(narrator) The greatest mysteries of humanity. Inexplicable events, places shrouded in legend, and superhuman heroes. People don’t want to believe in a world without miracles, because this means a world without soul.
They are the mysterious legacy of ancient cultures. Myths come from an oral tradition. Each retelling is different.
The heroic become more heroic and the power becomes more powerful. Researchers worldwide are working to get to the bottom of these myths. (Willis) So advanced is modern historical research and archaeology, we just need to keep looking.
One culture that has provided ample material for myths is the old Egyptian civilization. Powerful pharaohs ruled the country for over 3,000 years, worshipped as gods by their loyal subjects. One such pharaoh is particularly mysterious: Tutankhamun, the King with the golden mask.
The Valley of the Kings, 1922. Archaeologist Howard Carter conducts large excavation works. He‘s looking for treasures: gold, grave offerings, and mummies.
After years of searching, he finally gets lucky. One of his workers comes across a secret cavity with a stairway. Right away, Carter sends a telegram to his sponsor Lord Carnavon: "At last have made wonderful discovery in Valley.
Stop. A magnificent tomb with seals intact. Stop.
Re-covered same for your arrival. Stop. Carter.
" Two weeks later, Lord Carnavon travels to the Valley of the Kings. It will be his last journey. Carnarvon and Carter are looking at one of the greatest archaeological finds ever.
But soon, inexplicable events start to unfold. With every piece they take out of the pharaoh’s vault, the Golden King's anger appears to increase. The first casualty shakes the excavation team.
Lord Carnarvon, the financier, dies. The world press reports the second sensation within a short time. First, the discovery of the tomb and now the deadly curse of the pharaoh.
The curse gave the press a juicy story. It led to mystery, which excited not just the journalists, but their audiences. If you want a story to be well-known, make it a secret.
17 people die, allegedly from the curse of the pharaoh. Among the dead is Arthur Mace, Carter’s right hand. Is the tomb really the cause of all these deaths?
Does the ancient corpse have sinister powers that haunt us in the present? (in Arabic) (dubbed in English) The tomb discovery unleashed the curse. The facts surrounding the tomb are obscure.
The young king was very mysterious. He took the throne when he was eight or nine years old and died at 18 or 19. Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten, a revolutionary pharaoh.
He and his spouse, Nefertiti, were to be treated like gods. After Akhenaten’s death, he was succeeded by his young son, Tutankhamun. Ten years later, he is also dead.
Tutankhamun completely disappeared from the history books after his death. So without finding his tomb, we'd probably still not know about this pharaoh. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Valuable artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb are on display here. Some are particularly impressive, like these large wooden shrines that Carter found in the vault. (in Arabic) (dubbed in English) The shrine was located within the three other shrines.
Inside, they found four sarcophagi, placed one inside the other. Just like the Russian Matryoshka dolls, where the dolls are inside each other. Four large rooms, one built into the next, home to those four sarcophagi.
The last one contained the four coffins. And was in the shrine back there. I'll show you.
This shrine was inside this one. Which was inside that one. And this last shrine is the largest.
It contained all the others. Carter has to take apart the shrines inside the small tomb. They were just too large.
All tightly placed into one another, barely an inch apart. Carter needs to build special tools not to destroy the wooden coffins or the intarsia. Finally, it emerges: the golden mask and the mummy.
But because resin was used to embalm the mummy, the mask stuck to the body. Carter finally just rips the golden mask off Tutankhamun’s face. The Zurich Institute of Evolutionary Medicine.
Professor Rühli has examined Tutankhamun’s corpse several times. (in German) (dubbed in English) Carter cut off its entire head, damaging it in the process. Carter disassembled the mummy into individual parts.
He thought this was the best way to display the treasures. (dubbed in English) Some of the parts have been put back together, so the damage is only visible to a certain extent. They wanted to make it look like they left the body more or less intact for future generations.
Time and again, scientists have tried to examine the pharaoh. Why did he die so young? Based on their research, experts agree Tutankhamun died at around 19.
There were no signs he was murdered. So why did he die? (Rühli) There are theories that he was run over by a chariot and was injured.
Based on current findings, I believe most of these injuries are the result of handling that took place in the 1920s. But we are unable to prove that. State-of-the-art methods and DNA analysis reveal sobering facts about the young king.
. . who history had almost forgotten about.
The beautiful golden mask hides a deformed face, marked by disease. Tutankhamun’s body shows clear signs of incest. The young pharaoh was probably ill from birth.
He had a club foot. This would explain why archaeologists found some 130 walking canes in his tomb. In addition, he had an acute malaria infection.
This mixture of disease, genetic defects, and a potential accident may have led to his premature death. (Machin) His story is fascinating, partly because he was such a young king who died at a very young age, but also because we are fascinated by Egyptian life, by this civilization that existed thousands of years ago and has practically disappeared into the dust. We love to hear these magical stories of kings and their adventures.
Add a curse and you have an amazing story to hand down the generations. But what about the mysterious deaths? In fact, the discoverers of the burial chamber died much less spectacularly than long thought.
The majority died of natural causes. The curse of the pharaoh: no magic power, but rather a successful PR stunt. Humans have always sought explanations for catastrophes and great misfortune and they often find them in myths.
Some of the oldest myths of humanity were written down to teach people a lesson. In the fourth century BC, Greek philosopher Plato describes Atlantis as a splendid island nation whose residents were doomed. Was there actually such a civilization that was completely wiped out?
What is the myth of the lost island kingdom really trying to tell us? Atlantis, the magnificent island nation. It is said to have consisted of several rings.
At its heart, Poseidon’s temple. It was home to the most advanced culture of its time. But the Atlanteans were also arrogant, so the gods decided to punish them.
Atlantis was completely annihilated in a dramatic catastrophe. The myth of Atlantis is important to us, because it's the story of a once highly-developed culture, which has utterly disappeared. It's a story of hubris.
It's a story of punishment. In the modern world in which we think we know so much, it serves as a pretty powerful warning. We can read about the legend in Plato’s work.
In 360 BC, he describes Atlantis as a splendid island nation, which had ruled over the entire Mediterranean region 9,000 years earlier, with untold wealth and unparalleled power. The story about the end of this civilization has enthralled generations worldwide. To this day, many people not only look for the location, but also the superhuman power that Atlantis is said to emit.
SS Chief Heinrich Himmler spent large sums trying to prove that the Teutons descended from the Atlanteans. He hoped archaeologists would find evidence of ancient Aryans in Atlantis. Their search took them as far as Tibet, but they left empty-handed.
The search for Atlantis is also fueled by the discovery of another city. Troy was long thought to be a myth described in The Iliad by the Greek poet, Homer. In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann finds the ancient city in today’s Turkey.
Can Atlantis be found, too? We have so many stories about Atlantis. It is a magical undersea world.
If you were the archaeologist to discover that, you would go down in history. But is there any truth to the myth? Did Atlantis really exist?
If it did, are there any traces? Greece. The island of Santorini.
This might have been the location of Atlantis. Its ring-like structure is the result of volcanic activity that has shaped the local landscape for thousands of years. Geologist Evi Nomikou is familiar with the stories about Atlantis.
The island attracts myths like a magnet. Before 3,600 years at this place, there was a small island with the same geometry, with the same composition, lava composition. And at the top of this volcano, a city was built on.
Santorini is located on an ancient volcano. When it erupted thousands of years ago, it wreaked havoc. The crater became clogged with boulders and eventually exploded.
A natural catastrophe, just like Plato describes. Scientists look for evidence in the sea surrounding the crater. Using modern technology, they’re examining the volcanic rocks underwater.
This is a small robot. This is a small ROV. We call it Jason.
And we will explore the sea floor very close to Nea Kameni just to see the morphology of the lava that is cooling down on the sea floor. Eight engines and three cameras. The robot replaces the divers and provides high-resolution images.
It passes by lava solidified a long time ago. Just like the islands, the volcanic eruption shaped the seafloor around it. And at last, a discovery.
Underwater stairs. Could they belong to a former harbor? An entrance to the city of Atlantis?
Evi Nomikou is one step closer to finding Atlantis. But she will need to conduct more dives to find out whether these steps are manmade or a product of nature. I believe there was a magic city in the middle of the caldera.
And that city has been destroyed completely. But we need to search more and explore more. And when we find some evidence from the seafloor, not something that we will find on land, then I will be completely sure Santorini was Atlantis.
But something doesn’t add up in the Santorini theory. According to Plato, Atlantis is located beyond the Pillars of Hercules, behind Gibraltar. US researcher Richard Freund is convinced he’ll be able to unearth Atlantis in this region.
Following Plato’s descriptions, he’s got his eyes set on southern Spain. His search takes him to the Doñana National Park. He believes today’s dunes cover the once important harbor and the ring-shaped islands.
He suspects the coast line has shifted over the centuries. We are at Ground Zero for Atlantis Freund visits a 1920's excavation site. The dig was never finished.
Today, the park is protected. It is impossible to conduct new excavations. A rock formation is sticking out of the ground, maybe a wall.
We're gonna measure this this edge. And then I wanna measure this edge. This is a right angle.
There are no right angles in nature. This is manmade. If his theory is correct, this wall might have once belonged to the powerful city of Atlantis.
There should be no major stone like that in this area. . .
and yet it's there. But so far, there’s no evidence corroborating Freund’s theories. Maybe Atlantis will be discovered one day.
Until then, it remains the great myth of a lost civilization. Myths often go hand in hand with faith. The greatest legends therefore often have a religious motivation.
Like the famous Grail relic, that is inextricably linked to Jesus and the idea of redemption and eternal life. Did the Holy Grail really exist? The eve of the crucifixion.
The Bible says Jesus handed his disciples a cup of wine, saying “This is my blood. ” He promises to remain present in bread and wine. Those who drink from the cup are part of this community, and can hope for a life after death.
The Holy Grail is like a condensed conduit for the power of creation, which can be used to heal, to restore sanity. It comes in the form of a cornucopia, which delivers the sustenance of life in the womb from which life comes. You name it, the Grail, in its essence, represents the source of creation itself.
The chalice is lost for centuries. In medieval times, however, the crusaders revive the legend. They want to conquer the Holy Land and bring all the relics back to Europe.
Vessels that prompt speculation surface time and time again. Which goblet is the real Holy Grail? Bowls made of wood, or of precious stone?
The Nazis are looking for the Grail as well. Himmler, head of the SS, is obsessed with occult Germanic rites. The mass murderer firmly believes he who has the Grail will be invincible.
But his search comes up short. All sorts of people have hunted for the Grail, because it's such a mysterious object. If you were the one who could find it, after centuries of being lost, then you prove you've got the power, the legitimacy, you were destined to own it.
That's exactly why Hitler and Himmler searched for the Grail during WWII. It would prove they had a right to be doing what they were doing. Valencia Cathedral has been the home of the Santo Cáliz for centuries.
Believers think it is the cup Jesus Christ held in his hands. But is this the true Holy Grail? Many details support the theory that the richly ornamented chalice could be the Grail.
Examinations have shown it was made about 2,000 years ago in the Middle East. But is that enough to prove its authenticity? According to one widespread hypothesis, the cup came to Rome at some point during the first century.
There, an early and persecuted Christian community might have hidden it, maybe in the catacombs beneath the metropolis. And indeed, the catacombs of Rome show a cup resembling the Valencian chalice. The first popes used this cup to celebrate Holy Mass in the underground.
It’s the era of Christian persecution. However, the subsequent path of the chalice remains unclear. .
. until an ancient Latin text offers a clue. It says Jesus used "hunc praeclárum Cálicem," this precious chalice.
They probably meant the Santo Cáliz. For 20 years, Michael Hesemann has been looking for evidence. His key to the Grail: the medieval verse romance Parzival written by Wolfram von Eschenbach.
The protagonist allegedly saw the Grail with his own eyes. (in German) (dubbed in English) Parzival is a treasure map. Follow it and you'll find the Grail.
Hesemann stumbles across a suspicious location in the text. The castle where the Grail is kept is referred to as Montsalvatge. Michael Hesemann sets out to find this legendary castle in Spain.
His quest for the Grail takes him to the Spanish Pyrenees. In his theory, the Grail was taken from Jerusalem to Rome after Jesus’ death, and later brought to Spain by St. Lawrence, a third century deacon.
(in German) (dubbed in English) This is Mont Salvatoris, the Pico de Sant Salvador. In the local Occitan language spoken in Aragon at the time, it was called Montsalvatge. And later, this became the name of the Castle of the Grail in Parzival.
The text comes with directions: "At the foot of that mountain turn right. " At the end of the path lies an ancient building hidden under a ledge, the monastery of San Juan de la Peña. If the Grail had been here, there could still be traces of it today.
Michael Hesemann wants to take a closer look at the monastic maze. The heroic epic provides an exact account of the rooms where Perceval sees the Grail. (in German) (dubbed in English) In the middle, he saw four pillars, and in between a giant fire was ablaze.
We can see one, two, three, four large pillars here, and one, two, three spaces in between where the braziers were placed. There is evidence Michael Hesemann is right and that there was a cup that was worshipped here in the Middle Ages. Is it the one in Valencia today?
Spain isn’t the only place where legends about the Grail circulate. Many believe the Grail was hidden in Glastonbury in south-west England, in the first century. After Jesus died, an old legend of the Grail suggests Joseph of Arimathea collected his blood in a cup and brought it to England.
He’s said to have hidden it in Glastonbury, where one of the most influential monasteries of the Middle Ages was erected, Glastonbury Abbey. A painting in the Abbey chapel tells how Joseph of Arimathea travelled to England with the Grail. It has never been found.
There is a legend around King Arthur, who is said to have been buried on an island called Avalon. Some believe Avalon and Glastonbury are the same place. The legends of Arthur and his Round Table are inextricably linked to the Holy Grail.
Finding it is the top mission of the noble order of knights. The myth of Arthur being linked with the Holy Grail is a very important part of the Arthur story. It makes him more powerful.
It gives him the divine anointment he needs to make him into a true legend which can withstand the years. The only thing that we can be sure of regarding the Holy Grail is that knowing and believing aren’t the same things. Where things lie hidden, there’s a myth waiting to be discovered.
Treasure hunters don’t only set their eyes on objects with religious meaning, but also on places said to hold great riches. The Song of the Nibelungs is probably the most famous German saga. It tells the story of the legendary treasure of Siegfried, the dragon slayer.
But where is his gold now? The Rhine. Center stage for the tale of the Nibelungs, dating back to the late antiquity and the migration period.
It’s a saga of greed, treason, and murder, and a huge treasure, stolen by Siegfried, the dragon slayer. Legend has it that the Rhine was once home to the Burgundian kingdom. There Siegfried marries Kriemhild, the sister of King Gunther.
The King’s adviser, Hagen von Tronje, is obsessed with Siegfried’s treasure: 40 cartloads of gold and silver, and an invisibility cloak. Hagen turns King Gunther against Siegfried. At the king’s behest, he kills the hero and hides the gold in the Rhine.
The river has kept the secret ever since. The Hagen monument in Worms is a reminder of the Nibelungs. But without the treasure and the hope to find it, this tale would have likely been forgotten long ago.
We're fascinated by treasure, partly because of the monetary value, but the treasures that we see in myth tend to be more than that. They have a magical value to them, a personality of themselves they're a character in the story. Think in the Nibelungen of Siegfried's invisibility cloak.
We like the idea of there being something in the world that connects us to a realm beyond our own. It's a magical power. But how much historical truth is hidden in the ancient writings?
St. Gall, Switzerland. There’s an important clue here.
The Benedictine monastery houses one of the oldest manuscripts of the Song of the Nibelungs. It dates back to the second half of the 13th century. Joachim Heinzle knows the Nibelungs saga better than most.
He believes the text is based on true events that took place many centuries before the manuscript was written. (in German) (dubbed in English) Heroic legends were considered historical, a form of passing on history. According to the saga, Siegfried’s widow Kriemhild seeks revenge after the death of her husband.
She turns away from the Burgundians and marries Etzel, king of the Huns. Upon her invitation, King Gunther and his entire entourage travel to the court of the Hun king. They all die in an unparalleled bloodbath.
The Burgundians really existed. At the start of the migration, the Burgundians set up settlements along the Rhine. And the heart of their Empire is exactly where the Nibelungen saga is set: Worms.
And just as in the saga, the real Burgundians are doomed. In around 435, they are defeated by Roman and Hun troops. (battle cries) (horse whinnies) King Gunther’s character is based on the real Burgundian King Gundahar.
And King Etzel has a real counterpart, too: Attila, legendary leader of the Huns. Like Etzel, Attila is said to have been married to a Germanic woman. The Nibelungenlied mixes reality with fiction.
There were people called the Burgundians. This is a story about the fall of those great people. We also have the Hun, who are mythologized as being scary.
The fact that it has this central core of reality means we can actually believe all aspects of the myth, which makes it more powerful. If the protagonists of the saga really existed, then the Nibelung treasure could also be real. But where is it hidden?
The Nibelung treasure can definitely exist. Between the third and the sixth centuries, people buried things constantly, particularly precious metals gold, silver, jewelry, dishes, weapons. And indeed, silent witnesses of the era occasionally emerge from the Rhine.
The last sensational find dates back to 1967, when dredgers came across an incredible treasure in a gravel pit. Heino Neumayer, curator of the Neues Museum Berlin, safeguards the treasure, known as the hoard of Neupotz. (German dubbed in English) It's extraordinary, unique.
It’s the biggest hoard from Roman times that was ever found north of the Alps. Richly adorned weapons and vessels. Silver, bronze, copper.
The value of the raw materials alone is quite impressive. A huge treasure like the one in the Nibelungenlied. The coin finds date it relatively clearly to the year 259, 250 years before the events in the Nibelung saga.
It’s not Siegfried’s gold, but a silver lining nevertheless. The real treasure may still be out there, waiting to be found. The possibilities are unlimited, because the course of the river has changed over centuries.
What used to be the bottom of the Rhine is dry land today. Amateur researchers scour the woods along the Rhine with metal detectors. Sometimes with great success.
In 2014, Benjamin Czerny finds gold and silver jewelry worth more than a million euros. The find of his life. (in German) (dubbed in English) We felt an adrenaline rush as we found the individual parts and saw how they shimmered, all silver and golden.
The best outcome for any treasure hunter. He films the entire hoard at his home and proudly presents his discovery online. (Czerny) The most beautiful piece.
Unfortunately, the gems are missing, they probably fell out. The video attracts the attention of the authorities, who then seize the treasure. It ends up in the State Museum of Coblenz.
Experts determine that the gold came from the Huns. It’s not the Nibelung treasure, but it's proof the Huns were near the Rhine at the same time as the Burgundians. Another find that keeps the Nibelung treasure myth alive, and raises hopes that the Rhine is yet to reveal its greatest secret.
Myths often revolve around real historical figures. After all, human history has produced legendary rulers, like Attila, the king of the Huns. Feared during his lifetime, he became a myth after his death.
Where is the great leader buried? It’s the year 453. Although Attila has already suffered his first military defeats, he is still the powerful ruler of an impressive empire.
His marriage to Ildico, a Germanic princess, is supposed to further stabilize Attila’s power. But the honeymoon phase doesn’t last long. Attila dies the night they were married.
Was it an accident? Or murder? Today, it seems likely that the king died as a result of his excessive drinking.
The greatest unsolved mystery: Where is his tomb? His dead body is said to be protected by three layers of iron, silver, and gold. Allegedly, Attila’s followers cut off their hair and scratched their faces to mourn his death with blood instead of tears.
But where could he be buried? It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Huns were on the move in almost all of Europe.
In the West, they enter the stage of history in the 5th century AD. In bloody battles, the warrior horsemen advance into the heart of Europe. Their greatest enemies, the Romans.
We don't know exactly why the Huns started to move. Perhaps it was climate change or the search for new fertile land for their growing number of horsemen. We are certain, when they started to move, they pushed in front of them tens of thousands of people and they fought those tribes, pushing them up against the walls of the Roman Empire.
Attila was probably the most successful Hun leader. He knew how to unite the feuding tribes. Today, we don’t even know what he looked like, because there are no written documents.
The Huns were an illiterate people. The only reports about them come from their enemies. The former Hun empire is mainly located in today’s Hungary.
Remains of the warriors on horseback are scattered all across the country. To really understand the Huns, scientists study their dead. Archaeologist Gábor Wilhelm specializes in excavating antique tombs.
Only recently, Wilhelm’s team discovered a particularly spectacular object. It is the skull of a warrior, who lived at the same period as Attila. He was buried in a Hun ritual.
(in Hungarian) (dubbed in English) This tomb is an important find, because there are still many unanswered questions on the Huns. Thanks to written tradition, we know a few things about Attila, but finds from this era are rare. Even the smallest artefacts help us to complete this mosaic, this puzzle.
But who is this mysterious Hun warrior? The tomb is unusually exquisite. Golden jewelry, belt buckles, an iron sword.
No doubt this has to be the grave of a powerful man. Unfortunately, it’s not Attila. The warrior died young.
Attila, however, probably lived until the age of 50. Experts believe Attila was buried with precious treasures: gold, silver, and invaluable riches for those who find his tomb. He is said to have been buried under a river in a secret ceremony.
Riverbeds are wonderful locations for preserving historic material. There is no air and that means the material can be preserved for centuries. There's a chance if we found the right place, Attila’s burial chamber would be preserved just perfectly.
But how could a king be buried under a river? With islands to shorten the dam. A natural barrier would mean the water only needs to be dammed on one side, while the other side serves as a natural drain.
Later, a wall can be built on that side, too. This way, Attila’s men might have been able to dig a grave that could be flooded afterwards. The Danube has changed its course over centuries.
Where are you supposed to start looking? We found Roman materials and far older relics along the Danube. I don't see why we wouldn't find memories of the Huns, or even Attila's grave.
Not all researchers believe in the underwater theory. They’re looking somewhere else. Budapest.
This is where the life’s work of an unknown author is stored. The Hungarians refer to him as “Anonymous. ” His work is titled the Gesta Hungarorum, "The Deeds of the Hungarians.
" The 800-year-old manuscript mentions the "city of King Attila. " But where is this ancient royal city? Some think it could be the medieval town of Sicambria.
Sicambria is believed to be lost. But its ruins might be found in the woods of the Pilis Mountains. Ecologist Imre Lánszki has followed the Gesta Hungarorum and is convinced he’s found the remains of the ancient city in this forest.
(dubbed in English) This is the wall of Attila’s castle. The wall was already here back then. If he is right, Attila’s tomb might also be hidden somewhere among these trees and rocks.
Lánszki starts drilling into the ground. He hopes to find a cavity hiding the tomb of Attila. An endoscope camera probe slowly makes its way through the soil.
(Lánszki) This is a fragmented stone. And the rock is not the same. But whether Attila was really buried in this forest remains unclear.
The same goes for the question as to who Attila really was: a cruel barbarian or a skillful negotiator? The only way to find out is to discover his tomb. But great myths are more than just windows into the past.
Some ancient myths have stood the test of time and are echoed in urban legends to this day. The infamous werewolves have become an integral part of today’s pop culture. They are the epitome of evil.
We have an innate fear of horrible beasts and we crave danger just as much as we are scared of it. 18th-century France. An eerie creature wanders the woods of Gévaudan in the south of the country.
(she screams) It is soon dubbed the Beast of Gévaudan. It targets women and children. The victims have one thing in common.
They have claw marks. Bernard Soulier is a writer and an expert in local history. He knows everything about the documents describing the beast.
(French dubbed in English) The beast often attacked people here, like the time they found a 16-year-old girl here in 1765. Her name was Agnès Morgues. The beast decapitated her.
They found her dead body and her head, which had been severed from the rest of the body. Those beheadings are what the experts find most disturbing. I think there’s a resemblance between this animal and a wolf, but there’s one major difference and that’s its aggressive behavior.
The beast is said to have killed at least 78 people, and beheaded 16 of them. Some of the victims were naked. People start panicking.
Could the attacker be a werewolf? A creature half man, half wolf? Werewolves, they are the embodiment of evil.
Their transformation begins at full moon. Fur grows all over the body, muscles grow beyond human proportions, finger nails turn into sharp claws, hands become paws. (snarling) The werewolf has the upright posture and intelligence of a human, but attacks its victims with the force of a predator.
The werewolf is an ideal figure of horror: It reminds us of our animalistic side and the fact we are only a few steps from reverting to it. Also they are the embodiment of evil. The way we picture werewolves today has primarily been influenced by horror movies.
But the descriptions of shapeshifters are much older. In about 700 BC, Greek poet Hesiod mentions a man-wolf for the first time. Zeus is said to have punished King Lycaon by turning his head into that of a wolf.
The Roman author Titus Petronius then adds the full moon as a trigger. Nordic legends like Egil’s Saga also feature werewolves. The Germanic word “wer,” signifying “man,” gives them their name “werewolves.
” By the early modern period, the concept of werewolves is already widespread. The Church also chases so-called werewolves during the witch-hunts. The witch-hunt is based on a book.
Malleus Maleficarum, "Hammer of Witches" by Dominican monk Heinrich Kramer. He declares that witches, magicians, and werewolves live right among us. The Church adopted stories of werewolves to try and keep people in line.
So as a man, if you misbehaved, if you made a pact with the devil, then you could become a werewolf. And this was the ultimate sanction to make sure that people stayed in line. The probably most well-known alleged werewolf comes from Bedburg, close to the German city of Cologne.
The man is said to have haunted the region in 1589. Historian Utz Anhalt knows the details of the case inside out. (in German) (dubbed in English) Peter Stubbe, the most famous werewolf of all, is said to have committed his crimes in this forest.
He confessed to killing 16 people, mainly children, and to eating them, hungry for their flesh. He also admitted to having killed and eaten livestock, and to committing incest with his own daughter. Back in his day, Peter Stubbe was seen as the personification of evil.
Keeping a low profile, he lives discreetly among his alleged victims for a long time. A vigilante group chases a dangerous wolf terrorizing the region. Before the beast manages to escape, one of the farmers cuts off one of its paws.
Afterwards, Stubbe is said to have been missing one of his hands like the animal that lost its paw. He is arrested and confesses to all his crimes under torture. He admits receiving a belt from the devil, allowing him to transform into a wolf.
His fate is sealed. A court sentences him to death. A leaflet from London from 1590 tells Stubbe’s story like a graphic novel.
(Anhalt) They broke his arms and legs, so they could wind them into the spokes. They went on and tore pieces of flesh out of his body with red-hot pliers. They beheaded his mutilated body, and in the end, the entire body was burned.
In ancient myths, the lines between dark forces and mythical creatures, fantastic tales and crimes of cruelty often blur. Is it possible that a human being was behind the killings in Gévaudan? The mysterious beast is eventually defeated by one of the locals.
His name, Jean Chastel. One single shot and it’s done. The bullet pierces the animal’s heart.
The murders stop. . .
but the story has a dubious hero. It’s the miraculous shot that raises doubts. Chastel was about 20 meters away from a moving target, and killed the animal with a single shot.
A level of precision nearly impossible to achieve with a 18th-century weapon. Unless the beast didn’t move. Maybe because it recognized the hunter.
Bernard Soulier has his own theory. (in French) (dubbed in English) Wolf hunters of the 18th century would catch young wolves and cross-breed them with hounds. They wanted to breed animals for greater endurance, more resilience, more strength.
Such a hybrid might not fear people, and could even readily attack them. The murders might really have been committed by a creature, half man, half animal, a hound and its owner. The greatest myths also emerge in places where inexplicable phenomena cause fear in people.
Bizarre lights in the sky, ships and airplanes disappearing without trace. Natural events like these are what stories are made of. People have always found the extreme weather and ruthless sea in the Bermuda Triangle terrifying.
But what’s behind the secrets of the devil’s triangle? December 5th, 1945, around noon, five US torpedo bombers take off from their base in Florida. It’s a routine training flight.
Targeted bombing and navigating above open water. Halfway there, the squadron leader reports compass problems. The pilots are disoriented.
Then radio contact breaks off. To this day, all 14 crew members and their aircrafts are missing. Flight 19 became so famous, because it wasn't just one plane, it wasn't just one ship, it was five planes.
It was an entire squadron and they were never found. When they disappear, the men are in the middle of the infamous Bermuda Triangle. For centuries the waters between Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Bermuda Islands have been shrouded in mysteries.
Over the last 100 years, more than 50 ships and 20 airplanes are said to have vanished here without a trace. Exact numbers are unknown. Time and again, eye witnesses report bizarre phenomena in the area.
Charles Lindbergh, the legendary transatlantic aviator, also had an unusual experience. In February 1928, he takes off on a non-stop flight from Havana, Cuba to his home, St. Louis, Missouri.
(actor as Lindbergh) Both compasses malfunctioned. The liquid compass card rotated without stopping. Could recognize no stars through heavy haze.
Liquid compass card kept rotating until the Spirit of St. Louis reached the Florida coast. So we know the compass spun around uncontrollably.
He wasn’t able to navigate by the stars. When he found out where he was, he was 300 miles off course, near Bahama Island. One of the most spectacular cases is the disappearance of the USS Cyclops in 1918.
A gigantic US Navy vessel. In their official report, the US Navy concludes, “There has been no more baffling mystery in the annals of the Navy than the disappearance of the USS Cyclops. ” No radio messages.
No distress signals. No signs of life. How can a ship of that size just vanish into thin air?
Part of the fame to do with the event was also associated with the war. So she was lost during the war. There was fear over what the Germans might be doing with their U-boats.
The Cyclops was not in waters that should have been fought over, but perhaps the Germans were operating U-boats there. There's fear associated with the war, which made this myth so powerful. For the first time, people start talking about the treacherous waters.
Rumors linked German saboteurs, supernatural forces, and giant sea monsters to its disappearance. Author Marvin Barrash has been investigating the case for years. He is familiar with the myths surrounding the ship.
However, he does not believe in a miracle. Rather, he is sure to have found a clue in the documents. There is this US Weather Bureau chart that indicates there is a large weather system on the east coast of the United States that could have indeed traveled with this large low system into the area where the Cyclops was on her way home.
But if the Cyclops really was in distress, why didn’t she call for help? I suspect a rogue wave, the type of thing that would not have been anticipated. Without warning, no time to prepare.
And I suspect likely at night. Monster waves develop when several swells of different lengths overlap. Long waves travel faster and can overtake shorter waves.
As the wave heights combine, they can reach up to 30 meters. Did the USS Cyclops fall victim to such a monster wave? Could the myth of the Bermuda Triangle have a simple explanation, like unpredictable weather?
But what about the compass anomalies reported by Lindbergh and others? The Bermuda Islands are the remnants of an ancient volcano formed more than 30 million years ago. Witnesses of an apocalyptic moment in the history of the planet.
Nick Hutchings is exploring the underwater rocks. If we were standing at this exact spot 33 million years ago, we would be under 3,000 feet of lava. This was a big volcanic island then.
Over millions of years, the volcanic rock is eroded by wind and weather and washed into the sea. Today, a layer of lava sand 150 meters thick covers the ocean floor around the islands. Hutchings believes the volcanic floor could explain some of the phenomena seen in the Bermuda Triangle.
Magnetite is the most magnetic naturally-occurring mineral on earth. The magnetite in these minerals here is enough to affect a compass. Just this little bit here.
And as you can see, as we move this compass over here. . .
it moves. It’s not a lot, three or four degrees, but it's enough to cause a disaster. You can imagine what 500 billion tons might do.
According to that, Bermuda is a huge magnet in the middle of the ocean. A magnetic compass would point in a different direction. This can cause ships and planes to go off course.
The Bermuda Triangle doesn't stand out statistically, it stands out in our imaginations. It becomes a place where we project whatever our myth is. If your myth is that everything is explainable, you project that.
If your myth is there are aliens or Atlantis that also is gonna be what you project onto the Bermuda Triangle. History’s greatest mysteries. For millennia, they have roused our curiosity.
. . intrigued us, or served as a warning.
And so they will continue to fascinate us in the future.
