So of course you’re thinking:  you can’t fool me, that’s not the real Stonehenge.  What is this, some cheesy theme-park left-over? A claymation set on steroids?  You are right.  These pics were not taken in Wiltshire, England.  They were taken in Washington State, USA.  Everybody talks about how incredible Stonehenge looks.  They should also be asking how it sounds.  KPI associate producer Yuki Kaneshige knows why:

Our program looks into Rupert Till’s theory that the stones of Stonehenge were shaped and placed in such a way as to create acoustic effects that could “en-trance” or hypnotize participants gathered there for ancient rituals.

So he and another British sound expert, Bruno Fazenda also of the University of Huddersfield, conducted audio tests at the Stonehenge Memorial in Maryhill, Washington (dedicated to local WWI veterans), because it is a replica of what Stonehenge in the UK must have looked like originally, with all stones standing.

They brought in tons of gear for their day and night-time tests: a special 12-sided speaker they nicknamed their “dode”, amps and microphones, as well as original software for measuring the reverberation and echoes of sounds they were using. Balloon-popping was not just fun, but also a very effective way to test how a loud sound would spread out equally in all directions.  The team also tested tones and drum beats of what music back in the day may have sounded like.

Later at NYU, the site recordings were played for a test subject (i.e., a person) who was monitored by an MEG (magnetoencephalography) machine showing activity in regions of the brain. He was also hypnotized to show how the human voice can entrance someone into certain behaviors like scratching their nose. We can only conjecture what repetitive drumbeats or other sounds might induce a person to do in a setting like Stonehenge…

–Yuki Kaneshige, Associate producer

MysteryQuest is a new series that dispatches teams of experts throughout the world to solve some of mankind’s strangest and most persistent mysteries. In each episode, a science team conducts a forensic examination of the evidence using the latest technologies. By the end, the team reveals results that in some cases just may re-write history.

The first episode re-opens the Hitler file.

According to the official public record, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker as allied troops stormed Berlin at the end of World War II. But no one actually saw him die. Some believe Hitler managed to escape, and for years there were sightings in many parts of the world. Then, in the 1990s the Russians revealed secret evidence taken from Hitler’s bunker decades earlier that they said proved he had died there.

Our team went to Moscow to examine the evidence.

WHAT REMAINS OF ADOLF HITLER?

The State Archive of the Russian Federation looks the way it sounds—imposing, fortress-like. No place to joke around. In the entrance hall they immediately relieve us of our passports. I have the sense that our visit there is not quite on the level—not quite “official.”

We negotiated long and hard for our agreed-upon access to the Hitler archives. The elevator is small, claustrophobic—we have to go up two by two with our equipment. All they let us bring in is a camera and tripod. The air is dank. Finally we enter the small room where Adolf Hitler’s remains are reportedly kept.

Then they tell us: You can have one hour. We were promised three. I’m furious and worried that we won’t be able to get everything we need, but we’ve come too far to turn back. The officials leave, locking us in the room—myself, our cinematographer, our sound man, our Russian fixer and the researcher who got us in.

The fragments and records are laid out on the table waiting for us….

–Joanna Chejade-Bloom, Producer

MYSTERYQUEST: HITLER’S ESCAPE AIRS WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16 AT 10PM/9c ON HISTORY.

In Berlin, we have arranged to interview the last-surviving member of Hitler’s Berlin bunker entourage. His name is Rochus Misch and he is 91.

He was there in the underground bunker during Hitler’s final days. After the war, he was imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag for 10 years—and now has become something of a celebrity in Germany.
Misch is a nostalgic old Nazi, who still refuses to think beyond what happened outside of his personal experience. It creeps me out a little. But then again, he is so charming. A “charming servant”—warm and ingratiating. I am reminded of Hannah Arendt’s writings about the “banality of evil.” I feel conflicted…

The interview goes surprisingly well. Misch is forthcoming and comes alive when talking about his experiences in the bunker. Since we are speaking German, there is a natural connection. But again, I feel conflicted…

–Frauke Levin, Associate Producer

MYSTERYQUEST: HITLER’S ESCAPE airs Wednesday, September 16 at 10PM/9C on HISTORY.