Original subtitles

[music playing]

ANNOUNCER: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: Imagine our great cities

leveled in a blinding flash.

North America consumed by flame, the entire planet

enveloped in a massive cloud of smoke and debris.

The agent of this mass destruction, a giant asteroid,

perhaps undiscovered until it is too late.

On Valentine's Day our thoughts naturally turn to love.

For centuries, men and women have

been consumed by a never-ending quest for greater passion.

Can aphrodisiacs make us better lovers?

Or is it all in the mind and the heart?

When Robert Dirscherl died of a gunshot wound,

his family had little choice but to accept

the police ruling of suicide.

Then the arrival of a mysterious letter

and the uncanny testimony of a psychic

brought the case back to life.

Join me, for these intriguing new cases

and much more on "Unsolved Mysteries."

[music playing]

Admit it, unless you're Mick Jagger or Madonna,

you probably wished for a magic potion that could transform

you into the consummate lover.

Or turn that aloof stranger into your adoring sweetheart.

You're not alone.

For the last few thousand years, from Afghanistan to Zanzibar,

men and women have searched high and low

for the perfect aphrodisiac.

Wishful thinking?

Or are there recipes for romance to deliver the goods?

Modern science has a surprising answer.

CYNTHIA WATSON: One of the traditions in Europe

was that newlywed couples would drink a wine

made of honey every night.

And this would be a way for them to help

increase their energy during the first month of their marriage.

And that's where the word, honeymoon came about.

And of course, we know honey is very, very high

in B vitamins and amino acids and is a very, very

highly nutritious product.

Plus, it gives the body energy, which is

required also for healthy sex.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Even the straight-laced Puritans

in colonial America had an aphrodisiac.

The dandelion weed, which we now know

is rich in vitamin A and other elements that

jump-start the engines of love.

But since time immemorial, oysters

have enjoyed a reputation as the food for lovers.

For some, just a peek at the succulent mollusk

can provoke thoughts of sex.

Lab tests indicate that the oyster's

fame is honestly earned.

Zinc is a mineral that's required for the production

of testosterone.

And testosterone is the most important hormone

for sexual response in both men and women.

And oysters have more zinc than almost any other food.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Though Dr. Watson has spent years

studying aphrodisiacs, many patients

who come to her southern California office

are not lovesick, at least that's

not at the top of their list.

So, Charlie, are you having trouble sleeping?

Yeah, I'm only getting--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Charlie

was there because his 18-hour work days had ground

him down beyond exhaustion.

Rested I get up and walk around,

I can't get back to sleep.

She starts to steer her questions to,

what are my activities like.

Am I energetic?

Do I exercise?

You know, how's my love life?

That was kind of an odd switch, because most doctors

don't take you down that path.

And how are these problems affecting you sexually?

Well, it's taken its toll in my relationship to the point

where it's nonexistent.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Watson prescribed

a slower pace, plus a regimen of herbs and vitamins.

But would they cure Charlie's exhaustion

and rev up his love life?

The transformation began during that first visit to the office.

CHARLIE: I saw this little box of chocolates

and I just started nibbling away and I'm hungry.

And so I'm just popping these things,

eating them, chewing away, oh, great chocolates.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But these were

not merely great chocolates.

Dr. Watson had spiced them up with a mix

of South American herbs known for giving the libido a lift.

CHARLIE: I started to eat these things

and balling up the wrappers and you know, they're pocket-size,

I'm thinking, oh, this is great.

Little, little snacks for later.

And I got a couple in my pocket.

Hi, excuse me.

Oh, hi.

How many of those chunks have you eaten already?

Oh, I had a whole bunch.

Why? - Really?

A whole bunch.

Because those are Dr. Watson's love potions.

Love potions? What's that?

Those are aphrodisiacs.

Aphrodisiacs, really?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): - Charlie

took some of the chocolates to share with his girlfriend.

He came home early, made dinner, put on sweet music.

Thank you so much.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): - And hoped for the best.

I'm glad you liked that.

But we're not done yet.

I have a little dessert for us.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): - Charlie was

already halfway to paradise.

Probably could have left Dr. Watson's

love drops on the mantle.

But Charlie wasn't taking any chances.

Oh, chocolate hearts.

CHARLIE: Not just ordinary chocolate hearts.

These are aphrodisiacs.

Where did you get them?

About a half an hour later, I'm sitting there

and she's playing with my hair.

I'm sitting there going, it's working.

I'm so glad you didn't have to work late tonight.

CHARLIE: She didn't say that she felt anything different.

She said, oh, i just feel, you know, normal.

Well, I can tell you, she wasn't normal.

She was better than normal.

Cuddly, huggy, you know, paying attention to me.

And it progressed into a really nice steamy evening,

which was after all, we could all use

one of those once in a while.

The mind is the best aphrodisiac we have,

yet there are really physical components that happen.

I see it in my practice.

I see men and women who really want to have great sex,

but something something's wrong physically, chemically,

something's just not happening.

And definitely when they take the herbs, which

react in the body, in that chemical process,

definitely there's a change.

There's an improvement.

When people say you're taking an aphrodisiac.

You know you're taking an aphrodisiac,

isn't it all in your mind?

Isn't it a placebo?

And I look at them and I say it's very possible that it is.

I mean, there's tons of medical records

that show people have been given placebo

medicine have cured themselves.

But, hey, who cares as long as it gets you there?

ROBERT STACK: The wellspring of passion

will undoubtedly remain one of life's great mysteries.

As for aphrodisiacs, perhaps the most potent of all

is the heartfelt phrase, I love you.

Before flying off in search of romance, a few down to earth

warnings.

Prior to ingesting any kind of love potion,

be sure to consult your physician.

And remember, giving someone drugs or aphrodisiacs

without their knowledge and consent

may be a crime punishable by law.

When in doubt, try a box of chocolates or a dozen roses.

Coming up, it may be the greatest danger our planet will

ever face, giant asteroids and meteor drifting

undetected through space.

When or where one will strike cannot yet be predicted.

But first, when a marine helicopter assigned

to transport the president crashes in Maryland,

a self-taught aviation investigator launches

his own search for answers.

[music playing]

The following story originally aired on February 14, 1997.

Since then there have been dramatic developments

regarding the murder of Bill Cosby's son, Ennis.

On January 16, 1987, 27-year-old Ennis William Cosby

was shot to death while changing a flat tire.

Only one witness, a woman, is known to have caught a glimpse

of the suspected assailant.

According to that woman, the man who authorities believe

murdered Ennis was a white male wearing

a light colored knit cap.

He was 25 to 32 years old of average height and weight.

TIM MCBRIDE: Our evidence that this time

would indicate a random type of situation, a random crime.

And again, the most logical motive at this time is robbery.

Other scenarios may come as we move along

and follow these leads that the public give to us.

Right now, it appears that it's a random crime

and that robbery is the most logical motive.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Here's what we know.

About 1:30 AM, Ennis Cosby pulled off the 405 freeway

onto a lonely off ramp near Mulholland Drive

in Los Angeles.

He called a woman on a cell phone

and told her he had a flat tire.

She went to the scene.

She was sitting in her car when the suspect

rapped on her window.

She drove away in a panic.

When she returned minutes later, Ennis Cosby was dead.

His attacker was nowhere to be seen.

During the next few days, police searched

for more plausible witnesses, sorting

through hundreds of tips.

We have been contacted by several people who believe they

may have seen something there.

Either seen Mr. Cosby before the shooting

when he was still alive or may have seen

something shortly thereafter.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A Bel Air security guard

gave police a description of a man

in a blue hatchback he had seen in the area minutes

before the murder.

Police hoped that they had gotten a major break when they

tracked that man who a mini mall in nearby Torrence, California,

but it quickly came to nothing.

Well, we're always disappointed if a lead turns

out that it isn't what we thought it was going to be

or hoped it would be.

On the other hand, it's a lead that becomes eliminated,

and allows you to go on and spend your time

in the productive areas of the leads

that we have not eliminated.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police are certain someone

knows a suspect.

They're hoping that person will recognize this composite

and call them with a critical tip.

There's a mother, there's a father, there's a sister,

there's a brother, there are friends who know this suspect.

They know that he committed this crime.

And we want them to come forward.

We have a brutal suspect.

Somebody that carries a weapon.

Somebody that is probably an experienced criminal

and has committed these types of crimes before.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Seven months have passed since the night TWAS

flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic

off the coast of Long Island, killing more than 200 people.

Despite a likely ruling of mechanical failure,

rumors about the cause of the tragedy have run rampant.

Most incredible was a theory that the plane went

down because of an accidental missile attack

by our own military.

Outlandish?

Perhaps.

But it's not the first time such charges have been leveled.

Since 1993, similar rumors have swirled

around the crash of a United States Marine Corps helicopter.

But this was no ordinary helicopter.

It was one of a small fleet used to transport the President

of the United States.

The President, of course, was not on board

when the helicopter went down.

But tragically, four crewmen were.

As with flight 800, the controversy

surrounding the crash pits the theory of mechanical failure

against an accusation of friendly fire,

with one ominous twist.

A secret weapon straight out of science fiction.

[rotating chopper blades]

It was an overcast morning in May of 1993.

Shortly before noon, a Blackhawk helicopter

flew over a wooded area near Washington, DC.

An archaeologist named Frank Owens and his assistant

saw the helicopter fly by.

Half an hour later, they discovered the crash site.

This is the first time Frank Owens

has agreed to be interviewed for national television.

FRANK OWENS: We were driving down

a road when off to our right, I glanced

and I saw the tail section of a helicopter in a clearing.

We put it in reverse.

We stopped, we jumped out.

As we walked down the logging road,

I could tell that this was a presidential helicopter.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The local authorities

responded within minutes.

The wreckage was strewn across an acre

and a half of dense forest.

All four crewmen were dead.

[rotating chopper blades]

Within an hour, a heavily armed unit of Marines

secured the area.

Three months later, the Marine Corps released

what is known as a JAG report.

The official conclusion was that the crash

had been caused by mechanical failure

due to faulty maintenance.

Portions of the report stunned Frank Owens.

In the weeks after the accident, he

has spent considerable time at the crash site erecting

a memorial to the crew.

The JAG report indicated that all debris, all jet fuel

had been taken care of.

Everything had been removed in a very, very professional way.

I found that not to be true.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Frank says

he has the proof at his home.

43 pounds of wreckage that he collected at the site.

When Frank decided to launch an investigation,

he attracted the attention of several military

and weapons researchers.

Yeah, that's one.

When you look at the crash of this presidential helicopter,

the Blackhawk, and you compare it with the TWA 800

crash on Long Island Sound, here they

have scraped the bottom of the ocean for months

to recover the most minute pieces of debris

from the aircraft.

They've tried to essentially reassemble the airplane

as completely as possible.

And that's what they do in every aircraft

accident investigation.

And then you look at the fact that this

is a presidential helicopter.

Makes you wonder what were they thinking,

what were their motives.

It's highly unusual.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to the JAG report,

the accident was caused by improperly installed roll pins,

two-inch metal rods that connect the transmission to the engine.

After speaking to the individuals

that changed these roll pins, they felt

that they did it correctly.

I feel that something else brought this helicopter down.

In talking to officials from the aircraft manufacturer,

they say that if, in fact, that roll pin were misplaced,

the aircraft wouldn't have flown.

And that roll pin was replaced a month

before the aircraft crashed.

In the interim, President Clinton

had gotten on this helicopter and flown from Washington DC

all the way down to Norfolk, Virginia

and out to the USS Roosevelt and back to DC.

And it stretches all kinds of credibility, not to mention

the laws of physics, that this helicopter would fly that long

and that far if these pins had been improperly installed

as the Marine Corps says.

FRANK OWENS: They took off here from Quantico 12:46.

They cross the Potomac.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Frank Owens

believes other clues can be found by studying the flight

path of the helicopter.

And they continued in a south direction.

I was here when I observed the helicopter fly overhead.

This was my location.

As they continued through this area here, at point 16

they made a dramatic change in course.

CRAIG J. COLEY: The thing I found

most significant about the flight path of the helicopter

was that the pilot was extremely experienced.

He made an extreme U-turn, which indicates

that he believed something was wrong and he was heading back.

And then he passed over a field large enough

to land a dozen helicopters in to crash in the trees

just a few hundred yards beyond.

It really kind of made me wonder if it

was possible that he could of, vision

could have been impaired.

JAMES L. PATE: I'm not certain what the cause of that crash

was.

I don't think it's what the Marine Corps claims.

And there is physical evidence and circumstantial evidence

that indicates the helicopter could have been

exposed to microwave radiation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): If true,

it is a stunning revelation.

During the Reagan administration,

a number of high tech weapons were developed as part

of the Star Wars Initiative.

Allegedly, one of the systems involved microwave energy,

designed to disrupt electronic equipment

in aircraft and missiles.

CRAIG J. COLEY: A helicopter like the Blackhawk

would be far more susceptible to a microwave weapon,

because it would directly interfere with the flight

control electronics.

So you would immediately find that the helicopter

may become partially disabled on its flying ability.

And when you read about the physical symptoms of exposure

to microwave energy, and there are a number of studies that

have been done this with fish and with people and animals,

one of the first things affected is your vision.

Because the microwave energy heats the fluid in your eyes

and you can't see.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Does such a weapon exist?

Apparently, the army has experimented

with high powered microwave technology.

But most experts say an actual delivery

system is not yet a reality.

High power microwave weaponry does not exist, period.

There are no high powered microwave weapons.

The work that's being done now and over the last decade

is to assess whether or not the military electronics

of the United States and other powers

are vulnerable to high power microwave effect.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But others disagree.

They believe such weapons do exist, and may have been tested

this army research lab in Blossom Point, Maryland,

five miles from the crash site.

FRANK OWENS: Go through to find all this wreckage.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Frank Owens and his colleagues

believe a high powered microwave is

the only way to explain the most baffling

aspect of the entire case.

Unusual burn marks on each of the victims' bodies.

We asked Dr. Richard Grossman, a leading

burn specialist, to examine several of the autopsy photos.

It doesn't have the appearance of an acid burn.

It doesn't have the appearance of a flame burn.

But I can tell you that that tissue is burned.

But I can't tell you what caused it, because I don't know.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Marine Corps

had attributed the marks to chemical burns

from spilled fuel.

I don't think un-ignited jet fuel

or any kind of aviation fuel would give

you a contact burn like this.

The kinds of microwave pulses that are being studied

as possible weapons are not in anywhere near the domain

necessary to produce biological effects, burns on humans skin.

Takes a great deal of energy, and there

isn't much energy in the microwave pulses

that are being produced.

[rotating chopper blades]

ROBERT STACK: What caused the crash

of the Blackhawk helicopter?

Was it a mechanical malfunction?

Or is the Marine Corps concealing

a much different scenario?

The accidental downing of one of its own helicopters

by a top secret weapon system.

Just recently, Frank Owens informed us

that he is indefinitely suspending

his investigation out of respect for the victims' families.

However, he remains convinced that the whole truth

has yet to be uncovered.

The Marine Corps stands by its original report

and considers the matter closed.

Next, a disturbing unassigned letter and a bizarre

psychic vision lead to speculation

that the death of a loving husband and father

was not suicide.

And later, catastrophic danger lurks in the infinite beauty

of space.

Are we on a collision course with a giant asteroid?

[music playing]

We were surprised as anybody when one of our earliest

episodes solves a crime.

Perhaps you'll recall this next story, first broadcast

during our fourth season.

It recently led to the identification and indictment

of an alleged killer.

Thanks to DNA, a seven-year-old fingerprint, and of course,

one of our viewers.

Ethel Kidd was a youthful 61 when she retired

to rural Virginia in 1988.

Ethel looked forward to a simple country life

just down the road from her daughter and son-in-law, Joanne

and Thomas Kidd.

Thomas would be the first to notice something was wrong.

It was a morning of April 12, 1989.

THOMAS KIDD: My wife called her mother about 7:30.

And the answering machine answered.

And she said, that's funny, mom must have left early.

Either she's on the way here to have a cup of coffee.

About 9:30 I rode by and I saw the car there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was a bad sign.

Ethel hadn't answered her phone.

If she was out, she would have taken her car.

Inexplicably, a road atlas lay open in the front yard.

Then another bad sign.

Ethel never left the door unlocked.

Ethel.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Inside, concern turned to fear.

There was no trace of Ethel Kidd anywhere.

Ethel, are you here?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eight days crept by.

Then Ethel's body was discovered in the woods nearby.

She had been sexually assaulted, strangled,

then left tied to a tree.

BILL FAULCONER: The killer is extremely brazen.

It's even as if he may have been taunting the police,

saying catch me if you can.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A suspect would indeed be caught.

However, authorities would need the help of one

very sharp-eyed viewer.

Here's Keely Shaye Smith with more on the improbable

break in this case.

Bob, from the very start, investigators

believe their best hope of identifying the killer

lay with the atlas that Thomas Kidd had found in Ethel's yard.

They were right, but it would take

seven years and several reruns of the story

for their hunch to pay off.

At the Virginia Bureau of Forensic Science,

technicians were able to pull fingerprints

from several pieces of paper that

had been tucked into the atlas.

But without a known suspect, the prints were useless.

The critical break would come from what authorities judged

to be the killer's own list of preparations for the abduction

of Ethel Kidd.

This is the suspect's check list.

Over the years, millions of viewers saw it,

but one person actually thought the handwriting

looked very familiar.

The tipster provided a name.

Edward Wayne Beverly.

Beverly had lived in Burr Hill, Virginia,

just a few miles from Ethel Kidd.

Shortly after her murder, he abruptly left town.

Virginia authorities finally located Beverly

in a Tennessee prison, where he was

serving time for armed robbery.

WD SPENCE: We compared fingerprints

and they matched Mr. Beverly's prints.

And on the victim's body there was evidence there

indicating sexual contact.

And we compared Mr. Beverly's blood through DNA testing,

and that matches up also.

I'm convinced that we have the right guy

that did this crime based on the evidence that's available.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Robert Dirscherl, beloved husband

and father of five.

Born 1923, died 1977.

Dirscherl was killed by a single gunshot to the chest.

Authorities called it suicide.

For 16 long years, Dirscherl's wife

and children had no choice but to accept the official ruling.

All that changed suddenly and unexpectedly in March of 1993.

Guy Dirscherl, one of Robert's sons,

received a letter postmarked March 13th, 16 years to the day

after his father's death.

GUY DIRSCHERL: It's a small, short letter

in block strange handwriting.

And I read it once.

And I read it the second time.

And I was just totally flooded with emotion.

I was, it was as if I'd been kicked right in the chest.

ROBERT STACK: The letter was short, just 35 words.

But its stark message would turn the Dirscherls'

world upside down.

I have AIDS.

I am dying.

I must make my peace with the Lord.

I killed your daddy 15 years ago.

He found me in his bedroom, I had no choice.

Please pray for me.

A mean spirited hoax or a sincere deathbed confession?

Without a signature or return address,

there was no way to find out.

The Dirscherl family believes that this letter

is genuine, evidence that Robert Dirscherl

did not take his own life.

What's more, they say corroboration came from an even

more extraordinary source, a psychic vision

from beyond the grave.

This most unusual case began in the most mundane manner.

Oh, where's the iodine, hon?

Oh, it's in that small cabinet underneath the mirror.

I got that foot problem again.

Oh.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): March 13, 1977 was a Sunday.

It was 7:30 AM, an hour and a half

before Robert Dirscherl and his wife Jinny

would head off to church.

[bang]

I heard a sound, a loud sound.

But I assumed it was the slamming of the back door,

because the doors and windows were all open.

And when you went out to the pool, that did slam.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A few minutes later, Jinny

went to the bedroom to dress.

Her husband was bleeding from a wound to the chest.

[scream]

His shotgun lay nearby.

I bent down enough to know that he was dead.

I was sure he was gone.

I don't think I touched him.

I called the police.

And it seemed like they arrived immediately.

What time'd you get here?

8:15.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Investigators

found no evidence of a break-in, no sign of a struggle.

Within 15 minutes they concluded that Robert Dirscherl

had committed suicide.

I see here the left shoe is off.

I think what he did is he sat on the edge of the bed,

put the shotgun up to his chest, pulled

the trigger with his big toe.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jinny argued

that her husband had merely been medicating a foot ailment,

but she argued in vain.

It would take the arrival of the mysterious letter

more than 16 years later to push authorities

to take a second look.

Within two weeks, the case was reopened.

The Dirscherl family had never seen the original police

report on Robert's death.

They secured a copy and went over it word by word.

KANDACE WHITEHURST: It was just so full of untruths, guesswork,

interviews of people that hadn't seen my father

in more than two years.

Close friends weren't spoken to.

And the luger's loaded.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Investigators

had concluded that Dirscherl was driven

to suicide by despair over an unsuccessful surgery

years earlier.

GUY DIRSCHERL: The one interview that they probably

weigh most heavily is from a nurse who hadn't seen him

in two years, who gives a report about his health that is so far

from the truth it's ridiculous.

She portrays him as a bedridden vegetable.

Where he was happy, fairly healthy man.

Had a social life, he still traveled

and still was a productive salesman.

It was strictly investigated as a suicide.

I don't think there were any fingerprints taken of the gun

or anyplace in the house.

And that was the biggest mistake they made.

Not investigating.

I can see where it would be difficult for family to accept

a decision like that when they feel that perhaps

their loved one may have been a victim

of some other circumstance.

But in law enforcement, we have to deal with what

the evidence tells us.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The original investigation

was conducted by the Dunedin Police Department,

which dissolved in 1995.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office later reviewed

the available case files.

MARIANNE PASHA: There seemed to be no sign of struggle.

No forcible entry, no broken windows,

disarray of any description in the bedroom

where this encounter allegedly occurred.

Which again, was one of, gives us more belief

that this was a suicide.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Without additional evidence,

the ruling remains suicide.

But for Robert Dirscherl's family,

the case was anything but closed.

Indeed, it grew more and more bizarre.

In February of 1995, Jinny's sister, Fran, traveled

from Florida to California.

Fran, who is now deceased, told Jinny

about an unnerving encounter on the train,

an episode that defies explanation to this day.

Fran?

Well, yes.

Was your husband a doctor?

The young woman who was a total stranger,

but she revealed an uncanny familiarity

with Fran and the Dirscherls.

Well then, your husband's name was Earl.

Yes, that's right.

Well, they're here with Bob.

Bob?

Yes, your sister's husband.

And he was murdered about 15 years ago.

Murdered?

Please, don't be frightened.

I'm not a mystic or anything of that kind.

My father passed away a number of years ago

and he sends me messages from the other side.

I think it's best that I write this down,

so that you can keep it with you and give

it to your sister, Jinny.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fran said that the woman wrote down

her psychic vision on a napkin.

My first reaction to psychic was [pfft]..

I mean, I didn't believe in psychics.

I'm sorry.

And yet, the more I heard.

PSYCHIC: On the Amtrak train.

JINNY DIRSCHERL: I had to say I believe in this.

I see a picture in my mind regarding the murder

of your sister's husband, Bob.

I see a narrow door opening with a gun case showing.

And your sister's husband is going

to another cabinet near the mirror

to look for foot treatment for athlete's foot.

He looks up and he sees a stranger in the adjoining room.

Alarmed, the robber fights with Bob.

[gunshot]

The things that were written by the young lady on the Amtrak

train were startling in that some of this information

wasn't anywhere to be found.

It was just too real.

It was as if this person was in the room.

She's made no effort to gain from it.

There's been no approach to us, which you would

expect if there was a hoax.

And I honestly believe it was a situation

that took place that I can't explain

in the reality of this world.

It's kind of spooky.

Bob Dirscherl died at 54, seemingly well before his time.

Perhaps it was his choice, made for reasons

known only to himself.

Or perhaps Bob Dirscherl's life was

taken by a stranger who wrote from the deathbed asking

for forgiveness.

GUY DIRSCHERL: In my own mind, my father

is a victim of murder.

And I would like to be able to tell

my children without a question that this is what took place.

And I would like the people who know my father in the community

to know what happened.

There may be somebody out there

who was talked to by the killer, revealed something in prison

to an attorney, to a parent, to a friend.

It's a small world and stranger things have happened.

That's one of my hopes, is that somebody

out there can fit the last piece of the puzzle into place.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The unsigned confession letter

was mailed from Tampa, Florida and postmarked March 13, 1993.

[music playing]

When we return, 65 million years ago a giant meteor

slammed into Earth, creating a new Ice Age

and ending the reign of the dinosaur.

Will it happen again?

Could humankind survive a cosmic calamity?

[music playing]

Imagine the Manhattan skyline flattened,

the sprawl of Los Angeles pulverized, the entire country

devastated in the blink of eye.

An atomic nightmare?

No, a natural disaster unparalleled in human history.

A disaster no one can predict.

It will come from outer space.

July 16, 1994, a frightening preview.

Huge fragments of a giant comet called Shoemaker-Levy slammed

into the planet Jupiter, causing the most

massive chain of explosions ever witnessed by man.

EUGENE SHOEMAKER: Well, out of this 21 series of fragments,

there were actually 15 that survived

that we saw hit the planet.

And of those, about four or five were the big ones.

When each of those largest fragments hit Jupiter,

had had about the same energy as if you

had taken all of the nuclear bombs in the world.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Gene Shoemaker is co-discoverer

of the Shoemaker-Levy comet.

Put them all in one big pile and set them off all at once.

That's about 10,000 million tons of energy.

ROBERT STACK: One of the impacts on Jupiter created a cloud

of debris as large as Earth.

This cataclysmic event immediately brought

troubling questions to mind.

Could it happen here?

And what if it did?

Could life as we know it survive in a vast cosmic shooting

gallery?

Fortunately, the odds are in our favor.

Astronomers estimate that here on Earth, celestial disasters

on the grand scale of Shoemaker-Levy

occur only once every 100 million years.

But that's not to say we're entirely safe.

At this very moment, there are literally

thousands of asteroids and comets

streaking through the solar system.

Is it possible that one the size of Shoemaker-Levy

could collide with our planet?

Not only is it possible, it has already

happened more than once.

[rotating chopper blades]

This is Meteor Crater, three hours north

of Phoenix, Arizona.

It was here, long before the dawn of civilization,

that an asteroid slammed into the desert floor.

Scientists estimate its velocity at more

than 40,000 miles per hour.

EUGENE SHOEMAKER: Meteor Crater's the first recognized

impact crater on the earth.

It's 4,000 feet across, about 600 feet deep.

It was formed by an iron asteroid

about 50 yards in diameter.

And it was formed very close to 50,000 years ago.

But if you'd been there, you wouldn't

want to have been too close.

If you had been standing where Flagstaff is today,

40 miles away, you would have probably been

knocked over by the shock wave.

Buildings would have been collapsed.

[rotating chopper blades]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But meteor activity on Earth

isn't just consigned to ancient history.

Early this century in 1908, a fireball raced through the sky

over Siberia.

It exploded above the remote area of Tunguska,

spraying debris with a force of 1,000 atomic bombs.

VIRGIL SHARPTON: To get a good idea of the devastating effect

of this impact of that, a city that I know

very well, Houston, has surrounding it a highway,

a beltway highway, 610 loop.

Everything inside the 610 loop would have

been flattened and charred.

All the buildings, all the infrastructure.

Nothing would have been standing inside that area.

Anyone who lived there would have been dead.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Incredibly, such devastation

did occur on a worldwide scale at least once

in the history of our planet.

It was 65 million years ago, during the reign

of the dinosaur.

A gigantic meteor, some five miles in diameter,

smashed into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula,

75 miles east of where the city of Veracruz now stands.

VIRGIL SHARPTON: The surface expression

would not lead you to believe that there

is an impact crater there.

You have a nice flat Yucatan Peninsula

with really no topographic signs that a crater 180 to 200

miles across exists below.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Virgil Sharpton has created

this three-dimensional map depicting the Chicxulub Crater

immediately after impact.

His detailed description of that catastrophic event

is chilling, and very possibly prophetic.

VIRGIL SHARPTON: Well, immediately before the impact,

we think you would see a comet.

Keep in mind that this object is traveling at about 140,000

per hour.

[explosion]

You don't have a lot of time between the time it goes

into the atmosphere and the time that it

actually strikes the Earth.

Much less than a second obviously.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The impact

at Chicxulub was heard and felt that every corner of the Earth.

Instantaneously, the ground surged upward.

Countless tons of rock and dust formed

a massive curtain hundreds of miles across

and hundreds of miles high.

VIRGIL SHARPTON: As this dust started

to make its way into the atmosphere,

it would block the sunlight completely.

It would be as dark as night.

As some of this material started to re-enter

the atmosphere however, things would begin to light up.

Not by the elimination of the sun,

but by the elimination of countless meteorites,

shooting stars streaking through the upper atmosphere.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to Sharpton,

these balls of fire touched off a raging inferno

that spread across the entire western hemisphere.

The smoke then rose to join with the impact debris,

blanketing the Earth with an impenetrable cloud.

VIRGIL SHARPTON: Darkness was achieved

almost instantaneously.

And this cloud would basically expand around the Earth

in a very short period of time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For the better part of a year,

there was no sunlight.

What emerged was a new Ice Age, with its

own catastrophic consequences.

Roughly 75% of Earth's plant and animal life perished.

The most prominent victim, the dinosaur.

VIRGIL SHARPTON: The consensus is

today, that dinosaurs were doing very

nicely up until this event.

And immediately after this event, they were gone

and they never came back.

EUGENE SHOEMAKER: There's a large enough risk

that I think we really should pay attention to it.

The hazard of impact in terms of loss of life on the Earth,

you don't take out just 100,000 lives lost.

You could wipe out half or more of the entire human population.

If an event similar to the one that

formed Chicxulub happened tomorrow,

then there would be no civilization.

There is no doubt about that.

There would be widespread devastation.

Death like we have never even imagined.

And there is no protection for it.

It's just one of those things that we have to live with.

Fortunately however, events like Chicxulub are extremely rare.

ROBERT STACK: At present there are only a handful

of scientists worldwide actively scanning the skies

for near Earth asteroids.

Just recently, scientists discovered the Hale-Bopp comet,

which will pass close enough to earth

next April to be seen without a telescope.

Despite our extremely limited warning system,

it is calming to note that there is no record of anyone ever

being killed by an asteroid.

[music playing]

Join me next time for another fascinating edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[music playing]