SEASON 6

History Detectives returned for a brand new season on Monday June 30, 2008.

This season you, the audience, can become a history detective by getting involved with our new exciting feature - Web Investigations. We post a mystery and you help us solve it. Each week, updates and new leads - provided by the audience and our own History Detectives - will be released. The final results will be announced online at the end of the investigation.

For information on all the previous seasons investigations you can browse the Archive.

 

EPISODE 9 - September 8, 2008

Shipwreck Cannons

Are these the last remains of a navy schooner that fought in a border dispute with the mighty British Empire?...More

Connecticut Farmhouse

How is this Connecticut farmhouse connected to the assassination of a Russian tsar?...More

Kahlil Gibran Painting

Is this painting an unknown work by an immigrant poet whose words inspired an American generation?...More

 

EPISODE 8 - August 18, 2008

John Adams Book

Do these tattered pages open the book on a President who built a nation even as his own son fell into ruin?...More

Mankato Spoon

What does this delicate silver spoon have to do with the largest mass execution in American history?...More

NC-4: First Across the Atlantic

Is this piece of fabric a remnant from the first transatlantic flight, eight years before Lindbergh?...More

 

EPISODE 7 - August 11, 2008

Black Tom Shell

Is this shell from a devastating act of foreign sabotage on American soil?...More

USS Olympia Glass

Could this farmhouse door have sailed into battle in one of the country's greatest naval victories? ...More

Front Street Blockhouse

Did this unassuming house once protect an American colony from attack almost 300 years ago? ...More

 

EPISODE 6 - August 4, 2008

GAR Photograph

How did two African Americans come to be part of this photograph of about 20 older white men in Reconstructionist-era America?...More

Bill Pickett Saddle

Did this saddle ride into cowboy history with one of rodeo's most daring innovators? ...More

Hitler Films

Could these rusting film canisters contain unknown footage of one of the 20th century's most heinous murderers? ...More

 

EPISODE 5 - July 28, 2008

Hindenburg Artifact

Was this device snatched from the burning wreckage of the ill-fated zeppelin?  ...More

Bonus Army Stamp

Is this stamp connected to a moment when the U.S. Army advanced with fixed bayonets against fellow soldiers in the nation’s capital? ...More

Dempsey Fight Bell

Is this the bell that sat ringside at the world's first boxing superstar's legendary match? ...More

 

EPISODE 4 - July 21, 2008

China Marine Jacket

Can the symbols on this unusual item of clothing identify a marine who may have witnessed a Chinese paradise tumbling into disaster?  ...More

Airstream Caravan

Was this mobile home part of a modern-day wagon train halfway across the world? ...More

Lincoln Forgery

Could this piece of sheet music have come from Abraham Lincoln's private collection? ...More

 

EPISODE 3 - July 14, 2008

Japanese Balloon Bomb

Is this scrap of fabric evidence of a secret wartime attack on the United States' mainland?  ...More

Society Circus Program

Why are some of New York's wealthiest planning a high society circus at the very depth of the Great Depression? ...More

Camp David Letter

Could a box found in a dumpster hold information about the founding of a top-secret Presidential retreat? ...More

 

EPISODE 2 - July 7, 2008

Red Hand Flag

Is this peculiar flag one that African-American soldiers marched under in the war to end all wars? ...More

Seth Eastman Painting

Is this painting an original depiction of Native American life from one of the premiere painters of the American West? ...More

Isleton Tong

Was this building a safe haven for persecuted immigrants, or a hub for organized crime? ...More

 

EPISODE 1 - JUNE 30, 2008

WWII Diary

Does this diary hold the key to understanding the fate of a missing bomber pilot from World War II?...More

Annie Oakley Coin

Was this coin a target for one of the Wild West's most popular female sharpshooters?...More

1856 Mormon Tale

Is this tattered book a true account of female slavery in the old West? ... More

Don’t forget you can watch a video trailer of Season 6, here.