Learn why Franklin held human skeletal remains in the basement of his British residence.

Ben Franklin's Bones Secrets of the Dead

Premiered January 28, 2015
Ben Franklin's Bones

When skeletal remains of at least 10 people turned up in the basement of Benjamin Franklin’s British residence, people wondered if the Founding Father might have had a much darker side. Franklin was aware of the bodies in his basement, but they weren’t the victims of violent acts. Rather, they were used for the purposes of an illegal anatomy school that helped shaped modern medicine.

About the Program

Secrets of the Dead

Secrets of the Dead is part detective story, part true-life drama that unearths evidence from around the world, challenging prevailing ideas and throwing fresh light on unexplained events.

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