History Detectives

The steamship Sultana exploded without warning one night in 1865, killing 1,800 people. Was the disaster a result of Civil War sabotage?

An investigation into the disappearance of Glenn Miller during World War II. On December 15, 1944, the Army Air Force plane carrying him from England to France vanished while flying across the English Channel. The report makes use of a plane spotter's notebook that was discovered in 2012 to pinpoint the path of Miller's plane; and digs into several theories, including one that friendly fire downed the plane and another that he was on a secret mission to end the war.

In 1884, a string of gruesome murders terrorized the people of Austin, Texas. Three years before Jack the Ripper struck London, a killer—or possibly multiple killers—brutally attacked and murdered eight women in their beds. The heinous crimes stopped as abruptly as they began, and the slayings have remained unsolved for over a century. Could this be one of the first known serial murders in the United States? Why were those responsible never brought to justice? Six of the eight victims were African American—were the crimes racially motivated? Armed with modern forensics, the History Detectives interview descendants of the murdered women and enlist the help of modern-day experts in an effort to solve this historical whodunit. Can they finally crack the case?

Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa disappears on July 30, 1975.