Secrets of the Dead

Scientists test the bones of England's fierce King Richard III.

In November 1997, when the skeletal remains of at least 28 bodies were unearthed in the basement of an elegant townhouse, police feared it was the work of a serial killer. But when research indicated the bones actually dated to the mid-1700s, the implications became even more dramatic. This was no ordinary house: 36 Craven Street was the former residence of one of the most important men in American history, Benjamin Franklin. Could the unthinkable be possible? Could one of America’s most iconic figures have been responsible in some way for the bones in the basement?

For many, President Lyndon B. Johnson is chiefly remembered for escalating the United States military involvement in Vietnam. But his legacy is much more than his role in the Vietnam War. In fact, Johnson engineered the passing of two of the most important laws Congress ever approved: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Johnson’s signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness airing nationally, Tuesday, August 4, 2015 from 9-10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), examines how Johnson meticulously worked behind the scenes to outwit the Southern segregationists who were determined to maintain the racial divide. He cajoled, flattered, wheeled and dealed, using all the tricks he had learned as a long-serving Senator, to ultimately transform America. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, JFK & LBJ is from the team that produced JFK: OnePM Central Standard Time which aired on PBS in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. The dramatic events are told through rare archival footage and reenactments with actor Mark Murphey as Johnson and Dené Hill as Geraldine Whittington, who Johnson hired, the first African American secretary to the President.

The Trojan Horse… It was the ultimate sneak attack, bringing a city that would withstood nine years of battle to its knees. But was it simply a work of fiction? Or did the Greeks really trick the Trojans into defeat with a giant wooden horse that concealed enough soldiers to reduce the powerful city to rubble?

Bram Stoker penned his gothic horror “Dracula” in 1887 and popularized the modern vampire myth – but evidence now points to those myths originating in England, not Eastern Europe as many believe. Unexplained burials, identified as ‘deviant’ and ‘cursed’ by their contemporaries, were detailed in Stoker’s original research notes and drafts, discovered by his great-grandson in the family archive. Oxford professor John Blair follows clues in medieval burials in England that may offer insight into physiological reasons for the formation of the myths. The cases hint at a deeply-held belief that the dead could rise and bring fear to the living… a belief that predates the Eastern European legend and is forcing a reexamination of the modern vampire legend.

The story of the Jamestown settlement, the first permanent English colony in the Americas, is seen through the prism of a 14-year-old English girl whose skull and severed leg were discovered during the excavation of the trash layer of a cellar. The study of her remains reveals evidence that one or more of the settlers, who endured a 1609-10 winter that's often called the "Starving Time," resorted to the unthinkable—cannibalism—to feed themselves.