Secrets of the Dead

Swedish Titanic passenger Alma Paulson and her four young children died when the ship sank. Only Alma's body was identified. Days later, Canadian rescue workers spotted the lifeless body of a fair-haired toddler floating near the site of the wreck. He was buried with other unidentified Titanic victims. In this episode of SECRETS OF THE DEAD, historian Alan Ruffman and a team of scientists use incredible technology to help provide answers -- and closure -- for relatives of Titanic.

In 1942, the Japanese army had captured more than 200,000 Allied prisoners of war and needed a supply route to its frontline troops in Burma. POWs and thousands of Asian laborers were ordered to complete a railway linking Thailand and Burma that would include the infamous "bridge on the River Kwai." Meanwhile, the U.S. was developing a "smart bomb." In late 1944, a group of rescued POWs provided the first accurate information about targets along the railway, and the railway was destroyed.

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 commemoration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day, SECRETS OF THE DEAD tells the story of how it all came together, and shows step by step how the Allies achieved victory on June 6, 1944. The film calls upon the testimony of and includes spectacular dramatic reconstructions and incorporates arresting 16mm archive footage that brings the panic and terror of D-Day to the fore. All of these elements combine to create a definitive and dramatic account of what really happened.

The myth of the Amazons has lingered for centuries, but proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved by an American scientist. After unearthing evidence of a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball visited a village in Western Mongolia. There, Davis-Kimball found a young girl named Meiramgul. Davis-Kimball finds that the DNA sequences of the warrior women and those from the girl are identical.

Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was assassinated by a pellet-gun umbrella. All evidence points toward KGB involvement. Twenty-seven years later, the Markov murder case remains officially unsolved. It seems the truth of Bulgarian complicity in the murder of Georgi Markov will never be made public.

Battle of the Bible tells the compelling story behind the world's most famous book. The Biblical texts, translated into obscure Latin, were staunchly guarded, making common interpretation impossible and ensuring the authority of the Church. Through the stories of the brave reformers who paid the ultimate price to bring the Bible to the people, Battle for the Bible reveals how a seed planted on English ground inspired a progressive way of thinking that crossed an ocean.

A grisly discovery of more than 400 mutilated bodies in Mexico is turning history on its head. Aztec Massacre paints a new picture of the violent relations between the Aztecs and the Conquistadors and rewrites much of what we thought we knew about the Aztec civilization.

The death factory at Auschwitz was a closely guarded secret of the Third Reich - until two men, Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, escaped to tell the world about the Nazi atrocities. Escape from Auschwitz reveals the story of their escape and explores the controversial decision by the head of the Hungarian underground not to make their report public.

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.

Merging the stealth and tactical advantages of sea and sky, the I-401 aircraft carrier submarine carried three specially designed Seiran attack bombers.

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.