Brad Meltzers Lost History Episodes 6-10 Reviews: More Missing Stuff (Season Finale)

I hadnt reviewed the rest of "Brad Meltzer's Lost History" so here ya go. Will Brad be back for a season 2? I hope so. It's an interesting behind the scenes look at some items of historical significance.

Episode 6: "Geronimo's Skull"
Segment #1 Geronimo's Skull, Segment #2, Al Capone's Cadillac, Segment #3 Teddy Roosevelt's revolver

Was Geronimo's skull really stolen by the mysterious Yale "Skull & Bones" society? In the 1850s an Apache medicine man returned home to find his mother, wife and children had been murdered by Mexican soldiers. This starts him on his path to defend his people and annihilate the enemy. In 1886 he and his men were cornered and had to surrender. They're sent to Fort Skill, OK where they were declared POWs and forced to live out their remaining years. He lived to be 79. The "Skull & Bones" were formed in 1842 and is probably the most famous secret society. Prescott Bush (George W Bush's granddaddy) was supposedly one of the thieves who stole the skull in 1918. The next two generations of Bush's and George HW Bush's brother were also in the society. "Skull & Bones" has alternately said the skull is not Geronimo's and that the whole story is just an elaborate hoax. IF the story is true, shame on you S&B. Give the poor man a proper burial. Lord knows he hasnt had any peace in life or death thus far.

Segment #2 involved the search for Al Capone's armor plated Cadillac. It is a little known fact that it was used by FDR to transport him to Congress to deliver his famous "a day that will live in infamy" speech and declare war on Japan (as the US enters WWII). Brad reviews how Al Capone came to power. He made a fortune bootlegging. There were a number of assassination attempts on his life. He has his car armor plated after his chauffeur is killed. He also has the car painted to look like a Chicago police car. Capone becomes "public enemy #1" but they have problems pinning anything on him. The FBI finally convicts him of tax evasion and he's given 10 years on jail. The Secret Service later finds the car in an impound lot and uses it until Ford Motor designs a car specifically for the president. Capone's car was last seen in a sideshow.

Segment #3 is about Teddy Roosevelt 's 1895 38 Colt revolver (which was stolen from a museum TWICE). I am surprised at the amount of artifacts lifted from museums. I assume they would be much harder to steal due to security but I guess not. The ship "USS Maine" went down off the coast of Cuba in 1898 due to uncertain circumstances. Teddy's brother-in-law was leading the expedition to recover the remains. He gives the gun to Roosevelt (this was before he became president). When the US declares the war on Spain, Roosevelt forms the Rough Riders and storms San Juan Hill (and you know the rest of the story). It was stolen in 1990 and then returned to a museum in 2005 by a colorful character named Andy Anderson. He was dating a woman whose husband had stolen the revolver. The thief only gets probation, community service and a fine.

Episode 7: "Moon Landing Tapes"
Segment #1 the original moon landing tapes, segment #2 Abraham Lincoln's Bixby Letter, segment #3 George Washington's wooden teeth

The TV footage we've all seen of the original Apollo 11 moon landings is fairly grainy. There was however another feed with much clearer. It has since gone missing. Given the importance of these tapes to mankind, the story is unbelievable. A scientist begins the search for the separate video back in 1999. There might be a copy in Australia. Nope not there. NASA thinks they might be at the National Records Center (NRC). But it's impossible to determine though given the warehouses are full of boxes of uncatalogued info. No one knows where anything is. They might even have been overwritten. In the 1970s-80s NASA was running out of magnetic tape. They started reusing some earlier mission tapes. Seriously? Why would you do that? Anyway, we're not certain if the clearer copies still exist or will ever be recovered at this point.

The Bixby Letter is a letter that President Lincoln wrote to a Mrs Bixby upon hearing that her five sons died in the Civil War. It has become known as the "Letter of Condolence" and was read by President Bush at Ground Zero during the 9/11 anniversary. It also inspired the movie "Saving Private Ryan". The letter was so beautifully written that it was passed around among various news sources before being hand delivered to Mrs Bixby. It hasnt been seen since. A number of forgeries/lithographs have emerged, but never the original.

In 1981 a set of George Washington's teeth (he had at least 4 sets of dentures) were discovered missing from a locked cabinet in a locked room in the Smithsonian. Washington had dental problems throughout his life. His teeth were blackened by the age of 25. All were pulled before he took office. He tried several different versions of teeth but didnt like to smile or speak in public as a result. We often forget that dental issues were common at the time. Washington's dentures werent cheap. They were state of the art. They were not wooden (if thought we often think that for some reason). This set were made out of human teeth and ivory.

Episode 8: "White House Cornerstone"
Segment #1 the White House Cornerstone, segment #2 letters from a Vietnam soldier, segment #3 the gun possibly used in the Amityville horror murders

The original cornerstone laid by the Freemasons is missing. I had heard about this previously in Brad's book entitled "History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies Of All Time". See my review here: http://gmonster320.blogspot.com/2013/12/book-review-history-decoded-10-greatest.html Many believe that the cornerstone was pulled up before the mortar was dry on it. There was no security at the White House at that time. Barbara Bush also sparked an extensive search but no dice. They even used radar in that attempt.

A number of letters were sent by Vietnam soldiers back home. One soldier sent letters regular but was killed with three letters still in his pocket. The were recovered by the Viet Cong and used as propaganda against the Americans. The letters were finally returned many years later during an exchange between the US and Vietnam.

If you dont know about the Amityville murders, it is a very frightening and interesting story. In 1974 six members of a family (the parents and four children) were all found shot to death. The sole survivor was the son Ronnie. Did he kill everyone? He did, after all, confess saying the voices in the house made him do it. And if so, is it possible to kill that many people without others in the house hearing the shots and waking up? Did he have an accomplice? Later forensic evaluation said that different weapons were used-- http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/27/new-evidence-raises-questions-in-decades-old-amityville-horror-murders/ A second gun stock was recovered from a river but without a barrel it's impossible to tell if it was used to kill the family. And in case you're confused about what all this has to do with the movie/book "Amityville Horror" its the story of the family that buys the house after the DeFoes were killed.

Episode 9: "D-Day Footage"
Segment #1 D-Day footage, segment #2 Hindenburg crash footage, segment #3 George Harrison's guitar

George Hjorth appeared as a child on "The Little Rascals". Later he and a number of other cameramen were hired by the OSS to take pictures behind enemy lines. This way, the government could gather intelligence before attacking. George was not told his mission ahead of time (in case the Germans captured and tortured him). He was on Omaha beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. His video shows the D Day invasion as the allies come on shore. This was the largest military force ever amassed with 11,000 aircraft, 6400 ships and transport vehicles and 150,000 soldiers. Somehow George made it successfully across the battle lines. Some 10,000 allied soldiers died during the first day. George returned to the US with all his films intact. However he was never allowed to view them (because he didnt have a high enough security rating). Seriously? He also signed a contract not to discuss the events for 50 years. He kept his word and later revealed his part in the war effort to his son. When he went looking for the films they were nowhere to be seen. Could then possibly be buried in the National Archives somewhere?

The next story is about the tragic explosion of the zeppelin (airship) known as the Hindenburg in 1937. It caught fire and burned while attempted to dock in New Jersey. We have all seen the footage as a reporter (Herbert Morrison) emotionally depicts the happens. The famous phrase "Oh the humanity" is uttered. There were some 97 people aboard the airship but 63 managed to survive by jumping from the ship.There were 36 fatalities (including one person on the ground). The use of flammable nitrogen gas was to explain for the explosion. The film footage went missing from the National Archives. Later a researcher found the video for sale on EBay. He traced back the seller and it turned out to be Lesley Waffen who was the retired head of the motion pictures section of the archives. When police arrived, he had some 4800 sound recordings in his house. I guess the guy felt like he didnt get a good retirement plan.

The last story is about George Harrison's guitar "Lucille' which was stolen from his home and later ended up with a guy in Mexico. Tony Baker served as an intermediary and was finally about to help George get it back. Years later the guitar was sold in auction for $650,000.

Episode 10: "Evidence Found"
Brad provides updates on previous stories including the lost Ground Zero Flag. See previous recaps of these cases at http://gmonster320.blogspot.com/2014/11/brad-meltzers-lost-history-episodes-1.html

Case 1- A "reading copy" of FDR's 1937 speech was stolen from the Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY in 2010. The staff was distracted by someone bringing them cupcakes. In a "truth is stranger than fiction" story, the culprit turned out to be renowned historian Barry Landau. He had appeared on a number of TV/radio shows including CNN. Landau was sentenced to seven years for the theft of that document and well as some 6,000 others found in his home.

Case 2 is also a strange story. When the government was transferred from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration in 2001, reports of vandalism were made for such things as: destruction of property aboard Airforce One, phone lines cut, doors jimmied so the occupants were locked inside, glue filled drawers, the "w's" missing off of 65 White House computer keyboards, etc. After an extension investigation by the General Accounting Office (GAO), it was determined that none of the reports were true except the "w's". That case is still open (but in my opinion it was just someone trying to be funny).

Case 3 is a plaque commemorating the television show "Roots". It was stolen from an Annapolis port in 1981. The message left in its place said "you have been patronized by the KKK". An anonymous person later came forward saying his elderly neighbor confessed to having stolen the plaque. It is supposedly buried on some farmland nearby. That's probably the last we'll see of that plaque unless someone happens to dig it up.

Case 4 is the photo albums that Mussolini gave Hitler after his visit to Italy. At the end of WWII, the albums were taken home by a soldier. His wife later sold them to a mysterious man who promised to write a book about her deceased husband. An investigator later found that had a book had indeed been written in 1970 but only 500 copies were made. The author later sold the albums for $10,000. They were again sold in 2013 but we're not sure to whom.

Case 5 appeared in episode 1 and is the most popular story of the season. The Ground Zero Flag obviously elicits lots of emotions. We all have seen the iconic image of the flag being raised by three firemen over Ground Zero amongst the rubble. After the show originally aired, a mysterious man delivered what he said was the authentic flag to a fire station in Washington state. A forensic investigator examined the flag and believed it to be authentic. We'll however have to wait for extensive analysis before declaring it to be legit (but it does look promising).

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). If you're a history buff or like a good mystery, "Lost History" might be for you. Here's to hoping there's a season 2. I'm sure there are plenty more missing items that need to be found.