Original subtitles

On this episode of "expedition files"

Billy the kid is america's most famous outlaw...

Until he reportedly dies by the hand

of a sharp-shooting sheriff.

But new information suggests

the life of the infamous gunslinger...

Might not have ended how and when we thought.

In 1961, Betty and Barney hill are champions

of the civil rights movement.

Then, they claim a terrifying run-in with a ufo

changes their lives forever.

Now, new analysis of evidence from their encounter

may finally prove they were actually telling the truth.

And the iconic mystery of the prisoner known as

the man in the iron mask has endured for 350 years.

Now, we can finally reveal who he was.

In the corridors of time

are mysteries that defy explanation.

Now, I'm traveling through history itself

on a search for the truth.

New evidence...

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh gates,

and these...

Are my "expedition files."

Who am I? This isn't a quiz.

I figure if you're watching, you probably know who I am,

and hey, thanks for the support, by the way.

No, I'm asking, who am I existentially?

Because, of course, our identities are

the foundation of our place in the world.

But as we'll see in these three case files,

some identities are mistaken, some are shrouded in mystery,

and some are simply hidden behind a mask.

We begin 145 years ago at the Lincoln county courthouse

in new Mexico, or more specifically,

next to the jail's outhouse.

Not the most glamorous location perhaps, but inside

is one of the wild west's most feared outlaws,

recently arrested and being closely guarded

even when nature calls.

Accused of killing more than 20 men,

including the local sheriff,

he's been condemned to die by hanging.

At just 21, he's gone by many names

William mccarty Jr., Henry antrim, William Bonney,

but the world knows him best by another name

Billy the kid.

But could the story of his demise be completely wrong?

What if Billy didn't die

when the history books say he did?

It's April 28th, 1881.

You got one minute, kid. Make it quit.

Notorious outlaw, Billy the kid

seems to have run out of luck.

He's being held under lock and key,

awaiting his own hanging.

Yet suddenly, there's a change of plans

as Billy turns the tables on his captors.

Was there a pistol hidden for him in the outhouse?

Was there a lock pick for his handcuffs in there too?

We don't know for certain.

All we do know is that the only other witness

won't be telling his side of the story.

Gunshots alert a second guard

who was getting lunch across the street.

Unfortunately, that will be his last meal.

Shooting these officers will come back to haunt Billy,

but it also allows him to escape.

It's just another day in the life of a lawless legend.

Billy's in the clear, for now.

Records state the kid was born William Henry mccarty Jr.,

in 1859, raised by a single mother

until he's orphaned at 14, when she dies of tuberculosis.

He soon turns to crime, escaping from jail

for the first time at 16.

At 17, he takes his first life, shooting a bully

who apparently mocked his small size.

That's the year he becomes known as Billy the kid,

and it's the beginning of his fame

that will last for more than 150 years.

To some, he's a folk hero fighting corrupt officials.

To others, he's a dangerous outlaw.

But not long after he shoots and kills a lawman in new Mexico

in 1878, he's arrested by Lincoln county's new sheriff,

pat Garrett, which brings us back

to his daring prison escape.

Garrett is said to have been gathering wood

for Billy's gallows

when the outlaw escapes Lincoln jail,

killing two of Garrett's men.

He swears to bring the kid to justice again.

Garrett says he's driven by vengeance

for his slain deputies, but he's also likely driven

by the $500 reward worth over $15,000 today.

Three months later, pat Garrett and two deputies

finally track Billy here to fort Sumner, new Mexico,

as they approach the home of Pete Maxwell,

a known associate of Billy the kid.

Garrett slips into the house

and wakes Maxwell to question him.

Pete!

- Where is he? - Who?

Where is the kid?

I don't know.

Maxwell.

A sound outside catches his attention.

Hey, Maxwell.

He is so sure that it's Billy the kid,

he doesn't hesitate.

The next day, it's reported that Billy the kid

has been killed by sheriff pat Garrett.

Garrett collects the reward,

but already there are doubts about Billy's death.

Amongst the local ranch hands, the word is that the dead body

in that coffin isn't the kid, and that the corpse

is that of a Mexican man.

Hey, Maxwell.

The circumstances of his death

do raise intriguing questions.

Why would Billy show up just moments after Garrett?

And how did Billy get past those two deputies outside?

It also seems incredible that sheriff Garrett could shoot

a man based solely on hearing a noise.

And some say there's no way Garrett could have shot Billy

because, major plot twist, they were actually old friends,

best friends at that.

Records reveal that before he's sheriff,

pat Garrett works as a bartender at the Lincoln county saloon,

where both he and Billy love to gamble.

Finest whiskey we got.

Why, thank you, Billy.

- How you doing? - Ask me again in 15 minutes.

When I'm walking out with all their money.

Just don't walk out with my wife.

Many believe this image shows

pat Garrett and Billy the kid

during their time together at the saloon.

With pat an imposing six-foot-five

and Billy at five-foot-eight,

some claim they even earn matching nicknames

big casino and little casino.

But kid's luck runs out after Billy guns down

two deputies in his infamous jailhouse escape.

It's pat Garrett who takes over the badge and, with it,

the burden of bringing his old friend to justice.

But many questions remain about what actually happened

at this legendary showdown.

Author Daniel Edwards has been researching

the life and death

of Billy the kid for 20 years, and what he's discovered

may shoot holes in our history books.

Whether or not pat Garrett killed Billy the kid

has captivated people for over 140 years.

When I first started this journey, I just wanted to look

into the story and see if we had missed anything.

Well, now I realize we've missed so much.

When you actually look at the firsthand accounts

of what people said, all indications are that night

pat Garrett did not kill Billy the kid.

It was an ambush,

and pat Garrett baited Billy the kid to come over.

But that night, Billy the kid had heard that pat Garrett

was in town, and he was being extra cautious.

So he sent his Mexican companion next door.

Garrett was hiding in the dark, but the man walking up

on the porch that night was just another one

of Pete Maxwell's ranch hands.

And so unfortunately, instead of Billy the kid,

an innocent Mexican ended up coming over,

and they killed the wrong guy.

So I think once pat Garrett killed the wrong man,

they had a choice to make.

Do we try to protect pat Garrett and protect Billy the kid

by claiming that this is him? And that in some way

would protect Billy the kid by allowing him to escape

and start life over, but also protect pat Garrett

because he killed the wrong guy.

And I believe that's what they did.

I believe they said, "ok, we're gonna pretend

"this is Billy the kid. We're gonna put him

"in the ground, and maybe this time

he'll be smart enough to just get out of here."

If Edwards is correct, the story of Billy the kid

may have a whole new chapter,

and he has some incredible evidence

that just might turn this legend into fact.

Sheriff pat Garrett is said to have killed Billy the kid

when the outlaw was 21 years old.

But in 1948, an attorney makes a discovery

that challenges the entire tale.

A probate attorney named William Morrison

is working a case with a man

who turns out to be a survivor of the Lincoln county war.

And, in his presence, he makes the comment

that pat Garrett killed Billy the kid.

And, to his surprise, this old-timer says,

"pat Garrett never killed Billy the kid.

He's still alive, and he lives in hico, Texas."

After hearing this, Morrison decides

to do more research, which leads him

to the man in Texas, a man named brushy bill Roberts.

Multiple people who had either known Billy the kid intimately

or had been introduced to him by people who knew him

signed affidavits that brushy bill Roberts

was in fact Billy the kid.

And one of the strongest pieces of evidence is that someone

who helped Billy the kid escape from the Lincoln county jail

signed a sworn affidavit that he was the same person

that he knew back in Lincoln county.

So Mr. Morrison goes to brushy bill's house and says,

"I have affidavits in my files that say you're Billy the kid."

Brushy bill says, "I'm absolutely not Billy the kid,

and I knew him, but I'm not him."

And so Mr. Morrison begins this dance with brushy bill

where he earns his trust.

And over time, as brushy bill realizes

that Mr. Morrison's a lawyer, he says,

"look, I'm not gonna live that much longer.

"I'd like to die with a clean conscience.

"I'd like to set the record straight,

but I wanna die a free man. Will you help me?"

And so that's how Mr. Morrison

came to know brushy bill Roberts,

and that's how they came to take the case.

Many people over the years had claimed to be Billy the kid,

but never before had anyone come forward

with the avalanche of information,

proof, witnesses, affidavits to prove

that they actually were before brushy bill Roberts.

The news that Billy the kid is potentially

still alive makes national headlines.

There's even a movement to have the governor of new Mexico

pardon him for his 70-year-old crimes.

But many, including the governor,

proclaim brushy bill an imposter,

pointing out that many of his memories are riddled

with factual inaccuracies.

Even some of his own family argue that brushy

is too young to be Billy.

Tragically, in 1950,

while the debate about his true identity rages,

brushy dies of a heart attack.

So it seemed we might never know

if brushy bill was truly Billy the kid.

But then a photograph emerges,

one that will reignite the mystery.

So the relevance of the photo

that I call the silver city photo

is that it potentially captures Billy the kid

at a critical point in his life, between about 1877 and 1884.

Now, I'm not a big fan of unverified photos,

but this photo was brought to me several years ago,

in the hopes that I could help verify the people

that it contained.

And what immediately struck me about the photo,

other than someone had written on the back of it,

"Billy the kid,"

was that I thought the person in the photo

matched known photos of brushy bill Roberts.

So that piqued my interest enough to do some research,

and I was able to take the photo

to some world-class photo experts

and have it authenticated to the time period.

I then took the photo to the NYPD

and had their facial recognition department give me their opinion

on the people that were in the photo.

So we're talking about cutting-edge

facial recognition technology.

The detective's conclusion is that brushy bill Roberts,

the person in the photo, and Billy the kid,

all three are an identical match,

so much so that they could be identical twins.

So if the facial recognition results are accurate,

the truth about one of the wild west's most infamous

gunslingers has been revealed.

Billy the kid settled down for a quieter life

and a new identity.

Of course, many historians are doubtful that this is the case.

There is one way to be sure

exhume the body of the accepted Billy the kid and test his DNA.

Several new Mexico law enforcement officials

have tried to do just that, but legal hurdles

have hindered their efforts.

As for old brushy bill, his supporters

have commemorated him with a headstone in hico, Texas,

listing his name as well as his possible alter ego

Billy the kid.

Our next file takes us from the wild west

to an out-of-this-world encounter.

It's September 19th, 1961, and Betty and Barney hill

are about to head home from their honeymoon

in Niagara Falls.

Little do they know they'll be forced to make a detour

that will change their lives forever.

Because on a lonely back road,

they'll claim to encounter a spacecraft.

Catapulting them to fame

as the first documented alien abductees.

But, soon after their story is made public,

many critics label them as frauds.

Now, we may finally be able to prove

if they were telling the truth.

According to their later testimony, the hills,

at first, try to rationalize the zigzagging light

they see in front of them as a satellite or airplane.

But then it approaches, and they have no explanation

for what's hovering above them.

Barney is skeptical of anything beyond a logical explanation,

but is intrigued to get a closer look.

And what he captures in his binoculars

sends chills down his spine.

Betty and Barney hill

claimed to encounter a bright orb

hovering above their car in the middle of New Hampshire.

And Barney spots something terrifying.

Strange, gray, humanoid figures with large eyes.

There are at least 10 of them.

An audio interview that Barney gives later summarizes it best.

Their hearts are pounding.

For a moment, they believe they've escaped.

But then they feel an electric tingling that puts them

in a trance-like state.

In the blink of an eye the couple finds themselves

cruising on a completely different stretch of highway

30 miles closer to home and it's two hours later.

Neither Betty nor Barney claim to have any memory

of what happened during those missing hours.

Once home, the shaken couple struggles to make sense

of their terrifying encounter.

Barney begs Betty to keep it a secret,

fearful no one will believe them.

And this is what makes Betty and Barney hill's

supposed experience so unique... them.

You see, these two don't want any outside attention.

They get enough of that as it is.

The hills are an interracial couple

in the tumultuous world of 1960s america.

They endure constant scrutiny just for being married.

They've established themselves

as respected members of their community,

where Betty is a devoted state child welfare worker.

At 18, Barney joined the army and served during world war ii.

Then comes home to become a postal worker.

He dreams of becoming an engineer,

but is told his race will hold him back.

Together, they dedicate any free time to their church

and work as activists in the civil rights movement.

They cannot risk their reputation by talking

about potential flying saucers and aliens.

But they remain shaken by the experience

and unsettling details they can't explain.

Both of their watches stop during their strange encounter,

frozen in time.

Barney's dress shoes are mysteriously scraped,

and Betty discovers a strange, pink powder on her dress,

as well as an unusual tear.

She places the dress into the closet,

never to wear it again.

Just days after their encounter,

despite the risks, Betty feels compelled to report it

to nearby pease air force base, requesting it remain a secret.

And then, ten days after their disturbing encounter,

Betty begins having vivid nightmares.

In them, she and her husband are dragged aboard

the spacecraft and laid bare on metal tables.

Strange beings surround them, probing their bodies.

The nightmares feel all too real.

And soon, Barney too is having trouble sleeping,

and his nightmares are similar.

Looking for answers, Betty contacts

the national investigations committee on aerial phenomena,

or nicap, who are intrigued by her story.

An astronomer and nicap investigator conducts six hours

of separate interviews with Betty and Barney.

His takeaway?

That they seemed to be telling the truth.

But aspects of their experience are hazy, and the hills are

plagued by what Barney describes as blocked memories.

They turn to renowned psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon,

who proposes hypnosis to help them recall

what really happened that fateful night.

But what he uncovers will be far more horrifying

than anyone could have imagined.

Dr. Simon records the sessions.

Over multiple visits, Betty and Barney take turns

revealing similar shocking accounts of being taken

from their car and onto the hovering ship.

The husband and wife are taken into different rooms

aboard the craft where they're made to disrobe.

They describe their captors as gray-skinned and hairless

with large eyes that seem to wrap around their skulls.

The violent assault ends as Barney finds himself

no longer on the strange craft, but back in his car.

Critics contend that hypnosis sessions like this,

which put participants in a highly suggestible state,

can lead to what's known as false memories,

belief in events which never took place.

But, for Betty and Barney hill, the sessions seem to help them

move on with their lives.

Both throw themselves back into their civil rights work.

In 1965, their efforts in voter registration earned them

an invitation to president lyndon Johnson's inauguration.

- United States. - So help you, god so help me, god.

The following year, Barney is appointed

as an advisor to the U.S. commission on civil rights.

In all this time, several years,

the hills have made no effort to garner publicity

about their purported abduction.

And just as they feel their lives are back on track,

their worst fears unfold.

On October 25th, 1965, someone allegedly slips

a reporter an audio tape of the couple

discussing their abduction.

And the Boston traveler newspaper publishes

a five-part, front-page series about the hills,

catapulting their personal story into international headlines.

Betty and Barney are thrust into the spotlight as reporters

swarm their home and workplaces. Their identities are now

forever linked to ufos, leaving them to face

public scrutiny and ridicule. Their doubters are many.

Those who say the spacecraft they spotted was nothing more

than a hilltop aircraft warning beacon,

or that they were deliriously tired

while behind the wheel.

Some have even claimed their memories were inspired

by episodes of "the twilight zone"

and "the outer limits."

Less than a decade after the event

that came to define his life, Barney hill dies

of a cerebral hemorrhage on February 25th, 1969.

He was only 46.

As for Betty,

she goes on to passionately defend their story,

and along the way

becomes something of an alien abductee celebrity,

deeply involved in the ufo believer community.

Betty dies from cancer in 2004 at the age of 85.

Betty's niece, Kathleen marden, became fascinated

with her aunt's story at a very young age.

I was 13 years old

when this happened to Betty and Barney.

And I spent most of my life looking for answers.

I've read all of the original reports.

I have done an extensive investigation.

So as time goes on, I become more and more convinced

that this was real.

Kathleen marden has dedicated her life

to proving her aunt and uncle's terrifying story.

And now, a recent breakthrough in her research

may have uncovered the truth.

In 1961, Betty and Barney hill

claimed to be victims of a disturbing alien abduction.

Now, their niece, Kathleen marden,

may have finally found the evidence

that shines new light on their otherworldly claims.

I knew that there were two radar reports that night

that had been classified.

And after many years, I was able to obtain

the official radar reports.

One, earlier in the evening in north Concord, Vermont,

the radar array picked up a large object

traveling erratically against the wind.

The other one, at pease air force base at 2:14 am,

and that would have been the time when Betty and Barney

were released from the ufo.

But that wasn't the only evidence Kathleen uncovered.

Using modern forensic analysis, she examined the dress

Betty had on the night of the abduction,

the one she never washed or wore again.

There's a tremendous amount of physical evidence

and circumstantial evidence that indicates

that this was real as Betty and Barney recalled.

The most compelling evidence that I have discovered recently

is when we found a stain on the lining of Betty's dress

just below the waistline.

And this did not permeate

the outer surface of the dress, only the lining.

We had it tested... DNA analysis, and they discovered

that this was Betty's DNA, fluid from her body

in the area where she said a needle had been inserted

into her body.

That could mean that Betty's memory

of this needle in the navel was true, was real.

Also, I had swatches from Betty's dress analyzed.

They found tellurium and rhodium on Betty's dress,

very rare elements in the earth's crust,

more abundant on asteroids, more expensive than platinum.

It has a higher melting point and lower density than platinum.

There's no reason that this should have been

on Betty's dress.

On the day they arrived home,

Betty's watch had stopped and never ran again.

Barney's dress shoes were so deeply scraped

that he had to buy new shoes.

He pulled the binoculars away from his eyes.

As he was terrified, he broke the leather strap.

There was a lot of evidence.

As time goes on and we develop technology,

I become more comfortable with the idea

that this indeed did occur because of the physical evidence

that we have discovered due to our technology.

The evidence is undoubtedly intriguing,

but is this the smoking gun?

Kathleen marden certainly thinks so.

And there can be no doubt the hills were decent,

and hard-working people

dedicated to advancing civil rights.

I find it hard to imagine they'd choose to sacrifice

their reputations and undermine their life's work.

But the only two people who really know the truth

are Betty and Barney hill.

And perhaps even they don't know for sure.

So many of their recollections were illuminated under hypnosis.

But, in the end, I believe that they believed.

And whatever actually happened on that lonely road in 1961,

the hills clearly had courage that was out of this world.

From the story of a couple whose identities

were thrown into disarray, our next file tells the tale

of a man who loses his identity entirely.

It's April 30th, 1687.

I'm in a cell in the fort royal prison

off the south coast of France.

This chamber has a set of impregnable doors

and walls built thick enough to silence screams.

Curiously, it's also spacious and well furnished,

with a large fireplace.

This is no ordinary cell, because the man arriving here

is no ordinary prisoner.

History won't remember his name.

It certainly won't remember his face,

which is said to be permanently hidden.

But his nickname will become immortal

the man in the iron mask.

And now, thanks to historic breakthroughs,

the world's most well-known, unknown prisoner

will have his identity revealed.

If you read "the three musketeers" novels

in high school, then you're already familiar

with the man standing behind me.

He was even played by Leonardo DiCaprio

in a 1998 blockbuster film.

But the man in the iron mask

is more than just the stuff of fiction.

He's a real person, arrested in France in 1669.

His crime? Unknown.

All history records is that he was arrested

by the highest authority under French king Louis xiv.

He will be held in four different prisons

over 34 years.

It seems there's no chance for this prisoner to escape.

But on this particular day, he'll try.

Standing at his clifftop window,

the masked man spots a fisherman far below.

The prisoner seizes the moment, scratching a message

into a silver dish, which he throws out his window.

The fisherman recovers the plate,

giving the prisoner hope for the first time in decades.

But will his hopes soon be dashed?

Billy the kid isn't the only infamous outlaw

who may have cheated death.

Several years ago,

I investigated whether butch Cassidy

also escaped his own demise.

The story goes that, instead of dying in a shootout

in Bolivia, butch survived, returned to america,

and lived to the ripe old age of 81.

Just outside Las Vegas, I teamed up with a historian,

who believed he found where the robber

really passed away.

- That's bone. - That is bone.

We dug down and found bone fragments,

but the DNA was inconclusive.

So much for living fast and dying young.

Maybe Billy the kid and butch Cassidy both became

something even more legendary... octogenarian outlaws.

The world's most famous anonymous prisoner,

the man in the iron mask, has just thrown

an engraved plate from his prison window

in the mad hope that someone might finally save him.

Unfortunately, the fisherman who finds it brings the plate

to prison governor Saint-Mars, who has been appointed

by the king to oversee the inmate.

He is the only one that's been entrusted

with the masked man's identity.

The fisherman is brutally tortured

until it becomes clear that he cannot read.

After 11 years at fort royal,

Saint-Mars moves the man in the iron mask

to the most infamous prison in France... the bastille.

A guard records their arrival in the prison register.

September 18th, 1698.

Monsieur de Saint-Mars made his first appearance,

bringing with him a prisoner whom he caused

to be always masked, whose name is not mentioned.

The new prisoner at the bastille becomes

the talk of Paris among peasants and nobles alike.

Rumors are that he's brought meals on a silver plate

and given luxuries like books and a guitar,

all done with etiquette customary to royalty.

Eventually, decades of solitary confinement

take their toll.

On November 19th, 1703, the bastille register

reads, "the unknown prisoner, always masked, has died."

His corpse is reportedly decapitated

and the body buried in the graveyard

of Saint Paul's church.

In the bastille, the prisoner's cell

is ripped apart and systematically destroyed,

fearing that the prisoner may have scrawled his name

on a hidden surface.

The man in the iron mask's personal jailer, Saint-Mars,

dies five years later, and king Louis xiv

passes seven years after that.

All who might shed light on this dark mystery are gone.

But then, in 1717, 14 years after

the man in the iron mask dies, famed French philosopher,

Voltaire, is imprisoned in the bastille.

While there, he claims to have learned

about the man in the iron mask from a firsthand witness.

Voltaire publishes a theory

that the mysterious prisoner was, in fact,

king Louis xiv's illegitimate half-brother,

a scandalous suggestion that catapults the story

to international fame. But could it be true?

Over the next few centuries,

scores of other suspects are floated by theorists,

suggesting our masked man was anyone

from a military general or an Italian diplomat

to the son of an English statesman or even a Duke.

But the most popular theory that takes root

is that the man in the iron mask is an individual

named eustache dauger.

Records show that dauger was arrested around the same time

as the man in the iron mask and that he was isolated away

from other prisoners and only allowed to be seen

by the warden.

In the 19th century,

there's a possible break in the case.

Letters are discovered from the man in the iron mask's warden,

which offer a tantalizing clue.

The prisoner is described as, quote, "only a valet."

In other words, a lowly personal servant.

But why would a humble valet need to be guarded

in such an unprecedented manner?

Christophe delatoure works as a historian

at the museum of cannes,

and he thinks he may have discovered the truth.

In 2017, I was working on an exhibition project,

dedicated to the iron mask for the museums of cannes.

And I was delving into the old archival material,

the source material, dating back to the 17th century.

And I started to realize that the mainstream theory

about the iron mask is wrong. There's more to it than that,

something much more sinister, much darker.

So I sort of reopened the file.

As christophe examines the records more closely,

he realizes something jaw-dropping.

Eustache's father was a man called

François d'oger de cavoye, who was a musketeer,

the captain of the guards of Louis xiii.

Here comes the bombshell... christophe contends that

not only was eustache's father an honest-to-god musketeer,

but he also seemingly had an affair with the queen.

And, shortly thereafter, the queen becomes pregnant

and gives birth to a son who is then secretly passed off

as the legitimate heir to the throne named Louis xiv.

That means that, if true,

eustache and Louis xiv had the same daddy.

In other words, Louis xiv is not Louis xiii's son

and has no business being on the throne of France

in those days.

He is, in fact, the product of an illegitimate union.

According to this theory, the man in the iron mask

and the king are half-brothers, which means that Voltaire

was right all along.

Guess that prison gossip was the real deal.

So then, how did eustache

end up in prison in the first place?

According to our expert,

eustache was actually not a valet.

Instead, he had a colorful life that led to his imprisonment.

Eustache follows in his father's path

and becomes a musketeer himself,

but he's a bit of a screw-up.

And by screw-up, I mean he's a drunk and a rabble-rouser.

Unfortunately, one day in a drunken duel,

he kills the wrong person, a page boy

who's a favorite of the royal court.

Because of this, he gets disowned by his family

and sentenced to prison.

At this point, eustache threatens to reveal

the secret of king Louis xiv's true identity,

but his blackmail backfires.

Instead, the king throws eustache behind bars

with a mask on his head to keep his identity hidden.

Since they are secretly related by blood,

the king can't bring himself to kill his half-brother

under the watchful eye of god, and instead gives him

a permanent royal imprisonment.

The only explanation as to why Louis xiv,

the most powerful king in Europe,

possibly the world at that time,

would take such great pains to keep the man in the iron mask

in prison in those conditions.

The only reason would be that that secret was so toxic

that it was a threat to the king, to his throne.

So I think the only thing that makes sense is that

the iron mask and the king are related.

They belong to the same family.

Secret brothers, swashbuckling musketeers,

and an illegitimate monarch.

Is it possible that the 350-year-old mystery

of the man in the iron mask has just been solved?

It's one hell of a story, and who knows,

it might even be true.

I'm Josh gates, and I'll see you on the next expedition.