About this season
History as we generally know it is full of holes or half-truths, and a mother lode of juicy details have been lost, distorted, covered up or simply ignored along the way. Former Naval officer and actor Jamie Kaler is on a mission to set the record straight on the most familiar and beloved stories from our nation's and military's past, filling in the blanks, debunking the occasional myth, and exploring why we sometimes get our own history, well, slightly wrong
Episodes (12)
1. Ike and MacArthur
Aired 6 October 2015 • 22 min
The truth about America's greatest generals is obscured by myth. West Point cadet Dwight Eisenhower used an alias to hide a secret and Douglas MacArthur deserved a court-martial, not a medal, for his actions in the Philippines in World War II.
2. Worlds of Amusement
Aired 6 October 2015 • 22 min
Amusement parks and world's fairs are examined. Included: the history of roller-coasters and how world's fairs recalled as family-friendly endeavors actually featured nudity.
3. Welcome to the Big Apple
Aired 13 October 2015 • 22 min
Myths obscure the facts about two Manhattan landmarks - the Empire State Building and Grand Central. Discover why a penny tossed from the top of the skyscraper won't kill anyone, and the real story of Grand Central's "secret" train platform.
4. The Princess and the Pathfinders
Aired 20 October 2015 • 22 min
Myths obscure the truth about Pocahontas and America's renowned explorers, Lewis and Clark. We remember Pocahontas and John Smith as lovers - but she actually married another John. And Lewis and Clark's exploits were forgotten for a century.
5. Kings of the Sky
Aired 27 October 2015 • 22 min
Charles Lindburg myths and John Glenn fictions
6. Top Secret Vaults
Aired 3 November 2015 • 22 min
Myths surround America's most secret vaults. The interior of Fort Knox looks nothing like it does in the movie "Goldfinger" and the $250 billion of gold in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is protected by low-tech technology built in 1924.
7. Not So Close Encounters
Aired 17 November 2015 • 22 min
Did an alien spaceship crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947? Are scientists reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology in the Nevada desert's Area 51? Conspiracy theorists have no doubts. But the facts tell a very different story.
8. Roads to Freedom
Aired 24 November 2015 • 22 min
Myths obscure the truth about the Underground Railroad and the Women's Suffrage Movement. Black leaders, not white, dominated the system that brought hundreds of slaves to freedom. And women's fight for the vote was more violent than we remember.
9. D.C. Decoding
Aired 1 December 2015 • 22 min
Myths surround the landmarks of Washington, D.C. Few realize that the remains of the original White House are buried under a baseball diamond in Virginia - or that thousands of people have literally jumped over the top of the Washington Monument.
10. Final Voyages
Aired 8 December 2015 • 22 min
Myths cloud the facts of the Titanic and Hindenburg disasters. Few know that the Titanic nearly hit another obstacle days before it struck the iceberg - or that the radio broadcast of the Hindenburg's destruction is distorted by a technical flaw.
11. The Rock and the Bridge
Aired 15 December 2015 • 22 min
Myths obscure the real facts about two San Francisco landmarks: Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. If Alcatraz was so harsh, why did inmates ask to be transferred there? And why did the Navy want to paint the bridge a garish yellow and black?
12. Unwrapping the Holidays
Aired 22 December 2015 • 22 min
Myths and misconceptions surround our celebrations of Christmas and New Year's Eve. Learn how the Santa we cherish is actually the product of three New Yorkers and how the Times Square Ball drop is based on a bygone system of standardizing time.