About
Kentucky Connections on Secrets of the Dead
One of public television’s most popular series, Secrets of the Dead, brings its historical analysis to Kentucky! This series uses the latest science to challenge prevailing ideas and share fresh perspectives on historical events.
Secrets of the Dead: The Herculaneum Scrolls
Making headlines worldwide, the University of Kentucky’s Dr. Brent Seales and his team of computer scientists set out on a mission to read the 2,000-year-old carbonized scrolls found in the remains of a villa in Herculaneum. Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 AD transformed the papyri, fusing the layers of the scrolls and making them impossible to read. But can particle physics and AI finally reveal what the scrolls say?
Secrets of the Dead: The Civil War’s Lost Massacre
The Secrets of the Dead investigates an incident in Kentucky history known as the “Simpsonville Massacre,” when 22 Civil War soldiers from the 5th US Colored Cavalry on a cattle drive to Louisville were ambushed and slain by outlaws.
The episode “The Civil War’s Lost Massacre,” which was co-produced by KET, revisits the events of January 25, 1865, tracing the stories of several of the Kentucky soldiers and their families with help from guest historians, including two who hail from Kentucky: Jerry Miller, a former state legislator from Louisville, and Juanita White, a docent at the Farmington Historic Plantation in Louisville.
Aided by University of Kentucky archeologist Dr. Philip Mink and the university’s EduceLab Mobile Team, the historians search the land around where the massacre occurred, hoping to find the burial grounds of the slain soldiers. The episode also features interviews with Kentucky’s Civil War scholars, Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor, author and history professor at UK; Steve Phan, chief of interpretation at Camp Nelson National Monument; Dr. W. Stephen McBride, former director of interpretation and archeology at Camp Nelson National Monument; and Joni House, former park manager of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site.
Funding for Secrets of the Dead: The Civil War’s Lost Massacre was made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.
Recent Episodes
Season 22 Episodes
See All Episodes
TV Schedules
Upcoming
Raising Lady Liberty - S23 E6
Unseen documents and new sources illustrate the story of how France and the United States came together to produce the Statue of Liberty.
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 9:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 8:00 am CT on KETWORLD
Graveyard of the Giant Beasts - S15 E5
Premiered On: 11/02/2016
Titanoboa, a 43-foot snake, was the largest creature that ever lived. But new discoveries in Cerrejon, Northern Colombia, suggest that Titanoboa's rule was challenged by a giant crocodilian. Follow scientists trying to determine which giant animal was the apex predator 58 million years ago.
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 10:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 9:00 am CT on KETWORLD
- Saturday October 31, 2026 5:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Saturday October 31, 2026 4:00 am CT on KETWORLD
Field of Vampires - S22 E2
The 2022 discovery in Eastern Europe of more than 50 errant burials that indicate a perceived threat of vampirism in the 17th century.
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
- Friday October 30, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
- Friday October 30, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
- Monday November 2, 2026 5:00 pm ET on KET
- Monday November 2, 2026 4:00 pm CT on KET
Saving Tangier Island - S23 E7
Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay has witnessed pivotal moments in American history. Now, rising sea levels threaten the tiny island, intensifying the race to preserve its history and culture.
- Wednesday November 4, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
- Wednesday November 4, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
- Friday November 6, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
- Friday November 6, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
- Monday November 9, 2026 5:00 pm ET on KET
- Monday November 9, 2026 4:00 pm CT on KET
Finding America's Fallen - S23 E8
Veterans investigate the site of the Battle of Camden in South Carolina, exploring how the Continental Army's devastating defeat became a turning point in the American Revolution.
- Wednesday November 11, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
- Wednesday November 11, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
- Friday November 13, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
- Friday November 13, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
- Friday November 13, 2026 4:00 pm ET on KET
- Friday November 13, 2026 3:00 pm CT on KET
Jamestown's Dark Winter - S14 E3
Premiered On: 11/24/2015
Forensic anthropologists excavate the early American colony and uncover dark secrets. What do the newly discovered bones of a 14-year-old English girl reveal about what really happened during the winter of 1609?
- Wednesday November 25, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
- Wednesday November 25, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
- Friday November 27, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
- Friday November 27, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
- Friday November 27, 2026 4:00 pm ET on KET
- Friday November 27, 2026 3:00 pm CT on KET
Recent
Graveyard of the Giant Beasts - S15 E5
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 2:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 1:00 am CT on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 27, 2026 9:00 pm ET on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 27, 2026 8:00 pm CT on KETWORLD
Raising Lady Liberty - S23 E6
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 1:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 28, 2026 12:00 am CT on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 27, 2026 8:00 pm ET on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 27, 2026 7:00 pm CT on KETWORLD
- Monday October 26, 2026 5:00 pm ET on KET
- Monday October 26, 2026 4:00 pm CT on KET
- Friday October 23, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
- Friday October 23, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
- Wednesday October 21, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
- Wednesday October 21, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
Africa's Golden City - S23 E5
- Wednesday October 21, 2026 9:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 21, 2026 8:00 am CT on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 21, 2026 1:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 21, 2026 12:00 am CT on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 20, 2026 8:00 pm ET on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 20, 2026 7:00 pm CT on KETWORLD
- Monday October 19, 2026 5:00 pm ET on KET
- Monday October 19, 2026 4:00 pm CT on KET
- Friday October 16, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
- Friday October 16, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
- Wednesday October 14, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
- Wednesday October 14, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
Cleopatra's Last Temple - S22 E8
- Wednesday October 14, 2026 9:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 14, 2026 8:00 am CT on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 14, 2026 1:00 am ET on KETWORLD
- Wednesday October 14, 2026 12:00 am CT on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 13, 2026 8:00 pm ET on KETWORLD
- Tuesday October 13, 2026 7:00 pm CT on KETWORLD
- Monday October 12, 2026 5:00 pm ET on KET
- Monday October 12, 2026 4:00 pm CT on KET
- Friday October 9, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
- Friday October 9, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
- Wednesday October 7, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
- Wednesday October 7, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
