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00:00Within a bustling metropolis, the excavation of an ancient temple reveals a horrific structure.
00:07Encased in an ancient form of concrete are human skulls lined up.
00:11Over 600 are excavated, belonging to men, women, and children.
00:16It's a grisly discovery.
00:18In ancient Egypt, an enormous black coffin is found under the city's streets.
00:23It didn't take long for people to speculate that the tomb was cursed.
00:27Could this massive coffin be the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great himself?
00:32Hidden for years within caves meant for shelter during war, a macabre bag opens up a massive manhunt.
00:40A deeper reach into the bag revealed human remains.
00:43Specifically, a human torso that was missing sections of all four of its limbs.
00:48And most disturbing, it was also missing its head.
00:54Buried.
00:55Hidden.
00:57Cursed.
01:00From mystical artifacts and doomed treasures to mysterious structures and ancient rituals.
01:10Myths and legends that have long been shrouded in the shadows of history are finally brought into the light.
01:21These are Secrets in the Dark.
01:25Situated at the site of modern-day Mexico City, Tenochtitlan was once the capital of
01:43the mighty Aztec Empire.
01:46According to mythology, around 1325 CE, the Aztecs left their native lands because their
01:52god Huitzilopochtli instructed them to construct a city where they would come across an eagle
01:59perched on a cactus, eating a snake.
02:03Apparently, they happened upon this exact site on an island located on what was once Lake
02:09Texcoco and founded Tenochtitlan there.
02:13The city would eventually grow through the building of artificial islands to cover more
02:17than five square miles, and some estimates place its population as high as 400,000 by
02:231519.
02:25This makes it among the biggest cities in the world at that time.
02:29Tenochtitlan was arranged symmetrically, with four districts separated by canals surrounding
02:34a central area where the Temple of Mayor was located.
02:36It was a sacred temple where the most important ceremonies and rituals of the Aztecs took place.
02:41To say it was an impressive structure would be an understatement.
02:44It consisted of two 90-foot-high stepped pyramids rising side-by-side on a massive platform.
02:50One dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war, and one for Tlaloc, the god
02:55of rain.
02:57In 1521, the Spanish, led by the notorious conquistador Hernán Cortés, destroyed Tenochtitlan.
03:04The site, now under Mexico City, continues to be excavated and some of the best-known Aztec
03:10artifacts have been uncovered, along with some of the empire's darkest secrets.
03:14Close to the Metropolitan Cathedral, deep beneath the center of Mexico City, archaeologists
03:20excavating the Temple Mayor make a gruesome discovery.
03:26Encased in an ancient form of concrete are human skulls lined up in a row.
03:30And not just a few.
03:32Eventually, over 600 are excavated, belonging to men, women, and children.
03:39It's a grisly discovery.
03:42The skulls are arranged in a large, rising, multi-layered circle that widens in a succession
03:50of rings and gets to be over 16 feet in diameter.
03:53It's basically a tower of skulls.
03:56So what happened to these people, and why are their skulls laid out in such a bizarre
04:02way?
04:04The most obvious explanation could be that the arrangement of the skulls is a previously
04:07unknown Aztec funerary ritual, and this is simply a mass burial site.
04:13Scenarios like this are not unheard of the world over.
04:15Take the catacombs of Paris, for example.
04:18Stretching out over an estimated 170 miles, five stories beneath Paris' cosmopolitan streets,
04:25the catacombs are one of the world's most macabre sites, containing the remains of over
04:30six million people.
04:34In the late 18th century, Paris was a vibrant metropolis.
04:38But due to its age, the city's cemeteries were overcrowded, and it was bursting at the
04:43seams with dead bodies.
04:44This created a public health issue.
04:46Residents near the Holy Innocent Cemetery came down with strange illnesses and suffered
04:50from breathing problems, vomiting, and delirium.
04:54It turned out that gases from decomposing bodies had seeped into their homes and made them sick.
04:59In 1785, workers began the grim task of digging up bodies at night and transporting them to
05:07their new resting place, the city's catacombs, which were these limestone mines that dated all
05:13the way back to the 13th century.
05:15The walls are covered in skulls, and femurs, and other bones in a very eerie display.
05:23The Paris catacombs were partially made necessary by something that had happened hundreds of years
05:30before, the bubonic plague, or Black Death, which decimated almost a third of the city's population.
05:39We know that the Spanish brought diseases to Mesoamerica.
05:42Smallpox devastated Tenochtitlan in 1520, killing off 40% of its population in just one year.
05:50So could the skulls discovered of the Templo Mayor be a mass grave for smallpox victims?
05:57Maybe. But why go to all the trouble of embedding the skulls in cement and building a tower out of them?
06:02And where are the bodies? No other bones were found, just skulls. It doesn't add up.
06:09I think the most likely answer might be that the skulls belonged to the Aztecs' enemies who were killed in battle
06:14and were displayed as a warning to those who might dare to challenge them.
06:18Not an uncommon practice in ancient times, or even in relatively recent ones.
06:22On the banks of the Nisava River, in southeastern Serbia, lies Nis, a city with a grim monument to a turbulent past.
06:31On the main road to the entrance of the city is Celekula, or Skull Tower,
06:36a structure that contained the skulls of 952 defeated Serbian rebels.
06:41The tower was erected in 1809 by Turkish General Hirsi Pasha to warn locals about what might happen
06:48should they attempt any further uprising.
06:51Between 1804 and 1813, the first Serbian uprising against the Ottoman Empire took place.
06:58During the Battle of Cegar in 1809, near Serbia's third largest city, Nis,
07:03the badly outnumbered Serb rebels were pinned down by a huge force of Turkish imperial guards.
07:09Faced with certain defeat, the rebel commander fired a shot at a gunpowder keg in a fully stocked ammunition room
07:17and blew up his entire army, along with a slew of Turkish soldiers who were already in rebel territory.
07:24Although General Pasha had won, he didn't want the rebels to get the last word,
07:28so he made a monument to his victory.
07:31The bodies of the dead rebels were mutilated and decapitated,
07:35and their skulls were used as building blocks for the tower.
07:40Could something similar have happened at Templo Mayor?
07:42Do the skulls belong to the Aztecs' defeated enemies?
07:48There are women's and children's skulls present, and they typically didn't fight in battle.
07:52So we can probably rule out that the tower is made up of defeated enemies as a warning to potential attackers.
07:58But there is another possibility.
08:01Maybe it's a shrine to honor the dead.
08:04Throughout history, many different cultures have displayed the remains of the deceased as an act of remembrance.
08:09In southwestern Poland, near the border with Czechia, a small church in the town of Czomna contains a unique shrine to honor the memory of its dead citizens.
08:20You wouldn't know it from the modest exterior, but St. Bartholomew's Church is decorated with the skulls and bones of over 3,000 people,
08:27carefully arranged in various patterns on the ceiling and walls.
08:30Another 21,000 skeletons are piled in the church crypt underground.
08:34This area was the site of a lot of wars over the years and cholera epidemics, which would frequently wipe out portions of the population.
08:43There are skulls with bullet holes, one badly damaged by syphilis, and even the skull of a giant,
08:49all arranged to create what the priest called a sanctuary of silence.
08:54So could the skull tower at the Templo Mayor be something similar?
08:58A shrine to honor the dead?
08:59I suppose it's possible, but this type of practice is not mentioned in historical records of Aztec funerary rituals.
09:06Generally speaking, the bodies of those who died of natural causes were burned.
09:10And higher status individuals were wrapped, clothed, and cremated, their ashes put in urns.
09:16So I don't think the skull tower was some kind of shrine to honor the dead.
09:19The Aztecs just didn't engage in that kind of behavior.
09:22There has to be another explanation.
09:23In 2012, archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History
09:29were overseeing the building of a lobby for the Templo Mayor Museum when they made a surprising discovery.
09:36Not too far from where the skull tower was found, about 15 feet underground,
09:40they discovered the skeleton of a young woman surrounded by piles of almost 1,800 human bones.
09:45At first glance, the bones look like they're scattered randomly around the skeleton,
09:49but some appear to have been sorted by type.
09:51The skulls of three children and seven adults were piled together,
09:55and there are small bunches of long bones like femurs and clusters of ribs.
10:00Not far away, the seven-foot trunk of an oak tree, surrounded by a circular stone structure,
10:05was also discovered, likely one of the sacred trees of Tenochtitlan.
10:09Further examination of the remains reveals evidence pointing to the Aztec's dark rituals.
10:16Some of these bones have cut marks on the sternum and on the vertebrae.
10:19Now, given that these remains are found not far from what appears to be a sacred tree,
10:25potentially these people could be victims of ritual human sacrifice.
10:30When the conquistadors arrived at Tenochtitlan in the early 16th century,
10:34they claimed the Aztecs sacrificed thousands of people at Templo Mayor.
10:38But these claims were often dismissed as propaganda,
10:42intended to make the Aztecs look like primitive savages
10:44to justify how badly they were treated by the Spanish.
10:48The conquistadors also described how sacrifice victims' skulls were mounted onto a huge monument
10:52that served as a symbol of prominence and power.
10:55So the Tower of Skulls is likely this monument,
10:58and the remains belonged to people that were ritualistically sacrificed by the Aztecs.
11:02Pretty gruesome stuff.
11:04So why did they do it?
11:05The reasoning behind Aztec human sacrifice was, to them, a simple matter of survival.
11:11According to mythology, the sun god Huitzilopochtli was in constant battle against darkness.
11:18And if the fight were lost, the world would cease to exist.
11:22The Aztecs believed that to keep the sun moving,
11:24they had to feed Huitzilopochtli human hearts and blood.
11:28Now, the conquistadors described witnessing this horrific ceremony
11:31in which Aztec priests sliced open the chest of a victim,
11:36offering their still-beating heart to the gods,
11:39and then threw their body down the steps of Templo Mayor.
11:44Sacrifices of various scopes were performed throughout the year for myriad reasons.
11:48To dedicate temples, alleviate drought and famine,
11:51and to honour important calendar dates.
11:53The vast majority of victims were outsiders, probably captured soldiers or slaves,
11:59and believe it or not, many of them embraced being brought to the sacrificial altar.
12:04To give your heart to Huitzilopochtli was a great honour
12:07and ensured a happy afterlife fighting for the sun god against the armies of darkness.
12:14As horrific as it may sound to us today,
12:16these rituals were deeply important to the Aztecs and a vital part of their society.
12:20The conquistadors unfairly branded them as uncivilized savages
12:25and systemically tried to destroy their culture,
12:27a heritage going back centuries.
12:30Following the Spanish conquest,
12:32the Templo Mayor was buried and largely forgotten
12:35until it was unearthed in the 1970s.
12:38Discoveries like the Tower of Skulls remind us
12:41that there are still plenty of aspects of the Aztecs' mysterious history
12:45buried out there, waiting to be found.
12:48Located at the geographic crossroads of Central Europe,
13:13Poland boasts over a thousand years of rich history,
13:16encompassing medieval tribes,
13:19Christianization,
13:21monarchy,
13:22and the rise and fall of empires.
13:24The first recorded mention of the word Poland
13:27appears in medieval chronicles from the late 10th century.
13:30It became more formally recognized as a state name
13:33following the baptism of Poland in 966 CE
13:36when Duke Mieszko I unified various tribes under his rule
13:40and established Poland as a Christian nation.
13:43The region was quickly growing,
13:45with people from all over Europe flocking to the area
13:48due to its economic potential,
13:50growing stability,
13:51and connections to broader trade networks.
13:54In a country with plenty of farmland to be cultivated,
13:57many tribes were spread out,
13:59living in small villages and towns.
14:01One such village in southeastern Poland is Pien,
14:04an area with a fascinating medieval history.
14:08Studying that medieval history is a team of archaeologists
14:11from Nicholas Copernicus University in Turun.
14:14As they finish excavating the remains of a 15th century castle,
14:19they take a moment to enjoy the view across the riverbank
14:21when they notice something disturbing.
14:24Human bones are sticking out from the ground.
14:27This is not something you see every day.
14:30Their interest peaked.
14:31The archaeologists immediately begin an excavation.
14:35And before long,
14:36one of the team members hit something metal.
14:39It appears to be a semicircular blade or sickle
14:42typically used as a farming tool.
14:45And here's where things get a bit strange.
14:47It's pinned around the skeleton's neck.
14:51As they uncover the rest of the body,
14:53they find another oddity.
14:55The skeleton's big toe on its left foot
14:57has a rusted, old, triangular padlock attached to it.
15:02The remains belong to a female
15:03between the ages of 18 and 20.
15:06Carbon dating places her time of death as a 17th century,
15:09meaning it's been about 400 years
15:11since she was buried here.
15:13The question is,
15:15why is there a padlock on her toe
15:17and a sickle pinned against her neck?
15:20Looking at societal practices
15:22from the 17th century,
15:24the research team might have a theory
15:25as to why she was buried in such a way.
15:29Europe is filled with thousands of execution sites.
15:32And many towns had spots
15:33where corporal punishment
15:34and death sentences were carried out.
15:37One of the most famous in Poland
15:39is a site just over 300 miles away from Pien,
15:42the town of Zega.
15:44The site, known as Gallows Hill,
15:46served as the town's center
15:48for torture and public executions
15:50between the 16th and 18th centuries.
15:52The condemned would be hanged or decapitated
15:55with their bodies left to rot
15:57as examples for anyone who thought about breaking the law.
16:01An excavation of the area
16:03uncovered rare execution chains
16:05believed to have been used instead of ropes
16:08since chains could bear greater weight
16:10and strain without breaking.
16:11The chains might also have been symbolic
16:14as they were often associated
16:16with the ironclad grip of justice,
16:18making the punishment seem harsher.
16:22So given the padlock on her toe
16:24and the sickle around her neck,
16:26could the woman discovered at Pien
16:27have been a victim of execution?
16:30As the team continues to study the skeleton,
16:33they question if this burial
16:35could have been connected to an execution.
16:37A closer examination reveals
16:39no significant trauma to the remains,
16:42which would be present
16:43if she had died from execution.
16:45Traces of gold and silver threads
16:47around her head were also discovered,
16:50indicating she may have been wearing
16:52a luxurious silk bonnet
16:53at the time of her death,
16:55which suggests she could have belonged
16:56to a higher-class family,
16:58so execution seems unlikely.
17:01As the team expands the dig area,
17:04more troubling burials are discovered.
17:06They found the remains of a young boy
17:09between the ages of five and seven years old,
17:11buried around the same time period.
17:14He's lying face down
17:15with an almost identical iron padlock on his foot.
17:19And there's more.
17:20The area appears to be a full cemetery
17:23or necropolis,
17:24with almost 100 unmarked graves
17:26that are not listed on any maps.
17:30There is one woman
17:32with four large stones around her neck,
17:34almost like a collar,
17:35to weigh down the body
17:36so she couldn't leave the grave.
17:39And considering the boy
17:40was buried face down,
17:42this might have been a technique
17:43to prevent him from rising
17:45from the dead as well.
17:47So what was happening here at the time
17:49that led people to believe
17:51that the dead were going to suddenly
17:52come back to life?
17:53During the 17th and 18th centuries,
17:56reports of vampire sightings and attacks
17:59became widespread across Europe,
18:01particularly in regions
18:02such as Romania, Serbia, and Poland.
18:05This period also marked
18:07the rise of vampire hunts
18:08and the implementation
18:10of anti-vampire measures,
18:12driven by a lack of understanding
18:13of the natural processes of decomposition.
18:16When the human body decays,
18:19the stomach releases a dark fluid
18:20that can flow from the nose and mouth,
18:22resembling blood.
18:24During plagues,
18:25when tombs and mass graves
18:26were reopened to add more bodies,
18:28this could have been thought
18:29to be vampires at work.
18:32Observations like this,
18:33and the idea that vampires
18:34caused plagues,
18:36led people all across Europe
18:37to use different anti-vampire practices
18:39for burials.
18:41In Venice,
18:42archaeologists unearthed the remains
18:43of a 16th century woman
18:45in a mass grave
18:46who had a large brick
18:48lodged into her mouth.
18:49This was one of the practices
18:51at the time
18:51that was believed
18:52to prevent vampire resurrection.
18:55Further analysis determined
18:57this victim was between
18:5861 and 71 years of age
19:00at the time of her death,
19:02which is older than most people
19:04lived at that time.
19:06This could have led to her
19:07being accused of being a vampire
19:09or a witch,
19:10as living to an older age
19:11was often linked
19:12to having supernatural abilities.
19:15If the Polish people
19:16thought the girl and child
19:18found in Pien were vampires,
19:19they might have reasons
19:20that seem silly now,
19:22but were very plausible then.
19:25As the remains were studied,
19:27it was revealed
19:28that the woman
19:29had the Kimmerle anomaly,
19:30which is a condition
19:31where an extra piece of bone
19:33forms on the first cervical vertebra.
19:35This could have led
19:37to her fainting regularly
19:38or having mental health issues,
19:39which could have been seen
19:41as evil behavior.
19:43Villagers may have seen this
19:45and interpreted it
19:45as a sign of vampirism
19:47or another form of evil.
19:49The sickle and padlock
19:50would have been placed
19:50to ensure she remained
19:51in her grave after death.
19:54In medieval Poland,
19:56individuals with physical deformities
19:57or disabilities
19:58were generally buried
19:59in communal cemeteries
20:01alongside others
20:02in their communities.
20:03However,
20:05these specific burial rituals
20:06indicate that some individuals
20:08may have been seen differently,
20:10maybe because of their conditions
20:12or perceived connection to evil.
20:15The burial site in Pien
20:17is now known as the graveyard
20:19for abandoned or lost souls.
20:21As it seems very possible,
20:23the people buried there
20:24were outcasts
20:25who had nowhere else
20:26to be buried.
20:27The female buried
20:29with the sickle and padlock
20:30opened up an untapped part
20:32of the history of Poland,
20:33highlighting the complicated
20:35relationship with superstitious acts
20:37around death
20:37in the 17th century.
20:39stretching for 25 miles
21:03along the Mediterranean coast
21:04of Egypt,
21:05just west of the Nile River Delta,
21:07the port city of Alexandria
21:09is a rich tapestry
21:10of commerce,
21:11culture,
21:12and industry.
21:13Alexandria was founded
21:14in 331 BC
21:15by Alexander the Great
21:17and it quickly grew
21:18to become a major hub
21:20of Hellenistic culture.
21:22But by 305 BC,
21:24Alexander's empire
21:25was crumbling
21:26and after almost 300 years
21:28of political turmoil
21:29and weak rulers,
21:30the way was paved
21:31for the Romans to invade
21:33and declare Egypt
21:34their own.
21:35This city once held
21:37famous structures,
21:38the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
21:39That's one of the seven wonders
21:41of the ancient world
21:42and more impressively,
21:44the Great Library of Alexandria.
21:47But beneath the surface,
21:48the city is home
21:49to the former catacombs
21:50of Com el-Shakafa,
21:52which consists of hundreds
21:54of tombs of dead
21:55from both the Hellenic
21:57and Roman periods.
21:59While the remnants
22:01of the ancient tombs
22:02are still occasionally
22:03discovered today,
22:04it's a rare occurrence.
22:06And the tombs
22:06that do get discovered
22:07have all been ransacked
22:09by looters
22:10and the tombs' coffins
22:11or sarcophagi
22:12have typically been opened
22:13and their contents removed.
22:15A construction crew
22:17in the Sidi Ghebert
22:18district of Alexandria
22:19is digging the foundation
22:21for a new residential building
22:23when they make
22:24a shocking discovery.
22:25Fifteen feet below ground level,
22:28a block of granite
22:29came into view.
22:30And when the surrounding debris
22:32was brushed away,
22:33the block turned out
22:34to be an enormous
22:36black sarcophagus.
22:37And it appeared
22:38to be sealed shut.
22:40So, if this ancient coffin
22:42was truly untouched
22:43for centuries,
22:44it would be the first time
22:46in modern history
22:47that an ancient sarcophagus
22:48was discovered in Alexandria
22:50with its original contents.
22:52But who or what
22:54was inside?
22:56At six feet tall,
22:58nine feet long,
22:59and five and a half feet wide,
23:01a crane was needed
23:02to dislodge all 27 tons
23:04of it from the earth.
23:05And the thick layer of mortar
23:07between the coffin's lid
23:08and body confirmed
23:09that it had never been opened.
23:11On initial inspection,
23:13it was estimated
23:13that this sarcophagus
23:14dated back to the Ptolemaic period.
23:17That's around 300 BCE
23:19to 30 BCE.
23:20That is the era
23:22of Egyptian history
23:23immediately following
23:24the death of Alexander the Great
23:26leading up to the Roman invasion.
23:28There were no inscriptions
23:30on the coffin's exterior
23:31that would traditionally
23:32describe its owner.
23:34However,
23:35as soon as word got out,
23:37both amateurs
23:37and experts in the field
23:39started to speculate.
23:41Could this massive coffin
23:42be the sarcophagus
23:43of Alexander the Great himself?
23:45The location where it was found
23:49was historically tied
23:50to his legacy.
23:52And more to the point,
23:53his tomb has never officially
23:54been identified
23:55and remains a mystery.
23:58Undefeated in battle,
23:59Alexander the Great
24:00created one of the largest
24:02empires in history
24:03by the time he was 30 years old.
24:06There's so much
24:07about his remarkable life
24:08that shows that he truly deserved
24:10to be called the Great.
24:11He was educated
24:13by Aristotle himself,
24:15and he succeeded
24:16to the throne of Macedonia
24:17after his father
24:18was assassinated
24:19when Alexander
24:20was only 20.
24:21From that point forward,
24:23his life was a series
24:25of conquests
24:25and military campaigns
24:27lasting a decade.
24:29By the time
24:30of his death
24:30in Babylon
24:31in 323 BCE,
24:33Alexander's legacy
24:34was sealed.
24:36In addition to Alexandria,
24:37he founded
24:38over 20 other cities,
24:39and his massive empire
24:41led directly
24:42to the fusion
24:43of several cultures,
24:44such as Greco-Buddhism
24:45and Hellenistic Judaism.
24:48Despite multiple attempts
24:50on his life,
24:51it remains unclear
24:53whether Alexander
24:54was murdered
24:55by poisoning
24:55or whether he died
24:57from natural causes
24:58after developing a fever.
25:00But even more mysterious
25:01is the final resting place
25:02of his body.
25:04His funeral procession
25:05was supposed to take him
25:06all the way
25:06to his homeland
25:07in the northeast
25:08of the empire
25:08in what is now Macedonia.
25:10But the plan was changed
25:11mid-precession
25:12by his successor,
25:14Ptolemy,
25:14and his body
25:15was allegedly brought
25:16to Alexandria.
25:17So is it possible
25:18that this giant
25:19black sarcophagus
25:21contains one of history's
25:22greatest warriors?
25:24The sarcophagus lid
25:26is still below ground level
25:27when the Egyptian military
25:29is brought in
25:29to help unseal
25:30the heavy lid
25:31with an unexpected surprise.
25:34After prying the lid
25:35open just two inches,
25:37the first thing
25:38to contend with
25:39was an unbelievably
25:40bad stench.
25:42The putrid smells
25:43emanating from the coffin
25:44were so toxic
25:46that the area
25:46had to be evacuated immediately.
25:49When the air cleared,
25:51thanks to blowers and fans,
25:53the open sarcophagus
25:54revealed the remains
25:55of not one,
25:56but three human skeletons.
26:00According to funeral rites
26:01of the Ptolemaic era,
26:02they would have been mummified
26:03and wrapped in fabrics
26:05and textiles.
26:06But bones were all
26:07that remained,
26:08so the materials
26:09must have disintegrated
26:11over time.
26:13Alexander the Great
26:14would surely have been
26:15buried alone,
26:16so people hoping
26:17to find his body
26:18were probably
26:18pretty disappointed.
26:20So who were
26:21these three skeletons
26:22and where did they come from?
26:25A closer look
26:26at the contents
26:26of the coffin
26:27leads to further speculation.
26:29The three skeletons
26:31were partially submerged
26:32in a thick pool
26:33of red, dark liquid.
26:35When word got out
26:37about this,
26:37it didn't take long
26:38for people to speculate
26:39that the tomb was cursed.
26:42Ancient Egyptians
26:43believed that disturbing
26:44the tombs and mummies
26:45of their pharaohs
26:46would bring bad luck,
26:47illness,
26:48or even death.
26:49And as it turned out,
26:51some present-day Egyptians
26:52believed it as well.
26:54Many tried to prevent
26:54the authorities
26:55from opening
26:56the Sidi Geber sarcophagus
26:57in the first place.
26:59Those are ancient beliefs,
27:01but there are a handful
27:02of spooky incidents
27:04from more recent times
27:05that help explain
27:06why so many people
27:07wanted to shut
27:08that excavation down.
27:10The most famous
27:11archaeological find
27:12from ancient Egypt
27:13was the discovery
27:14of Tutankhamun,
27:16better known
27:16as King Tut.
27:18King Tut was
27:18the boy King Pharaoh
27:20who took the throne
27:21at the age of nine
27:22and ruled Egypt
27:23from 1332
27:24to 1323 BCE.
27:26Although he died
27:27when he was only 18,
27:29construction on what
27:30would become
27:30this tomb started
27:31the moment he came
27:32to power.
27:34King Tut's tomb
27:34was famously discovered
27:36in 1922
27:37by a British archaeologist
27:39and Egyptologist
27:40named Howard Carter.
27:42And while the tomb
27:42had already been looted,
27:44over 5,000 artifacts
27:45remained inside,
27:47including the boy King's
27:48mummified remains.
27:51But here's the catch.
27:52The Pharaoh's curse
27:53was to be placed
27:54on whomever
27:55disturbs the tomb,
27:56whether that's thieves
27:57or grave robbers
27:59or archaeologists.
28:01Belief in a King Tut curse
28:03started to rise
28:03soon after the deaths
28:04of a few members
28:05of Carter's team
28:06and other prominent visitors
28:08to the tomb.
28:10This included an earl
28:11by the name
28:12of Lord Carnarvon
28:13who financed
28:13the entire expedition.
28:16Six weeks after
28:17visiting the site,
28:18Carnarvon supposedly
28:19slashed a mosquito bite
28:20with a razor
28:21and died
28:21from blood poisoning.
28:24So,
28:24is it possible
28:25the black sarcophagus
28:27was equally cursed?
28:28And if so,
28:29does that explain
28:30the blood-red liquid
28:31surrounding the remains?
28:33Samples of the liquid
28:34are collected
28:35for chemical analysis
28:36to help identify
28:37the source.
28:39The dark red sludge
28:40turned out
28:40to be liquid sewage
28:42from the surrounding
28:42underground infrastructure.
28:44Experts determined
28:45it had seeped
28:46into the coffin
28:47through tiny cracks.
28:48So,
28:49that not only explained
28:50the terrible smell,
28:51it also likely played
28:53a role
28:53in the deterioration
28:55and disintegration
28:56of the fabrics
28:56and textiles
28:57that most mummies
28:58are wrapped in.
28:59The whole curse theory
29:00was quickly put to rest.
29:02After all,
29:03no one involved
29:04in the excavation
29:05became mysteriously ill
29:06or died.
29:07But as the sarcophagus
29:09was being drained
29:10of the remaining sewage,
29:12there was another discovery
29:13inside the coffin.
29:14Four gold squares.
29:16The squares were less
29:17than two inches long
29:18on either side
29:19and each of the panels
29:20showed symbolic imagery
29:21of military rankings.
29:23So,
29:24maybe the three mummies
29:25were ancient Egyptian warriors
29:26buried together
29:27in the same tomb.
29:28Such was the practice
29:29and tradition
29:30to bury soldiers together,
29:32especially after a battle,
29:33when there was a need
29:34to deal with multiple bodies
29:35at one time.
29:37A close inspection
29:38of each of the skeletons
29:39is performed
29:40to determine
29:41the age and gender.
29:42The researchers
29:43paid particular attention
29:44to the anatomy
29:45of the skulls
29:46and the pelvises
29:47and the long bones.
29:48And from that,
29:48they could tell
29:49that the first two bodies
29:50were from males,
29:52one in his late 30s,
29:53the other in his early 40s.
29:55But the third skeleton
29:56belonged to a female
29:58in her early 20s.
29:59With this configuration,
30:02it was entirely possible
30:03they were members
30:04of the same family,
30:05which was also in keeping
30:06with Egyptian burial practices.
30:08But the presence
30:09of the female
30:10meant they were not warriors,
30:12so there was likely
30:12some other meaning
30:13to the symbolism
30:14of the four gold panels.
30:16While examining the skulls,
30:18another unexpected discovery
30:20indicates a possible
30:21cause of death.
30:23The skull of the older male
30:24had a big hole in the back,
30:25like an injury
30:26from a sharp weapon,
30:27like an arrow or a spike.
30:29It's starting to look like
30:30there may have been
30:31a murder here.
30:32Possibly three murders.
30:35While that tantalizing theory
30:36is more in line
30:37with the mummy's curse,
30:39the actual origin of the hole
30:41is no less fascinating.
30:42The large cavity
30:44may in fact have been
30:45the result of something
30:46called trepanation,
30:47a surgical procedure
30:48practiced throughout
30:49the ancient world.
30:52Trepanation involved
30:53drilling a hole
30:54directly into the skull
30:55while the person
30:56was still alive.
30:57It was practiced
30:59for both religious reasons
31:01and as a form
31:02of medical intervention
31:03to relieve extreme headaches
31:05and pressure
31:05from brain swelling.
31:07There are only
31:08a handful of examples
31:09of this dangerous procedure
31:11from Egypt,
31:12so that made this discovery
31:13even more significant
31:15and special.
31:16It's almost impossible
31:17to verify why the man
31:19underwent brain surgery,
31:20but based on more
31:21bone analysis,
31:23it was determined
31:23the ritual didn't kill him.
31:25He lived for a considerable
31:26period of time
31:27after the hole
31:29was drilled into his skull.
31:30It's just one more
31:32fascinating element
31:33to the mystery
31:34behind the three skeletons.
31:36While the full story
31:37of the giant black sarcophagus
31:39remains elusive,
31:41researchers continue
31:42to investigate
31:43the bodies found inside,
31:44hoping to unlock
31:45the secrets hidden
31:47below the streets
31:48of ancient Alexandria.
31:55North of the city
32:12of Idaho Falls,
32:14near the border
32:14with neighboring Montana
32:15and over 25 miles
32:17from the nearest town,
32:19lie the Lava Tube Caves,
32:21a series of strange
32:22subterranean formations
32:24that conceal
32:25a mysterious past.
32:27These unusual structures
32:28are created
32:29when molten lava flows
32:30steadily along
32:31this contained path.
32:33The outer edge of it
32:34hardens and turns solid
32:35because it gets cooler,
32:36but the middle
32:37continues to flow
32:38and eventually
32:39all just flows
32:40right out the end of it,
32:41leaving a cave
32:42in its wake.
32:43And that thing
32:44can sneak underground
32:45for thousands of feet.
32:47The caves that attract
32:48the most tourists
32:49are the civil defense caves.
32:51During the 1950s and 60s,
32:54the United States government
32:55used them
32:56as part of a defense strategy
32:57to serve as fallout shelters
32:59in the event
33:00of a nuclear attack.
33:02Though they were never used
33:04for this purpose,
33:05there's still an ominous reminder
33:07of the era's fears
33:08and anxieties.
33:09Before that,
33:11going back as far
33:12as the late 19th
33:13and early 20th century,
33:14this whole area
33:16of the Idaho-Montana border
33:17was a known hideout
33:19for outlaws.
33:19There are countless stories
33:22of famous bandits
33:23who sought refuge
33:24from the law here.
33:25It's also a hotspot
33:27for historians
33:28and amateur treasure hunters
33:29looking for remnants
33:30of the Wild West.
33:32A family on vacation
33:33is hunting for arrowheads
33:35and other artifacts
33:36in one of the
33:37civil defense caves
33:38when they make
33:39a surprising discovery.
33:41There was a burlap bag
33:42partially buried
33:43in a shallow section
33:44of the cave's soil
33:45about 200 feet
33:47from the western entrance.
33:48And when they opened the bag,
33:49they found articles
33:50of clothing inside.
33:52A red shirt,
33:53a maroon knit sweater,
33:55black wool pants
33:56with suspenders.
33:57The clothes
33:58were in pretty good condition,
34:00but that wasn't
34:01what shocked the family.
34:04A deeper reach
34:05into the bag
34:05revealed human remains,
34:07specifically a human torso
34:09that was missing sections
34:10of all four of its limbs.
34:12And most disturbing,
34:13it was also missing its head.
34:14So who was this person
34:16and who did this to them?
34:18The local coroner
34:19is called in
34:20to do a more detailed
34:21examination of the body.
34:23The torso had been
34:24partially wrapped
34:25in the clothes
34:25and then bundled up
34:26in the burlap sack,
34:28which created a slight
34:29mummification effect.
34:31Add to that,
34:32the cool temperatures
34:33of the cave,
34:34which likely slowed
34:35the natural degradation
34:36of organic matter,
34:37made it difficult
34:38to get an accurate date
34:40and time of death.
34:41The remains
34:43were well preserved
34:44and they still have
34:45the distinct odour
34:46of decomposition.
34:47So based on all of that,
34:49they concluded
34:50this body had been
34:50in the cave
34:51for no more than 10 years.
34:52Suddenly,
34:53this cave was a crime scene
34:55and this was
34:56an unsolved murder.
34:58Police begin
34:58to probe the possibility
35:00that the grisly discovery
35:01might be connected
35:03to the mysterious disappearance
35:04of two teenage girls
35:06from Pocatello, Idaho
35:07years earlier.
35:08Tina Anderson
35:10and her friend
35:11Patsy Campbell
35:11were last seen
35:12at a midsummer
35:13Pioneer Day celebration,
35:15which was a big
35:16city-wide event.
35:18But after Tina
35:19failed to show up
35:20for a babysitting job
35:21that evening,
35:22family members reported
35:23both girls missing
35:25to the police.
35:26The girls had gone
35:27to a third friend's house
35:28where there was
35:29a party going on
35:30attended by both
35:31adults and teenagers.
35:33Patsy and Tina
35:34reportedly piled
35:35into a pickup truck
35:35with three or four others,
35:37went to a popular
35:38drinking spot
35:39in the woods
35:39for a few hours
35:40and then were dropped
35:41off back in town.
35:43But they were
35:44never seen again.
35:46Police working the case
35:48believed it wasn't
35:48a case of stranger abduction,
35:50but that the girls
35:50willingly went with
35:51whoever it was
35:52under false pretenses.
35:54Is it possible
35:54the human remains
35:55discovered in the
35:56civil defense caves
35:57belong to one
35:57of the missing teenagers?
35:59The skeletal remains
36:00are transferred
36:01to the FBI,
36:02where they are examined
36:03by anthropologists
36:04to verify the age
36:05and gender
36:06of the deceased.
36:08Based on information
36:09gathered from the torso's
36:10soft tissue,
36:11plus the reddish hair
36:12from the pubic area,
36:13the body was consistent
36:15with that of a white male.
36:17Then, a thin section
36:18of the left femur
36:19was cut for analysis,
36:21and the age of the deceased
36:22was estimated to be
36:23at least 40 years old
36:25at the time of death.
36:26So that ruled out
36:27the possibility
36:28of the missing teenage girls.
36:31As far as they could tell,
36:32all the trauma
36:33to this body
36:33was limited to the fact
36:34that it had its head
36:36and limbs removed.
36:38There were no other signs
36:39of violence or damage
36:41inflicted on the bones.
36:43So the actual cause
36:44of death
36:44is still unknown.
36:46But the positive ID
36:48of a 40-something
36:49white male
36:50really narrowed down
36:52the field of possibilities
36:53for unsolved missing persons
36:54in that area.
36:56The investigation shifts,
36:58and authorities begin
36:59to look into
37:00the sudden disappearance
37:01of a Clark County
37:02sheepherder
37:02who may just fit
37:04the description
37:04of the remains.
37:06A man from Dubois, Idaho,
37:08by the name of John Green,
37:09got into a fight
37:10with another sheepherder
37:11by the name
37:12of Martin Malady.
37:14They lived
37:14in the same rented house,
37:16and on the night
37:17of the fight,
37:18the house caught fire.
37:20When the fire trucks arrived,
37:22Malady tried to prevent
37:23firefighters
37:24from putting out the fire,
37:25which was not only
37:26suspicious,
37:27but illegal.
37:29When the fire
37:30was finally subdued,
37:31John Green was nowhere
37:32to be found,
37:33and his body
37:34was not amongst
37:35the debris.
37:37It's possible
37:37that Malady killed
37:39and dismembered Green
37:40that night of the fight,
37:41took his remains
37:42to the remote cave,
37:44and then set fire
37:45to the house
37:45to destroy any evidence.
37:48Unfortunately,
37:49Martin Malady died
37:50in prison,
37:50doing time
37:51for unrelated fraud
37:52and theft charges,
37:53making it impossible
37:54to tie him
37:54to Green's disappearance
37:55or the human remains
37:57found in the
37:57civil defense caves.
37:59With no further leads,
38:00what was left of the body
38:01was sent back
38:02to Idaho and buried,
38:03and the case
38:04of the headless torso
38:04went cold.
38:06But a second discovery
38:07in the cave
38:08by another vacationing family
38:10changes all of that.
38:12An 11-year-old girl
38:13was exploring
38:14the same lava tube
38:15cave system
38:16when she came across
38:17a mummified hand.
38:19Law enforcement
38:20responded right away
38:21and excavated the area
38:23for additional clues,
38:24and they found something.
38:26A second burlap bag,
38:28almost identical
38:29to the first one,
38:30containing parts of one arm
38:32and two legs.
38:34The torso was quickly exhumed,
38:36and it was confirmed
38:37as a match.
38:38So with this second discovery,
38:40there was suddenly
38:41a more complete skeleton
38:42and hopefully a clearer picture
38:45of what happened
38:45to this man.
38:47The only other thing
38:48still missing
38:49was the victim's head.
38:51Another search was conducted,
38:52a combined effort
38:53between anthropologists
38:54and law enforcement
38:55who brought in
38:56a canine cadaver dog,
38:58but none of them
38:59could find the skull
39:00or any other evidence
39:01pertaining to the case.
39:02The authorities
39:03transfer the evidence
39:04they do have
39:05to anthropologists
39:06and bioarchaeologists
39:08at Idaho State University.
39:10In addition
39:11to the human remains,
39:12this included the clothes
39:13from the burlap bag
39:14as well as the bag itself.
39:16A decision was made
39:16to re-examine the clothing,
39:18and while all the stitching
39:19was performed by a machine,
39:21the style
39:22and the natural materials
39:23looked to be
39:24from a much earlier era
39:25and not by a few decades,
39:27more like an entire century.
39:29The woolen trousers,
39:30the suspenders,
39:31it was all very old-fashioned,
39:34and yet it was all
39:35remarkably well-preserved.
39:37So if that was the case
39:38for the clothing,
39:39what about the body?
39:40Is it possible
39:42that the cool temperatures
39:43of the cave,
39:44along with the mummification
39:46of the burlap bag,
39:48resulted in misleading information
39:49about the corpse's origins?
39:52If he was killed
39:53and buried in the cave
39:54a few generations ago,
39:55that would certainly explain
39:57the lack of matches
39:58in any DNA database.
40:00The question is,
40:01just how many generations?
40:03The gruesome manner
40:04in which he was found,
40:06his body ripped apart,
40:07certainly bore the hallmarks
40:09of Idaho's lawless
40:11and violent past.
40:12One of the most notorious
40:14outlaws from Idaho's Wild West
40:16was a bootlegger
40:17named Joseph Henry Loveless.
40:19Joseph Loveless was born in 1870
40:22in Payson, Utah,
40:23to Mormon parents.
40:25He had one child
40:26with his first wife
40:26who divorced him in 1904.
40:29Then he married again
40:30to a woman named Agnes Caldwell,
40:33and the couple had four children.
40:35Loveless was known
40:36as a violent bootlegger
40:37who spent several years
40:38in and out of jail,
40:39but mostly out,
40:40as he managed to escape
40:41on three different occasions.
40:42It didn't take long
40:43for him to make
40:44the most wanted list,
40:45but Loveless had several aliases
40:46which made it more difficult
40:47to track him down.
40:49The last time he was put in jail
40:51in 1916
40:52was for murdering
40:54his second wife, Agnes,
40:55with an axe.
40:57Once again,
40:58Loveless managed to escape,
40:59but this time he was gone,
41:01never seen again.
41:03It was rumored
41:04he fled to another state,
41:05but that didn't fit
41:07with his pattern
41:07of criminal behavior.
41:09It was also rumored
41:10he simply gave up
41:11his life of crime.
41:13But even as a reformed man,
41:14that didn't explain
41:15why this was
41:16a total disappearance.
41:18Is it possible
41:19he met a violent end?
41:21Was the corpse found
41:22in the civil defense cave
41:23the body
41:24of Joseph Henry Loveless?
41:26The victim's genetic profile
41:28is uploaded
41:29to various DNA databases
41:31to identify possible
41:33close relatives.
41:35The DNA was high quality,
41:36which is lucky.
41:37That's unusual
41:38for such an old sample.
41:39But there was still
41:40a major challenge
41:41finding a living relative,
41:43mostly because Loveless
41:45used so many different aliases.
41:46But then,
41:48a huge break in the case.
41:50An old poster reading
41:51Wanted for Murder
41:52was discovered.
41:53And the man in question
41:54was named Walt Cairns.
41:56But he was described
41:57as wearing
41:57a brown coat,
41:59a red sweater,
42:00and black trousers
42:01with overalls
42:02or suspenders.
42:03After several months
42:05of looking,
42:05it was the original
42:06law enforcement agency
42:08on the case,
42:08the Clark County Sheriff's Office,
42:10that managed to locate
42:11the bootlegger's
42:1287-year-old grandson.
42:14He agreed to take
42:16a DNA test
42:16and it was a match.
42:18Exactly how Loveless
42:19met his demise
42:20is still up for debate.
42:21But a lot of people think
42:22it was probably just karma.
42:24Family members
42:25of his murdered wife,
42:26Agnes,
42:26caught up to him
42:27and had revenge.
42:28But at this point,
42:29we don't know
42:30who did kill Loveless.
42:31And we also
42:32don't know
42:33where his head is.
42:34Joseph Henry Loveless's
42:36demise is just one
42:37of the stories
42:38hidden in the dark caves
42:40of Idaho's back country.
42:41And it was only brought
42:42to light through
42:43a remarkable blend
42:44of old-fashioned
42:45crime solving
42:46and modern forensic science.
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