Brad Meltzer's Decoded Episode Rating Graph

What if I told you the government had proof of alien life but was actively covering it up? Millions of Americans believe in UFOs, but the government vehemently denies any alien encounters, from the infamous Roswell incident to the ultra-secretive military base known as Area 51. Finally, members of top military and aviation organizations break their silence to reveal exactly what the government knows about alien life, and what they stand to gain by lying about it.

What if the United States was saved by the most covert spy ring in US History, made up almost entirely of ordinary people? They were called: The Culper Spy Ring. This group of code-named spies worked stealthily to steal secrets from the British, giving the Americans a heads up on surprise attacks and enemy troop movements. The Decoded team will uncover if this small circle of shopkeepers, tavern owners and housewives may have played the most important role in defeating the British in the Revolutionary War more than 200 years ago.

Best-selling author Brad Meltzer and his team try to penetrate Bohemian Grove, one of America's most tightly guarded gatherings of the rich and powerful. The Decoded team converges on the group's hideaway in a northern California redwood forest to pursue rumors of ritual sacrifice and secret agreements that control the lives of everyday Americans. Brad soon finds out just how difficult it is to uncover Bohemian Grove's secrets. He knew sending the team into the Grove would be risky, but he never expected they'd be calling him for bail money.

Best-selling author Brad Meltzer and the team jump at the chance to take on one of the FBI's most puzzling unsolved crimes: the 1971 disappearance of airline skyjacker D.B. Cooper, who bailed out of a jetliner at ten thousand feet over Washington state with two parachutes and two hundred thousand dollars in ransom money strapped to his body. Working closely with the former FBI agent who headed up the unsuccessful search for Cooper, Brad and the team examine new evidence that points to a former airline employee named Kenny Christiansen, whose own brother suspects he was actually the skyjacker who called himself D.B. Cooper. This sets up a climactic meeting between the Decoded team and Christensen's possible accomplice, the man who may have helped D.B. Cooper and his two hundred thousand dollar ransom vanish into thin air.

Every now and then a researcher will discover a historical enigma, an unproven rumor, a story with a puzzling outcome. Such encounters are an irresistible challenge for Brad Meltzer, the #1 New York Times best-selling author. What if I told you Fort Knox was empty? Buddy, Scott and McKinley travel to Kentucky to investigate the history of the legendary vault, and discover the devastating impact it would have on our economy and our pocketbooks if the gold were gone. Fort Knox has not been audited since 1974, but does that mean the government is shielding its empty pocket book from the prying eyes of the American public, or is the privacy in place to protect a different secret altogether?

What if I told you Billy the Kid wasn't killed by Pat Garrett? For a more than a hundred years, it's been believed that Sheriff Pat Garrett shot the Kid dead in 1881, but new theories have emerged that Billy in fact survived and went on to live a long life. So how did Billy manage to escape from Pat Garrett, and why would Garrett lie about it? Investigating the life and adventures of the legendary outlaw may prove that the history of the American West needs to be rewritten.

Best-selling author Brad Meltzer and his team thought they knew what the Statue of Liberty stood for. But now they learn that America's most powerful icon of freedom might actually be loaded with secret symbols put there by a sinister group bent on world domination. They investigate claims that the Illuminati, a secret European society loosely affiliated with the freemasons, turned every inch of the statue into a coded message, from the torch Liberty holds high, to the rays emanating from the crown, even to the precise height of the statue itself. Things get even stranger when a highly regarded numerologist shows the team why he believes the statue is really a monument to the all-powerful number 7. As they evaluate these unsettling claims, Brad and the team are forced to reconsider whether one of America's most enduring symbols is really who she appears to be.

What if I told you that the Mafia and organized crime have taken on a brand new look that most people would never recognize? Today's mob has evolved into something more powerful, sophisticated and deadly than ever. Starting with Al Capone's notorious Chicago Outfit, Decoded traces the progression of the mob from Whitey Bulger's fearsome Irish Mafia, to today's Mexican cartels who are bringing their violent operations onto American soil, and the Cyber Mafia--online gangsters who can steal your money and identity without leaving their home. So what exactly does the new Mafia look like today, and what can we do to protect ourselves?

What if I told you that the Vatican--seat of the Catholic Church--may be responsible for the murder of one of its own popes? Pope John Paul the First was in office just thirty-three days before he was found dead of mysterious causes and whisked away by Vatican officials with no investigation. Decoded travels to Rome and learns that the fallen Pope was at the center of a banking scandal involving Freemasons and even Mafia members operating from within the walls of the Vatican. Some even say that the scandal and the murder were foretold in a prophecy delivered by the Virgin Mary that the Vatican conspired to withhold from its followers. Could Pope John Paul the First, who vowed to reform corruption in the Vatican, have been murdered by the criminals he vowed to expose?

What if I told you the apocalyptic prophecies of 2012 were coming true? Across the globe, predictions from Mayan texts to the King James Bible appear to be coming true with eerie accuracy. What can we look forward to on December 21, 2012, the date Mayan astronomers list as the end of time? Will we fall prey to a massive natural disaster, an unnatural disaster brought about by harm to our environment, or will we do what the Mayans did and destroy ourselves? Decoded investigates the science and the psychology behind the doomsday prophecies of 2012.

What if I told you there's a place in Alaska that claims more bodies than the Bermuda Triangle? The Alaska Triangle--the region between Anchorage, Juneau and Barrows--has a disappearance rate sixteen times the national average, and scientists are entirely incapable of explaining why. Is it Alaska's extreme geological activity that creates magnetic anomalies causing instruments--and humans--to act crazy? Or is it vortexes--swirling, turbulent flows of energy--that are causing entire ships, planes and people to disappear without a trace? Local tribesmen, Search and Rescue workers, and the families of the missing all have their theories as to what is causing people in Alaska to vanish off the face of the earth.

The team gets to the bottom--literally--of a mystery concerning the cornerstones of our democracy. Laid by the ultra secretive Freemasons, this landmark piece of stone vanished. The search for the White House cornerstone has been on for over 200 years, everyone from Harry Truman to Barbara Bush have looked for it. Is it a coincidence...or is there a secret conspiracy tied to these stones and the buildings they were meant to support?

Best-selling author Brad Meltzer and his Decoded team examine claims that John Wilkes Booth actually escaped to freedom after murdering President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The "official" version of events says federal agents cornered Booth and killed him just days after the assassination. But Brad and the team uncover glaring inconsistencies in that 150-year-old account: Why did the authorities hide Booth's body from public view? Why was Booth autopsy's conducted in complete secrecy in the cramped confines of an ironclad gunboat? Searching for answers to these and other troubling questions, the team finds startling evidence that strongly suggests Booth may indeed have lived into old age without ever facing punishment for his crime.

What if I told you Harry Houdini's death was not an accident, as we've been led to believe, but an act of murder? Most contend the world's most famous magician died when one of his tricks went fatally wrong, but new evidence suggests that his death may have been no accident. Most compelling is the long list of famous--and infamous--suspects who all had their reasons for wanting Houdini dead. By investigating Houdini's possible murder, the team discovers the world's most thrilling entertainer may have had an equally exciting life off the stage, including deadly feuds, love affairs, and even involvement in international espionage.