Plot Synopsis

Hosted by Theo E.J. Wilson and executive produced by George Stephanopoulos, I WAS THERE is a 12-part nonfiction series that offers an immersive trip back in time, placing Wilson at the center of some of history's biggest events, to deconstruct how they truly unfolded. It features surprising perspectives on how a map, a dance, and fateful timing were factors in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and how cost-cutting, weather, and a spark created one of history's worst aircraft catastrophes - the Hindenburg disaster. Each episode highlights a different moment in history. Inspired by his passion for history, Wilson is a fly on the wall as he breaks down the barrier between the audience and the action to revisit a series of critical historical events, disasters, triumphs and true stories to learn unexpected facts in an engaging, fast-moving, and often unpredictable way.

Through original archival material, expert testimony and dramatic re-creations using CGI technology to place Wilson in the scene, each episode challenges ideas of what really happened during some of the most pivotal moments in history. This season explores Abraham Lincoln's assassination; the Hindenburg disaster; the Salem witch trials; the death of Jesse James; the Oklahoma City bombing; the battle of Stalingrad; H.H. Holmes' murder spree during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair; the Chernobyl accident; the 1965 Bloody Sunday march from Selma to Montgomery; the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster; the 1889 catastrophic Johnstown flood in eastern Pennsylvania and the St. Valentine's Day massacre. Expert interviews include Emmy Award-winning journalist and NIGHTLINE co-anchor Byron Pitts, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" author Ron Hansen, the FBI's Chief Explosives Specialist Kirk Yeager, former NASA astronaut Winston Scott, Hood College's Director of African American Studies and Associate Professor of American History Dr. Terry Anne Scott, founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative and Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History at the University of St. Thomas Dr. Yohuru Williams and more.

History Channel premiered a different sneak-peek episode of I WAS THERE at 10:30pm ET/PT on consecutive nights -- Sunday, February 20, 2022 ("Hindenburg Disaster") and Monday, February 21, 2022 ("Johnstown: America's Deadliest Flood") -- immediately following new installments of ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

I WAS THERE made its official series debut one week later on Monday, February 28, 2022 at 10pm on History Channel.
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On Monday, May 9, 2022 at 10pm ET/PT, History Channel premiered "Battle of Stalingad," the season finale of I WAS THERE. Theo Wilson time-travels to the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 where the underdog Russian Army is about to pull off a victory that will turn the tide of the war in favor of Allied forces. Bombs explode, concrete rains down and soldiers' limbs freeze in subzero temperatures as the bloodiest battle in history wages on -- and Wilson wants to know, how did the rag tag Russians emerge with a decisive win?