All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S03E02.Madness.Explained.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

On this episode
of "Expedition Files..."

1692 in Salem, Massachusetts,

a group of young girls accuse
their neighbors of witchcraft.

Setting off hysteria that
will end in 20 executions.

Now, we discover what may be
the true cause

of the Salem Witch Trials.

Then, in 1980,
at a military base in England,

a unit of U.S. airmen will
all swear they witnessed a UFO

with stunning audio evidence.

We unravel the secrets behind
the case known

as Britain's Roswell.

And at the turn
of the 20th century,

a man known as Rasputin,
the Mad Monk is famed

for his mystical powers.

Becoming an advisor
to the Russian royal family

before he's violently
assassinated.

Now we uncover
a shocking theory

revealing who killed him,

and why.

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".

When I meet people
on my travels, they often say,

"What you do
for a living is crazy."

But hey, one person's insanity
is another's Tuesday night

in a cursed Egyptian tomb,
am I right?

The line between madness
and normalcy,

well, sometimes it's just
a matter of perspective.

And finding that perspective is
the task at hand,

as we examine three remarkable
mysteries of madness.

In each case, trying to find
the sane within the insane.

We begin our journey
in a Massachusetts court,

but these are no ordinary
proceedings,

because the year is 1692,

and this is the town of Salem.

The Meeting House is packed
with people here to see

the trial of the woman
beside me.

Her name is Martha Corey.

Her crime?

Witchcraft.

They say she consorts
with the devil,

that she wields dark forces
to harm the innocent.

And she's not alone.

When all is said and done,
hundreds will have been accused,

dozens imprisoned,
and 20 executed in a community

gripped by fear.

But what is really
happening here?

Religious hysteria?
Mass paranoia?

Or is there something darker
hiding in the shadows?

The jury's out, but it won't be
for much longer.

Our story begins seven decades
before the witch trials,

when Salem is founded in 1626
by Puritans from England.

Devout, disciplined,

and dedicated
to carving out a new life

in an unforgiving
wilderness.

Over the next century,
their world is shaped by toil,

fear, and absolute devotion.

Add in tensions within the new
community, not to mention

conflict with Native Americans,
lurking French rivals,

starvation, disease,
and a deep-seated fear

of the devil.

And you've got a powder keg
just waiting to blow.

Oh, Father! Oh, Lord!

Ease her suffering.
Oh, Lord! Oh, God!

We're inside the home
of Reverend Samuel Parris,

and on the bed before me are
his daughter Betty

and her cousin Abigail Williams.

No one knows what's wrong
with the girls,

but their symptoms seem severe

as they suffer violent spasms
and convulsions.

Desperate prayers are whispered,

herbal remedies tried,
but nothing helps.

Oh, Lord! Oh, God!

A local physician is summoned.

He examines the girls,

and despite
their terrifying condition,

finds no evidence
of disease.

And jumps to
the only other conclusion

his worldview allows--

an evil hand is upon them.

His official diagnosis?

Witchcraft.

Soon, the mysterious
affliction spreads

as two other girls
in the village--

12-year-old, Ann Putnam Jr.

and 17-year-old,
Elizabeth Hubbard

also fall ill.

Others in the community
also start reporting

seizure-like symptoms and claim
to witness shadow figures

and invisible attacks
of stabbing and choking.

Meanwhile, the girls
who were first afflicted

named their tormentors.

They claim to be attacked
by the specters

of three women--
household slave Tituba,

as well as local outcast,
Sarah Osborne,

and a destitute beggar
named Sarah Good.

All three are arrested.

Under pressure,
Tituba confesses,

claiming the devil, quote,

"Came to me
and bid me serve him."

And even more shocking,
she implicates

the two other women.

Claiming they and unnamed others
in the town are also witches.

During Sarah Good's trial,

accusers paint her as a bitter,
envious outcast,

whose poverty and anger
make her a prime vessel

for the devil's work.

Sarah passionately declares
her innocence,

but her cries are ignored.

All three women
are branded as heretics

and thrown into jail.

The incarceration of this trio,
seen as social outcasts,

doesn't come as
a surprise to some.

But it turns out this is
only the beginning.

What happens next will
change everything.

And that brings us back
to Martha Corey.

Martha is considered
a respected,

not to mention a devout member
of the community.

But when she questions
whether Salem's young women

are truly victims
of witchcraft...
- Silence!

she quickly finds herself...
- You two, silence now!

accused by one
of the young girls,

and standing trial herself.

She's a harlot! She lies!
Call out the demon!

The community is shocked.

Unlike the other three accused
women who had no defenders,

Martha Corey is known to some
as "the gospel woman"

and is as pious as they come.

Martha stands her ground,
denying everything.

But in this climate,

an accusation is
as good as guilt.

And as the judge seals
her fate,

the town crosses
the point of no return.

If someone as faithful
as Martha Corey

can be condemned,
then everyone's at risk.

Soon, a tidal wave
of accusations

sweep through Salem
and the surrounding villages.

Dragging down residents
like Elizabeth Proctor

and Rebecca Nurse.

Even the previously jailed
beggar, Sarah Good,

finds her four-year-old
daughter, Dorothy,

now locked up with her.

Officials encourage the accused
to beg for forgiveness,

whether they're guilty or not.

The rules are brutally simple--

Deny it?
You hang.

Confess?
You live.

But remain locked up
until you can pay off

your arrest fees.

Despite Boston judges warning
not to allow so-called

"spectral evidence" in court,
the advice is ignored,

and citizens continue
to be arrested

due to invisible evidence.

In short, madness has
come to Salem,

and death isn't far behind.

On May 10th,
one of the original accused,

Sarah Osborne, dies in jail.

A month after that,
five women will be hanged

at Gallows Hill in Salem,

including another of
the original three, Sarah Good.

By the spring of 1692,

the witch hunt has spread
far beyond Salem.

The breaking point finally
comes when the governor

of Massachusetts,
William Phipps, intervenes,

partly because his own wife
has been accused.

He orders the witch trials stop
and bans any future use

of supernatural claims
as courtroom evidence.

Nearly a year and a half
after the accusations began,

the spell is finally broken.

Over the next few weeks,
arrests are suspended

and prisoners set free.

But the damage has
already been done.

By the time
the hysteria burns out,

nearly 200 people have been
accused of witchcraft.

Of those, 19 have been hanged,

and one man, Giles Corey, is
even pressed to death

under heavy stones.

As for Tituba, she's in prison
for well over a year,

and records show
that a landowner buys her

by paying her jail fees,

but her ultimate fate is
lost to history.

For over 325 years,

the Salem witch trials have
served as a warning

about the dangers
of paranoid group think.

Arthur Miller's 1953 play,
"The Crucible,"

even used the story
as a metaphor

for McCarthy-era witch hunts.

But one question still lingers.

It's about Abigail and Betty's
mysterious illness,

the event that ignited

all the chaos and tragedy
that followed.

Safely assuming they weren't
under a witch's spell,

what truly afflicted them?

Well, for years,
one of the main theories

was that the young girls
were simply faking it.

As adolescents in
a strict Puritan society,

they had little control
over their lives.

Their sudden sickness made them
the center of attention

and gave them power
over adults.

Others have claimed
that existing tensions

between rival families
and unhappy neighbors

may have inspired
the initial accusations,

which then spiraled
out of control.

But let's not forget,

Abigail and Betty
weren't alone.

In total, 10 young girls,

many in different households,
began displaying

the exact same
bizarre symptoms.

To many, it's hard to believe
they all conspired

to fake the same disorder.

So, if it wasn't a fabrication,
what in the world caused it?

Now, a jaw-dropping theory
aims to explain all.

She's gonna ruin our society!

The Salem witch trials remain
a chilling cautionary tale

where fear ran wild
and innocent lives were lost

after young girls claimed
to be cursed by witchcraft.

But if it wasn't lies
and it wasn't the devil,

then what was it?

In the 1970s,
another theory emerges.

Maybe the girls weren't cursed.

Maybe they were poisoned.

The first two girls
to experience the affliction

are Betty Parris
and Abigail Williams.

In the 1970s, it was proposed
by one researcher

that maybe the affliction
in Salem was caused by ergot.

Ergot is a fungus that grows
on rye or wheat.

But when we really zoom
in and look at the evidence

of the Salem witch trials,

ergot actually
doesn't make sense.

There are multiple people
living in the house

with Betty Parris
and Abigail Williams.

So why would just two people
become sick?

Why wouldn't everyone
in the house,

eating the same bread,
become ill?

And with several thousand people
living in and around Salem

at the time who were
not afflicted,

the moldy bread theory is,
well, toast.

But something set off
their unsettling symptoms.

So if it wasn't a cursed carb,
what was it?

Recent revelations
in mental health

may finally offer
an alternate explanation.

Perhaps
the girls' affliction was real,

but its roots weren't physical,
they were psychological,

due to something known
as conversion disorder.

Conversion disorder is a real
medical issue people experience,

and it can convert
into physical symptoms.

Twitching, jerking, outbursts,

uncontrollable
behavior like that.

Also called Functional
Neurological Symptom Disorder,

it is a mental affliction that
can manifest physically as well,

in ways that are often
completely bewildering

to the patient.
The cause?

Extreme stress.

If we think about the conditions

that Betty Paris
and Abigail Williams

were living in in 1692,
this does make sense.

They're children living in
a very strict Puritan household,

hearing these sermons constantly

about the dangers of the devil
and the invisible world.

They're hearing from their peers
about the wars going on

with the indigenous tribes
of the area,

that they could be attacked
at any moment.

It's a really
stressful situation,

particularly for kids
that young.

So the theory is that,
because of the hard

and isolated life
of Puritan colonists,

the young women of Salem

had a very particular
type of breakdown.

In cases like that, of...

if some people are complaining
of this illness,

others soon think
that they might be susceptible

to it as well.

You would call that
mass psychogenic illness.

It's interesting to observe

that when the afflicted
witnesses were separated

from the other witnesses,
they did recover.

Betty Paris is separated
from the rest of the family.

Her illness resolves itself.
She makes a full recovery.

Could it be that
four young girls suffered

a neurological condition
that then snowballed

throughout their community
until tragedy ensued?

Remarkably, evidence that may
support the theory emerged

more than 300 years later.

In 2012, 18 cheerleaders
in Le Roy, upstate New York,

all began exhibiting
inexplicable tics and twitches,

terrifying their small town
and drawing a media circus.

Soon, community tensions boiled
over in a desperate search

for the truth, just as they did
four centuries earlier.

But unlike colonial Salem,
cooler heads prevailed,

and in time, the girls' symptoms
mysteriously vanished

without hauling anyone
to the gallows.

It makes you think perhaps
the only bewitching thing

at work in Salem was
the human mind.

300 years after
the hysteria of Salem,

we're about to experience
a very different case

of what some will say is
collective madness.

It's just after midnight
on December 26th, 1980,

a blisteringly cold night
in the Rendlesham Forest

near Suffolk, England.

Did you see that?

Something is moving
in these woods,

something strange.

And what happens here over
the next few hours will become

one of the most baffling
UFO encounters of all time

because the key witnesses
are serving members

of the American Air Force.

But is it really something
out of this world?

One thing's for sure, I won't be
needing this anymore

because the real light show is
about to begin.

At Royal Air Force
Base Woodbridge,

U.S. Air Force security are
on routine patrol.

It's the height of the Cold War,

and the U.S. operates
the base on English soil

under a NATO agreement.

At 3:00 AM, Airman First Class,
John Burroughs spots

an odd light in the forest
beyond the East Gate.

Staff Sergeant, Jim Penniston,
also on patrol,

sees the light as well.

Together with
a third serviceman,

Edward Cabansag,
they head deeper

into Rendlesham Forest
to investigate.

According to the men's accounts,

the lights grow brighter
and stranger

with every step.

Their radios crackle,
then cut out entirely.

Finally, they see it.

The men will claim that
a metallic, triangular object

appears to hover
just above the forest floor.

Its smooth, black surface,
reflecting an eerie light.

No sound, no wind,
just an otherworldly energy

that seems to vibrate
through the air itself.

Penniston would later contend
that he actually touches

the mysterious craft.

He says the surface is
perfectly smooth and warm,

marked with strange symbols
that he later records

in a notebook.

Then, in an instant,
the metallic enigma blasts off,

with a blinding streak of light

that disappears
into the night sky.

If that were the end
of the story,

Rendlesham would go down
as one of the most intriguing,

unexplained events in history,

a close encounter
of the second kind,

if I'm remembering
my Spielberg correctly.

But this mystery,
it's just getting started.

In the early morning hours,
investigators locate

three strange imprints
in the soil,

spaced evenly apart
in a nearly a perfect triangle.

Their Geiger counter
also spikes,

showing higher than average
radiation

as they investigate
the mysterious clearing.

Two days later,
on the night of the 28th,

more lights are reported darting
through the forest,

moving erratically,
defying logic.

Deputy Base Commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt,
has had enough.

He personally leads a team
into the woods

armed with radiation meters,
night vision scopes,

and a tape recorder.

What follows is the actual
audio from that night.

Even stranger, only
the trees facing the clearing

have fresh damage.

Then a sergeant spots something.

Back at the base,
Halt documents the series

of strange encounters in a memo
titled Unexplained Lights.

The British Ministry of Defense

launches
an official investigation,

but things only
get murkier.

Despite the eyewitness reports,

despite the radiation readings,

and despite a high-ranking
U.S. officer filing

an official memo,

the Ministry of Defense quickly
concludes there was

"no defense significance"
to the events.

Perhaps they just wanted
the whole story to go away.

But it doesn't.

In 1983, the top-secret
encounter is finally revealed

when a government memo
is released

under the U.S. Freedom
of Information Act.

And just like that, Rendlesham
becomes the biggest

UFO bombshell,
since Roswell, in 1947.

But while believers see proof
of alien visitation,

skeptics have a more
down-to-earth explanation.

Just a few miles away
from the base,

the now-defunct
Orfordness Lighthouse

used to emit powerful
beams of light.

Some suggest that when
it shined through the trees,

it created the illusion
of a hovering craft.

Back in 2017, I traveled
to the English Air Base

for an exclusive interview with
Lieutenant Colonel Halt himself,

the man who witnessed the event

and who wrote
the infamous memo.

Do you think what you saw
was extraterrestrial?

I'm firmly convinced myself
that yes,

it was extraterrestrial.

Colonel, what do
the skeptics say?

How do people explain this away?

The biggest story
is the lighthouse.

To test that theory,
we trekked to the lighthouse

and got it operational
for the first time in decades.

Aha!
Look at that!

Then we ventured
into Rendlesham Forest

and located
the reported landing site

to see firsthand
how the lighthouse's beam

appears from the ground.

Boom.

One, two, three, four, five.

Just light clockwork,
every five seconds.

And these guys worked
at this base for years.

This lighthouse would have been
something that they saw

pretty regularly.

I think it's really safe to say
that's not what they saw.

I left England convinced
of two things.

One, whatever
Lieutenant Colonel Halt
saw that night

in Rendlesham Forest, it wasn't
just the rhythmic flash

of a lighthouse, and two,
he is steadfast and unwavering

that he witnessed something
not of this world.

So what on earth did he see?

Now a former
UK Ministry of Defense official

reveals a shocking new theory.

In 1980, US Air Force officers
stationed in Britain reported

what they believed to be
a close encounter

with an alien spacecraft.

Over the years,
another theory has persisted,

that the entire incident was
an elaborate prank.

A U.S. military police officer
came forward in 2003,

claiming he was trying
to scare a fellow guard

by flashing the lights
on his patrol car.

But the story doesn't match up
with the hovering lights

in the sky that were spotted
over multiple nights.

A more recent theory is that

disgruntled British special
forces were playing a prank

on their American counterparts.

But former
UK Ministry of Defence official

turned UFO investigator,
Nick Pope isn't convinced.

I should say that
in strict evidential terms,

the prank story is just
a classic

friend-of-a-friend story.

It seems to have been invented
by a ufologist who wanted

to write himself
into the narrative.

If it's not a prank and not
a lighthouse, was it aliens?

The UK military conducted
a detailed investigation

into unidentified aerial
phenomena,

including
the Rendlesham incident.

Their report was eventually
declassified, and in 2024,

its conclusions were
brought to light.

And they offer
a stunning possibility.

The study suggests that what
witnesses believed were UFOs

may actually have been plasma.

No, not the stuff coursing
through your veins.

This is electromagnetic plasma,
a glowing, supercharged

swirl of particles
that's visually elusive.

Here on Earth, it's often seen
as lightning in auroras

or from meteors
entering the atmosphere.

And there were reports
of meteors over England

at that time.

Rendlesham Forest might be one
of these cases where a strange

atmospheric plasma phenomena
might be involved.

If a meteor had come down,

superheated,
supercharged the atmosphere,

particularly if there was a bit
of mist and fog.

This would cause a very
spooky-looking light display.

Electromagnetic plasma can
sometimes appear

as a type of so-called
ball lightning

that can dart around in wild,
unpredictable ways.

Much like what witnesses saw
at Rendlesham.

And, get this, plasma might even
explain the mysterious spike

in radiation recorded during
the Rendlesham incident.

When plasma revs up,
its charged particles,

like speedy little electrons,
start zipping around

and releasing bursts
of electromagnetic radiation.

And to top it off,
these plasmas may even be able

to cause visual hallucinations.

There has been some
scientific work to show

how the stimulation
of the temporal lobes

can produce hallucinations,
strange sensations.

So the theory is that these
close encounters

that the witnesses
experienced at Rendlesham

were actually close encounters,
but not with extraterrestrials,

but with these plasmas.

But how can plasma account
for the structured craft

Jim Penniston says he touched?

You know, the one
with the strange symbols?

And let's not forget the three
curious indentations

left in the ground.

Skeptics say that these
indentations in the ground were

maybe nothing more
than burrowing animals.

Rabbits, perhaps.

Well, my response to that is,
"What, radioactive rabbits?"

I think it's one of
these rare multifaceted events.

Exotic atmospheric plasmas may
have played a part in things,

but there may genuinely be
something truly unknown,

over and above all of that,

there are mysteries out there
still to be solved.

To this day, Halt, Penniston
and the others maintain

what they saw
wasn't a prank

a lighthouse
or the effects of plasma,

but something
not of this Earth.

Skeptics respond that some
of their stories have changed

or become embellished
over time.

Penniston, for instance, never
mentioned touching a craft

in his original report.

But it is hard to dismiss
the strange events

of this case out of hand.

At the heart of this mystery
are multiple,

credible military personnel
who certainly saw something

in Rendlesham Forest.

As for the rest of us,
all we can do is look up

at the night sky
and keep wondering,

what's really out there?

It's December 29th, 1916,

and I'm crashing
a stately dinner party

in St. Petersburg,

and the most infamous man
in Russia has just arrived.

Meet Grigori Rasputin,
a charismatic mystic

who can purportedly heal
the sick and see the future.

But his enemies swear
he's the devil incarnate.

And, tonight, Rasputin has
unknowingly stepped

into a deadly trap.

Before the evening is through,
he will be poisoned,

shot multiple times,
and drowned.

But the real twist isn't
how he dies,

but who is secretly
behind the murder.

Grigori Rasputin is born
on January 21, 1869,

in a small village in Siberia.

From a young age, locals whisper
that he has supernatural powers,

even the ability
to heal animals.

Then, in his 20s,

Rasputin experiences
a religious epiphany,

one that calls him
to become a self-proclaimed

Orthodox Christian
prophet and healer.

I will heed your call.

He embarks on a pilgrimage
that's said to take him

across the world, including
Greece and the Holy Land,

where he allegedly deepens
his mystical powers,

honing the ability to see
the future and heal people

with his prayers.

He returns to Russia
amid growing rumors

of his supernatural gifts,
attracting the attention

of aristocrats eager
to leverage his power.

And on November 1st, 1905,
he meets Czar Nicholas II

and Czarina Alexandra Romanov,

becoming part
of their inner circle.

Then, in 1912,
one of the czar's children,

eight-year-old Alexei,
suffers a serious injury

in a carriage accident.

As the sole male offspring,

Alexei is the successor
to the throne.

Unfortunately, he also suffers
from a rare genetic disorder

called hemophilia
that impairs blood clotting,

increasing his risk of death
and putting the future

of the Romanov dynasty
in question.

Gripped by fear and desperation,

Czar Nicholas turns to Rasputin,

pleading for him
to save his gravely ill son.

Rasputin retreats
into a trance-like ritual,

invoking his mysterious powers.

When he emerges, he delivers
a startling command--

no doctors,
no medicine.

He insists that a vision
has shown him

that the boy will recover
on his own

if left completely untouched.

Miraculously, Rasputin's
vision proves correct.

Alexei's bleeding soon stops.

And from that moment on,
the czar entrusts Rasputin

with some of the empire's most
sensitive political secrets.

Rasputin flaunts his influence
with reckless abandon,

boasting that he steers
Russia's destiny,

taking bribes
and shocking polite society

with nights of drunken
debauchery,

even sexual scandal.

There are whispers
that he's sleeping

with the Czarina herself.

Many in Russia now see Rasputin
as a nefarious puppet master.

Some even claim
he's a satanic force

corrupting the monarchy
from within.

In 1914, one woman tries
to assassinate the monk

by stabbing him in the street.

She fails, but the die is cast.

Rasputin has enemies everywhere,

and more than a few
want to see him dead.

For nine years,
Rasputin's influence

over the Romanovs deepens.

But as his power
reaches its height,

many start to believe
his unchecked influence

could spell the downfall
of the Russian dynasty.

On July 30th, 1914,
Russia joins World War I.

Rasputin opposes
Russia's involvement in the war,

he urges Czar Nicholas to stay
in Petrograd and govern.

But Nicholas ignores
the monk's advice

and marches off to war.

The result is catastrophic.

While exact figures
will be debated,

estimates suggest that under
Nicholas II's command,

as many as one to two million
Russian soldiers

lose their lives.

The Czar's focus on the front
leaves a power vacuum

in the capital.

Rasputin steps in,
filling posts with his allies

and deepening the Czarina's
dependence on him,

amid rumors of their affair.

Many nobles see the mad monk
steering the empire

and blame him, not just the war,
for Russia's unraveling.

Which brings us back
to December 29th, 1916,

when Rasputin has been
invited to a gathering

hosted by Russian aristocrat
Prince Felix Yusupov.

Convinced the monk is a parasite

feeding off the royal family
with his supernatural,

almost demonic powers
of persuasion,

Yusupov, along
with several associates,

has been plotting
Rasputin's death.

And tonight, they strike.

Yusupov's account
of the assassination

in his 1927 memoir has become
the best-known version

of the events.

According to the dramatic tale,
the so-called Mad Monk

miraculously dodges multiple
attempts on his life.

As the night unfolds,
Yusupov and his co-conspirators

make Rasputin feel welcome,
feeding him cakes and wine,

secretly laced with cyanide.

Hours pass, and incredibly,
the poison has no effect.

So, Yusupov
accelerates the plan.

One shot to the chest
takes Rasputin down.

But not out.

Unable to comprehend how
Rasputin could still be alive,

Yusupov claims he, quote,

"Must have been raised
from the dead

by the powers of evil."

They try shooting him again,

but still, he doesn't die.

Then, in a frenzy of panic,
rage, and fear,

they go the extra mile
to ensure the Mad Monk

meets his maker.

In perhaps one of history's
greatest examples of overkill,

Yusupov writes
that the conspirators wrap

the now poisoned and shot
Rasputin in a curtain

and then dump him in the frigid
waters of the Neva River.

Rasputin is finally dead,

but the mystery is
only beginning.

That's because this account
of his demise

is missing something critical,
another gunshot,

one that may change
everything history remembers

about the death of Rasputin.

The Salem Witch Trials remains
one of the most infamous cases

of collective madness,
but it wasn't the last.

In 1944, the town
of Mattoon, Illinois,

is gripped by terror.

Residents claim a shadowy
intruder is spraying

gas through windows,

victims report nausea
and even paralysis.

There are dozens of incidents,

and the town unravels
with panic.

Wild theories emerge,
including a disgruntled

chemistry teacher,
an escaped Nazi,

or a deranged serial killer.

But in the end,
there is zero evidence.

No footprints, no fingerprints,
no gas canisters.

So what was it?

Well, this was the height
of World War II.

Tensions were running high,

triggering a psychological
chain reaction of mass hysteria.

The Mad Gasser of Mattoon
wasn't real,

but the madness was.

And it spread like poison,
carried not by air,

but by fear.

According to
Prince Felix Yusupov,

Rasputin, the evil hypnotist
draining Russia's soul,

has been poisoned...

shot twice,

and dumped in a river

in an assassination plan
to remove his influence

over the powerful
Romanov family.

When his body is retrieved
days later,

Yusupov alleges that Rasputin's
lungs are filled with water,

indicating he died
of drowning,

which would mean the Mad Monk
was, astoundingly,

still alive when he hit
the water.

When news of Rasputin's
assassination breaks,

the Romanovs are shocked
and devastated.

Czarina Alexandra is convinced
his death

has doomed
Russia's future.

As for the assassins, there's
enough widespread ill will

toward Rasputin
that Felix Yusupov and company

face no prison time, only exile.

But in the years since 1916,
rumors have swirled

that the aristocrats
were not acting alone.

Was there someone else pulling
the strings on the murder

of the Mad Monk?

Can Prince Yusupov's account
of the assassination

even be trusted?

The official autopsy revealed
no trace of poison

in Rasputin's system.

So were
those cyanide-laced cakes

just a detail added by
the Prince for dramatic effect?

Historian Andrew Cook has
examined the evidence

and discovered something
extraordinary.

I think as often is the case
in historical mysteries,

the answer is actually staring
at us in the face.

We're just not seeing it.

Things are pretty bad now.
It's 1916.

There's no way that Russia's
going to win this war.

If Russia had pulled out
of the war

and then the German army united

and concentrated 100% of its
effort on Britain and France,

Britain and France would have
been utterly defeated

within as little as two weeks.

Rasputin was apparently
lobbying the Czarina

to arrive at a negotiated peace
with the Germans.

So British intelligence,
or MI6 as we call them today,

had a very crystal clear
motivation

for wanting to dispose
of Rasputin,

because if Rasputin lives,

Britain, France loses
World War I.

And there's more
to this compelling theory.

Prince Yusupov,
who led the Russian assassins,

was an old friend of this man,
Oswald Rayner,

from the British Secret
Intelligence Service,

who was stationed in Russia.

Oswald Rayner and Prince Yusupov
they had been students together

at Oxford University,

got to know each other
very well.

So, we know that both Yusupov
and British intelligence

wanted Rasputin dead.

They were convinced
that it had to be done,

and they went ahead and did it.

Forensic evidence also suggests
Rayner didn't just help

plot Rasputin's assassination--

he may have actually
been present

to deliver the killing blow.

Yusupov's memoir supposedly
offers a play by play account

of Rasputin's death,
but while it says he was shot

once in the chest
and once in the abdomen,

he neglects to mention
the most crucial detail,

what the autopsy records
as the kill shot--

a single bullet to the forehead.

I think we can surmise
from medical evidence

that the first two shots were
fired by Russian noblemen.

Someone who wants to make damn
sure the person is dead

right that minute--
shoot him in the head.

The kill shot is clearly fired
by someone else

other than the Russian nobleman.

Number one,
because it's a different firearm

from the first two bullets,
and secondly, because

it's a professional shot
in the middle of the head.

Did a British spy actually go
"licensed to kill" on Rasputin?

If so, it rewrites history.

Rasputin wasn't just killed
by a group of Russian noblemen.

He was assassinated

on the orders
of the British government.

There's also a haunting coda
to this tale.

Just before Rasputin's murder,

he's said to have made
a frightening prophecy.

If he dies,
the entire Romanov dynasty

will soon follow him
to the grave.

And sure enough, two years
after his assassination,

Bolshevik forces execute
Czar Nicholas II

and his entire family
in cold blood.

A coincidence?
Perhaps.

But to some, it remains
the final proof

that Rasputin's mystical powers
were no illusion after all.

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