Secrets of the Dead - Season 9 - Eps 2: Airmen and the Headhunters
A tribe in Borneo protects a shot-down U.S. bomber crew from Japanese occupiers during World War II. The local missionaries, who converted the tribe to Christianity, were executed by the Japanese invaders, who had forced out Dutch and British colonialists, while massacring Borneo natives. A surviving missionary from Indonesia, employed by the Japanese military as an area administrator, outwits Japanese forces by hiding the U.S. airmen deep in a jungle canyon. The local Dayak people risk their lives, and force the occupiers to abandon their hunt for the airmen, using blowpipes and machetes against the Japanese army search parties.
About Secrets of the Dead
Title: Secrets of the Dead
First Air Date: 2000-05-15
Last Air Date: 2025-02-26
Status: Returning Series
Rating: 6.3/10 (from 20 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 23
Total Episodes: 115
Network: PBS
Genres: Documentary, Mystery
Production Companies: Thirteen
Synopsis
Part detective story, part true-life drama, long-running series explores some of the most iconic moments in history to debunk myths and shed new light on past events. Using the latest investigative techniques, forensic science and historical examination, it shatters accepted wisdom, challenges prevailing ideas, overturns existing hypotheses, spotlights forgotten mysteries, and ultimately rewrites history.
