Strangest Things
Season 1 History (*186) 19:25 Doccie
TV shows and movies create magical and mystical objects to drive stories home. But what if the objects are real? Corey Johnson (Chairman Burrell in spy drama series Deep State) narrates Strangest Things and explores incredible objects discovered around the world. “They’re indescribable. There’s something about these objects that mystifies experts in their field, who’re struggling to explain what they’ve discovered,” says Corey, who is loving his role.
In episode 1, archaeologists and mineral professors examine a jewelled scarab amulet that was found in Egyptian boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb by explorer Howard Carter in 1922. “It’s quite remarkable,” says Corey, adding that “this scarab beetle isn’t only made of gold – it contains part of a meteorite that is hundreds of thousands of years old. How were the Ancient Egyptians able to understand this stone and why did they use it in this sacred jewellery?” There are also inscriptions on other objects in the tomb that are of no known language. So where did it come from?
The doccie series isn’t limited to the ancient world – there are more recent discoveries like an Iron Hand from the Middle Ages and the Enigma Machine coding device from World War II that is impossible to decipher without the correct machines. “When you look back in time at these objects, you realise that they were way ahead of their space in history,” says Corey, revealing that his favourite Strange Thing is the Roman Dodecahedrons from episode 2 (Friday 27 May). “They are these 12-sided copper alloy objects with a hollow centre. We’ve found over 116 around the world, from Spain to Holland and England, strangely none in Rome. We don’t know what they do, we don’t know what they’re used for. But they’re so cool!”