Original subtitles

Wildman: A family home with a ghostly guest.

Munson: Books would fly off the bookcases.

Handprints on the windows.

Everybody's scared.

Wildman: A natural wonder stumps the world.

Falber: This was an unusual thing.

This tree was floating vertically.

Wildman: And a gigantic beast on the loose in michigan.

It seemed like something out of a nightmare.

[ creature roars, man screams ]

wildman: But first,

one of the most horrifying hauntings

in american history.

This is the chilling tale of a poltergeist

that tore apart a family's home.

[ screams ]

[ silverware clatters ]

wildman: Amazing mysteries,

bizarre phenomena,

and chilling secrets.

I'm don wildman.

Join me on a journey beyond the unknown.

From the exorcism of roland doe in late 1940s washington, d.C.

To the 1975 amityville haunting on long island,

the nation's history is riddled with tales

of haunted houses and evil spirits.

But perhaps the most terrifying ghost story of them all

comes from the frontier days of oakland, california.

The tale begins on April 24, 1874,

in the home of government worker thomas clarke.

Evanosky: Mr. Clarke worked for the u.S. Treasury department

in san francisco,

and he had a wife and he had two children --

his daughter, nellie, and his 8-year old son, harry,

wildman: Around midnight,

clarke is awoken by an alarming sound --

the incessant jangling of the front doorbell.

Evanosky: Who could be at the door at that time of the night?

It was so late, and he wasn't expecting anybody to come.

Wildman: Wary of bandits,

clarke grabs his gun and heads downstairs.

But when he opens the door, no one is there.

He can't find anybody or anything.

He was puzzled.

Wildman: Suddenly, clarke hears a tremendous crash

coming from the living room.

[ loud crash ]

he rushes in to find a large heater lying on its side.

The heater was likely about 40 or 50 pounds.

Mr. Clarke knew there was no way

that that heater could have fallen there of itself.

Wildman: By now, the rest of the family has been roused

by the disturbance

and is making their way down the stairs.

Just as daughter nellie descends to the bottom landing,

a basket filled with silverware

flies through the air

and nearly strikes her in the head.

♪♪

this was very, very dangerous.

This must have terrified nellie.

How could that have happened? Who did this?

♪♪

wildman: As the family huddles together in fear,

the furniture around them suddenly takes flight.

Evanosky: All of a sudden, a huge trunk, 80 pounds in weight,

came flying down the stairs.

Chairs move around without anybody touching them.

Wildman: Then an eerie shriek splits the night

and the entire house is illuminated

by a mysterious light.

Lights seemingly from nowhere began to shine inside the house.

♪♪

the family cannot explain this, and they're terrified.

Wildman: But it's only the beginning of their troubles.

For the next three nights,

the clarkes continue to be plagued

by similar strange events.

Then just as swiftly as they began,

the horrific happenings stop.

The family is left with one burning question.

Is their house haunted by a malevolent spirit?

♪♪

convinced that a poltergeist is stalking his family,

clarke turns to a spiritualist for help.

The medium holds a séance to communicate with the ghost.

It's then that the supposed ghost whisperer

makes a startling claim.

She was sure that someone had been murdered in the house.

♪♪

wildman: Determined to find out more,

clarke teams up with one of the most prominent academics

of the day, dr. Joseph leconte.

Dr. Leconte was a world-famous professor.

He was the first president of the university of california.

Wildman: Hoping to turn up some evidence of foul play,

leconte digs through local archives, but he comes up empty.

There had never been a murder in the house.

♪♪

wildman: Next, the two men wonder

if the home could have been built

on top of an ancient burial ground.

But that's also dismissed.

Evanosky: There are no records

that show there was ever a cemetery at that site.

Wildman: So what could explain the spooky events

witnessed by clarke and his family?

Without any supporting evidence,

leconte eventually comes to a less-spirited conclusion.

The clarke family may have been the victims

of a well-orchestrated prank.

Evanosky: He decided it had to have been

someone in that house that night --

one of the members of the family.

Wildman: But clarke is convinced this was no man-made stunt.

This conclusion didn't make sense.

They knew it couldn't have been anyone living at the house

that could have done this

because they'd all huddled together

and none of them had left.

Wildman: In 1877,

clarke publishes a book detailing the chilling account.

Terrified the specter may return,

the family moves out of the house.

The structure remains abandoned until it's torn down

in the 1970s.

But to this day, local residents

still report odd occurrences at the site.

People in that very neighborhood claim

that that spirit still exists.

Wildman: Scrawled on the pages of this tattered notebook

is the tale of a mysterious phenomenon

that has baffled the world.

This object represents a puzzle of nature

that has stumped onlookers for over a century.

♪♪

wildman: It's 1896 in oregon.

46-year-old joseph diller is a scientist

working for the u.S. Geological survey.

Falmer: Joseph diller had a unique curiosity

for science in the field.

Wildman: Diller has just been given the task of mapping

a remote body of water known as crater lake.

Crater lake is a beautiful, stunning, clear-blue lake

on the top of a 7,000-foot volcano.

Wildman: But shortly after he arrives at the site,

diller notices something strange.

He was looking out on the lake

and saw this sun-bleached piece of wood

sticking about 4 feet above the lake surface.

This was an unusual thing.

Wildman: Fascinated, diller rows out to get a closer look.

Initially, he wonders if the tree must date back to a time

when crater lake held far less water.

That would have indicated that over time,

the water level in crater lake

had risen and overtaken the tree.

Wildman: But when he approaches the tree,

he realizes the water is far too deep

for the trunk to reach the bottom of the lake.

Indeed, in places, crater lake measures 2,000 feet deep.

This tree was going straight down vertically,

and he couldn't see where the tree ended

and the floor of the lake began.

It certainly caught him off guard a little bit.

Wildman: So diller connects it to his boat.

Falmer: When he moved the boat, the tree moved along with it,

which was not what he was expecting to happen.

As a scientist, this really captured his imagination.

This tree was floating vertically.

Wildman: This puzzling trait flies in the face of physics.

A log of this size should float horizontally, not vertically.

Diller records his observations in his field notebook,

now in the collection of the u.S. Geological

survey library in denver, colorado.

And although he is captivated by the mystifying piece of wood,

he doesn't get the opportunity to investigate further.

Diller had to leave crater lake without really figuring out

why this tree was the way that it was.

Wildman: In the years that follow,

the vertical log continues to bob around the lake,

baffling all who see it.

One curious visitor measures it

and finds that it stands nearly 30 feet tall.

And while most logs would have disintegrated or sunk

after only a few years,

this one is found to be more than 450 years old.

And because of its age, it's given a nickname.

It was called the old man of the lake.

Wildman: Over the years, people develop many theories to explain

why the old man floats vertically

and how it has managed

to survive for so long without rotting away.

Some people believe it floats upright

because it must have fallen into the lake

with heavy rocks tangled in its roots.

The theory was that those rocks could have acted as an anchor.

Wildman: But divers swim to the bottom of the tree

and find no rocks holding it in place.

In fact, it isn't connected to anything.

Others believe in a more outlandish theory

that the log is infused with supernatural properties.

Falmer: There's a lot of superstition.

The old man of the lake has some sort of mystical powers.

Wildman: In 1988, those powers seemed to become evident.

That year, a team of scientists attempts to keep

the log stationary while surveying the lake.

So they tied it up.

And as soon as they put the lasso around,

a storm descended onto the lake.

And it wasn't until they actually untethered the log

and let it move of its own accord, the storm went away.

Wildman: The incident leads some to conclude

that the old man of the lake

can actually control the weather.

♪♪

today, it's believed that the old man's ability

to float vertically is the result of a scientific fluke.

At some point in the past, the lower half of the log

was submerged to the point

that it became saturated with water.

Scientists pretty much come to the conclusion

that this log is the way that it is

because the base has become waterlogged

and has become heavier than the top,

which has dried out by the sun.

Wildman: Being heavier on the bottom

than on the top is what makes the log float vertically.

But what of the trunk's extraordinary age?

According to scientists,

this is the result of a unique condition of the water.

Falber: It's still there because the water is very cold

and that cool, clean water in the lake

would have been a great place to preserve that wood.

Wildman: More than 500,000 tourists

visit crater lake national park each year.

And the old man of the lake

has become an attraction in and of itself.

The old man of the lake has gone from becoming

sort of this scientific oddity

to also this beloved character of the area.

Wildman: Top-secret government documents

that detailed ufo sightings,

radios that supposedly received otherworldly transmissions,

and debris said to be from a crashed alien spaceship

can all be found at the international ufo museum

and research center in roswell, new mexico.

But hidden in the vault

is the most mystifying object of them all.

The artifact is about 4 feet long by 2 feet wide,

thin, long and beige, with a large head,

small nose, slit for a mouth

and really no ears.

Wildman: This eerie effigy is linked to a bizarre event

that had the entire nation looking at the stars.

Flammer: This artifact recalls a surprising find that may have

once and for all answered the question --

do aliens exist?

♪♪

wildman: Of all the alleged ufo encounters in history,

perhaps the most famous occurred in 1947

just outside roswell, new mexico.

On June 14th, a rancher named mack brazel

walking his property, stumbled upon an impact crater

strewn with strange metallic debris.

But before he could make heads or tails of it,

the army swooped in and recovered the wreckage.

Shortly after, the military made an announcement in the press.

Flammer: The united states army, air force

said they collected the remains of a crashed ufo.

♪♪

wildman: Then the very next day,

government officials retracted the statement

and said the wreckage came from a downed weather balloon.

♪♪

the sudden reversal sparked conspiracy theories

that have endured to this very day.

Flammer: Many people believed

that this was the biggest government cover-up

that ever took place in the united states.

♪♪

wildman: In the following years,

the rumors about a crashed spaceship in roswell persisted.

But no definitive proof ever emerged.

Then nearly 70 years later, everything changed.

The truth was coming out once and for all.

Wildman: It's 2015.

A set of mysterious photos has gone viral online.

They depict what looks like the mummified body

of an alien being.

Flammer: The body was about 2 feet long.

It had withered legs and arms.

It had a large triangular head

with black, bulbous eyes bugging out.

Wildman: So do these images prove

that the greatest extraterrestrial sighting

in history is true?

Wildman: It's 2015,

a mysterious photo taken in the 1940s has gone viral.

It shows what appears to be a corpse of an alien being.

The owner of the images is a documentary filmmaker

from chicago named adam dew.

He says that after finding the slides

hidden in an old box of photos,

he had the snapshots examined by a local archeologist.

♪♪

the archeologist told him that it couldn't be a human.

There was no pelvis.

There were the arms attached directly to the rib cage.

There were 4 sets of ribs, not 10, like a human has.

♪♪

wildman: Then dew says he took the slides to experts at kodak.

What they told him only added to the mystery.

The experts could date these slides between 1945 and 1950.

Wildman: It's the exact date range

in which the infamous roswell incident occurred.

It was at this point that dew felt maybe this was an alien.

♪♪

wildman: Wondering if he had finally uncovered some proof

of the roswell aliens, dew releases the photos online.

Flammer: This was of great consequence to anybody who is

in the ufo community and especially with roswell.

♪♪

wildman: Just days after the release of the photos,

a group of skeptics banned together online

to scrutinize the images.

Flammer: They didn't believe

that roswell or the slides were real

because they wanted to know for sure.

♪♪

wildman: During their examination,

they noticed something curious.

On the right side of the display case

said to hold the alien,

there's a small, blurry rectangle.

Intrigued, they run the slide

through a digital enhancement program.

Slowly but surely, the strange object comes into focus.

It appears to be a plaque.

The placard said, "mummified body

of 2-year-old boy."

from that, the online sleuths tracked the mummy

to the chapin mesa archeological museum

in colorado.

♪♪

the institution confirms that the body is that

of a native american boy unearthed in arizona in 1896.

They also reveal that the child suffered from possible

genetic anomalies, which left him deformed.

The remains were returned to the tribe for reburial in 1998.

♪♪

it seems that dew's photos

didn't contain an alien after all.

Flammer: Many people had their hopes up

that this was the alien smoking gun from roswell.

But he had to admit that it was not an alien.

♪♪

wildman: Today, this mannequin of an alleged alien

rests at the international ufo museum

and research center in roswell, new mexico.

It's an out-of-this-world reminder

that looks can be very deceiving.

♪♪

this wooden device is connected

to one of the most controversial psychic experiments of all time.

This artifact is a reminder of an event

that sent scientists into a frenzy.

Wildman: It's 1960.

The united states and the soviet union

are locked in a battle for global supremacy,

and the most important weapon in this cold war

is information.

In the ussr,

the soviet authorities focused their efforts

on intercepting american military communications.

At that time in the soviet union,

the russians had ways to intercept radio signals

that had american military secrets on them.

♪♪

wildman: But one day,

the russians receive a tip that threatens

to undermine their entire operation.

In February, soviet officials read an article

from a french magazine

that describes an unusual research study.

According to the report,

the americans have developed an unorthodox way

to send covert messages...

Using the power of the mind.

The article was about an esp experiment

that was done for military purposes.

Wildman: Extrasensory perception, or esp,

is the ability to communicate telepathically.

For decades, humans have tried to find a way

to harness this psychic power.

Now, according to the report,

it seems the united states has finally cracked it.

According to the report, a researcher in maryland used

esp to transmit mental images to a scientist

in a submarine under the arctic circle.

The experiment used an automatic card shuffler,

just like this one on display at the rhine research center

for parapsychology in north carolina.

The card shuffler randomly ejected the card

printed with a unique symbol, then using esp,

the researcher in maryland

attempted to communicate the image

to the scientist on the submarine.

The report declares the results astounding.

Kruth: They found that there was a 70% accuracy

in the guesses of the cards.

This is higher than anything

that had ever been determined in any experiment before.

Wildman: The russians fear that the americans

could send telepathic messages to u.S. Naval commanders

and launch a surprise nuclear attack.

And the soviets would have no way to know it

before it was too late.

Kruth: The russians at that time

had ways to intercept radio signals.

But they had no way to intercept mind-to-mind communication.

This meant the americans could send signals

that could not be intercepted by the russians.

This is frightening.

♪♪

wildman: The soviets believe

they are lagging far behind their rivals

in this psychic cold war.

So they swiftly pour millions of rubles

into an ambitious parapsychology research program,

devoting countless man-hours

in an attempt to catch up to the united states.

Now that the americans have proven their abilities

in this area, the race was on.

Wildman: As soviet scientists throw everything they have

into developing esp,

what they don't realize is there's much more

to the american experiment than meets the mind.

They didn't realize what the united states was doing.

Wildman: It's 1963.

Soviet officials receive intelligence

on what they think

is a top-secret u.S. Military project.

It seems the americans have found a way

to transmit messages using esp.

Desperate to catch up, the russians invest millions

into their own telepathic program.

For years, the russians tried to replicate

the impressive results

that the americans seem to have achieved.

But all their efforts are for naught.

Kruth: When soviets saw the results of the experiments

that they were doing, they found no evidence of esp.

Wildman: The soviets' esp program is a failure.

Adding insult to injury, they've devoted millions

and have now fallen behind the u.S.

In the development of other more traditional military systems.

It caused a great deal of concern.

There was a feeling of crisis.

Wildman: So did the u.S. Really develop

an esp messaging system?

♪♪

20 years later, a theory emerges that explains it all.

In 1983, an author named martin ebon

is doing some research into the field of parapsychology

when he comes across a report

that flips this bizarre tale on its head.

An american magazine called "this week" published an article

saying that the french article was a fraud

and there was no experiment done with a submarine using esp.

Wildman: It seems the american esp program was a huge hoax.

But why would anyone perpetrate such an elaborate

and seemingly far-fetched scheme?

Many suspect it was all part of the cold war spy games.

Some people have speculated that the cia was attempting

to send the soviet union on a wild goose chase

and have them spend a lot of resources on a goal

they could never achieve.

Wildman: And planting a fake report

of a massively successful esp program

seems right in line with the spy agency's strategy

of duping the russians by any and all means.

Although the cia

has always denied planting the false esp report,

many continue to believe it was one of the most successful

counterintelligence operations of all time.

♪♪

today, this device used to automatically shuffle

esp cards on display

at the rhine research center in durham, north carolina,

recalls the telepathic military experiment

that was ultimately just a trick of the mind.

♪♪

this figurine depicts a menacing beast that some say

is still hiding in the american wilderness,

terrorizing all those unlucky enough to cross its path.

Young: This is a story of a scary monster,

a terrified community and a frantic search.

♪♪

wildman: For decades, the quaint midwestern city

of dowagiac, michigan,

has been haunted by a series of frightening accounts.

Many witnesses have reported seeing a mysterious creature

that lurks in the woods on the edge of town.

According to one story, in 1962, two men were camping in an rv

near the shores of tranquil dewey lake.

♪♪

suddenly, out of nowhere,

their rv started to shake violently from side to side,

as if rocked by an earthquake.

Young: They must have thought

that the world was coming to an end.

They're terrified.

Wildman: The men ran out of the camper.

And there, they were met with a horrifying sight.

There they see a huge creature --

9 or 10 feet tall,

covered in hair, upright on two legs.

Wildman: But before they could react,

the creature sprinted towards the lake

and disappeared beneath the water.

It must have seemed like something out of a nightmare.

♪♪

wildman: Other tales describe

similar encounters with this enormous beast.

Young: There are multiple reports

of this tall, apelike creature around town.

Wildman: And not only is this beast big and hairy,

it's said to possess extraordinary strength.

Some people say it's so strong that it can turn over cars

and tear off their bumpers.

[ creature growls, woman screams ]

wildman: Locals have even given this colossal creature a name --

the dewey lake monster.

Young: The whole area around dewey lake was on edge.

The public wanted answers.

Wildman: The less-fearful-minded people of dowagiac believe

that these sightings are nothing more than a large black bear.

Like the so-called monster,

black bears are covered in thick hair,

can weigh up to 500 pounds

and are able to stand on their hind legs.

A lot of people thought,

"this is just a case of mistaken identity."

wildman: But eyewitnesses insist it was no bear.

They say that whatever they saw

was able to run fast while on two legs.

Black bears can barely walk on their hind legs, let alone run.

♪♪

wildman: Others speculate that the alleged attacks

are simply the work of a prankster intent

on scaring his fellow townspeople.

Young: People said it could be a high school student

in an ape costume

having some fun and playing a prank on everyone.

Wildman: But this explanation also seems unlikely.

How could a person in a hairy ape costume turn over a car?

Wildman: As the mystery deepens,

one final theory emerges,

one that may not only explain the dewey lake monster,

but also connect it to the most famous mythical creature

ever to roam the united states.

So what is the truth behind the dewey lake monster?

Wildman: In the 1960s, michigan residents

living on dewey lake reported seeing a bizarre creature.

It's apelike, standing 9 feet tall and covered in brown hair.

Locals dub it the dewey lake monster.

[ woman screams ]

as word of a dewey lake monster spreads,

some people note the similarities

between descriptions of the beast

and a giant creature from a prehistoric time,

a massive ape called gigantopithecus blacki.

This primitive primate roamed across southeast asia

100,000 years ago.

Its height, weight and stance

match the reports of the dewey lake monster.

Gigantopithecus was a real giant, apelike creature.

It was about 10 feet tall,

weighed half a ton, stands upright on two legs.

♪♪

wildman: So could the dewey lake monster

be the descendent of this ancient ape?

And if so, how did its ancestors get from asia to michigan?

Some speculate gigantopithecus blacki

migrated across the bering land bridge

from russia to north america during the last ice age.

And some believe that if these beasts survived,

then they could explain not just the sightings

of the dewey lake monster,

but another legendary beast that's covered in hair

and known to walk upright -- bigfoot.

Young: Some people speculated that gigantopithecus

might have become the sasquatches

that we hear about today.

Wildman: Despite this theory,

concrete evidence of gigantopithecus blacki

has never been found in north america.

Young: If a monster like this really existed,

there should be some evidence of it in bones or fossils,

something in the record.

Wildman: Some remain convinced that this ancient animal

is still out there waiting to be found.

Young: The u.S. Is a huge country.

There's so much land there

where a creature could conceivably stay hidden.

♪♪

wildman: Meanwhile, this clay figurine

of the dewey lake monster is on display

at the dowagiac area history museum in michigan.

It's a reminder of a savage beast

that may just be bigfoot's long-lost cousin.

♪♪

this object tells of a loyal soldier

who carried on his fight from beyond the grave.

This uniform recalls a ghostly guest

that terrorized a family.

♪♪

wildman: It all begins in the fall of 1986

in the seemingly tranquil town of spotsylvania, virginia.

Sheilajean and richard colosimo have just moved

into their dream home.

It's a large house some 50 miles north of richmond.

One afternoon, sheila is unpacking boxes

when she feels the room suddenly grow unnaturally cold.

Munson: It was 90 degrees outside,

but you can see your breath in this room.

It was that cold.

♪♪

wildman: Sheila is so unnerved that she calls a neighbor

and asks them to come over.

Munson: She looked to her neighbor and she said,

"do you feel what I feel?"

wildman: The neighbor agrees there is a sinister chill

about the place.

What's more, she has her own explanation for the cause.

The house is haunted.

For her part, sheilajean is doubtful.

Sheilajean was a devout catholic.

As a catholic, you believe in the holy spirit.

You don't believe in ghosts.

♪♪

wildman: But the neighbor is adamant.

And to prove it, she takes out a rosary.

Munson: She wrapped it around her hand,

and she starts shaking it.

And said, "begone, begone."

♪♪

wildman: According to the story,

at the sound of these words, the room warms.

What was ever in that room was gone.

Wildman: Sheilajean and her husband, richard,

hope that this is the end of the matter.

But later that day, when they try to reenter the room,

the door seems to be locked from the inside.

They didn't lock the door.

They're jimmying the door.

They're twisting the doorknob. They're trying to get it open.

Wildman: Eventually, the door swings open,

and the couple is greeted by a horrifying sight.

They look around, and the room was in total disarray.

The rosary that was on one wall is now embedded into it.

Wildman: It's 1986 in spotsylvania, virginia.

A young family named the colosimos

have just moved into a new house,

and it seems they're not the only residents.

They claim the rooms have gone frigid without cause.

Doors have locked on their own

and furniture has been tossed around.

For the next several weeks,

they are terrorized by an unseen, malevolent force.

Munson: At this point, things went from bad to worse.

They said books would fly off the bookcases.

Handprints on the windows.

Everybody's scared.

Wildman: So what demented demon

has moved in with the colosimos?

By late fall, the colosimos are so desperate

that they call in a paranormal investigator

named carolyn taylor.

She convinces the family that the best way to exorcise

the spirit is to make contact with it.

So she's gonna try to figure out what is the problem,

what is causing this phenomena here that happened?

Wildman: In the living room, taylor lays out a spirit board.

The medium directs sheilajean and richard

to put their hands on the pointer.

Then she asks the ghost to reveal its identity.

Suddenly, the pointer begins to move.

And slowly, it spells out response after response.

Munson: Miss taylor start getting a clear picture

of what was happening.

Wildman: According to the board,

the spirit is that of a 16-year-old confederate soldier.

♪♪

in 1864, he was killed during the battle of the wilderness

near where the colosimos' house presently stands.

For more than 100 years, he's been wandering the area.

What's more, he thinks sheilajean and richard

are union soldiers bent on his capture.

And that's why he's been tormenting them.

He was more frightened of sheilajean's family

than they were of him.

Wildman: Taylor tells the puzzled poltergeist the truth.

Munson: Miss taylor assured our young child that the war's over.

It's time to go home.

Then all of a sudden,

a calm comes over the room.

Wildman: It seems the ghost has finally been dispelled.

Munson: There was never another incident in that house.

Everything went to normal.

♪♪

wildman: Today, this confederate uniform is on display

at the civil war museum of the western theater

in bardstown, kentucky.

It recalls the loyal soldier who stayed in the service

more than 100 years after his death.

♪♪

the woman behind this letter is known

as one of the most famous spies of all time.

But what few realize is that there's more to her tragic tale

than meets the eye.

Ohlke: Her seductive powers had helped her rise to stardom

but also led to her downfall.

♪♪

wildman: 1917, France.

World war I is raging across northern europe,

pitting the austro-hungarian and german armies

against the french, russian and british.

And as the conflict rolls on,

the casualties on the french side grow higher and higher.

World war I was horrific for France.

It is just bleeding out and public morale is at such a low.

♪♪

wildman: In the spring,

the french military makes an announcement.

Their campaign has been undermined by a spy.

The military says this informer

was passing french secrets to the germans

but has finally been apprehended.

And to everyone's amazement,

the suspect is one of the most well-known people in France --

an exotic dancer named margaretha zelle macleod,

better known as mata hari.

♪♪

mata hari is one of the most famous women in europe.

People found her captivating.

They could not take their eyes off of her.

Wildman: The entertainer has fascinated the public for years

with her seductive routines,

flamboyant lifestyle and whirlwind affairs.

She is traveling back and forth throughout europe.

She enjoys having a good time

and she very much enjoys powerful men

and officers having a rather cosmopolitan life.

Wildman: But according to the french police,

mata hari's many liaisons had nothing to do with romance.

They say that she seduced military officials

and tricked them into revealing top-secret information --

everything from combat strategies to troop movements.

She would then pass the intelligence on to the germans,

who would use it to launch devastating attacks

against the french,

resulting in the deaths of thousands of soldiers.

It was said the evil that this woman has done is unimaginable.

Wildman: The public is stunned.

In July, mata hari is made to face a military tribunal.

The dancer vehemently proclaims her innocence,

but the evidence appears damning.

Ohlke: The authorities have telegrams

that discuss the movements of a german spy code-named h21,

and they seem to parallel mata hari's movements perfectly.

Wildman: It takes just 45 minutes to find her guilty

and sentence her to death.

Wildman: It's 1917 in France.

Exotic dancer mata hari has been charged with espionage.

Authorities claim she used her powers of seduction

to persuade french officers

into giving up top-secret information,

which she then passed onto the germans.

At trial, she is found guilty and sentenced to death.

On October 17th,

mata hari is put before a firing squad.

A seductress to the end,

she blows a kiss to the soldiers as they aim and fire.

[ gunfire ]

she was a performer to the last.

Wildman: Mata hari goes down

as one of history's most notorious secret agents.

Ohlke: It was said that she was perhaps

the greatest woman spy of the century.

Wildman: But it seems that's not the end

of the infamous siren's tale.

In 2001, the french government

declassified a series of documents

from mata hari's case.

The papers reveal that the evidence used to convict her

is not as clear cut as it seemed in the trial.

♪♪

in fact, the telegrams,

the very proof that sealed mata hari's fate,

don't show what the french government claimed at all.

Although they seem to accurately track her travels

throughout europe,

none of them contain even a single french military secret.

There's no evidence that she passed any secrets to germany.

Wildman: Not only that,

a closer look at the documents suggests

that mata hari was, in fact, a spy for France.

The only evidence of her passing intelligence is information

she got from germany and that she gave to France.

So she was really spying for the french.

Wildman: The suspicious telegrams lead historians

to a remarkable conclusion.

Mata hari was framed.

But why would french officials

have set up the celebrated dancer?

Some believe that the french government

needed to blame someone

for their poor performance during world war I.

And mata hari was the perfect scapegoat.

Ohlke: She's exotic. She's a foreigner.

She sleeps with whoever she pleases.

It's easy for people to think that she would be a spy.

♪♪

wildman: Whatever the truth, the siren's legacy endures.

Ohlke: Mata hari really becomes the symbol for the femme fatale,

the seductive female spy that can get information from anyone

by using her charms.

Wildman: Today, this letter that mata hari wrote

to one of her many paramours is on display

at the international spy museum in washington, d.C.

It recalls the enigmatic beauty whose seductive powers

may have led to her own demise.