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00:00are lost under peculiar circumstances.
00:03Tesla was found dead in his New York hotel room in 1943.
00:07His personal books, notes, and diagrams
00:09were sealed in a total of 80 trunks,
00:11which were shipped back to Tesla's native Yugoslavia.
00:14But only 60 trunks arrived.
00:16So where did those missing 20 trunks go?
00:19A plane carrying one of America's greatest musicians
00:21mysteriously disappears over the English Channel.
00:25Glenn Miller was a cultural phenomenon.
00:27His hits were anthems of a generation.
00:30The timing of Miller's flight couldn't have been worse.
00:34What happened to the flight carrying Glenn Miller
00:36toward the front lines?
00:39An ancient civilization responsible
00:41for creating one of the seven wonders of the world vanishes.
00:45For centuries, the Nabataeans had thrived.
00:48However, by the 7th century, Petra had faded into obscurity.
00:52How did such a prosperous civilization vanish so dramatically?
00:57The chain of history has many missing links.
01:01Prominent people, priceless treasures,
01:04extraordinary artifacts,
01:07their locations still unknown,
01:10lost to the fog of time.
01:14What happens when stories of the past become
01:18vanished history?
01:35September, 1940.
01:37As World War II raged,
01:39the legendary physicist Nikola Tesla
01:41told a news reporter that he developed a teleforce,
01:45a powerful ion beam capable of disabling
01:48any military aircraft up to 250 miles away.
01:52Tesla intended to take his invention to the U.S. government
01:55and stop the war.
01:57Tesla hated war
01:59and wanted to make war machines impractical.
02:02But others saw his teleforce for its potential
02:05as an awe-inspiring weapon,
02:08a death beam.
02:10The Nazis wanted it,
02:11the Soviets wanted it.
02:13And while the technology sounds so incredible,
02:15it's hard to believe,
02:16Tesla had such an impressive track record
02:19that if he said he could do something,
02:21people tended to believe him.
02:24Tesla was found dead in his New York hotel room
02:26one day in 1943,
02:28and various people and agencies swooped in.
02:30His personal books, notes, and diagrams
02:32were sealed in a total of 80 trunks,
02:34which were carefully labeled, accounted for,
02:37and ultimately shipped back to Tesla's native Yugoslavia.
02:40But overseas, only 60 trunks arrived.
02:44The contents of those documents,
02:46if they could be found,
02:47might still impact our world,
02:49for better or worse.
02:51So where did those missing 20 trunks go?
02:54And who took them?
02:57Tesla was born in 1856
02:59in the Austrian Empire,
03:01now Croatia.
03:02As a university student,
03:04he was shown a Gram Dynamo,
03:06an impressive new device
03:07that could work as both
03:08a direct current motor and generator,
03:11and felt it would be simpler and more efficient
03:13if it could be made to work
03:15with alternating current.
03:16After graduation,
03:18when Tesla was only 24,
03:20he was walking along,
03:21reciting lines from Gerda's Faust to himself,
03:25when the solution came to him.
03:26And just like that,
03:28he'd invented the induction motor
03:30that's now used to generate power
03:32all over the world.
03:34By 1887,
03:37Tesla, still in his early 30s,
03:40had filed seven patents
03:41related to power transmission
03:43and motors that ran on AC power.
03:46So Westinghouse bought his patents
03:48during what became known
03:50as the War of the Currents
03:52against Thomas Edison,
03:53who championed the use of DC power,
03:56direct current.
03:57Less than a decade later,
03:59more than 80% of all appliances
04:02were running on alternating current,
04:05AC.
04:07Tesla spent his patent money and more
04:09on building specialized laboratories,
04:12a 20-story tower in Colorado
04:14that generated 135-foot-long lightning bolts,
04:17and an even taller one on Long Island
04:19that he planned to use
04:20for wireless transatlantic communications
04:21to one day transmit wireless power
04:24all over the world.
04:25Tesla seemed to envision
04:26every one of his inventions
04:27benefiting humanity in some way.
04:29Wanting to ensure his peace beam got built,
04:33Tesla sent a paper with diagrams
04:35to many of the Allies.
04:37The paper declared that his teleforce
04:40would shoot out a super-narrow
04:42concentrated stream of particles
04:43at 270,000 miles per hour.
04:47This is what is referred to today
04:49as a charged particle beam weapon.
04:52Tesla said his beam could take down
04:54a fleet of 10,000 warplanes
04:56up to 250 miles away,
04:59thus making war impossible.
05:01That got attentional, right,
05:03abroad and at home.
05:05The United States government
05:06became extremely concerned
05:08about Tesla's research
05:09falling into enemy hands.
05:12Tesla lived in hotels
05:14throughout much of his life
05:15as an American citizen.
05:17In 1943, he'd been residing
05:19on the 33rd floor of a hotel
05:21near Penn Station.
05:23One day, a member of the staff
05:24discovered him lying face down
05:26in his room, dead,
05:28and wearing only a pair of socks.
05:31The FBI quickly arrived on the scene,
05:34even though there was no sign
05:36Tesla's death was suspicious.
05:38He was 86 and not in the best health.
05:41They were there for Tesla's papers,
05:43which they then managed to keep
05:45to themselves for almost a decade.
05:48In 1952, the court ordered
05:50that Tesla's personal effects,
05:51including his papers and diagrams,
05:53be released and allowed to be sent
05:55to Belgrade under the care
05:56of the Nikola Tesla Museum.
05:58That means it was sometime
05:59between leaving Tesla's hotel room
06:01in 1943 and reaching the museum
06:03in 1952 that those 20 suitcases
06:05disappeared.
06:06If having a strong motivation,
06:08access, and ample opportunity
06:10to remove the files are considered,
06:13one needn't go far
06:14to find a possible suspect.
06:17The United States government,
06:18especially in the midst of World War II,
06:20had plenty of urgent reasons
06:22to remove the most significant files
06:24from Tesla's trove of plans
06:26and documents.
06:27Whether to use his teleforce
06:29or wireless power transmission
06:30for their military applications,
06:32or simply to make sure
06:33the Nazis couldn't get their hands on them,
06:36they may simply have felt
06:37they had no choice.
06:40Tesla's nephew, Sava Kosanovic,
06:42showed up at the hotel
06:43the morning after he found out
06:44about Tesla's death.
06:46But when he got there,
06:47Tesla's body had already been removed.
06:50Not only that,
06:51he claimed some of his uncle's
06:52technical papers were missing,
06:54as was a notebook Tesla kept.
06:57Two days after Tesla's death,
07:00a government department
07:01called the Office of Alien Property Custodian
07:04seized the rest of his possessions
07:06from the hotel room,
07:08including those 80 trunks.
07:10That department was created
07:12to control enemy property
07:13confiscated in the U.S.
07:15because Tesla was an American citizen.
07:18So they probably had no legal right to do it,
07:21and just did it anyway.
07:23Three weeks later,
07:24the government called an expert
07:25in high-voltage physics from MIT
07:27to examine and assess Tesla's papers.
07:29A Dr. John Trump.
07:31That's right, that Trump.
07:33President Donald Trump's uncle,
07:35as it happens.
07:37Dr. Trump's report to the government
07:38said Tesla's work over the last decade
07:40and a half of his life
07:41was mostly speculative,
07:42not new, not sound.
07:45But not everybody agreed
07:47with John Trump's assessment.
07:49There were people with pull
07:50and experience that felt otherwise.
07:54After World War II was over
07:56and while the OAP
07:57was still holding on to Tesla's papers,
08:00the Air Technical Service Command
08:02requested photostack copies
08:04of his papers on beam weaponry
08:06and never returned them.
08:08And by 1958, DARPA,
08:11the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
08:14started a top-secret project,
08:16Seesaw,
08:17with the aim of developing
08:18a charged particle beam weapon.
08:20The FBI faced questions
08:23and accusations of cover-ups
08:25for decades after Tesla's death,
08:27to the extent that finally in 2016,
08:30they released over 250 pages
08:32of heavily redacted documents
08:34about Tesla's papers,
08:37many of which had been signed personally
08:39by Edgar Hoover,
08:40the director of the FBI.
08:43The released documents
08:44didn't disprove anyone's suspicions.
08:46In fact,
08:48they showed just how intensely interested
08:50in Tesla's files the FBI had been.
08:55Some believe that the only files
08:57the United States government
08:58actually saw were just leftovers,
09:01either duplicates
09:02or documents of lesser importance
09:04that the people who took
09:05the 20 suitcases of files
09:07didn't bother taking.
09:09Nazi Germany would have had real interest
09:12in Tesla's death rate
09:13and his wireless transmission of energy,
09:16so they could add those inventions
09:18to their growing collection
09:19of wunderpaffen,
09:21wonder weapons.
09:24But it wasn't just Nazi Germany.
09:26The Soviets,
09:27America's ally at the time,
09:28had paid Tesla $25,000
09:30for the rights to some of his patents
09:32on wireless power transmission in 1920.
09:35They also paid him $250,000 in 1939
09:38after running a successful test
09:40on one phase of his peace beam.
09:42So it's entirely possible
09:44that Tesla's files
09:44ended up in foreign hands.
09:46The Soviets or the Nazis?
09:50Whoever it was
09:51that got the 20 missing suitcases
09:53would have needed an operative
09:54with access to do so.
09:57Tesla's nephew,
09:59the one that showed up
10:00at the hotel promptly
10:01after his body was found,
10:02was also a Yugoslavian politician
10:05and Yugoslavia's ambassador
10:07to the United States,
10:09who happened to be stationed
10:10in New York City
10:11during Tesla's final years.
10:13Apparently when Kasanovic arrived
10:16at the hotel that day,
10:18he hired a locksmith
10:19to get into Tesla's room
10:20and then open his uncle's safe.
10:22There was a memorial book
10:23from Tesla's 75th birthday inside.
10:26Kasanovic took that,
10:28then had the combination changed
10:29and left.
10:30The U.S. authorities flat-out thought
10:33Kasanovic might be a spy
10:34who could sell Tesla's secrets
10:36to the Nazis or the Soviets,
10:38and they considered arresting him
10:40but didn't.
10:42Sava Kasanovic was the administrator
10:44of Tesla's estate
10:46from the time the inventor died
10:48until his own death in 1956.
10:51He's the one who successfully
10:52got the courts
10:53to release the trunks.
10:55He had them sent
10:55to Belgrade in 1952.
10:58So all through the 1950s,
11:00Soviet scientists
11:01were able to access the archive
11:03through the Tesla Museum
11:05in communist Yugoslavia,
11:07while Western scientists
11:09would have had
11:09a much harder time.
11:12After decades of fruitlessly searching
11:14for Tesla's missing files,
11:16many scientists have decided
11:18his idea for a peace beam
11:20just isn't feasible.
11:22In fact,
11:23charged particle beam weapons
11:25that both the United States
11:26and the Soviet Union
11:27tried to develop
11:28during the Cold War
11:29were a striking similarity
11:30to Tesla's descriptions
11:31of his peace beam,
11:33his teleforce.
11:35They just couldn't get theirs to work.
11:37The United States tried again
11:38in the 1980s.
11:40Ronald Reagan called this new version
11:42of the program Star Wars
11:43and gave it an annual budget
11:45bigger than NASA
11:46but they still couldn't
11:48get it to work.
11:49One decorated physicist
11:50who refused to help
11:51was John Trump.
11:53Like Tesla,
11:54he was only interested
11:55in using science
11:56for the betterment
11:57of humanity.
11:59The nephew of Dr. John Trump
12:01established the Space Force
12:03during his first term
12:04as president
12:05with a mission
12:06to secure America's interests
12:08in, from, and to space
12:11and to limit opposition
12:12from adversaries.
12:13You've got to wonder
12:14what the scientists
12:15working for Space Force
12:17would do with Tesla's research
12:18if they were ever to find it.
12:22Nikola Tesla seems
12:23to have successfully
12:24taken his knowledge
12:25about directed energy
12:26and particle beam devices
12:28with him when he died.
12:30One can only hope
12:31that if his secrets
12:32are ever discovered,
12:34they might be used
12:35to build weapons of peace
12:36as he'd intended.
12:49Carved into crimson
12:50sandstone cliffs
12:52in modern-day Jordan,
12:54Petra was once
12:55the dazzling heart
12:56of the Nabataean kingdom.
12:57Renowned as master traders
12:59and desert tacticians,
13:01the Nabataeans
13:02dominated the crossroads
13:03of Africa, Asia, and Europe.
13:07The Nabataeans emerged
13:08around 400 BCE
13:09as nomadic tribes
13:10in the Negev
13:11and Arabian deserts,
13:12and they settled in Petra
13:13by 200 BCE.
13:15Their mastery
13:16of the incense roots,
13:17transporting luxury goods
13:18like frankincense,
13:19myrrh, and spices,
13:21brought them immense wealth.
13:23Petra was a vibrant metropolis
13:25with fountains,
13:26lush gardens,
13:27and grand structures
13:28like the great temple complex,
13:30influences from Persia,
13:31Greece, Rome, and Egypt
13:33converged in its architecture,
13:35while alliances
13:36forged by King Artas
13:38elevated Petra
13:39to a cosmopolitan hub
13:41of trade and culture.
13:43Their towering rock-cut tombs
13:46and lavish villas
13:47spoke of a civilization
13:49unmatched in creativity
13:51and resilience.
13:53But by the 7th century,
13:55the Nabataeans
13:56had abandoned Petra
13:57and seemingly disappeared.
13:59So the question remains,
14:01how did a civilization
14:03that cherished
14:04the boundless freedom
14:05of the desert
14:06above all else
14:08meet its ultimate downfall?
14:11Known to the Nabataeans
14:13as Racknu,
14:14Petra was far more
14:15than a red rock outpost.
14:18Early European explorers
14:19thought Petra
14:20was little more
14:21than an acropolis
14:22filled with tombs.
14:24But that all changed
14:25in 1812,
14:26when a Swiss adventurer
14:27adventurer was led to Petra
14:29by his guides
14:30and became the first European
14:32to document the site
14:33in centuries,
14:35awed by the vast series
14:37of towering facades,
14:39hidden passages,
14:41and sprawling temples.
14:43The Nabataeans
14:44also demonstrated
14:46advanced agricultural innovation.
14:48The engineers created
14:49a revolutionary
14:50water management system
14:52of aqueducts,
14:53dams,
14:53and reservoirs
14:54that sustained life
14:55and agriculture
14:56in the harsh desert.
14:58These innovations
14:59enabled the cultivation
15:00of fruit trees,
15:01wheat,
15:02and vineyards.
15:03And by the 1st century CE,
15:05the city supported
15:06over 20,000 residents.
15:08But even as the Nabataeans
15:11reached their zenith,
15:12external pressures
15:12began to mount,
15:13threatening the stability
15:14of their desert empire.
15:16Shifting trade routes,
15:17natural upheavals,
15:18and changing economies
15:19chipped away
15:20at their dominance.
15:22For centuries,
15:23the Nabataeans
15:23had thrived
15:24by adapting
15:25to shifting geopolitics
15:27and environmental challenges.
15:29However,
15:29by the 7th century,
15:31Petra and the Nabataeans
15:32who had built it
15:33had faded into obscurity.
15:36The stunning city
15:37had been abandoned
15:38by all except
15:39local Bedouins
15:40from the area.
15:41How did such
15:42a prosperous civilization
15:43vanish so dramatically?
15:46Some trace Petra's decline
15:48to a moment
15:49of transformation,
15:50a turning point
15:51that redefined
15:52the Nabataeans' identity
15:53and their place
15:55in history.
15:56In 106 CE,
15:58Emperor Trajan
15:58annexed
15:59the Nabataean kingdom
16:00following the death
16:02of King Rabosotar II,
16:04transforming it
16:05into the Roman province
16:07of Arabia Patria.
16:09Roman accounts
16:10portray this transition
16:12as a seamless
16:13and peaceful incorporation
16:15with the Nabataeans
16:16depicted as willing participants
16:19in the empire's expansion.
16:22This theory suggests
16:23that the Nabataeans'
16:25independent identity
16:27simply faded into the folds
16:29of imperial history.
16:31According to the Roman stories,
16:34Petra initially flourished
16:36as a provincial hub
16:37despite the upheaval.
16:39Roman engineers
16:40built the Via Nova Traiana,
16:42a major road
16:43linking Aqaba
16:44on the Red Sea
16:45in Jordan
16:46to Bastra
16:47in southern Syria.
16:49They expanded
16:50farming terraces,
16:51put up watchtowers,
16:53renovated parks
16:53and pools,
16:55all signs that Rome
16:56was determined
16:57to integrate Petra
16:58into its empire.
17:01Beneath the surface
17:02of this seemingly
17:03harmonious transition,
17:05recent discoveries
17:06point to a more
17:07turbulent reality.
17:10Ancient carvings
17:10in the deserts
17:11of northern Arabia
17:12tell a story
17:13at odds
17:14with official Roman accounts.
17:16One text describes
17:17a, quote,
17:18war of the Nabataeans
17:19and a king
17:20named Malacos
17:21smiting 3,000
17:23Roman soldiers.
17:25These inscriptions
17:26may confirm
17:27that the Nabataeans
17:28resisted Rome
17:29more forcefully
17:30than the empire admitted.
17:33Some suggest
17:34that Rabel Soter II
17:36may have left behind
17:37two heirs
17:38who refused
17:39to yield the kingdom
17:40without a fight.
17:43It's possible
17:44Rome named
17:44the new province
17:46Arabia Patria
17:47to erase
17:48the Nabataean
17:49identity
17:49from the land
17:51and bury
17:52any record
17:52of protracted conflict.
17:56Ultimately,
17:57Petra's decline
17:58may have involved
17:59far more
18:00than conquest.
18:02Rome's annexation
18:03was likely
18:04just one chapter
18:05in a deeper story
18:07of resilience
18:07and resistance,
18:09raising questions
18:10about whether
18:11it was truly
18:11the beginning
18:12of the end
18:13or merely part
18:15of a larger story.
18:17Petra and its people
18:19would face
18:20another far greater
18:21challenge,
18:22one that struck
18:23without warning
18:24and placed its future
18:26on precarious ground.
18:28Another factor
18:29in the Nabataeans'
18:30disappearance
18:31that often gets mentioned
18:32is a catastrophic
18:33earthquake
18:34that struck the region
18:35on May 19,
18:37363 CE
18:38during the reign
18:40of the Emperor
18:40Julian.
18:41Contemporary observers
18:42said it was one
18:43of the most devastating
18:44seismic events
18:45of the late Roman period.
18:48Experts say
18:48it might have been
18:49somewhere between
18:496.5 to 7
18:51on the Richter scale.
18:55Excavations in Petra
18:55revealed collapsed columns
18:57at the Temple
18:57of the Winged Lions,
18:58the Great Temple,
18:59and elsewhere,
19:00consistent with
19:01intense shaking.
19:02Further damage
19:03came from the failure
19:04of anti-flash flood systems,
19:06causing thick layers
19:07of sediment and rubble
19:07to bury certain areas
19:09of the city.
19:10With their homes destroyed
19:12and water channels compromised,
19:14many residents
19:15could have fled
19:16to nearby agricultural sites
19:17such as Beda
19:18and Wadi Musa,
19:20where springs
19:20and less damaged landscapes
19:22offered greater stability.
19:24And though some
19:25rebuilding efforts
19:26were attempted in Petra,
19:27they were small-scale
19:29and often used
19:29salvaged materials,
19:31resulting in crude,
19:32makeshift designs.
19:34But here's the catch.
19:36Despite the devastation
19:38caused by the earthquake,
19:40Petra endured
19:41for almost 300 more years,
19:45which forces us
19:45to explore alternative theories.
19:50Though the Nabataeans'
19:52heritage endured
19:52in subtle ways,
19:54the sands of time
19:55soon brought
19:55another transformation,
19:57one that would reshape
19:58Petra's identity
19:59and its place in history,
20:01leaving lingering questions
20:03about its ultimate fate.
20:05Archaeologists,
20:06looking to explain
20:07the Nabataeans' disappearance,
20:09have also been exploring
20:10the impact of Islamic conquests
20:12in the 600s.
20:14There's some evidence
20:15hinting that as Muslim armies
20:16expanded across
20:18the Arabian Peninsula,
20:20Petra,
20:21which had already declined
20:22from its days
20:23as a major trading hub,
20:24might have been integrated
20:25into the Islamic world.
20:29Petra's strategic location
20:30on key routes
20:31through South Jordan
20:32initially made it a focal point
20:33for these conquests.
20:34But eventually,
20:35the rise of cities
20:36like Isla and Tabuk
20:37redirected commerce
20:38and military focus
20:39away from Petra.
20:41By 630 CE,
20:42treaties with local leaders
20:43signaled the growing influence
20:45of Islamic governance
20:45in the region.
20:48Excavations at Beda,
20:50a settlement near Petra,
20:51reveal a more complex narrative,
20:54stating from the 11th
20:55to 14th centuries
20:57and constructed atop
20:58Nabataean foundations,
21:00point to gradual integration
21:02rather than abrupt erasure.
21:05Based on the evidence,
21:07it's most likely
21:08the Islamic conquest
21:09did not erase the Nabataeans.
21:12Instead, Petra became
21:14a living tapestry
21:16of Nabataean, Byzantine,
21:18and Islamic influences,
21:20a testament to the resilience
21:22and adaptability of its people.
21:25From humble origins
21:27to its golden age,
21:29Petra and the Nabataeans
21:31who shaped it
21:32remains a testament
21:33to human ingenuity
21:34in one of the world's
21:36harshest landscapes.
21:38Recent discoveries
21:40have only added
21:41to the wonders of Petra.
21:43A tomb recently uncovered
21:44beneath the famous treasury
21:46held not just 12 skeletons,
21:48but also hundreds of artifacts
21:51made of bronze
21:52and iron and ceramics.
21:54They're just another reminder
21:56that the people
21:56who lived at Petra
21:58had a society filled
22:00with refined customs
22:01and ceremonies.
22:04The Nabataeans' deep understanding
22:05of arid landscapes
22:06and their preference
22:07for mobility
22:08allowed their culture
22:08to outlast Petra's decline.
22:11Their ingenious water systems,
22:12thriving trade networks,
22:13and artistic achievements
22:15influenced civilizations
22:16long after the city
22:17was at its peak.
22:18The astounding city of Petra,
22:21carved into crimson cliffs,
22:23silently recounts
22:24a thousand-year saga
22:26of resilience,
22:27triumph,
22:28and reinvention.
22:29A legacy that continues
22:31to inspire awe
22:32in the shifting sands
22:34of the desert.
22:48December 15th, 1944,
22:51with the Allied advance
22:53into Europe quickening
22:54and morale a precious resource,
22:57a single-engine plane
22:58slipped into a dense,
23:00cold mist above England.
23:01On board was Major Glenn Miller,
23:04America's most celebrated bandleader,
23:06turned wartime morale officer,
23:09bound for a new stage
23:10in liberated Paris.
23:11By the mid-1940s,
23:14Glenn Miller was a cultural phenomenon.
23:17His hits like In the Mood
23:19and Moonlight Serenade
23:21were anthems of a generation.
23:24But at the height of his fame,
23:26Miller made a remarkable choice.
23:29He walked away from stardom
23:31and enlisted to serve his country.
23:34In war-torn Europe,
23:37Miller's music
23:37was more than entertainment.
23:39It was a lifeline.
23:40His broadcasts,
23:41carried by the BBC
23:42and the Allied Expeditionary Forces program,
23:45resonated in damp barracks,
23:47crowded field hospitals,
23:48and muddy foxholes.
23:50On December 15th, 1944,
23:53Miller arrived at RAF Twinwood Farm
23:55near Bedford
23:55to board a flight to Paris,
23:57where his band planned to meet him.
23:58The city was still reeling
24:00from the grip of Nazi occupation,
24:01and Miller had prepared
24:02a Christmas concert
24:03to uplift Allied troops.
24:06The timing of Miller's flight
24:09couldn't have been worse.
24:10The very next morning,
24:12the Germans launched the attack
24:14that began the Battle of the Bulge.
24:16Allied command was plunged into chaos,
24:19so no one realized
24:20the Norsemen had disappeared.
24:22It was days before anyone realized
24:25the plane and its passengers were gone.
24:27And decades later,
24:29the question is still unanswered.
24:31What happened to the flight
24:33carrying Glenn Miller
24:35toward the front lines?
24:38December 1944 marked
24:40a pivotal moment in the war.
24:42The Allies,
24:43fresh from the liberation of Paris,
24:45were pressing toward the Rhine,
24:47while German forces
24:48prepared a devastating counterattack
24:50to stall their advance.
24:52For soldiers on frozen battlefields,
24:55hope was as vital as ammunition.
24:57In 1942,
25:00Miller was turned away
25:01by the Navy
25:02due to his age,
25:03so he presented the Army
25:05with a bold plan
25:07to modernize military bands
25:10and harness music
25:12as a morale booster.
25:14This vision led to the creation
25:17of the Major Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band,
25:20which revolutionized entertainment
25:22for troops around the world.
25:26By 1943,
25:28Supreme Allied Commander
25:29Dwight Eisenhower
25:30recognized the need
25:31for familiar voices
25:33and music
25:33to lift the spirits
25:34of American troops
25:35stationed in England.
25:37The newly launched
25:38American Forces Network
25:39filled with news,
25:40sports,
25:41and music from home
25:42quickly boosted morale,
25:43and the results showed
25:44Eisenhower wanted more.
25:47He specifically requested
25:48that Glenn Miller
25:49be moved to the UK
25:50to keep spirits high
25:51among Allied troops.
25:54After Paris was liberated
25:56in August,
25:57Miller was eager
25:57to bring his music
25:58to GIs on leave in the city.
26:00But the AFN and BBC
26:01were reluctant to let him go
26:02since they relied heavily
26:04on his band's recordings
26:04to fill their programming.
26:06To secure their approval,
26:08Miller took on
26:08a grueling schedule,
26:09recording an astonishing
26:1084 hours of programming
26:12over the course of three weeks.
26:14His efforts paid off
26:15and the plan was announced.
26:16Glenn Miller
26:17was heading to Paris.
26:19At 1.55 p.m.
26:21on December 15,
26:22Miller boarded
26:23a UC-64A Norseman
26:25alongside Lieutenant Colonel
26:27Norman Basel
26:28and pilot John Morgan,
26:30and the men began
26:31their ill-fated journey
26:32across the English channel
26:33to Villa-Coblet, France.
26:37When Miller's band
26:38arrived in Paris
26:39three days later,
26:40December 18,
26:41he was nowhere to be found.
26:43So they contacted
26:45the military authorities
26:46and discovered
26:47no one there even knew
26:48that he'd ever taken off
26:50in the first place.
26:51The Norseman had been reported
26:53as missing over
26:54the English channel,
26:55but Miller was so impatient
26:57to get to France
26:58that he'd got it on the plane
26:59without official permission.
27:01So it was only the pilot
27:02who was listed
27:03as having been on board.
27:04All we know is Miller's plane
27:08flew within a few miles
27:10of Woodley Airfield
27:11at 2.12,
27:13before it turned south
27:15and vanished.
27:17This would mark the start
27:19of one of the greatest
27:21unsolved mysteries
27:22of the war.
27:25Despite exhaustive searches,
27:28no trace of Glenn Miller
27:29or the Norseman
27:30has ever been found.
27:31The English channel,
27:33crisscrossed by bombers,
27:34transports,
27:35and reconnaissance planes,
27:37was an unforgiving corridor.
27:39And such volatile airspace,
27:41even the slightest miscalculation,
27:43could transform a routine flight
27:44into disaster.
27:46Glenn Miller's Norseman
27:47may have drifted
27:48into one of the most perilous areas
27:50above the channel,
27:52a jettison zone.
27:53Returning Allied Lancasters,
27:55burdened with high-explosive payloads,
27:57would circle these 10-mile areas
28:00to safely offload
28:01their 500-pound bombs
28:03before landing in England.
28:05The practice was vital
28:06for safety on the ground,
28:07but for any aircraft flying below,
28:09the consequences were catastrophic.
28:11A single misstep into the zone
28:12could turn an ordinary flight
28:13into a fatal encounter,
28:15as tons of explosives
28:16rained down without warning.
28:18On the day Glenn Miller's
28:20plane vanished,
28:21a group of Lancaster bombers,
28:24nearly 140 of them,
28:25returned from an aborted air raid
28:28over Germany.
28:29The fighters,
28:30meant to escort them,
28:31had been grounded,
28:32so the mission was called off.
28:34And the bombers were full
28:35of more than 100,000 incendiary bombs,
28:39payloads too dangerous to land with.
28:42So the squadron set course
28:44for the South Jettison area,
28:46part of the English Channel
28:47that was designated
28:48as a dumping zone.
28:51Decades later,
28:52RAF navigator Fred Shaw
28:54recalled that as his Lancaster
28:57neared the South Jettison area,
28:59he spotted a small,
29:01high-wing aircraft below.
29:04Moments later,
29:05his squadron began releasing
29:07their payload of bombs
29:09tumbling toward the sea.
29:11If Shaw's story is accurate,
29:14this tragic scenario
29:16might hold the answer
29:18to Glenn Miller's disappearance.
29:22Initial doubts
29:23about Shaw's account
29:24arose from discrepancies
29:26in the reported timelines.
29:28Some reports claimed
29:29the bombs were jettisoned
29:30at 1.40 p.m.,
29:32but pilot John Morgan's flight log
29:34placed the Norseman
29:35an hour ahead of the bombers.
29:39Lancaster bombers
29:40also generally jettisoned
29:42their payloads
29:43from altitudes
29:43of 5,000 to 6,000 feet.
29:45And from those heights,
29:47it's thought that a Norseman
29:48flying much closer to the water
29:50would have just looked
29:51like a tiny speck,
29:53almost invisible to the bombers,
29:55even in clear skies.
29:58Crucially,
29:59no Lancaster crews reported
30:01seeing an aircraft in distress
30:02or filing any reports
30:04of an incident,
30:05as was their strict obligation.
30:08So in the end,
30:09the friendly fire idea
30:11feels more like speculation
30:13born out of the confusion of war
30:15pushing us
30:16to look at other
30:18more likely explanations.
30:20The skies of 1944
30:22held more than just
30:24danger from above.
30:25Hidden within the fragile machines
30:27carrying the men
30:28lay vulnerabilities
30:29waiting to betray them.
30:32Another explanation
30:33focuses on the aircraft itself.
30:35The UC-64A Norseman
30:37was built for durability
30:38and designed to meet
30:40the demands of wartime aviation.
30:42But its simplicity
30:43also left it vulnerable.
30:45Its single-engine,
30:46lightweight steel frame
30:47and minimal safety systems
30:49were practical for logistics,
30:51but offered no protection
30:52against the engineering challenges
30:54of winter flying.
30:55One recurring issue,
30:56carburetor icing,
30:58could turn even the sturdiest planes
31:00into death traps.
31:02Carburetor icing
31:03was a mechanical flaw
31:05rather than a purely
31:06environmental hazard.
31:07When moisture in the air
31:08froze inside the engine's
31:09fuel intake,
31:10it restricted airflow
31:11and starved the engine of power.
31:13Pilots frequently reported
31:14this issue with the Norseman,
31:15particularly in cold,
31:16damp conditions.
31:19During the war,
31:20ground crews were overworked
31:22and had limited resources,
31:23so they had to prioritize
31:25combat aircraft
31:26over transport planes
31:27like the Norseman.
31:29So even relatively easy
31:30to fix issues,
31:31like an improperly calibrated
31:33carburetor
31:34or a crack in a fuel line
31:35were easily overlooked.
31:39If the Norseman's engine
31:40failed mid-flight,
31:42Captain Morgan's response
31:43would have been critical,
31:44but the perilous conditions
31:46over the English Channel
31:47left him little time
31:49or space to act.
31:51Flying low beneath the cloud cover
31:53to maintain visibility,
31:55Morgan would have had
31:57no margin for error.
31:58At that altitude,
32:00even a brief engine stall
32:02could be fatal.
32:04The Norseman's lightweight,
32:06fabric-covered frame
32:07would have offered
32:09no protection in a crash.
32:11Once it hit the water,
32:13it likely disintegrated,
32:15leaving no trace
32:16for investigators to find.
32:19To our knowledge,
32:20there were no significant issues
32:22with Miller's aircraft,
32:23and no distress signals
32:25were sent during the flight.
32:26Even with a mechanical failure,
32:28an experienced pilot
32:29like Morgan
32:30might have managed
32:31a controlled ditching
32:33if given time to react.
32:35If the engine failed,
32:37why didn't he send
32:38a mayday signal?
32:39Or was the situation
32:40too sudden
32:41and catastrophic
32:42to allow it?
32:43For some,
32:44the answer lies
32:45not in faulty machinery,
32:47but in the unrelenting
32:48forces of nature
32:49that turned the skies
32:50over the English Channel
32:51into a battleground
32:52no pilot could hope
32:54to conquer.
32:54The most straightforward
32:56explanation is also
32:57the most haunting.
32:58Glenn Miller's Norseman
32:59fell victim
33:00to the brutal winter skies.
33:02Weather over the channel
33:03in December 1944
33:04was notoriously treacherous,
33:06and December 15th
33:06was no exception,
33:07with a 300-foot ceiling
33:09and ice
33:09due to freezing drizzle.
33:11When the Norseman
33:13lifted off,
33:14the weather was foggy
33:15but seemed manageable.
33:17Once they got over the channel,
33:18the conditions got worse.
33:20Records suggest
33:21that dense cloud layers
33:22stretched from sea level
33:23upward in conditions
33:25that would have been ideal
33:26for causing icing
33:27at lower altitudes.
33:29The English Channel
33:31in winter
33:31was infamous
33:33among aviators.
33:35Sudden gusts,
33:36violent turbulence,
33:37and thick fog
33:39often reduced
33:39even the most seasoned
33:41pilots
33:41to flying
33:42by instinct alone.
33:45Visibility could vanish
33:46without warning,
33:47leaving crews
33:48disoriented
33:49and vulnerable
33:50in an endless,
33:52featureless void.
33:55To maintain visibility,
33:56pilots often flew low
33:58beneath the cloud cover,
33:59but flying so close
34:01to the sea
34:01came with its own risks.
34:03Over the channel,
34:04Atlantic winds
34:05could have collided
34:06with coastal drafts,
34:07creating sudden turbulence.
34:09A single downdraft
34:11could pull a plane
34:12into the water
34:13within seconds.
34:15But given the absence
34:15of solid evidence,
34:16it's impossible
34:17to conclude
34:18that weather conditions
34:20cause the disappearance.
34:22Despite decades
34:23of investigation,
34:25no trace of Glenn Miller,
34:26his companions,
34:27or their aircraft
34:28has ever been confirmed.
34:30But tantalizing clues
34:31persist,
34:32keeping the mystery alive
34:34and tied
34:34to the enduring legacy
34:35of his music.
34:37In 1987,
34:38a retired trawler man
34:39reported pulling up wreckage
34:40he believed
34:41was Miller's Norseman.
34:42Though he was told
34:43to return it to the channel,
34:44he recorded the coordinates,
34:45a potential clue
34:47tied to historical
34:47aircraft data.
34:50The Norseman
34:50was the only plane
34:51of its kind
34:52lost during the war,
34:53and its unique
34:54steel-tubed fuselage
34:55and engine
34:56could still confirm
34:57its identity if found.
35:00From his early days
35:01as a struggling trombonist
35:02to creating a signature sound
35:04that defined
35:05the big band era,
35:07Miller's story
35:07is one of persistence
35:08and innovation.
35:10His disappearance
35:11over the English Channel
35:12remains a mystery,
35:13but his music
35:14continues to resonate,
35:16transcending time
35:17and connecting audiences
35:19across decades.
35:30In 435 BCE,
35:33renowned sculptor Phidias
35:34completed his masterpiece,
35:36a towering 40-foot statue
35:38of Zeus,
35:39the supreme deity
35:40of the ancient Greek pantheon,
35:43housed in a special temple
35:44at Olympia.
35:45The sculpture
35:46presided over the Olympic Games
35:48for nine centuries.
35:50Zeus' statue
35:51became the focus
35:51of the Games,
35:52the procession
35:53of athletes
35:54and spectators
35:55who had pilgrimaged
35:56from all over Greece
35:57to attend,
35:58marched through the temple
35:59on the way
35:59to the stadium
36:00to observe this colossal effigy
36:03and pay their respects.
36:05The statue
36:06and its temple
36:07weren't just
36:08the focus of the Games.
36:09They were one
36:10of the seven ancient wonders
36:11of the world.
36:12People came from
36:13all over the Mediterranean
36:15to experience
36:16this sublime sculpture
36:17of the god
36:18who ruled over
36:19all the other gods.
36:21We know the statue
36:22existed for at least
36:23about 900 years,
36:25but by the 500 or 600 CE,
36:28it was gone.
36:29There are lots of theories
36:30about what happened to it,
36:31but no conclusive evidence.
36:34So how does an enormous
36:3540-foot sculpture
36:37disappear?
36:39What did happen
36:40to Olympia's
36:41famous statue of Zeus?
36:45Because Olympia
36:46had no full-time
36:47civilian population,
36:49it was not considered
36:50a city,
36:50but rather a sanctuary site
36:52with over 700 structures
36:54dedicated to the worship
36:56of Zeus
36:56and for hosting the Games
36:58meant to honor him.
37:00Just as they are now,
37:01the Games were held
37:02every four years,
37:03even in times of war.
37:05This was a religious event
37:07meant to be enjoyed
37:08not only by people,
37:09but by the gods themselves.
37:11So a sacred truce
37:12would be in place
37:13to ensure peace
37:14while the Games were on.
37:17Ironically,
37:17a disagreement
37:18between two nearby towns,
37:20Elis and Pisa,
37:21over which one of them
37:22should have the right
37:23to oversee the Games,
37:25is what led to war.
37:27The towns fought for decades,
37:29and when Elis
37:30finally came out on top,
37:32the town decided
37:33to celebrate the victory
37:34and spend some of the loot
37:36they'd stolen during the war
37:37by building a fabulous temple
37:39dedicated to Zeus.
37:41The temple of Zeus
37:43was finished about 460 BCE,
37:46and it would have instantly
37:47become a famous landmark
37:48right near the main
37:50Olympic stadium.
37:51It was nearly 100 feet wide
37:54and more than 200 feet long,
37:56six massive columns
37:58on the front
37:59and 13 down the sides.
38:01And inside,
38:02you'd find a chamber
38:03called a cella
38:04that was built
38:05for one central purpose,
38:07to house a towering statue
38:10of the king of the gods.
38:13Phaedrus already had a reputation
38:15for creating a colossal sculpture
38:17of the goddess Athena
38:18for the Parthenon in Athens.
38:20For the statue of Zeus,
38:22he had a huge workshop
38:24built in Olympia,
38:25seemingly determined
38:26to outdo himself.
38:28By 435 BCE,
38:30the enormous statue
38:31was completed
38:32and installed in the temple.
38:34There was a 20 by 30 foot podium
38:36of black marble
38:37on which Zeus sat on his throne.
38:40His features
38:40were meticulously sculpted
38:42with precious jewels
38:43inlaid in his eyes.
38:45In one hand,
38:46he held the scepter
38:47with an eagle.
38:48In the other,
38:49he held a statue of Nike,
38:50the goddess of victory.
38:52The statue helped Olympia
38:54become one of the most important
38:55religious centers in Greece.
38:57It was so famous,
38:59there were even
38:59miniature likenesses of it
39:01depicted on coins,
39:02which is part of how we know
39:03what it looked like.
39:05It was a must-see
39:06on people's bucket lists
39:07for centuries.
39:09But then,
39:10at some point
39:10before the end
39:11of the 500s CE,
39:13the statue disappeared.
39:15It's possible
39:17the statue of Zeus,
39:19the god who wielded
39:20one form of nature's power,
39:22may have been destroyed
39:23by an even greater force
39:25of nature
39:25Zeus did not control.
39:28This part of the world
39:29experienced powerful earthquakes
39:31during the first millennium CE.
39:34One of them
39:35could have brought
39:36the temple of Zeus down
39:37and smashed
39:38Phidia's masterpiece
39:40to bits.
39:41After the ruins of Olympia
39:44were discovered
39:45and ultimately excavated
39:46in the late 19th century,
39:49evidence emerged
39:50that led to this theory.
39:52As the temple of Zeus
39:53was uncovered,
39:54many columns
39:55of its southern flank
39:56were splayed out
39:57in a pattern
39:58like fallen dominoes,
39:59which immediately suggested
40:01that only something
40:02as overwhelming
40:03as an earthquake
40:04could have toppled them.
40:06The geological record
40:07shows there were
40:08catastrophic quakes
40:09in that part of Greece
40:11in 522 CE
40:12and again
40:13in 551 CE.
40:16The 551 event
40:17even resulted
40:18in the site
40:19being buried
40:19under more than
40:2025 feet of silt
40:22from the Alpheos
40:23and the Kladios rivers.
40:26Some people question
40:28that theory though.
40:29Modern simulations
40:30have suggested
40:30that the earthquake
40:31in 551
40:32wouldn't have been
40:33powerful enough
40:34to topple the columns
40:35into that particular pattern.
40:38They clearly did fall,
40:39so if it wasn't
40:40an earthquake,
40:41historians are left
40:41to figure out
40:42what else could have
40:43brought them down.
40:45Some have speculated
40:47that not even
40:47the king of the gods
40:48can stay above
40:49the law of the land
40:51for very long.
40:52The temple of Zeus
40:54in Olympia,
40:55along with the world-famous
40:57statue it contained,
40:59may have been
40:59intentionally destroyed
41:01per the orders
41:02of Rome's
41:03Christian leadership.
41:04in the late
41:054th century CE,
41:07the Roman emperor
41:08Theodosius I
41:09outlawed all pagan cults
41:12throughout the empire.
41:15Pagan sanctuaries
41:16were to be abandoned
41:17and all non-Christian
41:19rituals were banned.
41:21The Olympics,
41:22which had been held
41:23every four years
41:25for almost 12 centuries,
41:27were ended.
41:28The emperor had not,
41:31not yet anyway,
41:32ordered the destruction
41:33of pagan temples
41:34themselves,
41:35but one over-enthusiastic
41:37prefect in the town
41:38of Apomir
41:39took it upon himself
41:40to demolish a temple
41:41there that was
41:42dedicated to Zeus
41:43by having its columns
41:45pulled down.
41:47They tried with teams
41:48of draft animals
41:49and robes,
41:50and the columns
41:51wouldn't budge.
41:52So they tried
41:53something brilliant,
41:55undermined one side
41:56of three of the columns,
41:57supported that side
41:59by inserting timber beams,
42:02undermined some more,
42:03and then lit the beams
42:04on fire.
42:06The beams burned away
42:07and the three columns
42:08toppled,
42:09smashing into
42:10and taking down
42:11another 12,
42:13and possibly at least
42:14part of the roof.
42:15They said that the crashing
42:16sound was heard
42:17throughout the town.
42:20Some researchers
42:21have suggested
42:22that if the same technique
42:23was used on the temple
42:24of Zeus at Olympia,
42:26that might explain
42:27the toppled dominoes pattern.
42:29But whatever the cause,
42:31an earthquake
42:32or intentional demolition,
42:33there's another
42:34unanswered question.
42:36If the statue of Zeus
42:37was destroyed
42:38in the temple,
42:39why haven't we found
42:40any trace of gold
42:41or ivory from it?
42:45When all efforts
42:46at finding proof
42:47something existed
42:48in a certain place
42:49have been exhausted,
42:50it may lead to one simple
42:52but surprising conclusion.
42:53Maybe the statue of Zeus
42:57just wasn't there,
42:58not by the time
42:59of the destruction
43:00of the temple anyway.
43:02It may have been moved
43:04to Constantinople,
43:05now Istanbul,
43:07over 400 miles
43:08across the Sea of Marmara.
43:11The thing is,
43:12even well after pagan rituals
43:14and beliefs
43:15had been banned,
43:16the statue of Zeus
43:17was recognized by many
43:19as an important work of art.
43:20And somewhere around 430 CE,
43:24the imperial chamberlain
43:25of Theodosius,
43:26a man named Lausus,
43:28might have used his money
43:29and position
43:29to acquire the statue
43:31for his private collection
43:32of pagan antiquities.
43:36In 475 CE,
43:38there was a great fire
43:39in Constantinople
43:41and it swept right through
43:42the area
43:43where the palace of Lausus stood.
43:45Later historians reported
43:47that the palace
43:48was destroyed
43:49along with the statues
43:50inside it,
43:52but we don't know
43:52if Zeus was one of them.
43:55Though Phidias' later life
43:57is something of a mystery,
43:59we know that the great statue
44:00of Zeus at Olympia
44:02turned out to be his greatest
44:03and last masterpiece.
44:06There are accounts
44:07that Phidias was implicated
44:09in a number of crimes
44:11targeted by enemies
44:12of one of his benefactors.
44:14He was accused
44:15of stealing gold
44:16from one of his own statues.
44:19which was disproved,
44:20but he was convicted
44:22of impiety
44:23for carving his own likeness
44:25into the goddess Athena's shield.
44:28For that,
44:29he was jailed.
44:30After that,
44:31the historical record
44:32is inconclusive.
44:33He may have died in jail
44:35or he may have been released
44:37into exile.
44:39The statue of Zeus
44:40stood tall in Olympia
44:42for roughly a thousand years
44:43and could be said
44:44to have achieved
44:45a kind of immortality
44:46even beyond that.
44:48Phidias' depiction of Zeus
44:50seated on his throne
44:51became the standard,
44:53copied and repeated
44:54for gods and mortals
44:56ever since.
44:57and third nature
44:59slowly
44:59and thirdly
45:01While babies have died
45:01and
45:07not yet
45:07in Paris
45:12like he is
45:14the
45:14who
45:17had
45:19the
45:20who
45:21the
45:22who
45:22was
45:22ajÄ…
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