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The Best Episodes of How It Really Happened

Every episode of How It Really Happened ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of How It Really Happened!

The Best Episodes of How It Really Happened

Jesse L. Martin takes an in-depth look at some of the most notorious crimes, mysteries, trials and celebrity tragedies of our time.

Seasons9

  1. Background image for Gardner Art Heist: Stealing Beauty
    8.4/10(7 votes)

    #1 - Gardner Art Heist: Stealing Beauty

    S8:E5

    Saint Patrick's Day 1990, robbers stormed Boston's Gardner Museum, making off with 13 priceless artworks, never to be recovered. Valued at half a billion dollars, the whereabouts of the missing pieces remain a mystery.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for Jodi Arias Part 1: Sex, Lies and Photographs
    8.2/10(12 votes)

    #2 - Jodi Arias Part 1: Sex, Lies and Photographs

    S3:E5

    Jodi Arias is a small town waitress and aspiring photographer. Travis Alexander is a handsome, devout Mormon and successful businessman. Almost two years after their romance began, Travis was found brutally murdered in his shower at home.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Finding Susan Powell: What the Children Saw (Part 2)
    8.2/10(15 votes)

    #3 - Finding Susan Powell: What the Children Saw (Part 2)

    S6:E2

    Authorities search for missing mother of two, Susan Powell, in every nook and cranny of the desert in Western Utah while her friends and family wait for a break in the case. Her husband Josh is named a person of interest as suspicion about his involvement in her disappearance grows. He and his father wage a counter-attack and a war between Susan and Josh's families erupts in the glare of the public spotlight. Shocking revelations about Josh and his family come to light--evidence of violence, obsession and sexual perversion. The family drama leads up to a shocking and unimaginable conclusion.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Titanic (2): The Last Moments
    8.2/10(9 votes)

    #4 - Titanic (2): The Last Moments

    S8:E2

    Recent scientific advances have uncovered new secrets around the Titanic sinking, challenging previous notions about the ship's fate. This chapter continues to analyze the wreck and a recent underwater expedition that claimed more lives.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Ted Bundy Part 3: The Murder Trials
    8.1/10(13 votes)

    #5 - Ted Bundy Part 3: The Murder Trials

    S3:E3

    The murder trials and appeals. Ted Bundy helped prepare his own defense, but would his amateur lawyering help him beat the rap or send him to the electric chair?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Ted Bundy Part 4: The Death Row Confessions
    8.1/10(13 votes)

    #6 - Ted Bundy Part 4: The Death Row Confessions

    S3:E4

    Ted Bundy maintains his innocence. As the clock wound down on his final death warrant, Ted Bundy made a last attempt to save his life. He began to talk. Were his confessions too late or a could this save him from the electric chair?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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    The 20 WORST Episodes of How It Really Happened

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  8. Background image for Titanic (1): A Clear and Starry Night
    8.1/10(11 votes)

    #7 - Titanic (1): A Clear and Starry Night

    S8:E1

    The fateful Titanic shipwreck of 1912 intertwines with a recent underwater OceanGate voyage that cost more human lives. Interviews with historians, wreck analysts, and descendants of Titanic passengers shed light on both tragedies.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Jodi Arias Part 2: Dirty Little Secret
    8.0/10(8 votes)

    #8 - Jodi Arias Part 2: Dirty Little Secret

    S3:E6

    Four years after the vicious killing of Travis Alexander, his ex-girlfriend Jodi Arias stands trial for his murder. Millions of people are captivated by the lurid details of Jodi and Travis' erotic relationship told through photographs, recordings of their phone sex, and by Jodi from the witness stand.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Oscar Pistorius: The Bladerunner
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #9 - Oscar Pistorius: The Bladerunner

    S8:E4

    The shocking killing of Reeva Steenkamp by Olympic superstar Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day 2013 shattered the illusion of a storybook romance between a celebrated Hollywood couple. Was it a terrible accident or a callous murder?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Ted Bundy Part 1: The Girls Are Missing
    7.9/10(16 votes)

    #10 - Ted Bundy Part 1: The Girls Are Missing

    S3:E1

    In the winter of 1974, college-age women from the Pacific Northwest began to disappear seemingly without a trace.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Ted Bundy Part 2: Ted Escapes
    7.9/10(14 votes)

    #11 - Ted Bundy Part 2: Ted Escapes

    S3:E2

    While serving time for aggravated kidnapping in Utah and facing first degree murder charges in Colorado, Ted Bundy escaped not once but twice from authorities.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Selena: Fatal Encounter
    7.9/10(14 votes)

    #12 - Selena: Fatal Encounter

    S3:E8

    Behind the scenes of Selena's red hot career, ambitions, and tragic demise. Rare interviews include her close friend and co-fashion designer, the back-up singer in her band, and for the first time ever, a nurse who spoke to Selena and her killer just before she died.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Finding Susan Powell: The Secret They Couldn't Talk About (Part 1)
    7.9/10(15 votes)

    #13 - Finding Susan Powell: The Secret They Couldn't Talk About (Part 1)

    S6:E1

    Susan Powell, a 28-year-old mother of two, goes missing in December of 2009. Her husband Josh claims to have taken their two young sons winter camping in the Utah desert and says he returned the next day to find her gone. Questioned by detectives, he doesn't behave like a concerned husband and his version of events doesn't match his son's. The mystery about where Susan's is deepens as more details about her marriage to Josh and their life behind closed doors emerge. Susan's family and friends do everything they can to find her while Josh insists that she ran out on him and their two little boys. The search for Susan Powell plays out on a national stage with everyone wondering: did she run off? Was she taken? Is Susan Powell dead or alive?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for The Dartmouth Murders: Evil in a Small Town
    7.7/10(16 votes)

    #14 - The Dartmouth Murders: Evil in a Small Town

    S6:E8

    They were well-known and well-liked Dartmouth College professors. But on January 27th 2001, Half and Suzanne Zantop's incredible lives came to a shocking and unforeseeable end: found brutally murdered in their remote Hanover, New Hampshire home. The double killing quickly became national news. Who would commit such a heinous act, and more importantly, why? With few leads and few clues at the get-go, investigators were stumped. But some good old fashioned police work would lead detectives to a small town just across the border in Vermont--where they found an incredibly unexpected twist to this 'whodunit' mystery.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Aaron Hernandez: Secrets and Lies
    7.6/10(13 votes)

    #15 - Aaron Hernandez: Secrets and Lies

    S3:E7

    Aaron Hernandez is a star player for the New England Patriots, and at the young age of 23, is set up for greatness. But less than a year later, a body is found riddled with bullets, only a short distance from Hernandez's home. Forensic evidence and surveillance footage from the night of the murder, examined in detail in this program, soon tie Hernandez to the crime scene.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Bernie Madoff: Who Else Knew? (Part 2)
    7.6/10(13 votes)

    #16 - Bernie Madoff: Who Else Knew? (Part 2)

    S6:E6

    The news of Bernie Madoff's arrest sent shockwaves around the world. His staggering crime affected thousands of victims, including charities, universities, celebrities and even Madoff's own family and friends. How did he do it? Why did he do it? Did he have any help? Investigators were about to unravel a scheme that went back decades and involved several loyal employees.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Bernie Madoff:The Most Hated Man in America (Part 1)
    7.5/10(15 votes)

    #17 - Bernie Madoff:The Most Hated Man in America (Part 1)

    S6:E5

    Bernie Madoff was a legend on Wall Street. He helped create Nasdaq, served as its chairman, and operated a highly successful brokerage firm. But at the same time, Bernie Madoff was also running a secret hedge fund, a fund known only by word of mouth. As news spread about Madoff's steady returns, some of the wealthiest people were begging Bernie Madoff to invest their money. Billions of dollars were pouring in from around the world. But in 2008, when the financial crisis hit and Madoff's investors began demanding their money back, Madoff knew he wouldn't have enough to pay them. He finally confessed to his sons that he had been living a lie--that his investment business was nothing more than a multi-billion-dollar fraud - the largest Ponzi scheme ever.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Waco Part 2: End of Days
    7.4/10(9 votes)

    #18 - Waco Part 2: End of Days

    S3:E10

    The siege at Waco ended in a fiery hell that killed David Koresh, his followers, his wives and children. TV news crews and demonstrators watched in horror as the ranch went up in flames.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Anthrax: Terror by Mail
    7.4/10(7 votes)

    #19 - Anthrax: Terror by Mail

    S8:E3

    After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the nation faced a new threat: anthrax, dubbed "the poor man's nuclear bomb." This easily weaponized bacteria sparked widespread fear, leading to one of the FBI's largest investigations.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Escape from Dannemora: Killers on the Loose (Part 1)
    7.3/10(15 votes)

    #20 - Escape from Dannemora: Killers on the Loose (Part 1)

    S6:E3

    Two dangerous killers break out of one of New York State's toughest prisons. Convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat cut through steel walls, crawl through steampipes, and snake their way through a maze of tunnels on their way to freedom. When authorities discover the details of their elaborate escape - there are more questions than answers. Who are these men? How did they mastermind their plan? And can they capture them before they kill again?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for Waco Part 1: God, Guns and the Government
    7.1/10(11 votes)

    #21 - Waco Part 1: God, Guns and the Government

    S3:E9

    What were the real reasons for the government raid of a religious compound in Waco Texas in 1993? What was happening inside the Branch Davidian compound?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Escape from Dannemora: Where's the Getaway Car? (Part 2)
    6.9/10(14 votes)

    #22 - Escape from Dannemora: Where's the Getaway Car? (Part 2)

    S6:E4

    The manhunt for escaped prisoners--Richard Matt and David Sweat was growing, expanding from the Northeast United States to Canada and Mexico. Thousands of leads were being followed, but weeks into the search, there was still no sign of the missing men. Where are they? How much help did they have? And--would they ever be captured?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for The Last Days of Glenn Frey: Heartache Tonight
    6.9/10(15 votes)

    #23 - The Last Days of Glenn Frey: Heartache Tonight

    S6:E7

    Glenn Frey was a multi-talented musician and along with Don Henley co-founded the legendary band, the Eagles. During the 1970's the Eagles released a series of hit songs--from Peaceful Easy Feeling, to Already Gone, to the classic hit Hotel California. Glenn Frey played piano, guitar, sang and wrote songs that stood the test of time. On stage fans always saw a fun-loving Glenn Frey but behind the scenes he had been dealing with a number of health issues. And ultimately when he died in 2016 his fans were shocked because he was still playing the music they loved.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for The Jenny Jones Show: Fatal Attraction
    6.7/10(12 votes)

    #24 - The Jenny Jones Show: Fatal Attraction

    S6:E9

    In the early 1990's daytime talk television was on the rise. In an effort to capture high ratings shows began to push the envelope with outrageous stunts and controversial guests. Viewers liked watching the dramatic scenes play out, but critics called it trash TV. Then in March of 1995, after three friends went on The Jenny Jones Show to reveal a secret crush, one of them ended up dead and another was charged with murder. What lead to the killing and why did one of the friends feel the spotlight was too hot?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for The Menendez Brothers: Murder in Beverly Hills, Part 1
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #25 - The Menendez Brothers: Murder in Beverly Hills, Part 1

    S1:E1

    HLN highlights the shocking motive that turned these brothers into killers.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"Gardner Art Heist: Stealing Beauty" is the best rated episode of "How It Really Happened". It scored 8.4/10 based on 7 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 5/19/2024. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Jodi Arias Part 1: Sex, Lies and Photographs".