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00:00Byses II set out to conquer Egypt, only to vanish in the western desert.
00:06The sands swallowed Cambyses' ambitions, leaving behind only questions and legends.
00:14The greatest mystery of the Devil's Bible, the largest surviving medieval manuscript,
00:19lies not in what remains, but what is missing.
00:24Ten pages meticulously cut out and deliberately removed.
00:28What secrets were these pages meant to conceal, and why were they erased from history?
00:35Thousands of hours of secret voice recordings within President Richard Nixon's administration
00:40and subsequent erasure of 18 and a half minutes results in one of the biggest political scandals of all time.
00:50Who erased the tape, and what exactly were they so desperate to hide?
00:58The chain of history has many missing links.
01:02Prominent people, priceless treasures, extraordinary artifacts,
01:08their locations still unknown, lost to the fog of time.
01:13What happens when stories of the past become vanished history?
01:22In 524 BCE, Cambyses II, Persia's conqueror of Egypt, dispatched 50,000 soldiers from Thebes
01:44into the merciless western desert to silence the Oracle of Amun.
01:49Cambyses II was the son of the famous Persian king of kings, Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire.
02:01Cambyses was named crown prince as early as 539 BCE, and seems to have served as co-ruler.
02:08But when Cyrus died, his son officially took the throne.
02:12Cambyses reigned from 530 to 522 BCE and was determined to expand the empire, carrying on his father's ambitious campaigns of conquest.
02:24By 525 BCE, Cambyses had set his sights on Egypt, attracted by its abundant resources and strategic importance.
02:35As he marched along the Mediterranean coast, he secured water supplies through alliances with Arabian chieftains.
02:42The decisive battle of Pelusium opened the gateway to the Nile Delta, and by that summer, Memphis, Egypt's capital, fell to Persian forces, marking the start of the 27th dynasty under Persian rule.
02:57But victory brought defiance.
03:01Many Egyptians viewed Cambyses as a foreign usurper.
03:05One particularly potent symbol of resistance lay deep in the western desert, the oracle of Amon at Siwa.
03:15Revered by Egyptians and Greeks alike, the oracle was a temple and sanctuary in the Siwa oasis,
03:21where a priesthood served as intermediaries between the god Amon and those seeking divine guidance.
03:27It refused to legitimize Cambyses' rule, a public slight against the new pharaoh king.
03:35Determined to crush this affront, Cambyses dispatched 50,000 soldiers westward from Thebes.
03:45Their mission? To subjugate the Amonians at Siwa and destroy the oracle.
03:52Greek historian and geographer Herodotus, later dubbed the father of history, helped pioneer Greek trade with Egypt.
04:01He wrote detailed accounts about the lives of prominent kings and famous battles.
04:07But according to Herodotus, the troops vanished without a trace, never returning to Egypt nor reaching the Amonians.
04:16So what happened to this massive force?
04:19The western desert, spanning nearly 40,000 square miles across western Egypt and eastern Libya,
04:33is one of the most inhospitable landscapes on Earth.
04:38In this desolate expanse, described by Herodotus as a place where even powerful armies can vanish,
04:46Cambyses' ill-fated expedition began.
04:48Herodotus is our main source for the story.
04:55He writes about the force leaving Thebes in Upper Egypt and stopping at the Harga oasis after a seven-day's march.
05:03That much seems to check out.
05:05Thebes and Harga are about 150 miles apart,
05:08and his timeline matches the estimates for how long it would have taken to travel across that much desert.
05:14From there, the army continued on a route towards Siwa, home of the oracle of Amun.
05:22But no corroborating records detail the exact path or what truly befell the soldiers of Cambyses.
05:28Siwa was critical.
05:32Beyond its religious standing, it was a strategic desert oasis that dared question Persian authority by refusing Cambyses' legitimacy.
05:42In sending an army across the desert, Cambyses sought not just conquest, but symbolic dominance,
05:49an attempt to erase any lingering doubt of his right to rule Egypt.
05:54The western desert spared no one.
05:59Reliable water sources were scarce and hidden,
06:03making each new stretch of desert more perilous than the last.
06:07Without the Arabian chieftains who had once supplied water,
06:11the army moved forward with only limited provisions.
06:14Somewhere between Kirga and Siwa, the sands swallowed Cambyses' ambitions,
06:22leaving behind only questions and legends.
06:29Herodotus gives us a chilling tale.
06:32He says that as the army of Cambyses stopped to eat,
06:35a wind whipped up from the south, strong and deadly,
06:39bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand.
06:42And that storm swallowed up the troops.
06:46Dunes rose in the place where men had stood just moments earlier.
06:52But Herodotus' account raises questions.
06:56Could a storm, even of such ferocity,
06:59obliterate an entire army of 50,000 soldiers without a trace?
07:06Experienced armies like Cambyses' would have been prepared for harsh desert conditions.
07:12And a sandstorm, no matter how powerful,
07:15would likely not have been enough to overwhelm them entirely.
07:23The desert's silence may be masking not a natural calamity,
07:28but the echoes of an ancient rebellion,
07:30one that toppled an army and rewrote the narrative of a pharaoh's conquest.
07:35Some historians think that the army of Cambyses might have come to an end in battle
07:42against an Egyptian rebel called Pedubastis IV.
07:46He declared himself pharaoh around 522 BCE
07:51and led an uprising against Persian rule.
07:54This theory gained momentum thanks to the work of a Dutch archaeologist
08:00who uncovered inscriptions referencing a pitched battle
08:03in the remote western desert.
08:07According to his findings, the temple blocks at Ameda
08:10reveal Pedubastis IV possessed enough power and resources
08:14to erect a major monument in honour of the god Thoth,
08:18an undertaking that implies a stable administration
08:21rather than a fleeting revolt.
08:25It was proposed that the lost army legend
08:29may have originated as Persian propaganda,
08:32a fabricated sandstorm tale to mask a humiliating defeat.
08:36The evidence points to Cambyses dispatching a large contingent from Thebes
08:41to quash Pedubastis IV's rebellion in or near the Dakhla oasis.
08:49But instead of returning victorious,
08:52the force vanished from the historical record.
08:56The simplest explanation is that Pedubastis ambushed them,
09:02won decisively, and capitalized on the victory
09:05to consolidate his authority.
09:06If it's true, that story helps explain
09:11why Pedubastis IV appears on ancient lists of Egyptian kings,
09:16that his rebellion wasn't just symbolic,
09:18but successful enough to secure territory,
09:21build temples, and maybe even briefly rule from Memphis,
09:25which the Persians used as their administrative capital for the area.
09:29Another possibility is that the western desert itself
09:33inflicted a slow, crushing defeat on Cambyses' army.
09:37Even without direct combat,
09:40crossing hundreds of miles of featureless dunes
09:43and sweltering heat could doom a force of this size.
09:50Rather than taking the coastal path
09:53where Arabian chieftains had previously provided water,
09:57Cambyses allegedly sent his soldiers southwest from Thebes
10:01through oases like Kerga and possibly Dekla,
10:06then onward towards Siwa.
10:10This route required precise navigation and reliable wells,
10:15both of which were in critically short supply.
10:20If the army of Cambyses veered
10:22even slightly off established caravan paths,
10:25they would have lost access to crucial water supplies.
10:28Dehydration, not just sandstorms, likely sealed their fate.
10:37After decades of exploration across Egypt's western desert,
10:42a surprising new route for Cambyses' ill-fated army was discovered.
10:47This research is pivotal.
10:50Cambyses' army may have veered onto an alternative track
10:54deep within the Great Sand Sea,
10:56bypassing the more established oases,
10:59which might still have been under Egyptian control.
11:03In doing so,
11:04the army sacrificed short-term security
11:07for the element of surprise,
11:08hoping to catch the defenders of the Amon Temple off guard.
11:12Based on this research,
11:16Cambyses' army must have set out from Thebes
11:20along a lesser-known corridor,
11:22one that earlier archaeologists had not examined.
11:27Their geological surveys
11:28over these unchartered swaths of terrain
11:31revealed dried-up wells
11:33and fragments of earthenware pottery
11:36matching Persian water pots.
11:38Local Bedouin legends of an entire valley
11:46filled with bleached human bones
11:48fueled suspicions.
11:51A big discovery was made not far from Siwa
11:54by a pair of filmmakers,
11:56a grave littered with skeletal remains,
11:59which included a horse's bit,
12:02said to have maybe been used by the Persian cavalry.
12:05Some believe it might be tangible evidence
12:08that the forces of Cambyses
12:10met their end there in the Great Sand Sea.
12:15Scattered bronze arrowheads,
12:17fragments of Persian pottery,
12:19and human remains
12:20suggest the soldiers dispersed under brutal conditions,
12:24some seeking shelter behind dunes,
12:27others wandering off in a desperate search for water.
12:29The Western Desert's dunes
12:34can bury artifacts and skeletons
12:36for centuries before revealing them again.
12:39Such intermittent rediscovery
12:41explains why we've only encountered scattered finds
12:45instead of a single, conclusive burial site.
12:48Nature's forces have continuously rearranged the remnants.
12:52In all likelihood,
12:56Cambyses' army didn't vanish in one massive storm,
13:00but gradually disintegrated in a logistical nightmare,
13:04an episode few ancient chroniclers
13:06saw fit to document in detail.
13:13The fate of Cambyses' lost army
13:16is a haunting mystery
13:18etched into the unforgiving sands
13:20of the Western Desert.
13:22Over 2,500 years later,
13:25the desert refuses to yield the truth
13:27of what happened to 50,000 men.
13:32The account of Herodotus
13:34is as much a carefully crafted narrative
13:37as it is a historical source.
13:40The lack of physical evidence
13:42raises questions about how much of a story is fact
13:47and how much is fiction.
13:53For now,
13:54the legend of the lost army of Cambyses
13:57stands as a potent reminder
13:59that even the grandest armies
14:00are not invincible.
14:03Time, shifting sands,
14:05and the unyielding desert
14:06continue to obscure the truth.
14:09In the shadowy heart of medieval Bohemia,
14:25a colossal manuscript emerged,
14:28a towering compendium of sacred scripture,
14:31esoteric knowledge,
14:32and an unsettling portrait of the devil.
14:35Known as the Codex Gigas,
14:40or the Devil's Bible,
14:42it was intended to contain
14:43all the world's knowledge.
14:46The Codex Gigas
14:47is the largest surviving medieval manuscript.
14:49It weighs 165 pounds,
14:52stands some three feet tall,
14:53and was crafted from the skins
14:55of over 160 animals.
14:58Encased in leather and ornate metal,
14:59it aimed to gather every kind of knowledge,
15:01spiritual, historical, medicinal,
15:03even magical within one binding.
15:08The Codex was created
15:10in the early 1200s,
15:12a period shaped
15:13by the Fourth Lateran Council.
15:16The church was cracking down on heresy,
15:19books were being destroyed,
15:20scribes were carefully watched.
15:23Producing a manuscript
15:24that included both scripture
15:26and magic formulas
15:28must have been inherently risky.
15:33An inscription on the first page
15:35suggests that the Codex
15:36originated at the Benedictine Monastery
15:39of Podladice in Bohemia,
15:41now the Czech Republic.
15:43But this impoverished monastery
15:44lacked the resources
15:45for such an ambitious project.
15:48Over centuries,
15:49the Codex changed hands,
15:50purchased, pawned, and prized
15:52by collectors like
15:53Emperor Rudolf II,
15:55and seized by Sweden
15:57as war booty.
15:57The journey leaves behind
15:59more questions than answers.
16:02The greatest mystery
16:04of the Devil's Bible
16:05lies not in what remains,
16:07but in what's missing.
16:08Ten pages
16:09meticulously cut out
16:11and deliberately removed.
16:13This wasn't the result
16:14of accident or decay.
16:16What secrets
16:17were these pages
16:18meant to conceal?
16:19And why were they
16:20erased from history?
16:21The Codex Gigas
16:27is a window
16:28into the medieval world,
16:30reflecting a time
16:31of religious devotion,
16:33intellectual ambition,
16:34and social upheaval.
16:37Over the centuries,
16:39it has been prized
16:39as a spiritual treasure,
16:41a financial asset,
16:43and a source
16:43of fascination.
16:46Forensic analysis
16:47suggests the Codex
16:48was produced
16:48by a single scribe
16:50over as many
16:50as 20 to 30 years.
16:52This is a lifetime's work,
16:54considering the average
16:54lifespan at the time
16:55was roughly 30 years.
16:57Its uniform script
16:58and illustrations
16:59show no breaks in style
17:00and no sign of aging
17:01in handwriting.
17:02This consistency
17:03defies easy explanation
17:05and fuels legends
17:06that the scribe
17:07achieved the impossible
17:08with supernatural help.
17:12Legend says
17:13the Codex
17:14was written
17:15by a monk
17:15called Herman the Recluse
17:17who broke
17:18his sacred vows
17:20and was condemned
17:21to death
17:22by being walled up alive.
17:24To save his life,
17:25he promised to write
17:26a book
17:27that would glorify
17:28the monastery
17:29by compiling
17:30all human knowledge
17:31and to do it
17:32in a single night.
17:35By midnight,
17:36he was so desperate,
17:37he struck a deal
17:38with the devil,
17:39selling his soul
17:40in return
17:41for finishing the book.
17:43And in thanks,
17:44Herman included
17:45The Devil's Portrait.
17:50The contents
17:50of the Codex
17:51are fascinating.
17:53Half of its pages
17:54contain the Old
17:55and New Testaments,
17:56while the remainder
17:57overflows
17:58with other texts
17:59like Isidore of Seville's
18:01Edemalia,
18:03Josephus' histories,
18:04medical remedies,
18:05exorcism rituals,
18:07magical formulas,
18:08and lengthy sinful confessions.
18:10It also contains
18:11an extensive list
18:12of rarities
18:13like alchemical
18:15and scientific sketches
18:16and even
18:17a 12-page calendar.
18:19Among its most
18:21arresting images
18:22is that
18:23of the devil himself.
18:26This full-page portrait
18:28of the devil
18:28is unlike anything else
18:30in medieval manuscript art.
18:32He's depicted
18:32with massive horns,
18:34twin tongues,
18:35and crimson claws,
18:36draped only
18:37in an ermine loincloth,
18:39a fabric worn
18:40exclusively by royalty.
18:42This underscores
18:43his status
18:44as the Prince of Darkness.
18:51Directly opposite
18:52this infernal figure
18:53is an unsettling depiction
18:54of the heavenly city,
18:55empty of life.
18:57This juxtaposition
18:58highlights the era's
18:59spiritual tension,
19:00pitting eternal salvation
19:01against the threat
19:02of damnation.
19:03It's interesting to note
19:04that these are the only
19:05full-page illustrations
19:06in the manuscript.
19:07And part of the reason
19:08why the Codex
19:09earned its nickname
19:10the Devil's Bible.
19:12The Codex Gigas
19:14is missing pages,
19:15and there are lots of theories
19:16about what was on them.
19:18Some people even like to say
19:19they might have included
19:20a secret devil's prayer,
19:22the power to end the world.
19:29While tales of occult secrets
19:31and forbidden knowledge persist,
19:33the missing pages
19:34may have a far more
19:35pragmatic origin.
19:38In medieval Europe,
19:40monasteries were not only
19:42spiritual centers,
19:43but also land managers.
19:45They constantly struggled
19:46to sustain their existence
19:47financially.
19:49Parchment made from animal skin,
19:51known as vellum,
19:52was incredibly expensive.
19:54And by 1295,
19:55Podladice Monastery
19:57was so desperate for funds,
19:59it had to pawn the Codex Gigas
20:01just to survive.
20:03It's possible that monks
20:04or later custodians
20:06removed certain pages,
20:08perhaps containing
20:09valuable illustrations
20:10or rare texts,
20:11to sell individually
20:12for much-needed income.
20:14By the early 1400s,
20:20Bohemia was engulfed
20:22by religious upheaval
20:23that led to the Hussite Revolution.
20:27Monasteries became battlegrounds
20:29over ideology,
20:30including the one
20:31where the Codex was written,
20:33which was destroyed.
20:35Libraries were raided
20:36and books were burned
20:37for being politically dangerous,
20:39denounced as heresy.
20:40If the Codex Gigas
20:44contained sensitive material,
20:46prophecies,
20:47inflammatory rhetoric,
20:48or ideas challenging
20:50prevailing doctrines,
20:52removing select pages
20:53could have been
20:54a calculated move
20:55to shield its custodians
20:56from heresy charges.
20:59As speculation swirls
21:01around political intrigue
21:02and doctrinal strife,
21:04some believe the explanation
21:06is tied to the devilish imagery
21:08within these pages
21:09and that what vanished
21:11may have been too unsettling
21:12to remain on record.
21:15Some people have suggested
21:17the missing pages
21:18might have been removed
21:20because they crossed a line,
21:22that they could have been seen
21:23as heretical
21:24or even outright satanic.
21:26The Codex Gigas
21:28is famous
21:28for its full-page portrait
21:30of the devil
21:31directly opposite the image
21:33of an empty, silent,
21:35heavenly Jerusalem.
21:37It's an eerie pairing
21:38that reflects medieval obsessions
21:40with sin and redemption.
21:42And when you add
21:42the exorcism rituals
21:43with magic formulas
21:45included in nearby sections,
21:47some wonder
21:47if the manuscript
21:48might have already been
21:49pushing the limits
21:50of what the church would allow.
21:53If those missing pages
21:55went deeper into demonology,
21:57like detailing unholy invocations
22:00or even diabolical pacts,
22:02they would have been seen
22:03as a serious challenge
22:04to the church's authority.
22:06Taking them out
22:07would have been a quiet way
22:08to keep the Codex
22:09within acceptable limits
22:11to protect both the manuscript
22:13and anyone connected to it.
22:15The Codex Gigas
22:20eventually became part
22:22of Emperor Rudolf II's
22:24prized collection in Prague.
22:26The palace was a magnet
22:28for philosophers,
22:29alchemists,
22:31astronomers,
22:31and artists
22:32and filled with treasures
22:33that reflected Rudolf's
22:35profound fascination
22:36with the occult,
22:38astrology,
22:39and the pursuit
22:39of forbidden knowledge.
22:41Under Rudolf's reign,
22:44Prague became
22:45a Renaissance heart
22:46of arts and sciences
22:48where curiosity
22:49and fear intertwined.
22:51His collection brimmed
22:52with exotic artifacts
22:54and esoteric texts,
22:56pushing the boundaries
22:57of knowledge
22:57while walking
22:58a fine line
22:59between discovery
23:00and looming threat
23:02of condemnation
23:03in an era
23:04of devout suspicion.
23:07In Rudolf's court,
23:09any page explicitly detailing
23:10unholy invocations
23:11or demon-summoning rituals
23:13could have invited
23:14immediate scrutiny.
23:15Religious authorities
23:16and political rivals alike
23:17would have seized upon
23:18this kind of material
23:19as evidence of heresy.
23:21Removing these pages
23:21may have been
23:22a calculated move
23:23to shield the Codex
23:24and its guardians
23:24from the heir's
23:25harsh consequences
23:26for perceived transgressions.
23:30There's no proof
23:31the missing pages
23:32had anything to do
23:33with satanic worship,
23:35and other surviving sections
23:36do include exorcisms
23:38and magic spells.
23:39Medieval depictions
23:41of demons
23:41were often a warning.
23:43They didn't glorify evil,
23:45they cautioned against sin.
23:47The devil's portrait
23:48is unsettling,
23:49and so fits in
23:50to that tradition.
23:52But whatever happened
23:53with the Codex,
23:54we know that in a world
23:56haunted by real fear
23:58of diabolical influence,
24:00some knowledge was thought
24:01to be too dangerous
24:02to preserve.
24:03It's survival alone
24:07is remarkable,
24:08but the real mystery
24:09is those missing pages.
24:12Whoever removed them
24:13didn't just tear them out,
24:14they did it carefully,
24:16leaving no clear evidence behind.
24:19That kind of precision suggests
24:21whatever was on those pages
24:22was incredibly significant.
24:24The Codex Gigas
24:27now rests
24:28in Stockholm's
24:29National Library.
24:30Advances in modern technology
24:32like digital imaging,
24:34ultraviolet analysis,
24:35or even DNA testing
24:36of the parchment
24:37might one day reveal
24:39traces of what was lost,
24:41or even those new insights
24:43might just deepen
24:44the mystery.
24:45The missing pages
24:48leave the devil's Bible
24:49shrouded in eternal mystery.
24:52Their absence,
24:53a void where the sum
24:54of all knowledge
24:55was once meant
24:56to reside.
25:10June 17, 1972.
25:12In the early hours
25:15of the morning,
25:16five men were arrested
25:17inside the Democratic
25:18National Committee headquarters
25:19at the Watergate Complex
25:21in Washington, D.C.
25:23What first seemed
25:25like a botched burglary
25:26would ignite
25:26a political firestorm,
25:28shaking the very foundations
25:29of American democracy
25:31and leading to the first resignation
25:33of a U.S. president.
25:37President Richard Nixon
25:39was a complex figure,
25:41brilliant,
25:41yet deeply paranoid.
25:42His obsession with control
25:45and his legacy
25:46drove him
25:46to extraordinary lengths.
25:48To document
25:49his administration,
25:51he installed
25:51a secret voice-activated
25:53recording system
25:54that automatically
25:55captured every conversation
25:57in the Oval Office,
25:58the Cabinet Room,
25:59and even at Camp David,
26:00the presidential retreat.
26:04Among the thousands
26:05of hours recorded,
26:06one tape stood out,
26:07not for what was said,
26:08but for what was missing.
26:09This conversation,
26:12just three days after
26:13the Watergate break-in,
26:14recorded a meeting
26:15between Nixon
26:15and his chief of staff,
26:17H.R. Haldeman,
26:18in what would become
26:18one of the most scrutinized
26:20and infamous moments
26:21of his presidency.
26:21The conversation
26:24probably included
26:26critical details
26:27about the administration's plans
26:29to handle the fallout,
26:30maybe even evidence
26:31of an early cover-up.
26:33But when investigators
26:34listened to the tape,
26:36they didn't find answers.
26:37Instead,
26:38they found that it had
26:39an 18-and-a-half-minute gap.
26:42It had been erased.
26:43Who erased the tape?
26:50And what exactly
26:51were they so desperate
26:52to hide?
27:01The roots of Watergate
27:02trace back to 1971
27:04when a Nixon official
27:06leaked the Pentagon Papers,
27:08a 7,000-page classified report
27:10that exposed government deception
27:12about the Vietnam War.
27:16It came at a time
27:17when public anger and doubt
27:18over the U.S. role in Vietnam
27:20was already at a boiling point.
27:24Nixon was so enraged
27:26by the leak
27:26that he created
27:27a covert unit
27:28called the Plumbers,
27:29aptly named
27:30in reference to their job
27:31of plugging leaks.
27:33But things escalated quickly.
27:35The Plumbers resorted
27:36to break-ins
27:36and illegal surveillance,
27:38all in the name
27:39of protecting
27:39the administration.
27:40On June 17, 1972,
27:45five men broke
27:46into the Watergate complex
27:48in Washington, D.C.
27:50The burglars,
27:51dressed in suits,
27:52carried sophisticated
27:53recording equipment,
27:55lock-picking tools,
27:56and wads
27:56of sequentially numbered
27:58$100 bills.
28:01It was obvious
28:02these weren't petty crooks.
28:04One was James McCord,
28:05a security coordinator
28:06for Nixon's
28:06re-election campaign,
28:08ironically nicknamed
28:09Creep.
28:09The operation was led
28:11by G. Gordon Liddy,
28:12a former FBI agent,
28:14and E. Howard Hunt,
28:15a CIA veteran.
28:17It would prove
28:18to be one of the most
28:19infamous cases
28:20of political espionage
28:21in history.
28:23And as the investigation
28:24deepened,
28:25it became clear
28:26that the motives
28:26behind the break-in
28:28went all the way
28:29to the top.
28:31By February of 1973,
28:34the U.S. Senate
28:35had formed a committee
28:36to investigate
28:37the Nixon campaign.
28:39Meanwhile,
28:39Nixon and his aides
28:40were amid a desperate
28:41cover-up involving
28:42discussions of
28:43million-dollar hush payments,
28:45using federal agencies
28:47to block the investigation,
28:48and coaching aides to lie.
28:50The real turning point
28:53came in July 1973
28:55during the live
28:56Senate Watergate hearings
28:57when Alexander Butterfield,
28:59Nixon's deputy assistant,
29:01dropped a bombshell.
29:03Nixon had a secret
29:04recording system.
29:06This was a major
29:07breakthrough.
29:09Those tapes
29:09held the potential
29:10to prove without a doubt
29:12what the president
29:13knew about Watergate
29:15and when.
29:21In 1974,
29:23under mounting pressure
29:24from federal investigators,
29:26Nixon released
29:26dozens of White House tapes
29:28and thousands of pages
29:30of transcripts.
29:32One of the key revelations
29:34in the smoking gun evidence
29:35was tape 342,
29:37a recording of a meeting
29:37between Nixon
29:38and his chief of staff,
29:39H.R. Haldeman.
29:40This was the first time
29:42Nixon was recorded
29:42discussing the Watergate break-in,
29:44just three days
29:45after it happened.
29:48Thanks to Haldeman's
29:49handwritten notes
29:50from that meeting,
29:51we know he and Nixon
29:53talked about Watergate
29:54and probably about
29:55using the CIA
29:56to thwart the FBI's
29:58investigation.
29:59But there's no audio
30:00to back it up.
30:02Eighteen and a half minutes
30:03had vanished,
30:05replaced with an ominous
30:06patch of clicks
30:07and buzzes.
30:14Nixon went to extreme lengths
30:16to keep the tapes hidden,
30:18and after two years
30:19of public scrutiny
30:20and growing calls
30:21for his impeachment,
30:22President Nixon
30:23reside in disgrace.
30:26By taking this action,
30:29I hope that I will have
30:32hastened the start
30:33of that process of healing
30:36which is so desperately
30:38needed in America.
30:39In a White House
30:41gripped by chaos
30:43and paranoia,
30:44some believe the answer
30:45to the missing minutes
30:46lies not in deliberate
30:47sabotage,
30:49but in an unintentional act
30:50of loyalty.
30:53Rosemary Woods,
30:54Nixon's fiercely loyal
30:56personal secretary,
30:57claims she accidentally
30:59erased the 18 and a half minutes.
31:01According to Woods,
31:02she was transcribing the tapes
31:04for prosecutors
31:05when the phone rang.
31:07In her rush to answer,
31:09she said she pressed
31:10the wrong button,
31:11which caused her to delete
31:12part of the original conversation.
31:15In her grand jury testimony,
31:17Woods explained
31:18that when she went
31:19to answer the phone,
31:21she reached for the stop button
31:22on the Oval Officer's
31:23UR 5000 reel-to-reel recorder,
31:26but instead,
31:27she accidentally pressed her foot
31:28into the pedal of the machine,
31:30which would cause it
31:31to record over the conversation.
31:34To defend her version of events,
31:36Woods reenacted the incident
31:38in front of reporters.
31:39In her now infamous pose,
31:41dubbed the Rosemary Stretch,
31:43you can see her awkwardly
31:44stretching her leg
31:44to press the pedal
31:45while leaning far back
31:46to grab the phone behind her.
31:50The mechanics of the
31:51UR 5000 recorder in question
31:53cemented the initial doubt
31:55many had over Woods' story.
31:58The machine didn't even work
32:01the way Woods said it did.
32:02To erase the audio,
32:03someone would have to press
32:04both the play
32:06and record buttons
32:07at the same time.
32:09You couldn't do that
32:10with the pedal.
32:12And the erasure
32:13wasn't a single act.
32:15It was done
32:15in at least
32:16five separate segments.
32:18The idea that Woods
32:19could hold such an awkward
32:20physical position
32:21for over 18 minutes
32:23made her story
32:25virtually impossible to believe.
32:28Woods' explanation
32:29was riddled with flaws.
32:31Despite thorough investigations,
32:34there's no evidence
32:34she erased the entire
32:3618 and a half minutes.
32:37The forensic findings prove
32:39this was a deliberate act,
32:41but one that was most likely
32:43carried out by someone else.
32:44One of the most prominent theories
32:50is that President Nixon
32:51or someone in his inner circle
32:52intentionally erased the tape
32:54to hide evidence
32:55of a Watergate cover-up.
32:57The timing is key.
32:59This was Nixon's first meeting
33:00with H.R. Haldeman
33:01after the break-in,
33:02and it likely focused
33:03on how to manage the fallout.
33:05If the tape revealed
33:05early steps in the cover-up,
33:07it would have been devastating.
33:08Nixon's chief of staff,
33:15H.R. Haldeman,
33:16was in a prime position
33:17to erase the evidence.
33:19Only three days
33:20after the conversation
33:21with the missing minutes,
33:22Nixon was recorded
33:23ordering Haldeman
33:24to tell the FBI
33:25not to go further
33:27into the case, period.
33:30Haldeman was deeply involved
33:31in the cover-up
33:32and had every reason
33:33to protect both Nixon
33:35and himself.
33:37Or it could have been others
33:38in the president's inner circle,
33:39like John Ehrlichman,
33:40who was instrumental
33:41in creating the Plumbers
33:42and orchestrated
33:43many of the administration's
33:44covert operations.
33:46Or campaign director
33:47John N. Mitchell,
33:48who approved the plan
33:49for Watergate.
33:50They had similar access
33:51and motives.
33:53Since Nixon wasn't good
33:54with technology,
33:55it does seem unlikely
33:56he would have done
33:57the erasing himself.
33:59And since there are more
34:00than 3,700 hours
34:02of recordings,
34:03you have to wonder
34:04why his team targeted
34:06just those 18 and a half
34:08minutes.
34:11One name that often comes up
34:13is General Alexander Haig,
34:15who took over
34:16as Nixon's chief of staff
34:17after Haldeman resigned.
34:20Haig famously called
34:21the erasure
34:21the work of a sinister force,
34:23a cryptic remark
34:25that some interpreted
34:26as an attempt
34:27to deflect blame,
34:28or perhaps a subtle nod
34:30to internal sabotage.
34:34Another possibility points
34:35to an unknown secret service agent
34:37or a technical staffer,
34:39someone with the access
34:40and technical know-how
34:41to manipulate the tapes.
34:42If they believe
34:43the June 20th conversation
34:44posed a significant threat,
34:46whether to national security
34:47or Nixon's presidency,
34:48they might have taken matters
34:49into their own hands.
34:50There have been years
34:55of speculation,
34:56but no one's ever
34:57been identified
34:58as the sinister force.
35:00There have been extensive
35:01investigations
35:02by the FBI
35:03and by Congress,
35:04but no concrete evidence
35:06of a rogue agent.
35:07So it's just one more piece
35:10of the enduring mystery
35:11surrounding those missing minutes.
35:13The fallout from Watergate
35:19was unlike anything
35:20in American history.
35:22Nixon became the first
35:23and only president
35:24to ever resign.
35:26The Watergate burglar
35:27served time for conspiracy,
35:29burglary,
35:30and wiretapping,
35:31while 48 others,
35:32including Haldeman,
35:33were convicted of crimes
35:34like obstruction of justice,
35:36conspiracy,
35:37and perjury.
35:39Watergate set a new tone
35:41for American politics.
35:42It led to sweeping reforms
35:44aimed at restoring trust
35:46in the government.
35:48The Supreme Court's
35:48unanimous decision
35:50to order Nixon
35:50to release the tapes
35:52reshaped the presidency
35:53by affirming that no one,
35:55not even the president,
35:56is above the law.
35:58That limit on power
35:59is just as relevant today.
36:03The missing minutes
36:04remain one of the most
36:06profound puzzles
36:06in American political history.
36:09Despite advancements
36:10in technology,
36:11experts have been unable
36:13to recover the missing audio.
36:15It's a mystery
36:16that remains locked away
36:17for now.
36:20Maybe one day,
36:21the right tools
36:22will finally bring
36:23those lost moments
36:24to light.
36:25He was the leader
36:41of Jesus Christ's
36:42twelve disciples
36:43and the first pope
36:44of the Catholic Church.
36:46As such,
36:47St. Peter's sacred remains
36:49have been a precious
36:50and revered relic
36:51kept in the watchful care
36:52of the Catholic Church
36:54and venerated
36:55for the better part
36:56of two millennia,
36:57less than a thousand feet
36:59from where he was martyred.
37:02The first basilica
37:04of St. Peter
37:05was built
37:06in the fourth century
37:07right over the resting place
37:09of the Apostle Peter's remains
37:11on Rome's Vatican Hill.
37:14The spot for the basilica
37:16wasn't chosen
37:17for any other reason,
37:19then that's where
37:20Peter's bones were.
37:24The site has been venerated
37:25for about 1,800 years.
37:28For the long succession
37:29of popes
37:29and any other worshippers
37:30fortunate enough
37:31to have the opportunity,
37:33venerating Peter's remains
37:34has been a deeply
37:36meaningful practice.
37:37But in 1950,
37:40Pope Pius XII's
37:41Christmas radio address
37:42contained an
37:43I've got good news
37:44and bad news
37:45kind of announcement.
37:47What the pontiff said
37:47was that during
37:48the excavations
37:49carried out
37:49beneath St. Peter's basilica
37:50some years prior,
37:52human bones
37:53had been found.
37:53But he said
37:54it wasn't possible
37:55to say with certainty
37:56that the bones
37:57were St. Peter's.
38:00Catholics
38:01had been paying
38:02their respects
38:02in the basilica
38:03for centuries,
38:05confident
38:05the apostle Peter's
38:07remains were nearby.
38:09But if those
38:09discovered bones
38:10might have belonged
38:11to someone else,
38:13then where were
38:13St. Peter's bones?
38:17It's believed
38:18that sometime
38:19between 54 and 68 CE,
38:22the apostle Peter
38:23came to Rome,
38:25where in the absence
38:25of any Christian churches,
38:27he preached
38:28in private homes
38:29around the city.
38:31This was in the time
38:32of Rome's
38:33fifth emperor,
38:34Nero,
38:34infamous for his
38:36public persecution
38:37of Christians.
38:40According to the accounts
38:41of the Roman historian
38:43Tacitus,
38:44Christians were killed
38:45by burning
38:46or crucifixion
38:47or being devoured
38:49by wild animals
38:50in front of crowds
38:51of a chariot racing circuit
38:53known as
38:55the Circus of Nero
38:57outside Rome's city walls.
39:00It's believed
39:01that around 67 CE,
39:03Peter became
39:04one of these
39:05martyred victims.
39:08Peter was reportedly
39:09buried in a Roman
39:10necropolis
39:11or city of the dead,
39:13known as the
39:13Vatican Necropolis.
39:15This site didn't have
39:16any Christian significance
39:18at the time.
39:19It was merely an area
39:20adjacent to the Circus
39:21of Nero,
39:22where many Romans
39:23were buried.
39:24About a century and a half
39:27later,
39:28in 313 CE,
39:29Rome's then-emperor
39:30Constantine converted
39:31to Christianity
39:32and ordered a great
39:33basilica to be built
39:34over the place
39:34where Peter's tomb
39:35was believed to lie.
39:37Within the basilica,
39:38a monument eventually
39:39called the Trophy of Gaius
39:41was built directly
39:41over the tomb.
39:43There was a lattice door
39:43that supposedly led
39:44to Peter's remains.
39:45The basilica was rebuilt
39:49and expanded
39:50about 1,200 years later
39:52in the 1500s
39:53and 1600s,
39:54including the addition
39:55of the iconic dome
39:57designed by Michelangelo.
39:59Vatican Hill
40:00was completely transformed.
40:02The high altar
40:03was built above
40:04the Trophy of Gaius
40:05and St. Peter's tomb,
40:07and it has stood there
40:08ever since
40:09as a symbol
40:10of Christian devotion.
40:13So according to tradition,
40:14there was no
40:15reason to question
40:16that the faithful
40:17were venerating
40:18Peter's actual remains
40:19until that papal address
40:21in 1950.
40:27If St. Peter's remains
40:28are gone
40:29from their original
40:30resting place,
40:31some historians believe
40:32they may have been lost
40:34about five centuries ago
40:35during a senseless
40:36and traumatic event.
40:39St. Peter's bones
40:40could have been lost
40:42or destroyed
40:43in May of 1527
40:44during the sack of Rome.
40:46The forces
40:47of Charles V,
40:49the Holy Roman Emperor
40:50and King of Spain,
40:53hadn't been paid
40:54in some time,
40:55so they were angry.
40:57About 20,000 of them
41:00stormed into Rome,
41:01looting and pillaging
41:02and indiscriminately
41:04murdering military defenders
41:06and civilians alike.
41:09Merchants were ransomed,
41:10tortured or murdered
41:12for their money.
41:13This went on for a month.
41:15But the thing is,
41:16the violence also took on
41:17religious overtones.
41:19Many of the attacking soldiers
41:21felt a particular hatred
41:23of Catholic Rome
41:24and expressed their disdain
41:25with great cruelty.
41:28Accounts also say
41:29that churches were ransacked
41:31and that relics of Peter
41:31and other saints
41:32were trampled and destroyed.
41:36But it's the very possibility
41:38that St. Peter's bones
41:39were removed long ago
41:41that gives some modern believers
41:42and researchers
41:43hope for the bones' safety.
41:47In the fourth century,
41:49at a time when Christians
41:50faced intense persecution,
41:53some followers
41:53may have moved Peter's bones
41:55to protect them from theft
41:57or intentional destruction.
42:00And one theory
42:01as to where they'd move them to
42:02is the Roman catacombs.
42:08Catacumba comes from
42:09two ancient Greek words
42:11meaning at the quarry.
42:13Rome's first catacombs
42:14were just tunnels
42:15dug to quarry volcanic stone.
42:18Once those tunnels
42:18were no longer being quarried,
42:20the Christians started using them
42:22as underground cemeteries
42:23and expanded and extended them.
42:25Later, tunnels were dug
42:28expressly to be used
42:29as underground cemeteries.
42:33It was common for Christians
42:34to move relics
42:35to secure locations
42:36for their protection.
42:37And the idea that this
42:38may have been done
42:38with St. Peter's bones
42:39is one of the more
42:40accepted theories today.
42:42The chronograph,
42:43the Roman calendar
42:44of 354 CE,
42:46actually supports this,
42:47saying that from 258 CE,
42:49Peter's remains were
42:50ad catacumbus
42:52at the catacombs
42:53and not at Vatican Hill.
42:55Rome's catacombs
42:59are some of the oldest
43:00and longest in the world.
43:03There are hundreds of miles
43:04of burial tunnels
43:05beneath the city
43:06and the surrounding area.
43:08Some have been open
43:09to the public,
43:10but many of them still
43:11haven't been properly explored,
43:12and there could be
43:13even more waiting
43:15to be discovered.
43:16So if Peter's remains
43:17are down there somewhere,
43:19they would be
43:20very hard to find.
43:21But some experts believe
43:25St. Peter's bones
43:26may be hiding
43:27in plain sight.
43:30It's possible
43:31that St. Peter's remains
43:32have already been found
43:34and that they've been
43:36in the Vatican all along.
43:39In 1939,
43:40it was decided
43:41that the Vatican grottoes,
43:42an ancient complex
43:43of chambers and chapels
43:45that lie beneath
43:46the floor of the basilica,
43:48should be opened
43:49to the public.
43:50Creating access
43:51required some excavation work,
43:53and in the course of that,
43:54workers came across
43:55Roman tombs,
43:56the ancient Vatican necropolis.
43:59Materials were removed
44:00and put into a Vatican warehouse
44:02and forgotten about.
44:05As these excavations continued,
44:07a Catholic mystic
44:08claimed to have had
44:09several visions
44:09in which Jesus told her
44:10Peter's remains
44:11weren't on Vatican Hill,
44:12but had been interred
44:13miles from there
44:14in the catacombs
44:15of Marcellinus and Peter.
44:16Years after
44:19the excavations began,
44:21a worker who was involved
44:23told one of the archaeologists
44:24that some of the materials
44:25discovered early on
44:27had been bones
44:28and that they had been removed
44:30and were now
44:30in a Vatican warehouse.
44:35The bones were pulled
44:36from the Vatican storehouse
44:38and sent for forensic testing.
44:41The analysis said
44:43the bones belonged
44:44to one man,
44:45heavyset,
44:46who had been about
44:4760 or 70 years old
44:49at the time of his death,
44:50which matched
44:51Peter's approximate age
44:53when he was martyred.
44:55And there were traces
44:56of wool dyed purple
44:58and interwoven
44:59with gold thread,
45:01suggesting the bones
45:02had been wrapped
45:03with great care
45:04before being interred.
45:06This was enough
45:10for the Catholic Church.
45:11In 1968,
45:13Pope Paul VI
45:14announced officially
45:15that Peter's bones
45:16had been found.
45:17So they ended
45:18their temporary stay
45:19in the Vatican warehouse
45:20and at the forensic labs
45:22and were venerated privately
45:24until 2013
45:25when Pope Francis
45:27displayed them publicly
45:28in St. Peter's Square.
45:29So it's a neat,
45:33happy ending.
45:34As long as you believe
45:34that the results
45:35of the forensic testing
45:36on the bones
45:36were sufficient
45:37to prove the bones
45:38really were St. Peter's,
45:39many experts
45:40still have their doubts.
45:42Peter's bones
45:43may have been lost
45:45to history
45:45or they may be safe
45:47and secure
45:48in the Vatican.
45:49But if neither
45:50of those is true,
45:51there are still
45:52many miles
45:53of unexplored,
45:54unexcavated catacombs
45:55that may still
45:57hold Peter's remains.
46:00Until Peter's bones
46:02are verified
46:03or located,
46:04believers may have
46:05their faith tested
46:06while scientists
46:07and skeptics
46:08may keep searching
46:09for the truth.
46:10And it's possible
46:11both will one day
46:13find what they're
46:14looking for.
46:29in the Bible.
46:31Thank you very much.
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