- 2 hours ago
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00On this episode of Expedition Files.
00:04In 1975, Union leader Jimmy Hoffa vanishes from a parking lot without a trace.
00:12Was it a mob hit? If so, where's the body?
00:16A new theory may finally solve one of the FBI's longest-running investigations.
00:21Then, the Holy Grail, the Cup of Jesus Christ, has been hunted by kings and crusaders.
00:32This biblical relic was said to be lost.
00:36Has it now been found?
00:41And, groundbreaking engineer Rudolf Diesel disappears on an ocean liner
00:46while transporting secret plans that could change the course of World War I.
00:51We reveal what may have been one of the greatest espionage operations in history.
00:59In the corridors of time
01:01are mysteries that defy explanation.
01:08Now, I'm traveling through history itself
01:12on a search for the truth.
01:18New evidence.
01:21Shocking answers.
01:24I'm Josh Gates.
01:26And these
01:28are my Expedition Files.
01:32One of my first jobs out of college was working as a waiter
01:40at a Hollywood institution called The Magic Castle,
01:43a private club for magicians.
01:45I learned two things working there.
01:47One, magicians are lousy tippers.
01:50And two, there's nothing an audience loves more than watching something disappear.
01:54So tonight, prepare to be amazed as we take vanishing acts to their most shocking extreme.
02:00I promise, no top hats, rabbits, or one-dollar tips in sight.
02:05We examine three of history's most extraordinary disappearances.
02:09People and things that were suddenly gone without a trace,
02:13leaving the rest of the world guessing.
02:15That is, until now.
02:17We begin on July 30th, 1975.
02:21It's a muggy afternoon just after 2.30 p.m.
02:24I'm standing outside the Maka's Red Fox restaurant, about 20 miles northwest of Detroit.
02:31The guy on the payphone here?
02:32He isn't just your average angry diner.
02:35In fact, he's one of the most powerful men in America.
02:38This is Jimmy Hoffa.
02:40At 62, Hoffa is the former president of the Teamsters, the most formidable labor union in America.
02:46Right now, he's on the phone with his wife, Josephine, upset that he's been stood up for a crucial meeting.
02:52He tells her to throw some steaks on the grill and expect him back by 4 o'clock.
02:56But those steaks, well, they're going to go cold.
02:59And Jimmy Hoffa isn't coming home for dinner.
03:01Because just minutes from now, he'll disappear,
03:05setting off one of the most extraordinary missing persons cases in history.
03:09For over 50 years, the world will ask the same question.
03:13What really happened to Jimmy Hoffa?
03:16And why has his body never been found?
03:35In the middle of the last century, pretty much everyone knows the name Jimmy Hoffa.
03:39To millions, he's a hero.
03:42As Teamster president, he stands up against big business to secure better wages and benefits
03:46for the blue-collar workers who depend on it.
03:56You've heard of the supply chain?
03:59The vast network that moves goods from factories to stores.
04:02Well, in the 20th century, the Teamsters control it.
04:06The organization of truck drivers and warehouse workers literally keeps the American economy moving.
04:12Hoffa rises through the ranks as a street-fighting labor organizer.
04:16He becomes union president in 1957.
04:18His influence is undeniable, but his methods are often controversial, even illegal.
04:27You see, in the 50s, organized crime has its hooks in a lot of local unions.
04:32In return for their loyalty and occasional muscle, Hoffa lets mob-connected businessmen borrow massive chunks of money from the Teamsters' pension fund.
04:42That money helps build glitzy Vegas hotels and casinos.
04:45The mob gets low-interest loans, and in exchange, they give union jobs to Teamsters, everyone from bellhops to cabbies.
05:00Workers adore Hoffa.
05:01The government?
05:02Not so much.
05:03Especially Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
05:06See, it's not just Hoffa's mob buddies who are breaking the law.
05:10Hoffa plays dirty himself.
05:11Extortion, wiretapping, embezzlement.
05:15In 1967, after years of attempts, the Feds, led by Kennedy, finally nail Jimmy for jury tampering and misusing union pension funds.
05:24He gets 13 years behind bars.
05:27With his raincoat covering handcuffs, Hoffa arrives at federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
05:40It seems the street-fighting labor boss has finally met his match.
05:44But don't count Hoffa out just yet.
05:46He's about to get help from a very unlikely friend, President Richard Nixon.
05:50On December 23, 1971, Nixon commutes Hoffa's sentence, and Jimmy gets out after serving less than five years.
05:59Nixon thinks that freeing him will earn him support from Hoffa's loyal followers.
06:07But for Hoffa, freedom comes with a caveat.
06:10Nixon bars him from any union activity until 1980, effectively minimizing his power and influence.
06:16In 1974, Hoffa sues the government to lift the ban.
06:23With an appeal underway, Hoffa tries to shore up support for a run at the union presidency at the next election.
06:29Which brings us back to the restaurant parking lot on that muggy day in July of 1975.
06:36When Hoffa fails to arrive home, his family calls the police.
06:40The next morning, investigators find Hoffa's car in the Moccas Red Fox parking lot.
06:46There's no sign of a struggle, and no sign of Jimmy.
06:50Several people report seeing the famous labor leader at the restaurant the day before.
06:54One witness claims she saw Hoffa get into a maroon Mercury sedan with three other men.
07:00It is the last time anyone will report seeing Hoffa alive.
07:04A nationwide manhunt is launched.
07:13As it heats up, rumors circulate that the mafia is involved in Hoffa's disappearance.
07:19Hoffa's family finds his date book, and it makes the mob the prime suspect.
07:24It reveals the names of two men he intended to meet that day at the restaurant.
07:28Tony Giacalone, a.k.a. Tony Jack, a senior figure in the Detroit mob.
07:36And Tony Provenzano, a.k.a. Tony Pro, a capo or captain for the Genovese crime family.
07:45Investigators track down both Tonys.
07:47Each has a strong alibi and deny that a meeting with Hoffa was even scheduled.
07:52But there is a thread for the investigators to pull on.
08:00Tony Giacalone's son happens to own a Mercury sedan, just like the one the eyewitness described.
08:06And there's another interesting wrinkle.
08:08A man called Chucky O'Brien borrowed the car that morning to supposedly run some errands.
08:14Chucky was a known Hoffa union associate.
08:17Jimmy treated him like a stepson.
08:22When authorities process the car, they find bloodstains on the seat.
08:27And that's not all.
08:29A few strands of hair matching Hoffa's color also go into evidence bags.
08:34Police dogs hit on Hoffa's scent, suggesting Jimmy was in the back seat and, even more disturbingly, the trunk.
08:41But O'Brien claims he didn't pick Jimmy up at the Moccas Red Fox that day.
08:48And the blood on the seat?
08:50Chucky says that comes from a salmon he delivered to a Teamsters house that morning.
08:54If this all sounds very fishy to you, you're not alone.
09:01However, tests on the blood reveal O'Brien is telling the truth, at least about the salmon.
09:06It's fish blood, not human.
09:08As to the hair, well, it's the mid-70s.
09:11And we're more than a decade away from DNA technology that could confirm whether it belonged to Hoffa.
09:19Days turn to weeks, and there's still no sign of Jimmy.
09:23In November of 1975, nearly four months after the disappearance, investigators catch a break.
09:29Ralph Picardo, a mob-connected convict serving time for murder, claims he knows the truth of Hoffa's disappearance
09:36and gives up the details to the feds in exchange for a reduced sentence.
09:41Ralph points the finger at the two Tonys, saying they sent four wise guys to kidnap Hoffa from the Moccas Red Fox
09:48and that they took him to a second location where he was shot and killed.
09:59Then, according to Picardo, the body was packed into a 55-gallon drum, loaded on a truck,
10:07and driven to a mob-controlled landfill in New Jersey, where it was buried.
10:14However, several days of searching at the dump turns up little more than toxic waste and animal bones,
10:20likely discarded from nearby meat processing plants.
10:23In late 1975, a grand jury grills Tony Pro, Tony Jack, and several of the other alleged mob co-conspirators.
10:33But nobody talks. They all plead the fifth.
10:37With scant evidence and no body, the case of the missing union leader goes colder than the Detroit River in February.
10:44In 1982, authorities declare Jimmy Hoffa legally dead, despite never in any way answering what happened to him.
10:52The world is left mystified as to his final fate.
10:56But then, 19 years later, a game-changing revelation will crack the case wide open.
11:09In 2001, 19 years after Jimmy Hoffa went missing,
11:14a shocking discovery jolts the case back into the national spotlight.
11:18DNA testing confirms the hair found in the car is Hoffa's.
11:23There's no longer any doubt.
11:25The infamous union boss was inside that vehicle.
11:28But where was he taken?
11:30And what was done to him?
11:31For over two decades, mafia historian Christian Cipollini
11:35has dug into the blood-soaked theories surrounding what happened to Hoffa and his body.
11:41The Hoffa case fascinates me because this is something that doesn't have closure.
11:49It's like the JFK assassination.
11:51It's like the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
11:54We want some answers.
11:55One of the first major theories that really stuck in the American psyche came to light when a former mobster named Tony the Greek,
12:06he said Hoffa was killed and then transported to New Jersey and buried under the giant stadium which they were building at the time.
12:16The problem with that theory is that the mafia likes to do things in a practical way.
12:24Keep it simple.
12:26What the mob probably didn't do was pack the body of the most famous missing man in America on a truck,
12:34taking it across state lines to bury it in such an extravagant way.
12:40Rumors swelled into an urban legend that Jimmy Hoffa was buried in the stadium's foundations,
12:47but when it was demolished in 2010, no trace of him was found.
12:55Which leads us to popular theory number two, the Irishman.
12:59In 2003, Frank Sheeran, a former Teamster official and alleged mob hitman, is dying of cancer.
13:06On his deathbed, he gives a jaw-dropping confession to his lawyer.
13:11He claims Hoffa was abducted and murdered by the mob.
13:15Sheeran says he was not only there that day, but he was the one who actually pulled the trigger.
13:21Sheeran's confession becomes a best-selling book, later adapted into Martin Scorsese's movie, The Irishman,
13:28in which he's played by Robert De Niro.
13:31Sheeran gives the exact address of a house in Detroit where he claims Hoffa was murdered.
13:40In 2004, investigators tear up the floorboards, and they do discover blood.
13:49Unfortunately, it's not a match for Hoffa.
13:52So what really happened to Hoffa's body?
14:19Why hasn't it been found?
14:21Over the years, dozens of theories have been put forward, mostly by former wise guys looking for 15 minutes of fame and a quick buck.
14:29One claims Hoffa was dumped in the Florida Everglades.
14:32Another swears he was dropped out of an airplane into the Great Lakes.
14:36Yet another says he buried Hoffa beneath a swimming pool.
14:39It's estimated the FBI has spent tens of millions of dollars chasing bogus leads.
14:45In 2022, they even reinvestigated the dump in New Jersey.
14:49But once again, they came up empty-handed.
14:5350 years of searching for the body of Jimmy Hoffa.
14:59What they did right in this hit, we assume, is they destroyed the body.
15:05So if it is the mob, how did they make Hoffa disappear permanently?
15:11In 2025, it's revealed that the FBI caught a major break when Detroit mobster Anthony Palazzolo, a.k.a. Tony Powell, confesses to the hit,
15:21saying he turned Hoffa into literal mincemeat at his place of business, the Detroit Sausage Company.
15:27Supposedly, the remains are then cremated at a mob-owned dump called Central Sanitation.
15:33And Christian believes the evidence was then further erased.
15:37From Marcus Red Fox to the Central Sanitation is just a short drive.
15:44This entire crime could have been carried out in less than an hour.
15:49A year or so later, Central Sanitation burned to the ground, and you wouldn't be able to find any evidence, even if it was there.
15:58The key to pulling off this perfect crime was leave no body.
16:07Run through a sausage grinder and cremated not once, but twice.
16:12Tony Powell's confession suggests a logical and grisly conclusion to the Hoffa mystery.
16:17Jimmy Hoffa was a titan of his age, but in death, his remains will never be found, because there's nothing to find.
16:26Hoffa's final resting place has gone up in smoke, literally.
16:38From a missing man who helped shape a century to a missing object that shaped the last two millennia,
16:45It's the year 33 A.D., just outside the city walls of Jerusalem.
16:51This group of men here, they're guests at history's most famous dinner party.
16:56That one there is Peter.
16:57And over in the shadows, brooding and restless, Judas.
17:01And then there's our host, Jesus of Nazareth.
17:06According to Christian scripture, by this time tomorrow, Jesus will be executed on a Roman cross,
17:12and the simple cup he now lifts is about to become Christendom's most sacred and most controversial relic,
17:20the Holy Grail.
17:21Many will come to believe the Grail grants divine power or even eternal life,
17:27but soon it will vanish.
17:29Will it be lost forever, or will it end up hiding in plain sight?
17:34The story of the Grail is one of mystery.
17:49The Bible doesn't even provide a physical description of it.
17:54The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, written more than a half a century after Jesus' death,
18:00refer simply to a cup.
18:01The cup is used ceremonially to represent Christ's sacrifice.
18:08The scripture also has nothing to say about where this cup went after the fateful supper,
18:13nor any of the subsequent claims of its magical qualities.
18:17For centuries, it seems to have simply vanished.
18:25Then, in the Middle Ages, tales emerge of the Grail as an artifact imbued with incredible power.
18:31Mostly set in the mystical realm of King Arthur,
18:34these are stories of heroic knights and sacred mysteries.
18:38Think of them as the Star Wars saga, only set a long time ago in a castle far, far away.
18:43But here's where things get really interesting.
18:48Because at the same time that we get these medieval myths about the chivalrous knights of the round table,
18:55there's also a real-life group of God's warriors, the Knights Templar.
19:00An order of military monks, equal parts holy and badass.
19:04They roam the Christian world with one foot in the church, and the other on the battlefield.
19:10After the First Crusade, they're charged with protecting wealthy Christian pilgrims on their travels to the Holy Land.
19:17The Templar's home base is in the heart of Jerusalem, and it's said to contain vast wealth and holy relics.
19:23Rumors begin to spread.
19:28Did they discover Jesus' chalice and keep it for themselves?
19:32If so, where did they put it?
19:38The Holy Grail could be anywhere across the vast Templar network, stretching from England to Syria.
19:44But in 1312, the Templars are forcibly disbanded, without ever revealing if they did indeed get the grail.
19:53In the centuries that follow, the legend and lore of Christ's cup only grows,
19:58with many vessels emerging that people claim are the real deal.
20:04There's the silver Antioch chalice, found in the ruins of a church in Turkey.
20:09The onyx chalice of Doña Arraca, housed in a basilica in Spain.
20:17And who could forget the Nantios cup, a humble wooden bowl from a monastery in Wales.
20:23At least that one looks like the cup of a carpenter.
20:27In fact, over 200 vessels across Europe have, at one time or another, been presented as the possible Holy Grail.
20:35Most of them, well, let's just say they don't hold water.
20:39But a couple seem real enough to cause even skeptical grail seekers to take a second look.
20:49Behold the Sacro Catino, a.k.a. the Genoa Chalice.
20:55Sure, it looks like a satellite dish from the Emerald City,
20:58but according to the medieval chronicle of the Italian city of Genoa,
21:02crusaders seized this mysterious green vessel
21:05during the capture of the biblical city of Caesarea in the year 1101.
21:10Now, according to the chronicle, the chalice is said to be crafted out of pure emerald
21:15and is associated with the Last Supper,
21:18fueling the belief that it could possess extraordinary powers.
21:22The cup even appears to glow from within,
21:25radiating what some have said is a divine light.
21:28But can the Genoa Chalice be proven to be the true Holy Grail?
21:37In the Middle Ages, the emerald Genoa Chalice is considered by many to be the Holy Grail.
21:46In the 1800s, when Napoleon annexes Genoa,
21:49the French emperor personally demands that the prized chalice
21:53is shipped to the Paris Academy of Sciences to verify its authenticity.
21:57But while in transit from Genoa to France, the cup fractures.
22:05Upon examination, Parisian scientists determined the dish is not an emerald at all,
22:10but Byzantine glass.
22:12That's a big problem, because this particular style of glass
22:16was not in use until hundreds of years after Jesus' death.
22:20And so it becomes another failed contender in the enduring quest for the Holy Grail.
22:27And as it turns out, Napoleon isn't the only power-hungry authoritarian to seek the Grail.
22:39A century later, Adolf Hitler becomes fascinated with the Grail and its supposed powers.
22:46His most lethal enforcer, Heinrich Himmler,
22:49reportedly dispatches the Nazi SS on expeditions across Europe in search of the relic.
22:59For more on this, please see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
23:04And Indy's adventure is just one of many modern spins on the Grail legend.
23:09If you look around, Grail mythology is everywhere in pop culture.
23:17From Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code,
23:19to Monty Python,
23:21to gaming's Assassin's Creed franchise.
23:24To the faithful, the Holy Grail remains not a thing of fiction,
23:30but a divine relic that could still be found.
23:33Despite centuries of pursuit, though, it has remained elusive.
23:37But now, professor of history and folklore Dr. Lynn McNeil
23:41claims there may be compelling new evidence for the Grail's existence.
23:45Within the context of Christianity,
23:49the Grail is one of the most sacred objects on this planet today.
23:55And we're left wondering what happened.
23:59If we still have it, if it is findable, if it exists,
24:04if it is extant in the world, this would be magnificent.
24:08Recent research is starting to show that the Chalice of Valencia
24:13is the historic Cup of Christ.
24:17This may be more than just a local belief.
24:20This could actually be possible.
24:22The Holy Chalice of Valencia, also known as the Santo Caliz,
24:26has been protected in the Cathedral of Valencia, Spain,
24:29for the last 600 years.
24:31Although details are spotty,
24:33it is believed the chalice came from the Holy Land to Rome
24:36with St. Peter in the 1st century AD.
24:39Later, in the 3rd century,
24:41St. Lawrence brought the Cup to his native Spain,
24:44where it has been safeguarded for centuries.
24:47Since arriving in Valencia,
24:48religious pilgrims have traveled from all around the world
24:51to glimpse what they believe to be the one true Cup.
24:55But others are unconvinced.
24:57After all, it's kind of hard to imagine
24:59Jesus would use something this ornate.
25:02But in 1960, a Spanish archaeologist
25:05discovers this chalice is actually three separate pieces.
25:09He claims the stand of the cup comes from the medieval period,
25:12while the base dates to the 9th century.
25:17But here's the kicker.
25:18The cup itself was crafted between the 2nd century BC
25:22and the 1st century AD,
25:24and the agate stone it's made from
25:25is only found in the Holy Land.
25:28This cup really could date from the time and place of Jesus.
25:31The entire cup itself is not what Jesus would have drank out of.
25:39Just that top part, that simple stone cup,
25:43that would be the grail.
25:45The rest of it would be casing placed around it.
25:50And this is a common practice of putting sacred objects
25:53in an intentionally ornate container
25:56to show their importance through the way we display them.
26:01Another interesting element is the idea that
26:05this cup would have needed to meet certain ritual requirements.
26:10A lot of people forget that the Last Supper wasn't just any meal.
26:14It was a Seder.
26:15It was a Passover meal.
26:17Any cup used in the Passover meal
26:19needs to hold a minimum amount of liquid.
26:24And this particular cup is just the right size
26:29to hold the required two revets,
26:32is the Talmudic measurement,
26:34that's needed to be held with wine.
26:36And this holds 2.5.
26:39So to know that this holy chalice,
26:41that it's dated to the right time period,
26:43that it is ritually correct for a Passover dinner.
26:47For believers, these elements really just become
26:51the final proof that this is,
26:54not just in our hearts, but in history,
26:57the holy grail.
27:06To many, this case is far from closed.
27:09After all, the chalice has many gaps in its history
27:12before arriving in Spain.
27:14Like many religious mysteries,
27:16this ultimately comes down to a question of faith.
27:19The grail's significance lies in what it represents
27:22to those who seek it,
27:24whether that means it's a physical cup or not.
27:27I'll raise a glass to that.
27:32Nearly 2,000 years after the grail vanishes,
27:35another disappearance sends shockwaves through history.
27:39It's September 29th, 1913.
27:42I'm about to board the SS Dresden,
27:44a British passenger liner sailing from Belgium,
27:47bound for England.
27:48Checking in behind me,
27:50a brilliant engineer named Rudolf Diesel.
27:53The very name powers the world,
27:55engine and fuel alike.
27:57And in his suitcase are revolutionary designs,
28:00ideas that could challenge empires,
28:02rattle industries,
28:04and maybe even get a man killed.
28:06And sure enough, by dawn,
28:09Diesel will disappear.
28:10For over 100 years,
28:12historians will spin their wheels
28:14asking what really happened to him.
28:16That is, until a new theory
28:18fuels the search for answers.
28:20In the late 19th century,
28:32the world is racing toward the future,
28:35but its steam-powered engines
28:36are stuck in the past,
28:38burning through coal,
28:39guzzling water,
28:40and constantly breaking down.
28:45Enter Rudolf Diesel,
28:47a German engineer with a mind
28:48like a finely-tuned machine.
28:50Precise, relentless,
28:52and absolutely obsessed with efficiency.
29:00In 1897, he unveils his masterwork,
29:04the engine that bears his name.
29:06The diesel engine's innovation?
29:09Compression ignition.
29:10That means air inside the engine's cylinder
29:14gets squeezed really hard
29:16until the pressure makes it white-hot.
29:18Then, fuel is injected
29:20and spontaneously combusts,
29:22creating a massive amount of power.
29:25It's cheaper than steam,
29:27and best of all,
29:28no more coal shoveling.
29:30Diesel's prototype is fueled with peanut oil.
29:35Almost overnight,
29:36diesel's engine becomes an economic
29:38and industrial game-changer around the world.
29:42Soon, diesel achieves incredible wealth and fame.
29:45But success comes with serious headaches.
29:48Rivals want his secrets.
29:51Powerful industries feel threatened.
29:53The German government wants greater control
29:55of their favored son.
29:58And over the next decade,
29:59diesel's fortune slips away.
30:02Lost to bad investments,
30:04legal battles,
30:05and his own lavish lifestyle.
30:10By 1913,
30:12Europe is at a crossroads.
30:13The storm clouds of World War I
30:15are gathering.
30:16Desperate for cash
30:17to pay down his debts,
30:19diesel makes a bold and risky move,
30:22taking on a business partner
30:23to open a diesel engine plant in England.
30:26That's where he's headed
30:27on the SS Dresden
30:28to cut the ribbon
30:29on his brand-new English factory.
30:31But with pre-war tensions rising
30:33between Britain
30:34and diesel's native Germany,
30:36transferring cutting-edge technology
30:38is a dangerous game.
30:45The morning of September 30th,
30:47diesel's business partner
30:49expects to meet him for breakfast.
30:52When the famously punctual diesel doesn't show,
30:55his partner pays a visit to his cabin.
30:57Inside,
31:02diesel's nightshirt
31:03lays neatly atop the bed,
31:05which hasn't been slept in.
31:07His gold watch,
31:08luggage,
31:08and his wallet
31:09are in the room.
31:10But neither diesel
31:11nor the important documents
31:13he's said to be traveling with
31:14are anywhere to be found.
31:17His diary is empty,
31:18save for the sign of a cross
31:20penciled next to yesterday's date,
31:22September 29th.
31:24The last time anyone
31:26saw Rudolf Diesel.
31:37Famous inventor Rudolf Diesel
31:38is on his way to England
31:40on the SS Dresden
31:41when he mysteriously vanishes.
31:45The crew scours the decks
31:47for any sign
31:48of the missing engineer.
31:52At the stern of the ship,
31:53a curious discovery.
31:55Diesel's hat and jacket
31:56neatly folded near the railing.
31:59The crew declares him
32:00a man overboard.
32:02Almost immediately,
32:03news of Diesel's disappearance
32:05makes international headlines.
32:07And 11 days later,
32:09the story takes
32:10a truly tragic turn.
32:13Sailors aboard a Dutch steamer
32:14find a body floating
32:16in the North Sea.
32:17Given the state of decomposition,
32:20they retrieve a few
32:21personal effects
32:22before returning the dead man
32:24to a watery grave.
32:28Diesel's son later identifies
32:30a pillbox and an eyeglasses case
32:32as belonging to his father.
32:35Diesel's family claims
32:36it must have been an accident.
32:38But the sea was calm that night
32:40and the Dresden's railings
32:41were too high
32:42for a simple misstep.
32:43If Diesel went overboard,
32:46it wasn't by chance.
32:47But could it have been
32:48by choice?
32:53Perhaps Diesel's dire
32:54financial situation
32:55prompted him
32:56to commit suicide.
32:58For a man
32:58who revolutionized engines,
33:00his bank account
33:01was running on fumes.
33:03Before he set sail,
33:04he gave his wife
33:05a sealed bag,
33:06instructing her
33:07not to open it
33:08for a week.
33:09After his presumed death,
33:10she looks inside,
33:11finding documents
33:13revealing his deep debt
33:14and 20,000 marks
33:16worth about $120,000 today.
33:20This final gesture
33:21would seem to frame this
33:22as a suicide.
33:23But is it?
33:25Because here's the thing.
33:27No one who knows Diesel
33:28believes he's capable
33:29of self-harm.
33:30Not his friends,
33:31not his family,
33:33not his colleagues.
33:34Yes, he was in debt,
33:35but he was also on the verge
33:37of winning another fortune.
33:38And for a man
33:39as meticulous as Diesel,
33:41there was no note,
33:42no will,
33:43just that enigmatic cross
33:45in his diary.
33:46It all seems very
33:47out of character.
33:48And then there's
33:49the missing important documents
33:51Diesel was said
33:52to be traveling with,
33:53which leads many to believe
33:54that this isn't a suicide
33:56on the high seas,
33:57but a maritime murder.
34:03The approach of World War I
34:05makes the Diesel mystery
34:06even murkier.
34:09At the time,
34:10submarines are the hottest
34:11thing in warfare,
34:13and Diesel's engine
34:13could superpower them,
34:15making them cheaper,
34:16faster,
34:17with more range,
34:18giving whoever has
34:19Diesel's technology
34:20a deadly advantage.
34:23The Kaiser wants that tech
34:25locked down in Germany.
34:27The government warns Diesel,
34:28share it with foreign powers,
34:30and it's treason.
34:30But the engineer believes
34:33his invention is for everyone,
34:35not just one military.
34:39And there's more.
34:41Diesel's journey
34:42has a double agenda.
34:44Publicly,
34:44he was set to attend
34:45the ribbon-cutting
34:46of his new factory,
34:47set to build engines
34:48for agricultural machines
34:49and cargo ships.
34:51But behind the scenes,
34:52he was meeting
34:53with British military officials,
34:55discussing how his engines,
34:57German-designed engines,
34:58could power specialized
34:59British warships,
35:01including submarines.
35:04Some believe German agents
35:06silenced Diesel
35:07to keep his plans
35:08out of enemy hands.
35:20Possible,
35:21but as it turns out,
35:23the Kaiser isn't the only one
35:24with the motive and means
35:25to do Diesel in.
35:26His engine doesn't just
35:28threaten military power,
35:30it threatens big oil.
35:32Unlike gasoline,
35:33Diesel's engine runs
35:34on peanut oil or coal tar,
35:36cheap fuels that don't require
35:38massive oil empires.
35:40Empires like that
35:41of the world's richest man,
35:43J.D. Rockefeller,
35:44who has a reputation
35:45for protecting his riches
35:47by any means necessary.
35:50As intriguing as the murder theory
35:52may be,
35:53there is a glaring problem.
35:55Not a shred of evidence
35:57has surfaced in over a century
35:58to prove Diesel
35:59was assassinated
36:00by the German government
36:01or big oil,
36:03operations that would surely
36:04have left witnesses
36:05and some sort of paper trail.
36:07So,
36:08if he wasn't murdered
36:09and he didn't commit suicide,
36:11then what happened
36:12to Rudolf Diesel?
36:13Could it be
36:14that he didn't die
36:15at all?
36:16While Jimmy Hoffa
36:22vanished without a trace,
36:23leaving only rumors
36:25of his fate,
36:25other mob hits
36:26unfolded in broad daylight
36:28designed to stun the public.
36:31In 1957,
36:32Albert Anastasia,
36:33once head of Murder, Inc.,
36:35was gunned down
36:36in a New York barbershop,
36:38a towel over his face
36:39as bullets tore him apart.
36:41In 1979,
36:43Carmine Galante
36:44was murdered
36:45mid-meal in Brooklyn,
36:47a cigar clenched
36:48between his teeth.
36:49Then,
36:50in 1985,
36:51Gambino boss
36:52Paul Castellano
36:53was brazenly executed
36:55outside
36:55Sparks Steakhouse
36:56in Manhattan,
36:58ambushed in the street
36:59as crowds looked on.
37:01These assassinations
37:02were more than power plays,
37:04they were spectacles.
37:05Unlike Hoffa's
37:06Vanishing Act,
37:07they left indelible,
37:09gruesome evidence,
37:09reminders that the Mafia
37:11often preferred
37:12its messages
37:13written in blood.
37:18Rudolph Diesel
37:19was one of the greatest
37:20engineering minds
37:21our world has ever known.
37:23Now,
37:24a bold new theory
37:25shakes up everything
37:26we thought we knew
37:27about what happened to him.
37:29Author and historian
37:30Douglas Brunt
37:31claims that there's
37:32a shocking truth
37:33behind Diesel's disappearance,
37:35something you'd never expect.
37:38Rudolph Diesel
37:38is the most
37:39underappreciated inventor
37:41of his time.
37:42He had a very
37:42sort of liberal approach
37:44to the sharing of information
37:45around the technology.
37:47And Diesel
37:48abhorred the nationalism
37:49and the more aggressive
37:51foreign policy
37:52of the Germans.
37:53There was also evidence
37:54that he had
37:54very high contact
37:56with the British Royal Navy,
37:57which was at that time
37:58run by Winston Churchill.
38:00And so,
38:01the most likely conclusion
38:02of the Diesel mystery,
38:03looking at all the evidence,
38:05is that he did not
38:06slip and fall overboard,
38:07he did not commit suicide,
38:09he was not murdered,
38:11but with the assistance
38:12of British naval intelligence,
38:14he staged
38:14his own disappearance.
38:18Brunt believes
38:20the British government
38:20orchestrated
38:21one of history's
38:22greatest cover-ups,
38:24faking Rudolph Diesel's death
38:25to secretly harness
38:27his genius
38:27while protecting him
38:29from deadly
38:29German retribution.
38:31My belief is that
38:33Rudolf Diesel
38:33got on the Dresden
38:34and then got
38:38right back off.
38:40And then the Dresden
38:41left without him.
38:44This is supported
38:45by the steward's cabin list,
38:47saying he was not aboard
38:48when the Dresden set sail.
38:51In the very first days
38:53after Diesel's disappearance,
38:54the mysterious details
38:55of his financial position
38:56start to show up
38:57in the media
38:57to try to get
38:58the suicide theory,
39:00some traction.
39:01If they wanted
39:02to get it to look like
39:04Diesel was sad
39:05and depressed
39:05and suicidal
39:06and bankrupt,
39:07it'd be very easy
39:08to plant those kinds
39:09of stories
39:09and get it printed.
39:11Spinning a tale
39:12of Diesel's despair
39:13may have fueled
39:14the suicide theory,
39:15but what about
39:16the body found at sea,
39:18the one bearing
39:18his belongings,
39:20yet strangely,
39:21never recovered
39:21for autopsy?
39:24It's possible
39:25there may have been
39:25a corpse
39:26as part of this deception.
39:28Perhaps British intelligence
39:29felt they needed
39:30to float a corpse
39:30out there,
39:31some happenstance steamer
39:33would come upon.
39:35But then, strangely,
39:36there are no interviews
39:37with the fishermen
39:38on record,
39:39there's no record
39:40of their names,
39:41and they return
39:43the corpse
39:43to the water,
39:44which is not
39:45the custom of the day.
39:46Okay, so we've got
39:48young Winston Churchill
39:49and the British Royal Navy
39:51executing a plan
39:52to drop a dead body
39:53into the ocean,
39:54one that isn't Diesel,
39:55to mislead
39:56the German government.
39:58Sounds a little out there,
39:59but what if I told you
40:00that Churchill
40:00pulled exactly
40:02the same stunt
40:0230 years later
40:04during World War II
40:05in something known
40:06as Operation Mincemeat?
40:08Operation Mincemeat
40:09was a World War II
40:10deception operation
40:11using a corpse.
40:13They handcuffed
40:14a briefcase
40:15with fake battle plans
40:16to a corpse
40:16and floated it
40:17into the coast of Spain
40:18where they knew
40:18Nazi agents
40:19would find it.
40:20And Hitler took the bait.
40:22He thought we were
40:23going one way,
40:24we went the other.
40:25Operation Rudolph Diesel
40:27could be a precursor
40:29to Operation Mincemeat.
40:31And then there's
40:32the bizarrely
40:33exceptional performance
40:34of the submarines
40:35of the British Navy
40:36in the war.
40:37And they're all
40:38diesel-powered.
40:40So it seems like
40:41diesel might actually
40:42have been alive
40:43in the service
40:44of Churchill's
40:45Royal Navy
40:46building submarine
40:47diesels in Canada
40:48for the war effort.
40:50There's an interesting
40:51final twist
40:52to this theory.
40:53In 1914,
40:54a newspaper
40:55ran a story
40:56claiming Rudolph Diesel
40:57was alive
40:58and living in Canada.
41:00Maybe the story
41:01was a hoax
41:01or maybe British
41:03intelligence
41:03had it buried.
41:04Coincidentally,
41:05around that time,
41:06Vickers Shipyard
41:07in Montreal
41:08suddenly became
41:09much more successful
41:10at churning out
41:11diesel engines
41:12for submarines.
41:14Today,
41:14a century after
41:15his disappearance,
41:17Rudolph Diesel's
41:17engines are still
41:18running all over
41:19the world,
41:20proving,
41:21if nothing else,
41:22his legacy
41:23is alive and well.
41:25I'm Josh Gates
41:26and I'll see you
41:27on the next Expedition.
Recommended
21:13
|
Up next
49:19
21:28
47:59
47:47
45:46
37:57
20:46
42:01
21:37
41:01
43:34
28:10
56:31
1:02:39
21:19
39:59
44:07
Be the first to comment