Amazing Developments
Surprising Discoveries Come with Any Great Mystery
Every major historical investigation reaches a point where the evidence begins to challenge accepted assumptions. The 7 Bombshells feature brings together the most surprising discoveries that emerged during the writing of Rescuing Nicholas: The Secret Mission to Save the Tsar and the continuing research behind our documentary project, The Hutson Project. These are not presented as sensational headlines, but as the questions, documents, eyewitness accounts, and archival discoveries that convinced us this story deserved far deeper examination than it has received for more than a century.
Many of these discoveries did not appear all at once. They emerged over years of research through military records, diplomatic correspondence, intelligence reports, family papers, forensic debates, and eyewitness testimony. What began as one family's remarkable story gradually revealed connections reaching from Washington and London to Siberia, Harbin, Vatican diplomacy, and the Russian Imperial Court. As each new piece of evidence surfaced, the scope of the investigation expanded well beyond what we originally imagined.
The 7 Bombshells section serves as a guide to those pivotal moments of discovery. Each represents a major development in our investigation - findings that challenged our own assumptions and shaped both the book and the documentary now in development. Together they explain why we believe the Romanov mystery remains one of the most significant unresolved historical investigations of the twentieth century.
Rather than asking you to accept our conclusions, we invite you to examine the evidence for yourself. Read the documents. Consider the competing interpretations. Follow the research as it continues to evolve. History advances when difficult questions are asked honestly and evidence is examined carefully.
“Seven discoveries. One extraordinary investigation. The evidence behind the book, the documentary, and the continuing search for the truth.”
The Seven Bombshells … And Growing
More than a century after the fall of Imperial Russia, questions remain that refuse to disappear.
During the research for Rescuing Nicholas: The Secret Mission to Save the Tsar, author Ben Everidge examined hundreds of historical sources, including government records, military documents, diplomatic correspondence, and the recorded recollections of eyewitness Martin Van Buren Hutson. Together, they form the basis for a growing series of discoveries explored throughout History Had Eyes and the forthcoming documentary, The Hutson Project.
These are only the first seven.
Bombshell #1 | A Secret Allied Rescue?
The investigation argues that Tsar Nicholas II and members of his family did not perish in Yekaterinburg in July 1918. Instead, it presents the case that an Allied operation - supported by American and British personnel - removed the former Tsar from Siberia aboard Special Train #28 disguised as an American Red Cross hospital train before transferring him through Harbin and eventually across the Pacific. The operation is presented as involving senior political, military, and intelligence figures from several Allied nations.
Bombshell #2 | Roosevelt's Forgotten Mystery
Years before becoming America's wartime president, Franklin D. Roosevelt published The President's Mystery Story, a fictional tale about an aristocrat who stages his own death and disappears into anonymity. The investigation explores whether this little-known story reflects more than literary imagination and whether it bears unexpected similarities to the Romanov mystery.
Bombshell #3 | The Wall Street Connection
The investigation proposes that Nicholas II may have been living quietly in New York following his reported rescue and that the 1920 Wall Street bombing occurred during a pivotal moment in that story. It examines whether the bombing and Nicholas's subsequent disappearance were connected, raising new questions about one of America's earliest major acts of terrorism.
Bombshell #4 | Lenin's Hidden Role
The investigation explores claims that Vladimir Lenin may have known about, and cooperated with, elements of the Romanov rescue. It examines historical research suggesting political and financial considerations that may have influenced events behind the scenes during the Russian Civil War.
Bombshell #5 | The King Who May Have Acted in Secret
History remembers King George V as refusing asylum to his cousin, Nicholas II. This investigation asks a different question: what if the public story concealed a private effort? Drawing upon diplomatic relationships and wartime cooperation between Britain and the United States, it examines whether the King may have quietly supported a rescue that could never be acknowledged publicly.
Bombshell #6 | The Kaiser's Bargain
The investigation also explores the possibility that Kaiser Wilhelm II's unexpected exile after World War I was connected to broader diplomatic understandings among Allied leaders. It examines whether the fate of Europe's royal families became intertwined during the closing months of the Great War.
Bombshell #7 | The DNA Debate Isn't Over
For many, the discovery of the Romanovs’ reported remains has settled the mystery. Yet questions surrounding the identification process have continued for decades, including reservations expressed by the Russian Orthodox Church. This investigation revisits those questions and asks whether the scientific and historical evidence deserves another careful examination.
More to Come...
These are only the first seven discoveries from an investigation that continues to evolve. Additional bombshells will be revealed through History Had Eyes, The Hutson Project, and future publications as new documents, historical analysis, and archival research are presented.
One mystery. Seven discoveries thus far. The investigation has only begun.