Unexplained History

On January 7, 1948, witnesses at Godman Field near Fort Knox watched a bright object they could not identify. A passing flight of Kentucky Air National Guard Mustangs was asked to investigate. Captain Thomas Mantell continued climbing after the other pilots turned back. His aircraft crashed near Franklin, Kentucky.

This episode reconstructs the tower statements, follows the pursuit and accident investigation, and examines the Air Force's changing explanations. Contemporary documents and Edward Ruppelt's later investigation reveal how a fatal flight became one of the earliest defining cases in American UFO history.

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🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.

More at The Unexplained Company

History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

In late nineteen forty-eight, pilots, security personnel, and scientists reported brilliant green fireballs over New Mexico. The reports reached officials responsible for some of America's most sensitive atomic installations. Meteor expert Lincoln LaPaz investigated, witnessed a fireball himself, and brought his findings to a secret conference at Los Alamos.

The Air Force eventually built Project Twinkle to obtain photographs, trajectories, and other measurements. This episode follows the sightings across the atomic Southwest, reconstructs the investigation from surviving records, and examines why the program left so much unsettled.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.

🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.

More at The Unexplained Company

History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

This special Unexplained History broadcast follows biological warfare from its disputed Bronze Age beginnings through medieval sieges, colonial smallpox, Japan's Unit 731, Western programs, and the treaty intended to end them. The second half investigates the Soviet biological weapons system, the Aralsk smallpox outbreak, the Sverdlovsk anthrax disaster, defectors, inspections, and accidents at Russian research facilities.

We close with the October 2026 death of an Irkutsk anti-plague institute employee and the evidence behind reports of pneumonic plague. The October 10 WHO bulletin reports no evidence of ongoing transmission on the information provided, while the cause of the death remains unknown and a laboratory exposure cannot be fully excluded. Research is current through October 12. This episode distinguishes documented history, government assessments, testimony, and unresolved reporting.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.

🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.

More at The Unexplained Company

History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

On a July afternoon in nineteen forty-seven, the Army air field at Roswell announced possession of a flying disc. Within hours, officers at Fort Worth presented wreckage they identified as a balloon and radar target. The reversal became one of the most durable mysteries of the twentieth century.

This episode reconstructs the first day's surviving record before following the people, interviews, books, and disputed papers that made Roswell a story about alien bodies and a secret government. It examines what the photographs and contemporary reports can establish, and where the evidence still leaves room for argument.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.

🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.

More at The Unexplained Company

History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

A new claim says the Zodiac Killer's shortest name cipher points to a man once investigated in the murder of Elizabeth Short. The proposal joins two notorious unsolved cases, a cipher, a possible alias, and a set of newly published technical arguments.

This episode follows the original letters, the two Zodiac ciphers that really were solved, and the thirteen symbols that still invite competing readings. It examines what the new theory adds, what the documents establish, and what evidence would be needed before any name could be called an answer.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.

🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.

More at The Unexplained Company

History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.

This episode includes AI-generated content.