All language subtitles for Mysteries.Unearthed.with.Danny.Trejo.S02E02.Blasts.From.the.Past.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

Mysteries can
be buried anywhere.

Under the earth,

beneath the sea,

or even right
under our own feet.

And when we stumble upon them,

sometimes what we find
can change history.

Tonight,

explosive discoveries,
from a ticking time bomb

underneath our
nation's capital...

As he peers down into
the hole, he's stunned.

They are panicked.

This is a real World
War I mortar shell.

To remnants
of a killer asteroid.

From the size of the crater,

the asteroid was about twice
the size of the Superdome,

striking the Earth at over
45,000 miles per hour.

The impact was a
cataclysmic event.

To a
lost weapon of war.

It's loaded with over 270
pounds of high explosives.

In other words, this
thing could bring down

a small building.

Join us now, because
nothing stays hidden forever.

When fishermen head out to sea,

they hope to return
with a full net,

but one captain hauls in a
catch that might just sink him.

It's October 2022,
and Captain Glenn Westcott

and his crew are fishing off
the coast of Rhode Island.

It's a family operation,

so helping him man the rigging
are his son and nephew.

As they haul their
catch and drop it on deck,

fish are flopping
around everywhere.

That's when Captain Glenn
notices something unusual.

Mixed with the fish is
a large, corroded metal barrel.

But it doesn't look like a
normal barrel, like an oil drum.

It's covered with all these
bolts and metal plates,

and it's really heavy.

The captain's first
move is to call the Coast Guard,

who then races a boat
out to evacuate the crew.

The Coast Guard quickly realizes

that they're in over their
head, so they call in the Navy.

When the Navy
explosive experts arrive,

they lose no time in
identifying the threat.

It's a World War II
MK-6 depth charge,

loaded with 270 pounds of TNT.

It's enough to bring
down a small building.

During World War II,

depth charges
played a vital role,

serving as a primary defense
against German U-boats.

After
these depth charges

roll off the back of a
destroyer escort or a frigate,

they sink very rapidly,

and when they reach
a specific depth,

which has been
preset by the crew,

the pressure fuse
triggers the bomb,

and it goes off, and
it sends a shockwave,

and that shockwave reaches
the enemy submarine hull

and crushes it.

The goal was to sink any
submarines lurking in the area.

In some cases, multiple
ships would rain down

hundreds of depth charges,

hoping one of them will cause
the destruction of the U-boat.

Based on
where it was found,

naval historians believe
this particular depth charge

was dropped in one of the
final sea battles of the war.

So in May 1945, a
Coast Guard frigate

and a Navy destroyer spot
a German submarine, U-853,

just two miles off the
coast of Rhode Island.

The two American
ships unleashed a barrage

of 195 depth charges,
hoping to sink the sub.

Eventually, the
relentless pounding

sent the German U-boat
to the ocean's floor.

Apparently, not all
those depth charges detonated,

because here one
is 80 years later,

in Captain Glenn's net.

All of
those control measures

that are in the depth charge

to keep it from going
off, have all corroded.

It really could go
off at any minute.

So the Navy works with the Coast
Guard to set up a perimeter

to ensure that nobody
gets too close.

The Navy
carefully removes this

from the fishing boat.

They take it out to sea.
They're a mile offshore.

They put other explosives
around it, and they detonate it.

It's an explosion bystanders
said they could feel

on the shore.

I know fishermen
are full of tall tales

about the one that got away,

but in this case, I'm
sure that Captain Glenn

and his crew were happy
to let this one go.

The ocean floor
isn't the only place

that World War II left
behind a few surprises.

Just ask the kids who
uncovered something

just as shocking on a
beach a decade earlier.

In May of 2008,
two nine-year-old boys

are playing on the sands
of Houvig Beach in Denmark

on a family vacation.

They're jumping in the
water, running around;

they're having a great time.

One of the boys spots
something near a bluff.

It looks like a bucket
sticking out of the sand,

so he runs over to check it out.

But when he gets there,

he finds something
even more interesting.

Buried in the sand
next to the bucket

is what appears to be a metal
door with concrete around it.

They clear the
sand from around the door

and pry it open.

When they peek in,

they discover something
amazing and horrifying.

This is a concrete room
that's about 200 square feet,

and it's filled with
beds, uniforms,

and military equipment.

They even find that
some of the equipment

is marked with a swastika.

The authorities finally
arrive and call in archeologists

who confirm what the
locals already suspect.

They found a long-lost Nazi
bunker from World War II.

In the early
days of the war,

German forces invade Denmark,
but the Danish military

is no match for the
Nazi war machine,

and the country quickly falls.

The Germans then spent
the rest of the war

fortifying Denmark's
western shoreline.

These bunkers are part
of a broader system

that Germany built
during World War II

that consists of over 7,000
bunkers and fighting positions

that stretch from Norway

all the way to the
Franco-Spanish border.

It's designed to defend
their conquered territory

from a counterattack
by the Allies.

The project is known
as the Atlantic Wall.

The
scale is staggering.

It took over 300,000 workers
to build these bunkers.

They used over 700 million
cubic feet of concrete

and over a million
tons of steel.

The Danish bunkers
are designed to hold out

against anything the
Allies can hit them with.

They have six-foot-thick
walls to stop bomb blasts,

mortars, and gunfire.

With thousands
of such bunkers

and fighting positions
along the Danish coast,

archeologists are convinced

that there could be more
hidden by sand dunes.

So they start searching.

Sure enough, nearby,
they find two more bunkers

poking out of the sand.

These things have been
buried out of sight

for nearly 70 years,

and now suddenly they've
found three of them.

What's really
amazing is that the inside

of these bunkers, they're
like time capsules,

untouched since the end
of the Second World War.

They find boots,
socks, underwear,

Hitler postage stamps,

soda bottles, mustard.

They even find half-finished
bottles of schnapps

and a pipe with
tobacco still in it.

What they
don't find are any bodies

or remains of German soldiers.

When the war ended
with the German surrender

on May 8th, 1945,

the soldiers inside these
positions simply walked out,

closed the doors, walked
to the nearest town,

and surrendered.

Soon after, many
of the bunkers

were looted and stripped,

but some were never discovered,

until now.

In the end, all of
the items inside are preserved

and sent to a museum, and
the bunkers themselves,

although once hidden,

are now preserved and
open to the public.

They attract thousands
of visitors every year.

When you're digging in your
yard, you have to be careful.

You could hit a pipe,
sprinkler line,

or if you're really unlucky,
something much more dangerous.

In 1993, in the Spring Valley
section of Washington, D.C.,

a construction crew is
preparing to dig a trench.

They're surrounded by some of
the fanciest houses in D.C.,

the kind of place where
your next-door neighbor

might be a U.S. senator
or an ambassador.

A backhoe operator fires up
his engine and begins digging.

Suddenly, the bucket on
his backhoe hits something

and makes a large clang.

He climbs out of the
machine to go down

and have a closer look.

As he peers down into
the hole, he's stunned.

What he's hit isn't a rock,
and it looks pretty alarming.

It's metal and shaped
like a foot-long bullet.

They are panicked, so the
crew calls the fire department.

When they see it, they
panic and call the cops.

And yes, the cops also panic,
so they call the bomb squad.

The bomb squad confirms

that this is a real
World War I mortar shell.

Concerned there could
be more bombs buried nearby,

the authorities carefully
search the rest of the area.

They find dozens more
of these mortar shells.

Of course, they
immediately evacuate

25 of the surrounding homes,
and they call in the Army

to try to get a handle
on the situation.

Even though these
shells are old and corroded,

they're still live,
therefore still dangerous,

so they could explode.

When the Army arrives,

they start carefully
removing these shells,

and within a few days, they've
uncovered 140 of these.

However, what looks
like standard ammunition

hides an even deadlier secret.

These shells
were not designed to kill

and maim through fragmentation.

It's worse than that
because this site

used to be home to a U.S.
Army chemical weapons depot.

Inside of these shells

are some of the deadliest
chemical compounds

known to humankind.

World War I
broke out in 1914,

and it was the first
war that started

since the Industrial Revolution.

A lot of new weapons

were being tried out
for the first time,

and one of the worst of
these was chemical weapons.

Highly poisonous
compounds like mustard gas

were loaded into shells
and fired at the enemy.

When they hit, they'd
unleash a cloud of death.

It would burn and blister
flesh, destroy soldiers' lungs,

cause blindness,

and often they'd lead to an
excruciating, painful death.

In 1917, as the United States

is preparing to intervene
in the First World War,

it establishes a
chemical weapons service

in the U.S. Army.

The new U.S. Army
Chemical Service

enters into an agreement with
the new American University,

and together they establish

this facility called Camp Leach.

There, they tested
chemicals on soldiers' skin,

tried out new
designs of gas masks,

and they developed toxic
chemical compounds,

loaded them into mortars,

and fired them
there right on site.

But before the
new weapons could be sent

to the front,
Germany surrendered

and the war was over.

Camp Leach was shut down.

They dug pits in the ground,

stuffed the chemical weapons
in, and just buried them.

At the time,
the military thought

these chemicals will
dissipate on their own,

so no one really thought much
when, 10 years later in 1928,

the ground was turned
over to developers

to build what would become
this ritzy neighborhood.

Now,
seven decades later,

these canisters
remain just as lethal

as the day they were buried,

making this wealthy neighborhood
a dangerous minefield.

The U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers

and several private hazardous
waste disposal companies

have been working to try

to bring this problem
under control,

but the problem keeps
getting bigger and bigger.

They'll clean up one burial site

of former World War
I chemical weapons

and then immediately
find another one.

The Spring Valley
site is about 661 acres of land,

and nearly 1,600 private
homes, several embassies,

and American University

sit atop this collection
of toxic chemicals.

In the end, it took the
government nearly 30 years

and $250 million to
clean up the mess.

They remove over
1,000 military shells

filled with the
deadliest chemicals

and poisons man
has ever developed.

And yes, today they say they
think they've got it all,

but honestly, if I
were buying a house,

I'd be looking for a discount.

Next up, another
war era surprise

washes up on the
shores of Normandy,

just in time for its close-up.

In 1961, a film crew
is clearing the beaches

where the historic D-Day
landing site occurred

in Normandy, France.

They're prepping
to start filming

their own World War II epic
film called "The Longest Day,"

starring none other than the
Duke himself, John Wayne.

Before the cameras
can start rolling,

the beach just has a
lot of debris on it.

It's gotta be cleaned up.

As they comb the sand,

they uncover what
at first looks like

a random piece of metal,

but as they begin to clear
the sand away from it,

it gets bigger and bigger.

They at first think they've
uncovered some kind of vehicle,

maybe a jeep.

They keep digging,
and it becomes pretty clear

that this thing, it's
way bigger than a jeep.

It is a buried full-size tank.

The film's
military advisors

quickly identify the machine.

It's a vintage World
War II Sherman tank

used by the Americans on
the D-Day landing beaches

17 years earlier.

On June 6th, 1944,

nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers
crossed the English Channel

and landed on the
Normandy beaches.

This was a
coordinated attack along

50 miles of German-controlled
and fortified coastline,

and it turned out to be one of

the bloodiest
battles of the war.

One of the
reasons that it was

so difficult for Americans,
was because that initial wave

was also supposed to
include 64 Sherman tanks.

The tanks were supposed to
provide cover, lay down fire,

and then roll over
German fortifications.

Unfortunately, nearly
half of the tank fleet

sunk in the rough waters
of the English Channel

before they reached Normandy.

While
this particular tank

was lucky enough to
make it to the shore,

it quickly ran into
another problem.

The film's military
advisors think that the tank

may have broken down not long
after it made it to the beach

and that it was left behind
during the Allied advance.

Eventually, it
sank into the sand,

where, in the end, it
was covered by a dune.

But it turns out to
be a fortunate find

for the producers of
"The Longest Day."

They're desperately looking
for period-accurate props

for the movie, so when
they find the tank,

they're ecstatic.

The film crew
refurbishes the tank,

slaps on a fresh coat of paint,

and gives it a role in the
D-Day sequence of the movie.

And that's how a
lost, forgotten relic

turned into a
motion picture star.

Sure, home
improvement projects

often come with surprises,

but for one couple in France,

what was hidden in their wall
was no mold or mouse nest.

In 2017, in France's
Burgundy region,

a couple is
remodeling their home.

And as they're doing so,
they pull down the drywall,

and in one area of the house,

they see that there's
something hidden inside.

As it turns out, the
object is an old pistol.

They pull it out of the wall,

and they're shocked to see
there's another gun behind it.

Then another, and
then a submachine gun.

By the time they're done,
the couple has pulled out

three Sten submachine
guns, three pistols,

over a dozen live hand grenades,

and 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

The biggest mystery is
that two of the machine guns

have names engraved on them:

Pepette and Alice.

The couple contact a
local military museum,

who date the weapons
back to World War II.

Turns out,
at the same time,

French Resistance
leader Armand Simonot

was living in the house.

The French Resistance
was a paramilitary unit,

waging guerrilla warfare
against the German occupation.

It started as a scattered
and loosely organized group,

but by 1943, French
General Charles de Gaulle

was coordinating the
activities of multiple factions

from exile in England.

The French Resistance
blew up rail lines,

sabotaged supply routes,
rescued downed Allied pilots,

and by 1944, they grew
into a 400,000-strong force

that was a major thorn
in Germany's side.

Among them,

the well-armed Commander
Armand Simonot.

It's clear that Simonot hid
these weapons in his house

from prying eyes or
to keep them close

in case the enemy came knocking.

When he died, the
secret died with him,

and it wasn't unearthed until
a sledgehammer hit the wall.

It still
leaves one question:

who were Pepette and Alice?

Researchers wonder, were
Pepette and Alice fighters,

or were these just
simply nicknames

that people gave to the guns?

Fortunately, the
couple that found these items

understood their
historical significance.

They donate them
to a local museum,

and they remain on display
as a testament to the courage

and the sacrifice of
the French Resistance.

Finding an arsenal hidden
in your wall is pretty wild,

but that's child's play

compared to what's
found at one playground.

On January 14th, 2025,
a crew is hard at work

expanding a children's park
in Northumberland, England.

They're adding things like a
balance beam and a net bridge,

and they have to clear the land

and lay foundations
to install those.

As they dig, one of the
workers strikes something solid,

and it rings out with a clang.

Work grinds to a halt as the
rest of the crew comes over

to take a look at this
partially exposed object.

As they
clear away more dirt,

a shape comes into view
that stops them cold.

It's a bomb.

It's a foot long
with a conical shape

and what looks like
a fuse at one end.

The first call goes
to the local police,

and within minutes, the
bomb squad is on site.

The experts quickly identify it

as a British World
War II-era bomb.

It's not big.

It's only 10 pounds,

so it's quite a bit smaller
than most World War II bombs.

But with a live fuse
and an intact charge,

it's still lethal.

Authorities
evacuate the entire park.

Local officials bring in a
private bomb disposal company

for what they expect will be a
couple of days of searching

the site to make sure there
are no more explosives.

It soon
becomes clear that this is

a much bigger job
than they expected.

By the end of the first day,

they've uncovered 65 more bombs.

The next day, they find 90 more.

Altogether, they remove 176
bombs and smoke devices.

The real mystery

isn't just how many
bombs there are,

it's why they're here
in the first place.

It turns out this
playground was sitting on

what used to be a British
Home Guard training site.

These are specialized
training munitions

that were called practice bombs.

Don't be
fooled by the name.

"Practice" does
not mean harmless.

These bombs have a
smaller explosive charge

than regular ordnance, but
they can still explode,

and when they do, they can kill.

These bombs are used
in training exercises

where the bomb is
dropped over a target.

When it strikes the ground,
it can either produce smoke

or a visible flash
that allows the trainee

to ascertain whether or
not they hit the target.

During World War II,

the Home Guard was a
last line of defense,

a citizen militia
trained to fight

in case the Nazis invaded.

But the German
invasion never occurs.

And then in the
aftermath of the war,

the practice bombs
that were located there

were not carefully dealt with.

They were simply buried
under the training grounds

and forgotten about until now.

Until
authorities are confident

that every bomb has been found,

the playground in
Northumberland remains closed.

But when they are
able to safely reopen,

there's no doubt the kids
will have a real blast.

Some explosions don't
impact cities or battlefields;

they ripple through space.

And on one quiet night in 2016,

an amateur stargazer
catches something

no one has ever seen before.

One night in September 2016,

Victor Buso is outside taking
pictures with his new camera

when he gets a cool idea.

He attaches the camera
to his 16-inch telescope

to try to take some
pictures of the stars.

After searching around for
something interesting to shoot,

he spots what appears to be a
distant spiral-shaped galaxy.

Victor sets the camera to
take a sequence of images,

each with a 20-second exposure.

He waits for the
camera to click,

and then he checks to see how
each photograph turned out.

The images turn out
about how he was expecting:

some great images of the
spiral-shaped galaxy.

Cool, but ultimately
unexceptional.

But then in one of
the last photos,

he sees something strange.

A bright dot of light
suddenly appears in the galaxy.

But what's even weirder
is that the dot of light

gets brighter and brighter
in subsequent images.

Victor thinks he's captured
something interesting,

but he's not really
sure what it could be.

So he posts the pictures on
an astronomer's message board,

where they catch the attention
of some Argentinian astronomers.

They immediately freak out.

It turns out that Victor
Buso has captured something

that no one has
ever imaged before.

One of the holy
grails of astronomy.

It's a supernova event

taking place over 60
million light-years away.

A supernova occurs
when a very massive star,

which is essentially a nuclear
furnace, runs out of fuel.

In that case, the outer layers
of the star collapse inward,

crushing the supernova
down onto the core.

A shockwave goes through
the entire thing,

and that triggers the biggest
explosions in the universe.

When a
supernova blows,

it destroys everything
in its solar system.

All the moons, all the
planets, everything.

The blast is so powerful,
it can affect planets

and other star systems
light-years away.

Victor's
incredible photos

give scientists their
first visual evidence

that many of their theories
about supernovas are correct.

It's one thing to think you
know how something happens;

it's another to see
it with your own eyes.

He just happened to
be pointed in the right place

to capture a star that
burned for billions of years

at the exact moment that flash
of light hit planet Earth.

It's proof you just never
know what you might find

the next time you look
up into the night sky.

Not all evidence of huge space
explosions come from above.

Sometimes it's hidden
far beneath the waves.

In 2017, engineers are
exploring the seafloor

off the coast of
Guinea in West Africa.

They work for a company

that's looking for
offshore oil deposits,

and they use sound
waves to create

a map of the Earth
deep underground.

When Dr. Uisdean Nicholson
starts breaking down their data,

he notices something strange,

and it has nothing
to do with oil.

About 3,000 feet beneath
the ocean's surface,

there appears to be a small
ridgeline or mountain range.

What's strange is
that it doesn't fit

with the known
geology of the region.

As he
expands his search,

Nicholson realizes this
odd geological feature

stretches nearly five miles,

and it's in the
shape of a circle.

He's looking
at a massive round ridge,

and in the center
appears to be a mountain.

He also sees that
outside of this ring

is debris that
looks like it's been

blown out of the center
in all directions.

Nicholson has an ah-ha moment

because he's seen this
type of formation before.

It's the site of
a massive meteorite crater.

News spreads in the
scientific community

about the discovery,

which becomes known
as the Nadir crater.

From the size of the crater,

astronomers are
able to calculate

that the asteroid that created
it was about 1,500 feet wide.

That's an object twice the size

of the Superdome in New Orleans,

striking the Earth at over
45,000 miles per hour.

Upon impact,

it would've created a
tsunami 2,600 feet high.

That's a wall of water

twice the height of the
Empire State Building

crashing upon the Atlantic
Coast, wreaking complete havoc.

But the real
surprise comes when scientists

date samples from
the impact zone.

It turns out
that this asteroid struck

66 million years ago,

and that catches
everyone by surprise

because there was another
very well-known asteroid

that also struck
around the same time.

That asteroid
was called Chicxulub,

and its impact is credited
with wiping out the dinosaurs.

That asteroid was between
six and nine miles wide,

which is wider than the
island of Manhattan.

It left a 124-mile crater
under the Yucatan Peninsula

and it blackened the skies
with ash and debris,

triggering global fires

and wiping out 75%
of all life on Earth.

So the discovery of the Nadir
crater led to the question:

was the extinction event due
to two asteroids at once,

like a one-two punch?

Or is
the Nadir crater

a completely separate event,

a few hundred years before or
after the Chicxulub impact?

Until scientific dating
methods are more precise,

we'll likely never know.

Either way, the impact was
still a cataclysmic event

of the magnitude that we

certainly wouldn't want to
experience in our lifetimes.

It started as a search for
something ordinary, water,

but what surfaced
was anything but.

In 1709, in the
town of Resina, Italy,

a group of workers is digging
a well for a monastery.

When they get
about 50 feet down,

they strike something hard.

It appears to be
a man-made wall,

five stories underground.

They decide to
break off some pieces

so they can show them to the
local Prince of Lorraine,

Emmanuel Maurice.

The prince examines the stone
and identifies it as marble.

This gets the prince thinking.

If there's a marble
wall down there,

then maybe there are more
treasures to be found as well.

He orders some
crews to dig a tunnel.

When they do, they find
that the wall is part of

an entire buried building,

and it's stuffed with
ancient artifacts.

These incredible
finds are buried

under several feet
of solid stone

that the workers have
trouble cutting through.

Eventually, it becomes too
difficult, and they give up.

The site lays
undisturbed for nearly 30 years

until King Charles VII of Naples

hears about the mysterious
underground structure.

Charles hires
military engineers

to conduct a proper excavation.

As the king's engineers
restart the dig,

they realize that
this discovery goes

way beyond marble
walls and statues.

First, they find more
rooms in the uncovered building.

Then they discover
more buildings,

and soon they realize what
they found is incredible.

An entire city
buried underground.

There are city streets,
beautiful frescoes,

bronze sculptures,
ornate jewelry,

and even statues
of Roman emperors.

Clearly, this is a city
of wealth and importance.

It's a
stunning discovery,

so experts scramble to figure
out what city it could be.

They scour
ancient records and texts,

trying to put some
clues together,

and eventually, scholars realize

that this is the long-lost
city of Herculaneum.

Herculaneum was an
exclusive seaside retreat

of luxurious houses
for the Roman elite.

Think of it as the
Hamptons of ancient Rome,

but this paradise
turned into hell.

In the year 79 AD,

the nearby volcano,
Mount Vesuvius, erupted.

This is
the same eruption

that famously buried the
nearby city of Pompeii.

The cities
were struck by a wall

of 750-degree superheated gas,

rock, mud, and ash.

Within five minutes,
the entire city

was buried under
the volcanic tuff.

Ironically,
the same searing heat

that brought devastation also
preserved items from the past.

Wood, textiles,
loaves of bread,

even human waste were instantly
cooked by the intense heat,

preserving their shapes
in a kind of charcoal.

It's a process that's
called carbonization,

and many items look
exactly like they did

on the day of this disaster.

What archeologists don't
find are any human remains.

Then in the 1980s,
archeologists discover

300 human skeletons packed
together in a boathouse.

They speculate
that these were residents

trying to escape
the eruption by sea,

but they didn't make it.

The extreme heat was so intense
that it burned away flesh

and violently contorted
bodies in an instant.

All that's left are twisted
skeletons, all piled together,

frozen in their final moments.

While much of Pompeii
has been uncovered,

it's estimated less than
a third of Herculaneum

has been explored.

Considering what
has already been found,

there are surely more
discoveries to be made

in this unique and tragic
archeological site.

Not all blasts bury history.

Sometimes, they reveal it.

In 1954, workers
are clearing out

and rebuilding an area of
Walbrook Square in East London.

The city as a whole is
basically still recovering

and rebuilding from
the massive amount

of damage inflicted upon it

by German bombers during
the Blitz of World War II.

As the workers are
digging test wells

in preparation for construction,

they hit something
long and flat.

It doesn't look like a slab
of rock or part of the rubble,

so the workers are confused.

What they've struck
isn't a World War II casualty.

It's something much older.

So the workers call
over an archeologist

to take a closer look.

21 feet down

lies what looks like a
pinkish-gray mortar floor.

They continue the excavation

and expose more
of the foundation.

What they
find is a floor

that's roughly 60 feet
long, 30 feet wide,

a perfectly rectangular chamber

buried below ground with
the remnants of pillars

that must have stretched all
the way up to the ceiling.

Then they start finding
amazing artifacts,

sculptures and statues.

There's a bust of
the goddess Minerva.

There's a statue of the god
Mercury seated next to a ram.

They begin to
put two and two together

and realize this isn't
just some random assortment

of relics; this is some
kind of temple or a shrine.

They feel it most likely dates
back to the Roman origins

of the city when it was
still called Londinium.

But beyond that, the
archeologists are mystified.

Then, on the last
day of their excavation,

the team makes a
critical discovery.

It's another bust,
this time of a man

wearing a special hat
known as a Phrygian cap.

The archeologists know this
particular image very well.

It's the Roman god Mithras.

Mithras was
originally a Persian god

that was adopted
by Roman soldiers

in the second or third century.

He became sort of a
patron saint to them,

representing loyalty,
strength, and secrecy.

In fact, he was so
revered that his followers

sort of built a secret
society around him.

Followers traveled
all throughout Europe,

and they built hidden
temples called Mithraeums

where they could
worship in secret.

We do know that only
men were allowed inside

to worship Mithras,
but beyond that,

it's mostly a mystery.

Despite the mystery,
archeologists date the site

to 240 AD, and they
turn it into a museum.

As many as 30,000
people come out

and wait for hours
just to see the site.

This temple stands once again,

and the mystery and intrigue
of Mithras lives on.

Imagine your life's
work going up in flames,

but when you return
to assess the damage,

you find an even bigger mystery.

That's just what happened to
one researcher in Wyoming.

In 2003, Wyoming state
archeologist Dan Eakin

is researching
wooden animal traps

left behind by the
Indigenous Shoshone people.

On one summer day,
he's watching uneasily

as storm clouds gather
over the forest.

Sure enough, within moments,

lightning strikes and
trees erupt in flames.

Over the next few
days, this fire burns

over 11,000 acres of the
Shoshone National Forest.

Dan is devastated because
he really believes

that all these wooden traps
that he's been looking at

and any other sort of artifacts

would've perished in
this kind of a blaze.

As soon as authorities
give the all-clear

to reenter the forest,

he goes in and tries
to survey the damage.

The devastation is even worse
than he had initially feared.

The fire had burned through
nearly all the trees and brush,

leaving behind only
smoldering earth.

And the ancient wooden traps

he's dedicated his
entire career to

are nearly all wiped out.

But as Eakin
surveys the charred ground,

something catches his eye.

Scattered on the
smoldering earth

are hundreds of
ancient-looking artifacts.

There are arrowheads,
flint tools,

glass beads, and ceramics.

Eakin recognizes that these
are Native American items,

but he's stunned to
suddenly find so many

where none had been
noticed before.

He contacts some
fellow archeologists,

and soon they're combing
all over the fire zone.

What they uncover is staggering:

thousands of artifacts, from
bone knives to metal tools.

They find a tri-notched
projectile point,

once used for a spear, and the
remains of Indigenous lodges.

Now, what's really
extraordinary about this

is that these objects weren't
just placed there anew.

What has happened is
that the fire has burned

all of the underbrush,

and what it did is reveal
centuries-old artifacts

that have been lying
there the entire time.

This accidental
discovery is just the beginning.

With each wildfire season,
more artifacts emerge.

Some date to just after
the last Ice Age.

Even more surprising,

metal artifacts were
found at the site.

This means once Europeans
came on the scene,

locals were trading
with them much earlier

and more widely than
previously thought.

In all, over 600
previously unknown sites

have been revealed,

leading to the discovery of
more than 160,000 artifacts.

The finds are
remarkable, but once uncovered,

these relics face a new
challenge: staying intact.

They can be washed away by
rain, trampled by wildlife,

and stolen by looters
looking to make a buck.

So it's ironic that these
destructive wildfires

have revealed these
lost artifacts,

but now, researchers are
in a race against man

and nature to catalog them
as quickly as they can

before they're lost once more.

Whether it's an explosive
asteroid from the heavens

or a fiery eruption that
covers an ancient city,

these blasts from the past
left an unforgettable mark.

I'm Danny Trejo.

Thanks for watching
Mysteries Unearthed.