With an avid thirst for adventure and innate curiosity, wildlife biologist and explorer Pat Spain is leaving his lab to uncover answers to fascinating unsolved riddles, historic conundrums and mythic events in the new Travel Channel series “Legend Hunter.” Premiering Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, the seven-episode series showcases Spain as he uses his scientific expertise and state-of-the-art technology to investigate infamous tales of murder, theft and unexplained events. He embarks on a hunt to recover a $20 million stolen Irish fortune, finds new evidence that could reveal the identity of Jack the Ripper and goes on a quest for a werewolf-like creature rumored to haunt the residents of Elkhorn, Wisconsin.
As the great nephew of Charles Fort – the “Prophet of the Unexplained” – Spain carries on the family legacy by questioning mainstream science and investigating things that science often writes off as impossible. Now, with “Legend Hunter,” he will consider unusual explanations of bizarre phenomena to crack open some of history’s most mind-boggling mysteries and crimes.
“As a scientist, I’ve spent my life investigating some of mankind’s greatest oddities, bizarre creatures and mythical beasts, tribal rituals and far flung places,” said Spain. “Now I get the chance to take on some of the world’s iconic mysteries. Who was Jack the Ripper? Who really killed Lizzie Borden’s parents? These are questions that have been burning in my mind since I was a child, and I’m going right to the source to try and find answers – with exclusive access to people, archives and crimes scenes. And we have some extraordinary results that I can’t wait to share with the world!”
In the series premiere, Spain reopens the infamous Lizzie Borden murder case to find out who really took an ax to her father and stepmother. He gains exclusive access to Lizzie’s home, belongings and previously sealed family documents. Spain starts his investigation from scratch, as though the crime happened yesterday. Then, using psychographic profiling and statistical theory, among other tools, he re-examines the original suspects. Spain reenacts what they supposedly were doing at the time of the murders, their ‘alibis’ and whether these accounts are actually plausible. Through his relentless digging, Spain unearths a surprising new suspect never before connected to the case!
