All language subtitles for Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo S02E15 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[tense music]

[tense uptempo music]

- [Danny] Mysteries can be
buried anywhere.

Under the earth,

[volcano booms]

beneath the sea,

[aircraft whooshes]

or even right
under our own feet.

[tense uptempo music]

And when we stumble upon them,

sometimes what we find
can change history.

[tense uptempo music]

Tonight, long lost
relics of war resurface

like a deadly weapon
dredged from a river.

- It looks an awful
lot like a bomb,

and it's sitting right
next to two gas lines.

- [Danny] To a World War
I bunker frozen in time.

- They'd start finding empty
wine bottles, newspapers,

and a rusty camp bit.

- As they continue digging,

they find a much more
sobering discovery.

21 skeletons.

- [Danny] To a legendary
blade pulled from the depths.

- The archeologist takes
one look at the sword

and gets goosebumps.

[tense music]

- Join us now because
nothing stays hidden forever.

[tense music]

- [Danny] Construction crews
are used to unexpected finds.

Pipes, rubble, even the
occasional time capsule,

but on one site in England,

they uncovered something
much more explosive.

[keyboard clacking]

- It's February 7th,
2023 in Great Yarmouth,

a seaside town on
England's east coast.

Crews are dredging
the River Yare

prepping for a new
bridge crossing.

Suddenly one worker freezes.

The dredger has pulled
something out of the mud.

[sinister music]

It's metallic, about
three feet long

and it looks an awful
lot like a bomb.

What's worse, it's sitting
right next to two gas lines.

[sirens wailing]

- The site is
evacuated immediately.

Police pour in.

In comes the bomb squad.

It is all hands on deck.

- The bomb unit
moves in carefully.

They study the object
and based on the shape

and known bombing patterns,

they soon have a sense for
what they're dealing with.

It appears that this is
a 550-pound German bomb

from World War II

and it's still live,
armed, and deadly.

A blast from a bomb of this size

and a crowded city
would be catastrophic.

- [Danny] It's a terrifying find

and a reminder of Great
Yarmouth's role in World War II.

[explosion booms]

- Great Yarmouth was an
important military port,

not only to clear the
English channel from mines

and the German threat,

but it was also
a launching point

for much of the allied
shipping that was used.

So it's a prime target
for the Germans to bomb.

[tense music]

- [Don] The Germans dropped over
81,000 tons of bombs on Britain.

Around 10% of those
failed to detonate,

which means thousands
of hidden threats

still lurk underground.

- [Danny] That's why the
moment this bomb is uncovered,

the response is
swift and extreme.

[tense music]

- [Don] The bomb squad works
nonstop building a protective

barrier with over
440 tons of sand.

It's their only protection.

- [Martin] Old bombs like this
get more dangerous

with the passage of time

because simple things
such as heat or pressure

or friction can set them
off in the present day.

- [John] After three tense days,
the site is finally secure.

And army specialist prepare
to disarm the bomb.

The plan is to cut the fuse

and then haul it out of the city

for a controlled detonation.

- [Don] As they use high
pressure water jets to cut the

fuse, the sand barrier
starts to collapse.

[tense music]

The site becomes compromised

and the crew is in
increasing danger.

- [Danny] With
the clock ticking,

the workers try something else.

- [Martin] They rebuild the sand
barrier

and then they cut into the
bomb casing in an attempt

to burn off the
bomb fillers slowly

so that it doesn't produce
a high order explosion,

but rather a low order
release of energy

that doesn't endanger lives.

- [John] And then without
warning, boom.

[tense music]

The bomb goes off sending a
shockwave through the site.

Debris flies everywhere.

Car windows shatter.

A flood wall cracks.

The shockwave is
felt 15 miles away.

- [Don] Thanks to the barrier,
the explosion is contained

and there are no injuries,

but it came dangerously close.

[chilling music]

- [Danny] Decades earlier,
another World War II find

surfaces in a more surprising
place, the African desert.

- [John] It's November 1958

and a team of British geologists

working for the
D'Arcy Oil Company

are flying high over
the Libyan Desert

scouting for drilling sites.

- [Andrew] From their vantage
point 10,000 feet in the air,

they see something on the
desert floor below them.

It looks to be wreckage
of an airplane.

The company sends
a team to the site

led by a surveyor
named Gordon Bowerman.

[tense music]

- [Danny] When Bowerman arrives,

he finds a perfectly
preserved military aircraft

complete with operable
radios and machine guns.

- [John] He sees no sign of
crew,

but he does find uniforms
with names stitched inside.

He also finds
maintenance records

that identify the plane
as a B-24 D Liberator.

- [Andrew] Bowerman contacts a
nearby US Air Force base

at Wheelus.

Turns out it's an American
bomber from World War II

and it's been missing
in action for 15 years,

known as the Lady Be Good.

- [Danny] But the discovery
leaves one terrifying question.

What happened to the airmen
who vanished with it?

- Search teams scour
the desert for months.

Now about 19 miles
from the crash site,

they do find a pair
of flight boots

and this serves as the
first sign of life.

- More clues follow.

Parachutes held down with stones

likely left there
to guide rescuers,

but the trail leads to
the Calanscio Sand Sea,

a vast expanse of dunes
rising to 400 feet.

- [Danny] Unfortunately,
no bodies are found.

Then a year later,
the search team gets

a little unexpected
help from Mother Nature.

- [John] The dunes are
constantly shifting with the

winds and in February 1960,

petroleum workers
make a grim discovery.

[chilling music]

Five bodies on a
plateau in the sand sea.

One of them is
Lieutenant Robert Toner.

- [Danny] Among the
remains is Toner's journal,

which chronicles the
airman's final mission.

- [Andrew] Back in April of
1943,

25 of these B-24 D Liberators

took off from Libya
on a bombing mission.

Their target, Naples, Italy.

- [John] One of the last planes
to lift off is the Lady Be Good.

It's its first combat mission.

Inside are nine crew members,

but they quickly run
into bad weather,

strong headwinds,
and poor visibility.

By 7:50 PM, the
mission is scrubbed

and the plane turns to
head back toward its base.

- [Danny] On the return flight,
things go from bad to worse.

- [Andrew] At 12:12 AM, plane's
pilot, William Hatton,

radios back to base.

Navigation system
is malfunctioning.

They're flying blind.

- [Danny] Running out of fuel,

the men make a drastic decision.

- [Sami] The men bailed out
around 2:00 AM on April 5th.

Now, one of the airmen wasn't
with the rest of the group

because his parachute
didn't open.

The remaining eight
of the nine airmen

end up traversing
this incredibly vast,

incredibly hot desert

with only half a canteen
of water between them.

- [Hakeem] They traveled 85
miles in blistering 130

degree heat.

Eventually five couldn't
go on and they stopped.

The remaining three
continued forward,

but they didn't make it either.

[sinister music]

- [Danny] Search teams
continue to follow the trail

the men left behind and
eventually find two more bodies.

- [Sami] In all, eight
of the nine bodies

of the airmen who were
lost to the Lady Be Good

are recovered.

- [Andrew] After this tragic
discovery,

the book closes on one
of the great mysteries

of American army aviation,

but the most important
thing is the closure

given to the families
of the brave crewmen

who lost their lives
on the heroic mission

of the Lady Be Good.

[sinister music]

- [Danny] During the chaos of
war,

enemy secrets are
usually uncovered by

highly trained spies.

But for one soldier, a stroke of
luck

leads to a critical
piece of intel.

[foreboding music]

- [Don] It's September 1862
near Frederick, Maryland.

[foreboding music]

The Civil War is
at a boiling point

and could tilt either way.

General Robert E. Lee has
just led the Confederate Army

across the Potomac
into Maryland,

striking distance
of Washington, D.C.

[foreboding music]

- [Martin] At this point, the
stakes are very high.

Every battle promises to
be a decisive engagement.

- [Andrew] On the morning
of September 13th,

soldiers from the 27th
Indiana Volunteer Infantry

are on a skirmish line out
ahead of the main Union Army.

- [Martin] After hours of
marching,

27th Indiana eventually
reaches a farm

recently abandoned by
Confederate forces.

Two of the men,
Corporal Barton Mitchell

and Sergeant John Bloss they
sit down to cook some tea

when Mitchell notices
something in the grass.

[tense music]

- [Don] He spots a bulky
envelope.

He picks it up

and inside there
are three cigars

bundled up in an official
looking sheet of paper.

Mitchell unrolls the wrapper,
glances at the heading,

and then calls Bloss over.

His voice is shaking.

- [Martin] The document is dated
September 9th, 1862

and it carries a
heading that says

Headquarters, Army of Northern
Virginia, Special Order 191.

[tense music]

- [Danny] This isn't just
routine correspondence.

It looks like the Confederacy's
strategic blueprint

and now it's in Union hands.

- [Don] The order outlines Lee's
plan

to divide his army into four
groups to secure garrisons,

seize supplies, and capture
federal forces at key locations.

Then they plan to reunite
for a final march north.

- The discovered
document is rushed up

the Union chain of command,

but it seems too
good to be true.

They decide it's a ruse.

This is some kind of
confederate trick.

They need some
kinda confirmation.

- [Andrew] The document
bears the signature

of Colonel Robert Chilton, who
is Robert E. Lee's adjutant.

One Union officer who
worked with Chilton

in a bank in Detroit

recognizes Chilton's
handwriting.

[tense music]

That seals it.

This is authentic.

- [Danny] Once confirmed,
the plans are quickly sent

to General George McClellan.

[tense music]

- [Don] He sends a wire to
President Abraham Lincoln

that says, "I have
all the rebel plans

and we'll catch them
in their own trap."

[tense music]

- [Danny] But news of the
discovery reaches Lee,

so he scrambles to launch
a counter move of his own.

- [Paul] Lee quickly begins to
mobilize all of his forces

heading for Antietam, Maryland.

- [Don] Then at dawn on
September 17th,

more than a thousand
Union soldiers

advance through a cornfield.

When they emerge, Georgia
troops rise and fire.

[tense music]

[cannon booms]

[guns popping]

- [Andrew] Antietam becomes the
single bloodiest day

in American history with
over 23,000 casualties.

[tense music]

- [Don] The battle was a
stalemate with no clear victor,

but the Union Army under
McClellan forced Lee

to retreat to Virginia.

This gave Abraham Lincoln
the win he'd been looking for

to issue the emancipation
proclamation,

which freed the enslaved
in Confederate territory.

- [Paul] The victory at
Antietam,

the Emancipation Proclamation,

and ultimately, the Union
victory in the Civil War

all began with those two
Union soldiers taking a break

in that farm field where
they found order 191.

- [Danny] Next, another Civil
War discovery is

made 150 years later near one of
America's most

famous battlefields.

[keyboard clacking]

- [John] August 4th, 2011,

maintenance crews
at the Gettysburg

National Military Park have a
big job on their hands.

A massive oak tree has
fallen at Culp's Hill

and the crews have
to clear it away.

- [Andrew] One of the workers
fires up his chainsaw

and begins cutting
the tree into pieces,

but the chain hits
something hard.

Comes at it again from a
different angle and same result.

They quickly realize what it
is that's jamming the chain.

Two bullets buried deep
in the trunk of this tree.

- [Paul] The maintenance crew
calls in the experts

and they find a 54 caliber
bullet and a 58 caliber.

They're on the east
side of Culp's Hill

and so, it's clear where
the bullets are from.

The turning point of
the American Civil War,

the Battle at Gettysburg.

[tense music]

[explosion booms]

- [Sami] Culp's Hill saw some of
the most intense fighting

of Civil War.

The Union Army was holding the
higher ground of Culp's Hill

and were fighting off wave after
wave of Confederate forces.

You had over 20,000 soldiers

that were fighting
at Culp's Hill,

each of them carrying about
60 rounds of ammunition,

and every round was shot.

[gun pops]

- [John] When it was over,

thousands of soldiers were
killed, wounded, or missing,

but the north held the
hill and the momentum.

- [Danny] After the discovery,
the section of the tree

containing the bullets is moved

to the Gettysburg Museum
and Visitor Center

where it joins other remnants

that bear the scars of war.

- [Sami] A hundred years ago, it
wasn't all that unusual

to find bullets lodged
in trees in Gettysburg,

but not so much today

because many of those
trees didn't survive.

Some of them would die
off due to lead poisoning.

Others were lost due to
either age or storms.

These two bullets prove
that this tree was there

for some of the bloodiest
fighting of the war.

[tense music]

- [Danny] In the French
countryside,

a routine dig takes a dark turn

when workers uncover something

that hasn't seen daylight
in nearly a century.

[foreboding music]

- [Don] It's October, 2010.

Road construction is underway

in the small town of Carspach

in the Alsace region of France.

As workers start grading
and leveling a site

known as Lerchenberg Hill,

they hit something unexpected.

Timber.

- Digging deeper, the crew finds

what looks like the
remains of a wooden tunnel.

[tense music]

They then start
finding artifacts,

a cigarette tin,
empty wine bottles,

newspapers, and
a rusty camp bed.

- Work grinds to a halt.

They call an
archeologists to begin

an excavation of the site,

and as they do that,

[sinister music]

they discover a vast
underground complex.

20 feet underground,
450 feet long.

- [Andrew] This structure is
remarkably well-preserved.

It's eerie.

It's like a time capsule
that was sealed yesterday.

- [Martin] As they continue
digging,

they find a much more
sobering discovery.

[sinister music]

21 skeletons.

- [Don] The team doesn't need
to conduct extensive

identification research to
understand who these bodies are.

They're wearing tattered
military uniforms

that identify them
as German soldiers.

[sinister music]

In the sixth company, 94th
Reserve Infantry Regiment

from World War I.

- [Danny] That's
when they realize

this is a famous World
War I mega structure

known as the Kilian Shelter.

[tense music]

- [Andrew] Built by the Germans
in 1916,

Kilian Shelter was
a massive barracks.

The shelter could house
as many as 500 men

with wartime luxuries
like heat, electric light,

a telephone, and
crucially, 16 exits.

- [Danny] So how
did a place built

to protect these soldiers
become a sealed tomb?

[sinister music]

- [Don] By early 1918, World
War I had settled

into a deadly stalemate across
475 miles of trench warfare

and to hold their lines
on the Western front,

the Germans dug an extensive
network of tunnels and bunkers.

The Kilian shelter
was among the largest.

- Then on March 18th, 1918,

the Germans launched
a brutal gas attack.

The French retaliated
with artillery,

and most likely one shell
hit an ammunition dump

in the Kilian Trench,

[explosion rumbles]

sealing it off for years.

- [Andrew] With the tunnel
sealed by soil,

air and moisture
aren't able to get in.

Archeologists
compared it to Pompeii

frozen in an instant
preserved for all time.

- [Danny] For decades,
the Kilian shelter

and the remains of the
trapped soldiers stays hidden.

But in 2013, upon the
construction crew's discovery,

the bodies are
finally laid to rest.

- [Don] The remains of all
21 soldiers are buried

at the German military
cemetery of Illfurth

in a simple but
dignified ceremony.

The book on these missing
soldiers is finally closed

95 years after their deaths.

- [Danny] Relics of war aren't
always unearthed

by the professionals.

Sometimes all it takes
is a little curiosity

and a kid with muddy knees.

[keyboard clacking]

- [Andrew] On July 15th, 2018,
eight-year-old Saga Vanecek

is savoring her summer vacation

on the shores of Lake
Vidostern in Southern Sweden.

It has been an
unusually hot summer

and a drought has brought
the lake level down

lower than anyone
can ever remember.

- [Austin] She's in a shallow
area,

her hands and knees in the mud,

and she's searching for
smooth stones to skip.

But then she bumps
into something

and it doesn't
feel like a stone.

- She reaches down and
starts to try to figure out

what this thing is.

She thinks at first
that it's maybe a stick.

It's long so she
starts pulling on it

and when she finally manages
to pull it out of the muck,

she realizes it's something
much more important.

- It's heavy and solid,
and there's rust on it,

and the end is pointed.

Saga pulls it out of
the water, lifts it up,

looks at it, and yells,
"Daddy, I found a sword."

[tense music]

- [Danny] For confirmation
on where it came from,

Saga and her dad bring the
object to a local archeologist.

- [Andrew] The archeologist
takes one look at the sword

and gets goosebumps.

[tense music]

This artifact isn't
just old, it's ancient

and more incredibly,

it still appears to have pieces

of its leather and wood
scabbard affixed to the blade.

These are things that
would normally rot away

over time on swords this old.

- [Alex] So the archeologist
begins combing

through reference material

to try to date it
more precisely.

She notices a similarity
between the sword's hilt

and those of the vikings

between the eighth
and the ninth century.

Carbon dating of the
scabbard in the hilt

confirm the dates.

This really is an
ancient Viking sword.

[tense music]

- [Danny] Hoping to find
more Viking treasures,

divers searched the
rest of the lake

where Saga found the sword.

- [MJ] They find a few other
ancient Viking relics.

One of them is a broach
that they believe

to be about 1,500 years old.

They also find a fibula,
which is a sort of clasp

that they think is dated
between 300 and 400 AD.

- [Danny] The more
researchers learn,

the clearer it becomes.

Saga's sword is a remarkable
piece of a much older story,

and with that in mind,

she decides the discovery
belongs somewhere

it can be shared with everyone.

- [Andrew] Saga decides to
donate her sword

to the Jonkoping County Museum.

When the story
finally comes out,

Saga becomes a media sensation.

She's called the
Queen of Sweden,

a kind of modern day take
on the King Arthur myth.

King Arthur having also famously

pulled a sword from the lake

and among the most impressed
are Saga's classmates

who celebrate her discovery

with cake and
balloons at school.

- [Danny] It's just another
workday is Savannah, Georgia

until a team pulls up
something lost a long time ago.

[foreboding music]

- [Andrew] It's February of 2021

and the US Army
Corps of Engineers

is dredging the Savannah
River in Georgia.

[tense music]

This is part of a nearly
$1 billion upgrade

to deepen a key shipping channel

to make it passable by
modern super tankers.

- [Martin] One day they
dredge up an object

that's about five feet long.

It's metallic.

It's covered in rust and
it's covered in mussels

but despite that,

they can still see the
general outline of a cannon.

[cannon booms]

[tense music]

- Soon the team finds another,

and then another,

and then another.

So the Army Corps
stops the dredging

and they start calling
in archeologists,

sonar techs, and divers.

- [Danny] But in
the murky river,

finding answers isn't easy.

- [Martin] Divers are working
blind in pitch black water

with strong current
pulling at their gear.

They only get brief windows

during which they
can conduct a search.

Between the turning tides
and the passing freighters,

every dive becomes a sprint.

[tense music]

- [Andrew] The team keeps at it

and eventually recovers more
of these rusted cannons.

19 in all.

- [Danny] When Army
Corps archeologists

study the cannons up
close, the mystery deepens.

- [Martin] At first, they think
these cannons belong to CSS

Georgia, a Confederate naval
vessel that was active

on the Savannah River
during the Civil War.

- [Sami] When Navy historians
take a look at these cannons,

they don't exactly match up

with that particular
time period.

These cannons look
a little bit older.

They look more like
18th century weapons,

which means that it's
possible that these cannons

didn't come from the Civil War,

but from the American
Revolutionary War.

[cannons booms]

- [Paul] In 1778, the British
captured the city of Savannah

and then shifted their
offensive to the south.

They felt that the region
was more loyal to the crown

and that the people would
rise up against the rebels.

But the following
year, in a daring move,

George Washington moved
to retake the city.

[cannon booms]

- [Martin] In October 1779,
American and French forces

launch a bloody campaign,

the siege of Savannah.

The French Navy pushes
up the Savannah River

with a force of 33 warships.

In contrast, the Royal
Navy has 1/5 that number.

- [Danny] To prevent the
French Navy's advance,

the British sink their own
ships to block the river.

- [Sami] And by sinking
these gun ships,

that means everything
goes down under the water.

That includes cannon,
that includes ammunition,

basically everything on the
ship except for the crew.

- [John] Well, the scuttling
of the ships worked.

The French fleet can't
make it into Savannah.

They turn around and with
hurricane season coming,

they have to get out of the way.

As a result, Savannah
stays under British control

until the end of the war.

- [Danny] Over time, most
of the ships rotted away,

but the cannons remained

until the salvage
operation unearthed them

over 200 years later.

- [John] Finding a cannon from
the Revolutionary War is rare.

Finding 19 of them is a jackpot.

[hammer clinking]

- [Sami] Today, American,
British, and Georgia officials

are working together to
properly restore these cannons,

and once restoration
is complete,

these cannons will go on display

at the Savannah History Museum.

- [Danny] Next up, an even
older form of ammunition

is uncovered in England.

[keyboard clacking]

- [Hugo] In June 2024,
Kenilworth Castle

near Birmingham, England is
undergoing a major renovation.

Workers are expanding
some of the walkways

around this 900
year old fortress,

making them more accessible.

- [John] It's routine work, but
one day the crew digs into the

lawn and hits something solid.

It seems like a big
rock, nothing unusual,

until they try to move it.

- [Hakeem] It's round, smooth,
and way too heavy for its size.

This isn't a typical
garden stone.

It's more like an
ancient bowling ball.

- [Danny] For more insight,

the team calls in the
castle's archeologist.

- [John] The archeologist
begins an excavation.

One stone becomes
two and then three.

Eventually eight
of them are found

all perfectly spherical
and well-preserved.

- That's when it clicks.

These aren't rocks,
they're weapons.

They're catapult shot left
over from the middle ages.

[tense music]

- [Danny] Their
discovery ties directly

to one of Kenilworth
Castle's darkest moments

when a violent
rebellion nearly topples

England's very young king.

- [John] King Henry III rose to
the throne at only

nine years old.

His father had died during
a feud with his barons.

The official cause was
listed as dysentery,

but many suspected that he
had actually been poisoned.

- [Hugo] The early years of
the young king's reign

are defined by rebellion.

The barons are
fed up with taxes,

endless wars, with
the crown itself,

and so they rise
up in rebellion.

- [Hakeem] The rebels were led
by Simon de Montfort,

the king's own brother-in-law,

and his base of operations
was Kenilworth Castle.

- [Danny] The rebellion
carries on for decades

and culminates in 1266

when the king's troops try
to take back the castle

in a decisive last stand.

- For 172 days, King Henry's
forces surround the fortress.

Nine siege engines, which are
basically massive catapults,

hurl stone after
stone at the walls.

- [John] The rebels fired back.

Hundreds of pounds of
massive rocks flew both ways.

- [Danny] But the
rebels in the castle

don't fall to firepower.

They are brought down
by something else.

[chilling music]

- [Hugo] Eventually,
starvation and disease

weaken the rebels
inside Kenilworth.

Six months later, they surrender

and the king takes the castle.

- [Paul] Today, Henry III
is best remembered

for rebuilding Westminster Abbey

and founding the first
three colleges of Oxford.

But the siege Kenilworth remains

one of his most dramatic
accomplishments.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Danny] Imagine taking a
walk with a friend.

It's the perfect time to catch
up and enjoy the scenery,

but for one pair, it
connects them to a lost tale

of war and concourse.

[sinister music]

- It's 2016 in the remote
village of Kokorya in Siberia.

Two friends are walking
through the woods

when they notice
something strange.

- In the face of a nearby cliff,

they notice this crack.

And luckily enough, it's
wide enough to step into

so they figured they're
gonna go and investigate.

They pop their heads
in and look around

and they see arrowheads
on the ground,

lots of them.

So, naturally they go in
to investigate further.

- [Andrew] They see a large
rectangular wooden box.

They manage to pry off the lid,

and as they peek inside,
they are shocked.

[tense dramatic music]

Inside is a pouch of some kind,

couple of engraved
plaques, and human bones.

This box is a coffin.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Danny] Realizing
they've stumbled

on something extraordinary,

the friends notify
the authorities.

- Officials from the museum

of the Gorno-Altaysk
State University arrive

and they confirm this is a
major archeological discovery.

- They catalog iron
arrowheads, arrow shafts,

silk ribbons, and a
birch bark quiver.

And they date it to between
the 13th and the 15th century.

Based on these arrowheads,
archeologists surmised

that this person was
probably a hunter.

- [Danny] But as the
archeologists examine

the size of the arrowheads,

they realize they might
not be for hunting prey.

- [Adam] The person in the
sarcophagus isn't a hunter,

it was a warrior.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Metin] The discovery makes
headlines around the world

and the warrior is dubbed
the Siberian Robinhood.

But when the researchers
investigate further,

they figure out that
this warrior's quiver

doesn't match those
typically found in Siberia.

- [Andrew] As they compare the
quiver to samples from other

regions, they determine that it
much more closely resembles

quivers found in
the Altai region

across the border in Mongolian.

Archeologists then wonder
whether the man buried here

might have been part
of the Mongol empire

believed by some to have
conquered this part of Siberia

in the medieval era.

- [Metin] During the 13th
century,

Genghis Khan's ascendants
swept through Central Asia

absorbing vast swaths of land,

including this part of Siberia.

- [Nicola] By 1240, this
entire area is under

the occupation of
General Batu Khan.

He's actually the grandson
of the great Genghis Khan.

- [Andrew] Artifacts from this
era are exceedingly rare

and the careful placement
of them around the body

suggests that he was
a high ranking officer

or even a general.

- [Metin] Today, that 13th
century warrior's bow, quiver,

arrows and arrow shafts
are still being studied

by researchers at
Gorno-Altaysk State University.

Finds that are as complete as
that one are incredibly rare,

and we're gonna be learning

about that warrior
for years to come.

[sinister music]

- [Danny] Next up, another
arrowhead points

to a different kind
of battlefield mystery

on a small Polish farm.

[keyboard clacking]

- [Andrew] In the fall of 2023,

a Polish farmer
named Jaroslaw Lipiec

is finishing up a long day

of plowing the field
on his commune.

He hops off his tractor

and pauses to
admire the neat rows

of dark overturned soil.

- As he looks over his
handiwork, something

catches his eye.

It's the glint of a
small, sharp object

sticking out of the dirt.

Curious, he walks over,

picks it up out of the ground,

and realizes it's
a small arrowhead.

He thinks it's a nice keepsake,

so he decides to
put it in his pocket

and then he just keeps walking.

- [Andrew] A few steps later,
something else catches his eye.

It's also protruding
from the dirt,

but this is a little different.

It's gray brown, chunky and
has some flecks of white.

- [Danny] Unsure
what he's found,

he brings both items to the
local conservator of monuments

for more information.

- [Adam] He takes a look at
the arrowhead first

and determines that it's
not actually an arrowhead.

It's the flint tip of
a spear or a javelin,

and it is ancient.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Danny] Analysis dates the
weapon to the Bronze Age,

between 1900 and 1500 BC.

- [Andrew] The farmer's second
find is even more interesting.

It's part of the blade
of a multifaceted ax

crafted for power and precision.

Thousands of years ago,
these had many purposes.

Clearing land,
butchering animals,

and settling arguments
the hard way.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Hugo] Further analysis
reveals that the ax

was crafted by members of
the Funnelbeaker culture,

a neolithic people
who were known

for their distinctive pottery,

especially their
funnel-shaped beakers.

- [Danny] The Funnelbeakers
were the first farming society

across Northern Europe,
thriving from 4000 to 2800 BC.

But until now, no trace of
them had ever been found

in this part of Poland.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Adam] Up until this point,
experts thought that no one

lived in that area of Poland
during the Neolithic period.

And now as it turns out,

there was a proper civilization
hunting and farming

and probably
fighting in this area

thousands of years before
anyone thought possible.

- [Danny] The discoveries
are currently being prepared

for exhibition at the
local museum in Bilgoraj,

but the search for
more isn't over.

- [Hugo] Researchers are
planning excavations

to explore the area further

because once the earth
gives up one secret,

you never know how much more
it's hiding beneath the soil.

- [Danny] The spoils of war
are often forgotten.

But when one family
takes a closer look

at a World War II trophy,

it ignites a remarkable
and emotional journey.

[keyboard clacking]

- [Nicola] It's September 1945
and the war is over,

but Joseph Kasser, who's
known to his friends as Benny,

is waiting for his transfer
from his base in Okinawa.

And in order to clear his head

he takes a walk along the beach.

- [MJ] As he's taking his walk,

he sees something
strange in the sand.

As he gets closer, he realizes

that half buried is this
ornate Japanese sword.

[sword zings]

So, he does the natural thing.

He digs it up and decides
to take it home with him.

- [Andrew] The sword ends up in
Benny's basement in Chicago

where it remains for decades.

Benny's grandsons love hearing

their grandfather's war stories,

and he'll often
bring down the sword

as a exciting prop to
augment storytelling.

But after the stories are over,

the sword always is
carefully returned

to its place in the basement.

- [Martin] In 2021, one of his
grandsons named Kevin

is visiting.

He's now in his 30s.

During this visit, he takes
a closer look at the sword.

- [Danny] Now an adult,
Kevin takes an interest,

not just in the sword,

but also in the wooden
tag attached to its hilt.

- [Andrew] Written in English it
reads,

"I am very glad to have
the honor to ask your favor

to send my sword to my home.

It has been handed down from
generation to generation

to keep my family
safe and comfortable."

- [MJ] On the other side
of the tag is a name,

Colonel Tomesuke Umeki,

as well as the name
of a town in Japan.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Danny] Recognizing
the sword's importance,

Kevin anxiously approaches
his grandfather.

- [Andrew] Kevin has an idea.

What if they try to return
the sword to its owner.

When he proposes this
idea to his grandfather,

Benny doesn't hesitate.

He's all in.

- [Danny] Kevin
digs in determined

to track down Colonel Umeki.

- [Nicola] A Japanese family
friend suggests to Kevin

that maybe they can contact
the local government

and they might know.

- [Martin] To his surprise, the
town of Takaharu replies

quickly, but disappointingly,
Colonel Umeki is no

no longer alive.

However, his son
Takemitsu is still alive.

- [Andrew] Benny and Kevin send
letters to Takemitsu

in both English and Japanese,

along with photos of the sword.

Eventually, Takemitsu responds,

tells them that he
is now 96 years old.

He writes that he still
remembers his father's sword

and is incredibly
grateful at the idea

that the sword might
be returned home.

- In July of 2022, Kevin travels
the 6,000 miles to Japan.

Benny, now 99, unfortunately
can't make the trip,

but he sends his
love and blessing.

[airplane screeches]

- [Paul] When Kevin finally gets
to Japan, he meets Takemitsu

and he sees that Takemitsu
has actually created

a little bit of a shrine.

There's a picture of his father,

there's flowers, and there's
a display case for the sword.

Takemitsu has invited
his family and friends

and there's journalists
there to document

this really historic occasion.

- [Nicola] Back in Illinois,
Benny watches a live stream

of the ceremony and he
reflects that really

there probably wasn't
very much difference

between Colonel
Umeki and himself,

only they happened to be born

on opposite sides of the world.

- [Danny] Cannons buried in a
river,

a forgotten World War II bomb,

and medieval weapons
built to crush a castle.

These relics lost in battle
tell the real stories

of the fights that
forged our past.

I'm Danny Trejo.

Thanks for watching
"Mysteries Unearthed."