Television adventurer Josh Gates will appear in Wilkes-Barre on June 19, the day after releasing the new season of his Discovery Channel show, “Expedition Unknown.”

“I’m really excited to come back to the Kirby Center,” he said. “It’s going to be a really fun evening and l think we can all use a little adventure.”

“Josh Gates Live! An Evening of Legends, Mysteries and Tales of Adventure,” at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts, starts at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $39.50, plus fees.

Gates said he is pursuing one mystery, a “burning question that has been driving us crazy” — the definitive pronunciation of Wilkes-Barre.

Gates has an archaeology degree from Tufts University, where he also studied drama. It’s a background that led to both examining the skulls of man-eating lions and wearing Indiana Jones-inspired looks on several television shows. He is a trustee on the governing board of the Archaeological Institute of America and is a fellow of the Explorers Club.

He’ll be telling behind-the-scenes stories, with previously unseen video clips, and taking questions from the audience.

In the first of the new episodes, Gates looks at Adolf Hitler’s plans for the Amerikabomber, a long-range airplane designed to obliterate New York City.

Unearthing “still-sealed Nazi tunnels and long-lost top-secret weapons factories in Poland,” he looks at a subterranean facility that may have been used for the project.

Later in the season, Gates goes to the savannahs of Kenya to investigate man-eating lions who killed railroad workers in 1898. It was the basis for a movie, “The Ghost and the Darkness.”

“Unbelievably, there are still discoveries,” being made by examining some of the lions’ skulls and pelts in the Field Museum in Chicago, he said.

“So it’s this really grizzly event and scientists are still learning more about why it happened, how it happened. And we work with conservationists in Kenya, to think about whether it could happen again, and to protect both people and lions.”

Among other adventures, episodes will include the Great Pyramid of Giza, a conspiracy about the grave of Wild West showman Buffalo Bill Cody, the search for the lost treasure of pirate Anne Bonny and a World War II plane crash.

For the 40th anniversary of the movie “The Goonies,” Gates looks at the legend of the shipwreck that inspired the story.

“There is good archaeological evidence to support that that is a true story,” he said.

Gates isn’t planning to focus on one abandoned project, but is happy to discuss it in the Q&A. A few years ago, Gates visited the billionaire planning to send a submersible to visit the Titanic shipwreck site.

“I took a ride on Titan and it was a really unsettling experience for us,” he said. “The vehicle, which was, you know, was touted as experimental, was, l think, literally very experimental. It did not work very well when we took a ride on it and by the end of the weekend, I really didn’t feel like it was a company that I wanted to promote. I had real safety concerns about it.”

The Titan imploded during its attempt to reach the Titanic, killing several people. Gates was interviewed in another company’s documentary about the disaster.

On other shows, Gates has looked at claims of paranormal activity.

If you go

What: “Josh Gates Live! An Evening of Legends, Mysteries and Tales of Adventure”

When: Thursday, June 19, 8 p.m.

Where: F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts, 71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre

Tickets: Start at $39.50, plus fees. A VIP package that includes a meet and greet is $184.50, plus fees. Tickets can be purchased online at kirbycenter.org, at the F.M. Kirby Center box office, or by calling 570-826-1100.

Originally Published: June 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM EDT