Mystic Britain

In the Middle Ages, evil was thought to be everywhere. From peasants to kings, the people of Britain believed devils and witches stalked the land, causing chaos, bad fortune, and tens of thousands of deaths. Hosts Clive Anderson and Mary-Ann Ochota examine this time of superstition, magic, and fear. Follow them as they visit an ancient church in the village of Troston marked with medieval demonic symbols.

Just a few yards from a busy road in England lie the Rollright Stones, a group of ancient monuments older than Stonehenge and just as mysterious. For about 6,000 years, the origins and purpose of the three groups of stones have been shrouded in myth. Follow hosts Clive Anderson and Mary-Ann Ochota as they attempt to uncover the secrets of these mystic treasures.

At the start of the first millennium, the Roman Empire invaded Britain with an army that was organized and armed to the teeth with modern weapons. But they feared the ancient Brits were magical savage cannibals, and so they built a barrier that separated the docile south from these mystical northern natives: Hadrian's Wall. Visit the empire's most impressive legacy in Britain, which still stands today, and discover its surprising carvings, used to enhance Rome's performance during this epic, supernatural battle.

In 1963, archaeologists discovered a pit full of human bones in a preserved medieval village in Yorkshire. Some were dismembered, some were burnt, and all were buried here for a specific reason. Now, our hosts dig through old records and use the latest forensic technology to determine if these corpses were killed in battle, were the result of human sacrifice or cannibalism, or were mutilated to stop them from coming back from the dead.

It was supposed to be a routine excavation of a small traffic island in Essex, but it turned into a remarkable archaeological find. The 2003 discovery of an ancient pagan burial chamber revealed a treasure trove of artifacts from the Dark Ages and one shocker: gold foil crosses that predate the arrival of Christianity to the region by nearly 20 years. Was this the tomb of a trailblazer for the religion that would dominate Britain for the next 1,400 years? And if so, what did it mean for the Anglo-Saxon gods that dominated the landscape?

When we think of mummies, our minds usually turn to ancient Egypt and its bandage-wrapped pharaohs and queens. But as Clive Anderson and Mary-Ann Ochota explore Britain's mystic past, they discover a very different type of mummy, created by smoke, salty sea caves, and bogs. Journey across the United Kingdom as we examine bones from the Bronze Age, revealing strange puppet skeletons, bodies with bits missing, and even a macabre marionette.

When people died during Britain's Iron Age, they were either cremated or left to rot in the open air. If you were buried, it was for a reason... and a grisly one at that. Host Clive Anderson and anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota are traveling the U.K. to hunt down evidence that ancient Britons practiced human sacrifice 2,000 years ago, and to find the reasons why they did it. At first, it appears the ritualistic killings were committed to appease the gods and ward off famine, starvation, and death. But it turns out, there's more to the story.

11,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, thousands of nomadic hunter-gatherers made their homes on what is now a large field in Yorkshire. As unremarkable as the plot of land appears today, archaeologists have discovered evidence of an astonishingly rich, complex civilization run by people who were nothing like the grunting cavemen we associate with the time period. Join us as we uncover ancient houses, fine tools, and bizarre shamanic headdresses, which detail how these people lived and worshiped.

5,000 years ago, Ancient Britons built a huge circle using stones that had been dragged 180 miles from Wales. 500 years later, they introduced the mighty sarsen stones, creating the Stonehenge we know today. All these years later, questions still remain: who built it and why? Is it magical? A religious temple? A celestial clock? Was it built by druids? By Merlin? Hosts Clive Anderson and Mary-Ann Ochota are determined to get answers and reveal the hidden secrets of the stones.

Hosts Clive Anderson and Mary-Ann Ochota are traveling the U.K. to explore the strange and mysterious rituals, events, and cultures of the ancient Britons. From Ice Age evidence of hunter-gatherers found in Scarborough to 700-year-old inscriptions etched on the walls of a church in Troston, our hosts and a team of archaeologists, historians, and enthusiasts are examining their world and its impact on our lives today.