More Museum Mysteries

Before long, the Mysteries at the Museum series will be complete, but for now here's another episode for Tuesday, Dec. 14 on the Travel Channel. Hope my readers are enjoying these programs, which delve into some fascinating subjects about our history.

Mysteries at the Museum: Volume 7

Gerald R. Ford Museum: At the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, a vintage tape recorder from the 1970s was used inside America’s most important Executive Office. What incriminating conversations did this machine record? And how would it ultimately help destroy an American President?

The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History: The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History houses a small antique vial which lies at the center of one of America’s strangest medical mysteries. The vial once held a drug known as Radithor, and some doctors touted it as the “greatest therapeutic force known to mankind”, but this revolutionary medicine was really a potion of death.

National Museum of American History: On display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, is a relic from a volatile era in American history. It appears to be an ordinary restaurant lunch counter accompanied by four fading vinyl chairs. How did this lunch counter becomes center stage in an event that would help overturn centuries of oppression, and change America forever?

The Museum of Science and Industry: Inside Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry there’s a giant World War Two Submarine. It’s a German “U-Boat”, known by its infamous number, 5-0-5. But during the war U-505 mysteriously vanished. How did U-505 end up in Chicago, and how did its sudden disappearance from battle nearly 70 years ago help bring Germany’s invincible U-Boat fleet to its knees?

New Jersey State Police Museum: Secured inside the NJ State Police Museum, sealed in plastic, is a faded piece of paper. It’s inscribed in dark ink, in sloppy handwriting, and it’s stamped with a curious insignia. At first glance, this seventy eight year old document looks inconsequential, but it sparked one of the biggest manhunts in American history. Was the person who wrote this note ever brought to justice?

Ruidoso River Museum: At the River Museum there’s an artifact from one of the most famous western tales ever told. It’s a Colt Thunderer revolver. The polished, ornately etched pistol was presented to one of New Mexico’s most famous Sheriffs, Pat Garrett… as a reward for killing America’s most legendary outlaw, Billy the Kid. But did Pat Garrett really kill the ‘Kid’?