Titanic's Ghosts

Another Big Bang
This video is part of the "Secrets of the Dead" series, which originally aired in Britain and more recently appeared on PBS. This particular episode is based on the work of David Keys, whose theories are set out in more detail in his 1999 book "Catastrophe."

In a nutshell, Keys and others believe that a disaster, possibly an asteroid strike or a huge volcanic eruption, happened sometime around 535 AD. The aftermath was worldwide drought, flood, famine, plague and the collapse of ancient civilizations around the world.

The first half of the video reviews the evidence for what happened: tree ring studies, ice core samples, evidence of volcanic eruptions, and historical records all point to a major climate-changing event in the year 535. The second half explores the effect that this event had on the world, including the decline of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the rise of Islam. The upshot is that this little-known catastrophe may have had an enormous effect on the course of...

A fascinating hypothesis on what caused the "Dark Ages"
The "Catasatrophe!" that is the focus of this first volume in the "Secrets of the Dead" series is a cataclysmic event that some scientists believed occurred around 535 A.D. Apparently, the early Dark Ages were called that for a reason: a natural disaster literally reduced the amount of sunshine. The starting point for this scientific inquiry are the record of tree rings from the period that show abnormally small growth rates for several years during that time span. Focusing primarily on the work of science writer David Keys, this documentary eliminates extraterrestrial sources (asteroids, comets, etc.) for this natural disaster and searches for a volcanic explosion as the triggering device. However, that becomes only the first half of this endeavor as the case is then made for the significant effects this catastrophe had for human civilization. Viewers will be fascinated to learn that the Mongol invasion of Europe, the rise of the bubonic plague, the fall of the great Mexican...

Some Secrets Refuse to Die!
I came into the middle of these series when PBS aired them originally, and after watching all of them, realize exactly what I missed the first time! The stories spun here are fascinating, and a little bit creepy (it was a bit hard to turn off the lights after watching and go down the hallway in the dark) The only thing I didn't quite like is that three of the four episodes dealt with ancient people, and the fourth dealth with more modern. I would have preferred to see one series on the ancients and perhaps a second on more modern times. Still, it remains something I would highly recommend.

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