All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S03E03.720p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta[EZTVx.to]

On this episode of "expedition files"...

In 1948, a man is found dead
on an Australian beach with no ID

and a cryptic message
hidden in his clothing.

For 75 years, his identity
has remained a mystery...

Until now.

Then, the trojan war is one
of our most enduring legends.

Greek soldiers hidden
inside a wooden horse mount

the world's most
legendary surprise attack.

For the first time, we'll reveal the truth

behind the myth.

And... Shakespeare is
considered the greatest writer

in history, but does
he deserve the credit?

We reveal the remarkable
theory that argues the true author

has remained hidden.

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."

They say that Patience is
a virtue, something that's

important to remember
while waiting for the secrets

of the past to be revealed

and when you're updating your iPhone.

But tonight, we're diving into mysteries

that refuse to be rushed.

Because sometimes cracking
history's toughest cases

isn't about forcing the
puzzle pieces together.

It's about letting time do
the heavy lifting and staying

patient until the answers
finally present themselves.

We begin by turning back the clock

to December 1st, 1948.

Somerton beach, near
Adelaide, south Australia.

The time is 6:30 am.

But despite the beautiful coastal view,

several beachgoers are
gathered near the seawall,

looking down at something else...

the motionless body of a man
lying with his head propped up.

He almost looks asleep.

Almost.

My god. He's dead.

He's oddly well dressed for the beach.

Nice suit and even dress
shoes, polished to a high shine.

But he has no wallet.

Indeed, no identification of any kind.

Even more bizarre,
there's not a Mark on him.

But soon, curious clues will
surface... a coded message,

a torn scrap of poetry,

and whispers of cold war secrets.

Who is this, and how did he die?

These questions will linger
for more than seven decades,

that is, until a revolutionary
DNA breakthrough will reveal

the long lost identity
of the stranger known

only as the somerton man.

Detectives Lionel lean
and len brown are baffled.

The few items in the dead
man's pockets seemingly offer

no clues about who he was

or how he died.

The police find a half-empty
packet of chewing gum,

an aluminum comb,

a bus and train ticket,

matches, and a pack of cigarettes.

During an initial examination of the body,

they find no evidence of violence.

They do, however, notice that
the deceased has extremely

well-defined calves
and wedge-shaped toes.

This leads some to
theorize that perhaps the man

was a ballet dancer.

Another detail that jumps
out, every label on his clothing

has been meticulously removed.

And his shoes are so spotless,
they don't even show signs

he'd been walking across the beach.

Something isn't right,

and the detectives can sense it.

The autopsy reveals
no wounds of any kind.

The pathologists suspect poison,

but no trace is ever found.

The cause of death is ruled "unknown."

January 14, 1949,
detectives have pounded

the pavement for six weeks
since the somerton man

was first found.

And in that time, they
have searched every hotel,

bus and train stop in the city.

Finally, at a local rail
station, they get a hit.

The discovery of an unclaimed
suitcase in the coat check.

The case was placed
there the day before the body

was discovered on the beach.

But no one remembers who put it there.

Inside, more clothes with tags removed.

But then they find one big clue.

The name t. Keane is
stitched on a necktie.

So, mystery solved, right?

The body must be t. Keane.

Except there's a problem.

There isn't a single person
named keane reported

as missing... not in
Adelaide, not in all of Australia.

Needing more time and
desperate to preserve what remains

of the mysterious man's body,
authorities make a plaster cast

of his head and torso,
capturing his features

before they're lost forever.

Then, just when the case
is going cold, a discovery.

Months after his death,
detectives examine his clothing

one last time.

And in a hidden pocket
sewn within his pants,

they find something fascinating.

A tiny scrap of paper with
a mysterious message.

"Tamám shud."

Two words, neatly printed.

In persian, it means, "it is finished."

The question is, was it
left by the man himself

or by his killer?

Detectives confirm the
tiny scrap has been torn

from the final page of "the rubaiyat"

by Omar khayyam,

a collection of poetry dating
back to 12th century persia.

A public appeal follows,
and detectives soon recover

the rest of the book, which
had been tossed by someone

into the backseat of a local man's car

parked near somerton beach.

The torn scrap of paper fits perfectly,

restoring a haunting message.

"And when thyself with
shining foot shall pass,

"among the guests, stars
scattered on the grass,

"and in thy joyous errand
reach the spot where I made one,

turn down an empty glass."

"Tamám shud... it is finished."

It's a farewell.

The empty glass symbolizes
the end of one's life, as in,

"I've finished my drink, my time is up."

Detectives discover
that the book provides

even more potential clues.

Faint impressions pressed
into the back of the book,

five lines of letters that
appear to be some kind

of secret code.

Could it be an encrypted message?

Why not?

After all, the cold war is
just beginning to heat up,

with a uranium mine and
a military research facility

close to where the
somerton man was found.

The detectives wonder,
was this man a Soviet spy?

The Australian Navy's
cryptographic experts examine

the text, hoping to break the code.

But despite their efforts,
they're unable to crack it.

On the inside back cover
of the book, detectives find

something more easily deciphered,

a phone number.

It connects them to a woman
named Jessica thomson,

living just a five-minute walk
from where the body was found.

- Jessica thomson?
- Hi, yeah?

Adelaide police department.

Can we have a word?

Ok. Yes, come in.

Could she be the one
to finally name the man

behind the face?

At the station, police
present Jessica with the man's

haunting death mask.

When Jessica sees the
bust, she looks shocked.

In fact, she almost faints.

But then she regains
her composure and insists

that she doesn't recognize the man.

No.

But she does claim to recognize

something else... the rubaiyat.

She tells detectives she once
owned a copy of the same book.

During the war, while
working as a nurse in a military

hospital, Jessica gave the book
as a gift to an Australian army

lieutenant named alf box all,

with whom she had a brief romance.

After the war, she
married and moved on.

Then, one day, a letter
arrived from box all.

She wrote back only once, to
tell him she was married now

and they could never meet again.

Police are convinced
they've found their man.

It must be alf box all.

They theorize he took his own life,

drinking poison after
being rejected by Jessica.

But a stunning twist is about
to change everything police

thought they uncovered
about the dead man.

It turns out that alf
box all is alive and well,

living quietly in Sydney.

And the kicker?

His copy of the rubaiyat
is still in his possession.

The book was extremely
popular in Australia at this time.

But based on Jessica's
reaction to the bust,

some experts suggested that
she did know the somerton man,

that perhaps, shockingly, he was even

the estranged father of her son, Robin.

Photos of Robin do bear a resemblance

to the somerton man,
some going so far as to claim

a 99-percent possibility
that they're related.

And remember the dead
man's pronounced calves?

Well, maybe they run in the family,

because Robin thomson
grew up to be a ballet dancer.

But 99 percent isn't a done deal.

And that 1-percent chance?

Well, 70 years after the
mystery began, shocking new

evidence appears to unmask

the somerton man's true identity.

For almost a century, the
somerton man case has

sparked extraordinary
theories of spies, heartbreak,

and secret codes, but no solid answers.

Until professor Derek abbott
from the university of Adelaide

comes up with an ingenious
idea to crack the case.

I was looking at this plaster bust

of the somerton man,

and I noticed there were
hairs stuck in the plaster.

Immediately in my mind,
the word DNA popped up.

You've heard of grasping at straws...

this was grasping at hairs.

Sealed for decades in the plaster cast,

the hairs were badly deteriorated.

Extracting viable DNA

was going to be a long shot at best.

I got permission to extract
hairs from the plaster bust,

and it was like a gold mine.

The lab pulled out a
sequence of two million pieces

of DNA information.

We found distant cousins,

and they were all in
Melbourne, Australia.

We found alive people today
whose DNA triangulated to him,

and it was at that point, we
knew that we had nailed it.

After 70 years of
intrigue, the team appears

to have found their man.

The hair belonged to an individual named

Carl Charles webb.

Born in 1905 in Victoria, Australia,

Carl was an electrical engineer.

In 1941, he married Dorothy Robinson,

but the marriage quickly fell apart.

In divorce documents,
Dorothy described Carl

as abusive, depressed, and isolated,

and even potentially suicidal

after discovering him
overdosed on ether.

Remarkably, Carl had
a deep love for poetry,

writing his own verses, many
of which were focused on death,

which his ex-wife claimed
was, quote, "his greatest desire."

This seems to be a
strong connection to the slip

of poetry found in the dead man's pants,

and the copy of the
rubaiyat discarded in the car.

But what about that strange

sequence of letters inscribed inside?

That was all very mysterious to people.

"Ooh, you know, that's a sign of a spy."

As it turned out, it really
isn't a serious code.

It doesn't have the structure
of serious world war ii code.

But because it's four lines,
and this is a book of poetry

with verses that all
have four lines in them,

it could be he's trying
to pen a poem himself

in a similar vein to the four
line poetry in the rubaiyat.

Either way, it seems
the real somerton man

was no international spy.

And there are even
more pieces of the puzzle.

Carl had a nephew named John keane.

Remember that tie the detectives found

with the name tag "t. Keane?"

Well, it turns out they read it wrong.

The t was apparently a j.

So when he died on that beach,

Carl webb was simply
carrying his nephew's clothes.

It's a stunning conclusion,

but not every puzzle
piece has been found.

What about the fact the
discarded poetry book

inexplicably contained the phone number

of Jessica thomson, the young
nurse who reacted to the bust

of the somerton man,

but then swore she didn't know him?

Why on earth does he have her number?

It makes you wonder
whether they knew each other

from before, but we have not
been able to find any evidence

to back that up.

So it could be just a
coincidence that he has

her number for whatever reason.

Because you have to remember,
in those days, people put

classified ads in newspapers,
advertising to sell things.

And she did have a bunch
of classified ads at the time.

There's still so much we
don't know about Carl webb,

or how and why he died.

Some experts point to
a possible heart attack

or a pharmaceutical overdose.

Some still suspect a rare poison.

But without hard forensic
evidence we may never

know for sure.

But we do know that professor
abbott and his team have done

what for 70 years was
believed impossible,

provide a definitive
scientific identification

for the somerton man.

Tamám shud, it is finished, indeed.

History has a way of hiding
secrets, whether the identity

of an unknown man or the
truth behind a legendary war.

It's 1200 bc.

Standing outside one
of the ancient world's

most notorious fortresses.

This is Troy, a city known
for its great wealth and status.

And the massive
wooden horse behind me?

That's an offering to the goddess Athena,

supposedly left behind
by the retreating Greeks

after ten long years of war.

To the trojans, it's
seen as a victory trophy.

But do you know that old saying,

"beware of Greeks bearing gifts?"

Yeah, this is where that comes from.

Soon, the trojans will wheel it inside,

and hidden Greek soldiers will
pour out and conquer the city.

That is, if any of this ever happened.

Was there actually a trojan horse,

or even a trojan war, for that matter?

Three thousand years from
now, archaeology and cutting-edge

science will reveal the
truth behind this epic myth.

Remember those two
doorstops from high school

you pretended to read...
"the iliad" and "the odyssey"?

Well, they're the blockbuster
epics of the ancient world

and the bedrock of western lit.

While they may have
originated as an oral tradition,

they are credited to a
Greek poet named homer

in the 8th century bc.

The iliad covers the brutal
war sparked when Helen,

queen of sparta,

is abducted to the rich
and powerful city of Troy.

Greek king agamemnon
then rallies the city-states

to help her husband,
menelaus, get her back.

"The odyssey" is kind of like the sequel,

which follows a hero named odysseus

on the worst road trip in history

as he tries to get home after the war.

So what about the city at the center

of homer's stories?

In the legends, Troy is a rich
city status-soaked port kingdom

near the sea, and a
gateway to major trade routes.

And it's a fortress.

High walls, strong gates.

So formidable, the Greek armies
camp outside and supposedly

hammer at it for 10 years.

And that's where the
legendary horse comes in.

After the Greek soldiers jump
out, they set the city ablaze,

torching its temples

and killing or enslaving its citizens.

It's certainly a vivid story

of the cunning and treachery of war.

But what are the facts?

Here's what we know.

Around 1200 bc, in the bronze age,

civilizations like the
Greeks, the mycenaeans,

and the hittites Duke it out
all around the mediterranean.

Cities are razed, alliances
forged and broken,

war is everywhere.

It's clear that homer's
epic story is set in a period

just as volatile as this real one.

But for centuries, there was
no evidence that a war had ever

occurred in the city of Troy.

And there's good reason for that...

No one knew if Troy
was even a real place.

Fast forward a few thousand
years because that's where

this guy, Heinrich schliemann, comes in.

In the 1870s, this self-taught
archaeologist arrives

in modern-day Turkey,
determined to find Troy.

Fueled by a childhood
obsession with homer's tales,

he's convinced the city
lies buried beneath hissarlik,

a flat topped mound in northern Turkey

about four miles from the aegean sea.

Using references in
homer's text like a map,

schliemann starts to dig.

And wouldn't you know it...

He actually finds something.

Layer upon layer of ruins.

In ancient times, different cities would be

built, destroyed, and rebuilt
in the exact same place,

each time piling new
structures on top of the old.

Beneath the point where
schliemann began his excavation

lay nine distinct archaeological layers,

each reflecting a
different era of habitation,

designated Troy I through ix.

These strata span from the
stone age to the Roman era,

revealing the site's deep history.

Driven by his obsession,
schliemann attacks the site

with shovels, pickaxes,
and even dynamite.

In his single-minded quest
for Troy, he blindly destroys

priceless archaeological
evidence, leveling centuries

of history in his path.

Yet, even in the chaos,

schliemann strikes gold, literally.

He unearths a glittering
cache of ancient treasures,

golden crowns, bracelets,
and a delicate chain

he famously claims belonged
to Helen of Troy herself.

In 1873, schliemann declares
he's found Troy, and news

of his incredible discovery
spreads around the world.

Schliemann has seemingly
done the impossible,

finding the real-life foundation of one

of our greatest legends.

But a big problem is about to be dug up.

In the rugged terrain
of what is now Turkey,

archaeologist Heinrich
schliemann believes

he's uncovered the lost city of Troy.

There's no wooden horse in sight.

But shimmering gold goblets,
crowns, and dazzling jewels

do suggest a city
worthy of homeric verse.

But a problem quickly emerges.

The allegedly trojan treasure
schliemann unearthed actually

dates to around 2400
b.C., over 1,000 years

before the era of homer's "iliad."

So, did schliemann get it all wrong?

Well, maybe not entirely.

Decade after decade,
archaeological teams return

to hissarlik, leaving
the dynamite at home.

They carefully excavate
the layer-cake structure

of the site.

They zero in on the layers
schliemann tore through,

specifically Troy vi and vii.

What they uncover is stunning.

These layers date from
the era of the trojan war

as described by homer,

and they reveal the
remnants of a grand city

with towering fortification
walls, all of which suggests

the Troy of legend might in fact be real,

and that schliemann had
dug in the right place but dug

too deep and ended
up in the wrong time.

But is there any evidence
that backs up homer's narrative

of the trojan war?

Professor Owen do on an is
an archaeologist who has spent

25 years excavating in the region.

Archaeology is the most
incredibly dynamic field.

Like the question of Troy,
we are always going to be

finding shocking and exciting new things.

At the site of Troy, there has
been evidence found of burning,

of destruction that we associate

with the time horizon around 1200 b.C.

Weapons, burnt buildings,
charcoal, burnt bones testify

to a fiery destruction within the time

associated with the trojan war.

So, not only was Troy a
real place, but there is also

clear evidence of its
catastrophic downfall.

But what brought about its destruction?

Was it the likes of king
agamemnon and menelaus

in their epic quest to rescue Helen?

And can we finally say,
"giddy up" to a trojan horse?

Well, few historians would
argue that such a theatrical

ploy could have really
happened as described.

But with so much of the
story of Troy bearing out,

some experts believe that
homer described a mythic distortion

of something very real.

Unfortunately, there's
never been any trace found

of the so-called "trojan horse,"
but there were large wooden

vessels that are known around
this time called siege engines.

A siege engine was sort
of like an ancient tank.

Early Greek sources use the
word "hippos" when referring

to the trojan horse, but
that term is also used

to describe certain
wheeled weapons of war,

some of which were
even animal-shaped,

hence the term "battering ram."

It's quite possible that something

like a siege machine,

that resembled a form of a
horse, may have been part

of the conquest of the city of Troy.

And what about the rest of homer's cast?

Agamemnon, menelaus, Helen,

and the rest of the gang?

Any truth there?

Well, amazingly, the answer is also yes,

courtesy of discoveries
from a neighboring civilization.

Archaeologists have
excavated written tablets

from the hittite empire,
a powerful kingdom that

flourished in central Turkey
between 1600 and 1200 b.C.

And some of the tablets contain
references to specific names

and places that closely
mirror those described

in homer's "iliad."

There has been a trickle of new tablets

discovered and translated,

that mention various characters

that we are familiar with from the story.

Like the reference to
attarsiya, a king of the ahhiyawa,

is widely believed to
connect with the name atreus,

the father of agamemnon and menelaus.

In the "iliad," these
were the kings who led

the Greek expedition to Troy.

So, after almost 3,000 years,
we now have real evidence

that homer's epic narrative
has significant historical roots,

from the city to the players

and maybe, just maybe, the horse itself.

Is everything in homer's epic factual?

No.

But it's kind of like your
favorite TV series today,

lavish, dramatic, and stamped with those

five irresistible words,
"based on a true story."

All the world's a stage,

and all the men and
women, merely players.

It's 1601, and I'm walking the boards

of London's globe theater.

And this here, is none other
than William Shakespeare.

He's been called the most
influential writer of all time.

Today, the bard of avon
is running a rehearsal

for a little play he's just
penned, called "Hamlet."

I wonder if it'll be a hit?

This, above all, to thine own self be true.

Catchy line.

But how's this for a dramatic twist?

Did he really write it?

For the next four centuries,
some will suspect that

there may be a different man
behind the name Shakespeare.

And one historian will reveal
that a secret code could unlock

his true identity.

So, is Shakespeare, "to be or not to be,"

the world's greatest playwright?

That is the question.

William Shakespeare
has captivated the world

for centuries, author
of 39 acclaimed plays,

not to mention 154 sonnets,

and a reputation as the
greatest writer who ever lived.

But for a man who gave
us such immortal words,

there's a shockingly light paper trail.

Here's what we do know.

He was born in 1564
to John Shakespeare,

a respected glove maker.

His parents, likely illiterate.

Young William grows up
humbly in the quiet market town

of stratford-upon-avon, about

100 miles northwest of London.

Then, at the age of 18,
he weds Anne hat ha way...

no, not from "the devil wears Prada,"

and eventually has three kids.

There's no historical record
of him attending university,

no record of anything, really,
for the next several years,

which is why they're often referred to

as "the lost years."

Then in 1592, the now
28-year-old Shakespeare

suddenly reappears in London,
where he's making a name

for himself as a rising star of the stage.

Shakespeare earns
accolades as a valued member

of a prominent acting troupe.

He acts himself,

but that's not what makes him famous.

It will be his work writing for this group

that truly cements his legacy.

From 1600 on, Shakespeare
writes and stages

masterpiece after masterpiece...

"Hamlet," "othello," "king lear,"

"the tempest," not to mention "Macbeth."

Sorry, the "Scottish play."

Been around enough
curses to know better.

The plays are hits.

At least two are even
performed for queen Elizabeth.

After writing more
than three dozen plays,

it is said that he retires from
the London literary scene

around 1613.

At 49, he returns to stratford-upon-avon.

It's said that he lays
down his prodigious pen

to live the quiet life of
a country gentleman.

He'll die at age 52 in 1616.

Strangely, there's no record of any notes

or unfinished manuscripts
at the time of his death.

His will mentions no books
in his personal collection.

It's as though the most
literary man in history

has no connection to literature at all.

In 1623, 36 of Shakespeare's
most iconic plays are published

in the "first folio,"

turning will into a true household name.

So how did a poor English country boy

churn out masterpiece
after masterpiece?

Well, not everyone is convinced he did.

Skeptics point out that there's no record

that William Shakespeare
went to university,

there's no record he ever left England,

or had any ties to high society.

And if that's the case,

then Shakespeare had
seemingly impossible insight,

with deep knowledge of Italy, France,

and the royal courts of Europe.

Then there's the fact that
several of Shakespeare's

early plays, including "Romeo
and Juliet" and "Richard III,"

are first published anonymously,

without any mention of an author.

And when his name does
appear on the title pages

of his printed works, it
shows up with curious

variations of spellings.

Add to that the fact
that his own signature

appears six different ways,

and a provocative theory emerges.

What if Shakespeare
is just a pseudonym

for someone else entirely?

For 400 years, literary sleuths
have questioned whether

William Shakespeare truly
penned the plays credited to him.

Some suspect another author

could be behind these masterpieces.

Enter one of the most
intriguing suspects,

sir Francis bacon.

Bacon was a philosopher
and statesman who served

as lord chancellor of
England under king James I.

In the 19th century, the
theory that bacon was

the real author of the
bard's works gains traction.

Supporters argue he
had all the education,

eloquence, and intellect

that the unassuming
actor from stratford lacked.

Even Mark twain jumped on board,

writing, "is Shakespeare
dead?" In support of the idea.

But opponents of this
theory "doth protest."

They argue that Francis bacon

was never afraid of the spotlight.

If he wrote all these great works,

he wouldn't have concealed it.

He would have taken the credit.

Plus, he was pretty busy
inventing empirical philosophy.

Then there's Christopher marlowe.

Born the same year as
Shakespeare, marlowe was

a Cambridge university graduate
and a leading playwright, too.

Best known for "Dr. Faustus,"

and "tamburlaine the
great," marlowe was one

of Shakespeare's most
formidable contemporaries.

But is it possible that
he's more than just a rival?

While Shakespeare got the glory,

did marlowe write the story?

The theory goes that marlowe,

facing persecution for
his rumored spy work

for queen Elizabeth's secret service,

fakes his own death
in a bar fight in 1593.

Conveniently, that's
right before Shakespeare's

greatest works began appearing.

Could marlowe have gone
underground and continued

writing under the safer,
more anonymous name

of Shakespeare?

It sounds like a plot straight
out of, well, Shakespeare,

full of intrigue, deception,

and characters who swap identities

to get the upper hand.

"Twelfth night," anyone?

In 2016, cutting-edge
textual analysis revealed

marlowe's stylistic fingerprints present

in the Shakespeare play "Henry vi."

As a result, some experts
credit both men as co-authors,

though it remains controversial.

But could marlowe really
have been responsible

for all of Shakespeare's works?

Most experts say, not likely.

There's no surviving manuscripts, letters,

or confessions that directly tie marlowe

to the creation of Shakespeare's works.

The trail is tantalizing, but
ultimately circumstantial.

So it's likely not bacon or marlowe,

but they're just two of
the almost 80 identities

proposed as "the real Shakespeare."

With all these possible
candidates, how in the name

of falstaff are Shakespeare
skeptics supposed to figure out

who really wrote the plays?

Well, if you're Dr. Roger stritmatter,

you take a decades-long deep dive

and narrow it down to just one man.

If you ask a typical
Shakespeare professor,

"where does Shakespeare's
life connect with these plays?"

They don't really have a
very good answer to that.

Shakespeare has essentially
almost nothing that would be

a legitimate preparation
for writing these plays.

He may have gone to grammar school.

He didn't go to college.

He never traveled out of the country.

Nothing about Shakespeare
supports the idea that he is

a credible author of these plays.

At every point, you are
fighting the evidence.

The exact opposite is
true of Edward de vere.

You're probably asking yourself,

"who the hell is Edward de vere?"

Well, he's also known
as "the Earl of Oxford."

Born in 1550, de vere
was a wealthy nobleman

and an accomplished
poet and playwright.

His position within the
court of England gave him

an insider's perspective
on the politics and intrigue

of royal life.

He was also a seasoned
traveler, having spent

a good deal of time in
venice, verona, and Florence,

the settings of some of Shakespeare's

most famous plays.

And it gets even more interesting.

De vere's personal Bible
contains numerous underlines

and notes, several of
which show up as themes

and quotations in the
work of Shakespeare.

Could it be a coincidence?

Some scholars use these details

to argue that the Earl of Oxford

makes a better Shakespeare than...

Well, Shakespeare.

The theory that Edward de vere

was the man behind
William Shakespeare

isn't original to Dr. Stritmatter, though.

It was first proposed in
1920 by j. Thomas looney.

Looney was looking for...

A person who was sort
of placed in society to...

Learn about all of the domains
of knowledge that are embodied

in the Shakespeare plays.

So after doing a lot of
research, looney discovered

Edward de vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford.

He had traveled extensively in Italy.

He had a first-class education.

He was a lyric poet

before Shakespeare
appears on the scene.

And interestingly enough,
he is recorded as early

as 1589 as being a writer of comedies.

He was also a patron of the theater.

Looney also realized,

as soon as you think
of de vere as the author,

suddenly it's like,

the life and the plays
are deeply intertwined.

For a hundred years,
though, there was no proof

to this theory.

As Shakespeare once
wrote, "there's the rub."

But now, for the first time,

stritmatter believes he's found it.

And he says it's all thanks
to a shocking hidden code.

The ruthless, bloody reign
of king Richard III inspired one

of Shakespeare's most infamous
plays called, you guessed it,

"Richard III."

It's the story of the villainous hunchback

who murdered his way
to the English throne.

It also inspired a long-running mystery.

Where was king Richard buried?

Following his death at the
battle of bosworth in 1485,

the location of his
grave was lost to history.

In 2012, researchers used
historical accounts to pinpoint

the location of a long-lost
monastery in the English city

of Leicester that's now...
A modern parking lot.

Excavation beneath this office
car park uncovered a skeleton

bearing battle wounds
and a twisted spine.

DNA testing with living descendants

confirmed the identity...

Richard III.

History... it's the ultimate
long-term parking.

Did William Shakespeare really write

all of his immortal plays?

Academic Roger stritmatter
believes he's confirmed

that nobleman and poet Edward de vere

was the true voice of the bard.

He says he can prove it
thanks to a secret code

hidden in a book from 1598.

The book in question
is "pal lad is Tamia",

a collection of quotes, moral sayings,

and literary criticism
written by Francis meres.

The book is notable for being
the first to include commentary

on Shakespeare's plays.

In the book, meres includes several lists

comparing famous authors.

One links great English writers

with classical counterparts
from Greece and Rome.

Meres is a believer in divine
mathematics, and he arranges

these lists so that the
norm is they are symmetrical.

You have the same number
of names on both sides,

and then he varies that,

and whenever he varies there's a reason.

He wants you to dig deeper

and figure out why
symmetry doesn't exist.

In other words, move over, Da Vinci.

This is the Shakespeare code.

Stritmatter noticed that
the two lists are unbalanced.

17 English names, 16 classical ones.

He claims this imbalance
indicates that two

of the English names
refer to the same person.

Your goal is to figure
out which two names refer

to the same person, and
you've got a clue over here.

The name that corresponds
to Shakespeare in the list

on the Greek side is aristonymus.

Why did he put aristonymus
next to Shakespeare?

Well, it turns out that
the name "aristonymus"

really means the "aristocratic name."

Well, guess what?

There's only one an aristocratic name

on the English side in this paragraph,

and that's the very first name,

Edward, Earl of Oxford.

So it's pretty obvious
which names are duplicated,

and that would be de
vere and Shakespeare.

Edward de vere, 17th Earl
of Oxford, is Shakespeare.

Ok, but if de vere and
Shakespeare really were

one and the same, why hide it?

Stritmatter thinks it's
because writing anything

but poetry was looked down
upon as an unworthy pursuit

for nobles in that era.

Aristocrats like de vere
were known to publish

other work anonymously.

For de vere, having a commoner
front for him meant he could

indulge his passion for the stage

without losing face at court.

For Shakespeare, an actor by trade,

it meant money in his pocket,

a continued presence in
London's theater scene,

and the ability to retire
a country gentleman

back in his hometown.

It was the ultimate win-win.

One man kept his reputation...

The other made one.

Dr. Stritmatter is
confident that he's cracked

the Shakespeare code,
but it will take much more

than two imbalanced lists
to convince other scholars.

Today, most still believe
Shakespeare was exactly

who he was known to
be, a man from stratford

who Rose from humble beginnings

to become the greatest
English writer in history.

Arguments over his identity will continue,

but what you can't
argue about is the genius

of his work, and maybe
that's the most important thing

after all... to quote the bard,

whoever he may be,

"what's in a name?

"That which we call a
Rose by any other name

would smell as sweet."

I'm Josh gates,

and I'll see you on the next expedition.