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Preview | Eiffel's Race to the Top

Find out about the race to build Paris’ most famous landmark when two men vied to be the first to build a monument 1,000 feet tall. See how one man’s vision transformed the Paris skyline, making the Eiffel Tower a global icon. Dramatic recreations, official renderings and personal correspondence tell the story.
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Preview Season 21 Episode 1 Length 00:32 Premiere: 10/25/23

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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.


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Join us for a screening of 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?

KET will be hosting a screening of Secrets of the Dead: The Herculaneum Scrolls at The Kentucky Historical Society, Brown-Forman Room. Dr. Seales will lead a discussion after the screening.

Due to historic flooding in Frankfort, the event originally planned for April 10 has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 14th, 6:30 – 8 pm EDT.

This event is free, but reservations are required.


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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. 

Sponsored by:

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Season 21 Episodes

The Herculaneum Scrolls

S21 E6 Length 55:15 Premiere Date 10/16/24

Mozart's Sister

S21 E5 Length 55:15 Premiere Date 10/09/24

Returning to Babylon

S21 E4 Length 54:45 Premiere Date 10/02/24

The Princes in the Tower

S21 E3 Length 55:15 Premiere Date 11/22/23

Death in Britannia

S21 E2 Length 55:15 Premiere Date 11/01/23

Eiffel's Race to the Top

S21 E1 Length 54:45 Premiere Date 10/25/23

Fall 2024 Series Sell

Preview Length 00:33 Premiere Date 10/02/24

Preview | Eiffel's Race to the Top

Preview Length 00:32 Premiere Date 10/25/23

Gustave Eiffel’s Credentials

Clip Length 01:34 Premiere Date 10/25/23

A Revolutionary Use of Iron

Clip Length 01:26 Premiere Date 10/25/23

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Ben Franklin's Bones - S14 E1

Premiered On: 01/28/2015

Bones found in the basement of Benjamin Franklin's British residence were used for the purposes of an illegal anatomy school that helped shaped modern medicine.

  • Wednesday June 10, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
  • Wednesday June 10, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
  • Friday June 12, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
  • Friday June 12, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
  • Monday June 15, 2026 5:00 pm ET on KET
  • Monday June 15, 2026 4:00 pm CT on KET
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China's Bronze Kingdom - S23 E1

  • Monday June 1, 2026 5:00 pm ET on KET
  • Monday June 1, 2026 4:00 pm CT on KET
  • Friday May 29, 2026 3:00 am ET on KET
  • Friday May 29, 2026 2:00 am CT on KET
  • Wednesday May 27, 2026 10:00 pm ET on KET
  • Wednesday May 27, 2026 9:00 pm CT on KET
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