Was Ben Franklin's Kite a Hoax?

Historian Tom Tucker first became suspicious after building an exact replica of Ben Franklin's kite — the one the early American statesman and inventor supposedly sent aloft during a raging thunderstorm to collect static electricity — and the damned thing wouldn't fly. Re-examining Franklin's papers, Tucker found precious little evidence to support historical claims that the famed experiment actually took place. In his soon-to-be-released book, 'Bolt of Fate,' Tucker argues that Benjamin Franklin was a great inventor in more ways than one.