The BEST episodes of Secrets of the Dead
Every episode of Secrets of the Dead ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Secrets of the Dead!
Sometimes the truth gets carried to the grave. The techniques of modern forensic science are used to investigate a historical mystery to find proof of what really happened.
#3 - Scanning the Pyramids
Season 17 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/24/2018
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.
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#4 - Field of Vampires
Season 22 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/30/2024
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?
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#5 - Magellan's Crossing
Season 19 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/20/2021
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.
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#6 - World War Speed
Season 17 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/25/2019
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.
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#8 - A Samurai in the Vatican
Season 19 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/17/2021
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.
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#11 - Egypt’s Darkest Hour
Season 17 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/3/2019
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?
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#12 - Galileo’s Moon
Season 18 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/2/2019
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.
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#13 - Building Notre Dame
Season 18 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/28/2020
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.
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#15 - Blackbeard's Lost Ship
Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/22/2009
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?
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#16 - Lost Treasures of Angkor -- The Discovery
Season 22 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/13/2024
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.
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#17 - Eiffel's Race to the Top
Season 21 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/25/2023
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.
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#18 - Leonardo, The Man Who Saved Science
Season 16 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/5/2017
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.
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#20 - Lost Treasures of Angkor -- King's Gold
Season 22 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/20/2024
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.
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#22 - Van Gogh's Ear
Season 16 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/14/2016
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.
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#24 - The Civil War's Lost Massacre
Season 22 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/23/2024
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.
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#25 - Mozart's Sister
Season 21 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/9/2024
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.
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