All language subtitles for Holy.Marvels.with.Dennis.Quaid.S02E06.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Every culture has epic tales

of big battles
between good and evil.

Tales where the right weapon

makes all the difference.

And when it comes to swords,

few are more iconic than

the one known as Excalibur.

[dramatic music]

- Excalibur, the very
name of the mighty sword

evokes a sense of
sacred mythical powers

and is forever linked to
the man who wields it:

King Arthur.

[dramatic music]

- The legend of King Arthur
originates from Welsh poetry

written around the
late 6th century AD.

Arthur was said to have ruled

after the fall of
the Roman Empire,

and he was the
leader of what was

a knightly fellowship
of the Round Table.

His stories, of course,
involve his famous sword,

which protects the king
and his knights in battle.

[dramatic music]

- In 1136, an English
cleric, Geoffrey of Monmouth,

compiles the Arthurian
tales in a book called,

"The History of the
Kings of Britain".

In Latin he calls the
sword "Caliburnus".

It just means "cut steel."

- Eventually, this sort
of gets transmuted into

what we now have as a
name for it: Excalibur.

So, here it is obviously
clearly presented

as a miraculous, magical sword.

- [Dennis] The blade
is believed to be

forged on the mystical
isle of Avalon.

[metal clanging]

- One of the most famous
stories of how Arthur

gets Excalibur is from
"The Sword in the Stone".

And in this story
Merlin the Wizard

proclaims that whoever
can extract the sword

from the stone will be the
rightful King of England.

- So naturally everybody
wants to take a crack at it

and become the King of England,

and many people try, but
the sword just won't budge.

Until a boy named
Arthur pulls it free

[dramatic music]

claiming his right
to the throne.

- [Dennis] Once it's
in Arthur's hands,

Excalibur displays
astonishing powers.

- The sword can only be used
by those it deems worthy.

Anybody else who takes it

will be destroyed by
the sword's magic.

And for those who are worthy,

it seemingly enhances
their physical abilities

to super human levels.

With Excalibur, King Arthur
once single-handedly defeats

960 Saxons in battle.

- The sword is said
to be so bright

that it can blind enemies.

Even the scabbard of the
sword is said to be magical.

It prevents its owner from
losing blood in combat,

so that no wound can be fatal.

- The sword's greatest
power is the fact

that it grants you
the right to rule.

So, if you have Excalibur,

you are the true king.

[dramatic music]

- With Excalibur at his side,

Arthur marries Queen Guinevere,

and then he and his knights
embark on a series of quests.

- Most famously, he and his
knights seek the Holy Grail,

Jesus' cup from the Last Supper,

trying to keep Christianity's

most sacred object out of
the hands of the wicked.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] As the
legend endures,

many start to wonder
could the sword be real?

- The thing about
Excalibur is that

whether or not its
origins are mythological,

it has had a definite
impact on history.

So many rulers have wanted
to get their hands on it.

[tense music]

- In the late 12th century,

the English King, Henry II,

wants to prove once and for all,

that the Excalibur
legend is true.

Now Henry probably has
an ulterior motive,

because remember in the story,

Excalibur isn't just
an incredible weapon,

it's also a symbol
of legitimacy,

the divine right to
the British throne.

So, if Henry has it, that's
pretty good for him,

especially since his son
Richard is trying to usurp him.

- Henry fully believes that
King Arthur was a real person,

and he hears from
an old Welsh bard

that the mighty Arthur is
buried at Glastonbury Abbey.

- [Dennis] Unfortunately,
Henry doesn't live long enough

to get to Glastonbury.

[suspenseful music]

- So, Henry II dies
actually fighting

the battle with his son Richard,

who then becomes known
as Richard the Lionheart.

Now Richard continues
this quest for Excalibur,

and he orders the
excavation of what is held

to be King Arthur's tomb at
Glastonbury Abbey in 1191.

- The tombs at Glastonbury Abbey

hold King Arthur and
Guinevere's bodies,

and a historian named
Gerald of Wales,

who's present for this,

gives an eyewitness
account of what happens.

- According to Gerald,

what they unearth
is pretty thrilling:

an inscribed cross

that bears Arthur's
and Guinevere's names,

and large bones
believed to be Arthur's,

and even a long
lock of blonde hair

that crumbles to dust when
a greedy monk grabs it.

[suspenseful music]

- [Dennis] And that's
not all they find.

- It's unclear if King Richard
is actually at Glastonbury

for the discovery, but
later that same year,

he heads off to join
the Third Crusade.

And when he does, he claims
to have Excalibur at his side.

He believes the legendary
sword has been found,

and that he can wield its power.

- On the way to the Holy
Land, Richard stops in Sicily

where he's got some
political business to do.

His sister Joan was the
Queen of Sicily by marriage

and after her husband
died, the new King Tancred,

seized her lands and is
keeping her in seclusion.

[dramatic music]

- Richard demands that
Tancred release Joan

and every penny of her dowry.

And after some back and
forth, Tancred agrees.

As part of their new alliance,

Richard gives Tancred
the Excalibur,

so in the span of a few months,

he's found the most famous

and powerful sword in history,

and then he just gives it away.

- [Dennis] But there's
a practical reason

Richard does this.

[dramatic music]

- Richard and Tancred plan
to continue their alliance

into a new generation

by marrying one of
Tancred's daughters

to Richard's only nephew,
the heir to his crown,

and that nephew's
name is Arthur.

[dramatic music]

- This is wild.

This is the Arthurian
legend come to life.

You have a king
actually named Arthur

with Excalibur by his side.

Richard knows how powerfully
this will play across Europe.

- [Dennis] Unfortunately,
Tancred dies in 1194,

and Richard himself falls
in battle five years later.

- His nephew Arthur is
still too young to rule,

so the throne passes
on to his brother John.

We don't quite know
what happened to Arthur,

but the rumor is that
John had him executed

for fear that he would grow
up and take back the kingship.

[dramatic music]

And in the middle of this
entire power struggle,

Excalibur disappears from
the historical record.

- We also don't know if this was

the real Excalibur
to begin with.

The legends are so
popular by Richard's time,

that it's possible that
Glastonbury Abbey, or Richard,

or both just fakes the story
to increase their fame.

- [Dennis] While some speculate

that this was the
actual Excalibur,

other researchers point to
a different possibility.

- There are tons of
parallels between Excalibur

and other swords that predate
the Arthurian legends.

Maybe Excalibur was inspired by

some other famous real
swords from history.

- One solid candidate is
an 8th century French sword

named Durandal.

[dramatic music]

The blade is described
as indestructible,

and it becomes famous thanks
to an epic French poem

of unknown authorship called
"La Chanson de Roland"

or "The Song of Roland".

[dramatic music]

- Just like Excalibur,

parts of the story sound a
little too magical to be true.

Durandal is said to
be a gift from God,

and it's so powerful
that King Charlemagne

wants his military leader
Roland to destroy it

rather than let it fall
into the wrong hands.

[dramatic music]
[soldiers shouting]

Roland dies fighting
in a battle in 778,

and with his dying breath,

he hurls the sword so hard

that it flies for a hundred
miles before piercing a rock.

- Now in the southwestern
region of France,

there's a small
village Rocamadour

that claims to have
had Durandal there.

There is a sword that
has been embedded

into a stone in this village

for hundreds of years.

Locally this is
referred to as Durandal.

- You could have
gone to Rocamadour

and seen it for yourself.

It's been photographed
by countless tourists.

But, in June 2024,

Durandal is taken
from the stone,

and it hasn't been recovered.

- [Dennis] Meanwhile, those
inspired by the legend

of King Arthur haven't given
up hope of finding Excalibur.

[suspenseful music]

- People are still out there

all over the UK
using a combination

of old literature
and new technology

to try to find the fabled sword.

If nothing else,

this certainly proves
that the legend lives on.

[suspenseful music]

- While Excalibur
is a powerful sword

believed to grant its
wielder the right to rule,

sometimes a more modest weapon

provides that same right.

[dramatic music]

- One of the most famous
stories in the Bible

is the tale of
David and Goliath.

It's been immortalized
in the iconic statue

Michelangelo's David and
countless other works of art.

- In fact, the David and
Goliath story has become

the official metaphor for
any unexpected victory

of a seemingly weaker side
over a stronger opponent.

It's a proper underdog story.

On any given Sunday,

you're guaranteed to hear
a sportscaster bring it up

because it a story that
everyone's familiar with.

[suspenseful music]

- In the book of First Samuel,

the Israelites are facing
off against the Philistines.

They're located in
the Valley of Elah.

They have a champion, a giant,

a man named Goliath of Gath.

[tense dramatic music]

Twice a day for 40 days he
comes out and challenges

the Israelites to
one on one combat,

the idea being whoever
wins between him

and the champion of the
Israelites wins the battle.

[tense dramatic music]

- Everyone is terrified
to face Goliath,

because, first of
all, he's massive.

It is believed that Goliath
is four cubits and a span,

which in modern equivalent
is 6 feet 9 inches tall.

- Goliath has this
incredible suit of armor.

It includes a breastplate,

a bronze helmet, greaves,

a coat of bronze mail,

as well as the lance,
and a scimitar,

which a curved sword with
a convex cutting edge.

- [Dennis] Many soldiers
are too frightened

to challenge Goliath,

but a young shepherd
named David isn't fazed.

[dramatic music]

- David, who's said to
be about 15-years-old,

is in the crowd bringing
food to his older brothers

who are warriors.

He gets riled up by
Goliath's insults,

and tells his brother Eliab

that he's ready to
fight Goliath himself.

He believes that God will
give him the strength to win.

The Israelite King Saul decides
to let David give it a shot.

- David has no armor, no sword,
no lance, no fancy weaponry.

[suspenseful music]

All he has is a sling.

So he gathers five
smooth stones in a pouch,

and he heads out into
the field of battle.

[dramatic music]

- So, when Goliath sees
David, he's offended.

He's like, "Is the
best you can do?

"Am a dog that you come out
to me with like sticks."

And none of that
dissuades David.

[suspenseful music]

- With God on his side,
David takes a stone,

sets it in the
sling and flings it.

[suspenseful music]

[helmet clanging]

Goliath is hit square
in the forehead.

He falls down stunned.

And David takes
Goliath's own sword

[suspenseful music]

and cuts off his head.

- This turns the tide in the
battle for the Israelites.

Seeing their champion
fallen, the Philistines flee.

The Israelites chase
them and win the battle.

[crowd cheering]

- This victory
really sets David up.

No one could do what David did.

Everyone recognizes that David

is truly the one that
can defend Israel.

Although he's young,

he's shown himself
to be more kingly

and more ready in battle than
any of the other warriors.

And eventually, he does
become King of Israel.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] It's undoubtedly
a powerful tale,

but is there any
truth to this story?

To find out, experts
begin with the sling.

- You might think that a
sling sounds like a kid's toy,

but it's actually a really
serious part of ancient warfare.

And slings are surprisingly
effective and dangerous weapons.

- A skilled slinger can
be incredibly accurate.

Medieval tapestries
show slingers

that are able to
hit birds in flight.

- Not only can slings
be sharply accurate,

they're also quite deadly.

In 1995, a ballistics expert

with the Israeli Defense Forces,

performs calculations showing

that a stone hurled
by an expert slinger

from 35 meters away
would hit Goliath's head

at a velocity of nearly
80 miles per hour.

That's more than enough
to penetrate his skull.

- So the historical use of
slings as deadly weapons

in David's time is
pretty well established.

- [Dennis] Since the odds of
David's actual sling surviving

are slim, amateur
archaeologist Ron Wyatt

sets out to find the
story's other famous weapon:

Goliath's sword.

To Wyatt, there's an obvious
place to start looking:

Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

- Wyatt believes that
any spoils of war

the Israelites gathered

as well as any
objects of great power

would've been kept in
the most secure building,

the center of all power and
wealth in ancient Jerusalem,

and that is a temple.

After all, this was
the building where

they allegedly housed
their greatest weapon,

the Ark of the Covenant,
at least until the building

was destroyed by the
Babylonians in 587-BC.

- [Dennis] Wyatt begins
his search in 1979.

- The ruins within the
Temple Mount are crisscrossed

with underground rooms
and passages dating back

well over 2,000 years,

and many of them haven't
been fully explored.

So Wyatt spends several months
working his way through,

during which time he
claims to find a chamber

packed with furnishings,
wood, and stones.

- There's so much inside,

it's difficult for
him to move around.

But according to his account,

Wyatt spots an ephod,

which is a priestly garment
from ancient Israel.

He also sees a menorah
and a large sword

measuring more than
five feet in length.

- In the book of Samuel,

we read that Goliath's
sword was wrapped in cloth

and kept behind the ephod.

That fact, plus the
size of the sword,

convinces Wyatt that he's
looking at the sword of Goliath.

[suspenseful music]

- After the discovery,

Wyatt claims that
God instructs him

to leave all the items in place.

So, he doesn't attempt
to remove them,

but he does later make
a replica of the sword

matching what he
saw in Jerusalem.

- Wyatt dies in 1999,

and the exact
whereabouts of his finds

remain unknown to this day.

[dramatic music]

- And who knows, remains
of weapons or inscriptions

that prove that Goliath
was a real person

defeated by a future
king, named David,

may one day actually be found.

- In 1922, a newly
discovered site in Egypt

forever changes the
study of archaeology.

King Tut's tomb, its
contents are dazzling,

and among the many
treasures found inside

is a sacred weapon
with a mysterious past.

[dramatic music]

- Around 1914,

an English Egyptologist
named Howard Carter

sets out to find the
tomb of a mysterious king

named Tutankhamun.

- King Tut is believed to be

the son of the
Pharaoh Akhenaten,

and he inherits the throne
at the young age of nine.

He rules between
1334 and 1325-BC,

during Egypt's New
Kingdom period.

And he died as a young man,

between 18 and 19-years-old.

- But despite his short life,

King Tut actually has a
pretty important impact

on the Egyptian religion.

Akhenaten had
forced the Egyptians

to stop worshiping
their lead god, Amun,

in favor of a new
god called Aten.

- Tutankhamun
undoes all of this.

He restores the temples
and shrines of Amun

and returns the original
Egyptian religion to his people.

- [Dennis] Carter spends
many years searching

for the young Pharaoh's
tomb to no avail.

Then one day he
has a breakthrough.

- In November of 1922,

a step is discovered
cutting into the bedrock.

Carter's team excavates
the staircase leading

down below the dirt, and
on Sunday November 26th,

he makes a hole in a door at
the bottom of that staircase,

and he finds the tomb.

- [Dennis] The discovery
makes international headlines.

Launching a worldwide
fascination with King Tut

that endures to this day.

- You've probably seen a bunch

of King Tut artifacts
and pictures,

or maybe even in
person at a museum.

Statues, furnishings, jewelry,

and his famous death mask,

which is made of 24
pounds of solid gold.

In total, there are nearly
5400 objects in his tomb.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] But the most
mysterious artifact

and perhaps the most powerful

is one of the smallest.

- In 1925, Carter unwraps
the Pharaoh's mummy,

and in doing so he
discovers two daggers.

One of the daggers
is made of gold.

The other is made of a metal

that shouldn't have
existed at the time: iron.

- It doesn't make
sense that Tut would

or even could have
a dagger like this.

The Iron Age, which is when
people began making tools

from ire ore through a
process called smelting,

is generally thought to have
begun no earlier than 1200-BC,

which is some 150 years
after King Tut's death.

- [Dennis] It takes
another 91 years

to prove this dagger's
incredible origins.

- In 2016, a team of researchers

from Italy and the
Egyptian museum

used x-ray fluorescent
spectrometry

to analyze the dagger's
composition for the first time,

and what they find
is pretty surprising.

[dramatic music]

- While earth-based iron
has a 4% nickel content,

[dramatic music]
[metal clanking]

the dagger has an almost 11%.

Proving that the weapon
didn't come from Earth.

In fact, Tut's dagger
came from outer space

in the form of a meteorite.

- Of course, now
it all makes sense.

Because before the development
of high temperature furnaces,

meteorites would've been
the only source of iron

available to the Egyptians.

- The authors of the study

believed the people in
Tut's day may have known

about this dagger's
otherworldly origin,

and because of this,

the ancient Egyptians
associated it

with a great deal
of sacred power.

[dramatic music]

- The study cites a
hieroglyph that appears

for the first time in
the 13th century BC.

It literally translates
to "iron of the sky,"

which sounds a lot like
a meteor, doesn't it?

[dramatic music]

- "Iron of the sky"

is described as a
gift from the gods,

holding very potent
ritual magic.

Tut's dagger would've
been a physical symbol

of his divinity and royalty.

Almost like how
holding Excalibur

proves King Arthur's
divine right to rule.

[suspenseful music]

- [Dennis] It also could've
served another purpose.

- It's believed that King
Tut's iron dagger was used

in an important
Egyptian funeral ritual

known as the opening
of the mouth.

- After a Pharaoh died,

a priest would
recite an incantation

while touching a sacred
instrument to the face

of a statue of the Pharaoh
or to a sarcophagus.

This is done to
symbolically reopen

the eyes, mouth, nose, etcetera,

so that the Pharaoh can breathe,

eat, see, hear, and
smell in the afterlife.

For Tut they might have
used his special dagger

to perform this ritual.

- This dagger was held to be,

essentially, from the heavens,

from the place of the afterlife.

So, this dagger would've been
perfect for this ritual.

[dramatic music]

- King Tut is actually
going to need the dagger

for protection in the afterlife.

Of the thousands of artifacts
found within his tomb,

this one's actually
placed on his thigh,

so that it's easy to reach.

[dramatic music]

- So much has been
made of Tut's mask,

but this iron dagger

would've been the real
prized possession.

As a god king on Earth,

Tut would've held the metal
of the gods at his side.

That would've made his dagger
a weapon of incredible power.

[tense dramatic music]

- During World War II,

the Nazi regime didn't
just fight their battles

with tanks, planes,
and machine guns,

they also turned to a more
surprising source: the Bible.

[tense ominous music]

- Hitler has a known
contempt for religion,

but he's not above
using it to his own ends

to inspire the large
percentage of European public

who are religious,
especially Christian.

[crowd cheering]
[dramatic music]

- Adolf Hitler calls his
government the Third Reich,

by declaring it the Third Reich,

it associates his government
with the Second Reich,

which was Germany under
the Imperial system,

and then the First
Reich, which was

the Holy Roman Empire
that existed until 1806.

He is drawing a
line of continuity

that connects him to the kaisers

and then connects
him all the way

back in time to Charlemagne.

[dramatic music]

- The Nazi's actually released

one particularly famous
piece of propaganda,

which shows Hitler with
the light breaking through

the clouds and forming a
halo effect around him.

He's holding a Nazi flag with
a "Long Live Germany" caption.

And he also has his Germany
Army Forces wear belt buckles

with the inscription,
"God is with us."

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] In the early 1930s,

Hitler even hunts down
an iconic holy relic.

- The Holy Lance,
or Spear of Destiny,

is an artifact that
the Bible says was used

to pierce Christ's side
as he hung on the cross.

It, therefore, literally
touched Jesus' blood.

It's believed that
the spear can make

whoever wields it
divinely invincible.

[dramatic music]

- Long before Hitler's
rise to power,

an artifact claiming to
be the Spear of Destiny

has been on display in
Vienna's Hofburg Palace.

That's where Hitler sees it.

- He saw the way
that Austrian people

would visit simply
to see that relic,

and in that I
believe he recognized

something that he could
use toward his benefit.

- So when the Nazis
take over Austria,

Hitler seizes the spear,

not just because he thinks

it grants him the
divine right to rule,

but because he knows that such
a powerful religious symbol

will help galvanize
the public behind him.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] While gaining power,

Hitler continues
his manipulation.

- Hitler will do whatever it
takes to motivates Germans

and instill fear in
the rest of the world,

whatever it takes
to win the war.

- This philosophy finds its
way into the development

of one of the largest
Nazi super weapons

ever used in battle.

- By the mid-1930s,

Adolf Hitler knows that
if Germany is to realize

the greatness that it's
destined to realize,

he will have to make war
with those old enemies

from The Great War.

As it turns out, one of
those enemies is France.

And during the
years that followed

the Versailles Treaty in 1919,

France spent a great amount
of its national wealth

in the construction of a
series of a fortifications

stretching from
Dunkirk in the north,

to Nice in the south,

650 miles of fortifications
called the Maginot Line.

- Thousands of
elite French troops

man heavy guns on
the Maginot Line,

and it's believed to be
pretty much impregnable.

- For them to even have a chance

at taking on the Maginot Line,

German command needs
a massive siege weapon

that can penetrate
concrete bunkers.

[tense music]

- [Dennis] In March of 1936,

the German corporation
Rheinmetall

began developing such a weapon.

- The weapon is massive,

and it's extremely heavy.

The barrel length
itself is 20 feet.

The projectiles weigh
nearly 5,000 pounds.

The weapon itself weighs
as much as a blue whale.

- And its lightest shell has a
range of more than six miles,

making it a truly

[gunfire blasting]

devastating death machine.

[dramatic music]

As you can imagine,

development of something like
this takes several years,

but the Nazis eventually
manage to build

seven of these weapons
between 1940 and 1942.

The first is a test model,

and the other six
are all planned

to be deployed in battle.

- After they're completed,

the six super weapons get names

that clearly demonstrate
Hitler's habit

of using religion to
motivate and incite fear.

Each holy moniker is a
tribute to the machine's

awe-inspiring destructive power.

[dramatic music]

- They're called "Adam
and Eve" from the Bible,

"Thor, Odin, and Loki"

Norse gods now famous
from the Marvel movies,

and "Ziu" an old Germanic god

from whom we get the
name for Tuesday.

- Adolf attempted to
cover all the bases,

and it's a great
example of the way

that they harnessed
and mobilized folklore

in the effort to
make Germany look

like an unstoppable
fighting force.

[cannonfire blasting]

- Adam and Eve and
these other cannons

play a significant
part in the war.

They're involved in
Operation Barbarossa,

the Nazi invasion
of the Soviet Union,

and we have records
that they were used

in the attempt to capture
the bridge at Ludendorff

during the Battle of Remagen.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] As the
Germans advance,

these unholy weapons of war

prove to be more trouble
than they're worth.

- Each gun had to be
accompanied by a crane,

a heavy transport
set of rail cars,

and several modified tanks
just to carry the shells.

- So their immense
size means that

they can't be used in
that many situations,

and it makes them
prone to malfunction,

especially on softer terrain.

[tense dramatic music]

- By the end of the war,

the six machines had been
either captured or destroyed.

Eve and Loki are demolished
by the United States.

Odin and Ziu are destroyed
or taken by the Soviets.

- As far as we know,

only one example
survives to this day.

Russia's Kubinka
Tank Museum currently

has one on display
with the name "Adam"

prominently painted
across the side.

It's a stunning example
of the lengths the Nazis

were willing to go to achieve
their nefarious goals.

- The Nazis aren't the only
ones who turn to scripture

for inspiration
during World War II,

the Allies also go to great
lengths to create a super weapon

on a biblical scale.

[dramatic music]

- In the early years
of World War II,

German U-boats are nearly
undetectable and impenetrable.

[thunderous explosion]

They sink many British Navy
vessels and civilian ships.

[dramatic music]

- The German U-boat is the
one and only strategic weapon

that the Third Reich
has during World War II

that, in and of
itself, can win a war.

- So how do we deal
with these U-boats?

Well, in order to spot
them, we need planes,

and in order to fly
planes we need some kind

of sea base to launch,
land, and refuel from.

[dramatic music]
[plane engine humming]

- These aircraft carriers
are so critical to the war,

that we simply could
not risk sending one

into the Mid-Atlantic gap

where they would
be very vulnerable.

The thing that we needed was one

massive unsinkable
aircraft carrier.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] This leads to the
development of one of the most

ambitious fortified
warships of all time.

- [J.W.] Winston
Churchill muses about

taking massive existing icebergs

and smoothing them out to make
landing strips for convoys.

- And, yeah, it definitely
sounds like a pretty crazy idea,

but that same year in 1942,

an eccentric British
inventor named Geoffrey Pyke,

comes up with a way
to do just that.

[dramatic music]

- Pyke starts working
with a molecular biologist

to create a stronger and more
durable manmade form of ice.

It's made of wood pulp and
ice, and they name it Pykrete.

- [Dennis] Using
his new substance,

Pyke creates plans for an
indestructible aircraft carrier.

- It's nearly half a mile long
and weighs 2.2 million tons.

Churchill is blown
away by the idea.

The vessel would supposedly be

impervious to
shells and torpedoes

and able to withstand
massive North Atlantic waves

that can reach 50 feet high.

- But most importantly,

it would act as an
aircraft carrier,

allowing the Allies
to combat Nazi U-boats

and close that Mid-Atlantic gap.

[engine humming]
[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] Churchill
green lights

a prototype of the weapon,

which is given the code
name Project Habukkuk.

- Much like the Nazi's
religious propaganda,

this name uses a
biblical reference

to inspire the workers.

It's a book of
the Old Testament,

and its message is
that even while God

may seem silent and
uninvolved in the world,

he has a plan to deal with evil.

[dramatic music]

- It's an inspiring idea

for those working
on the super weapon.

If it works, it can
defeat evil: the Nazis.

- In August of 1943,

Chief of Staff of
the British Army,

Lord Louis Mountbatten
presents the project

to key Allied
military officials.

He brings out two
square chunks of ice,

one regular and
the other Pykrete.

He fires his pistol
into each chunk.

[gun firing]
[ice shattering]

The untreated block
of ice shatters,

but when Mountbatten shoots
at the Pykrete block,

[gun fires]
[bullet ricochets]

the bullet actually
ricochets off.

[dramatic music]

So with their concept proven,

the design is finalized and
ready to be built in 1943.

Churchill and Mountbatten
both approve it.

Resources are gathered,

which include 300,000
tons of wood pulp,

25,000 tons of insulation,

and 10,000 tons of steel.

[dramatic music]

- Building the iceberg
aircraft carrier

is a lot harder than it sounds,

because the flight
deck needs to be

at least 50 feet above
the surface of the water,

so that it can deal
with heavy seas.

And you have 50 feet above
the surface of the water,

you have to have 10 times that

below the surface of the water.

- The project would
require 8,000 men

working for eight months
in arctic temperatures,

and the cost for the venture

becomes as extraordinary
as its mission,

about 10 million British pounds.

That's equivalent to
$750 million today.

- [Dennis] Unfortunately,

Project Habukkuk
never sets sail.

- Another invention comes out

that renders the project
all but obsolete:

the long-range fuel
tanker for aircraft.

[engine humming]

- When the threat of vampires
sweeps across Europe

in the 18th century,

God-fearing townspeople turn
to a simple set of weapons

to combat evil.

[dramatic music]

- Let's be honest,

vampires fascinate us, right?

There are hundreds,
maybe even thousands,

of incarnations in
books, movies, TV shows,

and they can be creepy, sexy,

or just downright terrifying.

[suspenseful music]

- Of course we can thank
Bram Stoker for this.

[tense music]

His 1897 novel

"Dracula" kicked off a wave

of fictional
vampire stories.

- [Dennis] Belief
in this folklore,

actually dates back
thousands of years

to ancient cultures
around the world.

- We had evil people
who refused to die,

that could rise
from their graves.

These were labeled as "idimu"

for the ancient Sumerians.

In ancient Rome we have this
spirit that can suck blood

and life out of people

called the "strix".

- Some scholars believe

the Christian fear of vampires

may tie into the story of Jesus.

At the Last Supper,

Jesus tells his disciples

that symbolically
eating his flesh

and drinking his blood will
grant eternal life in Heaven.

- Vampires drain the blood
and the life force from others

to selfishly feed their own
hunger and eternal life.

So, a vampire is kind of
the antithesis to Jesus

and meant to be feared.

[suspenseful music]

- [Dennis] This
fear crystallizes

when one Serbian town
believes they've come

face to face with
an actual vampire.

- In July 1725,

the local residents
of Kisiljevo, Serbia

summon a health and safety
official to their village

to help deal with
an unusual problem.

[tense dramatic music]

- They believed that a
man named Petar Blagojevic

who died 10 weeks earlier
is regularly getting up

out of his grave and
killing their families

and loved ones.

Blagojevic's widow tells the
official, Provisor Frombald

that her husband knocked on
her door after the funeral

demanding his shoes before
attempting to strangle her.

[suspenseful music]

- [Dennis] Blagojevic
attacks nine more villagers

over the course of nine nights.

[suspenseful music]

Each incident is more
terrifying than the last.

- The village elders believe
Blagojevic is "vampyri"

the Serbian word for
back from the dead.

- So Frombald gets a priest,

and they exhume
Blagojevic's body.

They record that the appearance

and smell of the
corpse is fresh.

The body hasn't
decomposed at all.

The hair and beard seem
to have continued growing,

and there's new
skin and fingernails

where the old ones
had peeled away.

- There seems to be fresh
blood around the mouth

believed to be sucked
from his victims.

[tense dramatic music]

- Frombald reports
to the authorities

that everything
indicates Blagojevic

is indeed a vampire.

The villagers are
ready to take action.

[tense ominous music]

- [Dennis] And
there's one weapon

they're confident
can do the trick.

[suspenseful music]

[air whooshing]

[suspenseful bass music]

- The townspeople
drive a sharpened stake

through Blagojevic's chest,

and Frombald witnesses
blood gushing

from the ears and mouth.

Further proof of
his undead status.

[suspenseful music]

- Frombald's official report

makes sensational
newspaper copy.

Leading to the first printed
use of the word "vampyri",

which quickly makes its way
into other European languages,

creating a full-blown
vampire panic.

[suspenseful music]

- [Dennis] As terror spreads,
one holy man in France

has an idea on how to
combat the problem.

- In 1746, a Benedictine
monk named Augustin Calmet

publishes a book about
angels, demons, and vampires.

A vampire needs to be impaled,

so they use a wooden
stake through the heart.

But the type of wood varies.

White oak wood is popular,

but some prefer aspen,

because there's a legend

that Christ's cross
was made of aspen.

- It was a very
pragmatic solution.

It was a stake to stake
them to the ground,

so they didn't get up and start
walking around again undead.

[tense suspenseful music]

- [Dennis] Soon the
arsenal of weapons

used to fight the
undead expands.

- Vampires are seen
as unholy creatures.

And despite the fact that

no official church
doctrine says this,

the vampire hunters out
there are quick to decide

that the best way to
combat an unholy beast

is with a holy weapon.

- [J.W.] By the late
1800s and early 1900s,

vampire killing kits include
several religious items.

They include rosary
beads, Bibles, crucifixes,

holy water all because
Christians believe

they can fend off evil
through the power of God.

- We see stories where simply
holding up a wood crucifix,

the symbol of Jesus'
sacrifice on the cross,

is supposed to
incapacitate a vampire.

Holy water, a symbol of the
Christian rite of baptism,

will burn a vampire's skin or
poison it if it's ingested.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] Though
the fear of vampires

has waned over the years,

interest in these weapons
has never been stronger.

- Today, vampire killing kits

pretty hot item on
the auction block.

In 2022, a kit from
the late 1800s,

sold for nearly $20,000 by
Hansons Auctioneers in England,

with the claim that it
has been "authenticated".

Who knows, for that
anonymous buyer,

maybe those weapons
will come in handy.

- Even Bram Stoker seemed to
wonder if vampires were real.

His novel "Dracula" originally
included a preference,

saying he was, "Quite convinced

"that the events here described

"really took place
however unbelievable

"and incomprehensible they
might appear at first sight."

[tense suspenseful music]

- Whether they're
used to gain thrones,

secure victories, or
end unholy threats,

sacred weapons continue to
wield real power in history

and in our imaginations.

I'm Dennis Quaid.

Thanks for watching
"Holy Marvels".