In Search of … was a TV documentary series that was broadcast weekly from 1976 to 1982. It was created after two successful hour long TV documentaries, In Search of Ancient Astronauts in 1973 (based on the book Chariots of the Gods), and In Search of Ancient Mysteries in 1975 both with narration by Rod Serling. After the untimely death of Serling, Leonard Nimoy was chosen to be the host of the spin-off series.

The series conducted “investigations” into the pseudoscientific and paranormal (e.g.,UFOs, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster). Additionally, it featured episodes about mysterious historical events and personalities such asAnna Anderson/Grand Duchess Anastasia, the Lincoln Assassination, the Jack the Ripper murders, infamous cults (e.g. Jim Jones), and missing persons, cities, and ships (e.g.,Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Hoffa, D.B. Cooper, the Mary Celest, theTitanic, the lost Roanoke Colony). Because the show often presented offbeat subjects and controversial theories, each episode’s opening credits include a verbal disclaimer about the potentially conjecturable nature of the evidence and theories to be presented:

“This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. The producer’s purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.”

Nimoy’s popularity among science fiction fans (due to his role in the Star Trek television series) won the show a following in fandom circles. Nimoy wrote a particularly fascinating episode of the show dealing with the turbulent life of artist Vincent van Gogh. Nimoy had played van Gogh’s brother in a one-man show and set out to find out the truth about the life of the great artist. Many have said that van Gogh was insane, but Nimoy discovered evidence that he actually suffered from epilepsy. He delivered a very touching monologue at the end of the show about Theo van Gogh’s final moments with his brother Vincent.

The show also spawned at least six spin-off books: In Search of Lost Civilizations, In Search of Extraterrestrials, In Search of Magic and Witchcraft, In Search of Strange Phenomena, In Search of Missing Persons, and In Search of Myths and Monsters with an additional book that collected the best segments from these existing tomes.

The In Search Of series aired during the early 1990s on the A&E Network, which edited out all of Leonard Nimoy’s on-camera appearances. In the latter 1990s, the show aired on another of the A&E Television Networks’ properties, The History Channel, which included Leonard Nimoy’s on-camera appearances. The licensing agreement expired in the early 2000s, ending the show’s run.

A short-lived revival of the show, featuring Mitch  Pileggi, aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002.

Leonard Nimoy: In Search of…Ghosts in Photography

deletereply wickedlyinnocent wrote on Jan 27, ’08 I think I saw several episodes, thanks Laurita, this is fascinating, mainly the ghost photos, which btw I believe to be frauds, there are no ghosts and certainly no ghosts on pictures.But I still love ghost stories and watch every tv series thart deals with hauntings.

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Jan 27, ’08, edited on Jan 27, ’08 My point of posting this is to show an attempt to solve a mystery in art, in this instance, it is photography being solved by Leonard Nimoy-ironically, my subject for today, LOL!!! Thanks for commenting, Lina.

deletereply sanssouciblogs wrote on Jan 27, ’08 Whatever; it’s still fun and interesting.

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Jan 29, ’08 This fits perfectly into this week’s theme of “Mystery Week”, LOL!!!

deletereply instrumentalpavilion wrote on Apr 3, ’08 I met Leonard Nimoy back in 1976 at A & S when they had a store on Hempstead Turnpike. Lawn Guyland was so different back then. Classy guy, but even then you could tell the whole Spock fervor was wearing him down.