All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S03E05.Behind.the.Myth.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

On this episode
of "Expedition Files,"

in 1953, climbers Edmund Hillary
and Tenzing Norgay

are the first to summit Everest.

Or are they?

Now, climbers find
a long-lost corpse

that may unlock the truth

behind who conquered
the roof of the world.

Then, in 1897, one of the most
extraordinary murder trials

in history, as crucial testimony
is delivered by a ghost.

We explore the true story
of this supernatural case.

And Mata Hari was one
of the most famous women

in the world before she was
executed as a spy

during World War I.

Was this iconic femme fatale
really a double agent?

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 was a little kid,
one of my favorite games to play

with my friends was telephone.
You know how it goes.

You'd whisper a sentence like
Mrs. Lawrence teaches math

and blah blah blah,
and by the time it gets

whispered around in a circle
and gets back to you,

well, let's just say
that Mrs. Lawrence

would not be happy.

And that's the thing
with some mysteries,

they tend to take
on a life of their own.

Tonight, we look at
three such tales.

All of them appear
extraordinary,

but we have
to ask ourselves

a very important question.

What's true and what's been
lost in translation?

We begin on June 8, 1924,

here at almost
the highest point on Earth.

This is Everest
in the heart of the Himalayas.

And these two men are striving
to become the first people

to ever reach the summit,
British mountaineers

George Mallory and Sandy Irvine.

But just hours from now,
they will both vanish.

Three decades later,
Everest will finally be

officially conquered
by another duo,

Sir Edmund Hillary
and Tenzing Norgay.

But is it possible
that the history books

will get it wrong?

Could these two men,
Mallory and Irvine, have died

not before, but after reaching
the world's tallest peak?

A chilling new discovery
at the roof of the world

may unlock the truth
behind the mystery.

By the early 20th century,
many of the world's

highest peaks have
already been summited,

but Everest remains
out of reach.

The tallest mountain on Earth
towers at 29,031 feet,

or 20 Empire State Buildings.

Located along the border
of Nepal and Tibet

in the Himalayas,
a 1,500-mile stretch

of rugged mountain range
spanning from India to Pakistan,

the peak's remoteness
only adds to its allure.

In 1921, no one has dared
a serious attempt,

but that's about to change.

After the horrors
of World War I,

Britain is looking
for a symbolic achievement

to reclaim national pride.

Climbing Everest becomes
a kind of noble quest,

especially for a generation
traumatized by trench warfare.

Enter British veteran
Lieutenant George Mallory.

Born in 1886,
this son of a clergyman is

introduced to climbing
by a schoolmaster

at Winchester College
and quickly becomes obsessed.

During 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.

Forward!

When the fighting stops,
Mallory's drive to climb

only increases, a way to rise,
quite literally,

from the chaos of war.

Mallory turns his attention
to Everest,

joining the 1921
reconnaissance expedition

to chart a path up
the mountain's northern face.

In 1922, he returns
and takes part in two

bold summit attempts.

On the second trek,
an avalanche kills

seven of the team's porters,
Sherpa guides

indigenous to the region.

It's the first ever recorded
deaths on Everest,

and a tragedy Mallory
never forgets.

But his dream to summit
the mountain remains resolute.

In 1924,
the 37-year-old Mallory

gets another shot at Everest.

This 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.

What Irvine lacked
in mountaineering experience,

he more than makes up
for in engineering genius.

He gets the expedition's
temperamental oxygen systems

to work effectively.

That's vital for survival
above 26,000 feet,

where the air holds just a third
of the oxygen

found at sea level.

At those heights, Everest
doesn't just challenge you,

it actively tries to kill you,
earning this unforgiving

elevation its grim nickname,
the Death Zone.

The team of eight British
climbers, their support staff,

and a network of more
than 100 local porters

establish base camp
at the Rongbuk Glacier

around 16,500 feet.

From there,
they ascend the north face

of Everest in stages.

Camps one, two, three,
four, each one perched higher.

The air thinner,
the stakes deadlier.

They push upward to camp five,
just above 25,000 feet,

4,000 feet from the summit.

No other climbers have ever
reached this spot.

Now suffering the effects
of extreme altitude,

every step feels
like a marathon.

Then comes camp six, a tiny
ledge perched at 27,000 feet.

This is the last stop
before their hardest obstacle,

three sections known
as Step One, Step Two,

and Step Three,

a series of sheer rock faces

that lead directly
to the summit.

On June 8th, 1924,
Mallory and Irvine begin

their fateful final climb
less than a half a mile

from the peak.

They suit up, each carrying
oxygen canisters that add

30 pounds of additional weight
to their already

cumbersome load.

They're now each hauling
around 80 pounds of gear.

Amongst that equipment is
a Kodak vest pocket camera.

It's crucial for documenting
the summit.

Now, it's up to Mallory
and Irvine to bring back

the first photographic view
from the top of the world.

Mallory also carries
a photograph of his wife, Ruth.

He's promised to leave it
at the summit,

a romantic tribute where
the earth and heavens meet.

And so they climb.

At 12:50 PM, Noel Odell,
stationed near Camp Five,

scans the upper ridge.

He sees two black specks
moving together,

ascending the second step,
a prominent rock feature

on the northeast ridge
at approximately 28,200 feet,

less than 1,000 feet
from the summit.

But then the clouds close
in and the view vanishes,

and with it, so do the climbers.

Hours pass with no sign
of Mallory or Irvine.

The team launches
an all-out rescue mission.

After two days of searching,
the rapidly worsening weather

forces the expedition
to turn back.

Mallory and Irvine are declared
dead on the mountain.

Back in England, the grief
is overwhelming.

Britain is in mourning
for their fallen heroes.

Mallory had become a symbol
of post-war resilience,

of everything the nation
hoped to be again.

At the Mallory home,
the loss cuts deep.

Ruth is left to raise
their three children alone.

At Sandy Irvine's house,
the family leaves a light on

and the door unlocked, just
in case he finds his way home.

But an Everest-sized question
looms like a storm cloud.

Before they died,
did Mallory and Irvine succeed

in their quest and summit
Mount Everest?

The one thing that could
prove it is the remains

of the climbers themselves,
not least because those remains

should include the Kodak camera
the pair was carrying.

If they summited,
it may contain a photo

of them at the peak.

This film could settle
one of the greatest questions

in the history of exploration,
but Everest fiercely

guards its secrets.

For the next decade, no sign
of the climbers is found,

but then, in 1933,
there's a breakthrough.

A British expedition stumbles
across an ice axe in the snow

at 27,700 feet,
just below the first step.

It's later identified
as belonging to Irvine.

The discovery offers
a glimmer of hope,

yet no other trace of the duo
is uncovered.

And the 1933 expedition
also fails to summit,

a feat that will remain
out of reach

for another two decades.

It isn't until 1953,
29 years after Mallory

and Irvine disappeared,
that Tenzing Norgay,

a Sherpa climber from Nepal,
and Edmund Hillary, a beekeeper

turned mountaineer
from New Zealand,

become the first to officially
stand on the summit of Everest.

35 miles from Kathmandu,
capital of Nepal,

Hillary and Tenzing were
welcomed and congratulated

by their fellow members
of the expedition.

Two unassuming men had climbed
the 29,000-foot monarch

of the Himalayas.

It is heralded
as one of the greatest

human accomplishments
of all time.

To pull it off,
Norgay and Hillary scaled

Everest from the mountain's
south face in Nepal.

Mallory and Irvine had
attempted their ascent

decades earlier
from the much more exposed

north face on the Tibetan side.

Did Mallory and Irvine reach
the top first and do it

via an even more
challenging route?

There's still no proof.

Then, in 1991, a startling
new lead emerges.

An 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.

In 1999, an American expedition
led by legendary mountaineer

Conrad Anker sets out to find

Mallory and Irvine's bodies
at last.

On the Tibetan side below
the mountain's north face,

they discover a body preserved
by decades of cold and ice.

They reach inside
the frozen clothing

and find something jaw-dropping,
a name tag reading

George Mallory.

After 75 years,
one of history's greatest

missing explorers
had been found.

But did this man summit
Everest first?

And will his remains
provide the answer?

Near Mount Everest's
unforgiving peak,

a staggering discovery is made,
the body of George Mallory,

face down at 26,760 feet,
2,000 feet from the summit.

Seventy-five years
after Mallory went missing,

he is finally found.

Historian Matt Breen has spent
years analyzing the discovery.

The body of George Mallory
had injuries consistent

with him attempting
to stop himself

from falling down the mountain.

He had many broken bones,
including an absolutely

shattered leg, which would
have been consistent

with falling a long distance.

Also, he had an injury
to his forehead

believed to be caused
by his own ax.

And what happens with that is
a person starts to go

down a slope, and they take
their ax, they try to grab it

into the mountain, sort of get
a bite to keep them

from going down.

The problem is, is if it falls,
the axe can rebound,

and it can hit you
right back in the forehead.

So the condition
of Mallory's body

gave us a lot of answers.

There's no sign of climbing
partner Sandy Irvine,

and there's no sign
of the Kodak camera that

could hold proof they summited,
though some experts believe

Irvine would have been
the one to carry it.

But 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.

And the photo
of Mallory's wife, Ruth,

the one he promised to leave
at the top,

is nowhere to be found.

Was the photo left
at the summit?

Then, in 2024, a full century
after Mallory and Irvine

vanished into the clouds,
Everest offers up more answers.

A team led by acclaimed climber
and filmmaker Jimmy Chin

uncovers a haunting clue.

A single boot, still laced,
containing a human foot

in a woolen sock.

Faded but legible,
the name stitched

into the fabric reads
A.C. Irvine.

After 100 years,
Mallory's climbing partner

has been found, or at least
part of him.

What's believed to have happened
is that they fell together,

the rope snapping,
and both of them

going down the mountain.

Mallory's body ended up
lodged not that far

from where they had fallen.

But Irvine's went down
the mountain further,

and it landed
at the Rongbuk Glacier.

A glacier is a living,
breathing entity.

It moves all the time,
very slowly, and it is like

a meat grinder.

Things go into it,
and they just get churned

and churned, so his body was
transported further and further

down the mountain,
getting chewed up

and probably ripped apart
along the way.

With 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.

The Second Step is the most
difficult part of the climb

to the summit, and that is
because it is a sheer

vertical climb.

It is really, really hard.

It's so difficult that it was
not actually climbed until 1960.

In 1924, the gear was
rudimentary at best.

Could they have done that part
of the climb?

It's possible,
but probably unlikely.

It is really at the edge
of George Mallory's ability

as a climber.

In my opinion, I don't think
they reached

the summit of Everest.

It's a tragedy,
without question,

but what these men did
is an inspiration.

It is the willingness to try
to do great things.

To many, the position
of both bodies closes the case.

But others continue to argue
that the men may have

achieved their goal,
falling on their way

back from the summit.

After all, Mallory's
daytime goggles were discovered

tucked in his pocket.

And there's that missing photo
of his wife that he intended

to leave at the top.

And speaking of photos,
there's also whatever images

were snapped
on their missing camera.

The Kodak company has even
issued special instructions

for processing the film
in case it's ever found,

which means that somewhere
near Everest's icy peak,

a definitive answer
to the world's

coldest cliffhanger is just
waiting to be developed.

We descend from the heights
of Mount Everest

to the valleys of Appalachia
to discover a somehow

even more haunting mystery.

It's 1897, and I'm
in a small country farmhouse

in Greenbrier County,
West Virginia.

It's a day of sorrow,
a wake for a young woman gone

much too soon.

Zona Shue, just 23 years old,
died suddenly.

Heart failure, they say.

At the coffin stands
Zona's husband, Trout,

refusing to leave her side.

But not everyone is convinced
his sorrow is sincere.

And soon, a chilling accusation
surfaces, not from a witness,

but from beyond the grave.

What follows is arguably
the most sensational

murder trial
in America's history,

because the prosecution's
star witness will be none other

than a ghost.

Is this really a case
of supernatural justice,

or is there a much more
earthly explanation?

This story
of the Greenbrier ghost,

as it will come to be known,
begins three months earlier

in October, 1896.

Zona Heaster is a beautiful
young woman with dreams

of getting married
and starting a family.

Enter 35-year-old
Erasmus "Trout" Shue.

A blacksmith by trade,

the ruggedly handsome Trout
is hard to miss.

Zona falls for him fast,
and the feeling is mutual.

Despite her mother's objections,
Zona and Trout elope

after a whirlwind courtship.

For Zona, her new life feels
like a dream come true.

The newlyweds settle
into a house not far

from the blacksmith shop.

From the outside, everything
appears to be perfect,

until tragedy strikes.

On January 22, 1897,

three months into
their marriage,

Zona has apparently fallen ill.

Trout must go to work and asks
a neighbor, Andy Jones,

to check in on Zona and see
if she anything from the market.

But upon approaching the house,

Andy spots a trail of blood
on the steps.

Inside, sprawled on the floor,
is Zona Shue, dead.

Please, help!

By the time the town doctor,
George Knapp,

arrives at the Shue house,
Trout has already rushed home.

The doctor finds Trout
on the bed,

cradling his dead wife's head.

Knapp examines Zona as closely
as the grieving husband

will allow,

determining the cause of death
to be heart failure,

or what he terms
an everlasting faint.

At the wake, Trout
appears grief-stricken,

but people notice
something strange.

He refuses to leave the coffin
unattended and keeps propping

Zona's head up
with a folded bedsheet.

Trout also prevents Zona's
own mother, Mary Jane,

from getting too close
to the coffin.

From the start,
Mary Jane felt uneasy

about her daughter's
relationship to Trout.

Not only had they eloped,
but even after,

she had never been invited
into the newlyweds' home.

And now her daughter is dead,
and the only thing

this grieving mother can do is
pray for answers.

And after a few nights
of intense pleading

with the heavens, Mary Jane
apparently gets her wish.

She claims a darkened figure
appears to her,

a figure that turns out
to be her daughter, Zona,

a vision from beyond the grave.

But there's something
even more shocking

than the appearance
of Zona's ghost.

Mary Jane says Zona
reveals the unthinkable,

that she was killed
by her husband, Trout,

in a violent fit of rage.

So, Mary Jane contacts
Greenbrier County Prosecutor

John Preston and asks him
to open an investigation

into the potential murder
of her daughter.

Preston pays a visit
to Dr. George Knapp,

hoping to get clarity
on Zona's mysterious death.

Though the official record
lists natural causes,

Dr. Knapp reveals
a troubling detail.

Trout had refused to let him
fully examine the body.

Concerned, the prosecutor orders
Zona's body

exhumed for an autopsy.

When Dr. Knapp carries it out,
he uncovers a chilling truth.

Zona's neck was broken.
She had been strangled.

Trout is swiftly arrested
and charged

with murdering his wife.

Five months later, on June 30th,
1897, the case goes to trial.

The judge hears the evidence
against Trout, how he prevented

the original examination
of the body,

potentially covering up
injuries he was responsible for.

Witnesses follow,
telling suspicious stories

about Trout's controlling,
erratic behavior.

Then, the prosecutor drops
a bombshell.

Not only has Trout been married
twice before,

but his second wife also died
under suspicious circumstances.

It turns out that when Trout
was fixing the roof

of their home, a brick slipped
from his hand and fell

right on top
of his second wife's head.

What are the chances?

And with that, the stage is set
for the dramatic arrival

of Zona's mother, Mary Jane.

I know who the killer is,
and he is in this room

right now.

She does something
totally unprecedented

in an American court of law,
testifying her daughter's ghost

convinced her of Trout's guilt.

Trout takes the stand
in his own defense,

denying everything
and swearing his innocence.

It doesn't work.

After only an hour
and 10 minutes of deliberation,

the jury finds Trout guilty
of first-degree murder.

He is sentenced
to life in prison,

where he dies three years later.

Today, over a century on,
the story of the Greenbrier

ghost remains the only case
in U.S. history

where testimony
from a supposed spirit

helped secure
a murder conviction.

Now we can reveal
the true story

behind this so-called
paranormal witness.

According to legend,
a young woman's spirit returns

from beyond the grave
to name her killer,

leading to one of the most
unforgettable convictions

in criminal history.

But what's the truth
behind the ghost story?

During the trial, Mary Jane
insisted that this ghost

was in front of her
and it was talking to her,

and it was telling her all
the details about the murder.

Well, as it happens,
the day that the Greenbrier

Independent Newspaper
published Zona's obituary,

there 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.

A man in New South Wales
told authorities

he claimed to see the ghost
of a missing man,

which led police to the location
of the body.

In reality, he may have been
an accomplice to the crime

and used the ghost story
to avoid implicating himself.

Mary Jane, Zona's mother,
quite possibly saw that story,

and it just became
part of her subconscious.

And it probably planted
the seed of this idea

of Zona's ghost coming to her.

She had to know something
terrible had happened.

And when she put it
all together,

Trout's suspicious behavior
at the funeral,

his unwillingness to let
the doctor examine her body...

Moms know.

They know when something's
wrong, and they have

to protect their children.

Even if it's too late to
save her life,

she had to protect her memory.

Was this a true case
of ghostly confession,

a grief-induced hallucination,
or perhaps something

even more intentional?

A grieving mother who would do
anything for her daughter,

including spinning
a mesmerizing ghost story

to see justice served.

Today, a historical marker
in West Virginia

commemorates the ordeal,

affirming the spectral evidence,
which ensures that the legend

of the Greenbrier ghost
will live on forever.

It's dawn, October 15th, 1917,
just east of Paris,

and a woman is being led
before a firing squad.

She stands tall,
facing her fate with a dignity

few could summon,
because this is Mata Hari,

and she is nothing short
of a global sensation.

She is famous for being
an exotic dancer

and a courtesan, catering
to some of the most influential

and wealthy men in Europe.

But she's also something else,
a spy.

Branded a double agent,
the French say she passed

secrets to the Germans,
an act which has

sealed her fate.

A soldier offers her
a blindfold,

but she refuses.

In moments, she will die
for her crimes.

But is she actually guilty?

A century later,
new information will finally

unveil the truth
behind the woman

who seduced the world.

Born on August 7th, 1876,
in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden,

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle
was born

into a life of privilege.

Her father, a wealthy hat maker,
enrolls his daughter

in the finest schools, where
she learns multiple languages

and spoils her
with lavish gifts.

But in 1891,
when Margaretha is 15,

the fairy tale is shattered.

Her mother suddenly dies
from tuberculosis.

Her father goes bankrupt
and abandons the family.

By the age of 18,
she finds herself

alone in the world.

She answers a newspaper ad
from a wealthy army officer

named Rudolf MacLeod.

Yes, back then, instead
of swiping right,

you could simply flip
through these spouse-wanted ads.

They quickly marry,
move to the Dutch East Indies,

and have two children,
Norman and Louise.

But her husband turns out to be
a violent drunk and unfaithful.

And when their young son
tragically dies in 1899,

he takes their daughter
and refuses to give Margaretha

a cent of his money.

But showing a strength that will
define the rest of her life,

she uses her charm
and beauty to begin again.

It's March 13th, 1905.

And the who's-who of Paris
have packed into the prestigious

Art Institute, the Musée Guimet,
for a very exotic performance.

The museum's library has been
adorned with flowers

to give the appearance
of a Hindu temple.

And, as the lights dim,
the crowd is transfixed

by the reinvented Margaretha,
who takes the stage.

Inspired by her time
in the Dutch East Indies,

she calls herself Mata Hari,

meaning, "Eye of the day"
in Indonesian.

She transfixes audiences
with her exotic dancing,

uniquely incorporating elements
of Southeast Asian

and Indian traditions.

Barefoot, with bejeweled
transparent costumes

that reveal more
than they conceal,

she becomes
an instant sensation.

Within the next few years,
Mata Hari graces

all the iconic European stages
and associates with some

of the most powerful men
of her day,

including an alleged
entanglement

with German
Crown Prince Wilhelm.

At the height of her fame,
Mata Hari is what we'd today

consider a pop star influencer,
her name appearing

on everything from cigarettes
and liquors to luxury products.

Mata lives large.

She stays at the
most exclusive hotels,

dines at the finest restaurants,

and dresses
in the trendiest fashions.

But this lavish lifestyle takes
a toll on her finances,

and she's in constant need
of money.

Wealthy suitors, especially
high-ranking officers

and noblemen,
practically line up

for a chance to support her
in exchange for, well,

let's just say some
quality alone time.

In the summer of 1914, however,

the world completely unravels.

On August 3rd,
Germany declares war on France

and World War I begins.

Mata Hari flees
to a neutral country,

her native Netherlands.

One night, she receives

an unexpected visitor,

Karl Kroemer, the German consul
in Amsterdam.

He offers her 20,000 francs,
about 60 grand today.

But he doesn't
want companionship.

Recognizing Mata Hari's
unique skills,

her fluency
in several languages,

her ability to charm
powerful men,

and her access
to high-ranking officers,

he wants Mata Hari to use
her connections and sex appeal

to spy on the French
for Germany.

And he reportedly
provides her with invisible ink

to pass messages undetected.

A secret pact is made,
one that will ultimately lead

to her death.

But 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.

Until now.

With World War I raging
and her funds running low,

renowned beauty Mata Hari is
at a crossroads.

She's offered a tempting deal
to spy for Germany

in exchange for a fat payday.

She allegedly accepts,
but according to her,

never intends to do
any actual spying.

Eventually, Mata Hari
leaves Amsterdam

and returns to France.

She meets Captain
Vladimir De Masloff,

a handsome Russian pilot
with whom she falls in love.

Their relationship deepens,
and in the summer of 1916,

when Masloff is wounded
near the front,

Mata Hari requests permission
to visit him.

But she needs special clearance
from France to travel there.

Enter Captain Georges Ladoux,
head of French intelligence.

He makes Mata Hari
an unexpected offer...

become a spy for France,
and he will grant her

the clearance she needs
to visit her Russian lover.

She agrees, but only
for a massive payout,

one million francs,
or more than $3 million today.

Ladoux accepts and tells her
she'll get the money

once she delivers
valuable intelligence.

And of course, all the while,
she keeps her lips sealed

about her similar agreement
to spy for Germany.

So Mata Hari reportedly embarks
on a mission to spy

on the Germans for the French,

all the while, according
to Mata Hari,

not spying on the French
for the Germans.

Confusing.

She heads to Madrid,
where she seduces

a high-ranking German official
named Arnold Kalle.

Kalle divulges information
which Mata Hari immediately

sends back to Captain Ladoux
in France.

Mission accomplished,
or so she thinks.

She returns to Paris
expecting a hero's welcome,

but receives quite the opposite.

On February 13th, 1917,
she is arrested by the French

and charged as a German spy.

But how did the French find out
about her previous agreement?

Well, after his rendezvous
with Mata Hari in Madrid,

Major Arnold Kalle fires off

a series of coded telegrams
to Germany.

The French intercept
and decipher these messages,

in which Kalle names
a female agent known as H21,

praising her for delivering
French military secrets.

The French believe H21 is
the code name for Mata Hari.

Her house of cards has come
tumbling down.

On July 24th,
five months after her arrest,

Mata Hari's trial begins.

Under examination, she admits
to taking German money

in a deal to spy for them,
but swears she never shared

anything of value.

She's also accused of having
been given bottles

of invisible ink by the Germans
to write secret messages,

but she denies it, claiming
the liquid was a beauty product

from her cosmetics kit.

Prosecutors blame her
for causing the deaths

of 50,000 French soldiers,
but never name a single battle,

secret, or shred of proof
to justify the accusation.

The trial lasts only two days,
and a verdict is reached.

Mata Hari is found guilty
of espionage as a German spy

and sentenced to death.

Which brings us to October 15th.

Mata Hari is about to be
executed by firing squad.

But was she truly
a treacherous double-agent

responsible for the deaths
of tens of thousands,

or simply a scapegoat
caught in the crossfire

of politics and war?

An incredible discovery
of long-lost

historical documents may finally
answer the question.

As we have seen tonight,
many great stories live

at the crossroads
of fact and folklore.

For centuries,
Napoleon Bonaparte has been

mocked as the archetype
of the short man with a big ego.

But it turns out
history got it wrong.

Napoleon stood about 5'2".

Sounds small,
but here's the thing.

Historically, a French foot is
13, not 12 inches,

translating to roughly 5'6",
in English measurements,

average height for men
in the early 1800s.

When you combine
this measurement confusion

with British propaganda,
particularly that

of cartoonist James Gillray,
Napoleon was cut down to size.

Well, less than size,
to be exact.

And thus, the Napoleon complex
was born,

with Bonaparte himself saying
of the caricatures

about his height, quote,
"They did more

than all the armies of Europe
to bring me down."

After Mata Hari was executed
by the French

for allegedly being
a German spy,

some argued
the trial was a sham.

And for over a century, many
have defended her innocence,

saying she never actually
spied for the Germans,

even if she did take
their money.

Now, Dr. Julie Wheelwright,
journalist and author,

has uncovered a bombshell
hidden in formerly top-secret

British Army files.

There's been new evidence
that has come out

of Great Britain,
including a telegram

with information which was sent
in December 1916,

which I don't believe
the French had,

because it doesn't show up
during Mata Hari's trial.

And they have been sitting
in the archives,

but they weren't indexed
until recently.

I got a tip from a German
historian in Spain,

and he said, "Can you go
and look at these?"

The British files contained
the secret messages

of German Major Kalle.

These were the same messages
that apparently outed

Mata Hari to the French
as German agent H21.

Defenders of Mata Hari
have long claimed

that Major Kalle knew
that messages would be

intercepted and so he set her up
as a false spy as revenge

for her working for the French.

They say he purposefully used
a code that he already knew

the Allies had cracked
so that Mata Hari

would be discovered
and made a scapegoat.

But actually it turns out
that that's not true

because if you look
at the deciphered telegrams

at the National Archives
here in the UK,

it's quite clear that Kalle
continued using that same code

before and after he was
sending the telegrams

that relate to Agent H21.

So that theory is kind
of out of the window.

According to this version
of events,

the telegrams weren't
a frame job.

They were genuine attempts
to funnel French secrets

straight to Germany,
meaning despite her denials,

Mata Hari actually was
a German spy after all.

If so, what secrets
did she actually

share with the Germans?

On the 14th of December, 1916,
Kalle sends a telegram

to Berlin, which is
to the German

intelligence services
headquarters.

And in it,
he conveys the information

that Mata Hari had given him
about these two double agents.

When I first started looking
into this story,

I believed that Mata Hari
was innocent.

But what you finally have is
really concrete,

definitive proof that Mata Hari
was not only working

for the Germans, but it suggests
that there's a real intention

for her to pass
on hard evidence to the Germans.

And that really kind of blows
out of the water

this idea of her innocence.

After years of debate,
Dr. Wheelwright is now

convinced Mata Hari really was
guilty of being a double agent.

But consider this.

The French never had
this crucial evidence

we have today, meaning
they condemned her

without knowing the full truth.

So, why did they do it?

She's the antithesis
of what French women should be

at that time.
She's divorced.

She also, you know,
performed naked on the stage.

There's no way
that a French court is going

to show her any mercy.

And this trial also takes place
at a time when things are

going very badly for the French
on the Western Front.

So to be able to point
the finger at this German spy,

caught red-handed, I mean,
it was that kind of mentality

with which they were able
to convict her.

Even though they didn't have
the proof, she was

an absolute ideal scapegoat,
and no one was gonna

step forward to defend her,
and indeed they didn't.

To a war-weary France,
Mata Hari was

the perfect villain, exotic,
seductive, and mysterious.

In the end, it wasn't
just her mixed loyalties

that doomed her as much
as what she symbolized,

a scandalous woman playing
by her own rules.

And while the verdict
that she was a double agent

now appears more certain,
it only adds to her mystique

and her hypnotic hold
on our imagination,

just as she would have wanted.

I'm Josh Gates.

I'll see you
on the next expedition.