Secrets of the Dead

- Season 5

(2003)

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.

Scientists investigate the Spanish Flu, an unusually severe and deadly strain of avian influenza that caused the 1918 flu pandemic which killed almost 100 million people around the world.

Scientist investigate the Turin Shroud, a linen cloth that bears the image of a man who some believe to be the Jesus of Nazareth. Some also believe that the cloth is actually the burial shroud he was wrapped in after the crucifixion.

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.

An American and a Russian archaeologists work over a period of ten years to dig out and positively identify the remains of warrior women of probable Scythian origin, and further determine that their bone DNA analysis are an exact match of contemporary Mongolian tribe women.