8.4/1021 votesLoading...#1 - Blood Red Roses
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 11/1/2003
The Battle of Towton in North Yorkshire, fought during the Wars of the Roses, was reputedly the bloodiest battle ever seen on English soil. In 1996 a mass grave of soldiers was discovered there by chance. This was the catalyst for a multi-disciplinary research project, still unique in Britain ten years after the initial discovery, which included a study of the skeletal remains, the battlefield landscape, the historical evidence and contemporary arms and armour. The discoveries were dramatic and moving; the individuals had clearly suffered traumatic deaths and subsequent research highlighted the often multiple wounds each individual had received before and, in some cases, after they had died. As well as the exciting forensic work the project also revealed much about medieval weaponry and fighting. Blood Red Roses contains all the information about this fascinating discovery, as well as discussing its wider historical, heritage and archaeological implications. (UK/PBS)
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1019 votesLoading...#2 - Catastrophe (1)
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 5/15/2000
Did a cataclysmic event plunge humankind into the period known as the early Dark Ages? Scientists now believe the early Dark Ages may have been triggered by a natural event that occurred around 535 A.D. Science writer David Keys is convinced that the cause was a phenomenon of cataclysmic proportions. At the center of a complex chain of events seems to be "a loud bang" -- a volcanic explosion equal to "two thousand million Hiroshima size bombs." The subsequent environmental calamity, Keys believes, affected human civilization from Mongolia to Constantinople, precipitating plague, famine, death, great migration, the fall of the great Mexican city of Teotihuacan, the Anglo-Saxon victory over the Celts and perhaps even the rise of Islam. (UK / PBS) Released to video (VHS) as a single episode. Run time 1:50.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1023 votesLoading...#3 - Bombing Nazi Dams
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 2/12/2003
In the spring of 1943, Allied forces to begin preparations for a top secret Allied raid. Each aircraft carried a top-secret weapon -- a newly-invented bouncing bomb -- designed to shatter Germany's major dams.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1032 votesLoading...#4 - Bridge on the River Kwai
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 11/12/2003
(Modern Mysteries) While remnants of the abandoned structure exist today, jungles have consumed much of what remains. Construction records and documents revealing the railway’s route are scarce. So just how did a team of men in such poor condition and confronted with so many obstacles manage to build the railway? And how did their Allied brethren achieve its demolition?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1033 votesLoading...#5 - The Hunt for Nazi Scientists
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 10/19/2005
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1051 votesLoading...#6 - Escape from Auschwitz
Season 7 Episode 2 - Aired 4/30/2008
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/1035 votesLoading...#7 - Last Days of Pompeii
Season 20 Episode 2 - Aired 10/19/2022
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/1023 votesLoading...#8 - 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?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1031 votesLoading...#9 - Herculaneum Uncovered
Season 6 Episode 3 - Aired 5/2/2007
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1085 votesLoading...#10 - Ultimate Tut
Season 12 Episode 5 - Aired 7/10/2013
New scientific research provides insights into how King Tutankhamen was buried, why his tomb remained intact and how he died.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/1051 votesLoading...
#11 - Dick Cavett's Watergate
Season 13 Episode 6 - Aired 8/8/2014
Dick Cavett's Watergate offers a unique opportunity to mark the 40th anniversary of a defining moment in American history. From 1972 to 1974 the Watergate scandal unfolded on The Dick Cavett Show, as Cavett interviewed nearly every major Watergate figure, even non-political guests expressed their opinions. Dick Cavett's Watergate documents the scandal in the words of the people who lived it.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1034 votesLoading...#12 - Graveyard of the Giant Beasts
Season 16 Episode 2 - Aired 11/2/2016
A mining operation in Cerrejon, Northern Colombia reveals a large cache of fossils dating to ten millions years after the KT extinction of the dinosaurs.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1044 votesLoading...#13 - World War Speed
Season 17 Episode 7 - Aired 6/25/2019
Follow historian James Holland on his quest to understand how the use of amphetamines affected the course of World War II and unleashed the first pharmacological arms race.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1037 votesLoading...#14 - 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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1038 votesLoading...#15 - Death in Britannia
Season 21 Episode 2 - Aired 11/1/2023
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?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1020 votesLoading...#16 - 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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/1019 votesLoading...
#17 - Catastrophe (2)
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 5/15/2000
Did a cataclysmic event plunge humankind into the period known as the early Dark Ages? Scientists now believe the early Dark Ages may have been triggered by a natural event that occurred around 535 A.D. Science writer David Keys is convinced that the cause was a phenomenon of cataclysmic proportions. At the center of a complex chain of events seems to be "a loud bang" -- a volcanic explosion equal to "two thousand million Hiroshima size bombs." The subsequent environmental calamity, Keys believes, affected human civilization from Mongolia to Constantinople, precipitating plague, famine, death, great migration, the fall of the great Mexican city of Teotihuacan, the Anglo-Saxon victory over the Celts and perhaps even the rise of Islam. (UK / PBS) Released to video (VHS) as a single episode. Run time 1:50.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1085 votesLoading...#18 - Bugging Hitler's Soldiers
Season 12 Episode 2 - Aired 5/1/2013
German POWs reveal inner thoughts about the Third Reich, including military secrets that helped the Allies win World War II.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1059 votesLoading...#19 - Bones of the Buddha
Season 12 Episode 6 - Aired 7/23/2013
Bones of the Buddha is a 2013 television documentary produced by Icon Films and commissioned by WNET/THIRTEEN and ARTE France for the National Geographic Channels. It concerns a controversial Buddhist reliquary from the Piprahwa Stupa in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was released in May, 2013, and was broadcast in July 2013 in the US on PBS as part of the Secrets of the Dead series.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1062 votesLoading...#20 - Jamestown's Dark Winter
Season 15 Episode 2 - Aired 11/24/2015
Forensic anthropologists excavate an early American colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1043 votesLoading...#21 - Building Notre Dame
Season 18 Episode 3 - Aired 4/8/2020
Follow an investigation into the centuries-long construction of Notre Dame de Paris, uncovering the vast architectural, technical and human challenges experienced throughout the turbulent history of one of the world’s most celebrated buildings.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1041 votesLoading...#22 - Viking Warrior Queen
Season 18 Episode 4 - Aired 7/7/2020
Join a team of archaeologists as they 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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1028 votesLoading...#23 - Returning to Babylon
Season 21 Episode 4 - Aired 10/2/2024
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1025 votesLoading...#24 - The Herculaneum Scrolls
Season 21 Episode 6 - Aired 10/16/2024
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?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1010 votesLoading...#25 - 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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Secrets of the Dead
Every episode of Secrets of the Dead ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Secrets of the Dead!
Part detective story, part true-life drama, long-running series explores some of the most iconic moments in history to debunk myths and shed new light on...
Genres:DocumentaryMystery
Network:PBS
Best Episodes Summary
"Blood Red Roses" is the best rated episode of "Secrets of the Dead". It scored 8.4/10 based on 21 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 11/1/2003. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Catastrophe (1)".