The History Channel

Ground Hog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, dates back to 1886 and an ancient European holiday called Candlemass Day. Garrison Keeler and his A Prairie Home Companion radio program export a comic, down-home image of Minnesota to a weekly worldwide audience of over four million listeners. Hawaii is the only state that was once a kingdom and had its throne toppled in 1893 by a handful of meddling foreigners with the aid of the U.S. Navy. Following the world's first submarine attack in 1864, the Confederate sub The Hunley sank mysteriously in Charleston Harbor, but was discovered and raised 131 years later. Montana has long been the world's best source for dinosaur fossils and a recent discovery is shedding new light.

Hurricanes, lightening and alligator-filled swamps made Florida an unwelcome candidate for statehood, yet it continues to draw more and more people annually. In 1900, Indianapolis, not Detroit, was the center of the auto industry, and endurance tests there resulted in the establishment of the Indy 500 in 1911. On May 18, 1980, America's most economically destructive volcanic erupts at Mt. St. Helens and rocks Washington State. Escaping religious persecution, Brigham Young leads twelve thousand Mormons on an exodus into the Utah desert in search of paradise. Roger Williams fled Massachusetts in the 16th century and founded a colony of religious tolerance in Rhode Island.

It's a rivalry that tears us apart every four years, but how did our nation divide into red states vs. blue states, and what happens to the states caught in the middle?

Deep in the Rust Belt the white collar and blue collar divide has shaped our cities and our states. How did this rivalry change the way we all bring home the bacon?

America's most iconic rivalry was more than just a feud between families. The fight between the Hatfields and McCoys nearly launched a war between two states.

Two underdogs of American culture go head to head to prove how hillbillies and rednecks have shaped our states.

Before Lincoln finally came to rest in a steel-and-concrete-reinforced underground vault in Springfield, the President's body was repeatedly exhumed and moved, his coffin frequently opened. In 1876, eleven years after Abraham Lincoln's assassination, a band of Chicago counterfeiters plotted to steal Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom. Their plan was to demand $200,000 and the release of the gang's master engraver, who was in prison in Illinois. The Secret Service--recently formed to deal with the country's ballooning counterfeiting problem--infiltrated the gang with an informer. It also set in motion a cringe-inducing chain of events in which a group of well-intentioned, self-appointed guardians took it upon themselves to protect Lincoln's remains by any means necessary. This strange story of Lincoln at un-rest reveals how important this man was to so many, and perhaps our reluctance to let such a beloved and visionary leader go.

When Scott Wolter began investigating mysterious artifacts, he started to notice one unique symbol appeared on many of them. The symbol, now known as the "Hooked X", baffled researchers who couldn't make sense of it. As Scott's investigation into the origins of the symbol unfolds, he realizes its use is unique to just two notoriously secret groups--the Knights Templar and their modern day brethren, the Freemasons. Used in secret codes, cryptic ciphers and even the alleged tomb of Jesus himself, the symbol could be the key to understanding two of the biggest mysteries of all time--exactly what the Holy Grail is, and where it's hidden today.

The Newport Tower is considered by many to be the most mysterious structure in the United States. Some people think it's a colonial era windmill or perhaps all that's left of an early water tower, but Scott Wolter is convinced it's something far more significant. Because of the archaeoastonomy and solstice illuminations that take place inside of the meticulously planned stone structure, he believes the Knights Templar came to America and built it centuries ago. Now, he's dead set on proving his theory. While planning an elaborate laser light show designed to illustrate the Tower's miraculous features, Scott discovers something else significant that ties this structure--and the Templar's modern day initiates--to one of America's most visited and most treasured icons.

The Holy Grail is one of the most sought after treasures of all time, and one treasure hunter thinks he knows exactly where it is. He invites Scott Wolter along on his quest to find it, and the result is a North American treasure hunt of epic proportions. Legends, a treasure map and the results of ground penetrating technology all point to the Grail being in a single location--a holy well on the property of a rumored Templar Prince. What Scott finds in and around the well will shock even the skeptics in this edge-of-your-seat season finale.

It is one of the most covert military bases on American soil, protecting the nation's most confidential research and development. For decades, the highest levels of government had denied its existence. But behind the barbed wire fences and surveillance cameras are secrets...Go inside the most famous secret military base on Earth to expose the high-tech security, undercover operations, and most outrageous claims surrounding the 575 square miles of "restricted" space. What actually goes on at Area 51? Is there a connection between Area 51 and the Roswell event of 1947? Could there be a secret subterranean city underneath the barren desert? Have the conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51 been a smokescreen for controversial military projects? While the government may never reveal what it's really hiding at Area 51, many believe it is a place where truth is stranger than fiction.

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake--a moment in history that's always been gotten wrong. James Dalessandro, author of 1906, a novel, is the world's foremost expert on the disaster. He'd like to see the destruction of City Hall in 1906. The first step in telling the story correctly was to understand the full scope of the damage. So Dalessandro got the full investigation of what really happened in 1906 by taking a documentary team to an earthquake destruction tour in San Francisco. After numerous interviews with historians and earthquake experts, the team goes to a Hollywood studio to re-create City Hall with the help of technology and CGI. As complex as this tragedy is, it can be symbolized in a single moment with the destruction of City Hall. Does the team get it right?

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

For centuries, popular culture depicted Captain Kidd as an illiterate, devious, merciless pirate. But we turn the tables on accepted fact to uncover a different story. Kidd was an intelligent, well-read businessmen living in New York, when English King William III commissioned him for "special operations"--as a pirate hunter. Why did he switch from hunter to hunted? Was he a "double agent" of piracy? Was he hung as a paradigm for those who dared blur the distinction between privateer and pirate?

It's 1942--the height of WWII. Bombers have never before taken off from an aircraft carrier, but the moment has come. Daredevil pilot Jimmy Doolittle and his handpicked squadron train for a one-way mission using modified B-25s. They're on a mission to bomb Tokyo, avenge Pearl Harbor, and hopefully bring an end to the war. There is not enough fuel for them to land safely. They know they will either make history, or die trying. In this episode, host Hunter Ellis examines The Man--celebrated pilot Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle; The Machine--the B-25 Bomber; and The Moment--Doolittle's dramatic raid on Japan.

In 1942, Hitler demands a silent, deadly weapon that is capable of completely destroying London in a matter of days. At a top-secret facility, young physicist Wernher von Braun complies, creating the world's first supersonic rocket-powered delivery system. Armed with a warhead, von Braun's V2 rockets become Hitler's last hope and the world's first ballistic missile. The "V" stands for vengeance--and Hitler plans to rain down thousands of V2s every day on the Allies. Hitler believes his V2 arsenal will change the course of WWII. Join us as we explore history's fusion of man, moment, and machine--the life of von Braun, his incredible invention, Hitler's plan to destroy London, and with war's end imminent, von Braun's hidden treasure of technical documents and carefully planned surrender to the Americans. Hosted by former Navy "Top Gun" pilot Hunter Ellis.

It is 1951, and we're at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, England. One man, Enzo Ferrari, will push his team to the brink for a win. His machine, the 375 Formula One racecar, has enough performance and power to be competitive. But Ferrari is going up against the world champion Alfa Romeo team and their driver, Juan Manuel Fangio, widely considered to be the best Formula One driver in the world. Ferrari is betting his reputation, and perhaps his future as an automaker, on a strategy he considers a secret weapon--his car should need less fuel to make it through the race than the car of his nemesis, Alfa Romeo. If he's right, he could win the race and make a name for himself, if he's wrong, it could be another humiliating and devastating defeat.