History Channel has built a fascinating lineup around investigating mysteries from our past. For the network’s newest docuseries, History’s Mystery Files, it’s tapped the talents of Lost fan favorite Jorge Garcia, who spent six seasons playing Hurley and seven seasons playing Jerry Ortega on Hawaii Five-0, as host.
Here, Garcia shares with us some of the more mind-blowing “files” he’s encountered.
What surprised you most when you started reading these scripts on “real” mysteries?
Jorge Garcia: To me, it was really funny reading about so many massive underground structures that people just discovered by accident. Like a plane crashes into the mountain and reveals a hidden military base. Or someone doing renovations uncovers a tunnel, which leads to a massive underground city capable of housing thousands — including livestock! There’s a great one where they renovated Ben Franklin’s home and found a ton of old-timey bones in the basement.
The series looks into unforgettable cases including sacred discoveries, unsolved disappearances, and “high strangeness.” Do tell us more on this “high strangeness” area.
That’s really hard to say. I love all of this stuff. Especially cryptids, UFOs and hauntings … I can’t get enough. It was fun sometimes when a story would come up and I’d be like “Wait, I know this one!” Like the island with all the dolls hanging everywhere. One of the stories that I still think about sometimes is about a kid who looks out a window and sees a horrific scene from the past. She witnesses a tractor accident as if it was happening in front of her. She freaks out, runs outside, and is immediately transported back to present day, no sign of the tractor or the driver. Weird.
Mario Perez / © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection
It’s been 16 years since the conclusion of Lost. What do you miss most about your character Hurley? What don’t you miss? Do you have any mementos from the show you cherish?
Man. I miss Hawaii. And just seeing everybody in the cast regularly. It was a great job. It’s the job all other jobs get held up to. I don’t miss mosquitoes, but that might be because we have them here too. Also, of all the jobs I’ve had, Lost was the sweatiest. I’d start the day and they’d spray fake sweat on me, but by the end of the day, I was making my own. Halloween of last year Michael Giacchino [who composed the score for Lost] gifted me the giant Mr. Cluck’s chicken head that sat atop the delivery van in one of my episodes. I’m not sure where he got his hands on it, but it seems he felt that it should be with me. Now it lives in my guest room looming over whoever sleeps in that bed.
History’s Mystery Files, Tuesdays, History