America Unearthed

America’s 50th state has a “little” mystery that’s persisted since ancient times; did an ancient race of tiny people called Menehune really exist? Scott Wolter can’t resist weighing in on the possibility while on vacation with his family in Hawaii, and as he discovers, geology could be key in solving the mystery.

What might Washington D.C. have in common with ancient sites like Stonehenge? It is thought by some to be constructed using an ancient unit of measurement called the megalithic yard. Thought to be used by some of the greatest civilizations of all time, this antiquated unite of measure could be the key to understanding the hidden meaning behind D.C.’s streets and structures. Scott Wolter investigates whether its use in the design plans of our nation’s capitol created a sanctuary for people practicing goddess worship; people, like George Washington himself.

Scott Wolter receives a tip that there are pyramids at the bottom of a lake in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. As he investigates, he learns local legend suggests they were built by Aztecs and over time, they’ve been buried as land and water have shifted. Could the Aztecs really have a connection to the American Midwest? Scott dives into the mystery, quite literally–taking a personal submarine called a Fugusub down to the depths of Lake Mills to investigate the underwater pyramids. His quest then leads him to other sites in the Midwest including the pyramids in nearby Aztalan State Park. Could it be more than coincidence that the park shares the same name as the legendary ancestral home of the Aztecs? In the end, the key to proving whether there’s truth in the legend of Aztecs in America could be in the discovery of shared practices, symbols and language between north and south of the U.S. border.

In Ohio, a massive mound in the shape of a serpent snakes it’s way across the landscape and no one knows who built or why. Thousands of miles away, a similar serpent mound of unknown origins slinks across the landscape of Loch Nell. Could there be a connection between the two sites? As Scott Wolter investigates, he discovers evidence that both sites were constructed using the same type of archaeoastronomy. Not only that, but a number of other animal shapes have been constructed as effigies across the Midwest. In a search for answers, he discovers there could be a connection between all the sites and one of America’s biggest pre-Columbian mysteries–what led to the disappearance of the people of Cahokia, America’s largest city in pre-Columbian times.

Forensic geologist Scott Wolter investigates artifacts featuring ancient Hebrew writing. Could they be tied to the Lost Tribes of Israel, who disappeared from the Bible in 722 B.C? Scott Wolter is bound for Tennessee to study the Bat Creek Stone, a controversial artifact with old Hebrew script found in the late 1800s. Intrigued, he then travels to Ohio to learn about an ancient mound shaped like a Hanukkah Menorah, which fascinated Thomas Jefferson. Finally, Wolter goes to New Mexico where petroglyphs feature a script that may pre-date Hebrew. All across America, Wolter finds many signs that suggest Jews made it here long ago–long before Columbus.

In Florida, Scott Wolter is called in to investigate a mystery surrounding a group of early inhabitants of the Sunshine State known as the Windover Bog People. As Scott learns about the perfectly preserved specimens, he discovers they have some unique features that could suggest they are European. And if they were, it would mean European travelers made it to America some 7,000 years ago. It’s a shocking revelation–but not as shocking as what Scott learns next–that group of Europeans known as the Solutreans may have been here thousands of years before that, and actually predated Clovis people, who have long been thought to have crossed the Bering Strait land bridge and been America’s very first settlers. The key to solving the mystery of just how long ago Europeans were here could be a single artifact–a small stone carving of a mammoth discovered by a man near Vero Beach, Florida that dating suggests is 13,000 years old.

When Scott Wolter gets a call from his friend John DeSalvo, an avid collector of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia, he has no idea that he’s about to embark on a quest to learn whether there were a lot more people than just John Wilkes Booth behind the assassination of one of America’s most influential presidents. Evidence Wolter uncovers suggests Booth was part of an infamous group of Confederates who formed a secret society called the Knights of the Golden Circle; a group that included influential politicians and rogue raiders like Jesse James. The evidence Scott complies suggests a new twist on the motives behind Lincoln’s killing, and takes him on a wild ride through the history of the South at the time of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of the Knights of the Golden Circle.

In 1200 AD at the same time the Vikings were discovering North America along the East Coast, new evidence suggests another group of intrepid voyagers may have been discovering the New World on the opposite end of the globe. When an obsidian spear point of mysterious origins is discovered by a group of hikers on the island of Maui, Scott Wolter is called in to investigate. Delving into it’s origins, he discovers the artifact may have come all the way from Mexico–and is just one more clue in a mounting pile of evidence suggesting Polynesian voyagers made it there and back. What Scott wants to know is if they made it to Central and South America, could they have made it all the way to North America?