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Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2 Episode 03 Shady Secrets EnglishMovie cdrama drama engsub chinesedramaengsub movieshortfull
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00:00Mysteries can be buried anywhere, under the earth, beneath the sea, or even right under
00:14our own feet. And when we stumble upon them, sometimes what we find can change history.
00:22Tonight, accidental discoveries that expose dark secrets. From a Prohibition-era hideout.
00:33The room looks like no one's been down here in decades. Then something catches their eye.
00:39To a clue from an infamous crime. It's more money than he's ever seen in his life.
00:45The FBI run the serial numbers, and what they find is shocking.
00:49To a scandalous secret, hidden in Washington, D.C.
00:56Just steps from the Capitol, was the ultimate retreat for Washington's elite.
01:02Join us now, because nothing stays hidden forever.
01:06In the winter of 1977, a man named Ron Likens and his friends were all waiters at the famous
01:26Awani Hotel in Yosemite National Park.
01:29They decide on their day off that they are going to go snowshoeing into the frozen tundra
01:36of the Yosemite backcountry.
01:39About six miles into their hike, they spot something surprising.
01:46It's a debris trail, and then suddenly, they encounter an airplane wing, just sitting out
01:53there in the snow.
01:56They head back and report it to the park rangers, and before long, officials from four government
02:02agencies swarm to the area.
02:05They follow the debris trail, and eventually come to a twin-engine plane in a frozen lake.
02:15Officials fire up chainsaws and start cutting it out of the ice.
02:18When they cut open the cargo hold, they see something incredible.
02:24They find marijuana, literally tons of it.
02:29They estimate there are 6,000 pounds of weed in the hold.
02:33Authorities spend the next week hauling bundles of it out of the Yosemite Valley.
02:38Unfortunately, their work is cut short when a huge snowstorm rolls in.
02:43A full wintertime salvage operation would be too hazardous.
02:46So the feds have to press pause on the entire operation and wait for the spring.
02:52Before they leave for the season, they run the tail number to ID the plane.
02:56It belongs to a guy named John Glisky, who's been on the DEA's radar for a while.
03:02He's a former Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam, and now a full-time smuggler.
03:08Authorities contact Glisky's wife, and she shares what she knows.
03:12She confirms that about a month earlier, on the night before the crash,
03:16he loads up three tons of weed at a dusty airstrip in Baja,
03:21and under the cover of darkness, flies it into the United States.
03:24But the run ends in disaster.
03:28Glisky's plane goes down in Yosemite,
03:30leaving both men dead and three tons of marijuana entombed in ice.
03:39Some people overhear off-duty DEA agents at a bar
03:43talking about how they had to leave this wreck until spring
03:47with tons of drugs still inside.
03:50Among those who hear it are three anonymous hikers
03:53who race to the scene days later.
03:55When they reach the plane, one of them sticks his arm
03:59into a hole next to the cockpit and pulls out a plastic-wrapped bale.
04:04The plane is packed with five-kilo bricks of high-grade Mexican weed.
04:12Now word spreads like wildfire,
04:15and in the days that follow, a stream of hikers
04:18brave the elements to get to the goods
04:21at what they're calling Dope Lake.
04:23When April rolls around, there's an unexpected heat wave.
04:30The snow melts, the trails clear,
04:32and the looting goes into overdrive.
04:34It is a full-blown green rush.
04:38Dozens and dozens of hikers make the 32-mile round trip.
04:43Some of them carry out 200-pound loads of marijuana
04:49worth about $50,000 at the time.
04:51In just one week, over a half a million dollars of marijuana
04:56goes missing at the hands of opportunistic Yosemite hikers.
05:02Rangers launch a surprise raid, but only nab two hikers.
05:06All of the true culprits are never identified.
05:10And the crime slowly fades from memory.
05:13It's one of the wildest forgotten stories in American crime history.
05:18But for a brief window in the 70s,
05:21Dope Lake turned Yosemite into the most lucrative hiking trail on the planet.
05:30Years later, a shop owner stumbles on another set of mysterious criminals,
05:35this time, a couple you'd never suspect.
05:41In 2017, a New Mexico antique shop owner named David Van Auker
05:46is browsing an estate sale of a recently deceased pair of schoolteachers
05:51named Jerry and Rita Alter.
05:53He combs through some various knick-knacks, pieces of art, and chotskis.
05:59David picks up a few inexpensive items.
06:02He also picks up an old abstract oil painting of a woman.
06:07All in all, he spends about $2,000,
06:09and he thinks he can make some money off of it
06:11if he cleans up the oil painting and a few of the other items.
06:16Van Auker throws everything in the back of his truck,
06:17and when he gets back to his shop, he leans the painting in the back.
06:21Less than an hour later, a customer approaches David
06:24and tells him that the painting looks an awful lot like the work
06:26of a famous Dutch-American abstract painter
06:29by the name of Willem de Kooning.
06:32De Kooning became really popular after World War II
06:35in the abstract expressionism movement,
06:37and his paintings have sold for millions of dollars.
06:40So it's pretty surprising that two retired schoolteachers
06:43would own an original de Kooning.
06:46After being offered $200,000 for the painting by a customer,
06:51Van Auker hides the work in his bathroom.
06:54And begins researching de Kooning.
06:56What he finds piques his interest.
06:59Sure enough, he soon finds a de Kooning painting
07:02called Woman Ochre
07:04that looks just like the one he's propped up next to his toilet.
07:08And as he reads about Woman Ochre,
07:10he finds out it was stolen
07:11from the University of Arizona Museum of Art.
07:15Van Auker is shocked.
07:16Could he really be in possession of a stolen masterpiece?
07:20He doesn't want to get into any trouble,
07:23so he calls the Arizona Museum and speaks to the curator.
07:26She tells Van Auker to keep the painting safe,
07:28and she'll be there to have a look at it the next day.
07:31Understandably, he is freaking out.
07:33The next day, museum officials visit him to inspect the painting.
07:37And sure enough, it is the original Woman Ochre.
07:41That means it's worth just a little more than the $2,000 he spent on it.
07:46It's valued at $150 million.
07:49Turns out, the painting was stolen during a bold museum heist
07:55nearly 35 years earlier.
07:58The day after Thanksgiving in 1985
08:00was a pretty slow day at the University of Arizona Museum.
08:04Shortly after opening, a man and woman entered.
08:08They were sort of acting kind of strange and oddly,
08:11and they only stayed around for about 15 minutes.
08:13A little while later, as museum security guards made their rounds,
08:19they discovered the unimaginable.
08:21One of their most prized paintings,
08:24Woman Ochre, had disappeared.
08:26Whoever stole it cut it right out of its frame
08:29and walked out the front door.
08:31At least, that's what officials assume happened,
08:34because at the time, the museum didn't have security cameras.
08:37The museum staff provided a description
08:39of the odd couple to the police
08:41and mentioned also seeing a red sports car in the parking lot
08:45at about the time that they were in the building.
08:48The couple were really the only suspects,
08:50but the police had no idea who they really were.
08:54There were no photos, no fingerprints, nothing.
08:58It's not until the estate sale, over three decades later,
09:02that investigators are finally able to start piecing it all together.
09:08Police sketches of the suspects do resemble the altars.
09:11And a few old family photos placed the couple in the Tucson area
09:15at the time of the theft.
09:17One photo even shows Rita and Jerry in a rented red sports car.
09:22All signs point toward them as the culprits.
09:25But without a living suspect,
09:27it's almost impossible to prove it for sure.
09:29So David Van Ocker returns Woman Ochre
09:33to the University of Arizona Museum of Art
09:36and declines the reward money.
09:39When authorities look deeper,
09:40they start thinking that a few other paintings
09:42supposedly owned by Jerry and Rita were also stolen.
09:46They're still investigating,
09:47but it may just turn out that these two unassuming school teachers
09:50were some of the best art thieves of all time.
09:53Yard sales can turn up just about anything.
10:02Junk, antiques, even hidden gems.
10:05But one Florida man's discovery carried a secret.
10:09It had been stolen.
10:11Back in 2021, in Brooksville, Florida,
10:17Jamie Bath and his wife are browsing a local yard sale.
10:21They like collecting and looking through all sorts of things.
10:24Old coins, vintage radios, maybe a rusty tool or two.
10:29As Bath picks through the goods,
10:31he spots a cool metal lying on a table.
10:35It's gold and purple with George Washington's face right in the middle.
10:39And he doesn't know what it is,
10:40but for two bucks, he figures why not.
10:43Later, as he's going through his hall,
10:44he spots an engraving on the reverse of the metal.
10:48It says, for military merit, Gus A. Albritton.
10:54Bath thinks this thing might be important.
10:57So he starts digging.
10:59A quick search tells him all he needs to know.
11:01This isn't just some old metal.
11:04It's a Purple Heart.
11:07The oldest and one of the most prestigious honors
11:10awarded to members of the U.S. military.
11:13The Purple Heart is awarded to those soldiers
11:16who are wounded or killed in action.
11:19Bath discovers that this is a rare honor.
11:22A very large number of recipients of this metal
11:24receive it only because they have been killed in action.
11:28So Bath wants to make sure that it gets back to the brave man
11:30or the family of the brave man
11:32whose name is engraved on the back of the metal.
11:35Gus A. Albritton.
11:37Bath does some sleuthing and tracks Gus down through the VA
11:41to a town called Dublin, Georgia.
11:44He happens to be alive and well
11:45and has been volunteering there for over 30 years.
11:48The VA passes Bath's message along,
11:51and when Gus calls him back,
11:53Bath is floored by the veteran's heroic story.
11:56Back in the summer of 1968,
11:59Gus graduates high school
12:00and then receives his draft notice the very next day.
12:03A week later, he reports to Fort Benning
12:06to receive infantry basic training.
12:09A few months after that,
12:10he's deployed to the Republic of Vietnam.
12:12Over the next two years,
12:15Gus defies the odds in numerous battles.
12:18The war was brutal,
12:20and Gus didn't have it easy.
12:23First, an AK-47 round tears through his shoulder.
12:26He survives.
12:28Then he's shot through the midsection,
12:30and again he survives.
12:33And just when it seems like he's cheated death enough,
12:36an RPG explodes in his bunker,
12:39sending shrapnel into his back and chest.
12:41Gus is both tough and lucky.
12:44He survives and is awarded the Purple Heart three times.
12:49After the war,
12:51the newly decorated hero moves to Florida
12:53and gets a job as a court bailiff.
12:55While most people would keep their medals on display,
12:58Gus, he's not most people.
13:00He gives one to his son,
13:01a second to his daughter,
13:03and he keeps the third for himself.
13:05Until one day, it disappears.
13:07In 1983, while Gus is at work,
13:13someone breaks into his house.
13:15They steal jewelry,
13:17they steal guns,
13:18and they steal his Purple Heart.
13:21Gus has spent enough time in law enforcement
13:23to know that stolen items like these
13:25are rarely recovered.
13:27For nearly four decades,
13:31it remains lost until Jamie Bath finds it
13:34at a yard sale in the same town
13:37where it was stolen.
13:39Law enforcement thinks whoever took it
13:40probably had no idea what they had
13:42and either tossed it or gave it away.
13:44Once Jamie gets in touch with Gus,
13:48he mails the medal back to him.
13:51A small but valuable piece of stolen valor
13:54returned to its rightful owner
13:56after 38 years.
13:59If you think finding a war medal
14:01at a garage sale is wild,
14:03wait till you see what two brothers
14:05uncovered in their bookstore.
14:07It's 2021 in Evansville, Indiana.
14:14Two brothers, Sam and Adam Morris,
14:16are about to open their dream business,
14:19a bookstore that's appropriately called
14:21your brother's bookstore.
14:23The brothers are eager to open their doors,
14:26but first they need to finish some renovations.
14:30As their workers start ripping up the hardwood,
14:33they find something strange.
14:35One section of the floor doesn't match the rest.
14:37At first, this looks like it's just a bad patch job,
14:42but as the workers begin to pry out the wooden slats,
14:46they find something unexpected.
14:49It's not just a loose floorboard.
14:52It's a secret trap door.
14:55The workers wave the brothers over,
14:57and suddenly this renovation
14:59feels more like an investigation.
15:03They climb down into the space below,
15:05expecting to find something like
15:07an old cellar.
15:08But when they shine their flashlights around,
15:11they discover that this is much larger.
15:14The room is covered in a thick layer of dust.
15:17It looks like no one's been down here in decades.
15:20But then something catches their eye.
15:23There's a hole in the far wall
15:25about the size of a dinner plate.
15:27When they look through it,
15:29they see another space,
15:30and what looks like the entrance
15:32comes to another tunnel.
15:34They assume that this is simply a passage
15:36that connects to the basement
15:37of the building next door.
15:39That's very mysterious,
15:41but the brothers have a lot of work to do
15:43to get their bookstore open.
15:44So they head back upstairs
15:46and get back to work.
15:47A few weeks later,
15:49the store opens.
15:51Hoping to pique the curiosity
15:52of new customers,
15:54they place a sign outside the business
15:56that says,
15:57ask about our secret tunnel.
16:00Soon someone does.
16:02The Evansville African American Museum.
16:05For years,
16:06the museum has been researching
16:07the Evansville history
16:09of the Underground Railroad,
16:11the storied network
16:12for enslaved persons
16:14who were fleeing southern states
16:16in the 1850s.
16:18Museum officials have heard rumors
16:20that there was a station
16:21of the Underground Railroad
16:22somewhere on Main Street,
16:24but they found no evidence until now.
16:27The museum officials take a look
16:29at the mysterious room
16:31under the brothers' bookstore.
16:33Then they take a look
16:34at the hole in the far wall
16:36and eventually decide
16:38to break through it.
16:40That's when they discover
16:43that the tunnel doesn't just go
16:45to the basement
16:45of the next building.
16:47It keeps going.
16:49As they continue
16:50to explore the tunnels,
16:51they begin to notice
16:52an assortment of strange artifacts.
16:55Glass bottles,
16:56tables and chairs
16:57built into the tunnel walls.
17:00And the real surprise,
17:01a still for making alcohol.
17:04It doesn't look like
17:05a safe haven for slaves.
17:07It looks more like a bar.
17:09They realized this tunnel
17:10wasn't a station
17:11on the Underground Railroad.
17:13It was a Prohibition-era speakeasy.
17:18At the turn of the last century,
17:20Evansville was well known
17:22for its breweries.
17:24But in 1918,
17:26the state of Indiana
17:27outlawed the sale of alcohol
17:29two years before
17:31the National Prohibition Law.
17:33Not everyone was happy
17:34about giving a booze.
17:36With its brewing expertise
17:38and strong German drinking culture,
17:41Evansville becomes the center
17:43of speakeasies
17:45and underground drinking halls
17:47like the one the brothers
17:48have discovered
17:49under Main Street.
17:51The Morris Brothers find
17:52doesn't just uncover
17:54a underground hideaway.
17:56It reveals a hidden
17:58and very interesting part
17:59of Hoosier history.
18:00It's one of America's
18:07most infamous
18:08unsolved crimes.
18:10One without any leads
18:12until a second grader
18:13makes the find
18:14of a lifetime.
18:18In 1980,
18:19eight-year-old Brian Ingram
18:21is out with his family
18:22camping along the Columbia River
18:24in Washington State.
18:26It gets cold out,
18:27so Brian's father
18:28tells him to head down
18:29to the river
18:29to where the sand is,
18:31clear a spot,
18:32and build a fire.
18:33While he's smoothing
18:34the ground for the fire pit,
18:36Brian's arm
18:36rushes up against something.
18:40He immediately recognizes
18:41a signature distinctive green,
18:45and he produces
18:47a stack of $20 bills.
18:51It's more money
18:52than he's seen in his life,
18:54so he calls his dad over.
18:55They start to count the cash,
18:56and altogether,
18:58Brian has found
18:59$5,880.
19:01That's the equivalent
19:02of over $20,000 today.
19:05But some of these bills
19:07have rotted away
19:07down to the size
19:08of playing cards.
19:10They don't know
19:10if the money is real,
19:12counterfeit,
19:13lost,
19:13or stolen.
19:14They decide that they have
19:15to call up the authorities.
19:17They stuff the cash
19:18in a plastic bread bag,
19:19and when they get home,
19:21his dad calls the FBI.
19:23Soon, agents show up
19:25and collect the money.
19:27The FBI run the serial numbers
19:29on the dollars
19:30through their database,
19:32and what they find
19:33is shocking.
19:35The cash is associated
19:36with one of the most
19:38well-known crimes
19:39in recent American history,
19:41the D.B. Cooper hijacking.
19:44Back in 1971,
19:47a man who is later known
19:49as D.B. Cooper
19:50buys a one-way ticket
19:52from Portland to Seattle.
19:53He sits in the last row
19:54of the plane,
19:55and after the plane
19:56takes off,
19:57has a drink,
19:58and then casually
19:59passes a note
20:00to a flight attendant.
20:02The note read,
20:03I have a bomb.
20:06Then he opened his suitcase
20:07and showed
20:08what looked to be
20:09a very real bomb.
20:12And at that moment,
20:13it became a hijacking.
20:16He contacts authorities
20:18and demands $200,000
20:20and a parachute.
20:23With lots of innocent people
20:25on board the aircraft
20:25and with no way
20:26of knowing
20:27whether or not
20:27D.B. Cooper's supposed
20:28bomb was real or not,
20:30the authorities had
20:31no choice
20:32but to play along.
20:33Authorities get the money
20:34and the chute together.
20:36The plane touches down
20:37in Seattle.
20:39D.B. Cooper
20:39makes good on his word
20:41and lets the hostages go.
20:43Picks up the money
20:44and the chutes
20:45and the plane
20:46takes off again.
20:49Shortly after the plane
20:50takes back off
20:51into the sky,
20:52Cooper parachutes
20:53out of the plane
20:54over the Pacific Northwest,
20:56never to be seen again.
20:59And neither is the money
21:00until now.
21:03Almost a decade
21:04after the hijacking,
21:06Brian Ingram
21:06is the first
21:07and only person
21:08to find any
21:09of D.B. Cooper's loot.
21:10This instantly becomes
21:11the FBI's best piece
21:13of evidence
21:13in the infamous crime.
21:15So how does
21:16the stolen cash
21:17end up on the shores
21:18of the Columbia River?
21:20Some claim that
21:22Cooper landed in the river
21:24and the cash
21:25floated downstream.
21:26Others suggest that
21:27Cooper buried the cash
21:29on that part of the beach
21:30and would come back
21:31to it later.
21:32Others even accuse
21:33the Ingrams
21:34of working
21:35in cahoots
21:35with Cooper
21:36by finding
21:38this little bit
21:39of money
21:39as a way
21:40to throw the authorities
21:40off of D.B. Cooper's trail.
21:43Now, despite
21:44the speculation,
21:45Brian is a hero
21:46among his fellow
21:47second graders.
21:49But unfortunately,
21:50this epic monetary fine
21:52does not make him rich.
21:54The FBI tells Brian
21:57he can't keep
21:58any of the money
21:58he found
21:59because it's evidence.
22:01What follows
22:02is this multi-year
22:03court battle
22:04where Brian ends up
22:06getting to keep
22:06half the money.
22:07The rest goes
22:08to the airline's
22:09insurance company.
22:10Now, Brian hangs
22:11on to this money
22:12until 2008
22:13when he ends up
22:15auctioning off
22:1515 of those bills
22:17which have a face value
22:18of about $300.
22:19But for collectors,
22:20they're pieces
22:21of an unsolved case
22:23and they're worth
22:24much more to them.
22:26At the auction,
22:27these bills end up
22:28going for about
22:29$37,000.
22:31To this day,
22:33not a single
22:33additional bill
22:34from Cooper's ransom
22:35has been recovered.
22:36And the hijacking
22:37remains the only
22:37unsolved case
22:39of air piracy
22:40in commercial
22:41aviation history.
22:46Thousands of miles
22:47away and decades
22:48earlier,
22:49another shocking
22:50discovery is pulled
22:52not from the sand
22:53but from the sea.
22:54It's April 1935
22:59in Sydney, Australia.
23:01Fisherman Burt Hobson
23:02who's out on the water
23:03attempting to bring
23:05in his daily catch
23:06of things like
23:06amberjack
23:07and southern calamari.
23:10As he's hauling in
23:12a big catch,
23:14he notices
23:14that what he's caught
23:15is no ordinary game fish
23:17but in fact
23:18is a 14-foot live
23:20tiger shark.
23:22He goes to toss it
23:26back in the water
23:27but then he gets
23:28an idea.
23:29His brother runs
23:30the local aquarium
23:31and he figures
23:32maybe they could use
23:33a new star attraction.
23:35Burt's brother feels,
23:36oh, having a shark
23:37in the aquarium
23:38would definitely
23:39bring in the crowds,
23:40bring the shark over
23:41and they do
23:41and they toss it
23:43in a tank
23:43at the aquarium
23:44and then there's
23:46a problem.
23:47The shark isn't
23:48exactly thriving
23:49in its new environment.
23:51At first,
23:52the shark looks agitated
23:53and then
23:54it starts to look
23:55sick
23:56and then one day
23:58in front
23:59of a very stunned crowd,
24:01the shark
24:01convulses
24:02and vomits.
24:05What the shark
24:06coughs up
24:06isn't fish bones
24:08or bait,
24:09it's a human arm.
24:11Upon further analysis,
24:13the authorities
24:14realized this arm
24:15was not bitten off
24:16by a shark.
24:18They don't notice
24:18any sort of jagged
24:20teeth markings
24:20on the arm
24:21but more cleaner
24:22incised wounds
24:23from either a knife
24:24or a cleaver.
24:25So now,
24:26they realize
24:27that there is
24:28a homicide
24:28on their hands.
24:30The severed arm
24:32has a pretty
24:33distinctive tattoo
24:34of two boxers
24:35fighting.
24:36So,
24:37authorities released
24:37this information
24:38to the general public
24:39and not long after that,
24:41a man by the name
24:42of Edwin Smith
24:42comes forward.
24:44He says that
24:44his brother James
24:45had a tattoo
24:46just like that.
24:48James Smith
24:49is a failed boxer,
24:51small-time crook
24:52and an occasional
24:53police informant.
24:54Edwin tells police
24:55that he hasn't seen
24:56his brother
24:56for a few weeks.
24:58Further digging
24:59reveals
25:00that the last person
25:01that James Smith
25:02was seen with
25:03was a man
25:04by the name
25:04of Patrick Brady.
25:06Now,
25:06both Brady
25:07and Smith
25:07worked for
25:08a local crime boss
25:09by the name
25:10of Reginald Holmes.
25:12So,
25:13the police think
25:14that Brady
25:15and Holmes
25:15might have teamed up
25:17to take out Smith.
25:20Police arrest Brady
25:21first,
25:22but when they go
25:23after the boss,
25:24Holmes,
25:25he panics.
25:27He jumps in a boat,
25:29speeds into the harbor
25:30and tries to shoot
25:31himself in the head.
25:35Now,
25:36Holmes ends up surviving
25:37and,
25:38when questioned
25:38by authorities,
25:39gives his own version
25:40of the events.
25:42After he recovers,
25:44Holmes swears
25:45that he had nothing
25:46to do with Smith's murder
25:47and he pins the whole thing
25:49on Brady.
25:50Before Holmes
25:51can testify
25:52at Brady's trial,
25:54he's found dead
25:55in his car
25:56under suspicious
25:57circumstances.
25:59Police suspect
26:00that Brady
26:01had Holmes killed
26:02to shut him up,
26:03but without Holmes'
26:04testimony
26:05or Smith's body,
26:07prosecutors
26:07have no case.
26:09Brady walks free
26:10and lives a long
26:11and peaceful life
26:12for the next 30 years.
26:14The rest of
26:15James Smith's body
26:16is never found.
26:18As for what happens
26:18to the shark,
26:20I think it's safe
26:21to say that
26:21it never had
26:22another meal
26:22like that again.
26:29Washington, D.C.
26:30is known
26:31for its secrets
26:32and scandals.
26:34One of the most
26:34intriguing
26:35lay hidden
26:36for over a century,
26:38buried in a place
26:39you'd never expect.
26:41It's 1997
26:43and the Smithsonian
26:44Institution
26:45is looking to build
26:46the brand new museum
26:47of the American Indian
26:48near the National Mall.
26:50And so before
26:51they can build,
26:52they want to do
26:52a full survey
26:54of the site.
26:56As the team surveys
26:58this piece of land,
26:59they find something
27:00surprising.
27:04The workers discover
27:05the remnants
27:06of a palatial estate,
27:09but what's strange
27:10is historians
27:11know this area
27:12used to be
27:12a working-class
27:13neighborhood
27:14populated with
27:15the homes of people
27:16who worked
27:16in nearby factories.
27:18The foundation
27:19of this house,
27:20however,
27:21is way larger
27:22than all of the
27:23modest homes
27:24around it.
27:25Archaeologists
27:26start a formal
27:27excavation
27:28and they find
27:30china,
27:31champagne corks,
27:33and various
27:34women's fashion
27:34pieces.
27:36This is all
27:36high-end stuff
27:37and it doesn't
27:38make sense
27:39to find it
27:39in this old
27:40working-class
27:40neighborhood.
27:41So who could
27:42have owned
27:43such a luxurious
27:44home here?
27:46Some of the
27:46museum's researchers
27:47start looking at
27:48historical maps
27:49and real estate
27:50records of the day
27:51and they discover
27:52that in the 1840s,
27:54six women
27:55in their 20s
27:56and 30s
27:57lived here
27:57in a house
27:58owned by a woman
27:59named Mary Hall.
28:02But Mary
28:03wasn't just any woman.
28:04she was known
28:06as the Madam
28:07of the Mall
28:08and her house
28:09was a high-end
28:10brothel.
28:12Mary was born
28:13in 1814
28:15and by all accounts
28:16became a rather
28:17successful prostitute.
28:19She was so successful
28:20in fact
28:21that she was able
28:22to earn enough money
28:23to buy a lot
28:25on what is now
28:25the National Mall
28:26and build a rather
28:27impressive house on it.
28:29Today,
28:30you find a bunch
28:30of stately monuments
28:32in the area
28:32but back then
28:34it was not
28:34the most respected
28:35part of town.
28:37There were streets
28:38with names like
28:39Laos Alley
28:40and Murderer's Row
28:42so it's incredibly clear
28:43that this was
28:44a very unsavory area.
28:46But Mary
28:47was a very shrewd
28:48businesswoman
28:49and she stayed
28:50in business
28:51for about 40 years.
28:54And in fact,
28:56Mary's tenure
28:57spanned the terms
28:58of about a dozen
28:59different presidents.
29:00Just steps
29:02from the Capitol,
29:04Hall's three-story
29:05brick mansion
29:06was the ultimate
29:07retreat for
29:08Washington's elite.
29:09While there are
29:10no surviving records
29:12naming her
29:13high-end clientele,
29:14it's clear
29:15that the madam
29:16of the mall
29:17was a talented
29:18businesswoman.
29:19Mary found
29:20great success
29:21at a time
29:22when women
29:23had very few rights
29:24to property
29:24or business ownership.
29:26In 1883,
29:27Mary retired
29:28with over $87,000.
29:31That's the modern
29:32equivalent
29:32of over $2 million.
29:34After getting
29:36out of the brothel
29:36business,
29:37Mary rented
29:38the property
29:39to a women's
29:40health clinic.
29:41In 1886,
29:43shortly after
29:44her death,
29:44it was converted
29:45yet again
29:46into a school
29:47for African-American
29:48children.
29:49Even though
29:50we can acknowledge
29:51that Mary's field
29:52was a rather
29:53illicit one,
29:54some say
29:55she has
29:56a better reputation
29:58than many
29:58of the politicians
29:59that pass
30:00through her door.
30:02In a quiet
30:03neighborhood
30:03backyard,
30:05another mystery
30:06is about to surface,
30:07one that will
30:08solve
30:09what was thought
30:10to be a murder.
30:13In August
30:14of 2019,
30:16a man
30:17is using
30:18some online
30:19tools to take
30:20a virtual walk
30:21through his old
30:21neighborhood
30:22in Wellington,
30:23Florida.
30:23While scanning
30:24satellite images
30:25of his former
30:26stomping ground,
30:27he notices
30:28something unusual
30:30about his former
30:31neighbor's
30:31pond in his
30:32backyard.
30:33It's white,
30:35kind of shiny,
30:36kind of metallic
30:37looking,
30:37so he zooms in
30:39and it looks
30:41like a car.
30:45The man calls
30:46his former neighbor
30:47Barry Fay
30:48and tells him
30:49what he saw.
30:50But Fay's not
30:50buying it
30:51because he spent
30:52thousands of hours
30:53in his yard
30:53and he's never
30:54noticed anything
30:55weird,
30:56even when the
30:56water levels
30:57drop.
30:58Just to be sure
30:59though,
30:59Fay asks a friend
31:00to fly a drone
31:02over the pond
31:02and when they
31:03take a look
31:04at the footage,
31:05there's no question.
31:07There's absolutely
31:08a car underwater.
31:11Fay calls the police
31:12and soon
31:13his backyard
31:14turns into
31:15a crime scene.
31:16Officers work
31:17late into the night
31:18and wind up
31:19and wind up pulling
31:19out a white
31:201994 Saturn
31:22from the pond.
31:23But that's not
31:25all they find.
31:26Inside the car
31:27is a skeleton.
31:30Forensic testing
31:31matches the remains
31:32to a man
31:33who's been missing
31:34for decades,
31:36a mortgage broker
31:37named William Malt.
31:38Authorities look
31:39into Malt
31:40and soon uncover
31:41the shocking details
31:42surrounding his disappearance.
31:44In November of 1997,
31:47Malt is out partying
31:48with a few of his buddies
31:49and around 9.30 p.m.
31:50that night,
31:51he calls his girlfriend
31:52to let her know
31:53that he's heading home.
31:55But he never made it
31:56home that night.
31:57In fact,
31:58no one ever found
31:59a trace of him.
32:01Malt was reported missing
32:02and police opened
32:03an investigation.
32:05But the case
32:05went cold
32:06until now.
32:08Investigators see
32:08no signs of foul play.
32:11They think that Malt
32:12lost control of his car,
32:13veered off the road
32:15and crashed
32:16into the pond.
32:17Over the next two decades,
32:19the neighborhood
32:19developed around the pond.
32:21Houses were built,
32:23roads were paved,
32:24and all the while,
32:25William Malt
32:26and his car
32:27are hidden
32:28beneath the surface.
32:30Thanks to Faye's
32:31former neighbor
32:32and some
32:33zoomed-in
32:34satellite images,
32:35the case of
32:35the missing mortgage broker
32:36is finally solved.
32:3922 years later.
32:43Imagine searching
32:47for a legendary wreck
32:49said to hold
32:5010 tons
32:51of gold and silver.
32:52Instead of treasure,
32:54you uncover evidence
32:55of a crime
32:56hidden beneath the sea.
33:00In 2005,
33:01a team of researchers
33:02launched a mission
33:04to locate the wreck
33:05of a famous warship
33:07that sank in the Mediterranean
33:08more than 200 years ago.
33:10The HMS Sussex
33:12was a ship
33:13in the Royal English Navy's fleet
33:14that sank in 1694
33:16during a violent storm.
33:18The team deploys
33:19an underwater robot
33:21and begins scanning
33:24the seabed
33:24between Spain
33:26and Morocco,
33:27where it's rumored
33:28that the ship went down.
33:30Hours pass.
33:31They find nothing
33:32but sand
33:33and shadows.
33:34Then suddenly,
33:37bingo!
33:38They see a wreck.
33:41When the remotely
33:43operated vehicle
33:44moves in
33:45for a closer look,
33:46something doesn't add up.
33:48The Sussex
33:49was a beast.
33:51157 feet long,
33:53three towering masts,
33:5580 guns.
33:57But this wreck
33:58is a much smaller ship,
33:59just 45 feet.
34:01A sleek,
34:02two-masted vessel
34:03called a Tartane.
34:04It's not what
34:05they're looking for,
34:06but it's still
34:07something worth exploring.
34:08Lying 2,700 feet
34:10below the surface,
34:11this wreck
34:12is remarkably
34:13well-preserved.
34:15Among the debris,
34:16they find pottery
34:17and glassware.
34:18They also find
34:19Turkish tea bowls
34:20and liquor bottles
34:21made in Germany
34:22and Belgium.
34:23These discoveries
34:24all suggest
34:25the ship
34:26was made to pass
34:27as a training vessel,
34:29but its real mission
34:30was more sinister.
34:32The rover shines
34:34its light on the wreck
34:35and reveals
34:36four large cannons.
34:39They also see muskets
34:41and ten swivel guns.
34:42Researchers know
34:43that when a Tartane
34:44is outfitted
34:45with this type
34:46of artillery,
34:47that only means
34:48one thing.
34:49It's a pirate ship.
34:51Another piece
34:52of evidence,
34:53the shipwreck's location
34:54is on the Barbary Coast,
34:55which stretches
34:56along the western coastline
34:58of North Africa
34:59from modern-day Morocco
35:00to Libya.
35:01During the late 18th
35:03and early 19th centuries,
35:04this was a notorious
35:05hunting ground
35:06for pirates
35:06who attacked ships
35:08and ran brutal
35:09slave raids.
35:11The Tartane
35:12was one of their
35:12primary tools of terror.
35:14From a distance,
35:15it looks like
35:16a small fishing boat,
35:17allowing them to
35:18nonchalantly
35:19pursue their target.
35:20By the time
35:21the target realized
35:22they were in danger,
35:23it was already too late.
35:24But this ship
35:29wasn't just
35:30plundering other boats.
35:31It was abducting people.
35:34When most of us
35:35think about
35:36the slave trade
35:37in the 17th
35:37and 18th centuries,
35:39we naturally think
35:40of Europeans
35:41and Americans
35:42enslaving Africans.
35:44But there was also
35:45a smaller slave trade
35:46working in the
35:47other direction,
35:48with Africans
35:49from the Barbary Coast
35:51enslaving Europeans
35:53through the Mediterranean.
35:55It's estimated
35:56that 1.25 million
35:58Europeans
35:59were enslaved
35:59by Barbary pirates.
36:02And the area
36:03that this ship is in
36:04leads researchers
36:05to suspect
36:06that it was
36:07en route to Spain,
36:08which is just across
36:09from the Barbary Coast.
36:10By presenting
36:11as a harmless
36:12trading vessel,
36:13the pirates
36:14could ambush
36:15their target
36:15and then
36:18would use
36:18larger galley ships
36:20to transport
36:21the slaves
36:21back to North Africa.
36:25Ships like this
36:26menaced the open seas
36:28for another half century
36:29after this particular
36:31boat sank.
36:32Eventually,
36:33their reign of terror
36:34ended in the early 1800s
36:36thanks to the Barbary Wars.
36:37This amazing discovery
36:40serves as a reminder
36:41that even the ocean
36:42keeps her secrets.
36:44Some lost to history,
36:46some just waiting
36:47for the right time
36:47to resurface.
36:48Sorting through
36:56a deceased father's
36:57keepsakes
36:58doesn't usually
36:59turn up
37:00evidence of a crime,
37:01but that's just
37:02what one family
37:03uncovers
37:04to their total surprise.
37:08In 2023,
37:11a Massachusetts family
37:12is going through
37:13their late father's house.
37:14As they start
37:16rummaging through
37:17bags and boxes,
37:18they find the things
37:19that you would
37:19expect to discover.
37:22Old documents,
37:23holiday decorations,
37:25and some family heirlooms.
37:27As they make their way
37:28through these boxes,
37:29they find something
37:30totally unexpected.
37:32A collection
37:33of Japanese artifacts.
37:37They carefully
37:38collect the antiques,
37:39bring them downstairs
37:40to try to learn
37:41more about them.
37:41With any luck,
37:43they figure,
37:44maybe this stuff
37:44might be worth
37:45a few bucks.
37:47The family begins
37:48researching
37:48the unfamiliar artwork,
37:50and soon,
37:50they find themselves
37:52on the last website
37:53they expected,
37:54the FBI's
37:56National Stolen
37:57Art File Database.
37:59Basically,
38:00if something
38:01culturally significant
38:02goes missing
38:02anywhere in the world,
38:04it ends up
38:04on this website.
38:06One by one,
38:07they start to see
38:08that these dusty antiques
38:09in their living room
38:10seem to be matching
38:11to the black-and-white photos
38:13on the FBI's website.
38:15And that can only
38:15mean one thing.
38:17All of these artifacts
38:18that they find
38:19in their dad's attic
38:20are stolen
38:21Japanese treasure.
38:25The family contacts
38:26the FBI
38:26to tell them
38:27how they stumbled
38:28onto these works of art.
38:30They meet up
38:31with FBI agent
38:33Jeffrey Kelly,
38:34assigned to investigate
38:35art crime in Boston.
38:37The first thing
38:37that I needed to do
38:38was verify
38:39that these objects
38:40were the same ones
38:40that were listed
38:41on the FBI's
38:43stolen property database.
38:45And when I compared them
38:46with the old
38:47black-and-white photographs
38:48that were on our
38:49stolen art file database,
38:51you could tell
38:53that they were a match.
38:55In all,
38:56there are 22 artifacts
38:57that date
38:58to the Ryukyu Kingdom,
38:59the kingdom
39:00that ruled Okinawa
39:01from the 15th
39:02to the 19th centuries.
39:04Little of the art
39:05from this time period
39:06survived,
39:06and that makes
39:07these artifacts
39:08all the more valuable.
39:10These were not
39:11little trophies
39:11or knick-knacks.
39:13These were
39:13incredibly important
39:15pieces of cultural patrimony
39:16for the Okinawan people.
39:18The FBI
39:19is determined
39:20to figure out
39:21how these relics
39:22ended up
39:23in this attic.
39:24Agents begin
39:25investigating the artwork
39:26and soon trace them back
39:28to World War II.
39:31In the spring of 1945,
39:33the Battle of Okinawa
39:34was raging
39:34in the Pacific.
39:38During the fighting,
39:39a group of American soldiers
39:40occupied the palace
39:41of a royal family
39:42that fled the city.
39:44When the fighting ended
39:45and Americans
39:46vacated this palace,
39:48authorities eventually
39:48returned to the island
39:49and found that many
39:50of its artifacts
39:51had been looted.
39:53But according to the family,
39:54their father
39:55was never stationed
39:56in the Pacific.
39:58Something that initially
39:59confuses Agent Kelly
40:01until he uncovers a clue.
40:03As I'm examining
40:04these artifacts,
40:05I see that tucked
40:06inside a ceramic jug
40:08is an unsigned
40:09typed letter.
40:12And this isn't
40:12just any letter.
40:13This is basically
40:14a confession.
40:16The author discusses
40:17how he came
40:18to acquire these pieces
40:19when he was stationed
40:20in Okinawa
40:21and he found them
40:22in a palace
40:22and he brought them
40:23back to Massachusetts.
40:25According to the letter,
40:27when this author
40:27made it back
40:28to the United States,
40:29he tried to sell
40:30the artifacts
40:31to a museum.
40:32The museum declines
40:34and the artifacts
40:35vanish into storage
40:37for decades.
40:38How they surfaced
40:39in an attic
40:40remains unclear.
40:42But the FBI
40:43is now on a mission
40:45to send them home.
40:47In 2024,
40:49the FBI teams up
40:50with the Smithsonian
40:51to help pack up
40:52all of these ancient artifacts
40:53and return them
40:55to Japan
40:56to their rightful home.
40:58It was a big event
40:59in Okinawa
41:00for them to finally
41:01get these items back.
41:02Items that
41:03they never thought
41:04that they would see again.
41:05And I was really proud
41:07that we were able
41:07to help out.
41:09It's just part
41:11of the $900 million
41:13that the FBI's
41:14art crime program
41:15has recovered
41:16over the years.
41:17Whether it's ransom money,
41:21stolen treasure,
41:22or a case gone cold,
41:23sometimes the darkest
41:25secrets have a way
41:26of coming back
41:27into the light.
41:29I'm Danny Trejo.
41:30Thanks for watching
41:31Mysteries on Earth.
41:32I'm Thank you
41:43for watching.
41:48I'm Tony
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