1 00:00:02,002 --> 00:00:04,046 On this episode of "Expedition Files." 2 00:00:04,171 --> 00:00:09,383 In 1968, the USS Scorpion disappears without a trace. 3 00:00:09,384 --> 00:00:13,930 Accident or act of war? 4 00:00:13,931 --> 00:00:18,935 Did a Soviet spy inside the U.S. Navy help destroy it? 5 00:00:18,936 --> 00:00:22,730 For six decades, the truth has been submerged... 6 00:00:22,731 --> 00:00:24,691 until now. 7 00:00:24,816 --> 00:00:29,071 And Paul Revere famously saved America on his Midnight Ride, 8 00:00:29,196 --> 00:00:30,780 during the Revolutionary War. 9 00:00:30,781 --> 00:00:32,240 [neighing] 10 00:00:32,241 --> 00:00:34,784 But does he deserve all the credit? 11 00:00:34,785 --> 00:00:38,247 Remarkable research changes everything we think we know 12 00:00:38,372 --> 00:00:39,914 about the birth of our nation. 13 00:00:39,915 --> 00:00:41,707 [Revere] The British are coming! 14 00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:44,044 [Josh] Then, a shocking claim. 15 00:00:44,169 --> 00:00:47,589 John Wilkes Booth, the killer of Abraham Lincoln, 16 00:00:47,714 --> 00:00:50,716 wasn't captured and killed at all, 17 00:00:50,717 --> 00:00:55,763 but instead lived on to meet a far stranger end. 18 00:00:55,764 --> 00:00:58,725 We dig into this mind-blowing theory. 19 00:01:00,561 --> 00:01:02,311 [theme music plays] 20 00:01:02,312 --> 00:01:03,814 In the corridors of time... 21 00:01:06,316 --> 00:01:09,528 Are mysteries that defy explanation. 22 00:01:10,737 --> 00:01:14,324 Now, I'm traveling through history itself... 23 00:01:16,910 --> 00:01:18,495 on a search for the truth. 24 00:01:20,956 --> 00:01:21,957 New evidence. 25 00:01:23,917 --> 00:01:25,127 Shocking answers. 26 00:01:27,087 --> 00:01:28,255 I'm Josh Gates. 27 00:01:29,423 --> 00:01:30,424 And these... 28 00:01:32,634 --> 00:01:34,594 are my "Expedition Files." 29 00:01:34,595 --> 00:01:37,847 [theme music ends] 30 00:01:37,848 --> 00:01:40,641 There are many things we know about America. 31 00:01:40,642 --> 00:01:42,643 Truths held self-evident. 32 00:01:42,644 --> 00:01:44,979 We have 50 states, we love freedom, 33 00:01:44,980 --> 00:01:48,524 we sing the national anthem off key before every baseball game, 34 00:01:48,525 --> 00:01:50,444 and our idea of a small soda 35 00:01:50,569 --> 00:01:53,279 is still larger than any other nation on Earth. 36 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,449 But tonight isn't about what we know about America. 37 00:01:56,450 --> 00:01:57,992 It's about what we don't. 38 00:01:57,993 --> 00:02:00,996 So, prepare to look beneath the stars and stripes 39 00:02:01,121 --> 00:02:03,873 to uncover three American mysteries. 40 00:02:03,874 --> 00:02:06,375 We begin in Spain, of all places. 41 00:02:06,376 --> 00:02:10,963 It's May of 1968, and the Cold War is running red hot, 42 00:02:10,964 --> 00:02:12,966 as we dive into the enigmatic fate of one 43 00:02:13,091 --> 00:02:17,178 of America's most valuable military assets. 44 00:02:17,179 --> 00:02:19,972 We're on base at Naval Station Rota, 45 00:02:19,973 --> 00:02:22,725 and behind me is the USS Scorpion, 46 00:02:22,726 --> 00:02:25,479 a skipjack-class, nuclear-powered submarine 47 00:02:25,604 --> 00:02:28,148 about to depart for its home in Norfolk, Virginia, 48 00:02:28,273 --> 00:02:30,733 due to arrive in two weeks' time. 49 00:02:30,734 --> 00:02:34,904 But this sub and all 99 men aboard will disappear. 50 00:02:34,905 --> 00:02:37,490 No distress call, no survivors. 51 00:02:37,491 --> 00:02:40,910 And what the Navy knows, well, that's classified. 52 00:02:40,911 --> 00:02:44,539 But then, more than 50 years later, a whistleblower claiming 53 00:02:44,665 --> 00:02:48,043 to have inside information will come forward to disclose 54 00:02:48,168 --> 00:02:50,878 something that, if true, would be one of the most 55 00:02:50,879 --> 00:02:53,340 well-kept secrets of the Cold War. 56 00:02:53,465 --> 00:02:57,052 Is the fate of the Scorpion an accident or an attack? 57 00:03:05,519 --> 00:03:08,855 Commissioned in 1960, the USS Scorpion is one 58 00:03:08,980 --> 00:03:12,066 of the Navy's most advanced nuclear attack subs, 59 00:03:12,067 --> 00:03:16,195 designed to be virtually undetectable by the enemy. 60 00:03:16,196 --> 00:03:19,949 Powered by a nuclear reactor, it's built to run silently 61 00:03:19,950 --> 00:03:22,702 and stay submerged for months. 62 00:03:22,703 --> 00:03:26,789 At 252 feet long, about the length of a city block, 63 00:03:26,790 --> 00:03:29,209 it can reach 33 knots underwater, 64 00:03:29,334 --> 00:03:31,712 nearly 40 miles an hour. 65 00:03:31,837 --> 00:03:36,048 Armed with classified weapons, including two nuclear warheads, 66 00:03:36,049 --> 00:03:38,719 it's one of the deadliest and most stealthy assets 67 00:03:38,844 --> 00:03:40,720 in the U.S. Navy. 68 00:03:40,721 --> 00:03:43,597 Here at the Submarine Force Atlantic headquarters 69 00:03:43,598 --> 00:03:46,560 in Norfolk, Virginia, radio men like Mike Hannon 70 00:03:46,685 --> 00:03:49,062 monitor the Scorpion and every other U.S. 71 00:03:49,187 --> 00:03:51,565 submarine operating in the Atlantic. 72 00:03:52,983 --> 00:03:56,569 While here, beneath the waves, the Scorpion spends most 73 00:03:56,570 --> 00:03:59,156 of her time training to hunt Soviet subs. 74 00:04:00,699 --> 00:04:02,074 But there's a problem. 75 00:04:02,075 --> 00:04:04,786 The Scorpion isn't exactly shipshape. 76 00:04:04,911 --> 00:04:07,496 The sub has been racking up maintenance headaches. 77 00:04:07,497 --> 00:04:09,749 There's a hydraulic leak they can't fix 78 00:04:09,750 --> 00:04:13,252 and a persistently faulty trash disposal unit. 79 00:04:13,253 --> 00:04:16,672 The crew starts calling it "Scrap Iron." 80 00:04:16,673 --> 00:04:20,509 Despite this, in February of 1968, 81 00:04:20,510 --> 00:04:22,971 the submarine gets cleared for duty 82 00:04:23,096 --> 00:04:25,973 and begins patrols of the Mediterranean. 83 00:04:25,974 --> 00:04:27,809 For three months, the Scorpion travels 84 00:04:27,934 --> 00:04:30,936 throughout the Med, it doesn't find any threats. 85 00:04:30,937 --> 00:04:34,940 And on May 17th, its mission is scheduled to come to an end. 86 00:04:34,941 --> 00:04:38,694 Its last stop is the port of Rota, Spain, before it turns 87 00:04:38,695 --> 00:04:41,947 west into the Atlantic and heads home. 88 00:04:41,948 --> 00:04:46,787 On May 21st, the crew radios in from roughly 250 miles 89 00:04:46,912 --> 00:04:50,499 southwest of the Azores Islands of Portugal. 90 00:04:50,624 --> 00:04:54,294 They estimate they'll be back in Norfolk in six days' time. 91 00:04:58,131 --> 00:05:00,674 May 27th, 1968, 92 00:05:00,675 --> 00:05:03,678 the USS Scorpion is finally due home. 93 00:05:03,804 --> 00:05:06,681 Families gather at the pier, eager to welcome their loved 94 00:05:06,807 --> 00:05:10,643 ones, but something is terribly wrong, and Radioman Second 95 00:05:10,644 --> 00:05:12,979 Class Mike Hannon suspects it. 96 00:05:13,104 --> 00:05:16,565 It's Hannon's job to track messages from the subs at sea. 97 00:05:16,566 --> 00:05:19,360 The Scorpion hasn't sent one in six days. 98 00:05:19,361 --> 00:05:22,364 He's praying there's some logical explanation, 99 00:05:22,489 --> 00:05:24,282 but there's no sign of the Scorpion. 100 00:05:25,992 --> 00:05:27,702 The developing story out of Norfolk... 101 00:05:27,828 --> 00:05:30,163 [Josh] By 6 PM, the evening news is painting 102 00:05:30,288 --> 00:05:31,831 an unsettling picture. 103 00:05:31,832 --> 00:05:34,500 [reporter 1] The nuclear submarine USS Scorpion 104 00:05:34,501 --> 00:05:36,545 was scheduled to arrive in Norfolk 105 00:05:36,670 --> 00:05:38,921 this morning, but Navy officials 106 00:05:38,922 --> 00:05:41,216 say the vessel has yet to make contact. 107 00:05:41,341 --> 00:05:43,844 [reporter 2] That's right. Families worry as the status 108 00:05:43,969 --> 00:05:47,514 of the crew of naval submarine Scorpion remains unknown. 109 00:05:47,639 --> 00:05:50,349 It's been almost a week since the Navy has received 110 00:05:50,350 --> 00:05:52,685 communication from the vessel. 111 00:05:52,686 --> 00:05:55,730 [Josh] The next day, word spreads across the country. 112 00:05:55,856 --> 00:05:58,899 A nuclear-powered submarine is missing. 113 00:05:58,900 --> 00:06:01,902 And with Soviet tensions at an all-time high, the Navy 114 00:06:01,903 --> 00:06:04,363 is looking to avoid a panic. 115 00:06:04,364 --> 00:06:06,741 The government tries to keep a lid on things, 116 00:06:06,867 --> 00:06:08,909 quietly sending search vessels out, 117 00:06:08,910 --> 00:06:10,829 framed as routine operations. 118 00:06:11,955 --> 00:06:15,082 But behind the scenes, there's much more urgency 119 00:06:15,083 --> 00:06:17,919 as the Atlantic Fleet surges into action. 120 00:06:18,044 --> 00:06:20,422 Dozens of ships and aircraft search 121 00:06:20,547 --> 00:06:22,424 for the missing submarine. 122 00:06:22,549 --> 00:06:25,301 They scour the Scorpion's projected path 123 00:06:25,302 --> 00:06:28,387 from the Azores all the way to Norfolk. 124 00:06:28,388 --> 00:06:32,934 Weeks pass, and the Navy offers no explanation to the families 125 00:06:33,059 --> 00:06:35,060 who are desperate for answers. 126 00:06:35,061 --> 00:06:37,730 But the operation presses on. 127 00:06:37,731 --> 00:06:41,317 And then, five months in, using cutting-edge sonar 128 00:06:41,318 --> 00:06:44,612 and underwater camera systems, the Navy pulls off 129 00:06:44,613 --> 00:06:46,573 the seemingly impossible. 130 00:06:46,698 --> 00:06:49,450 They find the Scorpion. 131 00:06:49,451 --> 00:06:53,787 The wreck of the submarine sits 9,800 feet below the surface 132 00:06:53,788 --> 00:06:57,499 of the Atlantic, approximately 400 miles southwest 133 00:06:57,500 --> 00:06:59,793 of the Azores. 134 00:06:59,794 --> 00:07:03,423 The submarine is badly damaged, its hull shattered. 135 00:07:04,549 --> 00:07:07,009 What could have caused this catastrophe? 136 00:07:07,010 --> 00:07:09,930 And was the Scorpion's nickname of "Scrap Iron" 137 00:07:10,055 --> 00:07:11,431 an omen of her destruction? 138 00:07:12,974 --> 00:07:15,643 The Navy's official inquiry is contentious, 139 00:07:15,644 --> 00:07:18,438 with various theories hotly debated. 140 00:07:18,563 --> 00:07:22,442 Some experts blame structural failure or a hydrogen explosion 141 00:07:22,567 --> 00:07:24,443 during a battery charge. 142 00:07:24,444 --> 00:07:27,780 Others believe one of the sub's own torpedoes accidentally 143 00:07:27,781 --> 00:07:30,282 detonated, imploding the ship. 144 00:07:30,283 --> 00:07:33,620 The investigation suspected some form of explosion, 145 00:07:33,745 --> 00:07:36,456 but lacked the evidence to prove its cause, 146 00:07:36,581 --> 00:07:39,501 ultimately determining that the reason the USS Scorpion 147 00:07:39,626 --> 00:07:42,671 sunk, quote, "Cannot be definitely ascertained." 148 00:07:47,884 --> 00:07:50,386 For the next 50 years, the loss of the Scorpion 149 00:07:50,387 --> 00:07:53,348 will remain one of the Cold War's biggest mysteries. 150 00:07:53,473 --> 00:07:57,184 But now, former Navy radio operator Mike Hannon has come 151 00:07:57,185 --> 00:08:01,063 forward with a stunning claim, that the Navy knew far more 152 00:08:01,064 --> 00:08:02,816 than it ever told the public. 153 00:08:02,941 --> 00:08:05,318 He believes the destruction of the Scorpion and the deaths 154 00:08:05,443 --> 00:08:08,195 of her crew was no accident. 155 00:08:08,196 --> 00:08:11,365 [Hannon] At the time the Scorpion was sunk, 156 00:08:11,366 --> 00:08:13,909 I was a service clerk 157 00:08:13,910 --> 00:08:19,040 responsible for all incoming and outgoing messages. 158 00:08:19,165 --> 00:08:21,835 [Josh] One of those messages was what's known in the Navy 159 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:23,585 as a "check report." 160 00:08:23,586 --> 00:08:30,218 [Hannon] Check report is a very simple message sent 161 00:08:30,343 --> 00:08:36,390 encrypted by a submarine when it is on patrol. 162 00:08:36,391 --> 00:08:40,019 The Scorpion was on a 24-hour check report 163 00:08:40,020 --> 00:08:43,605 until we want to hear from them every 24 hours. 164 00:08:43,606 --> 00:08:45,233 The message simply would say, 165 00:08:45,358 --> 00:08:48,153 "Check 24. Submarine Scorpion." 166 00:08:50,363 --> 00:08:53,408 [Josh] So when no check report arrived, Hannon knew something 167 00:08:53,533 --> 00:08:55,201 was wrong, very wrong. 168 00:08:56,327 --> 00:08:57,662 Any news on Scorpion? 169 00:08:58,997 --> 00:09:00,790 [Hannon sighs] 170 00:09:03,334 --> 00:09:05,586 [Josh] When the daily check reports stopped, 171 00:09:05,587 --> 00:09:07,088 Navy command pulled data 172 00:09:07,213 --> 00:09:09,257 from the U.S. Sound Surveillance System, 173 00:09:09,382 --> 00:09:12,051 a vast network of underwater hydrophones 174 00:09:12,052 --> 00:09:14,928 designed to detect and track submarines across 175 00:09:14,929 --> 00:09:16,556 the world's oceans. 176 00:09:16,681 --> 00:09:19,392 Mike Hannon viewed a visualization of that data 177 00:09:19,517 --> 00:09:23,228 and believes he saw something that changes everything. 178 00:09:23,229 --> 00:09:26,941 They showed me the tape, and you could clearly see 179 00:09:27,067 --> 00:09:29,402 it squiggling up and down the line. 180 00:09:30,612 --> 00:09:34,616 And you could see, boom, here, a couple seconds later, 181 00:09:34,741 --> 00:09:38,578 boom, there. Two distinct torpedo hits. 182 00:09:39,871 --> 00:09:43,083 - [indistinct shouting] - [alarms blaring] 183 00:09:43,208 --> 00:09:45,126 [Hannon] And the Scorpion was sunk. 184 00:09:47,045 --> 00:09:51,673 After the two explosions, they could determine 185 00:09:51,674 --> 00:09:56,471 that a Russian submarine in that immediate area 186 00:09:56,596 --> 00:09:59,099 sped up, surfaced, 187 00:09:59,224 --> 00:10:00,682 and left. 188 00:10:00,683 --> 00:10:03,103 [Josh] Hannon believes the hydrophone recording 189 00:10:03,228 --> 00:10:06,271 is a smoking gun, proving the Scorpion was sunk 190 00:10:06,272 --> 00:10:08,190 in a Soviet submarine attack. 191 00:10:08,191 --> 00:10:09,817 But there is one big problem. 192 00:10:09,818 --> 00:10:13,113 The tape Mike claims he saw of the hydrophone recording, 193 00:10:13,238 --> 00:10:14,780 in the 60 years since, 194 00:10:14,781 --> 00:10:17,283 no one else has ever reported seeing it. 195 00:10:17,408 --> 00:10:19,868 And even if we do take Mike at his word, 196 00:10:19,869 --> 00:10:21,286 there's another question. 197 00:10:21,287 --> 00:10:24,666 How were the Soviets able to locate a stealth submarine? 198 00:10:24,791 --> 00:10:26,834 Mike believes he has the answer. 199 00:10:26,835 --> 00:10:28,962 His co-worker was a Russian spy. 200 00:10:36,719 --> 00:10:39,722 [Josh] A bombshell claim from former Navy radioman Mike Hannon, 201 00:10:39,848 --> 00:10:43,267 suggests the USS Scorpion submarine wasn't lost 202 00:10:43,268 --> 00:10:46,895 to an accident, but instead was destroyed in a calculated 203 00:10:46,896 --> 00:10:48,856 Soviet torpedo strike. 204 00:10:48,857 --> 00:10:50,357 But if the Scorpion was 205 00:10:50,358 --> 00:10:53,403 a virtually undetectable stealth sub, 206 00:10:53,528 --> 00:10:55,321 how could the Soviets have found it? 207 00:10:56,447 --> 00:10:59,950 The answer wouldn't surface until nearly two decades later, 208 00:10:59,951 --> 00:11:02,704 with revelations about John Walker Jr., 209 00:11:02,829 --> 00:11:06,290 a chief warrant officer in the Norfolk Communications Office, 210 00:11:06,291 --> 00:11:10,252 alongside radioman Mike Hannon when the Scorpion vanished. 211 00:11:10,253 --> 00:11:14,424 In the 1980s, he was officially outed as a spy and sentenced 212 00:11:14,549 --> 00:11:17,385 to life in prison in one of the most damaging security 213 00:11:17,510 --> 00:11:20,804 breaches in naval history. Walker had been passing 214 00:11:20,805 --> 00:11:24,559 the U.S. Navy's most closely guarded secrets to the Soviets, 215 00:11:24,684 --> 00:11:28,062 including top secret submarine patrol schedules. 216 00:11:29,230 --> 00:11:33,483 If the Soviets had access to the Scorpion's navigation plan, 217 00:11:33,484 --> 00:11:36,237 they would have known exactly where she was headed 218 00:11:36,362 --> 00:11:38,948 and could have been waiting to strike. 219 00:11:39,073 --> 00:11:41,408 [Hannon] We had a row of teletype machines 220 00:11:41,409 --> 00:11:43,911 where messages were coming in. 221 00:11:43,912 --> 00:11:47,831 And I had noticed that Walker would go back there 222 00:11:47,832 --> 00:11:50,250 and just go down the line, looking at the messages 223 00:11:50,251 --> 00:11:52,795 on each of the machines. 224 00:11:52,921 --> 00:11:57,466 I said, "Why all of a sudden is Walker interested in all 225 00:11:57,467 --> 00:11:59,427 of these damn messages?" 226 00:11:59,552 --> 00:12:01,429 I think there's a good possibility 227 00:12:01,554 --> 00:12:03,639 that Walker could have been involved. 228 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:08,769 And there's no doubt in my mind that a Soviet submarine 229 00:12:08,770 --> 00:12:12,774 fired two torpedoes and sank the Scorpion, 230 00:12:12,899 --> 00:12:14,942 no doubt whatsoever. 231 00:12:14,943 --> 00:12:19,197 And I will take those feelings to my grave with me. 232 00:12:20,406 --> 00:12:24,534 Soviet spy John Walker Jr. died in prison in 2014 233 00:12:24,535 --> 00:12:26,663 without ever being directly linked to the fate 234 00:12:26,788 --> 00:12:28,122 of the Scorpion. 235 00:12:28,248 --> 00:12:31,041 Many experts are also skeptical of Mike's theory, 236 00:12:31,042 --> 00:12:33,460 noting that the wreck shows no clear sign 237 00:12:33,461 --> 00:12:35,463 of an external torpedo attack 238 00:12:35,588 --> 00:12:38,507 and that the sub likely imploded due to an unknown 239 00:12:38,508 --> 00:12:42,177 catastrophic event, which means that for Mike and the families 240 00:12:42,178 --> 00:12:45,515 of those aboard, there's no emotional closure to the case. 241 00:12:47,725 --> 00:12:53,146 It was painful then and for all the years since. 242 00:12:53,147 --> 00:12:57,026 I knew 10 of those guys... 243 00:12:57,151 --> 00:12:59,027 closely. 244 00:12:59,028 --> 00:13:02,155 The scar that that's left on me, 245 00:13:02,156 --> 00:13:05,994 seldom does a night go by 246 00:13:06,119 --> 00:13:10,039 that I don't have that whole situation go through my head 247 00:13:10,164 --> 00:13:12,000 and wake-- wake me up. 248 00:13:12,125 --> 00:13:14,501 If you had seen those families 249 00:13:14,502 --> 00:13:16,878 on that pier, their anticipation, 250 00:13:16,879 --> 00:13:18,755 and their dads are coming home 251 00:13:18,756 --> 00:13:20,758 or significant others are coming home, 252 00:13:21,968 --> 00:13:23,344 it-- it broke my heart. 253 00:13:24,595 --> 00:13:28,890 I know that I've said information that's still 254 00:13:28,891 --> 00:13:34,771 top secret, but I'm not going to die with the people of America 255 00:13:34,772 --> 00:13:39,027 not knowing what happened with that submarine 256 00:13:39,152 --> 00:13:43,448 and its 99 dedicated sailors. 257 00:13:48,619 --> 00:13:51,247 Over a decade ago, a submarine veterans group 258 00:13:51,372 --> 00:13:54,541 petitioned the government to reopen the case to determine 259 00:13:54,542 --> 00:13:56,878 the true cause of the Scorpion's sinking. 260 00:13:57,003 --> 00:13:59,379 So far, the Navy has declined. 261 00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:02,758 Today, the USS Scorpion still lies at a depth of nearly 262 00:14:02,759 --> 00:14:06,053 10,000 feet on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, 263 00:14:06,054 --> 00:14:08,097 as does her nuclear reactor. 264 00:14:08,222 --> 00:14:11,600 The Navy monitors the area for signs of radioactivity, 265 00:14:11,601 --> 00:14:15,896 but the sub itself remains off limits, a silent steel tomb 266 00:14:15,897 --> 00:14:17,607 for 99 sailors who made 267 00:14:17,732 --> 00:14:19,984 the ultimate sacrifice for their country. 268 00:14:25,031 --> 00:14:26,949 From a submarine lost at sea, 269 00:14:27,075 --> 00:14:29,451 to the loss of an American president. 270 00:14:29,452 --> 00:14:32,245 It's April 26, 1865. 271 00:14:32,246 --> 00:14:33,956 The Civil War is at an end, 272 00:14:34,082 --> 00:14:36,584 and Abraham Lincoln has just been murdered. 273 00:14:36,709 --> 00:14:40,003 And inside this blazing barn is the man who shot him. 274 00:14:40,004 --> 00:14:42,297 [officer yelling] Throw down your arms and come out! 275 00:14:42,298 --> 00:14:45,759 History records that in a few minutes, gunfire will ring out, 276 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:48,428 and John Wilkes Booth will die. 277 00:14:48,429 --> 00:14:51,306 But soon, a conspiracy theory will emerge, 278 00:14:51,307 --> 00:14:54,267 one of the strangest theories you could possibly imagine, 279 00:14:54,268 --> 00:14:56,813 that John Wilkes Booth doesn't perish tonight, 280 00:14:56,938 --> 00:14:59,773 that he escapes, slips into a new identity, 281 00:14:59,774 --> 00:15:01,108 only to end up as-- 282 00:15:01,109 --> 00:15:03,485 well, I don't want to spoil it for you. 283 00:15:03,486 --> 00:15:07,322 Just get ready for a wild ride as we use high-tech analysis 284 00:15:07,323 --> 00:15:09,117 to unravel the mind-blowing mystery 285 00:15:09,242 --> 00:15:12,870 surrounding America's most infamous assassin. 286 00:15:19,293 --> 00:15:20,711 [country music plays] 287 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,592 Our strange story really begins 12 days before the barn. 288 00:15:28,386 --> 00:15:30,137 After four long years of bloodshed, 289 00:15:30,138 --> 00:15:31,973 the Civil War is finally over. 290 00:15:33,599 --> 00:15:36,352 President Abraham Lincoln is taking a rare night out 291 00:15:36,477 --> 00:15:39,729 to celebrate, enjoying the play "Our American Cousin" 292 00:15:39,730 --> 00:15:42,150 at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. 293 00:15:42,275 --> 00:15:44,401 [audience applause] 294 00:15:44,402 --> 00:15:47,654 But just as the performance reaches its climax, 295 00:15:47,655 --> 00:15:50,158 a single gunshot rings out. 296 00:15:51,159 --> 00:15:53,619 Lincoln has been murdered in cold blood. 297 00:15:55,037 --> 00:15:57,623 The killer leaps from Lincoln's box onto the stage. 298 00:15:58,791 --> 00:16:02,837 He lands on both feet, hard. His leg is now broken. 299 00:16:05,590 --> 00:16:08,551 [speaking Latin] Sic semper tyrannis! 300 00:16:08,676 --> 00:16:10,887 The South will be avenged! 301 00:16:11,012 --> 00:16:12,345 [Josh] Many in the audience wonder 302 00:16:12,346 --> 00:16:14,182 if this is all part of the play. 303 00:16:15,683 --> 00:16:18,394 That's because the man who just jumped on stage is one 304 00:16:18,519 --> 00:16:22,064 of the most famous actors in America, John Wilkes Booth. 305 00:16:24,192 --> 00:16:27,445 Before anyone can react, he flees the stage. 306 00:16:28,988 --> 00:16:30,614 [woman 1] He shot the president! 307 00:16:30,615 --> 00:16:31,991 Stop that man! 308 00:16:34,785 --> 00:16:37,954 [Josh] Booth rides off into the darkness and vanishes. 309 00:16:37,955 --> 00:16:42,084 Sparking one of the most frantic manhunts in American history. 310 00:16:42,210 --> 00:16:45,712 According to some reports, he alters his appearance, 311 00:16:45,713 --> 00:16:47,797 shaving off his trademark mustache 312 00:16:47,798 --> 00:16:50,425 to avoid being recognized. 313 00:16:50,426 --> 00:16:53,136 As word of Lincoln's assassination spreads, 314 00:16:53,137 --> 00:16:56,766 Secretary of War Edwin Stanton locks down Washington, 315 00:16:56,891 --> 00:16:59,893 sealing bridges and dispatching teams of soldiers, 316 00:16:59,894 --> 00:17:03,189 detectives, and bounty hunters to track Booth's escape. 317 00:17:05,733 --> 00:17:10,570 A staggering $50,000 bounty, over a million dollars today, 318 00:17:10,571 --> 00:17:12,073 is placed on Booth's head. 319 00:17:15,701 --> 00:17:18,745 After 12 days of desperate searching, finally, 320 00:17:18,746 --> 00:17:20,121 there's a break. 321 00:17:20,122 --> 00:17:23,124 A tip leads Union soldiers to a farm two miles 322 00:17:23,125 --> 00:17:25,335 from Port Royal, Virginia. 323 00:17:25,336 --> 00:17:27,421 Two men are said to be hiding there, 324 00:17:27,547 --> 00:17:30,132 one matching the description of John Wilkes Booth. 325 00:17:32,134 --> 00:17:35,429 The soldiers are under clear orders to take Booth alive 326 00:17:35,555 --> 00:17:38,724 so he can expose any possible Confederate conspiracy. 327 00:17:42,436 --> 00:17:44,854 So the soldiers set the barn ablaze, 328 00:17:44,855 --> 00:17:46,274 hoping to force Booth out. 329 00:17:46,399 --> 00:17:47,441 [coughs] 330 00:17:47,567 --> 00:17:50,527 Which brings us back here to the besieged barn. 331 00:17:50,528 --> 00:17:52,947 According to the account of the Union soldiers, 332 00:17:53,072 --> 00:17:55,782 they first demand the two men inside surrender. 333 00:17:55,783 --> 00:17:58,827 - Eventually, one man emerges. - [Corbett] You, come out! 334 00:17:58,828 --> 00:18:01,997 It's David Herold, one of Booth's accomplices. 335 00:18:01,998 --> 00:18:04,709 But the other man refuses to come outside. 336 00:18:06,210 --> 00:18:08,003 [coughs] 337 00:18:08,004 --> 00:18:10,840 Sargent Boston Corbett then confronts Booth 338 00:18:10,965 --> 00:18:12,382 through the doors of the barn. 339 00:18:12,383 --> 00:18:15,051 Come out, Booth! You're surrounded! 340 00:18:15,052 --> 00:18:17,013 Fearing the suspect is about to fire, 341 00:18:17,138 --> 00:18:19,723 he has no choice but to bring him down. 342 00:18:19,724 --> 00:18:21,474 [rifle shot] 343 00:18:21,475 --> 00:18:22,977 [coughs] 344 00:18:24,312 --> 00:18:26,856 [Josh] The soldiers say they drag him, barely alive, 345 00:18:26,981 --> 00:18:28,316 onto the farmhouse porch. 346 00:18:30,776 --> 00:18:32,569 In his pockets, the soldiers find 347 00:18:32,570 --> 00:18:33,571 Booth's diary. 348 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,575 Paralyzed from the gunshot, he apparently 349 00:18:38,576 --> 00:18:40,036 can't lift his arms. 350 00:18:40,161 --> 00:18:43,246 With his final breath, he stares down at his hands 351 00:18:43,247 --> 00:18:45,499 and whispers two words. 352 00:18:45,625 --> 00:18:48,336 Useless. 353 00:18:49,670 --> 00:18:53,174 Dawn is breaking, and John Wilkes Booth is dead. 354 00:18:54,759 --> 00:18:56,344 After 12 days on the run, 355 00:18:56,469 --> 00:18:59,722 the man who killed Abraham Lincoln has met his end. 356 00:19:01,015 --> 00:19:03,933 In the aftermath of Booth's death, the body is brought 357 00:19:03,934 --> 00:19:07,355 aboard the Union ironclad ship, the USS Montauk, 358 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:09,398 where a surgeon performs an autopsy. 359 00:19:13,027 --> 00:19:16,279 Fearing his remains might be stolen or desecrated, 360 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,574 Booth's body is then placed at a D.C. penitentiary 361 00:19:19,575 --> 00:19:22,870 before ultimately being interred in a family plot 362 00:19:22,995 --> 00:19:25,164 at Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore. 363 00:19:27,333 --> 00:19:30,210 Meanwhile, four people, including David Herold 364 00:19:30,211 --> 00:19:33,214 from the barn fire, are found guilty of conspiracy 365 00:19:33,339 --> 00:19:35,383 to assassinate Lincoln 366 00:19:35,508 --> 00:19:39,595 and are hanged on July 7th, 1865. 367 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,223 It would seem this tragic case has come to a close, 368 00:19:43,224 --> 00:19:46,519 but there are those that believe there's much more to the story. 369 00:19:48,104 --> 00:19:51,565 Enter Texas attorney Finis Bates, who publishes a book 370 00:19:51,691 --> 00:19:54,902 in 1907 called "The Escape and Suicide 371 00:19:55,027 --> 00:19:56,569 of John Wilkes Booth." 372 00:19:56,570 --> 00:20:00,073 In its pages Bates recounts the purportedly true 373 00:20:00,074 --> 00:20:01,409 jaw-dropping story 374 00:20:01,534 --> 00:20:04,704 of a man he befriended named John St. Helen. 375 00:20:05,746 --> 00:20:09,083 In 1878, St. Helen falls gravely ill. 376 00:20:09,208 --> 00:20:10,459 [coughs] 377 00:20:10,584 --> 00:20:12,461 [Josh] And, believing he's about to die, 378 00:20:12,586 --> 00:20:14,921 makes an outrageous confession. 379 00:20:14,922 --> 00:20:17,133 [Booth] Our name is not John St. Helen. 380 00:20:18,759 --> 00:20:20,886 My real name is John Wilkes Booth. 381 00:20:22,263 --> 00:20:25,349 [Josh] He says he is the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. 382 00:20:29,103 --> 00:20:31,813 According to Bates' tell-all book, John Wilkes Booth 383 00:20:31,814 --> 00:20:33,607 didn't die in that barn at all. 384 00:20:33,733 --> 00:20:36,777 He escaped justice and spent the rest of his life hiding 385 00:20:36,902 --> 00:20:38,654 behind a false identity. 386 00:20:38,779 --> 00:20:41,948 Now, that might sound like a crazy claim, but I promise 387 00:20:41,949 --> 00:20:44,617 we're just getting warmed up, because John Wilkes Booth 388 00:20:44,618 --> 00:20:49,623 then allegedly becomes an actual mummy in a traveling sideshow. 389 00:20:49,749 --> 00:20:50,750 Seriously. 390 00:20:58,466 --> 00:21:01,050 [Josh] In 1878, a man on his deathbed, 391 00:21:01,051 --> 00:21:04,889 named John St. Helen confesses an astonishing secret. 392 00:21:05,014 --> 00:21:07,348 He claims to be Abraham Lincoln's killer, 393 00:21:07,349 --> 00:21:10,351 John Wilkes Booth, and says he faked his death, 394 00:21:10,352 --> 00:21:11,353 escaping capture. 395 00:21:12,688 --> 00:21:15,940 The man explains that, after assassinating Lincoln, 396 00:21:15,941 --> 00:21:18,194 he escaped through Southern Maryland, 397 00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:19,903 hidden in the back of a wagon, 398 00:21:19,904 --> 00:21:22,239 and slipped back into Virginia. 399 00:21:22,364 --> 00:21:25,408 However, at one point, in order to avoid capture, 400 00:21:25,409 --> 00:21:28,870 St. Helen abandoned the wagon and fled into the woods. 401 00:21:28,871 --> 00:21:32,123 But, in doing so, he lost his diary. 402 00:21:32,124 --> 00:21:34,250 St. Helen says he sent a messenger, 403 00:21:34,251 --> 00:21:37,046 a Confederate soldier known only as Ruddy, 404 00:21:37,171 --> 00:21:38,379 back for the diary. 405 00:21:38,380 --> 00:21:41,050 Ruddy collected it, but then panicked upon seeing 406 00:21:41,175 --> 00:21:44,053 the Union troops and fled to a nearby barn, 407 00:21:44,178 --> 00:21:46,471 where he apparently ended up alongside 408 00:21:46,472 --> 00:21:49,225 fellow Confederate conspirator David Herold. 409 00:21:49,350 --> 00:21:52,435 St. Helen says it was his messenger who was shot 410 00:21:52,436 --> 00:21:55,064 and killed in the barn that night. 411 00:21:55,189 --> 00:21:58,776 But, because the man resembled him and carried his diary, 412 00:21:58,901 --> 00:22:01,445 it led Union troops to mistakenly identify 413 00:22:01,570 --> 00:22:04,072 the messenger as Booth. 414 00:22:04,073 --> 00:22:06,241 St. Helen said in the years that followed, 415 00:22:06,242 --> 00:22:09,620 he assumed various aliases, constantly on the move 416 00:22:09,745 --> 00:22:11,496 to avoid capture. 417 00:22:11,497 --> 00:22:12,623 [coughs] 418 00:22:12,748 --> 00:22:14,792 I need to show you something. 419 00:22:14,917 --> 00:22:16,960 [Josh] After telling this extraordinary tale 420 00:22:16,961 --> 00:22:20,631 to Finis Bates, St. Helen presents an original photograph 421 00:22:20,756 --> 00:22:22,758 of John Wilkes Booth as proof, 422 00:22:22,883 --> 00:22:25,343 implying that only the real Booth 423 00:22:25,344 --> 00:22:26,971 would possess such a picture. 424 00:22:28,347 --> 00:22:31,850 But that's far from the end of this twisted tale. 425 00:22:31,851 --> 00:22:34,270 Following his dramatic deathbed confession that 426 00:22:34,395 --> 00:22:37,982 he is John Wilkes Booth, St. Helen recovers 427 00:22:38,107 --> 00:22:39,483 and promptly disappears. 428 00:22:40,943 --> 00:22:42,443 Bates keeps the photograph, 429 00:22:42,444 --> 00:22:44,989 but it would be another 25 years, 430 00:22:45,114 --> 00:22:48,992 in 1903, before he sees St. Helen again, 431 00:22:48,993 --> 00:22:52,913 only this time, the man is definitely dead. 432 00:22:55,791 --> 00:22:58,376 Bates says he came across a newspaper article 433 00:22:58,377 --> 00:23:01,797 from Enid, Oklahoma, describing how a local mortuary 434 00:23:01,922 --> 00:23:04,133 had the preserved body of a drifter. 435 00:23:06,135 --> 00:23:08,845 The newspaper also reported the deceased man had been 436 00:23:08,846 --> 00:23:11,515 living under the name David E. George, 437 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,019 but before he died, claimed to be John Wilkes Booth. 438 00:23:16,812 --> 00:23:19,189 One look at the photo of David E. George 439 00:23:19,315 --> 00:23:22,359 and Bates was certain it was the same man he'd met 440 00:23:22,484 --> 00:23:26,195 years earlier in Texas, John St. Helen. 441 00:23:26,196 --> 00:23:29,491 A few years later, Bates actually buys the corpse, 442 00:23:29,617 --> 00:23:32,744 just as he's preparing to publish a book, 443 00:23:32,745 --> 00:23:36,332 detailing the wild tale of Booth's escape and secret life. 444 00:23:36,457 --> 00:23:40,418 With the mummified body in tow and a sensational story 445 00:23:40,419 --> 00:23:44,340 to promote, Bates is ready to take his show on the road. 446 00:23:44,465 --> 00:23:47,550 For the next 70 years, the so-called Booth Mummy 447 00:23:47,551 --> 00:23:50,888 takes to the stage, touring America with multiple circus 448 00:23:51,013 --> 00:23:54,432 productions, often with the less than subtle billing, 449 00:23:54,433 --> 00:23:56,393 "See the Man Who Murdered Lincoln." 450 00:23:56,518 --> 00:23:59,395 The attraction even makes it to the World's Fair. 451 00:23:59,396 --> 00:24:02,774 The mummy is a hit, but is there any shred of truth 452 00:24:02,775 --> 00:24:03,859 to its origin? 453 00:24:03,984 --> 00:24:06,528 Author Jane Singer has studied the legend closely. 454 00:24:07,696 --> 00:24:13,534 What's remarkable to me is how many people genuinely believed 455 00:24:13,535 --> 00:24:16,372 that John Wilkes Booth did not die in that barn. 456 00:24:16,497 --> 00:24:17,706 [coughs] 457 00:24:17,831 --> 00:24:20,084 [Jane] Was there a government conspiracy to suppress 458 00:24:20,209 --> 00:24:25,797 the fact that Booth really didn't die on April 26, 1865? 459 00:24:25,798 --> 00:24:28,092 A lot of people believed there was. 460 00:24:28,217 --> 00:24:30,761 Enough people probably believed and were suspicious 461 00:24:30,886 --> 00:24:34,097 of the government because toward the end of the Civil War, 462 00:24:34,098 --> 00:24:35,723 before Abraham Lincoln was killed, 463 00:24:35,724 --> 00:24:38,268 it was a very hard-handed regime. 464 00:24:39,311 --> 00:24:42,773 In order to win this war, Abraham Lincoln first had 465 00:24:42,898 --> 00:24:45,650 to suspend the right of habeas corpus. 466 00:24:45,651 --> 00:24:47,402 Can't have a trial. If you're a traitor, 467 00:24:47,403 --> 00:24:49,404 you get hauled off to jail. 468 00:24:49,405 --> 00:24:53,616 And then we have General William Tecumseh Sherman 469 00:24:53,617 --> 00:24:56,953 marching from Memphis to the sea and literally 470 00:24:56,954 --> 00:25:00,456 destroying much of the Confederacy. 471 00:25:00,457 --> 00:25:05,920 And so, to believe that that government was not trustworthy, 472 00:25:05,921 --> 00:25:08,924 I don't think was such a far reach for a lot of people. 473 00:25:10,467 --> 00:25:13,262 [Josh] And let's be real, it would have been a terrible look 474 00:25:13,387 --> 00:25:16,640 for the Union if Lincoln's killer had just slipped away. 475 00:25:16,765 --> 00:25:19,309 But Singer isn't buying the conspiracy. 476 00:25:19,435 --> 00:25:22,980 Why? Because the soldiers at Garrett Farms swore up and down 477 00:25:23,105 --> 00:25:25,440 they knew exactly who they had. 478 00:25:25,441 --> 00:25:27,775 And other experts also corroborated 479 00:25:27,776 --> 00:25:29,486 it was John Wilkes Booth. 480 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,198 When we are looking at Finis Bates' theory, 481 00:25:34,199 --> 00:25:36,994 that John Wilkes Booth escaped 482 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:40,538 not just the burning barn, but death, 483 00:25:40,539 --> 00:25:43,791 it doesn't add up, because there were credible 484 00:25:43,792 --> 00:25:47,128 witnesses called to come to the Montauk 485 00:25:47,129 --> 00:25:48,964 and identify the body. 486 00:25:50,382 --> 00:25:54,177 Dr. John Frederick May was a renowned Washington, D.C. 487 00:25:54,178 --> 00:25:58,056 physician who had removed a fibroid tumor from Booth's 488 00:25:58,057 --> 00:26:02,727 neck about three months before the assassination, and it left 489 00:26:02,728 --> 00:26:05,146 quite a vivid scar. 490 00:26:05,147 --> 00:26:09,359 And May allegedly said, "That's the scar. 491 00:26:09,485 --> 00:26:11,360 That's the person I operated on." 492 00:26:11,361 --> 00:26:13,405 Unmistakable, in his opinion. 493 00:26:14,406 --> 00:26:16,992 Charles Dawson, who was a clerk at the National Hotel 494 00:26:17,117 --> 00:26:20,828 where Booth stayed, when he first saw the body 495 00:26:20,829 --> 00:26:23,165 of John Wilkes Booth, he said, "Oh my goodness, 496 00:26:23,290 --> 00:26:24,499 "on the right hand between 497 00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:29,379 "the thumb and finger was a tattoo with the initials JWB 498 00:26:29,505 --> 00:26:33,717 tattooed in India ink." And young Dawson said, 499 00:26:33,842 --> 00:26:36,512 "That's the tattoo I repeatedly 500 00:26:36,637 --> 00:26:38,555 when Booth signed the guest register." 501 00:26:40,140 --> 00:26:42,391 These were ordinary folks. 502 00:26:42,392 --> 00:26:45,436 It would be highly unlikely that the official autopsy 503 00:26:45,437 --> 00:26:49,358 of record would be part of some overreaching conspiracy. 504 00:26:52,194 --> 00:26:55,947 And what of John St. Helen, the mummified man who insisted 505 00:26:55,948 --> 00:26:57,741 he was the real Booth? 506 00:26:57,866 --> 00:27:01,285 A forensic team recently used facial recognition technology 507 00:27:01,286 --> 00:27:05,541 to render a definitive answer to his conspiratorial claim. 508 00:27:05,666 --> 00:27:08,626 [Jane] In 2020, the Smithsonian Institution 509 00:27:08,627 --> 00:27:13,549 created a Civil War sleuth facial recognition software. 510 00:27:15,050 --> 00:27:18,719 They compared the face of John Wilkes Booth to the face 511 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,555 of John St. Helen's. 512 00:27:20,556 --> 00:27:23,266 During the testing of the photographs, 513 00:27:23,267 --> 00:27:25,769 there were data points that weren't matching. 514 00:27:25,894 --> 00:27:29,647 It was clear that John Wilkes Booth in photograph, 515 00:27:29,648 --> 00:27:31,816 John St. Helen in photograph, 516 00:27:31,817 --> 00:27:33,902 couldn't possibly be the same person. 517 00:27:37,698 --> 00:27:41,826 So after 147 years, we can finally scientifically 518 00:27:41,827 --> 00:27:45,913 declare that John St. Helen is not John Wilkes Booth. 519 00:27:45,914 --> 00:27:49,125 More than likely, Finis Bates spun the fanciful tale 520 00:27:49,126 --> 00:27:52,296 for pure profit, using the story and the mummy 521 00:27:52,421 --> 00:27:53,796 to promote book sales. 522 00:27:53,797 --> 00:27:56,258 But conspiracies don't die quietly. 523 00:27:56,383 --> 00:27:59,303 As recently as 2010, Booth's descendants lobbied 524 00:27:59,428 --> 00:28:02,930 to have his remains exhumed and his DNA tested. 525 00:28:02,931 --> 00:28:04,641 The request was denied. 526 00:28:04,766 --> 00:28:07,603 Regardless, I think it's safe to say if you happen to pass 527 00:28:07,728 --> 00:28:11,439 a carnival with a sign hawking a John Wilkes Booth mummy, 528 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:13,942 that's one sideshow you can happily avoid. 529 00:28:18,155 --> 00:28:20,489 I'm at a pub in Boston, Massachusetts, 530 00:28:20,490 --> 00:28:23,784 on April 18, 1775. 531 00:28:23,785 --> 00:28:26,288 And even though the beer is flowing, the mood is 532 00:28:26,413 --> 00:28:28,290 anything but celebratory. 533 00:28:28,415 --> 00:28:30,958 These colonists, still technically British citizens, 534 00:28:30,959 --> 00:28:33,169 have been under the thumb of the crown 535 00:28:33,170 --> 00:28:36,005 for years, and they have reached their breaking point. 536 00:28:36,006 --> 00:28:37,341 A revolution is brewing. 537 00:28:37,466 --> 00:28:39,509 And militia commander Joseph Warren here 538 00:28:39,635 --> 00:28:42,053 has received word that the British are planning 539 00:28:42,054 --> 00:28:44,180 to strike back tomorrow morning. 540 00:28:44,181 --> 00:28:46,349 They need to take action now. 541 00:28:46,350 --> 00:28:49,560 And what happens next will become the stuff of legend, 542 00:28:49,561 --> 00:28:52,314 because the commander dispatches this man, 543 00:28:52,439 --> 00:28:56,193 Paul Revere, to set out on a dangerous mission. 544 00:28:58,487 --> 00:29:01,197 The story goes that, after leaving the tavern, 545 00:29:01,198 --> 00:29:04,242 Revere spots two lanterns hanging in a church, 546 00:29:04,243 --> 00:29:06,745 signaling the British are attacking by sea. 547 00:29:09,289 --> 00:29:12,417 And so he begins his famous Midnight Ride. 548 00:29:14,711 --> 00:29:17,506 His words echoing through history. 549 00:29:17,631 --> 00:29:19,173 [Revere] The British are coming! 550 00:29:19,174 --> 00:29:21,217 British are coming! 551 00:29:21,218 --> 00:29:23,177 The British are coming! 552 00:29:23,178 --> 00:29:27,224 Revere's heroic ride will be remembered as saving America, 553 00:29:27,349 --> 00:29:30,894 one man alone protecting the birth of a new nation. 554 00:29:31,019 --> 00:29:34,605 But 250 years later, evidence will reveal 555 00:29:34,606 --> 00:29:37,901 that almost everything we think we know about Paul Revere's 556 00:29:38,026 --> 00:29:41,029 fateful night is in need of a rewrite. 557 00:29:49,037 --> 00:29:52,581 [heroic music plays] 558 00:29:52,582 --> 00:29:57,086 In 1775, the year of his famed ride, Paul Revere 559 00:29:57,087 --> 00:29:59,047 is a silversmith living in Boston, 560 00:29:59,172 --> 00:30:01,424 struggling to make ends meet. 561 00:30:01,425 --> 00:30:03,885 Britain has imposed taxes on the colonies, 562 00:30:04,011 --> 00:30:06,095 causing a recession, and spawning 563 00:30:06,096 --> 00:30:09,433 the "Taxation Without Representation" movement. 564 00:30:09,558 --> 00:30:13,895 The most onerous tax is known as the Stamp Act, 565 00:30:14,021 --> 00:30:16,981 requiring the colonies to purchase special paper 566 00:30:16,982 --> 00:30:19,317 for all printed materials. 567 00:30:19,318 --> 00:30:22,279 The tax's true purpose is to raise money for the occupying 568 00:30:22,404 --> 00:30:24,572 British troops, essentially picking 569 00:30:24,573 --> 00:30:28,452 the colonists' pockets to pay for their very own oppressors. 570 00:30:28,577 --> 00:30:31,621 In response, some colonists, including Revere, 571 00:30:31,747 --> 00:30:35,459 form a clandestine militia known as the "Sons of Liberty" 572 00:30:35,584 --> 00:30:36,752 to battle the British. 573 00:30:38,712 --> 00:30:40,629 One of their most successful protests 574 00:30:40,630 --> 00:30:42,256 is the Boston Tea Party, 575 00:30:42,257 --> 00:30:45,134 where they sneak onto British ships and dump 576 00:30:45,135 --> 00:30:48,846 all their highly profitable tea leaves into the harbor. 577 00:30:48,847 --> 00:30:52,266 No better way to rile up a Brit than to mess with their tea. 578 00:30:52,267 --> 00:30:55,144 But the Boston Tea Party is only the beginning. 579 00:30:55,145 --> 00:30:57,773 What follows will ignite a revolution and bring 580 00:30:57,898 --> 00:30:59,775 Paul Revere and what he did, 581 00:30:59,900 --> 00:31:02,778 or notably didn't do, into the spotlight. 582 00:31:09,951 --> 00:31:13,497 It's 1775, a year and a half since the Boston Tea Party, 583 00:31:13,622 --> 00:31:15,998 and the American resistance to British rule 584 00:31:15,999 --> 00:31:18,376 is gaining momentum. 585 00:31:18,377 --> 00:31:20,837 Intelligence gathered by the colonial rebel group 586 00:31:20,962 --> 00:31:22,547 known as the "Sons of Liberty" 587 00:31:22,672 --> 00:31:25,424 reveals that the British have 700 soldiers 588 00:31:25,425 --> 00:31:29,428 at the ready for a raid on the colonists. 589 00:31:29,429 --> 00:31:31,931 In anticipation, the militia has been assembling 590 00:31:31,932 --> 00:31:35,726 stockpiles of weapons, gunpowder and supplies. 591 00:31:35,727 --> 00:31:38,604 One of the largest is in Concord, a small town 592 00:31:38,605 --> 00:31:40,272 on the outskirts of Boston. 593 00:31:40,273 --> 00:31:42,567 The colonists know it's only a matter of time 594 00:31:42,692 --> 00:31:44,777 before the Redcoats make their attack, 595 00:31:44,778 --> 00:31:47,197 so they activate an early warning system. 596 00:31:48,490 --> 00:31:51,576 If the colonists spot any aggressive movement of British 597 00:31:51,701 --> 00:31:53,578 troops, a man will light a signal 598 00:31:53,703 --> 00:31:55,705 in the North Church's bell tower. 599 00:31:55,831 --> 00:31:58,624 If the British are marching out of Boston over land, 600 00:31:58,625 --> 00:32:00,459 he'll light a single lantern. 601 00:32:00,460 --> 00:32:02,045 If, instead, the British cross 602 00:32:02,170 --> 00:32:04,840 the Charles River by boat, he will light two. 603 00:32:05,841 --> 00:32:07,717 Or, as you might remember it from your childhood, 604 00:32:07,843 --> 00:32:11,054 "One if by land, two if by sea." 605 00:32:11,179 --> 00:32:14,557 On April 18th, the colonists' fears are realized. 606 00:32:14,558 --> 00:32:18,270 A spy spots British troops crossing the Charles River. 607 00:32:18,395 --> 00:32:20,479 Two lanterns it is. 608 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,815 Now, unless you took honors American history 609 00:32:22,816 --> 00:32:25,651 in high school, here's the version of Revere's story 610 00:32:25,652 --> 00:32:27,278 you likely remember. 611 00:32:27,279 --> 00:32:28,613 Revere sees the lanterns, 612 00:32:28,738 --> 00:32:31,241 and so begins his ride to spread the alarm. 613 00:32:33,577 --> 00:32:35,078 [Revere] Hyah! 614 00:32:35,203 --> 00:32:37,288 [Josh] Alone, galloping from town to town, 615 00:32:37,289 --> 00:32:40,124 Revere reportedly shouts that famous phrase, 616 00:32:40,125 --> 00:32:44,504 The British are coming! The British are coming! 617 00:32:46,006 --> 00:32:47,423 The British are coming! 618 00:32:47,424 --> 00:32:50,301 After an hour, it's said that he makes it to Lexington, 619 00:32:50,302 --> 00:32:52,428 and after another, he supposedly makes it 620 00:32:52,429 --> 00:32:55,265 to his destination, Concord, around 2 AM. 621 00:32:56,641 --> 00:32:59,603 Revere has reportedly arrived just in time, 622 00:32:59,728 --> 00:33:02,439 single-handedly giving the rebel militia time to arm 623 00:33:02,564 --> 00:33:04,774 themselves and muster into formations. 624 00:33:10,113 --> 00:33:13,283 Just three hours later, those 700 British soldiers 625 00:33:13,408 --> 00:33:15,034 will march into Lexington, 626 00:33:15,035 --> 00:33:17,995 confronting the colonial militia. 627 00:33:17,996 --> 00:33:20,039 Gunshots ring out, and with that, 628 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,084 the American Revolution officially begins. 629 00:33:24,503 --> 00:33:26,462 If it wasn't for Revere's warning, 630 00:33:26,463 --> 00:33:28,298 it all could have gone very differently. 631 00:33:32,177 --> 00:33:34,970 We all remember this story, but it may surprise you 632 00:33:34,971 --> 00:33:37,556 to learn that, for most of us, what we know comes 633 00:33:37,557 --> 00:33:40,976 from a single source, the 1861 poem titled 634 00:33:40,977 --> 00:33:42,521 "Paul Revere's Ride," 635 00:33:42,646 --> 00:33:45,731 written an astonishing 86 years after the event 636 00:33:45,732 --> 00:33:48,276 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 637 00:33:50,529 --> 00:33:53,198 "In the hour of darkness and peril and need, 638 00:33:53,323 --> 00:33:56,034 "the people will waken and listen to hear 639 00:33:56,159 --> 00:33:58,869 "the hurrying hoofbeats of that steed 640 00:33:58,870 --> 00:34:01,289 and the midnight message of Paul Revere." 641 00:34:02,499 --> 00:34:04,334 It's 14 stirring stanzas, 642 00:34:04,459 --> 00:34:07,546 really selling Revere's solo glory. 643 00:34:07,671 --> 00:34:10,714 Oh, but there is one small problem with the poem, 644 00:34:10,715 --> 00:34:11,840 it's wrong. 645 00:34:11,841 --> 00:34:14,510 It was written to be rousing, not historical. 646 00:34:14,511 --> 00:34:16,638 Historian Sami Jarroush explains. 647 00:34:17,806 --> 00:34:20,559 Longfellow's poem is... 648 00:34:20,684 --> 00:34:21,725 a lovely poem. 649 00:34:21,726 --> 00:34:24,353 It tells a heroic story 650 00:34:24,354 --> 00:34:27,898 of someone who rose above the odds 651 00:34:27,899 --> 00:34:30,609 and-- and proclaimed resistance out loud. 652 00:34:30,610 --> 00:34:35,198 But we have had to uncover numerous primary sources 653 00:34:35,323 --> 00:34:37,408 to truly piece together what took place during 654 00:34:37,409 --> 00:34:39,118 the actual Midnight Ride. 655 00:34:39,119 --> 00:34:42,080 That includes Paul Revere's diaries, Paul Revere's letters 656 00:34:42,205 --> 00:34:46,042 that he had sent, uh, with his own description 657 00:34:46,167 --> 00:34:47,168 of the Midnight Ride. 658 00:34:50,213 --> 00:34:54,718 [Josh] In 1942, historian Esther Forbes dives into those primary 659 00:34:54,843 --> 00:34:58,470 sources and publishes a new biography of Revere. 660 00:34:58,471 --> 00:35:00,639 And some serious cracks emerge 661 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,143 in Longfellow's version of Revere's story. 662 00:35:04,144 --> 00:35:05,561 The first issue is here 663 00:35:05,562 --> 00:35:07,397 at the very beginning of our story. 664 00:35:07,522 --> 00:35:10,441 Esther Forbes discovers a paper trail confirming 665 00:35:10,442 --> 00:35:13,485 Commander Warren dispatches not just Paul Revere, 666 00:35:13,486 --> 00:35:16,406 but fellow militiaman William Dawes. 667 00:35:16,531 --> 00:35:19,074 Warren wants two men on separate routes 668 00:35:19,075 --> 00:35:20,743 so that if one is captured, 669 00:35:20,744 --> 00:35:22,746 the other can still complete the mission. 670 00:35:24,122 --> 00:35:28,083 Because as leaders of the Sons of Liberty, the fear was 671 00:35:28,084 --> 00:35:30,754 that they would be forced to give up all this information 672 00:35:30,879 --> 00:35:33,964 and it would be a lot harder to take on the British Army 673 00:35:33,965 --> 00:35:37,469 because all of the secrets would have been given up. 674 00:35:37,594 --> 00:35:40,263 Forbes' biography wins the Pulitzer Prize. 675 00:35:40,388 --> 00:35:42,974 But to the general public, the story of Revere's ride 676 00:35:43,099 --> 00:35:45,684 continues to be shrouded in myth. 677 00:35:45,685 --> 00:35:49,813 And it turns out the full true story isn't just that Revere 678 00:35:49,814 --> 00:35:51,649 didn't ride alone. 679 00:35:51,650 --> 00:35:53,318 - Buckle up, because what comes... - The British are coming! 680 00:35:53,443 --> 00:35:55,320 ...next will upend the most famous 681 00:35:55,445 --> 00:35:57,947 parts of Revere's legendary story. 682 00:36:06,206 --> 00:36:07,373 Paul Revere isn't the only Revolutionary War hero 683 00:36:07,374 --> 00:36:09,209 to take a legendary ride. 684 00:36:09,334 --> 00:36:13,880 In 1777, as British soldiers burned Danbury, Connecticut, 685 00:36:14,005 --> 00:36:16,758 16-year-old Sybil Ludington, the daughter 686 00:36:16,883 --> 00:36:20,260 of a local militia commander, reportedly rode alone 687 00:36:20,261 --> 00:36:22,805 through 40 miles of stormy woods. 688 00:36:22,806 --> 00:36:24,640 It's said that she warned neighbors, 689 00:36:24,641 --> 00:36:26,226 evaded British patrols, 690 00:36:26,351 --> 00:36:29,895 and by dawn had mobilized 400 men. 691 00:36:29,896 --> 00:36:31,940 But her ride, twice the distance 692 00:36:32,065 --> 00:36:35,110 of Paul Revere's, went unrecognized at the time. 693 00:36:35,235 --> 00:36:38,153 The first written account of it surfaced in 1880, 694 00:36:38,154 --> 00:36:40,407 with a statue then erected in her honor 695 00:36:40,532 --> 00:36:43,575 and markers placed along her reported route. 696 00:36:43,576 --> 00:36:46,662 Today, some scholars question whether the ride really was 697 00:36:46,663 --> 00:36:50,625 as epic as recorded, but her inspiring story persists, 698 00:36:50,750 --> 00:36:53,419 a teenage girl braving the night to help 699 00:36:53,420 --> 00:36:55,255 save a fledgling nation. 700 00:36:55,380 --> 00:36:56,715 Ride on, Sybil. 701 00:37:00,677 --> 00:37:04,848 Paul Revere's renowned solo ride is not as we remember it. 702 00:37:04,973 --> 00:37:08,475 In Longfellow's immortal poem, a pair of lanterns was hung 703 00:37:08,476 --> 00:37:10,894 in the Old North Church and lit to indicate 704 00:37:10,895 --> 00:37:13,063 where the British were coming from. 705 00:37:13,064 --> 00:37:16,024 One if by land, and two if by sea. 706 00:37:16,025 --> 00:37:19,696 Once Revere sees the signal, he begins his ride. 707 00:37:19,821 --> 00:37:22,489 Well, it turns out Revere didn't start his ride 708 00:37:22,490 --> 00:37:23,992 because he saw the lanterns. 709 00:37:24,117 --> 00:37:27,162 He started because he'd been ordered to by Joseph Warren 710 00:37:27,287 --> 00:37:28,538 back in the tavern. 711 00:37:28,663 --> 00:37:30,999 The signal in the church wasn't for Revere. 712 00:37:31,124 --> 00:37:32,709 It was for the rest of the community. 713 00:37:34,085 --> 00:37:35,252 [Jarroush] Revere didn't need a signal. 714 00:37:35,253 --> 00:37:37,213 He already had his mission from Warren. 715 00:37:37,338 --> 00:37:40,049 He already knew where he had to ride to, where he had to go. 716 00:37:40,175 --> 00:37:42,677 In reality, Revere came up with the signal idea. 717 00:37:42,802 --> 00:37:45,053 He went to the sexton of the church, and he said, 718 00:37:45,054 --> 00:37:46,181 "Here's what you're gonna do. 719 00:37:46,306 --> 00:37:47,390 "If the British are coming by land, 720 00:37:47,515 --> 00:37:48,724 "put one lantern in the belfry. 721 00:37:48,725 --> 00:37:50,434 If they're coming by water, put two." 722 00:37:50,435 --> 00:37:52,102 So the signal was 723 00:37:52,103 --> 00:37:55,439 more for other people to be aware of where the British 724 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,192 would be coming from. 725 00:37:57,317 --> 00:37:59,569 And there's more myth-busting to come. 726 00:37:59,694 --> 00:38:02,529 Remember the most legendary moment of the ride? 727 00:38:02,530 --> 00:38:05,866 Revere's dramatic cry, "The British are coming!" 728 00:38:05,867 --> 00:38:08,243 Well, it turns out he probably never said it, 729 00:38:08,244 --> 00:38:09,870 at least not like that. 730 00:38:09,871 --> 00:38:11,206 The British are coming! 731 00:38:11,331 --> 00:38:12,832 [Jarroush] "The British are coming! The British are coming!" 732 00:38:13,958 --> 00:38:15,209 It never happened. 733 00:38:15,210 --> 00:38:18,253 If you're riding past midnight and you're yelling out loud 734 00:38:18,254 --> 00:38:20,381 that the British are coming, you're waking everybody up. 735 00:38:20,507 --> 00:38:22,090 Not a good move if you're trying to stay 736 00:38:22,091 --> 00:38:23,383 as discreet as possible. 737 00:38:23,384 --> 00:38:26,929 What Revere actually ends up doing on his Midnight Ride 738 00:38:26,930 --> 00:38:28,765 is he rides to people's homes 739 00:38:30,350 --> 00:38:33,061 and he knocks on their doors and lets them know, 740 00:38:33,186 --> 00:38:34,478 "Hey-- " 741 00:38:34,479 --> 00:38:35,730 The Regulars are coming out. 742 00:38:36,856 --> 00:38:39,274 [Jarroush] "The Regulars are coming out". 743 00:38:39,275 --> 00:38:42,319 What the regulars refers to is the British Regular Army, 744 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:44,155 a.k.a. British soldiers. 745 00:38:45,990 --> 00:38:47,784 [Josh] So where did the famous phrase, 746 00:38:47,909 --> 00:38:49,911 "The British are coming," originate? 747 00:38:51,246 --> 00:38:53,956 It's not from the Longfellow poem that's the source 748 00:38:53,957 --> 00:38:54,916 of other errors. 749 00:38:55,041 --> 00:38:58,460 It's actually from an 1879 school textbook 750 00:38:58,461 --> 00:39:01,047 that misattributes the phrase to Revere. 751 00:39:02,423 --> 00:39:05,134 [Jarroush] When you read history and when you study history, 752 00:39:05,260 --> 00:39:07,804 we're only understanding history from a certain point of view. 753 00:39:07,929 --> 00:39:09,973 There's no all-encompassing source. 754 00:39:10,098 --> 00:39:12,058 You have to think about what's missing. 755 00:39:13,685 --> 00:39:16,770 [Josh] To put the final nail in poor old Longfellow's poem, 756 00:39:16,771 --> 00:39:19,983 historians point out one more major flaw. 757 00:39:20,108 --> 00:39:22,235 Revere never actually made it to Concord. 758 00:39:23,778 --> 00:39:26,113 The poem gets that part wrong, too. 759 00:39:26,114 --> 00:39:29,617 It was another rider who reached the final destination. 760 00:39:29,742 --> 00:39:32,870 Digging into the historical record, it's clear Revere 761 00:39:32,871 --> 00:39:36,957 and Dawes actually met a third rider at John Hancock's house 762 00:39:36,958 --> 00:39:38,459 in Lexington. 763 00:39:38,585 --> 00:39:42,463 That's right, it wasn't one rider who saved America or two, 764 00:39:42,589 --> 00:39:43,590 but three. 765 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,511 The third rider is a doctor named Samuel Prescott. 766 00:39:49,929 --> 00:39:53,223 Together, the three men set out from Lexington to Concord 767 00:39:53,224 --> 00:39:55,310 to warn of the oncoming British. 768 00:40:00,148 --> 00:40:02,191 But halfway there, the trio is spotted 769 00:40:02,317 --> 00:40:03,985 by a patrol of British soldiers. 770 00:40:05,486 --> 00:40:07,655 Prescott leaps to safety and rides on. 771 00:40:09,449 --> 00:40:11,742 Dawes escapes the Redcoats, but is thrown from 772 00:40:11,743 --> 00:40:13,328 his horse and injured. - [neighing] 773 00:40:14,954 --> 00:40:17,748 [Josh] And Revere, far from triumphantly making it 774 00:40:17,749 --> 00:40:20,585 to Concord, he's actually captured by the British. 775 00:40:21,711 --> 00:40:23,880 The British patrol that captures Revere, 776 00:40:24,005 --> 00:40:25,715 press him for information. 777 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:27,550 But Revere stands his ground. 778 00:40:27,675 --> 00:40:28,676 Doesn't give them any information. 779 00:40:28,801 --> 00:40:30,511 What he tells them, though, is that... 780 00:40:30,637 --> 00:40:31,888 "eh, you're about to be surrounded 781 00:40:32,013 --> 00:40:34,556 "by a bunch of Americans 782 00:40:34,557 --> 00:40:37,392 who are ready to take up arms against you." 783 00:40:37,393 --> 00:40:40,229 The British don't initially believe Revere, so they keep 784 00:40:40,355 --> 00:40:43,607 him captured, but they run into other British soldiers 785 00:40:43,608 --> 00:40:47,402 who basically confirm what Revere has told them. 786 00:40:47,403 --> 00:40:49,739 And so they recognize that that's the bigger threat 787 00:40:49,864 --> 00:40:52,032 that they have to deal with and not on this one guy. 788 00:40:52,033 --> 00:40:53,867 So they end up letting Revere go. 789 00:40:53,868 --> 00:40:55,619 - Revere ends up riding back... - [panting] 790 00:40:55,620 --> 00:40:57,037 ...to Lexington and helping John Hancock 791 00:40:57,038 --> 00:40:58,039 and his family escape. 792 00:41:02,919 --> 00:41:06,713 So ends the true saga of Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. 793 00:41:06,714 --> 00:41:09,883 It turns out he didn't ride alone, he was never warned 794 00:41:09,884 --> 00:41:12,803 by lamps, he never reached Concord, and probably 795 00:41:12,804 --> 00:41:15,055 never shouted, "The British are coming." 796 00:41:15,056 --> 00:41:17,558 But whatever license Longfellow's poem may have 797 00:41:17,684 --> 00:41:21,228 taken, Paul Revere was every bit a hero. 798 00:41:21,229 --> 00:41:24,940 He was part of a trio of daring riders who, along with tens 799 00:41:24,941 --> 00:41:26,608 of thousands of brave militiamen, 800 00:41:26,609 --> 00:41:30,988 battled against oppression to forge these United States. 801 00:41:30,989 --> 00:41:34,117 I'm Josh Gates, and I'll see you on the next expedition.