DETECTIVE ELYSE LURAY

All the stories below feature the History Detective Elyse Luray. Just click on one of the links below to go to the story or go back to the Archive.

Boarding House Flag

A historical society wants to know, did this flag once save a boarding house from being burnt down?...More

Birth Control Box

A Missouri resident recently inherited a number of items that had been in her family for over 130 years, including an unusual wooden box...More

Black Star Line

A woman recently found two Black Star Line stock certificates, which had been purchased by her great grandfather in 1919...More

Broadway Ballet Shoes

A 13-year old ballet dancer in Long Island, New York, recently learned from her grandmother that her deceased grandfather once made ballet shoes for many of the top dancers in the 1920s and 30s, including the legendary Ziegfeld star Marilyn Miller...More

Calf Creek Arrow

An Oklahoma resident discovered an unusual bison skull while fossil hunting in a dry riverbed...More

Cherokee Bible

A Texan of Cherokee descent inherits a mysterious bible from her father...More

Chinese Opium Scale

Is this a scale used by Chinese immigrants to measure opium during the 1800s? ...More

Chisholm Trail

In the small town of Donna, Texas, near the Mexican border, a historic marker declares that the famous trail ran through this area...More

Civil War Soldier Photo

A Louisiana resident owns a Civil War photograph featuring a finely boned, slight-figured soldier...More

Civil War Submarine

In Louisiana's bustling French Quarter sits a surprising remnant of American warfare - a Civil War-era submarine...More

Coca-Cola Trade Card

Could this 1886 card which advertises a strange-sounding beverage be a unique piece of early Coca-Cola advertising? ...More

Confederate Eyeglass

A contributor in Terre Haute, Indiana has a tiny brass eyeglass that, when peered through, reveals an image of Confederate president Jefferson Davis...More

Dueling Pistols

San Francisco bank owns two antique pistols, allegedly used in the last great duel on U.S. soil...More

Dutch Colonial Home

In 1856, the U.S. Army built a fort in Oregon and appointed Lieutenant Philip Sheridan as its head officer...More

Early Monopoly

A man in Delaware has an old board game that bears a remarkable similarity to Monopoly, but was made 20 years before Parker Brothers patented their creation...More

Flint-Lock Rifle

Mercer County Historical Society has in its possession a late 18th century flint-lock rifle, which, according to local lore, once belonged to legendary Tory bandit Moses Doan, and was recovered after he was killed in a raid of his hideout in 1783...More

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

General Lee Farewell Address

In the archives of a gentleman's club in this rural town is what is believed to be a signed copy of one of the most famous documents in the history of the Civil War - Confederate General Robert E. Lee's farewell address, "General Order #9," composed at Appomattox, Virginia, upon the surrender of his troops in April 1865...More

Grace Kelly Car

Is this the car driven by an actress turned princess, which would give it a place in cinematic history?...More

Highlander Badge

Could an amateur treasure diver really have turned up a possible Revolutionary War artifact? ...More

Hollywood: Warner's Lighter

A Californian man spends $50 at a flea market on an antique lighter and a piece of Hollywood history...More

Houdini Poster

A Chicago man replacing roof insulation in his home realized that the old material contained scores of old posters for a Harry Houdini magic show ...More

Jigsaw Puzzle

Were women playing contact sports in the late part of the 19th century?...More

Liberty Bell Pin

Was one of America’s most iconic symbols melted down into a mere memento? ...More

Lincoln Letter

Does this cryptic letter reveal Abraham Lincoln's secret strategy for winning political power? ...More

Lost Gold Ship

Environmentalist Gabriel Scott was working in the Copper River Delta near Cordova, Alaska, when he came across the wreckage of an old ship...More

Lucy Parsons Book

Was the legendary anarchist the owner of this manifesto found in a library?...More

Mexican Currency

Searching through his great-grandfather's belongings a San Antonio man finds Mexican currency and suspects a link to infamous bandits Zapata and Pancho Villa...More

Mouse Toy

Popular history has it that Mickey Mouse was born from a drawing sketched on a napkin by Walt Disney during a train ride from New York to Los Angeles in 1928...More

Movie Palace

Is it possible that a theater in the small town of Baraboo, Wisconsin, could have been the country's first great movie palace?...More

Muhlenberg Robe

Was this robe torn off during a fiery sermon to rally congregants to the cause of the Revolutionary War? ...More

NC-4: First Across the Atlantic

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

Nesbit Portrait

A woman in New Jersey owns a portrait she believes is a lost masterpiece by one of America's greatest illustrators and artists, Howard Chandler Christy...More

Pebble in the Sand

Just a pebble in the sand–with sculpted human features...More

Poison Pin

A miniaturist recently rediscovered a purchase he had made at an auction several years before...More

Pete Gray Cartoon

Do these unsigned drawings from the golden age of comics tell the tale of a real life superhero? ...More

Revolutionary War Cannon

A Boston woman is fascinated by an old cannon, kept in a local national park storage facility...More

Shippen Golf Club

A children’s golf foundation recently received a surprising donation, an antique golf club...More

Szyk Picture

A Polish-American art collector comes across four striking drawings while browsing an online auction. ..More

WW2 Landing Craft

In the harbor of Bayfield, Wisconsin a craft used for dredging and hauling rocks could hold a dramatic secret...More

Wartime Baseball

A Seattle man has a baseball given to him by his father that is autographed by baseball icon Dizzy Dean. ...More