Mysteries at the Hotel | |
---|---|
Also known as | Hotel Secrets & Legends |
Genre | Documentary, Reality |
Directed by | Patrick DeLuca David Michael Maurer |
Narrated by | Ted Stewart |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Jim Casey, Patrick DeLuca Kevin Sharkey |
Producers | Amy Barron, Suzy Beck, Paul Boese, Richard Monahan, Jesse Schiller, Kelly Ulmer |
Cinematography | Chris Darnell, Krist Hager, Mark Peterson |
Editors | David Michael Maurer, Peter Fitzer, Renaldo Romero, Randy D. Wiles |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | Twelve02 Television, Inc. |
Original release | |
Network | Travel Channel |
Release | April 6 June 8, 2014 | –
Related | |
Mysteries at the Museum Mysteries at the Monument Mysteries at the Castle Church Secrets & Legends Mysteries at the National Parks |
Mysteries at the Hotel (formerly Hotel Secrets & Legends) is an American documentary television series that premiered on Sunday, April 6, 2014, on the Travel Channel and ended on June 8, 2014. The series features the secrets and legends hidden in the rooms of the many hotels, motels and resorts in America. The episodes aired every Sunday at 10:00 pm EST.
Each episode includes dramatic recreations featuring actors re-telling the most mysterious, secret and strange stories and legends from a hotel's history that they do not want their guests to find out. These stories have either have occurred inside the rooms or near America's famous and even not-so-famous hotels.
Opening Introduction: (narrated by Patrick DeLuca):
On any given night in America, two million hotel rooms are occupied. And in nearly all of them, the occupants have no clue about the secrets hidden in the hotel's past. It's time to check in to...Hotel Secrets & Legends.
Ep. # | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1.1 | "Mad Scientist; Hollywood Scandal; Outlaw's End" | April 6, 2014 | |
In the series premiere, the well-known inventor
Nikola Tesla's room (#3327) at
The New Yorker Hotel in
New York City is raided by the
FBI in hope to find his plans to build a
death ray after he was found dead. The ghost story that inspired
Stephen King's popular horror novel
The Shining while staying in Room 217 at the
Stanley Hotel in
Estes Park, Colorado during a snowstorm on October 30, 1974 is told. The
Patee House in
St. Joseph, Missouri plays a major role in the legend of infamous outlaw
Jesse James who was double-crossed by his own gang (
Charles and
Robert Ford) on April 3, 1882. The
St. Francis Hotel in
San Francisco, California was the scene of the "first true Hollywood scandal" when
silent film comedian
Fatty Arbuckle found struggling actress
Virginia Rappe's dead body in his room (#1220) after throwing a wild party during the height of
Prohibition. On April 5, 1865, actor and Confederate sympathizer,
John Wilkes Booth plans a plot to kill President
Abraham Lincoln in his room at the
Parker House Hotel in
Boston, Massachusetts. | |||
1.2 | "Deceptive Doctor; Portland Underground; Civil War Smackdown" | April 13, 2014 | |
The
Crescent Hotel in
Eureka Springs, Arkansas was once the former site of a "curable-cancer" treatment hospital founded by radio host/con man
Norman Baker, a self-proclaimed doctor who had a cure for cancer. The bar at the
Merchants Hotel in
Portland, Oregon was beneath an underworld called the
Shanghai tunnels where unsuspecting patrons where they were "
shanghaied" and forced into slave labor aboard sea captains ships. In September 1862, the
Galt House Hotel in
Louisville, Kentucky became the scene of a controversial murder, when Union General
Jefferson C. Davis shot fellow Union General
William "Bull" Nelson after a heated dispute. After a local House gang murders his friend
John Tunstall, infamous outlaw William Bonney (aka
Billy the Kid) takes revenge but gets cornered, but makes a daring escape from
Ellis Store Co. Bed and Breakfast (then a general store) in
Lincoln, New Mexico during the
Lincoln County War. When
Mammoth Cave Hotel owner
Franklin Gorin opens a tourist attraction, he enlists slave
Stephen Bishop to chart the rest of the
Mammoth Cave National Park in southern
Kentucky, helping him find his freedom underground by becoming its first tour guide and explorer. | |||
1.3 | "Dueling Politicians; Nuclear Intel; Seattle Scammers" | April 13, 2014 | |
The Beekman Arms in
Rhinebeck, New York sets the scene of the infamous
duel between campaigning American politicians
Aaron Burr and
Alexander Hamilton in 1804. A man named "John Burroughs" who's really a disguised
Elvis Presley packing a pistol before meeting President
Richard Nixon at the
White House checks into three rooms (#505, 506, 507) at the
Hotel Washington in
Washington D.C. in 1970. Room 231 at the City Center Motor Inn (formally the Magnuson Grand Hotel) in
Bozeman, Montana was the hideout of art thief who was connected to an art heist in 2009. In 1943,
David Greenglass, an
atomic spy for the
Soviet Union who is staying at the
La Fonda Hotel in
Santa Fe, New Mexico sells nuclear secrets about the
Manhattan Project while working at the nearby secret compound known as
"Site Y". The
Alaska Building in
Seattle which acted as a bank for the miners off-loading their gold from ships coming back from the
Yukon Gold Rush in 1903 sits directly above the seedy
Seattle Underground of criminals who robbed the hotel's rich clientele. | |||
1.4 | "Munchkin Mayhem; Undercover President; The Real Gatsby" | April 20, 2014 | |
The
Culver Hotel in
Culver City, California is where showman
Leo Singer rented out all 100 rooms to fit 125
Munchkins (3 to a bed) while filming
The Wizard of Oz in 1938, giving birth to the "Hanging Munckin" Scandal. When former president
Theodore Roosevelt runs for a third term under his
"Bull Moose Party" on October 14, 1912,
Gilpatrick Hotel (now the Hyatt Regency) in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin becomes the scene of an assassination attempt by New York bartender
John Schrank. The
Little Bohemia Lodge in
Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin becomes a place of interest when the newly formed
FBI and
Melvin Purvis battles the legendary bank robber,
John Dillinger and his gang via shootout on April 20, 1934. In 1861, newly elected President
Abraham Lincoln escapes an attempt on his life with the help of
Pinkerton agent
Kate Warne by desguising himself as a woman while using the
Willard Hotel in
Washington D.C. as a safehouse until his inauguration. During
Prohibition, a basement speakeasy called "Rathskeller" at the
Seelbach Hotel in
Louisville, Kentucky was the hangout of aspiring writer
F. Scott Fitzgerald who spied on famous gangsters like
Al Capone and local bootlegger
George Remus to get inspiration for
The Great Gatsby. | |||
1.5 | "Sports Scandal; Explorer Murder Mystery; Slave Escape" | April 27, 2014 | |
The
Biltmore Hotel in
Coral Gables, Florida was the crime scene of mobster
Fatty Walsh who along with his boss
Arnold Rothstein helped fixed the
1919 World Series in the
Black Sox Scandal. On September 22, 1897, a group of outlaws, the "
Wild Bunch" (
The Sundance Kid,
Kid Curry, Walter Putney) rob the bank of The Pollard Hotel in
Red Lodge, Montana and get double-crossed by the town sheriff. In 1846, the
Dock Street Theatre (originally The Planters Hotel) in
Charleston, South Carolina was witness to the greatest performance when a runaway slave, William Craft disguised his fair-skinned wife Ellen as his white male master to escape a life of servitude. When world-famous explorer
Meriwether Lewis checks-in at Grinder's Stand Inn, a rest stop on
Tennessee's
Natchez Trace Trail (now located in
Natchez Trace State Park), he meets a mysterious end in his cabin in what appears to be two self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Jekyll Island Club Hotel on
Jekyll Island, Georgia becomes the secret meeting place of six bankers,
Nelson Aldrich,
Paul Warburg,
Frank Vanderlip,
Benjamin Strong,
Abram Andrew, and
Henry P. Davison, who want to save their country from the
Panic of 1907, and create a
Central bank and
Federal Reserve System. | |||
1.6 | "Space Race; Ghosts of Silver City; Surviving the Everglades" | April 27, 2014 | |
International Palms Resort (originally Holiday Inn) in
Cocoa Beach, Florida is where astronaut
John Glenn waited anxiously for
NASA to tell him his
mission is a go, leading him to be the first American to orbit around the Earth on February 20, 1962. The Idaho Hotel in the ghost town of
Silver City, Idaho was the beginning of the end of this former gold mining metropolis when two wealthy mine owners who started a mining war, have a showdown out front, resulting in one man's death in 1863. The origins of the Everglades Historical Bed & Breakfast (originally Bank of the Everglades) in
Everglades City, Florida is linked to advertising mogul
Barron Collier, who leads an expedition into the
Everglades to plan the
Tamiami Trail (
U.S. Route 41). The General Warren Inne in
Malvern, Pennsylvania plays a major role in the
Paoli Massacre during the
Revolutionary War when a rebel sympathizer gives up
General Anthony Wayne's camp to the British while being interrogated at the inn.
Abraham Lincoln recalls what happened near the Franklin House Hotel (now an apartments called "Lincoln Lofts") in
Alton, Illinois in 1842; a duel with himself, then a young lawyer and
James Shields, then a state auditor over the way Shields mis-handled Illinois' financial crisis. | |||
1.7 | "Imperfect Crime; Stagecoach Shocker; People's President" | May 4, 2014 | |
In 1924,
The Drake Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois becomes the headquarters of authorities as they investigate the murder of Bobby Franks who was last seen with wealthy socialite teenagers
Nathan Leopold and
Richard Loeb. After a union labor dispute erupts in 1916, America's first celebrity chef,
Victor Hirtzler continues cooking a banquet for Republican presidential candidate
Charles Evans Hughes at the
St. Francis Hotel in
San Francisco, California, not knowing this meal will determine the election.
Charley Parkhurst, the best stagecoach driver and "whip" on the
West Coast shares a shocking secret at
Wolf Creek Tavern (now called
Wolf Creek Inn State Heritage Site) in
Wolf Creek, Oregon. Right after the
Attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military flies
Japanese-Americans from the Japanese Consulate in
Honolulu to the remote Triangle T Ranch in
Dragoon, Arizona, their makeshift headquarters, and interrogates
Takeo Yoshikawa, who appears to a lowly clerk. After insulting his wife about being a
bigamist, presidential-elect
Andrew Jackson challenges attorney
Charles Dickinson to a duel, which results in a scandalous campaign during a stop at
Century Inn (formerly Hill's Tavern) in
Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania. | |||
1.8 | "Dangerous Lottery; Yosemite's Hero; Shady Sheriff" | May 4, 2014 | |
In 1923, after the
Ohio Gang scandal,
Warren G. Harding’s presidency ends suddenly when he dies in what is now Room 888 at the
Palace Hotel in
San Francisco, California. The lottery's history is born at El Bien Publico medical clinic (now the
Don Vicente Inn) in
Ybor City, Florida when it becomes the first place the Cuban game of "
bolita" is played, which started a war between crime boss
Charlie Wall and the Italian mob in late 1920s.
Yosemite National Park is created after
Theodore Roosevelt skips a lobbyist meeting at Wawona Hotel in
Wawona, California and trailblazes with author
John Muir who pitches to the president about conserving the valley. After he shoots town nuisance Jack Cleveland inside the Fairweather Inn in
Bannack, Montana, former criminal
Henry Plummer is made sheriff by the town's leaders, but his secret is revealed when the newly formed
Montana Vigilantes find out he's the leader of a gang who's been robbing stagecoaches. After holding a secret meeting at the Old Talbott Tavern in
Bardstown, Kentucky, the efforts by former vice president
Aaron Burr to split America in two goes awry when his general,
James Wilkinson tells President
Thomas Jefferson of his plan for treason. | |||
1.9 | "Scandalous Televangelist; Dream Speech; British Invasion" | May 11, 2014 | |
On December 6, 1980, Room 538 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in
Clearwater Beach, Florida tells the story of the
Jessica Hahn
sex scandal that brought down the
televangelism empire of
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's "
Praise the Lord Network". Before being burned down in a fire, The World's Fair Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois, owned by
H.H. Holmes, the world’s first known serial killer is known as the "Murder Castle" after the police find bones buried in the basement.
The Willard Hotel in
Washington D.C. becomes the place where
civil rights leader,
Martin Luther King Jr. writes his famous "
I Have a Dream" speech for the
Civil Rights Movement the night before he delivers it to a massive crowd on the
National Mall. During the third stop on their American tour to
Seattle, Washington of their
British Invasion, British rock band,
The Beatles saves The Edgewater Hotel's failing business when they spend the night in Room 272 in 1964, causing much publicity.
The Hotel Hershey in
Hershey, Pennsylvania sets the scene of female spy,
Amy Elizabeth Pack and her love affair with
Vichy, France attaché Charles Brousse influences the outcome of
World War II after they steal naval cipher codes that aids the
Allied invasion of North Africa. | |||
1.10 | "Vampire Outbreak; American Traitor; Corporate Retreat" | May 18, 2014 | |
In 1934, three ladies' night of drunken rowdiness at the Renaissance Hotel in
Cleveland, Ohio intersects with one of the biggest man-hunts in American history, when one woman arrested is the girlfriend of gangster
Fred Barker of the
Barker-Karpis gang. Future tech giant,
Apple hosts a wild party at La Playa Carmel Hotel in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California in 1983 after developing the "
Lisa computing system", much to the dislike of co-founder
Steve Jobs who was forced off the project. The
Meeker Hotel in
Meeker, Colorado is put on the map when a bank robbery is foiled by townsfolk, leading to a shootout between them and three former members of the
Wild Bunch, Jim Shirley, George Law and "The Kid". When British spy,
Major John André plots with American traitor
General Benedict Arnold to capture the fort at
West Point,
Old '76 House Tavern in
Tappan, New York serves as his jail in 1780. Kedron Valley Inn (then the Ransom family farm) in
Woodstock, Vermont was linked to a deadly outbreak believed to be
vampirism during the
New England vampire panic. | |||
1.11 | "Confederate Conspiracy; Psycho Surgeon; Jersey Man-Eater" | May 25, 2014 | |
A conspiracy to eliminate President Abraham Lincoln and his executive administration is planned at the
Surratt Inn in
Washington D.C. In 1963 during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, a meeting between
ABC news reporter
John Scali and Soviet spy
Alexander Feklisov at the Occidental Grill in the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. halted
World War III between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Legendary lawman
Eliot Ness uses The Renaissance Hotel in
Cleveland, Ohio as headquarters to interrogate a surgeon-turned-serial killer who was known as the "
Cleveland Torso Murderer", butchering 12 people in
Kingsbury Run. The
Engleside Inn in
Beach Haven, New Jersey becomes famous for
great white
shark attacks on the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1916, known as the "Jersey Man-Eater". In 1921,
The Drake Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois is the scene of one of the most underhanded deals in American history masterminded by a corrupt
Veterans' Bureau Director
Charles Forbes who took a $5,000 bride at the hotel and embezzled $200 million during
Warren G. Harding's presidency. | |||
1.12 | "LSD Lab Rats; Portrait of a Con Man; Presidential Ransom" | June 1, 2014 | |
On December 20, 1957, a U.S. Marshal becomes a part of a
CIA mind-control experiment code named "
Project MKUltra" when he was drugged with
LSD in Room 49 of what is now the Hotel del Sol in
San Francisco, California. A legendary old mountain man named
John "Liver-Eating" Johnson breaks up a brawl at the tavern inside The Pollard Hotel in
Red Lodge, Montana in 1893. The
Congress Plaza Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois sets the scene for the rescue of the "Duchess of Devonshire", a prized painting that's been missing for 25 years from the owner who stole it, master criminal
Adam Worth who made the exchange with Detective
William Pinkerton. The
Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania becomes the unlikely origin of a lethal flu strain called
Legionnaires' disease when the hotel hosted an
American Legion convention where 221 people became ill when it became airborne in the air conditioning vents. Irish mob boss,
"Big Jim" Kennally plans to grave rob the tomb of
Abraham Lincoln while at the St. Nicholas Hotel in
Springfield, Illinois in 1876. | |||
1.13 | "Deadwood Duel; Subterranean Suite; Billionaire Bucket List" | June 8, 2014 | |
Mineral Palace Hotel (then The
Gem Theater, a brothel) in
Deadwood, South Dakota starts the story of a showdown between businessman
George Hearst and the town's de facto mayor
Al Swearengen when Hearst builds the
Homestake Mine, legalizing the lawless town. The
Golden Lamb Inn in
Lebanon, Ohio is the scene of former U.S. congressman-turned lawyer
Clement Vallandigham who accidentally shot himself trying to prove his client's innocence by performing a demonstration with a loaded gun in his guest room. The
Grand Canyon Caverns Inn in
Arizona is home of the world's deepest hotel room that was discovered by a cowboy named Walter Peck who tripped and fell into a huge hole-turned massive cave during the
monsoon season of 1927 and turned it into a tourist attraction. When the newly formed American government places a federal tax on small distillers, an uprising by whiskey farmers is born at the
Jean Bonnet Tavern in
Bedford, Pennsylvania causing the
Whiskey Rebellion in 1791. During a torrential storm in 1921, the childish antics of three drunk old men, calling themselves "The Vagabonds" (
Thomas Edison,
Henry Ford and
Harvey Firestone) seek shelter at the
Summit Inn Resort in
Farmington, Pennsylvania. |
Mysteries at the Hotel | |
---|---|
Also known as | Hotel Secrets & Legends |
Genre | Documentary, Reality |
Directed by | Patrick DeLuca David Michael Maurer |
Narrated by | Ted Stewart |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Jim Casey, Patrick DeLuca Kevin Sharkey |
Producers | Amy Barron, Suzy Beck, Paul Boese, Richard Monahan, Jesse Schiller, Kelly Ulmer |
Cinematography | Chris Darnell, Krist Hager, Mark Peterson |
Editors | David Michael Maurer, Peter Fitzer, Renaldo Romero, Randy D. Wiles |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | Twelve02 Television, Inc. |
Original release | |
Network | Travel Channel |
Release | April 6 June 8, 2014 | –
Related | |
Mysteries at the Museum Mysteries at the Monument Mysteries at the Castle Church Secrets & Legends Mysteries at the National Parks |
Mysteries at the Hotel (formerly Hotel Secrets & Legends) is an American documentary television series that premiered on Sunday, April 6, 2014, on the Travel Channel and ended on June 8, 2014. The series features the secrets and legends hidden in the rooms of the many hotels, motels and resorts in America. The episodes aired every Sunday at 10:00 pm EST.
Each episode includes dramatic recreations featuring actors re-telling the most mysterious, secret and strange stories and legends from a hotel's history that they do not want their guests to find out. These stories have either have occurred inside the rooms or near America's famous and even not-so-famous hotels.
Opening Introduction: (narrated by Patrick DeLuca):
On any given night in America, two million hotel rooms are occupied. And in nearly all of them, the occupants have no clue about the secrets hidden in the hotel's past. It's time to check in to...Hotel Secrets & Legends.
Ep. # | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1.1 | "Mad Scientist; Hollywood Scandal; Outlaw's End" | April 6, 2014 | |
In the series premiere, the well-known inventor
Nikola Tesla's room (#3327) at
The New Yorker Hotel in
New York City is raided by the
FBI in hope to find his plans to build a
death ray after he was found dead. The ghost story that inspired
Stephen King's popular horror novel
The Shining while staying in Room 217 at the
Stanley Hotel in
Estes Park, Colorado during a snowstorm on October 30, 1974 is told. The
Patee House in
St. Joseph, Missouri plays a major role in the legend of infamous outlaw
Jesse James who was double-crossed by his own gang (
Charles and
Robert Ford) on April 3, 1882. The
St. Francis Hotel in
San Francisco, California was the scene of the "first true Hollywood scandal" when
silent film comedian
Fatty Arbuckle found struggling actress
Virginia Rappe's dead body in his room (#1220) after throwing a wild party during the height of
Prohibition. On April 5, 1865, actor and Confederate sympathizer,
John Wilkes Booth plans a plot to kill President
Abraham Lincoln in his room at the
Parker House Hotel in
Boston, Massachusetts. | |||
1.2 | "Deceptive Doctor; Portland Underground; Civil War Smackdown" | April 13, 2014 | |
The
Crescent Hotel in
Eureka Springs, Arkansas was once the former site of a "curable-cancer" treatment hospital founded by radio host/con man
Norman Baker, a self-proclaimed doctor who had a cure for cancer. The bar at the
Merchants Hotel in
Portland, Oregon was beneath an underworld called the
Shanghai tunnels where unsuspecting patrons where they were "
shanghaied" and forced into slave labor aboard sea captains ships. In September 1862, the
Galt House Hotel in
Louisville, Kentucky became the scene of a controversial murder, when Union General
Jefferson C. Davis shot fellow Union General
William "Bull" Nelson after a heated dispute. After a local House gang murders his friend
John Tunstall, infamous outlaw William Bonney (aka
Billy the Kid) takes revenge but gets cornered, but makes a daring escape from
Ellis Store Co. Bed and Breakfast (then a general store) in
Lincoln, New Mexico during the
Lincoln County War. When
Mammoth Cave Hotel owner
Franklin Gorin opens a tourist attraction, he enlists slave
Stephen Bishop to chart the rest of the
Mammoth Cave National Park in southern
Kentucky, helping him find his freedom underground by becoming its first tour guide and explorer. | |||
1.3 | "Dueling Politicians; Nuclear Intel; Seattle Scammers" | April 13, 2014 | |
The Beekman Arms in
Rhinebeck, New York sets the scene of the infamous
duel between campaigning American politicians
Aaron Burr and
Alexander Hamilton in 1804. A man named "John Burroughs" who's really a disguised
Elvis Presley packing a pistol before meeting President
Richard Nixon at the
White House checks into three rooms (#505, 506, 507) at the
Hotel Washington in
Washington D.C. in 1970. Room 231 at the City Center Motor Inn (formally the Magnuson Grand Hotel) in
Bozeman, Montana was the hideout of art thief who was connected to an art heist in 2009. In 1943,
David Greenglass, an
atomic spy for the
Soviet Union who is staying at the
La Fonda Hotel in
Santa Fe, New Mexico sells nuclear secrets about the
Manhattan Project while working at the nearby secret compound known as
"Site Y". The
Alaska Building in
Seattle which acted as a bank for the miners off-loading their gold from ships coming back from the
Yukon Gold Rush in 1903 sits directly above the seedy
Seattle Underground of criminals who robbed the hotel's rich clientele. | |||
1.4 | "Munchkin Mayhem; Undercover President; The Real Gatsby" | April 20, 2014 | |
The
Culver Hotel in
Culver City, California is where showman
Leo Singer rented out all 100 rooms to fit 125
Munchkins (3 to a bed) while filming
The Wizard of Oz in 1938, giving birth to the "Hanging Munckin" Scandal. When former president
Theodore Roosevelt runs for a third term under his
"Bull Moose Party" on October 14, 1912,
Gilpatrick Hotel (now the Hyatt Regency) in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin becomes the scene of an assassination attempt by New York bartender
John Schrank. The
Little Bohemia Lodge in
Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin becomes a place of interest when the newly formed
FBI and
Melvin Purvis battles the legendary bank robber,
John Dillinger and his gang via shootout on April 20, 1934. In 1861, newly elected President
Abraham Lincoln escapes an attempt on his life with the help of
Pinkerton agent
Kate Warne by desguising himself as a woman while using the
Willard Hotel in
Washington D.C. as a safehouse until his inauguration. During
Prohibition, a basement speakeasy called "Rathskeller" at the
Seelbach Hotel in
Louisville, Kentucky was the hangout of aspiring writer
F. Scott Fitzgerald who spied on famous gangsters like
Al Capone and local bootlegger
George Remus to get inspiration for
The Great Gatsby. | |||
1.5 | "Sports Scandal; Explorer Murder Mystery; Slave Escape" | April 27, 2014 | |
The
Biltmore Hotel in
Coral Gables, Florida was the crime scene of mobster
Fatty Walsh who along with his boss
Arnold Rothstein helped fixed the
1919 World Series in the
Black Sox Scandal. On September 22, 1897, a group of outlaws, the "
Wild Bunch" (
The Sundance Kid,
Kid Curry, Walter Putney) rob the bank of The Pollard Hotel in
Red Lodge, Montana and get double-crossed by the town sheriff. In 1846, the
Dock Street Theatre (originally The Planters Hotel) in
Charleston, South Carolina was witness to the greatest performance when a runaway slave, William Craft disguised his fair-skinned wife Ellen as his white male master to escape a life of servitude. When world-famous explorer
Meriwether Lewis checks-in at Grinder's Stand Inn, a rest stop on
Tennessee's
Natchez Trace Trail (now located in
Natchez Trace State Park), he meets a mysterious end in his cabin in what appears to be two self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Jekyll Island Club Hotel on
Jekyll Island, Georgia becomes the secret meeting place of six bankers,
Nelson Aldrich,
Paul Warburg,
Frank Vanderlip,
Benjamin Strong,
Abram Andrew, and
Henry P. Davison, who want to save their country from the
Panic of 1907, and create a
Central bank and
Federal Reserve System. | |||
1.6 | "Space Race; Ghosts of Silver City; Surviving the Everglades" | April 27, 2014 | |
International Palms Resort (originally Holiday Inn) in
Cocoa Beach, Florida is where astronaut
John Glenn waited anxiously for
NASA to tell him his
mission is a go, leading him to be the first American to orbit around the Earth on February 20, 1962. The Idaho Hotel in the ghost town of
Silver City, Idaho was the beginning of the end of this former gold mining metropolis when two wealthy mine owners who started a mining war, have a showdown out front, resulting in one man's death in 1863. The origins of the Everglades Historical Bed & Breakfast (originally Bank of the Everglades) in
Everglades City, Florida is linked to advertising mogul
Barron Collier, who leads an expedition into the
Everglades to plan the
Tamiami Trail (
U.S. Route 41). The General Warren Inne in
Malvern, Pennsylvania plays a major role in the
Paoli Massacre during the
Revolutionary War when a rebel sympathizer gives up
General Anthony Wayne's camp to the British while being interrogated at the inn.
Abraham Lincoln recalls what happened near the Franklin House Hotel (now an apartments called "Lincoln Lofts") in
Alton, Illinois in 1842; a duel with himself, then a young lawyer and
James Shields, then a state auditor over the way Shields mis-handled Illinois' financial crisis. | |||
1.7 | "Imperfect Crime; Stagecoach Shocker; People's President" | May 4, 2014 | |
In 1924,
The Drake Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois becomes the headquarters of authorities as they investigate the murder of Bobby Franks who was last seen with wealthy socialite teenagers
Nathan Leopold and
Richard Loeb. After a union labor dispute erupts in 1916, America's first celebrity chef,
Victor Hirtzler continues cooking a banquet for Republican presidential candidate
Charles Evans Hughes at the
St. Francis Hotel in
San Francisco, California, not knowing this meal will determine the election.
Charley Parkhurst, the best stagecoach driver and "whip" on the
West Coast shares a shocking secret at
Wolf Creek Tavern (now called
Wolf Creek Inn State Heritage Site) in
Wolf Creek, Oregon. Right after the
Attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military flies
Japanese-Americans from the Japanese Consulate in
Honolulu to the remote Triangle T Ranch in
Dragoon, Arizona, their makeshift headquarters, and interrogates
Takeo Yoshikawa, who appears to a lowly clerk. After insulting his wife about being a
bigamist, presidential-elect
Andrew Jackson challenges attorney
Charles Dickinson to a duel, which results in a scandalous campaign during a stop at
Century Inn (formerly Hill's Tavern) in
Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania. | |||
1.8 | "Dangerous Lottery; Yosemite's Hero; Shady Sheriff" | May 4, 2014 | |
In 1923, after the
Ohio Gang scandal,
Warren G. Harding’s presidency ends suddenly when he dies in what is now Room 888 at the
Palace Hotel in
San Francisco, California. The lottery's history is born at El Bien Publico medical clinic (now the
Don Vicente Inn) in
Ybor City, Florida when it becomes the first place the Cuban game of "
bolita" is played, which started a war between crime boss
Charlie Wall and the Italian mob in late 1920s.
Yosemite National Park is created after
Theodore Roosevelt skips a lobbyist meeting at Wawona Hotel in
Wawona, California and trailblazes with author
John Muir who pitches to the president about conserving the valley. After he shoots town nuisance Jack Cleveland inside the Fairweather Inn in
Bannack, Montana, former criminal
Henry Plummer is made sheriff by the town's leaders, but his secret is revealed when the newly formed
Montana Vigilantes find out he's the leader of a gang who's been robbing stagecoaches. After holding a secret meeting at the Old Talbott Tavern in
Bardstown, Kentucky, the efforts by former vice president
Aaron Burr to split America in two goes awry when his general,
James Wilkinson tells President
Thomas Jefferson of his plan for treason. | |||
1.9 | "Scandalous Televangelist; Dream Speech; British Invasion" | May 11, 2014 | |
On December 6, 1980, Room 538 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in
Clearwater Beach, Florida tells the story of the
Jessica Hahn
sex scandal that brought down the
televangelism empire of
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's "
Praise the Lord Network". Before being burned down in a fire, The World's Fair Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois, owned by
H.H. Holmes, the world’s first known serial killer is known as the "Murder Castle" after the police find bones buried in the basement.
The Willard Hotel in
Washington D.C. becomes the place where
civil rights leader,
Martin Luther King Jr. writes his famous "
I Have a Dream" speech for the
Civil Rights Movement the night before he delivers it to a massive crowd on the
National Mall. During the third stop on their American tour to
Seattle, Washington of their
British Invasion, British rock band,
The Beatles saves The Edgewater Hotel's failing business when they spend the night in Room 272 in 1964, causing much publicity.
The Hotel Hershey in
Hershey, Pennsylvania sets the scene of female spy,
Amy Elizabeth Pack and her love affair with
Vichy, France attaché Charles Brousse influences the outcome of
World War II after they steal naval cipher codes that aids the
Allied invasion of North Africa. | |||
1.10 | "Vampire Outbreak; American Traitor; Corporate Retreat" | May 18, 2014 | |
In 1934, three ladies' night of drunken rowdiness at the Renaissance Hotel in
Cleveland, Ohio intersects with one of the biggest man-hunts in American history, when one woman arrested is the girlfriend of gangster
Fred Barker of the
Barker-Karpis gang. Future tech giant,
Apple hosts a wild party at La Playa Carmel Hotel in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California in 1983 after developing the "
Lisa computing system", much to the dislike of co-founder
Steve Jobs who was forced off the project. The
Meeker Hotel in
Meeker, Colorado is put on the map when a bank robbery is foiled by townsfolk, leading to a shootout between them and three former members of the
Wild Bunch, Jim Shirley, George Law and "The Kid". When British spy,
Major John André plots with American traitor
General Benedict Arnold to capture the fort at
West Point,
Old '76 House Tavern in
Tappan, New York serves as his jail in 1780. Kedron Valley Inn (then the Ransom family farm) in
Woodstock, Vermont was linked to a deadly outbreak believed to be
vampirism during the
New England vampire panic. | |||
1.11 | "Confederate Conspiracy; Psycho Surgeon; Jersey Man-Eater" | May 25, 2014 | |
A conspiracy to eliminate President Abraham Lincoln and his executive administration is planned at the
Surratt Inn in
Washington D.C. In 1963 during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, a meeting between
ABC news reporter
John Scali and Soviet spy
Alexander Feklisov at the Occidental Grill in the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. halted
World War III between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Legendary lawman
Eliot Ness uses The Renaissance Hotel in
Cleveland, Ohio as headquarters to interrogate a surgeon-turned-serial killer who was known as the "
Cleveland Torso Murderer", butchering 12 people in
Kingsbury Run. The
Engleside Inn in
Beach Haven, New Jersey becomes famous for
great white
shark attacks on the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1916, known as the "Jersey Man-Eater". In 1921,
The Drake Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois is the scene of one of the most underhanded deals in American history masterminded by a corrupt
Veterans' Bureau Director
Charles Forbes who took a $5,000 bride at the hotel and embezzled $200 million during
Warren G. Harding's presidency. | |||
1.12 | "LSD Lab Rats; Portrait of a Con Man; Presidential Ransom" | June 1, 2014 | |
On December 20, 1957, a U.S. Marshal becomes a part of a
CIA mind-control experiment code named "
Project MKUltra" when he was drugged with
LSD in Room 49 of what is now the Hotel del Sol in
San Francisco, California. A legendary old mountain man named
John "Liver-Eating" Johnson breaks up a brawl at the tavern inside The Pollard Hotel in
Red Lodge, Montana in 1893. The
Congress Plaza Hotel in
Chicago, Illinois sets the scene for the rescue of the "Duchess of Devonshire", a prized painting that's been missing for 25 years from the owner who stole it, master criminal
Adam Worth who made the exchange with Detective
William Pinkerton. The
Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania becomes the unlikely origin of a lethal flu strain called
Legionnaires' disease when the hotel hosted an
American Legion convention where 221 people became ill when it became airborne in the air conditioning vents. Irish mob boss,
"Big Jim" Kennally plans to grave rob the tomb of
Abraham Lincoln while at the St. Nicholas Hotel in
Springfield, Illinois in 1876. | |||
1.13 | "Deadwood Duel; Subterranean Suite; Billionaire Bucket List" | June 8, 2014 | |
Mineral Palace Hotel (then The
Gem Theater, a brothel) in
Deadwood, South Dakota starts the story of a showdown between businessman
George Hearst and the town's de facto mayor
Al Swearengen when Hearst builds the
Homestake Mine, legalizing the lawless town. The
Golden Lamb Inn in
Lebanon, Ohio is the scene of former U.S. congressman-turned lawyer
Clement Vallandigham who accidentally shot himself trying to prove his client's innocence by performing a demonstration with a loaded gun in his guest room. The
Grand Canyon Caverns Inn in
Arizona is home of the world's deepest hotel room that was discovered by a cowboy named Walter Peck who tripped and fell into a huge hole-turned massive cave during the
monsoon season of 1927 and turned it into a tourist attraction. When the newly formed American government places a federal tax on small distillers, an uprising by whiskey farmers is born at the
Jean Bonnet Tavern in
Bedford, Pennsylvania causing the
Whiskey Rebellion in 1791. During a torrential storm in 1921, the childish antics of three drunk old men, calling themselves "The Vagabonds" (
Thomas Edison,
Henry Ford and
Harvey Firestone) seek shelter at the
Summit Inn Resort in
Farmington, Pennsylvania. |