THIRTEEN/WNET NEW YORK USES CUTTING-EDGE SCIENCE AND MODERN CRIME SCENE TECHNIQUES TO REINVESTIGATE HISTORY WHEN ITS SECRETS OF THE DEAD SERIES RETURNS WITH FIVE NEW EPISODES, BEGINNING THIS FALL

SECRETS OF THE DEAD, the popular series from Thirteen/WNET New York, unearths more long-buried mysteries when it returns with five new episodes, each using modern technology to re-examine some of history's most memorable chapters. From the suspicious fire that destroyed Rome in the year 64 A.D. to a baffling handful of plague survivors and the icy death of Captain Robert Scott on his way back from the South Pole in 1912, the series uncovers surprising -- and often unsettling -- facts about parts of the past we thought we understood.

Scheduled to kick-off the latest SECRETS OF THE DEAD strand is MYSTERY OF THE BLACK DEATH (October 30, 2002), followed by TITANIC'S GHOSTS (November 20, 2002), GREAT FIRE OF ROME (November 27, 2002), TRAGEDY AT THE POLE (January 2003), and BOMBING NAZI DAMS (January 2003).

"What's so exciting about this particular group of SECRETS OF THE DEAD programs is that they turn well-known -- even sensational -- historic episodes on their heads," said Beth Hoppe, the series' executive producer. "Thanks to Hollywood and our own fascination with the macabre, we're all familiar with events like the sinking of the Titanic and the black plague. But by melding what we think we know with cutting-edge science and technology, we're able to delve deeper and ultimately reveal fascinating new facts that erase our common misconceptions."

MYSTERY OF THE BLACK DEATH In September 1665, a tailor in the peaceful English village of Eyam opened a shipment of fabric from London. Unfurling the flea-ridden cloth, he unleashed a strain of one of the world's deadliest diseases. In a matter of days, the tailor and much of the village were suffering the tell-tale signs of bubonic plague, the disease that had, over the course of 400 years, already wiped out more than half the European population. To prevent the outbreak from spreading through the town, each new victim was quarantined with his or her family. The town officials assumed that the sick villagers would simply wipe each other out. But they were wrong.

Three hundred and fifty years later, Dr. Steven O'Brien, a geneticist from the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., is delving into the reasons why some individuals -- many of whom spent more than a month in close quarters with sick family members -- managed to survive the excruciating "Black Death." MYSTERY OF THE BLACK DEATH paints a grim portrait of life at the height of an epidemic, and follows O'Brien as he uses historical records, family archives, and modern genetics to conduct a case study that uncovers previously unknown elements of the scourge -- and its mysterious link to HIV immunity in today's population.

TITANIC'S GHOSTS It was after midnight on April 15th, 1912, when an urgent knock on the door woke Swedish third-class passenger Alma Paulson and her four young children. Five days earlier, the Paulsons had left Southampton bound for Chicago, where Alma's husband awaited his family. But they would never arrive -- the Titanic had hit an iceberg. Quickly, Alma dressed herself and her youngsters. She was told to wait in a sitting room below deck for further instructions, and when she finally made it topside, all 20 of the lifeboats were long gone. She attempted to soothe her children by playing the harmonica, but as the ship's tilt increased, it became more and more difficult to hold onto them. A friend tried to help by scooping up two-year-old Gosta, but all were eventually swept into the frigid water. None of the Paulsons survived, and only Alma's body was identified.

Almost a week after the Titanic sank, Canadian rescue workers spotted the lifeless body of a fair-haired toddler floating near the site of the wreck. The sailors who pulled the little boy from the water were so moved by the discovery that they vowed to pay for his funeral and headstone if nobody claimed him. When no one did, they purchased a small white casket and held a service in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which the whole town attended. The little boy was buried in the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, along with 42 other unidentified Titanic victims.

In this episode of SECRETS OF THE DEAD, historian Alan Ruffman and a team of scientists headed by Dr. Ryan Parr, co-director of the paleo-DNA laboratory at Ontario's Lakehead Univeristy, use incredible technology to help provide answers -- and closure -- for relatives of Titanic victims whose remains were never identified.

Is the body of the small boy really that of Gosta Paulson, as some have suspected? What about the four dozen other graves filled with unidentified remains? A forensic investigation is launched to try and identify some of the unknown victims. The team attempts to extract enough DNA from the badly decaying bones to answer a century's worth of questions. The case of the unknown child leads them to Scandinavia, where Paulson descendants offer mitochondrial DNA samples for comparison with those from the little boy's body. TITANIC'S GHOSTS follows family members as they learn the truth about their relatives and finally put an end to the uncertainty that has plagued them for so many years.

GREAT FIRE OF ROME In the early hours of July 19th, 64 A.D., fire broke out in Rome. With the help of ancient accounts, we can imagine the chaos such a fire must have wreaked on the great city. One million denizens run for their lives as flames devour their homes. Some suffocate or are crushed by panicked stampedes. Others are killed by falling debris. The fire rages for more than a week, appearing at times to take on a life of its own -- spontaneous bursts of flames erupt in city sections nowhere near each other. Two-thirds of the city are left in shambles.

For centuries, questions surrounding the fire have remained unanswered. What -- or who -- started this raging inferno? Was it an accident, or was it arson? The ruthless, erratic emporer Nero had long sought to rebuild his city, according to the aristocratic politician Tacititus, but the Roman senate opposed him ardently. Might this have given Nero a motive for wreaking disaster on his own city? Or was he justified when he accused the Christians -- then just a tiny, newly founded religious sect -- of fanning the flames in an attempt to wipe out what they viewed as a blasphemous Pagan capital?

In GREAT FIRE OF ROME, SECRETS OF THE DEAD travels back to ancient times in search of definitive explanations. Analyzing burnt remnants of the fire excavated by Italian archaeologist Clementina Panella, recreating the fire's path and impact on Rome's buildings and streets, and assessing the validity and accuracy of Roman documents, this episode offers up key pieces of the centuries-old puzzle and tries to identify the real cause of ancient history's most infamous fire.

TRAGEDY AT THE POLE TRAGEDY AT THE POLE tells the tragic story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his British team who, in November 1911, began a trek across the ice of Antarctica, striving to be the first to reach the South Pole. After marching and skiing more than 900 miles, the men reached the Pole in January 1912, only to discover that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had beaten them by a month. On their return journey, Scott and his four companions perished, and their legacy has been debated ever since. Were they fallen heroes, or were they incompetent?

Now, TRAGEDY AT THE POLE brings a new, contemporary angle to our understanding of the men and their expedition -- to their staggering struggle and the reasons for their deaths. Drawing on extensive meteorological data, personal diaries, and accounts from those who survived, the program recreates in vivid detail the sights, sounds, legends, and ferocious weather of their journey. Dr. Susan Solomon, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, uses modern climate data, satellite imagery, and her understanding of the effect of extreme cold to reach the startling conclusion that Scott was not a bumbler who made tragic mistakes, but rather a careful and meticulous planner who was struck down by a freak cold spell that blew apart his careful weather forecasts and shattered his predictions of what to expect on the trek.

BOMBING NAZI DAMS In 1943 the world watched in horror as the Axis powers pummeled Allied cities with devastatingly destructive bombs. Retaliation with traditional methods was having little effect, and the Allies knew they needed a more innovative counter-attack. The Germans required huge amounts of water to build their steel weapons, so the British realized that if they could blow up German dams in the industrial Rhur valley, they could bring the enemy's military machine to a grinding halt. But was there a bomb powerful and accurate enough to get at the dams? Aircraft designer Barnes Wallis came up with a brilliant, daring idea -- an unprecedented "bouncing bomb" that could skip across water, cling to its target, and deliver a whopping blow from a specific depth. As Wallis began work on his outlandish weapon, a squadron of Allied pilots was trained to fly the hazardous, low altitude night mission. Only a few months later, the squadron managed to wipe out two Ruhr Valley dams using Wallis' barely tested bomb.

Sixty years later, the mission sounds easy enough -- but just how did this group of British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, and American airmen pull off such an accomplishment? How did this powerful weapon work? Recreating experiments, employing high-speed archival footage of the tests, and interviewing survivors, DAMBUSTERS explores the challenges, solutions, and personalities that contributed to this stunning victory.

Beth C. Hoppe is the series' executive producer and William R. Grant is executive in charge for Thirteen.

MYSTERY OF THE BLACK DEATH is a Tigress production for Thirteen/WNET New York in association with Channel 4 (U.K.). Justine Kershaw is executive producer, Emma Whitlock is producer and director.

TITANIC'S GHOSTS is an Engel Brothers Media production for Thirteen/WNET New York in association with Channel 4. Amy Bucher is producer, Steve and Larry Engel are executive producers. Ms. Bucher and Larry Engel are directors.

GREAT FIRE OF ROME is a 3BM production for Thirteen/WNET New York in association with Channel 4 (U.K.). Mark Halliley is producer and director, Simon Berthon and Daniel Korn are executive producers for 3BM.

TRAGEDY AT THE POLE is an October Films production for Thirteen/WNET New York in association with Channel 4 (U.K.). Henry Singer is producer and director. Executive producer is Denman Rooke.

BOMBING NAZI DAMS is a Windfall Television production for Thirteen/WNET New York in association with Channel 5 (U.K.). Robert Hartel is producer, Ian Duncan is executive producer and director.

Thirteen/WNET New York is one of the key program providers for public television, bringing such acclaimed series as NATURE, GREAT PERFORMANCES, AMERICAN MASTERS, CHARLIE ROSE, RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, and EGG THE ARTS SHOW -- as well as the work of Bill Moyers -- to audiences nationwide. As the flagship public broadcaster in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut metro area, Thirteen reaches millions of viewers each week, airing the best of American public television along with its own local productions such as CITY ARTS, CITY LIFE, THE NEW YORK WALKING TOURS, and REEL NEW YORK -- and reaching vast new audiences through its MetroArts/Thirteen cable arts programming. With educational and community outreach projects that enhance the value of its productions, Thirteen takes television "out of the box." And as broadcast and digital media converge, Thirteen is blazing trails in the creation of Web sites, CD-ROMs, educational software, and other cutting-edge media products. More information about Thirteen can be found at: www.thirteen.org.