Mysteries at the Monument

In the Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY stands a 2½ foot tall slab of granite celebrating Thomas Wiggins, a blind slave - his unique talents became the focus of a custody battle that will leave his freedom hanging in the balance. The Thompson House in Newport, Kentucky is now a thriving live music venue but was also the birthplace of John Taliaferro Thompson, the creator of a controversial invention that would change the landscape of military and criminal warfare forever. In the center of Muskegon, Michigan stands a fourteen-foot high twisted chrome sculpture that describes an incredible tale of invention - when a father creates an odd-looking device for his two young daughters to ride down snowy slopes - it evolves into a device used by millions through the world.

On the cobblestone streets of Boston's historic Beacon Hill district is the Lewis and Harriet Hayden House where a resident daringly played his part in one of the most audacious escapes from slavery of all time. On Hatteras Island North Carolina stands the Cora Tree, legend has it that in 1700 an islander called Cora was accused of being an agent of the devil leading to a horrific witch-hunt which still fills the community with fear to this day. In Holmdel, New Jersey, atop a wooded promontory is seventy-foot long, aluminum horn shaped structure that was made to advance satellite communication in the early 1960s - but this odd-looking device actually changed our understanding of life when it discovered the oldest sound in the universe.

The quiet, quaint city of Milan is peppered with reminders of the once lucrative automotive industry that flourished in southeast Michigan but on the outskirts of town is a two-story Victorian stick-style home that was not financed by the production of vehicles but rather the sweetest of swindles. Considered the beating heart of Granby Colorado, the community's brick town hall was only built six years ago in the wake of a reinforced bulldozer's horrifying rampage throughout the town. Just north of Manhattan's midtown concrete jungle is the green oasis of Central Park with sprawling meadows, winding footpaths, glistening ponds, and thousands of free public benches - but this place of tranquility was once the site of a violent uprising that altered one of the nation's most famous parks forever.

The USS Olympia, the oldest surviving steel warship in the United States, is moored in a marina in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - when the son of a wealthy diplomat is kidnapped in Morocco, the vessel was deployed and a President up for reelection was forced to solve the international incident without risking his reelection campaign. In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, a curious and diminutive historical marker pays tribute to the site of a brutal bare knuckle boxing match that changed the course of professional sports forever Founded in 1719, the historic New England town of Litchfield, Connecticut pre-dates the birth of the United States and is rich in history - but in the National Historic District is the home of a man who took a risky idea and turned the tide of the Revolutionary War, ushering in a new era of military strategy.