Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The images still

provoke stunned disbelief.

As investigators continue the search for answers,

conspiracy buffs continue to push

scenarios of military involvement and high level

cover up.

What happened to TWA Flight 800?

It was a young family's dream house

that turned into a nightmare of ghostly turmoil

and demonic mayhem.

Can a team of high tech ghostbusters

find out what's behind the chaos?

Don't miss this hair-raising tour of a haunted house.

From Ancient Greece to TV's "Xena,"

the mythic exploits of fearless women warriors

have captivated countless generations.

But were the Amazons more than just a legend?

Recent discoveries in Russia may provide a surprising answer.

In 1992, doctors told Candy Hoerner's family

to prepare for the worst.

But as she slipped into a coma, Candy

says she was visited by an extraordinary vision

of love, a vision that brought her back

from the brink of death.

Join me for these intriguing case.

Perhaps you may be able to solve one of tonight's

unsolved mysteries.

[theme music]

For most of us, haunted houses are the places

we visit on Halloween.

We scream, we jump, we laugh, and we go home.

But for 20 years, a family in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio,

has had to deal with a daunting fact

that, for them, home is a haunted house.

- Wait, wait, wait, OK. - Got it?

Yeah.

Yeah, you first.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1972, a newly married couple,

we'll call them Joe and Mary Smith,

moved into what they thought was their dream home.

But the dream didn't last long.

By the time Mary was pregnant with their first child,

she got her first warning something was seriously wrong.

[footsteps]

[crash]

On a night when Mary was all alone,

she heard a commotion start up in the attic.

MARY SMITH (VOICEOVER): It really worried me

because it sounded much more than a mouse,

or a raccoon, or something.

Sort of like grating noises and things being dragged,

so to speak.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary called her father,

a Cleveland police detective.

He approached the attic with gun drawn, expecting a burglar.

Sweetheart.

Come take a look at this.

Oh my god.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The attic was a complete mess--

blankets pulled out, boxes of Christmas ornaments

dumped, childhood trinkets broken.

There was no sign of a human culprit,

and the attic was supposed to be sealed tight against animals.

The thought ran through my mind

that no animal could possibly have done that kind of chaos.

It wasn't probable.

And at that point, I just shivered

with fear, because something was there that I didn't know about.

And I didn't particularly care for that feeling at all.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Hints of something sinister

in the house never stopped.

Door knobs turned of their own accord,

and the strange noises continued.

Mary soon learned the house had a disturbing past.

Now we've had a nice walk.

No, no, no, we hold hands until we get back.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the 1940s,

previous owners had reportedly adopted a little boy.

One day, the child mysteriously vanished.

Even now, no one knows what happened to him.

Over the years, Mary couldn't help

but suspect that that boy might be connected to the hauntings.

One night, when her own son was almost the same age

as the long lost child, Mary says he let

out a blood-curdling scream.

CHILD: Mommy!

Honey.

What's wrong, baby?

Honey, what's wrong?

MARY SMITH (VOICEOVER): It just was

a very tormented type of a cry.

That's what I heard in his voice, was that horrible fear.

What's wrong?

What do you see, honey?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary had no idea

what had so traumatized her son until he

visited his grandmother a few weeks later.

I'll be in the kitchen if you need me.

Grandma!

What is it?

No!

I wanna go home.

Well, why, honey?

And I thought, what happened?

He says, Grandma, I wanna go home.

I'm never coming back here again.

I said, why?

Why aren't you coming back?

He says, no, no, a devil, a devil.

I thought, what is he talking about?

A what?

A devil.

What are you saying?

A devil.

Devil?

Devil.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The child

was pointing at a religious picture of St. Michael

the Archangel trampling Satan underfoot.

The little boy later told his mother it was the same devil

he had seen in his bedroom.

I'll take the picture down, OK?

[baby crying]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Life in Mary's house

became a ride on a surreal roller coaster,

especially when she realized the hauntings

were not always malevolent.

Shortly after Mary's second child was born,

he developed a life-threatening case of jaundice.

The condition required surgery.

The night before the operation, Mary got down on her knees

and prayed.

Dear Lord, I pray to you tonight.

I am grateful for all you have given me, but, please--

MARY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And much to my surprise,

as I was kneeling there praying, I

saw this most beautiful white light that just engulfed

your whole inner being with just a soothing, real soothing peace

that everything will be all right.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary says the light was coming

directly from the baby's room.

[baby cooing]

Dear.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary was astonished.

All traces of jaundice seemed gone.

The next morning, blood tests confirmed

the baby boy was cured.

Oh my god, it's gone.

MARY SMITH (VOICEOVER): I think it's

an evil spirit in our house, but I also think there's a guardian

angel looking over us.

And I think that there is a war between the good

and the evil going on, is my explanation.

We're caught right in the middle.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Mary's third son was five,

he had a different kind of encounter

with the spirits of the house.

MARY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And he stared, and blinked his eyes,

and stared again, and he still saw it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): During the next several years,

the boy suffered severe stomach pains.

Doctors couldn't find a cause or a cure.

Eventually, like the man on the stairs,

the pains just disappeared.

I think it's going to come down to be just plain being

it's not unexplainable.

I can say that the medications that I've used for him have

helped ameliorate his symptoms and maybe

have helped a little bit of the irritation that was there.

But as far as being able to cure and taking

responsible for curing his problem, I cannot do that.

[dog barking]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary and her husband considered

moving many times, but they had invested a good deal of money

and effort in the house, and they

didn't want to risk losing it.

Finally, in 1993, Mary discovered

what she now believes is the key to the house's

unsettling history.

Rumor had it that the little boy who once lived there had,

in fact, died under mysterious circumstances

and was actually buried somewhere on the property.

It just was creepy.

I perhaps thought there might be a connection.

In fact, it wasn't a might be.

I was very concerned that there probably was a connection.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary went to bed that night,

believing that the unhappy fate of the little boy

had somehow tainted her house with evil.

MARY SMITH (VOICEOVER): I felt an electrical shock

going through my whole body.

The shocks were so strong that I felt as though I

was welded to that bed.

I thought I was going to die in that bed,

actually, because I couldn't escape it.

And I didn't know if there were going to be more shocks.

And then the radio started playing,

which made it even worse.

It made it more bizarre.

[radio fading in and out]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Downstairs,

Mary's second son, then a teenager,

had just finished showering.

He noticed the dryer had inexplicably gone on by itself

and could not be turned off.

MARY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And I attribute it to the spirit

that I believe exists in our home

was so angry that the pieces finally

fit that it just went crazy.

When most people think of a haunted house,

they think of spirits of the dead.

But in most cases, houses that are haunted genuinely

appear to be haunted by some type of an energy force.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Andrew Nichols

is a parapsychologist, a ghostbuster

who hunts unexplained phenomena with the latest in technology.

At the request of "Unsolved Mysteries," Dr. Nichols,

his colleague Russ McCarty, and another

well-known parapsychologist, Dr. William Roll,

investigated Mary's home.

This house really has quite a bit of activity.

Boxes moved.

ANDREW NICHOLS (VOICEOVER): We conducted a series of energy

field scans throughout the house to try

to establish a baseline energy field reading--

electromagnetic, electric, magnetic fields,

microwave fields--

to try to determine if there were any unusual energy

fields present in the house.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In one of the bedrooms,

the parapsychologist found an unusually strong

electromagnetic field surrounding a dresser

left behind by previous owners.

One of the suggestions that I made to the family

was that they remove the dresser,

at least from the bedroom, and preferably from the house

temporarily, and see if it has an effect

on the haunting phenomena that they're experiencing.

In many cases, we find that that's the case.

If a person has acquired a piece, an antique,

and suddenly, haunting phenomena starts up,

it may be actually associated with that piece of furniture.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The parapsychologist

found even stronger readings in the basement

where an abandoned well ran down 120 feet

to an underground lake.

ANDREW NICHOLS (VOICEOVER): We find

many houses that are haunted are located over sources

of underground water.

And so there does seem to be a correlation.

This may conduct some form of psychic energy.

It may conduct some form of natural

Earth-based magnetic fields that stimulates

a person's psychic abilities.

The well pipe is located directly

under the bedroom of the primary witness,

so it's possible that she is being exposed

to these natural Earth-generated magnetic and electrical fields

on a regular basis.

People ask us frequently, do we believe in ghosts?

And the answer is yes, there is no question

that people experience ghosts.

But what are they?

Are they actually spirits of the dead?

Are they some type of entities from another dimension?

Or are they some strange artifact of the human psyche?

Unfortunately, those are questions which, for now,

remain an unsolved mystery.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Coming up, did a missile cause

the tragedy of TWA Flight 800?

Could the US Navy be involved?

A special report on the controversy

that refuses to go away.

But first, when an undercover drug operation goes bad,

a federal agent is gunned down.

[clinking glass]

I'd like to propose a toast.

To Richard Fass, best agent this side of the Mississippi.

Here, here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): June 30, 1994,

was a red letter day for drug enforcement agent Richard Fass.

I just want to say that I'm really proud to work

with all of you guys.

Honesty, I mean, you guys are the best team

of agents I ever worked with.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After more than eight years

of dangerous, undercover work, he was

finally leaving the streets.

Fass was being promoted to an administrative position.

Fass' partner, Michael Pelonero.

But I think Richard was in a position

where he was ready to advance his career.

This is really a positive stepping stone

in an agent's career.

We're gonna miss you, buddy.

Thank you, boss.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The lunch celebration

ended at 2:00 PM, but Richard Fass had one last piece

of unfinished business.

Late that afternoon, Agents Fass and Pelonero

drove to an automotive repair shop

just outside of Phoenix, Arizona.

They were posing as drug buyers and carrying $160,000 in cash.

It was Richard Fass' last undercover assignment.

The previous day, he had set up a deal with this man,

Augustin Vasquez Mendoza.

Mendoza had agreed to sell him 22 pounds of methamphetamine,

or speed.

Mendoza was known to agents Fass and Pelonero as Fernando.

6:25 PM.

Pelonero stays in the truck while Fass enters the garage.

The man in the dark blue shirt is a confidential police

informant.

The other man is Juan Vasquez, an associate of Fernando's.

Fernando himself is not present.

[speaking spanish]

The operation proceeds as expected.

Vasquez wants to see the cash.

In the back of the garage, two more men wait.

On the left, a second police informant.

On the right, a man named Rafael Rubio, another

associate of Fernando's.

Who's this?

It's my brother-in-law.

How you doing?

How's it going?

Let me see.

He looked into the duffel bag and didn't touch

it or anything, but apparently, he was satisfied that there

was, in fact, $160,000 there.

Yeah, we got a deal.

Bueno.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 6:30.

Vasquez apparently calls Fernando to confirm

that the buy is good.

[speaking spanish]

Fass waits outside until Agent Pelonero repositions the truck.

6:32.

Pelonero puts backup units on alert.

The deal is going down.

6:35.

A double cross.

[speaking spanish]

Vasquez and Rubio want the drugs and the cash.

Richard told the individual that if he wanted the money,

that he didn't have to do this, that he had kids,

he had a family, that he was just doing this for profit,

and that he didn't have to do anything wrong,

that anything he wanted, he could have.

One individual told the other one to handcuff

Richard and the two informants.

I believe that Richard saw death staring him in the face,

and he reacted.

[gunshots]

[speaking spanish]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Rubio has been shot once.

He and Vasquez flee in opposite directions.

All units, it's gone to hell.

It's a rip-off.

It's a rip-off.

I'm going on.

On our way.

It was very chaotic at that point.

But when I saw the vehicle leaving, I tried to ram it,

and I missed it.

I was on the radio all this time, and I just--

I put out a message that that vehicle needs to be stopped.

He's been hit.

Fass's been hit. - Where is he?

He's in there.

Let's go.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): With backup units

in pursuit of the suspects, Pelonero rushes inside.

Oh, no.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Richard Fass has been shot five

times at point-blank range.

He will be dead within an hour.

[crash]

6:41.

Drug enforcement agents in high speed pursuit of Rubio.

MICHAEL PELONERO (VOICEOVER): When he fled in the vehicle,

it was rush hour traffic.

He was on both sides, weaving in and out of traffic.

And he was making every attempt possible to avoid

being captured.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 6:45 PM.

Vasquez enters an alleyway a few hundred feet

from the crime scene.

6:52.

Three miles away, the agents close in on Rubio.

Freeze, punk!

Freeze!

Out of the car!

Give me a reason.

Get up here.

Get down.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By 7:15, it's all over.

Later, Rafael Rubio and Juan Vasquez

are booked on charges of first degree murder.

They are both convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

However, Augustin Vasquez Mendoza is still on the run.

He has also been charged with first degree murder.

Authorities believe he masterminded the rip-off.

Robbery was their motive from the very onset.

I don't think that there was ever any intent

to do a dope deal with us, that they knew

that the money was outside.

Apparently, these people did not want to negotiate.

They had a plan, and no matter what Richard did or said

was going to deviate them.

And at that particular point in time,

I believe that Richard realized that he had to do something

to protect not only his life, but the life of other people

as well.

[gunshot]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Richard Fass died a hero's

death at the age of 37.

He was honored with a DEA's Award of Valor.

He left behind a wife and four children.

I lost my best friend.

I miss him dearly.

Richard will always be in my heart.

Nothing can ever take those memories and him away from me.

But our main intention now is to seek

this fugitive that's out there.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next.

Every week, millions of fans thrill to the feats

of Xena, the Warrior Princess.

But did a legendary race of Amazon women ever truly exist?

They call them Amazons, strong, fearless women like TV's Xena.

Ruthless warriors who dominated men.

Contrary to popular belief, the legend of the Amazons

did not originate in South America,

but in Ancient Greece, where the historian

Herodotus first immortalized their mythic deeds

in the 5th century BC.

Rumor had it Amazons were so warlike

that they could not marry until they had first

killed an enemy in battle.

Even their name had awesome implications.

In Greek, "Amazon" apparently meant "without one breast."

The women supposedly cut away their own flesh

to make it easier to shoot a bow and arrow.

The Greeks used the Amazons as the antithesis of what

a Greek woman should be.

The Greek woman should stay at home, take care of the kids,

take care of the house.

And the Amazon went out and fought the Greeks.

And so therefore, she got what was coming

to her when she was killed.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For centuries, people

assumed the tales of wild Amazon warriors

were merely fiction, an ancient myth created

to enhance the glory of Greece.

Now, 2,500 years later, archaeological digs

on the windswept Russian steppes have

revealed a long buried secret--

a tribe of nomadic women warriors,

perhaps real-life Amazons, once ruled these desolate plains.

The goal is if we can determine

any specific ethnicity from these particular tribes.

They're Indo-European, but there may be subtle differences.

There are subtle difference.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jeannine Davis-Kimball

and a team of American and Russian archaeologists

have spent four years excavating Iron Age burial

mounds in Southern Russia that date from the time

of Herodotus' writings.

Traditional scholars believe early nomads

were male-dominated tribes.

The men were the leaders, the warriors, the priests.

But these graves tell a new story.

We never think of women in the context of a nomadic society.

It's not ever been interpreted from that point of view.

So here we are, out in the Steppes,

we're excavating nomads, early nomads.

And suddenly, we have women with weapons.

Women who are actually controlling wealth, because

of the wealth in their burials.

We have a different concept entirely

of what we think of nomads.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The burial

mounds contain the graves of both men and women.

Perhaps the most intriguing remains

were those of a young girl, no more than 14 years old.

She was only as tall as an average woman today,

but the artifacts buried with her prove

she was no ordinary teenager.

JEANNINE DAVIS KIMBALL (VOICEOVER):

She had a quiver by her side that had a lot

of bronze arrowheads in it.

She had a dagger on the other side.

And then there was this large boar's tusk that was drilled,

and it was probably suspended around her waist from a cord.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Another woman

was found with a bronze arrowhead still

embedded in her body cavity, a sign

that she likely died in battle.

But these women were more than warriors.

The wide variety of ritual artifacts found in the graves

showed a society where the power of a woman

was often greater than that of a man.

The graves of the male nomads also revealed surprises.

We have a lesser variety of status

among the male population than among the female population.

There's guys that fight, and there's guys that don't.

And we even have males that have a child buried with them.

And this is extremely unusual, because we have no females

with a child buried with them.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But who were these warrior women?

Are they the archetypes for the Amazons?

Their matriarchal culture is gone,

overrun 2,000 years ago by invading

Mongols, Huns, and Visigoths.

Today, only their bones bear witness.

We've scientifically proven that there were

women warriors, number one.

Number two, we also now realize that women have not always

been at the bottom of the pit, and can

control their own lives, and be like a woman warrior.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The legend of the Amazon

still echoes.

In South America, the majestic Amazon River

is named after them.

In the United States, California takes its name

from an Amazon queen, Khalifah.

And on television, the mythic power of warrior women

continues to fascinate the world.

The discovery in Russia isn't definitive proof

that Amazons were real, but it does raise

tantalizing possibilities.

Who knows what the next excavation will reveal.

Perhaps someday, archaeologists will discover evidence

of other ancient fables--

the true root of Ulysses' odyssey, the calcified bones

of the cyclops, or the shattered marble columns

of the lost city of Atlantis.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When we return,

a woman on the brink of death, an extraordinary vision,

a breathtaking recovery that her doctor

says can only be a miracle.

And later, ever since the crash of TWA Flight 800,

the investigation has been shadowed

by disturbing rumors of conspiracy and government

cover up.

According to all the medical literature,

Candy Gaither Hoerner should have died in 1992.

She is convinced she is alive today

because her sister Roxy reached out to save her life.

If so, it's nothing less than amazing.

Roxy had been dead for 13 years.

In October of 1992, Candy Hoerner

was fighting a critical run in an eight-year battle

against leukemia, a battle no one expected her to win.

Please, don't give up.

Every day, I felt I was getting worse, that I didn't--

I didn't really know if I was going to make it or not.

Keep fighting, sweetheart.

When I started slipping into my coma, I thought about Roxy.

I thought about seeing her in her hospital bed.

I thought about, Mom and Dad are going to have

to go through this again.

I thought a lot about that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Candy and Roxy were the two oldest

in a family of six children.

They were the only girls, born just 13 months apart.

They and their four brothers grew up in a small farming

community in Illinois.

Like most youngsters, the sisters often

fought as much as they played.

But by the time they were both adults and young mothers,

Candy and Roxy had formed a deep and permanent bond.

So fast last night.

Thank you so much for the warm--

Roxy and I got real close.

Well, she became a mother first, and then I did.

So I asked her advice, and she gave it to me,

and we started getting along really, really well then.

She's in an auto accident.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Then on February 27, 1979,

Roxy was rushed to the hospital.

Roxy.

Roxy, honey.

Honey, it's Mom and Dad.

Hi, honey.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Roxy had

suffered serious head injuries after being thrown from a Jeep.

She was awake and talking, but her condition was critical.

By the time Candy arrived, Roxy had slipped into a coma.

I thought that she would be fine.

I thought she would wake up, and we'd go home,

and everything would be fine.

That's what I thought.

I love you, Roxy.

I know I've never said those words before, but I--

I hope you've always known that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Candy never knew

whether Roxy heard her words.

Two days later, Roxy died.

She was 22 years old.

It was really hard.

For a long time, I just--

I still thought she was just gone for a while.

She'd be back.

It took a long time for me to realize

that she was really gone gone.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 13 years

later, Candy herself was lying in a hospital, desperately ill.

After seven years in remission, her cancer had revived,

more virulent than ever.

The only hope was a bone marrow transplant.

At first, the transplant seemed to be a success.

But five days later, Candy's body began to shut down,

her liver failed, and she started sinking into a coma.

Her family had been very dedicated

and continuously supporting her, talking to her,

and praying for her.

But there came a time when I felt that I needed to prepare

them for her possible death.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): What Candy needed was a miracle,

and she believes she got one.

At some point during her ordeal, Candy

says she felt a gentle touch upon her hand

and awoke to see a young woman bathed in white light.

Roxy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was Roxy, exactly

as she had appeared in life.

Candy, I love you, but you can't come with me now.

Mom and Dad need you here.

CANDY HOERNER (VOICEOVER): I was so glad to see her.

You need to stay.

CANDY HOERNER (VOICEOVER): It had been so long.

I can't.

I'm too tired, and it hurts too much.

Mom and Dad already lost me.

They couldn't stand to lose you too.

But I don't think I can take the pain any longer.

You have to stay here.

You know why?

Because you're going to be a grandmother someday.

Really?

I promise you.

And I'm going to be watching over you, always.

CANDY HOERNER (VOICEOVER): At first, I thought

Roxy's visit was a dream.

But then the more I thought about it,

I thought, I was so close to death,

and I actually believe that she did visit me,

and she did give me the strength to fight.

I felt cold one day.

I don't know why.

I just felt real cold.

And I just opened my eyes, and there was my husband

and my dad, standing there.

What's going on?

You're gonna be all right, honey.

You're gonna be all right.

They were smiling.

I knew something good had happened,

I just wasn't sure what.

I think all physicians have cases in which they

cannot explain the outcome.

However, in my experience as a physician,

this is truly the most amazing case,

and I feel it qualifies, truly, as a medical miracle.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two weeks later, Candy

was released from the hospital.

Two years later, Roxy's prediction came true.

Candy's daughter had a baby girl, Emmy.

CANDY HOERNER (VOICEOVER): Someday,

when my granddaughter grows up, I'm going

to tell her all about Roxy.

Mom and Dad already lost me.

CANDY HOERNER (VOICEOVER): I figure people can believe

what they want to believe, but I know

that she was there with me.

She was with me.

I don't know how, but I do know that she was there,

and I did talk to her, and she did talk to me.

Me and Roxy had such a bond.

I loved her so much.

I never got to tell her that I loved her.

And I feel like she came back to tell me,

hey, I know you love me, and I love you too.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, what caused

the crash of TWA Flight 800?

Some conspiracy buffs are adamant that a missile

fired by our own military brought the plane down.

Investigators insist the charges are baseless and irresponsible.

It was the summer of 1988, tensions

were running high between the United States and Iran.

The USS Vincennes was patrolling the Persian Gulf.

This footage was shot aboard the ship on July 3rd.

[gunfire]

That morning, the Vincennes, believing

it was about to be attacked, fired

two surface-to-air missiles at an unidentified aircraft.

We had him.

That was a dead-on.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The crew's jubilance

soon turned to horror.

The target turned out to be an Iranian passenger plane,

carrying 290 innocent civilians.

It was a terrible tragedy, but it

did occur in what was essentially

considered a war zone.

Certainly, it could never happen in peacetime.

Certainly, it could never happen here.

Or could it?

July 17, 1996.

TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic

off the coast of Long Island, killing

230 passengers and crew.

I have found some people who have other information--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Four months

later, Pierre Salinger, former press

secretary to President John Kennedy,

made a stunning allegation.

He claimed TWA 800 had been shot down by our own Navy

and that the Navy was attempting to conceal the truth.

It's the rumor that refuses to go away.

But is such a scenario even possible?

And if it did happen, why have hundreds of people

not said a word?

Today, authorities are still trying to determine

what caused the crash.

The longer it takes, the greater the pain for those

who lost family and friends, and the more whispered innuendo

turns into public speculation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The investigation has

been painstaking and tedious.

Since the night of the tragedy, tons of debris

have been scraped off the ocean floor in an attempt

to piece the plane back together.

Officials have narrowed down the cause to three possibilities--

a bomb, mechanical malfunction, or a shoulder-launched

terrorist missile.

The missile scenario is largely supported

by more than 30 credible eyewitness accounts

of an unusual streak of light seen in the sky

just before the explosion.

However, a physicist and missile expert, Bud Sewell,

says those accounts could just as likely

support a bomb scenario.

A terrorist bomb, if properly designed,

would indeed give you a very bright, luminous streak

out from the aircraft.

So that it would be very possible to have

a design which could produce what the eyewitnesses said

they saw.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But eyewitness testimony,

no matter how credible, cannot stand alone.

As far as anyone knew, there was no physical evidence

of a missile hit, much less one fired by the US Navy.

Unless you believe Pierre Salinger.

And despite Navy statements that they had nothing

to do with the TWA 800 crash, we have strong evidence

that they are wrong.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just last month,

Salinger was back again.

At a press conference in Paris, he produced still

frames of radar sweeps that he claimed

were recorded in the tower of New York's Kennedy Airport

on the night of the tragedy.

According to "Paris Match" magazine, TWA Flight 800

is represented by this written designation.

Circled on the right is a Navy plane, a P-3 Orion.

Circled in the center is US Air Flight 217.

The object circled on the left is unidentified.

The conspiracy camp believes it is

a Navy surface-to-air missile.

In this frame, reportedly recorded

a second before the crash, the unidentified object

has disappeared.

The P-3 Orion, TWA 800, and US Air 217

are all in close proximity, but flying at different altitudes.

In later frames, the TWA 800 designation

has vanished from the scope.

But if the plane was brought down by a missile,

then where is the evidence?

The government has said they found nothing conclusive

to indicate a missile hit.

Pierre Salinger disagrees.

Moreover, we have discovered that certain bodies

on the plane were crushed by something

which went through the plane--

the missile.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Let us suppose

for the sake of argument that the conspiracists are right.

There is some circumstantial evidence

to support their claims.

The Navy has admitted that military exercises were

being conducted off the Long Island

coast the night of the crash.

In fact, TWA 800 diverted from its original flight path

to avoid a restricted area.

The Navy would almost certainly

try to conduct exercises where they're not going

to get in the way of shipping.

And they don't really fire many missiles

because the darn things cost a million dollars each.

So they really don't do exercises.

They assume that if they get a radar lock-on with the ship,

they will get a hit.

And they just can't afford to shoot that many missiles.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But suppose

the Navy did shoot a live missile that night,

either accidentally or intentionally, then

where could it have come from?

According to the Navy, the USS Normandy

was the only ship with standard missile capability in the area.

The Normandy was reportedly on maneuvers in the Atlantic,

180 miles south of the crash site.

The main problem is that the maximum range of

a standard missile is 80 miles.

And the Normandy was alleged to be 180

miles away from the incident.

So it just doesn't make sense.

If a missile ship had been within the 80 mile radius

to shoot it, the eyewitnesses would

have seen a tremendous flash of light,

because the initial launch of a standard missile

essentially lights up the night sky.

But regardless of what they say,

we have now reached a point where

we are totally sure that what we are saying is true.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Assume again that the conspiracy

theorists are right, and the Normandy or some other ship

was, in fact, within range and did accidentally

shoot down the airliner.

Is it conceivable that the Navy brass could successfully

engineer a cover up?

If it were a friendly fire incident,

it would take approximately one day for everybody

in the country to know it.

You had, what?

Several hundred people on that ship, on the Normandy.

How can you cover anything up?

Sailors would write home to their sweethearts

or their parents and say, my god, we did this.

You couldn't.

There's no way you could cover it up,

because sailors love to talk.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But the conspiracy camp

points out that the Navy has been less than forthcoming

in the past.

When the Vincennes shot down the Iranian airliner in 1988,

Navy officials initially tried to justify the action

with false information.

They claimed the plane had been emitting military codes.

They have since admitted that this was not true.

Could the same thing have happened with TWA 800?

I did contact a higher ranking person in the Navy,

and for what it's worth, the Navy, after this incident,

did a thorough inventory.

I mean, they should with things that cost a million dollars.

And they can account for every ordinant

of missile in the Atlantic fleet by serial number.

Of course, the doubters would say, sure, that's certainly

what they'd say.

But I have known this person that I talked to for 40 years,

and I've found very reliable.

As you know, in the press yesterday and this morning,

the FBI has been renewing its attack on us.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Pierre Salinger

and his associates continue to insist

that the government is lying.

But critics of the conspiracy theory

are quick to point out that a cover up would have to include

not just hundreds of Navy personnel,

but also hundreds of civilians involved

with the investigation.

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Join me next time for another compelling hour

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

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