An exploration of the theory of David Keys that a "catastrophe" in the mid sixth century caused major changes in the world's weather for the next several years.
Could a violent volcanic eruption of Krakatoa be responsible for the climatic cataclysm that hit Earth in 535 A.D., causing two years of darkness, famine, drought and disease, and did this lead to emergence of new nations and religions?
This program trys to discover why a colony of Vikings, after nearly four hundred years of settlement, would disappear suddenly from the coast of Greenland.
An examination of what really caused the explosion of the Hindenburg zeppelin.
The Anasazi people of the American Southwest were once thought to be a model society, but now it seems they may have practiced ritual cannibalism. This program explores the evidence for how they lived and why they disappeared.
They suffered from delusions, hysteria, convulsions, and trances. Was an LSD-like organic fungus responsible?
Was Stonehenge an ancient observatory or a place of sacrifice?
British colonists expected to discover riches, but instead they found death by malnutrition, hostile natives, disease -- and arsenic?
Join an investigation of the loss of 1,300 British soldiers during an 1879 invasion of Zululand.
Explore what may be Christ's tomb using infra-red thermography and the scientific technique of photogrammetry.
Follow a team of international scientists who are using science to identify the origins of syphilis
Ancient hominid fossils ignite controversy over the origins of humankind.
Did a genetic mutation save an English village from the Great Plague -- and could it help save the world from the scourge of AIDS?
Almost a hundred years later, investigators are employing new DNA forensic techniques to name the unidentified victims of the Titanic disaster.
Experts explore ancient Rome's great fire and question who was responsible -- the emperor Nero or the Christians he blamed the disaster on.
In March 1912, on their return trip from the South Pole, Captain Robert F. Scott and his team froze to death in Antarctica just 11 miles from a depot of food and heating oil. Scott's fatal journey has become the stuff of legend, and some have labeled him an incompetent leader whose mistakes cost him and his team their lives. But are the criticisms fair, or has history judged him too harshly?
In 1943, a British aircraft designer developed a weapon that would allow the Allies to deliver a blow to the very heart of Nazi Germany.
In 1942, the Japanese army forced 200,000 Allied soldiers to build a railway in Burma; 21 months later a new weapon destroyed its tracks.
In 1918, a flu pandemic ripped through the global population with such speed and virulence that by the end of the following year an estimated 40 million people would be dead — four times the number of victims eventually claimed by the First World War.
Could the Shroud of Turin actually be stained with the blood of Jesus Christ? Experts debate the origin of a prized religious relic.
For two years they planned the now-famous amphibious operation. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy.
View the excavation of a warrior priestess grave and use forensic science to identify the modern descendants of these powerful women.
Days after D-Day, Allied forces joined together for a different kind of mission. Through rare footage, eyewitness testimonies, and real-life accounts, the story is told of the race to capture the German physicists and other scientists and any secrets they may hold of advanced 'vengeance' weapons. Finding the scientists could mean gaining significant advantage in the looming Cold War. Liev Schreiber narrates the story of the scientists' dramatic capture and the influences they have on wars today.
On October 6, 2004, FBI agents began digging up a Queens swamp in the hopes of finding the remains of the man who killed John Gotti's son. Instead, they unearthed a severed foot and other pieces of human skeleton, along with personal effects. Forensic tests tied the remains to Mob family captains who had been killed by mob boss Joseph "Big Joey" Massino. This program documents the search which opens a window into the grisly world of the mob.
In the spring of 1789, a ship left port in London bound for the Botany Bay penal colony in Australia. The ship carried precious cargo - women, sent to keep the desperate male colonists from engaging in what their governor called 'gross irregularities.' But these women were hardly quiet homemakers - they were a hardy raucous lot rounded up from London's notorious Newgate prison and other jails around the country, and they did not submit quietly to their forced voyage and the rough life they knew was ahead. Once aboard the Lady Juliana, these destitute convicts -- thieves, prostitutes and con artists -- turned their banishment into opportunity, setting up a business before they arrived in Botany Bay. See how they took control of the situation to create a better life for themselves and the future of Australia.
An examination of the evidence to find out just what really happened when this luxury cruise liner sank in 1956. Recounts the story of how the Andrea Doria, a 697-foot Italian luxury liner bound for New York City, was rammed broadside by another luxury liner, the Swedish-American Stockholm, just off Nantucket Island.
Investigate the deceptive world of espionage during the Cold War. The KGB used one of the most ingenious and unobtrusive weapons to murder an outspoken Bulgarian dissident. The Umbrella Assassin investigates the cloak and dagger world of Cold War espionage and political intrigue, and examines newly discovered evidence that may reveal just how the umbrella gun actually worked, and who pulled the trigger.
A pivotal moment in World War II, one of the most legendary and best documented dogfights in Air Force history is reconstructed.
The story behind the creation of the King James Bible from mysterious and inaccessible Latin texts to a book for the common english speaking people.
On August 24th, A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the city of Herculaneum. This program documents the archaeological re-discovery of that ancient, well preserved city on the Bay of Naples.
This documentary attempts to explain the mystery behind an unusual ancient burial site unearthed in England, and it's connection with a Roman Emperor.
Arrested in 1866, the Fremantle Six escape prison ten years later aboard a whaling ship the Catalpa.
A recent archaeological discovery of more than 550 bodies near Mexico City suggests that the Aztecs were much more resistant to the Spanish Conquistadors than previously thought.
The story of Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, two young Slovak Jews who escaped the Auschwitz death camp. They immediately wrote a detailed account of their experiences resulting in thousands of lives being saved.
In the 1970s, female East German athletes came from nowhere to dominate international sport. But behind their success lay a horrifying secret. Doping for Gold reveals the truth behind the biggest state-sponsored doping program the world has ever known, creating a timely perspective on today’s many sports drug scandals.
Five thousand years ago the Minoans, Europe’s first great civilization, flourished on the island of Crete. Yet in their heyday, they mysteriously disappeared. Sinking Atlantis digs deep into the Minoan soil and history, following archaeologists who are finding evidence of a massive tsunami that devastated the Minoans – and may have spawned the myth of Atlantis.
In 1910, an American doctor named Hawley Crippen was convicted in England of poisoning and dismembering his wife. The vicious murder—and execution that followed—made international headlines. It was a landmark case: The first trial by media, and the first to be dominated by forensic science. But did the prosecutors get it right? Almost one hundred years later, investigators have re-opened the files on a murder that became known as one of the crimes of the century.
Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard, was the most notorious pirate of his day. At the height of his rein, he commanded a fleet of four ships and a crew of 400 men. They were ruthless seafaring raiders who terrorizing vessels in American waters. In 1718, Blackbeard even blockaded the city of Charleston, crippling its economy. Eventually he was caught and beheaded by a posse from the Royal Navy. Now, 300 years later, a marine archaeology team believe they have found his sunken flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, off the North Carolina coast. The remains of the shipwreck are helping solve the most enduring mystery surrounding the infamous pirate captain – did he accidentally run his ship aground, or was it a deliberate plot to betray his crew and cheat them out of their share of the plunder?
More than five centuries ago, Michelangelo Buonarroti was the darling of the Catholic Church. The Papacy commissioned him to create many of its most important pieces, including the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. He spent his life glorifying the Church, etching Catholic ideals into masterpieces that defined religion for the masses. Yet when he died, his body was secretly shepherded off to Florence, and the Church was denied the opportunity to honor him with a grand funeral in Rome. Historians have long wondered about the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, but now, art historian Antonio Forcellino believes he has pieced together evidence of a deep rift between the Church and the esteemed artist. The cause: Michelangelo’s belief in Protestant ideals, and his involvement with a clandestine fellowship trying to put an end to the decadence and corruption of the Clergy and reform the Church from within.
A tribe in Borneo protects a shot-down U.S. bomber crew from Japanese occupiers during World War II. The local missionaries, who converted the tribe to Christianity, were executed by the Japanese invaders, who had forced out Dutch and British colonialists, while massacring Borneo natives. A surviving missionary from Indonesia, employed by the Japanese military as an area administrator, outwits Japanese forces by hiding the U.S. airmen deep in a jungle canyon. The local Dayak people risk their lives, and force the occupiers to abandon their hunt for the airmen, using blowpipes and machetes against the Japanese army search parties.
Accounts of the survivors of the indiscriminate terrorist massacres in Mumbai by Islamic Extremests in November 2008 and how the news media aided the terrorist by giving away the hiding places of the soon to be victims.
During World War 2, Japan developed a super-submarine capable of launching bomber aircraft as a strategic weapon to carry the conflict to the United States mainland. But in the rapidly changing Pacific Theater, one intended mission after another becomes obsolete before the submarines can be deployed
In the summer of 1940 Germany was poised to seize the French fleet and Hitler's threat to invade Britain could become a reality. Winston Churchill could, either trust the promises of the new French government never to hand over their ships to Hitler, or make sure the ships never joined the German navy by destroying them himself. Churchill's Deadliest Decision, reveals the darkest side of Britain's Finest Hour.
The Battle of Stalingrad, the deadliest single battle ever seen, has been lauded as a shining example of Stalin's military genius, and altered the course of World War II permanently. The battle established the Soviet Union as a superpower to be reckoned with in the long Cold War that lay ahead. More than a half-century later, with newly uncovered evidence the full impact of this horrific battle is revealed.
Tanis, Egypt, circa 1939. On the brink of World War II, an excavation team led by French archaeologist Pierre Montet unearthed an intact royal burial chamber containing treasures that rival the riches found in Tutankhamun’s tomb almost two decades before. But while the Tut discovery created an international sensation, the opening of the tomb in Tanis made barely a ripple in a world focused on impending war.
Three disparate Capetowners reveal a long-forgotten, dramatic slave ship revolt en route from Madagascar to South Africa. About half of Cape Town's population are descendants of White, Asian, and Black slaves captured by the Dutch East Indies Company from all around the Indian Ocean. After the captives force the surviving crew below deck, a brave Malagasy warrior and a devious Dutch company agent fight a battle of wits with many surprising turns. For some aboard, the journey ends on infamous Robben Island, where Tokyo Sexwale and Nelson Mandela were later imprisoned.
In 2009 a team of marine archeologists carrying out a sonar survey of the seabed around the remote Italian island of Ventotene made an astonishing discovery. The wrecks of five ancient Roman ships were found in pristine condition, each one fully laden with exotic goods. Remarkably, much of the cargo remained exactly as the ancient Roman crews had loaded it.
On April 20, 1925, Colonel Percy Fawcett, his elder son Jack Fawcett and Jack’s lifelong friend, Raleigh Rimmell, departed from Cuiabá, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, to find “Z” — Col. Fawcett’s name for what he believed to be an ancient city lost in the uncharted jungles of Brazil. The search for the mysterious Lost City of Z would be the great explorer’s last expedition. All three men would vanish without a trace. Eighty-six years later, Secrets of the Dead has mounted a modern day quest with explorer Niall McCann to find the truth behind the disappearance of famed adventurer Col. Percy Fawcett and his party in Lost in the Amazon
The life-sized terracotta warriors of China are known throughout the world. This clay army of 8,000 including infantry, archers, generals and cavalry was discovered by archaeologists in 1974 after farmers digging a well near the Chinese city of Xian unearthed pieces of clay sculpted in human form. An amazing archaeological find, the terracotta warriors date back more than two thousand years. But what was the purpose of this army of clay soldiers? Who ordered its construction? How were they created? Secrets of the Dead investigates the story behind China’s Terracotta Warriors and documents their return to former glory for the first time.
Beginning in the 1950s, American and Soviet scientists embarked on a perilous race to see who could build and detonate the world’s largest bomb. The results exceeded all expectations about how big a bomb could be built. Initially, the Americans led the way, but then left the field clear for the Soviet Union to break all records. Secrets of the Dead chronicles how the bomb-makers on both sides were working blind as they pushed science into unknown territory to build The World’s Biggest Bomb. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the detonation of the most powerful bomb ever constructed.
In October 1962, the world held its breath. On the edge of the Caribbean Sea, just a few miles from the Florida coast, the two great superpowers were at a stand-off. Surrounded by twelve US destroyers, which were depth-charging his submarine to drive it to the surface, Captain Vitali Grigorievitch Savitsky panicked. Unable to contact Moscow and fearing war had begun, he ordered the launch of his submarine’s nuclear torpedoes. As the two sides inched perilously close to nuclear war—far closer than we ever knew before–just one man stood between Captain Savitsky’s order and mutually assured destruction. Set over four hours on October 27, 1962, the tensest moments of the Cuban Missile Crisis, this program tells the powerful but forgotten story of Vasili Arkhipov and Soviet submarine B-59. With most of the action set in a claustrophobic submarine running out of air, “The Man Who Saved the World” combines tense drama with eyewitness accounts and expert testimony about some of the most critical events in the Cold War.
In the aftermath of World War II, ordinary German soldiers claimed they knew nothing about the Holocaust. They blamed all its atrocities on the SS. However, recently uncovered transcripts of a massive bugging operation by MI19, an intelligence division of the British War office, tell a very different story. Over the course of the operation, MI19 spied on 4,000 German POW's, listening in as the men revealed their inner thoughts about the Third Reich and let slip military secrets that helped the Allies win World War II. Some of these POW's were high-ranking German officers who were lulled into a false sense of security by the special treatment they received while held in stately British country homes that were bugged with state-of-the-art equipment. They spoke freely, sharing their--at times conflicting--opinions of Hitler, the Third Reich, and the fate of Germany. Over 100,000 hours of conversations by German POW's were secretly recorded, and the most dramatic and revealing of these unguarded conversations are recreated, offering new insight into what German soldiers really thought about Hitler's regime. Based on groundbreaking research conducted by a team of leading German historians and scientists, BUGGING HITLER'S SOLDIERS tells the story of how those confessions were stolen, how they changed the outcome of the war and how they can now reveal, in more shocking detail than ever before, the hearts and minds of the German fighter.
Forensic and scientific analysis help determine how 57 Irish immigrants died less than two months after arriving in Pennsylvania to work on the railroad.
A tomb of 49,000 year-old Neanderthal bones discovered in El Sidron, a remote, mountainous region of Northern Spain, leads to a compelling investigation to solve a double mystery: How did this group of Neanderthals die? And, could the fate of this group help explain Neanderthal extinction? Scientists examine the bones—buried over 65 feet below ground—and discover signs that tell a shocking story of how this group of six adults, three teenagers, two children and a baby may have met their death. Some bones have deep cuts, long bones are cracked and skulls crushed—distinct signs of cannibalism. Was it a result of ritual or hunger? Neanderthal experts are adamant that they were not bloodthirsty brutes. Will this investigation challenge their views? What happened here 49000 years ago will take us on a much bigger journey—from El Sidron to the other end of the Iberian Peninsula where scientists are excavating beneath the seas off Gibraltar in search of Neanderthal sites. Scientists working here had theories—but no proof—for why Neanderthals went extinct. El Sidron may change this.
Secrets of the Dead is part detective story, part true-life drama that unearths evidence from around the world, challenging prevailing ideas and throwing fresh light on unexplained events.
Historian Charles Allen investigates whether ash and bone discovered in Northern India in 1898 are remains of the Buddha.
Fifty years after the tragic shooting of President John F. Kennedy, Secrets of the Dead chronicles minute-by-minute the assassination as it was revealed in the CBS newsroom from the moment the President was shot until Walter Cronkite's emotional pronouncement of his death, one hour and eight minutes later.
New forensic technology helps researchers study Dr. David Livingstone's lost diary, which reveals he witnessed the massacre of slaves by their traders.
146 B.C.: Carthage, the proud capital of the vast Carthaginian Empire, is ablaze. Marauding Romans are mercilessly slaughtering and pillaging. Any survivors face a terrifying fate as slaves on Roman galleys or in their quarries. Escaping the bloody carnage is impossible...or is it? Could some of the once-mighty Carthaginians have got away? And even more incredibly – could they have turned west on an epic journey across the vast Atlantic Ocean to new shores? Did they set foot in South America, long before Columbus ever walked the face of the Earth? Ancient documents suggest there was a Carthaginian getaway, and modern science has found evidence to support these extraordinary claims.
Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Garden of Babylon is the most elusive of these constructions of classical antiquity. While traces have been found of the Great Pyramid of Gaza, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria, centuries of digging have turned up nothing about the lost gardens of Babylon – until now. Why, in the nearly 3,000 years since the gardens were presumably built, has no archeological evidence ever been found to support their existence? Is the Hanging Garden of Babylon a myth or a mystery to be solved? Oxford academic Stephanie Dalley has decoded an ancient, long-overlooked text in the British Museum and now believes that the gardens were built by another man, in another time, in another location. She travels to war-torn northern Iraq to gather evidence to support her controversial new theory and try to solve this ancient mystery.
Discover a portrait of a younger and more beautiful Mona Lisa that predated the famous Louvre masterpiece. In September 2012, headline news shook the art world. A secret da Vinci had been uncovered, a portrait of a younger and more beautiful Mona Lisa that predated the famous Louvre masterpiece. Now an elite group of art historians, research physicists, restoration experts and forensic imaging specialists have gained exclusive access to analyze the painting first hand. Applying high-precision, scientific techniques they will aim to verify the painting’s date, decipher hidden mathematical codes within it, and unravel the clues that point to da Vinci’s genuine hand.
Scientists test the bones of England's fierce King Richard III.
In November 1997, when the skeletal remains of at least 28 bodies were unearthed in the basement of an elegant townhouse, police feared it was the work of a serial killer. But when research indicated the bones actually dated to the mid-1700s, the implications became even more dramatic. This was no ordinary house: 36 Craven Street was the former residence of one of the most important men in American history, Benjamin Franklin. Could the unthinkable be possible? Could one of America’s most iconic figures have been responsible in some way for the bones in the basement?
For many, President Lyndon B. Johnson is chiefly remembered for escalating the United States military involvement in Vietnam. But his legacy is much more than his role in the Vietnam War. In fact, Johnson engineered the passing of two of the most important laws Congress ever approved: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Johnson’s signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness airing nationally, Tuesday, August 4, 2015 from 9-10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), examines how Johnson meticulously worked behind the scenes to outwit the Southern segregationists who were determined to maintain the racial divide. He cajoled, flattered, wheeled and dealed, using all the tricks he had learned as a long-serving Senator, to ultimately transform America. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, JFK & LBJ is from the team that produced JFK: OnePM Central Standard Time which aired on PBS in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. The dramatic events are told through rare archival footage and reenactments with actor Mark Murphey as Johnson and Dené Hill as Geraldine Whittington, who Johnson hired, the first African American secretary to the President.
The Trojan Horse… It was the ultimate sneak attack, bringing a city that would withstood nine years of battle to its knees. But was it simply a work of fiction? Or did the Greeks really trick the Trojans into defeat with a giant wooden horse that concealed enough soldiers to reduce the powerful city to rubble?
The story of the Jamestown settlement, the first permanent English colony in the Americas, is seen through the prism of a 14-year-old English girl whose skull and severed leg were discovered during the excavation of the trash layer of a cellar. The study of her remains reveals evidence that one or more of the settlers, who endured a 1609-10 winter that's often called the "Starving Time," resorted to the unthinkable—cannibalism—to feed themselves.
Bram Stoker penned his gothic horror “Dracula” in 1887 and popularized the modern vampire myth – but evidence now points to those myths originating in England, not Eastern Europe as many believe. Unexplained burials, identified as ‘deviant’ and ‘cursed’ by their contemporaries, were detailed in Stoker’s original research notes and drafts, discovered by his great-grandson in the family archive. Oxford professor John Blair follows clues in medieval burials in England that may offer insight into physiological reasons for the formation of the myths. The cases hint at a deeply-held belief that the dead could rise and bring fear to the living… a belief that predates the Eastern European legend and is forcing a reexamination of the modern vampire legend.
On June 11, 1962, bank robbers Frank Morris and Clarence & John Anglin launched a patchwork, raincoat raft into the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay surrounding Alcatraz Prison. The men disappeared, leaving behind a cold case that has mystified law enforcement for over half-a-century. Now, three Dutch scientists have used 3D modeling technology to show that it may have been possible for the men to have survived. Putting their theory to the test, the Dutchmen are recreating the daring escape as closely to the original as possible, right down to launching their own raincoat raft into the bay. Will they make it through the treacherous waters to safety or be swept out to sea? And can they prove once and for all what happened to the escapees?
Dr. Kathleen Martinez searches for Cleopatra's lost tomb in a 35-meter deep underground shaft.
Scientists explore royal tombs beneath an ancient Mexican city, which may reveal clues about the Teotihuacán culture and its people.
Sixty-five million years ago, a giant meteor hit the earth causing a global catastrophe that destroyed an estimated three quarters of the plants and animal species on the planet, including the mighty dinosaurs. Little was known about the survivors who lived in this post-apocalyptic world until a mining operation in Cerrejon, Northern Colombia — excavating coal cut from deep within the earth’s crust — exposed an important layer in the earth’s geological history laid down more than 10 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Researchers working in secret inside a quarry study the charred remains of an English settlement that dates back 3,000 years.
The night when Vincent van Gogh cut his own ear defines his turbulent life and art. Generations have theorized about what really happened on December 23, 1888, in the French town of Arles, but no one has been clear on the details-until now.
Nero’s Sunken City Baiae... An ancient Roman city lost to the same volcanoes that entombed Pompeii. But unlike Pompeii, Baiae sits under water, in the Bay of Naples. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the city was an escape for Rome's rich and powerful elite, a place where they were free of the social restrictions of Roman society
Leonardo da Vinci is well known for his inventions as well as his art. New evidence shows that many of his ideas were realized long before he sketched them out in his notebooks-some even 1,700 years before him! Of these “inventions” Leonardo never affirmed that his projects came from his original ideas. The film features drawings of his most famous ideas and inventions some of which trace their original creation to ancient Greece while others were a product of the scientific inventions of golden age of Islamic learning. This knowledge seemed to be lost in Europe during the Dark Ages until the Renaissance when Leonardo recovered it.
Follow a team of forensic experts as they investigate the preserved remains of a young African American woman from 19th century New York and reveal the little-known story of early America’s free black communities.
Take a closer look at the life and legend of Nero, the infamous Roman emperor, as a forensic profiler attempts to find out what history may have gotten wrong about his alleged tyranny.
Archaeologists, scientists and historians reveal the history of America's Spanish colonists who settled in Florida in 1565; narrator Jimmy Smits.
The only one of the seven wonders of the world still standing, the Great Pyramid of Khufu has fascinated people for centuries. Tracing the origin of the legends of secret chambers hidden in the heart of the pyramid, Scanning the Pyramids will show what lies within, solving a 4,500-year-old mystery, by following the first scientific mission in 30 years to be authorized by the Egyptian government to examine the pyramids of Egypt.
Hannibal, one of history’s most famous generals, achieved what the Romans thought to be impossible. With a vast army of 30,000 troops, 15,000 horses and 37 war elephants, he crossed the mighty Alps in only 16 days to launch an attack on Rome from the north. For more than 2,000 years, nobody has been able to prove which of the four possible routes Hannibal took across the Alps, and no physical evidence of Hannibal’s army has ever been found…until now.
Description Archaeological evidence suggests that the legend of King Arthur began in a 5th-century trading village following the departure of the Romans.
The discovery of a rare mass grave with the bones of nearly 60 people outside Luxor sends archaeologists on a quest to find out who the remains belong to, why they were buried the way they were and what was happening in ancient Egypt that would have led to a mass burial. Could the collapse of the empire’s Old Kingdom provide any clues?
Stories about drug use by Hitler and German forces during World War II have been widely told. What’s less well known is the Allied commanders’ embraced pharmacological “force enhancers” as well. By 1941, rumors about Nazi soldiers using a “super-drug” identified as the methamphetamine Pervitin were confirmed, and Allied commanders launched their own classified program to find the perfect war-fighting drug. During the war, one in three Allied soldiers were incapacitated without a physical scratch on them. Modern weapons and warfare proved so terrifying that almost as many men were shredded by combat fatigue and shell shock — now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) — as by bullets and shrapnel. Allied commanders believed Benzedrine, an amphetamine similar to Pervitin, was the answer, hoping the amphetamine would defeat not just the need for sleep, but anxiety and fear among troops. How this drug affected the course of World War II is an ongoing controversy.
The sinking of RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912 is one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. Mainstream retellings of the tragedy often overlook that the “unsinkable” Titanic was not alone when it sank. A mystery ship was spotted within view of the sinking ship, but instead of sailing closer to aid the drowning passengers, the mystery ship seemingly ignored a fusillade of rockets and signals and sailed away. American and British inquiries accused the SS Californian and its captain, Stanley Lord, of abandoning the Titanic. Decades later, the discovery of Titanic’s wreck exonerated Lord and the Californian’s role in the disaster, re-opening accounts that implicate another ship. In Secrets of the Dead: Abandoning the Titanic, join a team of investigators as they search for the identity of the mystery ship that turned away from the Titanic in its darkest hour, abandoning thousands of lives to the icy waters and their untimely demise.
When it was published in 1610, Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger) set in motion a scientific revolution. Using observations he made of both the earth’s moon and Jupiter’s moons, Galileo proved earth is not the center of the universe. Five hundred and fifty copies of the original treatise were originally printed and roughly 150 are known to exist today. When an original copy with Galileo’s signature and seemingly original watercolor paintings of the phases of the moon believed to be done by Galileo himself came on the market in 2005, Sidereus Nuncius caused a worldwide sensation 400 years after its creation… and again in 2012 when it was proved a fake.
On December 3, 1944, The Washington Post published an editorial on the atrocities in Auschwitz with the headline “Genocide,” marking the first time the word appeared in a national newspaper.
People often assume they're simply decorative but the gargoyles are vital to the structure of Notre Dame, serving as part of the water drainage system. Still in use today, when the drainage system was built in the Middle Ages, it led to significant architectural advancements for the cathedral.
A team of archaeologists examine one of the most significant Viking graves ever found and test the DNA of the remains of the female warrior buried inside, rewriting our understanding of Viking society.
Join three groups of treasure hunters, armed with modern technology and newly uncovered clues, as they set out to find the lost treasure of notorious Prohibition-era gangster Dutch Schultz and solve an 85-year-old mystery.
What if climate change and pandemics were the real causes of the decline of the Roman Empire? Scientists from a range of disciplines are accumulating clues to show that three successive waves of deadly epidemics and powerful temperature drops could have caused the collapse of the Empire — and draw frightening parallels to today.
500 years ago, Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set sail to gain control of the global spice trade. What resulted was the first circumnavigation of the earth, laying the groundwork for colonization and globalization still felt today.
Incredible scientific investigations from across the globe are helping piece together the untold story of prehistoric women. The latest research separates fact from fiction and sheds new light on our ancient foremothers.
A decade-long archaeological quest reveals that the oldest stones of Stonehenge originally belonged to a much earlier sacred site – a stone circle built on a rugged, remote hillside in west Wales.
A fresh look at the science and conditions surrounding the Hindenburg explosion reveals ten particular flaws that directly led to the infamous disaster in 1937.
In 1613, feudal lord Date Masamune sent a Japanese diplomatic mission to Europe to negotiate with the Pope and the King of Spain in hopes of opening a new trade route. Led by samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga and Franciscan monk Luis Sotelo, the expedition spent seven years traveling one-third of the globe.
Father Marius Zerafa, director of museums in Malta, risks his life to recover a Caravaggio masterpiece stolen from a cathedral in 1984.
Charles, Ninth Earl Spencer — best-selling author and brother to Diana, Princess of Wales — may be sitting on the greatest British archaeological find of the century. Searching Althorp, the Spencer family estate, for a medieval village, a team of British archaeologists find evidence of something far older.
An ornate ceremonial chariot was recently discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, offering insights into the lives of wealthy, high-ranking landowners who lived outside the city. Buried by the Vesuvius eruption 2,000 years ago, this is not a humble transport cart. "It's the Lamborghini of this ancient world," says Eric Poehler, an expert on ancient infrastructure in Pompeii.
The first modern translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics happened 200 years ago. How was the ancient code cracked? Today, archaeologists are busy translating hieroglyphics from an important scribe's tomb, its walls covered from floor to ceiling with symbols thousands of years old. This new research gives archaeologists a better understanding of life in ancient Egypt.
Recent discoveries, including funerary urns with highly decorative patterns, and technological advances like the remote sensor system known as LiDAR, are shedding new light on our understanding of pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon. Scientists speculate the rainforest was home to between 8 and 10 million people living in large, well-established communities.
Uncover the sunken remains of a 4th-century basilica in Turkey. Submerged beneath the waters of Lake Iznik for hundreds of years, the church could reveal crucial insights into the early days of Christianity. Join a team of international researchers as they travel back through time—and grapple with Turkey’s many earthquakes, which could sink the structure deeper at any moment.
Discover the world of dinosaur collecting, a controversial hobby with a booming market. Hear perspectives on the fossil trade from private collectors, paleontologists, and others, as "Big John"—the largest Triceratops fossil ever found—is assembled in Italy and auctioned in France.
Find out about the race to build Paris’ most famous landmark when two men vied to be the first to build a monument 1,000 feet tall. See how one man’s vision transformed the Paris skyline, making the Eiffel Tower a global icon. Dramatic recreations, official renderings and personal correspondence tell the story.
Uncover what happens when archaeologists study a skeleton found with an iron nail through its heel bone, suggesting the person was the victim of crucifixion in Roman-occupied Britain. Only one other skeleton with evidence of crucifixion has ever been found in the world. Who was he? What was life in Roman Britain like? And why did he receive such a gruesome punishment?
Find out if one of history’s greatest cold cases—the imprisonment of two princes in the Tower of London—can finally be solved. Their disappearance led to centuries of mystery and speculation. Were the boys murdered by their uncle, the notorious King Richard III? Or was it a massive conspiracy to hide the truth?
A moving story of a people reclaiming their cultural heritage after an occupying force tried to erase it. Priceless artifacts from the Assyrian Empire were destroyed during the Isis occupation of Mosul. Now, a team of archaeologists is dedicated to finding pieces that survived. One possible discovery: the location of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Maria Anna Mozart was a musical prodigy just like her younger brother Wolfgang. Although the children toured Europe together, once Maria Anna came of age, she was left behind while her brother became a star. But controversial new evidence suggests she may have contributed to her brother’s earliest works while a global search for her compositions continues.
Making headlines around the world, Brent Seales and his team of computer scientists set out on a mission to read the 2,000-year-old carbonized scrolls found in the remains of a villa in Herculaneum. Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 AD transformed the papyri, fusing together the layers of the scrolls and making them impossible to read. Can particle physics and AI finally reveal what the scrolls say?
Originally a supply depot for Union forces in Kentucky, Camp Nelson became the site where 10,000 Black soldiers trained in the Civil War. But in the war’s last months, these soldiers were attacked by bitter Southerners. Their remains have never been found, and a team is dedicated to finding them to memorialize their service and heroism.
In 2022, a terrifying discovery: a female skeleton dating from 1650, buried with a sickle across her neck and giant padlock on her toe — double protection to keep her from rising from the dead. All the evidence points to her being buried as a vampire... and she’s not alone, with more than 50 deviant burials around her. Who was she and what did these burial rituals mean?
Angkor was the capital of the Khmer empire, which controlled much of the region between the 9th and 15th centuries. The stunning accomplishments of Angkor’s great kings are clear to see –but the period preceding the foundation of their great city is shrouded in mystery. Now, the discovery of an incredible hoard of stunning artifacts is providing surprising new clues about this early Khmer society.
The discovery of gold and silver artifacts in Laos, dating to the early days of the Khmer Empire, leads scientists to investigate how the priceless objects were made and where they might have originated. On their journey, they retrace the steps of the ancient kings and explore the sacred landscape around Vat Phou to learn more about this ancient civilization.
Through archives and diaries discovered in a private collection held by an ancestor of Pedro Menendez, this episode follows the survivors through their first year – unveiling a very different America than we know today.
By 1607 when Jamestown was founded, St. Augustine was undergoing urban renewal, but English colonists were ready to attack. In 1620 Plymouth was founded, and by 1664, 11 of the 13 British colonies had been established.
In 1763 Spain ceded Florida to England in order to keep its valuable port of Havana. The entire city of St. Augustine fled to Cuba and Mexico to avoid British rule. As the Spanish move out, the British move in – and with them, slavery.
The British divided Florida into two parts, the East and West, becoming the 14th and 15th British colonies. In 1812 the Patriot’s War began, and Florida became U.S. territory.
In 2009, archaeologists discovered an underwater graveyard of five Roman shipwrecks off the coast of Ventotene, a small Italian island with a notorious past. It was one of the biggest archaeological finds in recent history. The vessels’ well-preserved cargo indicates that these ships did not break up on the island’s rocks, but instead sank to the seabed intact and upright. They were laden with exotic goods including wine, olive oil, and the ancient delicacy garum; a condiment highly prized among ancient Romans. These sunken treasures are providing researchers with insight into the wreck, how the Romans lived, and Ventotene’s intriguing past.
With the exception of the nightly network news shows, no one on television devoted more airtime to Watergate than talk show host Cavett. From 1972 to 1974, America watched the Watergate scandal unfold on “The Dick Cavett Show” as Cavett interviewed nearly every major Watergate figure — on both sides of the crisis — including John Ehrlichman, Alexander Haig, G. Gordon Liddy, Jeb Magruder and members of the Senate Watergate Committee: Senators Howard Baker, Daniel Inouye, Herman Talmadge, Lowell Weicker, and more. Unfolding through interviews with people who were directly involved, [i]Dick Cavettt's Watergate[/i] documents the critical Watergate milestones with new insight and perspective. New interviews with Cavett offer personal insights into the key Watergate personalities and provide historical context for the featured clips. On a more intimate note, Cavett reveals his reaction on discovering he was mentioned in the White House tapes — not once, but 26 times.
