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[Music]
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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you are about to see is not a news
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broadcast during the late 1960s
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thousands of curiosity seekers lined up
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to catch a glimpse of the legendary
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Iceman a mysterious creature reportedly
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half man and half ape entombed in a
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block of solid ice but when the police
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began to investigate just who or what
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was in the frozen tomb the ice man
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vanished at the age of 10
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Tom Bowen landed at a children's home
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the innocent victim of his Paris bitter
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divorce
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tom was absolutely miserable until he
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met a boy named Brandon whose sense of
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humor and irrepressible spirit helped
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Tom survive his darkest hours tonight
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tom would like to thank the friend he
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hasn't seen since 1957 in 1953 at the
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height of the Cold War a government
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scientist named Frank Olson plunged to
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his death from a hotel window an
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apparent suicide 22 years later it was
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revealed that just days before he died
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Frank Colson had been unwittingly dosed
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with a loose energetic drug LSD as part
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of a secret CIA experiment join me as we
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begin a fascinating news season perhaps
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you may be able to help solve a mystery
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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well as you can see gentlemen these are
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not ideal circumstances in which to view
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the exhibit on a chilly December evening
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in 1968 a promoter named Frank Hanson
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but two renowned scientists into an
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isolated barn in southeastern Minnesota
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is the exhibit ever shown outside the
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trailer now it is always shown only in
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the trailer Ivan Sanderson and dr.
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bernard heuvelmans were experts in the
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esoteric field of cryptozoology the
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study of hidden species they had come to
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examine a peculiar artifact that had
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fallen into Henson's possession
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gentlemen here is the exhibit
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[Music]
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the two scientists were astonished in
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tuned in a block of solid ice was a
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mysterious creature that appeared to be
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half-man half-ape these are actual
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photographs of the Iceman Sanderson and
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Whoville Mons departed convinced that
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this bizarre sideshow attraction at
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genuine scientific value but within just
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a few short weeks the enigmatic creature
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had vanished and with it any future
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opportunity for study
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who or rather what was the iceman most
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people assumed it was just what it was
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purported to be an entertaining illusion
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created by a master showman Sanderson
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and who valmont's disagreed they
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theorized that the Iceman was in reality
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a prehistoric ancestor of man that is
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somehow survived into the 20th century
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this machine predates the Model T it is
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one of the oldest practice in the world
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revolutionized farming in 1967 Frank
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Hansen was traveling the state fairs
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circuit exhibiting an antique mechanical
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contraption that he billed as a first
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gas-powered tractor at one stop Frank
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was allegedly approached by a mysterious
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soft-spoken stranger following
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recreations are based upon published
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accounts may I have a word with you
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please
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I certainly I find what you're doing
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here sir is fascinating I have an
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exhibit that I think would benefit from
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your expertise please give me a call it
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might be worth your while thank you
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thank you
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Hanson later met the stranger at a
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refrigerated warehouse and some unknown
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location what you are going to see
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belongs to me how I came by it
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is is my business and we need not
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discuss that at the moment is there some
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reason it needs to be kept in such cold
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I think that will be obvious to you in
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just a few moments
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[Music]
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is it real where did you get this from
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Frank handsome new a golden opportunity
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when he saw us he agreed to take the
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creature on the road and build it as an
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educational exhibit over the next two
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years the Iceman became a star
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attraction at carnivals and state fairs
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throughout the Midwest thousands of
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people were fascinated but no one seemed
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to know what it was fake zookeeper Bob
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Sharples Keys saw the Iceman when he was
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18 years old what I was looking at was
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not made out of latex was not made out
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of rubber it did not appear to be a
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man-made thing it appeared to be
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something but I you know as friends my
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opinion I don't know what I was looking
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at but I'm sure I was looking at
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something dead environmentalist David
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Rivard viewed the exhibit in 1968 the
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first thing that went through the
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average person's mind was that this was
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not a wax animal that he had there this
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was not a something that was a machine
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it was some kind of a live formerly live
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animal that was in the block of ice dr.
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Terry Cullen is a zoological and
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veterinary researcher and I had long
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been an aficionado of sideshows and
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going to see them for mostly curiosity
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reasons it was always enjoyable you
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always had a great time trying to find
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out what they were doing how they had it
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what they did the fool of the public and
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about 99% of in the past
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Terry Cullen has been reluctant to deal
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with a media actor he agreed to this
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interview to try to clear up past
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inaccuracies about the Iceman for
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various and sundry reasons
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oh my god Cullen first saw the Iceman
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when he was 17 he says a creature
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appeared to be a six-foot-tall
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adolescent male it was covered with
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medium length hair and had highly
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visible follicles Cullen also noticed a
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traumatic injury to the left side of the
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Iceman's face there was a noticeable
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odor coming out of this casket the one
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thing that there is no doubt in my mind
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about is that the thing that I observed
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the carcass that I observed was in fact
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made out of some sort of flesh
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Terry Cullen was hooked he returned to
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the exhibit time and time again
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on one occasion Collins snuck in a
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magnifying glass
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Frank Hanson has seemed increasingly
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agitated with each visit so Terry made
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sure he was discreet there was something
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of a death grimace on the face the upper
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lip was pulled back a bit I was able to
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observe all four incisors which were
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very large very squarish very much like
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an orange and so this was it was
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important enough to get the necessary
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scientific personnel in there to view it
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to establish that either yes this is
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some form of unknown creature or no this
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is a fake somehow cleverly constructed
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from the parts of other animals or
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whatever materials that were using
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missing link huh
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yeah I can't wait for you to see this
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kid I've been to a lot of sideshows
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these things are always fake no this
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one's amazing I think this one's real
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over the next few weeks
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Terry Cullen tried to entice several
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scientific experts to view the creature
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eventually he convinced an
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anthropologist from the University of
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Minnesota
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[Music]
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he was in there perhaps 10 to 15 minutes
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came back out again and he started
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walking past where I was standing and he
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would his sort of a dreamy look on his
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face I came zipping up to him what you
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think it's amazing yeah I mean we'll
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tell me it's really amazing what you see
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out of it I mean what did you thank you
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yes I remember being practically close
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to tears from frustration that I had
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finally gotten someone who at least had
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some credibility in the field of
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anthropology to look at this thing and I
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couldn't even get six words out of the
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gentleman now the reasons for that I
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can't even speculate on at that point I
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decided I would have to pursue other
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avenues in the end it was Terry Cullen
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who convinced Sanderson and Hoover lands
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to examine the Iceman Sanderson and
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humans were both convinced that in fact
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this carcass was the genuine carcass of
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some unknown form of of animal or
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hominid in May of 1969 Sanderson and
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Hoover Mons published their findings in
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a tabloid magazine for science buffs
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national attention quickly descended
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upon Frank Hansen and before long the
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authorities took an interest in Henson
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in the frozen carcass in the summer of
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1969 the local sheriff stopped by
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Henson's farmers some people I think
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that thing you got is the real McCoy of
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course they're supposed to look Frank if
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it is I've got a couple of problems with
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taking a cadaver over state lines is
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illegal and if it's the real McCoy it's
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harder to get dead
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listen you can come with me and we'll
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look at it together what what say I
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bring a pathologist back tomorrow
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morning
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okay with you sure that's okay ten
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o'clock okay that's fine okay
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see you then sure sure
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[Music]
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that very night Frank Hansel allegedly
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beat it out of town taking his
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controversial exhibit with him a few
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months later Hansen was back on the
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circuit with a replica of the mysterious
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creature the whereabouts of the real
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Iceman are still unknown this thing may
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one day be understood by us as a genuine
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object as a true representative of
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something primitive and man like that is
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still living today if under other
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circumstances this kind of thing is
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found and described and matches those
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extensive descriptions by Sanderson and
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Havel man's then at that point in time
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someday in the future we would know that
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this was the real thing that they saw in
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1968
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what was the iceman a primitive
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human-like species that managed to
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survive until present day an elaborate
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hoax pulled off by a professional
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huckster or perhaps some unfortunate
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soul who died an untimely death and
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ended up as a sideshow attraction Frank
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Hansen may be the only person who can
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answer these questions and he isn't
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talking despite repeated attempts to
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have him share his story
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Hansen declined to participate in this
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broadcast for now it seems a legend of
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the Iceman must remain just that a
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legend when we returned perhaps someone
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in our audience will be able to reunite
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two childhood friends
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[Music]
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at any moment any one of us can meet a
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person who changes our lives forever in
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1956 to ten-year-old boys named Tom and
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Brendan met in the Catholic children's
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on the New York City
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by an odd coincidence they both had the
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same last name Vaughn not so
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coincidentally they both needed a friend
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I believe that Brendan saved my life
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because he did have such a unique way of
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helping me put things into their proper
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perspective I don't know what would have
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happened during that first year had
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Brendan not been there to tickle my
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funny bone
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how Tom Vaughan came to be in the
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children's home is a story in itself
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his mother Jean and his father had gone
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through a bitter divorce by 1954 Jean
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was hiding Tom and his little brother
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dick from their father a boys bounce
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from rooming houses to foster homes
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living in nine different places in less
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than two years time yes finally they
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ended up in the Bronx and a basement
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apartment supervised by a kindly
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landlord Sonny Chris Kula nevertheless
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Jean Vaughn's life grew increasingly
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chaotic the boys were usually left to
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fend for themselves
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a mother called she said she was going
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to be late when she gonna be home a
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couple hours did you I have something to
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eat yet Oh oh yeah
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Sonny kept an eye on the boys in fact he
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and his wife wanted to become their
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legal guardians but Catholic Charities
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stepped in
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they were finally convinced that gene
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was an unfit mother
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they pressured her to send the boys to a
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children's home Tom and Dick were taken
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to the lieutenant Joseph P Kennedy jr.
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home for children in the Pelham Bay
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section of the Bronx as we emerge from
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the car there was an opportunity for me
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to take flight and to run down the
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street and run away and yet I knew that
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there was nothing I could do and that I
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had to face what was about to transpire
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[Music]
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you know I had to be in charge of dick
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and there was no way in front of all of
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these strangers that I could tell them
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how I felt or what I was feeling so I
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was trapped
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and I think maybe it's time now to go
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and get unpacked and settled when the
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moment came for the boys to tell their
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mother goodbye Tom was paralyzed with
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fear barely able to move and totally
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unable to speak I distinctly remember
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yelling to myself mom don't leave us
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don't allow this to happen don't allow
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them to take us from you I was so angry
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and was feeling so much pain and so much
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of a sense of loss that I was just happy
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to turn from that scene and walk out of
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the room for so long Tom and Dick had
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been one another's primary source of
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strength
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now although they could still see their
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mother together on weekends but the home
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itself they were forced to live apart
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[Music]
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Tom sank deeper and deeper into misery
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and turned a sullen face to his new
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peers I'd like you to meet Tommy tell me
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these are gonna be your new dorm mates
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this is Brendan Gerry and Michael Tom
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could never have guessed that this boy
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Brendan Vaughn would be his salvation
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Brendan simply refused to let Tom
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retreat into his shell what's your name
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again Tommy no you [Â __Â ] come on you
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painting he started talking to me but I
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really wasn't in the mood for any
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conversation whatsoever and sat there
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kind of picking at my food what happened
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gotcha Todd well after we left the
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dinner table I went back up to my room
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and this Brendan character had the bunk
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next to mine VA ughn I summon my little
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differently yeah big freckles and curly
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brown hair and had the Irish accent it
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wasn't too long before he had me opening
00:19:06
up and he had a mischievous manner about
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him that and and devilish to say the
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least tell me when you found a bookie
00:19:19
what tell me when you found us how can I
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tell you when I'm asleep when I'm
00:19:29
already asleep he would do silly little
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things to try and make me feel not so
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sad or depressed
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can i Brendan
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[Music]
00:19:44
why did God make you
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Brendan helped time and other ways as
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well especially in catechism class where
00:19:52
the children were required to deliver
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their answers by rote Brendon whispered
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up the answer to me and once again he
00:20:02
saved my life there because I'm certain
00:20:04
that I would have been in serious
00:20:05
trouble I had not had that simple answer
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perfect
00:20:12
note this is
00:20:15
Rock no a piece of lyin Easter
00:20:18
what's a Blarney Stone it's a magic rock
00:20:21
high up I'm a castle all night and if
00:20:25
you kiss it you'd have good junk this
00:20:28
constant controlling by Brendon put a
00:20:32
perspective on where we were and the
00:20:36
fact that it wasn't so bad I mean the
00:20:37
treatment there was wonderful he began
00:20:41
to draw me towards that perspective of
00:20:44
what was actually going on there and
00:20:46
that it was kind of a fun place so he
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really from a therapeutic standpoint
00:20:52
showed me the way to overcome my
00:20:55
depression
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a year and a half after Tom and Brendan
00:21:02
met the inevitable happened Brendan was
00:21:17
very quiet because I think he was scared
00:21:19
and afraid and didn't know where he was
00:21:22
going or what was happening
00:21:28
I do remember Brendon walking down that
00:21:32
long hall and wanting to run after him
00:21:34
but once again being paralyzed by my
00:21:39
inability to do that I mean I just
00:21:40
couldn't show that kind of emotion
00:21:47
eventually Tom and his brother Dick were
00:21:50
sent to live with her father in Montana
00:21:52
her mother Jean whose problems that
00:21:54
finally overwhelmed her died in 1985 Tom
00:22:00
Vaughan is now a successful investment
00:22:02
banker in Colorado happily married and
00:22:04
the father of an 11 year old daughter
00:22:07
Tom credits his young friend Brendan
00:22:09
with changing his outlook and his life
00:22:13
there hasn't been a week go by in the
00:22:19
last 36 years that I haven't thought of
00:22:25
him
00:22:28
I didn't have an opportunity to tell him
00:22:33
how much I appreciated what he did for
00:22:35
mine and I think it's it's my turn to
00:22:39
make him smile perhaps to kiss that
00:22:45
Blarney Stone just one more time
00:22:54
within minutes of our broadcast Brendon
00:22:57
Vaughan called our phone center from his
00:22:58
home in New York we connected him with
00:23:01
Tom Vaughan and Denver and finally Tom
00:23:03
out his chance to say thank you
00:23:05
the two men agreed to meet in Manhattan
00:23:08
on March 6 1994 at 8:30 a.m. sharp Tom
00:23:14
came outside early so he'd be there to
00:23:16
greet Brendan but Brendan same old
00:23:19
Brendan surprised him
00:23:29
yeah well for totally we're insane right
00:23:33
yeah it seems like we haven't been apart
00:23:38
he still has the gregariousness and the
00:23:42
power in his voice and still seems to
00:23:46
have the same approach to things so I
00:23:49
don't think he's changed all that much
00:23:51
Brendon had brought along his sister
00:23:53
Noreen in the hotel lobby they met Tom's
00:23:56
wife and daughter for Brendan who is
00:23:59
divorced and has no children it was like
00:24:01
finding a long-lost family it's really a
00:24:05
nice feeling I mean I was really shocked
00:24:08
you know when you sit down and say well
00:24:10
you don't why you know what have I done
00:24:11
in my life and what uh you know what
00:24:13
have you accomplished and you can't say
00:24:16
well I touched anybody's life I haven't
00:24:17
done anything and then all of a sudden
00:24:20
this pops up it's it's really flattering
00:24:22
it's really amazing Brendan and Noreen
00:24:27
was also at the children's home spent
00:24:30
the morning reminiscing with time I was
00:24:37
so bad that they were trying everything
00:24:39
to try to get me to be good as soon as
00:24:43
we got into that conversation it was
00:24:45
like it had only taken place in our last
00:24:47
conversation taking place the day before
00:24:49
so it was finally Tom's childhood wounds
00:24:57
are beginning to heal the two boys best
00:25:00
friends before they were separated more
00:25:01
than 35 years ago made an instant
00:25:04
connection to their past and to one
00:25:06
another
00:25:08
it's represented closure for a chapter
00:25:12
in my life that had been very very
00:25:14
difficult and so coming here facing him
00:25:18
finding him being here today is a way to
00:25:21
let go of that and and so I'm very
00:25:23
pleased about that
00:25:25
Tom Vaughn and Brendan bond now I hope
00:25:28
they will hear from other alumni of the
00:25:30
lieutenant Joseph Peake Kennedy jr. Home
00:25:32
for Children the very children all now
00:25:35
in their 40s and 50s with whom they once
00:25:37
shared so much next to government
00:25:44
scientist falls to his death from a
00:25:45
hotel window was a suicide
00:25:48
[Music]
00:26:01
in the early morning hours of November
00:26:03
28 1953 a crowd gathered outside of New
00:26:07
York's hotel Statler a man had
00:26:10
apparently jumped to his death from a
00:26:11
thirteenth storey window
00:26:13
the victim was later identified as a
00:26:15
government scientist named Frank Olsen
00:26:22
Frank Olson left behind a wife and three
00:26:24
small children his sons are now grown
00:26:27
men and are still trying to find out
00:26:29
what really happened to their father now
00:26:32
in a final desperate appeal they hope
00:26:34
someone in our audience can help solve
00:26:36
this baffling mystery fry Colson died at
00:26:42
the height of the Cold War tensions at
00:26:45
the time our leaders here in Washington
00:26:47
DC faced the very real possibility that
00:26:49
we might be attacked by the Soviet Union
00:26:51
just an hour's drive from where I'm
00:26:53
standing the country's technological
00:26:55
brain trust was working in a feverish
00:26:57
pace to develop a new generation of
00:26:59
weapons Frank Holston was heading one of
00:27:02
these projects when he died 40 years
00:27:04
later the questions surrounding his
00:27:06
death demand answers
00:27:11
Frank Olson worked at Fort Detrick
00:27:13
Maryland headquarters for the military's
00:27:16
biological warfare research and
00:27:18
development program frank was an expert
00:27:21
in aero biology the delivery of deadly
00:27:24
viruses and infectious microorganisms
00:27:26
via sprays and aerosol cans my father
00:27:31
was a research scientist who was
00:27:33
involved with germ warfare associated
00:27:36
with the Esso division which stood for
00:27:38
special operations and that was the most
00:27:41
top-secret kind of research that was
00:27:44
done out at Fort Detrick
00:27:45
and some of that research was being done
00:27:48
in coordination with the CIA at Fort
00:27:53
Detrick Frank Olson earned the respect
00:27:54
and admiration of his coworkers
00:27:56
then in November of 1953 Frank went to a
00:28:00
three-day conference with some of his
00:28:02
colleagues and came home a changed man a
00:28:06
weekend after that meeting my father was
00:28:09
severely depressed he felt that he had
00:28:11
done something terribly wrong and he
00:28:12
told my mother that he had done
00:28:14
something wrong but he couldn't tell her
00:28:17
what and she asked him whether or not he
00:28:20
had broken security and he indicated
00:28:23
that he would never do such a thing but
00:28:24
he felt that he had done something
00:28:26
terribly wrong
00:28:28
Frank's boss Vincent Rowett told the
00:28:31
Olsens he believed Frank was on the
00:28:32
verge of a nervous breakdown
00:28:34
just before Thanksgiving bruit took
00:28:37
Frank to New York for treatment
00:28:41
in New York Frank shared a hotel room
00:28:44
with dr. Robert lashka a CIA scientist
00:28:47
nearly a week passed before Frank's
00:28:50
family heard from him do me a favor
00:28:52
would you kiss the kids for me
00:28:55
my father seemed a little uh a little
00:28:58
more peaceful than he had he made a call
00:28:59
to my mother to say he was alright Bob
00:29:02
it's getting late I'm gonna turn the TV
00:29:04
off
00:29:04
they went to sleep fairly early about
00:29:06
11:00 and the next thing we know from
00:29:09
lashbrooke is that he was awakened by
00:29:11
the sound of crashing glass right
00:29:22
[Music]
00:29:29
oh my god Frank Olson was dead at the
00:29:35
age of 43
00:29:36
the investigators later determined that
00:29:39
he had either jumped or fallen to his
00:29:41
death I remember as a nine year old and
00:29:46
actually four years after that I was
00:29:48
completely stumped and dumbfounded by
00:29:50
trying to resolve that alternative I
00:29:52
mean it's a big difference between fall
00:29:54
or jump and I couldn't understand how
00:29:56
either of them could have occurred the
00:30:00
olson's weren't alone the night manager
00:30:02
of the hotel found Frank's death
00:30:04
suspicious as well I rushed outside to
00:30:09
find Frank Olson eyes wide open looking
00:30:13
straight at me trying to tell me
00:30:15
something
00:30:16
[Music]
00:30:19
okay they were definitely trying to
00:30:21
speak where there was nothing coming out
00:30:23
but grumbles he was in terrible
00:30:26
condition and by this time then the
00:30:30
ambulance came and I stepped back
00:30:34
because now I had to find out where he
00:30:37
came from
00:30:37
I looked up the building and finally I
00:30:41
saw it a little movement of a window
00:30:43
shade then when I concentrated on that
00:30:46
then I see that the window shade was
00:30:49
stuck through a broken window armand
00:30:53
Pastora immediately took the police to
00:30:56
room 1018 a and here is lashbrooke
00:31:00
sitting on a John in his skivvies then
00:31:04
the police thought the questioner can i
00:31:07
heard him say well I heard that there's
00:31:09
a crash I walked around the room to look
00:31:16
around look at this in here nobody ever
00:31:19
jumps through a window they opened the
00:31:21
window and they gonna go out not Joshua
00:31:23
shade and a sheer drape you know there's
00:31:28
no sense of a thing
00:31:32
22 years would pass before Frank Olsen's
00:31:35
family heard Armond pastors account all
00:31:38
they were told in 1953 was at Frank had
00:31:41
suffered a nervous breakdown and
00:31:42
committed suicide
00:31:45
then in 1975 a government Commission was
00:31:49
formed to investigate past abuses
00:31:51
committed by the CIA among other
00:31:55
incidents the official report made
00:31:57
mention of a scientist would plunge to
00:31:59
his death from a hotel room ten days
00:32:01
after being dosed with LSD that
00:32:04
scientist turned out to be Frank Olson
00:32:07
[Music]
00:32:08
over the next year and a half the Olson
00:32:11
family received a formal apology from
00:32:13
President Gerald Ford and a check from
00:32:15
the government for seven hundred and
00:32:17
fifty thousand dollars the Olsons also
00:32:20
met with then CIA chief William Colby as
00:32:24
a result of meeting with William Colby
00:32:27
at the CIA we were given what was
00:32:29
supposedly a complete set of documents
00:32:31
relating to the events of the last nine
00:32:35
days of my father's life I should have
00:32:38
the results back on the toxicology tests
00:32:40
we learned that he had gone to a retreat
00:32:43
in Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland
00:32:45
with a group of other scientists the
00:32:49
principal of the meeting was that they
00:32:52
were going to be discussing ongoing
00:32:53
research but in fact there were agents
00:32:56
in the CIA who were meeting with them
00:32:58
who decided that they were going to give
00:33:01
them each a dose of LSD without their
00:33:04
knowledge or consent and then see what
00:33:06
their reaction was
00:33:12
anyone for a drink the Olsens learned
00:33:15
that the LSD was slipped into an
00:33:17
after-dinner liqueur by either sidney
00:33:19
gottlieb head of the CIA's Technical
00:33:21
Services staff or his deputy dr. Robert
00:33:25
lashbrooke the CIA reportedly feared
00:33:30
that the Soviet Union might employ LSD
00:33:32
to produce anxiety or terror and
00:33:35
captured CIA agents Godley believed that
00:33:38
his test would help prepare American
00:33:41
operatives for that eventualities thank
00:33:43
you just what I need the least drinks
00:33:46
were served to eight of the ten
00:33:48
scientists present some of it including
00:33:50
Frank Olson were not told about the test
00:33:53
to fish the first day we were there
00:33:57
within an hour the LSD began to take
00:34:01
effect
00:34:09
do the most one
00:34:24
gentlemen are we all feeling of it's
00:34:26
strange one Goddard informed the drug
00:34:30
induced gentlemen that their drinks have
00:34:31
been spiked with LSD Frank Olson became
00:34:34
incensed what we're having an experiment
00:34:38
here what a drug in our dress yes yes
00:34:40
we're in the middle of the Knicks
00:34:41
experiment we understood that my father
00:34:44
was quite agitated in his hand
00:34:47
serious confusion with separating
00:34:50
reality from from fantasy less than a
00:34:56
week later Frank made his ill-fated trip
00:34:58
to New York
00:34:59
supposedly suffering from nervous
00:35:01
breakdown well Frank how are we feeling
00:35:05
today I feel lousy dr. Frank was taken
00:35:08
to see dr. Harold Abramson an LSD ex
00:35:10
worked extensively with the CIA a it's
00:35:13
been continuing for about a week now me
00:35:15
please you were saying that you weren't
00:35:17
resting very well as that improving no
00:35:18
I'm not resting I haven't been able to
00:35:20
sleep for over a week accompanying Frank
00:35:22
Robert lashbrooke and Frank's boss
00:35:24
Vincent Rohit Frank sit down I don't
00:35:28
wanna sit down I can't sit down Frank
00:35:30
remained in New York and over the next
00:35:32
several days made repeated visits to the
00:35:34
doctor's office someone has been
00:35:37
following me from the documents we have
00:35:39
it's impossible to deduce what was
00:35:41
accomplished in those meetings and you
00:35:43
certainly don't see any any indication
00:35:45
that a treatment process was occurring
00:35:47
you can suspect that some kind of
00:35:50
assessment process was going on the
00:35:52
purpose of which was more to protect the
00:35:55
CIA's interest than it was to help my
00:35:57
father
00:36:00
apparently the pattern continued in the
00:36:02
immediate aftermath of Frank's death for
00:36:05
some unexplained reason Robert
00:36:06
lashbrooke never phoned for help
00:36:09
however he allegedly did make a
00:36:11
disturbing call which was overheard by
00:36:13
the hotel operator
00:36:17
[Music]
00:36:19
in those days you know all the calls
00:36:22
were manual you call the operator and
00:36:26
you tell her what number you want then
00:36:27
she would dial it for you then she
00:36:30
listened to see that you got connected
00:36:38
when the man in the room called this
00:36:41
number
00:36:41
he said well he's gone and the man on
00:36:46
the other end said well that's too bad
00:36:48
and they both hung up I mean what's more
00:36:52
suspicious than their you don't have to
00:36:54
be a genius to figure out that there's
00:36:56
something amiss or who said Hamlet said
00:37:00
there's something rotten in Denmark I
00:37:02
mean I knew there was something rotten
00:37:05
at the Pennsylvania hotel that night I'd
00:37:08
like to emphasize at the beginning that
00:37:10
there are many things that we still
00:37:11
don't know about the events surrounding
00:37:14
my father's death when the news first
00:37:16
broke about Frank suicide Herrmann
00:37:18
passed our contact to the Olson family
00:37:20
and told them about the mysterious phone
00:37:22
call the osos immediately began to
00:37:25
suspect that Frank had not taken his own
00:37:28
life I believe that what happened was
00:37:31
that my father was considered a security
00:37:34
risk that the CIA either formally or
00:37:37
informally decided that it was in the
00:37:40
countries or in the agency's best
00:37:42
interest to have my father to either
00:37:45
take his own life or that he needed to
00:37:48
be eliminated
00:37:50
do everything that you tell me to do it
00:37:51
ramen one of the nights that my father
00:37:54
was up in New York he was having
00:37:56
delusions that he was hearing voices and
00:37:59
in the middle of the night he woke up
00:38:01
and went and threw all his
00:38:03
identification out and his money money
00:38:08
my identification you have to see that
00:38:12
as an obvious sign of a suicidal
00:38:15
tendency well to keep my father in a
00:38:18
10th floor window which in a tenth floor
00:38:20
room which actually was 13 stories off
00:38:22
the ground to me is the epitome of
00:38:25
irresponsibility in 1993 Frank's Widow
00:38:31
Alice passed away Erica Nils had their
00:38:34
father's body moved to rest beside her
00:38:37
but before Frank was reinterred they
00:38:40
asked forensic scientist Professor James
00:38:42
Stars to perform an autopsy
00:38:46
quite frankly we had no idea what the
00:38:48
condition of the remains would be after
00:38:51
41 years we were delighted that the
00:38:54
remains were in perfect condition for
00:38:57
our analysis as part of his overall
00:39:01
investigation professor stars and his
00:39:04
colleagues went to the old hotel Statler
00:39:06
which is now known as a hotel
00:39:07
Pennsylvania the first thing the
00:39:11
professor stars looked for was evidence
00:39:13
at Frank had indeed smashed through a
00:39:15
window the medical examiner in New York
00:39:20
who did an external examination back in
00:39:22
1953 said there were multiple
00:39:24
lacerations on the face and neck there
00:39:27
were none I mean I mean zero soon after
00:39:31
that finding was made public last Brook
00:39:33
changes his story which he's held to for
00:39:35
40 years and suddenly now source saying
00:39:37
that he can't remember whether the
00:39:38
window in fact was open or closed the
00:39:41
window was completely gone there was a
00:39:44
little glass around on the fringes and
00:39:46
the shade was stuck out through the
00:39:48
glass
00:39:50
at some point he had to hit some glass I
00:39:54
cannot believe that he wouldn't have
00:39:57
gotten cuts in the lower extremities of
00:39:59
his body on the front of the legs we
00:40:02
don't find any cuts
00:40:05
professor Starr's did find that Frank
00:40:07
had sustained extensive injuries to his
00:40:09
head chest and right leg when you have
00:40:14
fractures as massive and at different
00:40:17
locations as these fractures clearly are
00:40:20
they indicate a tremendous amount of
00:40:22
force that caused those well clearly he
00:40:26
was falling from the building if he
00:40:29
struck his footing and that caused the
00:40:31
massive injuries the question for us is
00:40:32
well how did he get the massive injuries
00:40:34
on his chest if he hit his chest well
00:40:37
how did he get the massive injuries on
00:40:39
his foot if it was a glancing blow
00:40:42
against an abutment on the way down the
00:40:45
likelihood of his having the massive
00:40:48
injuries from a glassing blow is very
00:40:50
remote what happened Franko's professor
00:40:56
Starr's analysis has not yet complete
00:40:58
his preliminary findings paint a
00:41:01
disturbing scenario getting worse
00:41:03
clearly in this case there is foul play
00:41:05
on the part of the CIA in giving him LSD
00:41:09
in the first place and making a guinea
00:41:11
pig out of him the way they did but foul
00:41:15
play of the homicide type that's what
00:41:18
we're in this business to try to find
00:41:19
out as I say the evidence is beginning
00:41:23
to mount I looked at this case for 14
00:41:28
months and I found no evidence that
00:41:30
points directly to murder I don't rule
00:41:32
it out but I found no evidence that
00:41:34
indicated me to put that that would
00:41:36
happen and I have to tell you it seems
00:41:38
unlikely to me that the CIA people in
00:41:41
the context the 1950s would have killed
00:41:43
a colleague I can see them doing
00:41:45
something like this against a Soviet or
00:41:46
an enemy but not a colleague
00:41:48
I think the Olson case must be resolved
00:41:52
that family deserves to know I think the
00:41:54
American people now deserve to know the
00:41:56
truth of what happened has been a long
00:41:58
time ago they don't have to hide behind
00:41:59
their classified documents behind all of
00:42:02
their stealth in from a
00:42:04
and there's sleazy little James Bond
00:42:06
stories tell us what happened to Frank
00:42:09
Olsen congressman traffic Kent is now
00:42:13
calling for an official investigation
00:42:15
into the death of Frank Olsen perhaps
00:42:18
after more than 40 years of secrecy the
00:42:21
true story behind this Cold War mystery
00:42:23
will finally be told
00:42:29
[Music]
00:42:50
but we return the dramatic capture a man
00:42:54
suspected of murder
00:42:55
[Music]
00:43:03
april 24th 1994 along the Christina
00:43:07
River in Delaware authorities closed in
00:43:10
on a dangerous fugitive who has been
00:43:12
wanted on murder charges for more than
00:43:14
six years
00:43:17
the suspect is 38 year-old Larry Donald
00:43:21
George a former Army enlisted man and
00:43:23
self-styled survivalist you know you're
00:43:25
not supposed to be here where you been
00:43:30
on February 12th 1988 George confronted
00:43:34
his estranged wife Geraldine
00:43:35
at her home in Talladega Alabama listen
00:43:39
to me listen to me Geraldine ran next
00:43:45
door for help
00:43:46
Larry George followed Geraldine's
00:43:53
neighbor Janice Morris was shot once in
00:43:55
the chest
00:43:57
next Larry allegedly took aim at
00:44:00
Geraldine Janice's boyfriend Ralph Swain
00:44:04
heard the commotion and ran downstairs
00:44:10
Ralph Swain was shot in the back of the
00:44:13
head
00:44:18
Janice Morris was pronounced dead at the
00:44:21
scene
00:44:21
Ralph Swain was rushed to a local
00:44:23
hospital where he died a short time
00:44:26
later
00:44:28
geraldine george survived the shooting
00:44:30
but was left paralyzed from the waist
00:44:33
down for more than six years she lived
00:44:36
with a bitter knowledge that her husband
00:44:38
was still at large after the most recent
00:44:42
broadcast of this story the authorities
00:44:44
were contacted by an unsolved mysteries
00:44:46
viewer the viewer claimed to have seen
00:44:49
Larry George fishing on the banks of the
00:44:51
Christina River in Wilmington Delaware
00:44:53
three days later two police detectives
00:44:55
were dispatched to the area for our
00:45:01
cameras the officers recounted their
00:45:03
dramatic meeting with Larry George this
00:45:06
is where we first encountered Larry
00:45:08
George act right here we began a
00:45:09
conversation with him about fishing at
00:45:12
this time he wanted to take us over here
00:45:13
to where his pool was in the water and
00:45:15
show us exactly where he was fishing
00:45:17
that we got about here and we started
00:45:20
talking again about fishing and it was
00:45:22
at this time were myself and detective
00:45:23
Pinkett made eye contact and identify
00:45:26
myself as a police officer lay at this
00:45:28
time a brief struggle ensued right about
00:45:31
here we all three fell to the ground
00:45:33
here we got back to our feet still
00:45:36
struggling and at that point we just
00:45:37
turned and threw lye into the water
00:45:42
while the officers regrouped George
00:45:44
attempted to flee downriver back up unis
00:45:47
quickly cornered him and he surrendered
00:45:49
without further struggle at George's
00:45:57
campsite police found a makeshift bunker
00:46:00
complete with generator heater
00:46:01
television and stolen the subsequent
00:46:05
discovery of several weapons including a
00:46:07
spear gun and a sawed-off shotgun led
00:46:10
investigators to believe that George had
00:46:12
been prepared to resist arrest by
00:46:14
whatever means necessary
00:46:16
he knew he was wanted for murder he
00:46:19
wasn't going to be taken alive if he
00:46:20
would have put himself in his hideout
00:46:23
and if we'd had discovered it he
00:46:25
probably would have had gun fire and
00:46:26
officers would have been hurt on April
00:46:31
27th 1994 Larry Donald George was
00:46:34
extradited to Alabama to face charges of
00:46:37
murder and attempted murder it was a
00:46:39
long-awaited moment for Geraldine George
00:46:42
and the families of Ralph Swain and
00:46:44
Janice Morris they're delighted that
00:46:47
this was kind of bringing this to an en
00:46:49
and I can understand their feelings
00:46:51
about the situation simply because it's
00:46:53
been a long six years and really not
00:46:55
knowing where he is and if he would show
00:46:58
back up I'm sure that it has brought a
00:47:00
lot of discomfort while sleepless nice
00:47:02
to them so I know that they're very
00:47:04
happy that they were this is short of
00:47:06
being drawn to
00:47:19
[Music]
00:47:30
join me next Sunday for another
00:47:33
fascinating edition unsung the strains
00:47:36
[Music]
00:48:03
[Applause]
00:48:06
[Music]
