Category: DVD

SUMMARY:              RUNNING TIME: Approx. 44:16 Min.

This episode premiered on The History Channel on November 23, 2011.  Hosted in-studio by novelist Brad Meltzer, his investigative team consists of: mechanical engineer/author Christine McKinley; attorney (and now a circuit court judge) Scott Rolle; and professor/author Buddy Levy. 

Revisiting pivotal New Mexico sites during the last months of Billy the Kid’s life, Meltzer’s investigators probe alternate theories re: whether Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett indeed killed the Kid (aka William H. Bonney/Antrim/McCarty) on the night of July 14, 1881. 

Cause for skepticism primarily stems from the Meltzer team’s efforts to debunk some of Garrett’s claims ultimately leading to the Kid’s death: i.e., on April 28, 1881, why did Garrett fatefully (or perhaps conveniently) leave town on county business prior to the Kid’s deadly jailbreak?  How were the sheriff’s security precautions breached, so the shackled Kid could readily access a firearm?  Months later, at Pete Maxwell’s home, how could the Kid have slipped past Garrett’s two deputies standing guard outside before meeting his fate against Garrett in a darkened bedroom?     

Guests interviewed are: historian Mark Lee Gardner; retired police officer Steven Sederwall (who supervises a forensics test re: Deputy Bell’s murder during the Kid’s escape); author W. C. Jameson; two of Garrett’s grandchildren: Savannah & J.P. Garrett; and two of the Kid’s purported descendants: great-grandson Elbert Garcia and second cousin-once-removed Elaine McReynolds.

Meltzer’s team further examines Garrett’s veracity, as to the Kid’s infamous jail breakout killing two deputies, let alone the theory that an obstructive scheme shielded Garrett’s supposed killing of the wrong man in the Kid’s place.  Also contemplated is the likelihood of whether elderly Ollie “Brushy Bill” Roberts (one of innumerable mid-20th Century Kid claimants) was the authentic Kid, as based upon photographic analysis technology and eyewitness accounts. 

Further, several uncredited reenactment segments are included.

REVIEW:

Without passing judgment on the series itself, this episode proves watchable.  Even its most dubious speculations are more plausible than, say, America Unearthed’s “Lost Secrets of the Alamo Revealed” episode, which dubiously pitches Davy Crockett’s alleged survival into old age in a secluded corner of Alabama. 

Veering between theories that long-time buddies Garrett and the Kid had conspired together to fake the outlaw’s death (in an everybody-wins scenario), or that Garrett’s less-than-heroic version (despite its logical flaws) is basically correct, Meltzer’s presentation of disputed history is generally fair.  His cohorts also convey an articulate pendulum weighing alternative answers explaining Garrett and the Kid’s final showdown. Yet, Meltzer’s advocation for sensationalizing conspiracy theories is excessive, which obstructs his program’s own credibility.

Though 1990’s Young Guns II, is not specifically mentioned, several elements of the film’s premise and plotting are mirrored throughout this episode.  Hence, fans of Young Guns II should enjoy “Billy the Kid’s Mysterious Death.”  Most others will deem the truth behind the Kid’s demise still muddled – as Meltzer’s show readily stirs the unprovable conspiracy pot.    

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                 5½ Stars

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SUMMARY:                  RUNNING TIME: 42:31 Min.

First airing on The History Channel on October 18, 2019, actor/executive producer Zachary Quinto hosts this episode revisiting the 430-year-old enigma of North America’s first English colony. 

Forced by turbulent weather, John White’s 116 settlers reluctantly settle on Roanoke Island (off present-day North Carolina) in 1587 vs. journeying further north to coastal Virginia.  Several months later, White’s vessel went back to England to resupply the colony, leaving behind his daughter and an infant granddaughter. Tensions between England and Spain subsequently delayed White’s return to Roanoke until mid-August of 1590.

All that White’s party subsequently found was a tree with the cryptically-carved letters “CRO,” along with the defensive wooden fence once surrounding the colony.  The colonists (and even their homes) had vanished.  White’s efforts to investigate the colony’s fate soon ended in failure, again due to weather conditions.  For more than four centuries, speculation, rumor, and scant archaeological evidence have left the Roanoke colony’s fate one of the nation’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

Historian/author Andy Gabriel Powell and Fort Raleigh park ranger Josh Nelson provide initial analysis and tour the traditionally-accepted site of where the Roanoke colony once existed.  Quinto’s In Search Of then explores an alternative hypothesis: could historians and archaeologists have mistaken the colony’s location?   

Specifically, is the colony’s true location, due to erosion of the island’s shoreline, underwater?  Video footage documents the Lost Colony Research Group (including its director: Anne Poole; members George Ray, Dawn Taylor, & Robbie Burton; and divers Duncan Pinnock & Randy Glaze) methodically mining this alternate watery locale for archaeological proof. 

A centuries-old map that White himself evidently modified is re-examined providing potential clues that, for survival’s sake, the colony sought to sail north through the Albemarle Sound for a safer relocation.  This theory corresponds with the direction in which the “CRO” carving was found on one side of the island.

Others, including historian Scott Dawson of the Croatoan Archaeological Society and archaeologist Mark Horton, explore tantalizing evidence that the “CRO” abbreviated ‘Croatoan’ all along.  Specifically, Dawson advances the hypothesis that the colonists (or at least some portion of them) shifted the opposite direction by assimilating into the Native American tribe known as the Croatoans on what was then known as Croatoan Island – it is present-day Hatteras Island. 

Note: It is not explained as to whether the colony possessed its own ship. Given the absence of their homes, one might wonder if a makeshift vessel could have been constructed.

In apparent conjunction with this theory, genealogist Roberta Estes and DNA lab director Dr. Connie Bormans conduct DNA testing of potential 21^st Century descendants with potentially dual English and Native American bloodlines.  Due to the necessary technology involved, only the DNA of male subjects can be affirmatively examined. 

It is also emphasized that, for innumerable generations, locals curiously bearing surnames matching those of known colonists still reside in the area.  The initial test results for one male subject are briefly discussed.      

Note: For 144 episodes, Leonard Nimoy was the franchise’s original host from 1977-1982.  Preceded by Mitch Pileggi’s brief 2002 revival, Quinto launched his own History Channel incarnation in 2018, consisting of eighteen episodes over two seasons.

REVIEW:

Without judging the watchability of Zachary Quinto’s In Search Of, overall, as a series, this installment is remarkably good.  Providing articulate in-studio narration only, Quinto conveys a welcome asset shifting from one segment to the next.  Even more so, the program’s production values (i.e., brief reenactments, CGI, etc.) are top-caliber. 

While it is unclear if the Lost Colony Research Group and the Croatoan Archaeological Society are rival factions, their theories make logical sense  – especially given the absence of evidence grimly suggesting a massacre.  More so, one could reasonably assume that some of the colonists either perished from disease or at sea amidst a journey towards safer living conditions.

Above all, Dawson’s discovery of a burnt piece of English-treated copper on Croatoan Island and the unsurprising DNA results do not end this mystery.  They, however, provide a likelihood of its general solution.

Note: Dawson’s discovery does not actually preclude the possibility that the copper came from misappropriated property.

Ultimately, for armchair historians, this episode of Quinto’s In Search Of delivers excellent TV viewing.       

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                     8½ Stars

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