Greatest Mysteries: Smithsonian

Host Don Wildman explores the largest museum and research complex in the world, The Smithsonian Institution.

Episode: Greatest Mysteries: Smithsonian

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Photo By: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Photo By: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg News

Don Wildman films outside the National Museum of Natural History -- a Smithsonian Institution dedicated to understanding nature and man’s place within it. Here, archeological treasures like fossilized dinosaur skeletons and remnants of a 3.2 million year old early human allow visitors a glimpse into the fascinating realm of ancient times.

A crystal skull sits on display at the National Museum of Natural History. Despite the findings of modern scientists, many believe that the skull was given to the ancient Mayans by extraterrestrial beings.

Housed in the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, is the National Postal Museum. Here, true treasures of the American mail system are meticulously preserved -- from mail that travelled on the Hindenburg, to letters carried by Amelia Earhart.

Now on display at the National Postal Museum is a taxidermied dog who became famous for traveling the country on US mail trains.

Some 30 miles west of DC, in Chantilly, VA, sits the companion facility of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum: The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

On display at the Udvar Hazy Center is a jet pack straight out of science fiction that inspired an astonishing tale of greed, violence and irrevocable consequences for 2 inventors who aimed for fame and fortune.

Back within the soaring halls of the National Museum of American History, relics like Abraham Lincoln’s hat and Dorothy’s Ruby Red slippers tell the story of our collective culture.

Reserved deep in cold storage of the National Museum of American History is a seemingly harmless bikini, a now commonplace style that was once considered so scandalous that few women dared to wear it.

Also on display at the American History Museum is this exceptional suit that serves as a heartwarming reminder of its unexpected user -- known as Bubble Boy -- and the chance it promised him of exploring new and unseen territories.

This notorious camera took a shocking and infamous photo. A photographer snuck it in to the death chamber, and successfully documented an execution by electric chair.

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Greatest Mysteries: Smithsonian

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