History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time Read online

  History Decoded

  The 10 Greatest Conspiracies Of All Time

  #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

  Brad Meltzer

  with Keith Ferrell

  For my history teacher Ellen Sherman, who taught me the power of asking the right questions

  Also by Brad Meltzer

  Novels

  The Tenth Justice

  Dead Even

  The First Counsel

  The Millionaires

  The Zero Game

  The Book of Fate

  The Book of Lies

  The Inner Circle

  The Fifth Assassin

  Nonfiction

  Heroes for My Son

  Heroes for My Daughter

  Contents

  Introduction

  #10 John Wilkes Booth: Was Lincoln’s Assassin Apprehended?

  #9 Confederate Gold: Stolen Treasure or Hidden Wealth of a New Confederacy?

  #8 The Georgia Guidestones: America’s Stonehenge

  #7 DB Cooper: American Outlaw

  #6 The White House: Where Is the Cornerstone of Democracy?

  #5 The Spear of Destiny: History’s Most Sacred Relic

  #4 The Real Da Vinci Code: Did Leonardo Predict an Apocalypse?

  #3 Is There Any Gold in Fort Knox?

  #2 UFOs: Inside Roswell and Area 51

  #1 The Kennedy Assassination: The Truth Is Out There

  Acknowledgments

  Decoded Team

  Photo Credits

  Introduction

  I was in eleventh grade when I saw it. In Mrs. Sherman’s history class. She walked to the front of the room, flicked the switch on the rolling TV, and put on a movie for us.

  The movie? The title is long gone from my memory, but the content will never leave: It was a documentary. About the assassination of JFK.

  To this day, I can tell you exactly where I sat in Mrs. Sherman’s eleventh-grade class. That’s how much the film burned its way into my head. I still remember watching it. It wasn’t some crazy conspiracy film. It was sensible and logical. It asked reasonable questions and pointed out the holes in the official government story.

  I sat there wide-eyed as the black-and-white images flickered on screen. Today, with the Internet, the movement of such information seems far less impressive. But to me . . . in eleventh grade . . . I couldn’t believe it. There it was: someone questioning whether our own American government had been lying to us. It was like someone kicking at the foundation of my brain.

  The Kennedy Assassination

  For many, Walter Cronkite’s announcement of the death of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was one of the most unforgettable moments in history.

  Still, I can’t say I’d never seen anything like it before. One of my father’s favorite movies was All the President’s Men. He wasn’t a political guy. I think he just liked Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman kicking ass and acting tough. So when I was thirteen, we used to watch it together—over and over—since back then, having cable TV meant that HBO played the same movie fifteen times a day.

  So yes, I’d seen Redford and Hoffman accuse Nixon and his plumbers of being liars. But to me, JFK was different.

  Watergate was a few crooks and a selfish egomaniac of a president. But JFK? It just seemed . . . bigger. To break into an office building required only a few guys. But to kill a president? And then to kill Oswald? And to have Jack Ruby know where to be at the exact right moment? The only way to pull that off was if . . .

  My God, how big was this thing? (I was in eleventh grade. Everything back then seemed mind-blowing.)

  No question, though, that’s the moment that changed my life. Did it make me a conspiracy nut? No. Indeed, to this day, I think if you blame everything on the government, you’re not just wrong, you’re being reckless. It’s as silly as blaming everything on the Freemasons, or the Illuminati, or insert-bad-guy-here. But I do believe that someone must ask the hard questions, especially of our elected officials as well as powerful men who become members of so-called secret societies. Remember: Governments don’t lie. People lie. And if you want the real story, you need to find out more about those people.

  Over the years, I’ve been contacted by the family of John Wilkes Booth, by former U.S. presidents, and (of course) by the Freemasons. In my thrillers, I’ve taken readers into the secret labyrinth below the U.S. Capitol (it’s real), the hidden tunnels below the White House (also real—it’s a bomb shelter), and even to the secret entrance below the Lincoln Memorial (did you really think when presidents arrive for a visit, they just run up the front steps?).

  John Wilkes Booth

  Was Lincoln’s assassin cornered and killed in a burning Virginia barn 12 days after he killed the president—or did he live years longer under an alias? Conspiracy buffs and serious investigators have argued and speculated over this for more than a century.

  Those stories are what led to Decoded. Three years ago, the HISTORY network told me that if I gave them a list of my favorite historical mysteries, they’d give me a team to help solve them. From there, Buddy Levy, Christine McKinley, Scott Rolle, and our amazing producers and crew have become true family. Together, we’ve explored some of the greatest conspiracies (and myths) that history has to offer.

  To me, history is a giant game of telephone. What’s vital is finding the first whisper. Yet of all the questions people ask us about conspiracies, the number one is simply this: Which is your favorite?

  And so, this book. Inside, you’ll see our favorites, counting down from the mysteries surrounding the Lincoln assassination, to the search for Confederate gold, to the existence of UFOs, to . . . well . . . like I said, you’ll see.

  As always, our goal is to show you the facts presented by both sides. We’ll give you our theories—plus the sensible and logical questions to ask—and then you decide who you believe. Look inside. There’s a reason we want you to pull out the evidence and physically examine it for yourself.

  As for those who want the full solutions to every one of these mysteries, let me say it now: Don’t write me letters asking for those answers. In some of the chapters, you’ll see an answer. In others, you’ll get the facts as they exist. Anyone who promises you all the answers is forgetting that there’s a reason these are the greatest conspiracies and mysteries of all time.

  On the very first day we started filming Decoded, one of the producers said to me, “On shows like this, the fewer facts you have, the more scary music you play.” We decided right there, we didn’t want to be one of those shows. And yes, we may have our share of scary music, but when it comes to Decoded—and the stories in here—we’ve stuck to one motto: The scariest story of all is always the true story.

  Show me your favorite conspiracy and I’ll show you who you are. Y’know what that means? It means you’re about to find out a great deal about yourself. Just like I did on that day in Mrs. Sherman’s history class.

  See you in the archives.

  —Brad Meltzer, 2013

  John Wilkes Booth: Was Lincoln’s Assassin Apprehended?

  What if I told you that after murdering President Abraham Lincoln, the most famous assassin in American history lived for 40 more years?

  We all know the story: In 1865, on a Friday night at Ford’s Theatre, John Wilkes Booth killed our 16th president with a single bullet to the back of his head. Instantly becoming America’s most wanted man, Booth jumped from the p
residential balcony and fled on horseback across Maryland and Virginia. But some speculate that the history books—which tell us that Booth was shot 12 days later at Garrett’s farm near Port Royal, Virginia—are flat-out wrong.

  Some believe Booth didn’t die that night. They claim he was actually acting on behalf of the Confederate Secret Service, who then aided him in his escape. They argue the man killed at Garrett’s barn was actually a look-alike, a patsy used to throw off Union soldiers. What’s even more amazing: This is just one of three plausible theories of Booth’s escape. If there’s even the slightest possibility John Wilkes Booth was able to escape the law and live as a fugitive for another 40 years, I want to know what happened.

  It’s time to decode John Wilkes Booth.

  The Weapon

  Booth’s .44 caliber Derringer was a single-shot weapon. If anything spoiled the assassin’s aim, he wouldn’t have had a second chance. As a result, Booth also carried a knife.

  The Deed

  Booth knew the play by heart—and waited until the evening’s biggest laugh line was delivered. He used the audience’s laughter to hide the sound of his shot.

  The Scene

  The audience for Our American Cousin was anticipating a comedy on the evening of the assassination.

  The History

  It was Good Friday. On April 14, 1865, less than a week after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, President and Mrs. Lincoln made plans to attend the play Our American Cousin starring Laura Keene at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC.

  John Wilkes Booth, 26, a handsome, well-known stage actor—think of him as sort of the Brad Pitt of his day—made his own plans for the theater that night. And those plans involved a .44 caliber Derringer. Booth had a dark side: He was an obsessed, fanatical supporter of the Confederate cause (see Exhibit 10A, a letter Booth left with his brother-in-law). Upon learning that President and Mrs. Lincoln would be attending a performance of renowned actress Laura Keene in the popular comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, Booth decided to exact revenge for the Union victory by plotting Lincoln’s assassination.

  Ford’s Theatre was the perfect place for Booth to stage his final performance. As a famous actor, Booth was friends with the owner; he had been in the theater’s inaugural play—he even got his mail delivered there. Booth knew the place inside out. This was home turf. On the night he shot President Lincoln, he didn’t even try to conceal his identity. He walked in the front door while the performance was still in progress, said hello to the people who recognized him, and then made his way to the hallway outside the president’s private box.

  Presidential security back then was nothing like it is today. Lincoln generally traveled with one or two guards, and conveniently, on this night, the man who was supposed to be guarding the door to the box wasn’t even there. He left the theater to get a drink with some of his friends. So Booth peered through the peephole in the door (that he’s said to have drilled earlier that day) to see inside. There was no guard inside the president’s box—just Lincoln, his wife, and another couple. Booth had even memorized the play. He waited until the big laugh line: “Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal—you sockdologizing old man-trap.”

  (If Will Ferrell delivered that line today, you would hear crickets. But in 1865, it brought the house down.) When the big joke hit and everyone laughed, all Booth had to do was open the unlocked door, walk up behind the president, and shoot him. His deed done, Booth stabbed a military officer who tried to stop him as he leaped from the box to the stage, 11 feet below.

  Landing hard, Booth rose and delivered the last line he would ever speak onstage, the most famous line of his life. “Sic semper tyrannis!” he cried, the Latin phrase making clear Booth’s sentiments: Thus always to tyrants!

  Chaos erupted throughout the theater. Some say Booth broke his leg when he landed. On pure adrenaline, Booth ran out the stage door, mounted his waiting horse, and galloped into the night. History tells us that two weeks later, John Wilkes Booth was surrounded in a Virginia barn and killed by Union troops.

  The Grand Gesture

  Forever trying to capture the audience’s attention, Booth dramatically leaped from the box onto the stage, 11 feet below.

  Many people believe the phrase Your name is mud actually comes from Dr. Mudd, the man America loved to hate for setting John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg as he fled capture from the Union army.

  However, it is absolutely not true.

  The phrase was in use long before Booth assassinated Lincoln. As much as Americans would love to pin such a derogatory phrase on the doctor who helped the most notorious presidential assassin in American history feel a little better, in this case, mud refers to mud, not Mudd.

  Case Closed?

  But for decades Booth’s family members have offered a different version of events. Joanne Hulme, a distant relative of John Wilkes Booth, claims when she was a little girl, her mother shared with her the truth about how Booth died: “They’re gonna say that he died in a barn. He did not die in a barn. He lived for many, many years.”

  Booth, along with David Herold, a confidant and fellow Confederate sympathizer, fled on horseback through Maryland into Virginia. They were traveling at high speed, covering 14 miles in a matter of two hours, pausing to collect previously hidden weapons and supplies from the Surratt house, a tavern in Clinton, Maryland. Booth never got off his horse, and probably wasn’t there for more than five minutes. But he did have enough time to boast that he had just killed the president of the United States. And why wouldn’t he spike that football? Booth thought he was a hero. He believed he had done the Confederacy a favor.

  Herold and Booth raced from Surratt’s and headed south another 14 miles to Waldorf, Maryland. But this time, it took them four hours instead of two. The pain from his broken leg must have been killing Booth, and they were forced to stop at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd.

  Dr. Mudd set his leg, and it was here that some say Booth took the first steps toward assuming a brand-new identity—shaving his mustache and maybe even coloring his hair. He was officially on the run.

  Booth and Herold left Dr. Mudd’s in the morning. The manhunt for Booth was on. And he already had a $100,000 price on his head. (See Exhibit 10B. That’s a $1.3 million reward, today.) So Booth and Herold spent several days trekking through the forest and swamp, making their way south to friendlier territory. They arrived at Garrett’s farm near Port Royal, Virginia, on April 24.

  This is the fork in the road.

  The belief has always been that Booth was killed in Garrett’s barn two nights later by Union soldiers, but there are a lot of people who believe that Booth was never at Garrett’s barn and that if he was there, it was only briefly.

  So who was in that barn? Lincoln assassination scholar Joan Chaconas believes the play-by-play went something like this:

  Twenty-six Union soldiers have Booth and Herold surrounded in the barn. Herold starts freaking out. He wants to surrender. Booth is very comfortable being on stage alone. So Booth kicks Herold out of the barn. Herold emerges, and is immediately taken into custody.

  He will be tried and hanged within ten weeks.

  Now the soldiers demand Booth surrender. Two words: No. Way.

  For Booth, this is the performance of a lifetime. He will not leave the stage. One of the soldiers sets fire to the back of the barn in an attempt to flush Booth out. Another Union soldier spots Booth inside the barn and fires a shot—hitting him in the back of the neck. Booth is dragged out of the barn. As Booth lies dying, Herold asks a Union army lieutenant, Edward Doherty, “Who was that man that was shot in there? Who was he?”

  “Well, you know very well who that was,” Doherty says.

  “No, I don’t know who that was,�
�� Herold responds. “He said his name was Boyd. He told me his name was Boyd. I didn’t know it was Booth.”

  Now here’s what doesn’t make sense. Why would Herold say Booth’s name was Boyd? He’s been captured. There’s nothing to gain. And more important—who is Boyd? Is it possible that he’s some sort of patsy placed there to take the fall for Booth? There’s even speculation the body dragged out of Garrett’s barn doesn’t even look like John Wilkes Booth.

  Booth researcher Nathan Orlowek maintains that it’s impossible that the man killed in that barn was John Wilkes Booth: “Three different witnesses said that the man killed in the barn had reddish hair, even though it’s a known fact that John Wilkes Booth had jet-black hair, and Dr. May [Booth’s doctor] says the body looked much older than the John Wilkes Booth he knew in life and was freckled.” Orlowek believes Booth left Garrett’s barn two days before the Union army got there. And he thinks it was in everyone’s interest for it to be believed that John Wilkes Booth was killed. The reward money offered for Booth’s head was over the top. And the political pressure was huge. We’ve got to remember that the country was in complete chaos at this point. The war was over, but the Confederacy was still alive in spirit. The nation was so unstable that all the pressure was on Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to bring Lincoln’s assassin to justice.

  And y’see that? Now we’ve got motive.

  With the eyes of an entire nation on him, there’s just no way to understand the lengths that Stanton may have gone to close this case. And knowing that the nation needed Lincoln’s killer brought to justice so that it could survive as a united country, here’s the key question: Did Stanton place a Booth look-alike at Garrett’s farm? Orlowek’s most compelling piece of evidence comes from John P. Simonton, who served at the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the War Department for 43 years. In his statement, Simonton claimed, “I studied the evidence in this case and found no definite proof that John Wilkes Booth was ever captured.”