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00:00Climbers Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are the first to summit Everest, or are they?
00:06Now, climbers find a long-lost corpse that may unlock the truth behind who conquered the roof of the world.
00:17Then, in 1897, one of the most extraordinary murder trials in history, as crucial testimony is delivered by a ghost.
00:26We explore the true story of this supernatural case.
00:36And Mata Hari was one of the most famous women in the world before she was executed as a spy during World War I.
00:45Was this iconic femme fatale really a double agent?
00:52In the corridors of time...
00:56...are mysteries that defy explanation.
01:00Now, I'm traveling through history itself...
01:06...on a search for the truth.
01:10New evidence.
01:13Shocking answers.
01:16I'm Josh Gates.
01:19And these...
01:22...are my expedition files.
01:28When I was a little kid, one of my favorite games to play with my friends was telephone.
01:32You know how it goes.
01:34You'd whisper a sentence like,
01:36Mrs. Lawrence teaches math and blah, blah, blah.
01:39And by the time it gets whispered around in a circle and gets back to you,
01:42well, let's just say that Mrs. Lawrence would not be happy.
01:46And that's the thing with some mysteries.
01:48They tend to take on a life of their own.
01:50Tonight, we look at three such tales.
01:53All of them appear extraordinary.
01:55But we have to ask ourselves a very important question.
01:59What's true?
02:01And what's been lost in translation?
02:03We begin on June 8th, 1924, here at almost the highest point on Earth.
02:08This is Everest in the heart of the Himalayas.
02:14And these two men are striving to become the first people to ever reach the summit.
02:19British Mountaineers George Mallory and Sandy Irvine.
02:23But just hours from now, they will both vanish.
02:26Three decades later, Everest will finally be officially conquered by another duo,
02:31Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
02:34But is it possible that the history books will get it wrong?
02:37Could these two men, Mallory and Irvine, have died not before but after reaching the world's tallest peak?
02:45A chilling new discovery at the roof of the world may unlock the truth behind the mystery.
02:50By the early 20th century, many of the world's highest peaks have already been summited.
03:08But Everest remains out of reach.
03:10The tallest mountain on Earth towers at 29,031 feet, or 20 Empire State Buildings.
03:21Located along the border of Nepal and Tibet in the Himalayas, a 1,500-mile stretch of rugged mountain range spanning from India to Pakistan.
03:32The peak's remoteness only adds to its allure.
03:36In 1921, no one has dared a serious attempt, but that's about to change.
03:43After the horrors of World War I, Britain is looking for a symbolic achievement to reclaim national pride.
03:53Climbing Everest becomes a kind of noble quest, especially for a generation traumatized by trench warfare.
04:02Enter British veteran Lieutenant George Mallory.
04:06Born in 1886, this son of a clergyman is introduced to climbing by a schoolmaster at Winchester College and quickly becomes obsessed.
04:14During World War I, he survives the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history, where over a million men were killed or wounded.
04:31Forward!
04:33When the fighting stops, Mallory's drive to climb only increases, a way to rise, quite literally, from the chaos of war.
04:49Mallory turns his attention to Everest, joining the 1921 Reconnaissance Expedition to chart a path up the mountain's northern face.
04:59In 1922, he returns and takes part in two bold summit attempts.
05:05On the second trek, an avalanche kills seven of the team's porters, Sherpa guides indigenous to the region.
05:12It's the first ever recorded deaths on Everest, and a tragedy Mallory never forgets.
05:18But his dream to summit the mountain remains resolute.
05:21In 1924, the 37-year-old Mallory gets another shot at Everest.
05:31This time, his team includes 22-year-old Oxford student Andrew Sandy Irvine, a star athlete and rowing champion with a mind for machines and a taste for adventure.
05:41What Irvine lacks in mountaineering experience, he more than makes up for in engineering genius.
05:49He gets the expedition's temperamental oxygen systems to work effectively.
05:54That's vital for survival above 26,000 feet, where the air holds just a third of the oxygen found at sea level.
06:01At those heights, Everest doesn't just challenge you, it actively tries to kill you, earning this unforgiving elevation its grim nickname, the Death Zone.
06:12The team of eight British climbers, their support staff, and a network of more than a hundred local porters establish base camp at the Wrong Book Glacier around 16,500 feet.
06:26From there, they ascend the north face of Everest in stages.
06:31Camps one, two, three, four.
06:36Each one perched higher, the air thinner, the stakes deadlier.
06:39They push upward to camp five, just above 25,000 feet, 4,000 feet from the summit.
06:47No other climbers have ever reached this spot.
06:50Now suffering the effects of extreme altitude, every step feels like a marathon.
06:56Then comes camp six, a tiny ledge perched at 27,000 feet.
07:02This is the last stop before their hardest obstacle.
07:05Three sections known as step one, step two, and step three.
07:10A series of sheer rock faces that lead directly to the summit.
07:18On June 8th, 1924, Mallory and Irvine begin their fateful final climb, less than a half a mile from the peak.
07:25They suit up, each carrying oxygen canisters that add 30 pounds of additional weight to their already cumbersome load.
07:34They're now each hauling around 80 pounds of gear.
07:38Amongst that equipment is a Kodak Vest Pocket Camera.
07:42It's crucial for documenting the summit.
07:44Now it's up to Mallory and Irvine to bring back the first photographic view from the top of the world.
07:52Mallory also carries a photograph of his wife, Ruth.
07:56He's promised to leave it at the summit.
07:59A romantic tribute where the earth and heavens meet.
08:03And so they climb.
08:04At 12.50 p.m., Noel O'Dell, stationed near Camp 5, scans the upper ridge.
08:16He sees two black specks moving together, ascending the second step.
08:21A prominent rock feature on the northeast ridge at approximately 28,200 feet.
08:26Less than 1,000 feet from the summit.
08:31But then, the clouds close in and the view vanishes.
08:35And with it, so do the climbers.
08:43Hours pass with no sign of Mallory or Irvine.
08:47The team launches an all-out rescue mission.
08:50After two days of searching, the rapidly worsening weather forces the expedition to turn back.
08:56Mallory and Irvine are declared dead on the mountain.
09:03Back in England, the grief is overwhelming.
09:06Britain is in mourning for their fallen heroes.
09:09Mallory had become a symbol of post-war resilience.
09:13Of everything the nation hoped to be again.
09:16At the Mallory home, the loss cuts deep.
09:20Ruth is left to raise their three children alone.
09:22At Sandy Irvine's house, the family leaves a light on and the door unlocked, just in case he finds his way home.
09:33But an Everest-sized question looms like a storm cloud.
09:37Before they died, did Mallory and Irvine succeed in their quest and summit Mount Everest?
09:42The one thing that could prove it is the remains of the climbers themselves.
09:48Not least because those remains should include the Kodak camera the pair was carrying.
09:54If they summited, it may contain a photo of them at the peak.
09:58This film could settle one of the greatest questions in the history of exploration.
10:04But Everest fiercely guards its secrets.
10:08For the next decade, no sign of the climbers is found.
10:12But then, in 1933, there's a breakthrough.
10:15A British expedition stumbles across an ice axe in the snow at 27,700 feet, just below the first step.
10:25It's later identified as belonging to Irvine.
10:29The discovery offers a glimmer of hope, yet no other trace of the duo is uncovered.
10:35And the 1933 expedition also fails to summit, a feat that will remain out of reach for another two decades.
10:41It isn't until 1953, 29 years after Mallory and Irvine disappeared, that Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa climber from Nepal,
10:54and Edmund Hillary, a beekeeper turned mountaineer from New Zealand, become the first to officially stand on the summit of Everest.
11:0235 miles from Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, Hillary and Tenzing were welcomed and congratulated by their fellow members of the expedition.
11:11Two unassuming men had climbed the 29,000-foot monarch of the Himalayas.
11:17It is heralded as one of the greatest human accomplishments of all time.
11:22To pull it off, Norgay and Hillary scaled Everest from the mountain's south face in Nepal.
11:28Mallory and Irvine had attempted their ascent decades earlier from the much more exposed north face on the Tibetan side.
11:34Did Mallory and Irvine reach the top first and do it via an even more challenging route?
11:41There's still no proof.
11:45Then, in 1991, a startling new lead emerges.
11:48An oxygen canister with the markings of Mallory and Irvine's expedition is found close to 28,000 feet, near where the ice axe was previously discovered.
11:59In 1999, an American expedition led by legendary mountaineer Conrad Anker sets out to find Mallory and Irvine's bodies at last.
12:12On the Tibetan side, below the mountain's north face, they discover a body preserved by decades of cold and ice.
12:20They reach inside the frozen clothing and find something jaw-dropping, a name tag reading George Mallory.
12:28After 75 years, one of history's greatest missing explorers had been found.
12:33But did this man summit Everest first? And will his remains provide the answer?
12:46Near Mount Everest's unforgiving peak, a staggering discovery is made.
12:51The body of George Mallory faced down at 26,760 feet, 2,000 feet from the summit.
12:5875 years after Mallory went missing, he is finally found.
13:03Historian Matt Breen has spent years analyzing the discovery.
13:08The body of George Mallory had injuries consistent with him attempting to stop himself from falling down the mountain.
13:17He had many broken bones, including an absolutely shattered leg, which would have been consistent with falling a long distance.
13:25Also, he had an injury to his forehead, believed to be caused by his own axe.
13:32And what happens with that is a person starts to go down a slope and they take their axe.
13:38They try to grab it into the mountain, sort of to get a bite to keep them from going down.
13:44The problem is, is if it fails, the axe can rebound and it can hit you right back in the forehead.
13:49So, the condition of Mallory's body gave us a lot of answers.
13:56There's no sign of climbing partner Sandy Irvine, and there's no sign of the Kodak camera that could hold proof they summited.
14:04Though some experts believe Irvine would have been the one to carry it.
14:07But there are other clues. Mallory's dark snow goggles were found in his pocket, a possible indication that the fall could have occurred at night after the two had summited and were descending down.
14:20And the photo of Mallory's wife Ruth, the one he promised to leave at the top, is nowhere to be found.
14:25Was the photo left at the summit?
14:29Then, in 2024, a full century after Mallory and Irvine vanished into the clouds, Everest offers up more answers.
14:39A team led by acclaimed climber and filmmaker Jimmy Chin, uncovers a haunting clue.
14:45A single boot, still laced, containing a human foot in a woolen sock.
14:49Faded but legible, the name stitched into the fabric reads A.C. Irvine.
14:56After a hundred years, Mallory's climbing partner has been found, or at least, part of him.
15:03What's believed to have happened is that they fell together, the rope snapping, and both of them going down the mountain.
15:12Mallory's body ended up lodged not that far from where they had fallen.
15:15But Irvine's went down the mountain further, and it landed at the Rongbuk Glacier.
15:22A glacier is a living, breathing entity.
15:25It moves all the time, very slowly, and it is like a meat grinder.
15:31Things go into it, and they just get churned and churned.
15:34So his body was transported further and further down the mountain, getting chewed up and probably ripped apart along the way.
15:41With the discovery of Irvine's body so far from the summit, Breen and other experts argue Mallory and Irvine must have aborted their attempt, turning back somewhere around the second step, the penultimate sheer rock face below the summit.
15:56The second step is the most difficult part of the climb to the summit.
16:03And that is because it is a sheer vertical climb.
16:07It is really, really hard.
16:10It's so difficult that it was not actually climbed until 1960.
16:14In 1924, the gear was rudimentary at best.
16:21Could they have done that part of the climb?
16:24It's possible, but probably unlikely.
16:27It is really at the edge of George Mallory's ability as a climber.
16:33In my opinion, I don't think they reached the summit of Everest.
16:37It's a tragedy without question, but what these men did is an inspiration.
16:42It is the willingness to try to do great things.
16:48To many, the position of both bodies closes the case.
16:52But others continue to argue that the men may have achieved their goal, falling on their way back from the summit.
16:58After all, Mallory's daytime goggles were discovered tucked in his pocket.
17:03And there's that missing photo of his wife that he intended to leave at the top.
17:08And speaking of photos, there's also whatever images were snapped on their missing camera.
17:13The Kodak company has even issued special instructions for processing the film in case it's ever found.
17:18Which means that somewhere near Everest's icy peak, a definitive answer to the world's coldest cliffhanger is just waiting to be developed.
17:35We descend from the heights of Mount Everest to the valleys of Appalachia to discover a somehow even more haunting mystery.
17:42It's 1897 and I'm in a small country farmhouse in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
17:49It's a day of sorrow, awake for a young woman gone much too soon.
17:54Zona Shu, just 23 years old, died suddenly. Heart failure, they say.
17:59At the coffin stands Zona's husband, Trout, refusing to leave her side.
18:03But not everyone is convinced his sorrow is sincere.
18:08And soon, a chilling accusation surfaces, not from a witness, but from beyond the grave.
18:14What follows is arguably the most sensational murder trial in America's history.
18:19Because the prosecution's star witness will be none other than a ghost.
18:24Is this really a case of supernatural justice?
18:27Or is there a much more earthly explanation?
18:33This story of the Greenbrier ghost, as it will come to be known, begins three months earlier, in October 1896.
18:48Zona Heester is a beautiful young woman with dreams of getting married and starting a family.
18:53Enter 35-year-old Erasmus Trout Shu.
18:59A blacksmith by trade, the ruggedly handsome Trout is hard to miss.
19:04Zona falls for him fast, and the feeling is mutual.
19:09Despite her mother's objections, Zona and Trout elope after a whirlwind courtship.
19:17For Zona, her new life feels like a dream come true.
19:20The newlyweds settle into a house not far from the blacksmith shop.
19:26From the outside, everything appears to be perfect.
19:29Until tragedy strikes.
19:33On January 22nd, 1897, three months into their marriage, Zona has apparently fallen ill.
19:40Trout must go to work and asks a neighbor, Andy Jones, to check in on Zona and see if she needs anything from the market.
19:53But upon approaching the house, Andy spots a trail of blood on the steps.
19:57Inside, sprawled on the floor, is Zona Shu, dead.
20:10Please! Help!
20:12By the time the town doctor, George Knapp, arrives at the Shu house, Trout has already rushed home.
20:21The doctor finds Trout on the bed, cradling his dead wife's head.
20:26Knapp examines Zona as closely as the grieving husband will allow.
20:29Determining the cause of death to be heart failure, or what he terms, an everlasting faint.
20:37At the wake, Trout appears grief-stricken, but people notice something strange.
20:42He refuses to leave the coffin unattended, and keeps propping Zona's head up with a folded bedsheet.
20:49Trout also prevents Zona's own mother, Mary Jane, from getting too close to the coffin.
20:53From the start, Mary Jane felt uneasy about her daughter's relationship to Trout.
21:02Not only had they eloped, but even after, she had never been invited into the newlyweds' home.
21:10And now, her daughter is dead, and the only thing this grieving mother can do is pray for answers.
21:17And after a few nights of intense pleading with the heavens, Mary Jane apparently gets her wish.
21:24She claims a darkened figure appears to her.
21:28A figure that turns out to be her daughter, Zona.
21:32A vision from beyond the grave.
21:35But there's something even more shocking than the appearance of Zona's ghost.
21:39Mary Jane says Zona reveals the unthinkable.
21:44That she was killed by her husband, Trout, in a violent fit of rage.
21:54So Mary Jane contacts Greenbrier County Prosecutor John Preston.
22:00And asks him to open an investigation into the potential murder of her daughter.
22:04Preston pays a visit to Dr. George Knapp, hoping to get clarity on Zona's mysterious death.
22:13Though the official record lists natural causes, Dr. Knapp reveals a troubling detail.
22:19Trout had refused to let him fully examine the body.
22:25Concerned, the prosecutor orders Zona's body exhumed for an autopsy.
22:29When Dr. Knapp carries it out, he uncovers a chilling truth.
22:41Zona's neck was broken.
22:44She had been strangled.
22:46Trout is swiftly arrested and charged with murdering his wife.
22:50Five months later, on June 30th, 1897, the case goes to trial.
22:59The judge hears the evidence against Trout.
23:03How he prevented the original examination of the body.
23:06Potentially covering up injuries he was responsible for.
23:10Witnesses follow, telling suspicious stories about Trout's controlling, erratic behavior.
23:16Then, the prosecutor drops a bombshell.
23:21Not only has Trout been married twice before, but his second wife also died under suspicious circumstances.
23:28It turns out that when Trout was fixing the roof of their home,
23:32a brick slipped from his hand and fell right on top of his second wife's head.
23:39What are the chances?
23:40And with that, the stage is set for the dramatic arrival of Zona's mother, Mary Jane.
23:51I know who the killer is, and he is in this room right now.
23:55She does something totally unprecedented in an American court of law.
24:01Testifying her daughter's ghost convinced her of Trout's guilt.
24:06Trout takes the stand in his own defense, denying everything and swearing his innocence.
24:12It doesn't work.
24:14After only an hour and 10 minutes of deliberation, the jury finds Trout guilty of first-degree murder.
24:20He is sentenced to life in prison, where he dies three years later.
24:29Today, over a century on, the story of the Greenbrier ghost remains the only case in U.S. history
24:36where testimony from a supposed spirit helped secure a murder conviction.
24:40Now, we can reveal the true story behind this so-called paranormal witness.
24:51According to legend, a young woman's spirit returns from beyond the grave to name her killer,
24:57leading to one of the most unforgettable convictions in criminal history.
25:02But what's the truth behind the ghost story?
25:04During the trial, Mary Jane insisted that this ghost was in front of her and it was talking to her,
25:13and it was telling her all the details about the murder.
25:16Well, as it happens, the day that the Greenbrier Independent newspaper published Zona's obituary,
25:23there was also a story right there on the front page about an Australian man who had solved a murder with the help of a ghost.
25:34A man in New South Wales told authorities he claimed to see the ghost of a missing man,
25:40which led police to the location of the body.
25:43In reality, he may have been an accomplice to the crime and used the ghost story to avoid implicating himself.
25:48Mary Jane, Zona's mother, quite possibly saw that story, and it just became part of her subconscious.
25:56And it probably planted the seed of this idea of Zona's ghost coming to her.
26:03She had to know something terrible had happened.
26:07And when she put it all together, Trout's suspicious behavior at the funeral,
26:12his unwillingness to let the doctor examine her body.
26:14Moms know. They know when something's wrong, and they have to protect their children.
26:20Even if it's too late to save her life, she had to protect her memory.
26:24Was this a true case of ghostly confession?
26:28A grief-induced hallucination?
26:30Or perhaps something even more intentional?
26:33A grieving mother who would do anything for her daughter,
26:36including spinning a mesmerizing ghost story to see justice served.
26:40Today, a historical marker in West Virginia commemorates the ordeal,
26:45affirming the spectral evidence which ensures that the legend of the Greenbrier ghost will live on forever.
26:52It's dawn, October 15th, 1917, just east of Paris, and a woman is being led before a firing squad.
27:04She stands tall, facing her fate with a dignity few could summon.
27:09Because this is Mata Hari, and she is nothing short of a global sensation.
27:13She is famous for being an exotic dancer and a courtesan, catering to some of the most influential and wealthy men in Europe.
27:23But she's also something else, a spy.
27:26Branded a double agent, the French say she passed secrets to the Germans, an act which has sealed her fate.
27:32A soldier offers her a blindfold, but she refuses.
27:37In moments, she will die for her crimes.
27:40But is she actually guilty?
27:43A century later, new information will finally unveil the truth behind the woman who seduced the world.
27:49Born on August 7th, 1876, in the Dutch city of Luvarden, Margareta Gertrude Zella was born into a life of privilege.
28:07Her father, a wealthy hat maker, enrolls his daughter in the finest schools, where she learns multiple languages, and spoils her with lavish gifts.
28:16But in 1891, when Margareta is 15, the fairy tale is shattered.
28:23Her mother suddenly dies from tuberculosis.
28:26Her father goes bankrupt and abandons the family.
28:29By the age of 18, she finds herself alone in the world.
28:33She answers a newspaper ad from a wealthy army officer named Rudolph McLeod.
28:38Yes, back then, instead of swiping right, you could simply flip through these spouse-wanted ads.
28:44They quickly marry, move to the Dutch East Indies, and have two children, Norman and Louise.
28:51But her husband turns out to be a violent drunk and unfaithful.
28:56And when their young son tragically dies in 1899, he takes their daughter and refuses to give Margareta a cent of his money.
29:03But showing a strength that will define the rest of her life, she uses her charm and beauty to begin again.
29:12It's March 13, 1905.
29:16And the who's who of Paris have packed into the prestigious art institute the Musée Guimet for a very exotic performance.
29:25The museum's library has been adorned with flowers to give the appearance of a Hindu temple.
29:30And as the lights dim, the crowd is transfixed by the reinvented Margareta who takes the stage.
29:42Inspired by her time in the Dutch East Indies, she calls herself Mata Hari, meaning Eye of the Day in Indonesian.
29:50She transfixes audiences with her exotic dancing, uniquely incorporating elements of Southeast Asian and Indian traditions.
30:00Barefoot, with bejeweled transparent costumes that reveal more than they conceal, she becomes an instant sensation.
30:08Within the next few years, Mata Hari graces all the iconic European stages and associates with some of the most powerful men of her day,
30:19including an alleged entanglement with German Crown Prince Wilhelm.
30:23At the height of her fame, Mata Hari is what we'd today consider a pop star influencer,
30:29her name appearing on everything from cigarettes and liquors to luxury products.
30:33Mata lives large. She stays at the most exclusive hotels, dines at the finest restaurants and dresses in the trendiest fashions.
30:43But this lavish lifestyle takes a toll on her finances, and she's in constant need of money.
30:49Wealthy suitors, especially high-ranking officers and noblemen, practically line up for a chance to support her in exchange for,
30:58well, let's just say some quality alone time.
31:00In the summer of 1914, however, the world completely unravels.
31:09On August 3, Germany declares war on France, and World War I begins.
31:15Mata Hari flees to a neutral country, her native Netherlands.
31:20One night, she receives an unexpected visitor, Karl Kramer, the German consul in Amsterdam.
31:26He offers her 20,000 francs, about 60 grand today.
31:33But he doesn't want companionship.
31:35Recognizing Mata Hari's unique skills, her fluency in several languages, her ability to charm powerful men, and her access to high-ranking officers,
31:44he wants Mata Hari to use her connections and sex appeal to spy on the French for Germany.
31:51And he reportedly provides her with invisible ink to pass messages undetected.
31:56A secret pact is made, one that will ultimately lead to her death.
32:02But whether Mata Hari truly aided the Germans, or played both sides in a deadly game of espionage, remains one of history's most tantalizing mysteries.
32:11Until now.
32:18With World War I raging and her funds running low, renowned beauty Mata Hari is at a crossroads.
32:25She's offered a tempting deal to spy for Germany in exchange for a fat payday.
32:29She allegedly accepts, but, according to her, never intends to do any actual spying.
32:42Eventually, Mata Hari leaves Amsterdam and returns to France.
32:45She meets Captain Vladim de Maslov, a handsome Russian pilot with whom she falls in love.
32:54Their relationship deepens, and in the summer of 1916, when Maslov is wounded near the front,
33:01Mata Hari requests permission to visit him.
33:04But she needs special clearance from France to travel there.
33:08Enter Captain George Ledoux, head of French intelligence.
33:12He makes Mata Hari an unexpected offer.
33:16Become a spy for France, and he will grant her the clearance she needs to visit her Russian lover.
33:23She agrees, but only for a massive payout, one million francs, or more than three million dollars today.
33:30Ledoux accepts and tells her she'll get the money once she delivers valuable intelligence.
33:36And, of course, all the while, she keeps her lips sealed about her similar agreement to spy for Germany.
33:43So, Mata Hari reportedly embarks on a mission to spy on the Germans for the French.
33:49All the while, according to Mata Hari, not spying on the French for the Germans.
33:55Confusing.
33:57She heads to Madrid, where she seduces a high-ranking German official named Arnold Kalle.
34:04Kalle divulges information, which Mata Hari immediately sends back to Captain Ledoux in France.
34:10Mission accomplished.
34:12Or so she thinks.
34:13She returns to Paris expecting a hero's welcome, but receives quite the opposite.
34:20On February 13, 1917, she is arrested by the French and charged as a German spy.
34:27But how did the French find out about her previous agreement?
34:31Well, after his rendezvous with Mata Hari in Madrid,
34:35Major Arnold Kalle fires off a series of coded telegrams to Germany.
34:39The French intercept and decipher these messages in which Kalle names a female agent known as H-21,
34:47praising her for delivering French military secrets.
34:51The French believe H-21 is the codename for Mata Hari.
34:56Her house of cards has come tumbling down.
34:59On July 24, five months after her arrest, Mata Hari's trial begins.
35:04Under examination, she admits to taking German money in a deal to spy for them,
35:10but swears she never shared anything of value.
35:13She's also accused of having been given bottles of invisible ink by the Germans to write secret messages,
35:19but she denies it, claiming the liquid was a beauty product from her cosmetics kit.
35:24Prosecutors blame her for causing the deaths of 50,000 French soldiers,
35:28but never name a single battle, secret or shred of proof to justify the accusation.
35:35The trial lasts only two days and a verdict is reached.
35:39Mata Hari is found guilty of espionage as a German spy and sentenced to death.
35:44Which brings us to October 15th.
35:48Mata Hari is about to be executed by firing squad.
35:52But was she truly a treacherous double agent responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands?
35:58Or simply a scapegoat caught in the crossfire of politics and war?
36:03An incredible discovery of long lost historical documents may finally answer the question.
36:08As we've seen tonight, many great stories live at the crossroads of fact and folklore.
36:22For centuries, Napoleon Bonaparte has been mocked as the archetype of the short man with a big ego.
36:29But it turns out, history got it wrong.
36:32Napoleon stood about five foot two.
36:34Sounds small, but here's the thing.
36:35Historically, a French foot is 13, not 12 inches.
36:40Translating to roughly five foot six in English measurements.
36:44Average height for men in the early 1800s.
36:47When you combine this measurement confusion with British propaganda,
36:51particularly that of cartoonist James Gilray, Napoleon was cut down to size.
36:56Well, less than size to be exact.
36:58And thus the Napoleon complex was born.
37:01With Bonaparte himself saying of the caricatures about his height,
37:04quote,
37:05they did more than all the armies of Europe to bring me down.
37:09After Mata Hari was executed by the French for allegedly being a German spy,
37:14some argued the trial was a sham.
37:17And for over a century, many have defended her innocence,
37:20saying she never actually spied for the Germans, even if she did take their money.
37:24Now, Dr. Julie Wheelwright, journalist and author, has uncovered a bombshell hidden in formerly top secret British Army files.
37:34There's been new evidence that has come out of Great Britain, including a telegram with information which was sent in December 1916,
37:43which I don't believe the French had because it doesn't show up during Mata Hari's trial.
37:49And they have been sitting in the archives, but they weren't indexed until recently.
37:53I got a tip from a German historian in Spain and he said, can you go and look at these?
38:01The British files contained the secret messages of German Major Kale.
38:05These were the same messages that apparently outed Mata Hari to the French as German agent H-21.
38:12Defenders of Mata Hari have long claimed that Major Kale knew that messages would be intercepted,
38:18and so he set her up as a false spy, as revenge for her working for the French.
38:24They say he purposefully used a code that he already knew the Allies had cracked,
38:29so that Mata Hari would be discovered and made a scapegoat.
38:32But actually, it turns out that that's not true because if you look at the deciphered telegrams
38:38at the National Archives here in the UK, it's quite clear that Kale continued using that same code
38:47before and after he was sending the telegrams that relate to Agent H-21.
38:53So that theory is kind of out of the window.
38:56According to this version of events, the telegrams weren't a frame job.
39:00They were genuine attempts to funnel French secrets straight to Germany.
39:03Meaning, despite her denials, Mata Hari actually was a German spy after all.
39:10If so, what secrets did she actually share with the Germans?
39:14On the 14th of December, 1916, Kale sends a telegram to Berlin,
39:21which is to the German intelligence services headquarters.
39:24And in it, he conveys the information that Mata Hari had given him about these two double agents.
39:30When I first started looking into this story, I believed that Mata Hari was innocent.
39:35But what you finally have is really concrete, definitive proof that Mata Hari was not only working for the Germans,
39:44but it suggests that there's a real intention for her to pass on hard evidence to the Germans.
39:51And that really kind of blows out of the water this idea of her innocence.
39:55After years of debate, Dr. Wheelwright is now convinced Mata Hari really was guilty of being a double agent.
40:04But consider this, the French never had this crucial evidence we have today,
40:09meaning they condemned her without knowing the full truth.
40:12So why did they do it?
40:14She's the antithesis of what French women should be at that time.
40:17She's divorced. She also, you know, performed naked on the stage.
40:23There's no way that a French court is going to show her any mercy.
40:27And this trial also takes place at a time when things are going very badly for the French on the Western Front.
40:34So to be able to point the finger at this German spy, caught red handed.
40:41I mean, it was that kind of mentality with which they were able to convict her.
40:46Even though they didn't have the proof, she was an absolute ideal scapegoat.
40:50And no one was going to step forward to defend her. And indeed, they didn't.
40:54To a war-weary France, Mata Hari was the perfect villain. Exotic, seductive and mysterious.
41:03In the end, it wasn't just her mixed loyalties that doomed her as much as what she symbolized.
41:08A scandalous woman playing by her own rules.
41:11And while the verdict that she was a double agent now appears more certain,
41:15it only adds to her mystique and her hypnotic hold on our imagination, just as she would have wanted.
41:20I'm Josh Gates. I'll see you on the next Expedition.
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