The BEST Episodes of Cities of the Underworld
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Sep 17, 2021
Network: History
BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU WALK - HISTORY'S AFOOT! In major cities all around the world today, skyscrapers loom overhead, taxis honk their horns and street vendors peddle their wares. But below lays city upon city - each with its fascinating and unknown history. CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD explores these layers, which are often hundreds of feet deep, to examine a city's ancient cisterns, dank dungeons, eerie tombs, clandestine hideouts, and even underground shipwrecks that have been lost for hundreds of years. How did (and do) engineers build layer upon layer up to today's city streets? CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD reveals the technological marvels that allowed the construction of one city upon another - literally.
#1 - Washington D.C.: Seat of Power
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired Apr 15, 2008
A look underneath Washington D.C., including the national defense and the areas which have been created which are intended to keep the country safe from wars and natural disasters. Included is a look at secret bunkers and the world created below the Capital Mall.
8.13 
#2 - Real Mafia Underground
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired Nov 9, 2008
Underground Sicily and the origins of the Mafia are explored. Included: the escape route of a mob boss; a bone crypt; and bunkers used during World War II by the Axis powers.
8.10 
#3 - Viking Underground
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired Feb 25, 2008
Dublin, Ireland is much more than a city full of pubs and pints. Burial tombs, defense tunnels, and mysterious burial crypts line the underground below the rolling hills.
8.00 
#4 - Secret Holy Land
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired Dec 22, 2008
Underground Ethiopia is explored. Included: tombs of emperors; subterranean cathedrals; and the palace of the Queen of Sheba. Also: theories regarding the possible resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.
8.00 
#5 - Tomb of the Lost Mummies
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired Jan 26, 2009
Underground Cairo is explored, focusing on ancient structures that have withstood time and countless invasions. Included: a step pyramid built a century before the Giza pyramids; and a tomb containing 2000-year-old mummies. Also examined: the Book of the Dead.
7.92 
#6 - Under the Rock
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired Jan 12, 2009
Underground San Francisco is explored. Included: an ammunitions depot; a former repository for nuclear missiles; Civil War fortifications beneath Alcatraz; and tunnels below Chinatown.
7.88 
#7 - City of Blood: London, England
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired Oct 26, 2008
The third-season opener explores Victorian-era London, when hard times forced many to take extreme measures to procure food and shelter.
7.83 
#8 - Freemason Underground
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired Jun 25, 2007
Discover the fascinating and unknown history that lies below major cities around the world today. Explore these layers, which are often hundreds of feet deep. Discover everything form dank dungeons to underground shipwrecks that have been lost for centuries.
7.80 
#9 - A-Bomb Underground
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired Feb 11, 2008
Tokyo, Japan is a city straight out of the future, above ground and below. Go beneath the busy streets to see the latest technology that will save the city from the many natural disasters ready to strike. From there go back in time to World War II to see how Hiroshima's underground offered protection from the most powerful bombs.
7.80 
#10 - Hitler's Trenches
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired Nov 23, 2008
Underground Belgium is explored, focusing on the trenches and tunnels of World War I.
7.80 
#11 - Dracula's Underground: Bucharest, Romania
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired Jul 9, 2007
Visit the city of Bucharest, Romania and learn about its most famous citizen, Vlad the Impaler, more commonly known as Dracula. Travel underground as secret prisons, caves and dungeons are revealed. Only through the bleak subterranean stretches can one come face-to-face with the truth about this infamous Romanian ruler.
7.78 
#12 - Underground Bootleggers
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired Jul 23, 2007
100 years ago Portland, Oregon was a city full of vice, considered the most dangerous port in the world. It was a place where you could get drugs or booze or wake up trapped in a cell beneath the earth.
7.75 
#13 - Hitler's Underground Lair
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired Apr 30, 2007
Go beneath the streets of Berlin and unearth the remains of the Nazi bunkers.
7.70 
#14 - Hitler's Last Secret
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired Mar 3, 2008
Prague is a city cloaked in mystery, with an underground to match. Medieval castles line the streets & dark dungeons lie deep below them. From quarries where Hitler may have stored his secret weapons to mines that doubled as Communist slave camps, Prague has surprising stories to tell.
7.67 
#15 - Underground Apocalypse
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired Jan 28, 2008
For billions across the globe, Jerusalem is considered ground zero for Armageddon. While most of the world's population considers it a holy land, it's also one of the bloodiest cities the world has ever known. From a hidden occult city built by the Knights Templar to the hiding place for the Dead Sea Scrolls, the evidence of the apocalypse is buried all over the holy city.
7.64 
#16 - Prophecies from Below
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired Mar 24, 2008
The ancient world was shaped by people who believed they foresaw the will of God. Jerusalem is at the heart of all their fiery prophecies. From bloody wars to the birth of saviors, Jerusalem has been at the center of prophetic revelations.
7.64 
#17 - Land of Manson
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired Dec 7, 2008
Underground Los Angeles is explored. Included: Charles Manson's subterranean hideaways; tunnels used by corrupt cops; the subway system; and military bunkers.
7.64 
#18 - Barbarian's Lair
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired Dec 1, 2008
Exploring life beneath the streets in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire.
7.62 
#19 - Maya Underground
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired Mar 10, 2008
Visit the center of Mayan civilization. Hundreds of ruins scatter the landscape & reveal clues to bloody rituals, advanced architecture & belief in an unforgiving underworld of Mayan gods.
7.60 
#20 - Tunnels of Hell
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired Nov 2, 2008
Exploring the Japanese island of Okinawa and its complex system of subterranean tunnels, caves and bunkers that was used during World War II.
7.58 
#21 - Gods of War
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired Feb 2, 2009
Underground Turkey is explored, focusing on the remnants from invasions and travelers on the trade routes. Included: the lore of the Trojan War.
7.58 
#22 - Katrina Underground
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired Apr 29, 2008
The New Orleans underground after Hurricane Katrina
7.56 
#23 - Istanbul
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired Mar 2, 2007
Journey beneath the streets of Istanbul and discover the hidden world left by the Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans.
7.49 
#24 - Stalin's Secret Lair
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired Apr 22, 2008
A look at the underground of Moscow, including the areas relating to the Cold War and Stalin's ruthless reign. Includes a glimpse of hidden bunkers, escape tunnels used to hide from Stalin's henchmen.
7.45 
#25 - Alcatraz Down Under: Sydney, Australia
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired Feb 9, 2009
Underground Sydney is explored. Included: a 19th-century prison; caves that were once home to fugitive outlaws; gold mines. Also: a secret World War II storage place for chemical weapons is toured by those who once worked there.
7.40