All language subtitles for remux-M.I.2024.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH.eng

-This part of the lagoon
is about 160 feet deep.

-What caused this crater?

[Narrator] A macabre
discovery is made on a

barren Australian atoll.

-They find a headless skeleton.

-They were clearly attacked,
but by who?

[Narrator] The eerie
inhabitants of a Mexican island

reveal a dark past...

-Dolls...

...hundreds, even
thousands of them.

They're on walls,
they're on pikes,

they're hanging from trees.

[Narrator] Isolated.

Scarce on resources.

Islands are worlds
unto themselves.

Bizarre creatures.

Ancient gods
and haunting ruins.

Baffling murders
and deadly spirits.

What will be discovered on
Earth's mysterious islands?

Far out in the
Central Pacific sits a

collection of islands
that define paradise.

Coconut palms fringing
white beaches look out

over lagoons with
impossibly clear water.

-The Marshall Islands consist
of a series of 29 atolls and

five islands scattered
across a 180,000 square mile

stretch of the Pacific...

And its people,
the Marshallese,

number around 41,000,

living mainly on the atolls
of Majuro and Kwajalein.

-Atolls are essentially
circular reefs that are

made up of coral.

They're home to a
wide variety of marine

flora and fauna,

all of which are even
more beautiful than the paradise

they call home.

[Narrator] In 2017, a
group of American biologists

seeking to learn more
about this marine environment

head out to Bikini Atoll,

lying at the westernmost
part of the Marshall Islands.

-Bikini Atoll is yet
another piece of

the tropical landscape...

...a narrow,
semicircular spit of land

that rises about
six feet out of the ocean,

forming the edges of a
deep lagoon that stretches

for 25 miles.

-But as they sail into the
lagoon their GPS instruments

send out a warning signal,
alerting the crew that their

vessel is in danger
of running aground.

But this makes no sense
because this part of the

Bikini lagoon is
about 160 feet deep!

-Their navigation
system is showing an island

at the exact coordinates
where their vessel is sailing.

This is all taking place in the
21st century.

Cartographers have
mapped the world pretty

extensively and accurately,

what is going on here?

[Narrator] The scientists
decide to investigate.

They send dive teams down into
the depths of the Bikini lagoon.

-At the bottom,
you can see that beautiful coral

covers large tracts
of the sea floor.

The coral appears
to be thriving.

Part of an ecosystem that is
as complex as it is beautiful.

-However, all this beautiful
coral suddenly drops off

into a deeper area,
essentially forming a depression

of a circular shape.

[Narrator] The scientists
decide to take samples

of the coral,

hoping that they can
reveal more information about

its age and the crater
that it grows around.

But before they bring their
samples back to the lab,

they decide to investigate
the uninhabited islands

of the atoll.

They come across an
enormous steel chain lying

on the beach.

-It looks like it was something
that just washed ashore...

[Amma Wakefield] This is
the kind of chain you could

see having an anchor
attached to one end...

But there are neither
ships in the lagoon,

nor any anchors around
the underwater crater.

-It all adds up to a
kind of unsettling feeling.

You’ve got
obvious signs of humans,

but no humans.

The scientists say even
the fish and birds seem

like they’re less
afraid here than the

animals on other islands.

-It's as if the
animals themselves don't know

what we're capable of...

That we could
cause them harm.

So there must not have
been much human activity

here for many, many years.

[Narrator] The scientists
decide to make another dive

at the opposite
end of the lagoon.

They observe a
ghostly shape rising up

from the ocean floor.

-It doesn't take long before
something truly remarkable

comes into view.

At a depth of about 40 feet,
a bridge of an enormous ship

appears before them.

-And then,
40 feet below that,

a huge, flat deck
reveals itself.

The deck is littered
with debris,

but its size and its
shape indicates that it can

only be one thing.

A flight deck, and this
vessel is an aircraft carrier.

But how did it end up at
the bottom of the lagoon?

-This is truly remarkable.

The ship seems
frozen in time,

its guns pointed to the sky.

Ammunition lies strewn about.

You can see the radio in
what would have been the

Command Information Center.

There's even a
sink and a mirror...

-If you look at the
instruments in the wheelhouse,

you can tell that
this is an old vessel,

it was probably built
anywhere from the 1930s

to the 1950s.

But is that when it sank?

[Narrator] The scientists
continue their dive and

come across a diving
helmet covered in silt.

[James Ellis] This
is actually a US Navy

Mark V diving helmet,

so this is definitely an
American aircraft carrier,

dating to the time of
the Second World War.

[Narrator] During
the Second World War,

America and her Allies
fought the Japanese Empire.

Extensive and brutal
battles were waged at sea

and on land,

resulting in the eventual
capitulation of the Japanese in

August of 1945,

following the American
decision to detonate two

nuclear weapons over Japan.

-There were amphibious
invasions by US Marines on

the Marshallese atolls of
Enewetak and Kwajalein.

But although the
Marines suffered casualties,

no aircraft
carrier was sunk...

...so this ship can't have
been a victim of those battles.

-So if it wasn't
sunk in battle,

then how did it end up
at the bottom of the sea,

stocked with all
sorts of supplies,

in the middle of a lagoon
that has a gargantuan crater?

[Narrator] Meanwhile, the
results from the coral samples

taken from the rim of the
crater have revealed high

levels of radioactive isotopes.

-With the Cold War
in its infancy,

the Americans embarked
on what now seems a

completely ludicrous
nuclear testing program.

These radiation levels
are actually the result of

12 years of nuclear
testing carried out by

the United States in the
Marshall Islands alone.

-Starting in 1946 with a project
called Operation Crossroads,

they began detonating
nuclear bombs over some

of the Marshall Islands
on a terribly regular basis.

[Amma Wakefield]
They didn’t just want

to test the bomb itself,

but also the explosion’s
impact on naval vessels.

So they brought a whole
bunch of them to the area

surrounding the Bikini Atoll.

And one of those was
the USS Saratoga.

[Narrator] During World War II,

The USS Saratoga had
seen action throughout

the Pacific campaign,

but in 1946 it was deemed
surplus to requirements.

So, along with other vessels,

it was loaded with war materiel,

and subjected
to nuclear explosions.

-The first blast damaged the
Saratoga but didn’t sink it.

The second blast
lifted the stern more than

40 feet above the ocean...

And then sent it
smashing back down,

with huge waves washing over it.

After a few days, it sank.

The poor animals that were
aboard the other ships either

died immediately or
were eventually killed

by radiation poisoning.

[Narrator] Even though
the Americans succeeded

in sinking the Saratoga
with their second atomic blast,

they were not yet finished
with their nuclear testing.

-But if the Americans
were detonating so many

nuclear weapons here,
which one created this

ridiculously huge crater?

[Narrator] On March 1, 1954,

the Americans decided
to carry out a test of a

thermonuclear device that
could be delivered by airplane.

At 06:45 local time,
the bomb,

known as Castle Bravo,
detonated.

[Anthony Cantor] The
scientists seemed to have

miscalculated its force,

and it turned out to
be two and a half times

more powerful
than anticipated...

A total of 15 megatons!

1,000 times more
powerful than the bomb

dropped on Hiroshima.

To this day, this remains
the largest nuclear bomb

ever set off by
the United States.

-Within seconds
of the explosion,

a four-and-a-half-mile
high mushroom cloud formed.

Eventually it rose up to
130,000 feet and then winds

helped scatter
radioactive debris across

7,000 square miles.

And of course, it left
this enormous crater we

still see today at Bikini Atoll.

-This is why the scientists'
navigation device was

sounding off because
there is or was supposed

to be land there.

But the nuclear explosion
blasted all that land away,

leaving this huge crater!

[Narrator] The evidence
remains of the worst

radiological disaster in
the history of American-led

nuclear arms testing.

It caused a severe backlash
in terms of the wisdom and

predictability that existed
in testing nuclear weapons.

-There's a story of a scientist
who forgot his safety goggles,

and so therefore had
to watch his colleagues as

they watched the
detonation of the bomb.

And in his recollection,

he tells how he saw
his colleagues' faces go

from shock to fear.

And the reason for that is
the explosion was so big,

and so many times bigger
than they were all expecting

that for a moment they
thought that they had set

the earth's
atmosphere on fire.

For the Americans,

the Marshall Islands
were far off,

out of sight and out of mind.

But not so for
those Marshallese who

called Bikini Atoll home.

Prior to the first tests,

the Americans told
all 167 residents they would

have to relocate
but could come back within

a relatively
short period of time.

A bald-faced lie.

[Anthony Cantor] From
what we can see today,

this has not come to pass.

Bikini Atoll
remains contaminated

by radiation poisoning.

And to make matters worse,

665 Marshallese were
overexposed to radiation

in the years
following the tests.

[Dan Riskin] The metal chain
and a radioactive environment

are all part of the
legacy of the early stages

of the Cold War,

when the struggle for
technological supremacy took

precedence over life itself.

[Dan Riskin] Today, although
the area is still poisoned,

you can see life rebounding.

It's remarkable.

[Narrator] Even though no
island was discovered where

the biologist's navigation
system indicated,

they did find signs of
a recovering ecosystem,

despite all the devastation.

In total, 23 nuclear
weapons were detonated

over the territory of
the Marshall Islands,

causing unbelievable
amounts of damage,

leaving parts of the
country poisoned and

uninhabitable for decades,

and indeed, into
the foreseeable future.

Nestled within
the boundaries of Mexico City,

just 17 miles from
downtown is Xochimilco,

a suburb known as
the Venice of Mexico.

-You probably picture canals
when you think of Venice.

But I'm pretty sure that most
of us don't imagine canals when

we hear "Mexico City".

The truth is, this suburb
has 110 miles of them,

and has had them
for hundreds of years,

possibly thousands of years!

[Narrator] Xochimilco
lies in the valley of Mexico,

historically a marshy region.

Faced with the area’s
limited agricultural capacity,

the Aztecs had a
brilliant solution...

...artificial islands that
function as large planting beds.

-These islands are
called chinampas,

which means flower field.

The mud and silt mixture is
extremely nutrient-rich rich

and the surrounding waters
help regulate temperature,

which allows for
year-round cultivation.

[Narrator] After the
Aztecs were defeated by the

Conquistadors in the 1500s,

most of the area
was filled in thus creating

modern day Mexico City.

-Luckily, there are a lot of
these islands remaining in

Xochimilco which has
led to the area being quite

the tourist attraction.

You can actually take trips
through the canals on trajinera

which are essentially large
and very colorful gondolas,

it's a pretty lively
atmosphere filled with food,

culture and even mariachis
playing on board!

-But if your trajinera
makes a turn into the

Laguna de Tequila you
might see something a

little less festive.

Dolls.

Hundreds, even
thousands of them.

They're on walls,
they're on pikes,

they're hanging from trees,

with their artificial skin
blistering under the hot sun.

[horror scream]

[Narrator] This is
"Isla de las Muñecas"

which translates to
"the Island of the Dolls."

-The reason for the
name is obvious,

what isn't obvious is
why are the dolls here?

Maybe there's a simple reason.

If you go into any
marketplace in Mexico...

...you're likely to find
handmade dolls on offer,

like Lele dolls, an ancient
tradition of the Otomi people.

[Narrator] The Otomi
are an indigenous people

of central Mexico.

There are almost
700,000 of them today.

-Lele, which means "baby"
in the Otomi language,

is intended to protect dead
children from evil spirits

on their journey
into the afterlife.

They’re also placed on
adults who have died,

in order to safeguard
them in the spirit realm.

[Anthea Nardi] If this
were a burial site,

there'd likely be visible
graves and markers,

something with a
little pageantry.

There's one big white
cross planted on the island,

but that's it...

and there are
thousands of dolls.

[Narrator] While
it’s clear that these

aren’t Lele dolls,

it’s possible
that they still serve

some ritual purpose.

[Alison Leonard] While this
country is primarily Catholic,

the Pre-colonial
faiths of the indigenous people

do sometimes creep
into the brand of

Catholicism practiced here.

[Anthony Cantor] When
these kinds of mixes occur,

it’s called syncretism.

Voodoo is probably the most
well-known syncretic religion.

It combines indigenous
beliefs with West African

spiritual practices
and French Catholicism.

Maybe the dolls are some
kind of syncretic artifact,

like a voodoo doll.

[Narrator] During the
US occupation of Haiti

from 1915 to 1934,

tales of Voodoo flooded
American pop culture and

Voodoo dolls were
one of the most visible

emblems of this.

-We've all seen
horror movies with

raggedy-looking dolls
that are stuck with pins,

an act intended to inflict
pain and injury on their target.

-But the image of the
voodoo doll as we know it

is a racist trope
used to the US occupation and

it's just plain wrong.

They have nothing to do with
Haiti or the religion of Voodoo.

[Sarah Klassen] And besides,
the dolls on this island are

not the homemade effigies we
would associate with voodoo,

these dolls are
mass-produced and made

of plastic or porcelain.

So they're not Voodoo dolls.

[Narrator] Certainly,
this isn’t the only place

in the world
filled with eerie dolls.

Nagoro is a village in
Japan that’s famous for its

unsettling collection
of life-sized dolls.

These are the work of
local artist Ayano Tsukimi

who began making them
to replace the village’s

declining human population.

They actually outnumber
the living residents 10-1

[Anthea Nardi] These Japanese
dolls are staged in tableaux

that replicate real
life in the village,

with dolls shown farming,
in the market,

or celebrating
seasonal festivals.

They're beautiful
and pristine...

...which these island
dolls are decidedly not.

-In 2001,
Don Julian Barrera,

the island's
sole resident, dies.

And with his death,
two things happen.

The first is that the
island becomes a featured stop

on tours of the canals.

The second is that the
story behind the island

is finally revealed.

-The story goes that
sometime around 1950,

Don Julian moves
to this small island,

which at the time,
had nothing on it.

No buildings, no plumbing,
no electricity,

and certainly, no dolls.

[Narrator] No one is
clear on why he moves there.

Perhaps it's for some
monastic spiritual reasons,

as Don Julian is a
deeply devout man,

one who feels compelled
to share the word of God,

as he understands it.

-Don Julian is also known
as a devout drinker,

and between his
drunkenness and his preaching,

he faced a lot of blowback
and physical aggression,

which makes him
even more reclusive,

retreating to what is
essentially a hermitage

on the island.

-Apparently,
not long after Don Julian had

come to the island a young
girl falls into the nearby water

and quickly becomes
tangled in the water lilies.

[Narrator] Reports about
what transpires next are varied.

Some say that Don Julian just
happens upon her dead body.

Other people say that he
actually sees her fall into

the water and jumps
in hoping to save her.

-It's all a bit hazy.

No one seems to have a
first-hand account of seeing

this happen and there is
no official report about

the girl's death.

All we do know is that
Don Julian's psyche is

gravely impacted by
whatever happened that day,

real or imagined.

[Narrator] He sets up a white
cross near where she drowned,

as a way to honor her memory.

But according to local legend,

soon after Don Julian
plants the cross,

mysterious things
begin to happen.

-At this point,

you have to remember that
he’s a deeply religious man.

But one who’s been shunned
by the Catholic faithful.

That experience, along
with the death of a child and

the presence of
unexplained noises,

well you can see that
his faith might have gone

in a more dark
and a more mystical direction.

-So Don Julian fears
that the noises are from the

lost spirit of the
girl or, worse,

dark spirits tormenting her.

Either way, he feels
he has to do something.

[Sarah Klassen] So he
hung a doll on a tree.

Some say he found the doll;

others believe it
actually belonged to

the young girl that drowned.

[Narrator] His intention
is equally unclear,

perhaps he places the
doll in the tree to appease

the girl’s spirit,

or maybe to
ward off dark energies.

Whatever the rationale,

one of the trees soon
has a doll hanging from it.

-After a few years,

the whole island is covered
in dolls of various shapes

and sizes, and in
various stages of decay.

The dolls are there so
long that nature takes over.

If you didn’t have
Pediophobia a fear of dolls

before seeing Doll Island,
you probably will after.

[Narrator] In 2001, Don Julian
is found floating face down in

the very place he claims to
have found the girl’s body,

some 50 years before.

He may be gone, but the
story of the island persists.

[Anthony Cantor] To this
day locals will tell you that

the dolls can open
and close their eyes and

move their limbs.

Some swear that if
you pass by the island,

you can hear
the dolls whispering,

trying to lure you in.

[Narrator] The island
has become a major

tourist attraction,
summoning visitors from

all around the world.

And what do
many of them bring?

More dolls...

...guaranteeing that this
island will remain creepy for

many years to come.

Just 40 miles
off the coast of

Western Australia
lies a stretch of

122 islands and reefs.

Rugged, with
limited vegetation,

and largely uninhabited,

they're known as
the Houtman Abrolhos.

-Abrolhos is a Dutch
corruption of the Portuguese

"Abri Vossos Olhos!"
which roughly translates to

"Keep your Eyes Open"

a pretty good heads
up given the amount of ships

this area has
claimed over the years.

[Narrator] This archipelago
lies a tiny land mass,

Beacon Island.

[Anthony Cantor] Calling
it an island almost seems

like an overstatement.

It’s not much more than
a stretch of sand with

some slabs of coral,
with no fresh water.

Look, there are lots
of beautiful islands in

the Indian Ocean,
this ain’t one of them.

[Narrator] Although it’s
a threat to large ships,

rock lobster fishers
have long used the island

as a seasonal outpost,

building shacks for
shelter from the area’s

often brutal weather.

[James Ellis] In 2014, the
Western Australian government

negotiates a deal to
relocate the fishers

from the island.

And as the shacks
are demolished,

a grim discovery is made.

[Anthea Nardi] They find
a headless skeleton,

one that had been buried with
one arm extended horizontally

from its shoulders,

suggesting it was
dragged to its grave.

Nothing about this suggests
this was a respectful burial.

[Narrator] In early 2015,

a research team heads
to the island to further

excavate and investigate.

[Anthony Cantor] They end
up getting more than

they bargained for;

when they dig around
they unearth more skeletons,

three more skeletons.

That’s a lot of old
bones in such a tiny place!

-And it’s not
just bones they find.

They also unearth
some musket balls.

One is found with the
headless skeleton,

two others in another grave.

[James Ellis] At first glance,

you might think these
people had been shot.

But there’s no
evidence of ballistic trauma
[James Ellis] At first glance,

to any of the bones.

Beyond that, the musket balls
don't appear to have striations

so it looks like they
were never fired.

-So that's three musket
balls and four bodies on a

remote and undeveloped island
in the middle of nowhere.

What could have
happened here?

[Narrator] Shockingly,
these grim discoveries are

not the first ones
made on the island.

Half-a-century before,

a fisherman
named Pop Marten,

stumbled across
human remains near

a neighbor's shack.

-He found femurs,
tibias, a patella,

a whole range of bones.

There was some speculation
that the bones might have

been the remains of a fisherman,

Maybe they’d had a
dispute over use of a shack

or fishing rights.

But there’s no flesh
left on the body,

so it couldn’t
have been recent.

[Narrator] The fishermen
wondered if the bones could be

those of an explorer,
maybe one who'd been caught

in a squall or lost
their ship to the reefs

-But the explorer theory
may not hold water,

the skeleton's frame is slight,

suggesting that the person
was either not fully grown,

or that it was a woman.

Either way, this person
was not likely to have been

an explorer of old.

So where did these
bones come from?

[Narrator] The island
tells no tales,

not till three years
later when more grim

clues are unearthed.

-It's not just the discovery
of the remains that's shocking.

This skull has deep
indentations in the bone with

fractures that radiate out.

And there was a piece missing.

All of this is consistent
with sharp trauma,

like you might see
from an attack with a

heavy-bladed weapon.

[Narrator] There
is a 90-degree angle

to these indentations.

To have left a mark that deep,

the weapon must have
come down with great force,

which would be difficult if
the victim was standing up.

[Anthony Cantor] It seems
likely that the person was

in a vulnerable position
when this happened,

maybe sitting or kneeling.

There is similar trauma seen
in the skeleton found nearby.

They were clearly attacked,
but by who?

[Narrator] In 1963, along
the nearby Morning Reef,

a fisherman notices
what appears to be the

remains of a ship,

just 20 feet
below the surface.

As local divers
descend on the site,

they spy something
shimmering in the water.

-Once underwater they can
see that the ocean floor is

strewn with the wreckage,
including a broken hull.

It's clear that this
wasn't a tiny ship,

it must have been huge!

-It's not just the
ship itself that they find.

There are anchors
and dozens of canons.

Bronze ones, iron ones,

there are cannons called
minions named after the

French word for cute,

these are smaller
cannons that were in use

in the 17th century.

But whose ship is this?

-One of the foundational
stories of Australia is about

a Dutch merchant
ship that sank in the area

in the 17th century.

Could these remains actually
be the legendary Batavia?

[Narrator] The VOC was
an early multinational,

who made their money
from forced slave labor and

the lucrative spice trade.

Led by Commander
Franscisco Pelsaert,

the Batavia had well
over 300 people aboard,

including soldiers,
VOC officers,

some of their wives and
children, and deckhands.

-They started out in Holland,

and came down around Europe
and the west coast of Africa.

And the journey was as
difficult as it was long.

[Anthea Nardi] The
Batavia was a trade ship,

so it was loaded with
$15 million worth of

valuables to trade for
spices, silks and porcelain.

[James Ellis] Given
the value of the cargo,

it comes as no surprise
that there were those onboard

who wanted to get
their hands on it.

[Narrator]
Unbeknownst to Pelsaert,

his skipper Adrian Jacobsz
and his third in command

Jeronimus Cornelisz
were plotting a mutiny.,

[Anthony Cantor] So
when Pelsaert fell ill and

sequestered himself
in his cabin,

it presented a golden
opportunity for these fledgling

mutineers to get
their plan rolling,

and they began by recruiting
other members of the crew.

[Alison Leonard] It's
unclear if what happened next

was part of the plan
or an unhappy accident,

but the Batavia sailed
far off course and headed

straight into the
deadly reefs of the Abrolhos.

[Franscisco Pelsaert] I was
lying in my bunk feeling ill

and felt suddenly,
with a rough terrible movement,

the bumping of the
ship's rudder

Shortly after that,
heard the sea

breaking hard roundabout.

I said, "Skipper, what
have you done that through

your reckless carelessness,

you have run this
noose round our necks?"

[James Ellis] The
crew and passengers were

quickly ferried to
nearby Beacon Island,

which seemed like a
godsend at first but they soon

found out that it
had no fresh water and

almost no options for food.

-Pelsaert realized that
he'd have to go look for help.

He, Jacobz, and 46 men

took a 30-ft longboat
and headed off on a harrowing

1800-mile journey to Jakarta.

[Narrator] With Pelsaert
and Jacobz off on what was

likely a suicide mission,

there was only one senior
officer left on Beacon Island,

the mutinous Cornelisz.

-This was the perfect scenario
for Cornelisz and his followers.

He dispatched all the
soldiers off to nearby Islands

to find water assuming
they would die of thirst

in the process.

With them gone, he
was totally unopposed.

-Things on the
island descended into a

Lord of the Flies
situation pretty fast.

They killed off the strongest
men in the night as they slept.

They slaughtered
whole families.

They raped women.

They strangled a baby.

They were, in a word, monsters.

[Narrator] When Pelsaert
returned he was horrified

to discover that
over half of the Batavia’s

original party are dead,

and Cornelisz had been
captured by the very soldiers

he’d sent off to die.

-Once the truth emerges,

the lead mutineers,
including Cornelisz,

are hanged on a nearby island.

As was customary,

the condemned men all
have one hand cut off.

But as the leader,

Cornelius received
special treatment and

lost both hands.

[James Ellis] The lesser
villains of the mutiny are

taken back to Jakarta,
tried and executed.

Two are intentionally marooned
on the coast of Australia,

likely the first two
European settlers there.

Unsurprisingly, they were
never heard from again.

[Narrator] In 1963,

as divers continue
to investigate the shipwreck

found near Beacon Island,

they become convinced
that these are the remains

of the infamous Batavia.

-The finds kept piling up.

The hinges of a box,

some shards from
an apothecary jar,

coins, a crest...

...all things consistent
with a 17th-century

Dutch merchant vessel.

[Narrator] Another clue
found on the island is a

coral structure with four,

eight-foot walls and
a door in one corner.

An examination of
the area around the

structure yields brass sheeting,

a small piece of fabric,
and iron fragments.

-It's impossible to know
for sure what this building

was but according to
Pelseart's logbook,

the survivors of the
shipwreck slept in tents.

So we know that this
structure wasn't a shelter

for the survivors.

So what was it for?

-Now remember that
when Pelseart returned to

Beacon Island he
found Cornelisz being held

as a prisoner.

Could this coral structure
be the remains of a jail?

[Narrator]
As
excavations continue,

the skeletal remains of
at least two adults and

one child are found.

But loose bones suggest the
grave may hold even more bodies.

[Anthea Nardi] Only one
body in the mass grave shows

signs of trauma.

Which could simply mean
that the others were killed

in ways that would leave
no long-term evidence,

like throat slitting.

Or it might mean that they
died in the early days after

the shipwreck, before
the massacre commenced.

-According to
Pelsaert's logbook,

many people died of
dehydration not long after

the ship sank.

This might also explain the
bodies found with musket balls.

-Back then,
sucking or chewing lead was

a thing that people
did to diminish thirst.

So maybe the musket
balls were being used to

ease their thirst as they
were dying from dehydration.

It makes sense,

as there are no signs
of any trauma.

But no one really knows.

[Narrator] To date, a
total of 21 skeletons have been

found and after more
than five decades of

investigating Beacon Island,

researchers continue
to unearth grim evidence

of the massacre...

And with each
bone and tooth,

some questions
are answered,

yet many still remain.

Chapelle Dom Hue
is a small tidal islet

about 1,000 feet off
the west coast of Guernsey,

which is an island
between England and France.

-Chapelle Dom Hue is tiny,
about 50 feet across,

and very rugged,

it's basically just low rock
formations and patches of grass

pounded by
English Channel surf.

[Narrator] For the
past few hundred years,

Chapelle Dom Hue
has had a quiet,

unremarkable history.

But that all changes
in September 2017,

when archaeologists begin
to excavate the ruins of a

structure that are just
barely protruding out of

the island's surface.

[Dan Riskin] Shards of a
type of medieval pottery called

Normandy Gritty Ware
had been here previously,

and that dates
the ruins to between

the 14th and
15th centuries.

So, the goal of this
2017 dig is to determine

the origin of the structure.

-The outlines of three
of the structure's walls,

the main one measuring
nearly 15 feet long

and 4 feet wide,
begin to emerge.

[Narrator] But after
ten days of digging,

the team of archaeologists
make a startling discovery.

-There is an area a
short distance from the

structure's wall where
the soil's makeup changes

and is disturbed.

The shape of this area
resembles a grave.

[Dan Riskin] And the
disturbed area is about

the size of
a human body.

But who could be buried here?

[Narrator] Chapelle Dom Hue
is generally thought to

be related to Lihou Priory,

a Benedictine monastery
on Lihou Island,

one mile away.

Founded in the 12th century,

some of the Lihou
Priory buildings were modified

in the 14th and 15th centuries,

the same date as the
pottery found on

Chapelle Dom Hue.

-When Chapelle Dom Hue
is translated to English,

Dom means "monk",

and Hue is the
presumed monk's name.

So it's believed these
ruins on the islet are from

a retreat built by
these same Benedictine monks.

Is it possible this is the
grave of Dom Hue himself?

[Narrator] The archaeologists
start to excavate the

grave-shaped area and are
stunned by a grotesque find.

-It’s a skull.

Now that’s not a big surprise
because when a body is buried

-It’s a skull.
in a grave without a casket,

most of the
bones collapse down,

the skull stays up
so it’s the highest point,

it’s the first
thing that’s found.

But what is unexpected
about this skeleton,

is that that skull isn’t human.

-The excavated skull
is very strangely shaped.

Instead of being round,
it’s long and more extended.

Plus, it has what looks like
an animal’s snout or beak.

But there’s no evidence of
wildlife on the island aside

from birds and rodents.

So, what is this animal
and why is it buried here?

[Narrator] As the
archaeologists dig the grave

to a deeper level,

they uncover what
appears to be parts of the

animal’s vertebrae and ribs.

-When they fully
excavate the skull,

they see two holes
one inch in diameter.

This is very common
with unprotected graves.

The holes are usually
caused by rats gnawing into

the skull to feed on the
subject’s brain tissue.

-Two smaller holes
are also visible near the

skull’s elongated section.

These appear to be the
subject’s nasal cavities and

could be key to identifying it.

-With no larger
wildlife on the islet,

and no other remains
visible in the grave,

the skull gets compared
to the skulls of marine life

in the region,
and guess what?

It’s a porpoise.

[Alison Leonard] It’s the
last thing you’d expect to find

in a grave on this tiny islet.

I mean, a
Benedictine monk would have

been strange enough.

But a porpoise?

It defies logic.

Why would a porpoise be
buried on Chapelle Dom Hue?

[Narrator] As the grave
cut is fully excavated,

the porpoise remains
are carefully removed and

sent to the
lab for analysis.

The archaeologists’
first priority is confirming

the date of the skeleton.

-At the lab,

they use carbon dating
to figure the age of the

porpoise skeleton,

and they find a
date range somewhere between

1416 and 1490.

That exactly matches the
age of the medieval pottery

that's also from there.

-But it also raises questions.

Why did someone go
out of their way to bury

the porpoise here?

Did it hold some honored
position in local culture in

the 15th century?

[Narrator] Historical
records reveal that porpoises

were a common part
of the Medieval diet.

Although technically
a marine mammal,

porpoises were considered
fish by Christians.

This meant they could
be eaten on Fridays when

meat was forbidden.

-These Christian rituals
made the porpoise

an attractive food.

Large banquets and social
gatherings served porpoise

as well as dolphin,
seal, and whale.

-So the porpoise may have been
a highly regarded food source by

whoever was
living on the island.

But how did they catch it?

[Narrat A study
of Chapelle Dom Hue’s

tidal patterns reveals a
fascinating clue.

At low tide,

a lagoon is formed on
the islet’s eastern side

where the water
never drains completely.

[Amma Wakefield] This
would act as a natural trap

for many fish and marine
mammals like the porpoise.

There it could be easily
caught and killed.

-But once it was eaten,

why weren’t the remains just
thrown in the ocean a few steps

away or left on the rocks for
seagulls or other scavengers?

-The dolphin,
the porpoise’s close cousin,

was considered “the
king of the fishes”

by early Christians.

In the church’s art back then,

dolphins represented
Christ’s love,

and by extension,
the light of the world.

-Dolphins also
appear on early Christian rings

and funeral monuments and
they’re sometimes pictured

wrapped around an anchor to
symbolize Christ on the cross.

[James Ellis] Considering
the porpoise’s resemblance

to the dolphin,

is it possible that its
burial on Chapelle Dom Hue

was a sacred
ceremonial veneration?

[Narrator] A closer
examination of the skeleton’s

placement in the
grave may offer some clues.

[Amma Wakefield] It’s a little
frustrating because some bones

found next to the skull,

and many
throughout the grave,

can’t be identified
because of decay.

But the recovered bones,
mostly rib and vertebra,

were in several pieces.

So the body
wasn’t buried intact.

-That’s important
because it’s not how you'd

expect to find a
skeleton that was buried

in a religious ceremony.

And there is also none
of the Christian jewelry or

artifacts that
you'd expect to find.

-While the burial
wasn’t religious,

the grave itself was
painstakingly dug.

But what if it isn’t
actually a grave?

What if the porpoise was
buried just to hide it?

But if so, from whom?

[Narrator] Medieval records
show that in 1324 England

passed a law stating
that any sturgeon or

whale near its shores,

and later any
dolphin or porpoise,

was the King’s property.

This guaranteed that
there was enough fish for

the country’s royals during
Christianity’s fasting days.

-These fish became
known as “Fishes Royal."

And while largely
symbolic and loosely applied,

the statute still exists.

When caught,
sturgeons are still

offered to Buckingham Palace,

and the King can either
accept or decline the catch.

The last sturgeon
oaccepted by the monarchy was

in 1969 by Queen Elizabeth.

[Amma Wakefield] On
the island of Guernsey,

a stone’s throw from
Chapelle Dom Hue,

there are reports of monks
being disciplined by British

authorities for taking
porpoises without showing them

to the King’s Officers
first for inspection.

[Narrator] The
archaeologists wonder if

the “Fishes Royal” law

played an integral
role in the porpoise’s

placement in the grave.

-If a monk from Chapelle Dom Hue
caught a porpoise,

he should have told his
Abbot and followed procedure.

But porpoises were
scarce and considered a bit

of a delicacy back then.

What if a hungry monk
secretly ate it and then hid

the bones in the grave?

[Alison Leonard]
It's possible, but again,

why not just throw
the remains in the ocean,

never to be seen again?

It's quicker, easier,
and more efficient.

The burial only really
makes sense if the person

was going to return.

But until more
testing can be done,

or other evidence
is unearthed,

we just can't know for sure.

[Narrator] The mystique
and curiosity around this

tiny islet off the coast
of Guernsey multiplies.

Who knows what other
grisly discoveries lie

under its
surf-beaten rocks?