those crew members are still legendary to this day.

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The successful journey proves that ancient Polynesians were capable of sailing across the vast Pacific to inhabit Hawaii.

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It's not just like all the anthropologists were wrong, but actually we were really smart.

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And we really had the ability to do some amazing things.

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Today, visitors to Magic Island can bask in the sun while being reminded of a scientific quest that rekindled an ancient tradition.

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From an epic inferno to a bootleggers' revenge, a courageous courier to a patriotic mission.

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I'm Don Wildman and these are the Mysteries.

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The Mysteries at the Monument