More information: IMDB
Episodes
Episode 11
Conspiracy?: Kecksburg UFO
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
What came down in the forest outside the sleepy hamlet of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965? Some residents claimed to see an acorn-shaped metal object with strange, hieroglyphic writing on its side, half-buried on the forest floor. Astronomer Von Del Chamberlain wrote that the Kecksburg object was a meteorite. NASA consultant James Oberg theorized that it was a failed Russian probe, but now also thinks it was probably a meteorite. Often called the "Pennsylvania Roswell" in UFO circles, the debate raged until, in late December 2003, NASA finally released 39 pages of material and the Air Force released 2,800 pages on the case from its files. The only thing the government documents conclusively prove is that the object was not a Russian probe. But for UFO enthusiasts and researchers, many questions remain unanswered.
Episode 10
Conspiracy?: CIA and the Nazis
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
Six months after Allied Forces liberated German concentration camps, a military tribunal formed at Nuremberg to prosecute Nazi war criminals. Some of the most dangerous were brought to justice--but not all. Over 4,000 former Nazis went to work for the US government, without the public's knowledge, to help fight the Soviet Union. Reinhard Gehlen, an intelligence officer for Hitler's General Staff, was tapped to head the US intelligence program in West Germany to spy on the Russians. At the same time, former Nazi scientists and engineers were welcomed onto American soil. In 1998, a bill was finally signed into law that mandated declassification of documents concerning recruitment of former Nazis. We dig into the records to see if the ends justified the means and ask how far the US should go to partner with a former enemy to fight another.
Episode 9
Conspiracy?: Oklahoma City Bombing
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
At 9:02 a.m., on April 19, 1995, a massive explosion detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, collapsing the 9-story building and killing 168, 19 of them children, and wounding more than 700. Convicted by the federal government and executed in June 2001, Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh claimed he acted alone. Yet, multiple eyewitnesses identified McVeigh at ground zero with unknown accomplices before and after the blast. The original indictment charged McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and "others unknown" with conspiracy and murder. Was the bombing part of a greater pattern of Middle East-sponsored terrorist attacks, including the 1993 World Trade Center attack, bombing of the Khobar Towers and the USS Cole, and 9/11? Were homegrown neo-Nazi militia groups involved?
Episode 8
Conspiracy?: Princess Diana
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
Conspiracy theories capture the public's imagination, and in this hour, we explore the death of Princess Diana--the world's most photographed woman, who lived and died amidst media madness. On August 31, 1997, while being pursued by paparazzi, the frenzy turned fatal when the car carrying Princess Di and boyfriend Dodi Fayed crashed inside the Alma Tunnel in Paris. From the start, conspiracists suggested that Diana's death was political. The official French inquiry, conducted in near-total secrecy, ignited numerous theories--mainly placing British power behind her death. And while the "official" British inquiry is slated for release in 2005, its findings will likely do little to squelch skeptics.
Episode 6
Conspiracy?: Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr.?
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
On April 4, 1968, a sniper gunned down Martin Luther King Jr. as he stood on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. Charges of cover-ups and government complicity were heard almost immediately. Several versions have passed for the "truth" of King's assassination--from the "official" story in '68 with small-time criminal James Earl Ray as lone assassin; Ray's later assertion that he was framed by "Raul", the true killer; to the '78 House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) report that claimed Ray acted on behalf of a conspiracy. And there's a theory that federal government agencies were out to get King--and they had greater motivation to do so than James Earl Ray.
Episode 5
Conspiracy?: Area 51
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
A mysterious, stark terrain, 90 miles north of Las Vegas, goes by many names: The Box, Paradise Ranch, Groom Lake, Watertown Strip, and Dreamland. But most refer to the region as Area 51. Since the late 1950s, an array of UFO sightings has been reported above its skies. In 1989, revelations of Las Vegas resident Bob Lazar brought Area 51 to national attention. Lazar claimed to possess amazing inside information, but he wasn't the first to state that something strange was going on. Those who discount Lazar's theories think the government kept its activities from the general public for a more plausible reason. The base, built at the Cold War's height, housed testing of cutting-edge aviation technology. The cloak of secrecy was to keep the Soviet Union in the dark, not the American public, and experts expostulate that the government perpetuated these theories to disguise its real activities.
Episode 4
Conspiracy?: Jack Ruby
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
On November 24, 1963, a stunned America struggled to accept the assassination of President John F. Kennedy two days earlier. As tens of millions stared at their televisions that Sunday morning, they witnessed TV's first live murder--the killing of assassination suspect Lee Harvey Oswald by Dallas strip-club owner Jack Ruby. What was seen for 47 hours as an isolated tragedy became one of the most notable suspected conspiracies in US history. And while the Warren Commission claimed that Oswald and Ruby both acted alone, the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979 that JFK's murder most likely resulted from a conspiracy.
Episode 3
Conspiracy?: FDR and Pearl Harbor
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
The attack on Pearl Harbor shocked the nation. To many, the official explanations of misguided assumptions and missed clues did not account for the enormity of the catastrophe. We examine "alternative" theories that arose soon after the attack. Was a plot hatched in Washington to solve FDR's "problem"--convincing a reluctant country to fight the Nazis? Did FDR send a secret cable just days before the attack ordering Pearl Harbor chiefs to stand down? Did US intelligence intercept a message from Tokyo asking its spies in Hawaii to map the harbor for an imminent air attack? More than six decades later, the controversy boils under the surface of recent US history, igniting heated debates over collusion, intrigue, and thousands of American dead.
Episode 2
Conspiracy?: Majestic Twelve: UFO Cover-Up
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
What really happened in Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947? Did a flying saucer crash in the vast desert scrubland? The initial Army Air Force press release claimed they had recovered a flying disk. But a day later, the story dramatically changed--now they called it a weather balloon! In 1987, secret documents surfaced indicating the existence of the "Majestic 12"--an elite group of scientists and military and intelligence officials, allegedly brought together by President Harry Truman. Did the MJ-12 truly exist? If so, did these men forever trivialize the most talked-about UFO event in history, as well as all UFO sightings thereafter?
