Brad Meltzer can identify when he became obsessed with conspiracy theories. Her grade 11 history teacher had just announced every high school student’s dream: movie day.
“And then she edited this movie about the Kennedy assassination”, bestselling author and host of the HISTORY series Decoded and Lost story said. “And not one of those crazy, crazy women, but one that actually asked the questions that should be asked… I remember it was one of the first times I felt like the foundations of my brain were sort of put aside and opened up because made me realize that not everything in the world is in the history books they give us at school.
HISTORY.com recently caught up with Meltzer, whose latest books include The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill the 16th US President and The First Plot: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington.
Specifically, we connected with him about his book The 10 greatest conspiracies of all time: Decoding the unsolved mysteries of history, for a little sneak peek at four lingering puzzles we just can’t shake. From rumors that there is in fact no gold in Fort Knox to the mysteries surrounding the American version of Stonehenge to the disappearance of the cornerstone of the White House to the prophetic visions of Leonardo Da Vinci, he explains his research to us. .
WATCH all of Brad Meltzer’s decoding on HISTORY Vault.
The book explores whether there is actually gold in Fort Knox, the US Bullion Depository. In fact, at one point everything was set up for filming indoors, when the Secretary of the Treasury canceled filming at the last minute. What do you think is going on there?
What was really amazing to us was the number of people who had worked at Fort Knox or who said they had a relative there who said, There’s nothing in there. You add these two things together – personal eyewitness accounts mixed with the fact that the government really doesn’t want to show us what’s ours – and we want to know, why can’t we just prove what there is?
One of my favorite things about the book, however, was when we got to find out what was going on in Fort Knox at different points in history. It is not only a home for our gold, but also for other items that the government has stored secretly. In the 1940s, he held the Magna Carta, which we held for the British to keep out of the hands of the Nazis. The vault also contained the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, the Gettysburg Speech, and three copies of Gutenberg’s Bible. In the 1950s, the chest became part of the Cold War era and contained drugs, vaccines and morphine in case of massive losses.
READ MORE: After Pearl Harbor: The Secret Plan To Hide America’s Iconic Documents
The Georgia Guidestones in Atlanta, which some refer to as the American Stonehenge, are a relatively modern mystery. What do we know about them and their intention?
Built in 1980 by a man who still remains anonymous and doesn’t say his real purpose, it has a price tag of half a million dollars and all we know is that they are made from 119 tons of granite. massive and have coded messages that are etched into them in the eight most widely spoken languages in the world. The way the pillars are erected follows the astrological and solar cycles. Some say it’s the end of time, others say they call for genocide. But, my God, if you spend half a million in Atlanta, that begs the question, what is it?
The east and west corners of the monument allow you to follow sunrise and sunset. A slit cut in one of the slabs marks the winter and summer solstices. A well drilled in the center of the stone marks Polaris, the north star. And a slit cut through the cornerstone marks the perfect midday hour. So that means it’s that kind of granite swiss army knife: the Guidestones have a calendar, a compass, a translator and a guide … which is bananas.
What I think is most interesting now is what is actually written on these stones. They say we must keep humanity under 500 million, we must breed ourselves wisely, we must unite humanity with a new language, we must rule passion, faith and tradition with temperate reason, and protect the peoples of the nations with just laws and just rewards. In the midst of the Covid era, in 2020, the Georgia Guidestones take on a whole new meaning.
The book also contains a chapter on the disappearance of the cornerstone of the White House. Why do you find this so convincing?
In 1792, stonemasons laid the cornerstone of the White House, the very first piece of the most important building at that point in Washington, DC, and to this day descriptions of the stone vary. Some people say it was small enough to carry, others say it was huge. The men who placed him were part of a secret organization, the Freemasons, and 24 hours after placing him in an elaborate Freemasonry ceremony, the stone disappears.
Some say it’s missing, some say it’s stolen, but rumors about the stone itself are getting even wilder. In some descriptions, the stone is inscribed by our founding fathers; others say it is hollow and contains secret documents of unimaginable wisdom. Some say it was stolen by the Freemasons themselves. (Of course, Masons deny any involvement.) But for over 200 years now, the location of the cornerstone has been a mystery.
[The book] delves into Freemasons, which to me is one of the most amazing stories in American history… Freemasons include eight signatories of the Declaration of Independence, nine signatories of the US Constitution and 15 US presidents . Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, John Wayne, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson and even Harry Houdini – all Freemasons. But what’s also funny is that there’s another cornerstone that’s missing as well – and that’s the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.
READ MORE: Man revealed secrets of Freemasons. His disappearance led to their downfall
Your chapter on Leonardo da Vinci explores theories that the artist was a prophet. What have you discovered?
It starts with the Codex Atlanticus—A codex is a collection of ancient works. So Da Vinci keeps all those notebooks, fills thousands of loose pages with all the ideas he comes up with – all the observations he has made. But page 1033 of the Codex Atlanticus disappears. And everyone wants to know what’s on this page? Why is this page so important? Many thought it was lost history, but (it was found) and it turned out to be nothing less than the first known self-portrait of Da Vinci himself.
This image and the message in it took us on a journey that none of us expected. The beautiful part of trying to have your own Da Vinci code is seeing what else Da Vinci has released on the universe. His inventions are astounding. If you look at his drawings, he created a helicopter, a tank, diving gear, a submarine, machine guns, he makes a parachute even though there is no plane. And for me, what’s inspiring about him is that each of the things he creates? None of them work. The diving equipment is leather, it sinks. The submarine, you drown in it. The parachute doesn’t really work. But over time it all works and that’s what makes it so amazing. It ended up taking us on the path of the different codes of real life Da Vinci.
The interview has been edited for more space and clarity.
